Thursday, February 10, 2011

Memoir

Donald Rumsfeld has titled his new memoir Known and Unknown, which hearkens back to this piece of wisdom that he shared during a DOD briefing on February 12, 2002.

"As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know."

If this sounds familiar, it's because the quote was selected by Hart Seeley as part of his collection, Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld. Perhaps you remember Slate's coverage of the story.

In other words, Rumsfeld named his memoir to commemorate a moment in his life which resulted in his being roundly mocked internationally in print and on TV. This has inspired me to come up with a list of potential titles for my memoir.

Zipped and Unzipped
If I'd Known You Were Native American I Wouldn't Have Sung That Song
It's Not Funny
Stop Laughing
I Mean It, Guys
You Told Him I Said That?!
That Time I Farted


McSweeney's Can Not Suck It. No, wait, I was wrong. They Can Still Suck It

Another list, another rejection. I hate myself and I want to die.

Why We Don't Do It In the Road

Cars
Rocks
Trucks
I have a headache