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.
1944 in Europe at Christmas Time candy in the mail
In a letter dated 25 December, in what would have been 1944, my Dad wrote to my mom, his then girlfriend, from Luxemburg where his outfit was stationed at the time.
Dad wrote:
It was another Christmas today and we spent a rather quiet day. I guess you folks back home are realizing the war in not yet over and I hope we can come home soon.
I only received one package from you so far, a box of Fanny Farmer candy. We enjoyed it very much.
Although the wars seems to have taken a turn for the worst we are located in a fine town where the people talk French, German and English.
For dinner today we had a regular turkey dinner with all the trimmings just like home. But I felt lonesome for home and for you.
No surprise to folks who knew Dad that he got to writing about dinner and candy in the mail very early in his letter.
It should be noted that Dad was in the 12th Corps Headquarters Unit as the attached Dental Officer.
The 12th Corps was part of the United States Third Army under the command of one General George S. Patton, Jr.
Nine days before, on the 16th of December, American forces in Belgium had been overwhelmed by an unexpected attack by the German Army, an attack now remembered as The Battle of the Bulge.
During the attack, the United States 106th Division was surrounded and and two of the division’s three regiments surrendered on 19 December. The Germans gained 6,000 prisoners in one of the largest mass surrenders in American military history.
Patton famously managed to stop his Third Army, turn it 90 degrees and march north to attack, stop and then push back the Germans.
The 12th Corps was part of that pivot movement and so Dad ended up in Luxemburg where he attended Christmas Day services at the Cathedral and had a turkey dinner and shared a box of fannie farmer candy.
The odd thing about this is when Dad was in the States, he drove with several other Dentists that had just finished field training at Carlisle, Pa to Fort Andrew Jackson in Columbia, SC to be assigned to a unit.
When they got to their quarters at Fort Jackson, the guys Dad was traveling with couldn’t wait and ran off to get their assignments while Dad chose to unpack and hang up his uniforms.
By the time Dad got over to the office, they were at a loss at what to do with him as they had filled all the Dental positions they had open.
Almost as an afterthought, they sent Dad over the 12th Corps Headquarters Unit and told Dad that if he liked it there, he could stay as their Dental officer.
So Dad ended up as the only Dentist assigned to the HQ unit of Generals and Colonels who ran the 12th Corps.
Those guys who drove down from Carlisle with Dad?
They all got assigned to medical units in the 106th Division.
Christmas, 1944.
I have to wonder what Dad was thinking.
The decision to unpack his uniforms in February 1943 made a big difference in how he spent that holiday.
Probably made a big difference in my life as well.
Thoughts for Christmas and as the man said, be thankful for the small miracles … and be more thankful for the big ones!
PS: The collection of Dad’s over 200 letters home written during WW2 have been donated to the Bentley Library of Michigan History at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
