The Twinkies

Hop on Pop, that Dr. Seuss classic, has a three page sequence that could be construed as a simple yet eloquent examination of the human condition through a modern nihilist lens. Really, Beckett couldn’t do it better.

ALL BALL We all play ball.

Here “playing ball” is established as a metaphor for life and/or that pesky human condition. We all do it. No one is exempt from playing ball.

BALL WALL Up on a wall.

Ah, here we meet the precariouness of our situation. Rather like a, ahem, fiddler on the roof, we are playing ball, or living, in a situation rife with the risk of falling.

ALL FALL Fall off the wall.

Yep, we all die in the end, also known as falling off the wall.

And, yep, that is what a $100,000 English degree gets you. I can’t even read children’s books without engaging is sophistic analysis.

J now has four teeth in his mouth.

(Hint: it’s the same word every time.)

Full fathom _____ thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
The Tempest. Act i. Sc. 2.

Si bene commemini, causæ sunt _____ bibendi:
Hospitis adventus; præsens sitis atque futura;
Et vini bonitas, et quælibet altera causa.
Menagiana, vol. i. p. 172.
(If on my theme I rightly think, There are _____ reasons why men drink,— Good wine, a friend, because I ’m dry, Or lest I should be by and by, Or any other reason why.)

Thirty-_____ is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-_____ for years. The Importance of Being Earnest, act 4

I can’t write ____ words but that I change seven. Dorothy Parker

There are _____ teeth in F’s mouth.

I can’t come up with a clever title. Any thoughts?

J got up twice. F got up once. I think we may have made in through this developmental spurt.