The People and the Pitcher

It is my humble opinion that every child should know Aesop's fables. For me, they left an indelible mark and they got the wheels turning that would, eventually, help me to find happiness (if not fortune) as a literary guy. Today, however, one of those fables, remembered as I watched a large crow circle the woods behind my house, helps me to finally explain how I feel about technology's place in daily lives.

In an earlier post, I talked about drawing the technological line -- the necessity of finding the place at which we decide to exclude technology from our days -- but I'm not sure I made it clear why I thought this necessary. Consider Aesop's fable of "The Crow and the Pitcher." Its moral has been delivered as "little by little does the trick" as well as "necessity is the mother of invention." In short, a thirsty crow's ingenuity saves his life. He drops pebbles into a pitcher to raise the water level so that he can drink. But it is not the moral I'm interested in -- it is the intriguing metaphoric possibility of the crow, the pitcher, the water and the pebbles.

Presenting . . .

The truth is, for today, I wasn't likely to write anything better than what I am about to share with you. I believe that writing should not be an egotistical exercise. You have to know when someone has said something as well as it can be said and, then, sometimes, it is wise to step aside and open the curtain for that someone.

Here is piece on a blog that I follow: "zmkc". "Z" is one of the best writers I have seen online; she writes about lots of things, from books to print/grammar issues to -- my favorite -- life, in general.

This is a piece about outer beauty and inner ugliness (and vice-versa) written with grace, incisive humor and the sort of keen observation and control I have come to expect from this fine writer. Enjoy "In the Bag," Then, pick up the flashlight and have a look inside for yourself.

(Any of my former writing students out there: study the passage of the girls at the table. That's how you do it.)

Bradley Smiles

TIP: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Tip Blinkton here with another exciting of episode of WHO HAS IT THE WORST? -- the show where you, at home, decide which of our panelists has it the worst of all. The prize? Understanding of the human condition.

Let's meet our first panelist. Johnny?

Well, Tip, Ellen is a 65-year-old housewife with three grown kids. She's from Idaho. She's a retired dental hygienist and her interests are soap operas and shows about soap operas. Ellen! [Audience joins in] WHAT'S-YOUR-PROBLEM?

Roller Coaster Arabesque

Yes, it's true. Even in an amusement park, atop the crest of a roller coaster pre-drop, I'm thinking metaphors. For instance: roller coasters, themselves, as examples of the way people seem to look at life, at least in terms of what is interesting to them.

I like roller coasters. Always have. But there have always been some that I had no interest in riding because, it seems to me, there is a fine line between being scared in a fun way and being scared in a losing control of one's bowels way.

For instance, on a family outing to a mega amusement park the other day, we rode a wooden roller coaster called El Toro. We also rode Kingda Ka. (The latter's very name annoys the crap out of me. I don't know why -- it just angers me to say it.) Kingda Ka is a metal spike up into the sky which shoots straight up, drops straight down, once, and reaches ridiculous speeds of somewhere around 130 miles per hour.

Battle of the Brim



Christy Mathewson: "The Christian Gentleman"

 What the heck are our nation's English teachers doing? We are in the middle of a major cultural shift, I think: nothing means anything anymore, especially to our young lads and lasses. (By this, I am talking about things having meaning outside the obvious, not about general apathy.)

I just had a Facebook discussion with some friends -- some old friends and some young people who are former students of mine. It was light-hearted and stemmed from a status I posted. I am a Philadelphia Phillies fan and we have a pitcher named Vance Worley who is a great young arm with a bright future in the game. But he leaves his hat brim flat, which, to me, looks stupid. I have also joked about his apparent attitude in the dugout. Here is the status: