Insert a Trite Metaphor About A Corral

Posted on February 14, 2005 in Roundup

Yes, it has been some time since I did this. The election and other matters led me to need some space so that my mind wouldn’t be pushed out the door and left to rust in the rain. Yes, it didn’t escape my notice that the move and my cessation of writing this feature led to a decided decrease in the number of visitors to this site. But it is back again, at least for the time being.

This roundup covers the period from February 6 to February 12 2005.

Culture

• Pam revealed that Valentine’s Day operates very differently in Japan:

in Japan the holiday is about women giving chocolate to men. Period. I always thought that sucked and I always felt cheated. Men do not give valentines to women. People do not give valentines to family members. I don’t even think that many wives give valentines to their husbands. Basically single women have to give chocolate to the men they are fond of and they have to give obligatory chocolate (giri chocho) to the guys they work with. This is supposedly paid back on March 14, which is White Day. The only White Day gift I ever recall getting was a pair of underpants from a student I taught at Berlitz who gave them to me as kind of a joke. And they weren’t white.

• Maria has a new book out from Sixteen Rivers Press.
• Bill is upset because they want to take away Pluto’s right to be a planet.
• Shelli’s daughter caught it for wearing a shirt that said “Boys are dumb, girls are smarter”.
• Stu explained the workings of the Playfair Cipher.

Politics

• Mileah caught Bush filling the White House press room with yes men.
• Andrea celebrated the election of Howard Dean as DNC Chair.
• Kimber saluted the patriotism of Johnny Carson.
• Robert worried about the presence of Persistant Organic Pollutants in the very fiber of our bones.
• Randy had some caustic advice for Haitians seeking asylum in the United States:
• Lauren explains why she finds the anti-feminist attacks on Hugo’s blog so tiresome.

I would recommend that any Haitians considering seeking asylum in the US that first they learn Spanish. Perhaps some time spent in a border town near the Dominican Republic would be a good place to start, but it is really important to learn Spanish fluently and acquire the right accent. Secondly, see if you can find a good map of Cuba and study the geography thoroughly.

Religion

• Quaker Joe. G. discovered that his father bequeathed him a strange legacy: “I discovered that he had, stored away in a metal box way back on the top shelf of a tiny closet, a handgun.”
• Jeremy exposes the prophecy market.

Personal

• chari unleashed her fury at extended service warranties.
• Theo hoped that a small black box could foretell the future if we just learned to read it right.
• Natalie keeps showing us slides and sharing stories of her trip to Luxor.
• John spent much of his weekend sleeping.
• Brian suspects something is up:

Would the person who snuck into our house in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago and replaced our sweet little child with an identical, yet utterly demonic replica please return the original item?

• M. Luminous’s godmother told her that she’d make an excellent mother, lesbian or not.
• Elkit picked some lemons.

Poetry

• Coup De Vent: This Week

Visual Art

• Bill: Antiquing

OK, so this isn’t as neat and complete as the old one. It’s my first week back. Give me a break!