First a story from 2006:
Three ace P-I business reporters, Todd Bishop, John Cook and Dan Richman, were strolling past the Olympic Sculpture Park, which will open Jan. 20 on the Seattle waterfront. Richman asked his friends what they thought of the eraser. What eraser, asked Cook. Bishop looked around and nodded. Yeah, what eraser?
(Photo via)
Cook and Bishop are too young to have used or even seen a typewriter eraser. By the time they were old enough to correct a text, they let their pudgy fingers do the walking and press delete…To somebody who has never seen the original model, Claes Oldenburg’s eraser looks like an odd abstraction, maybe an orange wheel attached to a beat-up broom. (more)
One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
Their ancient, glittering eyes, are gay.
Which brings me to a memento of a Catholic school education in the 1950s, sent by Rooney O’Neil. What used to signify a short prayer has a different meaning now.
This is a Spiritual Bouquet card. The list of prayers and offerings was sent around the classroom and each student filled in the number rosaries, etc., she said for the recipient. The class results were totaled on the Spiritual Bouquet card and mailed. For the economy-minded student each of the items could be dedicated to more than one person or cause and used on the next card. Also, “Ejaculations” could add up very quickly. (Check how many times you can say “My Jesus Mercy” in one minute.)
The purchase and naming of Pagan Babies was another perennial favorite. Ask any parochial school graduate.
Mary Moore
I got the ejaculation, Jesus Mary and Joseph, stuck in my head in fourth grade. I finally replaced it with Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.