Author: Sarah
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The Sum Of Their Parts
One of the things that fascinates me about the world we live in – a world so dominated by media and “reportage of real events” is the often complete divorce of reality and things people “know.” Let me put this another way – when I was a kid, I would get up in the morning,…
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Disturbed Turtle Week
There are very important things happening in the world: a showdown on the supposedly non-war in Lybia, Republican primaries starting up, supposedly (according to USA Today) our running out of borrowed money in as little as seven weeks, Iran slouching towards nuclear armament and oh, yeah, Wiener is roast. None of which compares to the…
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You Can’t Go Home
I am, of course, for progress. Progress, understood as what makes human life easier or even more pleasant. I have some doubts, though, about to what extent the place where I grew up has progressed or just become more unpleasant. I cannot remember this place – not from growing up here. Things have changed…
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A Fear Of Flying
It is well known I have a fear of flying, which I’m doing today – though the rest of week is “canned” posts from Portugal, since I’m not getting home till Saturday (my husband and I having decided we need a little time before I must deal with house and cats.) What I’ve probably…
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Tradition
Returning to Portugal for a visit has both the effect of skipping forward and watching only the high points of a movie (I’ve now reached the rueful age when I can ask my mother “tell me which of my elementary school classmates died since I’ve last been here) and the effect of re-examining my childhood…
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Growing Up In Time
As we were landing in Porto, after our travel (mis)adventures, my son leaned out towards the window (I always claim as right of she who gave birth, the right to the window seat) at a landscape covered in terraces, in which sit massive white or cream buildings with red tile roofs, and said “Wow, it’s…
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In Soviet System, Books End You
*First, I’ve decided to post under Sarah, for ease of people who know me and this blog. Second, I’ll continue commenting as accordingtohoyt as I’m normally logged in at my blog of that name. Now, the post* Michael Levin at Forbes announced the coming end of books (corrected from Mark Levin, which I’d somehow typed because my…
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I Wake Up Screaming
As you know I’m not one to see the glass as half empty. At least I hope I’m not. But the day after Osama’s death, I woke up screaming. Before I even checked my facebook, I knew the vast majority of my friends would be going “We won, let’s go home now.” Well… what do…
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Dispatches From The Continuing War On Things That Work
I’m in the habit of doing things like melting butter in the microwave in my pyrex measuring cups. Now I wonder if it’s safe after seeing this over at Instapundit http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-03/gray-matter-cant-take-heat And speaking of that, have there been any changes to hair dye? I’m perfectly willing to admit that perhaps my hair is getting more…
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Awesome Crazy Sauce
I know Eric periodically writes about being tired of politics, where people get inherently crazy. However, at least in politics you could argue our whole way of life – if not our civilization – might be at stake. Certainly money is, and money, ultimately is the most real thing there is, (since in our civilization…
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Pitbull saves the day!
This link was forwarded to me by a literary-agent-friend. Is this one of Coco’s relatives? (Thank you to Michael Kabongo of the Onyxhawke agency!)
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Marines Just Wanna Have Fun
I found this funny and kinda sweet. The Few, The Proud, the Britney Spears Fans in the Marines!
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For I’ve Been A Stranger In A Strange Land
I’m sorry to have to bring up the subject of Obama’s birth. I don’t want to bring it up in the normal way – ie relating to whether or not he’s eligible for the presidency. I don’t want to do this because the resolution of that is out of our hands and because at this…
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Bee Stung
Today I was reading an interview with Thomas Sowell (via Glenn Reynolds) and it reminded me of the bee sting theory of poverty. This is the theory that endemic poverty comes about because people are laboring under so many other crushing, egregious burdens, that they can’t handle one more thing. Say, they’re discriminated against and…
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The Sarah Doctrine
No, not THAT Sarah. Though she’s welcome to swipe it. As is the White House, if they wish to give a rest to that magic eight ball they’ve been using for foreign policy. What started me thinking on this was an email from my brother. My brother’s political opinions are as different from mine as…
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Welcome To The Treadmill
*And yes, I feel pretty bad posting on this while half the world is in turmoil. However, if I can’t get over this I’ll be in turmoil. So indulge me for a couple/three posts, and then I’ll hopefully calm down enough to turn my attention to the more important but less personal issues.* Of course,…
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The Money Matter
I hate it when it’s time to get resourceful. For all my innovation in writing, my interest in the new and the different, I crave security at a very deep level. Frankly, it’s a joke that someone with my need for security should be in a profession where the money comes slow and irregularly when…
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Popcorn and the Single Writer
Kevin J. Anderson uses a popcorn analogy to illustrate two methods that beginning writers can use to break into print. One of them consists of writing a single novel and polishing it and perfecting it until it is the absolute best it can be. He compares this to putting a single grain in a pot…
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Perchance to Dream
In the last day, I noticed a lot of postings on Facebook about the shuttle. And this made me realize something about space, and what space means. I haven’t been exactly paying attention. Whenever a novel is done – let alone a novel that was delayed due to my stupid body, once more, reminding me…
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Marx Is dead
And I don’t feel so good myself. When I was in highschool in the seventies (well, it couldn’t be helped. It’s not like I chose my date of birth. But in my defense, I delayed coming of age till 1980) in Portugal, I studied Marxism and Marxist theory in four classes a year: off the…