(Photo from Salon.com. Deep Water Horizon burning.)

I have the air conditioning on. Outside, it's 91 degrees at 1:10 p.m. By late afternoon, especially down on the Commons, it could once again top 100 degrees. 

September 2nd is usually the beginning of autumn here. At night, it should b… Read full post »

Friday night silliness.

Rob and I are driving to the supermarket, and this song came on the satellite radio. I found the video, and thought I'd share.

Play it tonight, and let us know if you got "lucky." 

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Sometimes, those stereotypes turn out to be true. Namely, that the more homophobic a man is, the more likely he is to have his own conflicted sexuality. A secure man, the story says, doesn't care what gay men do in their bedrooms.

Unless he's the Chair of the Republican National… Read full post »

 In a story that has become hideously familiar, the U.N. reported yesterday in The Guardian that 200 women and young boys had been raped by one of the seven marauding armies that regularly terrorize the population of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

I posted a note to my Facebook page… Read full post »

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Today, we have left Iraq, or our combat troops have. 

Years ago, when I feared that the war might never end, when I watched Cindy Sheehan beg to understand why she had sacrificed her son, when I wrote to my representatives and heard nothing, when I cried at night from… Read full post »

You win some, you lose some.

A Federal Judge today overturned one of two Nebraska laws that would restrict the right of women to decide to terminate their pregnancies. The attorney general has agreed not to pursue the first law's appeal--which would require women seeking abortions to submit to a heal… Read full post »

Last year, as you'll see below, he went directly after Justice Sotomayor. 

This year, unsuccessful in his attempts to prevent her confirmation to the Supreme Court, Randall Terry, former used-car salesman, founder of Operation Rescue (sic), and aide and ally of terrorists who assassinate ob/gyns… Read full post »

 All of the quotations this week are from the reading I've been doing in preparation for teaching this semester. 

I wouldn't use the cliche that I was the captain of a sinking ship, that implying some sort of authority, but rather I was a diesel mechanic on a steamship, an… Read full post »

I don't have much to say about this video. I just watched it on The Guardian's news site. I'm wondering when Americans will get to watch their Marines/soldiers/sailors die be… Read full post »

In 1989, I found myself within the opulent majesty of St. Paul's Cathedral, Christopher Wren's architectural wonder in the heart of London. A tribute to an Anglican, not a Catholic god, I silently compared and contrasted what I had seen in other parts of Europe. 

Despite being a n… Read full post »

The cabin was a lovers’ delight. Isolated in the Judith Mountains of Montana, it meant that clothing was optional indoors and out. We had cold running water, and an outdoor composting toilet, so it wasn’t like going to other cabins I had visited that were really homes situated in… Read full post »

If you live in the Eastern United States, you most likely take water for granted. After all, unlike when I lived in the PNW, I've never encountered drought warnings, water rationing, water restrictions. Here, magnificent waterfalls surround us, and rivers and creeks flow toward… Read full post »

I have five writing deadlines. Thinking about each of them gives me a headache, a headache that is exacerbated by a pressure system that spun the barometer. Where once was sunshine, right now, is thunder, lightning, and rain barrelling down as if it means to continue 'til the end of the… Read full post »

(volunteer--in turquoise, seeing how long it's taking to get through the line)

Tonight, I worked with other food bank volunteers to feed 15 percent of the town where I live.

Fifteen percent. 

(two long-term volunteers as we neared the end)

Tonight, we started… Read full post »

Canon Law was clarified today to say the following:

The Vatican today made the "attempted ordination" of women one of the gravest crimes under church law, putting it in the same category as clerical sex abuse of minors, heresy and schism.

The new rules, which have… Read full post »

There once were two cats of Kilkenny

Each thought there was one cat too many

So they fought and they fit

And they scratched and they bit

'Til (excepting their nailsAnd the tips of their tails)

Instead of two cats there weren't any! 

(old nursery rhyme)

It's marching season… Read full post »

Eight soldiers dead

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail To The Chief",
oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,

Hi, do you remember us?

We're the eight Americans… Read full post »

Selon la tradition                  

… en 708, l’évêque d’Avranches Aubert, après avoir reçu en songe trois apparitions de l’archange Saint-Mi… Read full post »

The New York Times has reported that owner of the Yankees, George Steinbrenner, has died. There are no other details at present.

One report indicated that he died at 630 EDT.

10:20 update: The official obituary has been posted.

I am not a Yankees' fan. … Read full post »

For the past 10 days or so, it's been Orlando-hot here, mid-to-upper 90's, humidity building each day, a general malaise falling over people as they find it enervating to try to go for an evening walk when the temps have fallen just a few degrees.

But, since Tuesday, I've known… Read full post »

This week, I found a lot of quotations in this month's issue of The Sun's "Sunbeams," to be apt. I've included many of them. I've also included some smart things I heard at the writing conference. 

Rob took me to Skaneateles today. We walked along the waterfront, ate lunch, and then,… Read full post »

This is a post about pain. I need to whine. Feel free to read no further.

On Tuesday, July 6, I will be going into the hospital for the seventh time for treatment of my headaches. 

I have had a screaming (as opposed to buzzing or mildly annoying or grit-my-teeth… Read full post »

 Sometimes, I find myself wishing that "journalists" were required to take courses in history, semiotics, theory, and things other than how to write a lede, how to boil down a complicated issue to a sound bite so that your average American, with his/her average reading level can understand. … Read full post »