Feed the Hungry! Post a post!

Today's blog post is really a comment on various friends' blogs. Anne has introduced me to a site that she rightly calls amazingly addictive while tapping into all our inner geeky, competitive, do-gooder ways (sorry for the plagiarism, Anne!). Check out freerice.com to test your vocab and feed the hungry all at the same time.

Laura today reminds us all to participate in NaBloPoMo, which I have every intention of doing. I have something of a burden and gift in terms of the NaBloPoMo timing intersecting with my move. On the one hand, I can (try to) rivet you all with amazing stories of turning my new apartment into a home and discovering the hidden treasures of my new neighborhood. On the other hand, who knows if I'll be able to borrow my new neighbors' wireless connection. Since I haven't signed up for internet service yet myself, there may be some trips to Starbucks for weekend posting.

And, finally, a gentle nudge to my blogging friends who seem to have fallen off the wagon lately. I need workday entertainment, gentlemen! You know who you are (Nate and Josh).

Bleak Presidential Options

I realize that most of my political post are bitch sessions about how idiotic republicans are. And I stand by that; they are idiots. But just to mix things up a little, I thought I'd bitch about Barack Obama a bit, too.

I was extraordinarily excited about him when I first heard of him in Chicago. And his keynote address at the Democratic National Committee was phenomenal and appropriately catapulted him onto the national stage. But since then he's made a series of uninformed comments and annoyed me with his constant request for money. Yes, all the candidates need to fund raise. But I'd like a little inspiration before they pick my pocket at least. Obama's most recent disappointing turn, though, is appearing on stage with hate monger Donnie McClurkin. McClurkin is an evangelical minister who was "cured" of his sinful gay ways by the church. He states that he is in a war against homosexuality, and regardless of Obama's rhetoric about tolerance and inclusiveness, his choice to appear side by side with this bigot speaks volumes.

I'm extremely disappointed by how few of the democratic candidates actually advocate for acceptance. All the front runners, including not only Obama, but Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, too, have a separate but equal platform going. I know it's not going to happen, but I truly do wish that Dennis Kucinich could get some traction. He's really the only one who makes any sense half the time.


Now, I wouldn't want to totally break my anti-republican streak here, so let's end with a juicy little tidbit about Rudy Guliani. He recently treated a group of Iowans to insight on his views of torture. According to Guliani, waterboarding (immobilizing an individual and pouring water over his or her face to simulate drowning) isn't necessarily torture. He says: "It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it."

Ok. Sure. Simulating drowning COULD be torture, but if it's done by someone's sweet old grandma while she tickles your feet, well, that's a different story. Throw a cute puppy in there and it's practically Christmas.

A Children's Lit character Grows Up

The Times today interviews Judith Viorst, author of the iconic children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The title character is Viorst's real life son Alexander, and when he and his brood (including three children of his own) moved back into his mother's house during their home renovation, Viorst took the opportunity to write another book. No children's book this time, Alexander and the Wonderful, Marvelous, Excellent, Terrific Ninety Days sounds more like a cross between a memoir and an advice guide. I haven't read the book, but I do think it's interesting to imagine how that boy with gum in his hair is actually a real person who grew up. I tend to think of Alexander and Max (of Where the Wild Things Are fame) each as a children's lit Every Man: timeless and existing within each of us.

Mitt Romney is a fucking idiot

As reported in today's New York Times Romney is mixing up Barack Obama's and Osama Bin Laden's names. Now, it's not like he was about to get my vote anyway, but does ANYONE want for president someone so stupid that he can't remember which is the name of an esteemed public servant and countryman and which is the name of Public Enemy Number One?

Tender at the Bone

Last night I finished up Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table, the first of three Ruth Reichl books Laura lent me last month. A more sweeping and traditional memoir than Julie and Julia, my other recent food read, Tender at the Bone introduces Reichl at a young age and follows her through her transformative years and into early adulthood. For Reichl, food is a constant source of comfort, excitement, knowledge, and personal growth. Peppered with recipes (which I, of course, didn’t try), the book is literally a menu of Reichl’s experiences.

To carry the food theme a little further: The beginning had an episodic feel—life as tapas, perhaps. The reader gets merely a glimpse of Reichl’s brother, for instance, and even recurring characters are introduced through stand alone anecdotes. Once these introductions are made, though, Reichl hits her stride and writes about her family, friends, and food with aplomb. Her experiences at boarding school, her transformation from student to hippie, and her use of food as a means of personal connection all resonate as well as entertain. It’s her relationship with her parents, though, that lends the book emotional heft. Reichl deftly introduces her mother’s idiosyncrasies early in the book and lets the reader’s understanding of her mother’s mental state develop slowly, much as hers likely did growing up. Meanwhile, she paints a portrait of her father as a loving if unintentionally distant man. Her relationship with her mother and father, and their relationship with each other, is, as the title promises, quite tender.

Ann Coulter can suck it

Ann Coulter, reigning queen of idiocy, strikes again. Her latest doozy: a personal dream about repealing women's suffrage.

If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.

It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it’s the party of women and 'We’ll pay for health care and tuition and day care -- and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?'

I wish this were a joke.

Act V

I can't highly enough recommend that everyone take a listen to this recent podcast of This American Life. It focuses on an amazing story of one production of Hamlet. Totally worth an hour of your day.