sdrawkcab.

two weeks ago—April 29

Today's earworm.

Usually, Today's earworm is a song or a line from a song, usually quickly replaced by another hopefully less obnoxious snippet of song. But today, we have a guest 'appearance' by a line from A&P, a short story by John Updike called 'tragi-comic' in one description.

The whole story is well worth reading, but the line that really sticks with me is

I look around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course.

I don't know why the last five words have the impact on me that they do, but I've carried them with me for a long time. It's of 'of course,' of course, the whole sense of destined to fail.

Describing so many books.

George Saunders, in an interview, is asked about his recent reading. He replies, I just read [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland] and it was amazing. I don't know what he's trying to say, but it's hilarious, and there are really deep truths in there that I'm still trying to figure out.

Sale! Sale!

We just received a new shipment of previously owned buzz words. Most are lightly used, trendy only for a year, eighteen months tops, now remaindered! Some examples:

• synergy
• world class
• industry leading
• paradigm shift
• overstock on 'team' set: building, work
• thinking outside the box
• winning
• leadership
• blue sky thinking
• forward thinking
• multitasking

But now you have the chance to be the first one on your block or in your office to use these classics! Astound and amaze your friends!

Sympatico.

I just finished Jeff Goins' How I Fell Back in Love with Reading, which contains this statement: It’s somewhat embarrassing to admit as both an author and ghostwriter that I have largely lacked the attention span to finish most books I’ve ever started. I don’t think this is particularly rare these days, but for me, it was not a matter of will—I just couldn’t do it.

Unlike Goins, I usually finish books I start, but there are now longer gaps between starting and finishing books. I'm totally in agreement on the embarrassment, though, not as an author or ghostwriter, but just as a reasonably intelligent person who is well educated, curious, likes to read and learn, and simply enjoys words. I am embarrassed because there was a time in my life when, if I wasn't in motion, I was reading. I'm not moving nearly as much, but I haven't seen a corresponding uptick in my reading. I read things on the computer (like Goins' articles), but the three stacks of in process/to read books and magazines get material added, but aren't shrinking. I could plead fading eyes, doing more writing, napping, poor book selection, cat distractions, or who knows what-all. Still no excuse.

Goins' article is in reaction to another article, Matthew Walther's The One Hundred Pages Strategy, whose basic thrust is to set yourself a goal of reading one hundred pages a day. On the one hand, it seems reasonable, but then he starts adding all sorts of strictures and rules. The reading has to come from books, and not include collections of essays where you can skip around, no frivolous books, and you are not allowed to skip a day. Walther is also deeply committed to the book artifact–Kindles are actively discouraged. He is ambivalent about poetry and other writing that does not fill a page. In short, we're back in college lit class.

In more short, reading is not supposed to be fun in Walther's world. I don't even know if it's supposed to be a learning experience. It's like the jogger who passes the house every day. He pounds the pavement, it seems, not because it's healthy or fun, but to 'get in the steps.'

Me, I see books as a form of sequential dialogue, with questions and a context. How does the book change you? Do you recommend it? Or think about it well after you finish reading it? Want to discuss the book with someone else? Buy another book by the same author or one covering the same subject? Think about it? Let it drift into long term memory until you find a reference to it or find the book again on the shelf?

Or nothing?

Jeff concludes with a thought that I keep forgetting, if I ever really thought of it: Reading is a discipline. I know that's true for writing (even though I'm not as diligent as I would like to be), but don't think about reading quite that way. I don't know if helps, but we'll see.

R.I.P.

Related to the Sympatico article (I think).

I just saw a headline announcing the death of the 'mass market' paperback, which will no longer be made. You know—what was also called pulp fiction, or pocket books, or mind candy (my term). You know them—smaller format, able to be carried in a pocket, cheaper paper, consumable and disposable. I suspect the reasons are many: fewer readers, rising costs of even cheaper books, but really, the reason is the rise of alternate entertainments such as streaming video and social media. Social media also allows a chance for interactivity or to respond if you want.

No matter how good it is, no book can compete against that. Of course, a book gives you great opportunities to create your own fantasy worlds, but that requires digging in a little more, do something beyond reacting.

A total waste of time.

I am always surprised at the uniformity of shows where people go places rumored to have ghostly activity. First, the shows all happen at night, even if the ghosts are active in the day. Some investigators stand around and act cool until they 'hear' something, at which time they look started and say fearfully, 'what was that?' if not run away.

Others, of a more professional mien, show up with a SUV full of electronic gear, and try to establish contact with the dearly departed. They set up lights, deploy beepers and all manner of detecting gizmachies, and then tell ghosts from the late 17th-early 18th century to respond and do something, just presuming that the ghost can understand modern American English.

If the 'researchers' hear or see something that they can interpret as a response, they will often amp up the requests. 'Can you turn on the flashlight?' Even a wanting-to-be-helpful 19th Century ghost is not going to know what a flashlight is, much less how to turn it on (sometimes I can't find the switch on an unfamiliar flashlight). Or the hunter will suggest knocking three times to make their presence known, not hearing the ghost reply, 'I have no knuckles and cannot knock.'

They might as well ask them to bake a cake.

The postman doesn't ring anymore.

four weeks ago—April 15

The other day, I was writing a poem that referenced that notorious apple scene in the Book of Genesis where Eve was seduced by the Serpent, and the seduced Adam. We criticize her, but to make the proper decision in the first place, wouldn't she need the knowledge (information) that the tree held?

Even I can't draw a line between that and Tax Day. I pass along the appropriate sentiment.

Specious goals, and creepy follow-up.

A recent article in Buzzfeed had a picture of a library receipt that claimed the borrower saved $20.00 by using your library. You have saved $320.00 this past year and $64,641.00 since you began using the library.

Now, I don't know about you, but saving money was never a reason for borrowing a book. I went to the library to:

1. Discover new books. I checked out lots of books that for whatever reason seemed appealing or interesting (some turned out not to be). I would never have considered buying these books, so can you really say I saved money.
2. Get a technical/reference book that I needed for one specific thing, and had no particular desire to possess. Again, purchase never contemplated.
3. Mind candy. A lot of library borrows were books that were tremendously enjoyable, and I just wanted to keep reading through a series. Think Terry Pratchett, P.G Wodehouse, Sherlock Holmes or The Black Stallion. They were engrossing, and I bought books by certain authors later in life after a first exposure as a child, but mostly, they were one-time reads and I was short on shelf space.
4. To maintain my book-reading addiction which one summer was up to three books a week.

To me, saving money should never be a reason for going to the library. Improvement, yes. The thrill of being surrounded by thousands of books. Possession of a hardcover book, at least for a little while. The ability to explore multiple worlds. The ability to enter into a community of readers gathered around a particular author. You don't get that as directly when you buy a book.

There was a certain fascination in seeing the return dates stamped on the card holder in the back of library books in the good ol' days. I always wondered about the people that each stamp represented. Did they like the book? Finish it? Have to renew it? Even start it before it had to be hustled back to the library to avoid paying that onerous 5¢ fine, or worse, call down the wrath of the librarian who would sic the library police on us, confiscating the library card and slapping library handcuffs on us before dragging us to the library jail and tearing our library cards to confetti right before our eyes?

But then we come to the whole tracking aspect. Let's use that that $20 saving as a baseline. This person has borrowed 16 books this year, and over 3,200 books over the life of their library card. I bet you wouldn't have to do too much digging to attach 3,200 titles to all those savings. If those records became public, well, there would be no great damaging revelations along the lines of having my name found in the Epstein papers, but I might have some 'splainin' to do if that summer of reading Mary Stewart came to light.

A word from the spouse.

PBS is airing a remake of The Forsyte Saga. As is her way, she is also watching the original series from 2002.

Her recommendation: don't do that. The new series is more of a reimagining of the John Galsworthy novels. It pales in comparison to the original.

It's probably much like the Sherlock! series, wonderful on its own, but once the ghosts of Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce and Arthur Conan Doyle enter the picture, things get muddied. Accept that they are their own things, and enjoy.

Things I did not know.

• India is a major produce exporter and is the world's top producer of fruit. Primary vegetable exports include onions and tomatoes.

The implications of this are staggering. Was my mother lying to me all those years ago when she used 'the starving children in India' ploy as the rationale for our eating all those unpalatable greens? Or horribly, were we taking food from the starving children, food that should have stayed in India? Or, ironically, were the 'starving children in India' refusing to eat their vegetables and instead sending them to us, as at a certain age we threatened to send the undesired vegs to the starving Indian children?

No matter the causality, this, along with other brief insights into the global supply chain and economy, makes me wonder about America's self-sufficiency in the most basic necessities.

Old words, explained.

Like in the old 'definition' of American and British English (The English and Americans are two peoples divided by a common language.), there are sometimes words that separate generations. A few examples:

classic(al)

actual meaning: a track record of accomplishment as established over centuries, as in music or art; of or having to do with the Roman and/or Greek civilizations at their height; a noteworthy automobile more than 25 years old. As used by Gen Z, millennials, and Gen Alpha: music by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and their contemporaries; anything from the last century.

antique/antiquity

actual meaning: articles over a hundred years old; happenings from the early days of recorded history. As used by Gen Z, millennials, and Gen Alpha: stuff in their grandparents' house or apartment; the stuff grandparents talk about doing when they were kids; the grandparents themselves.

vintage

actual meaning: between 50-100 years old; As used by Gen Z, millennials, and Gen Alpha: stuff picked up from the thrift shop; a no-longer-popular form of distribution, e.g., DVDs of paper.

prehistory

actual meaning: 'before records were kept.' As used by Gen Z, millennials, and Gen Alpha: 'anything that happened before I was born.'

Probably politically incorrect.

Who in the Jeffrey Epstein organization thought it was a good idea to keep all those files/records, now totaling over 6 million (known) pages? More to the point, why?

I feel badly for the people who had to sort through, redact and catalogue all that material.

Connecting the dots.

On a TV show featuring Karahan Tepe (a lesser-known site near Gobekh Tepe), the commentator noted a large number of carvings and statues of serpents, and added that the snake was worshipped across much of the Fertile Crescent because of its ability to regenerate itself by shedding its skin.

It's interesting that the serpent is the bad guy in the Garden of Eden story in Genesis, and pretty much disappears from the Biblical narrative after that, while other, surrounding cultures were all in on the scaly skinshedders as divinities.

Cookie cutter comedy.

So I was reading this article in People magazine, and this quote caught my eye, and I immediately recognized that I had fallen upon the premise of every 'workplace' sitcom, if not every 'non-family' sitcom ever made. I took out the title. Can you guess the show?

At its core, xxxx was about a group of very different people coming together, episode after episode, to talk, argue, fall in love and support one another.