Liars and Saints

 My daughter has fallen for "The Magic Tree House," and I can see why. These books recreate the past; they are not simply history lessons. By putting Jack and Annie in the middle of a dinosaur stampede, Osborne grants every child-reader an important wish. Let me actually *travel* in space and time. The very first sentence fragment in the very first book is brilliant. "Help! A monster!" How do you beat that? Susie demands a rereading sometimes. Twice, we have wandered through "Mummies in the Morning." There is spookiness--a tomb robber, a ghost-queen, a mirage. Occasionally, there is a villain; the "pirate" segment involves a "Captain Hook" figure. What you do not find is humor, character development, or stylistic innovation. Susie doesn't mind. If the book is too frightening, Susie then needs to sleep with her door open. (In childhood, I always felt that if I covered my ear with a blanket, I would grant myself immunity from any vill...

  James Dailey had a rough time in Vietnam, came home, watched his life unravel. He was like the speaker in Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." Struggling with addiction, he lost his family. He began hanging out with unsavory characters. One of those characters--Pearcy--took a 14-year-old girl out for a drive. He tried to rape her, but he was impotent. In a moment of confusion, he believed that the kid was starting to laugh at him. In a frenzy, he stabbed her over thirty times and left her corpse in a puddle. To confuse the police, Pearcy claimed that he was with James Dailey on "the night in question." This was false. But the story gained momentum. The DA recruited a group of jailhouse snitches. Various secret promises were authored.  Testify against Dailey, and we'll offer perks. Dailey has thus spent decades in jail. At one point, Ron DeSantis declared his intention to execute Dailey. The murderer himself declared that Dailey was innocent. All but one ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZvsjbF785g&pp=ygUTbWFkZGllIHRyYWlsZXIgMjAyNg%3D%3D&ra=m I thought "Maddie's Secret" was mind-blowing. It never *works* to make you laugh. The writer/director never seems to break a sweat. Instead, the movie is a singular vision. It's like you're handed "alien goggles." And you see the world in a new way. We begin with Maddie skipping down the streets of L.A., occasionally sniffing jasmine. She is like Maria von Trapp. The world is wonderful! But she needs to make more money if she wants to start a family. So her partner pressures her to share one of her cooking videos with the world. Fame arrives--and its impact is pernicious. Maddie immediately faces criticism because of her weight. She had a traumatic childhood, in which her mother blamed her for family difficulties. (Her mother would often assist with purging sessions--Mom would hold the ponytail so strands of hair didn't dip themselves in the toilet water.) ...

  My main reason for seeing "The Lost Boys" was Shoshana Bean. And I had a great time. It's a bad musical. In a way, that doesn't matter. People are up there taking big swings--it's difficult not to feel excited. Shoshana Bean invented her own career. After "Wicked," she did not wait for others to invite her to a recording studio; she figured out how to make her own pop album, and she did the work. It's strange how pop stardom is denied to some and not to others. Bean has the head voice, the belt, and the riffing capabilities of a new Whitney Houston. But--also--who cares? If the pop world doesn't want Shoshana Bean, then Broadway *does* want her. My favorite Bean song is "No One," by Alicia Keys. It is reimagined as a mother/child duet, and it makes me think of my own kids. I know people will search the world To find something like what we have. I know people will try -- try to divide Something so real -- So, till the end of time, I...

  In Amy Bloom's story "Silver Water," a troubled young woman goes with her family to family therapy. The session doesn't flow smoothly . The therapist is icy and judgmental, and the young woman starts picking her nose. "I wonder," says the therapist, "why your daughter is behaving that way." The narrator jumps in. "Maybe because she doesn't like that you're talking about her in the third person." The other day, a paraprofessional handed my son off. "You may want to put that water bottle in boiling water," she said. "For some reason, HE decided to throw it in a trash can. Hope he does better tomorrow." And one part of me wanted to shrug. To say, "HE probably senses that you hate your job, and in turn HE doesn't like you very much. And walking to the trash can was one way to express all of that. Clever guy!" I can feel frustrated that the YMCA lied and claimed to be able to handle a case that was b...

  I really dislike my child's school district -- simple communication becomes baroque, certain employees fail to even pretend to listen, and there is an overall impression of "trying to chat with a black hole." When I fight with the school district, I remember the phrase "pearls before swine." To show real emotion is to give these fellow citizens something that they do not deserve. What they deserve is strictly superficial conduct. Nikki Giovanni writes: If i can't do  what i want to do  then my job is to not  do what i don't want to do  It's not the same thing  but it's the b est i can  do If I can't reform a broken system, I can at least promise to myself that I won't betray a sense of neediness. I will save my energy and act like a robot when that is what is called for. If i can't have  what i want . . . then  my job is to want  what i've got  and be satisfied  that at least there  is something more to want In other wor...