howdy

Hi all (it's Rachel L.),

I thought I'd do my part to revive the blog, since I loved reading it while it was jumping and was consistently lazy about contributing.

Get this: I'm reading Gilead and a waspy book about money management called "Rich Dads, Poor Dads" that my dad gave me...AT THE SAME TIME. It's not just contradictory; it's unholy. Anyway, it's been out for awhile, so this may be an unfashionable proclamation, but: Gilead just leaves me shaken. It reminds me of what I liked about religion when I was young (and maybe what I liked about writing back when I actually wrote)--I liked the imperative to examine and explore your motives and tendencies, to think of what would be virtuous, of how you would like to be, of what you respect...and then to go out into the world and try to remember it. Doesn't it seem like much of the bad you've done, you did because you simply forgot how you wanted to be?

On that note, check out these R Kelly videos: http://youtube.com/results?search_query=trapped+in+the+closet&search=Search

They're old news too, but I've rediscovered them and can't stop laughing.

I miss you guys.

R

Satisfaction

What, is this my personal blog now or something? I feel ashamed to post twice in a row, like I'm the jobless no-life junkfood-guzzling loafer who doesn't change out of her pajamas till dinnertime and has whole conversations about ass-licking with her dog. Oh, wait, I *am* that jobless no-life junkfood-guzzling loafer.....

Anyway, I know some of you out there bemoan the fact that Harper's Magazine turned into one long left-wing rant in 2000 and never looked back, but like I said before, their ranting makes me happy, and this here below (you will have already seen it if you subscribe or read regularly), I don't know if it's a rant or a dare or a hoot, but it's oh-so-clever and I want to read it over and over again and so should you if you are the sort of person who will be glad that someone has stepped up to fill Lapham's reflective wing-tips:


http://www.harpers.org/OnSimpleHumanDecency=1149635660.html


Yes I know it's months old but I can't stop reading it.

Three Questions

Ha! No one wants to be the first to answer Starrykick's summons. But the thought of her sitting before this moribund blog in her windowless office is so sad, people, isn't it sad? Isn't it? Where is everyone?

1) Has anyone read Kathryn Davis before? She had a brief mention in a sort-of-recent New Yorker and I got curious and started reading excerpts on Amazon. They are weird and wonderful. If anyone has actually read her, perhaps you can tell me if I should read something of hers from start to finish, and if so, what (please keep in mind that reading something from start to finish is a RARE and MAJOR commitment for me).

2) Has anyone every noticed how easy it is for a dog to look like a gangsta rapper if you put it in a hooded sweatshirt?

3) Does anyone else here read Tomato Nation, in particular the letters to the advice columnist(s)? A visiting friend who shall remain unnamed just introduced me to the website. Well, they were PRETENDING to be a friend, but I think they must be secretly plotting my ruin, because why else would anyone foist yet another addiction upon me? I mean, how could anyone have expected notoriously week-willed me to resist the variegated temptations of an unlimited reservoir of human foolishness on public display? Such great fodder for nightmares, indigestion, and stories, if I wrote them. I particularly recommend the letter about the roommate with the prolapsed anus.

Leftover Mashed Potatoes

These leftover mashed potatoes have been made into a soup.

where are you robotdinosaurs??

can we stage a resurrection? I think we should. the whole point was to keep in touch about writing matters when people moved away. well look, it's officially winter here, and it's been clear to me for some time that People Have Moved Away. so: please start by posting anything--a hello, an update, a book you're reading or thinking about reading, a rant about your students, a picture of a leftover pile of mashed potates. remember blogs? remember when they were hip? I want you back, people. Ready? Go.