It feels almost as if the foundation of the house I live has just cracked. It may be no comfort now to his family and friends, but he was loved by millions, and will be remembered.
Yowsa! Dude, it's the internet. People can SEE you!
Susan @ #92
Victorian clothing didn't just emphasize the female form, it also exaggerated out of all proportion -- partly so that the actual form itself wouldn't be seen. Not logical, but then, fashion often isn't. That cloaking of form also included furniture (which, as someone who once spent WAY too much time cleaning upholstery, I still resent).
If they're up to integers, words can't be far behind. Bags I "a" and "the". Show me the money!
#28 - It's not likely: I don't think his English is up to par, let alone his French*.
*and yes, Harper's french is not good. But it's beginning to approach competence
I rocked my nephew to sleep tonight, thinking, "Never, never, never. Not you. Never."
I wonder how many millions thought the same thing? I wonder how many are thinking it now?
So very sorry to hear such sad news.
Here's wishing you all a little ease in the days ahead.
Is it just me, or does the 'down with immigrants' rally seem especially stupid when delivered by a non-first Nations person?
In my city, the bank machines offer a choice of four/five languages - and those languages change by neighborhood.
Wow.
I wonder how badly that 27 year CIA veteran is going to be smeared in the next few days.
To second Aconite, I've heard some truly excellent things - from the Federal Ministry level - about Bono's understanding of world economics (For a very, very brief overview, read Times Magazine's "Persons Of The Year" article about Bono and Bill & Melinda Gates).
"Smug, self-righteous and pompous" don't seem to come into it at all. Bono is well aware of the irony of a rich rock star talking about poverty. But you use what tools you have, and 'rock star charisma' can be a very powerful tool.
Shrink Lits - wow. I have a copy of that, um, buried somewhere...
The verse for ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND always cracked me up. It began: "Holed up with bunny/ pre-teen acts funny..."
I loved that book.
Jane wrote: "Most hardworking authors I know think that what they have just produced is hardly a patch on what was originally in their heads."
Very true. Then there's the crippling sense of self-doubt, the 'everything I write is slime-covered lizard droppings' stage. But... and it's a big but... at the same time, there's also the feeling that the story is absolutely original, utterly wonderful, and needs telling. The former is in the head, the latter in the heart (or possibly vice versa).
A strange contradiction to be sure, but thankfully, writers are used to impossible things.
The best and hardest-working authors I know tend to have the simultaneous understandings that:
A)their story is the Best Thing Ever and everyone will adore it; and
B)they are but small specks in a large world which owes them nothing, with as much (or little) chance of success as the person next in line.
Moreover, they don't see these attitudes as contradictory. Opposite, sure, but not mutally exclusive. Problems arise when one attitude is not leavened by other.
One of my part-time employees made a fairly decent Christmas mix (she was trying to get around my ban on Xmas music before December 15th). It contained among other bits a song called "Kidnap the Santa Claus", from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. Made me laugh every time.
It also had a lovely "Gaudete".
To combine some ideas broached by Ariella and Jennie: it always seemed to me that Harris' Common Sense Tories got into power by appealing to exactly that sense of annoyed superiority. The Tory's Red Book outlined a plan whereby the good, hardworking middle class would no longer be penalized for all the shiftless losers who were, let's face it, just scamming welfare. People thought, "Hey, I work hard - why should I pay for anyone who doesn't?" Mean-spirited and short-sighted, perhaps, but very appealing to that shallowly buried sense of ill-usage.
What Ontario got, of course, was a decimation of social, educational and health services. And was shocked to realize that the cuts and shortages wouldn't just happen to other people.
Overheard last night in class:
First woman. "You know, if Bush wins, it'll be better for our [Cdn] economy. If Kerry wins, it's better for the world. So it's no contest, really."
Second woman, nodding: "God, I hope Kerry wins"
All of us in the Great White North wish you luck. Because it'll be our luck too.
Funny thing about honour though: it has two ends. One you hold, and one you offer to the person or cause of your choice. Which suggests that honour can only be upheld if BOTH sides hold on. The minute one side lets go, honour becomes an elastic snapping back, and you just know someone's going to lose an eye.
I love the idea that honour is a line that will get you and your companions-in-arms over a blind and treacherous course... but only if you tether that honour to something solid. If your anchor lands in a endless void, you're going to fall.
Bujold had a wonderful line in CIVIL CAMPAIGN: "...the trouble with oaths of the form, 'death before dishonor', is that eventually, given enough time and abrasion, they separate the world into just two sorts of people: the dead, and the forsworn." But in daily life, I think there's a third option. Sometimes, releasing yourself from a promise that has become corrupted and meaningless (because the one receiving it is) is the more honourable course.
Or am I just talking crazy?
Chris
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2007 | 4 |
| 2006 | 6 |
| 2005 | 3 |
| 2004 | 4 |
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