what in God's eye he is

if any you have not read this hopkins poem, please do so immediately. i was just looking through my notes from trinity class - some of you will remember a certain australian italian professor who shared many, many poems with us. love it. anyway, this particular one was referenced in something i read recently. i forget what.


i will keep the bad things from you
i will keep a straight face, honey

"i am not resigned."

there's an op-ed in the nytimes today called "taken by the tide," by billy sothern. it's fabulous. it's about new orleans and it's sad, but i loved reading it because it's so well-written. it's like reading a short story. [i know you can only read it today-ish, but i like going along with whatever the publishers are doing.]

i think i'm on a little bit of literature withdrawal.

and here's this, for all your grammar snarks out there. yes, i think this kind of thing is funny. i really laughed as i read it.

"i'm an english teacher. you do the math." this is actually a t-shirt that you can BUY. i mean, apparently everything is a t-shirt you can buy, but whatever.

public service announcement

sooooo i emailed verizon to ask them to get the office theme song as a ringtone. because I LOVE IT and, you know, i'm going to be one of those people who asks for things.

so here's the reply i got from them.

Thank you for contacting Verizon Wireless through our website.

Good afternoon, I received your inquiry regarding searching for a specific ringtone. My name is Beth and it's my pleasure to assist you today.

To help you locate the desired ringtones, many Get It Now ringtone applications have corresponding websites that let you browse and preview their ringtone library from your computer. To find out which ringtone applications are available for your phone:

1. Visit www.verizonwireless.com/getitnow
2. Choose "Get Tones"
3. Select your phone from the dropdown box on the left side of the screen
4. Click "Details" under the application's icon.

Below I have provided a list of the Get It Now ringtone applications that have websites for ringtone previews:

Modtones: http://www.modtones.com
MIDI Ringtones: http://www.midiringtones.com
Ringster: http://vzw.moviso.com/verizon/splash.html
Xringer: http://www.xringer.com
MyTonz: http://vzw.mytonz.com
TonePLAYER: http://www.toneplayer.com

To find the specific ringtone for which you are looking, please verify which ringtone applications are available for your handset and then visit the application developer's website to search their online catalog.

Each application developer is constantly adding new content, so if you are not able to find the specific ringtone for which you are looking, it may be available in the future. Some ringtone developers even allow you submit ringtone requests, such as Modtones.

Once you have found your desired ringtone within a ringtone application, you will download that specific ringtone application to your phone. Once you have the application downloaded, you can then download the desired ringtone from your handset.

We appreciate your business. Thank you for using Verizon Wireless products and services. Should you have additional questions or concerns, please reply to this e-mail.

Sincerely,

Beth
Verizon Wireless
Customer Service

"We never stop working for you!"

really. apparently they actually don't stop working for me and then send me helpful emails.

seriously, did you all know this? i consider myself pretty good at technological things, but ringtones, for some reason, are completely beyond me.

that's my story, and i'm sticking to it.

"Around the same time, newspapers begin to report that a Cleveland-size ice shelf had broken clear of the coast of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, though apparently Mr. Taft had nothing to do with this."

hehe ohio politics. and apparently everyone is "going crazy" about the osu game tomorrow, according to mom. here we go...

all men and women are created equal

1. snark of the week is about a comment by mara liasson on npr that "there are these two 800-pound gorillas in the democratic race..." she's talking about the fact that clinton and obama haven't yet said they're running even though everyone knows it. but i hope that some interns in their press offices found that quote and laughed a lot. and maybe bought it to their bosses and told them that mara liasson called them fat.

2. "i don't know if the pants still fit, but i know the hat will." - harrison ford, on MAKING ANOTHER INDIANA JONES. oh boy oh boy.

3. i heard that ellison was making a "politically savvy" move regarding people being mad that he's swearing in on the koran. i was like, aw hell, someone told him not to do it. but guess what. he's swearing on on THOMAS JEFFERSON'S KORAN. because thomas jefferson had the koran. take that, people who say that this country is built on christianity alone. you can't argue with mr. jefferson.

4. here's something troubling. i mean, it's been bothering me for a while. i was reading the reviews on the book a daring promise, by richard gaillardetz.

here's the first one, that made me say hmmm, looks good:

Gaillardetz has served on the Catholic delegation in the Methodist-Catholic dialogues, and his writing reflects his ecumenical sensitivity. As a Methodist myself (married to a Catholic), I very much appreciate his tone. It is a pleasant change from those Catholic authors who write with what I call the "fullness of truth" attitude. I also appreciate the author's sensitivity to those who are unable or choose not to have children. Overall, I highly recommend this book to Christians (Catholics and non-Catholics alike) who seek a practical framework for making sense of Christian marriage.

this, from a catholic theologian [self-proclaimed]:

I must disagree with those who say that G is unfaithful to the magisterial teaching on contraception. On the contrary, he presents the official teaching accurately and sympathetically. At the same time he is candid about the difficulty of adhering strictly to the discipline of natural family planning, but cautions readers against ignoring the discipline simply because it isn't easy.

and then this one:

The other item was his flawed view of conscience. When talking about the Catholic Church's teaching on contraception, he does a decent job of explaining why the Church teaches against it, but in almost the last sentence about the subject he says that if you still don't buy it and your conscience tells you the teaching against contraception is not for you, then you must follow your conscience and dissent from the Church's authoritative teachings. He should reread the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1792: CCC 1792 Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.

okay, first of all, the last post is crappily written, which you all know makes me completely prejudiced. [keeping me humble: the fact that i can't spell prejudice without thinking really hard.] but because i'd like us all to have legitimate opinions, i'd like people to express their ideas in ways that appear reasonable. you know? all right, i'm a style-ist.

at any rate, it's not a catholic book, it's a "christian marriage" book. and birth control, i believe, is not an issue of public morality - or, at least, i think that's what this speech i've been meaning to read is going to say. i worry that the emphasis on morality above all else is distracting and divisive. more about this later, i think.

5. "Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal." - Madam Speaker. i like how this happened really normally. like oh, the democrats are in power, and our new speaker is - oh hey, it's a woman. and oh, it's historic. i'd like to be able to tell my granddaughters that this was a historic day and have them be surprised.

6. west wing quote of the week [and you understand i use "week" loosely]:

josh: you know what cj, i really think i'm the best judge of what i mean, you paranoid berkeley shiksa feminista! [pause] whoa, that was way too far.

cj: no, no. well, i've got a staff meeting to go to and so do you, you elitist harvard fascist missed the dean's list two semesters in a row yankee jackass!

josh: feel a little better getting that off your chest there, cj?

cj: i'm a whole new woman.

you know what other word is hard to spell? fascist.

this isn't my regular tuesday suit.

i've decided this will be the west wing quote of the week. (or, apparently, the west wing quote of 2007.) season 1, when joey lucas comes to the white house and there's all the confusion about josh's "regular tuesday suit."

Josh: What are you smiling at?
Charlie: Fine looking woman, Josh.
Josh: Yes.
Charlie: I could help you out.
Josh: Help me out with what?
Charlie: She's a fine looking woman.
Josh: Stop saying that!
Charlie: I owe you a lot, Josh. You got me this job. I'd like to pay you back.
Josh: By helping me out?
Charlie: By helping you out.
Josh: What makes you think I need any help?
Charlie: She's a fine looking woman...
Josh: Get away from me.

alsoooo, i'm sending back season 1 to amazon because the first eight minutes of one episode won't play AND that's when zoey asks charlie out. like what? that's an important eight minutes. i got my shipping charge refunded when one of my christmas packages was really, really late. i think i might become one of those people who makes reasonable demands and gets things. you know? i like those people.

i've been getting unreasonably tired lately. as at every christmas. boo.

in today's nytimes:

On the plus side, the visit to Turkey by Pope Benedict XVI helped soothe
relations, especially after Benedict backed off his opposition to Turkey’s
application to join the European Union. The pope — who infuriated Muslims a few
months ago with a tone-deaf speech criticizing Islam — may have done even more
good with his visit to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, where he prayed facing
Mecca. [...] As he left Istanbul, the pope said he hoped his visit would bring
“civilizations progressively closer.” The European Union should listen.

"...and also, we're taking all our advice from the pope from now on. love, the new york times editorial staff." no? you don't think so? :)

not trying to be snarky, definitely not saying the nytimes should become a catholic publication. just one more step in my lifelong search for irony.

"given my lifelong search for irony, you can imagine how happy that makes me."

"i was BEING ironical."

also, you know what else i learned from the nytimes today? that harriet's character on studio 60 is based on kristin chenoweth, whom you may remember as glinda in wicked and annabeth on season 7 of the west wing. apparently she and aaron sorkin dated (hot - do you think he talks like his characters in real life?) and all that stuff (going on the 700 club, getting uninvited to perform at a christian concert, growing up in a religious family, discovering her talent at a young age) really happened to her. it was weird to read, actually. it's a really good article. oh, and she did pose for bikini pictures, so we'll see what harriet does...

do you think that matt is based on aaron himself? i'm going to pretend he is because of my intense love for matthew perry.