It must be observed that this has been a week beyond the average. To attempt to capture it all in some sort of laundry list seems to trivialize it (as, indeed, the very nature of the phrase “laundry list” captures).…
Category: A Day in the Life
Suicide in the Sort of Present: Thoughts on the Passing of David Foster Wallace (1962-2008)
David Foster Wallace was whirled into my life by my eighth girlfriend (if she can quite be called that), the one I’ve lovingly dubbed “Try Before You Buy” in the nomenclature of retrospect. It was my sophomore year in college,…
Hurtling Towards Resolution/October
The lack of Duck & Cover today is dedicated in silence to the memories of David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) and Peter Camejo (1939-2008). Truth be told, of course, I just didn’t have the time or energy (or inclination to wake…
Take Me Away, Country Roads (or: If On a September Eleventh a Traveler)
It is morning in America. Early morning here, just past six on a Friday morning. I’d normally be just stirring, an hour’s timezone west, wondering what the last day of the week was about to bring at work, wondering if…
An Hour After the End
“I suppose you are wondering why you are here.” Seven billion souls shuffling their feet, which many at once notice are not exactly feet while somehow failing to not be feet. Even those who did not have feet just moments…
Searching for Direction
I’ve been playing the stock market for about four months now. On days like most of the ones this past week, they say that the market is searching for direction. As though the market, each day, were a living entity…
Announcing the Women World Leaders Quiz!
You’re Madeline Albright! While you have a way with words, it’s hardly always pleasant for those around you to hear them. Even though you see it as your duty to be diplomatic, this rarely means that you use kid gloves.…
Errata
Fish has been great lately about being my fact-checker. For example, I must’ve had Janice Mirikitani on the brain when I wrote “Janice Joplin” instead of “Janis Joplin” back in early July. Later, he pointed out that Evan Bayh is…
Thursday Roundup: Peace, Hope, Truth
Peace So it looks, thankfully, like the Olympic Ossetia War may be over almost as quickly as it started. If you’ve been under a rock for a week (or in Vegas, as I was for the bulk of the war),…
On Mars
So there may be rocket fuel on Mars. It’s in our drinking water and now it’s on the Red Planet. What would we be more likely to find as the remains of a past civilization, a past effort, than this…