Archive for December, 2009

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How to Be Sick

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

On our way home from friends’ on Wednesday night, I noticed a tiny, dull tightening of my throat when I swallowed.  I hoped it was just from talking too much, and when we got home I went right to bed.  I felt I couldn’t get warm all the way through; even in flannel pajamas under a down comforter, I shivered until I fell asleep.

I’m sure you can guess the rest.  I woke several hours later, burning up; my head felt like it was about to explode.  Although I was pretty sure I had a fever, when the thermometer beeped at 102, I burst into tears.  I couldn’t bear the thought of missing church on Christmas.  It was already a strange Christmas, as  we were preparing to go away immediately afterwards, so we had curtailed the decorating and entertaining quite a bit.  And, of course, my sister — the official Queen of Christmas — was overseas, so our family was incomplete.

The real problem, though, is that I don’t know how to be sick.  Unlike Flannery O’Connor, who famously wrote that she had “never been anywhere but sick,” I very rarely get sick, and when I do, my instinct is to tough it out.  I only have five days of leave from school, so I’ll only stay home if it’s dire.  But with the flu going around, I knew it would be irresponsible to go out in public with a fever.  So I stayed home, sad but resigned, and contented myself with a snuggly cat (fevers are her favorite) and a chat with a friend who was also sick and lonely, but worse off because he’s overseas.

Later, my sister called from Seoul.  We chatted for about an hour, and when we got ready to hang up, I asked hesitantly if she wanted to sing some Christmas hymns with me.  “YES!”  So Rob and I sang on speakerphone and she joined in softly from all the way across the world.  There were probably tears on both ends (I know there were on mine) but I was reminded that whatever else happened, it was still Christmas.

So I’m still under the weather, and in the past few days have been making a mental list (for next time) of things that bring me a little comfort.  Try one or two the next time you’re down for the count: (more…)

Posted in Literature, Vices | 2 Comments »

Can Times Be Economic?

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Not really.  But this hasn’t stopped many intelligent and well-educated people from using the phrase “economic times” as a substitute for “hard times.”  My father first pointed this out several months ago, at which time I thought it was a fairly rare phrase.  Then I started to notice it a lot more often:

“Whenever the holidays coincide with lean economic times, visions of handicrafts begin to dance in my head.” (The Wall Street Journal, December 19)

“Even in hard economic times, sport continues to be big business.” (The New York Times, December 21)

“School officials have said the fee is a necessary alternative during tough economic times to cutting sports programs.” (Chicago Tribune, December 22)

While these sentences are all erroneous, most offensive to me is the phrase “these economic times,” which can be found in all three of the above sources — and in hundreds of other places.  The problem is that “economic” is not a charged word; it simply refers to the sphere of economics.  So, in that sense, all times are economic times.  The proper construction is “economically ____ times,” where the blank would reflect either something good (prosperous, optimistic) or bad (difficult, challenging.)

When in doubt, just say what you mean; don’t try to make it sound pretty.  Directness is its own eloquence.

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The Flip Side

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

After yesterday’s post, I thought I should also mention some of the movies I’ve loved (often in spite of substantial flaws) because they’re the opposite of movies like “The Road:” they affirm the redemptive potential of humanity and often hint at the presence of a spiritual consciousness, if not an outright God.

As much as it killed me, I left out obvious winners like “Crash” and “Once,” movies everyone has already seen and agrees are wonderful.  These are largely little-known gems that blew me away.  Enjoy!  And if you want more, we can be Netflix buddies and you can peruse all 1600 of my ratings.  :)

  • Apocalypto
  • Babette’s Feast
  • Dancer in the Dark
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • The Exorcism of Emily Rose
  • Everything is Illuminated
  • Heaven
  • Kitchen Stories
  • Lady in the Water
  • Maria Full of Grace
  • The Lives of Others
  • Man on the Train
  • The New World
  • Paradise Now
  • The Syrian Bride
  • Water

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Regretting the Road

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Last week Rob told me he wanted to see The Road.  I was reluctant, but went along to be a good sport (some friends also wanted to go.)  About halfway through, I very nearly walked out (I would have, if it hadn’t been for said friends) and on the way home we had a major argument about the movie.  I was angry with him for taking me to see it.  Truth be told, I was more angry with myself for going against my instincts, and I was most angry with the filmmakers themselves for having created the thing and flung it out into the world to pollute and infect the rest of us.

The movie is sad, but I like plenty of sad movies.  It’s also gross, and I’ve been known to put up with grossness.  What I can’t get over is the pervading feeling of despair: here is a society that has regressed to the most unimaginable and grotesque practices possible, having lost any sense of camaraderie, trust and goodwill.  It’s not just that there is no faith in God; I’d argue that, as a society, we’re there now.  It’s that there is no faith in anyone or anything.  Everyone expects the worst possible motivations and behaviors from everyone else, and they’re usually right.  “Depressing” doesn’t even come close.  “Disturbing” begins to hint at the dark places this movie explored, places I never imagined existed before.

It wasn’t bad, either.  In fact, it was very well made: incredible performances, beautiful (if bleak) cinematography, an imaginative storyline.  Bad movies are sometimes funny, sometimes just bad, but always forgettable.  This thing got under my skin.  It made me unsettled, frightened, angry.  Bottom line: I wish I had never seen it; I wish I could get the images and ideas out of my head, but there they are still, and there they will remain.

Since this experience, I’ve talked about it with quite a few people (and I’ve apologized to my husband, of course.)  I think for me, it comes down to a question of redemption.  If there is redemption, I can take quite a lot of things I’d rather not see.  But when a movie shows humanity to be fallen AND irredeemable, I don’t understand why they made it in the first place.  Even if that’s true (and it’s not, thank God!) why spend time creating it?  It’s pathetic that our establishment elevates these movies (in many cases, they won or were nominated for awards) and gives accolades for “transgressive” and “edgy” films.

So, below, I present my list of Movies I Wish I’d Never Seen: (more…)

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Posted in Faith, Media, Vices | 3 Comments »

“A Wholesale Flight from Truth”

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

If you do nothing else today, please take a few minutes to read Frank Rich’s most recent column.  As chilling as it is brilliant, this incisive piece of social criticism shames us all, moving from the recent Tiger Woods scandal to the weightier issues of subprime mortgages and terrorism:

As cons go, Woods’s fraudulent image as an immaculate exemplar of superhuman steeliness is benign. His fall will damage his family, closest friends, Accenture and the golf industry much more than the rest of us. But the syndrome it epitomizes is not harmless. We keep being fooled by leaders in all sectors of American life, over and over. A decade that began with the “reality” television craze exemplified by “American Idol” and “Survivor” — both blissfully devoid of any reality whatsoever — spiraled into a wholesale flight from truth.

Rich points out that virtually all of the decade’s scandals, from Ted Haggard to Barry Bonds and the much-maligned WMDs, have been a result of media hype that everyone believed, even the media themselves.  He doesn’t claim he knew all along; he points out that we were all duped, over and over again, by politicians and celebrities and yes, by newspaper columnists too.  We have forgotten how to think for ourselves.

Reading this, I am given a rare and fleeting moment of confidence.  This is why I go to work every day, why I fight for correct grammar and thoughtful sentences, why I cruelly force Journalism students to know all 9 Supreme Court justices and American Literature students to connect Arthur Dimmesdale and Jonathan Edwards.  Because if you can’t reason and you have no facts, you will have no defense against the shams that pelt us, day after day, trying to erode our ability to distinguish between truth and truthiness.

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