Having been sent to the wrong planet, I am puzzled & sometimes exasperated by the notion that certain facts about oneself, such as one's sex or class or race, belong to one's "essence" or "identity" or some such cant pseudoconcept, within which one must remain, even in imagination, for fear of being dishonest or ridiculous or presumptuous or perverted. The fact that I am male, for me, is just another fact about me, important for some purposes but not for others, and *logically* on a par with my gray hair. If I must refrain, in singing, from impersonating other human beings who happen not to be male, then must I abstain from "Abide with Me" because I am not a Christian? Shall I adjust the words of "Sam Hall" to take account of my not being a murderer? As it happens, I value many songs, such as "Dink's Song", "The Cuckoo", and "Lolly-Too-Dum", in part because they are helpful in sympathizing with people who differ from me in that particular, and eke out my poor native abilities in that endeavor. I sing them straight, and so far as a I know no-one of my acquaintance takes it amiss.

--- Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net

||: Wouldn't you rather be hurt by someone who enjoyed doing it, than by someone for whom it was strictly business? :||