Bruce Baugh - William Gibson said "The street has its own uses for technology," probably what you were going for. Felt sure someone'd beat me to that one.
In re: the subway poet. I hope it wasn't the "Published poet sells his work" guy. He would sit around town, sometimes in Washington Square and sometimes in the subway, most recently West 4th (downstairs, F/V). He'd sit behind his makeshift desk and talk to people. If he got bored, he'd stroll around and spout off his work. Very bad. Especially late at night. Especially when I was drunk.
Ken, I think John's point (not to put words in his mouth) is that work done at the national level is quite often difficult to apply to individual schools which are primarily influenced by local politics.
(John said: it seems to me that the federal government is very badly positioned to know what will and won't work in any given local or state school system. )
Cur (you said it not me):
Like you said, you only read one. Unfortunately it's one I haven't read, so I won't dispute you directly on that.
However, having read a little GG Marquez, I must say that I prefer King's truth. Love in the Time of Cholera was good, very good, but I felt alienated by it. Greater minds can discuss the differences in language and culture.
I found a little book while browsing up in Maine, and I wish I could remember the title. It was a kind of manifesto against the writing styles of a few of today's so-called literary giants. Delillo was one, I believe. The author did such a wonderful job of examining/deconstructing the prose, showing that lines of text could deliver very little content.
I don't mean to put GGM or Tolstoy or anyone else in this "group." It just struck a chord with me. While it could be argued that SK could edit just a tiny bit from the final draft, none of his writing ever seems superfluous. He may go into great detail in describing, say, a smoke-induced hallucination. But each detail rings true to me. It's a kind of noble simplicity.
I worry that I've not made my case. "Simplicity" might be taken to mean "simple." A better-read Delillo or Marquez fan could chime in. But for me, Stephen King is pure gold. Sorry you haven't experienced that.
Kim, did you mean Wednesday and Shadow? Or am I missing the reference? (I saw you listed Gaiman.)
Incidentally, when you google literature, character, Friday and Shadow (without quotes) the first hit is a list of OSC's works. Weird.
From Merriam Webster Online:
Main Entry: (2)jury
Function: adjective
Etymology: origin unknown
: improvised for temporary use especially in an emergency
And they didn't have jerry-rig at all.
Huh.
CHip and Emmet, thanks for your ideas. Once again, I find myself saying, "Let's just pull out that OED," and then remembering I don't have one. :( Ooh! I have the internet! Yay!
Great speech. Although someone should tell the NBA transcriber that there's a difference between jury rigging (like in an Alec Baldwin movie) and jerry [gerry?] rigging something (like Germans in World War II).
More power to the folks like Xopher who want to f*** with the authorities (I'm just now wondering what could be made of my LOTR tattoo, which always gets mistaken for something Arabic). Just as long as you're American citizens. Otherwise, you could end up as makinglight's new correspondents in Gitmo.
My friend's bad kitty would have to write:
I will not nuzzle my human's boyfriend *there*, especially not during the sex act.
For those anti-registration-types out there:
user: jeffyjeffy
pass: oranges
It would be great if the assistant documented the entire process on video. On network news (at least the network news I've seen in NYC) a story like this would be served up as a curiosity, a side show piece. A well-made documentary would go a long way towards increasing awareness & support for hoarders and those who want to help them.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2004 | 9 |
| 2003 | 7 |
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