I woke up late this morning. Sarah, my daughter living in England, put a message on Facebook saying that it was already noon there and I hadn’t posted my daily blog.  My public awaits!

I received an email from the church bookkeeper that there was a check in my box. The church short-changed me $50 from my last wedding. And I have another wedding this Saturday. My boss said she would include the missing $50 in my next check.

Of course it was all confused and short the $50.

I emailed my boss, the bookkeeper and the church treasurer (who signs the checks).

My boss directed the bookkeeper to make out a check for the missing $50.

I spend more time than I am comfortable with begging people to pay me the money I think they owe me. Poor me, eh?

My wife used to have a bunch of 45s from her teen years.

When Napster was first available (The Celestial Jukebox, remember?), I tried to run down recordings of many these tunes.

Yesterday while filing numerous bills and receipts I ran across this old list. So I thought I would look on Spotify for them.

So far I have found only 5 tunes:

Butterfly and It Doesn’t Take Very Long by Andy Williams

Goodbye, Charlie by Patti Page

Cindy Oh Cindy by Vince Martin and the Tarriers

Hey Good Lookin” by Jo Stafford and Frankie Lane

I actually quite like the old tunes of my wife’s youth.

The social director from my Mom’s assisted living facility emailed me yesterday. Her July birthday party entertainment canceled. Could I do it? I checked my calendar and then told her yes. It’s today at 2:30 PM.

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The Terror From Within – NYTimes.com

“Most threats and violence tend to emerge from within a society, not from outside it. John F. Kennedy, Anwar el-Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin were all assassinated by their fellow countrymen. Cautious citizens may push for better street lighting, but they have more to fear from a spouse, ex-spouse, friend or co-worker than from a stranger on the street.”

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Treat People With Respect, and Pack Duct Tape – NYTimes.com

On my first trip to Japan, I met with seven Japanese businessmen. The gentleman who arranged the meeting also invited me to dinner that night with the group. At the end of the meeting, they thanked me and said goodbye with no mention of the dinner. I whispered to the person who set up the meeting and asked him about dinner plans. He was quite dismissive and said they were no longer available. I thought I must have offended them and I felt terrible about it. I went to go eat dinner by myself.

Several weeks later my business partner and I received a letter telling us the Japanese businessmen wanted to proceed and partner with us. I was astounded. I really thought I had screwed up. Years later I told the story to an American businessman who lived in Tokyo and was married to a Japanese woman. He explained that the guys I met with probably lived far from the city center and didn’t want to commute home late. Since they had already decided to go forward with us, there was no need to take me to dinner. If they had decided not to do business with us, they would have taken me to dinner so I wouldn’t be offended.”

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Marshall McLuhan Speaks — Centennial 2011

Collection of videos of McLuhan

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New York – Empire of Evolution – NYTimes.com

Fascinating article about studying evolution in the city.

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Triassic Extinction Caused by Methane Gas From Seafloor, Research Finds – NYTimes.com

Another theory.

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Using Spotify, I’m working my way through Largehearted Boy’s interesting music of the week.

Did you know R.E.M. released an album in March of 2011? I sampled this album and put four tunes on my new music play list.  So far I kind of like the cut, Überlin, which apparently was released as a single in January, 2011. “Oh My Heart” is tribute to New Orleans.

Spotify didn’t have tracks by all of the artists on Largehearted Boy’s list. But here are some of them. Click on the album cover to go to a related site. I’ve only put videos up of tunes I kind of like.

I think that’s enough for today’s post.

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Fellow Prisoners
by John Berger July 2011

“I’m looking for nothing more than a figurative image to serve as a landmark. Landmarks don’t fully explain themselves, but they offer a reference point that can be shared. In this they are like the tacit assumptions contained in popular proverbs. Without landmarks there is the great human risk of turning in circles.

***
The landmark I’ve found is that of prison. Nothing less. Across the planet we are living in a prison.”

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Messing With Medicare – NYTimes.com

“Medicare, with all its flaws, works better than private insurance. It has less bureaucracy and, hence, lower administrative costs than private insurers. It has been more successful in controlling costs. While Medicare expenses per beneficiary have soared over the past 40 years, they’ve risen significantly less than private insurance premiums.”

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More Than Kin, and Less Than Kind – NYTimes.com

Shakespeare and the Murdochs….. very cool.

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Europe Turns to the Cloud – NYTimes.com

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Pics from last week’s Barefoot Jazz gig are up on Facebook. Here I am with the excellent Bass Player, Nate Walker.

In this one, you can also see the sax players, Jordan VanHemert on the left and Connor Prins on the right.

Nice shot of our drummer, Roman Tarchinski.

The rehearsal the night before and this gig were a lot fun for me. I could hear a lot happening in the rhythm section that seemed exciting and particularly coherent.

Church went well yesterday. I nailed the prelude by Krebs and the postlude by A.W. Leupold, both based on the closing hymn, “If thou but suffer God to guide thee.” I had several people comment on my playing. One elderly man with a cane remarked that the prelude sounded like it had required some preparation. This was true, it had required rehearsal.

I reflected on the walk home that though my self image is one of an introvert who would prefer to not schmooze with people, that I had actually had many conversations with fellow parishioners that morning. I find this satisfying because I think it’s important to connect to the people you serve.

I guess my vacation helped, eh?

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A Fashionable Getaway, Saugatuck Battles Change – NYTimes.com

Eileen and I had dinner with some friends Friday evening in Saugatuck. Interesting to see the little town made headlines in the NYT.

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Tom Coburn, a Rock-Solid Conservative Who’s Willing to Bend – NYTimes.com

Coburn sounds like someone interested in helping the country.

As Glouberman says in The Chairs Are Where the People Go

“I’d love to see institutions that somehow operate on the assumption that people can hold vastly different opinions and preferences and desires without having to become enemies, and also without having to lose track of the desires they have that are shared.”

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What Apple Has That Google Doesn’t – An Auteur – NYTimes.com

“The contest is not even close. The company that has a single arbiter of taste has been producing superior products, showing that you don’t need multiple teams and dozens or hundreds or thousands of voices.”

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Ralph Nader and the Airline Refund – The Haggler – NYTimes.com

Nader still at it.

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Rude Britannia – NYTimes.com

So much of what John Burns says about Britain in this article is true of the USA in an American way.

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The  offertory hymn this morning at my church is “Just A Closer Walk with Thee.” I was thinking about this hymn and the various versions of it I have heard and performed yesterday.

I quite like Dave Van Ronk’s rendition on this record.

I still own the vinyl of this one.

My fondest memory of a performance of this song took place in a downtown Detroit church, First Presbyterian. First Pres was a very prestigious church in its heyday. The tradition was that one of its pastors penned the vigorous hymn, “Stand up, stand up for Jesus.”

A quick google doesn’t seem to bear this out, but no matter.

It had a huge square sanctuary that had wooden floors and pews and a wrap around balcony.

The organ was a fine old Cassavant-Frere. It was the largest organ I was every in charge of. Five or six manuals and zillions of pipes. The pipes were hidden behind a facade at the front of the church. One could climb around inside the three stories of pipes something I did do on occasion.

The offertory of the service was usually an organ solo followed by the singing of “Praise God from whom all blessing,” what is sometimes called the Doxology.

The historically upper-class white members of the congregation had long since fled to the suburbs. What remained was an interesting mix of urban peoples including a group of mentally impaired men who sat together at service.

After the organ offertory solo, I would play a strong introduction to the “Praise God” and the congregation would stand and sing.

One day the piece I had chosen to play for the offertory involved a pretty substantial crescendo. The minister later informed me (for the hidden console of the organ prohibited me from seeing the congregation) that the entire section of impaired men dutifully stood up when the organ got loud fully expecting to launch into “Praise God from whom all blessing flow.”

I remember that two of the impaired men were twins. The were rather tall and both of them were blind. Many of these men had jobs and were relatively self sufficient. I remember that one of the twins was named Teddy and he played the harmonica.

I noticed that there were a quiet set of pipes that invariably seemed to stick and not release properly. This only occurred on the Doxology. I mentioned this to the pastor once and he said, “O, that’s probably Teddy. He plays harmonica along with the doxology from his pew.”

I got to know Teddy after that. I convinced him one Sunday to join me at the offertory and play a version of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” with me on guitar.

At the time this was a pretty radical step for this still uptight downtown Detroit church.

Teddy and I sat next to the minister who was appropriately seated in the center of the platform and gently played.

As I say it’s a fond memory and colors my thinking about the song.

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Healthy Recipe: Green Chile Corn Tamales: Organic Gardening

Eileen thought this sounded good. Me too. However I’m not sure any recipe calling for a pound of butter can lay claim to “healthy.”

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MusicReader – AirTurn, Inc.

I entered a drawing for an Ipad yesterday. Second prize was an Airturn Music reader. I hadn’t seen one of these before. Cool. Except you have to have a fairly large laptop for it to work. My netbook is too small.

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Elliot Handler, Co-Founder Of Mattel Toys, Dies at 95 – NYTimes.com

Rev. Mary M. Simpson, 85, Dies – Pioneer in Episcopal Clergy – NYTimes.com

Two very interesting obits.

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Politicians keep marking time until a fiscal crisis.

The Republican Party Can’t Say Yes – NYTimes.com

Remarks by the President | The White House

No new deal after White House meeting on debt limit – Political Hotsheet – CBS News

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The Great Evil – NYTimes.com

Charles Blow explains why the current political climate is like the movie, “The Fifth Element.”

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From Budget Cuts to Dirty Bombs – NYTimes.com

“This is the second time in six months that lawmakers have voted to cut funding for programs to prevent nuclear terrorism.”

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My final three hours of ballet accompaniment took place in an un-airconditioned studio.  It rained most of the morning yesterday, so the temperatures were a less brutal. Still it was very hot. The students were tired both mentally and physically. In each of the two classes, the teachers had their work cut out for them.

I came home much more tired than I had anticipated.  I fell asleep briefly reading under the fan. Then I deposited the check from the ballet people now that I had earned it, practiced organ and did grocery shopping. Eileen came home and we drove to Saugatuck for a relaxing evening of chatting with some new friends acquaintances.

Eileen works as a volunteer Master Gardener at the Farmers Market today and has already left. I am planning to go purchase some local produce then Eileen and I are meeting in air conditioned restaurant for lunch.

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Lawyers rush to cite Henry v. Dow | Michigan Messenger

Businesses are benefiting from this recent Supreme Court ruling. In this case the business is Dow Chemical company. The denied class action is regarding the deadly mess they have of our beautiful Michigan environment.

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CONVERSABLE ECONOMIST: The Supply of Science Ph.D.’s

I find it kind of sad and funny that this article is about how higher ed isn’t keeping up with technology. It points to an article in Nature about it which of course is pay only to view. This is part of the problem with so called educated people and their weird attitude toward information and technology. As long as we understand our lives as one of consuming and content of living as commodity, we are going to miss much of what makes life interesting and worthwhile.

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Hello, Adjunct, Meet Prof. Cozy

This point of this  book review of The Faculty Lounges and Other Reasons Why You Won’t get the College Education You Paid For seemed so obvious to me that at first I didn’t bother to read it.

Incompetent and ill informed professors seem to be very prevalent. Adjuncts are doing most of the teaching in the USA for much less money.  I have felt for decades that the education system in the US is broken and not working.  This is both as a student myself and a parent of students.

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I had a full day of playing yesterday. Four and half hours of ballet and two hours of jazz. By the end of day I was pretty tired.

After ballet, I came home and made myself a smoothie using frozen blueberries, raspberries and mango with lime sherbet.

I rested for a half hour and then began experimenting with microphones for the evening gig.

It turns out that one of the mics my friend Ray Hinkle gave me is supposedly better for vocals than the others.

My song, “Moneyland,” was on the set list last night. The Barefoot Jazz people asked me to sing it, so I had to think a bit about how I was going to mike my voice.

This also entailed hauling this little puppy to the gig:

It’s Fender Powerstage 100 monitor I bought a while back.  The user manual says it weighs 45 pounds. It felt like a hundred to me.

In class yesterday, I worked with three ballet teachers I have never worked with before. It is fascinating how diverse the approaches of different teachers are for the same ends. I was quite moved by the first teacher’s philosophical approach. All three were brilliant. In my last class of the day, the teacher was very removed from his teaching. He began seated and gave pretty subtle instructions and corrections. He barely looked at me. He did smile and perfunctorily comment, “very nice.” At one point he told me that my tempos were “nice” and that tempos had been a problem with him and other accompanists.

I think that my abilities as a ballet accompanist have improved from working in the Hope college ballet department.  I also think it’s a good thing because in several situations I have been in this year, I would have been in over my head with my previous abilities. As it was I acquitted myself to my own satisfaction.

I also did this with the Jazz gig last night. I think my Jazz chops are improving a bit. I “comp” better. That means using the keyboard as a third of the rhythmic section of piano, bass, drums and sort of doing little rhythmic riffs to keep the music going.

So today I have my last two ballet classes with the Cecchetti ballet camp. Then I can cash the check they have already given me. I’m planning to grocery shop in the afternoon so I can do some resting on Saturday. In the evening we are meeting friends in Saugatuck for a meal.

I had a surprisingly fun 2 and half hour rehearsal last night with the Barefoot Jazz people. Even after a long day of rehearsals and meetings, I left tired but refreshed. We added another sax and a flugelhorn player.

So I guess it was the Barefoot Jazz Sextet.

The three horns and the added people changed the energy quite a bit. The whole evening was a bit more playful. I especially enjoyed the spontaneity and imagination I heard in some of the music. Hopefully tonight’s street gig will have some of this.

Came and home found that Spotify had finally sent me an email with a link for a free membership. I don’t think this a specific link for just me so help yourself to the link. My understanding is that this music service has several levels of membership including a general free one.

Spotify has been running in Europe for awhile. It has just recently expanded to the USA. It provides access to many specific tunes which you can call up online.  I immediately checked to see if it had classical tunes. It does. Very cool.

The difference between the free and paid is that the free versions has ads. I think that there is also the possibility of downloading a few tunes a month. But the idea is that you access it and listen to stuff online. If this service is as promised, I will probably subscribe to it.

This blogger thinks it sucks for classical music. He is probably right.  It’s not designed for literate classical music fans. That’s for sure. But I was glad that it has any classical at all.

It went into my hard drive and copied my playlists from Windows Media. Normally this pisses me off, when software reaches into my stuff. But in this case, I have been trying to shed Windows Media for quite a while. The problem is that I have some playlists in it that I use quite a bit. This way I can stop using it all together, I think. Very cool.

Having my old playlists automatically available also adds to Spotify’s value, classical music wise, since I have many of the recordings I want to listen to already sitting on my hard drive. I’m not sure how this will work when I access Spotify from other computers (and maybe someday phones or pads). But I’m wondering how long the copyright police of the RIAA (and now AT&T and Comcast) will allow this service to function in the USA anyway.

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Open-Access Advocate Arrested for Huge Download – NYTimes.com

Speaking of keeping people from information and ideas, Aaron Schwarts downloaded all or most of the articles at Jstor in what looks a protest move. I am sympathetic to this man’s ideas. Just yesterday I was trying to look up something quickly online and hit Jstor’s firewall against non-subscribers (read non college profs & students because they are ones whose colleges and universities pay Jstor for access).

I actually have some access, but was in a hurry and just thought my usual “fuckit” and went on.

It’s hard to believe that the keeps of knowledge really want to share it when they set up so many barriers.

I was looking up the Proust reference in yesterday’s blog. If the knowledge police have their way, I figure in fifty or so years no one will be reading or thinking about Proust anyway. Silly people.

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“Our” Troops vs. Our Eco-System | The Fair Share of the Common Heritage

This is a bit of a left wing rant and thought I am definitely to the left of most breathing Americans, I’m uncomfortable with how it sort of “blames the victim” by holding people who serve in the military for our collective societal guilt and stupidity.

But I did find this succinct synopsis helpful. Did you know that

• 80% of the world’s forests are gone?
• 90% of the large fish in the ocean are gone?
• 80% of the planet’s rivers can no longer sustain sustain life?
• 200,000 acres of rain forest are destroyed each day?
• 200 animal and plant species go extinct every 24 hours?

Yikes and yet again Yikes!

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This is the painting “Contemplation” by Kramskoy. I was reading in Brothers Karamazov yesterday. The narrator mentioned this painting describing the mysterious young servant, Smerdyakof, who is possibly  a half brother to the other Karamazov brothers:

“A physiognomist, studying him, would have said that his face showed neither thought nor reflection, but just some sort of contemplation.”

I love the fact that when I read about a painting in a novel or non-fiction book I can immediately get an idea of what it looks like by searching online. I did this quite a bit the last time I was reading Proust. He often compares his characters to certain people in certain paintings. In fact he usually does this via Swann himself.

Someone in Proust (I thought it was Swann but I could be wrong, it could be the narrator) describes one of the main characters, Odette, as resembling Botticelli’s Zipporah:

It’s turning into a busy week for me. By the end of the week I will have earned over $400 playing ballet accompaniments. I have an impending prop tax bill. Since the house is paid for, this is really the only bill for housing (besides the usual utilities). Unfortunately, it’s not monthly but is twice a year and is a considerable sum for our modest income ($1200?).

I am planning to give my son a ring in California this morning. He has told me about when he leaves for his morning commute and I have figured out the time difference. Hopefully we can chat a bit while he drives (he has to use a hands free phone dealy since talking on the phone while driving is actually illegal in California….. I still saw many people doing this while I was out there).

After that I meet with my boss. Then 2 ballet class. Then I have to prepare the scores for tonight’s rehearsal with the Barefoot Jazz Quartet.

So it’s pretty much back to the grind for jupe.

I chose two pretty cool organ pieces for Sunday yesterday. Both are based on the german chorale, Wer nur den lieben, or If thou but suffer God to guide thee. This is the closing hymn I suggested for Sunday. I have always admired this tune.

I seem to be rehearsing and thinking about Bach’s 2 part invention, sinfonias and fugues from the WTC a lot. I have been working on the C major versions of these and plan to move on to other keys. Also rehearsing other inventions and sinfonias. I worked a bit on Mendelssohn’s first organ sonata, first movement, when I was at the bench yesterday.

Returning to the Bach pieces is a delight. Each time I learn or re-learn a piece by Bach I see deeper into the meaning. The melodies sing to me. The motivic relationships seem more and more elegant as I age.

I have been losing interest in Jazz. I think some of this has to be the fact that my little Jazz ensemble is not near the pleasure I thought it would be. In addition, I find that the way we are doing Jazz is pretty much theme and variation in form with the themes being melodies that are about 30 or 40 measures long. I like variations, but it’s just one way to make music.

Bach’s ideas are so much more varied than Jazz to me.

Anyway I plan to prepare, go and play and do my best even though I am the Holland Hack. heh.

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Counting Calories? Your Weight Loss Plan may be Outdated by Jane Brody

Choose Foods to Shed the Pounds by Jane Brody

I have been reading Brody for years and own cookbooks and nutrition books by her.

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Software Designer Reports Error in Casey Anthony Trial – NYTimes.com

Looks like another case of prosecutor misconduct, even though they lost.

“Mr. Bradley’s findings were not presented to the jury and the record was never corrected, he said. Prosecutors are required to reveal all information that is exculpatory to the defense.”

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The Road Not Taken – NYTimes.com

Brooks continues to critique his own party.

Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform has been instrumental in every recent G.O.P. setback. He was a Newt Gingrich strategist in the 1990s, a major Jack Abramoff companion in the 2000s and he enforced the no-compromise orthodoxy that binds the party today.

Norquist is the Zelig of Republican catastrophe. His method is always the same. He enforces rigid ultimatums that make governance, or even thinking, impossible.

Brooks cites Norquist as an example of a Republican “Beltway Bandit.” I hate to beat up on a party I disagree with so much, but I have been following Norquist for years and have thought that his ideas have damaged the country. But I believe in government as important societal organizing principle. Not something to take into the bathroom and drown in the bathtub (Norquist’s image).

There’s more stuff in the article but you can read it for yourself if you wish.

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Can a Playground Be Too Safe? – NYTimes.com

Some sensible sounding conclusions from recent studies.

“Paradoxically,” the psychologists write, “we posit that our fear of children being harmed by mostly harmless injuries may result in more fearful children and increased levels of psychopathology.”

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David Sedaris: Chicken toenails, anyone? | Eating in China | Life and style | The Guardian

Bookmarked to possibly read.

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Eileen video-taped me playing some piano pieces yesterday after I got back from a morning of accompanying ballet class for Cecchetti. These people are always so last minute with me. I expected a phone message on Sunday night to tell me where and when I was to play on Monday. Instead were two confused panicked messages asking me to call. Sheesh.

I did manage to find out where and when to be and was there.  I do need the money and I don’t really mind the work. I was surprised that several of the young (7th graders?) dancers complimented me on my piano playing. I don’t seem to impress people quite as much as I used to judging by how often people comment to me. I think this might be as much about the way people are these days as the fact that I’m sort of an old fart looking guy.

While I was visiting in California I played around with music and two of my grandkids. Nicholas is studying piano. I showed him the concept of major and minor chords. Then I played several Bach pieces for him, both to expose him to Bach and to show him how texture works in music.

I think the C major 2 part invention is a quintessential example of two part texture. I was exposed to the inventions by my cousin, Jerry, when I was 12 or 13. He played a recording of them for me while I was visiting in W. Virginia. I can still remember his enthusiasm and my amazement at the music.

I showed my grand-daughter, Savannah, the “harp song” while visiting. This is an easy playful way to show kids arpeggios.  We played around a little bit with chopsticks so I thought I would record that as well.

My 3 year old grand-daughter, Catherine, ran away when I invited her to do music with me. I explained to Savannah that with kids that small you can play a game of “high and low.” Ask them to stand up when you play a high note and then sit down with a low one.

I also showed Nicholas the Bach F major invention.

and the Eb major 3 part sinfonia

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Our Broken Escalator – NYTimes.com

As Derek Bok, the former Harvard president, once observed, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

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Ethnic Music Tests Limits in China – NYTimes.com

Many interesting musicians mentioned in this article. Would love to hear them. Some googling is in order, no doubt.

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Books and Other Fetish Objects – NYTimes.com

There is a funny pun in this article that I wonder how many people noticed:

“…[H]istorians know the feeling well [of handling a book in person] — the exhilaration that comes from handling the venerable original. It’s a contact high.”

“Contact high” also means getting a buzz while in a room full of pot smokers without actually smoking yourself. The Bill Clinton high, if you will.

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Prison Hunger Strikes – Barbarous Confinement – NYTimes.com

This is a heart breaking injustice of man to man.

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Letting Bankers Walk – NYTimes.com

Good questions about how the rich and powerful get off easy.

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I read the first 5 chapters of The Hobbit last night.  When we offered to buy each of our grandchildren a book or two at the bookstore (an annual California event for us), my grandson chose this title. I admit I was surprised. I remember recommending this book to my brother when he was around 11 years old (my grandson’s age).  My brother later seemed to feel the book was not a good recommendation for someone his age. (* see the comments for a correction about this)

However, my grandson seems highly motivated. I watched him turn immediately to the back and read an excerpt from The Lord of the Rings. Also we came home and that evening he put on the DVD of one of the movies.

I know I have read The Hobbit at least once before and probably all of The Lord of the Rings. But I’ll probably re-read them now that a family member is reading them.

On the last plane ride of our journey I noticed someone in front of me was reading poetry in manuscript. He was probably a teacher. But it got me thinking how few people I talk to about poetry and music even though they are very important parts of my own life.

This kind of thinking inevitably leads to examining my life of isolation from people who have stuff in common with me like poetry and music. There are of course, poets and musicians, in this area. At least I assume there are poets, not having met many. The musicians seem to think I’m not all that good or worthy of discussing music with, much less playing it with. This is one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to play with the Barefoot Jazz Quartet this year.

But still, my own idea of what makes good music is a bit different from the people in this group. I’m not sure about how they see my work and abilities. But no matter. I enjoy playing even when I’m not sure how well I’m being listened to or understood.

I have made peace with the fact that musicians and listeners in this area probably think of me as a musical hack. At the least, I am invisible to them. So be it. I still have my music and my poetry. I have companions in music and they are superb: Bach, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Bartok, Zappa, Prokofiev, and many others.

“When you come to university you’re crammed together with a couple of thousand people who are around your aged and who share a bunch of stuff in common with you, and most, important, are at that very same moment also looking for new friends.”

This quote from The Chairs are Where the People Go by Sheila Heti and Misha Glouberman describes my experiences of finding friends earlier in my adult life.

“But adult life isn’t like that. You may move to a new city, maybe for a job that doesn’t easily put you into contact with a lot of people with whom you have much in common. So what that means is that it’s work, and maybe for the first time in your life you have to actually take making friends on as a project. I knew so many people around that stage of life who suddenly found themselves isolated and couldn’t understand why, and had never thought of making friends as something they had to bring conscious effort to.”

Unfortunately, this took me so long to figure out here in Holland that I probably have missed the boat over and over in this department.

There have been some interesting situation-specific aspects of my life as a musician in Holland. I did examine the local college music department in 1987 when I arrived. I found a department typically at each other’s throats and with very uneven quality so I pulled back a bit from that.  I was involved with the Roman Catholic diocese here and made some colleague type friends most of whom I no longer see.

I was involved with local American Guild of Organists until the new organ teacher at Hope arrived. I, myself, nominated him as Dean realizing that although he was the logical choice, he and I had a history of conflict in Detroit. Ever since I have been isolated from the classical pipe organ community.

So now my musical companions are largely dead ones.  And as a matter of course my abilities and work are often under-estimated or unnoticed here in Holland. Fortunately, this feels less and less important to me.

What is important is my daily contact with wonderful music as I sit and hone my skills at the piano and pipe organ.  And I  have a new found joy and interest in leading congregational singing.

More from Glouberman:

Chapter 13. Social Music

“Over the past hundred years or so, music has become a much less social experience for a lot of people. Music used to be something you did, something you made with the people around you. Now, for many, people, it’s something made by skilled professionals you have never met, that you listen to as a largely passive audience often at a substantial spatial and temporal distance from the performer.”

later in the chapter, Glouberman describes an event he organizes:

“You get a roomful of people and you ask them to close their eyes and make and hold a vowel sound together. And you know what? It sounds amazing! I mean, it’s the most boring, unmusical sound you can imagine—-a couple of dozen people holding an unpitched drone. But when you’re in it, when you are doing it with people, it can be very beautiful and very interesting.”

This chapter reminded me a lot of congregational singing considered as a remnant of “social music.” Probably part of why I continue to enjoy it.

I didn’t blog yesterday because I was traveling home from California. We had good flights.

Eileen and I both returned pretty exhausted from our “vacation.” Heh. But, all is well. I do not have to play church today and that seems very wise. I rested well last night, but it’s good to have a day before I have to work.

Tomorrow, I begin playing the Cecchetti Ballet camp here in Holland. I haven’t listened to phone messages yet, but I’m expecting a phone message with instructions on when my first class is scheduled and also where it is to be held.

Vacation is often a time to do some pondering and gain some perspective.

I did this last week. It seems to me as I approach my sixtieth birthday, that I have shed a bit of the habit of continually doubting myself in an effort to see issues from all sides. This is either maturing or the influence of my wise wife.

Probably a bit of both. At any rate, it is much easier for me to dampen the voices of unreasonable doubt with common sense than it used to be.

I am hoping to retain the mild sense of balance and perspective that can come from some time away. I could probably use another week, but that’s probably always the case.

Several of the books I have been reading over vacation have helped guide my ponderings.

The musings and interesting perspective Misha Glouberman provides in his co-authored Chairs are Where the People Go: how to live, work, and play in the city continue to echo in my head even though I haven’t finished the book yet.

“At a certain level, virtuosity has only one thing to say, and that is: Look at how good I am.”

Misha Glouberman as told to Sheila Heti (2011). The Chairs Are Where the People Go: How to Live, Work, and Play in the City (p. 43). Faber & Faber. Kindle Edition.

I’m glad he qualifies his statements with phrases like “at a certain level.” Skill and virtuosity is something that musicians never quit seeking. But when it becomes the ends rather than the means I find my own interest waning.

Glouber says this and I have found this to be my experience as an improviser:

“So what is true improv? I guess the biggest thing is that it’s actually about letting yourself be surprised and letting yourself be off-balance.

In my life long love of music, I have found this to be true. From the beginnings of sitting down alone at the keyboard and figuring out sounds to becoming a seasoned more mature improviser, I have always been more interested in discovery and surprise than anything else.

I have found as a composer, I sometimes dry up. But as an improviser, so far, every time I have put myself in the presence of an instrument, I seem to find something to say. And it often if not usually is a moment of surprise and loss of individuality and control. I love this.

I finished reading Josephine Tey’s murder mystery, The Man in the Queue, somewhere in the sky between Houston and Grand Rapids.

I associate Josephine Tey with the late great Alec Wyton, Episcopalian musician extraordinaire. He died recently with Alzheimers. I was the one lucky enough to escort him back and forth from a workshop once in Detroit. He was a gracious and interesting conversationalist. Our talk drifted to reading and murder mysteries. He mentioned Josephine Tey as a special love of his.

The story in this book takes place largely in London. The murder is in a line for a  play on the West End. I have been to many places mentioned in the book. This made an added pleasure as I read it.

I also have been reading and benefiting from these two:

I know I’m repeating myself. But I am thinking about my musings during vacation.

I read the first 3 chapters of my son’s copy of the Doris Kearns Goodwin. I will definitely get hold of a copy and continue reading about Lincoln and the men who were the “Team of Rivals.” Goodwin tells a fascinating historical story and I was getting a lot out of it.

I am well into Lakoff’s exposition of ideas and theory that integrate brain science insights into ethics and politics. His ideas are clear and engaging and I plan to finish reading it.

I found that Uncle Tom’s Cabin sometimes was a bit victorian for me. At points Stowe’s prose and plot just about rises to sounding a bit like Dickens but not always. It’s still on my list, however, and I would like to read more in it.

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The Good Short Life With A.L.S. – NYTimes.com

If you missed this, I recommend clicking the link and reading it. Dudley Clendenin, the author of the article,  is dying. But as he faces his own death, he finds a new meaning in living. Very instructive and moving.

David Brooks commented on this article and then also linked 3 more I plan to read:

Thinking about aging

L’Chaim and its limits Why not immortality

Born Toward Dying | First Things

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ArtsBeat Blog: A Word With Kent Tritle

I have been following Kent Tritle’s career as a church musician from afar for years. I admired his ease with various musical styles as he headed up the program at St. Ignatius Loyola, New York.

Now he has gone to the Cathederal of St. John the Divine, (Alec Wyton’s old gig).

I found out from this article that he (like myself) was a non-Catholic serving in the Catholic world. He also mentions that he thought being gay and partnered was more congruent with the Episcopal church than the Catholics (carefully pointing out that his previous employers had no problem with it, even if the official stance of the church was against it).

Yay! It looks like he is a very good choice for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Here’s where I first read about it:

Sacred Musical Chairs: Tritle Leaving St. Ignatius Loyola for St. John the Divine
By DANIEL J. WAKIN

Today is the last day of my visit to California.

I have enjoyed seeing my grandkids quite a bit. Getting away from my little town has helped me gain a small bit of perspective.  I have had time to read, reflect and relax. But I am looking forward to the return trip with Eileen.

I seem to be reading sad poetry online this morning.

Some of the ones I like:

Horse Horse Hyphen Hyphen?
BY MARILYN CHIN
I hate, I love, I don’t know how
I’m biracial, I’m torn in two

Tonight, he will lock me in fear
In the metal detector of love

Rapeflowers, rapeseeds, rapiers
A soldier’s wry offerings

more

MyKillAdoreHer
BY PAUL MARTINEZ POMPA
That Lucia broke the machine twice in one week was evidence enough. He also offered this—she’s no longer automatic, her stitches are crooked and once another seamstress found Lucia’s “lost” sewing patterns in the trash. The security guard half listened as Lucia gathered her things. Then the manager turned directly to her—what is it with you? We give you work, put money in your pocket. She put on her best disappointed face as they escorted her past rows of itchy throats, bowed heads, the refrain of needle through fabric.

link

“Weep You No More, Sad Fountains”
BY ANONYMOUS

Weep you no more, sad fountains;
What need you flow so fast?
Look how the snowy mountains
Heaven’s sun doth gently waste.
more

This is all of this poem:

Let me not thirst with this Hock at my Lip
BY EMILY DICKINSON

Let me not thirst with this Hock at my Lip,
Nor beg, with domains in my pocket—
link

“Hope” is the thing with feathers
BY EMILY DICKINSON
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

more

Gracious Living ‘Tara’ ?
BY TOM RAWORTH
lonely as four cherries on a tree
at night, new moon, wet roads
a moth or a snowflake
whipping past glass

more

Admittedly sad poetry. But these poems seem to fit my mood.

Here’s a bit more from Chairs are Where the People Go

To learn to play charades, you have to learn to enjoy yourself while trying to communicate with people who don’t understand you and don’t know what you know.

I’m pretty sure Glouberman and his Boswell, Heti, clearly see Charades as not only a fun activity in and of itself, but also an analogy to effective human communication.

The chapter on Charades is full of observations on communication. I quite like it.
more from this chapter:

“When you’re acting out a clue for another person, it’s really important to remember that the other person does not know what you’re acting out. This seems obvious, but a lot of the time, people will act out a charade in a way which would make perfect sense if you knew what the title was, but from which the title would be completely impossible to guess if you didn’t know it. This seems like a trivial point, but it’s important. It means that, if at all possible, you shouldn’t get angry at the other person for not knowing what it is you’re trying to act out.”

and

“[E]veryone involved is [in]… dialogue. That is, it’s your job to respond to each other. So, as the guesser, throw lots of guesses at the person acting out the clue, because this allows them to change what they are doing, or lets you know if you’re on the right or wrong track.”

This is actually a pretty clear description of “reflective listening.”

Finally

“Playing charades is specifically about the difficulty of communication. Without the difficulty, there is no game. With practice you could get better at communicating through the obstacles that charades presents you, but that’s not really the point. It’s a game, so the point is not the elimination of obstacles—it’s enjoying yourself.”

This has been a learning vacation for me. I garnered some insights and food for thought not only from Glouberman, but also Doris Kearns Goodwin and Charles Lakoff.

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Google+ Improves on Facebook
By DAVID POGUE
Published: July 13, 2011

I have signed up for Google+ and Pogue points out some salient advantages to it. I will watch to see if many of the people I care about migrate to using it. So far it’s pretty sporadic.

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New Service Offers Music in Quantity, Not by Song
By BEN SISARIO
Published: July 13, 2011

I also emailed a request to use this service for free. (link) I hope they have classical music as well as popular. I could see subscribing to this service if it’s selection is wide enough for my tastes.

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The Republican Case for Compromise
By AL HOFFMAN Jr.
Published: July 13, 2011

Compromise keeps looking like the only way forward for the government. But it also keeps looking like a very long shot.

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Josef Suk, Czech Violinist, Dies at 81
By ALLAN KOZINN
Published: July 8, 2011

I admire this man’s playing.

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I was thoroughly charmed by this article I found on line yesterday:

Paris Review – Harvard and Class, Misha Glouberman

I liked how the author goes to Harvard expecting it to be a place with interesting intelligent people then remembers that on Gilligan’s Island it’s Mister Howell that went to Harvard not the Professor.

I liked the article so much I downloaded a book by Glouberman which seems to have been released on Tuesday.

The Chairs are Where the People Go: How to Live, Work and Play in the City.

You’ll notice it’s co-written by Sheila Heti.  The article is actually an excerpt from this book which she also co-wrote.

Heti confesses she has always liked the way Glouberman speaks. She tried to write a book about him but decided that it would be better to simply let him talk and write that down. The result is this book.

Here’s a sample.

“I went to the gym pretty regularly for a long time, and it always felt so crazy to me. The gym is like the meeting point of all these different things that are emblematic of our time. It looks like the shopping mall and the factory, and it’s where our crazy desire to exert ourselves and work hard meets our crazy desire to be young forever, along with our crazy confusion about our appetites, and our imagining that we can subject everything to rational, super-mechanistic processes. Fifty years from now, if you wanted to pick something that encapsulates the old days of the early twenty-first century, you’d show the gym. “

The chapters so far are short. It’s an excellent choice for summer reading for me.

Yesterday I sat down and showed my grandson, Nicholas, all the major and minor triads on the piano. I did this by asking him to find them by ear. This is something I do with beginners in an effort to get them thinking and exploring the keyboard.

I read an apocryphal story about Handel in which he is supposed to have taught himself a great deal while sitting at a broken clavichord or harpsichord in an attic. I imagine him figuring out the chords and how music works by just sitting at the keyboard. I did a lot of this as a kid myself, although I’m obviously no Handel.

I encourage people to use their ears when they are doing this kind of exploring. It seemed to work with Nicholas yesterday.

I also showed my grand-daughter, Savannah, how to identify the notes on the keyboard by name. “Play all the two black key groups. Play all the three black key groups. See the two black key group?  They are like a hot dog bun and the white key in the middle is the hot dog. It’s a D. Play all the Ds.”

And so on. I did the same thing with Nicholas when he was younger.

This sort of thing is not necessarily something kids remember or retain but it’s fun. And it situates learning squarely where I think it belongs: in play.

It’s my understanding that humans (and chimps and apes and monkeys) learn by playing.

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The Washington Monthly – The Magazine – The Lions of Lagos, the Rotarians of Rawalpindi

That’s “Lions” like “Rotarians.”

While Americans abandon the idea of community, others in the world are reaching for it.

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Theodore Roszak, ’60s Expert, Dies at 77 – NYTimes.com

I never became a hippie until I was well into my forties. By this I mean that was when younger people began calling me one. This was not how people talked then. At least not the people I knew. Living through the 60s was so different than the current popular image of it. Roszak definitely articulated many of the interesting aspects of being alive (in general) with his books. I don’t think of him as a good writer particularly. But still I read him.

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Counties Propose Secession in the Name of South California – NYTimes.com

Jeff Stone, one of the guys behind this idea is the head of the county agency where my son works in the Mental Health services.

Hard to say what all of this is about. Americans thrive on anger these days.

“The politics of victimhood are very powerful,” said Shaun Bowler, a political science professor at the University of California, Riverside. Mr. Stone’s effort taps into an angry undercurrent among many conservatives in the eastern part of the state. “People have been mad for a long time. They seem to have a sense that if they keep shouting louder that they are right that they will convince the rest of the state that they are right.”

…

A state government spokesperson, Gil Duran, pointed out “that the area Mr. Stone wants to peel off collects more money from the state than it generates.”

This is the area I’m staying right now. Last night my daughter-in-law, Cynthia, took the scenic route home from supper. It was just twilight. The waning light was diffused gently on the surrounding mountains while we descended into the valley where they live. The full moon shone on the opposite side of the sky. When I visit here, I always think it is a breath-takingly beautiful area.

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Why Taxes Will Rise in the End – David Leonhardt – NYTimes.com

A desire to return to the good old days “depends on a misunderstanding of the budget. It imagines a budget in which the United States indefinitely has the world’s highest medical costs, its largest military, an aging population and, nonetheless, taxes that are among the world’s lowest. Economists have a name for that combination: a free lunch.”

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Creative License: how the hell did sampling get so screwed up and what the hell do we do about it? – Boing Boing

By Cory Doctorow, one of my heroes.

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A Pathway Out of the Debt Crisis – NYTimes.com

“The House speaker, John Boehner, said Tuesday that the debt ceiling was the president’s problem, as if Mr. Obama alone had cut taxes, started wars, expanded Medicare and bailed out Wall Street. Republicans are no less complicit in running up the nation’s borrowing; they simply do not want to pay the bills now that they have come due.”

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Monkeys Don’t Do Fair Use; News Agency Tells Techdirt To Remove Photos

I found this story quite funny. Also some of the comments are very witty.

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Presidential Historian and Colleague Arrested in Theft of Documents in Maryland By SABRINA TAVERNISE

This is either funny or sad, can’t figure out which.

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Visa Delays Put Iraqis Who Aided U.S. in Fear by Tim Arango

I’m against war generally. But I think it’s wrong to abandon people who helped us while we were there. Reminds me of the situation of South Vietnamese people I have known. Sometimes siding with the U.S. can be bad for your health especially when they won’t evacuate you from the country where you have helped them.

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Boston Review — John R. Bowen: Europeans Against Multiculturalism

Very clear discussion of European challenges in this area.

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Shelley in Egypt: How a British Poem Inspired the Arab Spring | Book Think | Big Think

This article led me to read Shelley’s “The Masque of Anarchy” in it’s entirety. The poem was more compelling to me than the article.  The article calls this poem “stale,” “predictable,” and “earnestly polemical.” However, I still enjoy reading historical poetry like this. In this case, it made me wonder about the basic ideas Shelley was clothing in allegorical garb like Murder and Fraud. I especially like that Hypocrisy was “clothed with the Bible, as with light, and the shadows of the night.”

Anyway, you can read the article and the poem and make your own conclusions.

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It’s a season of recall for Voters in Wisconsin by Monica Davey

I continue to marvel at instances where people insist on  language to serve their own ends:

“Mr. Tate predicted that Democrats would win back control of the Senate, even with what he called “the fake Democrats” (the Republicans, who encouraged those bids, prefer the term “protest candidates”) running in Tuesday’s races.” from Monica Davey’s article linked above

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Dissent Magazine – Online Features – Blaming Women for the Infantilization of Men –

I have this bookmarked to maybe read.

I find when writers or commentators begin talking about gender roles, they lose me. I had to turn off NPR this morning because I couldn’t stand listening to descriptions of “gender” issues that were put forth as typical that strike me as so idiotic and superficial.

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Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth

According to the Writers Almanac Site, today was the day that Wordsworth began writing this poem. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Romantics. I also like today’s poem for the day, “Joy” by George Bilgere which ends nicely this way:

And this morning I woke up
feeling like a little French village
the Nazis suddenly decided to pull out of
after a particularly cruel occupation.

The baker has come back to his store
and everything smells like warm baguettes.
The children are playing in the schoolyard,
the piano bars along the river
have thrown open their doors.

And here you are, with coffee
and an open blouse, and two cool breasts
from the land of joy.

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I need to wrap this up. First a few links from Boing Boing I plan to check out:

Creative License: how the hell did sampling get so screwed up and what the hell do we do about it?
Cory Doctorow at 5:44 AM Friday, Jul 8, 2011

Woman Faces Jail Time For Growing Veggies In Front Yard
By Ben Popken on July 11, 2011 12:00 PM

NuPenny Store in Wichita is never open
Mark Frauenfelder at 4:05 PM Tuesday, Jul 12, 2011

Animated GIFs Triumphant

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And a couple of links about the place I’m visiting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona,_California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_Temescal_(Serrano)

Temescal is a local place name that you see on road signs. It is Spanish for “Sweat bath or lodge.”

On the road signs “canyon” is often abbreviated to “cyn” which I think looks vaguely Welch.

Links from vacation reading:

What’s a metaphor for? by Carlin Romano

I thought the ending paragraph of this article was nice. I like asterisks and footnotes.

“Writing with or about metaphors is not dancing with the stars, but dancing with asterisks—pointers to the figurative understructure of our supposedly literal language. The more we stay sensitive to that, the better we dance. As the Chinese say, “It’s hard to dismount from a tiger,” and every metaphor starts out as a wild beast, waiting to be tamed by usage.

Metaphor is a huge topic. As someone interested in poetry and “meaning making” in general  the concept is one I continue to think and learn about. The online comments which follow this article were very interesting to me. They actually made me want to give the book being reviewed,I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way We See the World by James Geary, a second look.

My daughter “invited” me to connect with Google+ yesterday.

This is the first article I cross posted from Facebook (and now my blog):

Why We Need the New News Environment to be Chaotic « Clay Shirky

I found this article helpful. Shirky explains his understanding of how newspapers and journalism work(ed) and how the old ways fail to operate in the new environment.

He concludes that “markets supply less news than democracy demands.” This makes sense to me. “But even in their worst days, newspapers supported the minority of journalists reporting actual news, for the minority of citizens who cared. In return, the people who followed sports or celebrities, or clipped recipes and coupons, got to live in a town where the City Council was marginally less likely to be corrupt.”

He doesn’t see a clear solution. Points toward subsidization by foundations, non-profit situations…. mentions that while some Europeans do subsidize media with public dollars this really doesn’t fly in the good old U.S. of A.

He also startled me with this reminder: “Someone who turns 19 this year will have not one adult memory of the 20th century…” Good to remember.

Rethinking Addiction’s Roots, and Its Treatment – NYTimes.com

This article helped me do some re-thinking myself. First of all, it hadn’t occurred to me how some medical professionals would dismiss addiction as a social construct and not be open to its physical aspects.  Also comparing addiction to diseases like asthma, hypertension and diabetes is helpful when thinking about the idea that addicts are never “cured,” but learn to live with their condition.

After decades of hard-fought progress, black economic gains were reversed in Great Recession – The Washington Post

The struggle continues.

Underpaid Judges? – NYTimes.com

And speaking of morality, this letter writer makes a point that occurs to me often about service to the public (this applies to judges but also politicians, governmental workers, all citizens really), namely whatever happened to the importance of the public good?

Facundo Cabral, Argentine Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 74 – NYTimes.com

I find obituaries can tell some very enlightening and wonderful stories. I didn’t know this guy’s work (I listened to his song, “No Soy de Aquí, ni Soy de Allá” (“I’m Not From Here, I’m Not From There” on Youtube with this link. If you do so, be aware that the first 4 minutes or so are him talking in Spanish about his ideas). But, I like what I read in his obit about his life.

“A bomb makes more noise than a caress, but for each bomb that destroys, there are millions of caresses that nourish life.”

Facundo Cabral

I continue to enjoy sitting by the pool and reading these books as well. Life is good.

I continue to be amazed by what is available online. I was organizing my bookmarks this morning …

and found that I have several links to complete versions of texts online:

In no particular order

books by John Donne

Ada by Vladmir Nabokov

British Library’s library of several manuscripts including ones by Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll and Mozart

I had to fuss about with this one, installing Adobe and Flash, but once I got it all up and running, this is quite the site. The Mozart manuscript includes audio versions of the excerpts in his hand.

Joyce’s Finnegans Wake sites:

Text with Gloss http://finwake.com/

Text with clickable notes http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/jjoyce/fw-3.htm

William Blake archive

A lovely hypertext version of Pound’s Canto LXXXI

A digest of new graphix/comics.

http://www.marktwainproject.org/

This is the state-of-the-art scholarship project on one of America’s greatest. Contains the complete recent version of his autobiography vol. 1

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/

This Australia university has a marvelous collection of ebooks.

I was poking around, organizing my book bookmarks because I found a lovely site of poetry by Delhi poet Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797 – 1869). Writing in a form that interests me (the ghazal), Ghalib represents a tradition of Urdu poetry that I am finding quite beautiful.

Here are some sites:

“No I wasn’t meant to be loved” (poem by Ghalib)

A desertful of roses (a scholarly fan site which seems to collect his work…. still figuring this one out)

I am well aware that few people are interested in these sorts of books and poems. But that doesn’t diminish their value to me. I love sitting in my son’s kitchen in California (or anywhere else I can get a wifi signal) and being able to access Joyce, Pound and Twain. wow.

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Action! Romance! Social Justice! – NYTimes.com

Kristoff lists off a bunch of social justice type novels for summer reading. I started Uncle Tom’s Cabin last night (one he recommends but was already on my summer reading list).

I love this quote:

“… temptations to hardheartedness which always overcome frail human nature when the prospect of sudden and rapid gain is weighed in the balance, with no heavier counterpoise than the interests of the helpless and unprotected.”

Stowe, Harriet Beecher (2006). Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Kindle Locations 120-122). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

“The prospect of sudden and rapid gain” outweighing “the interest of the helpless and unprotected.”

Same as it ever was.

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The Author of ‘Fear of Flying’ Detects a Backlash Against Sex. – NYTimes.com

Erica Jong has some wise, interesting observations on sex.

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Gen. Tso’s Default Chicken – NYTimes.com

America’s government plays “chicken” with its financial obligations. China holds the notes and watches with interest and influence.

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Instant Music Gratification – NYTimes.com

longing for the authenticity of the 90s… back when there was a little mystery in pop music for chrissake!

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The Unemployed Somehow Became Invisible – NYTimes.com

History repeats itself in the US. Ellison’s root metaphor of the invisible nature of those on the outside looking in still obtains.

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http://www.whatwasthere.com/

Website (and phone app) that connects US cities with historical pictures. There’s one for Grand Rapids, Michigan near where I live.

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I think everyone was a bit tired here after our Friday Disneyland marathon. My daughter-in-law had her foot x-rayed and tended to. She is okay and is allowing her foot to heal by elevating and resting it.

Most of the adults managed a nap yesterday, myself included. We spent some time in the pool. For my poolside reading I chose an actual book from my grandon’s bookshelves as opposed to my netbook.

Nicholas said he had not read this and I vaguely remember David being surprised when Nicholas transferred it from David’s book shelf to his own.

I have always been interested in this book and thought it would be  a good opportunity to read in it a bit. I like the idea that Lincoln was confident and intelligent enough to gather a staff which combines allies with his former opponents. It is clearly written.

Still reading and pondering Lakoff’s book on the political mind. I have been guilty of his charge of countering the mythology and morality of conservatives with rational thinking only.

But Lakoff is also helping me understand how I don’t only conceptualize in a narrow rational way.

I do see a coherent argument against the prevailing winds of anger and incivility and incoherence in conservative rhetoric. But my coherence also includes non-rational parts such as a strong emphasis on “do unto others as you would have them do unto you: and caring for others.

Lakoff might identify this as his idea of the moral basis of government: strong and responsible empathy.

I have resisted a full embrace of empathetic thinking since listening to Rabbi Friedman outline the dangers it can entail.

It is difficult to stay psychologically differentiated when deeply emotionally empathizing with another person.

Friedman used to point out that “empathy” is a relatively new word. I double checked that this morning and the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins (online version) confirmed that the word was “coined by physiologists in the early 20th century.”

Sympathy is an older word. It differs from “empathy” by removing the strong emotional identification. Instead it can be thought of as “understanding” of the other.

Sympathy originally comes into use in the 17th century with this kind of meaning.  The word, “pathetic,” sprang into use around the same time and gave birth to these words. Pathetic in this sense means ‘affecting the emotions,” literally “feeling” (Grk pathtikos, sensitive).

So:

Apathetic – without emotions

Sym (with) pathetic (feel) – to feel with another

Em (in) pathetic (feel) – to feel deeply into another’s emotions

Lakoff says “empathy”  is the moral  basis of progressive understanding of government and indeed the historic basis of democracy in the U.S. and now other countries. I can easily accept this use of the word.

He also suggests that conservatives operate more from the moral imperative of authority (from a higher power or cause).  Conservatives answer rational (old Enlightenment) thinking with moral authoritative ideas not counter-argument.

This is his whole argument. Contemporary progressive thinking fails to understand the modern necessity for using both the rational basis of understanding and the moral basis of one’s argument.

In fact Lakoff posits that the success of the conservatives in undermining the democratic basis of our country is their ability to define everything in terms of their own moral necessity, namely appealing to higher ideals while dismantling the original social contract of the United States and indeed the democratic fabric of our society.

The moral basis of progressive thought is empathy which has led to an understanding of government as protecting the public and empowering the public. The popular notions of privativization and free market are based on the profit motive. The role of government is not only to build and maintain the infrastructure of the country but to protect the public from the danger that privatization “may intervene and undermine” the moral mission of protecting our water, the safety of our food supply and so on.

This can be easily seen as a freedom issue. Government is to protect our freedoms as a society.

I can see I’m blathering on about this, but Lakoff comes up with two definitions that clarify my thinking. I will close with them and possibly comment more as I think about them.

Just before we left for Disneyland yesterday, my daughter-in-law slightly hurt her foot. By the time we were in and walking around she was limping. After some prevarication we finally rented a wheel chair for her.

This may seem extreme. Why not just go home and come back another day? One problem is that Walt’s little surreal piece of Americana is expensive. It’s about $100 per person to get in. Cynthia, my daughter-in-law, had managed to get a couple of complimentary tickets but we still dropped $400 just to walk in the door.

And the wheel chair seemed to alleviate Cynthia’s predicament temporarily. And of course Disneyland has provisions to allow parties visiting with a wheelchair person to not have to stand in line, so it actually allowed us to do more stuff.  I admit I was concerned when at the end of the long day we had to drop off the rented wheelchair and Cynthia alternately hopped and hitched a ride on David’s back for the long line to get on the bus to go back to the parking lot.

Hopefully today she will have a doctor look at her ankle.

In spite of this we managed to do an awful lot of Disneyland.

“It’s a small world after all”

Pirates of the Carribean

Star Tours

Haunted Mansion

The Little Mermaid

Peter Pan

Storybook Land

Mickey’s House

Redwood Creek Challenge

and ended it with the huge Fireworks at night complete with a live person dressed up as Tinkerbell and flying around in the explosions.

It was a long day for everyone.

I did manage to read a bit in this book yesterday:

I am finding Lakoff’s analysis surprisingly helpful and informative.

It particularly applies to my own understanding when it critiques the futility of trying to understand contemporary stuff solely with reason.

most of us have inherited a theory of mind dating back at least to the Enlightenment, namely, that reason is conscious, literal, logical, unemotional, disembodied, universal, and functions to serve our interests. This theory of human reason has been shown to be false in every particular, but it persists.

Lakoff, George (2008). The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics (p. 3). Penguin. Kindle Edition.

” [M]ost of us have inherited a theory of mind dating back at least to the Enlightenment… that reason is conscious, literal, logical, unemotional, disembodied, universal, and functions to serve our interests. This theory of human reason has been shown to be false in every particular, but it persists. ”      Lakoff, George (2008). The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics (p. 3). Penguin. Kindle Edition.

Nifty. Kindle for PC automatically puts the attribution when you copy and paste from one of its books.

Instead, Lakoff says reason by itself is not enough to understand contemporary U.S. culture. Emotion is also needed.

People with brain damage that makes them incapable of experiencing emotion or detecting it in others simply cannot function rationally. They cannot feel what decisions will make them—or anyone else—happy or unhappy, satisfied or anxious.

The big surprise for me is that Lakoff’s politics resemble my own. Since the Republican party adopted his ideas of “framing,” I thought that he was probably in service of the right wing agenda.

But quite the contrary. Using knowledge of how the brain and its emotional intelligence influences public rhetoric, Lakoff comments that

“.. [R]adical conservatives seek and have already begun to introduce: an authoritarian hierarchy based on vast concentrations and control of wealth; order based on fear, intimidation, and obedience; a broken government; no balance of power; priorities shifted from the public sector to the corporate and military sectors; responsibility shifted from society to the individual; control of elections through control of who votes and how the votes are counted; control of ideas through the media; and patriarchal family values projected upon religion, politics, and the market.”

He also cautions about reductive use of labels

“Please do not confuse labels with modes of thought. People who call themselves “conservatives” may use progressive modes of thought in certain issue areas. Conversely, people who call themselves “liberals” may think in a conservative mode in certain issue areas. Similarly, do not confuse party identifications with modes of thought. I am interested in pointing out modes of thought and their consequences, not in putting people in boxes by party affiliation.”

I’m quite enjoying this book. It’s helping me think about some things that I’ve been wondering a bit about for quite some time.

Visiting my son in california always means dealing with a three hour time change. This means waking even earlier than usual by the local time. Right now it’s about 5AM local time which means I have actually managed to sleep in about three hours, Michigan time.

Still the house is very quiet and dark. I have to pace myself because there is a Disneyland marathon planned for today which I am sure will tax my physical resources close to their limit. But of course I am enjoying seeing my family and will have a good time doing it.

But I managed to not get up earlier by finding a local radio station to lay in bed and listen to on my MP3 player. Listening to Ian Masters news show, “Background Briefing,” on KPFK, I had an insight about the current public American political discussion.

Or should I say Jefferson Cowie‘s comments on this show  helped me understand something about the confusing landscape of American politics.

I like how Cowie, a teacher at Cornell U, talked about the futility of the left throwing only rationality in the face of the overwhelming popularity of the narrative of the right.

The idea that facts are essential but not enough coupled with the idea that the impulses that drive the right are often healthy but misinformed and misguided helps me understand how Americans have been beguiled into politically supporting agendas that actually hurt their own self interests.

I particularly liked how Cowie gently corrected Masters typifying of Tea Partyers as “useful idiots.” Cowie pointed out that the impulses that are guiding people who see themselves in revolt are historically ones that have helped reform in the U.S.  It’s just that the power that needs revolting against is not so much the state as the corporations.

Part of the needed narrative on the left is that the state can be seen as a source of reform. Unfortunately as Cowie put it “we don’t have a story.”

Cowie admitted to being a follower of George Lakhoff. But he emphasized Lakhoff’s ideas of the power of mythology and narrative.I have found Lakhoff’s ideas about “framing” to be apt but troubling. Myth and story are something I think are more helpful.

Easy to  see how these ideas are playing out when our leaders make silly comments that are then taken so seriously. As in Palin’s recent rewriting of Paul Revere’s ride to warn not that the “British are coming,’ but to warn the British of the coming revolution or something like that.

It’s just starting to get light here in California. Still quiet. Going to quit blogging and rustle up some coffee.

So I’m sitting in my son’s dining room in California. We had a pretty good trip with a layover in Houston Texas. My daughter-in-law picked us up with my 3 grand kids in tow. Eileen had a head-ache and sensibly laid down for a nap, which is where she still is.

I already had a chance to drive through the lovely hills here in Corona. My daughter-in-law went to the tire store and then needed me to come pick her up. This country is beautiful.

I’m really beginning to relax.

Life is good.

I bought a copy of the New York Times. Usually I read this online, but it’s kind of nice to have a paper copy when traveling.

I enjoyed this article about 88 pianos decorated and installed on the streets of New York City.

Sing for Hope’s Pop-Up Pianos – NYTimes.com

Here’s some links I made for vacation reading:

The Kingdom and the Towers | Politics | Vanity Fair

This is one of those articles that speculates about extending the 9/11 hijackings origin to possible countries like Saudi Arabia. I don’t put much stock in it, but it’s good vacation brain-dead entertaining reading.

My Summer at an Indian Call Center | Mother Jones

What it’s like to actually be at one of those call centers in India.

n+1: Whatever Minutes

about the advent of silent reading

n+1: Designated Haters

negativity at The New Republic

Guernica / With Their Heads in Their Hands

regarding “the company of saints known as cephalophores: the head carriers.”

Guernica / Nixon’s Nose

When I was twenty years old, and a college student, I defaced a portrait of Chairman Mao. For this act, and without a trial, I was declared a political prisoner and sent to a forced labor prison on Taihu Lake, where I served in a labor reform brigade in a stone quarry for seven years: five years in the labor prison and two years as an ex-prisoner laborer.

Guernica / Detroitism

What does “ruin porn” tell us about the motor city, ourselves, other American cities?

Guernica / Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

A Disney intern tells all.