Spring is here. A time that erases all of the extremes that winter put to you; the bitter cold; the scarves and gloves... the rubber novelty masks of world leaders that you would stretch over your head and face, even the fanny pack you wore high around your chest -- it was always filled with one thousand dollars cash that would hopefully ward off the biting cold if things got too intense. Ah, Spring. Suddenly gone is the way winter made you cover your nose with duct tape because hypothermic logic told you it would keep the devil out of your head. "If he can't get in, he can't lay eggs," you would say to yourself in temperatures dipping into single digits. But now this; now Spring!
Okay, also, now this: is this thing with Mike Daisy for real? Mike seems like a great guy. A talented guy. A man who has always struck me as above all, kind. Which is why this creepy display of I-don't-know-what from a gaggle of so-called Christians is so disheartening. Christians, my ass. God above, if there's one thing I learned early on in this life it is to walk the other way from anyone waving a banner and wearing God on their sleeve. All I can think is that after this group's behavior, there's an awesome monologue brewing in Mike Daisy's head right now, and I'm first in line for tickets when he's finished with it. I haven't watched the video clip, because that's been something I've been practicing lately -- not watching the stuff that I can't explain or change. Video of people acting like tools makes it so much harder to have compassion for people acting like tools, it turns out. Anyway, I challenge the individual -- the one who thought it was righteous and just to destroy Mr. Daisy's notes and materials -- to come forward. He won't come forward and take responsibility for his actions, of course. Because that's the way religious zealots operate; we've learned THAT much in the last six years. 'Attack in the name of your God and then hide' has been the principle trend of the 2000's on so many levels and sides. I think if God came to earth these days, he'd just kind of get that feeling you get when you land somewhere and it feels somehow off season. He'd be, like, "Weird. I wonder if maybe I'm here at a bad time or something." Then he'd probably just hang out at his hotel watching Discovery Channel until it was time to check out and go home.
On another note altogether, I urge you to read this soldier's dispatches from Iraq at McSweeney's. They're awesome. And drop him a line! Think how much you love to get email, then think how much more you'd love it if you were fighting in Iraq. You'd love to get email, right? Okay...
Lastly, your fearless ReallySmallTalk Founder, Editor, President/Owner and Regional Manager digs down deep in an interview to divulge truths you've been waiting to hear for years (heavy coughing here), so stop holding your breath, America.
And thanks to everyone who came out to The Moth down at The Prince Theater in Chestertown, Maryland, and to everyone who came out to the reading the next day at the Lit house at Washinton College. I think in the course of one weekend I met about a lifetime's worth of cool, sweet, funny, intelligent people.
Allright, Spring-
DSK
