Sometimes you find the most wonderful things on them!
I am soooooooo cool!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
In Defense of a Little Excess
Growing up, it wasn't officially Christmas until my mother warned us: "Look, it's going to have to be a lean Christmas this year." She said it every year from my way early youth well into my 20s.
But our Christmases were never lean. Nor were they particularly excessive. They were pretty good. I remember them as being full of wine and good food and getting dressed up and eagerly waiting for someone to open the present I got them
Nowadays, the annual dire pronouncements about Christmas from my mother have been replaced by the equally dire, equally annual media glut of warnings against the excess of Christmas. In one my parenting magazines, there was actually a suggestion about giving your children "hug coupons" for Christmas. Hug coupons! God.
I love Christmas. I love the lights and the music. Yesterday we hung Christmas bulbs on the leafless trees in front of our house, and I swear it's just the most cheerful thing in the world. Christmas is cheery. I get as giddy as a kid thinking about the present I found for Don. I can't WAIT to see the look on Laney's face when she walks downstairs on Christmas morning. Shoot, y'all, the expression "kid on Christmas" resonates for a reason.
Like a voice in the wilderness, I'm speaking out in favor of a little excess.
We spend the year aiming for abstemiousness. We practice the virtue of self-denial. Why not a few days, once a year, when we enjoy going a little overboard, drinking too much, eating too much, buying presents that people don't need, but will love to have.
Getting, as I like to say, a little Fezziwig!
Christmas with the Family
I say this without a drop of irony or sarcasm - I would love a Christmas Day like this. I think it looks like fun. I could also go on and on about how irritated I get by faux-redneck-ness that tries to claim that the essence of poor white folks in the south is willful insistence on being the stupidest motherfucker in the room (I'm talking to you Larry the Cable Guy who is FROM NEBRASKA). But instead, I think I'll just watch this video about real southern poor white folks and this Christmas that looks like a lot of fun.
Are you all starting to get the holiday glow? I am!
Are you all starting to get the holiday glow? I am!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Bloggin' on Break from Housecleaning
The basement no longer smells like dog pee. The living room is dusted, the rugs are vacuumed. The kitchen is... daunting.
So, a break:
I was thinking as I watched Rachel Maddow and cleaned things up that LaneyBon is sure to rebel in some way as she grows up. I've already narrowed down the three things she could cleave unto that would break my heart. To wit:
- Republican (obviously)
- Born again Christian
- White Sox fan.
But as I dusted and vacuumed I got to thinking.
- I love a LOT of White Sox fans. I mean, they make me crazy. But it's an affectionate sort of crazy. Besides, Barack Obama is a White Sox fan. So, that's not really so bad (Donbon would probably disagree).
- I also love a lot of Christians. And being a Christian isn't synonymous with being a dogmatic asshole. It's just that a lot of dogmatic assholes have seized the spotlight. So, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.
- Which leaves me with the biggie: Republican. But, think about it: with all due apologies (none are due) to jackholes like Bill Kristol, the 2008 presidential election portended the end of the Republican Party as it exists now. George Bush fucked up the country so badly that along with a good chunk of my 401K, he also killed identity politics. To which I can only say, smell ya later. So, by the time Laney is ready to rebel, who knows what the Republican party will be like? I think that better or worse, there's a good chance that Bill O'Reilly will be off-air and reduced to blogging (poor sap) by then.
Which leaves only one possibility: I have NO idea what form the rebellion (if any) will take.
And that's the scariest option of all.
So, a break:
I was thinking as I watched Rachel Maddow and cleaned things up that LaneyBon is sure to rebel in some way as she grows up. I've already narrowed down the three things she could cleave unto that would break my heart. To wit:
- Republican (obviously)
- Born again Christian
- White Sox fan.
But as I dusted and vacuumed I got to thinking.
- I love a LOT of White Sox fans. I mean, they make me crazy. But it's an affectionate sort of crazy. Besides, Barack Obama is a White Sox fan. So, that's not really so bad (Donbon would probably disagree).
- I also love a lot of Christians. And being a Christian isn't synonymous with being a dogmatic asshole. It's just that a lot of dogmatic assholes have seized the spotlight. So, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.
- Which leaves me with the biggie: Republican. But, think about it: with all due apologies (none are due) to jackholes like Bill Kristol, the 2008 presidential election portended the end of the Republican Party as it exists now. George Bush fucked up the country so badly that along with a good chunk of my 401K, he also killed identity politics. To which I can only say, smell ya later. So, by the time Laney is ready to rebel, who knows what the Republican party will be like? I think that better or worse, there's a good chance that Bill O'Reilly will be off-air and reduced to blogging (poor sap) by then.
Which leaves only one possibility: I have NO idea what form the rebellion (if any) will take.
And that's the scariest option of all.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Sarah Vowell
I spend a lot of time behind the wheel of a car. When I'm on my own, I love to listen to books on tape. Well, a book on tape: Middlemarch. For some strange reason, no one wants to listen to Middlemarch with me in the car! What is UP with that?
So for our recent trip to the O.B., I bought The Wordy Shipmates from iTunes (even though I'm becoming more and more certain that Apple is eeeeevvvviiilllll). This, I thought, would appeal equally to me and my history-loving hubby.
I loved it more. But I love Sarah Vowell. I love how meticulously researched and organized her books are at the same she maintains this off-the-cuff, breezy narrative (which is SO hard to do). I love the way she really gets to know the people she writes about, and forms thoughtful opinions about them. For example, I know she doesn't much like Roger Williams - but she loves him. I love the way she uses Happy Days to illuminate how our preconceptions about history reflect our own present. Seriously. I LOVE that.
Can you imagine what history lessons would have been like in high school if you'd learned about the Puritans from Sarah Vowell instead of some text book?
Quick anecdote:
I'm a senior in high school. I'm in IB (advanced) history. Our teacher decides to show off a little by reciting the preamble to the Constitution. She ends with "... and for our prosperity." A girl says, "Um, it says 'posterity' here." The teacher says "Oh. They must have changed it." Seriously.
And even had my history teacher been competent, I bet she wouldn't have used Sarah Vowell in 1987 (mostly because Sarah Vowell was in her own senior history class in 1987).
Anyhoo - the point of all this: I love Sarah Vowell.
Oh, Beyonce...
Beyonce has a new hit. She won't let me embed it here, so go watch it. I'll wait.
I call it: Oh, Beyonce, whither thou feminism?
Did you watch? What a sad, sad sexist idea in that super catchy song. It sounds like marriage is something men give women so that women will give them exclusive control over their bodies. And it's sad because in that equation he's begrudging about being married and she's begrudging about doin' it. And doin' it is fun! And being married can be a drag for her as well as him (I speak as a big fan of marriage, enjoying a happy one even as I write, but there are days... I mean, WHY can't he ever pick up his damn shoes at the end of the day? WHY?!?!)
On second thought, perhaps I've misinterpreted the whole song. When she says "If you liked it you should have put a ring on it" perhaps she's talking about her ass. Shoot, maybe she's talking about some other private ladybits. Is it possible that Beyonce is just heavily into obscured piercings and the fella of whom she speaks has a prudish aversion to them?
Regardless, now I have LL Cool J on the mind (as so often I do... I've had a crush on LL for almost as long as I've had a crush on Sting). Fortunately, LL doesn't have the same aversion to embedding that Beyonce does:
I call it: Oh, Beyonce, whither thou feminism?
Did you watch? What a sad, sad sexist idea in that super catchy song. It sounds like marriage is something men give women so that women will give them exclusive control over their bodies. And it's sad because in that equation he's begrudging about being married and she's begrudging about doin' it. And doin' it is fun! And being married can be a drag for her as well as him (I speak as a big fan of marriage, enjoying a happy one even as I write, but there are days... I mean, WHY can't he ever pick up his damn shoes at the end of the day? WHY?!?!)
On second thought, perhaps I've misinterpreted the whole song. When she says "If you liked it you should have put a ring on it" perhaps she's talking about her ass. Shoot, maybe she's talking about some other private ladybits. Is it possible that Beyonce is just heavily into obscured piercings and the fella of whom she speaks has a prudish aversion to them?
Regardless, now I have LL Cool J on the mind (as so often I do... I've had a crush on LL for almost as long as I've had a crush on Sting). Fortunately, LL doesn't have the same aversion to embedding that Beyonce does:
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