Hello, my friends,
Well, this is the final issue of the first full year of HMF and amazinglyunsurprisingly I’ve yet to run out of ideas for these little sections we share every week. The world is full of possibilities even if, at times, we feel empty of original thoughts. Despite it all, something always comes up.
Earlier in the run of HMF, I talked for a few issues straight about moss. It’s been wet in Los Angeles over the past few weeks so the moss on the wall by our garage is verdant and bright green! Every time I pass it there is a battle of urges: On one hand I want to roll on it, on the other, I want to stay dry. So far the latter has won. So far…
Sophie goes to the dentist for the first time tomorrow. While I don’t know if this is an exciting first, I do feel like it is a responsibility as parents to try to give her good experiences in situations where may suffer. Personally, I’ve never been afraid of the dentist. But I’m also not scared of needles and can withstand some pain and discomfort without too much effort. Thankfully, Sophie is two and won’t be facing any needles. Plus, she’ll have her big brother there to lead the way.
It Takes a Quitter
I just finished listening to the audio version of Admiral William McRaven’s inspiring little book, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World (Grand Central Publishing, 2017) in which the military man tell us to never, ever quit. I like the message in theory, but in practice I find it inconsistently applicable; after three knee surgeries, I have yet to return to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Is the risk of destroying my ability to walk normally equal to my desire to practice this martial art? I’m not sure.
Likewise, I’m a proponent of leaving books incomplete if they don’t suit one’s purposes or mood, or if one is simply not enjoying them. This is akin to where I am with Nelson Goodman’s Ways of Worldmaking (originally mentioned in #46), a book of philosophy. Unlike many serious titles in this genre, Dr. Goodman’s sentences are far from inscrutable. I generally grasp the big ideas in the three-and-a-half chapters I’ve read, and Goodman’s writing voice feels like receiving an explanatory lecture from a friendly professor. The challenge is that I just don’t care about the subject. For instance, one chapter delves into the intricacies of quotation. The professor begins by asking: “If a string of words can quote another string of words, can a picture quote a picture, or a symphony quote another symphony? And if I can quote your words can I also quote, or only imitate or describe, your gestures?” (41) then spends 15 pages laying out the possibilities. It’s a nice bit of reasoning, but relevant? Not to me.
The next chapter is called “When is Art?” and again, it leads to deeper questions. Questions that do not keep me up at night. Amidst this chapter I put worldmaking aside and finished the Anthology of Modern Japanese Poetry and a fun sci-fi title published by a small press: The Ant Queen & The Bounty Hunter by Bethy Squires (F.I.N.E. Editions, 2020). For your information, the Ant-Queen is a model of sentient space ship, this particular one named Rosaline Eustacia Ernestine Kovacks (long for ‘Roz’). Each page of this book — a fast-moving plot — asks and then answers the all-important question: “What happens next?”
So will I quit Goodman? Not yet. There is a reason I bought this book and I suspect some of the other chapters may contain that reason. So what I’ll do is leave aside “When is Art?” and jump around a bit. Perhaps later in the book there will be a deep dive into questions I’m more keen to explore. Will report back. Maybe I won’t be a quitter after all!
Reading Faces
Last Friday morning, I had the unique and special pleasure of reading to kids at Michael’s school. On occasion of the Book Fair (two glorious weeks of it), they allowed parents to volunteer to read picture books their child’s class. I had the day off so I signed up on the morning of the last day. Let me tell you, it was so much fun!
I chose two books: Fluffy McWhiskers Cuteness Explosion by Stephen W. Martin (illustrated by Dan Tavis) and Everybody!: You, Me & Us written and illustrated by Elise Gravel. We had read the first book before so I knew it was ideal and I picked the second one on a whim and had a few minutes to look it over before Michael’s class filed in. Did I mention that four-year-olds are the best audience for storytime? They pay attention, respond enthusiastically, revel in silliness, funny faces, and big body language and love stories. This all works perfectly for me because I also pay attention to the audience, read enthusiastically, revile seriousness, make funny faces, and delight in expressive body language.
What I loved most was just interacting with each of the kids and the group as a whole. Improvising on the book, asking questions, and just surfing on the vibe of the audience. After the reading to Michael’s class went well, the director of the school asked if they could bring in another class. Sure! I said, I had all morning. The second class was quieter and more reserved, the kids weren’t as advanced. They were a little bit shy. The thrill, then, was in adjusting to this new mood and performing in a way that would let this group open up and let in the experience.
Dear reader, that morning filled me with a joy to be alive! All day I smiled about it. I know that technically, my coming to read was for Michael’s benefit but I think maybe I had more fun than him (and he was super into it). To think, youth services librarians get to do this once or twice every week! And get paid for it!
(actually, at my library, we have a group of Reading Machine librarians whose entire job is to go to preschools and daycares and perform for the kids. Yes, I’m a little jelly.)
The Van’s Not Greener
YouTube is full of #vanlife videos. Vlogs by people who spend all or some of their time living in a range of vehicles from a basic Prius to fully-decked out mini-buses. From the practical viewpoint of a person who really really likes and feels thankful for having a place to live, I find these videos ludicrous. There is very little that is truly glamorous or desirable in voluntarily spending a bunch of waking hours in a vehicle. Traditionally, it’s a final resort of the very poor or those with a highly unusual disposition. That people are doing it by choice certainly flips the script.
And yet (there has to be a turn, otherwise why am I writing about it, right?), there’s a part of me that identifies with the introversion, minimalism, and radical independence of such a life choice. What would it be like to live in a van? How would I spend my days? What would my set-up look like? These are the type of realistic creative problems that I can easily daydream about for long drives and long showers.
#Vanlife videos give me information about how other people do it. Different types of people, from airhead couples to 20-something women to middle-aged guys. Interestingly, most of them don’t seem to have come from a background involving poverty. Probably because when you grow up in squalor (or just less-then) and have gained a certain level of stability (ie a job, decent home, and food in the fridge), the idea of voluntarily downgrading sounds absolutely insane. For me specifically, I know that despite my pull towards introversion (says the guy who loves getting wacky for 4-year-olds), I’m also very much a people person. Spending too much time alone as a matter of my lifestyle would destabilize and depress me.
Still, I enjoy living vicariously through 20-minute clips of people and their van homes. It makes me think, “Are humans too adaptable?”
yay! who said doing the same thing over & over is insanity? finally got this to take my comment lol am basking in victory so much that forgot what I wanted to comment. too many books, too little time for clinkers? and more - enjoyed your post as always
Congratulations on a full year of every week! For someone who is phobic of any kind of commitment (with the exception you are well aware of), that is a stunning thing, that kind of consistency.
My one comment about van life is that -- and I know you know this -- the majority of people live that way aren't doing it because they wouldn't like to have a more permanent and larger home. They're doing it because they can't afford one in our housing market (I have several friends like this) and because they are who they are, they turn it into an adventure. I suspect they are they are the majority, and the people who are doing it even though they have better options are the exceptions.
There's a really good book about this called Nomadland that paints the picture in vivid detail. It's a good and sobering read, if you're interested. https://www.amazon.com/Nomadland-Surviving-America-Twenty-First-Century/