Howling...

In the wind, in the stands and at the TV

Last night I howled so loud my husband thought I'd cut myself with a knife.

The cause? I discovered I had used the word 'paid' and 'pay' three times in the lede paragraph of my inaugural Substack column.

A copy editor would say word repetition bunched together is almost as bad as misspelling a name. Sorry.

I miss copy editors. Grammerly software flags a misplaced comma, and Spellcheck isn't always a friend. It's not the same as those humans who save us from looking foolish. It used to be a rarity when mistakes made it into legacy print media. No more. A retired copy editor I know spends the better part of every Sunday morning yelling at the newspaper.

My chagrin was because I actually now have readers and I don't want to let you down.

Thanks to friends who referred this potluck of words to others, we are growing a subscriber community, including some I don't even know yet.

Speaking of yelling, how are you doing these days with screaming at television news shows? Better?

Don't get too comfortable just because the federal government has competent leaders coming on board.

A video just surfaced of a new congress member who stalked and yelled at kids who were victims of a school shooting, calling them 'crisis actors' and letting them know she was carrying a gun. This same member said a secret Jewish laser in space caused California wildfires.

Congress is supposed to be representatives of the people. The founders couldn't have had this person in mind.

How come our side lost Senator Al Franken and Congresswoman Katie Hall's brilliance for 'inappropriate personal behavior' and a gun-toting child-stalking insurrectionist, sits on the House Education Committee?

Have you read the book 'Sh*t My Dad Says'? The author, Justin Halpern, started a Twitter feed consisting of quotes made by his father. It's hilarious, gained Twitter traction, and Halpern turned the compilation into a book.

In our household, we have adapted the sentiment as a descriptor of husband sayings and call them 'Sh*t Richard Says.' I suspect this to be an ongoing feature here.

"Man is the only animal that laughs," says Richard. "and also the only animal that has a congress."

Sadly, not much that goes on in Congress these days is funny.

United States senators who voted to impeach President Bill Clinton for lying about a blow-job will not vote to impeach a president who almost had said Senators killed in an attempted insurrection. And his lies as president started with him saying it didnt rain at his inauguartion (it did) and four years later, ended with him saying he won the election (he didn't).

Go figure.

Politics gives us a place to express rage. Similarly, watching sports gives emotional cover, too. And retired copy editors yell at newspapers.

Not being in the game doesn't mean we don't feel the passion.

And not being in the game doesn't mean we don't have feelings.

Lauren Wolfe, a freelance editor for the New York Times, reportedly had her contract canceled because she Tweeted "I have chills" at the sight of then president-elect Biden's plane arriving for his inauguration. There is more to the story, but Wolfe rode the uproar into a new Substack venture, called Chills… Writing that lets you feel things. https://chills.substack.com

Not only did I have chills on inauguration day, I cried. And I am not a crier. Not even at funerals.

If that bothers, triggers, or annoys you, there are more fitting newsletters out there.

Otherwise, welcome to my ride.