AN ENGLISH MAJOR'S READING OF THE SCHIAVO STORY

How is it possible to write about Terri Schiavo again in some linguistic context? This time it's literary. Everyone, politicians and editorialists, have taken sides on this case based on their interpretation of the facts as they've heard them, or picked from among several conflicting versions of her story. Like many former English majors, when I got tired of contemporary fiction ("stories about people vaguely depressed in Connecticut"), I turned to mysteries or crime fiction, which has more interesting plots, resolution, and point of view or moral perspective, unlike the nihilism of much 20th century "literary" fiction. With this background in reading about criminal acts and evil motives, it seems to me that the last news about her has some clear implications.

First, Michael Schiavo's sympathizers have said over and over that starving to death is a painless, pleasant, even euphoric death. So why is she being given morphine now? To provide the euphoria?

Second, you don't have to be Christian or even religious at all to wonder why he at first refused to allow this Catholic woman to receive the Eucharist on Easter. He changed his mind rather quickly, and she was able to take one drop of wine on her tongue, which was too dry for one crumb of bread. Someone probably told him that the drop and the crumb would not revive her body, but refusing it made him look, well, evil. Sinister. Malicious. Anyway, it was bad PR.

Third, he is now going to allow an autopsy. Some people think there will be evidence of broken bones, and assume that he is responsible. But now we also hear that 15 years in bed will have weakened her bones, and she could have sustained hairline fractures from being turned over in bed. It may not be impossible to distinguish between fractures that occurred and healed before her heart attack, but it will certainly cloud the issue. (By the way, last week I may have erred in thinking I heard "CAT" (computed axial tomography) scan when it was probably "PET" (positron emission tomography) scan. No matter, it will be too late to get any reliable information about brain damage, at least about its cause and timing, after her death.)

As for the ruling of the courts (all of which wanted to accept the initial court ruling), the idea that judges can be flawed or even corrupt is a staple of fiction, television, and the daily news. It seems obvious that with no living will, Michael Schiavo's statement, 7 or 8 years after her hospitalization, about Terri's wishes is unproven. But giving him the benefit of the doubt, I might note here that I've been acquainted with quite a few people who told me they were going to leave me houses, jewels, cars, and money, but after they died I can't seem to convince the courts of this. I also have multi-million dollar contracts for book deals but alas, they were only oral* contracts. Perhaps the Schiavo case will set a new precedent. No longer will law in the United States rely on written wills and contracts, a nasty, untrusting way to do business.

(*As Samuel Goldwyn said, an oral contract isn't worth the paper it's written on. Do not confuse "oral" with "verbal".)

LEVERITE

I met an old rock hound the other day who told us about "leverites" ~ those are worthless rocks, as in "leave 'er right there". Part of the fun of delving into other people's work and hobbies is learning their lingo and insider jokes.

READERS WRITE

Bill R. wrote:

Last night one passage we heard said that Pilate turned out the entire "cohort." Given that a cohort was about 600 men, and that as a provincial governor he probably didn't have much more readily available force than that, one suspects that he was a bit worried about that threat. (Accounting for the vagaries of translation, and I don't know what the original Greek says, even turning out a whole century would have indicated some gubernatorial concern for what we generally call "unrest.")

Cheryl S. sent me this link to an article by Jesse Kornbluth, HeadButler:

mediabistro.com: Articles: Hopefully (Not)

I like Kornbluth's pickiness although I don't agree with everything he says here, for instance, his explanation of "disinterested" and "uninterested":

"Disinterested" describes neutrality. "Uninterested" suggests a negative point-of-view. A gay man may be said to be sexually "disinterested" in women; that is, he doesn't care about having sex with them. But he may be "uninterested" if a woman propositions him; that is, he has a definite opinion on the idea, and it isn't to rip her clothes off.

Not exactly. "Disinterested" does mean neutrality (a judge should be disinterested in a case, that is, have no interest in the sense of investment or personal connection). I should think most gay men are not exactly neutral about having sex with women.

Also, "uninterested" does not mean necessarily negative. It can mean something less definite. For instance, I am mostly uninterested in watching weather reports unless I have a specific need to know. But I have no negative feelings or thoughts about weather reports.

Mike S. wrote, among other things:

About the "interactive children's mat", that an "interactive child" might love it!

And along with more definitions of parameter, "Notice that a parameter may happen to be, and quite often is, a bound or limit, as in page size and width. But is not necessarily, as in the case of colour. Hence the confusion."

Regarding the origins of the word "vegetative", another definition: "Characterized by lack of intellectual activity, responsiveness to stimuli, etc.", adding, "It's always interesting to consider the etymology, but not always helpful when assessing the appropriateness of a particular usage." True, but the etymology made a point I wanted made about the phrase "persistent vegetative state." Vegetables are not dead.

And who sent me to another FredonEverything (not to be confused with THE Fred) article? I forgot to make a note.

http://www.fredoneverything.net/Parker.shtml

______________________________________________

I have a contribution in a new anthology about the "center of life", Changing Course: Women's Inspiring Stories of Menopause, Midlife, and Moving Forward, edited by Yitta Halberstam.

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