This past week, the number of people visiting this blog has grown by both leaps and bounds. I’ve written a lot about the situation with the flotilla off the coast of Gaza, which drew in a bunch of people, and then, for related reasons, John Cole at Balloon Juice front-paged me and perma-linked me (whoot!), which drew in a whoooole bunch more, which is, in turn, really too delightful for words — but it behooves me to mention to all my lovely new readers that, really, I am not all-Israel/Palestine-all-the-time (no, really!). Pinky swear!
So I ran a sort of greatest-hits post, catching people up on the random nature of the inside of my head… but I found a bunch more posts that I wanted to give extra attention to. So voila! The Greatest Hits of In My Head – Volume Two!
Please read, please enjoy — and please spread the word! And hey, if you’re on the Twitter (c’mon, resistance is futile, you know that), why not follow me? @emilylhauser Couldn’t hurt!
And so, without further ado:
13) The babies’ mom.
…It was an unspoken assumption that while I might not get rich, I would surely be able to pay my bills with my natural talent and responsible work ethic…. There is something so painful, so essentially wrenching, to realizing that the one thing I wanted — the thing I was led to believe was not only possible but deserved — is not to be.
14) MLK – Live blog-ish, part 3.
“…The transformed nonconformist… never yields to the passive sort of patience which is an excuse to do nothing. And this very transformation saves him from speaking irresponsible words which estrange without reconciling and from making hasty judgments which are blind to the necessity of social progress. He recognizes that social change will not come overnight, yet he works as though it is an imminent possibility.”
…I WAS ATTACKED BY SEA GULLS. No, really!
16) Me, Christina Hendricks, and writer’s block.
The idea that my baby may do this battle, that she could ever doubt her value as a person because of the shape God gave her, rips me up. But isn’t that where all this “she’ll slim down” twaddle is headed?
17) The listing of mental groceries.
Stuff I wish I knew how to do: #1 – Play the electric guitar – by which I mean, slay with the electric guitar. Noodling around, not so much. But making thousands of ears bleed? Come ON, wouldn’t that be awesome?
18) Ah, the City.
Young ladies on your way to the Art Institute? You need to wear pants.
19) A house.
…There is also, right now, today, someone dying here, the grandfather with whom the seven year old shares a name. He is 69 and after decades of housing a spirit so large it could hardly be contained, his body is all that’s left. Soon, it too will be gone. Right now the little boy and his brother play 20 feet away, and stew is made in the kitchen, and someone sits and watches and holds the grandfather’s hand, telling him, again, that he can go as soon as he needs to. That we do not want to hold him.
Pakistani-born Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, a leading Islamic theologian and former Pakistani lawmaker, recently issued a scathing fatwa condemning terrorism.
…all the cool young things are streaking their hair with gray! Whoopee!
22) Winnie the Pooh and Elmer the Elf.
…Elmer was a constant in my life for many years, and in my mind’s eye, he looked rather as you might expect an elf to look (if you have not yet been introduced to the Lord of the Rings). He was tiny, and dressed largely in green, and I believe he may have even had a peaked cap.
23) Why is this country so big?
Stuff I wish I had the time and funds to do.
24) The limits of awkward conversation (or: Bono, Obama, and me).
…I felt the oddest kind of jealousy: “Look! POTUS is hanging with Bono – again! Not fair! And look! Bono is hanging with POTUS – again! Dude!” As if the fact that I want to know these men means that I actually do know them, and have a claim on their time and who they spend it with. Isn’t this the way a stalker’s mind works?
Emily L. Hauser - In My Head 