20 February 2017, No. 238, The Jackson Sisters, ‘I Believe in Miracles’

I don’t, actually, believe in miracles, is the first thing to cover here. I “believe in” clichés, and I “believe in” humans’ capacity for self-deception, willful or otherwise, but I don’t accept as objective reality that bullshit to which people ascribe the adjective miraculous. Detractors may “problematize” “objective reality” all they want. I have scare quotes for days. My point is your statue of that virgin, Mary, isn’t crying. It’s dripping toilet water from a floor above, and such indulgences shouldn’t be bottled and sold.

Lucky for us this ain’t no Dead show and we don’t need no miracle to get in. And also as well, whereas purported miracles usually stink to the highest of heavens, The Jackson Sisters’ belief in miracles at No. 238 (in “I Believe in Miracles”) smells oh so sweet.

The second thing to cover (another thing? how many things so far?) is how when I started writing the record show, it wasn’t a writing project. That’s why the essays in the first few books are so short. The main point was to reveal my list slowly, one item per day. Now I feel like it needs more than just a title every day, and I try to give a little essay. But it would take a bona fide miracle to get me to write daily like I mean to, plus even though there are a fair few words in this here exposition, it’s been mostly dilatory thus far, and I haven’t even talked at all about the stuff I like about the song.

We’ll get to defining and praiseworthy features next time when we do an edit of the same miraculous jawn that’s on display today.