Things that Don't Go Together, Ch. 15

The Firewall and the Hijab.

The Hijab seemed like a bad idea at the time.  From the Quran, it is enforced modesty, which is always the last refuge of the jealous scoundrel:

"And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their khimār over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husband, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments."  Quran 24:31

Still, the Hijab does permit a certain amount of subterfuge and stealth, which never go out of style.   It is a metaphoric firewall concealing not only the beauty but the identify of the wearer.  One can imagine in a world filled with Google Earth, predator drones and spy satellites, that the Hijab doesn't seem like that bad of an idea.  Not that the fashion runways of Dubai and Riyadh (if there are such creatures) will be teeming with them anytime soon, but the star of anonymity has far from reached its zenith.

Think about it.  Wouldn't you like to get away from the world where everyone is judged by appearances?  Where every aspect of life is now publicly available on any number of social networking sites on the Internet?  To be just anonymous.  The mask of oppression becomes the vehicle for liberation.  And so much potential  for mischief:-).  

Sweet Dreams are Made of These, Ch. 1

Libby Titus infected the bar.

"Hey look, its John Paul Bonham"

That's not his name.  Anyway, it can't be him, what would he be doing doing working here?  He's too short.  Didn't Bonham have longer hair when he played bass drums for Zeppelin?

JPB:  "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Old Rasputin"

"Wow, John Paul Bonham just took your drink order."

This place is so cool, can you imagine Springfield has a place like this?

This is the former Rubble Rabblebuses building.  Its where Norman Mailer wrote "The Naked and the Dead"   He sat right over there.   You can still see the outline his typewriter on the table.

We should buy this place, its being horribly mismanaged.  You have to have a female bartender working.  Why else would guys want to come here?  Did you hear about the class action all the former bartenders filed?

"Well John Paul Bonham is a pretty cool bartender."

But he's dead.  He can't be a bartender.  That's the problem with this place.

When we buy this place we'll have to paint it white.  Its too dark and scary.   Women don't want to come here.  We will change the name to the "Virtue Palace."  We will get Sarabi to come back from California to run it.  It will be a bar with only women working in it.

"When are we going to buy it?"

After the current owner defaults on the lease.  Then we will have to wait a couple of months to get a good deal.