cynical

The lady in line ahead of me at the drug store was buying elastic underwear - the kind that shapes your body and flattens your belly to make you look thinner.  The brand name: Truly Fit.

depending from

As Sandy passes, my building sways and my windows bow.  The door chain hangs, swinging, or rather, the building sways around its mass.

pop quiz

Describe the difference between aphoristic and homiletic expression in 140 characters.

twitter's doorknob

An aphorism is the spark that flies from the doorknob as one is leaving the room of thought.

red and white stripes

I've been going to the same barber for years.  He seemed to be an assistant manager at the beginning, but he opened up an outpost shop under the same ownership nearer my work, and since then I've been going there.  I have the sense that he bought in - at any rate he's the boss at the new location.  Everyone is Armenian.

At first, it was all professional wrestling on the televisions, and framed pictures of my barber mugging, thumbs up, next to some professional wrestling figure.  A wall of fan photos, in which you could watch him age - see the youth in his face melt away.  And the capes were printed with scantily clad bimbos.  Every morning I pass and he waves, or if he's standing in the doorway, he says hello.

I suppose he's matured.  Lately the television is soccer or, occasionally, market news.  The capes are plain, good cloth now, embroidered with "Premium Barber Shop" - the name of the place.  He's gained a little paunch.  And this morning, the sweatshirt was gone.  He was wearing a red-and-white striped dress shirt, with contrasting all-white cuffs and collar.  He said not "hello" but "good morning" and nodded a bit as he did.  He has become The Barber.

rooftop

In one's career - not just professionally, but creatively and in pursuit of knowledge - it is smart to ask whether an institution or situation is a platform or a shelter.  Whether it promotes but exposes, or else protects but conceals.  (And as always, with heuristics, whether it's even a useful distinction.)

threats

But once he does see something that isn't there, he might see it anywhere and will hardly be persuaded that it is nowhere.

Ramsey

The wiser and more wry of the pastors from my childhood said that during the darker periods of his life he had though to himself: "I've figured it out.  The Lord loves me, but he doesn't like me."  This is certainly true of people, myself included: there are those who love you, but don't like you.  And certainly those who love you do not always like you.

haberdash

Walk into a men's clothing store - eh, meh, bleh.  Drowsy employees, dreary picking at clothes in the clearance section.

But walk into a nice men's clothing store with a serious intention to buy a couple of good suits and - zowie - the place springs to life.  The salesman that gets you turns on the charm, suggestions - surprisingly good ones - flow, and when he goes down to the storeroom to bring you your size, the other salesmen look at you a bit longingly.  Their eyes suggest "I would have taken such good care of you, you know?"  Which is probably all part of the play.  You know it's a play, but real too - you want a good suit, they want a commission.  It's the play of reality, the slicking of rails meant to carry real cargo.  The masculine compliments - "that looks nice on you," "the seat of those trousers don't need a thing," "I saw this down there and thought you'd like it."  And - whoa - the grey haired asian tailor in his beautiful tweed sportscoat, expertly marking alterations.  Playing his role too - the same basic compliments as the salesmen but in a quiet, almost priestly tone.  He half intones, half whispers, "it looks right."  And you half feel, half think: it is true - this suit on me is good.  The tailor has uttered it.  It all feels great - almost a congratulations for hard work and success.

Affluence, in moments like this, feels almost as good as a shoulder rub from a good friend.  Innocent?  For the moment, sure.  But one senses a snake in the garden.  Brooks Brothers has a line of suits called the "Golden Fleece" and I thought to myself - that's a rather brazen double entendre.

nocturn

Talents, of course, go to waste in any society.  This waste is taken as a sign of poor social order and evil of itself.  And surely much waste is evil.  Just as surely, the loss of something wonderful, glorious, is always risked in any waste, and if such is lost, that is evil, too.  But imagine a society in while nobody was wasted, in which all were put to use.  And one sees an overheated monstrosity.  Waste, in human society - that part of it that diverts excess ability - is as important as death in the world at large.

State College

There is a level of family affluence - what I grew up calling comfortable - that when combined with stable family structure and an intelligent, pacific outlook, is something near to heaven on earth and greatly to be wished.  I have in mind one of the families I saw at a wedding this weekend - which produced for the visitor happy moment after moment, as if from the opening scenes of Fanny and Alexander.

iphone

A think and highly absorbent sponge, ideal for sopping up cash.

transaction

Knowledge is not an unqualified good.  Certainly it is not a constant pleasure.  There are all kinds of stuff you'd have to pay me to know.  And people do.