Ahhhhh... Coffee

If it ain't good enough to drink black, it ain't good enough to drink...

I share the following paean, cribbed from Making Light (all proper credit at the end).

Sweet Black Coffee Blues

I can drink it in the morning
I can drink it late at night
Your sweet black coffee, baby
Sure does taste just right

I can drink it in the bathtub
I can drink it on the Stairs
Your sweet black coffee, baby
I can drink it anywhere

Sweet Black Coffee, Sweet Black Coffee
I got the Sweet Black Coffee Blues

Well, you can keep your herbal teas
Your milkshakes and colas, too
The only beverage that I'll drink
Is sweet black coffee made by you

Well I like to sip it real slow
And roll it round my tongue
And when I've finished drinking
I've got to get me another one

Sweet Black Coffee, Sweet Black Coffee
I got the Sweet Black Coffee Blues

Your sweet black coffee, baby
It don't taste like any other
Even though you know I know
You got that recipe from your mother

Well I can drink it from a mug
Well I can drink it from a cup
I'll drink it off your body, baby
That coffee really gets me up

Sweet Black Coffee, Sweet Black Coffee
I got the Sweet Black Coffee Blues

You can cover it in whipped cream, baby
You can sprinkle on Chocolate too
I'll just spoon them out the way
To get to the coffee made by you

I drink it all the time girl
I can drink it by the pot
But if you ever run out, baby
I'll find someone else who serves it hot

Sweet Black Coffee, Sweet Black Coffee
I got the Sweet Black Coffee Blues


By: Paul Herzberg http://pherzb.blogspot.com/

It is a radical act to be fat and happy

Working for the Michigan Nutrition Network, I find myself surrounded by the social attitude regarding obesity. Not that my co-workers treat me badly, but there's this focus on "curing obesity" that is like a high-pitched whine in the background. Not debilitating, but irritating.

I spoke up today, asking that they all consider "fit at any size" rather than "don't be fat" as a message. I thought that they were receptive, so maybe I've done a little good. To be fair, most of the material is focused on proper nutrition and adequate exercise, which is important and useful no matter what your weight or body type.

I need to quote from Shakespeare's Sister, a feminist blog that I read daily. This really nails it...

It remains a radical act to be fat and happy in America, especially if you’re a woman (for whom “jolly” fatness isn’t an option). If you’re fat, you’re not only meant to be unhappy, but deeply ashamed of yourself, projecting at all times an apologetic nature, indicative of your everlasting remorse for having wrought your monstrous self upon the world. You are certainly not meant to be bold, or assertive, or confident—and should you manage to overcome the constant drumbeat of messages that you are ugly and unsexy and have earned equally society’s disdain and your own self-hatred, should you forget your place and walk into the world one day with your head held high, you are to be reminded by the cow-calls and contemptuous looks of perfect strangers that you are not supposed to have self-esteem; you don’t deserve it. Being publicly fat and happy is hard; being publicly, shamelessly, unshakably fat and happy is an act of both will and bravery.

I certainly feel the societally required self-loathing. If someone is ever attracted to me, I'll probably miss the signals, because no one could be attracted to someone as old and fat as I am. Everything I see and hear reminds me.

If You Talk To God...

If you talk to God, you are praying.
If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.
-- Thomas Szasz, "The Second Sin"

Pat Robertson, ever known for his levelheadedness and Christian compassion, has predicted that God told him that He will permit a massive terrorist attack on the US for our sins, causing great loss of life. Of course, that might affect Reverend Pat's flock as well...

My money is on schizophrenia.