July 2009
5 posts
What Exactly Is An Underneath?
An actual sign on the DC Metro (or “subway” for we real Americans):
Danger: Do not touch electrical paddles protruding from underneath of train!
OK. Fine. I won’t. There’s no need to shout. I’m willing to follow your cryptic instructions. But first answer some questions:
A) What the hell is an electrical paddle? It actually sort of sounds fun. Are you sure we...
“For the record, I’d like to live in an America in which I could leave my...”
– William T. Vollmann, Rising Up and Rising Down Vol 1.
Secret Window
Once upon an ages ago, during that period of time known as “the hood of the child” (translated from the, um, Dutch), I read a book in which some siblings discovered a secret window in their home. EXCITING. This was not their usual home, but a summer home, or perhaps a new home. They had been into the home’s attic, and seen nothing out of the ordinary; but from outside, they...
Remembering
In Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card suggests a new type of post-life remembrance. Rather than being the subject of a white-washing eulogy, the deceased should be “spoken for”, in a Cromwellian warts-and-all type way. The speaker for the dead should speak not merely positively, but honestly; describing hopes, dreams, and aspirations, as well as foibles, failures, and flaws.
...