Lem's is a funny place. A better name might be The Althouse Animus. Carl Jung, a colleague of Freud, coined the term animus for the male part of the female brain that analyzes, calculates, etc. But is also the inner male critic of every thought and action of the female. God knows I have it in spades, partly because of my ex-marine dad. But don't get me wrong. We were crazy about each other. I wonder if some cultures tend to have more daughter/father affection than others. I always felt my Scotch-Irish background accounted for the intense pride I had for my dad and his brothers. There were six brothers, and I think that led to the clan feeling I had.
The inception of Lem's was centered around a battle of the sexes and obviously, strong personalities. So now we are a sex maniac with mad writing skillz, a man with a chainsaw in his pocket, a man with chemical attraction, a man of machismo, a woman who didn't like to play with dolls, a woman who has a way with words, an ex-Army chick who digs foreign policy, and of late, a cipher of a man.
Here's to us!
30 comments:
The inception of Lem's was the result of a closed door. People who'd gathered for years in the same place to comment and connect with each other unexpectedly found themselves with no place to do so when Althouse closed comments down. Comment Home was one of the first names considered when Lem opened the door here. Many of the displaced temporarily gathered, some stayed.
How about a woman of regard, familiar enough with the Games People Play to coax men while hiding the tent peg?
I prefer burying the hatchet. And MamaM,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLoNxHYSCfA
My uncle was a Marine, tough guy, fought on Guadalcanal and Tarawa, and he was not prone to being emotive, even when he was drinking. I had the good fortune to work with him in the summer of '67, and he would be the first to say "Ex-, hell, former, maybe, but always a Marine. Semper fi!" As I say, he was a tough guy.
The father of a woman in my ASL class was a Gunny who made it to Sergeant Major of the Corps. I bring this up because I have known this woman for years but she rarely talked about her father until she started signing stories in class. She is well disciplined herself, and she doesn't have any complaints about how her father raised her, just says he seemed to do better around boys rather than girls - it's like he didn't quite know how to act. But even when he retired, he was not an ex-Marine, he was a Marine (ret).
All of which has nothing to do with anything. I did sign the story today of an apple seed growing into a tree, which then produced apples which I then ate, at least in ASL. I was able to convey the message and make my classmates chuckle as they got what I was getting at. I stole the entire story from a posting on WhyISign on FB, in this case, featuring a 4 year old girl who signed that story so well I can only watch in awe and hope that I get that good someday. I wish I could find a way to link that over here - it really is good.
Then we reconvened to discuss furniture design, speaking of commissions, and I think we were...
Thanks, Sixty. My dad was also always a marine. He had three daughters. Once, in my twenties or so, I asked if he regretted never having a son. Without missing a beat, he said no. Which was sweet.
Cool about your ASL class. That is one of the many things I would like to do, not only to keep my mind nimble, but because it's so beautiful. Cribbing from a four year-old lol. And you got trees in there too.
Who's happy? I'm not happy. I'd like to be happy. On the other hand making a fetish of being happy is a mistake. I mean, imagine going through life named Happy Rockefeller like Happy Rockefeller did. Imagine the guilt. Or not. Don't imagine anything. That's also good.
Hey I don’t have mad writing skillz!
lol Trooper.
Yes ricpic, give me contentment and the grace to roll with the punches.
Okay, I just read Sixty's post in which he's pushing me to do WORK. Again.
My countersuggestion is that Ampersand, with his wicked sense of humor, should start posting.
That's called a lateral. :^/
Happy Rockefeller wasn't around when Nelson died happy.
Aviator glasses and a figure out of Rubens.
A lateral is always a good move. I know the pressure is great, but the occasional Poet's Corner post would be a nice change of pace.
Hey Rocky, why are your pants on wrong? Uh, Rocky...
Actually, a woman who likes to hook and zing, was my first thought on reading the list characters posted. And what shows up?
A Hook and a Zing, in keeping with the past applications of the ;) & ! used throughout history by women intent on making their mark.
I'm still trying to figure
Who the Man of Machismo might be?
While mulling on the snide
And regarding the wonder of We
Got to be Lem, right?
Right on the money, Sixty!
I wasn't about to touch chemical attraction with a ten foot pole! It's all so confusing.
I'm still processing the thought of Lem assigning God Knows What (talk about Trayvon? be the Blogging Heads Co-ordinator?) to deborah back in the day. Maybe that was before the wisdom to know the difference had settled in.
Between Margaretta and Large, I'd go with Happy.
Meanwhile, under the blogfun, the elephant in the room remains.
Was the key that was handed over in 2017 returned, thoughtfully left under the mat, or tossed in the trash on the way out the door? Who is the current Keyholder, ready to issue actual invites to those who might wish to post their poetry or perspicuous perceptions?
Lem knows.
Master Will would be proud. Very nicely put.
And bless you for using the correct term, Scotch-Irish.
James Webb wanted to hoity-toity it up by calling it Scots-Irish, but you have it right. The people who crossed the Cumberland Gap. Rough and tumble.
Always be proud of that.
Thanks, Ed, I am. Webb was just to much of a hothead for POTUS, I think. Would have been a good Veep if he'd gotten past the feminists. If HRC had chosen him she might have gotten in.
"Lem knows"
Then some sort of acknowledgment as to whether he has taken over administering the blog again or handed it off to another is in order.
I have a lot of gratitude for those of you show up and set up places for comments. I have all sorts of pent up bs... and you give an outlet.
cheers and thank you.
Where is Chip? Is he OK?
You know I'm not far from him. Happy to give him a visit if needed.
or wanted... or just cuz'
No one is speaking about it BBH. It's assumed (by me at least) that he left for good. His email address is publicly available in his blogger profile if you follow the Things Wot I Made Then Ate link listed on the right margin of this blog. Once you click on that link, scroll down to the bottom of all the food pics to the small picture of him and that will take you to the About Me page where he provides his email address. I don't know if it's still active.
Though he left mad and may currently be unwilling or unable to continue as he once did, one of the options might be a return to post every now and then, on a certain day or once or twice a week. It was my understanding he'd been handling the day to day responsibility of administering this blog and providing daily postings for the past three years, up to the time he left. Now it's anyone's guess as to who is handling the administrative role. I can't tell if someone else has quietly agreed to take it over, or no one is bothering themselves with openly addressing the issue right now in the hope of letting things roll along "as is". Which doesn't lead to health and growth in the long run, but is the way lot of dysfunctional families choose to work.
I hope you're able to connect.
Thanks MamaM for letting me know. I don't comment here enough anymore, and... I miss.. a lot.
Sorry Chip - if you are out there.
Thanks for the information.
That would be considerate, BB&H, perhaps you should consider it.
With regard to considerations of Althouse Animus as a better name for this place, the name it's held for seven years of unique postings and blog presence as Lem's Levity honors the founder, the approach, and the overall focus and intent. While the Althouse experience definitely provided the prompt, the fact this blog has continued for as long as it has, speaks volumes about its own unique properties and contributions. If and how it will continue on to enter into this next year remains to be seen.
What has carried over, past the resentments, betrayals, dark gouges, petty disregard and refusal on the part of the Blogmother to link to any of the fresh, funny, creative or noteworthy material revealed in the Blogchild she birthed; is something that's still present to this day. It was apparent in the comments added on to deborah's first post here, and also part of what the larger quote (from which the title of this post was taken) referred to and addressed; and that is the awareness and treasuring of bond.
From my journal notes written on July 16, 2013, a week after this blog opened:
"I can barely keep up over at Lem's. It flows better now that the comments aren't nested, and some good things are being said, but right now it's vibrating at a frequency that hurts my ears. I hope it balances out.
Maybe it's the grief I'm hearing that feels unsettling; grief over loss of community, loss of relationship, loss of trust. Yes, the wiki comes through as I'm searching for words: Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which a bond was formed.
A bond. That's it. What was broken or undone when the forum feature at Althouse was abruptly and unexpectedly closed down without explanation or adequate opportunity for goodbye or fare-thee-well, was a bond.
The big paper dictionary shows a picture similar to this picture of bond in masonry describing it as any arrangement of bricks in a wall which binds them together in a compact whole.
The comments at Althouse, added one after the other, alongside and on top of what came before, formed patterns which eventually resulted in something resembling a whole."
Some of that bond carried over to Lem's. It's what's kept it going all along, beyond whatever animus and anima might also continue to influence opinion and perspective.
Bonding is all about sharing electrons: raw chemical attraction and repulsion too.
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