I just finished re-reading Jane Austen’s Emma and it was fascinating to think about how people spent their leisure time pre-radio, pre-TV, pre-digital media etc. (One should note, of course, that Austen writes of the landed gentry and aristocracy.) Music was huge—everyone played or sang, and the accomplished performers, in this case the mysterious and […]
Archive for May, 2008
Thursday playlist: Detouring America with horns
1. Arbos — Arvo Paart 2. Underground — Hungry March Band 3. Soul Bowl — Memphis Horns 4. Cold Sweat – I Can’t Stand It — James Brown 5. Funkin Fever — The Delta Rhythm Section 6. Fidel Castro — The Skatalites 7. Contrasong — Egg 8. Send in the Clowns — Lorez Alexandria 9. […]
Idle hands
Summer is treacherous. Summer scares me, just a little… Well, actually, what I should say is—I scare me. Before summer begins, my life is a series of duties and responsibilities, schedules and lists. A typical weekday: 9:30 – 12:00: grade 9 papers 12:00 – 1:00: take a break, eat something (if there’s time?) 1:00 – […]
After Obama
I share the opinion of a number of political observers that the U.S. constitution’s separation of governmental power into three separate branches is not the best available solution. U.S. power has established similar constitutional regimes in various countries around the world, such as the Philippines, but the version of liberal democracy that developed in England […]
So long, farewell
Gentle readers, For the next while I’ll be taking a leave of absence from TGW. Other projects require a more single-minded attention for the time being. Of previous contributors who’ve taken a hiatus — Farrell, Trixie, Parrish, Pandora, West, Walker, Cedarbrook — most are still around, at least on occasion, and some of those prodigals […]
A midnight showing of Narnia
There is a point in the book Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis, when a group of characters are hopelessly lost in the forest. The Pevensie children, four siblings transported from mid-twentieth century England to an alternate world called Narnia, are searching for the title character and an army of good guys. Unfortunately the landscape has […]
Thursday playlist: Meta
I’ve reached a bad place when it comes to finding new music. Mostly I rely on a handful of friends to play stuff for me. When I’m feeling ambitious, I go online. E. Tan recently found a couple more music blogs, which we’ve added to the sidebar: Cassette from My Ex and Fluxblog. I can’t […]
On our sameness
Watching the humanitarian crises unfold in China and Myanmar over the last couple of weeks – the tens of thousands dead, the millions displaced, the masks of anger and despondency on refugees’ faces – we are troubled and deeply saddened. Some of us even weep over the more emotional reports about Chinese schoolchildren buried beneath […]
Comfort food
Writing a weekly post can be a bit like needing to put a meal on when it’s your turn to cook. Good days, you’ll have adequate time to come up with something satisfying. But sometimes it’s like preparing a meal in half an hour. You need to pull out something fast, but you still want […]
Stranger behavior II
Stop press: people continue to do surprising things. On the Washington Metro, a man with a bike takes out some floss. He starts flossing his teeth. He is flossing his teeth on the Washington Metro. In front of people. I cannot believe my eyes and keep watching and looking away in disgust. It’s gross. And […]
