In the beginning, God said, "What's up with the title?" (A quality deity wouldn't have to ask, but it's hard to get quality deities to follow blogs.) So, what's up is that I was at my own retirement party in June 2010, and a colleague asked about my anticipation of "life in the fast lane." I think I replied, "Dude, I'm retired. It'll be life in the slow lane." (pause) "Now that I think about it, life without lanes is closer." (You should know that I call lotsa people "dude." Including female people, which my colleague was. And still is. And while we're into parenthetical statements about what you should know, you should know that I was a medical librarian at Oregon Health & Science University. And you should know that I'd retired from full-time work in March 2009 and thus already had some acquaintance with post-retirement life.) I'd already decided I was gonna have a blog; now I had a title. You've probably noticed that it's taken me nearly six months to get around to doing it. Time is different when there aren't any lanes.
So, what's this blog gonna be about? Well, given the title, some of it will be musings on living without the encumbrances the normal working life. But mostly, I'll talk about books, politics, food (eating it, not growing/preparing it), and, well, I don't know yet. But my answering machine messages will occasionally appear, mainly for purposes of documentation. You should know that my default (and current) message is, "Hola, this is Generalissimo Francisco Franco. I cannot come to the phone right now, mainly because I am dead. But, you can leave a message for Esteev after el beep." Try to imagine hearing this spoken with a rather dreadful Spanish accent (o-la, dees ees..). While you're at it, try to remember the old (i.e., funny) Saturday Night Live, with Chevy Chase introducing the news of the week. Franco's been there for a while, much longer than usual. When W was president, it was soooo easy to come up with sarcastic, 30 second barbs. I had Bush, Cheney, Rush, Glen and Hillary answering the phone for me over those years. Tom DeLay, too, I think. Now? Well, though it's still a target rich environment, it seems that more explanation is necessary. And more explanation doesn't work well in an answering machine greeting. I'll work on it.
Speaking of politics, here's my take on the tax cut brouhaha. When Obama caved on healthcare, I gave him a pass. I thought he should've fought for the public option, but in the long run, he probably got as much as he could have, given the Dems' propensity for allowing assholes like Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln to play trump cards within their caucus. (Yes, Joe Lieberman, too, though he deserves a more contemptuous term. ) Afghanistan? Obama's not doing anything that he said he wouldn't do in the primary and general elections. But the tax cut legislation's a different story. The tax cuts stand as a proxy for everything we hated about Bush. Bad economic policy, duplicitous reasoning, politics catering to those most special (i.e., most monied) interests, and craven opportunism. I thought it was obvious that Congress had to act before the election. As bad as things looked for the Dems, here, at least, was something they could campaign on to enliven their base. They punted. Easy to blame Harry Reid and the rest of the Congressional leadership, but I was disappointed that Obama didn't appear to try too hard to change their minds. By "try too hard," I mean twist arms LBJ style or appeal to the general public FDR style. After the election, I told myself, would come the acid test. And right at the outset, almost as soon as the returns were in, Obama let it be known that he wouldn't renege on his pledge to end the "permanent" tax cuts for the wealthiest. Hearing "permanent" in that statement was all it took for me and everyone else who was listening to understand that Obama'd caved. It seems Obama believes - truly believes - that from a policy perspective this "compromise" is the best he could have done. He may be right, but that's not what's most important. (Obama and his advisors would gasp at the notion that policy isn't paramount in this discussion. Think plastic bags, heads inside of.) What's most important is that on this issue above all others, we who deplored the Bush presidency need a champion. Obama may call himself a pragmatist, a realist, president of all the people. Compromise may have been inevitable. But on this issue, we want - we need - someone who will stand against everything we were forced to swallow for eight years. A champion. I think of FDR, speaking of his right wing opposition, declaring, "I welcome their hatred!" Wouldn't we wanna party in the streets if we heard that kind of thing from our president? Sometimes you gotta tilt at windmills if you wanna lead. If this episode doesn't end with the "compromise" being enacted, it'll be so surprising as to be historic. And two years from now, we'll be at it again. Except, it'll be worse, because Congress, that parliament of whores (thank you P.J. O'Rourke), will have to deal with reinstating the Social Security payroll tax.
How do you know something's a milestone in your life? Well, doing it for the first time qualifies. But knowing you're doing something you've never done before is pretty easy. How about doing something you know you'll never do again? If you know it at the time, you may see it as a milestone. Which brings me to Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow. I seldom reread books, but I've read this one before. Three times before. (I've read Catch-22 and Pynchon's V. three times. That's my entire 3x list.) So now I'm on my fourth and last reading. Why? Anyone who's read Pynchon could probably answer. What elements I understand are breathtaking and unique. Those I don't have a special, almost grail-like allure. And those I think I get but am not totally sure of need fleshing out. Still, it's an arduous task, even for one living without lanes, and I wouldn't do it but for a companion volume, Steven Weisenburger's A Gravity's Rainbow Companion. It's slow going, multiplying by about four the time it takes to get through GR. So, it's not just a read; it's a milestone. Or it will be, when I finish. It'll be about a year, I think. I'll talk about some other books next time. One final thought on doing something you know you'll never do again: David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments is a terrific book by my former favorite living author. Suicide at 46. Damn!
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