Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet No. 12 Read Online Free Page B
Author: Gavin J. Grant
my neck. Hunh, feel that?"
I didn't want to do it, but I did. My God, it was like clay in November. It was like touching a corpse out of one of those lockers they have in morgues.
"You ever known someone who's cold like that, cold as ice, where their neck meets their throat? Was your kid brother cold there? Is he now? Hmmm? And, while you're at it, why not take my pulse, Dan? What am I at? How many beats a minute? Pretty calm, isn't it?"
I pulled my hand away slowly.
"You're no one—"
"I'm not no one."
"—You're no one Janey knew."
"You're right on that, Danny Boy; I've not yet met the gal. But why not ask me about Janey anyway? Or about your wife, Sue, or about Butter or about your bro', dearly departed though he is?” He smiled. It was a sick smile, and it made my gut drop to see it.
"You know them? Are they—"
His smile shifted to a smirk, “Don't bother, Dan. I was just screwing with you; it doesn't work that way."
"What . . .” I licked my lips. “Whadayou? Um, whadaya want ?"
"I don't want nuthin', Dan. I just wanna talk."
[Back to Table of Contents]
Mesopotamians, All
Jack Cheng
My first thought upon hearing of the looting of the National Museum of Iraq and destruction of the library in Baghdad was disbelief, followed by despair and depression. This reaction was not unusual among people I know. I have a doctorate in Art History, focusing on Mesopotamian art, and my colleagues in the archaeological, museum and academic worlds were and are stunned, frustrated and furious.
I knew immediately that the wider public would also be outraged to some degree, but I wondered how the enormity of the loss could be conveyed to the general public, especially Americans. I listened for comparisons in the news. The loss of the Liberty Bell and U.S. Constitution was suggested as comparable. Not quite. The destruction of the Mall in Washington, D.C., combined with the torching of the Library of Congress came closer. But still, no. Not so much because we are comparing two hundred and fifty year old documents to five thousand year old documents and objects, but because the objects in Baghdad were created before (in Walter Benjamin's phrase) the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
The Constitution is an idea, and though the loss of the original would be tragic, the idea would still exist in thousands of high school textbooks and on the Internet. Nearly all the books in the Library of Congress could be replaced (amazing enough, really). The works of art in Baghdad were unique and, if destroyed or held in a private collection, are essentially lost to the world forever.
The best metaphor I could come up with was based on a model of biological extinction. Something like: “What if all the best dinosaur bones in the world were in one museum and then destroyed?” But this is just as inadequate. Metaphor is unnecessary in this situation. This is the singular event we are faced with: the Iraqi National Museum was looted.
One reason these metaphors are inadequate is because they do not reveal the extent to which Mesopotamia exists in our global, cultural DNA. That the U.S. Constitution exists at all owes a great deal to the rule of law first publicly instituted by Hammurabi of Babylon four thousand years ago. Jared Diamond, in Guns, Germs, and Steel, argues that the agricultural systems and written words of Mesopotamia helped configure the world today into a dominant Europe and America. My great grandparents living in Imperial China, binding their daughters’ feet, and oblivious to western influence—yet they measured their lives in hours and minutes: a legacy of the Mesopotamian number system.
We are Mesopotamians, all of us.
The first written language on earth was Sumerian and everyone I know who has studied the language eventually comes to the same conclusion: the Sumerians were aliens. Tenured professors at Ivy League universities make that claim jokingly, but it is a telling joke. Sumerian is an odd language, not at all
I didn't want to do it, but I did. My God, it was like clay in November. It was like touching a corpse out of one of those lockers they have in morgues.
"You ever known someone who's cold like that, cold as ice, where their neck meets their throat? Was your kid brother cold there? Is he now? Hmmm? And, while you're at it, why not take my pulse, Dan? What am I at? How many beats a minute? Pretty calm, isn't it?"
I pulled my hand away slowly.
"You're no one—"
"I'm not no one."
"—You're no one Janey knew."
"You're right on that, Danny Boy; I've not yet met the gal. But why not ask me about Janey anyway? Or about your wife, Sue, or about Butter or about your bro', dearly departed though he is?” He smiled. It was a sick smile, and it made my gut drop to see it.
"You know them? Are they—"
His smile shifted to a smirk, “Don't bother, Dan. I was just screwing with you; it doesn't work that way."
"What . . .” I licked my lips. “Whadayou? Um, whadaya want ?"
"I don't want nuthin', Dan. I just wanna talk."
[Back to Table of Contents]
Mesopotamians, All
Jack Cheng
My first thought upon hearing of the looting of the National Museum of Iraq and destruction of the library in Baghdad was disbelief, followed by despair and depression. This reaction was not unusual among people I know. I have a doctorate in Art History, focusing on Mesopotamian art, and my colleagues in the archaeological, museum and academic worlds were and are stunned, frustrated and furious.
I knew immediately that the wider public would also be outraged to some degree, but I wondered how the enormity of the loss could be conveyed to the general public, especially Americans. I listened for comparisons in the news. The loss of the Liberty Bell and U.S. Constitution was suggested as comparable. Not quite. The destruction of the Mall in Washington, D.C., combined with the torching of the Library of Congress came closer. But still, no. Not so much because we are comparing two hundred and fifty year old documents to five thousand year old documents and objects, but because the objects in Baghdad were created before (in Walter Benjamin's phrase) the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
The Constitution is an idea, and though the loss of the original would be tragic, the idea would still exist in thousands of high school textbooks and on the Internet. Nearly all the books in the Library of Congress could be replaced (amazing enough, really). The works of art in Baghdad were unique and, if destroyed or held in a private collection, are essentially lost to the world forever.
The best metaphor I could come up with was based on a model of biological extinction. Something like: “What if all the best dinosaur bones in the world were in one museum and then destroyed?” But this is just as inadequate. Metaphor is unnecessary in this situation. This is the singular event we are faced with: the Iraqi National Museum was looted.
One reason these metaphors are inadequate is because they do not reveal the extent to which Mesopotamia exists in our global, cultural DNA. That the U.S. Constitution exists at all owes a great deal to the rule of law first publicly instituted by Hammurabi of Babylon four thousand years ago. Jared Diamond, in Guns, Germs, and Steel, argues that the agricultural systems and written words of Mesopotamia helped configure the world today into a dominant Europe and America. My great grandparents living in Imperial China, binding their daughters’ feet, and oblivious to western influence—yet they measured their lives in hours and minutes: a legacy of the Mesopotamian number system.
We are Mesopotamians, all of us.
The first written language on earth was Sumerian and everyone I know who has studied the language eventually comes to the same conclusion: the Sumerians were aliens. Tenured professors at Ivy League universities make that claim jokingly, but it is a telling joke. Sumerian is an odd language, not at all
Readers choose
Linda Lambert
Martin Limon
Bella Forrest
Pamela Toth
Trudi Canavan
Phillip Margolin
Olivia Newport
Francine Prose