Friday, June 07, 2024
Tomorrow's the Day
Thursday, June 06, 2024
Thursday Thirteen
1. Thursday sneaks up on me sometimes. Like today. It's Thursday and 2 p.m. and I've not done a Thursday 13! Whatever is going on!
Wednesday, June 05, 2024
Writers I'm Supposed to Love
When I was taking Advanced Placement English in high school (it was, in theory, college level English), I remember a little argument I had with Dr. Shots (she had a Ph.D. and insisted on the title) about the deconstruction of a piece of work.
Apparently, I had had enough of the "they used yellow here for sickness, green for jealousy, why do you think this lamp is placed here," because I told her I didn't think authors meant for their work to be analyzed in such depth and detail.
"Sometimes a lamp is just a lamp," I said. Or something to that effect.
You'd have thought I'd blasphemed the chin of God the way she came after me. Of course, every word was carefully chosen, every sofa, every lamp, every blade of grass, had a deeper meaning than just being a blade of grass. What was I doing in her class, telling her (with her Ph.D) that writers didn't always mean something else with what they wrote?
"Because I write, and I don't do that," I responded. "Not consciously."
"Then you're not a writer," she snapped, putting an end to the discussion.
She was the only teacher to ever say that to me.
After that, I kept my mouth shut and dutifully turned in my papers or spoke up in class saying that of course the lamp meant that the character had an idea or had seen the light about some issue. It wasn't put there simply so she could read the book in her hand.
Then I went to Hollins College, now Hollins University, which is a women's undergraduate degree school that is well-known for the writers it puts out. Think Margaret Wise Brown and Anne Dillard, just to name two. Or Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle.
There the poetry in particular was analyzed in great detail, even that which was written in the 17th century. I went on to read Virginia Woolf and numerous other writers while taking eight long years to get my bachelors.
And I always found the examination of works tedious, and I stubbornly (and secretly) held on to my conviction that sometimes a lamp is just a lamp. But I wrote the essays about the books secret meanings and dissected the poems as required.
Of course, sometimes imagery has double meaning, and of course sometimes the more literary authors put cute language in their works to add to the character. The book I'm currently listening to has a daughter of a woman who was dying of cancer eat a chicken pot pie with her mother and the hospice worker. What does the chicken pot pie symbolize?
Damn if I know. Dinner table scenes are great for conversation; they had to eat something. Maybe it symbolizes the daughter's fears about her mother's upcoming death (she's chicken, get it?). Maybe it was just there.
Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Gilbert, and now Ann Beattie (whom I am listening to - maybe it's something to do with the name "Ann"), are among the literary writers that I am supposed to like. They use great turns of phrases and create deep characters. Every word has been carefully chosen. I imagine these writers spend days pouring over one sentence until they are utterly sick of it, trying to make sure they've chosen chicken pot pie instead of Thai food for the correct reason.
And I listen or read their books and find they do not move me. Occasionally they write one that I find intriguing and enjoy, but overall, they are not my favorite authors. They may have a good sentence or two that makes its way into my little "writer's notebook," but the stories seldom stick with me.
Who do I like to read? I like Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, Susan Wiggs, Kate DiCamillo, Debbie Macomber, Nora Roberts, Louise Penny, Kristin Hannah, etc. These are not literary giants, but they write well and have interesting stories that move along just fine. Sometimes they make me laugh and sometimes they make me think. I liked The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. I like a lot of fantasy writers, like Neil Gaiman, Tolkien, Ray Bradbury, Phillip Pullman, Ursula K. Le Guin, etc.
I wrote for newspapers. I wrote to educate and inform, not to puzzle people and have them wonder about the significance of someone eating chicken pot pie. I like my fiction to be straight up and to the point, anymore. I read Overstory and while it received rave reviews, I found it incredibly boring. Great concept, but my goodness, couldn't that have been put out into the world in some way that wasn't so long and drawn out?
It is good for me to listen to authors I do not like, to stories I don't always enjoy. I never know what I may find in such tales. I do it now as a part of my life's growth cycle, so I don't get stale. I listen to or read everything from memoir to nonfiction self-help to the aforesaid authors to Catch-22. I seldom listen to or read something a second time (Tolkien being the exception).
Life is a learning experience. This is part of how I live it. But sometimes it frustrates me, because I still think I'm right. A lamp sometimes is just a lamp.
Monday, June 03, 2024
Ridin' My Thumb to Mexico
This morning the news comes with the word that Mexico has elected a female president.
More than 100 countries, including the United States, have never been led by a woman.
We're supposed to be the leader in the free world, but that's just poppycock. We're so far behind the times in true freedom and liberty that it's a joke. We have lots of freedoms to do things, but not freedoms from things. Like the freedom to go to the movie theater and know we won't get shot in our seat. Or the freedom to be rid of advertisements we don't want. Or spam phone calls. Stuff like that.
I love my country, but the bass ackwards mindset of its citizens in among the more perplexing and aggravating things about it.
My state has never had a female governor. Other states have, but not mine.
My local Board of Supervisors has had females on it, and currently has one of five. Shouldn't that be more like three of two, when women make up half of the citizenry?
We have a female vice president and that scares a lot of people. Oh no, she might become president! She might do some good in the world! Horrors.
Crickey.
Sunday, June 02, 2024
Sunday Stealing
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.
Saturday, June 01, 2024
Saturday 9
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Thursday Thirteen
Songs that young folks today may not understand:
1. Operator, by Jim Croce. The song captures a heartfelt conversation with a telephone operator, where the speaker attempts to reconnect with a former lover who has moved away with his best friend. The narrative conveys a mix of sorrow and resignation, as the speaker ultimately decides not to complete the call, telling the operator to “keep the dime” — a reference to the cost of the call at the time.
2. Kodachrome, by Paul Simon. The song’s title refers to the Kodak film known for its rich color saturation, symbolizing the vivid memories of youth. With catchy lyrics Simon reflects on how life seems more radiant and full of possibility when seen through the ‘Kodachrome’ lens.
3. Wichita Lineman, by Glenn Campbell. The song tells the story of a solitary lineman working on the telephone lines in the vastness of the American Midwest, capturing the essence of loneliness and longing.
4. White Rabbit, by Jefferson Airplane. The song is renowned for its allusions to Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass,” using the fantastical tales as metaphors for the psychedelic experience. With its famous lines “One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small,” the song became an anthem of the 1960s counterculture, inviting listeners to explore altered states of consciousness and to “feed your head” with knowledge and new experiences.
5. American Pie, by Don McLean: This iconic song is a tribute to the late Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, who died in a plane crash (often referred to as “The Day the Music Died”). The lyrics are rich with cultural references from the 1950s and 1960s.
6. Vincent (Starry Starry Night), by Don McLean: Another gem by Don McLean, this song is a heartfelt tribute to the artist Vincent van Gogh. It beautifully captures the essence of van Gogh’s life and struggles.
7. Piano Man, by Billy Joel: This classic tells the story of patrons at a piano bar and their interactions with the pianist. The lyrics mention various characters, including the “real estate novelist” and the “waitress practicing politics.”
8. Sixteen Tons, by Tennessee Ernie Ford: This folk song describes the hardships faced by coal miners. The line “I owe my soul to the company store” refers to the practice of miners being paid in company scrip, which could only be used at the company-owned store.
9. Big Yellow Taxi, by Joni Mitchell: While not necessarily historical, this song laments environmental issues and the loss of natural beauty. The line “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” has become a well-known phrase.
10. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by Gordon Lightfoot: A haunting ballad about the sinking of the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. The song pays tribute to the crew members who lost their lives.
11. Space Oddity, by David Bowie: Released in 1969, this song tells the story of an astronaut named Major Tom during a space mission. It captures the fascination with space exploration during that era.
12. In the Year 2525, by Zager and Evans: A futuristic song that imagines the world’s evolution over centuries. It’s a thought-provoking reflection on humanity’s trajectory.
13. The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down, by Joan Baez. The song is a narrative set during the American Civil War, told from the perspective of a Southern farmer named Virgil Caine. It captures the pain and loss experienced by those on the losing side of the war, with vivid imagery of the fall of the Confederacy.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
The Mailbox
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Today's Lesson
Monday, May 27, 2024
Can You Hear Me Now?
I feel voiceless.
Silenced.
Quieted.
Not just because some football player told a graduating class that the women should have no thoughts and look forward to being mommies and wives. Not just because, all of my life, no one has listened to me, male or female. I have always been silenced, first by my parents, my grandparents, my uncles, my aunts, my brother. Then teachers, friends. Bosses.
No one wants to hear my side of the story.
They don't care about anything I have to say.
Society cares nothing about what women have to say.
This culture teaches young girls to shrink themselves, to stay quiet, to be small. That translates into someone like me, an old woman who is still small, even if she is fat, and still unheard, even when she talks.
Culture says to young women, go forth and be whomever you want to be, but don't expect too much, because you cannot have much, or we will judge you for it. You can be successful, but you will never be president. You will never be a CEO or a millionaire on your own terms.
Be a secretary, my mother told me, when I said I wanted to be a writer. Learn to do what the men say, just as she had done. She worked, but she had no ambition because she was not taught to have such. And when times came for promotions at her job, she told us at home she wanted those promotions, was qualified for those promotions, but she never, ever asked for them.
She was still labeled a file clerk after 30 years on the job when she retired. A file clerk from her first day to her last.
When I was 13, my father began planting peach trees. They would grow, he said, and the crop would put my brother through college. What about my college? I asked. You are just going to get married, he said. There will be no college for you.
My brother did not go to college. The peach trees did not grow.
I have three college degrees that I earned while I was also working a job. I also have a husband, but he was not my aspiration at the time. He was someone I fell in love with and wanted in my life. I did not seek him out.
But like other men, he does not listen. Men do not listen to women, not their wives, their daughters, their fiancés, their female friends, their female classmates, or their female coworkers. They simply do not hear.
And women do not listen to other women. Words may be heard, but they are not often understood. Other women come closest to listening to me, but even then, I do not often feel heard.
When I was listening recently to Liz Cheney read her book, Oath and Honor, and heard her warnings about the former president and the danger he presents to our country, I felt helpless yet again. Because I was listening to her, and I heard her.
That orange idiot has stated, multiple times, that he will trash the U.S. Constitution. He will surround himself with sycophants. He will not have elections again - all that talk about serving for 3 or 4 terms, does anyone think he will risk an election? He will undo the civil rights legislations of the 1960s, he will force suffering upon millions, remove Social Security for the old folks, and put women on a list so someone can keep track of their periods and possible pregnancies.
And Cheney warns of all of this, not in those words, but in better words, in good strong intelligent words, in her book.
And the people who need to read it are not reading it. They are not listening.
I watched the January 6 select committee hearings. I watched what happened on January 6. I reached my own conclusions about that day, and they mirror Liz Cheney's.
I know there are nearly 200 people in the House of Representatives who supported what happened on that day and are still in office. We've been in the midst of a slow-moving coup for eight years. It is not over.
But a woman wrote that book, that brilliant warning of what will be. And she is being, will be, and will continue to be, ignored.
There is no cure for what ails society when it has made half of its citizens voiceless. What are we to do, we who want to speak out, cry out, and scream into the night about all of the bad, not just political but personal, all of the very bad and evil things we have seen and suffered?
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Sunday Stealing
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Saturday 9: God Bless America
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Thursday Thirteen
I have always kept what I call, "my writer's idea notebook" somewhere close to me. Over the years I have been through - and thrown away - many of these. They're usually phrases, names, lists - anything that catches my fancy.