That I haven't been posting at such a prolific rate as I had been has not been lost on me. I can't say that there's one underlying reason for the drop in my writing production; work has been keeping me busy, I've been dealing with a recurring problem with my jaw which manifests itself with aching teeth. Work I can deal with; nine months of discomfort in my jaw and mouth is a different story. Like many people the dentist chair is not the place where I prefer to spend time and is the place most likely to arouse my anxieties. Having your teeth bother you for no good reason is a needless source of anxiety and depression, especially considering all that I went through ten years ago getting some problems taken of then.
So while I'm up for some writing, it's time to correct a few factual errors and oversights from previous posts. First, regarding one of my favorite movies, The Grapes of Wrath, it wasn't John Ford who distributed scripts with the last pages omitted; producer Darryl F. Zanuck was actually responsible for handing out the shortened scripts.
Next, I shouldn't be too surprised that an effeminate character made the final cut in James Cagney's The Public Enemy. It occurred to me after the fact that the movie was made in 1931. The Hayes Code wasn't enacted until 1934. Occasionally you can find some blue humor in the pre-codes films, such as in Laurel and Hardy's Sons of the Desert, when Charlie Chase's character is speaking to his sister (who turns out to be Oliver's wife) and when he mentions that the last time he saw her she was working the bellows for a church organ, he asks how his "little organ pumper" is doing. Even in 1931 I don't think moviegoers would've missed that double entendre.
Finally, I should correct myself and say that the university I work for has attained seventy-five percent of its capital campaign's goal, not the lower percentage I mentioned. I think some folks interpreted my comments as saying people who do development are stupid, which is certainly not the case. It takes a certain type of person with the moxey and persistance to be able to raise money. But what I wrote gave me reason to pause and reconsider my views on the whole fundraising campaign. Ultimately I decided that if my value to my alma mater was measured in monetary contributions and not my contributions running a new academic department whose graduates will ultimately benefit this state and this nation, then so be it. Off came my alumni decal from my car, in a week my membership in the alumni association will expire with no good reason that I can see to renew it. Having less of my alma mater in my life would be a good thing, I believe.
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