"No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
In May 2010 Arizona banned the teaching of ethnic studies in the state’s public school classrooms, specifically targeting Mexican-American and Native American studies. The new law forbid elementary and secondary schools to conduct classes “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or that advocated “the overthrow of the United States government” and “resentment […]
I love the jet fighters of the 1950s. Built for speed, sleek and swept-back, they were the embodiment of the fantasy planes of comic book superheroes. The North American F-107, an orphan fighter-bomber abandoned by the USAF, embodies the go-fast exuberance of the period. The F-107 began life in 1953 at North American Aviation as a drawing-board […]
In December, after the death of hereditary dictator Kim Jong-Il, network and cable TV news programs replayed videos of North Korean citizens publicly weeping and wailing in mourning for the Dear Leader. Many Americans, starting with but not confined to news reporters, made fun of the North Koreans. I wrote a blog entry at the […]
A friend posted this to Facebook yesterday: My drinking friends are always forwarding stories like this. Sure, booze is good for you. What the hell, if it makes you feel better about your drinking, you have my permission to believe whatever bogus “study” the liquor industry wants you to believe. Bottoms up! But it isn’t […]
“If you speak of this, you and your parents will be killed.” — Glynn Turman as Dr. Woodward in Super 8 Bridesmaids (2011, USA) One of my buds watched Bridesmaids with his wife and hated it. I thought, apart from a few flat spots, it was pretty funny. It’s basically a guy flick turned into […]
My experience with new year’s resolutions has been generally unsatisfactory. With me … and with almost everyone I know … resolutions are prescriptions for self-induced stress, ultimate failure, and consequent depression. They suck. That’s not to say I haven’t made deals with myself and stuck to them: I successfully quit smoking years ago and more […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books. “What is the criteria for banning a book? Who gets to make that decision? Is it one person’s opinion? Everyone sees things differently; where will it stop?” Ignoring district procedures for making decisions about restricting student access to books, school superintendent […]
“It’s not me but the world that’s deranged. At some point in time, the world I knew either vanished or withdrew, and another world came to take its place. Like the switching of a track. In other words, my mind, here and now, belongs to the world that was, but the world itself has already […]