Eegeehood Reading Room

[UPDATE #5]

I'm not in the mood to write anything coherent, so let's play a little game. Here's how it works:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences in the comment section along with the title and author of the book.

I'll update the post with your contribution. Here's mine:

From Translation Nation: Defining a New American Identity in the Spanish-Speaking United States by Héctor Tobar

A new set of clippings was gathering on his desk, nearly all of them upbeat articles about the Georgia Project, founded by Mitchell and other local leaders who wanted to ease the adaptation of the new arrivals to the state. "The factories need the workers, and the workers come with families," he told me. Without good schools for the workers' children, the county would leave itself open to a whole host of social problems down the road. Giving Dalton's Mexican kids a decent education was the sensible thing to do, "pure self-interest," he said.

Supersoling: From Soldiers In Revolt/GI Resistance During the Vietnam War:

"One of the first publically disclosed acts of sabotage during the Vietnam period occurred on May 26, 1970, aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Anderson, in San Diego. As the ship was preparing to steam into the Pacific for Vietnam, it suffered a major breakdown, resulting in some two hundred thousand dollars worth of property damage and a delay of several weeks. An investigation disclosed that someone had dropped nuts, bolts, and chains down the main gear shaft. Three sailors were charged with willful destruction and sabotage, but because of a lack of evidence the case had to be dismissed."

Right on!

a small quiet voice: Excerpt from 'Where The Domino Fell' America And VietNam,1945-1995 By: James S. Olson & Randy Roberts

If the communists escalated the war,he did not think South Vietnam would be able to handle it. Johnson later recalled, "The political base in the South....was probably too shaky to withstand a major assault."

When Johnson asked about bombing Vietcong targets in retaliation for the attack on Ben Hoa, the joint chiefs passed the question on to General Westmoreland in Saigon. Westmoreland found himself in a quandry.

Nezua: Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

As for the good carrier, whose lusts kept him awake, he had heard his wench from the moment she came in, and had been listening attentively to the knight's every word. Suspecting that the Asturian maid had broken her promise to him in favor of another, he edged nearer and nearer to Don Quixote's bed, silently waiting to see what his incomprehensible speech might lead to. But, when he saw the maid struggling to break loose and Don Quixote trying to hold her, the jest seemed to have gone too far.

blueneck: From Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media by Eric Klinenberg

If one media company (or "voice") dominates the production and distribution of local information in a market, regulators reasoned, that organization would have an unhealthy influence on its political, cultural, and economic life. "The reasons for these rules are simple," explained former U.S. Senator Ernest Hollings, a Democrat from South Carolina who said he owed his political career to laws that prevented a local media giant that opposed his candidacy from monopolizing the market and using the position to crush his first campaign. "Diversity in ownership promotes competetition. Diversity in ownership creates opportunities for smaller companies, and local businessmen and women...."

(This book was given to everyone who registered and attended the National Conference for Media Reform, recently held in Memphis.)

alohaleezy: From Living a Life that matters: Resolving the conflict between Conscience and Success by harold S. Kushner...

"And just as with material gifts, the satisfaction of pleasing someone you care about is as gratifying as the pleasure of discovering how much someones cares about you. Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way: "The glory of friendship is not so much in the outstretched hand or even in the kindly smile. It is in the spiritual inspiration that comes when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with his friendship."

Friends have been defined as people who know you at your worst and like you anyway, people whose company you can be yourself.

Nanette: Seven Steps on the Writer's Path: The Journey from Frustration to Fulfillment - by Nancy Pickard

"Hardly anything in this world is never, always or totally this or completely that. If you think it is, you're on a sure route to wavering about whatever it is you want to do with your writing.

We catastrophize because we're afraid of the unknown, like a certain little rabbit who came up out of his hold one day, looked around and exclaimed, "Oh,! what a lovely day! I think I'll go for a romp. But what if the fox eats me? I wish I could decide---"

CHOMP.

Arcturus: Denise Levertov, "Statement for a Television Program," the poet in the world, New Directions, 1973:

It seems to me that a "balanced" view of genocide and of actions which are leading directly toward the extinction of life on earth is itself a kind of insanity. It is evident, moreover, that a program that first invites people to speak on whatever they feel it is important to say, and then rejects their words in the name of "balanced coverage," is a little short on sincerity. Here is my statement:

I have been asked to speak on this program because I am a poet. One of the obligations of the writer, and perhaps especially of the poet, is to say or sing all that he or she can, to deal with as much of the world as becomes possible to him or her in language.

stormkite: George Soros, The Age of Fallibility

Power is a tricky word; it belongs in the realm of natural science, where it can be precisely defined and measured. When the word "power" is applied to human affairs, it is used metaphorically and its various facets cannot be reduced to a common denominator. A Nobel Prizewinning scientist can be knocked down by an illiterate thug; a powerful dictator can be exploited by a quack or turn into putty in the hands of his wife or mistress. Power is rather like the children's game called "scissors, paper, stone": Sicissors can cut paper, paper can cover stone, stone can crush scissors.

Your turn!

In the comments, anomalous is offering Excel Presentation Manuals and Janet is wrangling with farting gorillas. I love it!