Miscellany

1. It has been a busy weekend, with company; it feels rude to absent oneself, for more than a little while at any rate, to blog.

2. Terrible storms here Friday night. After a loss of telephone, cable television, and Internet access, what would be the interval after which a normal person might grow restless and dysphoric?

3. I can't recall where I saw it recently (if it was on your website, my apologies), but the best phrase for the post-election letdown may be postpartisan depression. Of course, we're no more postpartisan now than we were at the "end of history" in the 1990's.

4. Probably my all-time favorite blog title is Languor Management (my life in two words); the site also has a terrific poem in its November 14 post.

5. An article noted by Arts & Letters Daily chronicles the haplessly isolated population of Greenland, apparently drawn by the inevitable pull of mineral and oil wealth. I had no idea it was such a hotbed (so to speak) of psychopathology; apparently 20% of teenaged girls there have attempted suicide. Psychiatry to the rescue! Very often the best professional advice is: get out while you still can. Mastering the obvious since 1848.

6. Holiday reading: Robert Bolano's 2666 is suddenly the literary event of the year, perhaps the decade (one review is here). Haven't read him; may have to now. (If anyone out there knows how to produce the tilda here, please let me know).