All Purls. No Swine.
I’m grateful to the Ricochet member who–in a comment on a main feed thread about something else–drew my attention to this Public Service Announcement by a bunch of soi-disant celebrities,** just eight years ago. Thank you: https://youtu.be/e1zjNntlXPo I’m still not exactly sure what they’re advocating for. Oh, wait. Yes, I am sure. They're advocating for the… Continue reading The Purpose of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
A bit of a repost from almost exactly a year ago. Like Angela herself, I think it's aged pretty well. The same can't be said for Strictly Come Dancing, once a hugely popular BBC program. ("Dancing with the Stars" is the US copycat edition.) Ever since the Fall of 2023, "Strictly" has been mired in… Continue reading Happy 80th Birthday, Angela Rippon!
...Pearls before swine." Wealthy socialite, well-known conservative, staunch anti-Communist, former U.S. Ambassador, playwright, politician and all-round doyenne (a word much underused these days) of all things mid-twentieth century and American, Clare Boothe Luce died thirty-seven years ago today, on October 9, 1987. She was eighty-four years old. Her extraordinary life, which began under the stigma… Continue reading Quote of the Day: “Age before beauty…
Apologies to A.A. Milne: But now I’m six, I'm as clever as clever. So I think I'll be six now, forever and ever! I guess this was really just the sixty-fourth anniversary of my turning six. (For God's sake, check the math; it was never my strong point). And I'm deliriously happy with the result. … Continue reading Now I Am Seventy
It was 104 years ago today, on August 18, 1920 that these United States granted all women full voting rights. The vote which put the amendment over the top came from Tennessee which--by just a single vote from representative Harry Burn--moved it forward. (There's a story there, disputed, but a story, nonetheless, related here in… Continue reading Happy Nineteenth Amendment Ratification Day!
Or maybe the better term is LARPing (which isn’t so easy to fit into a succinct and clever title). In either case, it’s people with privilege (talking about actual, personal, individual privilege, such as students (whatever their background) who’ve been accepted into some of the most elite educational institutions in the world and who, as… Continue reading The State of (Cos)Play
On this April 16, 2024, a day that would have been my grandmother Molly's 126th birthday, I bring back a post originally published on Ricochet on April 16--Easter Sunday--2017. Happy Birthday, Granny! My grandmother Molly could be a rather stern old lady. She was born when Queen Victoria was still on the throne, on April… Continue reading On Granny. Oh, and On Chocolate, Too. And a Few Other Things As Well
Matthew 5:44. We are instructed to pray for these appalling people. This Easter week, I can't help reflecting that it's one of the hardest things to do in all of Christianity. Because my own Christian charity extends only so far, I resolve the dilemma in my own mind, thus: "You have to live with yourselves… Continue reading A Prayer for “them which despitefully use [us] and persecute [us]”
A lightly-edited post from several years ago, in honor (or despight) of Jack Kerouac's 101st birthday today. My contempt for the man--and everything he represents--hasn't changed. What a rotten, deranged, misogynistic bastard. Unfortunately, and increasingly, it seems that--these days--there are those who find such people inspiring and worthy of emulation. Particularly on social media. But… Continue reading On Household Relations and the Natural Order of Things, 2024 Edition
LOL. I would once have said that all this is a bit out of my wheelhouse, but these skills are now all in my wheelbarrow--or "whilbarr" as they say in these parts-- so here goes. (Like the one in the diagram to the right, I strive to maintain equilibrium in my own life. Doing so… Continue reading How to Straighten the Cord for a Pendant Light–Final Answer. And a few other thoughts as well.