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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Not your average Joe

In my short review of Martin Scorsese's documentary about the Rolling Stones, I mentioned the famous incident of the Stones' peeing against a wall in public and remarked that "A part of your average Joe (particularly your average Republican Joe) wants to be able to pee in public and get away with it." At the time I thought of "peeing in public" as merely symbolic of some other, factual act. Imagine my surprise, then, upon reading the following passage from Christopher Buckley's memoir about losing his mother and father:
I'd been looking forward this year to [our annual ritual of driving up to the town in northwestern Connecticutt where Pup had grown up with his nine brothers and sisters]. I sensed that it would probably be our last Thanksgiving drive up to Sharon. I'd brought Caitlin along. Pup dotes on what he called "my favorite granddaughter." (He had only one.) I'd warned Cat that driving with Pup now often involved a tendency that she might find a bit unusual—namely, his habit of opening the front door while the car was moving, and peeing. He did this routinely now, including from his limousine, in traffic. I've often wondered if there are people out there scratching their heads and saying, Marge—was that William F. Buckley Jr. who just peed on our Lexus? –p. 163, Losing Mum and Pup, Twelve, New York & Boston, 2009

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