History Things I Wish I Understood Better

So, Jesse Babcock Ferguson stands up in front of the Nashville Church of Christ and announces that he talks to dead people. How big would that church have been in 1857? Would it have been segregated? Let me try to get at something, too, that I’m wondering about. Spiritualism was non-Christian. But it was highly [...]

Small Confession

I am done with teenage-love Eric on True Blood. I was not overjoyed with it in the first place, but I saw how it worked thematically. Tonight? I literally cannot understand how Sookie can sleep with him. I miss the Eric you thought was on the verge of breaking the 4th wall to wink at [...]

Warning: Extremely Creepy Kid Thingy In Photos Below

I have two things to say about Mt. Olivet Cemetery, excluding the vandalism. 1. It’s a hoot to walk through all the gravestones and recognize names because of street names in town. 2. I like the creepy gothic open look on tombs, just not with little kids stuck in them. See below, if you dare. [...]

The Thing, Revisited

I have lollygagged my afternoon away with a cemetery and ice cream. The vandalism at Mt. Olivet is really bad, not just Ben Allen’s family. And there was a weird smell all afternoon that I just now realized is me. Oops, sorry Professor. The bigger question is why my car smells like cigarette smoke lately. [...]

A Coincidence that I Wish Meant Something

The first written account of the Bell Witch appeared in 1887, describing events that started in 1817. Adelicia Acklen was borin in 1817 and died in 1887. In other news, don’t even think we’re done talking about “The Thing.” Edited to add: Meaning, I think I’ve found an account of an encounter with The Thing. [...]

Lunch With Ben Allen

When your choice is “stay home and do dishes in advance of the arrival of your guests” and “go look for Ben Allen,” and you are me, I think we all know I’m going to go look for Ben Allen. First off, his road is easy enough to find. It connects Dickerson and Hart through [...]

Wait, So Ben Allen is Actually Cool?

People, I tell you what, the more I learn about Nashville, the more I feel at home here. Sure, sure, there’s all that regular history of which I, as a Midwesterner, can never be a part (since we don’t have history in the Midwest before January 6, 1878. Oh, sure, things happened on the land [...]

I’m Not Bright, but Bright Red

I’ve just been so sleepy all afternoon and kind of annoyed by that, considering that, even if it was hotter than when we normally walk, we didn’t walk but ten minutes farther than we do every day. But I just caught sight of myself in the mirror and I am sunburnt. Sunburnt. I’m working my [...]

And Yet, Debra Maggart is Still in Office

Debra Maggart says: Last fall, voters throughout the nation signaled they wanted a fundamental change in how government operates. From Washington to Nashville, a clear message was sent that government needed to scale back to its constitutional roots and remove itself from the equation so the private sector can take the lead once more in [...]

Cooler Does Not Mean Cool

The cat had her follow-up visit with the vet. She has to continue her hydrotherapy until the wound closes up completely, but she’s done with the oral antibiotics. And she got her vaccines. They’re only doing the upper respiratory vaccines every three years now and she says she thinks they’ll soon recommend only doing rabies [...]

Precision

One thing I find myself mulling over whenever I read feminist (or other social justice) blogs is that there is a fine line between metaphor as enlightening and metaphor as useless. But lately, I’ve also been thinking about the critique of metaphor. And I don’t know how to get at this distinction exactly, but it [...]

Surprise!

It cracks me up when the new kitty comes bounding into the room like she’s late for her cue. And I’m glad to see her feeling sassy. I’m always saying stupid stuff to the cat. Like I was cooking dinner and she was just hanging out in the kitchen and I was all “Hey, shorty, [...]

Me & My Dream of Kris Kristofferson

Last night I dreamed I had to escort Kris Kristofferson to my alma mater where he was going to perform an intimate concert at the English Department. And, for some reason, he got so drunk he couldn’t perform and so Willie and Waylon had to step in and sing along (luckily) and then Hank Jr. [...]

I Still Love the Library, But I Have a Question

This morning I saw this book on John Scalzi’s blog and… Can we pause a moment to talk about John Scalzi? I love Scalzi’s blog. I love the discussions that he has there. I learn about books I want to read there. And I can recognize him as a talented, skilled writer. I just don’t [...]

The Whole World of Pasta is Open to the Redheaded Kid Now

The Butcher and I just taught the Redheaded Kid how to boil water and make hot dogs. He’s really tickled with himself. It’s cute. But now we’re fighting with him about being prejudiced against tall scrawny white guys, because he refused to watch any movie with Jessie Eisenberg and/or Michael Sera in it. I’m not [...]

I Would Be Happy Wearing the Same Thing Everyday

I was just admiring this shirt in the mirror and it made me wish I could just wear a uniform. Like men can get away with buying five suits and wearing those same five suits every damn day. Sure, you might flip out a different tie now and then, but you know what you’re going [...]

Ugh

Listen, I know things work differently for the rich and famous, but this news depresses me.

Lloyd Road is Crowded This Morning

Mrs. W., me, two other walkers, and a jogger. I’m glad about it. It makes this feel like, somehow, a rural neighborhood. Like we all live out in the kind of country, but we can get to know each other on sight. Plus, I like knowing that, if I’m hit by a car or something, [...]

Other Things I Would Do with a Bronze Prognosticating Robot Head

Whew, I have been giggling about Pope Sylvester all day. I guess, in all fairness, that accusing a reform-minded pope of consorting with demons makes a certain amount of sense if you are anti-reform. But I’m perplexed by the bronze prognosticating robot head. Is this supposed to tell us something about an anxiety about science [...]

Bad News, Historians! There Was No Middle Ages! At Least, Not the Cool Part

You know, there are conspiracy theories that you can kind of see how, through a combination of wishful thinking and squinting at the evidence, a person might come to believe that, say, Ron Ramsey is actually a balding Bigfoot. Today, in fact, just a second ago, I learned about The Phantom Time Hypothesis, which states [...]

Two More Good Things

1. Yet another great post at Feministe–this time about Erica Badu’s magical pussy. Especially astute analysis of the way anxiety about traditional Southern Black folk magic is caught up in this who anxiety about women using our vaginas to control men. I’m not black, Southern, or particularly keen on keeping a man and even I, [...]

I Think the New Kitty is Feeling Better

Now getting her to wash off her wound and let us fill it with gunk and then stuff her full of antibiotics has gotten to be… shall we say… not as easy. It’s good we have a system and that I have someone like the Butcher who can hold her. But she escaped outside on [...]

Fiddling While Rome Burns

The world is falling apart. Is it natural to retreat into art and beautiful things or just a way of keeping our heads in the sand? Or both? I don’t know. I had a thought this evening that there’s a pretty hilarious book for someone to write about a private investigator who takes only small, [...]

Feministe is on Fire!

Man, lots of good stuff over at Feministe today. Great (if contentious) discussion about religion and feminism. Another about abuse. And a third about fat.

Lt. Governor Gun-Jumper Ramsey Wants Child-Starving Policy

Dear lord, what the fuck is up with these Republicans sitting around pondering all the ways they can cause Tennessee children to starve?! I mean, shoot, yes, I suppose that’s one way to curb childhood obesity–we’ll just let our children starve to death. But it seems like we might take less drastic actions of some [...]