Brook is reading The Sun Also Rises. Her teacher is much more merciful to her than mine was to me. Of all the possible Hemingway books she could have assigned, she chose The Old Man and the Sea. It took me 25 years before I would read anything else by Hemingway. It was the very first piece of “literature” we read in 9th grade and right from the start, I had grave misgivings about my ability to endure four years of high school.
Every. Word. Was. Pure. Tedium.
The story was lame, the characters unimpressive. I started to root for the marlin about halfway through hoping that the fish would drag Santiago out of his boat and drown him, mercifully ending both of our struggles.
Some critics have said that Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea as a response to another book that critics panned but revenge is not a good excuse for writing this practical joke. It’s full of obvious metaphors that leap off the page to deliver a dope slap to your head. I couldn’t believe he won a Pulitzer for it except that the book has that mystique of being an allegory about something profound, like an ordinary object mounted on a canvas and declared art. It’s like blaming the victim if you don’t appreciate it, therefore, it must be a masterpiece.
It’s only saving grace is that it is short.
What was your most boring assigned reading in high school?
Maybe the line of the night so far came when Warren tried to interrupt Brown as he attempted to make a point.
“Excuse me,” he said, “I’m not a student in your classroom.”
He keeps calling her Professor. It’s not Professor Warren or Ms. Warren. Just Professor.
So, does he feel he has to reassert his manliness when he debates her? Put her in her place? “That’s right, I’m not a boy you can push around, Teach!” {{strut while sitting down}}
Why does he feel the need to do that? Does Brown have a problem with women authority figures? Is he appealing to the white male voters out there? Any guesses?
Check out the look on Warren’s face. It’s like, “I can’t believe I’m only slightly beating this guy”
Yeah, I can’t believe it either. What are Massachusetts’ voters thinking??
In the letter, Cooperman argued that Obama has needlessly antagonized the rich by making comments that are hostile to economic success. The prose, rife with compound metaphors and righteous indignation, is a good reflection of Cooperman’s table talk. “The divisive, polarizing tone of your rhetoric is cleaving a widening gulf, at this point as much visceral as philosophical, between the downtrodden and those best positioned to help them,” Cooperman wrote. “It is a gulf that is at once counterproductive and freighted with dangerous historical precedents.”
At the dinner, Al Gore was diplomatic when presented with the letter, and asked Cooperman if he would accept higher taxes. Cooperman said that he would—if he was treated with respect, and the government didn’t squander his money. Cooperman asked Gore what he thought the top marginal tax rate should be. Gore’s reply was noncommittal, but he pleased the group by suggesting that no matter who wins in November the victor should surround himself with advisers with experience in the private sector.
No, no more private sector advisors from the MBA management class. They’re absolutely the last people who need to give more input. Instead, the winner should solicit advice from people whose careers and industries have been wrecked by those private sector parasites. At least get both sides of the story.
But it’s this bit that’s bound to get the most attention in the blogosphere:
During another conversation, Cooperman mentioned that over the weekend an acquaintance had come by to get some friendly advice on managing his personal finances. He was a seventy-two-year-old world-renowned cardiologist; his wife was one of the country’s experts in women’s medicine. Together, they had a net worth of around ten million dollars. “It was shocking how tight he was going to be in retirement,” Cooperman said. “He needed four hundred thousand dollars a year to live on. He had a home in Florida, a home in New Jersey. He had certain habits he wanted to continue to pursue.
“I’m just saying that it’s not an impressive amount of capital for two people that were leading physicians for their entire work life,” Cooperman went on. “You know, I lost more today than they spent a lifetime accumulating.”
Most of the people I worked with had more education under their belts than physicians, worked just as hard to make life saving discoveries and never dreamed of being able to sock away $10 million bucks. The didn’t go into it to get rich but they still have to live in their retirement after working a lifetime in America where their vacation and leisure time is minute compared to the rest of the developed world. I swear, these people won’t be satisfied until we agree to work for nothing and are grateful for it.
And what’s with this crap about how we need to treat Mr. Cooperman and his buddies with more respect? WE’RE the ones who deserve more respect. Paying your taxes is not a favor. It’s a responsibility. And if Cooperman gets to call the shots to make sure his money isn’t squandered, we should all have that same right. No more expensive wars, no more faith based initiatives, no more oil subsidies and no more bank bailouts. Has Mr. Cooperman seen how the French show respect to selfish piggy rich people who sit on piles of cash?
That last gesture simulated a knife cutting open the throat. The French have a history, you know. They don’t fuck around. We could learn a lot from the disrespectful French.
Brook is reading The Sun Also Rises. Her teacher is much more merciful to her than mine was to me. Of all the possible Hemingway books she could have assigned, she chose The Old Man and the Sea. It took me 25 years before I would read anything else by Hemingway. It was the very first piece of “literature” we read in 9th grade and right from the start, I had grave misgivings about my ability to endure four years of high school.
The Confluence 