February 26th, 2012 → 8:59 am
“Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more!'” – Macbeth
Actually it was the baby, up at 6am like clockwork this morning even though we didn’t get to bed till after 1am. It was fun last night, but it sure doesn’t feel that way this morning… yawn…
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
February 24th, 2012 → 6:49 am
“If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked!” – Henry IV
My husband and I have secured a babysitter for this Saturday night. Hallelujah! I’m looking forward to some serious drink and food, at a restaurant that doesn’t cater to screaming babies!
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
February 20th, 2012 → 6:45 am
“He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself, for on his choice depends
The sanity and health of this whole state.” – Hamlet
Happy President’s Day everyone! I hope you have the day off. I don’t, but then again, at least I’m not president. 😉 It can’t be an easy job. While I like to make fun of some of our current presidential candidates, my kudos to anyone who is even willing to try…
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians
February 18th, 2012 → 6:07 am
“The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.” – Measure for Measure
I say this to the people of Greece, who are rioting in protest against greater austerity measures. I say this to the people of Syria, who are fighting for basic liberty and freedom. I say this to the citizens of the United States, who are desperate for a third party presidential candidate. I say this to myself, whenever things are bleak, because it is true.
Filed under: Blog & Economics/Money & Politics/Politicians & Self/My Life
February 16th, 2012 → 8:06 am
“Two loves I have, of comfort and despair.” – Sonnet 144
It’s my mother’s birthday today, so of course I woke up thinking about her. About how much she used to comfort me when I was down, and about how much I miss her now that she is gone…
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
February 14th, 2012 → 7:20 am
“My affection hath an unknown bottom, like the Bay of Portugal.” – As You Like It
Who knew? But in Shakespeare’s day the Bay of Portugal was considered the deepest point on earth. Funny, knowing what we know now, but I like how it sounds as an homage to love, for some reason…
February 13th, 2012 → 6:18 am
“Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain tops that freeze,
Bow themselves when he did sing…In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart. – Henry VIII
Music is also a good way to lift the heart. A nod to Adele, the Grammys, and of course, to poor Whitney Houston.
February 11th, 2012 → 7:54 am
“Though what they will impart
Help nothing else, yet do they ease the heart.” – Richard III
A smart person told me the other day to write in order to ease my pain. I’m happy to report that I found some time to do that yesterday and it worked! I don’t know if I’m going to be able to keep it up in any kind of a consistent fashion – with a young baby and a full time job right now it is just so hard to carve out regular chunks of time – but if I can, I will. The writing life is for me.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
February 9th, 2012 → 7:35 am
“I’ll so offend to make offense a skill,
Redeeeming time when men think least I will.” – Henry IV
In my day job I’m an economics professor, with a specialty in environmental and energy economics. My love of Shakespeare hardly ever crosses into this domain, so I was quite surprised when, sitting at my desk in my office yesterday, reading a technical industry publication, I came across the above quote used in reference to the Solyndra debacle and the federal government’s loan guarantee program for renewable energy. I actually don’t think this was the best use of a Shakespeare quote, because it requires knowing a bit about Prince Harry (think: wild child) and the context of his ascent to king as Henry V (think: reformed wild child) to fully understand the meaning here (and how many people reading technical energy publications know that??). But for me at least, this was fun to come across.
If anyone out there sees other uses of Shakespeare in odd contexts in their daily lives, please pass the quotes along! I’d love to hear them, and I may even start posting some of these “guest” quotes now and again on the website.
Filed under: Blog & Economics/Money & Politics/Politicians
February 3rd, 2012 → 6:53 am
“The game’s afoot!” – Henry V
There is so much hype going around right now about Facebook’s upcoming IPO that I can only grin and see it as a big game. I’ve heard potential valuations for the company ranging from 5 billion to 100 billion dollars. $100 billion! That’s more than the GDP of many countries (including Syria, Ecuador, Lebanon, and more than 100 others). I wish I had some popcorn to eat while I sit back and watch all this craziness play out…
Filed under: Blog & Economics/Money