I Have Not Seen You

...but slowly you are
forming above my head, white as
petals, white as milk, the dark
narrow stems of your
ankles and wrists,
until you are always with me,
a flowering branch suspended
over my life.
~ for E.J.T. 1973-2009 &
C.V.O. 1995-2009

from Absent One, by Sharon Olds

Movie: A New Euphemism For..?

So The Partner says, "Look at all of those trucks along the side of the road. Do you know what they're doing there?"
"No...." says The Kid.
"They're making a movie."
"What's a movie?"
"Um, a movie" I say, "have you ever seen one?"
"Oh," says The Kid, "I thought you meant something different by 'a movie'... like something truckers get together and do in the woods."

Like the End of Something Wonderful

Were you worried Billy'd crossed over to the other side? Me too. I guess we were wrong. Today's New York Times sports a long-deserved and up-front review of the new album which is weirdly flattering and, at the same time, disparaging.

"Mr. Oldham’s persona is a little bit of a lonesome romantic and a lot of a fool. He sounds generally optimistic, even when he’s singing about treachery...He never flatters himself. He’s not special. His love is effortful and can be one-sided. He’s easily satisfied. He can’t be counted on... Something is always lost in translation with him."

My favorite is the last line in reference to breadth and depth of talent in his accompanying musicians, "There’s a sense here of smart people being made to focus on a strange project."
It's refreshing to see he can still make the critics stutter.

Kandahar Treasure

"I heard a mother had lost her son due to a suicide bomber, and she got up to speak, and she said a beautiful thing. She said, “Whether it’s a Talib who’s being killed, an Afghan policeman who’s being killed, or an international army military person who is being killed, he leaves behind a mother, a sister or a daughter and/or a wife who mourns for him.”

So that saying was quite powerful in saying that women have this inclusive idea of security and owning peace. Stopping the killing for all... is reason enough for them to wage peace. You know, mothers feel the pain of human beings, and they’re calling for and they want this killing to stop." Rangina Hamidi. ~ Kandahar Treasure

The Feminist Conundrum

"So do you have men in other rooms studyin' about theirselves?"

"Not necessary. Men are already studied in every kind of study. Women have been forced to study great men ---"

"Maybe that's the problem... Ditch great people! Erase the bastards... from books and stuff. Just do folks - regular ones - the failures." Snowman (1999)

No Room at the Inn

I discharged my patient to a shelter yesterday with heparin induced thrombocytopenia recently “resolved” by argatroban (tx stopped 2 hours prior), but with no coumadin. I discharged him with a foley. I did so because I was told to do so by the doctor. I put up a totally meager fight and then sent him packing with Thursday’s copy of the New York Times that I’d brought from home, a bag with handles donated by the gift shop, a pair of flip flops and a sweat suit donated by social services, a walker donated by physical therapy and no clear idea of where he was going or how to care for himself. We just put him in a cab and sent him away.

I Am Goodbye

New bonnie video from Drag City

Featured bonnie article from The Wire

And a picture gallery

About Anonymity

Opinions expressed on this blog are experientially based opinions. Everyday goings on from the life of one mother, student, ABD*, Oldham fan, jobless, amateur circus performer.

I just want to make that clear to anyone lurking around these parts who thinks I might actually know something about something.
For the record, I don't.

*someone actually called me this at a party over the weekend, ew!

He Who Would Be Prince

Bonnie's getting a lot of press lately, e.g. this boring interview. (Can I just ask, who is McLaughlin talking about when he says that "many" compare Oldham to Dylan? Jesus. Please.) Anyway, check it out simply for the ancient "Horses" video plucked from youtube.

Army of Shadows

This is an excellent movie.
Left speechless.

The Attending

Did I tell you that I inadvertently called the attending physician on Friday for blood pressure parameters for my patient's Cardizem? Learned my lesson about the hierarchy in a hurry. Yes, in fact, it was totally humiliating. And I'm not sure why, except that I didn't live it down in a hurry... And I did not get the damned parameters.

For those who don't know the system it's like this, top down: attending, resident, intern... with, at my institution of practice, multiples thereof under the attending. "Nurse" is somewhere waaayyy down at the bottom of that totem*, falling fast when one phones the attending instead of the intern.

*Oh wait, we're not a kinship group. There I go, mixing up my careers again!

Garden Poetry

My mind is longer than any tree's branch.
My arms are like the trunk of a tree.
My hair is a bush in the garden.
My room is a treehouse swaying in the treetops.
My feet are the roots on a tree.
My fingers are like bonsai, each its own.

~The Kid, February 2009

Hello, Marmoset!

The latest greeting I receive when I see The Kid.

This nicely complements the insult he shouts when the dog is attacking:

"You little juvenile!"