EPISODE 522: THE BEST WE CAN DO
My parents' dog ran away between my Masses yesterday, confirming that our feud remains just as real as Katy and Taylor's. (They found him soon after, thank God.)
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
I’ve been staring at this blank white screen for a while now. It’s gotten to the point where I can kind of see it staring back. So hostile. JUST GIVE ME TONIGHT’S WORDS, YOU FAKE PIECE OF PAPER.
But it just sits there, smirking. What are you going to do, erase me?
Lately when I get stuck on something I walk around the edge of this faded red and blue circular throw rug that’s been on my floor since I got here ten years ago. I’ve never really paid it any attention; I actually had to look just now to see what its faded colors were. But at some point in these last few months I realized it kind of looked like the small painted-into-the-brick labyrinths that had become kind of a thing at Catholic retreat houses for a while, back before our houses were the retreat houses.
The idea is you let your mind wander as you just follow the path and it kind of frees you up inside. It actually works, too.
But my Pensieve doesn’t seem to be working today. Probably it’s too busy being angry at J.K. Rowling.
I wish J.K. could step back and see what the world is trying to tell her. The fact is, her books are all about coming to see the humanity of people that you’ve been told to think are garbage. Seriously, she can want to redeem Draco Malfoy but she’s got no room to accept transgender people on their own terms? It doesn’t make any sense.
Last night there was a large flash of light in the valley below our campus. It was like a bunch of kids had spent their shelter preparing to break the Guinness Book of World Records for biggest flash bulb, and last night they took their shot.
Then earlier tonight I’m pretty sure I heard cars drag racing down Lincoln Boulevard, which is a very busy street. And just now there was a loud boom.
Everything okay out there?
I never liked the Ewoks, no matter how many dumb happy songs they sang. Did you feel the same? If so, let me tell you, we were right.
The fur wasnt’t even real, y’all. Ewoks are actually ghost bears with terrifying eyes. Those songs were them capturing your souls.
THEY WANTED TO EAT THE PEOPLE YOU GUYS. OF COURSE THEY WERE EVIL.
A couple days ago the comedian Laurie Kilmartin posted on Twitter that to all those who think we’re in the clear now, her elderly mom just got sick in a nursing home in California.
2020 life being 2020 life, Laurie’s not allowed to be with her mom. So she’s just been in a live feed on FaceTime as her mother slowly dies. And she’s been writing about it.
It just goes on and on like that. I find myself checking back every couple hours, just to see how Laurie and her mom are doing.
I think maybe that’s where my words went today. She’s saying all the important things right now. The rest of us should just get out of the way.
You can follow her here. You don’t need a Twitter account to be able to read along. You just need to have a soul. (If you’ve ever owned or went out of your way to relisten to the end of Return of the Jedi, I’m sorry, but your soul has been taken from you.)
THREE (OTHER) TWEETS: JUNE 2020 EDITION
I know, that’s four tweets, and the last one is really more ANY YEAR IN AUSTRALIA EDITION. Their governments may often be a hot mess, but this story is literally as Australian as they come.
Later they interviewed the guy who found him. It is equally understated and wonderful.
Over the weekend I watched this Forgotten songs of Broadway Facebook show called Happy Hour with Jimbo. This singer/songwriter Jim Merillat just plays songs for a dozen or so people for an hour.
It was more than a little wonderful. I loved it, actually, even though one of them kept trying to get me to join their Zoom instead. It’s Saturday morning here! Let me just lay in bed and hear my songs!
One of them, “I Never Know When”, from the very not famous musical Goldilocks, keeps running through my head. It’s sung by one of Broadway’s best, Elaine Stritch. And it’s a rainy day staring out the window kind of a song. But I still like it.
Have a good week everybody. Be gentle with yourselves. Wear your masks!
Sing us out, Elaine.