the government will be upon His shoulders

My husband has gently informed me that a dipthong is two vowels that make a single sound. So 'th' doesn't count. I mostly just like using the word dipthong, even if it makes me a malapropist. Malaprop-er? 'Fricative' is another fun word I remember learning in a linguistics class. I don't remember what it means either--I think the letter 'f' is a fricative. If so, Hudson is fond of fricatives and not dipthongs. You should start at the top of this post and read it aloud. Because it will make you smile in spite of yourself. Hudson cried from 2:30 until around 4 last night. He'd get quiet for a couple of minutes and I'd drift back to sleep and then he'd start up again. All that to say I titled this post with the intention of writing some incisive political commentary, but I am just too tired. How long has it been since we've had a president who could speak another language well enough to not need a translator when he visits a country where the language is spoken? I don't mean 4 years of high school Spanish or French--really fluent. There's this part in The Once and Future King where Merlin turns young Arthur into all of these different animals in order to teach him wisdom and perspective. I don't think the philosopher-king types are lining up to be president of this country. Who can blame them? The process is tainted. Iowa is like high school on the day we filled out our scantrons for class favorites. I don't begrudge the fact that some retiree got to have coffee with Mitt Romney this morning or that a single mom at a shelter got a hug from Hilary, I just think it's a little out of balance. If I wanted to actually meet one of the candidates I pretty much need to hang out with people who have concert halls named after them. And those people don't tend to play at the park.