Yesterday politician Ms. Nikki Haley told us that if we re-elect Joe Biden, he will likely die before finishing his second term. Her unspoken point was that if President Biden dies in office, he will be replaced by a woman of color! And what could be worse.
Susan pointed out that Nikki, a woman of color, is running for President to keep a woman of color from becoming President.
Two nights back Susan and I went with Marty Renault to attend a tribute to her late husband, Dennis Renault, the former editorial cartoonist for the McClatchy newspaper chain. This was a small event made up largely of people devoted to artistic printing, setting type by hand. Dennis, once my roommate at UCLA, had owned an ancient press, and he had printed wonderful items that people appreciated.
About 30 people showed up at North Bay Letterpress Art in Sebastopol.,One of the informal speakers was a printer named Maia Kobabe, author of GENDER QUEER. She was quite interesting. She told us about her work at the printshop and about how GENDER QUEER had been something of a success until attacks on the book by crackpots had propelled it into a major event.
This morning I read that the American Library Association has named GENDER QUEER as the most banned book of the year. Susan and I feel like we've met royalty.
My local newspaper had a subhead this morning that read "A tragic moment in some ways." It referred to the arrest of Donald Trump for 34 of his minor crimes.
A tragedy is about the downfall of a good person, usually someone of importance. He's brought down by a personal failing and circumstances he can't defeat. In a sense a tragedy teaches us a truth: even the best among us is imperfect and faces death.
The downfall of a shitty crook is not a tragedy. It's melodrama. I don't feel fear and pity for Trump. The candle of the wicked shall be put out. With pleasure.
I am amazed by how fast I fall. My bike flips or I step in a hole, and I am flat on the ground before I can blink. Then comes the shock of pain, which usually lasts only, say, 5 or 10 minutes. After that I get up, and I'm okay. (I did break my ankle once, so I now employ, while walking, a half-numb foot that cants a little to the right.)
When you get old, you start falling. I had a friend named Lucy who reached 100; she fell and lay on her kitchen floor for 14 hours.
When I got into my 80s I began to fall from time to time. And then my wife fell. But we are fine.
(Report from Old Age)
