Headline from The Onion: Trump Locks Bathroom Door So Elon Musk Can’t Follow Him In.
Ravel’s Bolero premiered on this date 96 years ago. I know — seems like just yesterday, amirite? This poem is also called “Bolero.” It’s from The Poetry Foundation and is by Keith Leonard.
From the kitchen, I catch the neighbor
cross the street to switch off my car’s interior lights.
He returns to his house without announcing the favor.
For the last three years, a friend has woken early
and walked the beach, combing for bottle caps
and frayed fishing line. She mentions this
only casually at lunch, after I’ve asked
what she did that morning.
Care has a quiet soundtrack: the sycamore’s
rustling leaves, your nails tracing my shoulder blades.
A melody that repeats—a bit like Ravel’s Boléro.
When it was first performed, a woman shouted,
Rubbish! from the balcony. She called Ravel
a madman. I think I understand. I wish I didn’t.
I’ve been taught that art must have conflict,
that reason must meet resistance.
Special thanks to OC reader Pam for sending in a poem we’ll be sharing tomorrow, and for sharing a new source of verse for us to plunder. You da bomb, Pam!
In Contract Law, when a contract right is assigned (transferred), the assignee “steps into the shoes” of the assignor. So he or she (the assignee) is subject to any defenses that can be raised against the assignor. On my law midterm, I presented a situation involving that principle and the question was whether the assignee should get paid. Most students got it right, explaining that the assignee “steps into the shoes” of the assignor. But my favorite answer was the student who wrote — the assignee does not get paid “because she stepped on the assignor’s feet.”
You cannot make this stuff up, folks.
At 2D in the puzzle today the clue was “Reef predator with extendable pharyngeal jaws.” Needless to say, I had no f*cking idea. It turned out to MORAY EEL. Commenter Conrad posted: “When the reef predator with extendable pharyngeal jaws hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s a moray.”
And Rex noted: It’s very fun to say “extendable pharyngeal” over and over again. It’s like something out of Gilbert & Sullivan: “In short, in matters vegetable, extendable, pharyngeal, / I am the very model of a model Major-General!” Then he shared this clip which I have watched over and over with no diminution in pleasure. What has happened to mankind in between Gilbert & Sullivan and our movies like Dumb and Dumber? Is it any wonder the election turned out as it did?
At 54A, the clue was “Domesticated” (five letters) and I correctly slapped in TAMED right away. But it got one commentator’s goat, so to speak. Here’s what he or she (probably he) posted: TAMED and “domesticated” are two different things. NYTimes repeatedly allows this erroneous conflation to appear in its Crossword. And, no, they are not “close enough” for a crossword. Persisting in this error just contributes to dumbing-down in general.
But he didn’t explain the difference, so I looked it up. Then I posted this reply:
“I see the distinction — thanks! ‘Taming is conditioned behavioral modification of an individual; domestication is permanent genetic modification of a bred lineage that leads to, among other things, a heritable predisposition toward human association.’ Either the distinction is blurring in popular usage over time, as sometimes happens, or the NYT deems it close enough for Xwords, even if many of us don’t. As for the ‘general dumbing down,’ we’ve passed this point long ago.”
There was no further discussion.
According to the NYT, Texas education officials backed on Tuesday a new elementary school curriculum that infuses material drawn from the Bible into reading and language arts lessons. Texas was the first state to allow public schools to hire religious chaplains as school counselors, and the Republican-controlled legislature is expected to try once again to require public-school classrooms to display the Nine Commandments (Trump removed the one on adultery, you may recall).
In Oklahoma, the state superintendent has begun buying Bibles for classroom use, and sent a video to schools last week inviting students to pray for Mr. Trump. [What?? Not kidding.]
Gov. Greg Abbott said the lessons would “allow our students to better understand the connection of history, art, community, literature and religion on pivotal events like the signing of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Movement and the American Revolution.” You know how hepped up he gets on the Civil Rights movement.
An effort to reject the Biblical curriculum lost by only one vote 7-8, with, amazingly, three Republicans among the magnificent seven. Now, that’s a miracle.
The Oklahoma business, above, piqued my interest. Here’s what I was able to uncover after extensive research (you know, a minute or two online). It’s a story by the public radio station down there (KGOU).
State Education Superintendent Ryan Walters sent superintendents an email Thursday afternoon mandating districts show students a video of him announcing the new “Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism” and inviting students into a prayer for President-elect Donald Trump, among other topics.
The email said districts are also required to send the video to all students’ parents.
In the video, Walters says the “radical left” is attacking religious liberty in schools, patriotism is being “mocked,” and there is “a hatred for this country pushed by woke teachers’ unions.” [Of course!!]
He invites the students to pray with him, clarifying they don’t have to join in. [Well, that’s a relief.]
“I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions,” Walters said. “I pray in particular for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country.” [Yes, in particular — those prayers give God a little extra nudge.]
Walters also prays schools “continue to teach love of country to our young people, and that our students understand what makes America great.” [Right! And what is that again?]
In the video, Walters sits next to a Bible and a mug that reads in Latin, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
The attorney general’s office did not immediately return a request for clarification on whether the State Department of Education has the authority to mandate the video be shown to students and sent to parents. Hmmmm — that could put a crimp in it, no?
Here’s Da Supe with his war mug. God bless America.
Yuck. We can’t close with that creep. Here are Caity’s four “littles.” And out in Michigan Morris turned three today, kinahora. Good stuff!!
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 