From my friend and former newspaper colleague Jane Albright:
"Sarah Palin believes that she is on God's side, so everyone else is
wrong. This puts her firmly in the same camp as Osama Bin Laden. She,
too, would like to impose her narrow world view on everyone, much as any
radical Muslim fundamentalist does.
This isn't the American Way...."
Nor is it a courageous way. No-guts living is to try to require everyone else to be and do just like me. If my way is good, it can stand comparison to other ways. It can coexist.
I like Gandhi's philosophy: "I do not want my house to be walled in on (all) sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any."
I first saw this quote on a poster in the airport terminal in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, India, when I arrived there to begin my three-month stay to research my novel Sister India. It has stuck with me.
I know that I open myself here to the charge of wanting Sarah Palin to think like me. Not so. I want her to be as different from me as she wishes. I just don't want my way made illegal.
Please consider voting for American freedom.
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Monday, September 15, 2008
How to Use Your Anger
If you're feeling outraged: Use your anti-Palin pro-Obama energy to call 25 people or knock on 25 doors. I just got my list and I'm excited. Here's the info. They give you everything you need: maps, numbers, names, scripts, etc.
Taking action is good for the cause, of course; it also helps relieve the teeth-grinding discomfort of anger.
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Taking action is good for the cause, of course; it also helps relieve the teeth-grinding discomfort of anger.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Facing Serious Danger
The following piece is by Eve Ensler. It reached me through American history professor and author Peter Filene. I don't have permission to republish it, but I am convinced by the piece itself that Ensler wants it as widely distributed as possible.
Whatever you might think about Ensler, Filene, Palin, offshore drilling, or me, I hope you will read this. It is blunt, bold, and well thought out. I especially like this summary sentence: "I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country choose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover."
Here it is:
Drill, Drill, Drill
Eve Ensler
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a
member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned
and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for
Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact
that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or
touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice.
Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life
trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against
them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin
choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this
choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to
Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the
earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening
our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous
choices of my lifetime, and should this country choose those candidates the
fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that
America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact
that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a
joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be
elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In
her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better
or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the
arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise
of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar
bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here
to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and
plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be
taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task
from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who
are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a
right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I
imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies
that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has
tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people
who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity
and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next
president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse
populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She
has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of
wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But
when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared
in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the
end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America
has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in
our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of
the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies
to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will
determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or
whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It
will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest
our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and
destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and
healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will
determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place
of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to
get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin
spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of
drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I
think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the
brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of
the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and
peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008
Whatever you might think about Ensler, Filene, Palin, offshore drilling, or me, I hope you will read this. It is blunt, bold, and well thought out. I especially like this summary sentence: "I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country choose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover."
Here it is:
Drill, Drill, Drill
Eve Ensler
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a
member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned
and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for
Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact
that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or
touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice.
Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life
trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against
them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin
choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this
choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to
Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the
earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening
our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous
choices of my lifetime, and should this country choose those candidates the
fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that
America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact
that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a
joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be
elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In
her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better
or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the
arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise
of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar
bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here
to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and
plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be
taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task
from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who
are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a
right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I
imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies
that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has
tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people
who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity
and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next
president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse
populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She
has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of
wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But
when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared
in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the
end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America
has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in
our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of
the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies
to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will
determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or
whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It
will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest
our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and
destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and
healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will
determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place
of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to
get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin
spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of
drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I
think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the
brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of
the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and
peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
TMI
This post is Too Much Information. So be forewarned.
Today, while reclining in a dental chair, I vomited with such force that my dentist (I later learned) dashed to the bathroom and shampooed her hair. I only half knew what was going on, because I was so doped on the nitrous that was supposed to relax my gag reflex.
Barely conscious, I'd felt only a little gurgle in my throat, then heard my doc say, "That was spectacular." What I knew was that I was damp and unhappy and people were dabbing at my clothes. I felt like a sick person being trundled through a carwash on a stretcher.
When I woke up, I learned how truly spectacular the event had been. I will spare you further details except to say that I borrowed a lab coat to wear and a plastic bag for my clothing. While I was in the bathroom "freshening up," staff had gathered in the front office to marvel at my capabilities and to see me off.
On the way back to my office, I stopped at a thrift shop to buy a top so I could change out of the medical outfit that, I then discovered, I had snapped up all wrong.
Now to wring meaning from this, which I like to do, especially with unpleasant experiences.
Here's what I've come to: a brief glimmer of the freedom of not being fully responsible.
I go around acting civilized and in charge about 98% of the time. This morning, by contrast, I felt undone, literally swamped, back to chaos and primordial slime. While still zonked, I had the thought: this is how it would feel to be sick and dying, too weak to do anything, but still aware. I felt how close and huge the universe-of-what-I-don't-control is all of the time. I felt amazed that it's ever possible to forget that. (See Ernest Becker's thrillingly profound Denial of Death for more about this sort of thing.)
So throwing up on my dentist simply brings me back to the old mortality thing, the business of being temporary. I've been here before very briefly. Most of the time I find a gut awareness of death to be Too Much Information.
For one thing, it's a bit insulting, since I go to so much trouble to keep my shoes lined up in my closet, and my email all answered.
I do see the potential, though, for the awareness to be liberating, not having to be in charge, but staying interested in the ride. All of which is much easier to think about in clean dry clothes.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Today, while reclining in a dental chair, I vomited with such force that my dentist (I later learned) dashed to the bathroom and shampooed her hair. I only half knew what was going on, because I was so doped on the nitrous that was supposed to relax my gag reflex.
Barely conscious, I'd felt only a little gurgle in my throat, then heard my doc say, "That was spectacular." What I knew was that I was damp and unhappy and people were dabbing at my clothes. I felt like a sick person being trundled through a carwash on a stretcher.
When I woke up, I learned how truly spectacular the event had been. I will spare you further details except to say that I borrowed a lab coat to wear and a plastic bag for my clothing. While I was in the bathroom "freshening up," staff had gathered in the front office to marvel at my capabilities and to see me off.
On the way back to my office, I stopped at a thrift shop to buy a top so I could change out of the medical outfit that, I then discovered, I had snapped up all wrong.
Now to wring meaning from this, which I like to do, especially with unpleasant experiences.
Here's what I've come to: a brief glimmer of the freedom of not being fully responsible.
I go around acting civilized and in charge about 98% of the time. This morning, by contrast, I felt undone, literally swamped, back to chaos and primordial slime. While still zonked, I had the thought: this is how it would feel to be sick and dying, too weak to do anything, but still aware. I felt how close and huge the universe-of-what-I-don't-control is all of the time. I felt amazed that it's ever possible to forget that. (See Ernest Becker's thrillingly profound Denial of Death for more about this sort of thing.)
So throwing up on my dentist simply brings me back to the old mortality thing, the business of being temporary. I've been here before very briefly. Most of the time I find a gut awareness of death to be Too Much Information.
For one thing, it's a bit insulting, since I go to so much trouble to keep my shoes lined up in my closet, and my email all answered.
I do see the potential, though, for the awareness to be liberating, not having to be in charge, but staying interested in the ride. All of which is much easier to think about in clean dry clothes.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Necessary Courage
From Samuel Johnson (first found on a website I can't seem to get to identify itsef):
"Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice."
The part of that I'm focused on is that courage is basic and daily, not just for firefighters and paratroopers.
It's also crucial for life for the rest of us, at our desks, in meetings, in the car, in the kitchen, on the phone.
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"Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice."
The part of that I'm focused on is that courage is basic and daily, not just for firefighters and paratroopers.
It's also crucial for life for the rest of us, at our desks, in meetings, in the car, in the kitchen, on the phone.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Steinem on Palin
Gloria Steinem, mother of bold, speaks to Hillary Clinton supporters in an article in the L.A. Times.
"To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs.'"
This comes from a woman who knows about protest, and what kind works, and what kind doesn't.
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"To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs.'"
This comes from a woman who knows about protest, and what kind works, and what kind doesn't.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Seeking Divine Intervention
Here's an item of a sort that I usually hesitate to speak of:
Last night I decided to ask God to help me take better care of myself, and to ask often. This change I'm after has to do with small daily practices like not having coconut popsicles (only) for dinner, skipping exercise, and generally runnng short on sleep.
The decision in itself relaxed me, which is large. That alone is a serious benefit.
I'm very curious to see how it goes from here.
I write about this, not because I think it's a bold move, but because I have to take a deep breath in order to say it aloud here. And maybe there's good reason for that. I'm not sure. But I thought I'd test the hesitation.
Making declarations of goals public usually helps to make them happen. We'll see.
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Last night I decided to ask God to help me take better care of myself, and to ask often. This change I'm after has to do with small daily practices like not having coconut popsicles (only) for dinner, skipping exercise, and generally runnng short on sleep.
The decision in itself relaxed me, which is large. That alone is a serious benefit.
I'm very curious to see how it goes from here.
I write about this, not because I think it's a bold move, but because I have to take a deep breath in order to say it aloud here. And maybe there's good reason for that. I'm not sure. But I thought I'd test the hesitation.
Making declarations of goals public usually helps to make them happen. We'll see.
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Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Cheating Is Chicken
An interesting correlation: college students who score highest on tests for courage are also least likely to cheat. I like that connection. The non-cheaters are the ones who are spunky enough to travel under their own steam.
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If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Getting Me to Do Right
Boldness is everything, at least on this blog. For me, all other virtues fall under this label.
I realized that when I decided what I wanted to write today: this weekend's big "bold" move. It was not going kayaking when thunder started rolling.
That might seem to be simply a reasonable decision (not to mention a reflexive one) rather than bold.
But I had my boat pumped up (as you see) and ready to go. I was pretty pumped up about getting out there myself. I was so tempted to go out for a few minutes anyway.
I'd heard one little rumble a while earlier, but decided it was an anomaly. Then I saw boats start coming off the lake just when I was starting to push in. One guy was wading ashore to get his car and trailer. "Did you hear thunder out there?" I asked him.
"I sure did," he said. "Some real slappers. My daughter said, 'Get me out of here.'"
So I pulled the plugs, deflating both kayak and would-be paddler.
This might seem like elementary wisdom, rather than boldness. But if I thought of it as wise or reasonable, I might not be persuaded, since wisdom can seem rather tedious to a late-middle-aged adolescent like me. If instead I think of the necessary, wise, and reasonable choice as bold, then it's easier.
Does that make sense? I'm simply making the right choice and coding it as "bold." This could work for a lot of things, I now realize. The technique definitely has possibilities: i.e., only the truly bold individual finishes returning all her phone calls today.
Parents use this sort of thinking with children: "only big girls get to...make up their own beds..."
Well, I'm starting to see the potential for using it on myself. For an artist, or anyone self-employed or working at home, skills of self-management, however seemingly silly, are crucial.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
I realized that when I decided what I wanted to write today: this weekend's big "bold" move. It was not going kayaking when thunder started rolling.
That might seem to be simply a reasonable decision (not to mention a reflexive one) rather than bold.
But I had my boat pumped up (as you see) and ready to go. I was pretty pumped up about getting out there myself. I was so tempted to go out for a few minutes anyway.
I'd heard one little rumble a while earlier, but decided it was an anomaly. Then I saw boats start coming off the lake just when I was starting to push in. One guy was wading ashore to get his car and trailer. "Did you hear thunder out there?" I asked him.
"I sure did," he said. "Some real slappers. My daughter said, 'Get me out of here.'"
So I pulled the plugs, deflating both kayak and would-be paddler.
This might seem like elementary wisdom, rather than boldness. But if I thought of it as wise or reasonable, I might not be persuaded, since wisdom can seem rather tedious to a late-middle-aged adolescent like me. If instead I think of the necessary, wise, and reasonable choice as bold, then it's easier.
Does that make sense? I'm simply making the right choice and coding it as "bold." This could work for a lot of things, I now realize. The technique definitely has possibilities: i.e., only the truly bold individual finishes returning all her phone calls today.
Parents use this sort of thinking with children: "only big girls get to...make up their own beds..."
Well, I'm starting to see the potential for using it on myself. For an artist, or anyone self-employed or working at home, skills of self-management, however seemingly silly, are crucial.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Obama the Mensch
Did you watch last night? I found Obama's acceptance speech so exciting that I was almost afraid to be excited. It made me proud of us, I know that for sure. We've come a long way since my childhood in Wilmington, NC.
And now we have a real leader in Barack Obama. He presented big bold ideas; he said flat-out what he means to do. He was specific. He didn't pander or equivocate.
He has both warmth and gravitas, natural persuasiveness and presidential bearing, the kind of courage that looks sunny and relaxed. Obama the Bold. I like the sound of that too.
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And now we have a real leader in Barack Obama. He presented big bold ideas; he said flat-out what he means to do. He was specific. He didn't pander or equivocate.
He has both warmth and gravitas, natural persuasiveness and presidential bearing, the kind of courage that looks sunny and relaxed. Obama the Bold. I like the sound of that too.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Hail Hillary!
She did the right thing when she asked the delegates to the Democratic convention: were you in it for me, or for the wounded soldier, the single mother of autistic kids...?
That question has to make a voter sit back and think. And then, I hope, vote for Obama.
Update just in case you haven't been on this planet this week: Hillary Clinton gracefully and generously asked her 18 million supporters to vote for Barack Obama for president. She did it like a champ!
I can only begin to understand what it must have taken to do that, when I think about giving my new novel away to be published as some other writer's, just to get the work out to the world. I don't think I'd do it.
My admiration and thanks to Senator Clinton who did.
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That question has to make a voter sit back and think. And then, I hope, vote for Obama.
Update just in case you haven't been on this planet this week: Hillary Clinton gracefully and generously asked her 18 million supporters to vote for Barack Obama for president. She did it like a champ!
I can only begin to understand what it must have taken to do that, when I think about giving my new novel away to be published as some other writer's, just to get the work out to the world. I don't think I'd do it.
My admiration and thanks to Senator Clinton who did.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Encouragingly Bright Color
"Sitting with someone in the hospital gives one many day and night hours to think. About color. About colorful." This is from photographer, writer, accountant Mamie Potter's blog.
I admire the fact that sitting in a hospital room brings color to her mind. That's probably not everyone's response to such a situation.
In musing about this, she has posted some boldly colorful photos on her blog. On this post. And this one.
Do go gaze upon them; they are emboldening.
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I admire the fact that sitting in a hospital room brings color to her mind. That's probably not everyone's response to such a situation.
In musing about this, she has posted some boldly colorful photos on her blog. On this post. And this one.
Do go gaze upon them; they are emboldening.
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Hillary Kennedy Obama
TV has been setting us some good examples recently.
First came the Olympians, who have persevered for years in their sport and competed, for all to see, against the best in the world.
Last night came Michelle Obama, Senator Ted Kennedy, and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg. Each of them, in their different ways, has come a long, long way.
Ted Kennedy hauled himself out of the hospital to to make a speech on behalf of both Obama and the good causes he has championed in his own 46 years in the Senate. I certainly don't see Kennedy's life as one of perfect virtue; as a 20 year-old intern, I wrote a fairly damning editorial about him in the Wilmington, NC paper on the morning after Mary Jo Kopechne's death. But he has gone on from that night, persistently doing good, for the public and for his vast family. That takes guts.
Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, who has endured more losses than anyone should have to face, introduced him, saying he has taught his nieces and nephews and their 60 children, "how to chart our course, take the helm and sail against the wind."
Then came Michelle Obama. She and her husband Barack have both traveled a long way from their beginnings, and she told their stories with such grace.
I want to see one more example of boldness and grace at this convention. I want the admirable Hillary Clinton to say to her 18 million supporters: Honor me now and in November by voting for Obama; for the good of my country, that's the gesture of support I want.
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First came the Olympians, who have persevered for years in their sport and competed, for all to see, against the best in the world.
Last night came Michelle Obama, Senator Ted Kennedy, and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg. Each of them, in their different ways, has come a long, long way.
Ted Kennedy hauled himself out of the hospital to to make a speech on behalf of both Obama and the good causes he has championed in his own 46 years in the Senate. I certainly don't see Kennedy's life as one of perfect virtue; as a 20 year-old intern, I wrote a fairly damning editorial about him in the Wilmington, NC paper on the morning after Mary Jo Kopechne's death. But he has gone on from that night, persistently doing good, for the public and for his vast family. That takes guts.
Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, who has endured more losses than anyone should have to face, introduced him, saying he has taught his nieces and nephews and their 60 children, "how to chart our course, take the helm and sail against the wind."
Then came Michelle Obama. She and her husband Barack have both traveled a long way from their beginnings, and she told their stories with such grace.
I want to see one more example of boldness and grace at this convention. I want the admirable Hillary Clinton to say to her 18 million supporters: Honor me now and in November by voting for Obama; for the good of my country, that's the gesture of support I want.
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Sunday, August 24, 2008
Edgy Art: the Luminarium
Friday night Bob and I strolled through the mist-filled tubular corridors of something called a luminarium. It was, in short, a mighty balloon with a flap door, sitting on the ground in downtown Raleigh for a festival called Art on the Edge. The pictures in the paper had looked like people were wandering through Gulliver's internal organs.
The pictures didn't prepare me for entering that flowing glowing trembling labyrinth, full of shifting colors and soft music. It's titled Levity III and billed as being a bit like a cathedral, a bit like a mosque. In any event, it's other-worldly.
At the same time, it feels like something alive. Visitors leave their shoes at the entrance, explore the dim interior with bare feet. The floor and walls feel like cool flesh, they have a kind of "give" that invites further contact. We were among the many to lie down for a while. (That's Bob in the cell phone picture I shot.)
I emerged feeling mentally and physically refreshed, delighted by an experience entirely new to me. Downtown seemed more vivid than when I'd entered the balloon. And nobody was pumping any mind-altering smoke in there. This was just a piece of art, doing its job.
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Friday, August 22, 2008
Derrida on the Fear of Writing
I'm sure you've heard of Jacques Derrida, inventor of the theory known as deconstruction. Highly controversial guy--a skewed translation of his thinking wrecked a few good English departments for a while there.
His idea--simplistically, that we have no one piece of solid ground to stand on to observe an objective reality (I think I have that right)--was somehow turned into a basis for treating literature as primarily a demonstration of political and cultural assumptions.
Aside from that wild misapplication, this theory is so sound an addition to what we know that it seems like a no-brainer: as if, surely, we always knew that. The name Derrida and the idea itself seem to have been in the atmosphere forever, like the Metropolitan Opera or St. Patrick's Day.
And so I was very surprised to run into Derrida on Youtube, of all places, talking about the fear of writing. The short version is: he is full of fire and conviction while he's writing and full of fear of what he's doing in the moments when he starts to go to sleep. Doesn't seem to have gotten in his way; he's published 45 books.
But it's an interesting version of the experience that most of us deal with in one way or another, well worth listening to. I'm always interested in the kind of conversation between the conscious and the unconscious that he describes. Also,he speaks French (with subtitles) slowly enough to be understood (especially with the subtitles) by a struggling American French-speaker.
Furthermore, I'd sort of assumed the guy was dead. Not a bit. In fact, he seems rather a hottie. So the video undermined at least one of my false assumptions. Who knew the iconic Derrida was cute?
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
His idea--simplistically, that we have no one piece of solid ground to stand on to observe an objective reality (I think I have that right)--was somehow turned into a basis for treating literature as primarily a demonstration of political and cultural assumptions.
Aside from that wild misapplication, this theory is so sound an addition to what we know that it seems like a no-brainer: as if, surely, we always knew that. The name Derrida and the idea itself seem to have been in the atmosphere forever, like the Metropolitan Opera or St. Patrick's Day.
And so I was very surprised to run into Derrida on Youtube, of all places, talking about the fear of writing. The short version is: he is full of fire and conviction while he's writing and full of fear of what he's doing in the moments when he starts to go to sleep. Doesn't seem to have gotten in his way; he's published 45 books.
But it's an interesting version of the experience that most of us deal with in one way or another, well worth listening to. I'm always interested in the kind of conversation between the conscious and the unconscious that he describes. Also,he speaks French (with subtitles) slowly enough to be understood (especially with the subtitles) by a struggling American French-speaker.
Furthermore, I'd sort of assumed the guy was dead. Not a bit. In fact, he seems rather a hottie. So the video undermined at least one of my false assumptions. Who knew the iconic Derrida was cute?
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Lift Depression (Literally)
"The next time you are feeling a little depressed, try looking up. That's right, look up. Reach your arms overhead and let your eyes follow. You may be surprised to find that it is impossible to stay depressed while looking up into the air. You see, looking upward engages our visual sensory files, that part of our mind that sees pictures. Depression is usually a result of something we are hearing us tell ourselves." from blogger Ajay Kumar K.S. at Life Is a Quest to Find Something (Someone)
I love the simplicity of this technique. I don't know that it's the answer to major clinical episodes. But I will try it the next time I'm feeling low, should that ever happen again. Because it's been my experience that a depressed person is never as bold as she could be.
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I love the simplicity of this technique. I don't know that it's the answer to major clinical episodes. But I will try it the next time I'm feeling low, should that ever happen again. Because it's been my experience that a depressed person is never as bold as she could be.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Quailmail Courage
I'm trying something new in getting feedback on a manuscript. I'm putting out a call on the Quailmail e-newsletter of Raleigh's Quail Ridge Books asking for a few readers-who don't know me in any way and aren't writers or editors--to read my novel in progress and tell me unsparingly what they think.
Should be interesting. Wish me luck and honest readers.
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Should be interesting. Wish me luck and honest readers.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Erotica Writer and Brazen Careerist
Two bold individuals:
Penelope Trunk of The Brazen Careerist:
Her target audience is predominantly youngish people starting their careers in organizations, but an aged freelancer can also make good use of her wisdom. Her advice is goal-oriented, irreverent, free-thinking, and way cheeky. Even her more outrageous ideas I find useful in making me question my thinking. Basically she overturns a lot of assumptions. In today's blog she begins: "The idea that we somehow have a certain amount of potential that we must live up to is a complete crock." What a liberating idea!
Susie Bright, eroticist: Among other credits, she's editor of Simon & Schuster's bestselling Best American Erotica series. With a pile of books on the subject and columns in various major magazines, she has almost made sex mainstream. She's also quite forthcoming about her own life and an activist politically. Rolling Stone says that she "could not be accused of shutting up." Today's subject: "Sex Addiction: The Big Con".
I find that having a look at what someone else is doing makes it easier for me to venture out more in my own way for my own causes. Once when I was writing a scary part of my current novel, I'd stop every few minutes and read an extremely revealing memoir by a friend of mine and think: well, if she can do this, I can certainly write one more paragraph of gritty fiction.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Penelope Trunk of The Brazen Careerist:
Her target audience is predominantly youngish people starting their careers in organizations, but an aged freelancer can also make good use of her wisdom. Her advice is goal-oriented, irreverent, free-thinking, and way cheeky. Even her more outrageous ideas I find useful in making me question my thinking. Basically she overturns a lot of assumptions. In today's blog she begins: "The idea that we somehow have a certain amount of potential that we must live up to is a complete crock." What a liberating idea!
Susie Bright, eroticist: Among other credits, she's editor of Simon & Schuster's bestselling Best American Erotica series. With a pile of books on the subject and columns in various major magazines, she has almost made sex mainstream. She's also quite forthcoming about her own life and an activist politically. Rolling Stone says that she "could not be accused of shutting up." Today's subject: "Sex Addiction: The Big Con".
I find that having a look at what someone else is doing makes it easier for me to venture out more in my own way for my own causes. Once when I was writing a scary part of my current novel, I'd stop every few minutes and read an extremely revealing memoir by a friend of mine and think: well, if she can do this, I can certainly write one more paragraph of gritty fiction.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Scandals and Confessions
Years ago, when I was a reporter covering the NC legislature, I was standing talking with someone outside an office door, when the representative came out and jokingly handed me his tear-off calendar page for the day. The wisdom thereon was: Sin Boldly, which is attributed to religious revolutionary Martin Luther.
Perhaps because of the context and the fellow who was handing it to me (good-looking and known as squeaky-clean), I've always remembered it.
Having recently watched the John Edwards political disaster right here on my home turf, I've decided I want to expand the original adage.
Here's my version: If, after careful thought of potential wreckage, you're going to break a deal or violate your own values, do it boldly and honestly, with graceful acceptance of the consequences. Or tell reporters: It's private. Buzz off! Or at least don't tell indignant lies into the lens of a TV camera.
Most of us tend to have a jovial interest in an out-and-out rogue, and sympathy for a good guy who stumbles and comes clean. One way or the other, we tend to admire the boldness of full honesty (which is different from Too Much highly personal Information.)
But it's a rare individual who admires furtiveness. And it's such a human impulse to ward off blame. I remember saying once to my brother Franc: No, no, you have those papers, not me. It came out of my mouth like a reflex, a hasty self-defense; at best, I think I was hoping he had those papers. Turned out they'd been with me all along.
So I can't throw stones at the sneaky; it comes so naturally to us all.
But I do admire those who can say from the first: Yeah, I did that. That was me.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Perhaps because of the context and the fellow who was handing it to me (good-looking and known as squeaky-clean), I've always remembered it.
Having recently watched the John Edwards political disaster right here on my home turf, I've decided I want to expand the original adage.
Here's my version: If, after careful thought of potential wreckage, you're going to break a deal or violate your own values, do it boldly and honestly, with graceful acceptance of the consequences. Or tell reporters: It's private. Buzz off! Or at least don't tell indignant lies into the lens of a TV camera.
Most of us tend to have a jovial interest in an out-and-out rogue, and sympathy for a good guy who stumbles and comes clean. One way or the other, we tend to admire the boldness of full honesty (which is different from Too Much highly personal Information.)
But it's a rare individual who admires furtiveness. And it's such a human impulse to ward off blame. I remember saying once to my brother Franc: No, no, you have those papers, not me. It came out of my mouth like a reflex, a hasty self-defense; at best, I think I was hoping he had those papers. Turned out they'd been with me all along.
So I can't throw stones at the sneaky; it comes so naturally to us all.
But I do admire those who can say from the first: Yeah, I did that. That was me.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
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