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Octubre 15, 2005
Why can't Elijah Cummings be my congressman?
Ever hopeful that I'll find something worthy of Found Magazine, I tend to pick up many of the discarded scraps of paper in which my city abounds. I find a lot of schoolwork, including (today's find) an unfinished (indeed, barely begun) report on Rep. Elijah Cummings (7th district). I'm stuck with Ben Cardin, who doesn't inspire me to the trouble of making a link. He's a middle-of-the-road democrat who is, I believe, going to run for Senate to replace Paul Sarbanes, who does well enough but also doesn't merit a link. I've heard Elijah Cummings speak at a community meeting once, and I've heard him on the radio, and I like him. A lot. Anyway, I found the unfinished, barely-begun report on Rep. Cummings on my way to the library, which was officially opened for 15 more minutes when I arrived but I was cowed by the dimmed lights and general air of closing shop which pervaded so I left with nothing, not even a mystery paperback. I'm not actually stuck with nothing to read, but I'm damn close; all of my current unread books are ones that just haven't caught my fancy yet, and I don't want to start reading them before they call to me. I guess that's why I'm all of a sudden updating my lj again after a hiatus -- must. keep. brain. occupied. Tomorrow I'll be at the Maryland Renaissance Festival and the library will be open on Monday so I think I'll manage until then. Maybe I'll even get to those snickerdoodles.
Posted by Tansy at 06:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Octubre 14, 2005
local crazies, reading
The kids and I stopped by Joe's Record Paradise on our way home from the post office this afternoon, where we were accosted by a man who kept hovering too close to me. I loathe when people invade my personal space, especially when they mutter so that I feel compelled to smile or nod even though I know they're not really talking to me. This guy is one of our local homeless schizophrenicsm, and I've had the pleasure of his company on the bus several times. He is at least relatively quiet. Last week we had a ranter on the bus, as well as a drunk who kept falling over onto the children. Somehow they both still love to ride the bus.
I didn't make snickerdoodles as planned to today, but I got a lot of reading done. My new Clamor came, with Jackie's article in it, and I found my Tin House under the kids' bed. Also, I finally finished reading "The Flight From The Enchanter" by Iris Murdoch on my fourth attempt in as many years. Her opening chapters are usually very compelling, but 'Flight' isn't the first one drew me in only to lose me by chapter 5. I'm glad I (finally) stuck it out. It was interesting to meet some of her earliest characters, and to speculate about who they developed into in later novels. However, the characters weren't as satisfying as they are in other of her novels. Mischa Fox, who dominates the other characters, somehow fails to dominate the novel, and is never adequately revealed. He exercised a mysterious and compelling influence on the people around him, but for seemingly no reason. Murdoch's demons are usually more believable. I liked most of the characters a lot more in the beginning of the novel than I did by the end, particularly Annette. The Polish immigrants Jan and Stefan were CREEPY!!!!
Posted by Tansy at 11:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack