This poem, from today’s Writer’s Almanac is called “Heritage” and is by Louis Jenkins.
Great-Grandmother Murphy was a proud woman.
She came from a well-to-do family that had con-
nections back east. She had presence and bearing.
Great-Grandpa Murphy was an Irishman of dubi-
ous ancestry and background. Nevertheless they
got married, as people do. Grandpa Murphy shuf-
fled along as they walked downtown, looking at the
ground or his feet. He found things that way; an
Indian arrowhead, sometimes a nickel or a dime. A
dime was worth something in those days. And here
is a perfectly good comb, just needs to be boiled a bit
to kill the bugs. Grandmother kept her head high as
she walked along; she was a Smith, after all, one of
the Smiths. But she never found anything.
I made matzoh ball soup recently and gave my grandson Leon (6) a bowl. He liked it but must have misheard me when I told him what it was because when he asked for more he called it monster ball soup. Needless to say, that’s what we all call it now.
Today’s puzzle was all about monsters and different words for “monster.” A monster on the highway was a SPEED DEMON. A monster with a sweet tooth was a SUGAR FIEND. A monster on the web was an INTERNET TROLL. And the most interesting one was a monster who drains people emotionally: An ENERGY VAMPIRE. That one was new to me. They are also called psychic or emotional vampires. They drain emotional energy from others. In our culture, often unfairly, they often take the form of mothers-in-law.
In the 1982 horror movie One Dark Night, Karl “Raymar” Raymarseivich is a Russian psychic vampire who gains power from the lifeforce of young victims by frightening them to death. This is done by demonstrations of telekinesis which emanates as visible electrical currents of bioenergy. How he dies is unclear, but his malevolence posthumously remains in his body. Effectively, Raymar is a poltergeist in the mausoleum he is interred in, opening crypts (including his own), sliding out the caskets to the floor and randomly exhuming his fellow corpses to terrify unfortunate teenagers who have chosen the wrong place to have an overnight initiation.
The 2019 American comedy horror television series What We Do in the Shadows (WWDITS) includes the character Colin Robinson, a metaphorical and literal “energy vampire” who drains people’s life forces by being boring or frustrating. Yup, we know all about those.
BTW, effusive praise for this show (WWDITS) by the commentariat, and it scores 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The clue at 11D today was “Japanese manga heroine with a feline sidekick named Luna” and the answer was such a pretty name: SAILOR MOON. Others had heard of her — it’s just a Monday puzzle after all — but word of her exploits had not reached me under my rock. Here’s the scoop:
One day in Juban, Tokyo, a middle-school student named Usagi Tsukino befriends Luna, a talking black cat who gives her a magical brooch enabling her to transform into Sailor Moon: a guardian destined to save Earth from the forces of evil. Luna and Usagi assemble a team of fellow Sailor Guardians to find their princess and the Silver Crystal. They encounter the studious Ami Mizuno, who awakens as Sailor Mercury; Rei Hino, a local Shinto shrine maiden who awakens as Sailor Mars; Makoto Kino, a tall and strong transfer student who awakens as Sailor Jupiter; and Minako Aino, a young aspiring idol who had awakened as Sailor Venus a few months prior, accompanied by her talking feline companion Artemis. They meet up with Sailor Rabinowitz who makes sure they have enough to eat, because if you think you can defeat the forces of evil with just some toast for breakfast you’re meshuggah. Here’s Sailor Moon — look out, evil!!
At 23A “Flower with thorns” was ROSE. It reminded Joaquin of one of his favorite jokes, which he shared with us at: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhs0r2
It’s rare that the whole family gets together and we remember to try to take a picture and everyone is smiling in it. Usually the effort is marked by screaming, threats, and mayhem.
Here they all are from two days ago, except for me — I took the picture. Caity’s fivesome is in age order from left to right, except Leon and Rafi are switched. So that’s Izzy, Leon, Rafi, Zoey, and Lianna who will be 14 in October, kinahora, but is already as tall as her Mom. Sam is holding #6: Mo. The back row is Caity’s Danny, Sarah and Sam, our friend Riverdale Joe who speaks Yiddish when appropriate and brought chocolate rugelach, and my beautiful bride, Linda. At the Colony Pool, Chatham, NJ, 2023.
Let’s get out of here while they’re still smiling (except for Izzy) — see you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 