But Bringing People Together Is What Music

The Word 'repulse': I Hate This Word. I Believe 'repel' Is A Perfectly Good Word, And 'repulsion' Is The Noun, As Well As The Title Of An Excellent Dinosaur Jr. Song. A Compulsion Compels You; An Impulse Impels You. Nobody Ever Says 'compulse' Or 'impulse' As A Verb. So Why Would You Ever Say 'repulse'? This Word Haunts Me In My Sleep, Like A Silver Dagger Dancing Before My Eyes. Renee Looked It Up And I Was Wrong. But I Still Kind Of Think I'm Right.

Like Many Other Touchstones Of Twenty-first-century Pop Culture, 'the Sopranos' Was Hatched In The Late Nineties, Predicting A Future That Never Arrived. It Was Designed For A Decade That Would Be Just Like The Nineties, Except More So, In An America That Enjoyed Seeing Itself As Smarter And Braver And Freer Than Ever Before.

When I Was A Junior, My School Introduced Badminton, Which Was Clearly A P.e. Department Ploy To Get Me Away From The Wrestling Room, And It Worked, Since The First Time I Played Badminton Was Like The First Time I Tasted Sushi Or Heard The Beatles Or Read Wordsworth. This Was A Sport? This Counted For Gym Requirements?

The Way I Pictured It, All This Grief Would Be Like A Winter Night When You're Standing Outside. You'll Warm Up Once You Get Used To The Cold. Except After You've Been Out There For Awhile, You Feel The Warmth Draining Out Of You And You Realize The Opposite Is Happening; You're Getting Colder And Colder, As The Body Heat You Brought Outside With You Seeps Out Of Your Skin. Instead Of Getting Used To It, You Get Weaker The Longer You Endure It.

Madonna Was So Flamboyant In Terms Of Her Look, Her Style, Her Public Pronouncements, Her Religious Taboo-smashing.