Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thoughts of Spring and Michael Perry
Friday, December 19, 2008
Christmas Salvation
The reality is that I like receiving those state-of-one's-life letters. Do you read Marge Miley's column in the HTR? Often, when she gets a letter from an old friend, she shares bits and pieces with her readers, and even though I don't know who she is talking about, I find the homey notes charming, and full of the warm exchanges we aren't so good at these days.
After a few years of enthusiastically trading him from person to person, he disappeared. We tried to figure out who had had him. Had he been destroyed when Mary's basement was flooded? Did Denise get him the year she moved to Madison on us? Todd, our one and only male, who came to one meeting, and then to our Christmas soiree...surely Todd must have him! Or, perhaps Cindy ended up with the elfish fellow. Our annual party the year Santa went missing proved to be the last she was healthy enough attend. We sadly said goodbye to her a few months later.
We worried about this little Santa; we hoped that he would return, and crossed our fingers that if he did, someone else would wind up with the cheery, seasonal albatross for a year. When he reappeared this year, everyone was elated, sort of. We talked about our disappearance theories and that gave us a moment to remember Cindy together. It turns out that Steph had him all the while. She missed a couple of our holiday parties, and was quite coy and cagey for years concerning his whereabouts. I know that if I ever have a big secret to share, it will be with Steph!
If I sent out Christmas cards, this is the picture you'd see this year. On Friday, the day of the huge snow dump, our FedEx delivery man came in with a heavy box filled with special order Christmas books. He put it on the counter and said "Hey Bev, got a shovel? I'm gonna dig you out." Now, you all know how much snow there was, and how much footage I have here to be cleared, but he had at it, all the while, his truck was in the middle of New York Ave, running. Pretty soon, our regular snow blower fellow started up, but if that hadn't happened, I'm sure he'd still be out there! How's that for a Christmas gift!
One of my favorite winter events is the European Christmas Market at the Osthoff in Elkhart Lake. This wonderful camel was parked outside the main entrance. He licked my hand, gently. He must have liked what he tasted, because he smiled ever so nicely for this picture.
This is Snarky Cat. You can find him warming his butt atop the lighted display case at Two Fish Gallery in Elkart Lake. Although cats make me itch and sneeze, I look forward to visiting Snarky a couple time a year. Two Fish is a beautiful little gallery, with an artsy garden. Both the gallery and the garden are open year round.
Well, 2009 is creeping up, but not before you all spend time with family and friends having yourself a merry little Christmas.
From all of us here at LaDeDa...thanks. We are cherish your friendship and are grateful for your support. To regular readers of Fine Print on a Monday...thanks for not reporting me to the Stupid Squad. I hope my babblings have filled some spare time in your lives. Stay tuned! There's sure to be more nonsense in 2009.
I'm reading Little Women.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
If Man Works Hard the Land Will Not Be Lazy … by guest blogger Steve Head
Like the earlier books, Gladwell takes a phenomenon wrapped in conventional wisdom and dismantles it. By looking at the contents page you will discover Opportunity and Legacy are the broad concepts he uses to de-construction our notions of success.
Starting with the Canadian junior hockey league championship, where the players involved have not made it to the finals through the influence of parents or their business connections, financial contributions, or the schools they attended, but through their ‘individual merit’. Or so we think.
While Gladwell does not dispute the talent and hard work of these hockey players, by the end of the first chapter the ‘individual merit’ myth is dismantled and replaced by a surprising explanation that goes well beyond hockey. Along with junior hockey players, Gladwell looks at Bill Gates, The Beatles, and a host of other accomplished, and not so accomplished, individuals to populate his investigation into success.
Gladwell mines a wealth of information from psychological studies and measures, historic analysis, student achievement scores, cross cultural comparisons, and emperical data, all detailed in the Notes section with references.
At first I thought the new book was not as good as the previous two. By the time I finished the Epilogue my opinion had changed. Like the earlier books, Gladwell not only challenged conventional wisdom, he revealed some of the underlying dynamics of human behavior.
My sister contends she only reads one book a year. I am going to suggest Outliers be her 2009 book. It is relatively short at 285 pages with generously spaced text in a readable font, as well as being written in an easy to digest style. Like Tipping Point and Blink, Outliers is filled with information and concepts useful to people in all walks of life.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Call Me Madame (Bovary)
My goal to fill in some reading gaps led me to Gustave Flaubert's controversial novel, Madam Bovary. The story is quite simple, really, and not uncommon. Emma Bovary longs for romance and takes what she believes is a shortcut to living her dreams by marrying the first man who offers to rescue her from her mundane, rural life with her father. Although her husband was well intended, and blindly in love with her, Emma soon tires of her place as a doctor's wife in provincial, 19th century France. Her desire for fine things escalates, as does her roantic dream to escape from the boredom and emptiness of her life. What has she to fill her days but cooking, picking out drapery and wall-coverings, and looking nice for her husband? What adventerous option does she have but adultery?!
Well, this book caused quite a stir, and Flaubert was put on trial for challenging the mores of the time. Although the author's voice is heard throughout the novel, chastising and ridiculing the protagonist, (bordering on mysogeny) public sentiment swelled against Flaubert, with people fearing that Emma's freewheeling lifestyle would lead to the decay of public decency. Flaubert's defense was that it was the very decline of morals that provided him the material for the book in the first place!
Jeepers! If that citizenry felt that this book was morally bankrupt, I'd like to hear their opinions on how our book, movie, and TV offerings we have evolved since then. That issue aside, the novel does pose some questions worth discussing. Why is it that we are so willing to embrace Emma and even forgive her? Who decides what actions are immoral, and are discreet immoral actions more forgivable than public actions? I think of poor Hester in The Scarlet Letter, made to publicly display her sin, while her co-offender was allowed to suffer his indignity in private - unacknowledged. Was Hester's sin greater than his? Are all indiscretions equal, or must we consider the reasons and the contexts? My guess would be that most of us would be situational moralists when it comes to our own lives, and somewhat more absolute when considering the lives of others.
Have you read Little Children, by Tom Perotta? Mary Ann's suburban situation is similar to Emma's. Her husband is a kook; she is uber-intellectual, and can't connect with any of the other well-outfitted moms. MaryAnn's angst draws her to the very handsome and obedient, Todd, who happily moves through life resisting the responsibilities of adulthood. What happens? Well, there's an affair, of course. There is no way the relationship will last, but for brief time, Mary Ann is happy, and I am happy for her. I'm not condoning their actions, but I think everyone should be happy. I just wish she could have found it in a less unconventional way.
This dicey subject came up again last weekend in the movie Waitress. Now, this is fun flick. The director, Adreinne Shelly, co-starred in the movie with Keri Russel, and was tragically murdered shortly before its release at The Sundance Film Festival. She effectively combines reality with daydream. There's a lot of inner conflict which we hear through the main character's self-talk. Jenna's life, I believe, is more complex than Emma Bovary's. She has an abusive husband, and can see no way to escape - unless you consider that she is the best pie baker in the county. Really, that's not much to go on when there is baby on the way. Enter a handsome, young doctor and OOPS!...there you have it, another dalliance! Jenna struggles with all aspects of the relationship, and although initial reactions to her may be that she is weak and silly, she turn out to be inteligent, courageous and strong.
All four stories reinforce that old idea of not throwing stones until you've walked a mile in someone else's shoes...or mixed enough metaphors to make the point. And, for those of us quick to judge, let me remind you of the lessons learned in that musical morality tune "Harper Valley PTA." The enticing, mini-skirted Mrs. Johnson sure stopped the good old boys on the school boad dead in their tracks, didn't she?
By the way, Flaubert was acquitted!
Here's a wonderful snow sculpture on the side of our store courtesy of Mother Nature. Today, I think the cold will leave me lonely, although the phone has been ringing constantly, and by 10:02, I alrady had thress customers. Tis the season, I guess! Stay warm, today!
Monday, December 8, 2008
The White Masai
Monday, December 1, 2008
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...Winter
And then, when it is all over, I go home, just like you do, run a warm bath, like you might, peel the fake lashes from my lids, wash the make-up from my face, the smoke from my hair, and forget the lines momentarily until tomorrow's dusting. And about that time, I pass the steamy streaked mirror and pause. Wiping the glass with the back of my hand, I make out the lips and the eyes and the ears of a rather plain girl. No Maggie the Cat or Lady Macbeth or Sally Bowles, just me. Yet, as I breathe in the heavy heated bathroom air, it spreads differently through my insides, like warm fingers reaching to something new. Stepped from and unzipped, I realize the world is still tinted a slightly different tinge that when this night began. "Her" shading lingers there behind my eyes, and I see the world, myself, revised after having viewed it from the stage.