I’m reading Freedom, and it’s way better than The Corrections, which I read and promptly forgot pretty much the entire contents of. Yeah, I know, pretty novel for me to rave about Jonathan Franzen’s latest, but there you have it. It’s quite riveting. I always forget, though, when I embark on a Serious Contemporary Novel, how such books never ever have happy endings (or beginnings or middles, typically). Sometimes this bums me out. Like, there’s enough true sad stuff without having to spend one’s leisure time reading about fake sad stuff. I watched The Social Network, and...
Continue reading...Life
Florida and Gay Adoption Laws
Kudos to Florida\’s Third District Court of Appeal, which last week overturned the state\’s thirty-year-old blanket ban on gay adoption. According to NYT, Florida was the last state in the country to have such a law, and Newly Progressive Gov. Charlie Crist came out in support of the decision, saying it was \”a great day for children.\” It was an especially great day for plaintiff Martin Gill and the two boys (biological brothers) who he had been trying for years to adopt. Ironically, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) strongly urged Gill to take in...
Continue reading...From the annals of minor hypocrisy
I know some enterprising young girls who like to set up lemonade stands on warm days. Lucky for them, they live in a well-to-do neighborhood where folks tend to tip high (“a lot of times,” they tell me breathlessly, “people give us a dollar and say to keep the change” for the 50 cent cups). It’s also a well-trafficked area. Among other things, there’s a large synagogue just down the street. On Saturday, the girls tell me, they made “so much money.” “Lots of people who were going to services got lemonade and cookies,” they inform me. ...
Continue reading...This is not okay
True story. In the early evening; still really light out, I was walking near my apartment a couple nights ago when some creep waggled his penis at me. It was kind of awful and also so absurd. Why would anyone want to do that? I wasn’t very scared for my safety- he seemed content to just stare at me walking by, from about two feet away, while displaying his penis. Here’s how you know I’m a bleeding heart liberal. Amid my shock and disgust and anger, part of me also feels bad for the guy. My evening...
Continue reading...Police News of the Weird
This afternoon I stopped by Adams Morgan Day in DC, an annual street festival. B. and A. and I ate at Amsterdam Falafel, always a treat, and then I was talking to a couple friends while B. and A. walked around checking out the assorted booths. At around 1:15 pm, things got weird. Reports vary, but one thing is for sure: “There was definitely a gun involved,” says B. According to eyewitnesses, two dogs (a poodle and a rottweiler or pug) got into a scuffle. The poodle and its owner left the scene, while the man with...
Continue reading...Girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch
…I’m not one of them, and never was. I never imagined the song could be about me. Actually, I’ve never been inside an A&F store, on some sort of vague “principle” formulated when I was about 14. That was also the age when I became a teeny bit obsessed with the band LFO. My years of listening to top-40 radio were limited but intensive. In particular, I would often listen to the top 8 at 8 on Q102, and then call in to try to be the 8th caller and win a prize. One night this worked,...
Continue reading...List
Things that suck about moving: -packing -unpacking -no Internet in apt for days (thank you, Cleveland Park library) things that don’t: – awesome friends; who make moving lots faster and more enjoyable. Yay community! Also, pizza. -getting furniture finally into the best conceivable arrangement, after first dragging it all over the room in all kinds of ugly ways -windows, finally, after 1 1/2 years in the cave -sitting in my new reading nook, next to the bookshelves I’ve just filled. Books are my favorite part of both packing and unpacking. Bookshelf organizing strategies, folks? I went with...
Continue reading..."Well, excited and scared."
Happy Friday! Congratulations, you’ve almost made it to the long weekend. It’s an especially eventful Friday for me, because today happens to be the last day at both my current job and my current apartment. Neither of these are bad things, and in fact I’m excited about changes on both fronts. But at the same time, the transitions feel bittersweet. I like to blame my mixed emotions on being a Libra: I always have a lot of feelings even about a single situation. I know people who wholeheartedly embrace big changes and jump headfirst into the unknown,...
Continue reading...Cute Kid of the Day + More Poetry
So I’m back from vacation, and it was fun even though the weather was not particularly cooperative (by which I mean it rained for four straight days. Fact: there is nothing to do in Cape Cod when it is raining). Anyway, welcome back, me. Thanks to Poplicola for posting the great Edna St. Vincent Millay poem and keeping the V&V poetry tradition alive this week. Today I have some bonus poetry, courtesy of this freaking adorable video of a three year old kid reciting the Billy Collins poem “Litany” that I posted here a few weeks back....
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