So this is what’s going to happen next week:
A few days back, a regular reader and sometime commenter who goes by the name of Mr. Mark sent me an email after I’d mentioned a column I wrote back in the day. He said he had a pretty big file of my old newspaper columns, which he’d saved when he was reading me in the paper (or on the paper’s website) at the dawn of the decade — roughly 2001-2003, when I left on a sabbatical fellowship. What’s more, it was all in .doc format.
Generally speaking, I despise 90 percent of what I write, especially the stuff I wrote for the paper, because…well, a lot of reasons. Mostly I’m just sick of newspaper columns in general, with their calcified structure: Open with anecdote, tie it to larger point, state your position, respectfully acknowledge opposition, regretfully disagree, finish, hit the bar. (That’s the columnists lucky enough to have freedom to state a point of view, I should add, a fast-shrinking group. Lots of editors think columnists should basically be feature writers who get a picture with their byline, and shrink from the personal pronoun. “Who cares what you think? Who made you such an authority?” they might ask at the Christmas party, to which the writer might reply, you did.)
I wasn’t immune to this. Once you learn it, it’s easy, like outlining a romantic comedy. The fact others find it difficult doesn’t make it a rare and valuable skill (unless you’re Mitch Albom), only an obscure one. But never mind that.
When I was writing my column, I only had to go through my own work product once a year, at contest time. A detail I recall from a many-years-past, great WashPost profile of the author of “Mandingo” was that he refused to self-edit in any way. “Do you expect me to return to my own vomit?” he would ask his son, who did the chore instead. I totally get that. Totally. It was agonizing, and going through this file kept by Mark wasn’t that much easier, but what the hell, it came at the right time. In lieu of new material while I’m on vacation, how about some really old material that’s still new to most of you — five of my old newspaper columns?
I know, I know: Curb your enthusiasm!
I’ll run them Monday through Friday next week, and they’re all loaded up, ready to go with WordPress’ scheduling feature set to release them at 12:05 a.m. (In fact, I’m writing this a few days early, so I can check out that very feature and fix it, if need be.) I’ve put notes on them explaining background when necessary, and you’re free to talk about them or, as usual, whatever else you want, in comments. I’ll read them all when I have internet access, which will be intermittently through the week.
I guess this brings up matters of copyright, and I have thunk on that a bit. I’ve decided to plunge ahead and use them without permission, mainly because, a) I’m busy this week and don’t want to call or write the new publisher and get ensnared in what likely will be a knee-jerk “no;” b) while I assume the purchase price of the paper included its archive, I can’t be sure; and c) it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. That’ll have to do. In any event, I’ll note here that the next five days of material probably belongs to The News-Sentinel, an Ogden Newspapers property of Fort Wayne, Indiana. I’m sure if the owners of the Pittsburgh Pirates thought they could squeeze a nickel out of my decade-old work, they’d have done it by now.
So. Have a great week, all. I’ll be in and out, most likely, but I’m warned to expect half-a-bar cell coverage and very little 3G, and besides, I need a break. I’m concentrating on reading, writing something other than this and seeing all the Upper Peninsula has to offer. I hope it’s not snow. Enjoy the wayback machine, and I’ll be back on the 22nd.
Dexter said on August 12, 2011 at 2:39 am
I for one always love a time machine, especially the 1960 model, the handsome steampunk model used by Rod Taylor’s character to zoom through time.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~paulcook/the_time_machine_large_01.jpg
I’ll enjoy the journey to the center of Fort Wayne, to Main Street, the printers ink smell wafting up from the screen…and if I am lucky and the wind is blowing just right maybe I’ll get a whiff of Fort Wayne’s Famous Coney Islands or maybe even the old bread bakery / factory on Main.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38117207@N03/5294662506/in/set-72157622757760351
I’ll enjoy.
Au Train Bay. Beach’s hot sand will fry your bare feet and the Lake Superior waters will stop your heart. Some nice vistas on the way to Marquette. Bob Seeger’s “Fire Lake” can be found south of Au Train Bay, but ya gotta look really hard. And I am not sure if this one is even the “real one”.
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Sue said on August 12, 2011 at 7:33 am
Have fun in the Yoop.
edit: sorry, that would be ‘da’ Yoop. I’m not awake yet.
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Connie said on August 12, 2011 at 8:03 am
UP! Be sure and give us your opinion on the great pasty debate: catsup or gravy?
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Judybusy said on August 12, 2011 at 9:21 am
Enjoy! I have the greatest confidence we can carry on here. Dive into your reading and writing and spending time with your family!
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adrianne said on August 12, 2011 at 9:50 am
Summer reruns of Telling Tales? Bring it, I say!
Have a good time in the Yoop.
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MichaelG said on August 12, 2011 at 10:35 am
Enjoy your vacation! Send us a picture.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 12, 2011 at 10:40 am
If you’ve not hit the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum up at Whitefish Point, I can heartily commend it. We’d avoided it for years (not so hard, an hour from Mackinaw City), but I decided I had to see the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Turned out that not only is the space (somewhat small and cramped, and your first reaction may be “I may how much for just this?”) nicely laid out even with large crowds if you’re patient, but the admission charge gets you into the rest of the buildings, where the lighthouse keeper’s home is better than any such I’ve seen interpreted (including the Sleeping Bear Dunes NPS site up by the point), and the overall opportunities are far beyond the one large room museum — which you will return to before you leave for one last more appreciative look at the bell and the rest of the shipwreck debris and stories.
Anyhow, wherever you go, enjoy a pasty for me; they do sell those at the Shipwreck Museum snack bar, plus really good hamburgers. You sit and eat and look towards the water bending to your right, and think “they’d have made Whitefish Bay, if they’d put fifteen more miles behind them.”
Plus, you get to visit Paradise.
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Deborah said on August 12, 2011 at 10:49 am
What’s a pasty?
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Kim Ellis said on August 12, 2011 at 11:04 am
I started getting a subscription to the paper because of your column. Most of the people I knew at the time didn’t understand the attraction. I have moved on and surrounded myself with irrevent, funny and smarter folks. I still get the Sentinel. I feel a little sorry for them, plus, it’s $20 for the whole year. It’s like giving to a worthy charity.
Have fun on your vacation!
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Scout said on August 12, 2011 at 11:27 am
Enjoy the time away. We’ll certainly miss your current events wit, but I think you’ve hit upon a winner in selecting five of your greatest hits to keep us amused in your absence. These will be new for me, so I’m looking forward to it. Happy vacay!
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Judybusy said on August 12, 2011 at 11:39 am
Deborah, here is a pasty recipe, complete with pictures. They used to be an inexpensive meals for miners, and are now enjoyed by those lucky enough to be near a pasty shop. You can also make them, of course! There is a great shop north of Duluth, MN that sells them with gravy.
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garmoore2 said on August 12, 2011 at 11:43 am
Deborah:
A pasty is a Cornish meat pie, consisting of a pocket of crust with meat and vegetables, or just vegetables, inside. It was taken by miners to their jobs, or so the story goes. It’s on menus at restaurants all over northern Michigan.
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brian stouder said on August 12, 2011 at 11:47 am
This next week will be good stuff, indeed!
Really, you could randomly* grab any of them, and it would be good stuff. If the photo of Nancy that appeared with the column also is shown (which I think only ever changed once…but I could be wrong), then we’re into Classic Coke/ $1.50/gallon gas territory!
*I’m betting NN pegs the picks to then-current events, but we shall see
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april glaspie said on August 12, 2011 at 11:51 am
A great obscure Stones song. One of my favorites. Good taste, Nancy. Have a refreshing vacation. Between the Buttons is a great album, bookended with Aftermath. Largely forgotten except for Let’s Spend the Night Together and Ruby Tuesday. Many great songs, Connection, Goin’ Home.
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Michael said on August 12, 2011 at 11:57 am
I have always enjoyed Pasty’s and order them for delivery anywhere in the US (Tucson, Charlotte, and Connecticut now). I was once told that they were made (at least in part) by retirement home residents in the UP, you know, chopping vegetables is good for the soul. Not sure it is true, but if you decide to google for the site, make sure you spell correctly.
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Connie said on August 12, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Pasties also have chopped rutabaga in them. At my mother-in-law’s church near Flint the women’s club makes about 2,000 pasties one day a month. About half go for a hot lunch that day, mostly to employees of GM parts headquarters and warehouse just down the street, and the rest get wrapped, frozen, and sold for $3.75 each. We always have a few in the freezer.
Back home in Holland the women’s groups tend to make pig in the blankets, aka saucijzenbroodjes, a pork sausage wrapped in piecrust. http://www.hollandsentinel.com/features/x837705934/Dig-in-to-Dutch
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Connie said on August 12, 2011 at 12:13 pm
The recipe judybusy posted doesn’t have rutabagas in it, here’s one that does: http://www.hu.mtu.edu/vup/pasty/recipes.htm .
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 12, 2011 at 12:13 pm
It’s fun to walk back into the office and see crowd-sourcing happen. Plus I’m now hoping that the President had a saucijzenbroodjes yesterday in Holland, MI!
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kayak woman said on August 12, 2011 at 12:25 pm
There’s 3G in the vicinity of the Mackinac Bridge and that’s about it.
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MichaelG said on August 12, 2011 at 12:48 pm
I’m not aware of anyone selling pasties around here although the Streets of London pub may. We do have a Mexican version of a pasty called an “empanada” and an Italian version called a “panini”. Hold the rutabaga.
It’s interesting to hear of groups of grandmas making pasties in the UP. Here we have the same things with groups of Mexican grannies making tamales. Various people sell them around office bldgs and take orders every few weeks. You give your order for a dozen (chicken, beef or pork) and they deliver in a few days. They are always excellent eating. Used to be ten bucks a dozen. Freeze ’em two to a plastic bag and when hungry add a few drops of water to the bag and microwave them. Yum. I gotta order some.
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Connie said on August 12, 2011 at 12:54 pm
It’s seems odd to move to the Detroit metro area and have to drive miles for authentic Mexican, when both Holland and Elkhart have many taquerias, tamale stands, etc. Though I happily settle for Trader Joe’s frozen green chile and cheese and tamales.
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Hattie said on August 12, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Have a good time. I eagerly await your new old columns.
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alex said on August 12, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Thanks to all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers regarding the loss of my dog Lexie this week.
I had her for the last seven of her fourteen or so years. From what I’ve heard, she spent the first three years of her life in a dysfunctional household. Following a bitter divorce, neither party wanted her, so she went to live on a 55-acre estate that belonged to some rich people.
Dobermans are very social creatures who tend to bond closely with one person. Lexie, however, was kept outside and was mostly ignored. When the lady of the house became widowed and decided to sell the property and move into town, she also decided to give up the dog and Lexie came to live with me.
I remember the morning I went to pick her up. She was dragging a leash running away from her former owner. As soon as I opened the car door, however, she came racing back and jumped in. She was a very agile dog who would also take a flying leap into the bed of my pickup truck whenever the door was down.
We spent the first several days bonding, roaming in the forest preserves and just spending quality time. She obviously hadn’t had any attention paid to her in years, but had become quite an able huntress. I’ve seen her snatch red squirrels, rabbits and snakes effortlessly, practically out of thin air.
I remember the day I had an electric dog fence installed. The salesman and I were on the back patio going over paperwork when she came running up with a baby possum. The salesman was amazed she didn’t get her eyes gauged out by the mother possum. I feared such things might happen, or that she’d kill neighbors’ cats, which is why I got the fence. As soon as I started seeing her reaction to it, however, I stopped using it. She became afraid to go outside for a time because of that damned thing.
She was an odd dog who would sleep with her head propped up against a wall or a piece of furniture, or with her mouth latched around one of her thighs. I was told this was sort of like the canine version of thumb-sucking, a carryover from being in a confined litter of puppies who would all sleep in crowded conditions propped up against and/or latched onto one another.
Occasionally she would awaken in the middle of the night and cry out with mournful howls upon discovering herself alone.
I hated leaving her alone during the day while I worked because she would howl so pitifully the second I stepped out the door. When my parents’ aged labrador passed, I began leaving Lexie at their house during the day. It was great companionship for my parents as well. As time went on, she appeared to express a preference for remaining there, and so I let her, as she had bonded very well with my dad.
Over the past few years she began showing signs of arthritis and that dreaded malady that afflicts Dobermans known as hip dysplasia. Over the last year or so she progressively came to need help getting up, and then very recently began falling down after taking only a few steps.
I still feel conflicted. Yesterday, before the trip to the vet, she was more spry than she’d been in some time, perhaps sensing that something was up. She was very resistant to going into the office. They gave her a sedative and she calmed down. Then they gave her an injection and after about a minute the doctor said her heart had stopped. She lay motionless for some time, then suddenly her mouth went wide open and she released a big sigh.
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mark said on August 12, 2011 at 2:04 pm
I’m sorry for your loss, Alex.
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Colleen said on August 12, 2011 at 2:08 pm
I’m so sorry, Alex. It’s hard to say goodbye to a loyal animal family member.
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beb said on August 12, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Connie @21: Detroit has a really large Mexicantown community where English is the second language. I’m sure there are lots of authentic Mexican restaurants there. We favor a nice Mexican restaurant in Eastpointe (Plaza Mexico) but I’m not sure how authentic a Mexican restaurant it is. I mean, it serves very good tacos, burritos, casadeias, enchiladas and so on, but is that real Mexican cooking, or American-Mexican cooking?
The first Emergency Manager for the Detroit Public School system came and went without leaving much to show for it. The new Emergency Manager immediately stepped into it by ordering up a $40,000 SUV. (which comes with a driver). He claims the old SUV was falling apart. That’s as may be, but you wonder if he couldn’t have found a nice sedan in the $20,000-$25,000 range? And when asked why he didn’t drive his own car he replied: ” ‘I would if they paid me like they pay other’ school leaders.” He makes $250,000 a year. What ever happened to the idea of public service? It seems like anyone in office or working in government administration is just out to rip off the people for as much as they can get. And in Detroit it’s like they’ve all got a god complex.
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Judybusy said on August 12, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Alex, thanks a lot for sharing Lexie’s story. She survived much before finding you, and had many good years.
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Jolene said on August 12, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Agree, Judybusy. Nice to know Lexie’s story. Sounds like she had a good life. Especially liked the part of leaving her w/ your parents Alex. Nice to know that they found comfort in each other’s presence.
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Jolene said on August 12, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Meanwhile, more bad news for Barack Obama–and the rest of us. I hope to hell the Supreme Court doesn’t overturn this law before the election next year, but it’s entirely possible they will.
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adrianne said on August 12, 2011 at 2:52 pm
And one more note: Andy Borowitz nails it with today’s post on filler columns that columnists file in August: http://www.borowitzreport.com/
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Julie Robinson said on August 12, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Alex, that was beautiful. I’m so sorry that you’ve lost Lexie and I hope that in time your good memories will be a balm to your pain. Have a good long cry. In fact, have several. She was a faithful companion.
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moe99 said on August 12, 2011 at 3:31 pm
What Julie said.
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paddyo' said on August 12, 2011 at 3:53 pm
My only question about the pasty: How on Earth do strippers get those things to stay on, anyway?
Happy vacation, Nance — it’s a corner of the country I’ve never seen, but I’m guessing this is always the best time of year to do so. Some day . . .
Alex, a companionable adopted pet, dog or otherwise, is a small miracle, given what unknown past traumas they may have experienced. My ex- and I came across a couple of abandoned dogs in the southern Utah desert 19 years ago next month and, after a mad-cap-slapstick series of adventures with them on that vacation, we became life-long buddies with them — right up to the point of that same, sad duty you had to perform with Lexie. I still feel it, deep inside. Know that your loss can’t erase the memories, and all the best . . .
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Deborah said on August 12, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Alex that was a sweet story. Sad but sweet thanks for sharing it here. Must have been very hard to do.
I’ve taken the day off, had a good breakfast at XOCO, another Rick Bayless place, had empanadas (the Mexican pasty I guess). Beautiful weather, that’s the point of taking the day off. Spending as much time outside as possible.
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MRMARK said on August 12, 2011 at 4:35 pm
Wow, this is cool! Hopefully your current community will appreciate the ‘old material’ as much as I. For the record, I read NN way back in high school (yes I was a geek) and was thrilled when she was selected to speak at our senior dinner (circa 1988).
Anyway, if you are interested in some beautiful photographs of this weekend’s PGA Championship course without the players, take a peak here.
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MarkH said on August 12, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Did you just give your high school away, MRMARK? UA, I am assuming….
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paddyo' said on August 12, 2011 at 6:00 pm
What is with these hypocrites, anyway? Anti-gay Indiana legislator accused of trolling for a boypal? And from Wayne township — is that the same as the Fort, you Hoosiers out there?
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alex said on August 12, 2011 at 6:13 pm
No, paddy, he’s from Indy. I thought it was a nice day brightener when I came across it on Talking Points Memo earlier.
From the TPM story it sounds as if the pol’s wife was in on trying to get the kid to squelch the story. Probably can’t show her face at bridge club now.
Though I feel sorry for the families of the disgraced, it’s high time these hypocrites got their due. I have no problem with gay-inclined people choosing hetero-appearing marriage if that’s what they want, but respect is a two-way street and if these fuckers actively work against my interests I will rejoice in their decline and fall.
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brian stouder said on August 12, 2011 at 6:30 pm
That Indy Star story goes right from being ridiculous to being so stupid that it has the ring of unvarnished truth.
I loved the ending comment from the State Rep to the tough-minded sister: “You just ruined me”.
My Heavens! Between Craigs List and the emails and all the rest, the barely-repressed rep might as well curse at the sun for coming up in the morning, as to accuse anyone of “ruining” him
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beb said on August 12, 2011 at 10:13 pm
The Indy rep wasn’t looking for a boypal so much as a one time good time. But I think the best comment was on TPM’s page where a reader sighed that it was sad that these guys are so totally repressed that they can’t even see the contradictions between their politics and their private life.
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Dexter said on August 13, 2011 at 2:41 am
Alex:
http://tinyurl.com/42b8983
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april glaspie said on August 13, 2011 at 6:31 am
Paddyo,
How do they get them to fall off at will? And why does covering up a small portion of a mammary make any difference? I always liked legs and faces better. Did Audrey Hepburn have large boobs? Keira Knightly? Mary Stuart Masterson? They don’t call ’em boobs for nothing. I’ve never seen the allure, unless attached to an intelligent woman with great gams. Largest real ones I’ve ever seen in person? A pretty good friend and co-worker in Athens, GA named Carol Babb. Several DDDDs or whatever. A very sweet human being and the best cook I’ve ever met. Carol had a peculiar dislike of the word “panties”.
And how ’bout them Loins? Matthew Stafford will rule the NFL if that OLine can play a lick. You Detroiteurs, remember Van Patrick? Hearing footprints? Tougher than Bobby Lane. Just think back to that Cleveland game. Accurate like Milt Plum. Much tougher.
And that guy, the Indy rep? Sad. Why shouldn’t that schmuck be happy? Why should he be ruined for looking for love in wrong places? Hypocrisy. Check in with Marcus Bachmann and pray the gay away. Nobody cares if you’re gay dumbass. But be a professional gay-basher politician and look for a boytoy, your ass is grass. The psychology is almost understandable. It’s like self-flagellation. Whack for sure. I almost feel sorry for the guy. Sad case. Does Larry Craig still think somebody was out to get him?
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ROGirl said on August 13, 2011 at 7:23 am
Is it that they can’t see the contradictions, or that they think they can get away with them as long as no one finds out about the activities they pursue in private?
Of course they’re aware of the contradictions, otherwise they wouldn’t pretend to be one thing in public and and try to hide private behaviors that belie the public identity. Maybe they’re ashamed and struggling with religious teachings and beliefs that they can’t reconcile with their true feelings, but I don’t have much sympathy for those who not only turn their own self-loathing against others, but make it a public crusade.
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coozledad said on August 13, 2011 at 8:34 am
RO Girl: One of my wife’s relatives, an Amway salesman and Republican, threatened to disown his gay son for years. Really gave him a hard time. The kid told us most of his early sexual experiences were with his dad’s raquetball partners.
I’m beginning to think it’s like a masonic degree, but for the Republican party. It demonstrates your commitment by directly putting your ass on the line. You might even get to wear a leather hood, and get some kind of badge.
Of course this is speculation.
All we ‘crats do, as you well know, is roast babies and eat them with mustard from the holy ceramic crock. We don’t even get aprons to wear over our junk.
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april glaspie said on August 13, 2011 at 9:44 am
Cooz, Or magic underpants. Damn, you are entertaining. What does it mean to disown somebody if you haven’t got cash to back it up? I can’t imagine what coming out must be like. I’m pedestrianly hetero. And happy to be so. If I’m ever caught in flagrante it will be with a woman, and I hope she won’t have cleavage wrinkles. This is all so confusing. But if she does have, I’ll be sticking with my amnesia story,
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LAMary said on August 13, 2011 at 10:58 am
Cooz, it has to be Dijon mustard or I’m not touching it.
On another note, here’s some literary news about Herman Cain:
http://gawker.com/5830573/why-does-herman-cain-keep-quoting-donna-summers-pokemon-song
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Rana said on August 13, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Alex, I’m so sorry about Lexie. Thank you for sharing her story with us.
ROGirl, my working assumption with a lot of these sex-obsessed politicians and public scolds is that they believe that their own struggles with their sexual urges are universal, rather than their own particular burdens. So they see the world as filled with sin and temptation, and things like homosexuality are seen as people embracing their sin instead of struggling against it. So long as they struggle, in their minds, they’re not sinning; to them, struggling against sexual urges (of either orientation) is an on-going battle and part of being human.
The idea that some of us can keep it in our pants without torment, or that most people aren’t tempted by “sinful” sexuality* – whether it be homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, whatever – is clearly an idea that makes no sense to these people, because they are tempted, and refuse to believe that this is a reflection of their own personal issues. (This is why people like Santorum, for example, think that there’s a slippery slope from gay marriage to people having sex with turtles. Normal people see no connection between the two, but these folks ain’t normal.)
So they think that everyone who doesn’t share their experience of temptation is either lying, or is trying to get others to join them in wallowing in sin. So they both argue for stringent laws banning what they see as sinful temptations, and engage in behaviors that they condemn – because they get a pass for trying to avoid sin, unlike the rest of us who (in their eyes) revel in it.
*I want to make clear that I see nothing sinful about homosexuality – I’m just reflecting their framing.
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april glaspie said on August 13, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Rana,
OK. But I’m tempted daily. Fortunately, I live with a randy woman I’m attracted to that shares my affliction. Sex daily, first thing in the morning,
does some wonders for one’s disposition.
Alex, I love dogs. Never met a Doberman, but yours sounds like a wonderful dog. Hip displasia has been a rude awakener in my family, because it afflicts Goldens and Setters. It’s difficult to consider, but the inbreeding that produces these ridiculously beautiful dogs is at fault for these genetic problems. Lexie sounds like a great dog to me. Sorry about her demise. But I think all dogs are great dogs.
I have never met a dog I didn’t like. Even little yappy ones.
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april glaspie said on August 13, 2011 at 3:47 pm
Can somebody officially put an end to Lakoff and the idea of “framing”? What a load of horseshit. James Lakoff is one idiot poseur that had 15 minutes too long, a moral jackass, a dumb as a turd Republican asshole. Sorry, this shithead was one of them Fokkers. Another fucking moron. Who cares? Republican base is mightily stupid. How does anybody deal with abject stupidity? I mean dumber than grunt? People that are so fucking stupid they think tax cuts for Hugh Grant put money in their pockets. Can anybody be that fucking stupid?
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ROGirl said on August 13, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Rana, their obssessions have a certain perverted logic from the perspective you described. If that makes me a sinner, oh well.
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april glaspie said on August 13, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Seriously, Ron and Nancy had a baby out of wedlock when he was married to another woman. How are they paragons of Republican morality? Tell them “We’re doing the best that we can.” Just raise the uber-class tax rate to what Raygun charged, you dickheads. That will suffice.
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coozledad said on August 13, 2011 at 4:14 pm
There are days you just wonder why the fuck these people dump tens of thousands of dollars on campaign strategists, when for workingman’s wages, you could hire some guy to follow you around and tell you simple things like “Nah. No corndogs. Ever.”
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april glaspie said on August 13, 2011 at 4:14 pm
How is this difficult for that fat piece of shit Grover to comprehend? His hero was Raygun. He just didn’t get it. What a fucking idiot. Grover Norquist is actually stupider than Raygun? Who’d have thought it possible that anybody but W was stupider?
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Dave said on August 13, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Alex, please let me add my sympathies for the loss of your dog. It’s very hard, our dog has been gone now for five months and her dog bed is still setting by our fireplace, we’ve not moved it, silly as it seems.
I read Nancy’s column from 1986 on and we still receive the News-Sentinel, sad as it is. It costs us far more than $20 a year as mentioned by Kim Ellis at 9, I’d like to know how to get that cheap rate.
Every year, I think this will surely be the year it will meet its demise but it keeps going, thinner and thinner. I subscribed to it initially because when I get a morning paper, I’d waste my morning reading it instead of doing what needed to be done. Of course, that was before the Internet came along to waste my time.
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Dexter said on August 13, 2011 at 11:07 pm
Madness at the Indiana State Fair…4 dead, many injured…
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/13/national/main20092090.shtml
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Rosemary Breehl said on August 15, 2011 at 9:42 am
I’m so thankful for this wayback machine now that our mutual friend, Michael Heaton has me hooked on your blog. It’s always fresh and you mostly say what I think. Thanks Nancy.
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