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Monday, April 17, 2006

Acknowledgements

I actually do have a couple of things to blog about, but can’t manage them today.  That’s partly because last week’s virus returned with a vengeance:  on Sunday morning I could barely get around, my health status having been downgraded from “sick and sleepy” to “sick and sleepy and achey and whiny and a general pain in the ass.” I was supposed to be helping Janet’s mother move out of her house, but instead, I was just one more complication in a very complicated Extended Family Event.  (I did, however, help to clear out the basement, ferry things to Goodwill, carry boxes to the new place, and sit patiently with Jamie while the family carefully sorted through 70,000 boxes of photos and seventh-grade homework assignments.) I will say this, though:  Jamie’s still struggling with his version of this virus, and if, last Thursday, his body felt anything like mine does today, he’s not just a Special Olympian.  He’s a medal-winnin’ machine, the truly extraordinary kind of athlete whose competitive desire is not diminished by the petty frailties of flesh.

The other reason I can’t do fresh new blogging is that I have to finish up the Acknowledgements to Rhetorical Occasions, having finally completed the copyediting—or, as it is known around this house, the Optional Comma Restoration phase of the book’s production.  Now, it just so happens that I am aware of my fondness for the optional comma.  In fact, I sometimes use commas to mark caesurae, and you know, not everybody writes prose with caesurae anymore.  Look at the difference between one of these copyedited sentences before and after Optional Comma Restoration:

But in what world exactly would this enterprise count as analysis?

and

But in what world, exactly, would this enterprise count as analysis?

See how the latter is measurably more exasperated than the former?  That’s why you need your caesurae to do all the rhetorical work they can do.

All right, I know, nobody cares about my piddling little adventures in copyediting.  It’s too self-indulgent even for a blog.  So let’s move to a subject that everybody loves, a subject of truly world-historical significance:  the Acknowledgements.  As you may or may not know, Rhetorical Occasions will include a number of essays that were first “published” on this “web” “log.” (Which ones?  We won’t tell you!  You’ll just have to wait and find out.) Well, I was noodling around this morning, thanking this person and that, when it occurred to me that I should solicit the help of the witty and discerning readers who have helped this “web” “log” to find its place in the world.  Let’s have some fun with this tired old genre, folks!  Just suggest the names of some people I should thank in my acknowledgements—you know, like Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers’ fine rookie goaltender; Steve Fuller, for stopping by last November and insulting all the readers who’d challenged his defense of Intelligent Design; Geoff Harpham, for exceptional vehicular magnanimity; Roxanne Cooper, for outstanding achievement in the general area of mockery. . . .

In the meantime, one more pic of the medal-winnin’ machine.  I received this tape-breaking image via email last night.  Here’s Jamie comin’ right atcha:

image

Posted by Michael on 04/17 at 01:50 PM
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