Clarissa's Blog

Responding to the anxieties arising from the eriosion of the nation-state by stoking xenophobia and hatred is wrong. But once you’ve pointed that out, you need to offer a response of your own. Because if you don’t, you are sending a message that strengthens the very position that you pretend to condemn. “Yes, it’s bad but it’s the only way.” 

I’m deeply indifferent to Star Wars but nothing is cuter than when Klara says, “Hi Yoda! Hi Darth Vader! Sleepy Yoda, wake up!” (The neighbors are fans and have inflatable figures as Christmas decorations.)

I’ve been elected Treasurer of United Feminists. It’s been the most useful professional organization I’ve belonged to. They always suggest actual publication opportunities and send out a really informative newsletter. 

If you are a scholar of Hispanic literature, language and/or culture, please consider joining. It’s very cheap (seriously, go here and check it out), and you’ll be helping a really good organization that is in dire financial straits right now. I promise you that we only do valuable, good work. 

Have you ever wondered what the USSR would have looked like if it existed in the times of the Internet?

If you’d like to know if any of the movies or TV shows you watch has a bad apple –someone accused of sexual misconduct– affiliated with it, you need to head over to The Rotten Appl.es. A quick search of their database will tell you if a cast-member, screenwriter, executive producer or director is an alleged abuser.

The Thumbtack website went to the dogs. It used to be such a convenient place to hire people locally. You’d post your project, people would look at it, tell you what it would cost, and you’d hire. 

And now, instead of real people looking at your project, the second you post, you get a bunch of automated, pre-recorded, completely meaningless quotes from companies. And real people seem to have disappeared from the website altogether.

It happens so often. A great useful website or app is eviscerated and rendered completely useless under the guise of promoting efficiency and convenience. Thumbtack is now super fast and efficient at delivering an entirely useless service. Yippee. 

If you spend time on social media, you can actually come to believe that the CDC banned 7 words from use. People are talking about it like it’s real. They are so eager to defend the word “evidence-based” that they support claims based on no evidence at all. 

I prepared myself a smoked salmon sandwich and was going to eat it when Klara grabbed it. I thought she’d try it and realize it’s not the flavor she likes. But she declared that it’s “yummy yummy!” and ate the whole thing. 

Do you, folks, think it’s safe? It feels like a very adult food. 

There was this short story in The New Yorker that I actually really liked. This is unusual because I tend to hate the fiction they publish. Here is the link to the story. It’s very realistic. People say it’s a typical milennial dating story but I’m way older than millennials, and I’ve been on that kind of date more than once. God, I hate dating. 

In any case, what’s really funny is not even the story but that it created some sort of a controversy because people thought it was a news story (or “newsy”, as a reader described it) and not fiction. 

And that’s the answer to why my profession is so important. The culture of reading and art appreciation needs to be taught. People can’t figure it out on their own because it’s a skill that has to be cultivated. 

Today we went to the traditional Brunch with Santa at the local restaurant. The event is so popular that we had to reserve the 9 am spot because everything else was taken weeks in advance. 

The reason why people like this brunch is that there’s Santa who distracts the kids while the parents gorge on a buffet of traditional Christmas foods like oysters, shrimp cocktail, wild rice pilaf, roasted zucchini, eggs Benedict, and smoked salmon blini. Klara’s favorite was the pasta and sundried tomatoes salad. 

While parents eat, you can hear them exclaim, “I’ve been to goshdarn IHOP over a hundred times this year. I deserve to have normal adult food one day a year!” “What’s goshdarn, Mommy? Mommy, what’s goshdarn? Mommy? Are we going to IHOP after this? Mommy????? Daddy, Mommy said we can go to IHOP after this. Can we go now?” After which the harried mommy makes a dash for more oysters.

The FB feed is filled with emotional pleas from people who are asking others not to give any spoilers from a movie that just came out and that seems to matter a lot. The possibility of staying off FB until they see the movie and avoiding spoilers in this way doesn’t seem to occur to anybody.

A propos of movies, has anybody seen the new “Orient Express”? I’m not sure I understand the point of the movie if everybody knows how it ends in advance. Agatha Christie’s novels are 100% about the the denouement. She didn’t create memorable characters, interesting dialogue, or anything but the famous final twists. Once you know the twist, why watch?