Didn't Even Know

So I guess Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel broke up. Who knew they were even a couple (for five frickin' years)? Not I. Not I. Clearly, I am not spending enough time following celebrity romances--time to start the subscription to US Magazine. Really, though, I should pay more attention to Sarah Silverman--funny and smart and irreverent and good-lookin'. Generally, people are attracted to those they find funny--and SS's comedic talents make her that much more appealing. Really, what the hell was she doing with Kimmel? She must have thought he was very funny. Beauty in the eye of the beholder they say. Maybe they broke up because she didn't find him funny anymore. Or maybe it's because she's f***ing Matt Damon.

What the...?

In 2004 we named our first son Phineas; two months later Julia Roberts named her son Phinnaeus. In 2007 we named our second son Knox, and just this week Brangelina named their son Knox. What the fuck?

Here We Go

Okay. Some readers. Some comments. Roman wants to be spanked in public. With comments like that our options and destinations here in blogland are limitless. So tell your friends (and tell your enemies) about AGHOSTLIVS. Make it your homepage, make it your religion, make it your life. Name your children after it. Or you can just keep reading and commenting. And check out some of the GHOST's earlier posts--including Sedaris and Cigarettes and Bug Sex--I don't know why noone has commented on that yet.

It's Milk!

I agree with and enjoy most of the responses Miss Conduct offers in the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine. But her thoughts in "Where Breast Milk Shouldn't Go" piss me right off. A woman writes in complaining of a coworker who, after pumping some breast milk at work, keeps it (labeled) in the employee fridge. Miss Conduct says the milk-pumping mom's "behavior" is "seriously inappropriate." Attitudes like these (and H.M. in Quincy's), which shun and discourage breast-feeding moms, set up roadblocks (as though there weren't enough--financial, cultural, societal) for women trying to do the best for their babies. In what way is breast milk in a refrigerator "seriously inappropriate (behavior)"? Because it is "bodily fluid"? It's a BOTTLE OF MILK. That's it. What is cow milk? The bodily fluid of an animal--most likely an animal hopped up on growth hormones. What if it were a bottle of formula? Would the childless women be made uncomfortable then, too? Would she consider it "seriously inappropriate"? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies breast-feed for at least one year. And breast-feeding mothers provide their offspring what they need most as they develop and grow. Attitudes need to change. Women should be allowed to breast-feed in public, and, by all means, allowed to store some milk in the company fridge. And what's up with this Facebook shit?

Family Circus Sucks

Someone should do this to Billy and all of the other useless twits in Family Circus. "It's always there, in the lower right hand corner, just waiting to suck" (the film Go).

Snakes and Rats and Recluses Oh My!

This past spring I taught a poetry (creative writing) course. Though intitially I had been a whole lot skeptical about high school students' poetry, I thoroughly enjoyed the class--and some of the students produced some solid works. We workshopped often, usually in a full class setting. Most of the early comments were expectedly weak and thoughtless: it's good, I like it, I can relate to it--without any further explanation or elaboration. Sometimes these comments were combined: "I like it...I can relate to it." In saying they related to a poem they typically meant "I too have felt/experienced that"; so they liked it because it was familiar, accessible, approachable. I quickly outlawed such responses. I wanted them to move beyond themselves, to get at how (and if) a poem worked. I wanted them to recognize alternative perspectives, styles--and in doing so come to relate (understand/appreciate). T. Coraghessan Boyle's short story "Thirteen Hundred Rats" (recently published in The New Yorker) allowed/forced me to relate--to feel sympathy first for a rat (I hate rats) and then a snake (I hate snakes) and then a recluse (I don't mind recluses).