doing the small things trivial matters of heart, near things of this living
In a letter to his brother, EB White wrote, “I discovered a long time ago that writing of the small things of the day, the trivial matters of the heart, the inconsequential but near things of this living, was the only kind of creative work which I could accomplish with any sincerity or grace.” (Letters of EB White, New York: Harper and Row, 1976).
And I thought, if I changed just a few words …
I discovered a long time ago that doing small things of the day,
the trivial matters of the heart,
the inconsequential but near things of this living, was the best kind of creative work which she could accomplish with sincerity and grace.
Would be a fitting description of the role my wife has played in the kaleidoscopic lives we live with the kaleidoscopic lives of our children and grand children.
Because she does for me, the kids and the grand kids, the small things of the day.
The trivial matters of the heart.
The inconsequential but near things of this living.
The best kind of creative work which she accomplishes with sincerity and grace.
simple, be expert treat people well, honest, push … without browbeating
I have no idea who this lady is.
We were on the beach on Hilton Head Island with the grand kids on Monday when this lady walked by with her family.
She saw my sweatshirt (and my swim trunks … and after I pointed it out, my M earring) and said that we needed a picture so I was happy to oblige.
She wished me luck in the game that would played that Monday night for the Championship of the Free World between UConn and Michigan.
I said thank you and smiled.
Her husband asked, “Don’t you want to wish us luck?”
“Nope!” I said.
Sorry, but not sorry, and not taking any chances that any of my wishes for good luck might land on the court at the end of the game fall on them huskies.
Nope no way.
And so Michigan won.
“How did they win?” you might ask.
According to Joe Rexrode of the New York Times but originally from the Lansing State Journal when we both worked from Gannett (Once a sparty always a sparty) described what Dusty May did at Michigan writing:
The bigger picture is simpler. Be an expert in your craft. Treat people well. Be honest with them. Push them without browbeating them. Create an effective working environment.
May’s staff takes pride in both the evaluation and development of players, and it can get granular — they like to take potential recruits to a gym with a rack of basketballs. The guys who can’t help but go grab a ball and start shooting are probably the ones who love the game to the extent required. *
Goodness, that is worth repeating isn’t it?
The bigger picture is simpler.
Be an expert in your craft.
Treat people well.
Be honest with them.
Push them without browbeating them.
Create an effective working environment.
Simple.
Ken Burns made a film on the life of Frank Lloyd Wright.
In it, Architect Philip Johnson says about Wright, in an interview:
“Try to define the genius of a man who you realize is a genius when you are talking to him and more of a genius when you get to know his work …
its probably one of this things that doesn’t go into words …
probably a matter of how moved are you by his work and his personality …
in this case both …
I hated him of course, but that’s only normal when a man is so great …
its combination of hatred, a combination of envy and contempt and misunderstanding …
all of it gets mixed up in his genius.”
Johnson then talks about what Wright did with his famous house, Falling Water, “I don’t know how he does that. If I did, … I would do it too!”
What Dusty did with Michigan?
Simple.
That’s why so many other coaches did the same thing.
but immigrants built this country, we should admire them and respect them
Auburn basketball legend Charles Barkley sounded off about immigrant treatment in America during Sunday’s March Madness broadcast on CBS. Discussing UConn’s Alex Karaban and his family’s journey to the U.S., Barkley spoke out about current immigration practices in the country.
“I wanna be very careful with my words right now,” Barkley began. “Cause this is a really touchy subject for me. I love that kid (Karaban) and his family. But the way some of these other immigrants are getting treated in our country right now is a travesty and a disgrace.”
“I think there is a difference between amazing immigrants and criminal immigrants.
And I think what’s going on in our country — I think what we’re doing to some of these amazing immigrants is really unfortunate and it’s really sad.
That’s a great immigrant story, we have a lot of great immigrant stories out there who — they stories need to be told but some of the stuff that’s happening to immigrants in our country is really unfortunate and its really unfair.
But immigrants built this country, we should admire them and respect them.”
leaning against each other like drunken brothers at a funeral
Adapted from the poem, Even Numbers by Carl Sandburg as published in The People, Yes in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg by Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1950).
1
A HOUSE like a man all lean and coughing, a man with his two hands in the air at a cry,
“Hands up“
A house like a woman shrunken and stoop-shouldered, shrunken and done with dishes and dances
These two houses I saw going uphill in Cincinnati
2
Two houses leaning against each other like drunken brothers at a funeral,
Two houses facing each other like two blind wrestlers hunting a hold on each other.
These four scrawny houses I saw on a dead level cinder patch in Scranton, Pennsylvania
3
And by the light of a white moon m Waukesha, Wisconsin, I saw a lattice work in lilac time white-mist lavender a sweet moonlit lavender
Sorry but I just couldn’t resist.
Hey Little Brother!
Still in the drivers seat!
For those who know, they know,
For those who don’t know, that’s my little brother Pete watching me handle the reigns sitting in the drivers seat ( at the Dutch Village in Holland, Michigan).
I don’t have glasses yet and it looks like I still have my front teeth so this could have been the summer of 1968.
1969 was a rough year on my face.
I got glasses.
On my 9th birthday, I got hit in the face with a surf board that gashed my cheek open.
On Thanksgiving Day, running from my brother Timmy, I slipped and fell on the basement floor and chipped my left front tooth in half.
Still wear glasses.
Still have the scar.
One of grand daughters just lost her front teeth and asked her Mom if she could get a gold tooth like Pappa.
BTW, I should mention that this college basketball season, Michigan went undefeated on the road in the Big 10, something that hasn’t happened since 1976.
They tied the record of most regular season wins by a Big 10 team.
And in the process, the swept the home and away series with that team in East Lansing.
can stay out of jail with that record got to know something about law
MR HOWELL: You see, Mister President, I think with my background the ideal job for me would be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
SKIPPER: But that’s a very important position. Have you had any legal experience?
MR HOWELL:The government has convicted me six times on antitrust suits and I’ve been investigated every year for income tax evasion.
GILLIGAN:That’s good enough for me. How about you, Skipper?
SKIPPER: Any man who can stay out of jail with that record like that’s got to know something about the law.
Dialogue from the Episode #6, President Gilligan in the TV Show, Gilligan’s Island.
According to Wikipedia: Gilligan’s Island is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show’s ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, and Dawn Wells. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network from September 26, 1964, to April 17, 1967.
Also according to Wikipedia, the show’s broadcast schedule was:
1 (1964–1965) 36 September 26, 1964 June 12, 1965 Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. ET 2 (1965–1966) 32 September 16, 1965 April 28, 1966 Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET 3 (1966–1967) 30 September 12, 1966 April 17, 1967 Mondays at 7:30 p.m. ET
The record shows that the show was broadcast in prime time when I was a kid.
I must have watched it when it was on in prime time.
But I don’t remember.
What I remember was the watching the reruns of show for most of my life after school.
I went to Grand Rapids Crestview Elementary from 1965 to 1972.
K thru sixth grade.
Crestview was across the street and up the hill, a little more than a block away from my house.
We could here the line up bells ringing from home and leave at the first bell and be there in time for 2nd bell when the doors opened.
We could leave at 2nd bell and still make it.
I have a clear memory of brothers and sisters and Mom yelling “It’s second bell, it’s second bell” as we finished getting coats on, or breakfast or getting dressed or whatever we could do to delay getting to school.
When the final bell rang at 3:30pm, it was a rush to get home, even though we had been home at lunch time.
But had to get home.
Because the TV was at home.
After school kid TV.
Rerun programming designed, marketed and broadcast for kids.
We couldn’t wait!
In the door, coat on the floor and shoes tossed somewhere, the first stop was the cracker cupboard and something to eat.
I would grab a handful of cookies or chips while my brother Pete would be more purposeful and he would get a stack of saltines that he would spread with butter and arrange on plate like canapes to be enjoyed in front of the TV.
Whatever we got, we ended up in the family room in front of the TV, not wanting to miss a minute of the show.
From year to year shows would get swapped out or as newer shows moved into reruns.
Sometimes it was The Beverly Hillbillies, or Family Affair and later The Brady Bunch.
Bugs Bunny and Looney tune cartoons were usually in there somewhere.
Of a kiddie show like Bozo on TV 13 or Captain Woodie on WOODTV8.
Andy Griffith and Dick Van Dyke were on at Noon when we came home for lunch and we always managed a few minutes of those shows.
I still feel kinda creepy around walnuts.
IYKYK.
But the rock bed of kiddie afternoon programming was Gilligan’s Island.
It was the main part of the canon.
Years later when I found myself working in local TV stations, the staffers who had been around in those days would tell how the Stations would lease or rent a show for a quarter or a year and actually get the shows in 16mm movie film that would be played into the broadcast system.
I learned the those films were all clipped and patched together because when the shows were made, a few scenes of pure fluff, the characters looking a sunset or walking in a park or aerial shots of places like the Brady home or a car driving and these shots could be literally spliced out of the film to make the show longer or shorter depending on how much advertising time was needed for commercials.
We would start watching about 3:30pm and not move until 5PM when the talk shows, Merv Griffin or Mike Douglas came on and we might watch those as long as we could stand it.
As the saying goes, we would have watch algebra if it was the only thing on.
It is how we grew up.
Laying on the floor, looking up at the screen.
Watching Gilligan and the Skipper get in and out of jams over and over and then watching the same shows over and over and over.
The thing is, thinking of this episode.
Who knew we were watching a civics lesson for today?
