Kurt R.A. Giambastiani's Blog, page 61
February 27, 2014
Diversity Schmiversity
“Celebrate Diversity” is the clarion call of modern multiculturalism, the 21st century rendition of “Vive la différence!” And I hate it. As with all slogans, it’s a massive oversimplification of a complex topic, a concept made nearly meaningless by itsdistillation. And, as with many slogans, it concentrates on exactly the wrong aspect, completely mis-framing the […]
February 25, 2014
Grey, in Living Color
I grew up in a black-and-white world. Notexactly like the way Calvin’s dad explained it, but pretty much. When I was very young, television broadcast in black-and-white, and my life was filled with television. Soon, even though technology advanced and broadcasts switched to color, in our house we still only had a black-and-whitetelevision. In fact, […]
February 20, 2014
Ilene’s World Class Lasagna
My wife is not Italian. She’s Irish. She just married an Italian. (Actually, I’m mostly French, but try telling that to someone who’s struggling to pronounce “Giambastiani.”) She calls herself a “truck-stop cook.” She isn’t what she would call a “chef.” She isa craftsman who has a few really good recipes. Over the years, she’s […]
February 18, 2014
Recipe for Love
“I’m a gourmet chef and I don’t measure anything.” ——— “Some people can cook. Others can follow recipes.” These statements and others like them were leveled at me this weekend, after I mentioned I was going to attempt to capture the recipe for my wife’s world-class lasagna. Frankly, they caught me unaware. Never before had […]
February 13, 2014
Revise and Extend
Letters are nice things to get in the mail. I’m not talking about bills or street-spam from your local dentist. I mean letters. Honest to God Letters, written by a person, meant for you and you alone. Well, mostly… There’s one kind of letter that I hate to get: The Revision Letter. The Revision Letter […]
February 11, 2014
Not That at All
If I told you I watched a movie about an old man, a young woman, and Paris, entitled Last Love, you might very well think it was a reboot of Last Tango in Paris. And you would be wrong. This movie is not that. No, not that at all. If you start with Michael Caine, […]
February 6, 2014
I’ve Got Rhythm
I do not care for the heroic couplet. daDa-daDa-daDa-daDa-daDee, daDa-daDa-daDa-daDa-daDee. It’s fine for a short poem or sonnet, but when you stack one atop the other for stanza after stanza, it getspredictable, monotonous, and boring. It’s whyA Midsummer Night’s Dream is my least favorite of Shakespeare’s plays, as a huge portion of it is written […]
February 4, 2014
Jaybirds and Seahawks
Seattle has its idiosyncrasies. It’s what makes this city unique. It’s what gives the city its specific “feel.” In general, we don’t use umbrellas. We’re more a head-down-and-face-the-weather sort of town. In general, we’re polite and courteous. Drop your wallet and chances are someone will help you retrieve it (9 out of 10 times, according […]
January 30, 2014
A Penny in my Pocket
I don’t really believe in luck. At least, I don’t believe in luck as something we can affect. Things happen; sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re not. People who we think have “good luck” are justfolks who make better decisions than others. People who have repeated “bad luck” are usually not paying close enough attention to […]
January 28, 2014
Love and CrO2
Yodeling is not often connected with courtship. Nor humpback whales. The fact that I employed both in pursuit of love may, in part, explain my somewhat spotty record at wooing women. If you grew up around San Francisco Bay and remember rotary phones, you know who Pete Seeger was. Pete, who passed away yesterday, was […]
