The Value of Tangents
I sometimes ramble about the craziest things and then have no recollection when someone brings said subject up. This happened to me this Saturday, when I was stuck trying to remember exactly what strange tangent I had rambled off on. My friend C_____ came up to me and said that she thinks of me any time she has soup with beans in it.
Soup? Beans? What the hell was I talking about? How did I manage to get this girl to laugh whenever she sees white beans? Fortunately, C_____ was accommodating to mental white-out and reminded me that the last time I talked to her I started rambling about the underused metaphoric potential of beans as signifiers of race. You got your white beans, your red beans, your black beans and I think they even have yellow beans. Just think, of the potential stereotypical applications, there is so much to work with here, so much that if people actually started using beans as a metaphor to race, the agricultural industrial complex would probably rename all beans to prevent the controversy. I wouldn't put it past them to consider some genetic manipulation of the bean code to produce beans of a less offensive color.
Now that I write this down, I can see why my brain decided that this idea was not worth long-term storage. However, I may just smile the next time I have some split pea soup.
Comments
Colin - Here is a tangent.
Another blog I follow of someone who now lives in New York City is "The Tin Man" at www.tinmanic.com. I posted a comment today on his (right now) most recent post: Thursday, December 1, 2005: "Bargaining". (He calls his comments "Drops of oil".) Read the post and the comments, or rather: the drops of oil.
When I re-read the comment (drop of oil) I posted, I see I wrote the words: "I am now fully out, almost 34". Not exactly true. I have not told Colin Allen point blank. However, I hinted at the subject when posting comments on his September 16 and August 29, 2005 blog entries: "Packed Seconds" and "Cities vs. Nature".
So I will tell Colin today that "I, James, am Gay" by posting on his blog comments. Then, my comment on Tinmanic.com's blog "I am now fully out" is more fully true. ---James Bakner.
Posted by: James Bakner | December 5, 2005 3:50 PM
That is an interesting tangent. As someone who tangents a lot, I can see why I enjoyed your company. And about beans... when I read what you said it made me wonder... Do you think maybe the slang Limey came from the white lima bean?
Posted by: Sheryle | December 8, 2005 4:51 AM
Limey derives from limes which, back when the British were a sea power, stoped the saliors from getting rickets.
Posted by: Colin Allen | December 9, 2005 12:48 PM
I think I will pay closer attention to postings by James from here on out. You never know what lies in between the lines.
James-congratulations. No time is to late to figure yourself out.
Posted by: Eric March | December 11, 2005 11:31 PM
James,
Thanks for your tangental contribution. I must admit that the late response to this, probably the first newsworthy thing to occur on this site, was due to me thinking that someone had planted an elaborate hoax on you. Now that I have talked to you over the weekend, I am glad to be able to say that the news is true. As I said to you earlier, congratulations.
Posted by: Colin | December 12, 2005 3:40 PM
Also newsworthy: Since I have been reading Colin Allen's blog, The first time I can recall Eric March posting in the Comments. Thank you for your words, Eric. --James Bakner
Posted by: James Bakner | December 12, 2005 10:10 PM