The Devil Is in the Details

I'm about halfway through The Devil's Rooming House by M. William Phelps, a true crime book about Amy Archer-Gilligan, a female serial killer in the early 20th Century who murdered inmates for money at her boarding house/nursing home in Windor, Connecticut by poisoning their lemonade with arsenic. Apparently, these actual crimes were used as inspiration for the 1940s Cary Grant movie Arsenic and Old Lace, although there aren't strong parallels between the plot of the movie and the true events (other than poison used as a method of murder).

If you like true crime, you might find this an interesting read, although Phelps isn't as skilled a writer as Erik Larson (of Devil in the White City fame). Like Larson in Devil, Phelps weaves two stories together: the murders of Archer-Gilligan and the deadly heat wave of 1911 in the New England states. However, the "silent killer" trope isn't as consistently sustained or as artfully executed as the white/black--construction/destruction themes Larson uses.

Middle East Peace in a Bottle

It won't solve any religious or policy disputes, but shatta, a hot red pepper sauce used in Palestinian cuisine and having Egyptian origins, might be able to bring people together at the dinner table. I think a lot of hot sauce enthusiasts would agree that this mouth-searing condiment is fantastic. I use the Canary brand of shatta that I found at a local Middle Eastern market. It's great with hummus, pita bread, and Persian cucumbers (but any cucumbers will do).

When I had congestion problems a couple of weeks ago, I prescribed myself some shatta, and the issues cleared up. It sure tastes better than over-the-counter cold meds. Caution: It really is hot; take with a liberal amount of fluids. It's well worth the mouth and stomach burn.

Answer: To Hell in a Handbasket

Question: Where is our country headed now that the Democrats' health care legislation has passed?

Drum Roll Please

Now unveiled for the first time: a few pictures taken on a recent trip to Descanso Gardens. Which one do you like the best and why?


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Tell me what you think!

Blogger Slacker

I am a bona fide blogger slacker, not having posted since the election! My problem is that I tend to censor myself even when I have good writing ideas. Or, I put off writing for another day and that other day never comes. A few years back, I used to write morning pages to cultivate the habit of writing. Morning pages were not profound insights on life or masterful examples of word play, but simply prosaic journal pages intended to make writing an integral part of the day. Morning pages could be about anything as long as they were consistently done. I found myself writing more when I forced myself to put pen to paper.

So, in the attempt to make blogging more of a habit, I am writing today about nothing more than the fact that I haven't been blogging! However, stay tuned because this week, I will publish a few pictures I recently took at Descanso Gardens. And, I'll be asking for your opinion of which one you like the best!

Have You ...

voted? I went early this morning--7 a.m.--to avoid long lines later in the day. There was a line, but it only took 1/2 hour to get through it. Nothing disturbing at our poll place today: no fights breaking out, no voter intimidation, Mickey Mouse was not in line behind me, etc. Hopefully there's nothing funny going on at your polling place either!

Still Undecided?

In the final week of the 2008 election season, politicians are stumping on the trail and granting interviews to media outlets aggressively courting the vote of the undecided voter. But, with only seven days to go before we decide who our president will be for the next four years, who are these undecided voters? I am not the most decisive person in the world, but I figured out a long time ago who I am voting for. I watched a lot of debates, read a lot of articles, listened to analysis from a variety of sources, thought through voting records, and came to a conclusion. I know that not everyone has either the time or inclination to dedicate to the political process, and I don’t claim to be a policy wonk, so there are subtleties to issues on which I don’t have a firm grasp, but I still have enough information to make a decision between the options. Some would say that there are no real differences between the major candidates, but I beg to differ! There are definite, crucial, and substantive differences, and unless your sole voting issue is a topic on which the candidates happen to actually agree, then I don’t understand what you’re trying to sort out. And even if you don’t like either major party candidate, it would seem that you have already decided to either not vote at all or to vote for/write in a third party option. I get that. What scares me is that there will be people on November 4th, whose vote counts just as much as mine, who are going to walk into the voting booth with no clue and will base their decision on … who knows? So, here is a question for anyone who reads my blog and is still undecided: I honestly want to know, what will help you decide at this stage of the game? And, do you think you could walk into the voting booth on November 4th and make a last-minute, possibly visceral decision?