Dave has posted some of the stories submitted to Relief Journal‘s Daily Sacrament contest.
“Dark House” by Renee Ronika Bhatti-Klug
“Smith and 9th” by Elizabeth Ann Osborn
What do you think?
Speaking of Shakespeare
Thou impertinent hasty-witted whey-face!
[Thou art] already dead. stabbed with a white wench’s black eye, run through the ear with a love song, the very pin of [thy] heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt shaft.
Those poor college students won’t know what they’re missing when confronted with The Shakespearean Insulter
Losing Shakespeare
It appears no one or very few students are required to study Shakespeare in college. I thought several colleges followed the pattern of my alma mater in studying one of Shakespeare’s plays in Freshman Composition. I took The Merchant of Venice. (via Books, Inq.)
Battle of Earls
“Morning Coffee and Afternoon Tea” compared two brands of Earl Grey one afternoon, and results were similar to comparing Coke and Pepsi. I love Earl Grey. This post makes me think I haven’t quite tasted the real thing yet.
I’m drinking a mug of Tazo’s Wild Sweet Orange at the moment. Thank you for asking.
Beyond Recognition
*Stand by for your Minneapolis weather report.*
Nice weather today. A little over seventy. But we could use some rain.
*This has been your Minneapolis weather report.*
I probably should have passed this story over to Gaius at Blue Crab Boulevard. It’s his beat.
But I couldn’t resist linking to it here.
Thousands of people have been ‘fleeced’ into buying neatly coiffured lambs they thought were poodles.
Entire flocks of lambs were shipped over from the UK and Australia to Japan by an internet company and marketed as the latest ‘must have’ accessory.
We farm kids love that kind of story.
I found myself without a book to read last week, on the day of the week my usual used bookstore is closed. So I picked up a book that had been among my late Aunt Jean’s things, Beyond Recognition by Ridley Pearson. I’d taken it away from her house when we were closing it up after her death, not sure if I’d read it before. I find that I have read it; in fact I think Aunt Jean probably got this copy from me. But it was so long ago I’ve forgotten the main points.
I came to this passage today, and thought it worth sharing. Sgt. Boldt, the hero, is investigating a string of vicious arson killings. He drops in at a jazz club run by a friend, “Bear” Berenson, and starts talking with him, trying to unwind. They’re discussing how you see horrific crimes nowadays that you never saw in the past.
“I think it’s God,” Boldt said immediately, because he’d been thinking about this for a long time and Bear was the kind of friend he could say this to. “Or, more to the point, the lack thereof. I was raised with church. Sunday school, that sort of thing. You?”
Bear nodded. “Temple.”
Boldt continued, “Yeah, and in all those stories, all those lessons, you had good and evil, God and the Devil—no matter what significance you put in either—but they were there, and you had faith, some sense of faith, some belief in something larger than yourself, no matter how small or on what level. Maybe you look at the night sky a little differently or maybe you go to church twice a week, but it’s there, it’s in you. And without it, without that sense of God, there’s no flip side, there’s nothing to fear, and as much as I hate to say it, maybe fear is a good thing in this case. A sense of God—whatever you choose to call it—gives you a soul; without a soul, you’re left with unfocused eyes and sense that you’re at the top of the food chain and anything goes. And that’s what you see in a killer’s eyes: no humanity, no consciousness, no thought or concern for their fellowman. Some kid blows away his best friend over a pair of sneakers—so what? I’m telling you, it’s no act. They have no soul. I interrogate these guys, I look them right in the eye, and I’m telling you they’re beyond recognition. They aren’t human. I don’t know what they are.”
And on that happy note, I wish you a pleasant and psycho-free weekend.
Update: I should have given Aitchmark credit for tipping me off to the poodle story.
Phrase Origin Rumors
Did you know that people used to bathe their babies in water so dirty they couldn’t see through it? They might even loose their baby in the bathwater, and that’s where the phrase “Don’t throw out the baby . . .”
Or not. Read this list of stories supposedly explaining why we have certain phrases today. As far as I know, all of them are bogus.
Writer’s Digest 101 Best
Hugh Hewitt just reported that a bomb has been found at an abortion clinic. I think it was in Austin, Texas (I can’t find the story online yet).
I know I speak for 99% of pro-lifers when I condemn all such acts of terrorism. If you’re a clinic bomber, tell me all about it. I’ll go straight to the police.
Well, it should have been a good day. Getting a column up at The American Spectator usually bucks me up a bit. Today, somehow, it didn’t work. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the weather–cool and overcast. Spring without enthusiasm. Around noon the Sickness Unto Tedious Self-Absorption began to metastasize in me, and pretty much everything I did after that was like swimming in a chocolate milk shake, only less tasty.
But I still dragged myself out for my evening walk, so I have a small glow of self-righteousness within to warm me. Tomorrow will probably be better.
Writer’s Digest published its annual list of “101 Best Websites For Writers” this month. Here are a few that might be of interest. Or not.
www.thinkbabynames.com lists the most popular baby names for every decade since 1900. Great for finding names for characters for your historical novel, or for finding a name for your baby that’ll get him/her laughed at for the rest of his/her life. On the other hand, the name might come back into style when the kid’s 18, and… well, he/she still won’t ever forgive you, but it might help get him/her onto whatever Reality Show is popular by then.
www.agentquery.com is a free site that lists established literary agents seeking writers. Also offers tips for approaching them.
Another agent resource is www.writers.net/agents.html. “…allows you to search for agents by name, location or topic.”
www.armchairinterviews.com is a site where you can access recorded author interviews. If reading me hasn’t soured you forever on authors already.
That’s all I’ve got. Go now and read my Spectator post again.
Writer's Digest 101 Best
Hugh Hewitt just reported that a bomb has been found at an abortion clinic. I think it was in Austin, Texas (I can’t find the story online yet).
I know I speak for 99% of pro-lifers when I condemn all such acts of terrorism. If you’re a clinic bomber, tell me all about it. I’ll go straight to the police.
Well, it should have been a good day. Getting a column up at The American Spectator usually bucks me up a bit. Today, somehow, it didn’t work. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the weather–cool and overcast. Spring without enthusiasm. Around noon the Sickness Unto Tedious Self-Absorption began to metastasize in me, and pretty much everything I did after that was like swimming in a chocolate milk shake, only less tasty.
But I still dragged myself out for my evening walk, so I have a small glow of self-righteousness within to warm me. Tomorrow will probably be better.
Writer’s Digest published its annual list of “101 Best Websites For Writers” this month. Here are a few that might be of interest. Or not.
www.thinkbabynames.com lists the most popular baby names for every decade since 1900. Great for finding names for characters for your historical novel, or for finding a name for your baby that’ll get him/her laughed at for the rest of his/her life. On the other hand, the name might come back into style when the kid’s 18, and… well, he/she still won’t ever forgive you, but it might help get him/her onto whatever Reality Show is popular by then.
www.agentquery.com is a free site that lists established literary agents seeking writers. Also offers tips for approaching them.
Another agent resource is www.writers.net/agents.html. “…allows you to search for agents by name, location or topic.”
www.armchairinterviews.com is a site where you can access recorded author interviews. If reading me hasn’t soured you forever on authors already.
That’s all I’ve got. Go now and read my Spectator post again.
Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere
You, yes, you can vote for the Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere. Get your votes in by this Sunday.
It Does Too Take a Village
I have another column up at The American Spectator today.