Cacozelia

NRO has used the word epicaricacy in a real sense. Along with it, I learned a new word, cacozelia. I suppose the use of epicaricacy could be considered affected and pedantic. Still, I think having a few really rare words in your vocabulary is a good thing. What are some of yours?

Art Defined

While I can't really post this on Wordcraft because of the angst the question of "what is art?" creates, I shall post it here. I believe that Lewis Hyde has articulated my definition of what art is in this wonderful article. Here is an excerpt that describes art as a gift. How true!

"The ideas resonated deeply with Hyde. For nearly a decade he had been struggling to explain — to his family, to nonartist friends, to himself — why he devoted so much of his time and energy to something as nonremunerative as poetry. The literature on gift exchange — tales, for example, of South Sea tribesman circulating shells and necklaces in a slow-moving, broad circle around the Trobriand Islands — gave him the conceptual tool he needed to understand his predicament, which was, he came to believe, the predicament of all artists living “in an age whose values are market values and whose commerce consists almost exclusively in the purchase and sale of commodities.” For centuries people have been speaking of talent and inspiration as gifts; Hyde’s basic argument was that this language must extend to the products of talent and inspiration too. Unlike a commodity, whose value begins to decline the moment it changes hands, an artwork gains in value from the act of being circulated—published, shown, written about, passed from generation to generation — from being, at its core, an offering."

The Dash

I have begun to realize that there are 2 types of Blogs. There are the inspirational ones, which contain creative, original comments. Those are the ones that challenge your intellect, that make you think in new ways, that are exciting and eventually get "discovered." Then there are those like mine. Mostly I crib quotes or discussions or poems from others (always giving credit, I hope!). I'd love to be like the former, but I am not there yet.

Having said that, I am going to continue in my ways with this post. I am at a conference in Myrtle Beach, which wasn't easy to get to, since I came from another one in Reno. My United route? From Reno to Los Angeles to Philadelphia to Charlotte to Myrtle Beach. And can you believe it all worked out beautifully? With the blasted time change, I left on Friday at 7:00 pm and got here at 11:00 am on Saturday! My hotel was the plane. I had not been looking forward to it, but you know what? It rather worked out. No plane was even a minute late, and I was able to sleep from LA to Philadelphia and from Philadelphia to Charlotte. So I am ready for a great banquet at this conference! At any rate, this tear jerker was presented, and it inspired me. In case you haven't read this poem, here it is:

The Dash
copyright 1996 Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning...to the end. He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth... and now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own; the cars....the house...the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash. So think about this long and hard... are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real, and always try to understand the way other people feel. And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile... remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy is being read with your life's actions to rehash... would you be proud of the things they say about how you spend your dash?

The gender gap

I wrote a limerick for OEDILF...quite fun really. Here it is:

While I sat in the beauty salon,

That bitch took my Louis Vuitton!

That dastard is cunning

But as she is running,

Impeccable taste she will don!

How did I know that men wouldn't get it? One of the workshoppers thought I was talking about a trunk! Now, women, don't you all know about those gorgeous Louis Vuitton handbags? We drool about them, even though most of us can't afford them. However, men don't even know about them. Such is life.

President Obama

What a night in Chicago. To be honest, I never remember being this excited over an election. It usually has been about choosing the least of 2 evils. This time is different. I am really thinking that Barack could be more than good; he could be great. I've been impressed by his even temperament, even during stressful times. He never got angry at being called a "terrorist" or a "socialist." He just calmly explained his position and the errors of his opponents' ways. My friend and I used to complain that he needed to be "more passionate" (like we are). He'd never win, we'd say, unless he shows more emotion. Of course, we were used to years of our team losing, so nothing he could do would convince us. But now, when we look back on it all, it was exactly that eveness, that thoughtfulness, that helped him win. Remember when McCain wanted to call off the debate to take care of the economy issue? Obama calmly said, "A president has to deal with more than one thing at once." That and Palin, I think, were the beginnings of McCain's fall.

Bush had run on the assumption that Americans would want a drink with him. Palin, with her "Joe 6-pack" ran with the same assumption. Finally Americans have realized that a president is a leader, not a beer buddy. He or she represents Americans throughout the world. Major economic and defense decisions must be made. Would you want your "beer buddy" making those decisions?

Thank God. Americans have finally come to their senses. I am thinking this must have been similar to how Americans felt when Kennedy was elected.

Prescriptivists at the train station...

So, I am waiting for the train to take to the office, talking with the "usuals" who take the same train with me. We were, of course, talking about the election. I commented that my philosophy is that there really aren't any "undecideds." If people haven't been able to decide after 2 years, there's no hope. I think these "undecideds" are just vying for attention. I made the comment: "I believe everyone knows whom they're going to vote for." An older guy (CPA, of course) said, "Don't you mean "for whom they're going to vote"? Then it started. The whole prescriptivist/descriptivist argument. I challenged him to check the CMS, and he said his style manual says you can't end sentences with prepositions. Then he said it. "I can't stand this despicable lowering of standards we are seeing in the English language.

Despicable? He was seething. Why does language cause that kind of a reaction?

Only 84 days...

Until GWB is out of office. I have a ticker in my office that ticks off, second by second, the amount of time left in Bush's presidency. Right now it's at 84 days; 10 hours; 0 min., .5 seconds.

I cannot believe the election is only one week away. I wonder if Obama will be persuasive in his "closing argument" in Ohio. I hope so, but I am not thinking this is over yet. There are too many racists in this country for that.

My darling daughter sent me this (I don't know the source), and I thought it was an incredibly clever comparison of "blue states" versus "red states:"


"Dear Red States:

We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all of the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss. We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make the red states pay their fair share. Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms. Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro gay-rights, pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines, 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia. We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in
9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are the people with higher morals then we lefties.

Peace out,
Blue States"

Amen.