Blogcritics Author: Miriam

Book Review: Manic by Terri Cheney

Miriam — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:10:06 EDT

A riveting account of a woman's struggle with bipolar disorder.
Little is known about bipolar disorder, a debilitating disease that affects millions, and for which there is no sure cure. This disturbing book allows the reader a glimpse of the nightmare world of the bipolar. It's a frightening experience.Terri Cheney was a high-powered attorney in the entertainment field and was looking after her dying father...

Book Review: Six Frigates - The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by Ian W. Toll

Miriam — Wed, 9 Apr 2008 10:04:46 EDT

Six Frigates is beautifully written non-fiction that reads like an adventure novel, and covers a very crucial period in our nation's early history.
Fans of Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey series will love Ian W. Toll's Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy. It is beautifully written non-fiction that reads like an adventure novel, and covers a very crucial period in our nation's early history.The founders of the new nation were strongly opposed to...

Confessions of a Sucker

Miriam — Fri, 4 Apr 2008 23:52:17 EDT

A compulsive shopper comes clean.
I don't understand why everyone carries on all the time about the economy. I'm doing all I can to keep it going, spending money morning, noon and night, with the help of modern technology. If everyone behaved like me, the economy would be doing great. Unemployment would be 0.0001 percent.I used to have a job, which limited my shopping hours. ...

What's the Matter with Gitmo?

Miriam — Wed, 2 Apr 2008 22:53:16 EDT

Some alternate sites for the housing of prisoners of war are presented for your consideration.
Why is everyone up in arms about Gitmo? Lots of American and Canadian lefties consider Cuba the island resort of choice. So why the heck does the mere mention of its name send shivers down American spines, including that of John McCain?The very concept has become so abhorrent that there is no salvaging the place, so we are forced to find another...

Book Review: Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg

Miriam — Wed, 2 Apr 2008 16:40:35 EDT

A harrowing but fascinating memoir of life with a monster mother.
I confess that for some reason I enjoy memoirs about other people's horrible childhoods. Her Last Death is one of these. It chronicles the ghastly experiences of two little girls left to the mercy of a monstrous mother after the departure of their father. Susanna's mother makes Mommy Dearest look like Mother Teresa, and then some. This...

Getting Ready for Passover

Miriam — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:56:13 EDT

It's not too early to be thinking about Passover.
When I was a child, Seders seemed to last for eons. All my mother's family -- my parents, my two uncles and their wives and children -- were always present, because anything bubbe hosted was a command performance. The good linens, china, and silver made the table gleam under the light of bubbe's two candelabras.We children were excited beyond...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Miserable Christmases in Literature

Miriam — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 05:27:28 EST

There are some remarkably unhappy Christmases in literature. My favorite (?) fictional awful Christmas is the one in Great Expectations. Pip has stolen a pie to give to the escaped prisoner, and is dreading the moment when his horrible sister will discover the theft. Meanwhile, the assorted guests keep teasing him in a nasty way. Dickens was, of course, a genius, and the sense of impending doom Pip feels is brilliantly conveyed, as is a child's despair at the cluelessness of adults. This is not, however, one of his characteristically joyful Christmas scenes.Frank O'Connor's memoir, An Only Child, depicts another depressing Christmas. It is Christmas Eve, and his mother is waiting for his father to come home with his wages so she can buy something for the boy. He grudgingly gives her a small sum. The poor kid wakes up and finds that Santa has brought him a cheap trifle. Can anyone think of another miserable Christmas in literature?

Miriam is a recovering librarian and sometime writer who wrote a book about African American aviators and astronauts cleverly entitled, "Distinguished African American Aviators and Astronauts." She's kind of stuck back in the twentieth century.

The Joys of Public Toilets

Miriam — Wed, 2 Nov 2005 03:00:30 EST

I'm limiting myself to women's toilets, because I don't know what goes on in the men's room.Okay, girls, who among you is peeing on the toilet seats, and how do you manage it, given the limitations of anatomy?And what exactly is the fun of festooning an entire roll of toilet paper around the stall?And what's with not flushing? Trying to conserve water?I've been meditating on public restrooms since the other day, when I found myself using one which had no toilet paper. Always prepared, I fished out a small pack of tissues from the bottom of my purse, where they had been since the Carter administration. Unfortunately, they had morphed back into their original form, that of wood pulp. A teeny tiny piece of plank.As I attempted to rip this block of wood into some semblance of paper, I could hear muttering from the waiting line (there is always a line at the women's room). I finally found a pair of sales receipts and finished the job.Next time I'll try to hold it until I get home.

How can I get out of Voice Mail Jail?

Miriam — Sat, 3 Sep 2005 21:55:06 EDT

If I post $200, can I get out of Voice Mail Jail? I just had a nightmare experience with PayPal. First, you dial, then you get:1) the commercial--how wonderful they are, and would you mind taking a brief survey?2) voice mail with five selections, none of which had any bearing on the matter I was calling about. Rinse and repeat, five--yes five--times.3) Somehow intuit that pressing the star button would connect me with a warm body, press same.4) Music5) Connect with humanoid, who moreover speaks English.6) Get the job done (time elapsed: 10 seconds).7) Tell the poor soul on the other end of the line, who has been efficient and helpful, that I hate PayPal and hope they go out of business. Not her fault, of course, poor thing.8) She tells me to "have a great day."9) Feel like worm, having been at the other end of such conversations many times at the library. I hate PayPal.

Why be Jewish?

Miriam — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:24:23 EDT

From Little green footballs: Jewish power is behind the drive for racial mixing, open borders, raceless globalism, and international capitalism, just as it was behind racially-destructive international Communism. But what is really waking people up is the Jewish power behind the current war in the Middle East, and the outrageous hypocrisy of Israel as Jews maintain an aggressive racial state (armed to the teeth, by the way, with Weapons of Mass Destruction) while doing everything in their power to open the borders of and multiracialize and multiculturalize other peoples' countries.I'm sure that all of you are by now familiar with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Casey, her son who was killed in Iraq last year, and her vigil outside the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. Her story has moved the hearts of millions just as it has angered the neocon spinmeisters who pushed for this war. Though she has hesitated and backpedaled more than once, she has brought out into public view the one flaming truth that the Jewish-controlled left and Jewish-controlled right are desperate to conceal: that her son, and all the other Americans being brought back home in body bags, died for Israel, not America.Via Richard Miller.I'm Jewish, and I have to wonder: where was I when all this wealth was handed out to my people? Oh right, I stayed home from school that day! And I could not get my commie registration papers in on time, cause I had to take the cat to the vet. Missed the deadline. Darn!