Okay, yours portly is behind the eight-ball a bit with the blog, so here is a super quick edition of Phone it in Friday, in which I sing ABBA to my dog, Murphy, while putting on my shoes. It has some real Mr. Rogers vibes to it.
Happy Friday!
—TPP
TBT^256: Back to School with Richard Weaver
The 2024-2025 school year resumes this coming Monday, 19 August 2024, and yours portly has already been back on campus for the past few days, busily preparing for another school year.
Without any warning, my administration has given me two sections of World History to teach, rather than my usual US History classes. While they should have told me about the change two months ago, I’m excited to dive into a subject I have not taught in many years (the last time I taught the class was in the 2011-2012 school year, and I taught its kissing cousin, Western Civilization, off-and-on in 2014 and 2015 at the local technical college).
Last school year was a fairly brutal slog, and I’ve been alternatively dreading this year and looking forward to it. Perhaps the opportunity to teach World History will reignite the spark (plus, World History is just cool).
But what of our good friend Richard Weaver and his book Ideas Have Consequences? At the time of writing I haven’t dipped back into Weaver the way I would like, but I find that his ideas always help to crystallize for me what teaching and education are all about—the preservation of civilization for at least another generation.
With that, here is “TBT^16: Back to School with Richard Weaver“:
School Prep
Yours portly is back at work, although students don’t return until this coming Monday. Naturally, I’ve been getting prepared for their imminent return this week.
Open Mic Adventures XCII: “Jaunt”
Yours portly released a new album earlier this month, Heptadic Structure. It’s an exploration of pieces in 7/4, 7/8, and 7/16 time. Each piece is twenty-one written measures, for a total of 147 measures across the seven pieces. Also, 14+7=21. Math is fun!
You can listen to and/or purchase the album at the following links:
This week I’m featuring the fourth track from the album, “Jaunt.” Jaunt is a duet for tenor saxophone and vibraphone, and it possesses a whimsically jaunty feel.
Monday Morning Movie Review: Humane (2024)
The Age of The Virus may be a distant memory now, one we’ve all done our best to forget collectively, but it revealed a great deal about the compliance of Westerners to technocratic authoritarianism in their respective nations. Yes, there were pockets of ornery resistance—thank God I live in South Carolina!—but the full might of the weaponized media, elite toadies, and cat moms came out to scold us all for wanting to breathe free and enjoy public gatherings (the latter protected, albeit seemingly only on paper, in the First Amendment).
It’s little wonder that we try to suppress the memory of that benighted time, but like all such attempts to forget the past, it only serves as an unhealthy way to deal with deep trauma. By pushing all of those bad memories down, we avoid thinking about the unpleasant consequences that our society-wide foolishness wrought.
Of course, part of that response is that everyone got super bored talking about The Virus because, after awhile, it did get boring. Like all diseases, it reached its critical mass and then ebbed away, each new wave being less virulent, less lethal, and less widespread. The Left seemed eager to memory-hole the entire thing, and the Right was just glad we didn’t have to read another boring article with a lot medical lingo that we all pretended to understand. The Age of The Virus really did reveal how shallow and gutless we all are.
One realm in which the trauma has endured is film. Whether intentionally or otherwise, it’s hard to suppress those memories in works of art; after all, art is, at least in part, an expression of our innermost feelings and struggles. In vino veritas, yes, but also In arte veritas est.
The Age of The Virus crystallized a number of unpleasant Truths: the cowardice of our populous; the brazen indifference and hypocrisy of our elites; and the paradoxical grasping to stay alive at all costs while viewing millions of other, “lesser” lives as expendable. No film more aptly captures these wretched qualities of the twenty-first century developed world better than 2024’s Humane.
Lazy Sunday CCLXXIV: More Movies XXXVI: Movie Reviews, Part XXII: Reviews for Audre
Last Monday I wrote a review of 1999’s Stigmata at the request of our senior correspondent, Audre Myers. That got me thinking: Audre has recommended some great films over the years. Why not look back at my reviews of films she’s recommended?
The following three reviews are each about films Audre recommended (indeed, she mailed me a DVD of the first film on this list):
- “Monday Morning Movie Review: Bell, Book, and Candle (1958)” – A fun, wholesome romantic comedy—with a benign witch!
- “Monday Morning Movie Review: Bicentennial Man (1999)” – Robin Williams is a robot who falls in love with his owner’s daughter; becomes human.
- “Monday Morning Movie Review: Stigmata (1999)” – Free-spirited woman becomes afflicted with weird Catholic condition; on-the-nose critique of the Catholic Church.
Happy Viewing!
—TPP
One-Time
Monthly
Yearly
Make a one-time donation
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
$5.00
$10.00
$25.00
$5.00
$10.00
$25.00
$25.00
$50.00
$100.00
Or enter a custom amount
$
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlyOther Lazy Sunday Installments:
- Lazy Sunday – APR Pieces
- Lazy Sunday II – Lincoln Posts
- Lazy Sunday III – Historical Moments
- Lazy Sunday IV – Christianity
- Lazy Sunday V – Progressivism, Part I
- Lazy Sunday VI – Progressivism, Part II
- Lazy Sunday VII – Deep State
- Lazy Sunday VIII – Conservatism
- Lazy Sunday IX – Economics, Part I
- Lazy Sunday X – Economics, Part II
- Lazy Sunday XI – Walls
- Lazy Sunday XII – Space
- Lazy Sunday XIII – Immigration
- Lazy Sunday XIV – Gay Stuff
- Lazy Sunday XV – Work
- Lazy Sunday XVI – #MAGAWeek2018
- Lazy Sunday XVII – #MAGAWeek2019
- Lazy Sunday XVIII – SubscribeStar Posts
- Lazy Sunday XIX – Music
- Lazy Sunday XX – The Laziest Sunday
- Lazy Sunday XXI – Travel
- Lazy Sunday XXII – Reading
- Lazy Sunday XXIII – Richard Weaver
- Lazy Sunday XXIV – Education
- Lazy Sunday XXV – Techno-Weirdos
- Lazy Sunday XXVI – Small Town Living
- Lazy Sunday XXVII – Bric-a-Brac
- Lazy Sunday XXVIII – World History
- Lazy Sunday XXIX – The New Criterion
- Lazy Sunday XXX – Trump, Part I
- Lazy Sunday XXXI – Trump, Part II
- Lazy Sunday XXXII – Festivals
- Lazy Sunday XXXIII – Virtue Signalling
- Lazy Sunday XXXIV – The Desperate Search for Meaning Series
- Lazy Sunday XXXV – Corporate Grind
- Lazy Sunday XXXVI – Best of the Reblogs, Part I
- Lazy Sunday XXXVII – Best of the Reblogs, Part II
- Lazy Sunday XXXVIII – Best of the Reblogs, Part III
- Lazy Sunday XXXIX – A Very Dokken Christmas Series
- Lazy Sunday XL – Christmas Carols
- Lazy Sunday XLI – Food
- Lazy Sunday XLII – 2019’s Top Five Posts
- Lazy Sunday XLIII – Music, Part II: More Music
- Lazy Sunday XLIV – SubscribeStar Saturday Posts, Part II: The Search for More Money
- Lazy Sunday XLV – Techno-Weirdos II
- Lazy Sunday XLVI – Man Time
- Lazy Sunday XLVII – Winning
- Lazy Sunday XLVIII – Culture
- Lazy Sunday XLIX – Family
- Lazy Sunday L – The Best of Lazy Sunday
- Lazy Sunday LI – Just for Fun
- Lazy Sunday LII – Democratic Candidates, Part I
- Lazy Sunday LIII – Democratic Candidates, Part II
- Lazy Sunday LIV – Coronavirus
- Lazy Sunday LV – Animals
- Lazy Sunday LVI – Movies
- Lazy Sunday LVII – Christianity, Part II
- Lazy Sunday LVIII – Spring Break Short Story Recommendations Recap
- Lazy Sunday LIX – The God Pill Series
- Lazy Sunday LX – Music, Part II: Gigging
- Lazy Sunday LXI – The Tuck
- Lazy Sunday LXII – The South
- Lazy Sunday LXIII – Holidays
- Lazy Sunday LXIV – Grab Bag
- Lazy Sunday LXV – Rioting
- Lazy Sunday LXVI – Video Games
- Lazy Sunday LXVII – Phone it in Fridays, Part I
- Lazy Sunday LXVIII – Phone it in Fridays, Part II
- Lazy Sunday LXIX – Phone it in Fridays, Part III
- Lazy Sunday LXX – Phone it in Friday, Part IV
- Lazy Sunday LXXI – Road Trips
- Lazy Sunday LXXII – Forgotten Posts, Volume I
- Lazy Sunday LXXIII – Forgotten Posts, Volume II
- Lazy Sunday LXXIV – Forgotten Posts, Volume III
- Lazy Sunday LXXV – Forgotten Posts, Volume IV
- Lazy Sunday LXXVI – Forgotten Posts, Volume V
- Lazy Sunday LXXVII – Rural America
- Lazy Sunday LXXVIII – Space, Part II
- Lazy Sunday LXXXIX – SCOTUS
- Lazy Sunday LXXX – Big Ideas
- Lazy Sunday LXXXI – Education, Part II
- Lazy Sunday LXXXII – Universal Studios
- Lazy Sunday LXXXIII – The Mountains
- Lazy Sunday LXXXIV – Halloween Hijinks
- Lazy Sunday LXXXV – Elections
- Lazy Sunday LXXXVI – Questions, Part I
- Lazy Sunday LXXXVII – Questions, Part II
- Lazy Sunday LXXXVIII – Questions, Part III
- Lazy Sunday LXXXIX – 100 Week Review
- Lazy Sunday XC – Questions, Part IV
- Lazy Sunday XCI – Questions, Part V
- Lazy Sunday XCII – Christmas
- Lazy Sunday XCIII – 2020’s Top Five Posts
- Lazy Sunday XCIV – My Favorite Things
- Lazy Sunday XCV – The Best of Lazy Sunday
- Lazy Sunday XCVI – More Movies: Movie Reviews, Part I
- Lazy Sunday XCVII – More Movies II: Movie Reviews, Part II
- Lazy Sunday XCVIII – More Movies III: Movie Reviews, Part III
- Lazy Sunday XCIX – Romantic Music
- Lazy Sunday C – Valentine’s Day
- Lazy Sunday CI – Obituaries, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CII – Obituaries, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CIII – Begging
- Lazy Sunday CIV – Time
- Lazy Sunday CV – Grab Bag II
- Lazy Sunday CVI – Adventures
- Lazy Sunday CVII – Easter
- Lazy Sunday CVIII – Spring Break Short Story Recommendations 2021 Recap
- Lazy Sunday CIX – Pillow Talk
- Lazy Sunday CX – Inspector Gerard Reviews
- Lazy Sunday CXI – Bric-a-Brac II
- Lazy Sunday CXII – Responsibility
- Lazy Sunday CXIII – Short Stories
- Lazy Sunday CXIV – More Movies IV: Movie Reviews, Part IV
- Lazy Sunday CXV – Memorable Mondays
- Lazy Sunday CXVI – Delays
- Lazy Sunday CXVII – More Movies V – Movie Reviews, Part V
- Lazy Sunday CXVIII – More Movies VI – Movie Reviews, Part VI
- Lazy Sunday CXIX – Summer Camps
- Lazy Sunday CXX – Animals, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CXXI – MAGAWeek2021 Posts
- Lazy Sunday CXXII – MAGAWeek2020 Posts
- Lazy Sunday CXXIII – Murphy
- Lazy Sunday CXXIV – Bible Posts
- Lazy Sunday CXXV – More Movies VII – Movie Reviews, Part VII
- Lazy Sunday CXXVI – Joy, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CXXVII – Joy, Part II – Music
- Lazy Sunday CXXVIII – Civilization
- Lazy Sunday CXXIX – Friends, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CXXX – Friends, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CXXXI – Friends, Part III
- Lazy Sunday CXXXII – Milestones
- Lazy Sunday CXXXIII – Inspector Gerard
- Lazy Sunday CXXXIV – Friends, Part IV
- Lazy Sunday CXXXV – More Movies VIII – Movie Reviews, Part VIII
- Lazy Sunday CXXXVI – More Movies IX – Movie Reviews, Part IX
- Lazy Sunday CXXXVII – More Halloween Hijinks
- Lazy Sunday CXXXVIII – Friends, Part V
- Lazy Sunday CXXXIX – More Movies, Part X – Movie Reviews, Part X
- Lazy Sunday CXL – More Movies, Part XI – Movie Reviews, Part XI
- Lazy Sunday CXLI – Thanksgiving Stuff(ing)
- Lazy Sunday CXLII – More Movies, Part XII – Movie Reviews, Part XII
- Lazy Sunday CXLIII – More Movies, Part XIII – Movie Reviews, Part XIII
- Lazy Sunday CXLIV – More Christmas Carols
- Lazy Sunday CXLV – Christmas Cheer
- Lazy Sunday CXLVI – 2021’s Top Five Posts
- Lazy Sunday CXLVII – More Movies, Part XIV – Movie Reviews, Part XIV
- Lazy Sunday CXLVIII – The Gemini Sonnets #1 and #2
- Lazy Sunday CXLIX – The Gemini Sonnets #3 and #4
- Lazy Sunday CL – The Gemini Sonnets #5 and #6
- Lazy Sunday CLI – More Movies, Part XV – Movies Reviews, Part XV
- Lazy Sunday CLII – Romance
- Lazy Sunday CLIII – Behind the Songs, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CLIV – Behind the Songs, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CLV – Péchés d’âge moyen Posts
- Lazy Sunday CLVI – More Son of Sonnet
- Lazy Sunday CLVII – Ponty’s Posts, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CLVIII – Ponty’s Posts, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CLIX – Scrambie Eggs
- Lazy Sunday CLX: Fine Arts Festival
- Lazy Sunday CLXI: Easter II
- Lazy Sunday CLXII: Spring Break Short Story Recommendations Recap 2022
- Lazy Sunday CLXIII: Friends, Part VI
- Lazy Sunday CLXIV: Friends, Part VII
- Lazy Sunday CLXV: Friends, Part VIII
- Lazy Sunday CLXVI: Friends, Part IX
- Lazy Sunday CLXVII: Friends, Part X
- Lazy Sunday CLXVIII: More Movies, Part XVI: Movie Reviews, Part XVI
- Lazy Sunday CLXIX: More Movies, Part XVII: Movie Reviews, Part XVII
- Lazy Sunday CLXX: More Movies, Part XVIII: Movie Reviews, Part XVIII
- Lazy Sunday CLXXI: Frederick Ingram, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CLXXII: Frederick Ingram, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CLXXIII: MAGAWeek2022
- Lazy Sunday CLXXIV: More Movies, Part XIX: Movie Reviews, Part XIX
- Lazy Sunday CLXXV: More Movies, Part XX: Movie Reviews, Part XX
- Lazy Sunday CLXXVI: More Movies, Part XXI: Movie Reviews, Part XXI
- Lazy Sunday CLXXVII: School, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CLXXVIII: School, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CLXXIX: More Movies, Part XXII: Ponty’s Worst Films, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CLXXX: More Movies, Part XXIII: Portly’s Worst Films, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXI: More Movies, Part XXIV: Ponty’s Worst Films, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXII: More Movies, Part XXV: Portly’s Worst Films, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXIII: More Movies, Part XXVII: Ponty’s Worst Films, Part III
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXIV: More Movies, Part XXVIII: Portly’s Worst Films, Part III
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXV: More Movies, Part XXIX: Ponty and Portly’s #1 Worst Films
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXVI: More Movies, Part XXX: Midweek Myers Movie Reviews, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXVII: More Movies, Part XXXI: Midweek Myers Movie Reviews, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXVIII: Video Games II: Ponty’s Picks
- Lazy Sunday CLXXXIX: Even More Halloween Hijinks: The Musical
- Lazy Sunday CXC: Cozy Time
- Lazy Sunday CXCI: Veterans Day Posts
- Lazy Sunday CXCII: Myersvision, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CXCIII: Thanksgiving Week Posts
- Lazy Sunday CXCIV: Solo Cover EP, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CXCV: Solo Cover EP, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CLXXVI: 2022’s Top Three
- Lazy Sunday CXCVII: Review[s] of A Christmas Carol (1951)
- Lazy Sunday CXCVIII: The Worst of 2022
- Lazy Sunday CXCIX: More Movies XXXII: Portly’s Best Films, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CC: More Movies XXXIII: Ponty’s Best Films, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCI: More Movies XXXIV: Portly’s Best Films, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCII: More Movies XXXV: Ponty’s Best Films, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCIII: Péchés d’âge moyen Picks
- Lazy Sunday CCIV: Arizonan Sojourn, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCV: Portly’s Best Films, Part III
- Lazy Sunday CCVI: Ponty’s Best Films, Part III
- Lazy Sunday CCVII: The Beach
- Lazy Sunday CCVIII: Walks
- Lazy Sunday CCXIX: Paintings
- Lazy Sunday CCX: Arizonan Sojourn, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCXI: Hono[u]rable Mentions
- Lazy Sunday CCXII: Easter III
- Lazy Sunday CCXIII: Spring Break Short Story Recommendations 2023
- Lazy Sunday CCXIV: Ponty and Portly’s #1 Picks
- Lazy Sunday CCXV: Myersvision, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCXVI: Myersvision, Part III
- Lazy Sunday CCXVII: Myersvision, Part IV
- Lazy Sunday CCXVIII: Myersvision, Part V
- Lazy Sunday CCXIX: Myersvision, Part VI
- Lazy Sunday CCXX: Myersvision, Part VII
- Lazy Sunday CCXXI: Intergalactic Nonsense
- Lazy Sunday CCXXII: Stories
- Lazy Sunday CCXXIII: Original Music, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCXXIV: Original Music, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCXXV: MAGAWeek2023 Posts
- Lazy Sunday CCXXVI: Greatest Hits Recap
- Lazy Sunday CCXXVII: Ponty Week 2023
- Lazy Sunday CCXXVIII: D.C., Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCXXIX: D.C., Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCXXX: TJC Deep Cuts
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXI: Weird Piano Music
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXII: Cinema
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXIII: Monarchy
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXIV: Sandwiches
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXV: Skeletons
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXVI: Myersvision, Part VIII
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXVII: Myersvision, Part IX
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXVIII: Festivals II
- Lazy Sunday CCXXXIX: Two Cryptid Tunes
- Lazy Sunday CCXL: Ghostly Doings
- Lazy Sunday CCXLI: Veterans Day Posts II
- Lazy Sunday CCXLII: Indie Musician Rants
- Lazy Sunday CCXLIII: 2023 Releases
- Lazy Sunday CCXLIV: Civilization Series
- Lazy Sunday CCXLV: Chapel Lessons, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCXLVI: Chapel Lessons, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCXLVII: Christmas Concert Reviews
- Lazy Sunday CCXLVIII: The Best of 2023
- Lazy Sunday CCXLIX: Best Ponty Posts of 2023
- Lazy Sunday CCL: Best Myersvision Posts of 2023
- Lazy Sunday CCLI: YouTube Roundup Roundup I
- Lazy Sunday CCLII: YouTube Roundup Roundup II
- Lazy Sunday CCLIII: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCLIV: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCLV: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part III
- Lazy Sunday CCLVI: Days Off
- Lazy Sunday CCLVII: Murphy Vids, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCLVIII: Food II
- Lazy Sunday CCLIX: Four Mages, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCLX: Murphy Vids, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCLXI: Ultra Laziness
- Lazy Sunday CCLXII: Mothers
- Lazy Sunday CCLXIII: Four Mages, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCLXIV: End of School Events
- Lazy Sunday CCLXV: Disco Elysium Reviews
- Lazy Sunday CCLXVI: Political Stuff, Part I
- Lazy Sunday CCLXVII: Political Stuff, Part II
- Lazy Sunday CCLXVIII: Milestones II
- Lazy Sunday CCLXIX: Cryptid Epistemology Mini-Series
- Lazy Sunday CCLXX: TJC Deep Cuts II
- Lazy Sunday CCLXXI: Trump Stuff
- Lazy Sunday CCLXXII: Harris Stuff
- Lazy Sunday CCLXXIII: Heptadic Structure Tracks, Part I
SubscribeStarSaturday: Hiking the Florence Nature Preserve
Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive. To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more. For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.
On Saturday, 3 August 2024 my friend Ashley and I went hiking in the Florence Nature Preserve, accessible via the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Trailhead, just outside of Gerton, North Carolina and down the road from Chimney Rock.
Ashley had proposed the trip a couple of months earlier, with the inviting question “do you like hiking?” I couldn’t respond to that query quickly enough, and within minutes we had planned the broad outline of our excursion to the trailhead.
We left right around 6 AM that morning in Ashley’s sweet 2021 Ford Bronco, which she was eager to road test on winding mountain roads, and after a couple of missed GPS turns due to the distraction of conversation, we made it to the trailhead around 10:15 AM. By 10:30 AM we were lathered up in sunscreen and on the trail.
By noon we were drinking in this beautiful view at Tom & Glenna Rock over some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches:
The entire trail is roughly five miles up and back, but there are various side trails and alternative routes available that can reduce the trek depending on experience level and time constraints. We opted for a modified version of the “blue” trail rather than the whole loop, which would have taken us pretty much the entire day to complete.
Here’s a map of our route (I’ve used the map from the Conserving Carolina website and added our route in pink):
According to some rough math based on the interactive map for the trail, Ashley and I hiked around 3.82 miles in total. Naturally, roughly half of that was uphill, so coming back down the trail was a bit quicker. We also paced ourselves heading up, as Ashley was documenting our hike via video for her mother. That deliberate pace was smart, because we did not wear ourselves out on the hike.
The trail is rated as “challenging” and/or “strenuous,” and after my “Summer of George” I was a tad concerned about my ability to huff and puff up a mountain, but yours portly performed admirably.
To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.
Phone it in Friday LXIV: YouTube Roundup XX: Bull Terrier Edition, Part XI
Well, I’m back to the grind. Who knows what fresh miseries I am currently enduring?
Fortunately, dear readers, you get to watch videos of my fat bull terrier, Murphy!
This week I’ve got Murphy attempting to eat peanut butter and giving potentially lethal kisses:
TBT^16: Back to the Grind 202[4]
My two-plus months of living like a French duke and/or welfare queen have come to an end. Yours portly returns to the salt mines of secondary education today. Classes won’t start back until Monday, 19 August 2024, but teachers reports back today for the usual bout of annual trainings, AFLAC representatives, handbook excursions, etc.
[UPDATE: due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Debby, we won’t report back until Monday, 12 August 2024—whoa! But I’m still going to grouse about going back to work. —TPP]
I’ve never quite understood why we report back on a Thursday, when we could easily cover all of this foolishness in a day or two of meetings the following week. It seems like a way to deprive us of one, final, long weekend before the drudgery returns.
To be frank, I am not much looking forward to this school year—a sadly common refrain from yours portly the past few years. Our enrollment is way down, which will bring with it all sorts of austerity measures and demands for teachers to sacrifice more time and energy for the good of the school.
Last year was absolutely brutal, and while I’m always cautiously optimistic, I am having a hard time talking myself into a good attitude this year. Perhaps simply getting back into a rhythm will be its own reward.
With that, here is 3 August 2023’s “TBT^4: Back to the Grind 202[3]“:
Kick Out the Cat Ladies
Regular readers will know I have a strong, even pathological, anti-femite streak. It’s perhaps ironic, as many of my readers are women, and I actually find most women quite charming and pleasant company. That said, I can’t ignore how terrible things tend to go when women are in charge of anything more substantial than the local church bake sale or the PTA.
With the notable exceptions—and I have to mention them because women in particular don’t seem to understand the concept of “generalization“—women are not really suited for politics, governance, management, etc. What they do really well, however, is act as the social glue that binds a community together. Again, if you want your church bake sale to be a success or your PTA to hound delusional administrators, women are your best option.
If you want to direct grand strategy and pursue a sane domestic policy, leave it to the men. Women in politics seem to boil down to “kill babies, give me free stuff!” It was Republican women in South Carolina, for example, who blocked a total abortion ban in my State; all three of them were booted from the South Carolina Senate in their primary elections, leaving our State Senate blessedly free of female meddling.
Lately there’s been some hubbub over J.D. Vance’s past comments about women, particularly his claim that our country is being run by “childless cat ladies” and the “childless Left.” National Review, the bastion of fake conservative handwringers, fumed simpishly over Vance’s comments, while not exactly addressing the substance of what he said. After all, Vance said the unpopular part out loud—the cat ladies “are miserable in their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
The Portly Politico 