Word: stripping
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Olympiad of contradictions. There she stands, poised on the balance beam-a 4-in. strip of spruce, 16½ ft. long, 4 ft. above the padded flooring. The palms of her hands are coated with gymnasts' chalk that is as white as her uniform, as white as her face. She is an infinitely solemn wisp of a girl, 4 ft. 11 in. tall, a mere 86 Ibs.; dark circles above her cheeks; a Kean-eyed elf. Then, with no more strain than it would take to raise a hand to a friend, she is airborne: a backflip, landing...
...harmonies is marred by the fact that he has a raw, gritty voice and cannot sing very well. But neither can Bob Dylan or Randy Newman. Those who come to hear Zevon perform are not purists. They are beguiled by his lyrics, which typically are about Chicano hustlers, Sunset Strip women and hotel-bar bums. A quatrain from his ballad Desperados Under the Eaves: "And if California slides into the ocean/ Like the mystics and statistics say it will/ I predict this motel will be standing/ Until I pay my bill...
...scenes are macabre. Religious images adorn vehicles and guns as Christian soldiers, some of them wearing crosses around their necks, storm Moslem strongholds. Moslem soldiers, in their turn, strip or mutilate the bodies of dead Christian soldiers, tie them to cars and drag them through the streets. In the vicious war in Lebanon, religion is a palpable presence-though allegiances are complex and contradictory; some Christians are backing the leftist Palestinians, while the Syrians, mainly Moslem, support the rightist Christian forces. Still, the air crackles with a certain primitive energy of zealots in a holy...
...gardener's delight. Before the development of dyes made from coal-tar derivatives, a scale insect provided the world with red dye; other species of scale insects are still used in the manufacture of shellac. The flesh-eating larvae of the dermestid beetle are used by museums to strip clean the bones of animals so that their skeletons can be mounted for display. Ancient Egyptians venerated the scarab beetle as a symbol of immortality; among its other activities, the insect breaks up and carries away animal and human droppings that might otherwise provide breeding
...everyone is so successful, of course. Very often the poor remain poor. But there are differences nonetheless. On a small brass strip on a door in Brooklyn's sweltering Keap Street, the inscription says: Diós bendiga nuestro hogar (God Bless our Home). On each side of the inscription there is a tiny enameled flag, Dominican on the left, American on the right. Near by is a name plate that says: Familia Ortega. In the five rooms inside live Erasmo Ortega, 52, and his wife Eloina, 45, and seven of their eight children (a married daughter lives upstairs). Also...