Elinor Nauen

I seem to be learning to crochet. Three of us in the building are being taught by an artist whose medium is crocheting. Abstractly I see that it's not hard when you get the hang of it but there's the slipknot & maintaining tension & not letting the stitches twist. I was the least painstaking of the 3 of us but it was fun, especially because Angela knows so much about the history & highlights. We shall see. If I ever manage to make a respectable chain, I'll post a picture. 

Who are the worst & best drivers in the country? I bet that's been keeping you up nights. Someone has looked into it & the answer is: NoDak drivers are far & away the worst. 

North Dakota had 64 incidents (including accidents, DUIs, speeding, and citations) per 1,000 drivers. The next worst drivers are in New Jersey (58.8), which has the highest accident rate, and Utah (54.6).

The best drivers are in Michigan, with just 20.9 incidents per 1,000 drivers. Florida (23.1) and Colorado (23.7) follow.

South Dakota comes in at #20, with Massachusetts & Maryland tied just a little bit worst. New York is in the top 25 at #34. 

There was SO much snow, I didn't even write about it. Overwhelming & then the next day it seemed like it was from a long time ago. I & everyone frolicked & smiled & marveled & that was that. The great thing is a little goes a long way - you're not going to miss anything if you go down this street rather than that. 

In a recent Cambridge University study, humans came out moderately monogamous, placing 7th out of 35 mammals with 66% of siblings being full siblings. The California deermouse topped the list with nearly 100% fidelity, while chimpanzees (4.1%) and Soay sheep (0.6%) ranked lowest. Also more faithful than us were the African wild dog, the Damaraland mole rat, the moustached tamarin, the Ethiopian wolf, and the Eurasian beaver. You wouldn't think a mole rat would have all that many opportunities to run wild, but there ya have it. 

It is a good exercise, in empty or ugly hours of the day, to look at anything, the coal-scuttle or the book-case, and think how happy one could be to have brought it out of the sinking ship on to the solitary island. But it is a better exercise still to remember how all things have had this hair-breadth escape: everything has been saved from a wreck.

~ G.K. Chesterton

* It's snowing right now, a nice soft snow that's not quite sticking but we could get up to two feet, according to the trustworth WillisWeather.

* Hung out with friends & ate semla, a Scandinavian pre-Lent treat: a cardamom bun with sweet almond filling & whipped cream. 

* Johnny & I dozed this morning, sweetly holding hands. As he fades, his love & dependence fills the missing spots. His trust helps me mind less all the difficulties. 

I went by B&H to continue my birthday & they brought me a pierogi with a candle in it. A girl sitting behind me said it was her birthday & we ended up talking for an hour. Abbie Whitton is a terrific young artist from Tasmania, whose cool project was to glue vinyl pictures of her car onto her car. It makes me incredibly happy to share a sensibility with young people: she likes cars & driving! She's in NY for 3 months on a fellowship (if I got that right).

B&H: where I can quietly center myself. And eat fresh pierogis. 

One good thing about the way time rushes by faster & faster is it's always about to be or IT IS MY BIRTHDAY. 

I've got the shirt (hooray for Raygun) & am locked & loaded to defend democracy with my fellow rebel birds: sandhill crane, pigeon, meadowlark, eastern bluebird, loon, goldfinch, american robin, & northern cardinal. Buy a shirt with a midwestern state bird logo & Raygun helps 18 immigrant support organizations. 

If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell!

~ Carl Sandburg

No comment needed. 

The young woman I work with to improve her English (which is excellent except for pronunciation) and I usually meet at the library but last week she invited me to her place for tea. She brewed roasted green tea & put out some snacks. Her apartment is spare & clean, & it was relaxing to chat without getting exercised about politics, or not too much. She played in a metal band in Japan & is full of many surprises. Another reason to love New York: the glimpses of many lives. I want to invite myself to everyone's house & poke around & see what goes on. In a curious not nosy way, to be sure! 

I'm relieved that the response to her flippin' testimony was pretty much the same as mine. It makes me feel less insane. Although in a way more insane. Stop!!

A package that was supposed to arrive last week is nowhere to be found. 

I can wait. 

It's everything else that is making me weep. 

I don't understand how Pam Bondi can smirk & lie & spit random insults & whine. To Congress. 

I saw a notice of someone's blog that posts 24 headlines daily. Each & every one of them should be shocking & the center of the news but the corruption & sewage is so extreme that I barely react before going on to the next. 

And people still support this administration? Nice people, people I know, people who would bring a hotdish in an emergency, who would cry for my troubles?

When I was 19, I believed I was smart & careful, even timid. Now I know I was stupid & foolhardy. Maybe all those people who are OK with what's going on will come to a similar realization. 

I don't usually (ever?) give birthday shout-outs on my blog but I do to Patricia, because she might be the only person who not only loves her birthday more than I love mine, but who still throws parties ~ & doesn't say "no presents" & is extravagantly happy for the presents she gets. She & I love being Aquarians, partly because, as I said to her recently, we never give someone the side-eye & say, What are you, 9? when we celebrate. Patricia is also a major poet & loyal friend. 

Her birthday follows by one day Diana Rickard, also a poet, friend, Aquarian, thrower of parties, & liker of presents. 

It used to be I would take the day off for a reading, lying in my tub all afternoon getting ready. 

I pretty much did that today, I think because I'm going to read tonight from my new book, which is really my first book (republished with 115 annotations & other material). It was nice to feel like I had all the time in the world for a day, & it was a good bath, & I edited the hell out of my new poems. I'm ready & looking forward to being onstage at the Bowery Poetry Club, hosted by old friends, with an audience full of old friends & hopefully a few new ones. 

When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace becomes a circus.

Originally:

When an ox enters a palace, it doesn't become a king, but the palace becomes a barn (or stable).

It cheers me no end to be in the presence of many Aquarians, as at a party last night (sparkly!) & in various texts (quirky!) & conversations (smart!). 

Also, later this afternoon I'm going to the annual Spiritual Sounds concert, where various religious communities perform, from the Catholic Worker's sincere Dylan imitations to a recitation from the imam that I never understand a word of (but others do) to my synagogue's choir to the Middle Collegiate's gospel or jazz choir. They get everyone up & shouting! 

I gave the dvar (sermon) yesterday & got to say "cement shoes for youse guys" in my best tough-guy manner & was told I sounded like bad community theater and entirely midwestern. Cracks me up! 

Saw the terrific "experimental documentary," Fish Have No Psychiatrists: A Day With Andrei Codrescu, last night. Biographical but mostly him riffing in his usual offbeat & brilliant way on whatever he's asked by the director, Julian Semilian, another immigrant from Romania; they met as teenagers fresh from Eastern Europe. Andrei is also funny, game, generous, & a good friend of more than 40 years. I got a job as a visiting poet one time because the interviewer had heard Andrei mention me on his NPR segment that morning; I no longer remember why. 

It's streaming: see it if you can. 

Another reminder about this absolutely terrific series. Everyone brings their A game & it has been wonderful to hear a variety of excellence. It continues through the first Tuesday in March & they're all gonna be good. 

The people who work at Cooper Station on 4th Avenue & 11th street are, as always, rude, impatient, scolding, & ignorant (yes, there is a forever postcard stamp). I'm supposed to know what I want, but she was unable to tell me what denominations they have. I guess I feel sorry for someone that aggressively miserable but sheesh, keep it to yourself. 

Let justice be done though the heavens fall.

~ Lord Mansfield

William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (1705–1793), was a British judge, politician, & lawyer, best known for his reforms to English law.

It feels like a coded reference or threat to plop this in without comment, but I don't really have any idea what it means, or whether it's an entirely good thing, justice being but one of many essentials. 

A priest, a minister and a rabbit walk into a blood donation clinic.
The nurse asks the rabbit, "What blood type are you?"
The rabbit answers, "I'm probably a Type O."

RABBI(T)S