Tuesday, May 17, 2011

It Begins...


Today the bad men came.

They took the proud, majestic tree that towered over the grounds of the West Whitman Estate and defiled it. They stripped it naked and left its branches in a pile all around it. As if to flaunt their ruthlessness. The shamed beast left erect to serve as a reminder that College Place Utility will destroy anything or anyone that dare stand in their way.

As of yet, no one has lifted up the banner of insurrection. Revolution. Freedom. So far, all who have witnessed the awesome destructive power of the enemy have melted into the soft bosom of surrender.

Not these men. Not here. Not this time...

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Fight Club

My mother doesn't appreciate the movie Fight Club. I think it has something to do with the brutal violence.

What she doesn't realize is that the main character (Edward Norton) and Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) engage in brutal street fights (and basement fights, etc. etc. etc.) in order to experience life. Why does Edward Norton quit going to self-help meetings after they started Fight Club? Why did he go to them in the first place?

I went to church today. While we sang hymns, I found myself listening to a question that has been bouncing around in my head for several days now. "What are we doing?" (I've also been wondering what good a mass administration of frontal lobotomies would do if American voters refuse to make rational decisions anyway).

This past week, David finished up his first year of law school finals. Now he's an expert on the elaborate laws we've constructed to make ourselves good people... how has that worked out? I must think it's working well, because I'm going to join him. And Jacqueline waded through a swamp of homework. I don't know what Tommy is doing. I talked to him on the phone, but he never seems stressed. I'm sure Phil is perched beside his telephone (or email machine) waiting for me to tell him what colors I want in my hat. Alban is probably still floundering in the pleasure of being done with his senior recital; I would be.

I had two huge problems over the past week: 1) which video game to play, and 2) which articles to post on my Facebook page. 

Sometimes I think wading into a big vat of mud and splashing some on my face would be refreshing. Or gnawing some bark off a tree. Or starting a fight club and getting my teeth punched out until I was kneeling watching my blood drip into the pool of it on the cold concrete floor.

Sixteen thousand children starved to death yesterday, as they do every day. What are we doing?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Fruit Loops

I had some Annie's Mac and Cheese for lunch today. I like mac and cheese. I've eaten it my whole life. It's good brain food.

As I was eating it, I started to think about other things that have stuck with me. I came to the conclusion that, for better or worse, I'm pretty much the same person I was when I was 8.

Sure, I've finished college and am now in graduate school, but as I was eating lunch, I wasn't thinking about smart college things. I was thinking about how much I was looking forward to the cookie I was planning to eat afterwards.

I still like whales, music, dinosaurs and the 49ers. Girls are still interesting and scary at the same time. Although, the respective levels of those two categories have probably adjusted since I was 8.

I'm pretty sure the only difference is that now I can grow facial hair and buy my own breakfast cereal.