Timnath Serah (and what comes before)

Here's A Line...

I never get rejected.  I only discover if a woman has good taste.
--Ross Jefferies

posted by Lauren @ Saturday, March 18, 2006 1 comments

The Fundamental Question

I’m currently going through an audio/video/book series called “Double Your Dating” by David DeAngelo while simultaneously reading Joshua Harris’ book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye.” This leads me to what must be the fundamental ‘dating’ question.  Do I double my dating first, and then kiss it goodbye?  Or do I first kiss dating goodbye and then double it?  It’s a real mystery.

posted by Lauren @ Tuesday, March 14, 2006 3 comments

And the Kitchen Sink

Is hell in my head?  Maybe it’s just wandering down the old moon path, crying feverishly to break though the glassy ribbons of ,..  For crying out loud happens no more often than crashing.  Parsimoniously efficacious.  Dry, arrogant tears showering dust and destiny, caught in the frying pan cuz you forgot to stock up on pot.  Bam.  Hit’s you like a glove.  Flight is golden when site is bold and time is no more than cold ends to dream of and friends to scream of and drops of triumph leave the eyes of giants and go crashing to the forest floor.  Water falls beneath copper bells that ring again of death’s curious lore.  Creating hystery wrapped in mystery seeping through the rotten pinewood floor.  Branch compliance with grants of your aunt’s crystal tea set catching the door.  Below the bottom the top is found and tells you merrily that black is brown.  Here and nowhere comes pounding mohair and finally something blinks.  Finally, we know what something stinks.  It’s everything, and the kitchen sink.  Everything.  And yes, that includes the ever evasive, now pungently pervasive, garden variety kitchen sink.

posted by Lauren @ Saturday, March 11, 2006 0 comments

The Cat and the Hat as Viet Nam War Text

by Tim Driscoll
Whenever Dan and I go see a new movie or read a new book, we're always sure that, one way or another, it relates to the Viet Nam war. We thought we were hung up on this until we heard from Tim Driscoll, whose analysis of Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat as Viet Nam war text so far exceeded our wildest imagination that we were forced to tip our hats in tribute to the greatest interpretive stretch we'd yet come across. --Kalí
I never heard of the good Doctor Seuss until my later years. When we got a kid, my wife got the Dr. Seuss books.
The Cat in the Hat starts out with two kids in a house on a monsoon day. (The kids represent the American People.) And the kids were in the house by themselves, and they were full of boredom because of all the rain. (This represents the American People during the Ike years.) And also there is this goldfish in a fish bowl. (The goldfish represents the collective conscience of America.) And in pops this cat with a hat. The cat is very adventuresome. (Now we are moving into the 1960s--the cat is actually the American Government.) Well the cat (Government) is trying to talk the kids (the American People) into playing some games which will mess up the house. But the goldfish (conscience) is yelling, telling the kids to get the damn cat out of the house before they get in trouble. (It's right about here that the conscience basically turns into the War Protester.) So the cat does start playing all these games and the house does get very messed up. (That's the Viet Nam war). And the goldfish gets all beat up (just like the hippie peace lovers). And then there is this part where the cat is yelling for everyone to look at him because he can hold all these things at once--cup, milk, cake, books, rake, goldfish, toy ship, toy man, red fan--and bounce the ball at the same time. (Toy ship, toy man, red fan, get it?) But then the cat fell and everything fell all over and made a big mess. (That was the Tet Offensive of 1968.) And the goldfish said, "Do I like this? Oh, no! I do not. This is not a good game." (See, the goldfish turns into Cronkite at this point.) The rest of the book is pretty anticlimactic and predictable: the house gets more messed up and the tricks continue, a couple of new characters are introduced--Thing One and Thing Two. (They represent the post-Viet Nam era American Presidents.) But then the goldfish starts yelling that the mother is on her way in. (Mother is actually the Kuwaitian Adventure.) So the cat cleans up the house and everything ends OK. (Everything ends okay except for the fucking kids. They get fucking PTSD.) Actually, the book was published in 1975, so you can see what a visionary Dr. Seuss was.
And Sally and I did not know what to say. Should we tell her the things that went on there that day? Should we tell her about it? Now what should we do? Well... what would you do if your mother asked you?

posted by Lauren @ Friday, March 10, 2006 0 comments