Our Heroine is a Victim of the Last Acceptable Prejudice

I have been added to the blog roll at Frank Helps You Think It All Out, where I will remain, on probation, "as long as posts are regular and informative."

I am also informed that this blog, "Could use some more NASCAR."

Now, Frank's friend Ptolemy hasn't updated his blog, Our Man in Europe, since March 2005, and he has never been removed from the blog roll or given so much as a stern warning. Also, he writes posts about mustaches and dentistry -- whereas I write posts about velociraptors and spies. And yet, MY blog is the less exciting one? The one that needs an injection of NASCAR?

Clearly there's an undercurrent of something ugly going on here, and I think we all know what it is. The main difference between me and Frank's friend? Other than the fact he is a tall Australian guy living in London, and I am a short American girl living in New York? Exactly. The darling of Frank's blogroll has a smarty-pants, superunusual name from antiquity. Whereas the red-headed stepchild of Frank's blog roll has a totally normal, two-syllabled, bourgeois name like everybody else. Nameism: Spot It. Stop It.

Sometimes, This is How Our Heroine Feels Too

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself in a dark wilderness,
for I had wandered from the straight and true.
- Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto I



via Fallen Sparrow

Our Heroine Thanks TEC for Helping Catholics Feel Better About Their Troubles

Y'all, I love Chris Johnson of The MCJ. I hope he becomes a Catholic one day, but not yet, because his ring-side reports on the bust-up of The Episcopal Church are just too entertaining. He's a remarkable guy, to remain so upbeat, cheerful, and wickedly funny during what must be, in reality, very disheartening circumstances.

That being said, Piskie Bishop Katie Jefferts Shori's Easter message is hilarious! Takeaway: "Jesus died so I could reduce my carbon footprint."

The Golden Age -- What Happened?

This is not a real post y'all, just an update to explain why I never posted again on The Golden Age, like I wrote that I would.

The book is part of a trilogy, and in a hard-core way; the hero, Phaethon, just figured out that he owns an incredible starship, and is walking towards it when the book just ended.

That's it. I won't know a thing more til I read the next installment.

So, there's not much to say until I get to Phoenix Exultant, which is Part II. Right now, my hero is just walking, and that's healthy, and I'm happy for him, but it's not inspiring me to write any of my normal, overblown blog musings.

Stay tuned, he'll reach the ship eventually.

Our Heroine Thanks You For Your Votes

Thanks, everybody here - and at Frank's blog - for voting for my cousin Christine Kinneary.

Nine semifinalists were narrowed to three for the 2008 America East Women's Basketball Fans' Choice Player of the Year Award. My cousin was one of them!

Ultimately, Hartford senior forward Danielle Hood - who is a lovely lady - took first place. My cousin was psyched she won. So, thanks for pitching in to get her in the finals, and we'll win it all next year!

Postscript: If you voted and want meatballs, let me know! A promise is a promise, unless you're Frank; in which case you're still not dishing up the chateaubriand you owe me for losing that Oscars bet!

Basically, Our Heroine was Unimpressed

I just finished the novel Atonement. Meh.



Incredible momentum in Part I, with all events, large and small, rushing forward to the story's horrible climax. And, like in Hardy, making the multitude of small words, choices and actions that lead to the terrible denoument seem inevitable. As if no other outcome were possible.

Hooray! Good stuff! I was gripped. And then. Meh.

Did you ever write an awesome scene, just a great little scene, and then be very, very sad that you had no novel to put it in? Well, that's what Atonement felt like to me. Like Ian McEwan wrote this fantastic little short story, "Two Figures at a Fountain," and then felt obligated to keep writing Atonement so he would have someplace to put it. Meh.