A few things, just a few.

[jackshoegazer]

Today. for the first time since my surgery, a day short of two months ago, I had the motivation, energy, and lung capacity to ride my bicycle to work and back, a whopping thirteen-mile round trip.  Also, since my surgery, I have lost twenty pounds, fat or muscle, I can not say.  I do not recommend heart surgery as a diet plan.  Most of my weight loss seems to have been the result of smaller portion sizes, since I didn't have the stomach for, nor the energy to eat much at all.

I started crying when I read the preface of Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions to Jacquelyn the other day.  Everything I read of Vonnegut's has an extra weight it did not have before his death.  I am rereading Timequake right now, which is my second-favorite of his novels.  I've almost lost it several times during this reread.  If it weren't for the influence and imprinting that Breakfast had on me as a teen, Timequake would take the top slot.  Both books are about aging and letting go in a way, but Timequake is really a farewell book.  If I were his publisher, I'd release all further editions with Kurt's famous epitaph, "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt." at the end.

A woman in my taxi told me that she wouldn't vote for Barack Obama because he was a black man and black men can not be trusted - that no black man ever did anything, no black man ever did what he said he would do, and all black men do is lie to get money or power or pussy.  She said that even Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s accomplishments didn't mean anything because he cheated on his wife. "No good can come from a black man," she said, "I only trust white people.  White people have discretion."   The woman who spouted all of this racism was herself black.

Madison folk: go to Westgate Art Cinema's Classic Film Series.  Jacquelyn, Ethan and I just saw After the Thin Man (1936) which was hilarious.  In October, they're playing Psycho (1960), Ghostbusters (1984), Alien (1979), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).  Tickets are only $5.00.  Seriously, I can't wait to see Ghostbusters and Alien especially on the big screen.

Comments

[hellocthulhu.livejournal.com]

That woman from your cab reminds me of a certain Dave Chappelle skit...

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Would you believe I've only seen that show twice?

[hellocthulhu.livejournal.com]

I always did get the feeling it was mostly a college phenomenon...

Anyways, he did one skit about a blind black man who joined the KKK and hated black people, to the point of divorcing his own black wife when he found out his own skin color.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I did see that skit. Damned funny.

It wasn't a college thing as such but a television thing. I don't/haven't had cable television between 1995 and 2001 then again from 2003 to now. I just Netflix what I want to see and read enough pop culture/internet bits to stay informed.

After a couple episodes I had the same opinion that Dave himself came to later - that his show was eventually enforcing negative stereotypes rather than merely lampooning them.

[hellocthulhu.livejournal.com]

I never actually followed the whole drama with why he stopped doing the show... I just figured he burned out or something. I can see how he'd come to that opinion though. I had a few friends who didn't really get the show on the right level...

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Yup, he started the show with the idea of using comedy to break down and lampoon racial stereotypes. After he signed his big multi-million dollar deal, he realized that what he was doing was harming rather than helping and freaked out a bit and ran off. I totally got the show and from what I saw, thought it was hilarious, but that he was walking a very fine line.

[protodisco.livejournal.com]

I think Cat's Cradle is the normal preference among Vonnegut fans. My personal fav is Slaughterhouse, for probably the same reasons Breakfast of Champions is yours. It, along with Cuckoo's Nest, made me the reader I am today. Timequake is also one of my fav's.

On my iGoogle yesterday or the day before there was Kilgore Trout quote. I thought that was funny.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Cuckoo is great. Even more, I loved Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which, if you haven't read it, is primarily about Kesey. All readings of EKAAT should be paired with Timothy Leary's autobiography Flashbacks. Basically EKAAT is how the 60's got started from the West Coast and Leary's is the same story from the East Coast. It's amazing.

I think I'm going to do a Vonnegut tribute and read all his novels over. Some of them I've only read once and that was over 10 years ago.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Racist against who?

[natural-path.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear your recovery is going well, though im sure a short stay at the FUNspital would speed things up.
Hope you're taking lots of magnesium and Co enzyme Q10 for that broken heart of yours.

Kurt, oh Kurt.
Slaughter house five if my favorite.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

When you open a practice, you should call it So&So's FUNspital! For realz? I've heard of Q10 but I have no idea what it is or what it does.

I found Breakfast of Champions in a thrift store for a dime. It was stuck over in the romance books. I thought the title was funy. I'd never heard of Vonnegut before. I read it and was just amazed. It was the first book I'd read written by someone who had the same sort of alien anthropologist view of the world that I have. It was the first time I realized that there was literature out there for me, that there were other people, however weird, who thought like me. Thus, my favorite.

[weishaupt.livejournal.com]

I could never be a taxi driver. Too many people would be told, "Okay, stop that. You're being an asshole. Get out of the car. I SAID GET OUT OF THE GOD DAMN CAR!"

[hellocthulhu.livejournal.com]

C'mon man, I had a hard night, and I just really hate the Eagles!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I did kind of get really angry and maybe kind of yelled a bit, but the mediator in me wanted to dispel her irrational beliefs. I explain a little more in this (http://jackshoegazer.livejournal.com/370802.html?view=3906930#t3906930) comment.

[nightlikeariver.livejournal.com]

wow, twenty pounds. and an impressive bike ride. i need to change out my inner tubes.

what is Breakfast about? i'm reading a david foster wallace book, and it makes me sad that there won't be any more beautiful writing like his.

how in the world did you respond to the racist?

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Yup. 20. And I'd like to lose 20 more. However, I ned to do some muscle-building exercises, espeially in my chest :P

Breakfast is the tale of Dwayne Hoover, a used-car salesman who goes crazy. It is Kurt's 50th birthday present to himself and he frees all of his literary characters.

I figure with DFW gone, I should probably read him just to see what all the fuss was about.

First, I got her off of racist stereotypes and we got down to talking about issues. Turns out that she believes in the same policies that Obama is for, she just doesn't trust black man. I did sort of yell at her a bit for being a disgusting racist, telling her that you can't be prejudiced toward someone based on untrue generalizations and ugly racial stereotypes.

By the end of the ride, she asked if I was speaking for the Obama campaign to which I said no and laughed. She said I should because I was very passionate and convincing, but she still couldn't get over her hatred of black men. "They will let you down," she said.

I thought about, with what scant information I had, what had brought her to these opinions. She was in the cab with her maybe-10-or-11-year old daughter. Perhaps this woman's father had walked out on his family, left them without support or his love? Perhaps her own husband had left, leaving her in the lurch with a daughter? Maybe all the men in her life really were absolute shit. It may not be statistically true, what she said, but to her, maybe that's all she's experienced is a bad batch of crap black men.

When I see it like that, it's harder to begrudge her her irrational prejudice, because it's all she's known and she's been damaged by it. The only thing I could do was to try and help her see beyond it.

[nightlikeariver.livejournal.com]

what's the course of action for the next 20? i think you are handsome just as you are, but i understand the feeling.

that book sounds AMAZING. i have about 16 books in queue right now, but i'll definitely add it to the list. haha.

i don't know how i would feel about a cab driver who yelled. heh. however, it does sound like you got your point across.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I have no idea :) I'm going to bike as far into the winter as possible, which basically means until it snows. I'm going to try really hard not to gain 30 pounds like I did last winter. If I can keep my portion size down and find some way to exercise, like the Push-up Challenge or something, that might work to hold the fat demons at bay until I can start biking again next spring. Now that my head won't turn bright red and my upper body won't fill with blood it can't process, I can start running as well. OMG, swimming! All the things I couldn't do because of my heart problem, I can do now!

It's really an awesome book. I have hundreds of books in my queue which takes the pressure off a bit :)

It was a pretty heated debate going on, there was a bit of yelling from both sides. When we got to the end of the ride, she said, "I'm gonna remember you," with a big smile on her face. We shook hands and exchanged pleasantries and we both left the encounter smiling, so who knows, maybe I changed a mind, maybe I just entertained her. Who knows, but all's well that ends well?

[kiwikat.livejournal.com]

When you start feeling consistently better and are ready to work on building your chest back up you might be wise to try the hundred push ups challenge (www.hundredpushups.com). I was doing it before I hurt my back and I got all the way up to 88 in five sets, and it really builds strength and muscle quickly. My little brother started doing it like a week ago and has already noticed a significant improvement.

It's too hard to pick a favorite Vonnegut, every time I try I always think of another one I love for another reason. Timequake was especially good, but so was Sirens of Titan.

I hope they put that epitaph where they buried him (if he was buried). From what I've seen of his son I think they would.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Funny, Ethan and I decided we're going to start the push-up challenge this week. Well, we'll see. I need to try out a couple to see if it absolutely kills me or not.

[screwthepast.livejournal.com]

That's great that you managed such a hefty bike ride, glad you're on the mend.

I read your comment to nightlikeariver and suspect that her being fucked over by some black guys in her life is the only logical explanation.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I biked again today :D I did however try to do a push up and that was MEGAFAIL.

I agree, psychologically, it makes perfect sense.

[lipsoflove.livejournal.com]

I think that it is so tough to deal with people who are racist against their own. My grandmother is like that. In relationships for example, she chastises people who dates within the race, but also becomes unnaturally angry if we date outside of it.

I'm a black woman, and I've had several black men around me who have not been the best models to gain trust (i.e. father left in the middle of the night, several others have been dishonest, cheaters, etc), but I hope I never let any generalizations or personal grudges effect the way I relate to the entire race. I feel doing that is as unfair as people thinking I won't do as good of a job anywhere because I'm a woman.
It's such a vexing situation.

I'm glad you're doing well.