Saturday, January 24, 2009

1460... 1459... 1458... 1457... 1456...

We are now finishing up the fifth day of the new administration's term in office...

I have studiously avoided all of the coverage of the inauguration- admittedly since I do not have cable or satellite tv service at home this goal has been much easier to achieve than one would expect. And before there are any flames thrown at me, my decision to not participate even passively in the spectacle that took place this week is not based on who won the election.

I have heard snippets of the speech here and there- and if nothing else I give Mr. Obama credit for having the foresight to hire wonderful speech writers. And Mr. Obama himself has the knack for delivering those words so that people catch a mood- though to my ear there never seems to be any passion behind the words he speaks. It is almost as if he is a very careful automaton who can deliver the words with the correct inflection, while simultaneously keeping himself separate from the meaning of the words.

The second reason for abstaining from my civic duty to participate in the inauguration- even vicariously - was the fact that this country is in a serious recession and the excesses, some would refer to as festivities, which were planned and carried out to commemorate the ascension of the new President brought the same feelings to mind as those words attributed to Marie Antoinette just prior to the outbreak of the French Revolution... "let them eat cake... ".

While I realize that the goal of the President is to lift the morale of the people and act as a symbol of American ideals, my gut reaction so far into the new era is that our leader is not quite ready to lead. We lead by example, even when we do not realize someone is watching. Spending millions and millions of dollars in the wake of record unemployment numbers nationwide seems to smack of the adage "do as I say, not as I do". The American people have repeatedly been called upon to tighten their belts and get through these tough times- though the new administration who has touted change as their catch phrase soldiers on into Washington with a business as usual demeanor.

Unlike the botched swearing in ceremony, where the next day Mr. Obama was given a "do over", the managing of a nation- especially one as mighty as the United States- does not allow for mistakes. There are too many lives depending on it. Hopefully Mr. Obama will come to realize this sooner rather than later.

Either way, we are another day closer to the next inauguration.

Between the covers...

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The subject of today's topic is the daunting task of talking about my favorite book.


For me this poses a huge problem simply because I have multiple favorite books and the notion of limiting myself to one smacks of censoring a part of me. I read based on where I am in my life- strictly for my own pleasure and enjoyment. Because of this, my reading tastes run the gambit of what I find appealing at that given moment. I suppose it could be said that I am a genre reader- basing the genre of the material on whatever is going on in my life and the subject which compliments it. In other words, a literary soundtrack for my life.

If I were to compile a literary ipod (so to speak), here are a few must-have titles:

  • Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
  • 1984- George Orwell
  • A Woman's Place- Barbara Delinsky
  • Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
  • Saving Grace- Julie Garwood
  • A Circle of Friends- Maeve Binchy
  • Savannah- Eugenia Price (the entire Savannah quartet)
  • A Tale of Two Cities- Charles Dickens
  • The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas
  • God Save the Sweet Potato Queens- Jill Conner Browne
  • Born in Death- J.D. Robb (the entire In Death series)
  • Among the Hidden- Margaret Peterson Haddix
  • White Knight- Jim Butcher (the entire Dresden Files series)
  • The DaVinci Code- Dan Brown
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel- Baroness Orczy
  • The Well- educated Mind- Susan Wise Bauer
  • What Southern Women Know, that every woman should- Ronda Rich
  • How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater- Marc Acito
  • Garfield- Jim Davis
  • Rats Saw God- Rob Thomas

I could go on and on... there are so many, but you get the gist. Happy reading everyone!




Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Another fresh start...


Once again I am starting yet another blog. Honestly, at this point I have lost count of how many I have floating around, though I'm sure there are those out there in the cyber-ether who could help jog my memory if they so chose to.

At one point I was an intrepid blogger- posting if not daily, at least 3-4 times per week. Several years ago now, I had the opportunity to take a class on blogging. Somewhere, in the vast files of miscellaneous material I seem to horde, I still have my notes and codes for personalizing and making my blog an extension of me. I may have to see if I can retrieve those notes- and of course, if anyone happens to stumble upon my ramblings here and would like the notes as well, please just let me know. I will say that from setting up this current blog, the ones responsible for maintaining Blogger.com have definitely come a long way since the first blog I had hosted on Blogger.

As I mentioned, in the past I would blog regularly. But then as my life changed and my interests waned, I let my blogs fall by the wayside. I think that one of the biggest challenges I will face with this new blog is to remember to keep it going. There's always hope, even if there is little else.

Until next time, wishing everyone the best...