hehe

This little rant from Lars Walker on Mercurochrome is great. Somehow, even though I was born in the 80s, I have very vivid memories of its application. Jake and I called it the "jumping-up-and-down medicine."

That speech on feet ...

Do you all remember Brooks' infamous Rhetoric speech on the topic of feet? I always have these visions of Dana's feet when I think of it. Well, it's not often you meet feet in literature. But you meet just about everything in Pushkin's Onegin, as I am discovering when I read it on the bus. Speaking of the ladies at balls, Pushkin (stepping out of his storyteller role) says:

"I love their feet - although you'll find
That all of Russia scarcely numbers
Three pairs of shapely feet ... And yet,
How long it took me to forget
Two special feet. And in my slumbers
They still assail a soul grown cold
And on my heart they retain their hold."
(from Eugene Onegin, 1.30)

By the way, Eugene Onegin is one of most enjoyable pieces of literature I've encountered. If you're interested in reading it, my friends (who studied Russian) recommended getting a translation that preserves the rhyme scheme of the "Onegin stanza" (vs. Nabokov's more literal translation, which is content-driven, yet not as interesting to read). Anyway, it's a delight.

My question is: how would David Cooper survive in Russia? Looks pretty bleak for him.

One more week of playing the tricky student-teacher role! My first semester is winding down, but not without a bang. These last two weeks have been rough ... lots of grading to do, reading, writing, and technical stuff - like administering evaluations, submitting grades, finalizing my Spring syllabus and reading schedule, and working out my own schedule as a student. They have you here, coming and going. There's always a scorpion's sting at the end ...

Love to all. Drink lots of piping hot tea this winter - and eat English muffins!