Month: June 2016

It’s Thursday and I am half sick of shadows. How about some miscellaneous mental marginalia?

First: caption contest! Pietro Lorenzetti, who seems to specialize in Madonnas who have just about had it, painted the image above. Maybe it’s just summer vacation talking, but to me it says, “You don’t have to stop making that squirty sound, but you have to make it over there.”

Second: Neil deGrasse Tiresome Tyson said something about something, again.

[img attachment=”110064″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”Screen Shot 2016-06-30 at 11.01.40 AM” /]

As Charles C. W. Cooke at National Review Online pointed out, we already tried this, and here’s what it looked like:

[img attachment=”110065″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”Screen Shot 2016-06-30 at 11.05.46 AM” /]

So, that’s-a no good. Boy, I wish I could make a living out of saying dumb stuff. Oh, wait.

Three: As long as we’re picking on Mr. I-Am-a-Golden-God, here’s a prescient comic from 2012. “Remember, he’s suffering inside, too.”

Four: Most of the time, women’s tennis is about as important to me as men’s tennis, which is to say “not.” But I saw the dumb little flippy nightie Nike required its sponsored athletes to wear to Wimbledon, and I says to myself, I says, “How come they never do this to men?” Seriously. Official uniforms for professional athletes should be all about making it easy for the athlete to be athletic. No foofiness. Is outrage. I shall now go back to forgetting that tennis exists.

Five: A truly handy compendium of charts for bakers, including egg substitutes, metric conversion charts, which tips to use when icing cupcakes, how to diagnose baking temp errors, and so on.

Six: WEED WHACKER MAN!

Public shaming of kids on social media is such a crap move. Every few weeks, some self-styled “meanest mom in the world” preens herself over having the courage to make her kids miserable in public, rather than correcting them and moving along like normal parents do. Don’t be fooled. This isn’t about being a good parent; it’s about getting your fifteen minutes of internet fame in the pathetic and craven hope that you can somehow spin your child’s damaged psyche into a reality show. For that reason I refuse to link to any of these creeps.

However. Glomming off your kids’ public humiliation is one thing. Bribing your kids to be publicly humiliated is a completely different thing. One is exploitation, and that’s wrong. This is just good old fashioned commerce. And so I present to you this video made yesterday on the ride home from the oral surgeon, where my daughter had four wisdom teeth extracted.

I only wish I had gotten footage of the part where she was furiously working on a BFG-themed Mad Libs. I noticed she had x-ed out several words vehemently, so I asked her why. She shouted, mouth packed with gauze, “BE-TUZ THEY NOT WEAL WORDS!!!”

I said, “But you’ve read the book, haven’t you?” And she gave me one of these!

And then, because I’m the meanest mom in the world, I got her some chocolate ice cream.

**
Images:

Pietro Lorenzetti [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By Georg Heinrich Sieveking (http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/louis16_execution.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Don’t be stupid, be a smarty! Meet Benedict XVI on his own terms. I guarantee you’ll be delighted, both with what you come to learn about Christ, and what you come to learn about Ratzinger himself. He’s a gentle and brilliant friend you need to have in your life. He is a man full of heartfelt courtesy and love — not abstract, intellectualized caritas, but a sweet yearning to save, comfort, sanctify and teach his flock.

Read the rest at the Register.

***

Image: manhhai via Flickr (licensed)

You probably know someone with Type 1 diabetes — that’s the kind you treat with insulin. Somewhere between 1.25 and three million Americans have it, and about 15-20% of these are children.

Bella Nichols, age 8, is one of these children. To stay alive, she requires insulin that costs more per month than her family’s mortgage payment. Her mother, Nicole, was having a hard time getting Mississippi Medicaid to pay for her daughter’s essential diabetes treatment supplies, which are supposed to be covered, and which cost around $2,500 a month; so, like a reasonable citizen, she wrote to her state reps for help. She wrote:

We have recently begun having a lot of problems with Medicaid/CHIPS coverage of the essential diabetes supplies needed, not only to keep our kids healthy, but to literally keep them alive…No parents should have to fight for so long for their child’s essential medical supplies and medical needs when it’s explicitly stated as a covered benefit.

Three of the representatives responded. One of them, Rep. Jeffrey Guice, said this:

I am sorry for your problem. Have you thought about buying the supplies with money that you earn?

That was his whole response.

There are three reasons he might respond in such a way.

First: He thinks that only lazy, shiftless, irresponsible people are on Medicaid. (Actually, most welfare recipients, including but not limited to those who receive Medicaid, are in households headed by a working adult.)

Second: He thinks state insurance should refuse to pay for life-saving medical supplies, because the high cost of medicine works nicely as a kind of man-made natural selection, weeding out the unfit in the name of fiscal responsibility. (If you think no one would dare espouse such a brutal worldview, go ahead and read the comments section. I dare you.)

Third: He thinks it should be easy to pay for diabetes supplies out of pocket, either because he has no idea how much money the typical family earns, or because he has no idea how much diabetes supplies cost. Either one is completely unacceptable for a state rep whose entire job is to know, understand, and work for the people he represents.

Oh, did I mention? Guice is on the State Public Health And Human Services Committee. I’ll just let the irony of that title sink in for a moment. Public Health! and Human Services! Maybe he stumbled into the wrong room, and he actually intended to join a different committee, say the Darwinian Inhumane Kommissariat for Handily Eliminating Deadweights. In fact, I nominate him as chairman for life of DIKHED.

Yesterday, after social media got wind of his response to Nichols, Guice apologized:

“I realize my remarks to Mrs. Nichols were completely insensitive and out of line,” said Guice. “I am sorry and deeply regret my reply. I know nothing about her and her family and replied in a knee-jerk fashion. I’d like to think the people of Mississippi and my constituents know that I’m willing to help where I am able.”

Uh uh. I’d like to think that today is Guice’s last day on a job for which he’s manifestly unfit. The “help” he claims to be willing to offer is only his to offer because his power comes from his constituents, who have every right to ask for his help getting the benefits they’re legally entitled to. I can’t imagine what else he thinks he is there for, unless it’s to sit back and enjoy the excellent health insurance he gets through the state.

Someone’s the leech here. Someone’s exploiting taxpayer-funded benefits, someone’s refusing to pull his weight, and someone doesn’t want to live up to his responsibilities, but I don’t think it’s the eight-year-old with diabetes. If you want to see an unscrupulous citizens collecting government benefits and refusing to do an honest day’s work, take a look at the house of representatives in Mississippi.

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leech image: Veronidae (Wikimedia Commons)

Today’s a fine day to have an egg cream. It’s Mel Brooks’ 90th birthday!

Brooks — born Kaminsky — is a man with the disturbing power to reduce me to a gargling, inarticulate heap. When I was too young to get most of the jokes in his movies, I used to just watch my mother watching his movies, screeeeeeeaming with laughter, tears rolling down her cheeks, as limp and helpless as a puppet.

Brooks is not a holy man; but his movies, when they are good, are so good that they make you want to live instead of die.

If you want to spend half an hour well, read through Brooks’ 1975 interview with Playboy (the link is to the Daily Beast, not Playboy, so you can click without fear). Brooks is, of course, profane, vulgar, and obnoxious, but never nasty, and only rarely obscene — and he works so hard to make the interviewer laugh.
When asked how he came up with the idea for Blazing Saddles, he says, totally off the cuff:

It’s an interesting story; I don’t think I’ll tell it. Can I interest you in a Raisinet? No? Maybe you’d like a chocolate-covered Volkswagen? Do you have a dollar on you? I hate to answer questions for nothing. [Accepts a dollar] Thank you. For two more I’ll sell you my T-shirt. See this little alligator on the pocket? I understand that in the Everglades, there are alligators with little Jews on their shirt pockets.

There he was, at the height of his career, still hustling to earn his audience. Sometimes he crashes and burns, but it’s always because he tries too hard, not because he’s lazy. As he tells the Playboy interviewer, of his early career:

I would jump off into space, not knowing where I would land. I would run across tightropes, no net. If I fell, blood all over. Pain. Humiliation. In those pitch sessions, I had an audience of experts and they showed no mercy. But I had to go beyond. It wasn’t only competition to be funnier than they were. I had to get to the ultimate punch line, you know, the cosmic joke that all the other jokes came out of. I had to hit all the walls. I was immensely ambitious. It was like I was screaming at the universe to pay attention. Like I had to make God laugh.

Here are a few of the more printable excerpts from the interview. Do read the whole thing — to hear about his childhood, his meteoric success and the time all he had left was his Tolstoy and an iron skate key; to hear him quoting Joseph Conrad and referencing Rembrandt, Chagall, and Prometheus; to relish him parsing the influence of the fart joke and comparing Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and, when things get too personal, repeatedly trying to force Raisinets on the interviewer. Read about his passionate love for his second wife, Anne Bancroft, whom he married with a repurposed silver earring instead of a wedding ring; about his deep longing for his father, and about how much he hates directing movies, but does it “in self-defense.”

On the initial reactions to Blazing Saddles:

A lot of crickets said the film was chaotic—kitchen-sink school of drama. Not true. Every scene and damn near every line in the film were in the script. Even the farts were in the script. It was calculated chaos. Something a lot of people don’t yet realize about me: I am a very well-trained maniac.

The most concise explanation of comedy I’ve ever heard:

The greatest comedy plays against the greatest tragedy. Comedy is a red rubber ball and if you throw it against a soft, funny wall, it will not come back. But if you throw it against the hard wall of ultimate reality, it will bounce back and be very lively. Vershteh, goy b****rd? No offense. Very, very few people understand this.

And finally, his recipe for that egg cream you really should hoist in his honor today:

Well, you read it, and you tell me.

***

Photo: Angela George (Wikimedia Commons)

Every few months, someone asks me how to write better. Here’s my advice, which I sometimes even follow myself:

Write almost every day. The more you write, the easier it is to write. You will have feasts and famines — times when you can barely type fast enough to keep ahead of the flood of ideas, and times when you have to strain every muscle to get all the way from the subject to the object; but if writing is part of your routine for long enough, you will always be able to write, even when you’re not inspired to write.

Be a good reader. Read authors you admire every day, and think about why you admire their writing. Also figure out why you don’t like the writers you don’t like. Don’t just run your eyes over the page and then turn away with a happy sigh or an irritated huff. Instead, be like an obnoxious wine connoisseur: hold the words and ideas and phrasing in your mouth, swish them around, breathe across them, consider the origins, attend to the aftertaste. Good writers are active readers.

Always be listening. If you want something to write about, put your nets out all day long. Don’t wait until you’re sitting in front of they keyboard to hunt for an idea. Keep paper notes if you must; but it’s better to get in the habit of making mental notes, which can always be retrieved.

Do these things every day. What about when you have an actual assignment (self-imposed or otherwise) in front of you? How do you improve your style?

This post from 2011 covers most of what I still advise, so I won’t revise it much. Most of these tips apply to less formal pieces, like blog posts, short articles, or even comments—anything where you’re trying to make a point. If you’re working on a research project, though, you’re on your own.

APPROACHING THE TOPIC

1. Make sure you know what you mean, or at least what you’re wondering about. You don’t have to be an expert. Often, the things that need to be said are the things that people already know, but have forgotten—or things they don’t realize that other people are thinking. So it’s okay to be simple, as long as you know exactly what it is you want to say.

If you’re still hashing it out in your mind, be upfront about that, and ask questions of the reader. Don’t pretend to be more sure than you actually are.

2. Make it clear why your topic needs to be addressed. You’ll look silly if you get all worked up clarifying something that no one was confused about. If you are righting a wrong, introduce your piece by summing up the wrong, citing at least one example. One easy trick is to literally ask a question, and then answer it. Or start with a short anecdote which explains what started your train of thought.

3. Don’t resort to defensive writing. Nobody wants to read about what you’re not saying. Say what you do mean. Say it as clearly and firmly as you can —and then let it go. After a certain point, if people hear what you’re not saying, then it’s their problem, and not yours. You don’t owe them a second essay restating your point. Do your best, and move along.

4. Don’t be afraid of minor or simple ideas. Don’t hold out for the obviously profound. If you are an intelligent person, an image, idea, or phrase rings your bell for a reason. Go ahead and write about it—you may be onto something.

5. Be honest. If you’re afraid your idea isn’t holding up, your readers will notice, too, so don’t force it. On the other hand, “I used to think so-and-so, but I’ve changed my mind—here’s why” essays are always interesting.

6. Go ahead and circle back one more time. Have you noticed that you write about the same five themes over and over and over again? That’s okay. The best writing comes from insatiable fascination with a particular theme, not from fleeting infatuations with passing ideas.

EDITING

1. Editing should make you sweat. It’s okay to write down every last thing you can think of . . . on your first draft. Often “covering the page” is the only way to figure out what you’re actually trying to say, and sometimes your main point doesn’t emerge until you’ve written around it for several hundred words. But don’t leave it that way. Even if a passage is brilliant, funny, and flows sweet and clear like Grade A honey—it may not belong in this piece. Every word must work in service of your point, or else it’s gotta go.
Even if I’m delighted with what I wrote, I cut out about 10% just on principle.

2. Read it out loud. This is the best way to root out dumb phrases, snootiness, babbling, awkward transitions, repeated words, mixed metaphors, and pronoun trouble. If it’s an important piece, ask someone else to read it, and be ready to accept criticism.

3. Review the sequence of ideas. Often, an essay doesn’t sit well because the right elements are all there, but are out of order. Try putting your last paragraph at the beginning, and see how that settles. If I’m really muddled, I make an outline that describes what I’ve written. Reducing it to bare bones often shows the flaws hiding in the verbiage.

4. Titles are telling. Not sure if you have a unified idea? Try coming up with a descriptive title for the finished piece. If this is hard, then you may not have said anything, or tried to say too much.

5. Clarity before fanciness. It’s fun to write the occasional sentence that makes people go, “Whoa, let me read that again! It sounds cool, but I’m not quite sure what it means.” But that must be the rare exception. Most of what you say should be plain as plain can be. You’re supposed to be drawing attention to your ideas, not your fancy, fancy self.

6. But do give your readers a treat or two. We all spend enough time reading instruction manuals and tedious jargon. Find the two or three paragraphs that really need to land, and goose them like crazy. Search for the most pungent, evocative phrases you’ve been storing in the back shelves of your psyche, and fiddle with word order until any other order is unthinkable. Earn your readers!

7. Remember the Five B’s: Be Brief, Boy, Be Brief. I love to read, but I’m lazy, I’m tired, I’m distracted, and I rarely read a piece that’s longer than 1,000 words. Most of your readers are even lazier. Try breaking up perfectly good paragraphs into mini-paragraphs, just to make them easier to swallow. Cheap, but it works.

BONUS TIPS:

Try to make the sentence structure express emphasis, rather than resorting to italics.

Pretend exclamation points and ellipses cost you $65 per use.

If you find yourself using emoticons or gifs, chop your hands off.

Go ahead and manhandle the language. I believe in splitting infinitives, writing incomplete and run-on sentences, saying “they” when “he” is more correct, and generally causing a little downfall of western civilization from time to time, if it gives the writing more punch or better flow. So sue me.

Are you a writer? What would you add?

***
“Writer in the park” sculpture by David Annand, photo by David Nugent (Creative Commons)

Well, well! What’s for Supper? turns 40. Happy birthday, you old bat. Never let anyone tell you you can’t wear giant hoop earrings, orange maharishi combat pants, or feather-trimmed anything. Anything!

Yes, you’re still pretty. Very pretty.

***

SATURDAY
Aldi pizza

On Saturday, we went to visit my parents, bringing five Aldi pizzas with us. It was a nice visit, and good pizza. And we got a washing machine drum.

***

SUNDAY
Cookout!

Sunday, Father’s Day, we went to my husband’s sister’s house for a BBQ, and had burgers, hot dogs, chips, corn on the cob, and ice cream.

[img attachment=”109060″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”bbq corn” /]

My brother-in-law is vegan, so my mother-in-law made a very tasty bean salad for him. But he was called away, so I ate most of it, to the delight of everyone who accompanied me on the hour-long drive home.

Oh, and we let Corrie have as much soda as she wanted.

[img attachment=”109061″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”corrie soda” /]
I see no downside to this plan.

***

MONDAY
Jambal-oh-I-can’t

Here’s the email conversation between me and my husband on Monday:

Husband: What’s for supper?

Me: SUPPER. Well. The original plan was to serve grilled chicken with salad, and couscous on the side. Then I realized I didn’t really have enough chicken, so I thought I’d mix the chicken into the couscous, which is a thing. Then I burned the couscous, so I fried up some kielbasa and now I’m cooking some rice to make jambalaya.

So, beer.

Husband: BEER!!!!!!

The jambalaya wasn’t actually bad, but it certainly wasn’t actually jambalaya, either. It was rice, chunks of chicken, chunks of kielbasa, a jar of sliced jalapeños, and a jar of salsa.

[img attachment=”109069″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”jambalaya” /]

Hey, Damien, I just realized that’s where all the salsa went! I knew I bought salsa.

And beer. As always, when I make something that no one especially wants, I made about nine cubic feet of it.

***

TUESDAY
Deli sandwiches, chips

Tuesday we were cleaning up for a party (this is the main reason we have so many parties. We’d never clean, otherwise), so we had cold sandwiches. Nothing to report. I think we went to the beach at some point.

***

WEDNESDAY
Sesame chicken, roasted broccoli, rice 

Requested meal from the birthday girl. This is the recipe from Budget Bytes, a recipe previously classified as foolproof. We had to make three separate trips, first to get more chicken, then to get more cornstarch, then to get more brown sugar. And more oil. I proceeded to fry up twelve pounds of chicken, and that part of it turned out great. It was all light, fluffy, and golden. I made it in nine separate batches, drained it, and transferred it to a dish so I could just add the sauce and serve.

Then I read the rest of the recipe which I have made a million times before, and discovered for the millionth time that you have to cook it up in the sauce to thicken it. There was no way I could do this (see “nine separate batches”) on the stovetop; and the oven was full of broccoli. So I dumped the chicken in my giant metal bowl, thinking I could use it like a wok.

I couldn’t. I don’t want to talk about why.

Anyway, the sauce had issues of its own. One child had graciously offered to help, an offer I gratefully accepted — until I realized that said child saw no difference between tablespoons and heaping tablespoons.  Towering, really. Also, there’s no particular reason to count how many tablespoons. Just keep shovelling cornstarch in there, whoopee!

Thanks for your help, honey. Maybe just chop some scallions for me?

But at least we have decent rice, right? HA HA. Another child also graciously offered to help, an offer I also gratefully accepted. So I tell him to measure out twelve cups of water, which he does . . . using a half-cup measure. Is he sure there are twenty-four half cups of water in there? Yeah, pretty sure.

How are those scallions coming? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I’m sorry, I know you’re helping. I’m sorry. I just find it faster if you cut them all together, instead of one at a time. Maybe use a knife, and not . . . you know what, gimme that. Thanks. Thanks.

Okay, so now please measure out six cups of rice. NO, DON’T DUMP IT IN THE WATER. Okay, sure, use a colander and just strain it as best you can. I know you were helping. Just . . . wait, are you sure this is twelve half-cups of rice? Okay . . .

So, sometime around bedtime, I served up twelve pounds of soggy sesame chicken in dubious sauce on heaps of slimy rice custard. Hap. Py. Birthday. The chopped scallions made all the difference, let me tell you.

[img attachment=”109068″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”sesame chicken” /]

For dessert, the birthday kid made her own cake and frosting, because I am a horrible person. She also put up her own decorations and blew up her own balloons. One of her presents arrived broken, two of them were the wrong size, and the other thing was something she’s kind of over now. Here’s the cake, which I forgot to take a picture of until we had eaten half of it.

[img attachment=”109057″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”dora cake” /]

We don’t always use almond slices to make flowers on cakes, but when we do, it turns out like this. Remember that X Files episode where the murderer psychically affects photographs? That’s where that shadow came from. From murderbrain.

Did I mention that Wednesday was CD 28? If you don’t know what that means, just move along.

The broccoli was freaking delicious, thanks for asking.

***

THURSDAY
Fish tacos

Frozen fish fillets, shredded cabbage, fresh limes, cilantro, sour cream, and a tiny bit of salsa (see: Monday) on tortillas, and tortilla chips. That is what the kids made while I was holed up in my room writing, after running around like a maniac on errands all day long.

***

FRIDAY
Cheesy crab rolls

Gonna try this today. It seems like it’s possible that it might taste good, but not if you call it “Cheesy Crab Burritos,” as the recipe does. I happen to love imitation crab meat. I know it’s made out of flour, gelatin, dextrose, and mackerel squeezings, but I love it.

Now tell me I’m pretty!

Hands down, my happiest childhood memories are memories of being read to, especially if lots of people were in the room, listening and laughing. Nothing binds a family together like enjoying a story together.

The gold standard is a book that’s interesting enough for all ages, even if it’s aimed primarily at one age group; and a book that’s not only good, but sounds good when you read it out loud. The best read-aloud authors really know how to write dialogue, so it’s easy for the reader to make the characters’ voices sound different.

Here’s our list of hearty recommendations for kids ages 5 to adult. We especially like funny books with some adventure, and are not necessarily aiming to directly elevate anyone’s intellect.

***

1. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Obviously, right? Last time I sat down to read this aloud, I remembered what a great story it was, and how much I loved the characters, but I was blown away by how musical and evocative the writing itself is. Read this out loud:

Bilbo never forgot the way they slithered and slipped in the dust down the steep zig-zag path into the secret valley of Rivendell.

Oh, to write like that! I slither with you, Bilbo.

2.The Pirates! series by Gideon Defoe (Titles include: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon) We loved The Pirates! Band of Misfits movie so much (made by the same folks who make the excellent Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep), and recently discovered that it was based on a series of books that are even odder and nuttier than the movie. These books do include some bawdy jokes and some violent details, but I feel that the most inapwo-pwo stuff goes over the little kids’ heads, and it’s just edgy enough to give the older kids a little thrill, without crossing any lines.

3.Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye Life is too short to be a Beowulf purist. This is edge-of-your-set reading. Just ignore the goofy cover illustration.

4.The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Great story, funnier than you probably remember, and lots of great voices to try out. Even though I had to explain almost everything that was being allegorized (?) to the kids — who says “I’m in the doldrums” anymore? — they still loved it. It doesn’t hurt that we more or less own Tock now, too.

5.The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. I’ve heard the new movie is quite good, but I’m glad we read the story. Do you like Kipling? Well, how can you be sure, if you’ve never Kippled? I’m serious, try it. It’s not very Disney:

For three months after that night Mowgli hardly ever left the village gate, he was so busy learning the ways and customs of men. First he had to wear a cloth round him, which annoyed him horribly; and then he had to learn about money, which he did not in the least understand, and about plowing, of which he did not see the use. Then the little children in the village made him very angry. Luckily, the Law of the Jungle had taught him to keep his temper, for in the jungle life and food depend on keeping your temper; but when they made fun of him because he would not play games or fly kites, or because he mispronounced some word, only the knowledge that it was unsportsmanlike to kill little naked cubs kept him from picking them up and breaking them in two.

6.Jack Tales collected by Richard Chase. These are weird little folk stories from the Appalachians, written in dialect, more or less transcribed directly from the region’s storytellers. The kids love them because the hero, Jack, is lazy and kind of a jerk, but he always comes out on top anyway, through trickery or charm, or because someone feels sorry for him and helps him with magic. Lots of heads get hacked off, and there’s plenty of childish magic and satisfying comeuppance. Some of the stories are familiar (Jack and the Beanstalk), and some sound like they were made up by a lunatic.

7.Zlateh the Goat by Isaac Bashevis Singer. A collection of stories based on Jewish folktales. A few of them are a little alarming, some are nutty, and most of them are sweet. Try “The Mixed-Up Feet and the Silly Bridegroom.”  The pictures by Maurice Sendak are also exquisite. Here’s an excerpt from the title story, describing how a child survived a storm by nestling into a haystack with his beloved goat, whom he had set out to sell:

The snow fell for three days, though after the first day it was not as thick and the wind quieted down. Sometimes Aaron felt that there could never have been a summer, that the snow had always fallen, ever since he could remember. He, Aaron, never had a father or mother or sisters. He was a snow child, born of the snow, and so was Zlateh. It was so quiet in the hay that his ears rang in the stillness. Aaron and Zlateh slept all night and a good part of the day. As for Aaron’s dreams, they were all about warm weather. He dreamed of green fields, trees covered with blossoms, clear brooks, and singing birds. By the third night the snow had stopped, but Aaron did not dare to find his way home in the darkness. The sky became clear and the moon shone, casting silvery nets on the snow. Aaron dug his way out and looked at the world. It was all white, quiet, dreaming dreams of heavenly splendor. The stars were large and close. The moon swam in the sky as in a sea.

8.My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber. Try “The Dog that Bit People” or “Nine Needles.” Neurotic people and improbable events told deadpan, with no wasted words. Anyone who wants to learn to write should read Thurber and take him to heart, as soon as you catch your breath from laughing. (Warning: he’s not not the most racially sensitive writer known to mankind.)

9.James Herriot books You guys know I’m not a huge fan of heartwarming, life-affirming stuff, but I’ll make an exception for James Herriot, the country vet, who not only makes you feel better about humanity but is top notch at setting up a hilarious story.  These are good for reading aloud because they are very anecdotal, and must chapters stand alone pretty well.

10.P. G. Wodehouse stories. If you want quotable quotes, Wodehouse is your man. So funny, so somehow restorative. For kids, try “Goodbye to All Cats” which can be found in the large collection The Most of P. G. Wodehouse.

And now for books that I ordered just today, after people recommended them for years:

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace

The Westmark Trilogy by Lloyd Alexander

I’ll let you know how they go!

***

Photo “Reading to the Armstrong Kids” by Paul via Flickr (license)

If we want to argue that men and women are interchangeable, then there is no reason not to subject women to the draft. It’s just logical.

Even more logical? Abolish the draft.

Read the rest at the Register.

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Image via All Hands Magazine

You want to know real tragedy? Real tragedy is that, not too long ago, we had a used bathtub in our possession, and we brought it to the dump. We did not save it and make one of those spectacularly awful Mary on the Half-Shell shrines for our front yard.

Happily, my parents happened to have an old washing machine drum just hanging around unappreciated. Whenever I say, “Want to hear my stupid idea?” my husband says, “Yes,” almost like he means it. This time, here’s what it won him:

[img attachment=”108797″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”mary shrine” /]

Behold, my relentlessly Marian rock garden washer tub shrine thingy.

It . . . might need an upgrade. There are actually plenty of flowers in the back yard, and I could have found a nice spot for the statue there; but I really wanted our front yard to scream, “WARNING: HERE BE CATHOLICS.” So front yard it is. The two sad marigolds are the only flowers I happen to have; and the sticks behind, propping the statue up, I’m going to call a trellis. Please don’t argue. I’m feeling very fragile right now. Go fund me, why don’t you?

The drum has two giant rocks and a bunch of soil inside, and the statue is wedged inside a flower pot which is filled with soil; and there are more rocks holding it down, as you can see. And the, the, the trellis.

Between the overall classiness of the statue itself, the careful placement of the finest rocks, and the overall blinginess of the galvanized steel, I think I’ve achieved my first goal of grabbing eyeballs in a relentlessly Catholic way. Anyone who chooses to continue and enter our house will get exactly what they should certainly expect.

Now I need tips for how to achieve my second goal, to wit: making it look less like I hired a devout chimpanzee to put it together. What would you do? Roses? Sparklers? Dead doves?

My other issue is that this is the whitest indigenous Our Lady of Guadalupe I ever saw.

[img attachment=”108795″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”mary face” /]

Our Lady of Duxbury, Vt, reporting for duty, as soon as she finds some sunblock.

But when I was looking at statues (I had a credit to spend), I thought, “If we’re going to have a statue of Mary in the front of our house, I want people to notice it. I want the kids to remember it. And I want to remember, ‘Am I not your mother?'” So we went for gaudily evocative, if relentlessly Caucasian.

[img attachment=”108796″ align=”aligncenter” size=”medium” alt=”angel face” /]

Also, I await my trophy for not saying anything offensive to our Italian or Hispanic or French Canadian friends in regards to their lawn-decorating habits, because that would be wrong.

Am I not your blogger? Am I not?

Oh, you’re relentless! I’m sorry I asked.