Dreamways

Sarah Palin has suddenly, spectacularly and confrontationally leaped onto the stage of national American politics. Her name and image have quickly taken up an enormous space in the American psyche, much like a powerful and disturbing sleep-dream image. Like a dream image, Ms Palin’s appearance has disrupted the American status quo. Her selection as the Republican vice presidential candidate has stirred things up. She evokes extremely powerful reactions, both positive and negative.

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“Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce goods and services. What could be scarcer or more precious than love? It is rare, hard to come by and often fragile.” With these words economic writer Ben Stein introduces some guidelines for what he calls “the economics of love,” combining financial savviness with wisdom about love. ( “Lessons in Love, by Way of Economics,” The New York Times, 13 Jul 08)

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Bella, sent off to finish high school in the state of Washington, “catches the eye of a gorgeous boy in her biology class named Edward. He turns out to be a member of a commune of vampires, who have banded together to fight their inclination to drink human blood." So begins Gail Collins’ synopsis of “The Twilight Saga,” a series of extraordinarily popular books by Stephenie Meyer (“A Virginal Goth Girl,” The New York Times, 12 Jul 08).

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"Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that.  This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week.

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The newspaper photo captures everything that Americans wanted to believe about the Iraq war in the earliest days of the invasion in 2003. A U.S. Army medic, Pfc. Joseph Dwyer, whose unit was fighting its way up the Euphrates to Baghdad, cradles a wounded Iraqi boy. The child is half-naked and helpless, but trusting. Private Dwyer’s face is strained but calm. The text accompanying the photo describes the power of this image. “If there are better images of the strength and selflessness of the American soldier, I can’t think of any.  read more »

“Kentucky pastor charged in poisonous snake trade.” This intriguing headline appeared in The Denver Post (12 Jul 08). The article it led to once again illustrates that waking life can be every bit as strange as any sleep dream. “The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade. More than 100 snakes were confiscated in the undercover sting after Thursday’s arrests, said Col.  read more »

"A New Zealand man who assaulted a teen by hitting him with a spine-covered hedgehog has been fined by a court and ordered to pay most of his fine to his victim. Whakatane District Court was told … that William Singalargh picked up the hedgehog, a small prickly-backed animal similar to the porcupine, and threw it several yards at a 15-year-old boy on Feb. 9. Police said the teen was hit in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks.  read more »

When it comes to chronic physical health problems, "the single thing that comes close to a magic bullet, in terms of its strong and universal benefits, is exercise,“ Frank Hu, epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, states in Harvard Magazine. This quote appears in health columnist Jane E. Brody‘s article on the multi-facted roles of exercise in healing ("You Name It, and Exercise Helps It,“ The New York Times, 29 Apr 08).  read more »

‘The Song of Deborah and Barak’ from the Old Testament is re-told by Mark Twain in his 1869 best-selling book, The Innocents Abroad, a travelogue Twain penned describing his journey to Europe and The Holy Land with a group of religiously minded American tourists as part of the first-ever luxury cruise. “Somewhere in this part of the country – I do not know exactly where – Israel fought another bloody battle a hundred hears later. Deborah, the prophetess, told Barak to take ten thousand men and sally forth against another king Jabin who had been doing something.  read more »