tisiwoota

Portland, 1968

You stand as rocks stand
to which the sea reaches
in transparent waves of longing;
they are marred, finally;
everything fixed is marred.
And the sea triumphs,
like all that is false,
all that is fluent and womanly.
From behind, a lens
opens for your body. Why
should you turn? It doesn’t matter
who the witness is,
for whom you are suffering,
for whom you are standing still.

This is way past topical, but just wanted to repost some “deep thoughts”
from another blog of mine:

1. The whole Obama chimp cartoon fiasco has me wondering:
In the alternate universe(s) where Hilary is now President, is there a
similar brouhaha where a cartoonist makes a stimulus jab by portraying
Hilary as the octo-mom? Perhaps where the babies are bailed-out
banks/industries? I mean, that seems like it’d be the inevitable
equivalent, right?

2. I was thinking about the horrible saying: “Those who can, do.
Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach teachers.”
When did it originate? Doesn’t seem like it would go back as
far as one room schoolhouses or an all-women profession
(since women couldn’t “do” that many other jobs). So did it
originate as an emasculating jibe once men started entering
the profession?

Hmmm….

Singapore mostly lives up to its rep as a vast series of malls that happen
to have UN representation.

I mean, if you’ve been anywhere in Asia, it’s not exotic at all. Just little
things that remind you that you’re not in a mall in the US– the cashiers
take and hand back your credit card and receipts with both hands; most
bathrooms have at least one squat toilet among the stalls… give me a few
minutes and I’ll think of a third.

There are more misspellings and grammar mishaps on official signs. Oh yes,
and as I mentioned before, all the cats have their tails docked.

That’s part of why I haven’t written much about it– it doesn’t feel like nearly
as unique experience as going to Vietnam was. I mean, it’s not that exciting
to report that I went to a different mall that had a different Louis Vuitton store.

But recently, outside my apartment, I saw the most awesome little lizard ever
parasail onto a tree. Dude.

It looked like this:

[It flicked that yellow flag on its throat open and shut several times]