Short Read, Sweet Procratination: A pre-book Report

 

The school year officially ended in mid-May.  I had great ambitions for the summer.  I wanted to be proactive and really be prepared for the start of the fall term.  I wanted to a lot of writing as well as a list of books I wanted to read.  Other goals involved exercise and healthy living.

It is now mid-June.  The summer solstice is today.  I should have already read to two of the eleven books in the queue.  That just hasn’t happened.  There are a variety of reasons many of which are actually valid.  I also went into a period of serious battery recharging.  Yes, battery recharging, which sounds so much healthier than what others might call it:  lethargy or even worse extreme laziness.

I had a few tasks that had hard deadlines in the past week.  There was barely enough time to meet the deadlines and thus it required an all-out effort fueled by panic, stress, and caffeine.  There is nothing like having to get stuff done PDQ or ASAFP to bust out of a lethargic spell.  My batting average for getting stuff done start to tick up ever so slightly.

The book reading, however, is still on the launch pad.

I have slim volume by William Saroyan:  Short Drive, Sweet Ride.  This book, published in 1966, chronicles Saroyan’s leisurely drive across the United States from New York to Fresno.  It might  loosely be considered Saroyan’s Armenian American version of Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley (1962).  This is, theoretically, the perfect first book to read.  It is short and Saroyan and sure to be an easy read with humor and wisdom weaved about the narrative.  Yes, it is the perfect book to get going, but choosing the book is easy; the actual reading part is the problem.

We recently reconfigured our living room.  We added two nice comfortable wingback chairs.  We also rearranged the furniture to create a real salon feel.  The room is full of light in the morning.  This all makes it the perfect reading venue with that first cup of espresso.  I simply have to take advantage of this… PDQ or ASAFP. 

It seems I am not the only trying to get back to reading.  There was a report on the Today Show about reading parties.  These are not book clubs.  Book clubs are when everyone reads the same book on their own and then gather to discuss the book, nosh, and imbibe.  Reading groups are different.  With the reading parties, people gather in really comfortable settings, usually consisting of plush sofas, easy chairs, and billowy floor pillows strewn about.  The gather, take a seat, and… read.  They read to themselves.  There is a ‘curated’ play list providing ambiance.  They do not read the same book.  They read whatever they want to, whatever they are reading, whatever they brought with them.  The sit, get cozy, and read.  After some designated time, they stop reading, nosh, have something to drink, and talk to each other about what they are reading.  It seems to be a younger person thing that began in either San Francisco or New York. 

There was an article on this phenomenon in the New York Times in December 2023:  It’s My Party and I’ll Read If I Want To.  They introduced an entity (maybe even a company), Reading Rhythms that organizes and hosts events in both Brooklyn and Manhattan.  Some events are free most cost $10, a modest admission for New York City.  Then I suppose the make their money on food and drink.  It wouldn’t surprise me if they sell the most popular books as well.  Per the Times article:

The parties, which began in May, take place on rooftops, in parks and at bars. The premise is simple: Show up with a book, commit to vanquishing a chapter or two and chat with strangers about what you’ve just read.

The reading and socializing seem to be a good combo.  There were 65 people at a reading party in December who paid $10 each.  The surprising part is that there were 270 people on the waiting list.  These events get people reading and mixing with others.  The testimonials on the website and in the New Times all extoll variations of the same two benefits of these reading parties:   getting back to reading and making new friends they connect with on a deeper level.

Maybe I need to join a reading party.  There is one in Evanston.  But no.  I will stick to what I do when not in the depths of inactivity, I read books and pretend I am still at Burns Elementary School in Miss MacDonald’s, Mrs. Nanes, or Mrs. Bashalier’s class and… write a book report and post it in this blog.  I loved to read the books, but I absolutely dreaded writing the book report.  I love writing them now.

Well, I have to get back to reading.  Look for my forthcoming book report on Saroyan’s Short Drive, Sweet Ride… as soon as I get back reading.

Embrace Uncertainty

 

I was surfing around social media as am, too often, prone to do.  I came upon a YouTube of a Commencement Address:  Noubar Afeyan to the Class of 2024.  Noubar is an alum of MIT having received a PhD in Biochemical Engineering in 1987. 

I met Noubar in New York in the early 1990s. I had the opportunity to be in a few meetings with him as part of an Armenian organization.  He was dynamic and impressive from the first time I met him.  For maybe a nanosecond, I thought we were peers.  With the passing of that instant, it was clear he was already operating on a totally different plane and was destined for greatness.  He was off the charts smart, very well-educated, and impressively self-confident.  Since then, he founded Flagship Pioneering cofounded Moderna, of COVID vaccine fame, and founded two humanitarian organizations:  The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and The Future Armenian.  He is on the Forbes list of Real Time Billionaires.

There are two quotes of his that are memorable to me.  The first is from a November 24, 2020 he gave on KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles: 

One of the only unfortunate advantages Armenians have had by having gone through a genocide and having spread around the world is that we do have an experience of escaping and of immigrating and of constantly restarting.  That feeling of restarting … turns out, is very similar to what you need to have a startup of a company or to innovate.

The second was from the commencement address he just gave.

You need to keep immigrating.  You need to leave your comfort zone, to think in new ways, to acclimate to the unfamiliar, and embrace uncertainty.  If you imagine, innovate, and immigrate, you are destined to a life of uncertainty.  Being surrounded by uncertainty can definitely be unnerving.  But it's where you need to be.  This is where the treasure lies.  It's ground zero for breakthroughs.  Don't conflate uncertainty as risk or think of it as extreme risk.  Uncertainty isn't high risk.  It's unknown risk.  It is, in the essence, opportunity.

I have dabbled around these concepts and can certainly relate to the necessity to keep imagining, immigrating, and innovating intellectually.  I have certainly experienced uncertainty in doing so.  I never looked it like Noubar framed it.  In fact, I often wondered if the uncertainty was more a curse than a blessing.  Noubar made me realize it is indeed a blessing.  The world moves forward, positively, from people who embrace that uncertainly, gain vision, and then work hard to seize that opportunity.  While there is risk involved in making the opportunity into something that can help the world, but as he said, “Don't conflate uncertainty as risk or think of it as extreme risk.”

His words are inspiring.  He rooted this in his Armenian heritage and, for that reason alone, his message resonates with me.  It is beyond that.  Imagine, immigrate, innovate, and embrace uncertainty.  I wish I had this mindset many years ago.  It matters not.  In the spirit of continuous improvement and life-long learning, I am delighted to be contemplating these insights now.

Embrace uncertainty.  Thank you Noubar.

Richard Serra (1938-2024)

 

George Etheredge for
The New York Times

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This is the third time I am writing about art and the second time this year.  I am writing an obituary/reflection after learning that Richard Serra passed away on March 26^th at the age 85.

Richard Serra was an acclaimed American sculptor known for his monumental works that explore the concepts of space, weight, and materiality.  He is known for massive works of art.  Massive may even be understated.   Technically, his works might be classified as sculptures as they are three dimensional.  To me, they are huge production pieces that are more feats of visionary manufacturing than sculptures.  His medium is steel.  Grandiose rolled steel slabs, wavy, curved, conical, basically huge geometric shapes.  The sculptures are so large, they are created at a steel factory in Germany that fabricates rolled steel plates for, amongst other uses, ship hulls.  His sculptures are so large, that the galleries in which they are viewed must be specially reinforced to support his multi-ton pieces e.g. his piece Equal (2015) is comprised of eight 40 ton blocks of forged steel.

Serra was born on November 2, 1938, in San Francisco, California, Serra developed an interest in art from a young age. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he initially studied English literature before shifting his focus to art and receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961.  Serra continued his education at Yale University, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1964. During this period, he studied under Josef Albers and became influenced by abstract expressionism and minimalism, which would later shape his artistic style.  To support himself while studying at Yale, Serra worked for US Steel which no doubt contributed to the medium he later created.          

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Serra gained prominence as part of the minimalist art movement. He started creating large-scale sculptures using industrial materials like steel, often employing geometric shapes and simple forms. One of his early notable works is the "Verb List Compilation: Actions to Relate to Oneself" (1967-1968), which laid out a series of actions that would later inform his artistic process.  This exhibit has been called “both art and a to-do list.”

Throughout his career, Serra's sculptures have challenged conventional ideas about sculpture and its relationship to space and the viewer. Challenged?  Squash conventional ideas under 40 tons of forged steel is more like it.  His works provoke physical and emotional responses, encouraging viewers to engage with the art in a direct and visceral manner.  The physical and emotional response can be positive (like mine) or negative (is this really art?).  One of Serra's most famous series is the "Torqued Ellipses," which he began in the 1990s. These massive, curved steel sculptures twist and turn, creating dynamic and immersive environments that play with perception and perspective.  One has to walk around them and through them like a maze and then view them from a balcony to fully experience and appreciate them.

Serra's work has been exhibited and installed in various museums and public spaces around the world. His notable installations include "Tilted Arc" (1981), a controversial public sculpture in New York City that sparked debate and legal battles over its removal, and "The Matter of Time" (2005), a series of monumental steel sculptures exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

In addition to his sculptures, Serra has also worked in film and video art, exploring movement and duration in a different medium. He has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to contemporary art, cementing his legacy as one of the most influential sculptors of his generation.

While working in Manhattan, I had become a fan of Serra.  I went to a NY exhibit of his work at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).  I had no clue who Serra was and what he did, I went to the museum as I occasionally did with no goal of seeing anything in particular.  I suppose you might say I like to experience new art and artists with zero knowledge and zero preconception.  This blissful naivete was certainly the case when I stumbled upon the gallery of his work.  I was instantly a fan.  I loved his audacity, fascinated with his vision, and amazed by the project management required to create these items.  The second time I saw his work was in Bilbao where I happened to be delivering a course on quality management.  This was even bigger and bolder than what I saw in New York.

In both viewings, I dragged my hand along the ten-inch thick, 40 ton, sculptures to add a tactile dimension to the art experience.  In both cases, a museum guard scolded me not to touch the art.  Really?  I laugh about it every time I think about it.  

 

 

 

Richard Serra, installation view at Dia:Beacon.
© Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Bill Jacobson Studio, New York

 

Tomorrow

IMDb

 

With school out, I have been watching reruns of The Andy Griffith show which run back-to-back on Sundance for a few hours in the morning.  It is a good pastime over a first cup of coffee and perusing the newspaper.  It was a great show and rewatching it took me back to my childhood when life was simpler and more wholesome.  Of course, life was simpler and more wholesome, I was 9 years old.

One particular episode perked my interest in a ‘there’s a blog post in it way.’  The episode,“Opie’s Hobo Friend,” first aired on November 13, 1961.  The guest star was Buddy Ebson.  He portrayed the hobo in question by David Browne.  The way he was dressed and acted was, as if, this were a trial run for the Jed Clampett role Ebson would make famous in The Beverly Hillbillies which debuted one year later in 1962. 

Ebson’s hobo, David, was a loveable character who moved around and lived off of fishing and stealing a stray chicken here or there or occasional pie off of a window shelf (did people really cool pies on windowsills or was that a creation of Hollywood?).  Barney, needless to say, suspected David of being a vagrant and quite possibly the head of a major crime racket.  Andy, on the other hand, saw the hobo for what he was, mostly harmless. 

Andy’s son, Opie, was impressed by the hobo’s sleight of hand magic and laid back, no responsibility, lifestyle.  Opie, fascinated with David, wanted to help him with this work.  David was not quite ready to begin the task.  So, when Opie wanted to get going on the hedges and urged David to do just that, David gave this gem of a speech on his approach to life and work to Opie.  I loved this little soliloquy so much, I used the remote to play it over and over again so I type it up.

Never start a job without thoroughly talking it out.  Never skimp on the discussion stage. That’s what separates man from the apes… We’ll start first thing tomorrow… The most perfect day to start any job:  tomorrow.  It is the most marvelous day ever invented.  There is absolutely nothing a man can’t do, tomorrow. 

This is basically the procrastinators manifesto.  It sums it up like only a like only a Hollywood screen writer could phrase it and delivered with the folksy eloquence from a talented actor like Ebson.

This concept of tomorrow is central to the procrastinator’s mindset and lifestyle.  It is the very core axiom, the fundamental tenet, the very cornerstone on which this lifestyle is built.  The world class procrastinators, the masters delay, are forever having this inner dialogue which I present here:

I’ll start tomorrow.  I’ll give it the big hit tomorrow.  I’ll be full of energy and start bright and early… tomorrow.  The dawn of a new day will be my rebirth.  I will forever change and accomplish everything I have ever wanted to do.

The problem with procrastination is that it is always today, and tomorrow is a beacon of light hope that keeps us dreaming.

 

===

 

Here are excerpts from the song Tomorrow from the Broadway musical Annie.

 

Just thinkin' about

Tomorrow

Clears away the cobwebs

 

The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

So ya gotta hang on

'Til tomorrow…

 

Tomorrow, tomorrow

I love ya tomorrow

You're always, a day away

 

Source: Musixmatch.com

Songwriters: Martin Charnin / Charles Strouse

Tomorrow lyrics © Edwin H. Morris & Co. Inc., Morris-edwin-h-co Inc., Charles Strouse Publishing

Syndrome de la Page Blanche

https://www.azquotes.com/quote/440366

 

      I haven’t posted a word in this blog since April 4^th.  It has been two months.  Wow.  That is unacceptable.  Of course, it is only unacceptable to me.  I am not sure any would care about this as much as I do.  Others would mostly likely say, “You took a break, you probably needed it.”

I did take a break and I do believe I needed it.  The was not, however, a conscious choice.  It just happened.  When I realized it was happening, it was not so easy pick up and write.  I was in the throes of a writer’s block. “According to writing expert Mike Rose, writer’s block can be defined as: ‘the inability to begin or continue writing for reasons other than a lack of basic skill or commitment’” (uis.edu).  Yep, I diagnosed it correctly, it was indeed writer’s block.

I feel I am coming out of it.  I do attribute the block to the culmination of the work and stress of the academic year.  It started in the last month of the Spring term and has lasted until three weeks after graduation.  It has been the two weeks since Memorial Day of doing very little… taking that break, that has me now breaking out of the block.

Another university, Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, offered this cure for writer’s block.

 

How to Cure Writer's Block

1.     Write every day — even if you don't feel like it. ...

2.     Figure out the “when and where” that makes you the most creative. ...

3.     Every once in a while, forget the rules. ...

4.     Take regular breaks. ...

5.     Set clear deadlines. ...

6.     Make the brainstorming process more sensory. ...

7.     Do lots of reading! ...

8.     Try a different writing method.

 

There are detailed explanations and example for each of the points on the website.

Coincidentally, on May 30 before I read these tips, I began to follow a few of the points.  I began to write daily something I have gotten away from.  I started to write using pen and paper rather than my laptop.  I started to read more beginning with the news and now novels.  I started writing first thing in the morning again.  These simple acts got the ‘juices flowing’ again.  

Writer’s block sounds so… dull.  I never liked the term and thus would never admit I ever had one.  Maybe there are cooler phrasings in other languages.  In German, writer’s block is Schreibblockade.  Well, that is too clinical and too, um, German.  In Spanish, it is bloqueo de escritor which is basically the same thing.  French?  Syndrome de la page blanche.  I can relate to this because I often talk about staring at the blank page or fingers frozen above the keyboard. I also like that they call it a syndrome.  Portuguese? Bloqueio criativo.  This is also nice.  It is creative block, a creative logjam, a creative drought, and… well, you get the picture. I like the French or Portuguese phrases; they sound much suave than the pedestrian writer’s block.  The French version is exactly what I have… er… had.