April 2009
1 post
“Ha! Funny how Mencken’s exhortation for an increased commitment is so so...”
– That erroneous assumption is to the effort that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence… Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many...
October 2008
1 post
August 2008
2 posts
One of those days...
Spent the morning volunteering at the Katrina 3rd anniversary events. A memorial and burial of ten of the unclaimed bodies from Katrina (still!), sandwiched between 3-hour stints manning the City’s woefully understaffed 311 line, does not allow for optimism. Every day I find reasons to think “this would never happen in New York City” and, until now, my delight in those...
Dems v. Repubs (The PR Edition)
Number of attractive, minor daughters available for photo-ops, “Awwww”-inducements and kids-say-the-darndest-things type interviews: Dems: 2 Repubs: 4 Number of differently-abled children available for portraits of courage/heroism/bravery-in-the-face-of-adversity vignettes: Dems: 0 Repubs: 1 Number of strapping young boys serving in the armed forces—the better to refute the...
July 2008
1 post
“As Ray Porter watches Mirabelle walk away he feels a loss. How is it possible,...”
– The Narrator (Steve Martin) in Shopgirl
June 2008
4 posts
I’ve discovered (sort of by accident, sort...
Listen
Chasing my own tale
I just got out of a relationship with someone I really liked who, at the time, felt the same. The blame for the breakup rests squarely on my shoulders, so I haven’t had to deal with the question “Why?” , but, sneakily enough, the question has reformatted itself and is now wearing away at my carefully accumulated nonchalance with a “Why not?” Which is not to say that...
Summer seems like a bad time to start something new. It’s hot, sticky and all you want to do is strip to your undies, curl up and read. Well at least I do. So we’ll see how this goes.