Different Strokes

Last year I read the book "How Starbucks Saved My Life," by Michael Gates Gill. A bookseller at Barnes and Noble handed it to me, saying it was hot off the presses and had heard it was good. I loved it. I related to this middle aged narrator whose successful career ended abruptly, making him start a new career at a Starbucks Coffee Shop. He describes the process of regaining his dignity and establishing valued new relationships with his coworkers and customers.

A few weeks later, I heard a reviewer on the NY Times Book Review Podcast discussing "Starbucks," giving it a negative review. If I had heard the review prior to purchasing the book, I would never have read it. I would have missed the enjoyment.

The author Francine Prose was recently interviewed by NPR's Terry Gross, discussing her new book, "Goldengrove." Towards the end of the interview, Ms. Prose was asked why she is loathe to write "negative" book reviews. She answered that, with the exception of very well established writers, she writes reviews only for books she likes because she realizes how difficult it is to write well; she has little desire to make a writer's task of finding readers even more difficult. Something may not work for her, but may work very well for someone else. 

Surely, book reviews are important. They help us find topics we want to understand. They add to our understanding of books we've already read. But a bad review doesn't make it a fact that a book is bad. It means that the reviewer doesn't like it, or doesn't like some aspect of it. Our opinion may be that the book is good, that we get something of value from it. Beware of bad reviews.

I admire Francine Prose's thoughts on this. My next read: "Goldengrove."

Yes, I'll check the reviews, after I finish reading it.

Thankful

I'm thankful for my family, for good health, for the freedom we enjoy in the United States.

I'm thankful for Obama. I believe his intelligence and moral fiber will bring us back from the economic depths, and will expand Health Care coverage and economic opportunity to all.

Robert Coles

A favorite essay of mine didn't win a "Best Essay" award, but I consider it one of the most significant, thought-provoking pieces I've ever read. It's by Robert Coles, the Harvard Educator and Psychiatrist, titled "Small Gestures," and can be found in his book "Harvard Diary."

 

A student from a meager background has a shockingly disappointing encounter with a wealthier student that displays how disjointed a person's words and actions can be. She wants to leave Harvard but speaks with Professor Coles first. They both relearn the fact that:

 

"...being clever, brilliant, even what gets called “well-educated” is not to be equated, necessarily, with being considerate, kind, tactful, even plain polite or civil...that one’s proclaimed social or political views — however articulately humanitarian — are not always guarantors of one’s everyday behavior. One can write lofty editorials (or “diary” entries!) and falter badly in one’s moral life. One can speak big-hearted words, write incisive and thoughtful prose — and be a rather crude, arrogant, smug person in the course of getting through a day."

Actions speak louder than words

Leon Wieseltier, in the December 3, 2008 "The New Republic, Washington Diarist," reminds us that eloquence in language gets beat by the eloquence of action:

"Near the end of Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, Fred Kaplan's absorbing but somewhat overstated new book, I learn about Lincoln in 1861, on the eve of his presidency, that 'for the time being, the only weapon he had at his command was language. ... having prepared himself over a lifetime to become a well-read master of the human narrative. If that narrative was to have its tragic dimension in Lincoln's failure, despite his talents, to prevent the South's secession, shorten the inevitable war, or alleviate Northern racism, it was to be an object lesson in the limitations of language. ...' Exactly so. Politics is not poetry. In the analysis of the Bush years and their disasters, the Bushisms are the least of it. I do not any more want to hear about the evil of Guantanamo. I want to see Guantanamo closed. Historically speaking, action is eloquence."

The cold

Massachusetts. Tonight. Twenty degrees. So cold. It's a preview of a long cold Winter. Let's keep warm with warm stories, and with compassion for one another. No matter what. 

Go for it; Get it done

(1) Margaret Thatcher quote:

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you had everything to do and you've done it."

(2) "The New Republic" November 19, 2008 editorial "Go For It:"

"The greatest risk for Democrats is not that Obama will try to do too much, but that their terror of failure will lead them to waste an historic opportunity.....The Democrats have it in their grasp to master the great problems of public life if they can summon their collective nerve. The only thing they have to fear is fear itself."

Don't we all have too much to do? Surely, we deserve a break.

But as I sit here on a Saturday afternoon in my comfortable chair lounging around, Margaret Thatcher gets me up and about; and The New Republic reminds me that it may be time to dip into the recesses of my mind where ancient lofty goals linger, to resurrect some, to create new ones. To go for it, to get to work, to get it done.

Wrong sometimes

We think things through carefully. We make rational decisions. We've built confidence over the years and have been on the right side of many battles. So isn't it a shock when we find that we're wrong about a long held, strongly held belief? It's a shock to our self concept. But aren't we better for it? Shouldn't we embrace our mistakes and learn as much as possible? Sure. But it hurts too.

David Nyhan

I used to love David Nyhan's editorials in the Boston Globe.
I linked his famous piece "The college rejection letter."
When David says, "Screw them, you've got a life to live," I say "Damn right!"

Favorite Essayists (some)

Some of my favorite Essayists: George Orwell, Scott Russell Sanders, Henry David Thoreau, Chang-Rae Lee, EB White, Robert Coles, Anne Fadiman, Edward Hoagland. Just to name a few. I'll add more names later as I browse my bookcase. Have you read these authors? If so, what pieces have you read? Jump in; share your thoughts.

What's new

The Boston Globe today had a piece about the effect Obama's management style (inclusiveness, discussion, consensus) will have on the American Industry's way of doing business. That it will bring about more participation and cooperation. Your thoughts?

What's on your mind?

Let's start with your favorites.

What are you reading?

What's on your mind?

What do you want to discuss?

Thinking things through

Essay lovers out there?

I love the form. Love that in a short piece of nonfiction, someone can think through any issue that's on their mind.

The great British writer Samuel Johnson called the essay an "undigested piece," meaning, I believe, that it is a means to work an idea through and through, perhaps finding an answer, but not necessarily the exact, final, truth. Like the French essayist Michel de Montaigne, Johnson believed the essay an "attempt" to figure things out.

I hope this Blog provides a forum for attempting to figure things out.
Let's share topics and ideas; let's discuss and agree and disagree.
And always remain civil.

As stated in my last (first) post, I'm excited about Barack Obama.
I believe he will be a great leader. And I believe he'll add a sense of civility to national discussions we're about to have. I want this Blog to reflect this sense.

First Thoughts

Congratulations to Obama!

Greatly optimistic about the future.