Year: 2004

First snowfall of the season Wednesday night when I was at work ….. it was nice walking in the semi-sleet/semi-snow combination from Hatcher to the bus stop, though I admit it was equally nice that the bus showed up a few minutes after I got there. The snow fell steadily the rest of the evening,...

I never write about or identify my family on my website. They absolutely hate that and have raked me over the coals numerous times, pouring out their venom and anxiety if I so much as dare to mention them on AirBeagle. So, of course, being the contrarian that I am, I have to post an...

Lots and lots of dreams lately. Mainly induced by Vicodin, perhaps, or the new Sulfasalazine I’ve been on for just over a week now. The pain still continues. Yesterday was a pretty good day, but today has been awful. I ache like I’ve got the flu, except it’s all in my joints, and some in...

Other than Jack Ruby’s live TV murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, 24-Nov-04 was a pretty boring day in history: 1926 KVI-AM in Seattle WA begins radio transmissions 1947 John Steinbeck’s novel “The Pearl” published 1947 Un-American Activities Committee finds “Hollywood 10” in contempt because of their refusal to reveal whether they were communists 1954 1st...

’[Reinhard] Heydrich reported 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned (with 177 totally destroyed) and 91 Jews murdered during Kristallnacht. Heydrich then requested new decrees forbidding Jews from having any social contact with Germans by excluding them from public transportation, schools, and hospitals, essentially forcing them into ghettos or out of the country. Goebbels said...

I’m watching Shoah again. Haven’t seen it since it aired on PBS in 1986 or so. Just as shattering as I remember. From « Shoah Film Handouts »: ‘Henrik Gawkowski (Malkinia) — heard the screams coming from the cars behind his locomotive. It was distressing to him since he knew the people behind him were human, like...

I’ve been pretty lucky thus far in my largely pedestrian life in Ann Arbor, because I have a vigilant attitude about vehicular traffic, honed over the years as a pedestrian in the notoriously high-traffic Bay Area. I’ve learned how to stay out of the way of vehicles here for the most part, although the layout...

Snow today in Joshua Tree National Park, Twentynine Plams, and Yucca Valley … and up to 12 inches of snow in the San Bernardino Mountains … But it was sunny and mild here today. It’s supposed to be snowing here by Wednesday, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

There’s a big game this weekend. Oh, yeah, then there’s that insignificant UC Berkeley/Stanford “Big Game”. (Believe me, I’m not about to stick my foot in my mouth on this one.) Stanford will likely lose, judging from their abysmal record this year, but then again, pigs could fly. Anyway, SFist links to this hilarious interview...

You mean he’s not just this way on the written page? I took this class because of Prof. Wallace’s reputation as an author. What a mistake! This guy just likes to hear himself talk, and he won’t shut up. He knows how to play the part of a enigmatic “genius” all right … [Link courtesy...

I can see that Ashbery might stake a claim to being the most influential poet since 1955, though, given how many of his poetic descendants fall over themselves to be even more willfully inscrutable and opaque than Ashbery. For instance, there’s Not Even Then, a recent volume by Brian Blanchfield (who teaches at Pratt Institute),...

Harold Bloom calls John Ashbery in the upcoming Poetry Issue of the Sunday New York Times Book Review “our major poet since the death of Wallace Stevens in 1955.” I don’t know where that leaves Allen Ginsberg, for example, but it seems a highly dubious claim, especially given inscrutable, maddening lines like these, from a...

I had some time to kill this afternoon, so I did some reading in one of the carrels on the third floor of Hatcher. I turned to look out the window and saw a fascinating display on the radiator below the window. The radiator was one of those old 1960s/1970s models with hundreds of vents,...

I went into Ambrosia twice today, once at 11.30 and once at 3.15, and both times it was too packed to find anywhere to sit down inside. I realized that the place has hit its tipping point of popularity, although Ambrosia has always kind of flown under the radar, never winning (or even placing on)...

Tomorrow is my final registration appointment at the University of Michigan. Hard to believe. Damn, these 15 months have gone by fast! I am pretty sure what I’m going to take, including the dreaded 502 class that I put off last winter and now have no choice (poetic justice, since the title of the course...

I was taken to task (well, gently corrected, truth be told) by a couple of natives for the previous dumb-headed post. I humbly apologize (and also to any other Michiganders I may have teed off). Like I said in the comments, I was not trying to be snarky (I was genuinely more curious than anything...

Weather has been creeping toward winter, but (I could be wrong) less steadily than last November. The evenings and nights have been in the low to upper 20s. But the days are still getting up to the high 50s. Today was thoroughly gloomy, overcast and even drizzly at points, but the temps were still in...

This is the opening of Billy Collins’ “The Long Day” in the November issue of Poetry: In the morning I ate a banana like a young ape and worked on a poem called “Nocturne.” In the afternoon I opened the mail with a short kitchen knife, and when dusk began to fall I took off...

       « Our Life in Michigan – Chick Inn and Cold November Playground »

There are some heartbreaking photos here of the October 30 flash flood that destroyed the ground floor of the Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, wiping out the library’s map collection (numbering over 230,000 rare maps) and its government documents collection. The library’s acquisitions office and the university’s library science program facility...

David Foster Wallace wrote a long-winded review of a new Jorge Luis Borges biography in this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review. And it was filled with – what else? – copious, runny, unnecessary, pretentious footnotes! When was the last time the NYTBR published a book review with friggin’ footnotes in it?

Sometimes I wonder who’s living in more of a state of denial, the right or the left. Just two examples from today’s Michigan Daily: One community activist is quoted thusly: “It’s very clear that the real public needs their voice heard. The Democrats do not represent the real people, nor do the Republicans.” Okay, so...

So the backlash mounts in intensity: evangelical Christians in Westland (just 20 miles from Ann Arbor, as the crow flies, which says nothing, really, because evangelicals interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle in Concord said the exact same thing, basically, and Concord is 30 miles from downtown San Francisco) interviewed by the Detroit News saying...

On that same subject, I think the sudden popularity of old pop standards (as in recent albums by Michael McDonald, Rod Stewart, and even Queen Latifah) is an intriguing cultural happening. Why is it, for instance, that people are ready to accept Rod Stewart as an interpreter of Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hammerstein, but...

Supposed to go down to 22 degrees tonight … I definitely felt walking home tonight the fact that I hadn’t brought gloves or cap with me … it was a quiet, beautiful, starlit night, so still you could almost hear the stillness … winter’s coming.

In news from the h.S.S. today, we see that « the first Taser stun guns will be allowed on airliners »: ‘Stun gun maker Taser International Inc. on Monday said it won U.S. government approval to use its products on some commercial airline flights to protect passengers from potential harm. … Taser, based in Scottsdale,...

I dream as much as the dog. And that’s a lot. I hate November. With a passion. I had a hypoglycemic attack yesterday after we got through messing around with the dog at Wines Elementary. Could have been brought on by my spinning around like a crazy person on the tire swing. We had to...

I rode the bike to work at the high school on Friday. It was tough getting up over the railroad pass into a fierce cold wind, but I did it. I was whooped and late when I got there, but I did it and felt better. Now that I’m no longer banned from the bike,...

As seen on « Datalounge », this sums up my feelings today: ‘The speeches are over, The debates are done; Looks like the fellow from Texas has won. Let’s let our differences be a thing of the past, I’ll hug your elephant, If you’ll kiss my ass.’

Yesterday I overheard two people waiting in line at Espresso Royale talking about the defeat of Proposal 2. One was saying to the other that he didn’t understand why the religious right felt compelled to discriminate against “those people.” Well, that’s exactly it. As long as even squishy liberals stand around and talk about gays...

I think « this piece by Garry Wills » is one of the best discussions of the state of the Empire I’ve read this week: ‘America, the first real democracy in history, was a product of Enlightenment values – critical intelligence, tolerance, respect for evidence, a regard for the secular sciences. Though the founders differed...

A note: I’m probably going to be one of the few people left who think Bush remains an illegitimate occupier of the White House. My personal viewpoint is that he wouldn’t have even been in Tuesday’s election had he not stolen the 2000 election thanks to the Imperial Supreme Court. And he has never acted...

So, what to say or think now? Remarkably, I’ve settled into a mood of sang-froid or c’est la vie rather than despair or depression. I’m shaking my head at the folly of it all, but pretty much resigned to it. I can see where this is all headed. I’ve known for a very long time....

Ambrosia was full of students yesterday morning. One was on his cellphone bemoaning the onslaught of “crazy lunatics,” presumably referring to Tuesday’s election results. A table of grad students at the back was having a grand old time. One guy had a shaved head and a turtleneck, another was lanky and wore black socks with...

For being the only counties in the state where the majority voted against Proposal 2 (60% to 40% against in Washtenaw, 53% to 47% against in Ingham).

From the brink of tasting victory to the abyss of defeat … Shellshocked. The only word to describe the feeling this morning, not only in my own head, but it feels like everywhere I look. ASquared is not a particularly happy village this morning. The skies are overcast and the chill of oncoming winter is...

After checking the ‘Immigrating to Canada’ guide, I’m off to bed. It’s looking mighty grim. Good night, y’all.

I’m tired and very discouraged at the moment. But. I’ve kept this ‘blog for over three years as a documentation of the Boy Emperor’s excesses. But I don’t know if I can continue for four more years. I’ve slacked off lately only because of my hands. I was just simply trying to get to this...

Crashed. And burned. Ohio looks gone, Iowa is teetering. Four years of fascism and extremism. 11 states completely destroyed their gay and straight unmarried couples and their families. The Freeper gloating will be extreme. Rehnquist will be retiring immediately after he administers the oath of office at the re-coronation and the Supreme Court will begin...

My mood bounces back a bit when David reminds me that Florida has a million absentee ballots and early votes to count …

TV ‘news’ drives me nuts. I discover that we can pick up the CBC in Windsor with the rabbit ears. We bail on ABC and their ultra-annoying coverage. I can only imagine what the others are like; ABC is about the best of the bunch. And that’s so very sad. Oh, Canada!

Sinking feeling. 94% of the precincts in Florida are in and there is a 300,000+ lead for the emperor. Kerry is running behind in Ohio as well. If he loses Ohio, it’s pretty much all over. Not a good night. At this point, my cautious optimism has given way to quiet alarm.

The Boy Emperor announces an unprecedented event: he invites the press into the White House’s intimate setting so he can use the power of the office to address people still voting in open states and beg for their vote. First, it’s outrageous, typical of him. Second, it’s a sign, to me, that Rove et. al....

We’re at 102 for the Emperor and 77 for Kerry. A bit nail-biting, but the evening is VERY young …

And now more states are called. Kerry has 77 EVs and Bush 66. So far, so good. CNN’s coverage is beyond awful. And I’m NOT tuning in to the Fascist News Network for love or money, until it’s time to see their downfallen, crestfallen faces when Kerry gives his victory speech. Mood remains cautiously optimistic.

So. Here we go. Are we going to dump the Emperor and his fascist extremist agenda? Is sanity returning to the White House? Officially, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia and Georgia have been called for Bush; Vermont for Kerry. But exit polling looks good. ‘Cautiously optimistic.’

Yeah, baby. I just voted an hour ago. It totally rocked. Our precinct is at Temple Beth Emreth on Packard. I arrived at 16:00 and got a great parking spot up front; I left at 16:15. 15 minutes from start to finish. There was no one in the ‘M to Z’ line and I filled...

Election day is here … It’s amazing to me, more than anything else, just to hear the conversations around me today. The media likes to portray the American populace as thoughtless, partisan, and angry. I saw just the opposite today. There were thoughtful, reasoned, sober discussions on the bus, at the polling site, everywhere I...

Well, I guess there’s one nice benefit to all of this argument over gay marriage: better scripts from Hollywood. Riiiiight.

I was listening to some “undecided voters” whine about their conflictedness on the radio. If you’re still undecided on November 2 about who should be in the White House for the next four years, after over a year of relentless news coverage, attack ads, vituperation, vitriol, controversy, and fury, all I can say is, “Huh?”