Pittsburgh welcomes the world and then is REALLY glad when the world leaves.

Well, we made it through the G20 mostly intact. A sad little group of self-styled "anarchists" did show up and misbehave enough to get tear gassed. The little nitwits broke the windows of evil capitalist giants like Pamela's Diner, an independent and lesbian-owned and operated local business. Good going anarchists. Everyone knows that those lesbians, with their Birkenstocks, flannel shirts, and pancakes, are out to take over the world! The protesters also broke the windows of a Boston Market that is right next to a major cancer-treatment facility, terrorizing the already traumatized families of cancer patients. Nice work kids!

Which makes me wonder, when did I get to be such a fuddy duddy? Oh, I know, it was when I had to stop living life theoretically and had to start living it for real. I've actually sat in that very Boston Market with a friend whose husband was getting cancer treatments. Yeah, the food is corporate and mediocre, but it serves food your kids will eat (which is a huge mercy when you're going through a life crisis) and it's a brief haven from the misery of the hospital. It makes me sad to think of those poor families sitting huddled in their booths - just trying to gather themselves together before they go back to the hospital where they have to be strong again - suddenly having shards of glass rain down on them. And it confirms my belief that it's never, ever a good thing when ideology trumps our humanity.

I'll stop grumping now, and here, for your amusement, is a link to my favorite photo from the G20. It's of a cute little anarchist trying to get reception on his corporation-owned and operated cell phone!

So having recently been through a town-brawl meeting with right-wing extremists and now the G20 with left-wing nut jobs, it makes me want to toss them all in a padded cell and lock the door!

My husband has finally given birth!

Afer twenty-five years of pregnant thought and six years of writing and rewriting, my husband's magnum opus is finally out! It really is brilliant. But don't take my word for it. Read what the reviewers say:

“No one does art history and the history of memory as sublimely as Kirk Savage. In this book of extraordinary research and widely accessible prose, Savage brilliantly shows how America's most sacred and visible public space has evolved.” (David W. Blight)

“Monument Wars is the best single work I've read on the idea of the ‘monument’ in American culture, the best single analysis and history of Washington's shrines.” (James E. Young)

"Now maybe he will stop dragging us to monuments all the time!" (Our kids)

Here's the website:
www.monumentwars.com/Site%203/Home.html

Vanilla Rice

As you know, one of our daughters is autistic. She's very bright, but has a really difficult time getting her words out. We've spent lots and lots of time carefully modeling speech for her, and teaching her what to say and when to say it.

Today my husband was making dinner and as he was getting the rice on, my super intellectual book-writing Ph.D. of a husband was riffing on the old Vanilla Ice hit and singing "I'm making rice, rice, baby. (Boom ba da boom boom ba dum) Rice, rice, baby." When dinner was ready, my autistic daughter comes into the kitchen and says "I want Rice Rice Baby!"

I'm really hoping that, at the school cafeteria, she'll rock it out to the lunch ladies and ask for "Rice, rice, baby."