Summertime
Mickey Mecca
The kids and I went to Disney World for nine days right after school finished for the year. Soon-to-be-ex husband was supposed to go with us, of course, but didn’t. We had a very good time. Mostly it was just nice to be away from the current stresses at home. And we did well together. I was anxious about being the sole adult (and I use the term loosely), but I discovered that the kids weren’t nervous about that at all – they had confidence in me. I was mom. It was an epiphany. That gave me more freedom to just enjoy the trip. Though I didn’t do nearly as much shopping as I would have had I had another adult to help carry the bags.
Comparative Literature
I read two books the weekend we returned, and they seemed, to me at least, to have similar stories. Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, describes the real-life events leading up to a young man’s death in Alaska. Chris McCandless wanted to get away from civilization, test himself and prove something (perhaps to his father). Unfortunately, he died of starvation in the Alaskan wilderness. Similarly, in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, two children from Connecticut run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in Manhattan) because the older sibling (Claudia) was frustrated with her parents and wanted to prove something. This book is a teen’s book and no one dies and Claudia and her brother get home safely. And, about halfway through the book, the author changes Claudia’s mission a bit … instead of her wanting to rebel against her parents, she starts to want to know whether a new statue at the museum was carved by Michael Angelo. I was a bit disappointed that the author didn’t continue with the idea that Claudia was angry and had something to prove. I’m probably not doing the comparative literature idea justice here (tired brain), but they do tell similar stories. Really.
Assignments
I’m very serious. Some of you other folks better start posting. I need inspiration.
TAPKAE, why the heck did you take down your Memorial Day post? You and my friend the acupuncturist must start a dialogue for me. You are a progressive Christian. He is a Buddhist and interfaith minister. Talk to me. What do you think of the happenings in the Middle East? Real Deal, you have nothing to say? WTF?
I’m also going to ask my very best friend from junior high and high school to join us. We’ve sort of found one another after 20 years and though she’s somewhere in Indiana and I’m somewhere on Long Island, I’m very, very glad she’s back in my life.
posted by Marie Drucker @ 8:07 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
"nobody's right, if everybody's wrong"
-- some singing hippie
Seriously, I have been saying this for years whilst getting only smirks or looks of "is he off his meds?" everybody out of the sandbox if you can't play nice.
But I am not joking or off my meds at all. It is time for the World Powers to go in and remove every single Israeli and Palestinian from the region -- collectively known as Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, the Occupied Territories, Golan, Palestine, or more generally known as "MINE! MINE! MINE!" -- and transplant them into a global time out.
Really.
This is what the postwar Powers established the U.N. for (or at least that's the line they fed us in school, but I'm still holding them to it). I know, one of the Permanent Dinosaurs on the Security Council is bound to veto anything with the word "Israel" in it, and pseudo-Ambassador John "drapes-don't-match-the-carpet" Bolton probably will threaten to nuke any country that brings the subject up.
But no one really listens to the U.N. Security Council anymore. I'm talking about the member nations that have competent militaries with real peacekeeping experience, combined with the awesome power of logistics and transport planning. This is a job for Halliburton ... no, wait, that would be bad. This is a job for a REAL Coalition of the Willing, something like what the Swiss Army would be if they were actually part of the U.N.
In any case, the idea is to physically remove all -- ALL -- Palestinians & Israelis from the area and put them in separate areas for the next few generations. The Palestinians can have West Texas, the Israelis can have Florida (and I do believe Ehud Olmert would be SUCH and improvement over Jeb).
And anyone from either camp who crosses the Mississippi with so much as a small rock gets shipped off to Alaska to sit and think about it for a while.
It Can Be Done. The victors of the two previous World Wars have managed to partition lands and create countries out of sand and smoke over the last century or so. Okay, so we keep breaking them, but most of them are still on the map.
I dare anyone to come up with a better, workable solution. I will even bring you chocolate.
-- carajo
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