tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.comments2012-03-13T12:43:56.956-04:00readytoblowagasketgaskethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-59509066891477936202012-03-12T17:32:13.155-04:002012-03-12T17:32:13.155-04:00God is dead.God is dead.Quinn the Eskimohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17476587042538779513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-2850880454614073502011-10-30T03:13:56.392-04:002011-10-30T03:13:56.392-04:00I used to love Chinatown and still tend to wander ...I used to love Chinatown and still tend to wander down there when i am in the city. In Hong Kong, they not only sold frogs and toads for dinner but also fermented tofu you could smell a block or two away.Dead Buddha's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01020154775545956886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-85680885797474522172010-11-18T02:11:07.702-05:002010-11-18T02:11:07.702-05:00"I wasn't prepared for the poverty" ..."I wasn't prepared for the poverty" could easily become the sobriquet of many Americans over the next 40 years. Hi Gasket.Miguelitoh2ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12058579019714806156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-83296246337394062022010-09-24T19:55:41.263-04:002010-09-24T19:55:41.263-04:00Ha! Well, I've caved to the realization that I...Ha! Well, I've caved to the realization that I'm hopelessly American too, Mike M. For me, it was during a trip to Canada, although I'll be dammed if I can pinpoint exactly what made me realize it.<br /><br />I'm at a curious point in my life where I'm simultaneously lusting after stuff I don't have and trying to unload stuff I do have. That's because I put my stuff in storage a few years ago and just recently retrieved it. Going through the boxes now is like opening a hundred boxes of Christmas and birthday presents all at once: Some of it I really like, and some of it makes me hate myself for buying it, and all of it makes me queasy. It's a strange experience, but I'll be glad when I've whittled it down to a less grotesque quantity. For example, I used to work for the biggest book publisher in the world, and I regularly raided the free book shelves for every imprint...<br /><br />I still dream about going from floor to floor gathering cool books I'll never read.<br /><br />Thanks for stopping by. Love your comment. ;-)gaskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-48849518652235866992010-09-23T15:37:32.775-04:002010-09-23T15:37:32.775-04:00Had the same experience in Nigeria. Very humbling...Had the same experience in Nigeria. Very humbling. Though I still want more stuff.Mike M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14716539792698477275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-62168867907385817882010-09-15T21:32:19.053-04:002010-09-15T21:32:19.053-04:00WOW! Thanks, anna! I'm thrilled to have a read...WOW! Thanks, anna! I'm thrilled to have a reader like you. Thanks for stopping by, thanks for taking the time to read my scribblings here, and thanks especially for the lovely comment. There's no need for the self-censure; my political wranglings were admittedly (and deliberately) indelicate.<br /><br />But this place is different. I am not ready to blow a gasket here, I am ready to take my writing seriously. I kept the name so that TPM people could find me if they wanted to.<br /><br />In fact, I was going to repost a 9/11 piece I wrote at TPM (and still intend to), but I got <i>so disgusted</i> by the protests at Ground Zero on Saturday, that I ended up boycotting the day: didn't watch the news, didn't read the blogs, and certainly didn't want to write about it. Then on Sunday I volunteered at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Turned out to be an extraordinary weekend, which I am working on blogging about.<br /><br />Anyway, thanks for the praise and encouragement. It means a lot to win your positive feedback!gaskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-77133855623533507002010-09-15T20:47:34.646-04:002010-09-15T20:47:34.646-04:00hello to you, gasket. made it over here finally, ...hello to you, gasket. made it over here finally, have been browsing and have to say your writing's right fine, which is to say i eat my stupid ill-considered words whole. you have a delicate style of expression, measured and precise, with a hesitancy and poet's eye distance that's graceful and resonant. or, in other words, very writerly -- which of course warms the cockles of my english major heart. i liked also the way you have with description, very evocative of color and texture and you use them well to create a mood. like in the winter piece, the sky and the threat of snow. the pinwheel imagery in the morning poem was lovely. the drowsy feeling there, the hesitancy to wake and the hazy spinning of the pinwheel put me in mind of donne's the sun rising. more at some point. write more!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-67670456158300586952010-04-05T09:35:01.754-04:002010-04-05T09:35:01.754-04:00The super scary junk man is gone! :(
His hovel ha...The super scary junk man is gone! :(<br /><br />His hovel has been swallowed up by construction on the building next to his, and now a plywood barrier blocks the sidewalk where he peddled his wares for years. Not a trace of him remains. He's been scrubbed. <br /><br />I'm sure the building behind the plywood barrier has been destroyed, including the beautiful original doorway that shows in the picture to the right of Junk Man's personal public telephone.<br /><br />R.I.P. Junk Man.gaskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-41848851160454592862009-04-19T03:52:00.000-04:002009-04-19T03:52:00.000-04:00Beautiful music. With the album title 'The Glass ...Beautiful music. With the album title 'The Glass Bead Game', I'm inclined to like James Blackshaw even more. Hesse's 'The Magister Ludi' was perhaps my favorite novel of his.Miguelitoh2ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12058579019714806156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-25443270600081905842009-04-12T16:53:00.000-04:002009-04-12T16:53:00.000-04:00Hey, I like it, and, believe it or not, reading ab...Hey, I like it, and, believe it or not, reading about accidents involving animals doesn't bother me. What really upsets me is reading, fiction or non-, where some idiot actually torments an animal, and, worst of all, then reaches some higher truth, and the reader's supposed to forgive, or see it as a moral lesson of some kind. I still remember hearing a story on This American Life about a shithead who abuses a turtle (I don't know if the story was true or not, although I think it was) as a way to feel his own emotional pain. So twisted. And evil and boring.<BR/><BR/>Gotta say, and maybe this is a twisted thing in me, that my favorite sentence in your piece was also the most graphic:<BR/><BR/> "I remember a red pulpy stripe of exposed flesh along its back, although I can't say for sure if I actually saw that or if I imagined it after overhearing people talk about the dog."<BR/><BR/>Yes! I can totally see that! Keep it up, the writing, is what I think.pnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03322569315817004741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-51683748117860157172009-04-04T09:44:00.000-04:002009-04-04T09:44:00.000-04:00Sound like a good situation for those kids. Books ...Sound like a good situation for those kids. Books first, computers next, and TV last and regulated. We don't have kids, a decision of some complexity but also a relief for me. I'm so selfish with my time. My wife likes to say "you're so good with kids." I am for about an hour. And as long as they belong to someone else.<BR/><BR/>I would have a hard time restricting anything. I periodically dump myself into all kinds of nonsense. Started building an electric train world last year. A world I can control. Having been deprived by my mother of certain kinds of war things --during the Korean War --I periodically learn to fly some new jet on my computer, and kill everyone and everything in sight. Then it passes. I get bored with the jet. Now I'm thinking about an Xbox. I'm 64. <BR/><BR/>I think children's books are magic --the good ones. I tried to write one and found it impossible to shed the idea that it was for children. That seemed to affect the style. I was sure of the content.<BR/><BR/>Years back I wrote children's songs when I was a music councilor. Now I wish I'd copyrighted all of them. Maybe I'll do that. <BR/><BR/>If TV is scary, g, what about the internet?<BR/><BR/>Kids. You're lucky to have them around. Selfish as I am, I'm jealous. Especially for Christmas or any holiday you might celebrate. Milagro likes my trains though. She'd not signed on for the Xbox as yet.Tom Manoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16546486165634992389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-26592465363505056192009-04-03T02:13:00.000-04:002009-04-03T02:13:00.000-04:00She's hilarious. She's taken on a very sophisticat...She's hilarious. She's taken on a very sophisticated manner lately. Went directly from unsteady toddler to sure-footed grownup overnight; a brand-new identity. Who knows what went into that decision outside of physical development.<BR/><BR/>Her mom's a children's book editor, so there are hundreds of kids books in the house. She loves books, always has. More than her brother. She can't read on her own yet, but she sits down with books by herself and tries. Her older brother is just learning to read, and she clearly wants to catch up to him.<BR/><BR/>The computer programs help more with manual dexterity and basic object-identification skills. There's not much of a narrative; they don't make any sense as stories. More like exercises. I find them fairly bizarre—can't imagine writing copy for one—but they succeed at holding the kid's attention like a book does, which is saying a lot.<BR/><BR/>Neither kid prefers the computer to books. You can see it's a tool to them, but in its own right, not as a replacement.<BR/><BR/>TV is another matter. A scary-powerful drug. They want it constantly, like candy. But their time in front of all screens is strictly limited: Less than an hour a day.gaskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-46845610861495276292009-04-02T21:26:00.000-04:002009-04-02T21:26:00.000-04:00Thanks g.Thanks g.Tom Manoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16546486165634992389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-6015078929641024722009-04-02T21:24:00.000-04:002009-04-02T21:24:00.000-04:00Sounds like a kid with the right stuff. Does the c...Sounds like a kid with the right stuff. Does the computer help her reading skills? Does it interest her more than books?Tom Manoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16546486165634992389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-19257641843820417392009-04-02T00:50:00.000-04:002009-04-02T00:50:00.000-04:00I don't think it's you, Tom, I think these are exh...I don't think it's you, Tom, I think these are exhausting times. The hyperaccelerated pace of current events is relentless.<BR/><BR/>Also, writing a memoir is like sorting through the family attic. The emotional engagement alone is an extraordinary effort: dwelling in that world is not something you normally do. <BR/><BR/>So now you have a separate narrative running simultaneously with the current narrative, but they are running at different speeds. And one's enhanced with emotional detail and foreknowledge of the dramatic outcome, while the other is loosely wrapped in fear.<BR/><BR/>Taken together, I'm not surprised you feel overstimulated and overwhelmed.<BR/><BR/>I could tell you two stories to back up my all-knowing assertions, but I think I'll save them for longer written pieces.<BR/><BR/>Writing is a peculiar endeavor because it is so solitary, so in your own head. Sounds like you are working hard and getting somewhere, though, which makes me excited for you.gaskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-40400801807222063282009-04-01T18:07:00.000-04:002009-04-01T18:07:00.000-04:00One thing that's been on my mind, or maybe not on ...One thing that's been on my mind, or maybe not on my mind, is that now that the election is over, what can I do about politics, economy, etc. ? It sounds like a complete cop-out but I'm so exhausted from it and wondering if at my age and with whatever problems we have here, I have some "right" to just rest...<BR/><BR/>Maybe writing about the politics in the past makes me weary, the feeling of the blacklist coming back.<BR/><BR/>Suddenly I stopped reading the opinion pgs. What's happening to me?Tom Manoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16546486165634992389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-8115871064137191482009-04-01T10:37:00.000-04:002009-04-01T10:37:00.000-04:00Been thinking long and hard about your last commen...Been thinking long and hard about your last comment, Tom.<BR/><BR/>I find it impossible to comment on the Two Americas (or the Two New Yorks, for that matter) without sounding like I belong to the group I don't really belong to.<BR/><BR/>There have always been Two Americas, and I've always skated just along the ambiguous cusp of both, able to pass in either world.<BR/><BR/>I don't know Billy well enough to know how he sees the America he never inhabited.<BR/><BR/>He borrows the phrase from John Edwards, who borrowed it from Michael Harrington. So many permutations in between, yet nothing ever changes.<BR/><BR/>Yesterday Forbes had an article called <A HREF="http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/31/g20-china-united-states-opinions-columnists-world-order.html" REL="nofollow">The Meeting Of The G-2</A>, meaning China and the U.S.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for making me think about this, T.gaskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-2522910488569339032009-03-31T16:34:00.000-04:002009-03-31T16:34:00.000-04:00Well this fits billy's theory of the Two Americas,...Well this fits billy's theory of the Two Americas, one in good shape the other not.<BR/><BR/>That library on 42nd St and 5th is MY neck of the woods in an important way, G.....Tom Manoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16546486165634992389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-37561907225736165872009-03-31T13:56:00.000-04:002009-03-31T13:56:00.000-04:00Every time I go into NYC, I look for signs of the ...Every time I go into NYC, I look for signs of the financial meltdown. Last Monday I walked 42nd Street from 8th Ave. to the library. Looked like boom years to me. Put me in a great mood: <I>Hey, it's not that bad!</I><BR/><BR/>So I tell a friend about sunny New York, and he sends me this <A HREF="http://tomdispatch.com/post/175049/a_second_9_11_in_slow_motion" REL="nofollow">Tom Engelhardt piece</A> about the Upper West Side, the exact neighborhood where my friend Jessica used to live before she moved to Inwood.<BR/><BR/>That, and I stumble upon a (confusingly written, I think) piece in the <A HREF="http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-03-18/columns/bloomberg-s-homeless-pledges-fell-far-short/" REL="nofollow">Village Voice</A> about the number of homeless <I>families</I> in NYC: 9,720 last count. Nice round number. Highest ever.<BR/><BR/>Trouble with the last count is that it was in November. Bloomberg stopped issuing the report after that.gaskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-87637941114961078062009-03-31T12:19:00.000-04:002009-03-31T12:19:00.000-04:00I just hide my head under the covers, write about ...I just hide my head under the covers, write about the past, watch HBO and Showtime, drive the truck to the dump and recycle, plan this year's fish massacre --any thing to keep denying. If there were a Nobel Prize for denial, it would be in my living room.Tom Manoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16546486165634992389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-55283592891873349412009-03-31T12:15:00.000-04:002009-03-31T12:15:00.000-04:00I killed a deer with my truck. Driving at about 50...I killed a deer with my truck. Driving at about 50 mph on a mountain highway it just jumped gracefully into the front of the truck and bounced off dead. Strange experience at that speed. Almost slow motion.Tom Manoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16546486165634992389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-82596072000890442032009-01-22T21:41:00.000-05:002009-01-22T21:41:00.000-05:00Glad you are backGlad you are backWorkerBeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12379599537092268601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-68622399332603503212009-01-21T00:42:00.000-05:002009-01-21T00:42:00.000-05:00They're all with us, G.And then, I donno how, thei...They're all with us, G.<BR/><BR/>And then, I donno how, their memories just show up... using walkers. Moving slowly enough to get away from more often.<BR/><BR/>The only other way to get rid of them is to shove 'em down stairs.<BR/><BR/>Do that though, and the whole place ends up haunted.<BR/><BR/>I'm walking mine out.<BR/><BR/>Good piece Gasket.Quinn the Eskimohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17476587042538779513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-20458074917138193882009-01-16T15:24:00.000-05:002009-01-16T15:24:00.000-05:00When I was a kid, my brothers, sister and I went o...When I was a kid, my brothers, sister and I went out to the woods in the back all the time. <BR/><BR/>One day, we went back, took a blanket and some sunscreen. Laid out the blanket and squirted sunscreen all around it, deciding for some reason in through the use of kid-logic that it would attract animals.<BR/><BR/>It did.<BR/><BR/>A deer came up to us that day. I mean, really came up to us. So close I could have reached out and touched it. Standing, right next to the blanket, and four innocent children who didn't make a move, just existed, next to that creature.<BR/><BR/>It was magical.<BR/><BR/>If you ask my brother what attracted the deer, to this day he'll tell you suntan lotion.<BR/><BR/>Miss you Gasket. ;)Hilarym99https://www.blogger.com/profile/14083829960213960224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2814077478976378902.post-74300663044204611652008-08-30T21:02:00.000-04:002008-08-30T21:02:00.000-04:00Hi Bee!Yep. Recently got two females, sisters: bla...Hi Bee!<BR/><BR/>Yep. Recently got two females, sisters: black with white paws, whiskers, and bibs. They are about 16 weeks old now, and though they have distinct personalities, their markings are almost exactly identical, so they are hard to tell apart. They are also hard to photograph, since they are black and don't hold still for very long! In this photo they are playing Bite & Scratch with my hand. :)<BR/><BR/>They are a joy. I'm sure you will miss your babies. :(gaskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12954850069959019809noreply@blogger.com