"With the rap of the gavel, the Judge Judy tribunal in my brain, permanently empowered, was at once in session and I found myself under harsh cross-examination."
— Castle, Terry (b. 1953)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
New York
Publisher
Harper Collins
Date
2010
Metaphor
"With the rap of the gavel, the Judge Judy tribunal in my brain, permanently empowered, was at once in session and I found myself under harsh cross-examination."
Metaphor in Context
With the rap of the gavel, the Judge Judy tribunal in my brain, permanently empowered, was at once in session and I found myself under harsh cross-examination. The first time I heard "The Woman in Your Life," three decades ago, the court wished to know, had I not become desperately eager to find a recording of it? (Yes, your Honor. It was the theme song on a feminist talk show on the Seattle public-access radio station to which I had become fanatically devoted.) Had I not also adored Alix's superb cover version of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be with You"--so far unmentioned in this all-too-strategic adn shifty prologue? (Um...er...yes, your Honor.) Was it not a million billion tons better than the one Annie Lennox did when she was in The Tourists? (Uh...yes...) And indeed all the more poignant, given Springfield's own long-unacknowledged lesbianism? (Slight catch in voice: Um, well, um... yes, your Honor. I guess....) And what about that "View from Gay Head"? Hadn't every line of the lyrics come rushing back as soon as I heard it again? Hadn't I found myself humming along, even mouthing the words of the chorus with a certain bemused if not rakish enjoyment? (Head bent in mortification, quiet sniffling sounds: yeah, um ... your Honor ... I uhh ... snuffle snuffle ...)
(p. 164)
(p. 164)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Terry Castle, The Professor and Other Writings (New York: Harper Collins, 2010).
Date of Entry
05/18/2011
