Without a sense of humor, life's pretty boring.

Still, if you’re somebody who only reads the editorial page of The New York Times, try glancing at the page of The Wall Street Journal once in awhile. If you’re a fan of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, try reading a few columns on the Huffington Post website. It may make your blood boil; your mind may not be changed. But the practice of listening to opposing views is essential for effective citizenship. It's essential for our democracy.

And so too is the practice of engaging in different experiences with different kinds of people. If you grew up in a big city, spend some time with somebody who grew up in a rural town. If you find yourself only hanging around with people of your own race or ethnicity or religion, include people in your circle that have different backgrounds and life experiences. You’ll learn what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes, and in the process, you will help make this democracy work.

- Barack Obama's speech to U. of Michigan graduates

WEEKEND READY

NAH NAH NAH NEXT LEVEL

Day After Day I Think of You as Soon as I Wake Up.

PAT SAJAK LOOKS LIKE A BADGER

This story made my morning. The rest of the story is lovely, equally hillarious, and quietly sad. DFW has Trebek wear a button that is the title of the blog post.



"'My favorite word,' says Alex Trebek, 'is moist. It is my favorite word, especially when used in combination with my second-favorite word, which is loincloth.' He looks at the doctor. 'I'm just associating. Is it OK if I just associate?'

Alex Trebek's psychiatrist says nothing.

'A dream,' says Trebek. 'I have this recurring dream where I'm standing outside the window of a restaurant, watching a chef flip pancakes. Except it turns out they're not pancakes- they're faces. I'm watching a guy in a chef's hat flip faces with a spatula.'

The psychiatrist makes a church steeple with his fingers and contemplates the steeple.

'I think I'm just tired,' says Trebek. 'I think I'm just bone-weary. I'm tired of the taste of my teeth in my mouth. I'm tired of everything. My job sucks string. I want to go back to modelling. My cheek muscles ache, from having to smile all the time. All this hair spray is starting to attract midges. I can't go outdoors at night anymore.'"

- David Foster Wallace Little Expressionless Animals

Note: This is fiction and where real proper names are used here, they denote only objects of public perception and record, not persons alive or deceased.

canadian tuxedo cat

I watched the Ice Storm too many times this weekend. The cold greyness has slipped into my week.

the texture of dreams

end scene

Comets

There are comets
that flash through
our mouths wearing
the grace
of oceans and galaxies.

God knows,
we try to do the best
we can.

There are comets
connected to chemicals
that telescope
down out tongues
to burn out against
the air.

I know
we do.

There are comets
that laugh at us
from behind our teeth
wearing the clothes
of fish and birds.

We try.

- Richard Brautigan

It's a Complicated Dance (This Thing we call Life)

Sad Steps

Groping back to bed after a piss
I part thick curtains, and am startled by
The rapid clouds, the moon's cleanliness.

Four o'clock: wedge-shadowed gardens lie
Under a cavernous, a wind-picked sky.
There's something laughable about this,

The way the moon dashes through clouds that blow
Loosely as cannon-smoke to stand apart
(Stone-coloured light sharpening the roofs below)

High and preposterous and separate -
Lozenge of love! Medallion of art!
O wolves of memory! Immensements! No,

One shivers slightly, looking up there.
The hardness and the brightness and the plain
Far-reaching singleness of that wide stare

Is a reminder of the strength and pain
Of being young; that it can't come again,
But is for others undiminished somewhere.

-Philip Larkin

Like New

Welcome to Spring.

Can You Dance to It?