Jonathan Carroll's Blog, page 76

CarrollBlog 9.12

LIVING HUNGRY AFTER

By Jack Gilbert

The water nymphs who came to Poseidon

Explained how little they desired to couple

With the gods. Except to find out

whether it was different, whether there was

a fresh world, another dimension in their loins.

In the old Pittsburgh we dreamed of a city

where women read Proust in the original French

and wondered whether we would cross over

into a different joy if we paid a call girl

a thousand dollars for a night. Or an hour.

Would it be different in kind o...

CarrollBlog 9.11

"A few years ago, a young taxi driver drove me to John F. Kennedy Airport on Long Island. After a few minutes of conversation, I discovered that Mike had belonged to my synagogue years before I came to the community.

"So, rabbi," he asked while we sat in heavy traffic, "what do you say to a Jew like me who hasn't been in a synagogue since his bar mitzvah ceremony?"

Thinking for a moment, I recalled that in Hassidic lore, the baal aqalah (the wagon driver) is an honored profession. So I said, ...

CarrollBlog 9.10

While walking this morning, I was thinking about sea glass and what an extraordinarily good metaphor it is for what we all hope for in life. When it was created and initially used, the glass had no value. It was part of a greenish Coke bottle, a brown wine bottle, olive oil, or a blue drinking glass. Nothing of importance. Use up the contents and throw the bottle away. Somehow or other the glass broke and its pieces were scattered. This one ends up in the ocean. For a long time, maybe even...

CarrollBlog 9.9

In the display window of the art gallery is only one thing-- a sensational black and white photograph of a beautiful woman eating a very large jelly donut. There's white powdered sugar all over her face. She's staring at the camera and laughing, obviously indifferent to how ridiculous (and wonderful) she looks. But the best part of the picture is this: a few feet behind her, out of her line of vision, a mongrel dog is sitting nearby staring up at her with absolute hatred and envy. It is...

CarrollBlog 9.8

Since yesterday's entry, there have been some people writing in asking for other past blogs. So for the next few days, some more oldies but (hopefully) goodies:

Men generally regard women as cartoons: Funny, colorful, loud, and being with them reminds you of how much fun and wonder you knew as a child.

Men see other men as documentaries: Serious, informative, but essentially dull after a few minutes.

Women generally regard men as cartoons : Ridiculous, exaggerated, and they run around in ...

CarrollBlog 9.7

blog entry from 9/17/2007 (for JH, who asked for it):

I know someone who had a terrible childhood. Not just bad, or BAD, but genuinely terrible. The ingredients of a domestic horror novel, or the worst kind of OLIVER TWIST/Charles Dickens tale of deprivation and woe. Yet this person grew up to be not only a solid citizen, but a gem-- one of the few people I know who is truly special in many ways. Is their specialness a result of having had those bad experiences when they were young but...

CarrollBlog 9.6

A friend told me his wife was watching the TV show ENTOURAGE. The main characters go into the desert and take psychedelic mushrooms ("dropping 'shrooms'") to get high. The woman later asked her husband in a serious voice, "What does it mean to drop shrimp? Do you get stoned if you do that? They kept talking about dropping shrimp and having visions."

CarrollBlog 9.5

Lots of people have written in asking about the quotes, links, etcetera that I post here now and then. What some might not know is that there's many more of them (over 1000) posted on the Twitter account I have been doing for the past half year. I know to some of you, Twitter is the anti-Christ, but you can access my page there even if you don't have an account. Just go to www.twitter.com and my account "jscarroll." Or just click the Twitter link on my website cover page. Many delights there ...

CarrollBlog 9.2

An old friend suffered a stroke recently. They're doing as well as can be expected. The thing they miss most is that for some nefarious neurological reason, they're not able to read anymore. This woman was one of the most voracious readers I've ever known. The fact she cannot do it now while recovering is insult on top of injury. I saw her the other day. She said she wanted to read my new book THE GHOST IN LOVE but had tried and was unable to. I offered to give her a copy of the audio version,

CarrollBlog 9.1

A Thank-You Note to Men

By Mary-Louise Parker

To you, whom it may concern:

Manly creature, who smells good even when you don't, you wake up too slowly, with fuzzy, vertical hair and a slightly lost look on your face as though you are seven or seventy-five; you can fix my front door, my sink, and open most jars; you, who lose a cuff link and have to settle for a safety pin, you have promised to slay unfortunate interlopers and dragons with your Phillips head or Montblanc; to you, because you w