dys· phem· is· tic Saturday, January 03, 2009
On The Making of Sausage
posted by Pleonic @ 11:53 AM
(0) spontaneous expostulations
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Saturday, May 27, 2006
Of Pauses
And then, a mighty hiatus ensued...
posted by Pleonic @ 8:56 PM
(0) spontaneous expostulations
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Ah God, for a man with heart, head, hand,
Like some of the simple great ones gone
For ever and ever by,
One still strong mind in a blatant land,
Whatever they call him, what care I,
Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat -- one
Who can rule and dare not lie.
-- Tennyson
In school in the '70's, you could feel, if you were perceptive, the ingrown, dispirited atmosphere that pervaded the whole country. It was like we'd all had the wind knocked out of us by Watergate, Viet-Nam, the gas crisis, and a million other things. Looking at my possible life after graduating High School, I could see only low wages, high prices, high interest, high unemployment -- especially in the careers I wanted to enter.
Mt. Saint Helens blew up, Three Mile Island melted down, Skylab fell on Australia. All we could do about international crises was boycott the Olympics and impose sanctions. The "Window of Opportunity" was opening, we were told, and the Soviets would soon be more powerful than we. Nixon, Ford, Carter -- such small, limpid, uninspiring men.
When I graduated from College in 1983, everything had changed. I hadn't supported Ronald Reagan, by the way; I wanted John Connally for President. Reagan was "just a movie actor" in my view. But now there he was -- Presidential, sticking out his chest, squaring his shoulders, issuing his call to arms:
True, in '83 we were still in what was called "The Reagan Recession" and I had a hard time at first finding a job with my trusty Liberal Arts Degree. All around me, Reagan was being portrayed as an idiot, out of his depth, "Gambling With History." But for the first time, that didn't matter. The spirit in the country was different. I had no doubt that better times were coming. And they did.
How did he do it? He reached back into the dim recesses of that cultural memory we all shared but no longer trusted and grabbed hold of the crackling high tension wire that is America's soul. And once the current was flowing, he never allowed that connection to be broken.
And, oh yes. He applied a little old fashioned yankee realism and common sense to financial and foreign policy, sparking an economic surge that (with one brief pause) ran until the late '90's and a geopolitical surge that left us the one, lone superpower.
Ronald Reagan, gainsayers and cynics to the contrary, will be remembered as the man who breathed new life into America -- who restored our soul. And by restoring our soul, he changed the world.
God bless you Mr. President, and may flights of angels sing you to your rest.
Saturday, June 05, 2004
On the Passing of a Great Man
Ah God, for a man with heart, head, hand,Like some of the simple great ones gone
For ever and ever by,
One still strong mind in a blatant land,
Whatever they call him, what care I,
Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat -- one
Who can rule and dare not lie.
-- Tennyson
In school in the '70's, you could feel, if you were perceptive, the ingrown, dispirited atmosphere that pervaded the whole country. It was like we'd all had the wind knocked out of us by Watergate, Viet-Nam, the gas crisis, and a million other things. Looking at my possible life after graduating High School, I could see only low wages, high prices, high interest, high unemployment -- especially in the careers I wanted to enter.
Mt. Saint Helens blew up, Three Mile Island melted down, Skylab fell on Australia. All we could do about international crises was boycott the Olympics and impose sanctions. The "Window of Opportunity" was opening, we were told, and the Soviets would soon be more powerful than we. Nixon, Ford, Carter -- such small, limpid, uninspiring men.
When I graduated from College in 1983, everything had changed. I hadn't supported Ronald Reagan, by the way; I wanted John Connally for President. Reagan was "just a movie actor" in my view. But now there he was -- Presidential, sticking out his chest, squaring his shoulders, issuing his call to arms:
"I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing!"
True, in '83 we were still in what was called "The Reagan Recession" and I had a hard time at first finding a job with my trusty Liberal Arts Degree. All around me, Reagan was being portrayed as an idiot, out of his depth, "Gambling With History." But for the first time, that didn't matter. The spirit in the country was different. I had no doubt that better times were coming. And they did.
How did he do it? He reached back into the dim recesses of that cultural memory we all shared but no longer trusted and grabbed hold of the crackling high tension wire that is America's soul. And once the current was flowing, he never allowed that connection to be broken.
And, oh yes. He applied a little old fashioned yankee realism and common sense to financial and foreign policy, sparking an economic surge that (with one brief pause) ran until the late '90's and a geopolitical surge that left us the one, lone superpower.
Ronald Reagan, gainsayers and cynics to the contrary, will be remembered as the man who breathed new life into America -- who restored our soul. And by restoring our soul, he changed the world.
God bless you Mr. President, and may flights of angels sing you to your rest.
posted by Pleonic @ 5:45 PM
(0) spontaneous expostulations
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Friday, May 28, 2004
On Memorial Day
I had lots of deep concepts to write about... but for some reason all I can think of right now is starting my Memorial Day weekend. I will be taking my kids to the War Memorial in Muskrat Bayou Park. It's actually a very nice one, with a huge bronze eagle and black marble cubes inscribed with the names of the war dead all the way back to World War I.
Texas knows how to honor heros.
posted by Pleonic @ 5:59 PM
(0) spontaneous expostulations
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Concerning 46
I turned 46 yesterday -- and I don't give a flip!
posted by Pleonic @ 2:12 PM
(0) spontaneous expostulations
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Last night I dreamed I woke up next to Tina Louise -- you know, Ginger on Gilligan's Island. Which is strange because my crush was always on Mary Ann.
Anyway, we weren't doing anything hardly ever am in my dreams... ::sigh::), just sitting there in bed talking. Mostly I was politely asking her about her work on Broadway and the other things she'd been in. After all, I know she doesn't look upon Gilligan as her finest hour.
Soon, we noticed the door to the room we were in was one of those translucent glass jobs, like you see in offices. And sure enough, in a little while it swung open as easy as you please and in walks... David Bowie!
No, this is a real dream. I'm not making this up.
I had clothes on by now, and Mr. Bowie turned out to be a very nice gentleman. I shook his hand and we talked for quite some time about nothing in particular.
Later, out in a hallway, I saw Rod Stewart from a distance.
What all this means, I have no idea. But there must be a clue in the fact that three celebrities from the days of my youth were featured. Where's Sigmund Freud when you need him?
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Of Dreams and How Nice Some of Them Are
Last night I dreamed I woke up next to Tina Louise -- you know, Ginger on Gilligan's Island. Which is strange because my crush was always on Mary Ann.
Anyway, we weren't doing anything hardly ever am in my dreams... ::sigh::), just sitting there in bed talking. Mostly I was politely asking her about her work on Broadway and the other things she'd been in. After all, I know she doesn't look upon Gilligan as her finest hour.
Soon, we noticed the door to the room we were in was one of those translucent glass jobs, like you see in offices. And sure enough, in a little while it swung open as easy as you please and in walks... David Bowie!
No, this is a real dream. I'm not making this up.
I had clothes on by now, and Mr. Bowie turned out to be a very nice gentleman. I shook his hand and we talked for quite some time about nothing in particular.
Later, out in a hallway, I saw Rod Stewart from a distance.
What all this means, I have no idea. But there must be a clue in the fact that three celebrities from the days of my youth were featured. Where's Sigmund Freud when you need him?
