I’m leaving for Napa in a couple of hours, and expect posting to be fairly light until the New Year wherein the Hag will turn four years old. (Not me, of course, as I rapidly approach the half century mark, but my eponymous blog…) I’ll be seeing my brother, Butts, tomorrow so I though I’d [...]
Each day, I thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the UK’s Guardian. Where else can an American go to find out what the rest of the world thinks of us? Certainly not Kaplan’s loss leader, the WaPoo, and undoubtedly not Judy Miller’s old place, the New York Times. That unusually worthwhile newspaper reported today that, [...]
Since I can’t find anything remotely funny to write about today, I thought I’d revert to that old standby, my crazy Grandmother, Etta. As I’ve mentioned before, my brothers and I got into phone-tapping and bugging for entertainment purposes in a very big way an the aftermath of Watergate, so much so that one of [...]
Last week my crazy grandmother, Etta, would have been 106 had she not done the world an enormous favor by finally tipping over back in 1980. Much to my chagrin, however, I continuously find that while Etta is safely interred on her hilltop promontory alongside a 1953-modern statue of the Blessed Virgin, what I’ll call [...]
The internet is a wonderful tool in many ways, but as recent incidents reveal, it leaves the beleaguered victim of lame, indifferent corporations that critical tool of last resort when one has been ripped off, or more commonly, simply told that what they want isn’t available at any price, so they must cough up for [...]
Something about the holidays…. They always bring back old memories, which for me means mostly unpleasant memories of my crazy grandmother, Etta, who managed to ruin Jesus’ Birthday every year until she died, and always in unique and memorable ways. Christmas was tough on Etta; she hated the effort and expense of having everyone over [...]
As longtime Hag readers know, I had a crazy grandmother who, though quite embarrassing and seemingly anachronistic at the time (she died in 1980…), turned out to be an exact prototype of the American right wing circa 2010. She berated complete strangers in public for speaking a foreign language, she applauded black people who worked [...]
I guess one of the most depressing things about getting older is realizing that, just like Grandpa used to say, (or, in my case, my crazy grandmother, Etta…), since one’s youth, things really have indeed gone downhill. Growing up in Oregon in the 60′s and 70′s was a little bit like living in the socialist [...]
One of the things that prepared me for life as a liberal Democrat was growing up with my crazy grandmother Etta around. Though she was crazy and everyone knew it, for some reason we were taught to put up with it, and whenever possible give her her way, since even though her ideas were always [...]
When I was a kid back in the 70′s, it was easy to believe that racism in America was on the way out; no one I knew, and certainly no one I respected, was openly racist unless they were old, dumb, and/or ignorant. Racism still existed, of course, but it was as embarrassing in polite [...]