Archive for December 2020
Childhood dreams come true, I hope
I was reading Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker piece Dangerous Minds and came upon this paragraph dealing with how psychics can appear to be so accurate in so many of their statements: “The Jacques Statement, named for the character in ‘As You Like It’ who gives the Seven Ages of Man speech, tailors the prediction to the age…
Read MoreTurns out I like jangle
While writing this past weekend, I found myself in need of headphones and music. Between the kids and Elysha, the house had grown loud, and I needed to drone out the distractions. For reasons I don’t fully understand, I opened Spotify and chose the “Sister Hazel” playlist. An hour later, I was surprised to realize…
Read MoreI listened to Alice’s Restaurant before I died.
There are lots of reasons for my abject fear and loathing of death. Lots and lots of damn good reasons. Here’s one: Alice’s Restaurent, the 1967 song by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie. The song is a deadpan protest against the Vietnam draft in the form of a comically exaggerated but true story from Guthrie’s own life.…
Read More“Holy guacamole!”
“Holy guacamole” is an expression of disbelief or surprise based solely on the fact that the words “holy” and “guacamole” rhyme. Someone, at some point in history, took two random words that rhymed and created a new expression to replace its more vulgar version. This, in my opinion, makes the expression stupid. It’s also a…
Read MoreThe McRib is back.
2020 has certainly had its silver linings. This is a big one.
Read MoreThe proper response to name calling, and the proper time to use name calling, too.
A reader recently called me a hypocrite. My response: List as many examples as possible of my hypocrisy in everyday life and let hm know that his name calling MEANS NOTHING TO ME. In metaphorical terms, this amounts to taking the rhetorical knife that your opponent is using to stab you and stabbing yourself instead.…
Read MoreFlaming Lips might be the strangest
There will be a day, not too far in the future, when we will look back on the year of the pandemic and say things like: “I still can’t believe I wore a mask all day.” “Remember when kindergarten teachers were trying to teach letter sounds to students via Zoom?” “Photos of classrooms from those…
Read MoreThe Bern, Switzerland flag is interesting
Interesting fact about Switzerland: It has no capital city. The seat of government is located in Bern, but in an effort to prevent any of its 26 cantons (states) from possessing too much political power, the decision was made to avoid designating an official capital city. The federal buildings are located in Bern but could…
Read MoreA student, a future President, and Lester Holt
Last week, one of my students said to me, quite casually, “Did you see the Biden interview, Mr. Dicks? The one with Lester Holt?” In a time when a President can shamelessly and constantly lie for his own personal gain and news outlets like Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax can serve as state-run media and…
Read MorePandemic lasts
Some pre-pandemic lasts that I’m very much looking forward to updating at some point in 2021: Last movie: 1917, December 2019 Last visit to NYC: February 15-17 Last live show: February 16, Jagged Little Pill on Broadway Last vacation: October 18-20, 2019, Dorsett, Vermont Last restaurant (indoor): March 13, Bertucci’s Last museum: February 16, National…
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