348 I feel like such a slug

On the internet, it is easy to forget how you got to a particular blog or website, but just now I bumped into "All my light bulbs". The author is recovering from brain surgery and posted a list of 11 things she wanted to accomplish while recuperating. They run the gamut from learning Italian, to reading Rule of Four (I think that's how I wandered into her space looking at reviews of that book), to finishing some crochet projects (I haven't crocheted since I was 8) to writing an inspirational book about her experience.

347 He said, She said

The June 1 New York Times reported that Katherine L. Milkman, a senior at Princeton, used mathematical models in her senior thesis to analyze the fiction in The New Yorker. She read “442 stories printed in The New Yorker from Oct. 5, 1992, to Sept. 17, 2001, and built a substantial database. She then constructed a series of rococo mathematical tests to discern, among other things, whether certain fiction editors at the magazine had a specific impact on the type of fiction that was published, the sex of authors and the race of characters. The study was long on statistics and short on epiphanies: one main conclusion was that male editors generally publish male authors who write about male characters who are supported by female characters.” Full story here(requires registration).

I thought this was very interesting, considering my recent rant about how unhappy I am with my subscription to The New Yorker. I don't know how to do statistical analysis but I've noticed the different writing styles in the investment & markets section of the Wall Street Journal between women and men and the stories they are assigned. The males writers are much more idiomatic, particularly in the opening paragraphs, using idioms from gambling, agriculture, sports, horse racing and betting, war, and violence, and the women write much more straight forward, factual pieces. I have no idea why, except I would assume women don't use those idioms in normal, everyday speech, and therefore their writing style is less interesting to men, who are probably the editors assigning the tasks, and the majority of the readers. The idioms give the male style a more gossipy, tipster tone; the female style is sort of dull and school-marmish.

Male writer
“making with big bets”
“ramping up”
“capture a bigger share”
“grease the palms”
“stream of abuses”
“money on the table”
“raising their game”
“blowout data”
“exit velocity”
“road show meeting”
“bidding war”
“bit the bullet”
“took the reins”
“pushing costs down, not a slope, but over a cliff”
Stocks and markets, of course, rebound, boost, rally, plunge, surge, retreat, advance and weaken

Female writer
straight forward, non-idiomatic language
Uses idioms in quotes, usually from men

Male and Female co-authors
some idioms, but non-typical
“dipped into the talent pool”

I'm sure someone has written a senior thesis on this topic, analyzing a huge amount of data and comes to the same conclusion I have.

346 Don't leave the house!

When I got ready to scrape wallpaper today, I decided that instead of my 23 year old cotton slacks and a mismatched $1 t-shirt, I'd wear one of my exercise outfits--a brilliant red, fuscia, orange and lime green stretchy pair of capri pants and a red polo shirt. My, I look fine. And the work is much, much easier. But my husband suggested that I not leave the house.

If I hang on to those cotton slacks another 7 years, maybe I can sell them at Rusty Zipper.

345 Back to the Drawing Board

We finally got an estimate on painting my office, half-bath, and the guest room--over $3,800! When I recovered from the shock, I began looking for another estimate. Our deceased neighbor's daughter stopped by to inquire about something, and I knew they had removed wallpaper and painted the condo to put it on the market. She gave me the name of the painter who they were quite pleased with, so I've given him a call and will get another estimate. In the meanwhile, I've started stripping the wallpaper in the office. He mentioned that he would charge $20/hour for that task, so since I have enough talent to pull wallpaper from the wall, I thought I could at lease get started on that. Also, it will give him an idea of the repair that will need to be done.

When we purchased our condo, the office was the lightest, cheeriest room in the house because all the other rooms were so dark. Now that we've lightened up the rest of it, this room looks awfully dark. Taking out all the books and moving the desk will definitely be no fun.

I put a CD on while working, "The Good Life" by Max McLean. He has a voice of silk dipped in honey. I usually don't find audio versions of scripture very satisfying because after a few paragraphs the words all sound alike, but he is different. Listen here for a minute or three.

344 Home Again

The Lake was cool and rainy, but with just enough sun that my husband successfully painted our cottage. The man amazes me--he has a plan, he does it. This is the fourth time since we purchased it in the late 80s that he has painted our "mauveless" cottage.

I too had a plan--packed all my watercolor supplies, even bought a fresh role of masking tape, several issues of American Artist, and never even unpacked the bag. On Friday and Saturday I visited all the yard sales--there must have been 20 or so within walking distance of our house.

The children at Lakeside seem to grow up like frames in time lapse photography. We see them only a few weeks of the summer. The toddlers we saw the summer of 1988 (seems like yesterday) walking to the kiddie pool with their mom, are now in college and bringing girlfriends along. But some of the elderly seem to never change--just move slightly slower. Our neighbor Les has been a retired Methodist minister the entire time we've known him, and is still playing golf and acting as a supply preacher from time to time, marrying and burying.

We had the opportunity to meet and have breakfast with the photographer, Rob Karosis, who was in town to photograph one of my husband's house designs, "The Healthy House," which will be in a forthcoming book by M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman, architects and authors of books about houses. He will probably take the rest of the year to photograph all the houses (I think the focus is on vacation cottages built recently) so I wouldn't expect the new book until 2005.

The opening program Saturday evening at the auditorium was Sounds of Sousa, always fun, but we left at intermission--it had been a long day.

343 The Failures of PBS's Colonial House

After Jeff Wyers and his family left the village, there wasn't much point in watching, since he seemed to be the only one who really caught the flavor of the 17th century life. Thank goodness for Jack Lecza, the treasurer sent by the venture capitalists, or the colony would have imploded. But I stayed with it--perhaps the only reality show I've ever watched with any interest.

It was so frustrating to see what was filmed and talked about, and know what wasn't. I would have much preferred to see a more complete routine of how hard the women worked to prepare meals than to hear the constant whining of Michelle Rossi-Vorhees. I'm sure she would have been much more impressive as a hard working provider than a pouting church/state activist. If she knew she was an atheist, or agnostic, before hand, why sign up for a religious settlement where you've agreed to abide by the rules?

I would have liked to see what the indentured servant Jonathon actually did to earn back his financed passage, rather than hear about his 21st century homosexuality which just had to be blathered about to millions of watchers who really didn't care. Would you take your young children to a public meeting to hear that? Probably not. But that was his coming out party--the Sabbath Meeting of the colony. How phoney and self-aggrandizing. And how manipulative of PBS.

And in the summary, post-colony scenes, why not more information on the families and servants who arrived as replacements, like the Verdecia family? One shot of people stepping into the shower would have been sufficient.

The voice-over lady. Where did she get her facts? Off a web site built by a junior high school social studies class? It isn't true there were no free blacks in 17th century America. It isn't true that 10,000,000 Africans were enslaved in America (no one knows how many were captured in Africa, shipped and died en route, but overwhelmingly they arrived in the islands and South America to work in sugar plantations). If 90% of all Native Americans died of diseases brought by the Europeans, I don't think there would have been enough left to trade with or fight with.

I'm sure the group who lived this six weeks in Maine with no modern conveniences learned something. I just wish the rest of us could have been let in on the fun.

One comment about the women's appearance: they looked terrific, dirty or not, during the filming and their complexions bloomed. They looked so artificial in the post-production scenes covered with make-up.

342 Two of Too

Two top people are leaving Too Inc. according to today's paper (this is almost a tongue twister). The usual "family issues" are cited as the reason, but an analyst suggests that the anticipated turn around was slower than expected. Too Inc. is a spin off of Limited Brands which also owns Victoria's Secret, but the products are marketed to little girls.

Maybe the guys' daughters were growing up and they took a look at what they were selling to little girls so they could dress and look as trampy as their older sisters. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the "family issue" was an attack of old fashioned modesty and morality?

341 Bill Cosby's Comments

I couldn't have made it through my children's teen-age years without the TV Huxtable family, the pediatrician and lawyer raising five kids and later, some grand children. I still love them on Nick at Night.

Now Bill Cosby's in trouble with the media and some Black organizations for pointing out some obvious failures in the Black community in the post Brown vs. Board of Education world. Shoot the messenger; it wouldn't be the first time.

However, I think Bill should come to my neighborhood and get an earful and eyeful of the white middleclass students I overhear in the mornings at Panera's. They have difficulty making it through a brief sentence without numerous inputs of "like." Like I don't know like how they can like even like keep track of like what's like going on. I think it is a new form of stuttering.

340 The father?

OSUToday, May 21, reports that Ohio State University is starting a vacation donation plan whereby employees can donate some of their leave to others. This had been possible for sick leave for some time. And it makes sense because vacation leave maxes out at a certain number of days and if you don't take it, you lose it. But the wording about fathers is certainly odd:

The vacation donation program, which will go into effect on June 1, will allow faculty and staff to donate vacation hours to other employees within their colleges or vice presidential units. The hours may be used during approved unpaid leaves for reasons such as life-threatening or terminal illnesses. . . The benefit will provide birth mothers with six weeks of full pay and biological fathers, partners and adoptive parents three weeks of full pay.

It sounds as though if the unmarried, or married, birth mother or adoptive mother, knows who the biological dad is, he gets 3 weeks of full pay. No word on whether or not he is doing any hands-on fathering, other than donating sperm. And although I assume this is for bonding to benefit the child, the adoptive mother gets only 3 weeks, but the birth mother gets 6. Call me crazy, but it is the adoptive mother who needs a little extra time for the bonding process, unless 2 years of fertility testing, paper work, trips to Russia and run arounds by birth mothers advertising in the want-ads are considered part of the bonding experience. And what about the birth mother who placed the baby for adoption? Can she get 6 weeks of donated vacation time to recover physically and emotionally? I hope they've worded this very carefully, because the news item certainly has loop-holes.

339 Did these interviews and conversations really happen

or is it the author’s way to get her message out? Peggy Noonan in a Wall Street Journal article May 20 (here with free sign-up) records a conversation with a suburban, female fence sitter--sometimes she votes Republican, sometimes Democrat, and she appears to be luke-warm on Dubya. This voter, whom Noonan calls Anna, was very influenced by the era in which she became an adult--when Vietnam protests were flooding the news. She doesn’t believe any war is worthwhile, unless maybe the enemy were invading Long Island, then perhaps we should fight. (I’m thinking, Are there voters that naïve?) I don’t know. Perhaps there was a real conversation, or perhaps Noonan has created a composite to get her point across. I learned at a recent writer’s conference that this is not considered unethical in memoir and non-fiction writing.

Based on Anna’s politics, which include musings on her adult children and grandchildren, Ms. Noonan concludes:

“If I were George W. Bush I might be thinking that down the road but not too far down, it might be a good idea to start making clear two things. One, why I am indispensable--a delicate thing to communicate, but something re-elected incumbents always have to get across sooner or later. "I am leading us in the right direction and my work is just begun." And the other is to make the case that a Kerry presidency would not be a lunge toward greater stability, that it would not be a "return to normalcy," that Mr. Kerry wouldn't right things but make them worse, bringing more trouble.

A one-two punch: If you stand with me, I'll get the peace and prosperity we seek; and if you go for him it will make the world less safe and the country less healthy.”

Couldn’t she find a Republican to interview who wants George W. Bush to return to traditional conservative, fiscally responsible policies instead of spending money like a drunken Democrat? That might make some waffling Republicans take notice. After all, I have opinions about my neighborhood and my adult children she could work into the story.

338 Good-bye Lennie

I watched the final episode of Law and Order Wednesday night, the episode in which Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) says good-bye and leaves his position at the 27th precinct (and the show). It may be the only episode I’ve ever seen first run, even though we’ve been watching reruns about 10 years. He’s been on the show 12 of the 14 years. After 12 years of service, I think they could have written a better story about his retirement. When I retired, I had 5 parties. I’m not exactly addicted to Law and Order, but I think I average one a day.

337 Co-ed military

Even if you wouldn’t usually read Cal Thomas, his May 18 column is worth taking a look at in light of recent break down in authority in Iraq.

I was a little puzzled however, by Thomas’ recollection of his years in the military in the 1960s. He says he didn’t see alcoholism or adultery in his unit, and the one incident he heard about resulted in a court marshall.

My father was a Marine in the 1940s, and I know from the letters he wrote home he was distressed over the terrible behavior of some of his comrades, many of whom were 15 years younger than him, but married. There are probably many reasons not to have women and men sharing quarters in the military, but the former stellar behavior of male soldiers isn’t one of them

336 Kerry or Bush--who's misquoted the most?

On my blogroll, I link to The Volokh Conspiracy, a group blog of 13 lawyers. Eugene Volokh is a professor at UCLA School of Law. I looked back and see the index goes back to April 2002, where I found this, "ETYMOLOGY. Little-known fact: The word "politics" comes from the prefix "poly-," meaning "many," and the root "ticks," meaning "bloodsucking insects."

I take a peek at this blog from time to time, often having no idea what these lawyers are chatting about. But yesterday's was different.

Slate.com is running a column alled “Kerryisms,” in which Slate.com attempts to translate John Kerry into plain English by removing pompous and evasive expressions. I can only assume that these quotes then get passed around the Internet, with quotation marks, to various pundits, some pro-Kerry, some anti-Kerry. At Volokh Conspiracy on May 19 there is a running dissection of what Slate.com is attempting to do, and how the “translation” changes Kerry’s intent. One brief paragraph about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners had 20 footnotes of deletions. There is also comment on how another source changed Kerry's statement about the Bill of Rights and gay marriage in an attempt to clarify and translate his awkward statement.

Eugene Volokh concludes: “Finally, I express no opinion on whether Kerry is indeed often pompous or evasive, or engages in pointless embellishment. I also can't speak to how Kerry's statement here came across orally — maybe his delivery was lousy, even if the text was fine. I say only that this is a pretty poor example of what Slate is seemingly trying to prove. And it bodes ill for this column.”

Let’s face it. Neither of these guys can speak as well as Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton, and it’s like nailing Jell-o to a wall to figure them out most of the time. All the same, we should eye so-called quotations with care.

335 Under construction.

I've made a sign for the bathroom, "Under construction" and have taped three wallpaper samples to the wall--all with cats. I think my favorite is the cat lying on a shelf of books. All the books have cat-type titles, there is a stuffed mouse, and a slip of paper under one of the books reads, "to purr or not to purr." All the samples are in green tones because I don't want to replace the carpeting.

Removing wallpaper in a small bathroom is no small feat. When I removed the fan cover (oh yuck look at all that dirt!) I lost the screw, which was enormous. Retracing my steps, I remembered my husband came in just as I pulled down the cover, and then it was gone. I climbed down from the ladder to hear his story about seeing Susan's garden, how wonderful it was, and then visiting her neighbor's garden. Then I looked around and the screw was gone, although the fan cover and screw driver were still in my hand. I checked my pockets, behind the toilet, in the murky, pastey water, and in my pockets again. No screw.

I checked the plastic bag with all the wet, gooey strips of wallpaper. Nothing. I kept wiping and scraping. Where is that silly screw? I took the bag outside and went through it two more times. No screw. Since I had been tossing scraps into the bag, I was sure I had probably done that automatically when I was interrupted. Finally, I took the bag outside again, with another bag, and transferred each sticky scrap of wallpaper into the other bag. Finally, I found the screw in the bottom of the bag, inside a folded corner.

I'm having a dinner party Friday night. I'm sure the bathroom will be a topic of conversation.

334 Walking off the carbs

I saw two women walkers at Panera's this morning wearing reflective vests over their exercise outfits. I hope they were at the end of the exercise routine and not the beginning. Two large coffees and two huge sacks of bagels, brownies and bear claws could slow a woman down. And I think that was a women's track team--about 16 of them--sitting next to me. I've heard Panera's stock is dipping due to the low carb craze, but around here it seems to be the place to stop after exercise.

333 Solving problems or Making art, do we have to choose?

The June issue of American Artist has two short pieces reflecting on the American art scene. In one, the editor comments that he had the opportunity to talk to an art student who had been assigned problems to solve with his art--his assignments were to "comment on a social situation, to juxtapose two views of the same object, to create a three-dimensional self-portrait, and to use children's toys to express and idea." (p. 4) At no time did the teachers seemed concerned with the artist's understanding of colors, values, shapes, or textures--that which allows the rest of us to participate in the art work.

Then on p. 12 there is a well-illustrated short item about the Bridgeview School of Fine Art in Long Island City, NY, offering training modeled on the 19th century European or American art schools. Bridgeview's founders provide a rigorous program in drawing, painting, and sculpture for both adults and older children. The founders and faculty were all trained in the former Soviet Union. The web site is http://www.academicart.com.

332 Pie Oh My

Imagine my shock and awe when I opened the refrigerator fruit drawer and saw a huge stack of rhubarb! Now, indeed, I had purchased it, but had forgotten it. So after supper I dug around and found my Granddaughter's Inglenook Cookbook for no nonsense ingredients. While shooing the cat out of the pantry I spilled about a cup of sugar. Then I took a deep breath and went into my office and turned on the Totally Acappella Christian Radio on my computer for some soothing music. The pie is now safely in the freezer--forgot a few things, but nothing serious, if I cover it up with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, no one will ever know. The music is nice.

331 Jobs rebounding here

The paper was a bit thin, so I glanced at the want ads to see if they were reflecting the "good news" of the recovery. Here's what I saw

collision repair
masons
cabinet maker
CAD/CAM programmer
carpenter
painters
concrete finishers (many listings)
die cutter
back hoe operator
drywall
electricians
framers
gutter installers
HVAC
patio room installers
irrigation tech
michanic--brakes
OTR drivers (many)
manager-retail
sales--automotive, route, wireless, construction
programmer
dental assistant (many)
chiropractic assistant
EMT
internist--cardiology
medical billing
medical office manager
pharmacist
English teacher
PT
physician
respiratory therapist
grounds mangers
mobile home park manager
warehouse

I know the science librarian position is still open at Ohio State, which doesn't usually advertise in the want ads. Doesn't pay too great--probably not as much as the back hoe operator or the concrete finisher.

330 Oh honey--go home and get dressed!

When women my age were teen-agers in the 1950s we liked to wear low-slung Levi's and tie our blouses in the front to expose a little tummy. Sounds just like today, doesn't it? However, that was for parties with the girls or school picnics. If we'd shown up in school that way, we would have been sent home. I don't recall "dress slacks" as an in-public outfit until the late 1960s or early 1970s, when we women desperately needed something to cover us when the mini-skirt fad started.

But when I was a teen in jeans and quasi-halter top, my mother and grandmothers were in dresses. Not today! I see older, matronly women in the coffee shop in the morning that I just pray are going to the gym or exercise club and not work. Hair looks good, make-up applied, fashionable purse, tights and baggy t-shirt that don't begin to cover the belly rolls and bursting flesh that the undergarments can't corral and control.

But modesty is making a comeback. Quite by accident I came across a clothing apparel website for Lydia of Purple, a Christian seamstress. It seems the homeschooling movement has created some demand for dresses that cover and flatter rather than reveal and insult. They do sewing, custom made clothes for home schoolers and conservative religious groups like Amish and Mennonites. I browsed through some of the patterns, and some look pretty good. Gathered waist, full or A-line skirts, pleated bodice, elbow length or long sleeves, higher necks. Similar to some of the dress patterns I have from about 1965. They will make a pattern for you, you can send the material, or make it yourself, I think.

329 Cicadas

We're hearing a lot about these bugs, and soon we'll be hearing from them. The "buzz" is supposed to be about 90 decibels. I wonder what the decibel rating is for the new rock music service at our church? Higher I'm guessing, because I can hear it in a classroom across the Narthex with all the doors closed.

The Ohio State Extension reports with a map and further details:

Periodical cicadas emerge in specific locations once every 17 years in the northern part of their range, and once every 13 years in the southern part. Different groups called "broods" emerge somewhere in the eastern United States almost every spring. Massive brood emergence is believed to overwhelm predators, which are mostly birds. This ensures that enough survivors will be left behind to reproduce. Male cicadas are capable of making a loud buzzing noise and squawk when disturbed. The males often synchronize their buzzing in trees which produces a deafening noise. It is believed that such droning and squawking is effective in deterring predators.

The "dog-day" cicadas we hear in late July and early August are different than the 17 year variety.