Also: art is subjective. Music is art. So what Chuck D's intentions may or may not have been, when he sent it out into the world, the listeners are going to synthesize their experiences into/onto it.

And that's what art is all about, right? The author writes a book. The author's intention may be transparent, they may be oblique, but the way the myriad of readers interpret the book can be vastly different. (Otherwise, we would have no English departments, right?!)

Oh of course! On explication, I want to first know, "what did the creator of this piece intend to tell me?" Second, "What does this mean to me?"

I think hair lady is fucking desperate to people to think she has hood cred. Hood cred, street cred is like being "cool." You can't fake it.

I have no hood cred, jokes aside. How could I have? But I listened, and I learned from my kids, and and I learned when to code-switch (hell, I code-switch all the time; that's why I can talk to anyone; I have a good ear, I listen, I ask and I love language.) But I didn't bullshit, and I never tried to be anything I wasn't, and people respond to that. They know when you fake or try too hard, and that gave me my own cred, which is the only type I want.

Some folks start with, "How can this piece piss me off?"

There is nothing anyone can do about those folks, but they are mostly distracted by any news article posted on Yahoo and busying themselves by writing Barack HUSSEIN OBAMACARE SOCIALISM!@#$@!#! one million times, each day. I do not think they purchase books.

Oh of course! On explication, I want to first know, "what did the creator of this piece intend to tell me?" Second, "What does this mean to me?"

And those are the interesting questions that you want your readers to ask. But remember, m'dear, lots of people go straight to #2 and never thing about #1.

ETA: Dur. Xpost, basically!

Hood cred! Hood cred! Can you believe it? She's trying to explain to people *why* she's earned the right to tell black people how to live, because she has some undefined HOOD cred. I despair that I have to accept that people are so stupid. And I'm appalled that she's raising a biracial kid with such blatant issues

Ugh. No. Just...no. I can't read it, I've had enough racefail for the week (I went back in time to revisit the whole Slut Walk/N-Word debacle the other day.)

Lately I've been depressed that there's too many idiots in the world, and the Stupid is winning.

ION, here are some pretty pictures of David Bowie: [link]

Outtakes from the Heroes photo-shoot.

Watching The Wizard of Oz for the first time with the kids and near the end Owen said, "All this just for shoes?" He has so much to learn about women.

OK, will catch up on the 100 messages in a bit, but first:

Hot chocolate laced with marshmallow vodka is awesome. Firepits are are awesome. Meeting new people via my cardiac ICU nurse/bartender neighbor is awesome. Having this all be just at the end of the block? REALLY AWESOME. AND one of the women I met is looking for a job and I know we have some internal postings likely to go external in the new year, so wrote down the info for her. AWESOME.

I don't know if it is the sugar, chocolate or vodka which has gone to my head. Coming home to a clean house, also awesome. Less awesome? I have to get up early to make ~120 goddamned cookies. WTF?

Hot chocolate laced with marshmallow vodka is awesome

Ohh, Dan and I made WTF faces at each other when we saw those vodka advertised, then he said "Maybe in hot cocoa?"

I am totally trying that out!