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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Howling the lugubrious howl


If we lose our sanity ... We can but howl the lugubrious howl of idiots, the howl of the utterly lost howling their nowhereness.--D.H. Lawrence
If I do say so myself, one of my best posts was written on August 29, 2006 -- I, Lugubrious. Actually, 2006 was probably my best year for blogging. I had a slew of regular readers who actually commented and interacted with me and each other. But I, Lugubrious, a five paragraph riff on the word lugubrious kind of illustrated why I love words. The muse moved me and amused me into writing it.

Thank you muse. I miss you and the many mini-muses who read and commented back then. But I still have Baggy in Great Britain even though she joined the party after most people left. She points out on occasion that I still have the lampshade on my head and the conga line has long since ended.

But back to the winter of my discontent. It is the day after Christmas (which traditionally is plagued with the post-Christmas blues). We are perched on the the end of 2016, one of the worst years in U.S. history. And with the upcoming inauguration of the person I will never acknowledge as my president, D.H. Lawrence's lugubrious quote leaps to the forefront of my soul. I am howling out my nowhereness in a suitably lugubrious fashion.


It is amazing what can happen in a decade. For one, the United States collectively went insane. Social media officially replaced direct human interaction as the primary means of "staying in touch." The first black President in history was elected and served eight years only to be replaced by a elitist, bigoted white supremacist who has no respect for women and has absolutely no qualifications to be president. And he didn't win the popular vote.

Pause for lugubrious howl.

On the positive side, during the same period, I became a father twice and have experienced raising two wonderful children (and having tried to explain to them how democracy has been flushed down the lugubrious toilet).

Another lugubrious howl. I think I may replace my customary "but I digress" with "another lugubrious howl."

And as I write this, I have gotten the news that Carrie Fisher has died of a heart attack at age 60. It is now two days after Christmas because I couldn't finish writing this post last night because I was feeling too lugubrious. And now Princess Leia has joined the fictional Han Solo who died in The Force Awakens. It does come as a shock to me that Fisher has died so young. I can only hope that the force is with her wherever she is now.

Insert last lugubrious howl here.




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