Morpheus - 10/31/07

     I was criticized last month for devoting too much space to Iraqi children and their heart-rending problems caused by the war. One of them was five-year-old Youssit who had gone out to play wearing a black stocking cap on a January day when he was suddenly grabbed by masked men, doused in gas and set on fire. Leaving one's homeland is never an easy choice to make, even during war, but the family of the badly disfigured boy decided that he should seek treatment in the United States.

                                  

                              

     As soon as Youssif arrived at a burn unit in Los Angeles, treatments started, but were interrupted by the fires roaring down out of the mountains. Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire! There's more to report on Youssif, but I just remembered that I've been reprimanded for spending too much time on Iraqi matters.

                                  Next Complaint

     Here's a comment from a reader who goes by the name of "Sleepy reader:"  Hey, it's your blog, but might I humbly ask why do the articles have to so long? A good blog posts at least 3 times a week. Shorter is better. Try it, you might like it. Plus your readership will increase, just watch.  Sleepy reader.

     Dear Sleepy reader:  Okay, I'll try it with some reservations. I agree with you that I have a tendency to be long-winded. Posting three times a week is possible, but doing so would not distinguish me from all the other bloggers. Reading long articles on the Internet is certainly a challenge to those readers with short attention spans. I'm not too fond of it myself, although it sometimes brings a greater depth to a topic.

     If I maintain the usual length, is it possible that "Smokytown" might be used as a substitute for those drugs that help people go to sleep?  One that comes to mind, probably because it's plastered all over TV screens, is Rozerem, a sleep-producing aid with a connection to Morpheus, the god of dreams, who is able to fuse reality with fantasies about Abe Lincoln and a beaver. How Freudians will interpret these incongruous characters is beyond my grasp. To top it off, the patient's boss also has a sleeping problem involved with a blue horse.

     Dreams and nightmares have haunted literature, both religious and secular since time memorial. Shakespeare often mixed imagery of death and dreams:  "what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause."  I don't think anyone has ever adequately explained how dreams are made. The other night I dreamed that Dick Chaney was out hunting and charged up a hill with a Confederate flag draped around his shoulders. I probably heard a new song about Sagging Pants and rap lyrics that demanded:  "Pull 'em up! Pull 'em up."  Or did I just make that up?

     But to return to my blog as a sleep-inducing agent--if you do make a copy and curl up in bed, there are certain WARNINGS and PRECAUTIONS to observe. 

     >Do not mix three martinis and drink them before curling up in bed with "Smokytown."

     >If you suffer a sudden onslaught of nose bleed, stop listening to Rush Limbaugh during the day.

     >Stop reading if you notice your testosterone level has gone down.

     >Should you begin to laugh uncontrollably, make a quick trip to the bathroom.

     >Don't get up in the middle of the night to drive heavy machinery, like a road grader.

     >Stop reading if you find a story about the Supreme Court stripping Al Gore of the Nobel Peace Prize and awarding it to George W. Bush.

               SO SHORTER IS BETTER. OKAY. GOODBYE!

                                     Halloween - 07