Humor – Page 12 – The View From Sari's World

Forgive me for taking a break from my usual line of posts to address this burning question. What’s the deal with Slate Magazine’s Dear Prudence?

Dear Prudence is Slate’s answer to Dear Abby. I read the articles occasionally, and have always wondered if I should laugh or cry. Many (no most) of Prudence’s questions seem to come from people who live in the Jersey Shore universe, or at the very least, come from a very small gene pool. As you read the following Q & A, ask yourself:

Is this Slate’s idea of a satirical take on Dear Abby?

Does Prudence not understand she is being punked by these questions, or

Are people really this stupid??

Let me know what you think.

Dear Prudence,
My boyfriend and I fell in love at first sight. By the time I stood up and realized he was 4 inches shorter, we were too in love to care. I never in a million years thought I would be in this situation, but when you find the right person, you just know. My question for you is: Should I prepare other people for the height difference? I find myself trying to drop it into conversation when people haven’t met him yet. Sometimes I try to mention celebrity couples as examples, to give people an idea, but that only seems to make things worse. What I really want to say is, “I have trouble noticing the height difference because he’s a god in bed.” What’s your advice? And why does this stigma still exist?

—The Next Clare Grant and Seth Green

Dear Clare,
People definitely need to be prepared for this shocker. Before you introduce him you should alert your friends and family by saying, “You’ve heard that good things come in small packages. Well, even though my boyfriend is small, his package is not, so despite what you were probably thinking, I’m very satisfied in bed, thank you very much!” Then you could add, “I don’t know why people are so concerned about height differences. Sure, I never thought I would be in the ridiculous situation of towering over my boyfriend, but I’m not hung up about it at all!” Your boyfriend is shorter than you are. Big deal. It’s not something worth mentioning or being defensive about. It’s an unimportant, self-evident fact. You say there’s a stigma about shorter men with taller women, but that seems to be mostly in your own head. So get over it before you scare off your terrific guy through your own smallness.

—Prudie

Tis the season to share and exchange gifts. It is certainly a most wonderful time of year. It’s been a tame Christmas in the Nichols household. Conflicting schedules kept us from celebrating Christmas on the 25^th. Luckily for me, the Internet has kept me entertained. I’ve found some brilliant Shakespeare related sites, and thought I would share my “gifts”. So sit back and enjoy

Shakespeare Saturday

One of my favorite bloggers

missficklereader hosts a wonderful blog, mostly related to Shakespeare. On Christmas she posts a new to me, Shakespeare Christmas story titles, Shakespeare’s Christmas. From her post:

This title piece in a short-story collection by writer and literary critic Arthur Quiller-Couch (who wrote under the pseudonym–get ready for it–“Q”) is in fact a bizarre yet clever mashup of Shakespearean narrative and mythology. On the surface, Quiller-Couch is fictionalizing the night that Richard Burbage and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, unbeknownst to their landlord, took apart The Theatre and transported the lumber to a storage facility near the Thames, where those same building materials would eventually be used to construct the Globe. Sort of a bizarre moment in Shakespearean history in and of itself, but it did happen on December 28, 1599 (not on Christmas eve, which is when Quiller-Couch’s tale is set). On another level, however, the story is a retelling of Henry IV, Part Two, with Shakespeare as Prince Hal and John Shakespeare, William’s father, as Falstaff. You can read the story here, and while you are at it, check out her blog. Miss Fickle always has something interesting to say.

McSweeny

I don’t know how I’ve missed this site. I stumbled upon it, following a link a Twitter user shared. McSweeny says it’s a publishing Company, but oh it is oh much more! The blog posts are hilarious. I offer this gem, Letters to Santa, written by Shakespeare characters. Below is one of my favorites.

Dear Santa,

The trifles you brought me last year meant absolutely nothing. What’s the point of gifts when everything is falling to shit all around you? Why didn’t you steal the family account information I left out for you last year? That would have meant something.

Do you ever feel like everything is just a big conspiracy? Do you ever want to hurl yourself out of your sled and fall down, down, down onto the cold hard street below?

Look out for the slings and arrows.

— Hamlet

Witty scholars

And just in case you think most Shakespeare scholars take themselves far to serious, I give you day 15, from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Foundation’s Shakespeare’s Singing Advent Calendar.

Be happy, I did not share day 14. You would have seen two ducks a’quaking.

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Shakespeare Saturday

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