Thanksgiving behind us, we are now officially in Buy This For Your Loved Ones season. The catalogs and newspaper circulars are fat and frequent, as all of American capitalism throws its weight behind convincing us that THISTHISTHIS! is just the thing we need to purchase in order to effectively demonstrate our affection. I love gifts [...]
All posts for the month November, 2009
Thanks and the giving thereof.
Thanksgiving is pretty much my favorite holiday. I know that people just to my left like to use it as an opportunity to talk about all the many things that the arriving Europeans did very, very wrong on this continent and to its inhabitants — and those things were absolutely done, and deserve mention and [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 25, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/thanks-and-the-giving-thereof/
Idle.
I am rather lazy. Really. When I share this information with people who love me, though, they poo-poo it. They see how busy I am, how involved I am with family and friends, and they protest. No! They say. It isn’t so! But, in the spirit of either a word means a thing or it [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 24, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/idle/
The wisdom of the Newt (or: Bleak hauser, ctd.)
We sometimes have to put aside the mantel of reason, logic, and passion for humanity, and simply be ourselves, lest we forget what we are really striving for. It is too easy to become disconnected from the very humanity and world we are attempting to save, when we put our heads down and plow ahead, [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 24, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/the-wisdom-of-the-newt-or-bleak-hauser-ctd/
Bleak hauser.
I have never been particularly ill-informed. Even in high school, I think I followed the news (and struggled to make sense of it) more closely than the average bear — I remember writing in my journal about the Sandinistas, and the re-election of Ronald Reagan. During my only year at an American college (St. Olaf [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 23, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/bleak-hauser/
Good stuff: homesick.
So, as usual, all of that earlier anger about Israel and the Israel lobby made me lonely for home. So here’s a clip of the Israeli singer/songwriter who was for many years my favorite performer in the world, bar none: Jeremy (Irmi) Kaplan. It’s not my absolute favorite of his songs, but it’s a darn [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 20, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/good-stuff-homesick/
So… the “Israel” lobby?
Writing in HaAretz today, Israeli journalist Anshel Pfeffer presents a scathing appraisal of the Diaspora’s Israel lobby. Though he focuses on Great Britain (where he was born, and lived until he was 8), Pfeffer also takes on the lobby in the US, speaking truth to arrogant, self-righteous power across the globe: … the real problem [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 20, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/so-the-israel-lobby/
We are all individuals.
So there I am, late last night, reading the New York Times, and lo: Here’s a little piece by the Frugal Traveler, about the search for truly personal souvenirs (accompanied by a delightful picture of a rubber tree seed [bigger than you might think!] in, one can only assume, the Frugal Traveler’s own hand). Matt [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 19, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/we-are-all-individuals/
I’ve had an abortion.
Over at Ta-Nehisi Coates’ place at the Atlantic, there is a lively discussion surrounding one simple statistic: 35 percent of all women of reproductive age will have had an abortion by the time they’re 45. Now, one can argue with the efficacy of statistics that are dependent on the use of the future perfect tense [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 17, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/ive-had-an-abortion/
A dream dies.
Ah, the life of a contract writer! In two weeks, my big, regular gig — the one that has kept me in regular checks for more than five years — will be going away, and I’ve been too busy working to look for work. Maybe a new career all together…? And then, just like that, [...]
Posted by emilylhauser on November 13, 2009
http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/a-dream-dies/
