Archive for the ‘Advice You Probably Don't Need’ Category

Misinterpreting the 21st Century

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

I’m afraid my readership isn’t going to be broad enough to solve this problem, but I’m still going to try.  People… spread the word.  It’s the 21st century.  It really is.  But lately when I’ve gone out in public I’ve encountered compelling evidence to suggest that not everyone’s taken a close look at their calendar.

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If you were a Podcaster….

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

I’m not laboring under the delusion that the people who produce podcasts are reading my blog… but if they were, if they ever had occassion to stop by, I have some advice for them.  (Just in case.  It’s not, mathematically speaking, impossible that a podcaster could happen upon this blog….)  Here goes:

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Book Dedications, and Bad Ideas

Friday, June 11th, 2010

It’s another topic that fits under “Advice you Probably don’t need” and “on being an author” – I might have to make that its own category if this keeps happening.  I’ve got a thing worth saying, but (for reasons I hope become clear) I’m going to have to be a little vague.  Bear with me, and please don’t contact me demanding to know the author or dedicatee in question (again, for reasons I hope become clear).  Last night, I pulled a book from my “to read” stash and, though I usually don’t pay strict attention to the dedication page, that happened to be where I opened it to.  The author had dedicated the book to a contemporary (and, as it turns out, controversial) politician.  I had wanted to read the book but found myself selecting another for myriad complex reasons.  Not because of the controversial, contemporary politician… but because I thought the dedication itself was short-sighted, ill-advised, and a plain dumb thing to have done. 

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The Power of Place

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

I decided to post this under  ”Advice You Probably Don’t Need” and “on being an author” because it fits both descriptions.  It’s advice, on being an author, that you probably don’t need.  It’s also something of a confessional.  Here it is: I’m lazy, easily distracted, and easily won over by my own gimmicky ideas.  (Can I get a support group started for that?)

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The Art of Losing

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Yes, that title is a line from an Elizabeth Bishop poem.  But that’s fitting.  In fact, I do encourage readers to follow the the link at the bottom and read “One Art” in its entirety.  It’s a short poem, and quite masterfully written.  I am unashamedly no fan of poetry, but there are about five poems in the whole of human literary history that I like, and that’s my favorite of them.  Her line: practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel - could be my personal motto.  And I have to usher in the next line every time I think of it: None of these will bring disaster.

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Civility, and Chess

Friday, March 5th, 2010

I’ve always loved chess.  I’m not very good at it, but I like the concentration it requires and the semi-academic sense I always get when playing it.  Something about a game of chess suggests refinement and maturity (at least to me) and I’ve been wishing, lately, that more people approached conversation they way they should approach chess.

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Vacations, Pauperdom, and a Measure of Freedom

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Within the space of one week, I had plans for 2.5 vacations fall through.  I say 2.5 because two were excursions I was involved in planning, and one was an invitation from a third party that I had to turn down.  I’ll admit that two and a half vacations in one year seems pretty extravagant.  But the idea of going on no vacation at all makes me frown and think the word pauper (yes, in italics and everything).  It also makes me think that the plans we make for our spare time and money are so fraught with pitfalls that I might actually prefer furrowing my brow and thinking the word pauper to actually going anywhere.

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Playing the Peacemaker is a Bad Idea

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

As human creatures, we tend to like the notion of things like diplomacy and peacemaking.  It takes a grown-up person, possessed of patience and compassion, to resolve conflict reasonably in his or her own life.  And it takes an even better person to mediate the disputes of others, to smooth the way to common ground, to convince those around them to make amends.  I, dear readers, am no such person.  And probably, you aren’t either.  Let me tell you why….

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Facebook, forums, foibles

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Back when the internet and I were still new to each other, I thought forums were the greatest invention ever.  The idea that people, from different backgrounds, from different parts of the world, could discuss any given topic together, thrilled me.  How quickly the novelty vanished.

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Student Loans

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

I don’t know the first thing about economics.  But.  I do know that paying your bills sooner rather than later is a good idea.

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