Word: shapelessness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...point of death. Not only the Communist bloc is awash in democratic ferment; nine Latin American nations have held or are scheduled to hold free elections in 1989. For the first time in memory, there is reason to hope that the doddering Communist Party boss in his shapeless dark suit may be as much an anachronism as the strutting military strongman with his chestful of ersatz ribbons...
...focus life, preserved from the swamps of resentment and depression by mild fatalism and the occasional joint. Episodes are sifted and examined, but not retailed as anecdotes. Some really are conventional stories, or nearly so, with shape and some sort of resolution. Two or three are wholly shapeless, like twelve months out of twelve in the real world. The narrator meets a renowned Indian healer named Rolling Thunder, and nothing happens; then a crazed and menacing religious cultist, and nothing happens again. Even when the narrator's brain- dazed brother, an outlaw biker, kills a man in a brawl -- something...
...world as it is, she seems only to have the place of a designation. The Aged Mother. Like a painting of the aged mother, or a play called The Aged Mother, or an essay in a magazine. Swathed in the shapeless dress, the indefinite hairdo, she has become something to be noticed and attended, as if she were forever on the verge of vanishing lest one remind oneself to look in on Mother. (And how's your mother...
...specialize in large sizes for women, has undergone a startling transformation since it was acquired in 1982 by the Limited, the Columbus-based women's apparel conglomerate (1986 net sales: $3.1 billion). The 87-year-old Lane Bryant has abandoned its self- admitted former image as a purveyor of shapeless smocks to focus on younger customers who are interested in big-scale style. The new formula is working. The number of Lane Bryant stores has tripled so far, from 214 in 1982 to 600. An additional 190 outlets are scheduled to open during the remainder...
...genius for sailing, but it may be that he has just applied his genius to sailing and is literally driving himself. "At a certain level, does it make much difference?" Conner asks. "Mario Andretti or A.J. Foyt? Or is it the car?" One of the shapeless peaked caps he rotates in endless supply bears the emblem of Calumet Farm. If Kentucky had bred Conner, would he have trained horses? Alydar was a Calumet colt the year Affirmed beat him by an inch in all of the Triple Crown races. Romantics tended to credit that inch to Affirmed's young jockey...