1202 Even I'm not horrified

It's no secret I wish people would be a bit more careful about language, but even I'm not horrified by carefully placed, body parts scattered appropriately through a story, like this guy, Jaspan.

Hat tip Neo-neocon.

1201 When it all comes together at Lakeside

Poetry magazine doesn’t need my subscription dollars. In 2002 it received a $100 million grant from Ruth Lilly. Still, I enjoyed seeing the envelope fall out of the June 2005 issue that my friend Lynne sent me. So here’s a loosely woven group of threads about that particular gift.

1. The address on the envelope is

Poetry Foundation
PO Box 575
Mt Morris, IL 61054-9982

That’s my “home” town; I rode my tricycle on the sidewalks; graduated from the public schools; wandered the campus where my parents and grandparents had attended college; and was baptized and married there in the Church of the Brethren. It is a town that was birthed by education, built by the printing industry, crippled by a union strike, and kicked into the corner by a fire that virtually closed its schools. There is still a subscription agency there, but not a lot else.

2. The magazine, Poetry, was founded by Harriet Monroe in 1912. She nurtured a couple of generations of 20th century poets, maybe because she loved John Root, who didn’t marry her but married her sister. Poets were her legacy, not children. She is one of the sources used by Erik Larson in his book The Devil in the White City. John Root was a Chicago architect who helped plan the 1893 exposition, but died before it opened. Monroe wrote his biography, John Wellborn Root; a study of his life and work, 1896. I had never heard of Root or Monroe, but was reading the book when I opened the gift from Lynne from which the envelope fell.

3. Larson’s book may be only the second “true crime” book I’ve ever read (In Cold Blood was assigned in Library school), but I’m married to an architect and loved the architectural detail and how the author wove all the disparate pieces together. My grandmother attended the Exposition and I recall souvenirs of it in her home. And because Grandma was a thoroughly modern lady who began subscribing to Ladies Home Journal when she was 12, I’m betting I could find some of Monroe’s poems in her scrapbooks of clippings if I wanted to go back to Columbus and dig them out of storage.

4. I finished reading the book at Lakeside where I’m attending a lecture series on the Mind. The instructor had a model of the brain on the table, which she dismantled and described the details to us, including its weight. In the June 2005 issue of Poetry, there is a poem by Kathleen Halme III, “The Other Bank of the River.” The final thought is “Again I apologize for the three pound storm that is my brain and me.” Isn’t that a wonderful line?

5. Also in the June 2005 issue is an article by the poet Peter Campion (no, I’ve never heard of him either) complaining about poet bloggers--as one blogger called it, “an attack of the haves against the have nots.”

Isn’t it amazing how this all fits together?

1200 Buried alive

This story of Gitmo probably deserved a better placement, since so many people are concerned about the treatment of terrorists. JustOneMinute says it was p. A15.

1199 Desperate Dressing

For at least 30 years, I've been paying attention to how middle-aged women dress. Based on longevity, middle-age starts about age 35, and I'm figuring to stay here until about 70, when I'll be old for oh maybe 20 years, and old-old for another 5. Maybe. It's in my genes, you see. Either way, nobody gets out alive, and because I'm Lutheran, I don't even have to make a stop in Purgatory like Vox Lauri. Jesus offered me a deal I couldn't refuse.

Anyway, I'd been drafting a blog about the effect of the Desperate Housewives TV show on the appearance of mid-life babes. I've never actually watched an entire episode, but I get the drift, and I've noticed the clothing as I've clicked through and on to something, um, more uplifting. I think the show, I say in my draft essay, has really improved the way the ladies look, at least around here (summer vacation community). No more wrinkled shorts, dirty athletic shoes, and t-shirt from a lumber yard in Pennsylvania. Now it is trim cammies over tube tops or colored push up bras over little low slung skirts brushing the knee over the sweetest little sandals you'll ever see at the bottom of shaved legs. Really. I'm not kidding. I was so pleased to see women finally looking feminine again after, what, 25 or 30 years, I didn't even care if it was because of a smarmy, put down of that wonderful profession, housewivery, that created the demand. I'm not sure it is even the clothes, or their new sense that maybe there really is a gardener out there for them.

Then the New York Post came out with a story that really burst my bubble. I won't link to it, so sad, I don't want to be an ambulance chaser. Ladies in NY are apparently still tumbling out of their tight, dirty jeans and showing off their NVL undies. They should stay home and watch more TV. Ruined a perfectly good draft.

1198 Moscow Nights--ochen khorosho

Last night's program was Moscow Nights and Golden Gates Children. I thought incorrectly that they were immigrants, but they are visiting from Russia playing and singing Russian folk music. Lots of audience participation--even my husband ended up on stage smacking a tambourine.

Most of their concerts are in Ohio--I think they have 30 in one month. The costumes looked terribly hot, although delightful. We'd had a drop in temps with some rain and wind, fortunately.

1197 Unattended children will be sold

Shoe doesn't really mean it, but she'd like to announce it. She writes about unattended children in libraries. That wasn't a significant problem in an academic library where I worked from 1986-2000--although I did keep coloring books and crayons in my office for children of the occasional negligent parent who would lose herself in the stacks reading about nematodes or cryptorchidism.

1196 Borderline problem

I scored a 49 on this internet addiction quiz. That's end of the range for average. "You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage." Check yourself at Center for Online and Internet Addiction, just another site in pathologizing our fun!

Tip from Ilyka who's way beyond me.

1195 Stereotypical behaviors

Speaking of stereotypes, (we were weren’t we?) Ilyka Damen has a few choice words for feminists who are cranky that conservative women are blogging together at The Cotillion. It has always been annoying to me that feminists think only their sisters and daughters should be the judges or senators or CEOs, and apparently that has splashed over to blogging. If you think unborn babies are actually part of the human race, not a disposable scab on a woman’s body, or that capitalism is a force for good and not a pox on our flag, you are suspect of being anti-woman in many circles. She writes:

“Yes, some conservative women don't see anything to "gloat" about when it comes to sexual promiscuity. Yes, some conservative women like pearls and pumps. Yes, some conservative women do have copies of The Surrendered Wife at home. Yes, some conservative women have the awfully annoying habit of simultaneously reaping the rewards of feminism while denigrating the progressive women who blazed that trail for them in the first damn place. I'll back you up on that last particularly.

And some liberal women do have overgrown armpit hair and do wear no shoes but Birkenstocks and do smell horrid from bathing in environmentally-friendly "natural" products that don't contain any actual "soap" and do view men with suspicion and mistrust, if not actual loathing . . . but it wouldn't be very helpful of me to harp continually on that stereotype, so guess what? I don't.”

I get irritated that both groups of bloggers--liberal and conservative women who should have better vocabularies--think they need to write and sound like street walkers to get their point across. But oh well, isn’t that part of being included in the old boys club, and that‘s what they all really want? Male approval? Really, sometimes you just gotta move on for all the cursing and cussing and sexual topics. Hey, when you've spent your best career years in a veterinary library, you've heard enough of reproductive body parts! Even some Christian conservatives are potty mouths.

Or is it just that I’m old enough to be their grandmother? ‘Spose?

1194 The Unfiltered Library

Stop by Greg's site Shush [June 26]and learn all about pimps and hoes. So even if you watch what games your kids play at home, they can learn the economics and values of the underworld at the local public library. Sweet.

1193 Water and the brain

Before I forget what I learned in memory class today, let me tell you. Sally Kriska, the instructor, is a visual and physical learner/teacher, so she demonstrates some of her basic principles and she has us doing little memory exercises. To show us this morning the importance of water to our entire system, she asked for a volunteer from the class who had not yet had any water today (it was 11:30 a.m.). A gentleman using a cane came forward. Sally had him extend his arm while she exerted force to push it down. She had no problem. Then she gave him a glass of water, and he drank about 6 oz. I'd guess. Then he extended his arm and she could not push it down. Less than 30 seconds, and the water had affected his body that quickly. While this was going on a woman was adding teaspoons of sugar to a glass of ice tea to record how much sugar the average person takes in drinking and eating a typical American diet. It was truly appalling, even when you already knew it.

Yesterday she did the arm extension demo with a woman thinking sad and stressful thoughts, and then thinking powerful thoughts (I am woman hear me roar, etc.) Same thing. While thinking negative stressful thoughts, Sally could easily push her arm down, but by switching to positive thoughts, Sally couldn't move her arm.

We also did a "heads and shoulders, knees and toes" type thing to learn a healthful grocery list, starting with blueberries on our heads and tomatoes between our toes. Sally was a principal for 15 years and says that often when a child was having behavior problems, they learned the family didn't eat breakfast, and he might have a coke and chips for lunch. But apparently, the school breakfast programs aren't all that good either.

To stay awake during class or the sermon, eat the protein portion first, Sally told us. I did see someone sleeping during the class--she must have started the day with a hot, fresh cinnamon cake donut from the Patio Restaurant, which so far I've avoided.

1192 Burn Out!

Stop by and read what Elizabeth Elliot has to say about "burn out," but then promise to come back. She's a very wise lady who raised her child in the jungles of S.A. after being widowed.

But for some reason, maybe 5 years of retirement, I can't recall much "burn out" in my life. I'd like to say it's because I followed a plan like hers, but I think it was really that I have an extremely well-developed, or over-developed ability to say, "NO." Can you join this organization that will only take one more evening a month? NO. Would you take my turn for 3 weeks in the car pool? NO, but I'll do one day. Would you add this task force to the three you're already on? NO. Could you watch my kids for me while I go (do silly things I didn't believe in). NO. Would you "loan" me money. NO, but I'll give you what I can. Would you bake a cake for the fund raiser? NO, but I could do a pie. Would you walk down to the lake? NO, I'm blogging.

Many people can't say NO because they are afraid--of being disliked, of not being needed, or missing all the fun, of losing power. None of that mattered more to me than not being at peace (instead of in pieces). So, although I'd like to say with Elizabeth, it is the yoke of Christ, it isn't. It is the personality I was born with.

1191 Where do you cut costs?

A very frugal school teacher has left his alma mater a gift of over two million.

"Whitlowe R. Green, 88, died of cancer in 2002. He retired in 1983 from the Houston Independent School District, where he was making $28,000 a year as an economics teacher.. .[He] was so frugal that he bought expired meat and secondhand clothing left $2.1 million for his alma mater, Prairie View A&M -- the school's largest gift from a single donor." CNN story.

Everyone seems to "cut costs" in different ways. Here's my list of non-cuts.

Economically, it makes absolutely no sense for me to leave the house every morning at 6 a.m. and drive to a coffee shop. If you don't do this, you could exclaim, "But that costs you nearly $600 a year, when making it at home is about five cents a cup." Very true. But I read 2 or 3 newspapers, and see 4 or 5 people I know, chat with various folk, so as a social informational event, it's pretty cheap. Compare that $600 to a golf hobby, and you can see it is really pretty cheap.

We eat out about once a week--it's called our Friday night date. When my husband started his own business in 1994, this is one thing we cut for awhile, until we could see how our finances would be, but reinstated it quickly. Sure, I can fix the same thing at home for about $3.00 that costs us $30.00 at the pub, but again, it isn't food, it is R&R and time to focus on each other. It is also a line in the sand dividing the work week from the week-end, and when your office is in your home, you definitely need to keep this ritual (he also dressed for work each day, including a tie). About $1500 a year just to eat one meal. Ridiculous!

I could save about $400 a year if I stopped coloring my hair. That will come, but for now, I prefer to fool Mother Nature and the clerks who ask for ID when I request a senior discount. Brown hair turning gray is not pretty like a brunette turning gray (but prettier than a blonde or red head going gray--just a tip).

We usually get a glass of the house wine (red for the cardiovascular system) with Friday night dinner. I suggested to my husband that we just drink a glass of wine at home afterwards--saving Oh, maybe $500 a year (cheap wine), but he didn't go for that. Frugal, but not romantic.

We really don't need two cars now that my husband is retired. I suggested we get rid of his Explorer and keep my van, but since both cars are paid for (and he really likes his better than mine but his hurts my back). That would be a one time boost to the income, of say $6,000 (resale is the pits even on nice, well kept autos) plus a savings of maybe $300 a year in insurance and $200 in maintenance.

Pets are expensive. Kitty litter, cat food, vet bills, etc. I've not looked at the figures recently, but I think it is something like $6,000 over the life time of a cat, and more for a dog. If your daughter or neighbor won't stop by and look after the sweetie-pie when you're gone, you've got to add in huge boarding bills. But I'm not even going to think about that savings. Pets are good for all sorts of health benefits.

So you see, I could be saving and investing this to leave to our Alma Mater, The University of Illinois, but they didn't graduate any dummies, so we're spending wildly while we've got the chance.

1190 The Mind and Memory Class

Yesterday I went to Sally's Mind and Memory Class. It was very good. She's a great teacher--comes alive in front of a group. I think she used to teach theater. About twice as many people showed up as she had prepared for, but that often happens early in the season, early in the week. By Friday there will probably be only twenty or so.

Met Mary, an aspiring writer. They are everywhere, aren't they? She told me the basic idea of her novel. I gave her the same advice I'd give anyone my age--don't wait to be discovered, self-publish. Helen Santmyers don't come along often.

Off to the coffee shop and the morning news.

1189 Rove v. Durbin

"Why would the press ignore (for several days) a speech by an elected US Senator [Durbin] comparing American detention facilities to Nazi concentration camps on the Senate floor, while a minor speech by a White House staffer [Rove] to a state-level political action group drew immediate national attention?" Captain's Quarters
Yes, why indeed.

1188 The do not call list

I'd forgotten how effective that do not call list really is. Since we arrived around noon on Saturday the phone has rung about every two hours--and since we have no answering machine, we don't know what is happening when we're out for dinner, or walking along the lake front, or attending a program. I've been offered a subscription to the Toledo Blade, a summer resort vacation package, several new phone plans, a lower mortgage rate, and possibly waterproofing something, but I hung up too quickly. We never added this phone to the list--indeed, we may get rid of the land line altogether and just use the cell phone, as many do here. We're probably getting a huge share of the calls, since so many people's numbers are not accessible.

What is wrong with blogger.com today?

At one site I couldn't leave a comment because of "content." The objectional word was "32" in my e-mail address, so I used an old one that's a spam bucket. Another block was the word "mus" which I hadn't used, but I did use "must." So I changed that, then it objected to "the". I give up. No comments today.

I'd ask you if you're having trouble, but I probably wouldn't be able to get the comments.

1187 Abysmal savings rate

Jane Galt always has interesting things to say at her blog Asymmetrical Information. This one about the savings rate of the average American is very telling, not so much for what she writes, but her readers' comments. There were 71 comments when I read them. One person (a woman I presume) took a home equity loan to pay for her wedding. How's that for short sightedness? Or how about the one, "I used to be poor and now I'm in the upper 5% and want all the toys" (my paraphrase).

Like many sites, she is recommending Castle Coalition concerning that recent Supreme Court decision on eminent domain. It's the only decision I can recall being villified by both the right and the left.

1186 A Lakeside Wedding

This is a lovely spot to have a wedding--if you don't mind strangers gawking wearing bikinis and towels. After we parked our bikes yesterday and strolled along the lakefront, we noticed a photographer taking photos of a wedding party in front of the hotel--in the fountain! True, the temperature in Toledo was 98 yesterday so it was probably near 96 here when I saw them, but I sort of shuddered when I thought of the extra charge for cleaning those rented tuxes. But they did take off their shoes and socks and roll up the pant legs. Even the bride in a fabulously beaded gown was in the water.

The bridesmaids were wearing scarlet red gowns and the groomsmen all wore scarlet vests and ties. So what's a little water in a party that spectacular?

1185 Librarian unhappy with MSM

Bryan (Off the Wall) says he is a former systems analyst and lingerie salesman working as a reference librarian. So he knows the inside of a lot of topics. I thought his article on "Top 4 reasons I'm disgusted with the MSM" pretty much reflected my own thoughts (although I didn't have the specific articles to quote and he does). He cites: 1. Anonymous sources, 2. Overuse of "allegedly," 3. Repeated denials of bias, and 4. Inability to learn. To that I would add hostility to people of faith and snobbery. And all the media folk, left, right and center, seem to build stories on anecdotal evidence instead of taking the time to go the library and do some solid research.

1184 Spectacular Week One opening at Lakeside

Last night's program, Mark Nadler, was fabulous--even his publicist couldn't have prepared us. Such energy. In a tux and tails, and it was sooooo hot. I'll bet he lost 10 lbs. It's hard to explain what he does, but as a closing he sang 'S Wonderful (Gershwin) while he played Rhapsody in Blue. There was a reception after the show at the Hotel but we didn't go. We'd already had ice cream (Moose Tracks) at the new coffee shop. Of course, I could have passed on the dessert and just stood in line for 30 minutes to meet Mr. Nadler, but I knew I wouldn't. If you ever get the opportunity to see him perform, be sure to go. Lakeside Schedule here.

Looking through the weekly newspaper, I see Sally Kriska is going to offer a class on memory and aging called "Mind Matters." I might go. I knew Sally when we had kids in pre-school together and we were all members of First Community Church. No art classes this week that look good to me: glass painting; marionettes; rose soap petals (??); chair caning; 2 different stained glass classes; and scrapbooking for rookies. But Neil Glaser is doing a watercolor workshop on Tuesday evening only that we'll probably go to. We bought one of his paintings last summer. "Women Working out with Weights" is offered 3 mornings, but it looks like you need your own weights. That's not something I ordinarily travel with. This looks like it might be on-going, so if you're coming to Lakeside during one of the other weeks (there are 10 weeks in the season), bring along weights.

This morning we'll attend worship overlooking the lake. I'm not particularly fond of informal, happy, clappy church, but in a camp-like setting with sea gulls and bugs, it is just perfect for praising God.

I'm heading out to watch a sunrise over Lake Erie and get a fabulous cup of coffee at the new coffee shop.