March 23rd, 2015 → 9:24 am
“Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.” – Julius Caesar
My husband isn’t a big talker, but every once in awhile he says something out of the blue that makes me laugh. Yesterday, in getting our son dressed to go on a playdate he yelled, “Put on your shoes and socks!” and then turned to me and asked, “Why is it ‘shoes and socks,’ and not ‘socks and shoes?’ Wouldn’t ‘socks and shoes’ make more sense?” 🙂 Ha ha, um, yes.
March 20th, 2015 → 6:03 am
“‘Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.” – Romeo and Juliet
A study came out this week that purports to show that watching cooking shows on TV can make you fat. Ha ha ha. Good thing I don’t watch them.
March 16th, 2015 → 5:29 am
“In springtime, the only pretty ringtime,
When buds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.” – As You Like It
Yesterday was sunny and beautiful. It’s coming, I can feel it, it’s almost here, I can’t wait…Springtime!!
February 22nd, 2015 → 6:31 am
“This place is too cold for Hell.” – Macbeth
It snowed here in St. Louis again this weekend. Things have been bitterly cold this past week and I’m hating winter right now. But every time I think about complaining I feel guilty. Boston is getting it so much worse this year. Poor Boston. I travel to the East Coast for a conference next weekend – here’s hoping I don’t get snowed in and stranded there!
February 19th, 2015 → 5:21 am
“‘Tis the soldiers’ life
To have their balmy slumbers waked with strife.” – Othello
God bless our veterans. I hope this latest federal legislation will help them.
February 4th, 2015 → 5:24 am
“What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” – Othello
It is Black History Month here is the U.S., where we celebrate the history of African Americans. As I am also reading Othello this month, I wanted to come up with a quote from that play to honor this celebration. It wasn’t easy! But the above quote reminded me to be optimistic about racism in the U.S. – a wound that is, hopefully, even if slowly, healing by degrees. Happy Black History Month everyone.
January 17th, 2015 → 7:44 am
“Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.” – Henry IV, Part I
Why don’t we celebrate the heroes, such as Lassana Bathily, as much as we lionize the villains of our common tragedies?
Filed under: Blog & Other & Stupid/Evil People
January 12th, 2015 → 5:41 am
“Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine.” – Othello
I’ve agreed to lead a discussion group on Othello over the next few months (how did that happen?!), so forgive me, but I have a feeling many of the upcoming posts will be Othello based. Already on just the first page of the play I’ve underlined a number of things I wouldn’t mind blogging about. The first is simply the word “arithmetician.” I’ve written before how few math/numbers related quotes I’ve been able to find in the Shakespeare canon, so when I came across this word I was at first excited! But it appears that Shakespeare means it less about arithmetic, than about describing someone with military knowledge. Oh well. It’s still a cool word, IMO.
January 6th, 2015 → 6:43 am
“Sap checked with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o’er-snowed and bareness everywhere!” – Sonnet 5
Despite our horrible Mexico adventure, I wish I were still there! Winter is upon us and it is freezing here – brrrrrrrrrr!
December 6th, 2014 → 6:51 am
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?
No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.” – Macbeth
I was listening to a RadioLab podcast yesterday where the guest mentioned that in Shakespeare’s day, theatres used actual blood in their performances. There was no such thing as prop blood (let alone chocolate sauce!), so if a play like Titus Adronicus required a bucket of blood to be spilled, a bucket of actual blood was acquired (generally from a slaughterhouse) and spilled in the production. The guest went on to mention how, in the 16th century, really, people were quite familiar with the smell, sight, taste, and feel of actual blood – unlike today.
First, let me just say gross.
Second, let me add that I disagree in one sense – even today there are groups of people who are familiar with blood and have lots of it on their hands: white police officers, when they are faced with unarmed black men.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Stupid/Evil People