Reading

So...I've been pretty sick since the day after Christmas. It isn't exactly how I thought I'd be spending the break. The plan was to catch up on a bunch of social media work (research, writing) for my new job and spend some quality time with the kid. Our quality time has consisted mainly of napping together between trips to the bathroom.

Today, on day four, I realized maybe I should just surrender -- stop trying to work or clean or read between naps. I'm not doing any of them very well right now. I'm embracing reading because my nightstand bends from the backlog and maybe reading will make me happier. That's what the science is saying.

Last night I finally read Ross Gay's, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, which I blogged about in November but just got around to. I don't usually read an entire collection of poems all at once, but this was an exception. It is an exciting book, lyrical and lush, full of sorrow and humor. Besides the exceptional title poem, "Feet" was a standout, as was "Spoon", written for a murdered friend. Gay weaves his appreciation and knowledge of gardening throughout and the language is so satisfying, relateable, yet utterly new. I can't remember enjoying a book of poetry this much in a very long time. I shed a few tears, which sounds a little over-the-top, but the themes were treated so beautifully. (I can't mention Gay without noting his essay, Some Thoughts On Mercy.)

And this brings me to where I am now. Smack dab in the middle of Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me. I didn't purposely choose this book to compliment Gay's, but it does. I devoured the first half this morning and will finish the rest tonight before going to bed. I would have finished it all at once, but the kid was interrupting and the book warrants complete concentration. This hit me squarely.

"The Dream thrives on generalization, on limiting the number of possible questions, on privileging immediate answers. The Dream is the enemy of all art, courageous thinking, and honest writing."

The book is brilliant, difficult, sad, and unnerving and absolutely required, as Toni Morrison said. When I heard the Tamir Rice ruling last night I just sunk. Again. Again. Again.

I don't know if I can read my way out.

Monkeys with Money and Guns

I've been a bit absent. Settling in to new digs, super slammed at work, and just trying to hang on during the hell that is March.

Disappointed. Outraged. No words to describe my feelings about the fact that congress is doing nothing regarding gun control. Calls and letters land on deaf, dumb ears.

Hello, Dolly

Dolly. Dolly. Dolly.

Harry Bertoia

I subscribed to Sasha Cagan's To Do List back in 2000. But the print magazine folded after only three issues. (Not the first nor last time a favorite publication broke my heart.) The To Do List blog is worth checking out. If you are a list nut like me, you may be interested in The Lists, To-dos and Illustrated Inventories of Great Artists. I just heard about it and I'm hopeful the library has it. Check out the list of Italian artist Harry Bertoia, designer of the diamond chair. I agree...his neatness is excellent!

 

It's No Small Wonder

When I named this blog Small Wonder, it was on a whim and after a painting I did in 2002. I didn't know there was an 80's sitcom called Small Wonder. The YouTube clips are insufferable. So I may be rethinking the entire enterprise.

...I set the alarm clock ready for another day at work
   Another day in life's great adventure
   It's no small wonder
No Small Wonder, Bob Geldof

Luddite

{Nigella Lawson in her library}

I do not own a smart phone. I spend enough time on the computer (at work and home) thank you very much. I'm an old lady with a three year old (ha). I have to concentrate on the immediate, on every minute as it happens because I don't want to miss a single thing about her quick-as-a-wink childhood. So interesting and amazing and fun, she is. Sure, sometimes I think it would be great to be able to look up restaurant hours and directions on the fly. But what about all the mysteries and surprises I might miss out on--the things that happen when I am "lost"?  [I highly recommend Matt Richtel's series in The New York Times, "Your Brain On Computers" or his interview on Fresh Air.]

I also do not own a Kindle or the like. I really think I will remain a Luddite to my death on this issue. Books are so perfect. And the thought of kids not having a bunch of books to puddle through makes me anxious in a way I don't think I've ever experienced. Audrey adores books and so many times we have already caught her reading in bed when she was supposed to be sleeping. I think this observation from an article Nicholson Baker wrote in the New Yorker a couple years ago is so funny.

The Kindle edition of “Selected Nuclear Materials and Engineering Systems,” an e-book for people who design nuclear power plants, sells for more than eight thousand dollars. Figure 2 is an elaborate chart of a reaction scheme, with many call-outs and chemical equations. It’s totally illegible. “You Save: $1,607.80 (20%),” the Kindle page says. “I’m not going to buy this book until the price comes down,” one stern Amazoner wrote.

Good Hair Day

There are no words. I heart Dolly.

Steve McQueen

Hubba! 20 never seen before photos of Steve McQueen.

{Life Magazine}