Detroit Diva

You may or may not know, or remember, that one of the people that I greatly admire is former President Jimmy Carter. I am awed by his dignity, compassion, diplomacy, and strength (among other qualities). President Carter was on the Today show this morning and his interview with Katie Couric is here. He says some interesting things including this about John Kerry's supposed flip floppiness "It's not an easy task to overcome that stigma of flip-flopping. But everybody has to change position to accommodate changing times.” I find that last comment particularly interesting - it's something our current President could learn something from, especially in relationship to Iraq.

Well, Hello Dolly

Ha Ha Ha Ha Snort Ha Ha Ha Ha ....

Bored? Missing the days when you were a kid and spent hours playing with dolls? Well, perk up my friends. Celebrity Paper Dolls are here for your endless enjoyment. (Just click the mouse and drag the clothes to the figure) Thanks to Mary who likes the Johnny Depp paper doll. My personal preference is Orlando Bloom. Oh somebody stop the fun!

Check out Working Bikes Cooperative in Chicago. Working Bikes "recovers landfill-bound bicycles, repairs them to working condition, and sells them to Chicagoans at a low cost in order to fund shipments of bicycles and bike parts to developing countries." How cool is that? Also on the web site check out this article about Chicago's Mayor Daley and his plan to build a bike station in an effort to get more people to ride their bikes to work and make Chicago more bike friendly. I wish I lived in a city that was interested in making itself more bike friendly, not to mention walking friendly, public transportation friendly or just plain commuter friendly. Oh well, one can dream. You know I love ya Detroit!

Home on the Range

Very interesting article in the Village Voice that compares how W., the supposed cowboy, stacks up to the code of the real cowboy. Let's just say that it takes more than a hat, boots, and a texas drawl.

I stole this from Orangette who stole it from Garrison Keillor’s The Writer's Almanac

“It's the anniversary of the day that poets Robert Browning, 34, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 44, eloped (1846). They had married secretly seven days earlier in St. Marylbone Church in London. Their witnesses were Robert's cousin James Silverthorne and Elizabeth's maid, Elizabeth Wilson. The next day, a Sunday afternoon, Robert wrote to her that she had proved her love for him and that he would spend his life trying to prove his affection for her. He wrote, "Do you feel what I mean, dearest? How you have dared and done all this, under my very eyes, for my only sake? My own eyes have seen—my heart will remember!"

The Brownings met for the first time in 1845 and over the next twenty months exchanged 574 letters. Elizabeth's father didn't want her to marry, so their courtship and marriage were kept a secret. During the six days between their wedding and the day they eloped to Florence, Elizabeth wrote letters to her friends and family, and to her father. Her letters revealed everything. They were her only goodbye. When the letters were read, she would be gone.

The night before they eloped, Elizabeth wrote to Robert, "Is this my last letter to you, ever dearest?—Oh, —if I loved you less ... a little, little less."

Robert and Elizabeth read and critiqued each other's poetry, and while together they wrote the best poetry of their lives. Robert often called Elizabeth "my little Portuguese" because of her dark complexion.

In 1850 she published her most famous work, a collection of poems called Sonnets from the Portuguese. In it, she wrote, "If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange / And be all to me?"

And, also from Sonnets from the Portuguese: "Beloved, my Beloved, when I think / That thou wast in the world a year ago, / What time I sat alone here in the snow / And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink ..."

On the morning of June 29, 1861, as Elizabeth lay dying, Robert fed her jelly with a spoon. "Our lives are held by God," she said. A short time later, she died in his arms.”

How beautiful is this? Can you imagine writing someone 574 letters in 20 months (My friend Jane is thinking to herself “Well, I know you couldn’t because you never even write me a damn letter”) And how cool is it that he’s 10 years younger than she is. I know it’s corny but when I read this I felt really happy. With all the death, war, and violence going on, a little love and passion is just what we all need.

First there was Netflix and now there is Bag, Borrow, or Steal. The premise is that you pay a monthly membership fee and you can borrow any purse you like, keep it as long as you want, return it for a different one, or buy it at a discounted price. Great for all you Paris Hilton wannabes but stupid for the rest of us.

I saw a preview for the animated movie The Incredibles yesterday and it looks adorable. I have a feeling if you liked/loved Toy Story, you'll love this one.

Watch out JLo

The betting starts now. Paige gives it 2 months. I think it will last until April or May of next year. Yes, of course, we are talking about the white trash princess, Britney Spears’ wedding. The groomsmen were in white track suits with the word Pimps on the back and the groom’s daddy had one that said Pimp Daddy on the back. The bridesmaids wore pink tracksuits and no, they did not say Ho on the back, although that would certainly have completed the look. It sounds so beautiful, I keep tearing up just thinking about it. I’m really hoping that People magazine will have pictures in the upcoming issue. Ok, now back to reality. Actually, I’m speechless over the tackiness of the whole thing and more over the fact that their parents went along with it. I can just picture the look on my Mom’s face if, at that age (or any age), I had told her that I would be getting married for the second time in 10 months, followed by the look on my Dad’s face when I told him he’d be wearing a track suit that said Pimp Daddy on the back. Can you say shock, disappointment, disgust, and then a million variations of “I know we raised you better”. My mom (and I’m sure many others) likes to say “Money can’t buy you happiness” and as Britney and Paris Hilton prove - it sure don’t buy you class and a whole lot of other things. Don’t you know that if Ms. Spears didn’t have some “talent” she’d be living in a double-wide back in Louisiana with her 2 kids, one on the way, and the baby's possible, but the DNA hasn’t proved a thing yet, daddy.

While blog surfing, I came across a comment by Pipstar in Australia. She made the comment in response to the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta on Sept. 9th. "Nobody has the right to decide that their political cause is more valuable than somebody else's life." What a powerful and true statement.