A liberal agenda

...

"No," she said, "you are not sitting here and telling me it was as bad as Yale. That's just not even possible."
"Worse."
"I dont believe you, Im sorry."
Here Howard, who had a tuneful voice, began an effective impersonation.
Kiki held her jaw. Her bosom shook. She was giggling into her bosom, but now her head jerked back and out came her big bellow of a laugh. "You are making this shit up."
Howard shook his head in denial. He kept singing.
Kiki wagged her finger at him. "No, no, no- I need to see the hand signals. It aint the same without all that business."
Howard rose from his seat, still singing, and turned to face the couch. He did nothing physicalyet; he had first to envisage the moves and then fit them to his own badly coordinated body. He panicked for a moment, not able to grasp the idea and the muscles in the same thought. Suddently it came together. His body knew what to do. He began with a spin and a click."

-Zadie Smith, On Beauty

**

Earlier today, I went to the gym and randomly, Billy Joel's "Downeaster Alexa" came on my iPod. It made me miss a friend who I was already missing. Im in a missing people, nostalgic kinda mood, what with my pending return to New Haven after nearly a year away. And one of the people I miss most, is my friend ABG. See, Downeaster Alexa is sorta *our* song and when Zadie Smith, another shared interest, included a bit about Ivy League acapella groups, we both agreed Zadie was so on the money. There s a million at Yale. ABG's fondest memory of all boys singing group was hearing Brown's Jabberwocks sing a acapella version of...Billy Joel's "The Downeaster Alexa." She recalled that she was, like most young adolescents, dreamy, sad, wide eyed and in love with the Jabberwocks and the song. Now, I didnt recall this particular Billy Joel song but, since then, it's become very important in our relationship.

See, I miss ABG for a bunch of reasons but most espcially, most definitely, for her misplaced liberal politics, perfectly captured by Billy Joel's class conscious song about the plight of displaced fishermen.

Melts my cold heart, ABG does.