Who I am…
I am a lawyer, former mother of teenagers, and a quixotic seeker after and champion of factual truth.
I make the best damn brownies you have ever had that are not regulated by the federal government.
I love movies, Broadway, and intelligent conversation.
I think in song lyrics and movie and television quotes.
I believe in the use of proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar even in text messages. I am willing to debate the use of the Oxford comma, if you know what the Oxford comma is. It also makes me very happy if people use the subjunctive mood when appropriate.
I have been told I intimidate people. I am really just a fluffy-centered teddy bear. Really.
- It's all my fault. No, really. The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone and in no way whatsoever represent the views of anyone else, including any past, present, or future employer.
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Words to live by ….
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8.
“Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living.” Mary Harris (“Mother Jones”).
“Don’t boo. Vote.” Barack Obama.
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” Reinhold Niebuhr.
“No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.” Sir Terry Pratchett.
“Damning facts are still facts.” Steven C. Holtzman.
“If you don’t stick to your values when they’re tested, they’re not values — they’re hobbies.” Jon Stewart.
“Darkness never sustains, even though it sometimes seems it will.” Doctor Who.
“Writing is a form of mischief.” Stephen Sondheim.
“An idea is not responsible for the people who believe it.” Don Marquis.
“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.” Joseph Campbell.
“Truth is our strongest ally, our biggest weapon, and our best defense.” Me.
“Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” Stephen Colbert.
“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation.” Jonathan Larson.
“We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda.“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Emma Goldman.
“No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett.
“I believe that the God who made (among other things) light, and space, and number, and time, and the spiral curve of Fibonacci numbers, must be acknowledged to understand more than I do about why there’s pain in the world.” Teresa Neilsen Hayden.
“No, it’s not fair. You’re in the wrong universe for fair.” John Scalzi.
“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.” Lawrence O’Donnell
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” Molly Ivins.
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Category Archives: Culture (popular and otherwise)
I went to a Straight No Chaser concert last Saturday. A trip on to iTunes to pick up some of their music (no, I didn’t buy all their CDs at the concert — just Under the Influence, the latest) also … Continue reading
There should be a special place in hell for parents like that.
I’ve not been following pop culture all that much lately. In any case, I do NOT keep up with the Kardashians. My brain only hazily registered that Kim Kardashian had had her baby. It was only a couple of days … Continue reading
Bits and pieces.
There is no day so bad a pint of Lagunitas Brewery Imperial Stout won’t make at least a little better. School starts tomorrow (okay, later this morning). The Red-Headed Menace is pulling his first all-nighter, writing a six-page paper on … Continue reading
After a hiatus of nearly a year (for personal reasons), I started playing pub trivia over a month ago at a new venue, The California Cafe near Stanford Shopping Center. I (and my team) usually get our butts kicked soundly … Continue reading
The perils of knowledge.
Being the wife of a geologist, and having been subjected to many lectures on vulcanism during vacations in the Northwest, makes it very difficult to suspend disbelief during the end of Return of the King.
Odds and Ends
The Rocket Scientist is back from his tour of the Southern Hemisphere: Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand. Now he only has South America to go to have a complete continental set. It’s nice that he’s back. Now I don’t have … Continue reading
Oscar Predictions.
It is half an hour before the Oscars — I left this too late. But here are my picks for major categories: Picture: Argo Director: Ang Lee for Life of Pi Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln Actress: Jessica Chastain for … Continue reading
You might say that. I could not possibly comment.
“There are two kinds of pain. The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that’s only suffering. I have no patience for useless things.” opening lines, House of Cards. [Edited to add: Now that … Continue reading
This is going on my sidebar.
“A human is a system for converting dust billions of years ago into dust billions of years from now via a roundabout process which involves checking email a lot.” xkcd,1173 by Randall Monroe.
Observations from the game…
I am sitting here at a local dive bar watching the Super Bowl. I decided that I wanted to watch the game with people I have not given birth to. The Sandy Hook choir is making me cry. Jennifer Hudson … Continue reading
Am I the only one who sees Mrs. Crowley on Downton Abbey and thinks “Harriet Jones, Prime Minister”?
We interrupt the scheduled blogging for this announcement…
Ben Affleck got ROBBED. We now return you to the normal Wild Winds of Fortune schedule.
But I was good.
My sister and her family gave me a Barnes and Noble gift card for Christmas.* Today I went to redeem it. I was good: I did not buy very much. I bought Les Miserables, because I want to reread the … Continue reading
In defense of "adorkability."
In its list of word we will be glad to never see again, the Today Show included “adorkable.” They’re dead wrong about this. “Adorkable” is a great word: it neatly encapsulates a concept I have been trying to describe for … Continue reading
Les Miserables: A Review.
I have never been a fan of Les Miz on stage.* It’s bombastic, overblown, and repetitive. I originally had no desire to see the movie when it came out, even though I generally go see every movie musical that arrives … Continue reading
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