Okay. You're all going to hate me. I admit it. I fooled you. I tricked you. I pulled the famous old magicians tactic, diverted your attention away from the trick, pulled the wool over your eyes and fooled you. Please don't be too mad at me.
This was an exercise in observation, disguised as a survey. First I gave you a set up.
"There is a big birthday party for Janice and her friends and family."
Then I gave you a cast of characters.
"A lot of people have come to it. The list includes Alice, Bob, Cathy and Charlie, Donna, Eugene, George and Janet, Lucinda, Mark, Nancy, Olivia, Rose, Ruth and Sam, Terry and good old Will."
Then I gave you a list of options which I will ignore because they're not important. Then I gave you some instructions.
"Your assignment is to decide, in your opinion, which package Janet should open up first. Please leave the number of your choice on my email dbdacoba@aol.com"
Only one person answered this correctly. To John Knox, of the Blogspot Tigers, goes the grand prize of a genuine Tupperware magicians wand and the robe to match. Here's his answer.
Hi, DB,
Janet should not open any of the presents. It is Janice's birthday, as you stated at the top of the Weekend Survey. You also stated that Janet is one of the guests at the party (when you listed her in the guest list). Therefore, Janet won't be opening any of Janice's gifts!
Thanks for an interesting exercise.
Take care,
John Knox
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Deep Drinking
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking deeply sobers it again.
Alexander Pope
**********************
The Pierian spring, according to ancient Greek legend, was a fountain near Mount Olympus. Its waters gave knowledge of the arts and sciences. Pope barrows the phrase "Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring" from Petronius, a Roman writer and friend of Emperor Nero.
If there was ever a time in which we needed to drink deep it is these days. We are constantly intoxicated to the point of addiction with the shallow draughts of sound bites, flimsy interviews and shallow opinions. The average citizen of any nation hardly knows what his government is up to and it is impossible to find out in some cases and extremely difficult in others. Americans don't know what the Congress is doing and neither it seems do some Congress people.
When I first became aware of the fact that we were only told what the new laws were after the fact I started to subscribe to the Congressional Record, a large volume published daily by the U.S. Government Printing Office. It tells of everything that goes on there, all the legislation, debates and special papers submitted by the various members. It's so thick nobody reads it, but anyone has the right to. If you think you know what's going on in Washington reading the Congressional Record is quite a shock. There are juicy parts but you have to wade into deep waters to get there.
I have been guilty of "a little learning" in the past. Everyone is. But a couple of the good rules for life are: 1) Don't carelessly express an opinion about anything without sufficient knowledge of it, and 2) If you don't know what you're talking about, keep your mouth shut.
The reason for these two rules is that what we say impresses and affects other people's thinking. We see so much evidence of that today when people stand up for one side of an issue or another, without really knowing what the issue is. We are given a label and a brief description, usually geared toward one side or the other and on that basis we are expected to decide what we think. It's a joke. It's a disgrace.
It is even more hideous when we come to describing other people. "Oh, they're all alike." "They're homeless because they refuse to work." "You can't trust anyone over 30" they used to say. (Those who said that are now all over 30.) "Illegal immigrants are steeling our jobs." "There's no homosexuality in the Boy Scouts." "All Jews want to move to Israel." It's unsubstantial remarks like those that influence people to not see things clearly or find out the truth for themselves. As I have said before: Most of the authorities in the world aren't.
When I began to see my own shallow places I felt the need to sober up and fill them with some real learning. That's when I began to read everything I could find of interest about subjects I felt were important. I became a reading addict. About politics and social issues I wanted to know what people with some knowledge thought from the most liberal to the most conservative. As I learned what the real thinkers had to say I soon realized that the TV pundits don't know what they are talking about.
About the arts, I had tunnel vision because I was so involved in my own career as an actor I wasn't seeing and understanding what people in the other arts were doing. So I spent more time at galleries and museums, dance and music concerts. I talked with the artists and got to hear so many different points of view about their art. I was amazed.
I didn't realized how ignorant and biased I was about science until I began reading some scientific journals and meeting scientists who were passionate about their work. Now I read books on scientific subjects, particularly math and astronomy. Some of my actor friends think I'm nuts.
Having eschewed the esoteric world of philosophy as a dull, dry, boring subject, with a slightly snide sneer on my face I bought a book by Martin Heidegger and read it. That changed everything. I plunged into that Pierian spring of philosophy head first and since then have swallowed large sobering draughts of one of the world's most fascinating subjects.
I finally opened the seventh seal of religion. There I find a subject that is both catastrophically limiting and inexhaustibly cosmic. There is hardly any subject on earth with more shallow thinking and simplistic sound bites, things taken as truth and reality with nothing to back them up and yet with ideas and possibilities that range beyond human understanding and transcend the limitations of our mortal lives.
Now my life is deep drinking. The more I drink the less I talk.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Weekend Survey
There is a big birthday party for Janice and her friends and family.
A lot of people have come to it. The list includes Alice, Bob, Cathy and Charlie, Donna, Eugene, George and Janet, Lucinda, Mark, Nancy, Olivia, Rose, Ruth and Sam, Terry and good old Will.
Many of them have brought gifts.
1. A small package wrapped in white with a silver bow, Looks like it might have come from a jewelry store.
2. A medium sized rectangular box, wrapped in blue with a red ribbon, might be a book.
3. A large flat package in simple brown wrapping with a strings tied around it and a card stuck under the string. Some important documents maybe.
4 A large box wrapped in a many colored paper with a flower design on it. I wonder what that is.
5. Another rectangular box, thicker than the other one, beautifully wrapped in a gold paper with a black ribbon finished off in a perfect bow. Another book? Or a few books?
6. Hard to hide the plant sitting on the floor with green paper wrapped around it and some circular object at the base with a green plastic thing peeking out.
7. A larger rectangular box, fairly thick and light, looks like it might be clothes.
8 A square box in a striped blue and yellow paper wrapping, on top is a pretty red bow.
9. One very large box, apart from the rest, big enough to hold any number of electronic things. It's wrapped in Muslin.
10. A medium sized circular package, inside a bag, with a store name on it, which has been taped shut.
11. Another very large package, not in a box, but completely covered over with a wrapper left over from Christmas. A card is taped to the side of it.
Your assignment is to decide, in your opinion, which package Janet should open up first. Please leave the number of your choice on my email dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you
DB
Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking deeply sobers it again.
Alexander Pope
**********************
The Pierian spring, according to ancient Greek legend, was a fountain near Mount Olympus. Its waters gave knowledge of the arts and sciences. Pope barrows the phrase "Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring" from Petronius, a Roman writer and friend of Emperor Nero.
If there was ever a time in which we needed to drink deep it is these days. We are constantly intoxicated to the point of addiction with the shallow draughts of sound bites, flimsy interviews and shallow opinions. The average citizen of any nation hardly knows what his government is up to and it is impossible to find out in some cases and extremely difficult in others. Americans don't know what the Congress is doing and neither it seems do some Congress people.
When I first became aware of the fact that we were only told what the new laws were after the fact I started to subscribe to the Congressional Record, a large volume published daily by the U.S. Government Printing Office. It tells of everything that goes on there, all the legislation, debates and special papers submitted by the various members. It's so thick nobody reads it, but anyone has the right to. If you think you know what's going on in Washington reading the Congressional Record is quite a shock. There are juicy parts but you have to wade into deep waters to get there.
I have been guilty of "a little learning" in the past. Everyone is. But a couple of the good rules for life are: 1) Don't carelessly express an opinion about anything without sufficient knowledge of it, and 2) If you don't know what you're talking about, keep your mouth shut.
The reason for these two rules is that what we say impresses and affects other people's thinking. We see so much evidence of that today when people stand up for one side of an issue or another, without really knowing what the issue is. We are given a label and a brief description, usually geared toward one side or the other and on that basis we are expected to decide what we think. It's a joke. It's a disgrace.
It is even more hideous when we come to describing other people. "Oh, they're all alike." "They're homeless because they refuse to work." "You can't trust anyone over 30" they used to say. (Those who said that are now all over 30.) "Illegal immigrants are steeling our jobs." "There's no homosexuality in the Boy Scouts." "All Jews want to move to Israel." It's unsubstantial remarks like those that influence people to not see things clearly or find out the truth for themselves. As I have said before: Most of the authorities in the world aren't.
When I began to see my own shallow places I felt the need to sober up and fill them with some real learning. That's when I began to read everything I could find of interest about subjects I felt were important. I became a reading addict. About politics and social issues I wanted to know what people with some knowledge thought from the most liberal to the most conservative. As I learned what the real thinkers had to say I soon realized that the TV pundits don't know what they are talking about.
About the arts, I had tunnel vision because I was so involved in my own career as an actor I wasn't seeing and understanding what people in the other arts were doing. So I spent more time at galleries and museums, dance and music concerts. I talked with the artists and got to hear so many different points of view about their art. I was amazed.
I didn't realized how ignorant and biased I was about science until I began reading some scientific journals and meeting scientists who were passionate about their work. Now I read books on scientific subjects, particularly math and astronomy. Some of my actor friends think I'm nuts.
Having eschewed the esoteric world of philosophy as a dull, dry, boring subject, with a slightly snide sneer on my face I bought a book by Martin Heidegger and read it. That changed everything. I plunged into that Pierian spring of philosophy head first and since then have swallowed large sobering draughts of one of the world's most fascinating subjects.
I finally opened the seventh seal of religion. There I find a subject that is both catastrophically limiting and inexhaustibly cosmic. There is hardly any subject on earth with more shallow thinking and simplistic sound bites, things taken as truth and reality with nothing to back them up and yet with ideas and possibilities that range beyond human understanding and transcend the limitations of our mortal lives.
Now my life is deep drinking. The more I drink the less I talk.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
Weekend Survey
There is a big birthday party for Janice and her friends and family.
A lot of people have come to it. The list includes Alice, Bob, Cathy and Charlie, Donna, Eugene, George and Janet, Lucinda, Mark, Nancy, Olivia, Rose, Ruth and Sam, Terry and good old Will.
Many of them have brought gifts.
1. A small package wrapped in white with a silver bow, Looks like it might have come from a jewelry store.
2. A medium sized rectangular box, wrapped in blue with a red ribbon, might be a book.
3. A large flat package in simple brown wrapping with a strings tied around it and a card stuck under the string. Some important documents maybe.
4 A large box wrapped in a many colored paper with a flower design on it. I wonder what that is.
5. Another rectangular box, thicker than the other one, beautifully wrapped in a gold paper with a black ribbon finished off in a perfect bow. Another book? Or a few books?
6. Hard to hide the plant sitting on the floor with green paper wrapped around it and some circular object at the base with a green plastic thing peeking out.
7. A larger rectangular box, fairly thick and light, looks like it might be clothes.
8 A square box in a striped blue and yellow paper wrapping, on top is a pretty red bow.
9. One very large box, apart from the rest, big enough to hold any number of electronic things. It's wrapped in Muslin.
10. A medium sized circular package, inside a bag, with a store name on it, which has been taped shut.
11. Another very large package, not in a box, but completely covered over with a wrapper left over from Christmas. A card is taped to the side of it.
Your assignment is to decide, in your opinion, which package Janet should open up first. Please leave the number of your choice on my email dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you
DB
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Lost And Found
It is vital that people count their blessings to appreciate what they possess without having to go through its actual loss.
Abraham Maslow
***********************
As the decades roll by I certainly rue the loss of some of the things, people, places and experiences I once knew. Some of the things I lost were things I had to leave behind due to my vagabond life. Others were things I let go of foolishly. People sometimes discard other people as if they were worn out bedroom slippers. I wish I hadn't been so discarded, but it was someone's choice and I have come to live with it graciously. Today I am realizing there are things I can let go of. There are books I used to feel so attached to I never wanted to be away from but that now don't interest me much any more. There was music that I thought was vital to my life which I have since outgrown. I feel comfortable about letting things go and settling for the things I really cherish. Most of those things have been with me all my life. Some of them are tangibles, like my Shakespeare, and some are intangibles, like faith, hope, forward thinking, the knowledge that there are things out there that really exist but that I haven't discovered yet.
Then there are the people. I have discarded a few in my time. Those were mostly people who began to express qualities that I found unacceptable to my heart. In a few cases I went away because someone wanted me to go away. But I have been the old bedroom slipper to others, many times. I just accept that now. It's heartbreaking, but as Gertrude Stein wrote "Before the fires of friendship died, friendship died." That's what makes it so difficult.
But then I think about the friends I have now. There aren't very many but almost all of them are people I have known for many years, in some cases many decades, and they are still there. Isn't that a remarkable thing?
DB
***************
Weekend Survey
There is a big birthday party for Janice and her friends and family.
A lot of people have come to it. The list includes Alice, Bob, Cathy and Charlie, Donna, Eugene, George and Janet, Lucinda, Mark, Nancy, Olivia, Rose, Ruth and Sam, Terry and good old Will.
Many of them have brought gifts.
1. A small package wrapped in white with a silver bow, Looks like it might have come from a jewelry store.
2. A medium sized rectangular box, wrapped in blue with a red ribbon, might be a book.
3. A large flat package in simple brown wrapping with a strings tied around it and a card stuck under the string. Some important documents maybe.
4 A large box wrapped in a many colored paper with a flower design on it. I wonder what that is.
5. Another rectangular box, thicker than the other one, beautifully wrapped in a gold paper with a black ribbon finished off in a perfect bow. Another book? Or a few books?
6. Hard to hide the plant sitting on the floor with green paper wrapped around it and some circular object at the base with a green plastic thing peeking out.
7. A larger rectangular box, fairly thick and light, looks like it might be clothes.
8 A square box in a striped blue and yellow paper wrapping, on top is a pretty red bow.
9. One very large box, apart from the rest, big enough to hold any number of electronic things. It's wrapped in Muslin.
10. A medium sized circular package, inside a bag, with a store name on it, which has been taped shut.
11. Another very large package, not in a box, but completely covered over with a wrapper left over from Christmas. A card is taped to the side of it.
Your assignment is to decide, in your opinion, which package Janet should open up first. Please leave the number of your choice on my email dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you
DB
Abraham Maslow
***********************
As the decades roll by I certainly rue the loss of some of the things, people, places and experiences I once knew. Some of the things I lost were things I had to leave behind due to my vagabond life. Others were things I let go of foolishly. People sometimes discard other people as if they were worn out bedroom slippers. I wish I hadn't been so discarded, but it was someone's choice and I have come to live with it graciously. Today I am realizing there are things I can let go of. There are books I used to feel so attached to I never wanted to be away from but that now don't interest me much any more. There was music that I thought was vital to my life which I have since outgrown. I feel comfortable about letting things go and settling for the things I really cherish. Most of those things have been with me all my life. Some of them are tangibles, like my Shakespeare, and some are intangibles, like faith, hope, forward thinking, the knowledge that there are things out there that really exist but that I haven't discovered yet.
Then there are the people. I have discarded a few in my time. Those were mostly people who began to express qualities that I found unacceptable to my heart. In a few cases I went away because someone wanted me to go away. But I have been the old bedroom slipper to others, many times. I just accept that now. It's heartbreaking, but as Gertrude Stein wrote "Before the fires of friendship died, friendship died." That's what makes it so difficult.
But then I think about the friends I have now. There aren't very many but almost all of them are people I have known for many years, in some cases many decades, and they are still there. Isn't that a remarkable thing?
DB
***************
Weekend Survey
There is a big birthday party for Janice and her friends and family.
A lot of people have come to it. The list includes Alice, Bob, Cathy and Charlie, Donna, Eugene, George and Janet, Lucinda, Mark, Nancy, Olivia, Rose, Ruth and Sam, Terry and good old Will.
Many of them have brought gifts.
1. A small package wrapped in white with a silver bow, Looks like it might have come from a jewelry store.
2. A medium sized rectangular box, wrapped in blue with a red ribbon, might be a book.
3. A large flat package in simple brown wrapping with a strings tied around it and a card stuck under the string. Some important documents maybe.
4 A large box wrapped in a many colored paper with a flower design on it. I wonder what that is.
5. Another rectangular box, thicker than the other one, beautifully wrapped in a gold paper with a black ribbon finished off in a perfect bow. Another book? Or a few books?
6. Hard to hide the plant sitting on the floor with green paper wrapped around it and some circular object at the base with a green plastic thing peeking out.
7. A larger rectangular box, fairly thick and light, looks like it might be clothes.
8 A square box in a striped blue and yellow paper wrapping, on top is a pretty red bow.
9. One very large box, apart from the rest, big enough to hold any number of electronic things. It's wrapped in Muslin.
10. A medium sized circular package, inside a bag, with a store name on it, which has been taped shut.
11. Another very large package, not in a box, but completely covered over with a wrapper left over from Christmas. A card is taped to the side of it.
Your assignment is to decide, in your opinion, which package Janet should open up first. Please leave the number of your choice on my email dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you
DB
Friday, February 26, 2010
Lively Lessons
I want to go where the wild goose goes.
Terry Gilkyson,
*****************
Geese are strange bests. I don't know what the wild geese are like in your area, but hear, in my town, every year, they fly back and forth in formation like jet fighter pilots and honk at each other like New York cab drivers, but they don't go anywhere. After all the fuss they end up on the island in the middle of the river, their winter quarters.
Now I'm not a goose (Stop that! I am not.) but it seems to me that if they are going to put on such a big show with all of their honking and flapping of wings they ought to go somewhere. It's too much of a buildup for just going half a mile. It seems like a wild goose chase to me. Which brings me to Shakespeare (naturally).
I have heard people say they don't like Shakespeare because he uses so many cliches. But the fact is Shakespeare invented those cliches. He didn't borrow old sayings from anyone. He came up with his own. Shakespeare's legacy, beside great poetry and great plays, is a vast catalogue of pithy remarks that can say things better than we can. Thus our modern vocabulary is filled with them. We may laugh when we hear in Hamlet someone say "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark" or when Macduff says "One fell swoop." But the first time those words were heard was opening night in Shakespeare's theatre.
Here are some other "old sayings" brought to us originally by good old Will. Some of them have been slightly changed over the years, but they're still solid.
A foregone conclusion
A sorry sight
All that (glisters) is not gold
As dead as a doornail
Brevity is the soul of wit
Discretion is the better part of valor
Eaten out of house and home
Fancy free
Fight fire with fire
Good men and true
Good riddance
High time
It was all Greek to me
Let slip the dogs of war
Make your hair stand on end
Mum's the word
Night owl
Primrose path
Send him packing
Set your teeth on edge
Short shrift
Too much of a good thing
Truth will out
Vanish into thin air, and yes
Wild goose chase.
It first appeared in Romeo and Juliet and still has the same meaning it did back then: a pointless endeavor, like forming into a flock just to fly across the river.
How many of those "grand old sayings" do you use often, without giving the old boy credit because you didn't know? Thanks to him we have a vast library of lively lessons to understand and use. But let's be original. If I'm going to take off, flap my wings and honk, I'll make it worthwhile. I'll pick a worthy destination. Gather my own wisdom. And, even though I'm not as prolific as Shakespeare, seek out and speak the words that only I can find. That's where the real wild goose goes.
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
I had to delete the new blog I was hoping to start because I couldn't move it from the top of the list to the bottom. Evidently there is no way of reordering the titles on a main profile page. It was not a journal I wanted anyone who was visiting my profile to come to as the first one. So that's that.
Terry Gilkyson,
*****************
Geese are strange bests. I don't know what the wild geese are like in your area, but hear, in my town, every year, they fly back and forth in formation like jet fighter pilots and honk at each other like New York cab drivers, but they don't go anywhere. After all the fuss they end up on the island in the middle of the river, their winter quarters.
Now I'm not a goose (Stop that! I am not.) but it seems to me that if they are going to put on such a big show with all of their honking and flapping of wings they ought to go somewhere. It's too much of a buildup for just going half a mile. It seems like a wild goose chase to me. Which brings me to Shakespeare (naturally).
I have heard people say they don't like Shakespeare because he uses so many cliches. But the fact is Shakespeare invented those cliches. He didn't borrow old sayings from anyone. He came up with his own. Shakespeare's legacy, beside great poetry and great plays, is a vast catalogue of pithy remarks that can say things better than we can. Thus our modern vocabulary is filled with them. We may laugh when we hear in Hamlet someone say "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark" or when Macduff says "One fell swoop." But the first time those words were heard was opening night in Shakespeare's theatre.
Here are some other "old sayings" brought to us originally by good old Will. Some of them have been slightly changed over the years, but they're still solid.
A foregone conclusion
A sorry sight
All that (glisters) is not gold
As dead as a doornail
Brevity is the soul of wit
Discretion is the better part of valor
Eaten out of house and home
Fancy free
Fight fire with fire
Good men and true
Good riddance
High time
It was all Greek to me
Let slip the dogs of war
Make your hair stand on end
Mum's the word
Night owl
Primrose path
Send him packing
Set your teeth on edge
Short shrift
Too much of a good thing
Truth will out
Vanish into thin air, and yes
Wild goose chase.
It first appeared in Romeo and Juliet and still has the same meaning it did back then: a pointless endeavor, like forming into a flock just to fly across the river.
How many of those "grand old sayings" do you use often, without giving the old boy credit because you didn't know? Thanks to him we have a vast library of lively lessons to understand and use. But let's be original. If I'm going to take off, flap my wings and honk, I'll make it worthwhile. I'll pick a worthy destination. Gather my own wisdom. And, even though I'm not as prolific as Shakespeare, seek out and speak the words that only I can find. That's where the real wild goose goes.
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
I had to delete the new blog I was hoping to start because I couldn't move it from the top of the list to the bottom. Evidently there is no way of reordering the titles on a main profile page. It was not a journal I wanted anyone who was visiting my profile to come to as the first one. So that's that.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
A Friend
Never let the threat of being misunderstood curtail your expression.
Marty Brandel
(Thank you Marty)
*********************
Marty is a friend of mine. I'm a friend of his. We're friends. I don't remember when we first met, (we've been friends for a few thousand years) but I remember where. It was at a job and somehow our antennas connected from across the room. There was no formal introduction. We just eased into conversation. Both of us being basic New Yorkers we already knew each other: concrete brains, asphalt nerves. We sit around watching movies on TV, drinking beer, telling jokes and stories. We're just a couple of guys, you see.
Marty just got out of the hospital. Surgery. He's recovering just fine because he's tough. He is also an intelligent, sensitive, creative man. He makes music.
We have both helped each other face down some terrible times, put up with some difficult people and enjoyed each other's successes. We are friends for no particular reason other than that we are both good guys in a world of jerks. Or maybe there are things about each of us that the other one admires. Or maybe it's because we share the silent truth that life is what it is, can always be better, but needs to be handled with a sense of humor.
.
As the years have accumulated I have a few good friends left whom I cherish deeply.
Marty is one of those. He's probably reading this right now and he's embarrassed. Or maybe he's not. Marty is a simple man who's very complex. He's a complex man who's very simple.
I think if Marty and I met trying to cross a river on a narrow bridge, like Robin Hood and Little John, we would both jump in the water and have a good laugh.
I love you Marty.
DB
***********************
I'm still looking for someone to show me how to rearrange the titles on my web page, The titles under "My Blogs" are in the wrong order. Help.
******************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
20 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Marty Brandel
(Thank you Marty)
*********************
Marty is a friend of mine. I'm a friend of his. We're friends. I don't remember when we first met, (we've been friends for a few thousand years) but I remember where. It was at a job and somehow our antennas connected from across the room. There was no formal introduction. We just eased into conversation. Both of us being basic New Yorkers we already knew each other: concrete brains, asphalt nerves. We sit around watching movies on TV, drinking beer, telling jokes and stories. We're just a couple of guys, you see.
Marty just got out of the hospital. Surgery. He's recovering just fine because he's tough. He is also an intelligent, sensitive, creative man. He makes music.
We have both helped each other face down some terrible times, put up with some difficult people and enjoyed each other's successes. We are friends for no particular reason other than that we are both good guys in a world of jerks. Or maybe there are things about each of us that the other one admires. Or maybe it's because we share the silent truth that life is what it is, can always be better, but needs to be handled with a sense of humor.
.
As the years have accumulated I have a few good friends left whom I cherish deeply.
Marty is one of those. He's probably reading this right now and he's embarrassed. Or maybe he's not. Marty is a simple man who's very complex. He's a complex man who's very simple.
I think if Marty and I met trying to cross a river on a narrow bridge, like Robin Hood and Little John, we would both jump in the water and have a good laugh.
I love you Marty.
DB
***********************
I'm still looking for someone to show me how to rearrange the titles on my web page, The titles under "My Blogs" are in the wrong order. Help.
******************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
20 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Tunnel
bauer, NJ
TransitThank you for bringing sunshine to my gray and gloomy days.
Patricia Hartbauer
******************
Shortly after I retired and moved here to Pennsylvania, I went back to New York City to do a play. Since I was commuting to the job it was a long trip everyday. There was a 20 minute walk to the local train station, a trip to Trenton where I boarded New Jersey Transit to New York, then a subway ride to the Upper West Side, then a cross town bus and a 4 block walk to the theatre. Truly a labor of love.
Even though we had opened, I still felt some confusion about the play. I was feeling very distressed and gloomy about it and needed to work on the script. The ride from Trenton to New York gave me ample time to do that.
As the New Jersey train approaches Penn Station in New York it enters a tunnel that takes it under the Hudson River. The Hudson is a big river so the tunnel is quite long. Sometimes the train will slow down or stop in the tunnel as the traffic controllers move other trains in and out of the depot.
On this particular day, just after I boarded the New Jersey train a woman got on with a little girl and sat across the aisle from me. At first I thought of moving my seat. I thought the yammering of the kid would be very annoying and I wouldn't be able to concentrate.
But the girl was very quiet. She spent the whole ride staring out the window and didn't say a word, until we got under the river. The train didn't stop but it slowed down . And after about 5 minutes the girl said "When are we gonna come outta this creepy tunnel?"
That made me grin, and I thought "Oh, how true, how true, little girl. Sometimes life is nothing but a creepy tunnel. And all you can do is have faith that you will eventually come out into the daylight again and things will start to make sense."
Thank you. Miss.
DB - The Vagabond
---------------------------------
Have a sweet day and may angels dip their fingers in your soup.
**********************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
19 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
dbdacoba@aol.com
TransitThank you for bringing sunshine to my gray and gloomy days.
Patricia Hartbauer
******************
Shortly after I retired and moved here to Pennsylvania, I went back to New York City to do a play. Since I was commuting to the job it was a long trip everyday. There was a 20 minute walk to the local train station, a trip to Trenton where I boarded New Jersey Transit to New York, then a subway ride to the Upper West Side, then a cross town bus and a 4 block walk to the theatre. Truly a labor of love.
Even though we had opened, I still felt some confusion about the play. I was feeling very distressed and gloomy about it and needed to work on the script. The ride from Trenton to New York gave me ample time to do that.
As the New Jersey train approaches Penn Station in New York it enters a tunnel that takes it under the Hudson River. The Hudson is a big river so the tunnel is quite long. Sometimes the train will slow down or stop in the tunnel as the traffic controllers move other trains in and out of the depot.
On this particular day, just after I boarded the New Jersey train a woman got on with a little girl and sat across the aisle from me. At first I thought of moving my seat. I thought the yammering of the kid would be very annoying and I wouldn't be able to concentrate.
But the girl was very quiet. She spent the whole ride staring out the window and didn't say a word, until we got under the river. The train didn't stop but it slowed down . And after about 5 minutes the girl said "When are we gonna come outta this creepy tunnel?"
That made me grin, and I thought "Oh, how true, how true, little girl. Sometimes life is nothing but a creepy tunnel. And all you can do is have faith that you will eventually come out into the daylight again and things will start to make sense."
Thank you. Miss.
DB - The Vagabond
---------------------------------
Have a sweet day and may angels dip their fingers in your soup.
**********************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
19 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
dbdacoba@aol.com
Monday, February 22, 2010
What's On Your Wrist?
Our lives are filled with more myths than we can even imagine.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
Think of going to the supermarket, purchasing a few cans of food and a couple of boxes of cereal. Think of bringing them home and putting them on the shelf. Then think of taking them off the shelf everyday, reading the labels but never opening the box and pouring out the cereal or opening the cans to get at the fruits and vegetables
If you think that's stupid, you're right. But now think about all the ideas and theories you've bought, that reside nicely on your mental shelf, that you never open up to inspect and enjoy or discard. Think of the brainy little trinkets you carry with you like items on a charm bracelet that you've picked up from here and there and which you never look at.
When the ancient Greeks went to the theatre they already knew the plot. All of their plays were based on Homeric legends every school kid grew up with. Each play was reaching into the story to extract more wisdom and understanding.
Why didn't the Greeks get bored? Because those myths and legends struck at the heart of their lives. They still do. Sisyphus's task was to push a heavy rock up to the top of a hill only to see it slip and roll back down to the bottom. Endless, pointless labor. How are you doing with your rock? Damocles was forced to dine with a sharpened sword hanging over his head by a single hair. The knowledge of everpresent danger. .
Myths have morals but they don't have morality. They can help us to be careful about many things but they can also lead us in directions that are injurious or wasteful. Does holding a wooden clothes pin in your mouth really keep you from weeping when you chop an onion? Do you still put butter on a burn instead of cold water? Do you still keep your bananas out of the refrigerator so they can spoil faster? Some people still wound or mutilate themselves to bring them closer to God. In some places they search for aphrodisiacs in Rhinoceros horns. Somewhere in Africa they think having sex with a virgin cures Aids.
On the other hand Plato's famous Myth of the Cave has great lessons to learn. On the simplest terms it teaches us that we spend most of our lives looking at the shadows instead of the realities. That's a lesson of profound importance and benefit for all of us.
Check out the charms on your bracelet. Examine your ideas and theories. How many of them are myths or based on myths and are they good ones or bad ones?
DB - The Vagabond
********************
Does anyone know how to rearrange the titles under "My Blogs" on the home page?
If so, please reveal the secret to me.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
19 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
Think of going to the supermarket, purchasing a few cans of food and a couple of boxes of cereal. Think of bringing them home and putting them on the shelf. Then think of taking them off the shelf everyday, reading the labels but never opening the box and pouring out the cereal or opening the cans to get at the fruits and vegetables
If you think that's stupid, you're right. But now think about all the ideas and theories you've bought, that reside nicely on your mental shelf, that you never open up to inspect and enjoy or discard. Think of the brainy little trinkets you carry with you like items on a charm bracelet that you've picked up from here and there and which you never look at.
When the ancient Greeks went to the theatre they already knew the plot. All of their plays were based on Homeric legends every school kid grew up with. Each play was reaching into the story to extract more wisdom and understanding.
Why didn't the Greeks get bored? Because those myths and legends struck at the heart of their lives. They still do. Sisyphus's task was to push a heavy rock up to the top of a hill only to see it slip and roll back down to the bottom. Endless, pointless labor. How are you doing with your rock? Damocles was forced to dine with a sharpened sword hanging over his head by a single hair. The knowledge of everpresent danger. .
Myths have morals but they don't have morality. They can help us to be careful about many things but they can also lead us in directions that are injurious or wasteful. Does holding a wooden clothes pin in your mouth really keep you from weeping when you chop an onion? Do you still put butter on a burn instead of cold water? Do you still keep your bananas out of the refrigerator so they can spoil faster? Some people still wound or mutilate themselves to bring them closer to God. In some places they search for aphrodisiacs in Rhinoceros horns. Somewhere in Africa they think having sex with a virgin cures Aids.
On the other hand Plato's famous Myth of the Cave has great lessons to learn. On the simplest terms it teaches us that we spend most of our lives looking at the shadows instead of the realities. That's a lesson of profound importance and benefit for all of us.
Check out the charms on your bracelet. Examine your ideas and theories. How many of them are myths or based on myths and are they good ones or bad ones?
DB - The Vagabond
********************
Does anyone know how to rearrange the titles under "My Blogs" on the home page?
If so, please reveal the secret to me.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
19 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Solving The Riddle
actingThe practice of life is the only thing that can make you feel "divine," "blessed," "evangelic."
Nietzsche
****************
See results of the weekend contest below.
******************
Let's face it friends, nobody knows what they're doing. There is no such thing as an authority on life. Just when you think you've got it figured out it changes, or some new unexpected element emerges out of the fog, or you stumble over a rock you didn't see. We are all total amateurs when it comes to life. Life is an unsolvable riddle, an eternal enigma, a jig saw puzzle with an infinite number of pieces. We spend our whole lives trying to discover what our whole lives are all about. How can one not have a sense of humor?
Here we are born with a certain set of abilities which we then have to learn to develop. As helpless infants we soon learn that screaming in rage over our own limitations usually brings results from the big people who serve us. The clever and wily child learns to turn that rage into a more coercive maneuver. Affections grow along with likes and dislikes and slowly a character is formed. After a few years of growing we realize that we are much wiser than the big people. Finally we step out into the world at large and discover that we are not as wise as we thought we were, so we start learning things about life. And that "coming of age" is a process that never ends even though we imagined, in our innocence, that one day it would.
What's really going on, undercover, is a process of coming to understand ourselves. We think. foolishly, that we know ourselves until a major change takes place, a tragedy (heaven forbid) or, better but just as challenging, we fall in love. Oops! What is that? Not something we were prepared for.
When I was leaning how to be an actor I, at first, thought I knew how to do it. But gradually I became aware of the fact that there was a lot I didn't know. My teacher/mentor told me to put in practice what I knew and the rest would eventually follow. He was right. By the time I retired from the stage 45 years later I realized I would never know it all. No one could.
I was a performing artist. That was my career. But whether you're an actor like me, a boxer like Mark, a painter like Ernie, a nurse like George, a philosopher like
Friedrich, a teacher, a wife and mother, a career is a metaphor for life. And as we make our pilgrimage and leave our echoes in the hallways of history what are we really doing but reaffirming life. We are practicing what we know, hoping for more wisdom to follow and putting it into practice when it does. And that's where the blessedness comes from.
I'm still learning, discovering, practicing, but in the long walk I guess the answer is one that I have come to many years later than other men have. It is the living of life every day, with conscious commitment, enthusiasm, expectation, appreciation, gratitude and a sense of humor. And that is the only answer to the riddle, as far as I know.
DB - The Vagabond
Nietzsche
****************
See results of the weekend contest below.
******************
Let's face it friends, nobody knows what they're doing. There is no such thing as an authority on life. Just when you think you've got it figured out it changes, or some new unexpected element emerges out of the fog, or you stumble over a rock you didn't see. We are all total amateurs when it comes to life. Life is an unsolvable riddle, an eternal enigma, a jig saw puzzle with an infinite number of pieces. We spend our whole lives trying to discover what our whole lives are all about. How can one not have a sense of humor?
Here we are born with a certain set of abilities which we then have to learn to develop. As helpless infants we soon learn that screaming in rage over our own limitations usually brings results from the big people who serve us. The clever and wily child learns to turn that rage into a more coercive maneuver. Affections grow along with likes and dislikes and slowly a character is formed. After a few years of growing we realize that we are much wiser than the big people. Finally we step out into the world at large and discover that we are not as wise as we thought we were, so we start learning things about life. And that "coming of age" is a process that never ends even though we imagined, in our innocence, that one day it would.
What's really going on, undercover, is a process of coming to understand ourselves. We think. foolishly, that we know ourselves until a major change takes place, a tragedy (heaven forbid) or, better but just as challenging, we fall in love. Oops! What is that? Not something we were prepared for.
When I was leaning how to be an actor I, at first, thought I knew how to do it. But gradually I became aware of the fact that there was a lot I didn't know. My teacher/mentor told me to put in practice what I knew and the rest would eventually follow. He was right. By the time I retired from the stage 45 years later I realized I would never know it all. No one could.
I was a performing artist. That was my career. But whether you're an actor like me, a boxer like Mark, a painter like Ernie, a nurse like George, a philosopher like
Friedrich, a teacher, a wife and mother, a career is a metaphor for life. And as we make our pilgrimage and leave our echoes in the hallways of history what are we really doing but reaffirming life. We are practicing what we know, hoping for more wisdom to follow and putting it into practice when it does. And that's where the blessedness comes from.
I'm still learning, discovering, practicing, but in the long walk I guess the answer is one that I have come to many years later than other men have. It is the living of life every day, with conscious commitment, enthusiasm, expectation, appreciation, gratitude and a sense of humor. And that is the only answer to the riddle, as far as I know.
DB - The Vagabond
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Weekend Contest Results
Weekend Contest Results
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment was to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above. This was a very hard contest to judge. The offerings were so good and so diverse that I've decided to make 4 categories, 2 each for the Email Lions and the Blogspot Tigers. One first prize of a solid plastic sledge hammer to the winner of each category and one runner up prize in each for the one entry that made me laugh out loud.
First place for the Email Lions goes to Lindsay for :
"The mouse ran up the clock to see the cow jump over the moon."
First prize for the Blogspot Tigers goes to Nina for:
"To be or not to be is in the eye of the beholder."
And the two runners up (runner ups)
"You can't teach an old dog before they hatch." from Barry of the Lions, and
"I ate his liver with some fava beans and as God is my witness I'll never be hungry again." from Salemslot9 of the Tigers.
Congratulations all.
****************************
The other entries were:
"From the sublime, don't do the crime."
"The farmer who wants a free cow doesn't put all his eggs in one basket."
"Dream as if you'll live forever but don't put all of your eggs in one basket."
"A penny saved spoils the child."
"Something old, something blue, the old lady who lives in a shoe."
"Two peas in a pod, give me love and spare the rod."
"I'm up to my ass in alligators but if it was easy everyone would be doing it."
"A bad penny gathers no moss."
"A little pot may look at a king."
"A penny saved never boils."
Thank you everyone.
DB
___________________________-
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment was to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above. This was a very hard contest to judge. The offerings were so good and so diverse that I've decided to make 4 categories, 2 each for the Email Lions and the Blogspot Tigers. One first prize of a solid plastic sledge hammer to the winner of each category and one runner up prize in each for the one entry that made me laugh out loud.
First place for the Email Lions goes to Lindsay for :
"The mouse ran up the clock to see the cow jump over the moon."
First prize for the Blogspot Tigers goes to Nina for:
"To be or not to be is in the eye of the beholder."
And the two runners up (runner ups)
"You can't teach an old dog before they hatch." from Barry of the Lions, and
"I ate his liver with some fava beans and as God is my witness I'll never be hungry again." from Salemslot9 of the Tigers.
Congratulations all.
****************************
The other entries were:
"From the sublime, don't do the crime."
"The farmer who wants a free cow doesn't put all his eggs in one basket."
"Dream as if you'll live forever but don't put all of your eggs in one basket."
"A penny saved spoils the child."
"Something old, something blue, the old lady who lives in a shoe."
"Two peas in a pod, give me love and spare the rod."
"I'm up to my ass in alligators but if it was easy everyone would be doing it."
"A bad penny gathers no moss."
"A little pot may look at a king."
"A penny saved never boils."
Thank you everyone.
DB
___________________________-
Write On
Writing is mentally stimulating, it's like a puzzle that makes you think all the time.
Stephanie Zimbalist
*********************
In all my years I never considered myself a writer. People say "You should write plays." For half a century I acted in plays. And during that time I learned a lot about art and about myself as an artist. One of the most important lessons was about precision of communication. Inexperienced actors, myself once included, I suppose, are more concerned with tearing up the stage with great passion than with getting the story told. I've seen the same approach taken by young musicians. But there comes a time when the artist must stop and ask himself what the play or the music is really about. At that moment it is too easy to face the regret of having spent too much time mangling the material and not much time finding the true poetry within it, the substance that is going to feed the listener and affect his life.
The temptation for a writer (one who is trying to be a writer) is to fill the pages with purple prose and fancy phrases and thus ignore the real power of words. Language is a tool that can move mountains of ignorance, inspire to action and clear the skies of confusion.
"The pen is mightier than the sword." That was written by Edward
Bulwer-Lytton for a play in 1839 and it has since become a classic phrase to describe how the right words clearly stated can topple tyrants and punish villainy.
So what's the big puzzle? I conducted a seminar in public speaking one day and one of the clients talked about the problem of finding the right word to express what he wanted to say. He likened it to going out hunting for a deer and coming back with a squirrel. I have heard actors carelessly destroy the verbiage of playwrights. I did it myself in my early days. Now I know better. I will sometimes spend 5 to 10 minutes, if I have to, trying to find the word, the deer, that is precise and precious, the word that rings, not the one that makes a dull thud. I'm a learner.
Writing, like any art requires living, feeling, thinking, solving the puzzles and doing it every day.
DB
********************
Weekend Contest
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving this quiz up for another weekend.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final.
13 entries so far.
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Stephanie Zimbalist
*********************
In all my years I never considered myself a writer. People say "You should write plays." For half a century I acted in plays. And during that time I learned a lot about art and about myself as an artist. One of the most important lessons was about precision of communication. Inexperienced actors, myself once included, I suppose, are more concerned with tearing up the stage with great passion than with getting the story told. I've seen the same approach taken by young musicians. But there comes a time when the artist must stop and ask himself what the play or the music is really about. At that moment it is too easy to face the regret of having spent too much time mangling the material and not much time finding the true poetry within it, the substance that is going to feed the listener and affect his life.
The temptation for a writer (one who is trying to be a writer) is to fill the pages with purple prose and fancy phrases and thus ignore the real power of words. Language is a tool that can move mountains of ignorance, inspire to action and clear the skies of confusion.
"The pen is mightier than the sword." That was written by Edward
Bulwer-Lytton for a play in 1839 and it has since become a classic phrase to describe how the right words clearly stated can topple tyrants and punish villainy.
So what's the big puzzle? I conducted a seminar in public speaking one day and one of the clients talked about the problem of finding the right word to express what he wanted to say. He likened it to going out hunting for a deer and coming back with a squirrel. I have heard actors carelessly destroy the verbiage of playwrights. I did it myself in my early days. Now I know better. I will sometimes spend 5 to 10 minutes, if I have to, trying to find the word, the deer, that is precise and precious, the word that rings, not the one that makes a dull thud. I'm a learner.
Writing, like any art requires living, feeling, thinking, solving the puzzles and doing it every day.
DB
********************
Weekend Contest
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving this quiz up for another weekend.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final.
13 entries so far.
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Saturday, February 20, 2010
In Obscurity
We have to believe in free will, we have no choice.
Isaac Singer
**********************
A few of my journal buddies are telling me I should maintain a positive attitude. A positive attitude is something I equate with a sense of humor, something I'm grateful I have even though it is sometimes aggressively tested as it has been over the past few days.
A positive attitude is also akin to enthusiasm, a constant consciousness of what is beautiful, good and true; a spirit.
My basic philosophy of life, in its simplest form, is "Never give up." But the truth is I do give up. I give up at least once a day. But I know what I'm doing. During my career I used to say that I give up acting about once a week. I said that for 45 years' worth of weeks.
In the acting craft there is a thing which has been called "opposites." It's the moment when the pursuit of the character's objective becomes so difficult he says "Aw, to hell with it" and gives up. It's a momentary lapse in the forward action, a regrouping, an "advance to the rear" in order to get some perspective, think about things and try a different tactic. The character doesn't know it's a temporary maneuver, the actor does.
I have vowed that I will write an entry in this journal every day as long as I have at least one visitor. And I will. Today I vow that if the day ever comes when my StatCounter registers 0 for one whole day, that's the day I will abandon Vagabond Journeys. Does that mean I will stop writing? Hell, no. Instinct, passion and natural law won't let me. I will just take my words somewhere else.
I may publish some day and if I do my book may show up in someone's home or on a library shelf somewhere. Once at the Drama Book Store in New York I was going through the shelves looking for a project to work on. I pulled out a collection of plays by various authors. As I thumbed through it I was amazed to find my own name in a list of actors who had performed in one of them. We were the original cast. I had forgotten that I had originated that role. The play is never done any more, as far as I know. It's an obscure play by an even more obscure playwright. But somehow it got published.
Another time in New York, and I will never forget this, I was waiting for the A Train in a remote subway station at about 2 a. m. Way at the other end of the station was a man with an Alto Saxophone playing blues and playing it well, with his heart. We were the only two people there. His music filled that station. I listened. I'm not sure he even knew I was there. He would have played it even if I wasn't there to hear.
Somewhere in your town there is a small museum. Perhaps the home of some important person of the past has been converted into a commemoration of his or her life. And somewhere, in a far corner, there is a modest work of art no one ever sees. Give it your attention. You will be glad you did. The artist is talking to you, you, with his heart and mind. And before you leave the museum be sure to sign the book.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
Weekend Contest
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving this quiz up for another weekend.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final. Althoug he may need help with this one.
13 entries so far.
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Isaac Singer
**********************
A few of my journal buddies are telling me I should maintain a positive attitude. A positive attitude is something I equate with a sense of humor, something I'm grateful I have even though it is sometimes aggressively tested as it has been over the past few days.
A positive attitude is also akin to enthusiasm, a constant consciousness of what is beautiful, good and true; a spirit.
My basic philosophy of life, in its simplest form, is "Never give up." But the truth is I do give up. I give up at least once a day. But I know what I'm doing. During my career I used to say that I give up acting about once a week. I said that for 45 years' worth of weeks.
In the acting craft there is a thing which has been called "opposites." It's the moment when the pursuit of the character's objective becomes so difficult he says "Aw, to hell with it" and gives up. It's a momentary lapse in the forward action, a regrouping, an "advance to the rear" in order to get some perspective, think about things and try a different tactic. The character doesn't know it's a temporary maneuver, the actor does.
I have vowed that I will write an entry in this journal every day as long as I have at least one visitor. And I will. Today I vow that if the day ever comes when my StatCounter registers 0 for one whole day, that's the day I will abandon Vagabond Journeys. Does that mean I will stop writing? Hell, no. Instinct, passion and natural law won't let me. I will just take my words somewhere else.
I may publish some day and if I do my book may show up in someone's home or on a library shelf somewhere. Once at the Drama Book Store in New York I was going through the shelves looking for a project to work on. I pulled out a collection of plays by various authors. As I thumbed through it I was amazed to find my own name in a list of actors who had performed in one of them. We were the original cast. I had forgotten that I had originated that role. The play is never done any more, as far as I know. It's an obscure play by an even more obscure playwright. But somehow it got published.
Another time in New York, and I will never forget this, I was waiting for the A Train in a remote subway station at about 2 a. m. Way at the other end of the station was a man with an Alto Saxophone playing blues and playing it well, with his heart. We were the only two people there. His music filled that station. I listened. I'm not sure he even knew I was there. He would have played it even if I wasn't there to hear.
Somewhere in your town there is a small museum. Perhaps the home of some important person of the past has been converted into a commemoration of his or her life. And somewhere, in a far corner, there is a modest work of art no one ever sees. Give it your attention. You will be glad you did. The artist is talking to you, you, with his heart and mind. And before you leave the museum be sure to sign the book.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
Weekend Contest
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving this quiz up for another weekend.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final. Althoug he may need help with this one.
13 entries so far.
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Friday, February 19, 2010
World Watching
There can be no true art without living.
Constantine Stanislavski
***********************
True art doesn't imitate art. It imitates life. Or better, it helps to explain and understand life. If I take my inspiration from art, I get it from music, literature, paintings, opera and dance. I don't really enjoy going to the theatre or watching a film as much as one might think. I find it hard to get involved in the story because I am watching actors act. I'm watching workers do their work. Having spent almost 50 years as a performer, I have an educating view of what actors do and what they don't do I can see the difference between the good and the bad, the real and the fake, the inspired and the acting-by-numbers. I can spot the influences and the copies. I can tell original work from the in-the-style-of.
It was also true during my career. I could admire them, but I never wanted to be so influenced by the work of another man that I would fall into the temptation of copying him. As a young man I learned a lot from the experienced older actors I had the good fortune to know. But what I learned from them was not technique. It was artistry.
And what is artistry? It's a very difficult thing to explain. Artists and others have been trying for centuries. You won't find the final definition of art in the pages of this journal, or anyone else's I suppose. Art is destroying and creating, it's shutting one's eyes in order to see clearly, it's digging for buried treasure without a map, it's taking all the struggles of one's life and slapping it down on a potters wheel.
One day a young woman came to visit me because she wanted some advice about becoming an actor. I know she wanted to hear about pictures and resumes, about getting an agent, getting auditions and where to look for wark. I could have told her about all of that, but I could tell she wasn't ready for it. I said, as I have said to others, there are as many ways to make a living in show business as there are people who've done it.
Instead, I advised her to read as much as she could, especially the great writers. I told her to go to concerts and carefully listen to the music, to go to the museum and spend time with the pieces there. I told her to watch people. If she wanted to depict the human race she should know what they are really like, what they do and how they behave. And most of all I said she should be aware of her own reactions to everything she experiences in her life. The artist never knows what slight impression, image or gesture lodged in his memory may become the master stroke of a great work of art. It is why the figures in Michelangelo's statues are alive.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
16 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Constantine Stanislavski
***********************
True art doesn't imitate art. It imitates life. Or better, it helps to explain and understand life. If I take my inspiration from art, I get it from music, literature, paintings, opera and dance. I don't really enjoy going to the theatre or watching a film as much as one might think. I find it hard to get involved in the story because I am watching actors act. I'm watching workers do their work. Having spent almost 50 years as a performer, I have an educating view of what actors do and what they don't do I can see the difference between the good and the bad, the real and the fake, the inspired and the acting-by-numbers. I can spot the influences and the copies. I can tell original work from the in-the-style-of.
It was also true during my career. I could admire them, but I never wanted to be so influenced by the work of another man that I would fall into the temptation of copying him. As a young man I learned a lot from the experienced older actors I had the good fortune to know. But what I learned from them was not technique. It was artistry.
And what is artistry? It's a very difficult thing to explain. Artists and others have been trying for centuries. You won't find the final definition of art in the pages of this journal, or anyone else's I suppose. Art is destroying and creating, it's shutting one's eyes in order to see clearly, it's digging for buried treasure without a map, it's taking all the struggles of one's life and slapping it down on a potters wheel.
One day a young woman came to visit me because she wanted some advice about becoming an actor. I know she wanted to hear about pictures and resumes, about getting an agent, getting auditions and where to look for wark. I could have told her about all of that, but I could tell she wasn't ready for it. I said, as I have said to others, there are as many ways to make a living in show business as there are people who've done it.
Instead, I advised her to read as much as she could, especially the great writers. I told her to go to concerts and carefully listen to the music, to go to the museum and spend time with the pieces there. I told her to watch people. If she wanted to depict the human race she should know what they are really like, what they do and how they behave. And most of all I said she should be aware of her own reactions to everything she experiences in her life. The artist never knows what slight impression, image or gesture lodged in his memory may become the master stroke of a great work of art. It is why the figures in Michelangelo's statues are alive.
DB - The Vagabond
***************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
16 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A View From The Attic
We build our nest on the tree called "future," eagles will bring meals in their beaks to us solitary ones.
Friedrich Nietzsche
*********************
What is it to be a solitary one? On the simplest terms it means to travel alone on the road, to embark by oneself into the experiences of life, to be an ambassador-at-large in strange and foreign lands.
I have no comfortable chair in my apartment. I used to have one. But when I was moving from the second floor to the third floor years ago, someone stole it. So without it I don't sit back, relax and dwell in my memories. I have very little time for that. Most of them aren't so good anyway and I choose not to think about them. I have no children around me to take care of my old age. I have no grandchildren on my lap. I have no dog giving me unconditional love. I have no cat to observe my foolish human ways. No one is here demanding food and love, in that order.
But there is a broader, better aspect to the solitary life. And that is about the future. The future is what I choose to think about. Solitary senior citizenship doesn't depress me. I look forward every day to the arrival of the eagles. I can see how much the future affects the past.
I don't like wearing clothes. I feel slightly claustrophobic when I'm dressed. That I don't have to be dressed is another benefit of the solitary life. Pure ideas in their natural state are in the beaks of the eagles. Opinions are ideas dressed up in some fancy, fashionable outfits. The eagles, past and present, strip away the opinions and give me the bare ideas.
My grandmother, when in her 80's, would habitually watch the TV news everyday. She wanted to know what was going on in the world she could no longer participate in or hove any influence over. I understand her. When you have lived many decades you have a greater perspective about things. That perspective gives you the ability to better predict what is going to happen and to understand what is happening as you watch it unfold. In some ways it is a reaffirmation of your own wisdom. I think my grandmother was content watching history being made and I respect her for that.
But that doesn't content me. Somewhere along the journey, when I first started contemplating building my mental nest, I knew that although I was interested in the what of things, I was more interested in knowing the why. To my friends I appeared, and still do, I guess, obsessive, idiosyncratic and paradoxical.
It all began with art, specifically music. How could those sounds create such feelings and impressions in me? What was in the harmony, counterpoint and rhythm, the melodies and tonal structures that produced such results? So I started on a life long study of music. That was followed by theatre and a life as an actor, then relooking at the great paintings of the world. Not as a casual or obligatory observer, but from my aery nest in the tree top.
When my first marriage crumbled I lived alone and slept in the basement of my house until I could figure things out. Now I live alone in the attic. I'm still figuring, but the view is nicer.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving the quiz up for another day.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense, as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final. Actually if this keeps up I may need some help judging. Any volunteers?
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Friedrich Nietzsche
*********************
What is it to be a solitary one? On the simplest terms it means to travel alone on the road, to embark by oneself into the experiences of life, to be an ambassador-at-large in strange and foreign lands.
I have no comfortable chair in my apartment. I used to have one. But when I was moving from the second floor to the third floor years ago, someone stole it. So without it I don't sit back, relax and dwell in my memories. I have very little time for that. Most of them aren't so good anyway and I choose not to think about them. I have no children around me to take care of my old age. I have no grandchildren on my lap. I have no dog giving me unconditional love. I have no cat to observe my foolish human ways. No one is here demanding food and love, in that order.
But there is a broader, better aspect to the solitary life. And that is about the future. The future is what I choose to think about. Solitary senior citizenship doesn't depress me. I look forward every day to the arrival of the eagles. I can see how much the future affects the past.
I don't like wearing clothes. I feel slightly claustrophobic when I'm dressed. That I don't have to be dressed is another benefit of the solitary life. Pure ideas in their natural state are in the beaks of the eagles. Opinions are ideas dressed up in some fancy, fashionable outfits. The eagles, past and present, strip away the opinions and give me the bare ideas.
My grandmother, when in her 80's, would habitually watch the TV news everyday. She wanted to know what was going on in the world she could no longer participate in or hove any influence over. I understand her. When you have lived many decades you have a greater perspective about things. That perspective gives you the ability to better predict what is going to happen and to understand what is happening as you watch it unfold. In some ways it is a reaffirmation of your own wisdom. I think my grandmother was content watching history being made and I respect her for that.
But that doesn't content me. Somewhere along the journey, when I first started contemplating building my mental nest, I knew that although I was interested in the what of things, I was more interested in knowing the why. To my friends I appeared, and still do, I guess, obsessive, idiosyncratic and paradoxical.
It all began with art, specifically music. How could those sounds create such feelings and impressions in me? What was in the harmony, counterpoint and rhythm, the melodies and tonal structures that produced such results? So I started on a life long study of music. That was followed by theatre and a life as an actor, then relooking at the great paintings of the world. Not as a casual or obligatory observer, but from my aery nest in the tree top.
When my first marriage crumbled I lived alone and slept in the basement of my house until I could figure things out. Now I live alone in the attic. I'm still figuring, but the view is nicer.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving the quiz up for another day.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense, as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final. Actually if this keeps up I may need some help judging. Any volunteers?
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Mini Mob
I don't know what it's like in your town but I'm convinced that in my town the Institution of Lower Learning is really just a place to enclose youngsters for half a day to keep them out of people's hair. Education is a useful by-product. As long as you've got them there you might as well teach them something. But when school is over and you let them out they immediately start behaving like a bunch of crazy people. They run around yelling and screaming like an insane mob. If they weren't so small it would be frightening. It's frightening anyway.
DB
DB
Mining The Heart
It is the living who might be spared if we could quarry the message which lies buried in the heart of all human experience.
Lawrence Durrell
********************
A person could be content being an observer of his own life if he could find a safe place to stand. I think every person's life is a book that should be written and read. We all share the human story of joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, success and failure, fulfilled dreams and destroyed hopes. Suffering is wrong, whether it's great or small. But all conditions are faced somehow, in some way, by a creature who has intelligence, reason, experience and ability. How each one of us copes with the demands of life in our own individual way goes to write the history of the human race.
Buried in that history is a fundamental truth about our lives and why we have these phantasmagorias to deal with. It is way too much to expect, in spite of legend and hero worship, for any one individual to unearth the great, golden ore of human nature. And yet there it is. Some people roll up their sleeves and dig, others quit the quarry.
The ancient prophets preached the dignity and divinity of natural law. Who turned the human race away from that rich mine and made us deny ourselves? When did the valuable vein of human experience become wrong, a sin, a destruction? When did the human being become insignificant, slightly better than the beasts?
I like to remember that when I walk down the street I am treading on an edge of the universe. People look out at the stars and sense something so grand that it diminishes the importance of us humans. I look at it rather as an example of how grand we are to be a part of it, and a part that is free to explore every inch of it. And why do we have that freedom? Because we want it. And wanting it is not a sin, it's part of our human nature.
One of the great and necessary benefits I see from investigating and trying to understand, whether it's in your living room or in outer space, is that we are slowly getting away from an old mistaken notion about who we are. We grew used to thinking that there is the Earth and then there is the rest of the universe, and somehow one is separate from the other. There is I and then there is the rest of the people. Two groups: I and everyone else. And, of course, no one else's life is a complicated as mine, I think.
What is your life like? How have you coped with it's dangers and dilemmas and what have you mined from the quarry of human experience? What is the message in your heart you can share with us? What is life like on your star?
DB - The Vagabond
Lawrence Durrell
********************
A person could be content being an observer of his own life if he could find a safe place to stand. I think every person's life is a book that should be written and read. We all share the human story of joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, success and failure, fulfilled dreams and destroyed hopes. Suffering is wrong, whether it's great or small. But all conditions are faced somehow, in some way, by a creature who has intelligence, reason, experience and ability. How each one of us copes with the demands of life in our own individual way goes to write the history of the human race.
Buried in that history is a fundamental truth about our lives and why we have these phantasmagorias to deal with. It is way too much to expect, in spite of legend and hero worship, for any one individual to unearth the great, golden ore of human nature. And yet there it is. Some people roll up their sleeves and dig, others quit the quarry.
The ancient prophets preached the dignity and divinity of natural law. Who turned the human race away from that rich mine and made us deny ourselves? When did the valuable vein of human experience become wrong, a sin, a destruction? When did the human being become insignificant, slightly better than the beasts?
I like to remember that when I walk down the street I am treading on an edge of the universe. People look out at the stars and sense something so grand that it diminishes the importance of us humans. I look at it rather as an example of how grand we are to be a part of it, and a part that is free to explore every inch of it. And why do we have that freedom? Because we want it. And wanting it is not a sin, it's part of our human nature.
One of the great and necessary benefits I see from investigating and trying to understand, whether it's in your living room or in outer space, is that we are slowly getting away from an old mistaken notion about who we are. We grew used to thinking that there is the Earth and then there is the rest of the universe, and somehow one is separate from the other. There is I and then there is the rest of the people. Two groups: I and everyone else. And, of course, no one else's life is a complicated as mine, I think.
What is your life like? How have you coped with it's dangers and dilemmas and what have you mined from the quarry of human experience? What is the message in your heart you can share with us? What is life like on your star?
DB - The Vagabond
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Speak Up
Last year's words belong to last years language and next year's words await another voice.
T. S. Eliot
*****************************
Think of this. You, yourself may be the voice of the next decade. We certainly need one. Too many people are adamantly committed to old ways of thinking and old ways of expressing what they think. I envision a herd of humans inside a large mental corral, with a lush pasture and no need to challenge the fence, or a woman washing out the same old rags over and over again and calling it fashion. You might as well keep a buggy whip in your Toyota, just in case.
I love some old things, old gadgets, old works of art, old tools, old ideas. It's fun to go into the museum and look at them, or see them show up on the Antiques Road Show or to consider them in my mental historical society. And it's true the "new and improved" aren't necessarily improved. There's nothing much we can do about that except to hold the manufacturers and purveyors of the new accountable for quality. But where, oh where, is it written that we must take the old and worn out idea, dust it off and try to use it again.
I recently heard sa woman say that the new, proposed health care plan is one step closer to Marxism. What this woman doesn't know is that this nation passed Marxism many years ago and left it in the dust.
TV is no help here. Most shows are still stuck in the myth of good and evil, characters in white hats and characters in black hats, except for a few programs in which all the characters are in black hats. (Keep the pasture clean.)
The nations who can afford it are building bigger and better attack weapons and calling it "defense." We have car alarms to frighten the dog when it pees on the wheel. Unregistered guns are killing people in class rooms and churches. People are still beating the broken drum about this being a Christian country. (I wonder how many of those people would go to the stake if it came to that.) Many people still believe, because they believe the TV commercials, that big business really has the consumer's interests at heart. Some folks think the exploration of space is a waste of time and money and a few still believe we've never been to the moon. (And the holocaust never happened and will never happen.)
The world is changing very fast and most of our brains are not keeping up with it. The "Naughties" are over and we are fast approaching the "Teens" and where is the voice to speak for it, the voice that will speak the truth and be listened to by those who are still listening and hearing?
We are going to need a new voice, with new words and a new language. So speak up.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving the quiz up for another day.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final. Actually if this keeps up I may need some help judging. Any volunteers?
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
T. S. Eliot
*****************************
Think of this. You, yourself may be the voice of the next decade. We certainly need one. Too many people are adamantly committed to old ways of thinking and old ways of expressing what they think. I envision a herd of humans inside a large mental corral, with a lush pasture and no need to challenge the fence, or a woman washing out the same old rags over and over again and calling it fashion. You might as well keep a buggy whip in your Toyota, just in case.
I love some old things, old gadgets, old works of art, old tools, old ideas. It's fun to go into the museum and look at them, or see them show up on the Antiques Road Show or to consider them in my mental historical society. And it's true the "new and improved" aren't necessarily improved. There's nothing much we can do about that except to hold the manufacturers and purveyors of the new accountable for quality. But where, oh where, is it written that we must take the old and worn out idea, dust it off and try to use it again.
I recently heard sa woman say that the new, proposed health care plan is one step closer to Marxism. What this woman doesn't know is that this nation passed Marxism many years ago and left it in the dust.
TV is no help here. Most shows are still stuck in the myth of good and evil, characters in white hats and characters in black hats, except for a few programs in which all the characters are in black hats. (Keep the pasture clean.)
The nations who can afford it are building bigger and better attack weapons and calling it "defense." We have car alarms to frighten the dog when it pees on the wheel. Unregistered guns are killing people in class rooms and churches. People are still beating the broken drum about this being a Christian country. (I wonder how many of those people would go to the stake if it came to that.) Many people still believe, because they believe the TV commercials, that big business really has the consumer's interests at heart. Some folks think the exploration of space is a waste of time and money and a few still believe we've never been to the moon. (And the holocaust never happened and will never happen.)
The world is changing very fast and most of our brains are not keeping up with it. The "Naughties" are over and we are fast approaching the "Teens" and where is the voice to speak for it, the voice that will speak the truth and be listened to by those who are still listening and hearing?
We are going to need a new voice, with new words and a new language. So speak up.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving the quiz up for another day.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final. Actually if this keeps up I may need some help judging. Any volunteers?
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Monday, February 15, 2010
Crawling On
The future seems to me no unified dream but a mince pie, long in the baking, never quite done.
Edward Young
*******************
Who can predict the future? Who can say for certain that if we do "this thing" then "that thing" will happen, if it hasn't happened before? Civilization is a grand experiment, an improvisation, so uncertain, so unpredictable and in such a state of potential chaos that people come up with some of the most absurd beliefs to try to make sense out of it. They want to draw circles around everything and put ideas and actions into little boxes, like hieroglyphics, and then put labels on them.
I listen to all kinds of music and I amuse myself sometimes by wondering what composers of the past would think about how music has developed over the years. Johann Sebastian Bach was an unqualified genius and a very prolific composer of the 18th Century. I wonder what he would think of the music of Richard Strauss, or George Gershwin, or Led Zeppelin. Has music developed the way musicians expected it to, foretold it would and, in some cases, guaranteed it would?
I don't ;like Rap Music. It doesn't matter that I don't like it, it's what we have these days. I wouldn't have guessed it was coming. A lot of people don't like it, but I'm just an old fogy so I'll stay out of the fray.
I was talking with my friend Marty last night, and he made an observation which I had never thought about. The First World War was not called The First World War until after the Second World War. It was known as The War To End All Wars, and some people actually believed that, most people probably. At least it was the hope. But alas, along came World War Two. And after all the surrenders were complete World War Three started. There is always a war going on somewhere in the world, from the bushes of the Amazon forest to the deserts of the Middle East. Who predicted that?
The snail I wrote about a few days ago may have made it to the Ark, that was his destination, but he couldn't have known what he was going to encounter along the way.
Selfishness rules. Many people want their little boxes and don't seem to care about peace, disarmament, the growth of science, art, education and culture on the earth, an improved society, a greater more advanced civilization, a better world. Those are definite dreams and destinations for the rest of us to crawl toward. But we have no idea what challenges, changes and dilemmas we will face on the way. The pie is still in the oven.
DB - The Vagabond
******************
Thank you for all the Valentine's Day greetings.
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving the quiz up for another day.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final.
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Edward Young
*******************
Who can predict the future? Who can say for certain that if we do "this thing" then "that thing" will happen, if it hasn't happened before? Civilization is a grand experiment, an improvisation, so uncertain, so unpredictable and in such a state of potential chaos that people come up with some of the most absurd beliefs to try to make sense out of it. They want to draw circles around everything and put ideas and actions into little boxes, like hieroglyphics, and then put labels on them.
I listen to all kinds of music and I amuse myself sometimes by wondering what composers of the past would think about how music has developed over the years. Johann Sebastian Bach was an unqualified genius and a very prolific composer of the 18th Century. I wonder what he would think of the music of Richard Strauss, or George Gershwin, or Led Zeppelin. Has music developed the way musicians expected it to, foretold it would and, in some cases, guaranteed it would?
I don't ;like Rap Music. It doesn't matter that I don't like it, it's what we have these days. I wouldn't have guessed it was coming. A lot of people don't like it, but I'm just an old fogy so I'll stay out of the fray.
I was talking with my friend Marty last night, and he made an observation which I had never thought about. The First World War was not called The First World War until after the Second World War. It was known as The War To End All Wars, and some people actually believed that, most people probably. At least it was the hope. But alas, along came World War Two. And after all the surrenders were complete World War Three started. There is always a war going on somewhere in the world, from the bushes of the Amazon forest to the deserts of the Middle East. Who predicted that?
The snail I wrote about a few days ago may have made it to the Ark, that was his destination, but he couldn't have known what he was going to encounter along the way.
Selfishness rules. Many people want their little boxes and don't seem to care about peace, disarmament, the growth of science, art, education and culture on the earth, an improved society, a greater more advanced civilization, a better world. Those are definite dreams and destinations for the rest of us to crawl toward. But we have no idea what challenges, changes and dilemmas we will face on the way. The pie is still in the oven.
DB - The Vagabond
******************
Thank you for all the Valentine's Day greetings.
I'm getting a lot of interesting mangled cliches so I'm leaving the quiz up for another day.
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final.
Good luck.
DB
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Valentines Day
To my favorite blogspot tiger woman, (you know who you are).
Happy Valentine's Day
(smooch, smooch)
DB
Happy Valentine's Day
(smooch, smooch)
DB
Punching In
Work will order your life.
Ernest O. Brown
(Thank you Ernie)
******************
I once saw an interview with a woman whose father was one of the richest men in the world. She said that everything in her life was provided for her. She had a beautiful home, with servants to take care of her every wish. She had several cars, her own yacht, a private jet, clothes designed for her by the best Paris and Italian designers, an excellent education and she moved among the circles of the very wealthy. Her only obligations were social events, raising money for charities and such
How could such a person complain? But she said after a few years of her lush and lavish life she began to feel "spiritually barren" because she didn't have anything to do.
Her father, she said, could have gotten her a job anywhere in the world, but what she wanted was a career. She tried out several ideas. They didn't work out because she was unacquainted with the world of business and knew nothing about the concept of labor.
She went too far in the opposite direction to compensate and tried to find work at the simplest level of the labor market and found that she wasn't suitable for any type of labor. She had no background, no experience to peddle, no resume.
She took a night school course in accounting and, through a contact, got an entry level job in the fashion industry as a bookkeeper. She eschewed any kind of favoritism. She was treated as an equal with those around her in the office. She insisted on that. She said that now she had a job, a career and something to look forward to. She said she was learning things from the other workers.
She wasn't going to give up the yacht or her fancy home. Why should she? But now she had a real job. she was a nine to fiver, she had to go to work every day. She may be driven to work in a limo, but when she got there she had to punch in.
DB
**********************8
Weekend Quiz
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final.
Good luck.
DB
*********************
Ernest O. Brown
(Thank you Ernie)
******************
I once saw an interview with a woman whose father was one of the richest men in the world. She said that everything in her life was provided for her. She had a beautiful home, with servants to take care of her every wish. She had several cars, her own yacht, a private jet, clothes designed for her by the best Paris and Italian designers, an excellent education and she moved among the circles of the very wealthy. Her only obligations were social events, raising money for charities and such
How could such a person complain? But she said after a few years of her lush and lavish life she began to feel "spiritually barren" because she didn't have anything to do.
Her father, she said, could have gotten her a job anywhere in the world, but what she wanted was a career. She tried out several ideas. They didn't work out because she was unacquainted with the world of business and knew nothing about the concept of labor.
She went too far in the opposite direction to compensate and tried to find work at the simplest level of the labor market and found that she wasn't suitable for any type of labor. She had no background, no experience to peddle, no resume.
She took a night school course in accounting and, through a contact, got an entry level job in the fashion industry as a bookkeeper. She eschewed any kind of favoritism. She was treated as an equal with those around her in the office. She insisted on that. She said that now she had a job, a career and something to look forward to. She said she was learning things from the other workers.
She wasn't going to give up the yacht or her fancy home. Why should she? But now she had a real job. she was a nine to fiver, she had to go to work every day. She may be driven to work in a limo, but when she got there she had to punch in.
DB
**********************8
Weekend Quiz
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final.
Good luck.
DB
*********************
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Rained In
Why not make the best of things? Any fool can make the worst of them.
Charles Bromley
**********************
Many years ago I was performing in a play at the Charles Playhouse in Boston. We had a Wednesday matinee on our schedule. On one particular Wednesday it was raining. By 2:30 in the afternoon it was a major tempest. The rain was so heavy it was loud. When we looked out at the audience we saw that there was only one person there, an older woman sitting on the side about halfway up.
Now in some theatres it's common practice that if the actors outnumber the audience the producers will cancel the performance. But the producer came back stage and told us that the woman was a regular customer, that she saw every production, that she lived way out in the suburbs, always sent her check in and got her ticket in the mail, always sat in the same seat and that she had a long drive to get to Boston and would probably not get another chance to see the play.
So we talked it over and decided "What the hell. Let's do it."
We invited her to come down and sit in the front row and we did the play. It was one of the best performances we gave.
After it we invited her to come up on the stage to meet the cast and the crew. She was delighted. She spent about a half an hour with us. She was a charming, gracious woman who told us how much she enjoyed the performance and how grateful she was that we did it for her.
When she left the theatre the rain had stopped and we were a happy group.
DB - The Vagabond
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Weekend Quiz
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final.
Good luck.
DB
*********************
Charles Bromley
**********************
Many years ago I was performing in a play at the Charles Playhouse in Boston. We had a Wednesday matinee on our schedule. On one particular Wednesday it was raining. By 2:30 in the afternoon it was a major tempest. The rain was so heavy it was loud. When we looked out at the audience we saw that there was only one person there, an older woman sitting on the side about halfway up.
Now in some theatres it's common practice that if the actors outnumber the audience the producers will cancel the performance. But the producer came back stage and told us that the woman was a regular customer, that she saw every production, that she lived way out in the suburbs, always sent her check in and got her ticket in the mail, always sat in the same seat and that she had a long drive to get to Boston and would probably not get another chance to see the play.
So we talked it over and decided "What the hell. Let's do it."
We invited her to come down and sit in the front row and we did the play. It was one of the best performances we gave.
After it we invited her to come up on the stage to meet the cast and the crew. She was delighted. She spent about a half an hour with us. She was a charming, gracious woman who told us how much she enjoyed the performance and how grateful she was that we did it for her.
When she left the theatre the rain had stopped and we were a happy group.
DB - The Vagabond
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Weekend Quiz
"A stitch in time is worth two in the bush."
Your assignment is to take two or more grand old sayings, cliches, sage saws or famous quotes and cobble (clobber) them together to make a new and wiser adage or utter nonsense as in the above.
Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased judge is final.
Good luck.
DB
*********************
Friday, February 12, 2010
Rent
My landlord didn't receive my rent check even though I mailed it on time. So I called the credit union, got a stop payment on it, and tomorrow I have to trudge through this treacherous ice for several long blocks to deliver a new one to him. "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night...."
Going The Distance
By perseverance the snail reached the ark.
Charles Spurgeon
******************
Why does it take a lifetime to figure things out? Why does it take such a long time to make the journey to the goal of understanding ourselves and the world around us? These are rhetorical questions, of course. The answer is: things take as long as they take and there is no other answer as far as I know.
Was the snail ever discouraged by the long trip to the safety of understanding and enlightenment? How could he not be, considering the distance and the agonizingly slow means of transportation he had. Was he further discouraged by the mountainous burden he had to carry with him? Was he envious of the frogs and lizards who were going passt him so fast he could hardly see them and did he feel unjustly left behind by them? Did he want to hitch a ride on the back of some more successful traveler?
Did he take a break? Did he ever stop to rest because he was exhausted with the journey? Did he feel guilty about that?
Was he ever overcome by the futility of his attempt to reach the ark in time and did he therefore stop and relax for a while? Did he decide to hell with it and succumb to the pleasures along the way, forgetting what his journey was about?
Did he fear the door would close before he got there thus condemning him to die with the rest of the sluggards and ignorant? Did that anxiety overwhelm him? Was he even afraid that if he did get there in time Noah wouldn't allow him in? What if other snails had already entered and he would be unneeded? Would he then be rejected?
What if the rain came before he got there and he was abandoned to it?
What thoughts must have entered his little mind during that long and painful trip that tried to persuade him to stop and give up? And why didn't he give in to them? Why didn't he give up?
I've been on that long and painful snail's pace toward wisdom for almost 70 years. Why don't I give up?
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
Charles Spurgeon
******************
Why does it take a lifetime to figure things out? Why does it take such a long time to make the journey to the goal of understanding ourselves and the world around us? These are rhetorical questions, of course. The answer is: things take as long as they take and there is no other answer as far as I know.
Was the snail ever discouraged by the long trip to the safety of understanding and enlightenment? How could he not be, considering the distance and the agonizingly slow means of transportation he had. Was he further discouraged by the mountainous burden he had to carry with him? Was he envious of the frogs and lizards who were going passt him so fast he could hardly see them and did he feel unjustly left behind by them? Did he want to hitch a ride on the back of some more successful traveler?
Did he take a break? Did he ever stop to rest because he was exhausted with the journey? Did he feel guilty about that?
Was he ever overcome by the futility of his attempt to reach the ark in time and did he therefore stop and relax for a while? Did he decide to hell with it and succumb to the pleasures along the way, forgetting what his journey was about?
Did he fear the door would close before he got there thus condemning him to die with the rest of the sluggards and ignorant? Did that anxiety overwhelm him? Was he even afraid that if he did get there in time Noah wouldn't allow him in? What if other snails had already entered and he would be unneeded? Would he then be rejected?
What if the rain came before he got there and he was abandoned to it?
What thoughts must have entered his little mind during that long and painful trip that tried to persuade him to stop and give up? And why didn't he give in to them? Why didn't he give up?
I've been on that long and painful snail's pace toward wisdom for almost 70 years. Why don't I give up?
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
Thursday, February 11, 2010
What Are You Watching
If you haven;t found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day.
John Wheeler
******************
It isn't difficult to find strange things, things that are unusual, different or just plain odd. I find them everyday. Sometimes in a book, sometimes in my head and quite often just by looking around and observing the world in action. Strangely, strange things are sometimes things that people are simply used to and don't ask questions about.
One of the strangest of all things to me, and something that allows me a good shaking of my head in disbelief, is the news coverage in this country.
When I was a lad you got your news from newspapers. TV news was not what it is today. It was usually one man sitting at a table with no fancy graphics behind him, reading from a sheet of news copy and looking into a stationary camera. (How many remember John Cameron Swaze and the News, brought to you by Camel cigarettes?)
There were 7 daily newspapers in New York City: The Times, The Herald Tribune, The Journal American, The World Telegram and Sun, The Post, The Daily News and The Daily Mirror. When I was in high school I used to buy all 7 of them, they weren't very expensive. In all of them the important news story of the day was right on the front page or, in the case of the tabloids, it was right inside the front cover.
All those papers were earnest, responsible newspapers and their journalism was exciting in those days. One paper, The Journal American, was almost completely responsible for catching a terrorist of the 40's and 50"s known as The Mad Bomber. That's a fascinating story which I will write about one day.
One of the advantages of reading from all those papers was that, not only could one see the accuracy of the reporting by comparison (and it was very accurate, across the lot) but one could also clearly see the seven different editorial points of view, from the most liberal to the most conservative. It was the news and the excellent reporting of it that sold newspapers. And it sure helped an impressionable youth to start thinking clearly about the events of the world around him.
Now everything is strange. We get out news from TV "journalists," a group of folks who look good an camera, who are over paid and who, for the most part, are lacking in life's real experiences. (As I write this I'm reminded of the network newscaster who referred to an Arab running for his life during the bombing of Baghdad as being in his "bathrobe." One wonders if that man had every seen an Arab before in his life.)
We don't buy the TV news the way we used to buy newspapers. Business buys TV news, Big Business. We get very little news because of the advertising that takes up time. A newspaper can always increase the number of it's pages, but a TV station can't add more time.
One should not overlook the fact that sponsorship by big business is going to affect editorial policy. It's inevitable. Every broadcast news organization has a political/social point of view. Fox News spends so much energy telling us that they are not biased, that they obviously are. If they weren't they wouldn't be talking about it. AccuWeather is anything but accurate and Eye On The News is frequently not on the news.
Worst of all is the inability to make comparisons, as I did with the 7 daily papers, and the gullibility of the American TV viewer. We take what we are given and consider it real and important. We don't ask questions, try to hold a TV station accountable for what it chooses to show and don't realize that so much of it is "spam."
What was the big news story last Monday, two days ago? Was it about how many bodies were recovered in Haiti, how many people are living there under blankets and burlap bags, how many buildings were destroyed, how many careers, how many families, how many desperately injured there are and what is being done for them, who is there helping to save the people and rebuild the country and what are they doing? Was that the major news on Monday?
No. It was about a football game. Now isn't that strange?
DB
***********************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
20 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
John Wheeler
******************
It isn't difficult to find strange things, things that are unusual, different or just plain odd. I find them everyday. Sometimes in a book, sometimes in my head and quite often just by looking around and observing the world in action. Strangely, strange things are sometimes things that people are simply used to and don't ask questions about.
One of the strangest of all things to me, and something that allows me a good shaking of my head in disbelief, is the news coverage in this country.
When I was a lad you got your news from newspapers. TV news was not what it is today. It was usually one man sitting at a table with no fancy graphics behind him, reading from a sheet of news copy and looking into a stationary camera. (How many remember John Cameron Swaze and the News, brought to you by Camel cigarettes?)
There were 7 daily newspapers in New York City: The Times, The Herald Tribune, The Journal American, The World Telegram and Sun, The Post, The Daily News and The Daily Mirror. When I was in high school I used to buy all 7 of them, they weren't very expensive. In all of them the important news story of the day was right on the front page or, in the case of the tabloids, it was right inside the front cover.
All those papers were earnest, responsible newspapers and their journalism was exciting in those days. One paper, The Journal American, was almost completely responsible for catching a terrorist of the 40's and 50"s known as The Mad Bomber. That's a fascinating story which I will write about one day.
One of the advantages of reading from all those papers was that, not only could one see the accuracy of the reporting by comparison (and it was very accurate, across the lot) but one could also clearly see the seven different editorial points of view, from the most liberal to the most conservative. It was the news and the excellent reporting of it that sold newspapers. And it sure helped an impressionable youth to start thinking clearly about the events of the world around him.
Now everything is strange. We get out news from TV "journalists," a group of folks who look good an camera, who are over paid and who, for the most part, are lacking in life's real experiences. (As I write this I'm reminded of the network newscaster who referred to an Arab running for his life during the bombing of Baghdad as being in his "bathrobe." One wonders if that man had every seen an Arab before in his life.)
We don't buy the TV news the way we used to buy newspapers. Business buys TV news, Big Business. We get very little news because of the advertising that takes up time. A newspaper can always increase the number of it's pages, but a TV station can't add more time.
One should not overlook the fact that sponsorship by big business is going to affect editorial policy. It's inevitable. Every broadcast news organization has a political/social point of view. Fox News spends so much energy telling us that they are not biased, that they obviously are. If they weren't they wouldn't be talking about it. AccuWeather is anything but accurate and Eye On The News is frequently not on the news.
Worst of all is the inability to make comparisons, as I did with the 7 daily papers, and the gullibility of the American TV viewer. We take what we are given and consider it real and important. We don't ask questions, try to hold a TV station accountable for what it chooses to show and don't realize that so much of it is "spam."
What was the big news story last Monday, two days ago? Was it about how many bodies were recovered in Haiti, how many people are living there under blankets and burlap bags, how many buildings were destroyed, how many careers, how many families, how many desperately injured there are and what is being done for them, who is there helping to save the people and rebuild the country and what are they doing? Was that the major news on Monday?
No. It was about a football game. Now isn't that strange?
DB
***********************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
20 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Big Storm
19:15 p.m. No snow. Cold and windy.
7:45 p.m. 30 degrees. The snow has let up. Some traffic moving.
4:35 p.m. 31 degrees and snowing. It's a winter damn wonderland out there. The snow is piling up. Everything is white except the brick wall across the street. Nothing is moving.
2:25 p.m. 28 degrees and snowing. It has stopped playing around with petty little droplets and is now snowing full time. A classic snowstorm, big flakes coming down fast amd damgerous.
12:55 p.m. 30 degress and snowing again. Snow on top of rain, a treacherous combination.
9:35 a.m. 33 degrees, cold, nasty rain, The snow on the ground is turning to slop.
8:00 a.m. snow turned to rain, then stopped. As of now, in my town, the big old storm is just a big sloppy mess.
Still falling lightly but steadily. About 5 1/2 inches at 2:50. The wind blew some away from my measuring station.
It's coming down in wet, furtive little droplets, but it's sticking. About 5 inches as of 12:40 a.m.
7:45 p.m. 30 degrees. The snow has let up. Some traffic moving.
4:35 p.m. 31 degrees and snowing. It's a winter damn wonderland out there. The snow is piling up. Everything is white except the brick wall across the street. Nothing is moving.
2:25 p.m. 28 degrees and snowing. It has stopped playing around with petty little droplets and is now snowing full time. A classic snowstorm, big flakes coming down fast amd damgerous.
12:55 p.m. 30 degress and snowing again. Snow on top of rain, a treacherous combination.
9:35 a.m. 33 degrees, cold, nasty rain, The snow on the ground is turning to slop.
8:00 a.m. snow turned to rain, then stopped. As of now, in my town, the big old storm is just a big sloppy mess.
Still falling lightly but steadily. About 5 1/2 inches at 2:50. The wind blew some away from my measuring station.
It's coming down in wet, furtive little droplets, but it's sticking. About 5 inches as of 12:40 a.m.
What Do You Mean
Life is the only real counselor, wisdom unfiltered through human experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.
Edith Wharton
********************
In English class, when you learn a new word. you are sometimes required to use the word in a sentence to show that you understand what it means. A writer, in the process of attempting to explain or describe something may have an incomplete sentence and will go looking for the word that accurately says what he wants to say. In both cases the word is only a symbol for an object, an event, an emotion or an idea.
The fascinating thing is that even though there is a precise meaning to the word and a proper context for it to express what it needs to, the word is still open to interpretation depending upon who uses it and who reads it.
"What is Truth?" asked Pontius Pilate. Indeed that is a profound question. He didn't get an answer as far as we know, at least not a direct one. Pilate was an educated man. He probably read the writers of his day, but that didn't give him the wisdom to know what truth is.
When witnesses are sworn in to a court in session they agree to tell "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." The question, what is truth, would be an appropriative one under those circumstances. What one is really swearing to is to tell the "facts." But even that gets muddy. Three people can watch the same event and come up with three different versions of what happened. It's going on right now about the Super Bowl. Was it a fumble, a fumble and recovery or neither one?
I have books and magazines on philosophy and all of them are someone's attempt to answer Pilate's question. Some of them are on the subject of Semantics, a muddy subject if there ever was one. Sentences are pulled apart and meanings challenged until they resemble mathematical formulas. But even under those hyper technological conditions words, and the ideas they express, still have a subjective aspect to them.
The wisdom of great thinkers comes from their own personal struggles to understand and express the truth. And we have the glorious right and freedom to access the wisdom of those struggles, take it back into our primeval caves and chew upon it. And when we have sufficiently held it up to reflect and see in it the light of our successes and failures we can emerge, maybe without the answer to Pilate's question, but, behold, with an improved moral tissue.
To use words takes courage.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
Edith Wharton
********************
In English class, when you learn a new word. you are sometimes required to use the word in a sentence to show that you understand what it means. A writer, in the process of attempting to explain or describe something may have an incomplete sentence and will go looking for the word that accurately says what he wants to say. In both cases the word is only a symbol for an object, an event, an emotion or an idea.
The fascinating thing is that even though there is a precise meaning to the word and a proper context for it to express what it needs to, the word is still open to interpretation depending upon who uses it and who reads it.
"What is Truth?" asked Pontius Pilate. Indeed that is a profound question. He didn't get an answer as far as we know, at least not a direct one. Pilate was an educated man. He probably read the writers of his day, but that didn't give him the wisdom to know what truth is.
When witnesses are sworn in to a court in session they agree to tell "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." The question, what is truth, would be an appropriative one under those circumstances. What one is really swearing to is to tell the "facts." But even that gets muddy. Three people can watch the same event and come up with three different versions of what happened. It's going on right now about the Super Bowl. Was it a fumble, a fumble and recovery or neither one?
I have books and magazines on philosophy and all of them are someone's attempt to answer Pilate's question. Some of them are on the subject of Semantics, a muddy subject if there ever was one. Sentences are pulled apart and meanings challenged until they resemble mathematical formulas. But even under those hyper technological conditions words, and the ideas they express, still have a subjective aspect to them.
The wisdom of great thinkers comes from their own personal struggles to understand and express the truth. And we have the glorious right and freedom to access the wisdom of those struggles, take it back into our primeval caves and chew upon it. And when we have sufficiently held it up to reflect and see in it the light of our successes and failures we can emerge, maybe without the answer to Pilate's question, but, behold, with an improved moral tissue.
To use words takes courage.
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Genius
This quote comes from my friend Stuart, the actor.
What is the secret of poetry? What is the secret of music, painting,
or any of the other arts? You might as well ask me what is genius.
In my opinion acting is altogether due to soul. The man who feels,
who aspires, who wanders in thought from this world and mingles with
the higher intelligences has a soul that lends itself to artistic
effort; in short, he is a genius. He may be a poet, a painter or an
actor...
-James O'Neill
What is the secret of poetry? What is the secret of music, painting,
or any of the other arts? You might as well ask me what is genius.
In my opinion acting is altogether due to soul. The man who feels,
who aspires, who wanders in thought from this world and mingles with
the higher intelligences has a soul that lends itself to artistic
effort; in short, he is a genius. He may be a poet, a painter or an
actor...
-James O'Neill
What Do You Think
My mind is a garden. My thoughts are the seeds.
My harvest will be either flowers or weeds.
Mel Weldon
************************
"Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;"
(Shakespeare)
------------------------------------
"Oh, no. Not another acting lesson." Yes, another acting lesson. So pay attention.
One Autumn day I was talking with a young actor, just beginning his career. He was asking me about the acting experience. We were sitting outside and the ground was littered with brightly colored leaves. I picked one up, a particularly beautiful one, and I told him tht in order to be an artist we have to create something as beautiful as that leaf, and that nature does it by the gezillions every year and then just throws them away. The point of the lesson was that art, just like science, depends upon natural law.
When you go to watch a play you are watching a story unfold. And the story is being told through the actions of real live characters. The actor loans his body and his voice to the character he is portraying and those are the things you see and hear. But there is something else, also on loan to the character, which you don't see and that is the actors thoughts, the freedom to think the way his character thinks. You don't see that thought process going on. You only see the results.
There is clearly also a life lesson involved here. It is very difficult to know what the result of our own thinking is going to be, most of the time. The actor knows ahead of time what the result is so he can organize his thinking to fit that unfolding. But for us in real life we can only guess or assume that we are thinking correctly and that our thoughts will bring about a harmonious result. When we get an inharmonious result and end up with something we didn't want or expect we can blame the economy, the weather, other people or "circumstances over which we had no control." After we've spent a lot of time and energy doing that, we inevitably get back to the conclusion that we weren't thinking right to begin with. In the major and minor events of life how we think has a certain effect on the results. The one thing no one else has any control over is the freedom to think for ourselves, no matter what. Some well known writers composed novels in their heads when they were incarcerated in some prison for a long time without access to pen and paper, Other prisoners just disintegrated into weeds.
One of the grand unnoticeable facts of life is that we have the freedom to choose what we are going to think about. But with that freedom comes another fact, that what we think about is planting seeds for a future harvest of either good or bad. That's natural law.
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
My harvest will be either flowers or weeds.
Mel Weldon
************************
"Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;"
(Shakespeare)
------------------------------------
"Oh, no. Not another acting lesson." Yes, another acting lesson. So pay attention.
One Autumn day I was talking with a young actor, just beginning his career. He was asking me about the acting experience. We were sitting outside and the ground was littered with brightly colored leaves. I picked one up, a particularly beautiful one, and I told him tht in order to be an artist we have to create something as beautiful as that leaf, and that nature does it by the gezillions every year and then just throws them away. The point of the lesson was that art, just like science, depends upon natural law.
When you go to watch a play you are watching a story unfold. And the story is being told through the actions of real live characters. The actor loans his body and his voice to the character he is portraying and those are the things you see and hear. But there is something else, also on loan to the character, which you don't see and that is the actors thoughts, the freedom to think the way his character thinks. You don't see that thought process going on. You only see the results.
There is clearly also a life lesson involved here. It is very difficult to know what the result of our own thinking is going to be, most of the time. The actor knows ahead of time what the result is so he can organize his thinking to fit that unfolding. But for us in real life we can only guess or assume that we are thinking correctly and that our thoughts will bring about a harmonious result. When we get an inharmonious result and end up with something we didn't want or expect we can blame the economy, the weather, other people or "circumstances over which we had no control." After we've spent a lot of time and energy doing that, we inevitably get back to the conclusion that we weren't thinking right to begin with. In the major and minor events of life how we think has a certain effect on the results. The one thing no one else has any control over is the freedom to think for ourselves, no matter what. Some well known writers composed novels in their heads when they were incarcerated in some prison for a long time without access to pen and paper, Other prisoners just disintegrated into weeds.
One of the grand unnoticeable facts of life is that we have the freedom to choose what we are going to think about. But with that freedom comes another fact, that what we think about is planting seeds for a future harvest of either good or bad. That's natural law.
DB - The Vagabond
*************************
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Big Storm
For anyone who might be worried about my well being during the second big storm that is starting tomorrow and heading straight for my front porch, know that I made another shopping spree today and I'm in until Friday, so it can damn well do whatevert it wants to do. DB
Taking It For Granted
A hundred times a day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends upon the labors of other men, living and dead.
Einstein
*********************
It's 7 a. m. Sunday morning. There's a pink sky and a white earth. Out my window I see the dark gray trees pushing up through the white. A few amber lights from windows tell me that some people are awake. And the rose of passing tail lights say that others are about their business on roads that have been plowed.
Yesterday was the day of the blizzard. Here in the northeastern USA the snow came down in great clumps, covered cars, snarled transportation, canceled flights and trains, knocked out power and caused a few deaths.
It's a clear day here in eastern Pennsylvania. The morning sunlight is bright and a cold but dry day is expected. Today the recovery and restoration will begin. I note that while nature gave us the chaos, it is humans who will restore the order.
The road is plowed and passable, the electricity is on, my computer is working, my radio is giving me songs by Schubert from a station that is on the air. At my elbow are books by Nietzsche, Dickens, Durrell and, of course, my Shakespeare. The wisdom of great thinkers preserved for me by the printing press. And all of this is because of the labors of men and women living and dead.
I woke up at 5:30 this morning and over my first cup of coffee I was slightly disturbed by a question that gently but insistently nudged me. The question was: What am I giving to the world? What are my labors leaving for the future of the human race? I am not a genius like Shakespeare, Schubert and Einstein but is there any value to the life I've lived?
As I go through my day, coping with weather, doing unimportant tasks, keeping a journal, worrying over a painting, learning something new, it is so easy to take for granted everything around me and the labors of the famous or anonymous people who make them, have made them possible. I think it is also too easy to take myself for granted. I am too close to myself to understand and appreciate who I am and what I'm worth, if anything.
I have no answer to the question except a hope and a desire. I want to believe, before I go, that my life, even with all of its mistakes, wrong choices, erroneous beliefs, failures and foolishness, was at last worth something, that the world is a slightly better place because I lived in it and that the inner or outer life of someone in the future will benefit from my humble labors. Or will it all just drip off the end of an icicle and evaporate like the snow?
DB
********************************
Winter Question
Life is a forward thing. It isn't what I've done it's what I'm capable of doing that matters. So why should I waste my time and mental energies on the past when I could be designing, devising, determining. Today is today. Tomorrow is different. I want the difference to be according to me.
In keeping with that impetus here again is the:
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
20 reponses so far.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
DB - The Vagabond
Einstein
*********************
It's 7 a. m. Sunday morning. There's a pink sky and a white earth. Out my window I see the dark gray trees pushing up through the white. A few amber lights from windows tell me that some people are awake. And the rose of passing tail lights say that others are about their business on roads that have been plowed.
Yesterday was the day of the blizzard. Here in the northeastern USA the snow came down in great clumps, covered cars, snarled transportation, canceled flights and trains, knocked out power and caused a few deaths.
It's a clear day here in eastern Pennsylvania. The morning sunlight is bright and a cold but dry day is expected. Today the recovery and restoration will begin. I note that while nature gave us the chaos, it is humans who will restore the order.
The road is plowed and passable, the electricity is on, my computer is working, my radio is giving me songs by Schubert from a station that is on the air. At my elbow are books by Nietzsche, Dickens, Durrell and, of course, my Shakespeare. The wisdom of great thinkers preserved for me by the printing press. And all of this is because of the labors of men and women living and dead.
I woke up at 5:30 this morning and over my first cup of coffee I was slightly disturbed by a question that gently but insistently nudged me. The question was: What am I giving to the world? What are my labors leaving for the future of the human race? I am not a genius like Shakespeare, Schubert and Einstein but is there any value to the life I've lived?
As I go through my day, coping with weather, doing unimportant tasks, keeping a journal, worrying over a painting, learning something new, it is so easy to take for granted everything around me and the labors of the famous or anonymous people who make them, have made them possible. I think it is also too easy to take myself for granted. I am too close to myself to understand and appreciate who I am and what I'm worth, if anything.
I have no answer to the question except a hope and a desire. I want to believe, before I go, that my life, even with all of its mistakes, wrong choices, erroneous beliefs, failures and foolishness, was at last worth something, that the world is a slightly better place because I lived in it and that the inner or outer life of someone in the future will benefit from my humble labors. Or will it all just drip off the end of an icicle and evaporate like the snow?
DB
********************************
Winter Question
Life is a forward thing. It isn't what I've done it's what I'm capable of doing that matters. So why should I waste my time and mental energies on the past when I could be designing, devising, determining. Today is today. Tomorrow is different. I want the difference to be according to me.
In keeping with that impetus here again is the:
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
20 reponses so far.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
DB - The Vagabond
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Mirror, mirror on the wall.
"Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be?
Marianne Williamson
*************************
One of my favorite characters growing up in New York was Reverend Ike. He was the pastor of a large church in Harlem whose sermons were centered around the teaching that people had a divine right to have a good opinion of themselves, a message that was very important and gratefully received by the people in Harlem and elsewhere, including myself. One of the members of his congregation was Wally Amos of the Famous Amos cookies. He was a walking demonstration of Rev. Ike's philosophy.
Anyone who, for one reason or another, grows up to feel inferior, has a great burden to unload. I once heard a man say that he humiliates his son to teach him humility. I said that you don't teach him humility by humiliating him, you teach him humiliation. There's a big difference.
Sometimes the inferiority complex begins at home. It did with me. The old saying "Children should be seen and not heard." has caused a lot of damage to kids over the years. If I expressed a thought or opinion about something I was usually immediately ridiculed or told to be quiet. It did me some damage and caused some unsavory reactionary behavior when I got older.
I have seen that same damage in other youngsters, some of which I have written about before. Folks grow up thinking they aren't smart enough, strong enough, tall enough, talented enough or good looking enough.
One day I was in a group of about 20 people. It was a social gathering. One of the people there was a young teenage girl who was dressed in an unusual and slightly provocative manner. The woman in charge took it upon herself to start criticizing this girl and asking her why she dressed that way. The girl replied "Because I want to." The woman kept asking her questions and the girl kept replying in the same way with more or less the same words. Each time the girl answered the woman in question got more and more sarcastic with her. People were laughing at the girl and she was getting angry.
Finally one of the men in the room said "Wait a minute. The reason she keeps repeating herself is because you didn't hear her the first time." He then said that she was too young to have the words and the power to adequately express herself and that it should be taken into consideration instead of putting her down for it and the woman should be quiet and start listening. Then he said to the girl "Young lady, you dress anyway you want and any way that makes you feel comfortable. There is nothing wrong with the way you look." I applauded him and so did a few other people. After that the bitch left her alone, no wiser I'm sure, but at least off the subject.
Is there a moral? Yes. Reverend Ike knew what it was. Don't let anyone tell you you aren't brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous. Because you are. And don't tell that to yourself whatever you do, you hear me?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DB - The Vagabond
****************************
Marianne Williamson
*************************
One of my favorite characters growing up in New York was Reverend Ike. He was the pastor of a large church in Harlem whose sermons were centered around the teaching that people had a divine right to have a good opinion of themselves, a message that was very important and gratefully received by the people in Harlem and elsewhere, including myself. One of the members of his congregation was Wally Amos of the Famous Amos cookies. He was a walking demonstration of Rev. Ike's philosophy.
Anyone who, for one reason or another, grows up to feel inferior, has a great burden to unload. I once heard a man say that he humiliates his son to teach him humility. I said that you don't teach him humility by humiliating him, you teach him humiliation. There's a big difference.
Sometimes the inferiority complex begins at home. It did with me. The old saying "Children should be seen and not heard." has caused a lot of damage to kids over the years. If I expressed a thought or opinion about something I was usually immediately ridiculed or told to be quiet. It did me some damage and caused some unsavory reactionary behavior when I got older.
I have seen that same damage in other youngsters, some of which I have written about before. Folks grow up thinking they aren't smart enough, strong enough, tall enough, talented enough or good looking enough.
One day I was in a group of about 20 people. It was a social gathering. One of the people there was a young teenage girl who was dressed in an unusual and slightly provocative manner. The woman in charge took it upon herself to start criticizing this girl and asking her why she dressed that way. The girl replied "Because I want to." The woman kept asking her questions and the girl kept replying in the same way with more or less the same words. Each time the girl answered the woman in question got more and more sarcastic with her. People were laughing at the girl and she was getting angry.
Finally one of the men in the room said "Wait a minute. The reason she keeps repeating herself is because you didn't hear her the first time." He then said that she was too young to have the words and the power to adequately express herself and that it should be taken into consideration instead of putting her down for it and the woman should be quiet and start listening. Then he said to the girl "Young lady, you dress anyway you want and any way that makes you feel comfortable. There is nothing wrong with the way you look." I applauded him and so did a few other people. After that the bitch left her alone, no wiser I'm sure, but at least off the subject.
Is there a moral? Yes. Reverend Ike knew what it was. Don't let anyone tell you you aren't brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous. Because you are. And don't tell that to yourself whatever you do, you hear me?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DB - The Vagabond
****************************
Friday, February 5, 2010
Speak Up
Silence too can speak out.
Lech Walesa
*********************
DB
---------------------------------
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
Respond to: dbdacoba@aol.com please.
16 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Lech Walesa
*********************
DB
---------------------------------
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
Respond to: dbdacoba@aol.com please.
16 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Inventing Virtue
A virtue needs to be our own invention, our own most personal need and self-defense: in any other sense,a virtue is just dangerous.
Nietzsche
****************
For many hundreds of years philosophers have been trying to define virtue, to describe it and to answer the question "What is the virtuous life?" The arguments raged on over issues of war and peach, social and anti-social behavior, religious and nonreligious issues. As time went by revolutions took place, common people gained the courage to claim their rights. Those rights were subsequently squashed by the aristocracy. Revolutions were put down and martyrs of change were hung or burned and the whole process began again.
But the emergence of the common man as a strong, important element of the world is inevitable and that emergence is still going on. Modern day tyrants may not be kings and dictators, but they do exist in some area of too much power. This nation doesn't have a ruling class, but it definitely has one that thinks it is. And they show up in strange places. Ideologies masquerade as natural law and opinions as truth. Most of humanity is held to a standard of behavior by some system of thinking which may or may not be viruous.
The problem becomes confused when we are faced with the possibility of doing things we would never do according to our assumed code of conduct. "Thou shalt not kill." Is there ever a time when killing is a virtue? Ask the soldier in mortal combat with the enemy. "Thou shalt not steal." Is there ever a time when stealing is a virtue? Robin Hood thought so. Most of the human race is being perpetually plundered by some of the rich and powerful. Is it a virtue, for the sake of our fellow humans, to try to get it back, even by theft? Can certain crimes be justified by the name of virtue?
Most thinking people consider a virtuous life one of compassion, reason, respect, sociability, honesty, community, courage, conscientiousness, duty, order, righteousness and a long line of other qualities that go to make up a good person. But we all slip up on certain things. We're basically good but....
There are some humans, barely human, for whom those words have no meaning. Even the idea of virtue itself is a totally foreign concept that does not ever enter their thinking. Those are the true killers, torturers and thieves of the world. When faced as we are daily with the good, the sometimes good and the evil, what do we do?
There are times when any agreed upon ethic does not effectively apply. As a result I've spent many hours trying to come up with a plan of ethical behavior that can cover every situation I face. I often thought I was definitely doing the right thing and ended up suffering and having regrets about it. That caused me to question my own sense of right and wrong and discard some earnestly held beliefs I had been taught. Then I looked behind the veil and found that what I had assumed were true facts about virtue were the problem. What is a virtue to one man is a vice to another. Not only that but what is virtuous under one circumstance is vicious under another. Given the limited and delayed resources how do the doctors in Haiti decide who lives and who dies? Is suicide, assisted or otherwise, a virtuous option for one living in perpetual agony with no hope of release or for someone sentenced to be executed by some unspeakable means as is practiced in some countries? Is it ever virtuous to torture a prisoner of war to extract information or an animal in a medical lab to obtain scientific knowledge? Is it ever permissible to take someone's property away from him? Is the pursuit of pleasure a virtue? If so and you can justify the actions as stated above, what about the man who kills, tortures and robs for the joy of it? What happens if you rebel against doing something you've been ordered to do that you know is wrong? How do you live with the punishment of refusing to do it, or how do you live the with regret if you do it?
Governments are passing and instituting laws all the time to influence and control human behavior and doing it under the assumption of virtue. And why should there be laws to prevent one group from doing what another group considers wrong. I think one of the worst vices is trying to force your own morality on someone else.
With the rise of the common man comes the freedom of individual choice. People can think for themselves, even if many don't., Nietzsche was very concerned with getting people to think for themselves. He knew that virtue did not come from religion, laws or doing what others do just because they do it.
In this confusing life it is difficult, near impassible, to define virtue. It is easier to define what it is not. In the long run it is up to the individual to examine his conscience, his heart, his intuition and his reason and decide for himself what is right, what is wrong, choose the right and stick with it. That's as near as anyone can come to a virtuous life. At the end, can I be pleased and satisfied with myself for how I lived?
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
Nietzsche
****************
For many hundreds of years philosophers have been trying to define virtue, to describe it and to answer the question "What is the virtuous life?" The arguments raged on over issues of war and peach, social and anti-social behavior, religious and nonreligious issues. As time went by revolutions took place, common people gained the courage to claim their rights. Those rights were subsequently squashed by the aristocracy. Revolutions were put down and martyrs of change were hung or burned and the whole process began again.
But the emergence of the common man as a strong, important element of the world is inevitable and that emergence is still going on. Modern day tyrants may not be kings and dictators, but they do exist in some area of too much power. This nation doesn't have a ruling class, but it definitely has one that thinks it is. And they show up in strange places. Ideologies masquerade as natural law and opinions as truth. Most of humanity is held to a standard of behavior by some system of thinking which may or may not be viruous.
The problem becomes confused when we are faced with the possibility of doing things we would never do according to our assumed code of conduct. "Thou shalt not kill." Is there ever a time when killing is a virtue? Ask the soldier in mortal combat with the enemy. "Thou shalt not steal." Is there ever a time when stealing is a virtue? Robin Hood thought so. Most of the human race is being perpetually plundered by some of the rich and powerful. Is it a virtue, for the sake of our fellow humans, to try to get it back, even by theft? Can certain crimes be justified by the name of virtue?
Most thinking people consider a virtuous life one of compassion, reason, respect, sociability, honesty, community, courage, conscientiousness, duty, order, righteousness and a long line of other qualities that go to make up a good person. But we all slip up on certain things. We're basically good but....
There are some humans, barely human, for whom those words have no meaning. Even the idea of virtue itself is a totally foreign concept that does not ever enter their thinking. Those are the true killers, torturers and thieves of the world. When faced as we are daily with the good, the sometimes good and the evil, what do we do?
There are times when any agreed upon ethic does not effectively apply. As a result I've spent many hours trying to come up with a plan of ethical behavior that can cover every situation I face. I often thought I was definitely doing the right thing and ended up suffering and having regrets about it. That caused me to question my own sense of right and wrong and discard some earnestly held beliefs I had been taught. Then I looked behind the veil and found that what I had assumed were true facts about virtue were the problem. What is a virtue to one man is a vice to another. Not only that but what is virtuous under one circumstance is vicious under another. Given the limited and delayed resources how do the doctors in Haiti decide who lives and who dies? Is suicide, assisted or otherwise, a virtuous option for one living in perpetual agony with no hope of release or for someone sentenced to be executed by some unspeakable means as is practiced in some countries? Is it ever virtuous to torture a prisoner of war to extract information or an animal in a medical lab to obtain scientific knowledge? Is it ever permissible to take someone's property away from him? Is the pursuit of pleasure a virtue? If so and you can justify the actions as stated above, what about the man who kills, tortures and robs for the joy of it? What happens if you rebel against doing something you've been ordered to do that you know is wrong? How do you live with the punishment of refusing to do it, or how do you live the with regret if you do it?
Governments are passing and instituting laws all the time to influence and control human behavior and doing it under the assumption of virtue. And why should there be laws to prevent one group from doing what another group considers wrong. I think one of the worst vices is trying to force your own morality on someone else.
With the rise of the common man comes the freedom of individual choice. People can think for themselves, even if many don't., Nietzsche was very concerned with getting people to think for themselves. He knew that virtue did not come from religion, laws or doing what others do just because they do it.
In this confusing life it is difficult, near impassible, to define virtue. It is easier to define what it is not. In the long run it is up to the individual to examine his conscience, his heart, his intuition and his reason and decide for himself what is right, what is wrong, choose the right and stick with it. That's as near as anyone can come to a virtuous life. At the end, can I be pleased and satisfied with myself for how I lived?
DB - The Vagabond
**********************
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Do Your Thing
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "certainly I can" - and get busy and find out how to do it.
Theodore Roosevelt
********************
One of the most courageous people I ever knew was an actor named Brett. I cast him in a small role for a Chekhov play I was directing. He did fine, but he wasn't much of a stage actor. However, he made a very good living as a commercial actor. One day he asked me if I would like to go with him while he made his rounds. I agreed.
We visited about 8 or 10 talent agencies during the day. He knew all the receptionists by name and some facts about them. So he chatted them up everywhere we went. Sometimes he would stop off at a deli and buy two coffees to go. When we got upstairs he would say that he had two but he only wanted one would she like the other one. Sometimes it was a doughnut. He had no trouble getting in to see an agent.
Later on that afternoon we visited one of the biggest commercial agents in New York. While we were waiting a woman came out and looked at us. She asked if either of us could ride a motorcycle. Brett said he could. She handed him a piece of paper and said to be at the address, 9 a. m. Tuesday for a commercial shoot. When we got downstairs Brett said he would see me next week but that he had to go. He had a buddy in New Jersey with a motorcycle and he had to get over there and learn how to drive it. And off he went.
One day when I was out of work an actor friend suggested I get some part time, temp work as a proofreader. I had never done that work but he set me up for a test at the law firm he worked for. I immediately went to the book store and bought a book on proofreading. I spent several days devouring that book and Monday morning I took the test. The supervisor was so impressed with my score that she hired me on the spot.
When I first went to work as a radio announcer I took an audition. There was an engineer recording me. I was hired and when I showed up for work they put me in a studio with no engineer. I had to be my own engineer. I didn't even know how to turn the microphone on. I figured it out and by the end of the first hour I was doing the show with no problems.
Another time I was with a Renaissance music group, the Aeolian Consort, playing basic bass notes on a cello, simple stuff. We were rehearsing at the directors house, He said that there was no need of the bass in one piece but there was an extra part for a tenor recorder. He handed me the recorder and the music. I went out into the garden with them and in fifteen minutes I had figured out the fingering and I was playing the piece. I had never played a tenor recorder before.
Out of necessity I've done many things I couldn't do or was told I couldn't do. The proper approach was that I did not tell myself I couldn't do them. We are all capable of more than we do. That's an old truism. But the only way to prove it is to try, Jump on the motorcycle, read the book, start playing the recorder and go on the air.
You don't know what your talents are until you use them. You never know what you can do until you do it.
DB - The Vagabond
===============================
Tomorrow: Inventing virtue
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
16 responses so far.
DB
Theodore Roosevelt
********************
One of the most courageous people I ever knew was an actor named Brett. I cast him in a small role for a Chekhov play I was directing. He did fine, but he wasn't much of a stage actor. However, he made a very good living as a commercial actor. One day he asked me if I would like to go with him while he made his rounds. I agreed.
We visited about 8 or 10 talent agencies during the day. He knew all the receptionists by name and some facts about them. So he chatted them up everywhere we went. Sometimes he would stop off at a deli and buy two coffees to go. When we got upstairs he would say that he had two but he only wanted one would she like the other one. Sometimes it was a doughnut. He had no trouble getting in to see an agent.
Later on that afternoon we visited one of the biggest commercial agents in New York. While we were waiting a woman came out and looked at us. She asked if either of us could ride a motorcycle. Brett said he could. She handed him a piece of paper and said to be at the address, 9 a. m. Tuesday for a commercial shoot. When we got downstairs Brett said he would see me next week but that he had to go. He had a buddy in New Jersey with a motorcycle and he had to get over there and learn how to drive it. And off he went.
One day when I was out of work an actor friend suggested I get some part time, temp work as a proofreader. I had never done that work but he set me up for a test at the law firm he worked for. I immediately went to the book store and bought a book on proofreading. I spent several days devouring that book and Monday morning I took the test. The supervisor was so impressed with my score that she hired me on the spot.
When I first went to work as a radio announcer I took an audition. There was an engineer recording me. I was hired and when I showed up for work they put me in a studio with no engineer. I had to be my own engineer. I didn't even know how to turn the microphone on. I figured it out and by the end of the first hour I was doing the show with no problems.
Another time I was with a Renaissance music group, the Aeolian Consort, playing basic bass notes on a cello, simple stuff. We were rehearsing at the directors house, He said that there was no need of the bass in one piece but there was an extra part for a tenor recorder. He handed me the recorder and the music. I went out into the garden with them and in fifteen minutes I had figured out the fingering and I was playing the piece. I had never played a tenor recorder before.
Out of necessity I've done many things I couldn't do or was told I couldn't do. The proper approach was that I did not tell myself I couldn't do them. We are all capable of more than we do. That's an old truism. But the only way to prove it is to try, Jump on the motorcycle, read the book, start playing the recorder and go on the air.
You don't know what your talents are until you use them. You never know what you can do until you do it.
DB - The Vagabond
===============================
Tomorrow: Inventing virtue
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
16 responses so far.
DB
From The Ground Up
People will believe a lot of stuff in the name of hipness.
Armistead Maupin
**********************
DB - I'm here in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania awaiting the arrival of Punxsutawney Phil who has graciously agreed to grant me another interview. It's a chilly day here, but that hasn't stopped the fans from coming out. It looks like it's going to be a big celebration. And now here comes Phil. Good morning Phil.
PP - Morning.
DB - How are you?
PP - Okay. Yourself?
DB - Not bad, Phil. So you're here to do your thing?
PP - Yeah, if I can get through the crowd.
DB - There are a lot of people here.
PP - Yeah. It's revolting. They come here with their cameras and want to take a picture of me, but all they get is a shot of that fool over there. What a poor excuse for a groundhog.
DB - You mean the one they're holding up?
PP - Yeah. Look at them. They're all cheering and snapping pictures. He signs autographs, shakes hands, kisses babies, the whole nine yards. He's a celebrity, a star. How stupid..
DB - Everyone thinks it's you.
PP - Yeah, but he's a phoney. Look at him. He's a joke. He couldn't tell his shadow from a hole in the ground. He gets all the glory while I do all the work.
DB - That's life, Phil.
PP - Yeah, I suppose so. But I guess I shouldn't complain. At least I've got a job. It's a tough time for groundhogs. No one is hiring. All my buddies, Frank, Sam, Charlie, there all on unemployment.
DB - That's a shame.
PP - Yeah, Well I blame the administration.
DB - Obama?
PP - Who?
DB - Barack Obama.
PP - Who's he?
DB - The President of the United States.
PP - Oh. No, I don't know him. No, I mean the grounds keepers around here. They cut down the tall grass, plug up the holes and put up signs "Don't feed the groundhogs." One of them even puts poison around, as if we're going to fall for that scam.
DB - How do you avoid it?
PP - We watch the squirrels. If they turn their noses up we know it ain't fit for groundhogs.
DB - What do think of the idea of using frogs?
PP - Frogs?
DB - Out west they're thinking of using a frog to predict the weather.
PP - Oh, yeah? Ha! What's the frog going to do, jump in the air and see if it can see it's shadow? Frogs aren't worth anything. They just sit around and burp.
DB - So what's next for you, Phil, after today?
PP - The wife and I are taking the kids and going to Florida for the rest of the winter.
DB - Oh. How long will you be there, Phil?
PP - Sneaky, sneaky. I can't tell you that. You'll have to hear about it on the nightly news.
DB - Okay Phil. Well, ti's been a pleasure tlking with you, as usual.
PP - You too DB.
DB - Next year?
PP - Yup. If I don't retire.
DB - Are you thinking of it?
PP - I don't know. I'll see how I like Florida.
DB - Take care Phil. My best to your wife.
PP - Sure thing. Bye.
DB - Bye
**********************
That's it from here. This is DB in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for Vagabond Journeys.
===================================================
Tomorrow: Doing Your Thing
Armistead Maupin
**********************
DB - I'm here in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania awaiting the arrival of Punxsutawney Phil who has graciously agreed to grant me another interview. It's a chilly day here, but that hasn't stopped the fans from coming out. It looks like it's going to be a big celebration. And now here comes Phil. Good morning Phil.
PP - Morning.
DB - How are you?
PP - Okay. Yourself?
DB - Not bad, Phil. So you're here to do your thing?
PP - Yeah, if I can get through the crowd.
DB - There are a lot of people here.
PP - Yeah. It's revolting. They come here with their cameras and want to take a picture of me, but all they get is a shot of that fool over there. What a poor excuse for a groundhog.
DB - You mean the one they're holding up?
PP - Yeah. Look at them. They're all cheering and snapping pictures. He signs autographs, shakes hands, kisses babies, the whole nine yards. He's a celebrity, a star. How stupid..
DB - Everyone thinks it's you.
PP - Yeah, but he's a phoney. Look at him. He's a joke. He couldn't tell his shadow from a hole in the ground. He gets all the glory while I do all the work.
DB - That's life, Phil.
PP - Yeah, I suppose so. But I guess I shouldn't complain. At least I've got a job. It's a tough time for groundhogs. No one is hiring. All my buddies, Frank, Sam, Charlie, there all on unemployment.
DB - That's a shame.
PP - Yeah, Well I blame the administration.
DB - Obama?
PP - Who?
DB - Barack Obama.
PP - Who's he?
DB - The President of the United States.
PP - Oh. No, I don't know him. No, I mean the grounds keepers around here. They cut down the tall grass, plug up the holes and put up signs "Don't feed the groundhogs." One of them even puts poison around, as if we're going to fall for that scam.
DB - How do you avoid it?
PP - We watch the squirrels. If they turn their noses up we know it ain't fit for groundhogs.
DB - What do think of the idea of using frogs?
PP - Frogs?
DB - Out west they're thinking of using a frog to predict the weather.
PP - Oh, yeah? Ha! What's the frog going to do, jump in the air and see if it can see it's shadow? Frogs aren't worth anything. They just sit around and burp.
DB - So what's next for you, Phil, after today?
PP - The wife and I are taking the kids and going to Florida for the rest of the winter.
DB - Oh. How long will you be there, Phil?
PP - Sneaky, sneaky. I can't tell you that. You'll have to hear about it on the nightly news.
DB - Okay Phil. Well, ti's been a pleasure tlking with you, as usual.
PP - You too DB.
DB - Next year?
PP - Yup. If I don't retire.
DB - Are you thinking of it?
PP - I don't know. I'll see how I like Florida.
DB - Take care Phil. My best to your wife.
PP - Sure thing. Bye.
DB - Bye
**********************
That's it from here. This is DB in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for Vagabond Journeys.
===================================================
Tomorrow: Doing Your Thing
Monday, February 1, 2010
Bad Habits
When a thing disturbs the peace of your heart, give it up.
Muhammad
******************
It has been said that we are all creatures of habit. Are we all created to have habits? Is habitual behavior the natural way of life for us creatures? There is no doubt that certain habits get us through the day. Some activities are so habitual as to be automatic Getting dressed. making breakfast, going off to work, fulfilling the necessary tasks at work, and so on. Those are things we do that require a minimum of thought and we are usually thinking about something else while we do them.
But there are other habits that are also automatic but much more important. Habits of thinking and reacting that may disturb the "peace of" our hearts. It is also a habit, and a bad one, to be so used to having the heart disturbed that we live with it rather than resolve or dissolve the causes of it.
I once knew a man who was very much in love with a woman who did not respond. They had had a brief affair and after that it was not going well. He spent many hours in obvious pain talking with me about it. I was as compassionate as I could be having been through similar heartbreaks. Finally I asked him "What are you getting out of this relationship?" When he admitted that it was just causing him grief, I reminded him of an old saying "The best cure for a broken heart is the next bus out of town."
He relinquished the hope and desire and went on his way. A year later he met the beautiful, compassionate woman who became his wife and now they have a couple of kids.
Why do we hold onto things not absolutely necessary that cause us perpetual pain and conflict? I don't know. I've done it. But I've also reached the point of understanding and true trust in my own value as a human being. It has given me the power to be free to give up something that disturbs my peace for the sake of something better and to face down the temptation to feel sorry for myself if there is nothing better I can do.
Freedom and peace are two of the most important nutrients of life. Without them life is merely in a holding pattern, not taking off, not landing.
DB
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Tomorrow: An exclusive interview with Punxsutawney Phil.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
15 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
Muhammad
******************
It has been said that we are all creatures of habit. Are we all created to have habits? Is habitual behavior the natural way of life for us creatures? There is no doubt that certain habits get us through the day. Some activities are so habitual as to be automatic Getting dressed. making breakfast, going off to work, fulfilling the necessary tasks at work, and so on. Those are things we do that require a minimum of thought and we are usually thinking about something else while we do them.
But there are other habits that are also automatic but much more important. Habits of thinking and reacting that may disturb the "peace of" our hearts. It is also a habit, and a bad one, to be so used to having the heart disturbed that we live with it rather than resolve or dissolve the causes of it.
I once knew a man who was very much in love with a woman who did not respond. They had had a brief affair and after that it was not going well. He spent many hours in obvious pain talking with me about it. I was as compassionate as I could be having been through similar heartbreaks. Finally I asked him "What are you getting out of this relationship?" When he admitted that it was just causing him grief, I reminded him of an old saying "The best cure for a broken heart is the next bus out of town."
He relinquished the hope and desire and went on his way. A year later he met the beautiful, compassionate woman who became his wife and now they have a couple of kids.
Why do we hold onto things not absolutely necessary that cause us perpetual pain and conflict? I don't know. I've done it. But I've also reached the point of understanding and true trust in my own value as a human being. It has given me the power to be free to give up something that disturbs my peace for the sake of something better and to face down the temptation to feel sorry for myself if there is nothing better I can do.
Freedom and peace are two of the most important nutrients of life. Without them life is merely in a holding pattern, not taking off, not landing.
DB
****************
Tomorrow: An exclusive interview with Punxsutawney Phil.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Given the resources and opportunity, what one thing do you want to do in 2010 that you've never done before.
You have all Winter to answer. Answers will be posted on the first day of Spring.
15 responses so far.
DB - The Vagabond
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