Go Yankees!
Here’s hoping for luck. (Yes, I’ve posted this before, but it sometimes works.)
Archive for November 2009
Come On Yankees (From 7th inning)
November 4, 2009Virtues of More Than One Child
November 4, 2009Many years ago, tomorrow, my beloved second daughter was born. It was the day of the New York City marathon. This caused me some consternation (aside from the labor pains) as my hospital and I were on opposite sides of an East River whose bridges were filled with runners.
The wonders of any child (especially this particular daughter) are too many to encapsulate in a blog. But her birthday has made me think of several generic reasons why it is great to have more than one child, even in the crowded, and very expensive, world of New York City.
Here are some:
1. Having more than one child allows you to practice your mediation skills.
2. And exponentially expand your ability to multitask: yes, you already know how to hold, change, nurse and bathe a baby, now you need to be able to do all these things with one hand.
3. It saves you trips to Good Will.
4. And also allows many rich opportunities for genetics research. (How can two children who are (a) both so wonderful, and (b) so alike, also be (c) so completely different?)
5. You get to develop your inner policeman/Solomon through enforcement of the rules of (a) democracy, as in whose vote wins this week’s movie choice, (b) boundary lines, as in whose half is whose of the stroller, room, subway seat, mother’s lap, computer, and (c) good fellowship as in who must be dragged along with whom to the soccer game, playdate, doctors’ appointment, chorus concert….
6. There are twice as many plates of leftover food to inattentively scarf down. Who said you needed a girlish figure?
7. Or sleep?
8. It usually takes a least two children to make a decent Mother’s Day breakfast. (One to flip the pancakes, the other to arrange flowers on top of the pancakes.)
9. More importantly, with two kids around, there’s almost always someone around who either (a) needs a hug, or (b) is available to give it. (This person may be you.)
10. You are not likely to worry (at least for some years) that you’ve never run a marathon.
Whether you have one child, or more than one, check out 1 Mississippi by Karin Gustafson on Amazon or at link from ManicDDaily home page.
More on Obama at Dover, Another Villanelle
November 2, 2009Still thinking of Obama at Dover, and how some on the right have such a hard time accepting the sincerity of his concern for U.S. servicemen at war.
To some degree, the right seems disingenuous here. However, the disbelief in the patriotism of someone who is generally against war is longstanding in this country; it seems to me at least, to stem in part from a re-hashing of the fight between those for and against the Vietnam War, and the lingering anger over those protests.
I do believe, now, that those protesters went too far, seeming to disown the U.S. soldiers. The backlash, in which the flag was taken over by the right (almost as a symbol of war rather than the country) was also a travesty.
At any rate, here’s a poem about it. Another villanelle. (Please check other posts in the “poetry” and “villanelle” categories for the exact rules of a villanelle. You can see that I’ve played with them a bit here.)
Flag
There were rules. You weren’t allowed to let it
touch the ground. If it did, it should be burned
or buried. You couldn’t just forget it,
pretend it hadn’t slipped (if stained, to wet it)–
our trusted God would see and you’d be spurned.
There were rules. You weren’t allowed to let it
rip or fray. To be flown at night upset its
regimen, as it were. The darkness turned
it into something buried. Don’t forget it,
leave out in the rain; you had to get it
(getting soaked yourself, your last concern).
There were rules. You weren’t allowed to let it
pass—even at the movies, we would fête it—
until the Sixties came, and their war churned
and buried much—you couldn’t just forget it,
pretend we hadn’t slipped. The fall begat at
least two flags—one paraded, the other mourned—
but just one rule—you weren’t allowed to let it
be buried; we couldn’t just forget it.
All rights reserved. Karin Gustafson
USS New York
November 2, 2009
The USS New York sailed by Battery Park City this morning, an LPD-21 (whose name, I believe, means something like “landing platform deck”) stopping opposite the World Trade Center site. My camera didn’t work (or I didn’t know how to work it on a brisk morning), and settled for holding my shivering dog under my jacket, so I only have the “artist’s rendering” above.
The ship, in honor of New York, is made in part (probably extremely small part) from steel from the World Trade Center. The Hindu-temple-like stupas at the front are missile defense systems.
Bagpipes played the Marine corps anthem “From the Halls Of Montezuma”.
Fire boats sprayed blue and white water. (Their spray in the morning light, with the Statue of Liberty and huge grey ship in the background, and Hudson rippling on all sides, and ferry boats, and police boats, and little coast guard rubber style boats, was really quite beautiful.)
Eleven helicopters were counted.
Important Update Re Robert Pattinson
November 1, 2009
This just out re Robert Pattinson: He was spotted leaving LAX airport and arriving at Tokyo’s Narita Airport wearing…. a New York Yankees’ baseball cap!
OMG!!! RPatz and the New York Yankees–combined! Has he been reading ManicDDaily?????
If so, Rob, sorry for any/all jokes at your expense. (Also sorry for the bad picture. At least I wasn’t chasing you with a flashbulb.)
Go Yankees!
Halloween’s Over- Candy Remains
November 1, 2009Halloween’s over. How to handle all the candy your kids have collected?
Suggestions:
1. Fight with them about it at least three times a day for the next couple of weeks.
2. Steal some to recycle in Christmas stockings.
3. Eat it yourself. (Hey, you’re looking out for them. Isn’t that what parents are for?)
4. Carefully substitute small boxes of raisins for the more disgusting items. No, wait—raisins are terrible for their teeth. Chocolate’s better. Chocolate? You’re substituting chocolate?
5. Actually, that’s not a bad idea. If you’re going to eat their candy yourself, you’ll probably really enjoy that chocolate.
6. Keep it from the dog.
And, while you are feeding your inner child, check out 1 Mississippi by Karin Gustafson on Amazon, or at link from ManicDDaily home page.
Obama Truly At Dover
November 1, 2009After all the silliness, I want to comment on something truly newsworthy—Obama’s late-night, early-morning trip to Dover, Delaware (October 29), to salute the 18 fallen soldiers whose remains were returned from Afghanistan. Maureen Dowd has an interesting article about it this morning (November 1, 2009 – “Port Mortuary’s Pull”). (For video footage involving one soldier’s casket, whose family gave full permission for filming, see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/29/obama-heads-to-dover-air-_n_337930.html.)
Apparently, Liz Cheney, and others on the right are accusing Obama of using the moment as a photo op. Dowd quotes Cheney as saying, to a Fox News radio host, “I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras.” Dowd goes on to point out that Cheney’s right: “There were no press cameras at Dover in the previous administration. There was also no W.”
What Cheney and others also fail to note is how small a portion of Obama’s participation was actually covered in the supposed photo-op: a part of the “dignified transfer” of one soldier out of eighteen, a meeting with a chaplain and all of the families; all through the night.
I’m not saying that the loss of one night’s sleep is a huge sacrifice. I’m just trying to further emphasize the ridiculousness of Cheney’s statement, and of any statement trying to cast doubt on Obama’s sincerity. Any person with an ounce of neutrality can see the somber gravity of Obama’s expression; it’s as clear as the blowing of that early morning wind.
ManicDDaily 
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