hats: a small part of what saturday held

stage, set, match

after going to see August, Osage County last night (belated v-tines day piggybacked onto the celebration of irishness), we stepped out to this view:

in between the theaters on 45th st. After being transported to a small town in oklahoma and spending 3+ hrs in the home of a family that epitomizes the idea of dysfunction, it was an interesting and welcome juxtaposition. The play contains one of the more hysterically vicious characters I've ever come across and seems to suggest that even though offspring often try their best to rail against and distance themselves from the things in their parents they like least, in times of crisis we can't help but become a resting place for those very same qualities. And then we flee. And then we flee. And then we

There's a lot of other stuff to chew, but I need to clean and pretend I'm not lazy.

If you've spent the time to read this, check out the book that's just come out from Flying Guillotine: http://flyingguillotinepress.blogspot.com. Maybe even consider buying a copy so that Sommer and I can make more books!

winter tempermental

so my head's full of fuzz today. i want to be able to accomplish all of the things i'm supposed to accomplish. yesterday i listened to a woman talk about the american state being dumbed down, but her talk was full of holes and her mouth was full of words with holes in them and her mouth made me feel like my head was full of fuzz and her voice was kind of similar to a talking fireplace that doesn't know its burning. looking at one thing and not seeing one's way all the way around it makes for animosity in me.

tomorrow my students will be carrying handsized objects into class that carry some kind of value for them. i hope it's important junk. all of our junk is important, o maybe not, but a lot of it is much more important than what that woman said. and a mixed metaphor has nothing at all to do with how simply a politician speaks to his or her audience, dammit.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=49328288&sc=emaf

if you choose to listen to this, be forewarned that she's grating and her methods are fairly sloppy. it's a valid concern, i believe--to take issue with the sinking level of american intellectualism, but to carry a voice that is this addled with infallibility, she should be required to create an argument that isn't so gap filled. what's the difference between using the term 'folks' and saying that a politician is having a 'chat' with the populace? in both cases it's posturing to draw a closer circle between the listener and the perosn addressing the listener, unless i'm missing something. and visual literacy is going to be, has already become, an integral facet of our daily existence. nevermind the information about email and distraction...if you listen let me know what you think.

my head is full of fuzz, so this is probably pretty fuzzy too...