I Heart Harper's

Some little tidbits from an old Harper's Index:

-Percentage of Americans who cannot say in which
year the September 11 attacks occurred:

30

-Average number of books written by each French
president since World War II:

8

-Average by U.S. presidents: 4

-Number written by Jimmy Carter:
20

-Number of congressional resolutions proposed
since 1989 that have contained the word "delicious":

5

Some little bits from the back page- "Findings":

Chinese scientists were attempting to grow cosmically enhanced fruits and vegetables, and people who eat large quantities of cured meats were found to have a 3 percent reduction of lung function. An Israeli study found that women are more easily impregnated if they are amused. Scientists concluded that teenagers are physically incapable of being considerate; British cattle have regional accents; elephants mourn their dead; and nicotine sobers drunk rats.

For recent news- a must read?

Their Men in Washington: Undercover With D.C.'s Lobbyists for Hire

by Ken Silverstein.....

he "Punk'ed" some of the top Lobbyists in Washington

If you don't feel like forking over $7 for a copy of July issue of Harper's:

Look for NPR's recorded "Talk Of The Nation"- hosting Ken Silverstein,

Go to his blog http://harpers.org/subjects/WashingtonBabylon

or maybe try and "youtube" the PBS special:

(http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06222007/profile2.html)

I guarantee, it offers up some interesting points of how our media, policies and overall emotion is manipulated by some of these guys...

Today is not Friday

Friday usually seems to be the day that things wind down, we all take a deep breath and welcome the weekend with open arms- letting the anxiety of the week pass over our heads and duck into the "weekend mode" for a few days... However it seems rather impossible to do that, as this morning, I feel the constant tugg (I like two 'g's for that word right now) of nauseating morning sickness- I have been bombarded with a stream of rather surprising items of news... News dealing with life and death, as I sit here blurry-eyed at my desk, begging the workday to fly by.

On a "must read now" myspace email, I hear the news that a close friend of the family attempted suicide last night. This jolted me in my sip of tea as I tried to make sense of this...
Another close friend welcomed their new baby into the world on Tuesday morning- announcing the news on Grit City- Tacoma's News Tribune Blog. (the father is a writer for that blog, and the mother is an editor of the TNT).
Lastly, I hear news in a relatively light email from my "Janet" (technically my step-grandmother, but she is way to close to us to call "step" and also way to young and vivacious to call "grandma"...) to thank us for attending her retirement party last weekend. And "oh, by the way", your Papa has Prostate Cancer and will begin surgery soon @ Swedish... The Cape Cod visit has been put on hold until this is "taken care of".

I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of- ???? give me all of the emotions in the book and I could tell you I feel them all, but also feel none of them. Not to get all extetential on you, but I am just left with almost a feeling of apathy. Maybe it is due to weeks of mood swings and extreme emotion- and now to come down and hear this news, I feel a jolt to my core, but what is left lingering is ___. In anticipation of meeting with one of my friends later (I have cut my social life down to almost nil..) I wonder if I will act "upbeat and lively"- to put away my cynical and depressed duldrum. It is sometimes hard to be transparent with someone who is far from understanding what you are currently going through.

I was about to apologize for this depressing blog, but I thought better of it.

I was made for Paris

Thank goodness I am happily married to the love of my life... Otherwise I would think this gaping hole inside of me was left to be filled by a man. I love God, so that couldn't be it. No- this "something is missing hole" is the long lost love of Paris. It has been instilled in my heart ever since I was a child, with my grandma's French Vouge magazines that I would pour over at my dollhood childish stage. My dolls were to be named with french accents and observers were strongly chastized when they dared call her Chrisina in a bland american tone. It was silly to think that my five day bout in Paris would quelch or sustain my love- to return to the states and go happily on, as I live my life and they live theirs. No, my admiration and appreciation has only grown. Random pictures of the Eiffel seem trite and cliche. The hidden streets leading to the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre are left to be discovered and relished for those who have been, or those who have watched Amelie. The subjects I have already taken aside to teach my child are not left with simply reading, writing & arithmatic. C'est ne pas le fin. French will be spoken, love will be abounding, life will be unhurried, art will be celebrated and we will thank the Lord in both english and in french.

Celebrating Dirk's birthday tonight, we will go to a relaxed dinner- maybe staying local or even drifting to Silverdale or Tacoma. Tomorrow, I had on the agenda to go to the relaxed, almost Cannon Beach like town of Bainbridge to sip coffee and pour over books. Me- some classics that I have been meaning to finish: Kafka, The Idiot- of which I only have 60 pages left, and maybe a little Bonhoeffer. Dirk will find some local poet- ala Billy Collins (who we had gone to a reading at the Bainbridge High School a few months ago) he will look maybe for some commentaries. The most exciting portion of our lazy Saturday will be the movie that I had also missed at the SIFF- next to La Vie En Rose, with a stacked cast, and perfect premise: Paris Je'taime... Complete with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Gerard Depardieu, Juliette Binoche, music by Feist- this movie is focused on brief encounters in Paris, love, and relationships.. Highlighting small, hidden areas of Paris. (One of the shorts titled: "Montmartre"!!!) I can't contain my excitement and expectation.
See the link: http://www.firstlookstudios.com/pjt/.

Here's a little fun morsel for your Friday: Feist's Mushaboom.