My first inclination was to write about babies, since I spent yesterday in the company of a nine month old but I thought that a discussion about babies following a discussion about dogs would be too cute for most of my blog followers so I nixed that idea. My next thought was to tell you about my daughter who is in town for a visit and whom I have not seen in ten months but that topic would fill several volumes so I changed my mind on that as well.
That leaves public outrage at the Republicans and personal embarrassment at the Democrats and to tell you the truth I just can't find enough energy to discuss either one so I am leaving both of those parties alone. But why do we have a word - party - that has at least two distinct definitions that are the antithesis of each other. There is definitely nothing about the Democrats or the Republicans that comes anywhere near "a social gathering especially for pleasure or amusement."
Maybe I have writer's block, but since I am not really a writer, more a transcriber of my day-to-day thoughts, it would have to be something like doodler's block and that sounds inane. So I turn to the source that on a regular basis makes me think: the New York Times. On-line, of course.
Now, I know there are many people who do not read the Times, do not trust the Times and do not trust or believe any mainstream media. In part I agree with them because mainstream is just that, for the middle of the stream. Often controlled by lobbies and censored by law, most news media is bland and biased. When it comes to NYT, I don't care. The writers do not write on a fifth grade level, the front page is not pandering to local issues and the depth of subjects is, well, really deep.
On the front page right now you can read an excellent and frightening article titled "The Worst Bathroom in New York." Read it and then try complaining about where you live. Then we have Nicholas Kristof who opens his editorial this way: "California may be about to execute an innocent man." The article is chilling and if our lame-ass (oops, I mean lame-duck) governor does not stay this execution and perhaps review this case and pardon this man, he should be the one serving time. Scroll on down the page and you can read about movies, war, food, books and even trite nonsense.
I am convinced that if you spend even 20 minutes a day reading one good newspaper, one that covers the world thoroughly and is thoughtful and intelligent, you will never be bored. When traveling in Europe, in the past when I had an income, one of the best papers was the International Herald Tribune. It might not be one of the best papers in the world but it is one of the few that an English reader can get all over Europe. With a cappuchino in a small cafe, it makes wasting a couple of hours seem like a very learned thing to do. Plus it has a great crossword puzzle and it still, the last time I looked, runs Calvin and Hobbes comics! That alone is stellar.
Read and jot down words or events or names and places you are not familiar with. Look them up on your computer. I am convinced it increases your brain size. Plus the small bits of esoteric knowledge you gather makes you a hit at boring dinner parties.
Tomorrow: back to serious business. Really.
i like this one... well, i like all of them. but i just thought you should know that even though you had "blogger's block" that doesn't mean that your entry was trite or boring. it's just nice to read someone else's thoughts on the day as a break from all the thoughts going on in one's head.
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