Several years ago, I consolidated my student loans — Perkins loans, Stafford loans, all into one gooey loan ball. Since then, every few years, my student loans change servicers. At one time, I sent my payments to New York State. Then, Mississippi for a few years. For the past two years, they went to Pittsburgh.Continue reading “On Student Loan Absurdity”
Monthly Archives: May 2012
On Necktie Knots
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes talks about tying neckties. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Let me say that I’m unimpressed with Hayes’ necktie knot. 🙂 It’s nothing personal. I’m just picky when it comes to neckties and their knots. I taught myself how to tie a tie. The reason? IContinue reading “On Necktie Knots”
On Kirill Yeskov’s The Last Ringbearer
A few months ago on a bulletin board I was drawn into a somewhat tedious argument over what, exactly, pipeweed is in The Lord of the Rings. My sparring partner argued that pipeweed was clearly tobacco, Tolkien said so, and that, clearly, was that. The problem with the identification of pipeweed with tobacco, I said,Continue reading “On Kirill Yeskov’s The Last Ringbearer”
On Final Thoughts on North Carolina’s Amendment One
Some final thoughts on North Carolina and Amendment One. (Previous comments here and here.) I know that many of the people who voted in favor of Amendment One did so on religious grounds. They feel that homosexuality is incompatible with their religious beliefs because it is condemned in the text of the Bible. But IContinue reading “On Final Thoughts on North Carolina’s Amendment One”
On My Instant Reaction to Amendment One
This morning I wrote about Amendment One, a Constitutional amendment in North Carolina that was up for a vote on election day that would outlaw same-sex marriage and any heterosexual arrangement that wasn’t marriage. I implored people to vote against its passage, and I won’t recap what I said there; just read it for yourselfContinue reading “On My Instant Reaction to Amendment One”
On North Carolina’s Amendment One
Many states are going to the polls today. Dick Lugar’s career is likely to end today in Indiana as the crazy wing of the Republican Party turns him out in a primary. And North Carolina votes on Amendment One. Yesterday, I was invited to an after-election party in Raleigh by one of the anti-Amendment OneContinue reading “On North Carolina’s Amendment One”
On Musing about Beowulf and Its Culture
This morning, while I was listening to Scott Simon on NPR’s Weekend Edition and waiting for the coffee to kick in, I saw that a friend posted a question on Facebook about Beowulf. No, not the Robert Zemekis film. The Anglo-Saxon epic poem on which the Zemekis film was based. What, he wanted to know,Continue reading “On Musing about Beowulf and Its Culture”
Van Helsing Revisited
Last year I found at Big Lots the collector’s edition DVD of Van Helsing. Came in a brown box, had a couple of extra discs that included some of the original Universal Monsters movies. It was, I think, five dollars, and since I hadn’t seen Van Helsing since the weekend it came out, I pickedContinue reading “Van Helsing Revisited”
On Coding a Podcast Feed
I returned today to a long-term project — my new website. On the train this morning, after writing out my daily office to-do list, I wrote down a list of the things that I had left to do for the site. Design a logo here, design a graphic there, review content.php, et cetera and soContinue reading “On Coding a Podcast Feed”
On the Demise of a Band I Liked
Sunday evening I learned a band I liked had broken up. The band is Aerials Up. Unsurprisingly, they’re from Scotland. When I wrote about Aerials Up originally, I wrote that “there’s a certain similarity to Arcade Fire in the sound of Aerials Up; there’s a similar instrumentation, a similar mixture of male and female voices.Continue reading “On the Demise of a Band I Liked”