Thursday tracks: We All Sing With The Same Voice (and other Sesame Street greats)

from "Sesame Street," 1982. Song by J. Philip Miller and Sheppard M. Greene. Partially shot in playground #2 at the Peter Cooper Village housing complex in the Gramercy section of Manhattan.

As a bonus, here's Smokey Robinson with "U Really Got A Hold On Me."

(And for the female alphabet-love counterpart, there's Patti Labelle's "How I Miss My X")

American Soldier

The New York Times ran a story last week about the new "Pictures Generation" exhibit at the Met. The first image displayed is an enamel on aluminum sculpture by Robert Longo called "The American Soldier." What it doesn't tell you is that this image is a still from the climactic scene of the 1970 Rainer Werner Fassbinder film of the same name. It's also the image used on the cover of my beat-up VHS version, in which Ricky's posture looks more like a dance move than a totentanz.

Reviewer Jim describes the scene:

For a full five minutes, in a picture which runs only 80 minutes, we have a static camera in long shot showing us Ricky's brother humping his brother's corpse, while their mother in a funereal black dress and the detectives who hired Ricky look on in unmoving silence.

Sounds interesting, no? The rest of the movie is good fun -- full of satirical posturing and a great soundtrack that I wish was commercially available. But it's the end of the film that's the most striking. I'd also read someone's remark that Ricky, the main character, is seemingly more alive after being shot than he was in the entire rest of the film. The song that accompanies the scene, "So Much Tenderness," adds quite a bit of ambience as well.

Thursday Tracks

Buncha new stuff up on the Lukebox. Enjoy.

A short Earth Day trek into the Wetlands

The Haskell-Baker Wetlands is one of my favorite places in Kansas. Although it's only a few minutes south of Lawrence and doesn't look terribly exciting from the roads nearby, a short walk into the Wetlands will transport you to a Kansas landscape untouched by man (except, of course, for the power lines, boardwalk, birdhouses and the tracks from pioneer wagon trains that helped carve out the canals).

Life and death have a strong presence in the Wetlands, whether it's the plants coming to life in spring, the huge flocks of birds in the fall, the bright yellow flowers in september, the furry remains of a dead animal in the snow. In addition to the many cycles of natural life on display in the Wetlands, the area contains a historical andcultural significance to Native American peoples, who have ancestors buried there and regard it as sacred.

Oddly enough, I heard very little about the Wetlands while I was a student at KU, but have since been back at least once each season to walk, write or take pictures with Jennifer. Seeing the area in all seasons is, in my opinion, critical to gaining an appreciation of the place. You can go in late November and be totally unimpressed by the lack of color only to go back in a dazzling snowfall a week later, or surrounded by bright greens and blues in the spring or summer.



The most exciting things to me are the signs of life you uncover after spending some time in the Wetlands. What looks at first like a bunch of puddles and trees slowly reveals itself to be the home of turtles, beavers, snakes, coyotes, birds, butterflies and all kinds of other animals. Though you're often more likely to encounter the animals indirectly (through paw prints in the mud or splashes from the ponds, for example) it becomes increasing clear that you're just one of many living things in the area.

The Wetlands are also great for engendering ideas and creativity. Even if it's just a handful of haiku, the Wetlands inspire me in some way every visit. In 2005, a collection of poems, essays, artwork and photos entitled "The Wakarusa Wetlands in Word & Image" was compiled by poet Denise Lowe. It's well worth checking out.

You would think a place of such importance to Native American peoples, students and nature enthusiasts would be well protected by city government, but the Wetlands are still caught up in a decades-long political battle over whether a trafficway should be built right through its core. One side thinks the road should be built through the existing Wetlands, while another argues that the existing wetlands should be protected because of their cultural, educational, recreational and environmental significance (source: New Wetlands Taking Shape, a recent article in the Lawrence Journal-World).


In 1986, a group of Lawrence environmentalists nominated the fictitious Agnes T. Frog for city commission to help draw attention to the Wetlands and other environmental issues (she did not win, although she did receive 30 percent of the vote and national media attention). Over 20 years later, the issue is still a contentious one, and with Agnes officially retired from local politics, it's up to a new generation of Lawrencians to education themselves on and voice their own concerns about the issue.


A quick search of the word "Wetlands" on the LJ-World site will reveal hundreds of stories about the controversy over the Wetlands' future. A great profile of the Wetlands' history and future can be found here. Another resource is www.savethewetlands.org, which is where I found the above collage by Jerry Sipe.

The best way to learn about the Wetlands is to explore them yourself. Just look for the small gateway between Haskell and Louisiana on 31st Street south of Lawrence. If you're not close to the area and would like a virtual tour, here's a photoset of pictures Jennifer and I took over four or five different visits. If you can get past the shots of us wading through tall grass or having sneezing fits in flower patches, you'll find some nice colorful photos from all four seasons.



Happy Earth Day to you.

LW

Taking Mission Mall by Force/Taking Mission Mall By Strategy

This is a picture of U.S. artillery units Shaggy One and Shaggy Dos leading our historic charge in the epic and one-sided battle of Mission Mall. Not a battle you will read about in the history books, but historic nonetheless.

Okay, no one is going to be fooled by this image pairing. Dos and I did not lead any such charge. Not that we haven't commandeered high-range cannons through the suburbs on multiple occasions in the past, it's just that publicly posting pictures of this kind of thing can get you in serious trouble.

This second photo is part of a set we took a few year ago while driving by the half-destroyed Mission Mall, which nothing is left of now but a giant expanse of dirt and chain-link fences. Last I heard the planned development had fallen through and there was talk of building some kind of giant aquarium. It's funny to look at the place now and remember all the purposes that mall served for us while it was still intact. My brothers and I had art displayed in the district art fair. We bought our school clothes there each year. I got my first phone at a Mission Mall kiosk, my first CD (Van Halen) at the Musicland, bought dress shoes for my grandfather's funeral at the Dilliards and had my first school dance dinner at Coyote Grill.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't shaking the fence and crying when they started tearing the place down. But it is strange how even the most generic of shopping centers can wind up playing a role in your life. Lame as the mall might have been, it was a hell of a lot more interesting than the huge expanse of dirt and gravel they replaced it with. Hopefully it will work out well for the fish.

Good news for Star subscribers

Most of the news about the Kansas City Star has not been good lately. Today, however, is a big day for KC Star readers, at least in my opinion.

As of today, Richard Thompson's daily comic strip "Cul de Sac" will begin running in the KC Star comics page.

I work for Universal Press, the company who distributes Cul de Sac, and I've had the honor of seeing the strip launch and getting to meet Richard Thompson, who also draws the hilarious Richard's Poor Almanac comic. Cul de Sac is one of my favorite strips on our roster. It also earned a glowing recommendation from "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson, who said:

"I became a big fan of Richard Thompson when I saw his book, Richard’s Poor Almanac. Thompson has a sharp eye, a fun sense of language and a charmingly odd take on the world. Best of all, his drawings are wonderful—something one doesn’t often see in cartoons anymore. I'm delighted to see 'Cul de Sac', and I have high hopes that Thompson will bring a much-needed jolt of energy to the daily newspaper. We have a real talent here."

But you don't have to take mine (and Bill's) word for it. Here are a few more samples from the past two months.

Guest Post: John Keats on "Endymion" (before and after its April 1818 publication)

Keats' preface to Endymion

'The imagination of a boy is healthy, and the mature imagination of a man is healthy; but there is a space of life between, in which the soul is in a ferment, the character undecided, the way of life uncertain, the ambition thick-sighted: thence proceeds mawkishness, and all the thousand bitters which those men I speak of must necessarily taste in going over the following pages. I hope I have not in too late a day touched the beautiful mythology of Greece and dulled its brightness: for I wish to try once more, before I bid it farewell.'

He wrote to his publisher Hessey in October 1818:

'In Endymion, I leaped headlong into the Sea, and thereby have become better acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, & the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly pipe, and took tea & comfortable advice. -- I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest.'

The mention of a "space of life" or "lifetime" in the preface reminds me of a similar mention of youthful ferment described in a previous April's guest post by Fred Holderlin.

Me and My Girl

I don't know why we do the things we do we do we do

Not my words but I do love the highs one can achieve in low fidelity

Chili with the Chef

I promised to post something of importance to the Kansas City community today, so here you go. As you can see from this flier, Chef Kamal is putting on a free Cincinnati Chili Night for all of his fans. I've been buying Yummy's products for a while but had always figured the picture on the label was just a stock image of a friendly mediterranean gentleman. Once I started buying lunch at Cosentino's Downtown Market, however, I realized that the guy who was making the falafel and gyro sandwiches was none other than the Chef himself. I found this flier on his Facebook page, so I hope he doesn't mind it getting a little extra exposure.

And lest you think I'm being facetious about the importance of Chef's presence in the downtown market, think again. Kansas City may be broke, dangerous and mired in political pettiness. But as long as I can go downtown and buy a fresh, savory, delicious falafel or gyro sandwich, that's all the proof I need that the so-called "downtown renaissance" has arrived.

For more info on Yummy's products, there are recipes, product details and other treats at www.yummys.us.

TKC

I just posted an unintentionally epic defense of Urban Times in the comments section of Kansas City's most notorious blog, Tony's Kansas City. I imagine I'll get one or two clicks from people wondering who I am, especially since I usually do my best to avoid getting in blog vs. print media pissing matches.

Although I came down on Tony's defeatist tone, I actually do appreciate the cynicism Tony offers as a counterpoint to more traditional publications like the Star, Pitch and Urban Times. I also owe Tony a lot for giving my blog a shout several years ago. His mention of lucubrations caught the eye of Star features editor Tim Engle, who subsequently did a story about me and led to my writing a few features for Star Magazine.

I've been told by more than one person just to ignore his site, that it's a joke and not to be taken seriously. But for now TKC is too big a player in the local media to ignore. As long as he continues to do 100 posts a day linking to anyone and everything even remotely related to Kansas City, the local blogosphere exists largely in his shadow. Whether his blog is a joke or not is not a discussion I plan to entertain any further. As a wise man once said, it is what it is, and it's best left at that.

What I do plan to do is continue to post occasional items that I feel are of great interest and importance to the Kansas City community. So be looking for something along those lines later in the day.

cheers.

LW

History = Good

The Watkins Museum of History in Lawrence is full of odd artifacts and wonderful furniture.


There's this light fixture, seen from below.


And a children's playhouse from 1878, the site of many historical symposiums and tea parties. Yes, I know it's a bit strange for a grown man to hang out in a giant dollhouse. Even I had my moral reservations. But don't worry -- we carefully put all of our books, cups and toys away before reluctantly rentering the world of grown folk.


The weirdest thing was this message left on the bulletin board upstairs in the music exhibit. Makes you wonder if this kid was gifted with clairvoyance, and if so, what it was he saw in the future that made it so bad. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Our reason for our visit to the museum this time was the current exhibit called "Hugh Cameron: Tree Hermit, Philosopher, and Civil War Veteran," which is up until May 24. You may have read about Hugh on this very blog, or seen the historical markerat 5th and Louisiana Streets in the Pinkney Neighborhood of Lawrence. The exhibit, which consists of some documents and photos in a glass case, was much smaller than I expected, but fortunately there are a number of resources to learn about Hugh's life. There's this great historical essay by Elfriede Fischer Rowe called "Long Hairs Not New On Lawrence Horizon," that starts out with a page or so about Hugh. And the most comprehensive summary of Hugh's life I've found is contained in David Dary's 1987 collection, "More True Tales of Old-Time Kansas." Here's an excerpt...

"Early in this century a Lawrence newspaperman went to Cameron's camp, which was located on some bluffs, called Cameron Bluffs, north by northwest of Lawrence. It was a crisp October evening as the reporter sat on a fallen log before a campfire, with the hermit standing silhouetted in the glow from the dying embers of the fire. The reporter listened as Cameron related the following story:

You read in the Bible of the prophets of old... how to become a seer, a prophet, one had to bury himself alone in the woods. Your old Scotch bards would often bury themselves in the mountains... I wanted to become a Seer so I buried myself here in the woods. Some day the vision may come."

Hoppy Easter

This is a picture of when Shaggy Quatro went up against the Easter Bunny last year in an all-day Easter bounce-off. Got a bit crazy, but brother held his own. In lieu of any edible Easter giveaways, here's a little tune in honor of many-coloured semi-precious plastic Easter Eggs. Song by Peter Sarstedt. Photo by Jenny.

masked & anonymous

Imagine you're on your death bed, or perhaps a silent observer at your own memorial service. All your friends and family members are gathered around talking about what a kind and considerate person you were, when all of a sudden large strips of paper with clear, block lettering come blowing in from the side. At first they look like oversized fortune cookie messages, but instead of fortunes, they contain something totally different: the full text of every anonymous comment you've ever posted.

While I conceived this particular scenario as a Dickensonian episode faced by a spiteful anonymous commenter, anonymous comments are often viewed as a nightmare by today's writers, who see their stories get flooded with hateful, racist, sexist, xenophobic, idiotic, or just plain mean-spirited remarks.

I used to be turned off and grossed out by anonymous comments on stories at kansascity.com or TKC, but I eventually learned to accept them as just being part of today's public discourse.

Lively comments sections have without a doubt changed the face of news. Where the writer or editor once had the last word on a subject, news stories, opinion columns and blog posts are now merely an introduction to what often winds up being a long, involved, heated (and occasionally quite ugly) conversation. If a good newspaper is a nation talking to itself, as Arthur Miller once said, than a good blog is a series of confederacies shouting, flinging poop and pulling each others' hair.

No matter what you think about anonymous comments, they're not going away. Nor should they, says former Washington Post editor Doug Feaver, who posted an excellent column about the subject today. An excerpt:

I believe that it is useful to be reminded bluntly that the dark forces are out there and that it is too easy to forget that truth by imposing rules that obscure it. As Oscar Wilde wrote in a different context, "Man is least in himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

Too many of us like to think that we have made great progress in human relations and that little remains to be done. Unmoderated comments provide an antidote to such ridiculous conclusions. It's not like the rest of us don't know those words and hear them occasionally, depending on where we choose to tread, but most of us don't want to have to confront them.

So there may be a social value in comments after all. They tear through the comfortable reality we've built up for ourselves and prevent us from believing that people are better than they really are.

In time, people might develop a sense of civility in their online commenting, though I think that's no more likely than the ghost story I began this post with. Another possibility is that readers will begin to assign more weight to comments that are signed by their authors.

For those who can't stand the vitriol and would prefer to believe that people are essentially good-hearted and tolerant creatures, the best thing to do is to just ignore reader comments altogether.

But really, what fun would that be?

Flipbook

In lieu of any lengthy written pieces this week, I thought I'd doll things up a bit with a collection of photos and scanned postcards that I found on my flash drive today. Today's tour will take us into the realms of fine art, history, haunted Lawrence, and former Hanseatic League strongholds.

First, a couple pieces of art.

This is a collage of Liz Gardner's "pocket-sized pieces" from 2007 and 2008. I arranged this page for photo printing and then cut out each individual square for the little book of haiku and art we made for one of her exhibits. All in all we sold -2 copies. That's right, negative two (nobody bought any, but a pair did get swiped). I suppose that could be viewed as discouraging, but at least we can't do any worse in our next publishing ventures.


One of Jennifer's stipple pieces, modeled after a print we found in an old Czech cinema magazine, I think.


The Barco Rammer -- it does what you want it to do.


Another postcard scan. This is the Alte Elbtonnel in Hamburg. I don't remember it having such colorful lights, but it definitely is eerie any time of day.


A photo I took a few years ago. The tunnel in the previous picture originates underneath this harbor market area.


Hamburg, in the olden days.


Can anyone tell me who this is? Hint: he's one of Lawrence, Kansas' best-known mystics.


The ruins of Stull Church, just before they tore them down


This 1950s depot is going to be torn down so that it can be more accessible for the handicapped. I never see anyone inside when I walk by at night, except for a guy with a long beard and an empty bottle sleeping on a bench with a pile of newspapers for a pillow. I think he missed his train a few decades ago and hasn't bothered waking up to catch any of the others.


Another midwestern depot, this time in Galesburg, IL. I'll be going here for youngest brother's graduation in a month.


Today's closing shot is of the Bowersox mill in Lawrence during stormy conditions. I think it's a good one to close on.

Hope you enjoyed today's photo tour. More from me in a few days.

City of Fountains

Just saw that the fountains in Kansas City will be turned on after all. (Ironically I saw this link via Tony, who had called for them to be shut down and paved over)

Anyway, it's good news as far as I'm concerned. Although I do think the city could be smart and save a bit of money by not running them through January, which is when we took this picture below...

Now that the city has stepped up and the fountain issue has been taken care of, Kansas City can retain its title as the City of Fountains, taking us one step closer to the hedonism and revelry the town enjoyed in its glory days.

(Image credits: Top photo of Swope Park by Jenn, middle photo of Historic Northeast fountain by Lukas, illustration of KC's glory days provided by Lucas Cranach the Elder)

A Dog's Life

Last week I posted a picture of a pow-wow for the hearing impaired that took place in Olathe way back in the day. Blogger Dave (curator of the mouth-watering www.kclunchspots.com) was kind enough to point me toward a few other scintillating snapshots from Johnson County's colorful past, which he took part in cataloguing and uploading to JoCohistory.org as part of his job. Thanks to Dave for this, and credit for these photos goes to JocoHistory.org. The magic in these photos, however, belongs to us all. Here's a few highlights to start out with:

Fairway mayor's wife in multicolored housecoat with dog

Women shooting pool outside in the yard

Man with Overland Park pennant (a personal favorite)

Raw meat, wine, and a giant cleaver

The all-time greatest series, however, has to be that of Buddy the Deaf Dog.


His name is listed as Buddy the Deaf Dog, though "Debonaire" might be a more fitting description.


Buddy tickles the ivories at this School for the Deaf event, playing a boogie-woogie for the enjoyment of the ladies. Much like Beethoven, a hearing disability was not about to stop Buddy from symphonic composition or impromptu jam-sessions.


He also fought fires.


Smoked cigarettes...


...and cigars (pictured here with owner Bob Parker)


Buddy was also quite the scribe, penning upwards of 20 personal letters and post-cards per day to his many friends and confidantes on Broadway, in Hollywood or back in the pound. Buddy employed an unusual sideways method of penmanship that nonetheless produced a technically marvelous cursive.

Unfortunately little or none of his writing has survived to the current century, even in the annals of JocoHistory.org. However, a search did turn up a joint holiday postcard mailed out by Buddy and his master, Mr. Parker.


With that presentation, Buddy, Bob and I would like to wish you a happy, snappy afternoon. To wish you anything less would be, well...something of a boner.

See you dogs later.

Red vs. Best Picture

R: So I went to see this absolutely awful film tonight with my wife. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I even saw it.

L: What was it?

R: It's called Slumdog Millionaire

L: The same Slumdog Millionaire that won Best Picture?

R: Yes. It is quite possibly the worst film that I have ever seen.

L: I knew you wouldn't like that movie. You automatically hate every rags-to-riches movie set in a foreign country and done by a Western director.

R: I hated that favela movie, too.

L: City of God? I know. You told me many times. But go ahead, I want to hear why you didn't like Slumdog.

R: The entire plot is this kid from the slums of Mumbai goes on a game show and knows the answer to every question because he spent his entire life chasing after some whore.

L: What's wrong with that?

R: That's terrible! Imagine if it was the exact same plot, only it took place in suburban Boston with Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney. You would hate it.

L: Okay, but what if Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney were in it, but it still took place in the slums of Mumbai?

R: (contemplates) So the film would be the exact same, except Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney would be acting out the lead roles, even during the childhood sequences, entirely without explanation...

R&L (in unison, more or less): Now that's a movie I would pay to see.

Our beautiful region

Just for fun/filler, here's a few archived photos of how heartwarming life can be here in the heartland.

This is from an archive of severe weather photos published online in the Star last week. I'm posting this mostly as a personal reminder to take shelter when the sirens go off instead of climbing out on the roof to try and spot the funnel clouds. T'ain't worth it.


Speaking of funnels, there's no where in town (that I'm aware of) with better funnel cakes than World O' Fun, which is currently for sale, by the way. This picture, also from an archived KC Star set, is a shot of the amusement park back when it had character. Although perhaps a little bit too much character in this viking's case. I'm not sure what he's got up his tunic sleeve, but that feigned innocent smile and phallic intimation in his height warning make me a little uncomfortable for that gal with the braids.


My friend Toby dug this up off jocohistory.net. This looks like the kind of photo someone might find in their grandparent's attic, causing them to question what kinds of bizarre rituals actually took place in JoCo in generations past. Plenty of more interesting shots where that came from.

If you've got any other bizarre images from the region or caption suggestions for any of these shots, feel free to send them my way and I'll post them here. It don't pay nothin' but it sure does look good on a resume.

Searching...

I have a bad habit of leaving piles of poetry all over the apartment, reams and reams of papers torn out from the typewriter only to be trod upon or carried out the window by the spring breeze, where they often alight on non-poetic things like fence posts and car windshields.

Recently one of these sheets of verse wound up in the hands of the apartment caretaker, a slight but strong-hearted Tunisian woman who knocked on my door once she picked up the paper and recognized my signature typeface. "Young sir, I knew that you had troubles, but nothing like this," she said, holding the paper toward me with a look of concern and sorrow.

Upon recognizing the particular piece she held in her hand, I smiled and shook my head. I had, in fact, carefully selected, arranged and typed out the following verses. But as you're sure to see, this was no ordinary poem...

"?"

Who do you think you are
Who do i vote for
Who do i look like
Who do you love
Who does she think she is
Who done it
Who do you want to be

What could be better
What could happen to the target cells in an animal that lack receptors for local regulators
What could cause dizziness
What could happen in 2012
What could cause a missed period
What could cause a false positive pregnancy test
What could he be thinking
What could cause blood in stool
What could you buy with 700 billion

When will i die
When will the world end
When will i get married
When will we know who is president
When will i see you again
When will i be loved
When will twilight be on dvd

Where the wild things are
Where the hell is matt
Where the red fern grows
Where the heart is
Where the sidewalk ends
Where the buffalo roam
Where the light is
Where the truth lies
Where the streets have no name

Why do cats purr
Why do men have nipples
Why do dogs eat grass
Why do leaves change color
Why do men cheat
Why do we dream
Why do we yawn
Why do people smoke
Why do dogs eat poop
Why do fools fall in love

How to tie a tie
How to kiss
How to get pregnant
How to make money
How to lose weight
How to draw
How to make a website
How to cook a turkey
How to write a resume
How to lose friends and alienate people

Where is the love lyrics
Where is dubai
Where is chuck norris
Where is my mind
Where is the g spot
Where is waldo
Where is my polling place
Where is my stimulus check
Where is the love

- LW/Google, 2009

As you might have already guessed, the lines above are not the product of my teeming brain, but rather the questions and concerns of millions of people as typed into a Google search window. All I did was type in the first two words and wait until those questions popped up as part of the "auto-complete" or "auto-fill" function, which attempts to finish your question based on what countless people have already run searches for. What you see above is almost exactly what came up in the search fields when I compiled this last month, though I'm sure it would be slightly different now.

So the questions in this piece are not those of one man, but rather all men -- although the results are admittedly skewed toward English speakers with Internet access and a marked neurosis about pregnancy issues.

I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek about this, as usual, but I actually really do like this formula for generating short works of literary ephemera. I think it would be really fun to come up with a short video or animation where a different voice reads each line. It's like interviewing someone, except you're getting to their most secret concerns without even knowing who they are.

If nothing else, I hope the chorus of questions above serves as an antidote to the loneliness and secrecy that so often accompany an individual person's google search. As my dear friend Scott Frances said in response to this piece:

Thanks for your inspirational message. I really related to this poem, especially the following parts:
How to kiss
How to get pregnant
Where is the g spot

When I read your explanation, I was so happy to know that other people were also googling the above lines. It made me feel like I'm not alone in this world.

And that, my friends, is all a blogger/poet/search engine can really hope to achieve.

An Italian in Detroit

This is a joke that my grandfather faxed to us quite a few years ago. It's best if you read (or even shout) it out loud. Especially the last line.

German lesson #17

I haven't posted anything in or about the German language lately. Unfortunately I haven't done much speaking, reading or writing in German at all recently until I helped translate the packaging on the Micro Korg vocoder that Nathan bought last week (fun new vocab word: Schwanenhalsmicrofon. Literally "swan-neck microphone"). This got me inspired to go back to my multi-volume set of Goethe, which I plan to quote from extensively on this site over the next few months.

In the meantime, something more modern and succinct...

A few years ago, my friend Till was sitting next to a mysterious looking guy on the S-bahn in Berlin. From what I remember him telling me, the guy was of Asian descent, had long hair drawn into a pony tail, and was totally focused on writing a text message on his phone for several stops. Eventually the guy looked up, handed Till the phone and asked if he would proofread the message for him.

As it turns out, the guy's German was impeccable. The message, however, was a bit unorthodox. It read:

Vielen Dank für deine Hilfe. Ich habe die Medikamente bekommen. Ich habe bei einer Schlägerei und Schiesserei noch zweimal meine Nase gebrochen!

Which means, in English:

Many thanks for your help. I have received the medications. I have broken my nose two more times during a beat-down and a shootout!

The interesting words here -- and the subjects of today's German lesson -- are "Schlägerei" and "Schiesserei." Schlägerei comes from the verb "schlagen" (to strike) and the suffix "erei," which generally has a negative connotation, is an allomorph meaning something like "around" in this case. So literally it's something like "punch-around," which to me conjures up a pretty funny image, much like the one above taken from a Spiegel.de article about a post-soccer game brawl. "Schiesserei" is the same thing, only with guns (schiessen = shoot).

So with these new vocabulary words under your belt, and this dubious explanation of their meaning, you're all set for your big trip to German-speaking lands. Thanks to Till and the mysterious Asian-German warrior for providing the context for today's lesson.

Six years and counting

Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you put in place. How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the U.S. military?

Once you got to Iraq and took it over, and took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place? If you take down the central government of Iraq you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq.


Iraq War anniversary quiz time: Can anyone tell me who made these statements and when?

Snapshot of the Week

Taken last week in downtown Williamsburg, Kansas. Once I have more info on where junk can be donated to build this playground, I'll be sure to share.

Jenn took this photo. If you didn't see the sequence of our tour of the dark inside of the arch, you can see that here.