You suggest that Iris Dement is a better songwriter than Joni Mitchell.
Nonsense, sir. I say Nonsense.
(I’ve always hated Dement’s sappy, saccharin lyrics and her whiny faux-schoolgirl voice. I’ll even embarrass myself by admitting that I’d often tune out the show when she launched into a song on aPHC.)
But that said...
Over the years I’ve noticed a curious phenomenon.
In virtually all cases when I have a singer/writer/artist who I place at the absolute bottom of my list, it is an almost unbreakable rule that that person will also have one piece that is right at the top of my All-Times Favorite List.
For Dement, this is her song “Let the Mystery Be”.
(Similarly, David Sedaris. I’ll admit to being in a minuscule minority, in that I’ve never been able to stomach his work. Far, far too snarky, smarmy, and mean-spirited for my tastes.
But, again, his rendition of the Oscar Meter Weiner song in the voice of Billie Holiday is right at the top of my desert-island list.)
But, anyway, I suppose this is one of the best reasons that we each have our own, individual iPods.
Be well
(And speaking of iPods, I’m anxiously awaiting the release of the audiobook of “Cheerfulness”.)
I love PHC and have attended many shows, but why the political rants in most of your writings of late ? This was never the case in your earlier books, posts, etc. It only serves to divide your readers, Left or right.
I was more cautious when I was younger and more ambition, aspiring to be successful, and now that I'm old, I have no such aspirations anymore, and I'm writing for my own pleasure. One man's rant is another man's missive. I love writing more than I ever did in the past and I consider myself a free agent. GK
Trump's attorney general Bill Barr said Trump is "toast" if half of his federal indictment is true. Trump responded by calling him a gutless pig. Trump vows to stay in the 2024 presidential race even if he's convicted. He's also said that he wants his lawyers to be like his mentor Roy Cohn, the corrupt protégé of Joseph McCarthy. Calling out someone like Trump, and the "political party" that supports him no matter what, should never fall under the category of "political rant."
And nobody should listen to anything Bill Barr has to say! His words of late may be true and good to hear, but they come out of the mouth of the self-promoting operator and pal of con-men, Barr, the same who was/is a big part of the problem, an unabashed enabler and promoter of tRump, who even in his latest showboating interview actually had the gall - THE GALL - to say that tRump has been a victim and that he (Barr) defended him when he was a victim.....and other blah-blah-blah.
Give us chapter and verse, citations with time and date, Mr. Barr when tRump has ever been a "victim"!!! Let me help you: NEVER.
America is the victim of his chicanery and treachery, his amoral criminality - and you, Mr. Barr. aided and abetted him!! Your Bill Barr Whitewashing Tour to Help Bill Barr is disgusting. Where were you when AMERICA needed a real AG? Busy adjusting tRump's tie and polishing his shoes?
Bill Barr should be dis-barred and ostracized. He's trying to gild his deeply tarnished integrity and TV (and others) should not help him do that!
Perhaps Both Sides Now is a little wistful. But it has a beautiful melody which makes it a classic. The main sin it suffers from is that it is overplayed instead of dozens of other excellent Joni Mitchell songs that many people have never heard. Since many people know at least the chorus it’s a wonderful song Circle tune.
Agreed. There are so many great Joni Mitchell songs, I am mystified at how few get airplay. At least I can listen to my own playlist ... and I find Both Sides a bit gloomy, albeit sardonic. Love you, GK!
I am not very good with puns - it took me a couple of minutes to get "Barbara Seville" - but for the life of me, I can't figure out "Muriel L. Brubaker." Please give me a hint, it's driving me crazy!
I hope Sara Bellum is still in your good graces - she was my favourite.
To Gary Gackstatter: Mr. Keillor is right, that is an intriguing beginning - please finish the story!
I was in graduate school when it was published in 1973 so it overlapped the era when I was in high school. The cheapest price on Amazon.com is $79.89! I'm glad I didn't throw mine away.
The favorite names of one of my gay friends were Ben Dover and C. Howard Fields.
GK - give a hear to the short video of Joni at Newport Festival last summer, age 79, sitting regally in a queen's chair on stage - singing her signature song...
Way to go! It would be a sad lot in life if we never could express our true feelings!
And, what's with this "Sexism/Ageism? Decades ago, when I moved to California, I went on a "Mission of Mercy" to visit our family's aging "Uncle Gus." What a spry octogenarian! He was thrilled to meet my daughters, and to use them as an excuse to visit Disneyland! He had heard of it, but he would have felt out of place, had he gone there on his own. The other thing I recall about him was the way he hugged me to end the day. There , close to his chest, I felt/heard his thumping, hard-working heart. Before I moved, we had been a continent apart. I was so glad I could spend some time with him before something like a trip to The Magic Kingdom would have been too much for him. He really enjoyed having a day with two little girls who were just ending out their first decade. as he worked on what turned out to be his last.
Luisa - it seems to me you've probably never had a chance to spend any time with Our Great Host in the flesh. On our APHC/HAL cruises, we would have Q & A sessions in the afternoons on board. As we shared stories, Our Host would hold the mike to us, crouching on the stairs so that we were at the same level. Was he "whiney and carping? Not a bit of it! He would get so involved in the stories we were telling, his eyes would light up! We, the storytellers, could see, first hand, how much he got involved in our tales!
If anything has changed, it seems to me just that we lack that first-hand, face to face contact when we try to communicate over the Internet. Here we are, having to type with our fingers, viewing just a computer screen and some moving letters on a tan background. It's not at all the same as the fire that can be lit when we're face to face!
If it sounds as if I'm Lobbying for One More APHC Cruise ( at least!) - it sure would sound like Heaven Returning to me! Our Gracious Host, the entertaining crew, the ports of call, all that weaves its magic. But beyond that, just the joy of being together with a WHOLE CRUISE SHIP full of Prairie Homers- WOW! Having APHC in common was a wonderful sorting factor! In all the thousands of us who travelled for two-week excursions together - I can only remember one or two "disgruntled Spouses" who were on board simply because their mate had been so adamite about being on board!
You know you've made it when the Yale Whiffenpoofs do your world-renowned folk-era classic, replete with interpretive hand-jive and astounding modulations. Be proud, Joni !!
A great story leaves a lingering memory in one's mind like the falling snow in James Joyce's story The Dead and, of course, the bowling ball in Pontoon! Great cover too.
Sorry, but this was about the Writer’s Almanac piece about Anne Frank and has disappeared.
Not only that, but I accidentally sent it t a friend of mine named Heather Cox.
Good grief :
Why won’t you allow us to save pictures?
I’ve never had a picture of Anne Frank and tried every way I could devise I could think of but no.
We are not worthy.
To me she is a kind of saint.
Please allow.
You and I once shared red wine in Boston. I was a delegate (only time ever) from Minnesota for the Democratic National Convention and elected Mr. Kerry. Was very close to being tackled by a secret service agent when I patted him on his back as he walked past me to accept the nomination.
I'll gestate some of your comments GK. Both Sides Now is a folk pop classic no matter how you spin it. I was fond of Iris DeMent and her unique style. Yes even octogenarians morph from gregarious towards curmudgeon creatures. It's ok. Maybe a walk around Central Park will clean the ears & fill the heart with unmolested love. I never followed the actors after PHC. Maybe it's proper to allow them to fade away. The past is past and what's done is done. Nostalgia can seem stale like a weak beer. Enjoy your week now and breathe.
Sometimes I read your essays and in one you might say, "I'm a New Yorker," and in another "I'm a Minnesotan." Or that you were walking in New York at such and such a time, but then you were in Minnesota at the same such and such a time, and other seeming contradictions of varying kinds.
I will figuratively scratch my head and express aloud some annoyance at the (seeming) contradictions, irritated that you seem to be always trying to pull the wool over our eyes!
My own very smart and handsome beloved (doesn't play the viola but gave up the cello as a kid because he couldn't transport it on his bicycle) always answers my Keillor Konfusion the same way.
I live in New York mostly but still have a place in Minneapolis. Sorry for the confusion. It's confusing to me, too. But I'll always be a Minnesotan, even while living in Manhattan. That much I know for sure.
It's confusing to me too - living part of your life in one place, and part in another. For me, it's sunshine versus snow - California versus New York State. I often find that some memory flashes before me. I'm running through it, when I stop myself: "Wait a minute! Where was that?"
For instance, just yesterday I saw a woman walking a "sled dog." Hers' was a Huskie, while our "Boris" was an Alaskan Malamute. Suddenly, I saw Boris, as we took him up a canyon where there happened to be snow at just 200 ' above sea level one strange January day. I tried to explain to her how jubilant our dog was, to actually be in snow! Here and now, that woman and I were in Upstate New York. She must have thought I was crazy! "How could your dog miss snow in our Northern climate?"
Our memories seem to get filed in different ways, it almost seems to me. For example, when I saw the sled dog - my mind went to our canine pets. It didn't seem to have a clear tag for "This is Southern California you're talking about, dumbo!"
And as octogenarians - there can be a lot stored up in those craniums, can't there? I imagine geographic tags can be much more of a problem for someone like you who has had a "Travelling Job" for most of their adult life! Possibly you have some sort of computer record of "Who, What, Where, When?" and all that. to bail you out when you are about to make some sort of gaff. That might help to keep you from assuming that Eskimo dogs would find existence in the North "boring, because of the lack of snow!"
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I was (attempting) to make a "tongue-in-cheek" comment, and I guess I have learned that writing with the tongue in the cheek can cause loss of facetiousness.
I think your tales over the years have made a lot of us imagine we're Minnesotans and fantasize about living in Manhattan. (No, tongue is not in cheek.)
It's confusing to me too - living part of your life in one place, and part in another. For me, it's sunshine versus snow - California versus New York State. I often find that some memory flashes before me. I'm running through it, when I stop myself: "Wait a minute! Where was that?"
For instance, just yesterday I saw a woman walking a "sled dog." Hers' was a Huskie, while our "Boris" was an Alaskan Malamute. Suddenly, I saw Boris, as we took him up a canyon where there happened to be snow at just 200 ' above sea level one strange January day. I tried to explain to her how jubilant our dog was, to actually be in snow! Here and now, that woman and I were in Upstate New York. She must have thought I was crazy! "How could your dog miss snow in our Northern climate?"
Our memories seem to get filed in different ways, it almost seems to me. For example, when I saw the sled dog - my mind went to our canine pets. It didn't seem to have a clear tag for "This is Southern California you're talking about, Dumbo!"
And as octogenarians - there can be a lot stored up in those craniums, can't there? I imagine geographic tags can be much more of a problem for someone like you who has had a "Travelling Job" for most of their adult life! Possibly you have some sort of computer record of "Who, What, Where, When?" and all that. to bail you out when you are about to make some sort of gaff. That might help to keep you from assuming that Eskimo dogs would find existence in the North "boring, because of the lack of snow!"
Lorraine Hansbury's revision/rewriting process on The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window was interrupted by her death at age 35. I presume you know this. I'd be glad to hear Rachel Brosnahan read the phonebook (a reference that dates me)
This is a new world for me, Bill Ziegler, and for the small fraction of folks with two XX (female) gender chromosomes. Since about 2018, scientific literature has been coming out about nonbinary beings. Grouper Fish started the craze, with their female/male dichotomy. I really sat up and paid attention when I saw an article about “women” who inherit one X chromosome with the tip of a Y (male) chromosome sitting on top. This describes my maternal grandmother, Mama ( who regularly shaved, and still had a moustache most of the time because she only shaved in the mornings). Like Mama, I shave as well. But it goes beyond that physical marker. Mama was the only full-responsibility collection curator in a large urban library. She could be “grand-motherly enough”, but she’d also be attacked by her daughter for “lacking female sensitivity.” Said daughter had gone to an exclusive “School For Young Ladies” – and had been brain-washed enough to try and hide any traces of her own “masculinity.”
Physically, I’m “female enough” to have born two daughters (the first “female and like her father, the second “male” and like me –she outran the boys on the track team and tried to push them to try harder, rather than being beaten by a short, energetic “girl”) . Mentally, I’m my electronics engineer-father’s daughter. I had straight “A’s in all the high school sciences, got a BS in Secondary Science Education, and later on an MS in Librarianship. Working as a librarian in a large oil company, I handled technical scientific questions on a daily basis. To “keep up with new developments, I would attend talks by visiting professionals. At least half the time, in the Q & A session that followed, I would ask a question and the guest would look at my dress or skirt, decide that I must be a “Bimbo”, and brush me off as if I were a fly on his jelly donut. At least half of the time, a male colleague would slightly rephrase the question, at which point the newcomer would give a thoughtful reply.
I’m talking about “The Bad Old Days!” The first hint of a change in nonbinary attitudes came when I read an article about Grouper Fish in 2018. This species is “male” at one point, and “female” at another. Since then, there have been more and more social signs out there, that at least the younger generations are willing to accept people as those individuals understand themselves. I wear blue men’s’ work shirts and blue jeans most of the time as ordinary apparel. Most folks don’t seem to have a problem with this.
As to the pronouns – someone who wears a “B” or “C” bra generally gets addressed with female pronouns. That’s an “outward fact of life.” What’s more important to me, is what exists in the heads of those I meet. Are they cemented in “Miss Fanny Smith’s School For Young Ladies” mentality? Or have they met female geophysicists, female Congresswomen, female architects and female astronauts? Through Toastmasters, once I had the chance to go to a Western Regional meeting, and to hear a talk by Sally Ride – the first female astronaut. She held up a “target” that was designed for men to pee into. It was a large white plastic disc-like piece, with a hole in the middle – maybe as big as a quarter at most. Sally had to undergo extensive sessions to train herself to hit that hole – it was completely hidden from her sight!
Yes! It’s a new challenge for the Twenty-First Century. Women can indeed be equal to men – and vice versa. There are many folks assigned to the masculine gender who can be compassionate, caring and sensitive. Just last week I was in a hospital for some laser surgery. All of the “nurses” in that group were men in their twenties or thirties. I teased them, as they sat at the “nursing station” – that they looked like the NASA “Ground Zero crew at their computes. Viva La Difference!
Wow! I hadn't clicked on Iris Dement's video when I looked at this page before! Her song, "My Life!" is very powerful!
Here I am, somebody who is reading all the newest stuff about the "Nonbinary " existence, thinking I'm a man hidden in a woman's body. And here's Iris, singing a song that pretty well clarifies the sympathetic, "feeling" nature of womanhood. And I'm Right There! It's almost as if Our Psychologically Gifted Host is saying "Wait a minute now, Wandering Sioux, you've got more of a "female side to you than you give yourself credit for! "
Way to go, GK! THANKS for the look in the mirror!
It makes me think of Mrs. Sundberg - the writing lady who looks out HER wiindow. I'm not the only one around who has elements that cross the "Typical Gender Lines!"
And, I think, it goes beyond just a few personalities analyzing one another! It seems to mew that our current culture, at least, is really becoming a lot more aware of how many "Nonbinaries" there are among us! It's as if we've gotten over the "It's Not Natural!" phase, and we, as a civilization are coming to accept "nonbinary" as a gender status, too!
Native Americans beat us “Europeans” and such by centuries! See the piece in HRC:
These folks were called “berdache,” or “passing women.”
It seems to me there are legends of Native American women who became active warriors, too!
--Old West Native American Women Warriors INSP https://www.insp.com › blog › old-west-native-americ... : Among other women warriors at the Battle of Little Big Horn was Arapaho Chief Pretty Nose. She survived the fight and lived to age 101. Her grandson served in ...
There seems to be quite a bit available on the subject on the WWW! I like that “Pretty Nose” Arapaho name – she was going both ways!
Special Thanks to Our Gracious Host for his bravery in opening the floor of this Webpage to the discussion of a “touchy subject” such as nonbinary gender!
I FEEL AS IF IT’S OK FOR ME TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET! 3 CHEERS!
Good morning Garrison
So just to stir the pot a little bit more:
You suggest that Iris Dement is a better songwriter than Joni Mitchell.
Nonsense, sir. I say Nonsense.
(I’ve always hated Dement’s sappy, saccharin lyrics and her whiny faux-schoolgirl voice. I’ll even embarrass myself by admitting that I’d often tune out the show when she launched into a song on aPHC.)
But that said...
Over the years I’ve noticed a curious phenomenon.
In virtually all cases when I have a singer/writer/artist who I place at the absolute bottom of my list, it is an almost unbreakable rule that that person will also have one piece that is right at the top of my All-Times Favorite List.
For Dement, this is her song “Let the Mystery Be”.
(Similarly, David Sedaris. I’ll admit to being in a minuscule minority, in that I’ve never been able to stomach his work. Far, far too snarky, smarmy, and mean-spirited for my tastes.
But, again, his rendition of the Oscar Meter Weiner song in the voice of Billie Holiday is right at the top of my desert-island list.)
But, anyway, I suppose this is one of the best reasons that we each have our own, individual iPods.
Be well
(And speaking of iPods, I’m anxiously awaiting the release of the audiobook of “Cheerfulness”.)
I love PHC and have attended many shows, but why the political rants in most of your writings of late ? This was never the case in your earlier books, posts, etc. It only serves to divide your readers, Left or right.
I was more cautious when I was younger and more ambition, aspiring to be successful, and now that I'm old, I have no such aspirations anymore, and I'm writing for my own pleasure. One man's rant is another man's missive. I love writing more than I ever did in the past and I consider myself a free agent. GK
Trump's attorney general Bill Barr said Trump is "toast" if half of his federal indictment is true. Trump responded by calling him a gutless pig. Trump vows to stay in the 2024 presidential race even if he's convicted. He's also said that he wants his lawyers to be like his mentor Roy Cohn, the corrupt protégé of Joseph McCarthy. Calling out someone like Trump, and the "political party" that supports him no matter what, should never fall under the category of "political rant."
And nobody should listen to anything Bill Barr has to say! His words of late may be true and good to hear, but they come out of the mouth of the self-promoting operator and pal of con-men, Barr, the same who was/is a big part of the problem, an unabashed enabler and promoter of tRump, who even in his latest showboating interview actually had the gall - THE GALL - to say that tRump has been a victim and that he (Barr) defended him when he was a victim.....and other blah-blah-blah.
Give us chapter and verse, citations with time and date, Mr. Barr when tRump has ever been a "victim"!!! Let me help you: NEVER.
America is the victim of his chicanery and treachery, his amoral criminality - and you, Mr. Barr. aided and abetted him!! Your Bill Barr Whitewashing Tour to Help Bill Barr is disgusting. Where were you when AMERICA needed a real AG? Busy adjusting tRump's tie and polishing his shoes?
Bill Barr should be dis-barred and ostracized. He's trying to gild his deeply tarnished integrity and TV (and others) should not help him do that!
Perhaps Both Sides Now is a little wistful. But it has a beautiful melody which makes it a classic. The main sin it suffers from is that it is overplayed instead of dozens of other excellent Joni Mitchell songs that many people have never heard. Since many people know at least the chorus it’s a wonderful song Circle tune.
Agreed. There are so many great Joni Mitchell songs, I am mystified at how few get airplay. At least I can listen to my own playlist ... and I find Both Sides a bit gloomy, albeit sardonic. Love you, GK!
...what Paul E said. I agree.
I am not very good with puns - it took me a couple of minutes to get "Barbara Seville" - but for the life of me, I can't figure out "Muriel L. Brubaker." Please give me a hint, it's driving me crazy!
I hope Sara Bellum is still in your good graces - she was my favourite.
To Gary Gackstatter: Mr. Keillor is right, that is an intriguing beginning - please finish the story!
There is a book full of those punny names - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon_1964_High_School_Yearbook_Parody
I was in graduate school when it was published in 1973 so it overlapped the era when I was in high school. The cheapest price on Amazon.com is $79.89! I'm glad I didn't throw mine away.
The favorite names of one of my gay friends were Ben Dover and C. Howard Fields.
I don't get Muriel L. Brubaker, either.
Wow, that's pretty pricey for a used comic book! My goodness, those are interesting puns.
Muriel L. Brubaker was her name; it's not a pun.
Thank you - I'm glad to learn that I'm not a total nimrod...
GK - give a hear to the short video of Joni at Newport Festival last summer, age 79, sitting regally in a queen's chair on stage - singing her signature song...
emotions with tears...
don't be so cynical, friend!
whiney and carping, an old man's way...
An honest opinion is not the same as carping. Sorry. Cynical? Not I.
Way to go! It would be a sad lot in life if we never could express our true feelings!
And, what's with this "Sexism/Ageism? Decades ago, when I moved to California, I went on a "Mission of Mercy" to visit our family's aging "Uncle Gus." What a spry octogenarian! He was thrilled to meet my daughters, and to use them as an excuse to visit Disneyland! He had heard of it, but he would have felt out of place, had he gone there on his own. The other thing I recall about him was the way he hugged me to end the day. There , close to his chest, I felt/heard his thumping, hard-working heart. Before I moved, we had been a continent apart. I was so glad I could spend some time with him before something like a trip to The Magic Kingdom would have been too much for him. He really enjoyed having a day with two little girls who were just ending out their first decade. as he worked on what turned out to be his last.
Luisa - it seems to me you've probably never had a chance to spend any time with Our Great Host in the flesh. On our APHC/HAL cruises, we would have Q & A sessions in the afternoons on board. As we shared stories, Our Host would hold the mike to us, crouching on the stairs so that we were at the same level. Was he "whiney and carping? Not a bit of it! He would get so involved in the stories we were telling, his eyes would light up! We, the storytellers, could see, first hand, how much he got involved in our tales!
If anything has changed, it seems to me just that we lack that first-hand, face to face contact when we try to communicate over the Internet. Here we are, having to type with our fingers, viewing just a computer screen and some moving letters on a tan background. It's not at all the same as the fire that can be lit when we're face to face!
If it sounds as if I'm Lobbying for One More APHC Cruise ( at least!) - it sure would sound like Heaven Returning to me! Our Gracious Host, the entertaining crew, the ports of call, all that weaves its magic. But beyond that, just the joy of being together with a WHOLE CRUISE SHIP full of Prairie Homers- WOW! Having APHC in common was a wonderful sorting factor! In all the thousands of us who travelled for two-week excursions together - I can only remember one or two "disgruntled Spouses" who were on board simply because their mate had been so adamite about being on board!
"Cynical???" No Way!
Thanks for showcasing the Yale Whiffenpoofs! Delightful 😊🎶😊 Pam Cavanagh
Hi Garrison,
You know you've made it when the Yale Whiffenpoofs do your world-renowned folk-era classic, replete with interpretive hand-jive and astounding modulations. Be proud, Joni !!
A great story leaves a lingering memory in one's mind like the falling snow in James Joyce's story The Dead and, of course, the bowling ball in Pontoon! Great cover too.
Joni wrote Both Sides when she was very young, so let's cut her some slack, just as we will you, since you're only 80.
Sorry, but this was about the Writer’s Almanac piece about Anne Frank and has disappeared.
Not only that, but I accidentally sent it t a friend of mine named Heather Cox.
Good grief :
Why won’t you allow us to save pictures?
I’ve never had a picture of Anne Frank and tried every way I could devise I could think of but no.
We are not worthy.
To me she is a kind of saint.
Please allow.
You and I once shared red wine in Boston. I was a delegate (only time ever) from Minnesota for the Democratic National Convention and elected Mr. Kerry. Was very close to being tackled by a secret service agent when I patted him on his back as he walked past me to accept the nomination.
Don Deye here, aka
Donald Luther Deye MD FACP
Charter Class of Mayo Medical School
PK and we have many things in common.
Started in radio at age 15. In Winona !!
Google Anne Frank and you'll find pictures of her. Read the Diary. The Writer's Almanac is public, you can take what you want.
I'll gestate some of your comments GK. Both Sides Now is a folk pop classic no matter how you spin it. I was fond of Iris DeMent and her unique style. Yes even octogenarians morph from gregarious towards curmudgeon creatures. It's ok. Maybe a walk around Central Park will clean the ears & fill the heart with unmolested love. I never followed the actors after PHC. Maybe it's proper to allow them to fade away. The past is past and what's done is done. Nostalgia can seem stale like a weak beer. Enjoy your week now and breathe.
Sometimes I read your essays and in one you might say, "I'm a New Yorker," and in another "I'm a Minnesotan." Or that you were walking in New York at such and such a time, but then you were in Minnesota at the same such and such a time, and other seeming contradictions of varying kinds.
I will figuratively scratch my head and express aloud some annoyance at the (seeming) contradictions, irritated that you seem to be always trying to pull the wool over our eyes!
My own very smart and handsome beloved (doesn't play the viola but gave up the cello as a kid because he couldn't transport it on his bicycle) always answers my Keillor Konfusion the same way.
He says, "he writes fiction."
Is that true?
I live in New York mostly but still have a place in Minneapolis. Sorry for the confusion. It's confusing to me, too. But I'll always be a Minnesotan, even while living in Manhattan. That much I know for sure.
It's confusing to me too - living part of your life in one place, and part in another. For me, it's sunshine versus snow - California versus New York State. I often find that some memory flashes before me. I'm running through it, when I stop myself: "Wait a minute! Where was that?"
For instance, just yesterday I saw a woman walking a "sled dog." Hers' was a Huskie, while our "Boris" was an Alaskan Malamute. Suddenly, I saw Boris, as we took him up a canyon where there happened to be snow at just 200 ' above sea level one strange January day. I tried to explain to her how jubilant our dog was, to actually be in snow! Here and now, that woman and I were in Upstate New York. She must have thought I was crazy! "How could your dog miss snow in our Northern climate?"
Our memories seem to get filed in different ways, it almost seems to me. For example, when I saw the sled dog - my mind went to our canine pets. It didn't seem to have a clear tag for "This is Southern California you're talking about, dumbo!"
And as octogenarians - there can be a lot stored up in those craniums, can't there? I imagine geographic tags can be much more of a problem for someone like you who has had a "Travelling Job" for most of their adult life! Possibly you have some sort of computer record of "Who, What, Where, When?" and all that. to bail you out when you are about to make some sort of gaff. That might help to keep you from assuming that Eskimo dogs would find existence in the North "boring, because of the lack of snow!"
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I was (attempting) to make a "tongue-in-cheek" comment, and I guess I have learned that writing with the tongue in the cheek can cause loss of facetiousness.
I think your tales over the years have made a lot of us imagine we're Minnesotans and fantasize about living in Manhattan. (No, tongue is not in cheek.)
It's confusing to me too - living part of your life in one place, and part in another. For me, it's sunshine versus snow - California versus New York State. I often find that some memory flashes before me. I'm running through it, when I stop myself: "Wait a minute! Where was that?"
For instance, just yesterday I saw a woman walking a "sled dog." Hers' was a Huskie, while our "Boris" was an Alaskan Malamute. Suddenly, I saw Boris, as we took him up a canyon where there happened to be snow at just 200 ' above sea level one strange January day. I tried to explain to her how jubilant our dog was, to actually be in snow! Here and now, that woman and I were in Upstate New York. She must have thought I was crazy! "How could your dog miss snow in our Northern climate?"
Our memories seem to get filed in different ways, it almost seems to me. For example, when I saw the sled dog - my mind went to our canine pets. It didn't seem to have a clear tag for "This is Southern California you're talking about, Dumbo!"
And as octogenarians - there can be a lot stored up in those craniums, can't there? I imagine geographic tags can be much more of a problem for someone like you who has had a "Travelling Job" for most of their adult life! Possibly you have some sort of computer record of "Who, What, Where, When?" and all that. to bail you out when you are about to make some sort of gaff. That might help to keep you from assuming that Eskimo dogs would find existence in the North "boring, because of the lack of snow!"
Lorraine Hansbury's revision/rewriting process on The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window was interrupted by her death at age 35. I presume you know this. I'd be glad to hear Rachel Brosnahan read the phonebook (a reference that dates me)
This is a new world for me, Bill Ziegler, and for the small fraction of folks with two XX (female) gender chromosomes. Since about 2018, scientific literature has been coming out about nonbinary beings. Grouper Fish started the craze, with their female/male dichotomy. I really sat up and paid attention when I saw an article about “women” who inherit one X chromosome with the tip of a Y (male) chromosome sitting on top. This describes my maternal grandmother, Mama ( who regularly shaved, and still had a moustache most of the time because she only shaved in the mornings). Like Mama, I shave as well. But it goes beyond that physical marker. Mama was the only full-responsibility collection curator in a large urban library. She could be “grand-motherly enough”, but she’d also be attacked by her daughter for “lacking female sensitivity.” Said daughter had gone to an exclusive “School For Young Ladies” – and had been brain-washed enough to try and hide any traces of her own “masculinity.”
Physically, I’m “female enough” to have born two daughters (the first “female and like her father, the second “male” and like me –she outran the boys on the track team and tried to push them to try harder, rather than being beaten by a short, energetic “girl”) . Mentally, I’m my electronics engineer-father’s daughter. I had straight “A’s in all the high school sciences, got a BS in Secondary Science Education, and later on an MS in Librarianship. Working as a librarian in a large oil company, I handled technical scientific questions on a daily basis. To “keep up with new developments, I would attend talks by visiting professionals. At least half the time, in the Q & A session that followed, I would ask a question and the guest would look at my dress or skirt, decide that I must be a “Bimbo”, and brush me off as if I were a fly on his jelly donut. At least half of the time, a male colleague would slightly rephrase the question, at which point the newcomer would give a thoughtful reply.
I’m talking about “The Bad Old Days!” The first hint of a change in nonbinary attitudes came when I read an article about Grouper Fish in 2018. This species is “male” at one point, and “female” at another. Since then, there have been more and more social signs out there, that at least the younger generations are willing to accept people as those individuals understand themselves. I wear blue men’s’ work shirts and blue jeans most of the time as ordinary apparel. Most folks don’t seem to have a problem with this.
As to the pronouns – someone who wears a “B” or “C” bra generally gets addressed with female pronouns. That’s an “outward fact of life.” What’s more important to me, is what exists in the heads of those I meet. Are they cemented in “Miss Fanny Smith’s School For Young Ladies” mentality? Or have they met female geophysicists, female Congresswomen, female architects and female astronauts? Through Toastmasters, once I had the chance to go to a Western Regional meeting, and to hear a talk by Sally Ride – the first female astronaut. She held up a “target” that was designed for men to pee into. It was a large white plastic disc-like piece, with a hole in the middle – maybe as big as a quarter at most. Sally had to undergo extensive sessions to train herself to hit that hole – it was completely hidden from her sight!
Yes! It’s a new challenge for the Twenty-First Century. Women can indeed be equal to men – and vice versa. There are many folks assigned to the masculine gender who can be compassionate, caring and sensitive. Just last week I was in a hospital for some laser surgery. All of the “nurses” in that group were men in their twenties or thirties. I teased them, as they sat at the “nursing station” – that they looked like the NASA “Ground Zero crew at their computes. Viva La Difference!
Wow! I hadn't clicked on Iris Dement's video when I looked at this page before! Her song, "My Life!" is very powerful!
Here I am, somebody who is reading all the newest stuff about the "Nonbinary " existence, thinking I'm a man hidden in a woman's body. And here's Iris, singing a song that pretty well clarifies the sympathetic, "feeling" nature of womanhood. And I'm Right There! It's almost as if Our Psychologically Gifted Host is saying "Wait a minute now, Wandering Sioux, you've got more of a "female side to you than you give yourself credit for! "
Way to go, GK! THANKS for the look in the mirror!
It makes me think of Mrs. Sundberg - the writing lady who looks out HER wiindow. I'm not the only one around who has elements that cross the "Typical Gender Lines!"
And, I think, it goes beyond just a few personalities analyzing one another! It seems to mew that our current culture, at least, is really becoming a lot more aware of how many "Nonbinaries" there are among us! It's as if we've gotten over the "It's Not Natural!" phase, and we, as a civilization are coming to accept "nonbinary" as a gender status, too!
Native Americans beat us “Europeans” and such by centuries! See the piece in HRC:
https://www.hrc.org/news/two-spirit-and-lgbtq-idenitites-today-and-centuries-ago
These folks were called “berdache,” or “passing women.”
It seems to me there are legends of Native American women who became active warriors, too!
--Old West Native American Women Warriors INSP https://www.insp.com › blog › old-west-native-americ... : Among other women warriors at the Battle of Little Big Horn was Arapaho Chief Pretty Nose. She survived the fight and lived to age 101. Her grandson served in ...
There seems to be quite a bit available on the subject on the WWW! I like that “Pretty Nose” Arapaho name – she was going both ways!
Special Thanks to Our Gracious Host for his bravery in opening the floor of this Webpage to the discussion of a “touchy subject” such as nonbinary gender!
I FEEL AS IF IT’S OK FOR ME TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET! 3 CHEERS!