Do the Yak

Excellent obit in TIME Photo gallery of Kennedy Package of stuff in the Boston Globe I admired him more than any other politician, living or dead (except Abe Lincoln and Ted's two brothers, maybe). He was really someone to admire: a liberal, a political pragmatist, a consensus builder, a highly effective legislator... and a man born to power and privilege who stood up for minorities, women, immigrants, gays and poor people. Over the years, he did more for civil rights than anyone in American history. As just one example, America would look very different today if not for his efforts to change immigration laws that favored Europeans. Many immigrants and children of immigrants from Latin America, Africa and Asia owe their presence in America to him -- a white male whose grandfather told him stories of "Help wanted -- no Irish need apply" signs around Boston in his youth ("Irish need not apply"). That grandfather, whose own grandparents were all immigrants who...

For some time up until last week, I was having a private contest with myself (private because it's tasteless even for me) as to who would die first, Ted Kennedy or Jerry Remy. As the world knows, Ted has brain cancer; Remy is a beloved sports broadcaster and former second basemen for the Red Sox who had lung cancer surgery over the winter, started working again in the spring (albeit about 20 pounds lighter), then went on leave with a mysterious infection that lasted months beyond when it should have either been cured or finished him off. He didn't admit to the cancer initially, so I figured the "infection" was actually extended chemo and circling the drain from the advancing disease. Turns out Remy is actually fine physically but has been suffering from a crippling depression . He appeared briefly during the Sox game a couple of days ago and was very upfront about everything. He looked healthy but his voice had a slight tremor from the ongoing depression, his nervou...

My stepmother got us tickets to see Paul McCartney at Fenway Park as a birthday present for me, knowing what a Beatlemaniac I was (and still am, I guess). I got there in a somewhat crabby mood because they wouldn't let me bring in my backpack (I had to pay $10 to check it), expecting to be appreciative but not impressed by the concert, but I was happily surprised. I expected a 67-year-old geezer phoning it in Vegas-style ("You've been a great audience -- thank you. I'm here all week... Please tip your waitstaff") but actually, he is a great performer and a showman to the core. A real hambone, to be sure, and he really can't pull off this cheeky aw-shucks crap at his age. Sometimes I was rolling my eyes, but eventually I was pulled in (even when he twice "offhandedly" remarked that at Beatles shows, they could never hear themselves play because of all the screaming girls, evoking a predictable response). And just once I got a tiny inkling of the feel...

I never heard of Clerihews until I came across the term in the Miss Conduct blog vv. The basic idea is that the first line is the name of a celebrity and the other three lines poke fun at that celebrity in some way. The rhyme scheme is A-A-B-B but there's no meter, so any number of syllables in any line is fine. Like every other red-blooded American, I have Michael Jackson on the brain, so this is what I came up with in about 10 minutes: Michael Jackson Died with his slacks on, Which is more than you can say for David Carradine, Who was hanging out with a dirty magazine. I entered it in Miss Conduct's contest (#24 if you click on the comments in the link above). It's gotta have a shot, right? Along the same lines, there was an NPR story yesterday about the annual Bulwer-Lytton bad writing contest . So I was inspired in the car to jot down my own entry, which came to me unbidden on a flaming pie : He knelt and laid a trembling hand on her shapely head, acutely aware of her ...

Jerry Falwell just died, and I'm glad. So there. I know I'm slipping into his own gutter of insufficient compassion by saying this, but too bad. That man was just pure evil. Remember this comment right after 9/11? "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" If that doesn't make you mad enough, there are more of his timeless pronouncements here and here . Off to Old Blighty tomorrow evening. Part of me (the minority part) is sort of looking forward to hours of uninterrupted reading, sleeping and listening to my iPod, but most of me is sad and anxious about (a) not seeing the girls for four days (and Ben too, though he has an adult grasp of elapsed time and separations), and (b)...