Homage to Molly

Tall Son is working on phase 3 of a four-phase kitchen remodel, about which I will eventually blog. I was storing the photos we took yesterday of the project and then started looking through the others. Among them for reasons unknown was a photo of Molly, dead now for more than a year.

I really like it on so many levels, not the least of which is that its subject is Molly. At the time this was taken (the date on it is wrong because I didn't realize for some time that I had to reset the date every time I change my camera batteries), she would have already had the cancer that killed her, even though neither of us knew that, so her sleeping half in shadow comes off as quite metaphoric. Then there are a lot of compositional issues that I can only partly articulate (since I'm no expert), so I won't try. But I like the photo. I think it needs worldwide exposure. So here it is.



(I'm not sure a small version of it does it justice, but of course you can click it to make it bigger.)

Presenting My Qualifications for the Vice Presidency of the United States of America

In 2005, I took the Amtrak from the west coast to the east. This was just before Katrina, when the Sunset Limited went through New Orleans. It didn't end there, as it does now.

Along the way, the route practically kisses the fences at the Mexican border.

I took pictures.

They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Mexico from the lower 48, from a train chugging through Texas.





This provides me with extraordinary insight into our neighbors to the south, and proves without question my foreign policy credentials.

Furthermore, approaching New Orleans I saw a number of graveyards, which provides me with extraordinary insight into the afterlife and only deepens my foreign policy experience.


Furthermore, this is not the first time I've qualified for higher office. Excuse me now while I go pack for DC. Just let me know when the limo is coming.

(h/t Shakesville, and other sources)

From the Department of Irrelevance, Misogyny Unit

Reading through a Fox Sports story on the shooting of Jaguar Richard Collier, I come across this:

Here's the lead:

Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier was shot and critically wounded outside an apartment building early Tuesday as he and a former Jacksonville teammate waited for two women they had met at a nightclub, police said.

Ok so far.

Further down, this:

The shooting happened around 2:45 a.m. in a middle- to upper middle-class neighborhood just west of downtown Jacksonville and blocks from the St. Johns River. The players had gone to the apartment complex so the women could drop off their car, authorities said.

Again, fine. Discussion of the women thus far makes sense because it provides context for the shooting.

Then, this, emphasis mine:

The women, who appeared to be in their 20s, declined comment when they were escorted by police back to the complex midmorning Tuesday. One was wearing a short, silver dress and the other was wearing a short, black one.

What?

What?

What?

Have we suddenly moved to the Life & Style section, where evaluating fashion at a crime scene is all the rage?

Really, I can't figure out what the point is here, except to allow for some leering and drooling and casting of implied aspersions on both the women and men involved in this situation, one of whom is a shooting victim.

And I won't go any further than that with this stinkin' pile of irrelevance.