In old age we are like a batch of letters someone has sent. We are no longer in the past, we have arrived.
Knut Hamsun
*******************
I'm a mad man. No, there's no doubt about it, I'm completely cracked; stark, shivering crazy. I've lost it.
Shakespeare calls old age "second chilishness." It is a theory that all babies are born insane and gradually grow into sanity and wisdom as they mature. I don't remember much about my babyhood but I'm of the opinion that it might be the other way around. I think it's possible that all babies are born completely sane and knowing everything which they can't articulate except to other babies and that they gradually grow to lose it in the carriages and play pens of the world. Imagine how frustrating it must be for a baby not being able to tell anyone what you know. It's enough to make you wet yur diaper and wake up in the middle of the night crying for no apparent reason.
Not having lived a normal life has taught me that there is no such thing. Being a wanderer has taught me that the only place anyone really lives is in his own head. And being an artist has taught me to gracefully let go of the ball and chain which is generally known to the world at large as common sense.
But being mad is a good healthy way to be as far as I can determine. I do illogical things. If I am on my way to the market I stop and feel the leaves of a tree or a bush. If I pass the kitchen sink I squeeze a little soap into the sponge and wash three dishes instead of the whole sink full. If anyone lived with me they would become exasperated at my behavior or else go mad themselves.
I say things no one understands. I know that, because every time I make a statement of pure, inspired wisdom it's met with a blank, uncomprehending stare. There's a small tree in front of the house. When I refer to it as "yonder wood" no one cares to know why.
When I find conservative nonsense and liberal grunting humorous people don't get it. But when I become fascinated by some obscure news item that doesn't make the papers or the TV news every day they just think I'm off the beaten path of life. Well, I am. I'm the crazy old loon who lives by himself in the attic, harmless in his madness. He listens to Wagner operas and reads philosophy. He's a total fruitcake.
The letters have been sent and read and the attempt to summarize the contents has taught me that there are no summations (which it also says in my Profile).
So what's left for an old crackpot to do? To what have I arrived? A certain benign orneriness, acceptance and refusal, an abiding sense of humor, willingness to face the fog and walk into it. I can now change my own diapers, if I wake up in the middle of the night the only thing I want to know is what time it is. I accept the fact that I will never have all the things in my playpen that I want. I refuse to get angry at any one but myself. I refuse to do today what I can put off to tomorrow. I don't follow the Phillies. I refuse to accept everything any authority tells me. I will think for myself and not worry about it if the thoughts come from the mind of a lunatic.
I refuse to be afraid of death. If you go to England you can visit the grave of Charles Dickens, but Dickens isn't there, he's still alive. If I could live my life all over again I would change almost everything. But would I then have something to summarize? I doubt it.
Being an actor has taught me that the world is a stage and the roles keep changing, but they are all masquerades. So I will set Sir Percival spinning, wash my hands and face in the words of some other old maniac's sink, play in my pen and enjoy, as much as possible, the role in which I have somehow cast myself.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 4 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
People of the North
The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned.
Dag Hammerskjold
******************
Dag Hammerskjold of Sweden (1905 - 1961) was the second Secretary General of the United Nations. He was one of the most important statesmen of the 20th century. His mighty efforts to establish peace have left behind a great legacy. The first Secretary General was also a Scandinavian, Trygve Lie, from Norway.
I've always had a fascination for the history and culture of Scandinavia from the Vikings up to modern times, and wondered why those 5 nations have never really taken a place in the mainstream of European life. It comprises formidable stretch of land from the Finnish/Russian border to western Greenland, which is part of the Danish Kingdom.
We hear of Norway when the Nobel Prizes are handed out, but otherwise the nations of the north seem to remain in the shadows.
There are three famous Scandinavian composers: Edvard Grieg of Norway, Carl Nielsen of Denmark and Jan Sibelius of Finland. But there are many other excellent composers: Hugo Alfven of Sweden, Wilhelm Stenhammer of Sweden and Dag Wiren also of Sweden just to named a few.
Two great playwrights were Scandinavians: Edvard Grieg of Norway and August Strindberg of Sweden. But again there were many other fine authors. I've done some of their plays. I used to belong to a theatre company in New York that specialized in modern Scandinavian drama.
One of my favorite filmmakers is the Swede, Ingmar Bergman. His film "Wild Strawberries" is listen in my Profile as one of my favorites.
So why are those 5 nations still outside of the mainstream of European and world culture? Why do so many of the artists have to live in southern Europe to receive the recognition they deserve? Why don't those cities, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Reykjavik and Stockholm have the same standing in the world as Berlin, London, Paris and Rome?
The world is changing and spreading out. Maybe the time is coming for there to be a cultural tectonic shift and the Scandinavians will get the spotlight, because the sure can use the vision of the People of the North.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Dag Hammerskjold
******************
Dag Hammerskjold of Sweden (1905 - 1961) was the second Secretary General of the United Nations. He was one of the most important statesmen of the 20th century. His mighty efforts to establish peace have left behind a great legacy. The first Secretary General was also a Scandinavian, Trygve Lie, from Norway.
I've always had a fascination for the history and culture of Scandinavia from the Vikings up to modern times, and wondered why those 5 nations have never really taken a place in the mainstream of European life. It comprises formidable stretch of land from the Finnish/Russian border to western Greenland, which is part of the Danish Kingdom.
We hear of Norway when the Nobel Prizes are handed out, but otherwise the nations of the north seem to remain in the shadows.
There are three famous Scandinavian composers: Edvard Grieg of Norway, Carl Nielsen of Denmark and Jan Sibelius of Finland. But there are many other excellent composers: Hugo Alfven of Sweden, Wilhelm Stenhammer of Sweden and Dag Wiren also of Sweden just to named a few.
Two great playwrights were Scandinavians: Edvard Grieg of Norway and August Strindberg of Sweden. But again there were many other fine authors. I've done some of their plays. I used to belong to a theatre company in New York that specialized in modern Scandinavian drama.
One of my favorite filmmakers is the Swede, Ingmar Bergman. His film "Wild Strawberries" is listen in my Profile as one of my favorites.
So why are those 5 nations still outside of the mainstream of European and world culture? Why do so many of the artists have to live in southern Europe to receive the recognition they deserve? Why don't those cities, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Reykjavik and Stockholm have the same standing in the world as Berlin, London, Paris and Rome?
The world is changing and spreading out. Maybe the time is coming for there to be a cultural tectonic shift and the Scandinavians will get the spotlight, because the sure can use the vision of the People of the North.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Bear Went Over The Mountain
All we know is still infinitely less than all that remains unknown.
William Harvey
****************
Or, as I like to say, the difference between what we know and what we don't know is the difference between a marble and the solar system. Some people don't like to consider that. It frightens them, or something. I have said that about the marble to people in the past and received a very negative reaction. But if we can't acknowledge that we are ignorant about something there's no hope of learning about it.
I grew up with people who didn't want to know anything beyond what they knew. As a result whenever I expressed an opinion about something I had observed or learned about I was scornfully called a "know-it-all." Perhaps you've heard that term used to describe someone, or maybe even yourself.
The fact that there is so much about life and the universe we live in that we don't know depresses some people. But why should that be? Why should there be a fear of the unknown? And why should a curious person be criticized for finding things out and discouraged from trying? I think it's a very bad trait in humans to close down the labs and libraries and close up the mind.
When that backward process grows into how we treat education we are asking for trouble. Of course, we don't think it's trouble at all. We think it's just making life simpler and easier to live. "Ignorance is bless." "What you don't know won't hurt you." "Don't go poking your nose into things you don't understand."
Imagine what our lives would be like if everyone followed those suppressive rules. As well as my remark about the marble I used to like to make fun of ignorance by saying "All that readin' ain't good for the mind."
Another comment I used to get while growing up was an equally scornful unthinking response to something I said "Oh, is that so?" I finally got to the point where I would say "Yes, it's so" which would generally bring on an argument and I would find myself defending something I wasn't quite sure of. Eventually I learned one of life's best lessons which is that in some circumstances it is best to keep your mouth shut.
When I was a kid I wanted to be an explorer. I admired the people who trekked off into a wilderness no one had been in before, or sailed ships into unknown seas. Mariners who found an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific, or adventurers who found an isolated tribe of people in the Brazilian jungle or an ancient forgotten temple in Asia now overgrown with shrubs and hyenas were heroes to me.
Then I got older, the call came in from the theatre and I knew that's what my life would be about. I gave up the jungles and oceans of the world and went in the direction of a different kind of adventure. I don't regret it, but I am still fascinated by the discoveries of science and original thought.
I watch the astronauts in the Space Station and know that it is simply a gateway to the vast universe and knowledge of time and space about which we know almost nothing. Every blast off of the giant Saturn rocket is just another baby step to peer through that gate into the unknown. I wish I could live forever just to see what new knowledge is going to be uncovered. Evidently my curiosity and delight in learning new things hasn't waned as a result of my senior citizenship. Even though we can never know it all we can enjoy the discoveries along the way.
As for the back seat drivers who want to call a halt to exploration and cry
"enough's enough" ignore them. Their cause is hopeless. And keep your mouth shut or you'll only get an argument and you can't win an argument with an ignorant person.
I always want to know something today I didn't know yesterday, a piece of music I've never heard before, a new useful vocabulary word, how to mix a more mysterious blue on the canvas, an inspired piece of poetry or the realization of some item of wisdom that was in the unconscious depths of my own mind. It's the best game in the world..
DB - The Vagabond
********************
WEEKEND PUZZLE
One item is missing from each of the lists below.
What is it?
2 right answers so far.
Annapolis
Atlanta
Augusta
Austin
**************
Baton Rouge
Bismark
Boise
***************
Carson City
Charleston
Cheyenne
Columbus
Concord
***********
Harrisburg
Hartford
Helena
**************
Sacramento
Saint Paul
Salem
Santa Fe
Springfield
************
Good luck
DB
William Harvey
****************
Or, as I like to say, the difference between what we know and what we don't know is the difference between a marble and the solar system. Some people don't like to consider that. It frightens them, or something. I have said that about the marble to people in the past and received a very negative reaction. But if we can't acknowledge that we are ignorant about something there's no hope of learning about it.
I grew up with people who didn't want to know anything beyond what they knew. As a result whenever I expressed an opinion about something I had observed or learned about I was scornfully called a "know-it-all." Perhaps you've heard that term used to describe someone, or maybe even yourself.
The fact that there is so much about life and the universe we live in that we don't know depresses some people. But why should that be? Why should there be a fear of the unknown? And why should a curious person be criticized for finding things out and discouraged from trying? I think it's a very bad trait in humans to close down the labs and libraries and close up the mind.
When that backward process grows into how we treat education we are asking for trouble. Of course, we don't think it's trouble at all. We think it's just making life simpler and easier to live. "Ignorance is bless." "What you don't know won't hurt you." "Don't go poking your nose into things you don't understand."
Imagine what our lives would be like if everyone followed those suppressive rules. As well as my remark about the marble I used to like to make fun of ignorance by saying "All that readin' ain't good for the mind."
Another comment I used to get while growing up was an equally scornful unthinking response to something I said "Oh, is that so?" I finally got to the point where I would say "Yes, it's so" which would generally bring on an argument and I would find myself defending something I wasn't quite sure of. Eventually I learned one of life's best lessons which is that in some circumstances it is best to keep your mouth shut.
When I was a kid I wanted to be an explorer. I admired the people who trekked off into a wilderness no one had been in before, or sailed ships into unknown seas. Mariners who found an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific, or adventurers who found an isolated tribe of people in the Brazilian jungle or an ancient forgotten temple in Asia now overgrown with shrubs and hyenas were heroes to me.
Then I got older, the call came in from the theatre and I knew that's what my life would be about. I gave up the jungles and oceans of the world and went in the direction of a different kind of adventure. I don't regret it, but I am still fascinated by the discoveries of science and original thought.
I watch the astronauts in the Space Station and know that it is simply a gateway to the vast universe and knowledge of time and space about which we know almost nothing. Every blast off of the giant Saturn rocket is just another baby step to peer through that gate into the unknown. I wish I could live forever just to see what new knowledge is going to be uncovered. Evidently my curiosity and delight in learning new things hasn't waned as a result of my senior citizenship. Even though we can never know it all we can enjoy the discoveries along the way.
As for the back seat drivers who want to call a halt to exploration and cry
"enough's enough" ignore them. Their cause is hopeless. And keep your mouth shut or you'll only get an argument and you can't win an argument with an ignorant person.
I always want to know something today I didn't know yesterday, a piece of music I've never heard before, a new useful vocabulary word, how to mix a more mysterious blue on the canvas, an inspired piece of poetry or the realization of some item of wisdom that was in the unconscious depths of my own mind. It's the best game in the world..
DB - The Vagabond
********************
WEEKEND PUZZLE
One item is missing from each of the lists below.
What is it?
2 right answers so far.
Annapolis
Atlanta
Augusta
Austin
**************
Baton Rouge
Bismark
Boise
***************
Carson City
Charleston
Cheyenne
Columbus
Concord
***********
Harrisburg
Hartford
Helena
**************
Sacramento
Saint Paul
Salem
Santa Fe
Springfield
************
Good luck
DB
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Behind The Curtain
Were I to die and go to heaven and find it populated by actors, I would not be unhappy.
Ben Hecht
*******************
This entry is about the actor and the hillbilly.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Strage as it may seem to you there are still people in this land who are so prejudiced and ignorant they think actors are people who are going straight to hell. I have heard preachers praying against the devil's workshop known as "show business." I remember a group of young theology students going around a college campus and praying for this and that and when they got to the Theatre Department mounted a prayer vigil to protect those students from being tempted any further by the drama devil. I received a post card at work one day from someone who said he was praying for my "immortal soul." He didn't say why, but I could guess.
Why should Theatre, one of the oldest and grandest art forms in the history of humanity, be treated with scorn, intolerance, hatred and fear? Simple minded ignorance is why, and a religious belief based on a bucket of mud.
Every month the actors union, Actors Equity, publishes a news letter, and in it is an obituary column under the title "Final Curtain." The names of the actors who have recently passed on are listed in alphabetical order, the famous next to the unknown.
One of the names posted these days is that of Douglas Campbell who died last October and was on his way to heaven and not the other place. I knew Douglas and I have a story about him that no one else knows.
Douglas was born in Scotland in 1922. He became an actor in England and eventually moved to Canada. He had a long and varied career. In 2001 he came here to Pennsylvania to play a very difficult role in "The Dresser" by Ronald Harwood. Douglas was 83 at the time and had a bad knee. He was unsure about whether he would be able to sustain the run of the show in his condition so the theatre hired me to be his understudy.
He asked me one day if I wanted to play the role. He would have allowed me to go on for a matinee performance now and then. And even though I was ready to go on at a moments notice I said no, that I wanted him to play every performance. They were coming to see Douglas; they shouldn't be disappointed. He did play every one of them.
Because I was his understudy we became buddies. I stuck close, monitoring his health from day to day. After rehearsals and performances we would sit in the King George Bar, where he drank wine while I drank beer and we would talk, tell stories and jokes.
Since he had difficulty walking, the theatre management loaned him a Cadillac to drive back and forth to work. One day he asked me if I would like to drive out to Atlantic City with him. I guessed he was fairly lonely. His wife, also in theatre, was off doing some other show somewhere else. So I agreed.
It was still Winter so there wasn't much beach activity in Atlantic City but we watched the Atlantic Ocean coming in and walked along the boardwalk seeing the sights.
On the way back a strange light appeared on the dashboard of the car and after a while the car started to die. So Douglas pulled over to the side of the highway. The police soon came and called a wrecker truck. When the truck arrived the mechanic saw immediately what the problem was, hoisted the car up on his truck and took us to an auto body shop somewhere in the New Jersey meadows. A belt needed to be replaced. It was quickly done and we were on our way.
But while we were there Douglas asked the mechanic where he came from since he didn't sound like he was from around there. The mechanic told us he was from West Virginia but that he moved to New Jersey to be where his wife came from.
Now, being a character actor, I have always been a student of accents and dialects. My ears were tingling listening to these two men talk to each other: a Canadian actor who grew up in England and a New Jersey mechanic who grew up in Appalachia. It was the same English language but the sounds they made and the words they used were so different. They understood each other just fine. And when the mechanic found out we were actors he was very agreeable. No prayers or prejudice there.
I'll always treasure the day when I got to hear the Englishman and the Hillbilly talk to each other in a New Jersey meadow.
DB - The Vagabond
******************
WEEKEND PUZZLE
One item is missing from each of the lists below.
What is it?
1 right answer so far
Annapolis
Atlanta
Augusta
Austin
**************
Baton Rouge
Bismark
Boise
***************
Crson City
Charleston
Cheyenne
Columbus
Concord
***********
Harrisburg
Hartford
Helena
**************
Sacramento
Saint Paul
Salem
Santa Fe
Springfield
************
Good luck
DB
Ben Hecht
*******************
This entry is about the actor and the hillbilly.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Strage as it may seem to you there are still people in this land who are so prejudiced and ignorant they think actors are people who are going straight to hell. I have heard preachers praying against the devil's workshop known as "show business." I remember a group of young theology students going around a college campus and praying for this and that and when they got to the Theatre Department mounted a prayer vigil to protect those students from being tempted any further by the drama devil. I received a post card at work one day from someone who said he was praying for my "immortal soul." He didn't say why, but I could guess.
Why should Theatre, one of the oldest and grandest art forms in the history of humanity, be treated with scorn, intolerance, hatred and fear? Simple minded ignorance is why, and a religious belief based on a bucket of mud.
Every month the actors union, Actors Equity, publishes a news letter, and in it is an obituary column under the title "Final Curtain." The names of the actors who have recently passed on are listed in alphabetical order, the famous next to the unknown.
One of the names posted these days is that of Douglas Campbell who died last October and was on his way to heaven and not the other place. I knew Douglas and I have a story about him that no one else knows.
Douglas was born in Scotland in 1922. He became an actor in England and eventually moved to Canada. He had a long and varied career. In 2001 he came here to Pennsylvania to play a very difficult role in "The Dresser" by Ronald Harwood. Douglas was 83 at the time and had a bad knee. He was unsure about whether he would be able to sustain the run of the show in his condition so the theatre hired me to be his understudy.
He asked me one day if I wanted to play the role. He would have allowed me to go on for a matinee performance now and then. And even though I was ready to go on at a moments notice I said no, that I wanted him to play every performance. They were coming to see Douglas; they shouldn't be disappointed. He did play every one of them.
Because I was his understudy we became buddies. I stuck close, monitoring his health from day to day. After rehearsals and performances we would sit in the King George Bar, where he drank wine while I drank beer and we would talk, tell stories and jokes.
Since he had difficulty walking, the theatre management loaned him a Cadillac to drive back and forth to work. One day he asked me if I would like to drive out to Atlantic City with him. I guessed he was fairly lonely. His wife, also in theatre, was off doing some other show somewhere else. So I agreed.
It was still Winter so there wasn't much beach activity in Atlantic City but we watched the Atlantic Ocean coming in and walked along the boardwalk seeing the sights.
On the way back a strange light appeared on the dashboard of the car and after a while the car started to die. So Douglas pulled over to the side of the highway. The police soon came and called a wrecker truck. When the truck arrived the mechanic saw immediately what the problem was, hoisted the car up on his truck and took us to an auto body shop somewhere in the New Jersey meadows. A belt needed to be replaced. It was quickly done and we were on our way.
But while we were there Douglas asked the mechanic where he came from since he didn't sound like he was from around there. The mechanic told us he was from West Virginia but that he moved to New Jersey to be where his wife came from.
Now, being a character actor, I have always been a student of accents and dialects. My ears were tingling listening to these two men talk to each other: a Canadian actor who grew up in England and a New Jersey mechanic who grew up in Appalachia. It was the same English language but the sounds they made and the words they used were so different. They understood each other just fine. And when the mechanic found out we were actors he was very agreeable. No prayers or prejudice there.
I'll always treasure the day when I got to hear the Englishman and the Hillbilly talk to each other in a New Jersey meadow.
DB - The Vagabond
******************
WEEKEND PUZZLE
One item is missing from each of the lists below.
What is it?
1 right answer so far
Annapolis
Atlanta
Augusta
Austin
**************
Baton Rouge
Bismark
Boise
***************
Crson City
Charleston
Cheyenne
Columbus
Concord
***********
Harrisburg
Hartford
Helena
**************
Sacramento
Saint Paul
Salem
Santa Fe
Springfield
************
Good luck
DB
Friday, April 9, 2010
Watch Your Tongue
Fill not your mind with empty thoughts nor your mouth with empty words.
Unknown
****************
TIME vs. IMPORTANCE
------------------------------
Most of us are unaware of just how much our thinking is effected and shaped by empty words. I don't watch much television any more, because when I do I literally shake my head at the nonsense I'm seeing and hearing.
A TV station advertises the 10:00 News, let's say. It's an hour program. The producers are responsible for delivering exactly 60 minutes of program. Of course a lot of that time will be taken up by commercial advertising which often consists of well made and attractive nonsense. They put an actor in a lab coat holding up a deliciously designed container of the latest snake oil and convincing you that you need it. And if it's patented you can even "ask your doctor" to prescribe it. There's a commercial for the latest electronic gizmo that's certain to help you find romance. And you can't travel quickly and comfortably without owning the latest classy looking jalopy. They show you the icing. They don't show you the cake underneath.
In between the commercials and other promotions there may be 35 minutes left for news. A lot of that time will be taken up with sports, weather and, possibly, stock market news. That may leave 20 minutes for other news. If there is more than 20 minutes of important events to talk about you won't get it all. If there is less than 20 minutes you will get ballast. In either case someone else is deciding what is important. Not you.
Maybe having been a broadcaster and commercial actor myself has given me a clearer perspective about these things. No maybe about it. But there's no reason not to pass my perspective along.
I was working at a large TV station during the Viet Nam war. There were a lot of protests against that war. This station sent a news team to Viet Nam to interview local Americans who were over there. After asking them who they were, where they were from and what they did there, they asked what the person thought of the protests back home. If that person thought the protests were detrimental to the efforts it was included in the news program. If the person agreed with the protests that portion of the interview was cut from the news. The station was purposely giving the impression that no one in Viet Nam was in favor of our leaving there. I was quite young at the time but it was when I first began shaking my head.
I was the morning news announcer for a large radio station. It was the custom at that station to repeat the top story at the end of the newscast, and so I did, because it was the custom, I had exactly 5 minutes, and one day I realized that the practice was cutting into time that could be used for another important item. Then, sometimes the top story was merely what one politician said about some other politician and it didn't bear repeating. It was just empty words. So I stopped the practice altogether unless the top story was of world wide importance. It wasn't long before the more conservative listeners raised their objections. They wanted the repeat reinstated for no other reason than that's the way it was always done. So I complied.
A few years later I happened to be listening to that station and heard that the practice of repeating the top story had been dropped completely. "Oh, my prophetic soul."
One day last winter I watched the TV journalists at Fox News throwing snow balls at each other during the newscast. I enjoyed that very much, not because of the snow ball fight but because it illustrated how unimportant to them it was what they were there to do.
By all means watch your TV News. But as you do remember three things.
First, it's show business. Most of those people are members of AFTRA, The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. They are entertainers.
Second, everything you see has to be carefully designed to fit into a specific and limited time slot. There is no spilling over even if there is more news than can fit into that time period and you will be given unimportant news to fill out that time slot if there isn't.
Third, there is no news outlet that doesn't have an editorial policy. Someone is deciding what is important for you to see and hear and what you should think about it.
Challenge the empty words and the empty thoughts they give you.
Marcel Proust once suggested that all the great poetry and philosophy of the world should be printed in the daily paper, whereas the news of the day, crime reports, ball scores, recipes, crosswords and police blotters should be published in expensive leather bound volumes, thus expressing his scorn for the relative importance we give to what we read.
DB - The Vagabond
-------------------------
It's Spring. Plant a smile today.
****************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 5 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Unknown
****************
TIME vs. IMPORTANCE
------------------------------
Most of us are unaware of just how much our thinking is effected and shaped by empty words. I don't watch much television any more, because when I do I literally shake my head at the nonsense I'm seeing and hearing.
A TV station advertises the 10:00 News, let's say. It's an hour program. The producers are responsible for delivering exactly 60 minutes of program. Of course a lot of that time will be taken up by commercial advertising which often consists of well made and attractive nonsense. They put an actor in a lab coat holding up a deliciously designed container of the latest snake oil and convincing you that you need it. And if it's patented you can even "ask your doctor" to prescribe it. There's a commercial for the latest electronic gizmo that's certain to help you find romance. And you can't travel quickly and comfortably without owning the latest classy looking jalopy. They show you the icing. They don't show you the cake underneath.
In between the commercials and other promotions there may be 35 minutes left for news. A lot of that time will be taken up with sports, weather and, possibly, stock market news. That may leave 20 minutes for other news. If there is more than 20 minutes of important events to talk about you won't get it all. If there is less than 20 minutes you will get ballast. In either case someone else is deciding what is important. Not you.
Maybe having been a broadcaster and commercial actor myself has given me a clearer perspective about these things. No maybe about it. But there's no reason not to pass my perspective along.
I was working at a large TV station during the Viet Nam war. There were a lot of protests against that war. This station sent a news team to Viet Nam to interview local Americans who were over there. After asking them who they were, where they were from and what they did there, they asked what the person thought of the protests back home. If that person thought the protests were detrimental to the efforts it was included in the news program. If the person agreed with the protests that portion of the interview was cut from the news. The station was purposely giving the impression that no one in Viet Nam was in favor of our leaving there. I was quite young at the time but it was when I first began shaking my head.
I was the morning news announcer for a large radio station. It was the custom at that station to repeat the top story at the end of the newscast, and so I did, because it was the custom, I had exactly 5 minutes, and one day I realized that the practice was cutting into time that could be used for another important item. Then, sometimes the top story was merely what one politician said about some other politician and it didn't bear repeating. It was just empty words. So I stopped the practice altogether unless the top story was of world wide importance. It wasn't long before the more conservative listeners raised their objections. They wanted the repeat reinstated for no other reason than that's the way it was always done. So I complied.
A few years later I happened to be listening to that station and heard that the practice of repeating the top story had been dropped completely. "Oh, my prophetic soul."
One day last winter I watched the TV journalists at Fox News throwing snow balls at each other during the newscast. I enjoyed that very much, not because of the snow ball fight but because it illustrated how unimportant to them it was what they were there to do.
By all means watch your TV News. But as you do remember three things.
First, it's show business. Most of those people are members of AFTRA, The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. They are entertainers.
Second, everything you see has to be carefully designed to fit into a specific and limited time slot. There is no spilling over even if there is more news than can fit into that time period and you will be given unimportant news to fill out that time slot if there isn't.
Third, there is no news outlet that doesn't have an editorial policy. Someone is deciding what is important for you to see and hear and what you should think about it.
Challenge the empty words and the empty thoughts they give you.
Marcel Proust once suggested that all the great poetry and philosophy of the world should be printed in the daily paper, whereas the news of the day, crime reports, ball scores, recipes, crosswords and police blotters should be published in expensive leather bound volumes, thus expressing his scorn for the relative importance we give to what we read.
DB - The Vagabond
-------------------------
It's Spring. Plant a smile today.
****************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 5 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Getting Lost
One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
Andre Gide
*********************
Today's entry is a boatload of events.
Discovery
My brother's boat
The moose tracks
The German man
The cliff
The mariners.
The writer
Brian
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DISCOVERY
I watched the approach and docking of the Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Sauce Station yesterday. For me one of the most fascinating things about it is when the shuttle first appears. The Space Station cameras are focused out into the void of space and suddenly a very small pinpoint of light appears and gradually grows larger. The Space Shuttle is more than 40 miles away from its destination. The astronauts are safe, snug and cozy inside their vehicle. But is the vehicle safe inside the vast sea of space? Even though they can still see the earth as a reference point, getting back to it involves a long, complicated process.
MY BROTHER'S BOAT
My brother Henry was a sailor. After he left the Navy he worked in the advertising business. When he retired he bought a small sail boat and moored it on the shore of Connecticut. He enjoyed taking people out in it and spending a night at sea. He told me that one day he had an advertising executive as a guest on the boat, a former colleague of his. When they reached a certain point out on Long Island Sound they could no longer see the shore. My brother's friend panicked. He couldn't bear not knowing where the land was, where the Earth was. So my brother turned the boat around and headed back to the Connecticut shore.
THE MOOSE TRACKS
One bright summer day I was hiking a trail in the White Mountains of New Hampshire when I suddenly came across moose tracks on the trail. I got very excited because I thought I was actually going to see it. I had never seen a moose any where but in a zoo. Although they occasionally have their bad days. Moose are gentle giants, big benign, herbivorous creatures who are no threat to humans. So I followed the tracks hoping I would catch up to him and observe him, from a respectful distance of course. But either he was too fast for me or he was successfully hiding. I didn't see him. So I turned away from the tracks and found I had wandered far off the trail. There I was in a sea of trees not knowing where my trail was. I hadn't noticed that the moose tracks crossed some other tracks and so following those tracks by mistake got me confused and they took me into outer space.
So I had to find the trail again if I expected to get back to civilization. It took some exploring but I eventually did.
THE GERMAN MAN
I was walking through the Soho district of Manhattan in New York City one day. When I got to the corner of Houston and Sullivan Streets I saw a family on the opposite corner: a man and woman and three children. He was staring at a map. They were obviously tourists. When the man saw me he crossed the street and said to me "Excuse me. Vitch vay iz vest?" I pointed west and said "That way." He thanked me and rejoined his family. They didn't want to go "vest" they just wanted to know where they were. They were lost in the great cosmic sea known as Manhattan.
THE CLIFF
On another day I was hiking the same mountains in New Hampshire when my trail came across a cliff. It wasn't a large cliff but it was big enough so that I couldn't quite step from one side to the other. Even a taller man than I would have trouble with that cliff. It was sheer, with nothing below it but outer space. I could see a foothold and a handhold on the other side but I had to leap to get there, a leap of faith. I stood looking for a while. If I missed I would plunge down to certain injury, probably not death. I contemplated whether I should try it or turn back to the Connecticut shore. Finally I took the plunge and made it across.
On the way back I faced the same cliff but since I had made it once it no longer frightened me and I jumped across without a slip.
THE MARINERS
I sometimes thin of the sailors of the past, setting out in small wooden bottom ships with very little but the night sky to guide them through weather that sometimes turned the waves into mountains and sheer cliffs. Not knowing where they were going, how long they would be at sea or what they would find, they discovered new lands. They also discovered that the Earth is a globe, a globe the astronauts can now look at from outer space.
THE WRITER
As a writer (published some day, I hope) I face the open sea of a blank page every day. I don't know where I'm going, how long it will take me or what I'll find when I get there, but I consent to lose sight of the shore for as long as it takes.
Sometimes I feel lost in space with nothing but a flicker of light in the distance. I get confused and lose a train of thought and want to turn back. I face having to write things that seem too difficult for me and want to avoid them. Sometimes I stand at the crossroad of ideas and don't know which direction I'm going in.
Ideas run the world, some wise man said. Ideas can come from peering in a map, steering through mountains of waves, on a forest trail, on the edge of a cliff or while lost at sea. The expression of those ideas through art is the discovery of new lands.
BRIAN
In the Autumn of 1960 I began a journey hitchhiking across the United States from Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles, California. It took me two weeks. I didn't know where I was going, how long it would take me, what would happen to me along the way and what I would find. I had never been further west than New Jersey.
Using the memories of my adventure as a plot, I have sent my comrade, invention and friendly Frankenstein, Brian Sims, on the same trip and written about it. That long story is now finished and has taken its place in The Brian Saga under the title "Brian On The Road." http://thebriansaga.blogspot.com/
DB - The Vagabond
May you suddenly trip and fall into a pool of happiness.
******************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 4 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Andre Gide
*********************
Today's entry is a boatload of events.
Discovery
My brother's boat
The moose tracks
The German man
The cliff
The mariners.
The writer
Brian
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
DISCOVERY
I watched the approach and docking of the Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Sauce Station yesterday. For me one of the most fascinating things about it is when the shuttle first appears. The Space Station cameras are focused out into the void of space and suddenly a very small pinpoint of light appears and gradually grows larger. The Space Shuttle is more than 40 miles away from its destination. The astronauts are safe, snug and cozy inside their vehicle. But is the vehicle safe inside the vast sea of space? Even though they can still see the earth as a reference point, getting back to it involves a long, complicated process.
MY BROTHER'S BOAT
My brother Henry was a sailor. After he left the Navy he worked in the advertising business. When he retired he bought a small sail boat and moored it on the shore of Connecticut. He enjoyed taking people out in it and spending a night at sea. He told me that one day he had an advertising executive as a guest on the boat, a former colleague of his. When they reached a certain point out on Long Island Sound they could no longer see the shore. My brother's friend panicked. He couldn't bear not knowing where the land was, where the Earth was. So my brother turned the boat around and headed back to the Connecticut shore.
THE MOOSE TRACKS
One bright summer day I was hiking a trail in the White Mountains of New Hampshire when I suddenly came across moose tracks on the trail. I got very excited because I thought I was actually going to see it. I had never seen a moose any where but in a zoo. Although they occasionally have their bad days. Moose are gentle giants, big benign, herbivorous creatures who are no threat to humans. So I followed the tracks hoping I would catch up to him and observe him, from a respectful distance of course. But either he was too fast for me or he was successfully hiding. I didn't see him. So I turned away from the tracks and found I had wandered far off the trail. There I was in a sea of trees not knowing where my trail was. I hadn't noticed that the moose tracks crossed some other tracks and so following those tracks by mistake got me confused and they took me into outer space.
So I had to find the trail again if I expected to get back to civilization. It took some exploring but I eventually did.
THE GERMAN MAN
I was walking through the Soho district of Manhattan in New York City one day. When I got to the corner of Houston and Sullivan Streets I saw a family on the opposite corner: a man and woman and three children. He was staring at a map. They were obviously tourists. When the man saw me he crossed the street and said to me "Excuse me. Vitch vay iz vest?" I pointed west and said "That way." He thanked me and rejoined his family. They didn't want to go "vest" they just wanted to know where they were. They were lost in the great cosmic sea known as Manhattan.
THE CLIFF
On another day I was hiking the same mountains in New Hampshire when my trail came across a cliff. It wasn't a large cliff but it was big enough so that I couldn't quite step from one side to the other. Even a taller man than I would have trouble with that cliff. It was sheer, with nothing below it but outer space. I could see a foothold and a handhold on the other side but I had to leap to get there, a leap of faith. I stood looking for a while. If I missed I would plunge down to certain injury, probably not death. I contemplated whether I should try it or turn back to the Connecticut shore. Finally I took the plunge and made it across.
On the way back I faced the same cliff but since I had made it once it no longer frightened me and I jumped across without a slip.
THE MARINERS
I sometimes thin of the sailors of the past, setting out in small wooden bottom ships with very little but the night sky to guide them through weather that sometimes turned the waves into mountains and sheer cliffs. Not knowing where they were going, how long they would be at sea or what they would find, they discovered new lands. They also discovered that the Earth is a globe, a globe the astronauts can now look at from outer space.
THE WRITER
As a writer (published some day, I hope) I face the open sea of a blank page every day. I don't know where I'm going, how long it will take me or what I'll find when I get there, but I consent to lose sight of the shore for as long as it takes.
Sometimes I feel lost in space with nothing but a flicker of light in the distance. I get confused and lose a train of thought and want to turn back. I face having to write things that seem too difficult for me and want to avoid them. Sometimes I stand at the crossroad of ideas and don't know which direction I'm going in.
Ideas run the world, some wise man said. Ideas can come from peering in a map, steering through mountains of waves, on a forest trail, on the edge of a cliff or while lost at sea. The expression of those ideas through art is the discovery of new lands.
BRIAN
In the Autumn of 1960 I began a journey hitchhiking across the United States from Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles, California. It took me two weeks. I didn't know where I was going, how long it would take me, what would happen to me along the way and what I would find. I had never been further west than New Jersey.
Using the memories of my adventure as a plot, I have sent my comrade, invention and friendly Frankenstein, Brian Sims, on the same trip and written about it. That long story is now finished and has taken its place in The Brian Saga under the title "Brian On The Road." http://thebriansaga.blogspot.com/
DB - The Vagabond
May you suddenly trip and fall into a pool of happiness.
******************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 4 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Beyond The Words
By forthright thinking a man will arrive at the truth. Not by vain thinking in words, but by the meaningful thinking that springs from the source.
Karl Jaspers
*****************
Wisdom often arrives at the door dressed in strange garb. Some say that writing is not a true art form. For the painter the color spectrum is the same the world over, and for the musician the tonal relationships never vary, Both tones and colors depend on natural law. But language is a variable thing. It changes from age to age, from nation to nation and even sometimes within a single nation. Some words have multiple meanings and thus a statement may be misinterpreted. Some authors have been arrested, and killed because of what they wrote or what someone thought they wrote.
All art can be dangerous, not just to the artist but to those who don't understand it. Like all art I think of literature not as an end, a purpose, a thing in itself, but rather as a door, a gate, a shrine. We go to a shrine to worship, not to worship the shrine but what it stands for, a god or goddess, a saint or an idea, a truth.
A writer's tools are words. But we are bombarded by words from every side: on every milk carton, soup can, on advertising brochures, papers and the Internet. It seems that words are like unsubstantial flecks of dust twirling around us, or piling up in the corners of our minds. With his tools the writer attempts to fashion something. It he's good it could be a poem, a letter or a story; something important.
When I'm writing I often stop and ask myself if what I've just typed is what I really want to say. That question needs to be answered on three levels. First, have I chosen the right words, is it clear? Second, have I thought clearly enough to address the subject I'm writing about, have I perhaps stumbled in my own thinking and haven't really grasped the truth of what I'm saying, And third, does the real meaning of what I'm trying to write come from that place behind the words and beyond the shrine, where the universal mind, the source, resides and speaks. Sometimes I don't get an answer to the third part of that question. But sometimes I do. And I'm grateful for those times.
It's a humbling but glorious condition to be even monetarily in tune with an intelligence beyond one's usual ability. It's a cleansing experience, an atonement, an epiphany, an elixir of spirit. It's the best reward there is for an artist's labor.
Have I said everything I want to say on this topic? No. I patiently await the words.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 4 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
Karl Jaspers
*****************
Wisdom often arrives at the door dressed in strange garb. Some say that writing is not a true art form. For the painter the color spectrum is the same the world over, and for the musician the tonal relationships never vary, Both tones and colors depend on natural law. But language is a variable thing. It changes from age to age, from nation to nation and even sometimes within a single nation. Some words have multiple meanings and thus a statement may be misinterpreted. Some authors have been arrested, and killed because of what they wrote or what someone thought they wrote.
All art can be dangerous, not just to the artist but to those who don't understand it. Like all art I think of literature not as an end, a purpose, a thing in itself, but rather as a door, a gate, a shrine. We go to a shrine to worship, not to worship the shrine but what it stands for, a god or goddess, a saint or an idea, a truth.
A writer's tools are words. But we are bombarded by words from every side: on every milk carton, soup can, on advertising brochures, papers and the Internet. It seems that words are like unsubstantial flecks of dust twirling around us, or piling up in the corners of our minds. With his tools the writer attempts to fashion something. It he's good it could be a poem, a letter or a story; something important.
When I'm writing I often stop and ask myself if what I've just typed is what I really want to say. That question needs to be answered on three levels. First, have I chosen the right words, is it clear? Second, have I thought clearly enough to address the subject I'm writing about, have I perhaps stumbled in my own thinking and haven't really grasped the truth of what I'm saying, And third, does the real meaning of what I'm trying to write come from that place behind the words and beyond the shrine, where the universal mind, the source, resides and speaks. Sometimes I don't get an answer to the third part of that question. But sometimes I do. And I'm grateful for those times.
It's a humbling but glorious condition to be even monetarily in tune with an intelligence beyond one's usual ability. It's a cleansing experience, an atonement, an epiphany, an elixir of spirit. It's the best reward there is for an artist's labor.
Have I said everything I want to say on this topic? No. I patiently await the words.
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
In your opinion what is the most amazing thing that could happen during this decade? Make it as outrageous as you want but keep it within the realm of what you consider a possibility.
Only 4 responses so far.
Answers will be published the first day of Summer.
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB - The Vagabond
*******************
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