Road Trip

Yesterday

I saw a guy

Feathering his hair

In the rearview mirror of his red

Pontiac Fiero, which had Indiana plates.

Nothing else to report.

Bumper Sticker Mentality

While I was on the road the other day, I noticed something that I hadn't seen in a while: a "Bush/Cheney 2004" bumper sticker. Remembering back two years ago, those things were omnipresent, along with "I Stand With George W. Bush," and "W, The President" stickers. Now with his approval rating dropping to Nixon-like numbers, I wonder how many people actually took the stickers off their cars, and how many simply didn't put them on their new vehicles when they traded in their SUV's in the name of fuel/cost efficiency.

Similarly, I haven't seen much of a rash of reactionary bumper stickers like "Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry," or "Impeach Bush" like we did when Clinton was in office. I wonder if that will change, or if the citizenry has pushed past the bumper sticker conversation and opted for a less confrontational, more substantial dialogue regarding such matters. Judging by the talk radio that people listen to in said automobiles, that might be a bit optimistic. Still, it's always interesting to see what people are (or aren't) declaring about themselves on bumper stickers.

Just something to think about next time you're in traffic.

Hammer The Keys

I'm sitting here looking down the barrel of a near-empty coffee cup thinking about this monumental writing task I'm planning to take on in a few weeks. Manuscript revisions. Holy shit. I'm going to try to make my dissertation readable. That should be a neat trick.

In the meantime, I've taken to putting the new Pearl Jam album on "repeat" and working around the house. Yesterday I installed a new sanitary tub in the basement, and my lawn has never looked better. It's not exactly up to Augusta National fairway or centerfield at Fenway Park standards, but I'm working on it. There are other projects on the horizon (miles to go before I sleep...), and I think them something of a subconscious manifestation gearing up to the aforementioned writing project.

Writing, like home improvement, is ultimately a collection of met goals. Today I will research X, tomorrow I will write about it, and I will revise and expand on it the day after. By setting out to "do things around the house," I'm mentally warming up for the writing which will consume me over the summer months.

I figure the writing will go something like the work around the house. I won't get everything done that I want to, but the things I do get done will be impressive and fantastic, at least to me. Like working around the house, the more you write, the more you realize needs to be written (or repaired, if you're still on the house metaphor). Still, it's good to have a home to putter around, and a titanic project to keep one intellectually engaged, whatever it may be. I may not be particularly good at either home improvement or writing, but it sure is fun trying...I think.

Gloria Steinem once said that "Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else." I think she put it very well...in the meantime, I've got to figure out a way to unclog the gutter drain next to my bedroom window.