In "an astonishing exception" to the harsh economics of African Americans of the time, Angelou's grandmother prospered financially during the Great Depression and World War II because the general store she owned sold needed basic commodities and because "she made wise and honest investments".
There were exceptions, like the astonishing story of the campaign against the Barbary pirates of North Africa (the Islamofascists of 1804?), when the whole American fleet sailed 4,000 miles to the Mediterranean and the Marines landed on the shores of Tripoli.
Ring Lardner was later to say of Trumbo that: "With the possible exception of his astonishing antiwar novel Johnny Got His Gun, I'd rate Trumbo's almost single-handed assault on the blacklist as the major achievement of his career".
When the production moved to Broadway, and (with the exception of Frank Langella's astonishing Nixon) the cast changed, he had to refresh his performance all over again.
If that exception sounds a bit odd, what makes it downright astonishing is that in 2012 Greenfield backed a political campaign for default-on internet porn filters, citing the "vulnerability" of the developing brain.
So it's astonishing that Republicans would adopt an absolutist platform condemning abortion without offering an exception even for rape.
One important exception is Oliver Kamm's new book Accidence Will Happen, which is informed by astonishing erudition on the history and grammar of the English language.
We will make an exception for the Lips, however, who have made their fair share of astonishing records over the years and have at least roped in a selection of fwen... sorry, friends, for this release.
Still astonishing in its stripped-down geometries of motion, the work looked generally underpowered, with the exception of its central pas de deux, danced by Mr. Underwood and Melissa Hamilton, both quietly intense.
What is astonishing is that nobody seems to have noticed, at least not to the point of taking exception with Paul's stance on FEMA.
