Lorraine Bendix

            On Monday when I got up I thought I smelled bedbugs on my hand but didn't see any. It may have just been the smell of rancid chicken grease rising up from Popeyes downstairs. 

            I blog-published "Sorry Angel You Had to Go", my translation of "Sorry Angel" by Serge Gainsbourg. I memorized the chorus of his song "Hmm hmm hmm". 

            I weighed 84.6 kilos before breakfast. I was too tired to work on my essay in the morning and so I took a siesta at noon, intending to sleep for an hour but I stayed unconscious until 13:30. 

            I weighed 84.7 kilos before lunch. After lunch I tried for another short nap but it didn't take and so I got up after half an hour. I took my afternoon bike ride half an hour earlier than usual and rode to Bloor and Bathurst. 

            I weighed 84.4 kilos at 16:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 17:00. 

            I spent more than two hours on my essay. Here's what I came up with: 

            Frankenstein's monster then is an ironic woman. He has a masculine body but is rejected for having features that offend the eye. To be outcast for ugliness puts him on the same spectrum of aesthetic judgement on which women are forced to dwell, albeit at a different end. The monster exists at the ugly extreme of the spectrum beyond what society allows. In order to remain relevant to society, women are expected to settle for being anchored to the range of the spectrum that coincides with what is considered beautiful or at least somewhat pleasing to the eye. If women deviate from the aesthetic realm and try to position themselves for equal respect on the societal scale of intelligence, they are, as Wollstonecraft says, "hunted out of society as ‘masculine’" (23). This societal assessment of scholarly and intellectual women as "masculine" can also be read as "monstrous" because to whatever degree one is excluded from society, one is to that degree a monster. Frankenstein's monster experiences the full extent of being "hunted out of society" because society stops at the visual surface in judging him as it does women. 

            We are all creations of the society in which we live and so society for each of us is our own Victor Frankenstein. When Victor tells his origin story to Captain Walton, he begins by declaring, "I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years counsellors and syndics" (Shelley 33). Compare this with the creature's account of his own origin: "A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time; and it was... a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses" (105). The creature's account establishes that his identity stems from his arrival at awareness, while Victor's makes it clear from the start that his identity is rooted deeply in being from Genovese society and in his family's history of being woven into the judicial foundations of that society. With this self-introduction Victor is essentially saying, "I am society." 

            I had my usual avocadoes, tomatoes, lemon juice and Garden Cocktail while watching season 5, episode 27 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            Granny has made a new spring tonic and decides to share it with Drysdale and his employees. But knowing what effect Granny's tonic has on city people Jed has switched it with Granny's root beer. Remembering what Granny's tonic did for Jane last year, the secretarial pool lines up for doses. Miss Lovely takes some of the root beer and thinks it's a potent tonic. When Dr. Roy Clyburn walks in she begins to flirt with him. Granny forces some of what she thinks is her tonic down Clyburn's throat. He's been waiting for a chance to have Granny arrested for practicing medicine without a licence. Drysdale begs him not to charge Granny and suggests that he let Granny come to his office and see how real medicine works. When Roy calls Granny she thinks he's asking her over for romantic reasons. Roy has arranged for no patients while Granny is there but Granny thinks his business is in trouble because he has no patients. One of his patients, Mrs. De Longpre shows up. Roy tells Granny that the woman is a rich hypochondriac. While he goes to get De Longpre's chart, Granny talks to her. She says she's heard she's a hypochondriac but her religion doesn't matter. De Longpre says she's short of breath and can't sleep. Granny tells her to loosen her corset, wear bigger shoes, and scrub her own floors. De Longpre storms away in anger. Roy tells Granny to leave. Granny thinks Roy is mad because she lost his very last patient so she decides to do him a favour. She, Jed, Jethro and Elly all participate in a TV ad promoting Dr. Clyburn's practice, not realizing it's against the law for physicians to advertize. Roy knows that the medical board won't believe he paid to advertize but his patients might. Just then Mrs. De Longpre walks in and says that Granny's advice was miraculous. She loosened her girdle, put on sneakers and scrubbed her own floors. She's breathing easy and sleeps like a baby. Then Roy learns that De Longpre has just come from a charity bazaar where all of his other patients are as well, so none of them saw the TV spot. 

            This was Fred Clark's final appearance as Dr. Clyburn because he died the following year. 

            Miss Lovely was played by Lorraine Bendix, who was the daughter of William Bendix. She had supporting roles in a few films and guest appearances on several TV shows. She had a long and well publicized struggle with weight gain due to compulsive eating. She died at the age of 57. 

            For the tenth night in a row I found no bedbugs.