I am a recent convert to Joyce Carol Oates. She may be fond of Sylvia Plath, perhaps a warning for you Plath-haters out there, but Oates should be considered much more important, literaturally speaking, than Plath. Regrettably, my school schedule leaves little time for reading, but that doesn’t stop me from getting through a largish book every 1-2 weeks. Queued is “Do With Me What You Will” by Oates, lent to me by the same wonderful girlfriend who lent me Oates’s “Beasts,” a kind of stop-you-in-your-tracks novella which I had to read twice more to fully grasp. It’s like a really good movie you know you have to watch again to catch everything, of the few items of Oates’s work that I have read (“Beasts” and the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”). It’s a deceptively quick read, almost like poetry, with each word so loaded you read it thrice to catch its nuances. I recommend Oates, to say the very least, but until I myself read more, don’t take my word for it and don’t consider this post a review.
Pook pook pook: political fishing?
The dog-and-pony White House lawyers-firing show goes on:
Republicans blasted Democrats for scheduling action on the contempt measures instead of moving to extend the eavesdropping law.
“We have space on the calendar today for a politically charged fishing expedition but no space for a bill that would protect the American people from terrorists who want to kill us,” said Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, the minority leader.
“Let’s just get up and leave,” he told his colleagues, before storming out of the House chamber with scores of Republicans in tow.
“If the House had nothing better to do, this futile partisan act would be a waste of time,” said Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman. “The ‘people’s House’ should reflect the priorities of the American people, not the fantasies of left-wing bloggers.”
Does “Watergate” ring a bell?
Also, which method protects the Constitution more: investigating the executive branch for possible constitutional failings, or continuation of an unconstitutional law?
Vaginas and the Ides of February
Almost exactly one year ago, a Florida woman complained about having to explain what a vagina was to her niece as they drove past a marquee announcing a performance of “The Vagina Monologues.”
Jane Fonda this morning on the Today show talked about her own monologue in a 10th-anniversary special of the original performance, using the monologue’s title, which is presumably “Cunt” or “Pussy.” I haven’t seen the video myself and Fonda herself isn’t the issue here. What was she supposed to say when asked what the title is? “I’m sorry, it’s inappropriate?” Is this fifth-grade health class or something, when everyone giggles at the word breasts? Go ahead, television journalists, censor yourselves. Then take a refresher course in what the point of journalism is.
Tomatoes Ravage the South
That’s seriously what I thought a Yahoo news headline said until I read the entire thing carefully.
Nevertheless, if it came down to tomatoes or the South, I’d have to go with tomatoes. They’re absolutely delicious in ketchup, marinara, and sun-dried. All other methods of tomato consumption are putrid. Tomatoes smell so bad! The square footage of the family garden is bigger than that of the house and half of the area is devoted to cultivating tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes are sticky and stink. I’ve picked enough of them to be an authority on the subject. Or maybe I’m just hick enough to have grown massive amounts of tomatoes in the backyard.
Did you know they came from South America (like peanuts) and were considered a weed? Elizabethan England threw them at rotten actors because they (both tomato and actor, I suppose) had no other practical purpose. Though the Italians figured out that the dubious fruit had culinary potential, it wasn’t until they stole the tomato from South American Indians and the noodle from the Chinese to start cooking “Italian” food.
Yum!
