There are two stories in the news today that I’d like to comment on. First, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas and current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. The frontrunner.
Anyway, a while back, as it turns out, he was in the middle of a scheme with a lot of Wall St.
What? You Wanted a Picture of Rick Perry?
investors and an insurance company or two to buy life insurance on retired Texas teachers, so that the state could make a whole bunch of money when the old geezers kick the bucket. As his supporters on the comment boards have been busy pointing out today, he didn’t actually do anything wrong, he didn’t actually sneak into old people’s ‘s and strangle them with piano wire while they were watching Leno or anything, and it didn’t get enacted anyway, so back off. Nonetheless, it’s a bit ghoulish. And, considering the principals involved, there was undoubtedly some kind of corruption going on. But will it end Rick Perry’s candidacy? Probably not.
The other story was a nice story. A whole bunch of paintings by Dr. Seuss were “discovered.” That is, he’s been dead for 20 years and his wife decided, I guess, that it’s time. Cool. I love stuff like that. A bit of the past resurfacing with new information. And I love Dr. Seuss’s books.
The article was all about how this was his adult work, this was his secret side, here is where he let it all hang out. But, while he was alive, he didn’t want to show them because it would conflict with the children’s book image, blah, blah, blah. I can understand that, although there are plenty of writers who have crossed the children’s/adult divide: Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein, Ian Fleming.
Anyway, when I saw the slide show I was disappointed. They were great, but they were basically just like the illustrations for the kid’s books. It was interesting, I guess. A look at his notes, some ideas that didn’t make it into his books.
Doesn’t matter, though. He was a great children’s writer. He doesn’t need to be Rembrandt.
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