I wrote about Maurice Sendak when he died, and tried to articulate some of my impressions of him as a person and artist-- but I think the interview below captures (and reveals) him better than anything I've ever read.  I knew a little about his family history and even heard him talk about it briefly, and this conversation fills in some of the details that helped me better understand the kind of man and artist he became.  I found it very moving.

http://www.believermag.com/issues/201211/?read=interview_sendak

Hmmm, funny how... ... the word thoughtful has come to connote (primarily) concern and/or consideration  for others.  Actually kind of like the fact that this is the case since "thoughtfulness"  without a social perspective isn't fully thoughtful.  ... some people ( not you sister Debby...) will say "we redid the kitchen"  or  "we put on a new roof " when it would be more accurate to say  "we had the kitchen redone"  etc.  (when I was a kid, we visited some relatives who  said they had built two new rooms on their house, and  for years I was (unduly) impressed with their  amazing construction skills) ...you can try and rig a national election ( see: multiple State Governors and  Secretaries of State) and still retain your job, but if you seek a little love and affection in your personal life (see: David Petraeus) while performing your duties in an  honorable fashion, you're compelled to resign.  ...the term "brilliant politician" generally refers to someone with a talent for  manipulating people and circumstances for personal gain or power.   Politics may be the only field in which the qualifier " brilliant"   is synonymous with "evil".  ...in the aftermath of a tense and nerve wracking election season in which it seemed  that what was at stake was truly monumental, it was almost impossible for me to maintain even a modicum of interest in the outcome of a sporting event.   Knicks are off to a surprisingly great start  and frankly my dears,  I don't seem to give a damn.   Due to  popular demand...  More Craig Swanson P is for:
pandiculation	Stretching and yawning before going to bed or after waking up
petrichor	The smell of rain on dry ground
philosophunculist	One who pretends to know more than they do to impress others
pogonotomy	The act of cutting a beard
polyphloisboian	Making a lot of noise or loud racket
preantepenultimate	Fourth from last
prosopography	The description of a person's appearance
psithurism	The sound of wind in trees or rustling leaves
pyknic	Short and fat

Capital PUNishment.

Punning takes guts. Even the best pun is likely to elicit a groan .

It's the nature of the banal beast.  But it's also the beauty of it. Puns are the Mutts of the language litter.  Scrawny, pathetic little bundles of joy.  And I love em. Even the lame ones have charms to tickle a logophile's longing for loopy linguistics.
And it's really hard to think of one by trying.  They almost always just pop into your head prompted by a word in another context and then the instinctive associative process takes its own course.  And when that happens, it can be very re-wording. Add a visual and it can be...

The above is by someone as shamelessly (actually, he appears to be more so)

infatuated--he's Craig Swanson and a visual punster with the courage to explore the depths of the most shallow seas of sophomoric silliness. And when he finds something, he renders it with such craft and artistry--which makes it even funnier.  Many of his most inspired ones wouldn't work without the imagery. 

You can find  his cartoons and long personal stories/explanations to accompany them-- as well as other stuff at: 
http://content.perspicuity.com/?q=

And here's more:

O is For:

BY SPECIAL (Presidential) DELIVERY FROM ALEX M.-- Obambulate:   To walk around.  Wander. Obganiate:  To irritate someone by constantly repeating oneself. Ombrophobia:  Fear of rain Oneiric: Of, like or pertaining to dreams Opisthosomal: Of, like or pertaining to posteriors Oculoplania:  Letting one's eyes wander while assessing another's charms Ozostomia:  Bad breath

Onychophagy: The habit of fingernail biting

I know that guy.  

You know that guy.  

There's lots of those guys. 

Am I that guy? 

MIT professor of atmospheric science, Richard Lindzen, published an opinion in The Wall Street Journal  entitled “Don’t Believe the Hype: Al Gore is wrong. There’s no ‘consensus’ on global warming.”

UC San Diego professor of history of science, Naomi Oreskes rebutted  with “Global Warming—Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Scientists agree: The Earth is warming, and human activities are the principal cause."

And just after Sandy, there was this in WSJ under title: 

Roger Pielke: Hurricanes and Human Choice

Sandy was terrible, but we're currently in a relative hurricane 'drought.' Connecting energy policy and disasters makes little scientific sense.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204840504578089413659452702.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

What's the average citizen to do? 

How bout place a bet?

Go to:  http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/

and get in on the action.  There's money to be made in them thar ice caps. And while  there you can check out  some of the other horses at the gate including:  

Magnitude 9.0 (or higher) earthquake to occur anywhere before midnight ET 31 Dec 2012

A successful WMD terrorist attack to occur anywhere in the world before midnight ET 31 Dec 2013

United States to conduct overt military action against North Korea before midnight ET on 31 Dec 2012

Is this a great country or what?


Hadn't watched The Daily Show for many years, but had a hunch that last night might be something worth checking out since Stewart seems to become particularly inspired by events that justify his anger and disdain for FOX News and other mainstream news media. And I was right.  He was on fire. And some of his analysis was so on target that I forgot for a while that he was doing comedy.

Left out a few "M"  words last time, so...


 M again is for:

mulligrubs	A state of depression or low spirits
mumpsimus	One who sticks obstinately and wrongly to their old ways
mytacism	The incorrect or excessive use of the letter M
N is for:
nelipot	Someone who walks without shoes
nepheligenous	Producing clouds of tobacco smoke
nidorosity	Belching with the taste of undigested meat
nudiustertian	Pertaining to the day before yesterday

Almost feel sorry for the poor Pachyderm.  With just a couple of kind words for disenfranchised immigrants, or a nod of appreciation for those who (rightly or wrongly) rescued the American Auto industry, or just a quick glance around the room to make sure no one outside the club is listening in when sharing a few thoughts with the entitled "haves" about the undeserving "Have Nots"--and the game could have gone the other way. But then I remember the Dog on the roof of the car, and all sympathy vanishes.

Above illustration by Thomas Nast (1840-1902) --who employed his considerable artistic skills and sharp satirical wit  to wage a life-long battle against The Tammany Hall Machine and all forms of political hacks and quacks--and was the creator of the Elephant character to symbolize the GOP, and gave us the modern incarnation of Santa Claus, Uncle Sam, and Columbia (the female personification of American Values).  So on this day after the day in which we all can at least share in celebrating the spirit of democracy, I share with you a celebration of Thomas Nast--The " Father of the American Cartoon".

Lots more including explanatory notes for many of the below and fascinating connection between Nast and Van Gogh and Degas at: http://www.thomasnast.com/

These two below are side by side panels.  The first shows members of the Confederacy after the War petitioning 'Columbia" for pardoning, the second is her response.

PARDON.
Columbia "Shall I Trust These Men,

FRANCHISE
"And not this Man?"

The modern Santa is born...




What goes around comes around...



This one gives me chills.

Caption reads:  The American River Ganges
The Priests and the Children.

M is for
maledicent	One who is addicted to abusive speech
mammothrept	A child who is raised and spoiled by their grandmother
maritodespotism	Tyrranical rulership of a woman by her husband
matronolagnia	An attraction to older women, especially ones who have children
misocapnist	One who hates the smell of tobacco smoke
misodoctakleidist:	Someone who hates practicing the piano

A day for lots of question marks, ALL CAPS and exclamation points!!!

Have you seen what's happening in Florida and Ohio?
The first election related federal lawsuit has already been filed! Yesterday! Okay, you expected that.  But have you seen what's happening in New York? It's out of control!  It's another perfect storm! And this time it's a deluge of electoral chaos and mayhem! 

 First post-Sandy staff meeting at work and it begins with a half dozen horror stories of voting chaos in NY and NJ!  The CEO of our company relates a "Who's on First" narrative about his attempt to vote at a polling site where the officials are UNAWARE of  the Governor's executive order to allow affadavit voting at any polling location statewide!  BECAUSE OF SANDY!  REMEMBER SANDY? They 're clueless.  Affadavit?  What affadavit?  Are you in the book?  You have to be in the book!  HOW CAN I BE IN THE BOOK if this isn't my district?  You need to be IN THE BOOK!  I have an affadavit!  What affadavit?  Couldn't WE SEE THIS COMING?  And how can voting technology still be stuck in a pre-digital age?  Hell, it's stuck in a pre-mechanical age!  Just about EVERY GROCERY STORE AND CANDY COUNTER in even the most humble and depressed area is equipped with 100% effective and foolproof UPC scanners and/or lottery ticket machines that never fail--and yet this morning, I'm USING A PEN TO MAKE MARKS ON A PIECE OF PAPER  that then must be scanned using technology that was OUT OF DATE 40 YEARS AGO when it was proven to be UNRELIABLE in the scoring of Grade School standardized tests!!!!

The news of multi-state electoral dysfunction is pouring in as I write this and I don't know if I can take much more of what I'm seeing at:  http://electionlawblog.org/

I'll spare you further blather from this blogger and let my betters have the floor...


“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” ― Isaac Asimov

“The Bowery station on the J line is what happens to a neighborhood once politicians realize the people who live there don’t vote.” 
― Andrew Vachss

“Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours.” 
― Grover Cleveland

"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." 
--Emma Goldman 

"Perhaps America will one day go fascist democratically, by popular vote."
--William Shirer

"Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do."
--Wendell Berry

“The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.”---Joseph Stalin

As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.
---Karl Rove

Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.
W.C. Fields

Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?
---Robert Orben

“You have to remember one thing about the will of the people: it wasn't that long ago that we were swept away by the Macarena.” ― Jon Stewart

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” ― H.L. Mencken

“Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule—and both commonly succeed, and are right.” ― H.L. Mencken

Everything is controlled by a small evil group to which, unfortunately, no one we know belongs. 
-- Woody Allen

Voters in the  NorthEast are now looking at the 

Blue State/Red State thing in a whole new way 

-------------------------------------

-----------------------------------

which is as good a reason as I've heard yet...

see ya at the polls. 

Whoa, almost forgot, and sorry, forgot last couple of posts...so here's a triple portion:

J is for:
jentacular		Pertaining to breakfast
jumentous		Smelling like horse urine
K is for:
knismesis		Light tickling
krukolibidinous		The act of staring at someone's crotch
kyphorrhinos		Having a nose with a bump in it
L is for:
lalochezia	The use of foul or abusive language to relieve stress or ease pain
lethologica	The inability to recall a precise word for something
liripip	The long tail of a hood in medieval or academic costume
lygerastia	The condition of one who is only amorous when the lights are out

Her poor, tired, huddled masses are now just yearning for a working electrical outlet and a couple of gallons of gas. 

Harbor Island Park two blocks from our house.  

We were lucky.  Some fallen tree limbs, power out for only 34 hours, no water damage, and no structural damage to the house.  But we were in the minority.

Marty and Renee lost power on Day One and finally succumbed to the inevitability of a long cold dark siege--so they packed a few bags and came north from Long Island and settled in with us.  Seven days later and they're still with us.  Ellen and I are happy to have them, and it's been fun for us hanging with them--but they're getting  worn down by the daily grind of chasing unreliable information and living like (albeit, comfortable and secure) refugees. 

Not Ken and Nancy's--but a close facsimile just a few blocks away. 

Friends Nancy and Ken have a huge tree sitting horizontally across their driveway that took down the power lines--and except for a few trimmed branches to allow cars to get down the street, no progress has been made and they're still camping out indoors with no power or heat. 

Went into the city mid-week.  Got around the 3 passenger requirement by picking up a Guatamalan woman who works cleaning offices in mid-town.  She had her two children in tow. I saw her trying to hail a cab and offered her a lift.   Boss told her to come in or get fired.  Guess not all New Yorkers are mensches in a crisis. At first glance from uptown, all looked okay except for   traffic gridlock everywhere.  But there were two Manhattans.  The unlucky one was downtown and wherever  it wasn't water, water everywhere, there was evidence of where it had been and the mess it made.  

 From 59th St. Bridge I could see U.S. Army Corps ships on the East River pumping out tunnels (I assume it was the tunnels)  but didn't see many other signs of ongoing relief efforts--probably because much of it was underground, and conditions like the one on right were apparently replicated a hundred times over.   

Street vendors were selling everything from flashlights and cigarette lighters to cans of evaporated milk and pet food. Suspect a lot of things "Fell off the back of a truck" last week and the entrepreneurial spirit was in full battle mode.  Couldn't get around south of 30th st. very well, and absence of traffic lights made things a bit nerve-wracking.  

Colleague at work said her neighborhood at night was so dark you couldn't tell whether street in front of you was covered in concrete or a foot of water...until it was too late. 

Wonder if there's gonna be a lot of babies named Sandy come next summer?

But the true legacy of this storm is staggering loss and devastation.   NY Times this morning said 40,000 New Yorkers have been left homeless by the storm.  40,000! And that's just New Yorkers.  And probably a conservative estimate.    At work, the company has set up   a fund-raising drive for the American Red Cross, but I've been told that Coalition for The Homeless and Recovers.Org are two local organizations that are very effective in providing relief  in the form of food, clothing, shelter and other provisions. Been meaning to clean out the garage and attic for a long time...but think now I really will in hope that some of our collected and unused stuff could make a difference for those who've lost everything. 

http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/

https://recovers.org/communities