|
November 24, 2003
Fun with Dick and Jane -- in ancient Rome?
Despite the title of this blog and my tendency to carry on about the ancients, I sure am glad I am not really an ancient Roman brought back to life in modern America. I mean, how the hell would I make sense out of the omens and portents I regularly encounter? I was running this morning, and part of my route is alongside a busy commute strip. All kinds of things fall from cars. (Maybe they're dropped; I don't know.) And when I am running, I don't like to stop and pick things up unless they're really "good." Or unless they cry out for intervention. (One time I found a wallet belonging to a physician, who was an inch away from cancelling all the credit cards and was spared that nuisance.) But what the hell would an ancient Roman make of these four items? (Ruler included to indicate dimensions.) A little pink diving fin? Three brand new address books labeled "Seasons Greetings from Jane"? Were I a superstitious person, or a Roman, I might be very puzzled. Or maybe very troubled. Or possibly very happy. The little pink diving fin is something I just couldn't leave there. It just seemed to "belong" in my blog. What to do with it now, I don't know. Why only one? Is it a left fin or a right fin? It's really tiny, too. Some parent is really starting that child young. And it's pink. That means it must have belonged to a tiny girl, right? The address book/calendars, I don't know. Why three? Surely that number means something. And why Jane? Might that be the owner of the little pink diving fin? I don't think so. The fin is so tiny that I think it is highly questionable whether the girl is old enough even to be in school, much less organize her life with address books and calendars. Let's look at the larger, real world implications of this morning's find. Considering that the blogosphere is the only real world of anyone's legitimate concern, this must be a sign, an omen, a portent, directly from the gods, about my blog. That is not an arrogant assumption, is it? And this blog is, after all, called "Classical Values." Clearly, the gods are trying to tell me something. Might they be telling me that yes, while I am swimming in the blogosphere, I am still at a very childish level compared to what they expect of me? And I have many address books to fill, and many dates to enter in my calendar? Three years of daily blogging? Is that what the gods demand? If anyone has a better interpretation, I'd like to hear it.
posted by Eric on 11.24.03 at 11:09 AM |
|
March 2007
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR
Search the Site
E-mail
Classics To Go
Archives
March 2007
February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 May 2002 See more archives here Old (Blogspot) archives
Recent Entries
War For Profit
How trying to prevent genocide becomes genocide I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight Wind Boom Isaiah Washington, victim Hippie Shirts A cunning exercise in liberation linguistics? Sometimes unprincipled demagogues are better than principled activists PETA agrees -- with me! The high pitched squeal of small carbon footprints
Links
Site Credits
|
|
Most interesting. I shall have to ponder the meaning of it. Hmmm.... Omens. Synchronicity. The way things come together or are juxtaposed by Fate. What a strange thing.
4 incidents of nationalistic synchronicity in my own life: 1) I was sitting in the Central High School library reading Oswald Spengler when I heard a kid named Breitenstein say to another kid: "He sure drank a lot of beer." 2) On our birthday, my brother and I were looking at my Camille Paglia books while we were eating in an Italian restaurant, and one of the menu items had the word "paglia" in it. 3) A few years ago, I was reading a book by Alan Dershowitz while eating a bagel. 4) Around the same time, I was eating some Mexican food while reading an article about the Aztecs.