This Week’s Good Stuff

1. Bookplates and mailing the check – Thanks to our Mardi Gras party guests, I sent Ali $500 yesterday. She will use the money to buy books for her first graders to take home and keep. What made me happy was sending along cute bookplates that can go inside them.

2. Dinner club – We have a group of friends that gather every few months to share a theme-based dinner. Everyone involved likes to cook, so it is usually a pretty great meal. Last night was one of my favorites yet. The theme was beer. On the menu: lamb roasted with stout, spicy pinto beans that were in beer, barley with chard, and for dessert, lambic (peach, raspberry or cherry) ice cream sodas and spiced cookies with a beer reduction.

3. Uppercase magazine – A few months ago, I came across Uppercase magazine at the Hammersmith retail store. I treated myself with copy, and have enjoyed spending time with it. The magazine is well designed and is full of images and creativity.

4. Snowday and stories of Kansas Citians – Thursday we were hit by a storm that brought over a foot of snow. My employer told several of us to stay home and avoid the dangerous conditions. For those who did get out, the stories that came out of people helping others were heartwarming.

5. Inbox Zero – My email is out of control. The number of emails in my inbox is absurd. This week I have done some research on the concept of Inbox zero. I am ready!

On Writing

Thursday we were hit by a crazy snow storm, so I had a day home from work. I spent part of the day reading a book that I started a few months ago: Stephen King’s On Writing. The fact that I had started it and then put it aside is somewhat metaphorical to my own writing. For too long now, I have put aside my book writing. Yesterday, I finished On Writing. Now…

Generally, Stephen King books are not my thing. But this is the guy who wrote The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. I’ve read some of his big books. They are page-turners that are hard to put down. So, while I can say that I don’t seek out his books, I could never say that I don’t enjoy them. He is a very good writer.

What I discovered in On Writing, however, is how much he loves to write. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a writer, so he wrote. There were family and neighborhood newsletters, summaries of movies, knockoffs of pulp magazine thrillers, sports reporting. He sold his first stories to men’s magazines; purchased mainly for the pictures rather than the literature. He wrote Carrie in the laundry room of the trailer where he lived with his wife and two children. He wrote between shifts washing hospital sheets and restaurant linens. He never stopped.

He drank too much and took drugs to the extent that his family intervened and he got clean and sober. While he was working on On Writing, a man driving a blue van came over a hill and hit him as he took his daily walk. His body was pretty much shattered. He never stopped wanting to write or loving to write.

The other part I discovered was Tabitha. Stephen King met Tabitha when they were in college. She charmed him with her poetry and her smile. When he writes about her it is as if he is still falling in love. If you look for photos of the Kings, you see a middle-aged couple. They have grown up together and are growing older together. I adored reading of his love for her and his dependence on her as a first critic.

The beginning of the book is the story of his early life; the end of the book describes the accident and its aftermath. The middle of the book tackles the toolbox that writers should keep nearby (and he does use the toolbox as his metaphor). His advise is good – don’t try to be fancy with your words; use the words that you know, to say what you mean. He preaches strongly against passive sentences (something that I am too often guilty of). He discusses paragraphs and how to structure writing so it looks better and reads better. He warns against trying to put everything you know in your writing just because you know it and think its cool. Yea, that would be me too. He does not think that a bad writer can become a good writer, but he thinks a good writer can get better. He writes that writers get better by reading and writing. All of the time. You sit down at your desk to write everyday. You carry something to read everywhere you go.

None of it was a revelation to me, but the book was what I needed. I do love to write. I really love writing pieces for this blog. I really love my book and what it will become. But I have not practiced well. I need to get back to the desk. Before Stephen launches into his practical advice, he writes “ It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support-system for art, it’s the other way around.”

I worked on my book proposal yesterday. It is getting better. I will work on it some more today, and tomorrow.

Last Week’s Good Stuff

The Sessions – The Oscars is my award show and I like to go into it somewhat prepared. This year we are not in great shape, but we are trying to get at least a couple more nominations in before next Sunday. On Friday night, we watched The Sessions. Based on a true story, the movie tells the story of Mark O’Brien. O’Brien contracted polio as a child and spent most of the rest of his life in an iron lung. He did what he could to live as fulfilling a life as he could – going to college, graduate school, earning a living. One thing that he didn’t have was sex. The sessions are his appointments with a sex surrogate. Helen Hunt gives a great performance. Her relationship with Mark is so lovely. She takes time to understand him. She makes sure that he understands her. It was all so comfortable and real. While Helen Hunt is nominated for an Oscar, John Hawkes is not. Not sure what happened there.

College book stores – On Monday I attended a workshop at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. The workshop site was in the same building as the college bookstore. As a person who loves pens, tablets, and anything in between, I don’t think there is a better place for finding treasures. The two that I came away with:

Decomposition Book

Pilot Precise V7 RT

 

Unexpected snow on a Friday night – Weekends are the best time for snow. If there are any plans, there is usually enough flexibility that they can be changed if the weather goes south. On Friday night, as we sat watching the movie in our living room, we noticed that it had started to snow. It was a beautiful snow shower that left a covering over the trees and lawns.

New dishes – I like mismatched dishes, but for my birthday, I made a decision that it might be nice to have a little more consistency in our dinnerware. Over the last few weeks, we have been taking advantage of sales and coupons and buying some Fiestaware. We have different colors, so it goes with my love of the mismatching, but all of the pieces are the same size. I love the way that they look in our open cupboards, and last night, when we had people over, I got to see what they look like on a fully set table. Very happy making.

Pop Culture Happy Hour – Each Friday I am eager to download a new episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour. This is a podcast that includes NPR staffers who sit around and talk about things in pop culture. It might be movies, television shows, music, books… Whatever it is, the four regulars involved: Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Trey Graham, and Glen Weldon, manage to make me inevitably happy with their good natured banter. This week they talked about the Grammy awards, how presidents are depicted in pop culture, and, as always, they ended up describing what is making them happy that week. I have found many things that make me happy via this wonderful listen!

 

To Love Mockingbird

For a few years now, we have had a book club at work. While the invitation to attend is spread broadly, it is typically 4-5 of us who gather in a conference room at lunch time to talk about the selection. This year we have decided to meet once a quarter and we will read and discuss classics. First up was Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. It was a little surprising to me that some people had not read this book. There are so many pieces of the book and movie that, when I think of them, really inform my life from the first time I read it; from the first time I saw that beautiful movie; to today. What a wonderful thing it was to be able to talk about this book again!

Let’s start with the physical book itself. The book was first published in 1960 by Lippincott. My book is a 1960 printing, but not one of the first. If it was, and if it was in more pristine shape, and if it had its pretty dust jacket, it would be worth a lot of money. My book is none of those things. My book belonged to my Grandma and Grandpa. Inside the front cover, my Grandma rubber-stamped their name and address. Now, when I see that, I remember time spent with my grandparents at their house in Fredonia. I can almost see the book on the bookshelves in their living room. At some point, I must have gotten the book off of the shelf and took it home. I obviously claimed it as my own, because now there is a red Dymo label on the front with my name on it. I tried to take it off once, but it pulled off the cover material, so now it is just kind of floppy.

In the book, Jem and Scout find treasures in a tree. The children begin to collect them and look forward to more. In the book, I think they all get put in a trunk n Jem’s room. In the movie they are in a cigar box. As a girl, I got one of my grandpa’s army trunks and in it, I kept my treasures. I also had a couple cigar boxes that he gave me that I would fill with miscellaneous papers and what-not. I think this habit, that I still have today, comes from the images that I loved so much in this book.

My dad, like Atticus Finch, was a small town lawyer. There were many differences between my dad and Atticus, but when things happened that were similar, they loomed large for me. Two that I recall harkened to both the good and the bad. My dad had one client that I clearly remember bringing him vegetables to pay his bill. He would show up at various times of the year bringing our family bounty. I do remember my father and mother both being so gracious to him. The other was one time a client – I don’t remember who or why – who was angry at my dad. One night, he came to our house drunk and mad. I was upstairs in our house, but I remember hearing it all and being scared. Reading, seeing, or thinking about this book always call to mind my own Atticus Finch moments.

And then there is the story and the movie. I am glad that I have Gregory Peck in my mind when I read about Atticus. Dill, Scout, Jem and Boo are all perfectly realized. The movie does leave out parts, but that makes reading the book even better. I don’t have many books that I take the time to read more than once, but this is one that I can’t even remember how many times I have read it. I read it as a little girl and wanted to be Scout. I read it as a young woman and wanted to be Harper Lee. I read it now, and kind of feel like I have both of them a little bit a part of me.

“Atticus sat looking at the floor for a long time. Finally he raised his head. “Scout,” he said, “Mr. Ewell fell on his knife. Can you possibly understand?”

Atticus looked like he needed cheering up. I ran to him and hugged him and kissed him with all my might. “Yes sir, I understand,” I reassured him. “Mr. Tate was right.”

Atticus disengaged himself and looked at me. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?”

Atticus put his face in my hair and rubbed it. When he got up and walked across the porch into the shadows, his youthful step had returned. Before he went inside the house, he stopped in front of Boo Radley. “Thank you for my children, Arthur.” he said.”

This Week’s Good Stuff

1.Mardi Gras Party – for the eighth year in a row, we hosted our Mardi Gras party this weekend. It is one of those things that we look forward to, and when it happens, it is as good or better than we hoped it would be. Even though we kind of have it down to a science – Dan makes the red beans, I make the muffaletta, he brews the beer, I decorate – it takes some effort to get things ready for almost 100 people to descend upon your not huge house. But it works. The people who come from the various parts of our lives arrive and mingle with old friends and new friends. Each year we have a New Orleans focused project that people have an opportunity to chip in a few bucks to. This year, we came up with $500 that will buy books for Ali’s first graders – each will have books they can take home for their very own

2. Why Facebook can be such a good thing – Several months ago, we went to Templeton, Iowa to tour the Templeton Rye distillery. With our friends, we drove up Friday night and then got to the distillery at for the 10:00 tour on Saturday morning. The tour was neat and interesting and we had the prescribed taste of delicious rye after the tour. We thought that was where it was going to end, but it did not. We ended up leaving Iowa at about 4:00 that day after having gotten to know the Templeton group much better, and gotten some lunch and bowling in at the local lanes, We spent the day with new friends, Michael and Molly who made the trip to Templeton from their home in Des Moines. All of us connected on this wonderful day, and we promised that we would reconnect. This weekend we did. Michael and Molly came into town for the Mardi Gras party. We got to have dinner with them Friday and lunch with them today too. I am guessing that without Facebook and the ease it provides to keep connected, we wouldn’t have had this wonderful chance encounter continue.

3. People who know how to repair boilers – We have steam heat – radiators; the whole business. When it is good, it is very good. When it is bad, it is … so loud! Last weekend, something happened and our house was filled with the most amazing clanks, bangs and kabooms! At times, it seemed like something consequential was really going to happen, but it would eventually settle until it would happen again. This was really difficult for the sleeping. Luckily, there are people that will come into your house, diagnose what is the matter with your poor boiler, and make it better.

4. Opportunities – This weekend  got to go to Silver Springs, Maryland where some very smart and dedicated people met with FDA personnel. It was a great opportunity to sit in on something so outside of my norm and see how it works. I felt very lucky.

5. Research – Another work thing. For a couple years now, I have been working with some great people as they create and carry through new projects with the intent of making improvements in the area of childhood cancer. This week, all of those people got the opportunity to tell their stories. It was amazing! Each of them spoke their project in language that anyone could understand. I felt so proud to have been a part of it, and it I am so excited to see what is next!

Last Week’s Good Stuff

1. Meetings – This year, I am making an effort to communicate more face-to-face rather than via email. It can definitely be more of a hassle, but I believe in the positives that result.That being said, I had a few meetings last week that were great. Either the people involved were engaged, or what the meeting resulted in was better than I anticipated.
2. Hillary Clinton – This week Hillary Clinton left her post as Secretary of State. I knew Hillary Clinton was something special when my very Republican father told me that he thought Hillary was a good Senator for New York. If she could win over my dad, her ability to bring together world leaders seemed reasonable. Well done, Madame Secretary!
3. Impromptu dinners – Friday night we met some friends for a beer and sat around talking for awhile. Dan made some chili earlier in the day so it would be ready when we got home. We ended up inviting our friends over and extended our visit over dinner. It is great to be able to have the flexibility to bring unexpected guests over, have a good dinner, and have it all come off pretty effortlessly.
4. Banjo’s Birthday – Ali celebrated her dog’s first birthday on Friday with a new dog shirt, a dog birthday cake, and much love. That dog and her girl are perfect together.
5. Ben’s bachelor party on Parks and Recreation – We had to say goodbye to Liz Lemon and 30 Rock this week. It was a good episode, but my favorite television of that night was Parks and Recreation. Of particular note was the story line of Ben’s bachelor party. The deal was that when Chris found out that none of the other guys at the party had gotten a bachelor party when they married, he made their dream bachelor parties happen too. This show is just good natured funny and charming.

Jim Henson’s Imagination

I came late to the Sesame Street party. Sesame Street premiered in 1969. By then I was already aware of letters, numbers, but I think the real reason I didn’t watch Sesame Street was because we did not have access to public television where I grew up. When Sam was born, however, I went there. I got to Sesame Street and I loved it there. Who wouldn’t? It was friendly and fun and there were good songs and silliness and all sorts of cool people who would show up. Not many parents would deny that a benefit of becoming a parent is getting to share in the joy of Sesame Street.

I just finished reading/looking at iMAGiNATiON ILLUSTRATED: The Jim Henson Journal. This is in that category of books that I find irresistible. Jim Henson’s journal was not a diary of thoughts and feelings. Starting in 1954, Jim would take his yearly appointment book and transcribe into his journal the highlights. He noted what puppets he was building. He logged commercials he was working on, people he met, his marriage, the birth of his children, their birthday parties, vacations, each car he bought. With this chronology, Karen Falk built a book of words and images that captures what a wonder this man was.

Before he died unexpectedly at 53, Jim Henson did crazy amazing things. His first television foray debuted in 1955. Sam and Friends (good name) was a five minute late night puppet comedy fest, that included an astute green frog.

Sam and Friends led Jim and his expanding group of puppeteers to gigs on the Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. And then came Sesame Street. As huge of a following this little program was getting, Jim didn’t only want be a part of children’s entertainment. He continued to work on other projects that would expand his fan base and admirers considerably.

He made a documentary about the youth experience in 1968.

He made some interesting experimental television productions.

In 1975 when Saturday Night Live debuted, his The Land of Gorch characters brought Henson to the young and hip.

From 1976 until 1981 The Muppet Show entertained. I remember many an evening at 1 Jackson Place in Schenectady gathering around the television to watch. For college kids, this was a schedule we could keep.

It really is never-ending what this man did in the time that he was given. And he just seemed to be so joyful. The last photograph in the book is a picture of Jim and Kermit where they both have huge smiles on their faces. The happiness in that picture really touched me, but when I went to see if I could find that particular image, I noticed that almost every photo of Jim Henson showed that same joy.