April 2011
25 posts
April 1, 2011
DON’T BE AN APRIL FOOL OR ANY OTHER KIND
While my blog site lists reliable resources for beginning writers looking for advice about agents and publishing houses, sometimes these sources dole out some pretty stodgy information. So, given the perversity of my nature, I’m providing information below which goes against the common wisdom but believe me, it’s no joke.
(courtesy: BingImages)
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March 2011
24 posts
March 31, 2011
”FAR AWAY THERE IN THE SUNSHINE ARE MY HIGHEST ASPIRATIONS.” — Louisa May Alcott
Theodore Dreiser wrote his best seller, “An American Tragedy,” in 1925 after flunking out of college, turning to journalism to make a living and finally succeeding as a novelist and Hollywood screen writer. In 1951, “An American Tragedy” became a film starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth...
March 30, 2011
THOUGHTS ON POLISHING THE FURNITURE
Uriah Heep in Dickens’ novel, “David Copperfield,” is a much maligned character and deservedly so as he was inclined to crawl like a snake among his betters until he was in a position to strike. Still, beyond unctuous manners, there is some wisdom in him for as a child he’d learned never to pose a threat to anyone until he had gained the upper...
March 29, 2011
THE NEW ALPHABET SOUP
The playwright George Bernard Shaw is credited with the quote, “Youth is wasted on the young.” At 74, not only do I think the saying is witty, I believe it is true. If I could live with the vigor of my youth and still retain the wisdom of my age what a force for change I and others of my generation might be.
Still the young aren’t doing too badly with the wisdom they...
March 28, 2011
“THE LAST REFUGE OF THE INSOMINIAC IS A SENSE OF SUPERIORITY TO THE SLEEPING WORLD” – Leonard Cohen, song writer
A friend of mine complained, recently, that as he neared the age of 60 he was suffering more and more from insomnia. His new habit was to wake up at 3 a.m. with slim hope of returning to sleep. I reminded him, as he was retired, he could take naps to make up for his loss. My ...
March 25, 2011
THOUGHTS ON WISCONSIN AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
In his book, “Norwegian Wood,” author Haruki Muramkami has his central character, Toru, makes the following observation about his life as a student:
“By the second week in September I reached the conclusion that a college education
was meaningless. I decided to think of it as a...
March 24, 2011
WHEN FIREFLIES BECOME ONE WITH THE STARS
In one of the chapters of Haruki Murakami’s book, “Norwegian Wood,” the central character, Toru, is given a firefly in a jar. Eventually, he decides to release the insect and lifts the lid. The bug senses a change but doesn’t quite understand what has happened. It moves from left to right at the bottom of the glass but finding no exit, stares...
March 23, 2011
I KNOW I’VE SAID THIS BEFORE BUT TO THOSE WHO WEREN’T LISTENING…
I wrote earlier of my love for the works of Anton Chekhov (Blog: 3/2/2011), his plays in particular, where many of his characters are benign but passive to a degree that makes one want to scream, “Do something, anything! Don’t just stand there.”
I confess limp-wristed passivity is a trait I find the least attractive in a...
March 22, 2011
THE ECCLESIASTES OF FREEDOM
I confess it; I have taken sides with the rebels in Libya as most westerners would. I have no idea what ideology will prevail if they succeed as I understand there are a number of competing tribes in their culture. But I cannot remain indifferent when I see ordinary citizens taking up sticks and stones to defend their right to be free. One wants an outcome for...
March 21, 2011
PRINT ON DEMAND (POD) AND THE PECKING ORDER
Wherever humans gather a pecking order will emerge. A few of us may be lucky enough to stand at the top of that order but most of us will land somewhere in the middle or at the bottom. This phenomenon is important to remember as we struggle to make our way in life. The American dream suggests “everyone can make it if they try.” But the dream flies...
March 18, 2011
DON’T SEND IN THE CLONES, PLEASE
Frankly, I’m tired of reading book reviews that compare yet another thriller to Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code.” The truth is, there is only one Dan Brown and thank heaven for that because while his work is gripping it is also relentlessly formulaic. I doubt the market could bear many clones.
One thing to be said about Brown is that he knows how to get...
March 17, 2011
PAPER, PAPER EVERYWHERE AND NOT A STOP TO THINK
Benjamin Braddock from the book and film “The Graduate” is an anti-hero who faces no ruthless enemy. His nemesis is summed up by the single word, “plastics” — a word which denotes not evil but a life lived at its most meaningless level. Braddock’s struggle is real despite the benign culture in which he finds himself, a culture...
March 16, 2011
JOINING THE BORG
Sara Paretsky, best-selling crime novelist whose fictional private investigator V.I Warshawski has made it to the movie screen, recently gave an interview to AARP Magazine (March/ April 2011). In it she said, “I’m on Facebook and Twitter because my publishers insist, but social media are just huge time suckers.” I confess her words struck a chord in my heart when I read...
March 15, 2011
WHAT THE MARKET WILL BEAR
I wrote a blog earlier about the author Haruki Murakami and his novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” which impressed me as being unique among the books (Blog: 1/28/2011). As its tale continued to haunt me, I went to the used bookstore the other day to see if I could find another of his novels. The clerk who assisted me smiled when I told him what I was...
March 14, 2011
SERIOUS THOUGHTS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Kazuo Ishiguro is a Japanese novelist who has received a good deal of recognition in this country and at least two of his works have become films: “The Remains of the Day” and “Never Let Me Go.” I have read none of his writings, but plan to correct this omission soon. What brought him to my attention is the movie, “Never Let Me...
March 11, 2011
IF ONE COULD TALK WITH RUDYARD KIPLING
Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” offers advice on character building and how to weather the vagaries of one’s fellowman. Unfortunately, it says nothing about coping with electronic devices, which is natural enough as the man died in 1936. A few of the lines from his poem have some relevance as one stares into a dead...
March 9, 2011
THOUGHTS ON IMMUTABLE PRINCIPLES
Though Nature everywhere exhorts us to think of change and diversity as requirements for survival, we humans cling to the familiar when it comes to values. Edicts adopted centuries past continue to dominate our thinking. In the fields of medicine and technology, clinging to old ways would strike us as absurd but when it comes to cultural behavior, our...
March 8, 2011
WAR OF THE WORDS…
I’ve been considering whether or not to publish parts of my blog as a memoir. Just as Anne Morrow Lindbergh drew connections between the rhythms of beach life with her own, so I have been drawing parallels between my day to day observations and themes from literature.
Unlike Lindbergh, I can make no to claim to history or prominence, so it takes a certain amount of hubris...
March 7, 2011
THE WHITE NOISE OF COFFEE HOUSES
Last Saturday, I met a friend at a small coffee house in my neighborhood. About 30 customers had filled the place and most of them were so fixed upon their lap tops that few, if any, looked up when we entered. After ordering our beverages, my friend and I found a table and as we sat down, I remarked that Wi-Fi had changed the atmosphere of such places...
March 4, 2011
ON CHOOSING THE SOUND OF SILENCE
Conrad Aiken wrote a classic short story called “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” which chronicles a 12-year-old boy’s decent into stillness and isolation. The story begins as the child, lying in his bed, notices the postman’s footsteps seem muted. He imagines snow has fallen, but when he looks from his window there is no snow. Thus begins his fascination...
March 3, 2011
HOW TAXING
The line “I have measured out my life in coffee spoons,” keeps stirring in my head today (T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”). The image speaks to an existence of no importance… an existence that is trivial. Perhaps Eliot could have chosen a better one. He might have written, “I have measured out my life in ticky-tacky bits of paper.” Trivial is how I feel...
March 2, 2011
WE DON’T FEED PEOPLE TO THE LIONS ANYMORE…
One of my favorite authors is Anton Chekhov. I love his short stories and all his plays. He thought of the latter as comedies even though most of his characters are miserable, self deluded, and even suicidal. What made them comedies in his eyes was they expressed hope for the future and a better life.
We are witnessing that same hope igniting in...
