OK then! Having gotten a really nice, positive response to this idea, I’m going to go with it, to wit:
Unless and until TNC should decide to reopen his Open Threads, I’ll keep one up here. (Update: Oh, that’s right! I’m ellaesther. Nice to meet you!)
I don’t think it’ll be necessary to have a new one every day (for a sense of perspective: The last OT at Ta-Nehisi’s place has 429 comments in it; our discussion of “should we have an Open Thread here or not?” has, as of this writing, 20 comments. And four of those are mine), or even wise, because discussions here are likely to develop more slowly — we won’t want to keep opening and closing the door on them, so to speak. I will post a daily reminder and direct link to the current Open Thread, and if you want to move a discussion from yesterday’s post to this, the Official Open Thread, please do so. If the whole thing starts to get unwieldy, I’ll open a new one.
A few comments before take-off:
- Let’s adopt TNC’s rules – no bashing of his bandmates, please, except within the confines of what he finds acceptable at his place. No bashing of each other (like we’re bashable! Pleeeease!), and no arguing into the margins, literal or figurative.
- Let’s adopt my rules, too! – these can be seen here (and are always available up there on the right, in “About Commenting”), but they boil down to: Be a person. Rule #6 will be void in the Open Thread (as can be evidenced by yesterday’s comment section).
- There’s no need to fear: I may look sweet, but I have a ban hammer and I’m not afraid to use it – should any unpleasantness occur, I have already assured Andy_Hall that I will call motherfuckers on their shit. Pinky swear!
- If you’re not a regular reader of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s blog, you should be! His is one of the best blogs on the planet, because he is thoughtful, smart, fucking funny, and very passionate. It’s never the same thing twice, but it’s always interesting. Here’s another link, and it’s always and forever on the Smart People blog roll, to the right.
But enough of my yakkin’ — let’s rock n’ roll!
Note to new commenters/old hands commenting from a new or different email address: All first comments require my moderation. If you’ve commented and it hasn’t appeared yet, no panicking! I’ll get to it as quickly as I can.
Emily L. Hauser - In My Head 
Bob
/ July 21, 2010When I’m the webmaster/moderator/sitefuhrer, I prefer to word it thus: “I reserve the right to be viciously arbitrary.” My site, my rules of etiquettte.
thewayoftheid
/ July 21, 2010Hah! I like that. Hope you don’t mind me jacking it.
silentbeep
/ July 21, 2010o.k. well like a dork, i was totally disappointed that I wasn’t able to announced this on OTAN yesterday but – yesterday was my birthday! the big 33 😉
carlosthedwarf
/ July 21, 2010Happy birthday! How did you celebrate?
silentbeep
/ July 21, 2010Well the celebrating is still going on heh. Over the weekend I went to Austin TX for a mini-vacation, monday I had dinner with my family, yesterday I got a massage treatment at a spa, friday a concert, and saturday will be another live gig at a local bar with friends.
emilylhauser
/ July 21, 2010Happy Birthday! Your celebrations sound like all kinds of fun — and, as I mentioned the other day, I have the odd birthday or two to celebrate at just this time of year, too!
SWNC
/ July 21, 2010Happy birthday!
Sorn Jessen
/ July 21, 2010Happy birthday beepers. 🙂
dave in texas
/ July 22, 2010Feliz cumpleanos! What did you do while you were here in Austin? I’m curious to know if I might have run across you somewhere and didn’t even know.
silentbeep
/ July 22, 2010Oh I was only there for a few days, just drove around a lot to see what I’m going to do for my next visit in Novemeber, and hung out talking and spending time with my friend and brother (both people are the reason I went). When I get back, I want to go to the LBJ library and do a tour at the Texas State Capital. What I did do, was have BBQ at the Green Mesquite one day, and had Rudy’s BBQ the next day both good, by the Green Mesquite was awesome. Also went to the biggest whole foods market I’ve ever seen.
Eva
/ July 21, 2010Happy Birthday, silentbeep!
And also? I know I’m way spoiled for daylight up here in the Yukon (caveat: in summer), but I swear in the course of a few days we’ve gone from broad daylight at midnight to something very nearly approaching darkness. I had to turn my headlights on to pick my mom up from the late flight in last night, and boy, it was like the cold dark hand of winter was suddenly resting on my shoulder. Summer, why do you fly by so fast?
absurdbeats
/ July 21, 2010Hey, I’ve got a nice hot apartment in Brooklyn I’ll trade ya for. . . .
emilylhauser
/ July 21, 2010From akarra’s (a.k.a.: Ashok’s)blog – Five Poems for People New to Poetry: http://www.ashokkarra.com/2010/07/five-poems-for-people-new-to-poetry/comment-page-1/#comment-5992
This is very good for the likes of me.
anibundel
/ July 21, 2010Had an interview this morning.
The guy who called didn’t say who they were with, as if to assume that if I’d applied through craigslist, that would be enough info for me to have an idea of who was calling me back. Right. Looked up address on google–and discovered the building’s main tenant is one of the places I applied to that I REALLY WANTED TO WORK AT. We’ll call this “Employer A” I went back through, found the craigslist post, found my email, printed everything up, got all my ducks in order to look nice and organized and impressive.
Got there. Went to assigned floor. …..ANNNNND discovered it was a completely different employer. Same building as Employer A, but not actually them at all. It was some place I had zero memory of applying to. Also? I arrived with a younger thinner girl applying for the same position, left with a different girl who was also applying for this position, and as we waited for the elevator, watched two other girls sent into our now vacated rooms. Disheartening.
I’m so disheartened I’m watching VH1 classic’s 80s block like this is summer vacation 1989. In a minute I’m going to feed myself a PB&J and milk and call my regression complete.
carlosthedwarf
/ July 21, 2010If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t even scored an interview yet.
emilylhauser
/ July 21, 2010Aw honey. You know you’re in good company here.
/passes PBJ
Kylopod
/ July 21, 2010Our discussion from a few days ago on political correctness inspired me to write a post on my blog, the first since April. Here it is:
“A compendium of politically incorrect views“
emilylhauser
/ July 21, 2010Yay! I must add you back to my blog roll!
SWNC
/ July 21, 2010Thank you! I have been jonesing for OTAN–what you expect me to actually *work* when everyone else in my building is on vacation?
Last night’s dinner was fried catfish, fried green tomatoes and biscuits with homemade plum jam. It’s a meal I have to cook at least once every summer. Fellow gardeners and cooks, what are your favorite summer meals?
anibundel
/ July 21, 2010Pruning basil plants into pesto.
Celebrating beating the chipmunks to the tomatoes with BLTs (or ABLTs. Or BCTs. Basically add bacon, mayo and something green on toast.)
SWNC
/ July 21, 2010Yeah, pesto is on the agenda for the weekend.
emilylhauser
/ July 21, 2010Ooh! Ooh! Tell me how to make fried green tomatoes, pls!
I tried to last year, and oy, what a disaster that was.
silentbeep
/ July 21, 2010ooh! gimme! recipes?
SWNC
/ July 21, 2010Emily and silentbeep, I’m flattered! I basically use the same recipe for the fried green tomatoes and the catfish. It’s not complex, but it helps a lot if you’re comfortable with frying things.
Mix equal parts cornmeal and flour in a bowl (about 1/2 of each. This is a homecooking recipe, not a cookbook recipe, so I don’t measure) with salt and black pepper.
For the tomatoes: Slice them 1/2 inch thick, dip each slice in milk, then dredge in flour. Fry until golden (about 2 minutes on each side). I’ll describe the frying below.
For the catfish: Dredge fillets in flour mixture and fry until golden (about 2 minutes on each side).
Frying: I use two cast iron skillets, one for the fish and one for the tomatoes. Pour a cup of vegetable oil into each, heat on medium high until slightly bubbling, then put in the fish and the ‘maters. Drain on paper towels and eat right away.
emilylhauser
/ July 22, 2010@SWNC
Thank you so much! I think I failed on the flour part. In that I didn’t use any. And I can certainly see why, as a result, my maters were a disaster.
amichel
/ July 21, 2010Just stopping by to say I fully endorse the alterna-thread, and to share one of my favorite poems.
The Gods of the Copybook Headings
By. Rudyard Kipling
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four—
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
Eva
/ July 21, 2010I’m a little bit in love with Tom Scocca right now.
“By 2013, Andrew Breitbart will be stuffing himself inside a trash bag, smearing himself with feces, and scrawling “honky” on his body.”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/scocca/archive/2010/07/20/politically-correct-crybaby-andrew-breitbart-gets-another-black-person-fired.aspx
silentbeep
/ July 21, 2010lol!
Andy Hall
/ July 22, 2010But it’s going to be a long three years until then.
Andy
/ July 21, 2010You’re trying to punish me for not finding your comment in the spam pile earlier, aren’t you?!
*shakes fist at….nahh I’m tired
silentbeep
/ July 21, 2010I’ve just read one of the most unbelievable things I’ve seen on the internet in a really darn long time. And I don’t mean that as a compliment
In Defense of Mel Gibson by E.D. Kain
http://www.ordinary-gentlemen.com/2010/07/in-defense-of-mel-gibson/
I’m horrified actually, I hate it when one of my fav bloggers loses their mind.
Money quote regarding Oksana and Mel’s relationship:
” And standing at the center of this convergence is the woman he wrecked his marriage upon, like some hideous reminder of all his failings.
Furthermore, these sorts of people – at once rich and creative and hugely vulnerable to bad influences – are like flames to the worst sort of moths. At their worst they are manipulated and taken advantage of and used up. I suspect Oksana Grigorieva is one of these moths – perhaps if Gibson had taped her without her knowledge a broader picture of their relationship would have emerged. I suspect there is much more to the story.”
I haven’t seen this kind of hideous victim-blaming in ages. Wow. This is really amazing. So amazing it’s hard to be offended it’s so freaking out there to me.
Kylopod
/ July 21, 2010I thought Frank Rich’s recent column on Gibson was quite fine:
I should mention that I’ve never seen “The Passion,” so I have no opinion on it, and I know he and Rich have some “history.” But I suspected Gibson was an anti-Semite as soon as he gave his non-answer on the Holocaust question. It amazed me how many people who should have known better acted like his answer was satisfactory. The drunken episode only confirmed what I had already suspected.
Susan
/ July 22, 2010I’m a deeply committed Christian – or, at least I’m trying – and I liked The Passion. Sort of. (“Liked” doesn’t seem the right word.) The relative blame accorded the Jews vs. the Italians seemed true to the gospels, especially the Gospel According to John, so I don’t see that we can blame Gibson for this.
These are the historical documents we have. Pontius Pilate was removed three years after this incident by the Romans themselves for corruption and cruelty – they had pretty flexible standards in this matter, so we can assume he was pretty bad – so Pilate gets a break in the gospels, but are we authorized to re-write them? On what basis?
You can like the story or you can not like it, but the documents say what they say. It’s asking a lot to ask Christians to ignore the gospels completely. The Talmud says some pretty poisonous things about Christians too, but no one is insisting that the Jews re-write it.
We might be better off recognizing that our ancestors weren’t always on track, and trying to do better than that.
Kylopod
/ July 22, 2010Susan,
I read that Gibson based part of his interpretation on the visions of Sister Emmerich, who did hold some anti-Semitic views (such as a belief in Jewish ritual murder). And there are Christians, including the USCCB, who took exception to Gibson’s version of events.
But like I said, I haven’t seen the film, and it is possible that despite Gibson’s own anti-Semitism, and despite his membership in a splinter sect that rejects Vatican II, his movie is fair and untainted by bigotry. I just don’t understand how that could be so.
>The Talmud says some pretty poisonous things about Christians too, but no one is insisting that the Jews re-write it.
What poisonous things are you referring to? I’m curious.
Andy Hall
/ July 22, 2010I haven’t seen Passion. I’ve read enough material about crucifixion under the Romans as it is. Horrific stuff, that.
But passion plays have a very long history as being a key element stoking antisemitism in Europe, at least from the Middle Ages. And Gibson’s father has been a moderately-well-known hardcore Catholic in the Opus Dei mold for a long time, a man who is skeptical of the Holocaust and allegedly said that the Second Vatican Council was “a Masonic plot backed by the Jews.” So the stage was set for the film to go down an ugly path before the cameras ever started to roll.
emilylhauser
/ July 21, 2010Ok, you people are all dead to me.
All day long, my headline read “Aterna-open thread.” Not ALTERNA — Aterna. The husband just read all the comments, said something sweet about how it looks like this was a good idea and then said “but what does ‘aterna’ mean?” He thought it was some TNC in-joke.
IT MEANS I’M A FUCKING IDIOT, THAT’S WHAT IT MEANS.
Sigh. It’s fixt, and now the ages are robbed of knowing that I made the error in the first place. But you people? You people who didn’t tell me all day long? Ded.to.me.
(Though, I suppose, one could argue that TNC himself may have inured you to typos).
anibundel
/ July 22, 2010I am inured to typos because of my dyslexia. Half the time when I type owdrs ocem otu liek thsi. I noticed something was vaguely off but my brain didn’t register what.
Eva
/ July 22, 2010I’m so used to the rules at TNC’s place: DON’T MENTION THE TYPOS. I promise to let you know next time!
silentbeep
/ July 22, 2010is this part of your comment policy that we HAVE to point out your typos? lol I’ve read TNC so much and also Yglesias, that I’ve now become immune to typos. Plus I do so many myself, I try not to judge others on something that I’m prone to do. Do you want us to tell you then? ha
emilylhauser
/ July 22, 2010Yes, please! /curtsies/
/hates typos/
Andy Hall
/ July 22, 2010Has anyone else noticed the parallel between the Sherry Sherrod case and the “Wise Latina” crap from last summer? In both cases, you have women of color, speaking to professional or civic groups, who acknowledge their own personal views or biases in situations that they deal with? That part of the videotape gets released, ignoring the rest of her response, which is to call herself out on those beliefs or attitudes, recognize them as unworthy, and explicitly reject them as something that can or should influence her actions.
It’s so deeply dishonest a tactic that it’s sickening. But we’ve seen it before, and no doubt will again.
silentbeep
/ July 22, 2010well is shows how deeply suspect women of color are in these high positions. it turns out they are a moving target in political discourse amongst this beck/breitbart crowd.
Kylopod
/ July 22, 2010The difference was that the “wise Latina” flak ended in stalemate (she was confirmed to the Supreme Court, but the right-wing smear remained), whereas the Sherrod incident really blew up in the right’s face, to the point that even the likes of Beck and Goldberg are disowning it. They’re attempting to cast the blame on the Obama Administration (who do bear some responsibility), but I confess that I didn’t expect the level of blow-back against the right, given the distortions they routinely make. It was like they finally, truly stepped over a line. And even though Breitbart probably can’t be “fired” from whatever position he holds, it has hurt him. Along with the right’s retreat from Mark Williams, the last few weeks have been a little encouraging to me.
Andy Hall
/ July 22, 2010Clearly the outcomes are different, but the set-up seems identical.
It would seem so. When you lose even Jonah Goldberg. . . .
anibundel
/ July 22, 2010If at first the plans succeeds, do it again. They saw no reason it would not work a second time. Unfortunately, they didn’t take into consideration one key different: “Wise Latina” was a written remark, not a video tape. There is a level where taken written words out of context isn’t quite as egregious as doctoring a video tape. When most people don’t take the time to read, and certainly not judicial blathering, it’s easy to take the “wise latina” remark out of context, while being assured that half the people never be exposed to the full context. On the other hand, a video, which can be seen and heard on TV and the internet, and is going to reach a lot more people, and hit home a lot harder.
Andy Hall
/ July 22, 2010I got confused — Sotomayor’s video moment was when she mentioned (on video) to a group of law students that clerking at the appellate level was where the action is. I can’t even keep my right-wing tactics straight today.
emilylhauser
/ July 22, 2010I’ve been away from my desk for about five hours and I saw this on my phone soon after you posted it, and I was like: I have a thought! That I want to share! And I’m not therrrrrrrrrrrre!!!
So, here’s my thought: I hadn’t made the connection that you just made, so I’m glad you brought it to mind. And now that you mention it, I think that they are very much related stories, in part because of the reasons mentioned by others, and also, I think, because of something I mentioned at TNC’s place yesterday: We tend to not want the Other to own their own narrative. These two women are entirely Other to the old power-structure, and the old power-structure is shocked — SHOCKED! — that what it’s told these women about their lives has been rejected by the women themselves. It’s the very definition of uppity.
I’ve actually found myself thinking about something similar re: Israel that I plan to post about later today….
dave in texas
/ July 22, 2010Ugh. I’ve had an awful day so far. The first thing on my plate today was to write a memorial proclamation for a tiny, tiny child. It was all I could do (and more than I could do, for a bit) not to just weep at the unfairness of it all. On top of all the nonsense of l’affaire Sherrod, it has practically reduced me to despair.
anibundel
/ July 22, 2010oh gods. That’s terrible.
Here this might make you laugh:
I was just sent an email from a company that does car window tinting, that they have so many applicants for their admin assist position they would like us to write essays on being detailed-oriented and how we were detailed on our last job. It took everything I had not to start the essay with “I’ve always been a big fan of spoilers, which is why at my last job they attached a very large spoiler to my ass….”
dave in texas
/ July 22, 2010Yes, it did. Thank you.
And thank you, ee, for providing this forum.
emilylhauser
/ July 22, 2010@dave in texas
Oh, honey, that is just awful. I am so sorry. I am so frequently stunned by the fragility of these young lives, and so sad that your day has been dedicated to the loss of one.
If you don’t mind my asking, what do you do?
All condolences, and best wishes.
dave in texas
/ July 22, 2010ee,
I write proclamations and resolutions for a state agency here in Texas. I can’t really say which one, what with confidentiality rules and such. The vast majority of them are along the lines of: WHEREAS, “Unnamed agency” pays tribute to Billy Ray Numbnuts for his virulent strains of redneckery and dumbassedness; and
WHEREAS, His momma and them are truly proud of him for managing to stay out of the county lockup for lo, these many months, etc., etc., now, therefore, be it
There is always a fair amount of memorials to be done of course, along with congratulating teams for winning championships, couples on 50th anniversaries, recognizing acts of heroism, and the like. The thing is, the vast majority of the memorials are for people who have lived a long and full life. Thank God the ones for fallen soldiers have fallen to a trickle after the worst years of the Iraq war.
This was, by far, the youngest person for whom I’d ever done one. I wish I could post it, because, false modesty aside, I think it turned out pretty well, given the heart-rending subject matter. You just try to do what little part you can to help people get through tragedies of this nature.
emilylhauser
/ July 22, 2010dave,
Actually, you made me laugh right out loud telling me what you do! I’m sorry that today was not of the Billy Ray Numbnuts type, and glad that you were there to help these particular people through their tragedy.
silentbeep
/ July 22, 2010i’m really sorry to hear this. glad that ani could make you laugh though!
emilylhauser
/ July 23, 2010NEW THREAD NOW OPEN!
I’ve discovered that WordPress is not the greatest platform for long comment threads. Whodda thunk? Any hoo, there’s a new thread open on the front page.