Readings

by Rick Dietrich

From The "Left"

When the left side of the left side of the brain takes control . . . there is none: questions, comments, suggestions, retractions, and footnotes.

Ingenita levitas et erudite vanitas. - Cicero [Levity is inborn, vanity acquired by education.]

Vanitas vanitatum . . . omnia vanitas. – Ecclesiastes 1:1 Do you have your Bible at hand?

Mexico City has 27 million people, and it is the world’s second largest city.

V. S. Naipaul won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 despite The Enigma of Arrival. (If this is your favorite book, please email me at BR549-at-hehw.org. Explain why.)

Repetition can be incantatory. It can also be monotonous. And it can set one wondering, “Has he forgotten he’s told us this twice before?”

The problem with talk radio is too much talk, not enough radio.

Speaking of literary prizes: The New Gospel Lite Publishing Group has just announced for fall: The Theology of Joel Osteen by Frederick Eikerenkroetter.

Ab exiguis profecta initiis eo creverit ut iam magnitudine laboret sua. - Livy [It [Rome] has grown so since its humble beginnings that it is now overwhelmed by its own greatness.]

I recently emailed the President suggesting he read Randall Jarrell’s poem, “Eighth Air Force.” “Let me know what you think about it,” I wrote, signing myself “Rick Dietrich, Voter.” I haven’t heard back. I know he’s busy.

Why I stopped listening to “Morning Edition”: too much talk, not enough radio.

I recently emailed the Secretary of Defense suggesting he read Randall Jarrell’s poem, “Eighth Air Force.” Or, I tried to. You can’t email the Secretary of Defense; you can only make a comment at http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html. Here’s what you’ll see when you get there:

Thank you for your interest in the Defense Department. We try to answer questions as quickly as possible, and although we cannot respond to every comment, we read and note each one. We have prepared more than two hundred answers to frequently asked questions — that's what you see below — and it is the fastest way to get a response. If your question is not covered by our prepared responses, or if you want to let us know your views on a subject, click on "Ask a Question/Submit a Comment".

I signed myself “Rick Dietrich, Concerned Citizen.” Incidentally, prepare to enter your email address AND verify it before your comment/question will be sent. (Secretary Rumsfeld doesn’t want to get it wrong in your file.)

I didn’t mean that either.

(If you don’t have a copy framed on your wall, “Eighth Air Force” may be found online at http://plagiarist.com/poetry/3042/. If I understand Jarrell correctly, I could be emailing you asking if you’ve read the poem. Or, you could be emailing me. Note: The site plagiarist.com is not endorsed by either hehw.org or Presbyterian VOICE, but you may win a free XBOX 360™ by answering a simple question like “Should marijuana be legalized?” Your choices will be “Yes” “No” or “Huh?”)

Incidentally, you can write the Secretary of Defense: Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000. His phone is listed as 703-428-0711.

The French for blue jeans is un blue-jean. Do you have to buy two pair if you want to cover both legs?

I’m still buying the new Carly Simon album, despite Susan Stamberg’s fawning interview/review.

The problem with too much Presbyterian worship: See above under “the problem with talk radio.”

Golf is the most frustrating game on the face of the earth. (Perhaps this is its attraction for Presbyterian clergy.) Playing eighteen holes is, however, less than one-third as frustrating as driving eighteen blocks in Mexico City. A life time of golf is less than .009944 times as frustrating as trying to live a moral life.

(The not-so-fine distinction between “sports” and “games” may be found at www.hehw.org/br549/faq.html.)

Qui habuerit substantiam mundi et viderit fratrem suum necesse habere et clauserit viscera sua ab eo quomodo caritas Dei manet in eo. – 1 John 3:17.

Rick Dietrich with Por Si, the dog who tangled with a skunk, now
cleaned up and forgiven.