Jackson & Company

I’m reading a novel about a female who is ten at the outset. Her teacher reads Shirley Jackson’s classic The Lottery aloud to her class, and it struck me that I’d never considered its meaning, so I googled it. Here are a fragment each from separate sources without attribution: “… blindly follow traditions without thinking of the consequences of those traditions” and “…continued every year even though the original meaning behind the event has long been lost.” They make sense. Born in San Francisco, Jackson came east for college, graduating from Syracuse in the late ‘30’s, and eventually settling in Vermont. The Lottery was first published in the New Yorker in June ’48. She was awarded an O Henry Prize. The piece is included in practically any short story anthology published. Overall, she wrote six novels, two memoirs and more than 200 short stories. Her second most famous work is the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House, which was nominated for a National Book Award. Four of her stories are included in the yearly Best American Short Stories. In 1961 she won the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story, Louisa, Please Come Home. Three of her books were cited in the yearly New York Times Book Review’s Best Fiction list. She has 23 titles under her name at IMDb, adaptations of her works to the big and small screen. A heavy smoker, she was taken by heart disease at 48, but not before creating an enduring legacy. She was a mom of four.

It may be hard to find a headline today more amusing than this from foxnews.com: “Ohio man steals car with sleeping passenger in back who texted real-time updates, police say.” It led to a high speed chase and crash. Both the creep and passenger suffered minor injuries.

As if folks don’t have enough worry about human predators, headline from FN: “Florida woman attacked by bear in her own driveway while walking her dog.” She’s lucky to be alive. She suffered cuts to her face and injuries to her hands.

I find the hypocrisy of academia amusing and enjoy seeing a member of the elitist cabal embarrassed — if indeed any are capable of shame. Headline from FN: “University Michigan president sent subordinate ‘sexual fantasies’ article, violating policy he crafted: docs.” He got the boot, a trove of evidence in his email account. His salary was $927,000. 64, he’d served since 2014. He is married, father of four.

NYC lucked out. Had the precipitation not turned to rain we’d be buried. The storm moved out, allowing the book shop to open. My thanks to The Quiet Man, who bought two books in The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Sal Murdocca; and to the young man who overcompensated me for two young adult novels.

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