Monday, Monday

I spent a weekend with the satellite screwed up for the bedroom television. So, I did some reading and thinking - all t.v.-free. Read Michael Dyson's analysis of the music of Marvin Gaye in the book "Mercy, mercy me : the art, loves, and demons of Marvin Gaye." (Of course, then I had to jump online and have the Loussac Library hold some Marvin CDs for me. I just HAVE to listen again to the songs to get what Dyson got - cause I didn't get all that he apparently did.

Rounding off my weekend, I read some more Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. And because I have mental spasms at times, I got to thinking that Evanavich's Plum stories are a little bit on the... uh, demeaning side when it comes to character of Lula. First of all, Lula is a "former 'ho." Second of all, she is fat and sassy & usually has pink or yellow or orange hair. Probably I'm overthinking it. Probably Evanovich just thought Lula up with no hidden meanings. And anyway, the main character, Plum (a white chick), is kind of skanky at times. And anyway again, the writing is good and the books are entertaining. I just need to get over myself sometimes, or write my own damn books and even things out!

So that was the weekend. Now it's Monday (dialysis day) which means we had to get to the clinic by 6:30. Good thing Walmart opens at 6:00 cause I can always pop in and get some stuff done.

Ran into an old acquaintance in WalMart & it was like seeing a ghost. Had heard a long while back that this person had died (by drunk-falling out of a tipped back chair & cracking his skull). See how rumors get started? Came home to check the news and saw something that tells what others think about Palin:

• British minister says Palin is 'horrendous'from www.breitbart.com "Her politics are horrendous, but actually she's struck a chord with people -- 'I'm a maverick, I'm not part of those powerful people' -- and people identified with that."

Then this (more silliness on the local levels):

• from mudflats.wordpress.com Well, if you’ve been like me this evening, you’ve had one eye glued to the “Obama Sign Cam”. Mudflatter ‘poverty kids’ teacher’ has had an Obama sign stolen from the front yard - twice. So, her son set up a live webcam of the sign in hopes of catching the thief in the act.

Since I'm in a sick-of-politics mood (still), the above was the extent of trolling the Net for more... I moved on to something good (as always) from my web buddy, John Baker:

• from John Baker's Blog by john baker

  At the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival Eleanor Wachtel interviewed the American writer, Lydia Davis. Both of Davis’s parents were writers and her father taught at Columbia University. Wachtel asked her what it was like growing up in that environment:

  It made you very self-conscious. . . But we couldn’t really say anything after a while - I mean after a certain age; I imagine at three I didn’t mind - but at a certain age we couldn’t speak without being aware of how we were saying something, how it was being phrased, as well as what we were saying. So if we made a sort of clumsy repetition, one of them might very well point out, sort of lightly with a smile, but it was a very language saturated household . . .

  . . . my father would consider very carefully what I had said and that made me feel very insecure. I don’t know if this is a good example, but I remembered it just the other day. When he was in the nursing home - you know how you want to say the things that you don’t want to have forgotten to say . . . our family was not, as you can imagine, given to spontaneity - I said to him, “You’ve been a very good father,” I just wanted him to know that, and he said, “In what respect?”

Now my thoughts are all twisted up. I'm thinking about how we sometimes miss part of life by trying to be what others expect (and how sometimes that is a good thing, but somehow it's a bad thing). I'm thinking about how if we just felt free enough to say and do things the best way we know how (no matter what anyone else thinks), we could be so much more for ourselves and for others. I guess this is what makes the great artists, musicians, poets and writers and statesmen great. And I guess this is why there are probably hundreds of people out there with un-shared talents and gifts and thoughts. So many people probably hiding their light under a bushel (is that the term?).

So.

I decided that in addition to ignoring politics for a few days, I'm also going to give up the heavy thoughts. But just for a few days.