Roger O Green

30-Day Challenge: Day 28-A Drawing

I can’t help but notice that The Daughter is more externally patriotic than I am.

My daughter is drawing all of the time. This is a piece she did several months ago, which is the one that currently hangs in my cubicle at work. While red, white, and blue, please notice the green G, for Green. She did a similar one for my wife, and since she’s seen mine in my office, she now insists that Carol likewise take hers to HER office.

She does SO many drawings, and she wants to get rid of exactly zero percent of them right now. This winter, during the school break, the sorting will recommence. It won’t be pretty.

I can’t help but notice that she is more externally patriotic than I am. She saw this newspaper full-page piece that says, “I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN”, with the U.S. flag in the middle. It’s been hanging in her bedroom since at least July 4.

55 Questions about books

I never read The Bridges of Madison County, though I started it, but I liked the movie.

From Jaquandor:

1. Favorite childhood book?

Play The Game. It’s a sports anthology that I still own, copyright 1931. It has articles by Rogers Hornsby on baseball, Red Grange on football, Grantland Rice on golf, plus articles on basketball, track, tennis, and the “minor sports” such as swimming and wrestling. I have no idea how I came to have it; I’m not nearly THAT old.

2. What are you reading right now?

Where Did Our Love Go by Nelson George. It’s a book about the rise and fall of Motown.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?

Right now, none, but I have had some.

4. Bad book habit?

Starting books and not finishing them. Do it a lot, actually.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?

Nothing at present, which is unusual.

6. Do you have an e-reader?

No. I’m a late adapter. I’ll get one a week before the NEXT technology comes out.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?

One, maybe two. More likely to finish it that way.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?

I probably read less, but my “should read” list has become massive.

9. Least favorite book you read this year?

Don’t know, because I probably just gave up.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas Blackmon.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?

Back when I was at my former church, I was in a book club, and we had 10 topics a year. Inevitably, we’d pick topics I’d never would have picked had I not been in the group. Now, almost never leave the non-fiction range.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?

Biographies, non-fiction, generally.

13. Can you read on the bus?

I can, but I tend not to, because I’m so afraid of losing the book. Generally, I read periodicals on the bus.

14. Favorite place to read?

A chair in the living room.

15. What is your policy on book lending?

I will only lend if I am not afraid of never seeing it again. So if it’s of functional or sentimental value, no way.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?

No, and it annoys me that others do.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?

Not even in college.

18. Not even with textbooks?

Not even with textbooks. It also was a matter that I might actually SELL those books, so I wanted to keep them nice.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?

English.

20. What makes you love a book?

Learning something new, told in an interesting and honest way. Glaring factual errors will probably diminish the value very quickly.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?

Haven’t in decades. People are so different, I find it almost impossible. And when I used to, people would sigh, “Oh, no, one more for the list!”

22. Favorite genre?

Actually, besides non-fiction, comic book packages.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)

Science fiction, I suppose. I know lots of SF fans.

24. Favorite biography?

The Brethren by Woodward and Armstrong. Although I have a soft spot for Mayor Corning: Albany Icon, Albany Enigma by Paul Grondahl because it contains a description of the South African Springbok rugby team and the protest that I participated in.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?

Not in a long time. The last one may have been Your Erroneous Zones by Wayne Dyer and that was in 1978.

26. Favorite cookbook?

It’s a Betty Crocker one I got when I first went to college.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or nonfiction)?

A Day Apart: How Jews, Christians, and Muslims Find Faith, Freedom, and Joy on the Sabbath by Christopher D. Ringwald

28. Favorite reading snack?

Pretzels or Wheat Thins.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.

Cavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon. Didn’t get past page 55, and I felt badly, because it was “my” genre. I still have it – yikes, I borrowed it from someone; well, more that she lent it to me – and I’ll try again someday.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?

Often, I suppose, because it usually motivated me to read it in the first place.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?

Not great, but I will.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?

French.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?

I don’t remember. It was undoubtedly so incomprehensible, I let it go.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?

None.

35. Favorite poet?

Billy Shakes.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?

One or two.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?

About 50% of the time.

38. Favorite fictional character?

Atticus Finch.

39. Favorite fictional villain?

Iago, for sure.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?

Something on the shelf at home that calls to me. Plus periodicals.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.

Last time I was really sick. I remember when I broke my rib a couple of years ago, I could not focus to read even the newspaper for nearly a week, because of the pain and the meds.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.

Kavalier and Clay. But I will, by gum.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?

A pile of periodicals more than anything.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?

To Kill a Mockingbird. I never read The Bridges of Madison County, though I started it, but I liked the movie.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?

Funny, nothing comes to mind. I can’t think of any others where I’ve both read the book AND seen the movie.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?

Around a hundred bucks, probably.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?

Depends on whether it has photos in the center. I often look at those first.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?

Boredom. Irritation. Lack of time.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?

Yes, actually they are. Does this surprise you? Shelf of TV books, movie books, comic-related books. Shelves of music books, religious books, non-fiction, with bios tending to be together.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?

I prefer to keep, but once in a while, I do a mini-purge.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?

Not particularly.

52. Name a book that made you angry.

I’m sure some sociology text in college that I thought was BS.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?

Not likely to start a book I don’t think I’ll like.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?

See, things that I read that don’t work tend to just fall right out of the brain.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?

What is this guilt thing? Je ne comprende pas.

The Lydster, Part 79: Lost & Found; and Just in Time

My job on weekday mornings is to get Lydia to school on time.

My daughter has an innate capacity to find things that I have misplaced. There was a key, the TV remote, all sorts of things. She’s less skilled finding things SHE loses, such as the DVD remote, which she actually DID come across, after four weeks; it was in her art supply box, and I know I didn’t put it there. She also thought it would be fun to hide the mailbox key that hung on a hook near the front door, but doesn’t know where she left it; now I can’t get the mail until the Wife gets home with the only other key.

Note to Wife: PLEASE get another key made, as it’s been three months now and the key is unlikely at this point just to “turn up.”

One of the things I really hate is being late when there are real consequences. For instance, I hate rushing to an airport, train station, or bus depot to try to get on transportation at the last minute. My job on weekday mornings is to get Lydia to school on time, which is 8:03. Now we live a stone’s throw from the school; this is not cliche, this is the fact that I could stand on my front porch with a stone, toss it, and hit the school building. Well, maybe, I haven’t actually tried it. An MLB baseball outfielder or an NFL football quarterback could surely strike it. But it still takes some time to get the coat on, get the backpack on, lock the door, walk a couple of houses, cross the street and walk most of the length of the building to the entrance.

So when we left the house at 7:59 twice last week, it is cutting it way too close for my tastes. To be fair, the second time was Friday, and she had homework to finish, plus her mom forgot to give her some medicine the night before. But she does tend to procrastinate as well. Sooner or later, when she finally is late, when it takes a little bit too long to cross our busy street, even with the crossing guard there, she’ll figure it out. Meanwhile, it’s only my anxiety, not hers.

Congrats to Darrin & Suzy on the birth of Sylvie Grace; the name Sylvie immediately reminded me of this song. I e-mailed this post to Darrin, and he said, “She’ll be having my dozens of dollars!”

O is for Our Town

I should note that I was in a production of Our Town, some 25 years ago. I played the drunken choir director Simon Stimson, one of the characters in the cemetery in the third act.

How did a play written 72 years ago about a small town in New Hampshire, with no scenery and few props, “transcend the ages to become America’s most produced play”? Maybe it’s because it contains some universal themes.

From SparkNotes.com:
[Thorton] Wilder’s principal message in Our Town — that people should appreciate the details and interactions of everyday life while they live them — became critical…when the play hit theaters in 1938. It was a time of tremendous international tension, and citizens across the globe suffered from fear and uncertainty. Our Town directed attention away from these negative aspects of life…and focused instead on the aspects of the human experience that make life precious. Wilder revealed his faith in the stability and constancy of life through his depiction and discussion of the small town of Grover’s Corners, with its “marrying . . . living and . . . dying.”

Hal Holbrook as the Stage Manager

Specifically, the dying. Act 1 is the ordinary, even mundane lives of the townspeople. Act 2 addresses the budding romance of George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Act 3 is in a cemetery but has a flashback to a time about a decade in the past. This prompts a character to ask of the Stage Manager, the narrator: “Does anyone ever realize life while they live it…every, every minute?” And, of course, the answer is “No”. But how could we?

There have been 4000 productions in the last decade according to this CBS News video, which shows segments of a recent long-running Off-Broadway production that closed only last month. One of the participants noted that if we realize life while we live it, every minute, we’d probably be on Twitter, tweeting 24/7, which would puncture the value of actually EXPERIENCING life.

The 2010 NYC off-Broadway production’s George and Emily

While there was a 1940 movie, the play has always been the thing. According to Wikipedia, there was a live musical 1955 TV adaptation starring Frank Sinatra as the Stage Manager, Paul Newman as George, and Eva Marie Saint as Emily. I remember watching the 1977 TV adaptation of the play starring Hal Holbrook, Robby Benson, and Glynnis O’Connor, though not the 1989 telecast with Spalding Gray, Frances Conroy, Penelope Ann Miller, and Eric Stoltz. And I HAD to view the adaptation of a 2002 Broadway revival starring Paul Newman, this time as the Stage Manager, a segment that can be seen here.

I should note that I was in a production of Our Town, some 25 years ago, produced by the FOCUS Churches of Albany. I played the drunken choir director Simon Stimson, one of the characters in the cemetery in the third act, who bitterly proclaims: “That’s what it was like to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those…of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be always at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or another. Now you know- that’s the happy existence you wanted to go back to. Ignorance and blindness.” Even in death, Simon seemed to miss the point.

Wilder was full of pithy sayings beyond the realm of this play. Perhaps my favorite: “If you write to impress it will always be bad, but if you write to express it will be good.”

ABC Wednesday – Round 7

A Brief Halloween Meme

From SamuraiFrog:

1. What is the worst treat to get when trick-or-treating?

Black licorice. Hated it. Now RED; that was a whole ‘nother thing. Also, I’ve never been a NECCO fan either.

2. What character from any horror film would you most like to play?

Dracula. He is primal.

3. Would you rather be a zombie, alien, or psycho? (why)

An alien. Zombies are boring, psychos are too much work. Aliens allow for greater character development.

4. How many Halloween, Friday the 13th, or Nightmare on Elm Street movies combined do you have on DVD?

That would be zero. Not my thing. I’ve seen one Halloween movie. But, in the day, the store I worked at used to SELL them on VHS tape.

5. What is the scariest movie you have ever seen?

I was pretty freaked out by Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia. But THE movie that most terrified me was one I saw when I was nine or so, so it had to have come out in the early 1960s or before. Probably before, because it was a double feature with a Francis the Talking Mule movie, probably Francis in the Haunted House (1956). In the movie in question – I WISH I KNEW THE NAME! – there was this beautiful woman who men lusted after, but if they kissed her, she turned extremely homely. In order to regain her beauty, she had to bite the man on the neck, killing him, then blowing some powder. Seriously, my neck hurt for days.

6. Lamest costume you have worn on Halloween?

As a ghost, in a sheet.

7. Favorite Halloween treat?

Mounds bars, almost any candy bar without nuts or peanuts. I LOVE peppermint patties, or whatever they’re called.

8. Friendly-faced jack o’lantern or scary one?

Scary.

9. Have you ever had nightmares about a scary movie character chasing you?

Not chasing, but the aforementioned movie woman biting my neck.

10. The Best thing about Halloween?

The costumes. I used to really embrace costumes in the 1980s, when I was in my 30s, more than any other decade save for my childhood.

11. Strangest Halloween custom you’ve heard of?

Halloween lights. They’re like Christmas lights, only orange.

12. Person in your family who most likes Halloween (not counting yourself)?

Well, the daughter likes it. But the wife ALSO likes it because, since the daughter is allergic to peanuts, and I don’t particularly like them, SHE gets all the nut/peanut candy, sometimes with no effort.

13. Are you superstitious? If so, name at least one superstition of yours.

When I played baseball, I never stepped on the foul lines going to or coming from the field.