Thursday Evening Thoughts

I’ve been trying to decide if I wanted to say anything here about the downfall of New York’s governor. Whether I wanted to comment on the irony of a man voted into office for his tough-on-crime stance as state attorney general, which included some pretty strong words and actions against prostitution and pressure on banks to track and divulge exactly the kind of money laundering Spitzer may be charged with. Whether I wanted to comment on how much on some level I respected what he said in in his resignation–that he had failed to live up to his own standards as a public servant and that his entire focus was on rebuilding his relationship with his family–or whether that was just wise PR and certainly on the advice of his attorney. Whether I should step into the debate over the morality of prostitution, and whether legalizing it would allow women to have more power in this particular equation.

Then I read this article, and thought that it was enough. Spitzer’s downfall as hubris on a grand scale. I like to look at it as possibly his destiny coming to meet him via his own decisions, unconscious or semiconscious as they may have been. In a lecture I read recently, Steiner talked about the inner exercise of viewing all of the events of your life, good and bad, as having been set up by your higher self for your edification and advancement. Sobering stuff, really.

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SillyBilly made up this song, which is more or less set to the tune of the old sailor’s song “The Mermaid“:

Five little raisins went to sea,
And asked for the Gobolin’s Fair,*
They sailed away to Iowa,
And had a good time there.

But then they missed their home again, so…

Five little raisins went to sea,
And asked for the Gobolin’s Fair.
They went home,
And had pear there.

*No idea. It’s the name of a ship, evidently. A ship from inside the enigma that is SillyBilly’s brain.

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I’m editing a book about the concept of “well-being” in anthropology, and one on female doctors and nurses in the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and WWI. They’re interesting, but I just wish I could work on some books that don’t make me disgusted with human nature.

Let’s see…how can we oppress the Australian Aborigines a little more–ah! I have it! We’ll completely disregard their social structures and compel them from all angles to succumb to an individualistic culture that leaves them bereft of the interactions with friends and family that define happiness for them.

And how about those 19th-century bureaucrats in Washington? Giving a woman doctor the Medal of Honor and then taking it away because she was never officially documented as a doctor during her time of service, because only men could be physicians? That cheered me right up. (Her descendants did have her name restored to the list of recipients in a more enlightened time in US history.)

I’m longing for a nice book of art history. That would suit me just fine.

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Anthropapa has been in bed for a week with this nasty flu. He finally gave up and went to the doctor today. Started on some Cipro in case he has a secondary infection. The kids and I have lingering stuffy noses and coughs.

And it just occurred to me that pollen season is on the way. Oh yay!

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All right, all right…time for a happier note. Mike is OK!

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Spring is stealthily making its way here. We’ve got snowdrops, and the winter aconite has colonized the hill outside our front door. There appear to be some crocuses starting, and we saw a bunch of skunk cabbage flowers down by the brook. The birds have started their early morning racket, and they and the squirrels seem to be in manic mode. I’ve been putting out peanuts for the “big” birds–cardinals, blue jays, etc. (my neighbor feeds the littl’uns)–and the squirrels and chipmunks. I tell you, those nuts last a few hours, max, and then the yard is picked clean again. We have some awfully hungry critters around here.

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In some of my internet wanderings looking at SCA-related stuff, I found this hilarious blog by a grad student in medieval studies. I may be condemning myself to eternal geekitude, but I love it. The “Historic Personals” sidebar had me rolling.