I’ve filched my title from the standup comedy of the matchless Gary Gulman. If you don’t know him, you owe it to yourself to track down on YouTube, exempli gratia, his explanation of how the states got their abbreviations.
(c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
EthicalDative 
Very funny clip, I didn’t know of him
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Yes, very funny! (I love the portrait too – you’ve caught that zealous look Jim!)
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Thank you, Sue! Well observed about the “zealous” look. I gather the personnage of whom we speak is known in your environs? My effort to capture something of a face always runs off the rails, and I’m glad when something recognizable survives.
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I immediately thought it was the Trump cheerleader MTG. Am I correct? There is a horrible fascination in watching her extreme confidence and outrageous behaviour – though we only see glimpses of her luckily!
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You’re right on the money, it’s her. She recently remarked that if she had been in charge of the January 6 insurrection it would have been armed and have succeeded. She now sits on the committee for Homeland Security which responds, among other things, to domestic terrorism. Our politics is stranger than fiction.
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Yes your politics is very strange indeed. I wonder if you have ever read the Florida writer Carl Hiaasen who writes very funny satirical novels. ‘Squeeze Me’ has a delicious depiction of a President who is very like Trump. I think MTG would be a good subject for another Hiaasen novel if he hasn’t already written it!
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Yes, a coincidence you mention Hiaasen. Some years ago a friend introduced me to his work, and I read one of his novels, but not the one you mention. Don’t recall the title. If I remember correctly he was a journalist who got into novel writing. Speaking of literature, I’ve recently encountered for the first time the poetry of John Manifold. I wonder if he’s a familiar name to you. I read the selection of his poems that’s at poetryfoundation.org.
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Talk about coincidence Jim! – yes, I am familiar with John Manifold as he was a distant cousin of my father! I remember my dad talking about John being a communist and poet and that he was regarded as a bit of a maverick by the old family in Melbourne.
I look forward to reading his poems, so thank you for the link! Best wishes
Sue
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How the world turns, Sue! Manifold a relative of yours! I must recount this to my friend, Charles Behlen, who recommended John Manifold to me. Charles is a poet himself, and a bibliophile, retired to New Mexico. For his recent birthday his daughter presented him with a particular edition of the collected poems of John Manifold which Charles had mentioned to her once that he would like to own. He mentioned to me that one of his favorites of Manifold is a poem called “Fife Song.” According to the little bio at the Poetry Foundation website, the man did indeed lead a colorful and illustrious life. (Or wait, perhaps I’m thinking of Wikipedia. At any rate, his details are interesting.) I must brag to Charles that I converse with an artist related to his idol! Charles is a bit of a maverick too. Perhaps it goes with the profession.
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That’s lovely. The online Australian Dictionary of Biography has a more detailed CV of John Manifold.
I once heard a radio documentary about the history of folk music groups in Australia and these old folkies said that because of their communist connections, ASIO (the Australian spy agency) had been watching them carefully in the 1950s. When they were trying to remember when things had happened in those years, they got hold of their ASIO files and had an accurate detailed record of their meetings, concerts, and membership – all dutifully recorded by the ASIO operatives. A nice irony!
cheers
Sue
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How interesting and funny. It’s as if the spooks spying on them kept a personal diary for them! It reminds me of how our FBI secretly dogged the steps of many outspoken artists and public figures (such as Martin Luther King and John Lennon) over decades. I’ve noted in the few poems of Manifold’s I’ve read thus far a strong affinity for music. Regards from here, Sue. — Jim
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