jeblog

phoku.36

The photo and haiku composed at Broadkill Beach, in Delaware, two weeks ago.

The dog was Kwan Yin, who is indeed difficult to capture on film, but not impossible. Here's a pic of her standing still before racing into the surf to chase seagulls.

from the bibliophile's file: a find

Last week I stopped at a thift store to look for a used food processor. I found one, and a lot of other things I didn't know I needed. One of those things was a book by Noam Chomsky called Hegemony and Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, which contains Chomsky's latest trenchant critique of U.S. foreign policy. Being a fan of Chomsky, I pulled it off the shelf, quite surprised to find a Chomsky book at a thrift store. It was a hardback and only cost $1.98! So of course I bought it. I thought it was a pretty good find, a major "score"--for those keeping score.

Then this morning I read in the Washington Post about Hugo Chavez's infamous attack upon George Bush at the UN last week, the one in which he called the president a "devil," etc (Sunday, September 24, B2). I learned from the article something I hadn't known before: while delivering his diatribe, Chavez was waving a book around. And what was the book? Chomsky's Hegemony and Survival, of course.

Reading further, I learned this: as a result of all the publicity from the Chavez speech, Chomsky's book went from #20,664 to #1 at Amazon.com in one day. Wow. If I even get a book published, I know who to contact to do publicity.

So while everyone was scrambling to find Chomsky's book, I stumbled upon one at Value Village thrift store, selling for $1.98. So the next time some global bete noir waves a book around, check your local thrift store.

BLOG FANTASY: Chomsky just read my blog entry and emailed me to urge you, my many readers, to go to a bookstore and pay full price. "A guy's got to make a living, knowwhatI'msaying?" Chomsky said.

All right, Noam, I've told my peeps.