THE PAVILION ANNEX

[FinderDoug]

But he's rich.

Which is relevant how?

Eric Holder ups and resigns. What the fuck?

Yeah - it's quite the 'shock and awe' move, unless you consider he's been talking about resigning since at least February, when he mentioned it to THE NEW YORKER.

Curious to see how much blockage occurs in appointing a new Attorney General.

[Steve Barber]

Several GOP Senators have released pre-emptive statements that they are uncomfortable with anyone the President submits for the position and will ensure that a proctological examination of the candidate's past will be conducted before they vote against him/her.

[FrankChurch]

Like the guy who defended Mumia.

[FinderDoug]

Steve - Given Holder was already talking retirement in February, there's part of me that wonders if this isn't a midterm election gambit - almost a dare to GOP senators to throw a block up in front of replacing the nation's 'top cop' so that the message can go back into the midterm elections that so-and-so voted to block a new Attorney General, "and put politics ahead of the safety of American citizens at home."

If only because the timing of it seems abrupt and arbitrary. I do think the first person who says it's to distract from Lattegate and S'moresgate should get their ticket punched.

[Ezra Lb.]

But he's rich.

Yeah rich people don't get sick, grow old or die. That's right Frank. Life's just not fair is it? Everybody should have to die no matter how rich they are.

[FrankChurch]

Luckily the first will be last and the last will be first.

[diane bartels]

I am posting this here because I do not want to upset HE and Susan. On Facebook, people keep posting pics of Robin Williams; I get sad all over again. How could he not have been saved, when he had so many people who loved and cared for him? I know the answer, but it just makes me mad that someone wasn't around that night, that Harlan didn't happen to call and comfort. I just really that he is a person who shouldn't be gone, that he so much left to do and live for. It just makes me cry from sadness and a lost kind of despair. Thanks guys and gals for letting me vent.

[Steve Barber]

Diane

Yeah, I get it. And trust me: Harlan, Susan and hundreds of Robin's friends are asking themselves those questions.

But the truth of the matter is, Robin didn't ask for it.

If someone decides to do themselves harm in their own private place, there's nothing anybody can do if they don't cry out for help. If I had thought of suicide and didn't share them, I have dozens of opportunities every single day.

Robin didn't ask for that help, otherwise dozens of people would have reached him in time.

[FinderDoug]

Diane,

Sometimes, even when people are in trouble, to the point of harming themselves, they will still put on the glad face when someone who cares reaches out, even if they're standing on the precipice.

True story: in college, I met the friend of a friend, who was visiting Binghamton from New Paltz. We hit it off, conversationally; truth be told, I was smitten. We began exchanging letters on a fairly regular basis. She was funny and smart and artistic, and our letters were very open - open to the point that I knew she had demons, and things that haunted her; and she, me.

One Friday, I stopped by my mailbox and found a letter from her; and this was a rock-bottom letter. I read it, read it again, and decided to call her. I was that concerned about her, based on what she'd written - we're talking "wish I could just close my eyes and have the pain go away" talk.

I dialed her number, she got on the phone, and I told her that her letter had worried me, and I was headed east to home for the weekend (a lie, but Home was 40 minutes from New Paltz, and Binghamton was three hours from home - easy to engineer a visit on short notice) and wanted to pop in and talk.

And she chuckled and said no, she'd just been in a bad patch when she wrote me, and she was fine, and was going to be running around all weekend, so it wasn't going to be great for her, but she was really glad I was worried enough to call, and she was sorry to have worried me. And we rang off.

And, reassured, I bought it.

I mailed letters into the void, without response, for the next six months. And my occasional call went unanswered. And six months later, when I was beginning to fear the worst, she wrote me to tell me that the day after we spoke, she tried to overdose, and she'd been institutionalized in the aftermath.

She got lucky. She survived. And last I heard (we lost touch some time ago - longer story), she was married and employed as a teacher, and it sounded like she was doing well at life.

But for years - YEARS - after I got the letter from the institution, I blamed myself for believing her, for not saying "fuck it" and following my gut and going to see her anyway; and over time, I realized that for some people dealing with depression, 'Being On' for people who care about them is almost autonomic - "no, I'm fine, just a bad day" when it's so much worse. It is entirely possible that at his worst, Robin was still capable of being "On" and that he could have sold that he was fine to the people who loved him. A call from Harlan, or anyone who loved Robin dearly, even at the perfect moment, might only have prolonged the moment of action. There's no guarantee anyone could have said anything to prevent what happened.

And this is one of the terrible things about depression: it may recognize love and care and concern, but even those things take a back seat the the illusion, the sheen of uselessness and regret and failure and "why bother?" And the only weapon we have is to love harder, and better, and with more understanding of the big picture. Because in the end, we all only have each other.

[diane bartels]

Steve and Doug,
Thank you. I know what you is true. It still sad and not fair, not Robin, or the people who loved or his fans like me who felt personally connected to him.

[FrankChurch]

Robin was very good at keeping his pain under wraps. Sometimes you cannot catch things. I don't understand it either, but there you go.

One thing you and I have in common is inability to post on the Pav. lol.

[FrankChurch]

One thing to gain from the Robin sadness is that money and fame is not such a great thing to worship. There is a bigger purpose to life. Tiptoes to Church.

[Steve Evil]

A great many funny men (and women) hide the tears behind the laughter. It's a coping mechanism. They also se the absurdity of life with great clarity. . .

[Mark Tiedemann]

http://marktiedemann.com/wordpress/?p=2336

[steveperry]

To Whom it May Concern:

There are people here who, if I wanted to get to their level, I’d have to hire Sherpas and carry supplemental oxygen to attempt the climb.

There are others, did I wish to stand eyeball to eyeball, I’d have to rent a diving bell and pay extra for the really long cord. Or maybe Cameron would lend me one of his submersibles.

That’s probably the make-up of a lot of groups; highs, lows, average. Most of the time, in most crowded rooms, I’m not going to be the smartest guy there. I’ve learned to live with that. I’m not the only one who needs to get that lesson.

I suspect that those in the heights looking down don’t get their panties in a wad if the conversation is not all sugar ’n’ spice ’n’ puppy-dog tails.

When I made my observation about formula, Alex, you leaped up and allowed as since you weren’t drinking, you might be able to achieve my level of discourse, and began to blather about shit sandwiches, then allowed as how I should think of you when I asked for my triple Whopper. Here’s how it works: You don’t get to pop off smart-ass, call me a drunk, and then cry that I’m bully when I respond in kind.

Take a swing at some folks, why, they might just punch your lights out. Assuming you have any lights.

I’m not doing my Donald Duck imitation here, Alex, I am have been choosing my words carefully to say what I mean, and in the doing of that, using terms I believe you can understand.

If you are going to cry sexism in one breath and then turn around and defend Playboy Magazine in the next? You have some things to reconcile. Harlan wrote for them? You want to look at a list of other men’s rags he wrote for? If HE writes for a market, then it’s okay?

I come here because I like HE’s work, and mostly, his personality. I find some of the folks intellectually stimulating, even challenging. I didn’t drop round to kiss HE’s ring, or some portion of his lower anatomy, and while he has mellowed considerably from the days when he would flay some idiot and pour salt on him, some of us still haven’t overcome that urge to not suffer fools past a certain point.

If you want to debate, then you need to observe the rules. If you want to play catch-as-catch-can? I’m good with that. Just don’t whine if your ego gets bruised.