View from Atlantis
Oct. 22nd, 2004 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraGot to hang out some with Carl yesterday. We sat on a sunny bench overlooking the Coast Guard pier, watched an otter munch merrily on a starfish, talked about Life. One of those cosmic time-out-of-times.
Afterwards we met up with Sussanna from the Well. Writer from Finland. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, wet dream body, round doll face, but it was the imperfections – acne scars pitting her face – that gave her real beauty.
Sussanna was a hoot and a half, one of those people you’d like to don a cloak of invisibility and then follow around for a couple of days because through some combination of her own irascibility and the universe’s indulgence, she’s someone to whom Interesting Things Happen.
We went to Kalista’s for ice cream. Sat at a table outside, talking politics and watching the shadows lengthen.
“We live in end times,” Sussanna said.
“Yes, we do,” I said. “But end times should be more fun, don’t you think? Where’s the drunken orgies?”
Sussanna favored me with a frosty smile. “End times presage dark ages,” she said. One of the fun things about talking to foreign nationals whose command of English is good is that they are constantly using words like “presage” and “conscription” in everyday conversation.
“True,” I said. “But the Romans had fun, didn’t they? I mean before the Visigoths raped and pillaged everything.”
“I begin to think that the best thing would be for Bush to win,” said Sussanna. “The lines would be drawn more distinctly.”
This is something I’ve been thinking a lot myself recently. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I’m voting for Kerry. But honestly, two middle-aged white guys who went to Yale – how different can the candidates really be? No matter who gets elected, the Iraq war will continue and escalate. And – the issue that concerns me the most – there will be a draft.
At least if Bush wins, we liberals can lie to ourselves and say the country’s been co-opted by right-wing extremists. But what do we say when the guy we voted for is the one who’s signing off on the badness?
Afterwards we met up with Sussanna from the Well. Writer from Finland. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, wet dream body, round doll face, but it was the imperfections – acne scars pitting her face – that gave her real beauty.
Sussanna was a hoot and a half, one of those people you’d like to don a cloak of invisibility and then follow around for a couple of days because through some combination of her own irascibility and the universe’s indulgence, she’s someone to whom Interesting Things Happen.
We went to Kalista’s for ice cream. Sat at a table outside, talking politics and watching the shadows lengthen.
“We live in end times,” Sussanna said.
“Yes, we do,” I said. “But end times should be more fun, don’t you think? Where’s the drunken orgies?”
Sussanna favored me with a frosty smile. “End times presage dark ages,” she said. One of the fun things about talking to foreign nationals whose command of English is good is that they are constantly using words like “presage” and “conscription” in everyday conversation.
“True,” I said. “But the Romans had fun, didn’t they? I mean before the Visigoths raped and pillaged everything.”
“I begin to think that the best thing would be for Bush to win,” said Sussanna. “The lines would be drawn more distinctly.”
This is something I’ve been thinking a lot myself recently. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I’m voting for Kerry. But honestly, two middle-aged white guys who went to Yale – how different can the candidates really be? No matter who gets elected, the Iraq war will continue and escalate. And – the issue that concerns me the most – there will be a draft.
At least if Bush wins, we liberals can lie to ourselves and say the country’s been co-opted by right-wing extremists. But what do we say when the guy we voted for is the one who’s signing off on the badness?
