Posted on by rjonakait

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On Christmas Day I received an email from a legal group that claims to fight for the religious rights of all faiths but proclaims itself Christian. The message did wish me Merry Christmas and said that on Christmas “we celebrate the birth of the One who makes our spiritual freedom possible.” I don’t understand that phrase, but I expected what was coming. Jesus may make spiritual freedom possible, but He could be helped along if I would forward some money to this organization. Is this what the Christmas spirit now means–fundraising for your own organization on the day to celebrate the birth of Christ? I don’t think being nummamorous ???, especially on Christmas, seems very Christian. Luckily for me, however, my Christmas spirit was not affected because I did not read the email until Boxing Day.

Old joke: The sailor, when asked what he did with his money, replied, “Part went for liquor, part went for women, and the rest I spent foolishly.”

Christmas Day is over, but we are in the twelve days of Christmas leading up to the Epiphany on January 6, which is a big holiday in some cultures. However, while perhaps it should be sung now, the song The Twelve Days of Christmas seems to be heard before Christmas Day, not after. I like Christmas carols, but I would be happy if I heard The Twelve Days only once in a season, or perhaps not at all. And doesn’t it contravene the Christmas spirit to give someone 78 gifts?

Those who worship the version of the Second Amendment the Supreme Court created) a decade or two ago should send their true loves a cartridge in a pear tree.

Who for twelve consecutive winter days sends over a pear tree? And where do they get all those partridges?

The young woman next to me pointed to the book I had placed on the bar and said that she was trying to see what I was reading. I held it up to display the cover and said, “It’s a fictionalized biography of Thomas Mann.” She looked as if I had not uttered an English sentence. I added, “He has also written a fictionalized biography of Henry James.” She still looked blank. I decided that,  despite this evidence, she must be a reader. Did she have any recommendations? She could not come up with one. She told me that she was there to meet someone she had only just met from an online writing course. We did not speak much after that.

“It is a common failing of an ambitious mind to overrate itself.” Lady Caroline Smith.

Browsing in a library, I pulled out a collection of three short novels that had been reissued in a single volume a couple decades after their initial publications. The back cover had paragraphs from two noted (that means I recognized the names) literary critics. One stated, “Whoever she is, she is the most important new novelist in the English language to appear in years.” The other began, “She has cut to roundness and smoothed to convexity a little crystal of literary form that concentrates the light like a burning glass.” WOW. I grabbed the book and looked forward to reading it, only partly because I anticipated the pleasure of commenting on it (in a superior fashion) to others “What? You’ve never read so-and-so?!” I gave up after thirty-seven pages. I concluded that just because you have read Henry James, that does not mean you should try to write like him.

Posted on by rjonakait

Snippets

The CDC National Center for Health Statistics has just released state-by-state data on life expectancies at birth. Hawaii leads the country at 80.9 years. Mississippi is last at 74.4 years. Eight states have life expectancies at birth of over eighty years. None of those states is red. Fox News and other conservative outlets spend much time telling us how awful it is to live in these blue states, California and New York especially. On the other hand, eight states have life expectancies below seventy-six years. All of them voted for Trump. Fox and other right-wing media often report increased urban homicide numbers telling us the cities have Democratic mayors. (I have never heard them say that the homicide rates started accelerating under President Trump or that Republicans control the states that consistently have the highest homicide rates.) Let me know if you hear Fox reporting that life expectancy is higher in Democratic states than elsewhere.

While crossing the street at a busy intersection, I heard a young man say to a young woman, “Would you rather have your best friend murdered, or . . . .” And it faded away.

I just learned that an Olympic gold medal is really silver. The prize must be at least 92.5 percent silver and is then plated with a bit of gold. The news story said that the gold and silver are worth $758. The article did not say how much a medal was worth on Ebay.

“Many priceless things can be bought.” Maria von Ebner-Eschenbach.

Many people poked fun at Marjorie Taylor Greene for “gazpacho police” and assumed that she did know that she meant “gestapo police.”  “Gazpacho police,” however, at least has the virtue of not being redundant. Now, whether Greene knows the meaning of “redundant” is another question.

 Old joke: “She seems lost in thought.” “I wouldn’t be surprised. She’s a total stranger there.”

The emails beseech me for a donation so that the organization can vigorously defend Navy SEALS who have not been granted a religious exemption from a vaccination requirement. And I wonder about the religious belief system that says a person may kill but may not get vaccinated. I also wonder if the organization would defend someone who wants to be a SEAL but has religious scruples against killing.

 He asked, “Are you religious.” “No,” I replied. “I’m rational.”

I used to have a torso, but apparently now I have a core.

The spouse looked at my wispy, uncut-for-quite-a-while hair haphazardly brushed back and said that I was beginning to look like Benjamin Franklin. I wanted this to be a compliment noting that my high forehead denotes intelligence and that I, too, am a lusty old fellow still sharp as a tack. But I don’t think that’s what she meant.

Posted on by rjonakait

Snippets

Cake bakers bake cakes. Bread bakers bake bread. Cookie bakers bake cookies. Bagel bakers bake bagels (after boiling them first, I hope.) Pretzel bakers bake pretzels, with a twist, of course. A recent email from a right wing “religious” organization, referred to “Christian bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein.” Oh, dear! Do Christian bakers bake….?­­

Born-again Christians. Isn’t it better to get it right the first time?

Ascribed to Billy Sunday in Jess Walter, The Cold Millions: “Goin’ to church don’t make you a Christian any more than goin’ to a garage makes you an automobile.”

Do the Christians who are non-celiac but gluten-free pray sincerely, “Give us this day our daily bread”?

Increasingly actors listing credits in Playbills include preferred pronouns. For example, the actor playing Max in the production I just saw included (he/him/his) and the one playing Sandra had (she/her). And pronouns often appear on the signature lines of emails these days. I wrote about how a new pronoun for the NBP has not come easily to me. Search Results for “pronoun” – AJ’s Dad (ajsdad.blog). But my preferred personal pronouns have remained constant: I, me, and especially mine.

I have not done much traveling since Covid infiltrated, but it is funny what I retain from earlier trips. For example, I went to Morocco shortly before the pandemic. I could not name all the different foods I tried. I cannot remember all the restaurants and hotels. I could not even tell you all the cities I visited. But I do remember that Morocco had many wonderful, varied streetlights.

Like others, I have admired the broad boulevards of Paris that help make the city beautiful. However, A Burglar’s Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh says that these streets were not designed for their esthetics but to aid the police so that the thoroughfares could not be blockaded as they had been earlier in the Nineteenth Century.

Call me prejudiced. I was surprised at how fit–and attractive–the mixed-doubles Olympic curlers were.

“It seldom pays to be rude. It never pays to be only half rude.” Norman Douglas.

Reality is the only obstacle to happiness.

Are you a Zen master if, when you order a hot dog, you say, “Make me one with everything”?