2010 November | Jaunty Dame

Harry Chapin on Thanksgiving Hunger Drives

“Thanksgiving. Remember, junior high school, high school, elementary school? ‘Everybody bring in your cans for the hungry people.’ Remember that? Just imagine if somebody, when you were in fifth or sixth grade, if the principal had the gonads to say on Monday, ‘Children, it was the most single, wonderful outpouring of generosity that the [...]

The Kindness of Strangers

CONFESSION: I have no sense of direction. Not a whit. I’ve gotten badly lost two blocks from home. I tend to think West = left, and East = right— worse still, I can’t tell left from right on the first guess. ~cough~ For me, getting from Point A to Point B takes intense thought, [...]

COVERED: ‘Africa’ by Toto

Need a little music to brighten your Thursday?

The original, a big hit in 1982:

And a popular Slovenian (!) cover:

What do you think of the song? Which version do you prefer, and why?

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Headstone: Your Caption Here

Taking this picture humiliated Mr. Jaunty, but I had to have photographic evidence of this headstone:

How would you caption this photo? Leave your witty remarks in the comments below!

At Seventeen

Another gem from my fascinating files of personal history. Written in cursive— with lavender ink, no less!— is a list of my life’s goals as of July 21st, 2002. I was 17 then, and for a girl who’d spent years sleeping off depression, I was hilariously optimistic. Care to take a look?

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Girl vs. Curls

Since puberty, I have followed this cycle:

1. Observe that hair is stringy, frizzy, and always in the way. Wear ponytails or headbands constantly 2. Say to self, “Hell (or ‘heck’, pre-2008), since I’m not doing anything with this hair, might as well hack it off.” 3. Hack off hair. Undercut, pixie cut, buzz cut– [...]