Imagine the Quaker
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archives | newquaker.comMonday, May 19, 2003
My oldest daughter, Kristen—my Muslim daughter who devotes her life to God, husband, and daughter—left New York to return to Louisiana. My house and the college campus were brightened by her presence and she made many friends. I was amused that so many of the students didn't think of her as Muslim: although she was the only person on our campus who wore the hijab and dressed in a variety of traditional Middle Eastern clothes (including dresses from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan), she was nevertheless believed by many students to be Amish.
Even the College President misses her—and of course my little granddaughter Nyssa. The President sometimes leaves his office open to the hall, revealing his red carpet as a sign inviting anyone in to talk with him. Well, Nyssa found out about that and this little 5-year old quickly endeared herself to him, as she has to so many others on the campus, with her bright commentary, candor, and keen sense of what is appropriate and what is not.
On Saturday, Lara and I drove them to the airport in Albany. Since she was traveling on a one-way ticket, the security was tighter for her. Her bags were all thoroughly searched. Still, people were routinely asked to take off their shoes, belts, put their carry-ons into large bins for the X-ray, go through the metal detector and also stand, arms upraised, as a security wand was passed all around them. She and Nyssa stepped onto the plane just a couple of minutes before take-off. It was a Southwest flight, so of course she had a tough time finding seats, and she had more security screenings at her connection in Baltimore. But she is now home safely. She has a new apartment in Metairie and will continue to take courses at Herkimer County Community College through the Internet Academy (our connection with the SUNY Learning Network). She said that Nyssa clung to her husband Taleb (Nyssa's "habibi") for a long time and wouldn't let him go. Their life in New Orleans will get back to normal soon enough.
After taking them to the airport, and because it was (atypically) a warm, sunny day, Lara and I drove to Saratoga Springs for lunch. We walked the downtown area and ate at Professor Moriarty's, a cozy café with lots of wood and brick. I ate a Nova Scotia sandwich (Lox with tomato and cream cheese on rye) and Lara ate a hot wings appetizer as a meal. And it was a meal for her: I ended up eating all of her celery. After that, we browsed in the Borders bookstore across the street, decided to buy an Origami kit from Amazon.com instead of a more expensive version at Borders, and then drove back home.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 12:05 AM
Sunday, May 18, 2003
What the heck is a futnow? I am not one to go about inventing new words, especially since the English language usually steals what it can't create, but I think there is now a need for a new word to capture a curious Western phenomenon.
You know how some sweepstakes offer to make you a millionaire and then in small print go on to tell you that your prize is going to be paid out over a 25-year period? Well, you and I know that this really isn't being a millionaire. A thousandaire, perhaps, but not a millionaire—unless of course you are futnowing the word "millionaire." A "futnow" (as I hereby use it) is the union of "future" and "now," as in the phrase "the future is now." To futnow is therefore to treat as temporally present something that normally is reserved as a distant achievement.
But this also gives all of us a chance to be millionaires. The person who grosses at least $40,000 a year will make a million dollars over a 25-year period—precisely the same amount paid out by a $1 million sweepstakes apportioned over time.
Okay, so I did invent the word "pretact" (and its verb form "pretacting") in The Man Who Rowed Lake Pontchartrain and the word still does not currently enjoy wide currency. But I think futnow has a greater chance of success, and you heard it here first.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 2:07 PM
© Merle Harton, Jr. All rights reserved. Biblical references are NIV® unless otherwise noted.
