Happy Valentine's day pals.
I know it's a made up holiday and a nefarious product of the consumer industrial complex. I'm generally quite the grinch about such things, but I decided to try to make this Valentines into something I could appreciate. Mind you I still resent the wave of commercialism suggesting that diamonds and such equal love, but I tried to emphasize some sentiment worth valuing apart from all the candy and flowers and bullshit.
So I did a few small, personal things that expressed some sentiments worth expressing. My sweetie appreciated it and I scored a cool hat. Later we'll have some good Thai food. That's a pretty good day.
In other news, I've been deep into a weighty academic book about...the theological underbelly of American History. Or maybe the theology lurking, tucked away, in the unfolding of the American experiment. Maybe. I'd have to think about that for a minute. It requires my using some long dormant intellectual muscles so it's a little slower going than the novels I've been reading since my own academic endeavors went to hell a while back. It's a very interesting book and I expect I'll have more to say when I'm done.
In the meantime, here's a Valentine's haiku for you. A colleague who also is fond of Japanese poetry gave me this today, printed on an envelope. It's by a poet named Issa:
What a pretty kite
the beggar's children fly high
above their hovel!
