This week I have been enjoying satellite radio in my rental car. Nothing but music as I drive--that and the Garmin Lady (with the Australian accent) telling me where to go, which I don't mind, since I have become dependent on my Garmin GPS to go places. But the point is, I have been able to ignore the news for the past several days. I needed the relief after the twin abominations I must have seen a dozen times toward the end of last week. Did you see them?
The video of the still-alive Moamar Ghadafi being beaten moments before some low-life shot him in he head. It was gruesome and offensive.
On one of the shows I allowed myself to be subjected to, the newscaster, moments after showing us that glorious moment, actually remarked upon how amazing it was that even children stood in line to go and see Ghadafi's corpse on the floor of a freezer. This after he subjected all of us, and our children probably, to the spectre of the free Libyans abusing their prisoner as he bled from a head wound.
But that was not all. Fox News (which I usually have a lot of respect for) repeatedly shared video of an ugly incident here at home. Two girls in a brutal fight, being watched and followed around by several adults. Authorities were trying to file charges against the adults for not just failing to stop the fight, but apparently arranging for the two to meet and have their fight. More ugly television and for no other reason than to offend. Whew, I turned away from the TV on Saturday and avoided any TV news. When I am traveling, I rarely turn on the TV, so it has helped that I am on the road. I don't hear radio news, either--thanks to the satellite radio in my car. I listen to jazz on Watercolors, which I guess some would find boring. But it looks as if I will be able to avoid any news until Thursday, and that's a welcome relief.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
The Beginning of The End?
In the dying afternoon
leaves burnt by the sun
tell of winter, nigh too soon.
The light changes and in quiet moments you notice. Where I am it was a magnificent day. There was a moment when it all seemed so fragile and short-lived. Not that seasons are difficult to bear here, I know of worse places.
We humans like to think we are self-aware, and that sets us apart, but we expend a lot of mental energy holding fast to denying the obvious fact of our finite existence. We do this in spite of the current of the seasons that runs around us each year. Who knows, it may be the fact that the seasons cycle back to a new beginning each year that convinces us somehow that we are above this cycle and, therefore, not subject to our own. But look around and there is evidence to the contrary that we ignore seemingly without effort--the deaths of our grandparents and parents, the aging of our bodies and our minds. But that's enough. Back to breathing in and breathing out, it's October and it is splendid.
leaves burnt by the sun
tell of winter, nigh too soon.
The light changes and in quiet moments you notice. Where I am it was a magnificent day. There was a moment when it all seemed so fragile and short-lived. Not that seasons are difficult to bear here, I know of worse places.
We humans like to think we are self-aware, and that sets us apart, but we expend a lot of mental energy holding fast to denying the obvious fact of our finite existence. We do this in spite of the current of the seasons that runs around us each year. Who knows, it may be the fact that the seasons cycle back to a new beginning each year that convinces us somehow that we are above this cycle and, therefore, not subject to our own. But look around and there is evidence to the contrary that we ignore seemingly without effort--the deaths of our grandparents and parents, the aging of our bodies and our minds. But that's enough. Back to breathing in and breathing out, it's October and it is splendid.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Honesty
Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.
Billy Joel's lyric--or did he write it or just sing it? I just checked. He wrote it himself. Do people really expect honesty? Do you consider yourself a straight arrow? How straight? To tell you the truth, I didn't expect honesty from Billy Joel--to believe the lyrics were his own. Covering another's composition is a compliment after all, but we only refer to it as "covering" another's song if they made a hit of it, right?
According to Wikipedia, a cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song. It can sometimes have a pejorative meaning implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive or "authentic" version, and all others merely lesser competitors, alternatives or tributes (no matter how popular).
So, is what you are living a "cover" of an act or lifestyle you have seen others perform? Oops, was that a little too profound? Has someone else already made a hit of it? Was the other a true original, definitive or authentic version?
I think it's like a friend of mine said this morning. It's just the best you can do, whether it's perfect or not. You prepare (or not) to the extent you can and then you show up. Some days, no matter how hard you prepare, it doesn't come off as you would have liked. But, that may still be plenty good. Some other days, you have no choice but to wing it and it comes off as perfect to those who hear it. But, of course, the little voice inside you calls you an impostor. So what? Ignore the little voice, and be what you are.
So, why does Billy Joel want honesty? Everyone is so untrue, even to themselves (Impostor!). Well, the whole source of this little post is that I was less than honest in something I did today. My sense is that the organization I am dealing with has been less than perfect with me, so I am justified in being a little less than truthful with them. Atop the slippery slope, I am. But I'll forge ahead and do what I can, and I'll guess Billy Joel was just talking to himself--mostly what he needs he must get from himself, then he will succeed.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.
Billy Joel's lyric--or did he write it or just sing it? I just checked. He wrote it himself. Do people really expect honesty? Do you consider yourself a straight arrow? How straight? To tell you the truth, I didn't expect honesty from Billy Joel--to believe the lyrics were his own. Covering another's composition is a compliment after all, but we only refer to it as "covering" another's song if they made a hit of it, right?
According to Wikipedia, a cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song. It can sometimes have a pejorative meaning implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive or "authentic" version, and all others merely lesser competitors, alternatives or tributes (no matter how popular).
So, is what you are living a "cover" of an act or lifestyle you have seen others perform? Oops, was that a little too profound? Has someone else already made a hit of it? Was the other a true original, definitive or authentic version?
I think it's like a friend of mine said this morning. It's just the best you can do, whether it's perfect or not. You prepare (or not) to the extent you can and then you show up. Some days, no matter how hard you prepare, it doesn't come off as you would have liked. But, that may still be plenty good. Some other days, you have no choice but to wing it and it comes off as perfect to those who hear it. But, of course, the little voice inside you calls you an impostor. So what? Ignore the little voice, and be what you are.
So, why does Billy Joel want honesty? Everyone is so untrue, even to themselves (Impostor!). Well, the whole source of this little post is that I was less than honest in something I did today. My sense is that the organization I am dealing with has been less than perfect with me, so I am justified in being a little less than truthful with them. Atop the slippery slope, I am. But I'll forge ahead and do what I can, and I'll guess Billy Joel was just talking to himself--mostly what he needs he must get from himself, then he will succeed.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Fixing Stupid
"You can't fix stupid." Sounds kind of arrogant, but my friend is not that way. He was just making a point, Some people just don't think and there's nothing you can do to make them. Or is there? What seems so obvious to me, isn't necessarily as obvious to everyone is it? Do drivers who stop when they have the right of way just not notice their surroundings on purpose? Well, no... Did the assistant my friend was talking about really not know that a sample kit for a marketing campaign should include samples? Do flashes of just "not being there" strike everyone at some time or another? I hope they do, since it happens to me more than I'd care to admit.
I looked up the source and it turns out to be the raunchy comic, Ron White. In context, his remark was about marrying for looks. Briefly, he points out while plastic surgery can fix defects to a degree and offset the effects of aging or excessive weight gain, you can't, etc.
But it was a week for stupid, it turns out. I went to a play in Atlanta called Gray Area. The setup for the story is a long-time critic takes a shot at Civil War re-enactors, and three unusual re-enactors from somewhere in the South decide to do something about it. They kidnap the critic, not for ransom, but to engage him in a debate about the far-ranging topics of Civil War re-enactors, the War of Northern Agression, racism and the Confederate flag. It's a farce, but it makes you wonder if the only way to get someone to sit down and listen is to kidnap him and take him into the woods.
It's a commentary on the state of civil discoursse in this world. In the program, the producer points out that many otherwise intelligent people simply shut down when faced with a diffferent opinion. Instead of discourse, people resort to name-calling. He writes "...I see people attacking each other and, more often than not, regarding the other person as stupid. Stupid has never been a conversation enhancer. Stupid has never mended a bridge. Stupid is a conversation ender. Actually, stupid becomes an argument escalator."
So, let's make a stab at "fixing stupid." Exercise a bit of patience, even some empathy, and don't even think stupid.
I looked up the source and it turns out to be the raunchy comic, Ron White. In context, his remark was about marrying for looks. Briefly, he points out while plastic surgery can fix defects to a degree and offset the effects of aging or excessive weight gain, you can't, etc.
But it was a week for stupid, it turns out. I went to a play in Atlanta called Gray Area. The setup for the story is a long-time critic takes a shot at Civil War re-enactors, and three unusual re-enactors from somewhere in the South decide to do something about it. They kidnap the critic, not for ransom, but to engage him in a debate about the far-ranging topics of Civil War re-enactors, the War of Northern Agression, racism and the Confederate flag. It's a farce, but it makes you wonder if the only way to get someone to sit down and listen is to kidnap him and take him into the woods.
It's a commentary on the state of civil discoursse in this world. In the program, the producer points out that many otherwise intelligent people simply shut down when faced with a diffferent opinion. Instead of discourse, people resort to name-calling. He writes "...I see people attacking each other and, more often than not, regarding the other person as stupid. Stupid has never been a conversation enhancer. Stupid has never mended a bridge. Stupid is a conversation ender. Actually, stupid becomes an argument escalator."
So, let's make a stab at "fixing stupid." Exercise a bit of patience, even some empathy, and don't even think stupid.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
When Is An Opinion A Conviction?
At dinner with some friends, we were talking about interacting with people who didn't back the same politician or movement that we as individuals do. We were not necessarily all on the same side, but we were all able to summon up examples of people we would not want to talk with about--fill in the blank--religion, politics, elections. I observed that I have a hard time disliking people for opinions they held and I did not share. It's true, I can engage them and hear them out, but I can't get angry, upset or aggravated about it anymore. On the other hand, I encounter lots of people who feel the need to change me or my mind, even to the point of trying to provoke a reaction from me.
I run into so many people who are that way that I have concluded it is something in the way I was brought up. I am never inclined to proselytize or force my opinion on others and am careful about where I express them, although my wife probably wouldn't agree, she thinks I like to say things for shock value. As if my opinions are shocking...
One of my dinner companions observed that she feels the same way, but there is one exception in her mind, and that was abortion. She said she feels so strongly about it that she could never be close friends with anyone who did not agree with her on the subject. She then adroitly avoided pursuing the subject by restraining her impulse to ask us our position on the matter. Even as strongly as she felt on the subject, she didn't chase it down among friends.
Evidently, she is still more closely aligned with me on the whole matter, but it did make me wonder if distinction was as simple as the difference between opinion and conviction. Here's what Merriam-Webster had to say: an opinion is a belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge, and a conviction is the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth.
Sooooo, I guess I just have opinions and all these others have convictions. I kind of like my spot--my opinions evolve as I see more of the world and listen to what others can tell me. If I were carrying around a load of convictions, I don't think I'd be as happy, somehow.
I run into so many people who are that way that I have concluded it is something in the way I was brought up. I am never inclined to proselytize or force my opinion on others and am careful about where I express them, although my wife probably wouldn't agree, she thinks I like to say things for shock value. As if my opinions are shocking...
One of my dinner companions observed that she feels the same way, but there is one exception in her mind, and that was abortion. She said she feels so strongly about it that she could never be close friends with anyone who did not agree with her on the subject. She then adroitly avoided pursuing the subject by restraining her impulse to ask us our position on the matter. Even as strongly as she felt on the subject, she didn't chase it down among friends.
Evidently, she is still more closely aligned with me on the whole matter, but it did make me wonder if distinction was as simple as the difference between opinion and conviction. Here's what Merriam-Webster had to say: an opinion is a belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge, and a conviction is the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth.
Sooooo, I guess I just have opinions and all these others have convictions. I kind of like my spot--my opinions evolve as I see more of the world and listen to what others can tell me. If I were carrying around a load of convictions, I don't think I'd be as happy, somehow.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton--It took a moment
OK, I have loved almost everything Eric Clapton has done as he has grown up, or older, if you prefer. The one project that never took for me was Clapton and Steve Winwood. I always liked Winwood as a solo performer and Traffic was truly an experience for me, but I guess I never did earn my hard rock stripes. Most of Clapton and Winwood was way off for me.
But set that aside--Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Riding With the King and more--were all finds for me, and I still listen to them. I saw a brief piece on the title collaboration and I was sold. But I wasn't prepared for what sounded to me like Dixieland Band stuff and it was a tad off-putting. About the 4th cut, "The Last Time" was the turning point for me and I never looked back. It is a ride not everybody may be ready for, but just try it and don't give up until you have heard at least five cuts.
It has set me to thinking about people and things I found off-putting at first. I have a friend or two that I have known for twenty, thirty or forty years or so that I didn't appreciate the way I do now. Truth be told, they probably exhibited more patience getting to know me more than I had to for them. Give people a chance to grow on you is one lesson I have learned. Am I ready to do it again?
What else is there in my life today that I had a hard time with a first? I remember distinctly a year or so when I dreaded Sunday nights--I had to face going to work on Monday and I was deeply depressed on those nights. But we had a newborn baby and I had a wife who made a leap of faith marrying me and moving twice to follow my career, so I just had to make it work. Not more than two years later, I was hooked. I loved what I did. Go figure, just give it some time and you will learn and grow and take great satisfaction from the most surprising things. Am I prepared to do it again?
I hope so....
But set that aside--Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Riding With the King and more--were all finds for me, and I still listen to them. I saw a brief piece on the title collaboration and I was sold. But I wasn't prepared for what sounded to me like Dixieland Band stuff and it was a tad off-putting. About the 4th cut, "The Last Time" was the turning point for me and I never looked back. It is a ride not everybody may be ready for, but just try it and don't give up until you have heard at least five cuts.
It has set me to thinking about people and things I found off-putting at first. I have a friend or two that I have known for twenty, thirty or forty years or so that I didn't appreciate the way I do now. Truth be told, they probably exhibited more patience getting to know me more than I had to for them. Give people a chance to grow on you is one lesson I have learned. Am I ready to do it again?
What else is there in my life today that I had a hard time with a first? I remember distinctly a year or so when I dreaded Sunday nights--I had to face going to work on Monday and I was deeply depressed on those nights. But we had a newborn baby and I had a wife who made a leap of faith marrying me and moving twice to follow my career, so I just had to make it work. Not more than two years later, I was hooked. I loved what I did. Go figure, just give it some time and you will learn and grow and take great satisfaction from the most surprising things. Am I prepared to do it again?
I hope so....
Monday, October 10, 2011
Occupying My Mind
You know, I just can't help myself. "Occupy Wall Street" is a topic I should probably avoid, but it keeps intruding on my mental space. In part because the media keeps spending its time bubbling over "the movement." Now they are comparing it to the "Arab Spring," and I think the comparison bears some examination, but I'll get back to that.
This movement is getting a lot of attention, but its lack of a clear message bothers me. Not because I am in favor of "corporate greed," whatever that is, it sounds like something bad. And it's not because I favor increasing he gap between the richest of the rich and the poorest, I understand opportunity for everyone is the cornerstone of our society. I just think people ought to be clear about their goals.
Nothing about this occupation in Manhattan, which is now spreading to other places, tells me their purpose. What about clarity? Can anyone bring forth in a few simple sentences what these folks are for? I just hear about what they are against and I don't hear what they want us to do. Do you know what happens to a movement that has a lot of energy and no clear purpose? Their movement gets co-opted. Just today I heard (for the first time) that these people are protesting labor laws in the U.S. Where did that come from? Well, the AFL-CIO and a few of its largest member unions have endorsed the movement, so now you hear the media report they are occupying spaces to protest corporate greed, super-rich people and bad labor laws. For a month, these folks have been out there occupying and they didn't even know they were protesting bad labor laws until this week. Oh, and the President and former House Speaker have endorsed the movement, too. I guess the movement will be picking up some more purpose pretty soon.
I promised to get back to the "Arab Spring" comparison, so here goes. There is growing unrest in Egypt again. Leaders of the spring time revolution there have found the leading generals in the military have quietly strengthened their hold on power in Egypt. The movement that only knew it was against Mubarak has been co-opted. Mubarak is out, but no gain for the people of Egypt.
I find a funny kind of parallel here between the occupying movement and an article I picked up yesterday. I ran across the author in my effort to become a better writer. Her name is Suzette Martinez Standring, and she has a web site (www.readsuzettecom) where she offers help to people who want to write. She has spent a great deal of time interviewing award-winning columnists about how to write well. Distilling their advice, she talks about half a dozen qualities of good writing. They are:
- Focus (What is your entral message or goal?)
- Clarity (establish your premise and build your message, cutting out anything that fails to move your point forward)
- Connection (Evoke emotion and compel interest)
- Fixes (don't complain about issues without offering solutions)
- Vitality (be aware of the impact rhythm and cadence of words you use)
- Integrity (be accurate and truthful)
While you have all that time on your hands, how about taking Suzette's advice and creating a message while you still have people's attention?
This movement is getting a lot of attention, but its lack of a clear message bothers me. Not because I am in favor of "corporate greed," whatever that is, it sounds like something bad. And it's not because I favor increasing he gap between the richest of the rich and the poorest, I understand opportunity for everyone is the cornerstone of our society. I just think people ought to be clear about their goals.
Nothing about this occupation in Manhattan, which is now spreading to other places, tells me their purpose. What about clarity? Can anyone bring forth in a few simple sentences what these folks are for? I just hear about what they are against and I don't hear what they want us to do. Do you know what happens to a movement that has a lot of energy and no clear purpose? Their movement gets co-opted. Just today I heard (for the first time) that these people are protesting labor laws in the U.S. Where did that come from? Well, the AFL-CIO and a few of its largest member unions have endorsed the movement, so now you hear the media report they are occupying spaces to protest corporate greed, super-rich people and bad labor laws. For a month, these folks have been out there occupying and they didn't even know they were protesting bad labor laws until this week. Oh, and the President and former House Speaker have endorsed the movement, too. I guess the movement will be picking up some more purpose pretty soon.
I promised to get back to the "Arab Spring" comparison, so here goes. There is growing unrest in Egypt again. Leaders of the spring time revolution there have found the leading generals in the military have quietly strengthened their hold on power in Egypt. The movement that only knew it was against Mubarak has been co-opted. Mubarak is out, but no gain for the people of Egypt.
I find a funny kind of parallel here between the occupying movement and an article I picked up yesterday. I ran across the author in my effort to become a better writer. Her name is Suzette Martinez Standring, and she has a web site (www.readsuzettecom) where she offers help to people who want to write. She has spent a great deal of time interviewing award-winning columnists about how to write well. Distilling their advice, she talks about half a dozen qualities of good writing. They are:
- Focus (What is your entral message or goal?)
- Clarity (establish your premise and build your message, cutting out anything that fails to move your point forward)
- Connection (Evoke emotion and compel interest)
- Fixes (don't complain about issues without offering solutions)
- Vitality (be aware of the impact rhythm and cadence of words you use)
- Integrity (be accurate and truthful)
While you have all that time on your hands, how about taking Suzette's advice and creating a message while you still have people's attention?
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