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May. 30th, 2008 02:09 pm
O'r diwedd!
'A lleddaist ti y Siaberwoc?
Tyrd yma, hapllon fachgen!
O jiwblus ddydd! Hwrê! Hwroc!'
Gan wenu arno'n llawen.
"Jabberwocky" in Welsh.
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May. 30th, 2008
"Jabberwocky" in Welsh.
May. 30th, 2008 05:01 pm
Farewell, you won't be missed!
Kate the Great's Bookstore is closing. I know the reaction--even you other Edgewater types are scratching your heads saying There's a bookstore there? That's the number one reason why this comes as no surprise. The number two reason is that they're having a half-off sale to clear the shelves, so I spent a goodly amount of time last night scrutinising the stock; in the end, I bought one thing (Nuala O'Faolain's first autobiography). And I'm not sure if this counts as #3, because I don't remember it ever being so egregious before, but the whole time I was there, the clerk was having a loud phone conversation with her brother in Texas. How do I know who it was? Because when she rang off to ring me up, she cheerily told me, "That was my brother. He's driving through Texas and he has a headache." "I'm not surprised," I wanted to say, but instead I gave her the weak smile that says And I give a fuck about that because...?
Every day, in every way, I'm becoming more crotchety. My entire progression from work to home last night was a losing battle against the forces of inane, disruptive chatter. I was doing a decent job shutting it out on the el ride by burying myself in a book until a young loudmouth who seemed to have no filter between his mind and his mouth (the result of too much "medication", or too little?) stationed himself next to me and I gave up trying. Later, O'Faolain in hand, I went to a local low-end Mexican joint for a milanesa and the whole store was dominated by the very vocal horsing around of three mature women at a neighbouring table. Is the distinction between private and public space really breaking down in our society or am I simply becoming more annoyed to the rudeness that's always been there?
I've been trying for some time now to distill the code of behaviour instilled in me by my petit-bourgeois upbringing into a single guiding principle and I think I may have found it: Restraint. Don't draw attention to yourself. Better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Sein mehr als Schein. Don't spit. Don't fidget. Don't talk to strangers. Don't talk with your mouth full. Don't talk; listen. Leave some for the next person. Etc. Since this is a negative virtue--you're evaluated on what you prevent yourself from doing--I'm toying around with the idea that the middle class defines itself primarily in contradistinction to the working class. That is, we do these things not because "they make life more pleasant", but because they are what Ethnic people do. And if there's anything we are not, it's low class beasts like them. So to prove it, we avoid loud colours and loud noises, demonstrative behaviour and excitement--any of the things children are naturally drawn to.
Every day, in every way, I'm becoming more crotchety. My entire progression from work to home last night was a losing battle against the forces of inane, disruptive chatter. I was doing a decent job shutting it out on the el ride by burying myself in a book until a young loudmouth who seemed to have no filter between his mind and his mouth (the result of too much "medication", or too little?) stationed himself next to me and I gave up trying. Later, O'Faolain in hand, I went to a local low-end Mexican joint for a milanesa and the whole store was dominated by the very vocal horsing around of three mature women at a neighbouring table. Is the distinction between private and public space really breaking down in our society or am I simply becoming more annoyed to the rudeness that's always been there?
I've been trying for some time now to distill the code of behaviour instilled in me by my petit-bourgeois upbringing into a single guiding principle and I think I may have found it: Restraint. Don't draw attention to yourself. Better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Sein mehr als Schein. Don't spit. Don't fidget. Don't talk to strangers. Don't talk with your mouth full. Don't talk; listen. Leave some for the next person. Etc. Since this is a negative virtue--you're evaluated on what you prevent yourself from doing--I'm toying around with the idea that the middle class defines itself primarily in contradistinction to the working class. That is, we do these things not because "they make life more pleasant", but because they are what Ethnic people do. And if there's anything we are not, it's low class beasts like them. So to prove it, we avoid loud colours and loud noises, demonstrative behaviour and excitement--any of the things children are naturally drawn to.
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