Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: July 2008

  • Space News

    My brother David called Sunday night to say “Alert! TiVo Alert! Space Week! Science Channel!” “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said. “How We Left Earth. Saw it.” Saw it; TiVoed it; blogged it. “NO! Moon Missions! New!” And I’ll be darned, it is new. It’s a new slant on the Apollo missions. First of all, they…

  • On the Epidemic of Heart Attacks in the Rabbit Population

    We celebrated the fourth on the fifth at the in-laws, as it always is. I was outside watching Tinkerbell do her tiny doggie business on the back lawn, and Wilma said, “Oh, good, that’s her regular spot. Yesterday, I was on the phone and she was hunched over funny and I started screaming.” Wilma will…

  • An Excerpt from the Yiddish Policeman’s Union

    I think all they would have to do is put this excerpt on the back cover, and they would just hand Michael Chabon the Pulitzer for fiction. Again. A man (Hertz) and his son (John Bear Berko) are talking after a long estrangement. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ‘”Don’t take that tone with me, John Bear,” the old man…

  • Old Posts: Where Are They Now Edition

    Given what I did on July Fourth (stayed in the house, saw no fireworks, learned a schtckle of Yiddish), and given what my summer plans are (concert next week, then a great expanse of nothing), I am reduced to updating old reports. Rock Band– I was momentarily interested in getting Rock Band, or at least…

  • July Fourth

    Two Things I Love About My Country The Constitution. I love the constitution like Barbara Jordan does, and if anyone hasn’t heard how much she loves the Constitution, search for that on YouTube. I love it even with its flaws. I love the ACLU. I love the Nazis hiking through Skokie. Oh, I even love…

  • Sleepshopping

    I’ve been reading my copy of The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I’ve turned down the corners of pages that contain words I don’t know. Words I don’t know, you shkotzes you. And I apologize if “shkotz” means something bad, but I’m leaving all the Yiddish words until I get to a good stopping point. It’s all…

  • In the nude, all that is not beautiful is obscene*

    * Robert Bresson, French film director. Long ago I was a pretty good artist. I can’t sculpt, I have no eye for color, but I draw a good nude. My favorite class was Figure Drawing, where my specialty was delicate line drawings of nude women. Of course, I was far more comfortable with the female…