The Rangers, some rumors, Stan the Man, Joakim, lawyer GMs, Portnoy, Republican extremists, Tsundoku, a real life coffin flop, and What We Pretend To Be
Spotsylvania County is 60-90 minutes away from me, depending on traffic, but I hadn't heard about their school board silliness till yesterday. (Living in Loudoun County, which was in the news all day every day until last Wednesday, will do that I guess.)
One thing that struck me is that the school board is fussing about books available through a digital library, and including those books in the ones they want to burn.
I don't know how that works, exactly, but I can't picture kids willingly tossing their laptops or phones onto a fire.
If you think books in school are bad, wait until you find out what kids are able to see on their phones. Oh sure, not YOUR precious, you’ve got parental controls. But the kids at lunch, the kids at recess, on the bus…. These kids have seen a lot of stuff younger than parents realize. But sure, go after pornography… that is in the library.
At the beginning of this year - after I felt like my brain had lost the ability to read actual books - I started enforcing "quiet reading time" of at least 15 minutes a day. It doesn't seem like much but it did correct the problem to some extent. I also made a point of reading more long form journalism to - again - force that reading comprehension portion of my brain to stay active.
Do the idiots wanting to burn books know there are other copies or do they think they're getting them all?
I've read two books by Dan Jones. He's pretty good. (No relation, I think, to Giants QB Daniel Jones, but who knows?)
If three months of pain is what it takes to get the owners to give in, I am all for it.
And it's extreme crap like the above that actually harms the Dems, since we all find ourselves thinking "oh, come on, who is going to vote for THAT?" It's really hard to imagine that somehow the GOP appeals to people despite their fascism. It's impossible for me to understand how any people of color can be Republicans. But it's not enough just to be the party that isn't fascist. That said, you would think that book burning would offend more people.
I hate typing this line "I didn’t used to be this way"
I in fact avoid it just because I don't like that it is isn't "I didn't use to be this way" And then I say it in my head and then out loud. And I change it. And then google it. Then just delete it and use new words.
I used to read ALL THE TIME and now my brain is a wad of kludge that keeps my skull from deflating.
But I picked up a bunch of books that I really want to read and I'm determined to read them for real even if I need to take a vacation day from work and run off somewhere with sketchy cell service to force myself to do so.
Pre-mid-March 2020, I did my reading on my commute. The el ride from the Loop to my stop is about 35-40 minutes. I usually alternated a novel and a non-fiction book, and I polish off 2 to 4 books a month. While I ostensibly have more free time, for a large portion of the pandemic, I was the prime parent on duty when my daughter had remote school, and when and where my free time came changed. And it's changed a few more times, so I've really fallen off on reading narrative fiction. I've got to find a way back to it.
Regarding reading, having the sabbath and Jewish holidays for reading means that I am always in the middle of something. You can't use electronics, can't watch TV, can't surf the web. But you can read.
But without a commute, my weekday reading is done a lot. Not that it wasn't before the pandemic, since I was dividing my commute between reading, watching stuff, surfing the net, and podcasts. Plus e-books just don't feel as urgent. Plus "reading" includes a lot of comics and graphic novels, which engage a different part of my brain that just words. So I definitely am not as voracious a reader as I was.
Nonetheless, my love of books remains undimmed, and I usually have one book on my nightstand and one book for sabbath reading.
Being a lawyer has slowed my reading down, because I try to read everything like it's brief or a deposition transcript. I can be reading the latest paperback thriller, but I have to fight the urge to go back 20 pages to confirm the exact quote from a particular character or some minor detail.
Spotsylvania County is 60-90 minutes away from me, depending on traffic, but I hadn't heard about their school board silliness till yesterday. (Living in Loudoun County, which was in the news all day every day until last Wednesday, will do that I guess.)
One thing that struck me is that the school board is fussing about books available through a digital library, and including those books in the ones they want to burn.
I don't know how that works, exactly, but I can't picture kids willingly tossing their laptops or phones onto a fire.
I wish that Bloom County would bring back Portnoy. I liked him more than Rosebud.
If you think books in school are bad, wait until you find out what kids are able to see on their phones. Oh sure, not YOUR precious, you’ve got parental controls. But the kids at lunch, the kids at recess, on the bus…. These kids have seen a lot of stuff younger than parents realize. But sure, go after pornography… that is in the library.
At the beginning of this year - after I felt like my brain had lost the ability to read actual books - I started enforcing "quiet reading time" of at least 15 minutes a day. It doesn't seem like much but it did correct the problem to some extent. I also made a point of reading more long form journalism to - again - force that reading comprehension portion of my brain to stay active.
Do the idiots wanting to burn books know there are other copies or do they think they're getting them all?
Sptsylvania? I...I thought that was somewhere near Frostbite Falls. I think I need to go back to bed.
The best song about burning books is by XTC: https://youtu.be/yo-JLRwPooI?t=36
"And you know where they burn books, people are next" - happy birthday to Andy Partridge.
I've read two books by Dan Jones. He's pretty good. (No relation, I think, to Giants QB Daniel Jones, but who knows?)
If three months of pain is what it takes to get the owners to give in, I am all for it.
And it's extreme crap like the above that actually harms the Dems, since we all find ourselves thinking "oh, come on, who is going to vote for THAT?" It's really hard to imagine that somehow the GOP appeals to people despite their fascism. It's impossible for me to understand how any people of color can be Republicans. But it's not enough just to be the party that isn't fascist. That said, you would think that book burning would offend more people.
I hate typing this line "I didn’t used to be this way"
I in fact avoid it just because I don't like that it is isn't "I didn't use to be this way" And then I say it in my head and then out loud. And I change it. And then google it. Then just delete it and use new words.
A lot of folks seem to have a negative Pavlovian response to words like "cancel culture," "woke," "books," "reading," and "critical thinking."
I used to read ALL THE TIME and now my brain is a wad of kludge that keeps my skull from deflating.
But I picked up a bunch of books that I really want to read and I'm determined to read them for real even if I need to take a vacation day from work and run off somewhere with sketchy cell service to force myself to do so.
Pre-mid-March 2020, I did my reading on my commute. The el ride from the Loop to my stop is about 35-40 minutes. I usually alternated a novel and a non-fiction book, and I polish off 2 to 4 books a month. While I ostensibly have more free time, for a large portion of the pandemic, I was the prime parent on duty when my daughter had remote school, and when and where my free time came changed. And it's changed a few more times, so I've really fallen off on reading narrative fiction. I've got to find a way back to it.
Corncob TV is the video I didn't know that I needed this morning.
Regarding reading, having the sabbath and Jewish holidays for reading means that I am always in the middle of something. You can't use electronics, can't watch TV, can't surf the web. But you can read.
But without a commute, my weekday reading is done a lot. Not that it wasn't before the pandemic, since I was dividing my commute between reading, watching stuff, surfing the net, and podcasts. Plus e-books just don't feel as urgent. Plus "reading" includes a lot of comics and graphic novels, which engage a different part of my brain that just words. So I definitely am not as voracious a reader as I was.
Nonetheless, my love of books remains undimmed, and I usually have one book on my nightstand and one book for sabbath reading.
I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by Kurt Vonnegut when I was in grad school. He was about 80 and still profound and funny as hell.
Being a lawyer has slowed my reading down, because I try to read everything like it's brief or a deposition transcript. I can be reading the latest paperback thriller, but I have to fight the urge to go back 20 pages to confirm the exact quote from a particular character or some minor detail.
the guest post is great today. I bought his book. Thanks for sharing and giving us his column.