Sentence of the Day, Social Justice Edition

"If you're not at the table, you're on the menu." — A friend of mine in her role as a panelist at a social justice forum yesterday. It's not original to her, but boy howdy, did it resonate in that context

Sentence of the day, ecumenical edition

"I can report that nothing, not even the suspect pairing of a Congregationalist and a prayer book, was capable of keeping us from successfully worshipping Christ together." — Rev. Emily C. Heath

Sentence of the day, J.M. Barrie edition

"I am not your Wendy."

Sentence of the day, post-Krampusnacht pre-Solstice edition

"Point is, you have way more excuses to be a morris dancer than most people, including most morris dancers."
-Mike

Redefining "productive"

Today has been an unusually productive day.

Among the things I've done are going through old (in some cases, very old) notebooks at work, which have sometimes doubled as to-do lists or places to take notes about other things I've worked on. I've recycled a lot, filed some more. It's been very gratifying.

My note-taking may or may not be conventional. It was for sure shaped in the seventh grade. In seventh grade, it involved a hodgepodge of me actually taking relevant notes and writing down things for the edification of my friend and lab-table-mate Trisha, which I would then oh-so-slyly show her.

I still do that in meetings, except generally, I don't have anyone to show. I am essentially passing notes with myself, in among all the to-do lists. Sometimes I just make note of funny things people say; often I write down my real feelings about what is being said. I curbed that last impulse briefly when I was a reporter, lest my notes ever be subpoenaed, but made up for it with all the funny quotes I was taking down.

Anyway, here are just a few of the gems (quotes, to-dos, and my real feelings) that have emerged in these old notebooks today, for your lab-bench edification.

• This is the creepiest form of joking.
• "Oh, you're really talking. I thought we were quoting the play."
• And then remember the next day, when it was still all like that?! Hahahahahahahaha
• I understand XYZ, we'd be glad to have you join us — talked to J&D — SC
• Made reserve pool for phone interviews
• "accidental butt reiki"
• "tastes like brown"
• "calls himself a witch"
• Add to cauldron: Irish soap actress, Chaz Bono
• Who's real?
• "I don't anticipate it's going to be smooth right away"
• She took me to the carnival — I wonder what that means.
• BE Akzidenz Grotesk
• has a knack for wording good, reasonable questions so they sound as rude as possible
• It is weirdly complicated, and most folks here wouldn't be able to articulate it
• Talk to Ellen re: weather
• So. Angry.
• "I just carried a bust of Granny D made of plaster wrapped in a sweatshirt from the back of her son's Jeep to the archive."
• Colonialist approach to service
• diversity=lawyer

...and one haiku:

I won 3 raffles

Sang 9-5 with Manley

Lots of integers

Sentence of the day, citrusy obituary edition

"They were accessible to most, but really wearable only by the few who were so rich that they could afford to have bad taste. A minidress of green peacocks dancing with merry seashells is not for just anyone."

Sentence of the day, unlisted bucket edition

"Ad libbing mock bible verse prior to getting tackled by a nun in a nightclub: check. It's the crap you DON'T realize that's on your bucket list that makes it worth it."

-My friend XN from high school (find him also here and here and here and here, because he likes it like that.)

Sentence of the day, damp Easter edition

I went to church last night and this morning, as I do, and we sang "Come, ye faithful, raise the strain," which contains one of my favorite phrases: "led them with unmoistened foot..."

It tickles me every year.

This year, though? Not the phrase that tickled me most. Oh, it tickled me, as it always does.

But then, a few hours later, my extended family and I were sitting at the table, eating a wonderful Easter feast of lamb and asparagus and rice and salad and lemon crumb cake. And my sister spoke to her son, my beautiful not-quite-two-year-old nephew, and a new, not unrelated, favorite phrase for the day was born.

"Don't lick your sock."

It tickles me still.

Sentence(s) of the day, e-mail edition

"Tuesday I sent in some new class notes.

Please delete the information on the death of [person].  He is alive.  Fortunately we found out."

Introducing: Sentence of the Day

Sometimes, I see a sentence that is so glorious in its gloriousness I just want to share it. For example, some of you may remember the wonder that is "I love you Pinky Ganesh."

I think we need a new series here. When I see a sentence that just dazzles me, we'll call it the sentence of the day, and in the future, it won't get this big introduction. I'll also present without context, because a real gem of a sentence should do OK without it, but if the context is hilarious or current eventsy, there'll be a link for your value-added entertainment.

Without further ado:

"Because nothing says "voice of her generation" like eponymous cosmetics." -A friend of a friend, on Facebook

Dude looks nothing whatsoever like a lady

It's no, "I love you Pinky Ganesh," but here is the best sentence I have written today. It is both true and also sums up my entirely excellent Valentine's Day evening (though there may be another post coming on that subject):

I guess when you're a straight man in a red pleather miniskirt and a fitted t-shirt that says "puppy love" with a picture of sad-eyed puppies on it, you're not worrying that much about how classy you are.

Further evidence might include but not be limited to:

• your wearing a cheap long blonde wig, crooked
• your being both the bartender and entirely wasted
• your running around the room, grabbing women in pairs, and essentially forcing them to dance with you for a few seconds before you ditch them for the next pair
• your persistence in calling these women "ladies"

I love you Pinky Ganesh

That is my favorite sentence I've heard today. In weeks, maybe.
"I love you Pinky Ganesh."

I came to it by way of a fascinating brown-bag talk on "Why professors blog," which turned out to be more on why this one guy blogs on everything he can think of, including but not limited to his sabbatical in India, which is fine, because it was awesome. My new favorite sentence was graffiti he found in India, in fact. I can honestly say I have never thought so much about Indian graffiti in my whole life put together as I have thought today about that one sentence.

Until I can think of some sentences I like as well as "I love you Pinky Ganesh," you should go look at his blog, because it is awesome and talks about things including but not limited to charismatic megafauna and his nine-year-old's take on Hobson's choices.

Sometimes, I very much like working for a college.