to shoot the wall clock make it stop, better yet, keep backing up slowly
It’s not so comic the way that clocks race themselves with us in fragile tow and it’s not enough to say “What are we waiting for?” or “Why are we holding back?” though that might occur to us later.
We are far less capable of those radical emotional moves advocated by magazines that specialize in puddle-deep psychologisms, the usual seven steps to a victorious emotional life, as if we could put ourselves on a figurative grease rack or automated assembly line for overhaul.
It was all so ordinary though I wanted to shoot the wall clock, over and over. Anything to make it stop or, better yet, keep backing up slowly.
From True North by Jim Harrison (New York, Grove Press, 2004).
I woke from a dream the other morning where all was as it was when I was a kid on the shore of Lake Michigan.
It was a disappointment when I woke and realized it was a dream.
It was all so ordinary though I wanted to shoot the wall clock, over and over.
Anything to make it stop or, better yet, keep backing up slowly.
You can’t can you?
It’s not so comic the way that clocks race themselves with us in fragile tow and it’s not enough to say “What are we waiting for?” or “Why are we holding back?” though that might occur to us later.
land and people hold memories they keep old things that never grow old
The land and the people hold memories, even among the anthills and the angleworms, among the toads and woodroaches — among gravestone writings rubbed out by the rain —they keep old things that never grow old.
Adapted from the poem, Cornhuskers by Carl Sandburg, as published in The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (Harcourt, Brace & Co: New York, 1950).
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.”
