Bits and Pieces of Today
I have so much that goes through my head in one day, that I decided to institute a Bits and Pieces regularly. It helps me get down a lot with a little. I’ll probably be including all sorts of stuff, from thoughts to music I can’t stop listening to, to book excerpts, to funny videos, to articles, to generally anything that makes me think, laugh, cry, or respond.
What can I compare you to, a window the sun shines through?
Maybe the silver moon, a smile rising
The magic of the fading day, satellites on parade
A toast to the plans we’ve made to live like kings.
Take It From Me - The Weepies
I don’t believe in crying over spilled milk. But what about spilled lemonade? And what does that mean, since life skipped the lemons and went straight to the lemonade? Should it just be lemonade under the bridge?
Gray quiet and tired and mean
picking at a worried seam
I try to make you mad at me over the phone.
Red eyes and fire and signs
Gotta Have You - The Weepies
On relationships:
Take note. Chivalry, gentlemanly manners, and general helpfulness inherently should not have to be asked for. They should be given without request. Thank you.
I adore Ursula K. LeGuin. One short story of hers, “The Matter of Seggri,” has stuck in my mind for a long time because of it’s sheer artfullness, perception, and truth. I believe it was the first story of hers that I ever read; moreover, as I read more of her work I realised that she wrote a lot about societies and cultures that, in their dissimilarities from ours, pointed out interesting things about our own values, practices, prejudices, flaws, and strengths as any truly great science fiction should. I am currently engrossed in The Left Hand of Darkness, another story dealing with gender roles like MoS. There are so many things I like about this story that I will revisit later, but I wanted to share a section that I read today that really rang true for me. LeGuin’s main character is talking about an insane politician who has been trying to sway popular opinion in favor of war by frequently appearing on the radio. Here he describes the jargon the politician uses and then analyzes it:
“He talked a great deal about Truth also, for he was, he said, ‘cutting down beneath the veneer of civilization’.
It is a durable, ubiquitous, spacious metaphor, that one about veneer (or paint, or pliofilm, or whatever) hiding the nobler reality beneath. It can conceal a dozen fallacies at once. One of the most dangerous is the implication that civilization, being artificial, is unnatural: that it is the opposite of primitiveness…. Of course there is no veneer, the process is one of growth, and primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing. If civilization has an opposite, it is war.”
Yes! Exactly! I love reading such well written observations about ideas I have had in my mind yet couldn’t solidify as clearly as a talented author like LeGuin.
Methinks President Bush would read that and be like: “What? No, no, no, you’re all wrong. You see, God said war is good. And Congress needs to FUND OUR TROOPS! When can we start another war with Iran? I need some more oil.”
No amount of coffee, no amount of crying
No amount of whiskey, no amount of wine
No, nothing else will do
I’ve gotta have you, I’ve gotta have you.Gotta Have You - The Weepies
