Department Of This Is All I’m Gonna Say About That…
…for now.
About that treacherous excuse for a president calling the whistleblower a traitor.
When it comes to running this country into the ground, devising his various schemes which pass for governance which then inevitably lead to him to try and cover his ginormous behind, #45 seems to have been channeling the mindset of an 11-year-old boy. Thus, my advice to him and his equally conspiratorial minions: remember in fifth grade, the kid who was always the first one to raise his nose in the air, make exaggerated sniffing noises and then loudly ask/proclaim, WHO FARTED?
All together now:
He who smelt it, dealt it.
* * *
Department Of I Dreamed I Made Up A Word…
…and the Other People ® in my dream seemed very enthusiastic about it, but I woke up before I could dream its meaning. The word was embolitigious.
No way that’s a real word…but…may I have the definition please?
* * *
Department Of You’re Not Fooling Anybody
You may have seen the posts from actor Chris Pratt which have been creeping around on social media outlets, in which Pratt shares the festering turd of an inspirational poem he allegedly “found,” titled Indivisible.
DING- DONGS.
Ding to the left.
Dong to the right.
The reverberations swell.
Yep; that’s how it begins.
Oh…equating left and right as both acting like “ding-dongs” – I get it! For a moment there I thought Mr. Pratt was leaving us all some cheeky clues as to the ultimate, Inquiring Minds Want To Know ® manhood question, Which way do you hang? (“dong to the right”). [1]
Yet again, I digress.
Indivisible presents itself as a plea for unity via criticizing “both” [2] political sides (“the media plays them like a fiddle/drowning out the healthy middle…”). Reality check: a disguise this thin would gag an anorexic. Indivisible is religious shilling at its most blatant (and poetically cringe-worthy):
Ding-dongs from the far left squad
Fixed on answers outside God.
I winced in sympathetic embarrassment, just typing that.
The poetic (retch) preaching is not surprising, given the source. Pratt has been open about his evangelical Christian beliefs, and has been quick to defend – if not successfully refute – charges of anti-LGBTQ bias re the celebrity-ridden Hillsong Church franchise he belongs to and $upport$.
Pratt – EXCUSE ME, I of course mean, whoever wrote the poem Pratt “found” – recycles some valid if hackneyed, yes-everyone-knows-to-do-this talking points about keeping calm/checking the facts, old trust-and-verify, because, no matter whether we identify left or right, we can be easily manipulated….
Moiself – and other religion-free folks, I’d bet – found those bits o’ advice mildly amusing and butt-frostingly ironic, given the not-quite-under-the-radar proselytizing prose woven throughout the religious tract poem (“…burdened by a sinful heart and hiding in some form of shame…We’re His Children….Under God we’re indivisible…”).
The source of penultimate manipulation and suppression of rational thought inspires someone to tell you to check your facts and consider the sources? Hello, Religion, we did just that! Which is why we’re now Freethinkers, Brights, Atheists, Humanists, Skeptics….
Yo, Mr. Pratt, did you ever re-read what you wrote, and was it perchance originally intended for The Onion?
* * *
Department Of Make Up Your Minds: Is It Fast, Or Is It Slow…
( ♫ Should I Stay Or Should I Go ♫ )
Something I wrote about last week sparked a memory re the many reasons I’ve never paid attention/given credence to book reviews, be they of my works or anyone else’s.
(“…a pointless and confusing story.”
Publisher’s Weekly, 1963, re Where The Wild Things Are.)
From two reviews of one of moiself’s books, The Mighty Quinn (my emphases):
“Bullying, competition, hot and cold friendships, male and female peer role models, and comic relief are just a few of the issues presented in the fun and fast moving plot pages for this humorous….
(from The Midwest Book Review review of TMQ)
Although the story suffers from a slow pace and drawn-out conversations, Parnell neatly weaves ideas about social justice and acceptance…
(from the Publisher’s Weekly review of TMQ)
* * *
Department Of Some Really Substantial Food For Thought
(But Remember To Chew Slowly If You’re Over 65)
The brilliant psychoanalyst Erik Erikson coined the term “identity crisis” over 60 years ago to describe the profound psychological challenge faced by adolescents and emerging adults who must figure out who they are, what they’re going to do with their lives and who they’re going to do it with.
Thus begins a compelling article by psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and Forbes magazine contributor Prudy Gourguechon, who “advises leaders in business and finance on the underlying psychology of critical decisions.” Gourgeuchon makes the case that the thousands of people from the “Baby Boom” generation boomers who turn 65 every day are facing a second identity crisis, one which did not exist for previous generations. [3]
I’ve little commentary…
…yes, really, except to provide some excerpts which just might tantalize you enough to read the article yourself, and then tell me what *you* think about it.
These are the questions that come into play, either consciously or unconsciously: Who am I anyway, after all this? What kind of work do I want to do now? Who do I want to spend my time with and where? What is the point of my life now? What kind of stimulation do I need, and what kind do I want to avoid? What have I had enough of and what do I still yearn for?…
The process of confronting these questions –and finding the answers–has all the disruptive hallmarks of an identity crisis….
The person in an identity crisis suffers…from a “diffusion of roles.” “I knew what it was to be a doctor (lawyer, teacher, trader, etc.) but if I don’t do that anymore what am I, what shapes my day, what do I want, what should I do.”…
The need to search out new roles and structures –role diffusion—is accompanied by a subjective, psychological feeling of diffusion. Despite its inherent positive potential this feeling state is disorienting and risky. Diffusion feels smoky, undefined, vague and uncomfortable. There’s an amorphous fuzzing out of previously held certainties. “Unmoored” captures the state pretty well. A bit of what psychiatrists call “depersonalization” may be there—you’re not quite inside yourself.
(Excerpts from “The Second Identity Crisis: How To Deal In A Smart Way With A New Phase Of Life,” by Prudy Gourguechon, Forbes )
* * *
Department of Epicurean Excursion [4]
Featuring this week’s cookbook, author and recipe:
Isa Does It, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Recipe: Ranch Salad with Red Potatoes and Smoky Chickpeas
My rating:
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
Recipe Rating Refresher [5]
* * *
May you admit you dealt it when you smelt it;
May you remember that even if you never start over, one day you’ll start older;
May you be mindful which way your dong dings;
…and may the hijinks ensue.
Thanks for stopping by. Au Vendredi!
* * *
[1] Now *I’m* channeling my inner 11 year old.
[2] There’s a lot more political nuances to be found than just “left” and “right,” but that takes more sophistication than an internet social media poem can handle.
[3] Due to many factors, including the lengthening of the life span after retirement.
[4] A recurring feature of this blog, since week 2 of April 2019, wherein moiself decided that moiself would go through my cookbooks alphabetically and, one day a week, cook (at least) one recipe from one book.
* Two Thumbs up: Liked it
* Two Hamster Thumbs Up : Loved it
* Thumbs Down – Not even Kevin, a character from The Office who would eat anything, would like this.
* Twiddling Thumbs: I was, in due course, bored by this recipe.
* Thumbscrew: It was torture to make this recipe.
* All Thumbs: Good recipe, but I somehow mucked it up.
* Thumby McThumb Face: This recipe was fun to make.
* Thumbing my nose: Yeah, I made this recipe, but I did not respect it.
