If God really spoke to us today, what would he say? It’s a question for either prophets or heretics, and neither has a good fate before them. Unless they wind up on teevee – that washes away all the sins apparently. But this question came to my mind on a sleepless night rendered suddenly still after a bumpy ride through the earthly wake left behind by my brother’s passing. If you know Mark Twain’s “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” this won’t seem so strange. So forgive my heresy.
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Category Archives: People & Culture
All about the standing-upright chimps that really love to talk about themselves.
Cinco de Mayo
In just two weeks, we celebrate a holiday somewhat more popular in the US than in Mexico. That’s just as well because it’s a classic North American kind of holiday in many ways.
It started as invasion by France to collect a debt, but the larger and better equipped French invasion force was defeated by a ragged group of Mexicans, some armed with little more than machetes and pitchforks. The Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862 was 150 years ago this Saturday. It was not decisive, needing a few years before the colorful armies and politicians could sort it all out. But the victory at Puebla is a story deep at the heart of Mexican character – a determination and toughness that the great continent of North America shares as a very odd, sometimes dysfunctional family.
Exstasism
For many reasons, I need to run a repeat today. I’ll tell you about it later. Next week will be a good one, and this actually leads off some of what I have to say well.
Our current world, at least in developed societies, rarely has time for reflection. Far too often we are expected to mechanically keep going through our daily slog. The only antidote offered is selfishness, rebellion and retreat back into our own skin for a few moments of pleasure.
That system is obviously not bringing happiness to many people’s lives. I would like to propose an alternative outlook on life which I will call “extasism”.
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Scenes from Childhood
My brother, Brad Hare, died this week from an apparent suicide. The news came like a ghost as my phone rang early in the morning as he had no contact with his family for the last 18 years. Depression clearly wracked his last years on this earth, but he made his passage slowly for reasons he never told us.
Though the grieving process started years ago, it is only fitting that I have some kind of wake. We are Celts, after all, a people who have raised suffering and depression to such an art form that we always find a way to celebrate it. This is an occasion to relate a few stories from our childhood together south of Miami in a world where craziness crackled through the air and condensed around us as reliably as a 3PM thunderstorm every languid summer day. It made us who we are, and in the end we are all nothing but stories like these.
Cocktail French
Sorry to use another repeat this week, but our Robotics team 2491 No Mythic won the regional championship and is on its way to the World Championship in St Louis! Needless to say, I’m bizzy. Enjoy this rather valuable piece, IMHO.
Comprenez-vous? Since language is equal parts communication of ideas and status, conversational bits of French have long been a handy way to say, “I am educated.” French was used as the court language of England from the Norman Conquest in 1066 until Henry V in 1413 (which, as the father of high English, has a lot to do with why Shakespeare gave him a good treatment). An estimated 28% of English words are French in origin, but the words and phrases absorbed directly are the ones that set you apart. They’re still used in the UK, at least in high-toned magazines like the Economist, but in the US it’s more likely to come off as obnoxious.
I call this “Gentlemen’s French”, or what you have to know to read old or educated books. Naturally, fine ladies can use them for the same purpose. You may prefer to think of these words and phrases as “Cocktail French”, so pour something into stemware and grab a piece of cheese to get into the mood.
I have promised my kids a list of these for a while now so that, in my daughter’s term, they can sound “smarticle”. Here is my list of French words I think every English speaker should know – for the fun, if not the hoity-toit.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 