I was catching up on my podcasts coming home from the farmer's market today and came across an episode of This American Life from a few weeks back.
I don't know if you listen to or are familiar with the format of the show, but it's basically this: the producers select a theme and stories are found to show different aspects of it. Sometimes uniquely American, sometimes universal.
This one's theme was "Kid Logic". From the show's website, it's described this way:
Stories of kids using perfectly logical arguments, and arriving at perfectly wrong conclusions.
Here's the precis of the show's prologue:
Ira talks with Rebecca, who, using perfectly valid evidence, arrived at the perfectly incorrect conclusion that her neighbor, Ronnie Loeberfeld, was the tooth fairy.
I discovered I could fly when I was 8 or so. There was an amazingly steep hill near the admin building of the apartment complex our mother moved us into after the divorce. This is one of those hills that lives long in the memory as representative of childhood: it was great for sledding and rolling down. There was a creek close to it, with rock bridges and frogs, and copses full of puffy mushrooms that poofed when you stepped on them.
The hill later came to represent sadder things as we stood on it and watched our apartment build burn down the day after Christmas a few years later, but this is before then, when I didn't quite understand loss, or at least didn't know how to process it.
I don't know if this memory came from the actual event or a dream I had about it later in life, but when the wind was right and I held my arms just so, running down that hill at a breakneck speed and kicking my heels up at just the right time, the currents would pick me up and I would sail over the admin building, past the cars parked there, over the trees and the parking lot, over the pool, over my friends and my sister and my school.
The force of the wind knocked my breath away. I never really did anything while I was up there except look, and soar, rising ever higher until I decided I was tired and came back down again, landing on that same hill.
It was as natural as exhaling. Now, I could go on about how flying was probably my sublimated dream for release from the strains of a childhood shaped by divorce. I could, but I don't want to. This is important: I could fly when I was young. It's a strong memory; one of only a few I have from that time, and I'm not giving it up.
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it's interesting how we can twist logic and use wishful thinking to explain the impossible. But something as harmless as flying, or the impeccable logic that brought Rebecca, from the radio show above, to the conclusion her neighbor's father was the tooth fairy, pales next to the stories from the news this week about Abu and the ever changing reason the US Attorneys needed to be fired, or stories from the hearings regarding the Plame outing.
I'm an adult now. I don't use that sort of logic anymore.
Why is it that so many of the administrations' top people do?
Do they honestly think we don't know they can't fly?
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Do you have an example of Kid Logic from your childhood? Or a special ability you've somehow lost over the years? Please share!
And if you don't already listen to it, give This American Life a whirl. It's available for podcast and well worth your time.
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On to Top Comments!
First, from the inbox, topcomments at gmail dot com
From Light Emitting Pickle:
From Larry Johnson's diary:
MadRuth and mlk agree with Larry Johnson on the classification of Victoria Toensing.
And kdoug has a sobering reminder about the toll of the Iraq debacle
From CSI Bentonville:
Friend of the Court notes that Bush is still holding on to 25% (how does he do it?) from jotter's Weekly High Impact Diary
From CSKendrick:
Tears. Nothing but tears.
I have 200+ comments to recommend. Here they are.
As you guys know, we have a five- and a two-year old, both boys. This hits far too close for me.
My little ones, they are the everything of our lives. This is proving at the moment to be a source of tremendous strength in our lives.
They are like some glimpse of what Humanity can and should and perhaps someday will be, ten thousand years from now. Not just a few, but us all. Brilliant, charming, beautiful, healthy...and all that can be stripped away in a second, by some mischance...or some misdeed.
The little girl described in the diary above...she was of the same generation. Take a close look at the curent crop of kids. There's something spectacular about them all. I'm not sure what it is but they are something amazing.
To lose even one is to lose a world of hope.
From sardonyx:
A couple of good comments from kitchen table activist's diary Vietnam Vets - how did music affect you? First, teacherken's stateside story and following comments on a certain jukebox incident. And jim staro's informative GOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!
Pesto comments on Right Wing propaganda mills.
And my own picks:
quaoar has an excellent rant on where Tom Delay gets off questioning Joe Steskak on anything, much less his patriotism
drchelo tries to understand the damage done by PTSD
Nowhere Man asks how will this help?
shpilk points out that there is no victory against a criminal organization
chumley gives answers to questions the Bus administration won't listen to
Steven D discusses irony in voter fraud allegations. Good discussion in what follows.
shpilk again, on truth
Navy Vet Terp on the Congress We Have
JuliaAnne, regarding the president's pleasure
LeftHandedMan on losing conservative friends
Some comments from CanadianBill's lovely community diary: from sherlyle, kfred, and Wide Awake in NJ
momoaizo is working on becoming a better citizen, from today's WAWYO diary
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Top Comments by Mojo: Without obvious tip jars, C&J, and first comments:
1 I am sitting at my computer, with tears running by bablhous - 113 2 questions for Arlen Specter by Carl Nyberg - 93 3 cynic....... by Cronesense - 80 4 Westmoreland's and Toensing's job by GOTV - 67 5 through the tears.. by edrie - 57 6 more TV Alerts!!! by Newsie8200 - 56 7 Hug... by Diaries - 55 8 Spoken like a true protection racket, by macdust - 54 9 Cronsesense & Cynic- by goodasgold - 49 10 That is heartbreaking. by mem from somerville - 49 11 Amen to that anonymous senior Dem. by Newsie8200 - 49 12 An unexpected moment by kfred - 48 13 Yes, this is exactly the issue by JuliaAnn - 48 14 (Video) Olbermann: O'Reilly Is SICK by Al Rodgers - 47 15 Apparently so by Dallasdoc - 46 16 Thank you by mlk - 45 17 {{{{{{{{{{{{{{cynic and family}}}}}}}}}}}}}} by ilyana - 44 18 What a tragic story.. by drchelo - 44 19 I hope Conyers will also consider... by Betsy Devine - 44 20 I am sorry. by Fabian - 43 21 I went to Cosco by CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream - 43 22 Dear cynic... by highacidity - 42 23 Karl Rove obstructing justice? by Dallasdoc - 42 24 Conyers might be mightily interested by peraspera - 41 25 Yeah, but she was under oath. by inclusiveheart - 41 26 They had better fear Conyers by peraspera - 41 27 my apologies - by edrie - 40 28 I am so, so sorry. by renaissance grrrl - 40 29 (Video) McCain admits Bush lost war by Al Rodgers - 40 30 Don't worry by wiscmass - 39
With everything:
1 a big group hug will certainly help by cynic - 369 2 A tip at the top? by Betsy Devine - 327 3 Tip Jar by dopper0189 - 243 4 even with the flu, we need the Mojo... by farmerchuck - 162 5 It's your turn..... by CanadianBill - 155 6 Tip Jar by dmsilev - 138 7 tips by thereisnospoon - 137 8 So Many Crooks So Little Time by bernardpliers - 127 9 I am sitting at my computer, with tears running by bablhous - 113 10 (Slides) Going, Going,...Gonzo by Al Rodgers - 98 11 are you by Turkana - 94 12 questions for Arlen Specter by Carl Nyberg - 93 13 I've got to go to bed by TracieLynn - 92 14 here i am! by buhdydharma - 81 15 cynic....... by Cronesense - 80 16 I think it was Stalin who said . . . by nyceve - 74 17 Westmoreland's and Toensing's job by GOTV - 67 18 Tip Jar by DrSpalding - 66 19 Here's the Jar - Tips for "Fuck Pat Boone" by TheManWithNoPoint - 59 20 through the tears.. by edrie - 57 21 more TV Alerts!!! by Newsie8200 - 56 22 Hug... by Diaries - 55 23 Thanks for this by demkat620 - 55 24 Spoken like a true protection racket, by macdust - 54 25 No one as blind as those who refuse to see. n/t by dkmich - 51 26 That is heartbreaking. by mem from somerville - 49 27 Cronsesense & Cynic- by goodasgold - 49 28 Amen to that anonymous senior Dem. by Newsie8200 - 49 29 Yes, this is exactly the issue by JuliaAnn - 48 30 An unexpected moment by kfred - 48
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