Political grammar
November 8, 2014 by
Anybody notice that Ethan Orr’s campaign (for District 9 state House) signs were still littering the roads, violating the landscape and offending north side eyeballs days after the election? His two opponents had taken down their signs immediately in accordance with certain principles of political etiquette. Mr. Orr is either not acquainted with the politics of Emily Post or a rube who plants his political elbows on the dinner table.
In any event, he’s neither worthy nor deserving. Hope the good doctor (opponent physician Randall Friese) maintains his slim lead over Mr. Neither/nor. Clearly this wasn’t a case of either/or.
Orr spent a huge pile of money. Can’t tell you how many days my morning newspaper was plied with sticky post-it tags at the top covering up news and urging me to vote Orr. Which I did not do. The governor reportedly gave him mucho moolah. Bless her lame-duck heart.
Season of puke
October 27, 2014 by
I subscribe to Time magazine. Its current cover shows a picture of Rand Paul and says he is the most fascinating guy in politics.
I puked.
I subscribed to Harper’s magazine. Its lead story is “How do we Stop Hillary.”
I puked.
I have watched aTV commercial for Martha McSally that says she will fix the Arizona border.
I laughed so hard I puked.
Difficult time for those with delicate political tummies. Pass the barrels of bicarbonate and cases of Malox.
Let us now praise …
October 2, 2014 by
Football referees who call unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on strutting peacocks disguised as Oregon football players.
And Scooby Wright III, who should be coronated. Something or other, anything he pleases.
Marching toward madness
September 29, 2014 by
It is a mistake to shield the world from videos of beheadings.
The Islamic group called ISIS beheaded American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and a British aid worker David Haines. You and I have not been permitted to see these beheadings because the powers that be consider them too gruesome. Those powers want to protect our delicate sensibilities. There is truth to be discovered and understood in seeing and feeling the horror of seeing what humanity is capable of today. We are in Darwinian devolution. The world seems marching toward madness, murder and the Middle Ages in a thirst for blood.
We should see it; feel the threat as it is, not told to us. Clearly the ISIS warriors want us to tremble and faint with fear and trepidation in its pursuit of dominion. It’s doubtful it would accomplish that aim.
The best of humanity has fought to thwart man’s craven inhumanity toward man.
It was the power of photographs and videos that showed us what we were doing in Vietnam. It was the photographs and videos of Sheriff Bull Connor’s dogs in Birmingham that showed us truth of segregation and hate in the South.
We cannot afford the luxury of being shielded from the horrors of hate. We must see it, feel it to comprehend the full power of religious hate that seeks nothing short of our complete destruction.
Hail Mary
September 28, 2014 by
We missed this week’s Hail Mary performance by the University of Arizona football team. It did not play. We believe that the team has an established precedent and Hail Mary will be a standard event.
We look forward to next week’s performance as the team ventures to the Northwest to encounter the Ducks at the University of Oregon, a team alleged to harbor a certain prowess among its peers. It is suggested by some that victory over the Ducks may require more in the way of Hail Marys with perhaps some “Our Fathers” thrown in.
Nonetheless, we shall keep the faith as has been our wont lo these many decades. It takes time, sometimes, for prayers to be answered.
YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT THIS SHOT OF THE CATALINAS
Swept away
August 20, 2014 by
I have a plastic dust pan with a great crack from tip to handle. When the trash was leaden, which is more often than not, I would remind myself I must replace this worthless tool for one made of metal. But as I wandered the endless warehouse aisles of Home Depot, Lowe’s and Ace, I found, alas, only plastic dust pans. The answer was the web. I found one metal pan at a reasonable price. It arrived today. I am grateful that the manufacturer saw fit to include this so as not to contribute to great dearth of instruction in this world:
A bevy of words
June 23, 2014 by
One does not often encounter sentences of 84-words in the leads of newspaper articles so I when I did today, I thought it worth consideration. If it were a perfect world — that is to say Faulknerian in its very essence, which would clearly demonstrate such literary mastery over such a great bevy of words — truly long-distance sentence casts would be magnificent examples of word smithery.
But they are not. And it is hardly a perfect world.
I have written elsewhere in this virtual patch that a plethora of prepositional phrases is not a good thing. It makes for lumpy prose.
Here is the 84-word lead, which appeared today:
“Drive east on Interstate 10 and then southeast on Highway 80, directly into the wild blue yonder, and you will find a rickety old ballpark with some lively baseball, played between guys down to their last at-bat in a game they love but does not always love them back, guys desperate to squeeze one more pitch out of their talent, guys willing to subsist on $50 a week and maybe a nice meal or two, just to get one last shot chasing the dream.”
There are a number of prepositional phrases in this runaway train, too many, to state the obvious. There is a simple remedy for this problem, also obvious.
Which brings to mind the well-worn quote from the legendary Turner Catledge, managing editor of The New York Times:
“The composing room has an unlimited supply of periods available to terminate short, simple sentences.”
June Caldwell Martin comments:
“But it tracks. And builds suspense.”
jcm
A Nixon watch?
June 7, 2014 by
On page A3 of today’s Wall Street Journal, there’s an ad for a watch that carries the brand “Nixon.” I could not help but wonder if it came with a 20-minute gap.
A rose is a rose x 20
April 12, 2014 by
There are about 20 blooms on this floribunda rose. They grew on a single cane, from a plant fertilized by optimism and goaded by sunny days and strong verbs.
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