The Bag Lady Papers/Penney
The Future of Islam/Esposito
Making a Literary Life/See
Dufy/Hunter
Dufy/Werner
The History of Love/Krauss
All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire
Recovering/Sarton
Blade Dancer/Viehl
Becoming Naturally Therapeutic/Small
Visibly Muslim/Tarlo
The Hypochondriacs/Dillon
Art: A Crash Course/Freeman
Huntsman What Quarry/Millay
Edvard Munch/Gossett
NPR provides me with some eclectic book recommendations. Some of these I read in depth; others I read the introduction, one or two chapters of interest, and skim the rest. When my sister the English professor recommends a book, I usually find it and read carefully. Some books I've owned for decades and continue to hold my attention.
Just Learning
Kitchen Studio
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
There's More Where That Came From
On one street corner in one city in the USA on a Saturday morning in front of a supermarket, a group of caring, devoted, committed people were assaulted while conducting the most basic business of citizenship and daily life. We can't afford the loss of these folks.
Yet, it heartens me that those who were harmed, and those who responded to help them, represent the people of my country. Thousands and thousands of parents are raising ethical, intellectually curious, proactive, loving children. In our millions, we try to live kindly, devotedly in family and work lives. We most emphatically give a damn!
There's more goodness, more willingness, more love where these indispensable people came from.
Yet, it heartens me that those who were harmed, and those who responded to help them, represent the people of my country. Thousands and thousands of parents are raising ethical, intellectually curious, proactive, loving children. In our millions, we try to live kindly, devotedly in family and work lives. We most emphatically give a damn!
There's more goodness, more willingness, more love where these indispensable people came from.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Shifting Perspective
One's greatest weakness can also be one's greatest strength. The reverse also holds true. Last night KPBS aired a program on attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. What stayed with me was the emphasis on playing to one's strengths, often creativity and thinking outside the box, risk-taking, entrepeneurship. These strengths can be supported by finding ways to deal with impulsivity and distractability. They recommended a book by Katie Kelly, "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?" I was surprised to see how many books appeared on Amazon for adults with ADD as well as for parents of children with ADD. I was also surprised at the strong assertion that Ritalin is not harmful over time - WHEN PROPERLY PRESCRIBED - with history from 1937 to the present. It was stated that ADD is a brain-based disorder related to a particular gene. By the end of the program, I thought they shouldn't call it a disorder, but simply a variation. Still, medication allows people to concentrate, and one has to have an identifiable medical condition to be prescribed medication.
People spoke of "Soaring and Crashing." They described functioning superlatively well, then being unable to hold things together. One middle-aged man said he started three successful businesses and "ran each of them into the ground." On medication as an adult, his performance is more consistent.
It was very sad to hear of people, "leaving a trail of lost jobs and broken relationships." The behavior described sounds similar to that of bipolar disorder, for which it is often misdiagnosed.
Diagnosis involves a thorough investigation of one's life-time behavior, with the help of professionals who really know the subject. Self-assessment questionnaires are part of the process.
A strong indicator: A person often starts a task, decides a different task is first required, and goes on to a chain of tasks he/she hadn't intended to do, usually ending up never getting to the initial task.
Another indicator: Experiencing a life-time of scoldings: You could have done better. You're not trying. You failed because you just didn't pay attention. You spent too much time on (electronic games)(goofing off)(you name it). You're lazy, stupid, rebellious, ungrateful, crazy...
BUT: The cure for resulting low self-esteem? SUCCESS! Which is really possible. It's even possible to live without the gnawing anxiety over whether you can ever do it again, over feeling like an imposter. That calls for daily attention to the things that help. And a sense of humor.
People spoke of "Soaring and Crashing." They described functioning superlatively well, then being unable to hold things together. One middle-aged man said he started three successful businesses and "ran each of them into the ground." On medication as an adult, his performance is more consistent.
It was very sad to hear of people, "leaving a trail of lost jobs and broken relationships." The behavior described sounds similar to that of bipolar disorder, for which it is often misdiagnosed.
Diagnosis involves a thorough investigation of one's life-time behavior, with the help of professionals who really know the subject. Self-assessment questionnaires are part of the process.
A strong indicator: A person often starts a task, decides a different task is first required, and goes on to a chain of tasks he/she hadn't intended to do, usually ending up never getting to the initial task.
Another indicator: Experiencing a life-time of scoldings: You could have done better. You're not trying. You failed because you just didn't pay attention. You spent too much time on (electronic games)(goofing off)(you name it). You're lazy, stupid, rebellious, ungrateful, crazy...
BUT: The cure for resulting low self-esteem? SUCCESS! Which is really possible. It's even possible to live without the gnawing anxiety over whether you can ever do it again, over feeling like an imposter. That calls for daily attention to the things that help. And a sense of humor.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Night in Xanadu
Tonight I saw Mars and Regulus, and Saturn. The astronomers were out on the Prado, offering a peek at wonders beyond out horizons. It was a fitting end to an evening hearing of Shakespeare from Adrian Noble.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Freedom on Ice
Freedom is the ability to make choices, with the power to follow them through.
Freedom does not overturn natural conditions or social obligations. All freedom is limited.
One day I fled my stuffy office to breathe the bracing air of a cold day at Bear Mountain. My almost daily walk to the top of the mountain had restored my health and vigor. On this day, however, the snow had frozen. A slick, thick layer of ice armored every hollow and hump of the land. The steepness of my usual path, shadowed by trees, repelled me.
I was attracted instead to the brilliant white swells of polished land in the open, like sea waves suddenly frozen, latent with movement. Exhilarated, I made my way up and over the first swell, on my hands and knees part of the way. Alone in that bright land, I started up the second swell. Soon I was lying on my side, struggling for traction, sliding back as often as I gained an inch by pressure on the surface with my ice encrusted mittened hands.
My boots had no cleats. I had no pitons, not that I knew how to use pitons or ice axes. All I had was my ecstatic desire to be and move in that sun drenched icescape.
I thought about it, there on the ice. If I broke through the ice, or fell with any momentum on its hard surface, I might well be injured. I had no supplies, no water, and the sun would not be out long in midwinter. It would get a lot colder. I was out of sight of the highway. No one knew where I was. I risked injury, impairment of my ability to do my job, and a possible expensive rescue.
I reached my car, muscles trembling, glad to go to a diner for a hot drink. Today it saddens me that this tiny adventure is probably the farthest my life will take me into a land of ice.
About freedom: I am free to jump off a cliff, but I had better learn to hang glide first.
Irene Grumman
February 11, 2010
Freedom does not overturn natural conditions or social obligations. All freedom is limited.
One day I fled my stuffy office to breathe the bracing air of a cold day at Bear Mountain. My almost daily walk to the top of the mountain had restored my health and vigor. On this day, however, the snow had frozen. A slick, thick layer of ice armored every hollow and hump of the land. The steepness of my usual path, shadowed by trees, repelled me.
I was attracted instead to the brilliant white swells of polished land in the open, like sea waves suddenly frozen, latent with movement. Exhilarated, I made my way up and over the first swell, on my hands and knees part of the way. Alone in that bright land, I started up the second swell. Soon I was lying on my side, struggling for traction, sliding back as often as I gained an inch by pressure on the surface with my ice encrusted mittened hands.
My boots had no cleats. I had no pitons, not that I knew how to use pitons or ice axes. All I had was my ecstatic desire to be and move in that sun drenched icescape.
I thought about it, there on the ice. If I broke through the ice, or fell with any momentum on its hard surface, I might well be injured. I had no supplies, no water, and the sun would not be out long in midwinter. It would get a lot colder. I was out of sight of the highway. No one knew where I was. I risked injury, impairment of my ability to do my job, and a possible expensive rescue.
I reached my car, muscles trembling, glad to go to a diner for a hot drink. Today it saddens me that this tiny adventure is probably the farthest my life will take me into a land of ice.
About freedom: I am free to jump off a cliff, but I had better learn to hang glide first.
Irene Grumman
February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Health
Today is Day One of the Healthy For Life 12-week online program for changing eating habits. My goals are health, and weight loss.
Today I shared five minutes of belly dancing with some dear friends.
Today I set in motion access to the gym at the YMCA. The stationary bicycle should help, since walking is harder for me with pain in the foot, knee and ankle. Have to let strains heal.
Today is a beautiful day.
Today I shared five minutes of belly dancing with some dear friends.
Today I set in motion access to the gym at the YMCA. The stationary bicycle should help, since walking is harder for me with pain in the foot, knee and ankle. Have to let strains heal.
Today is a beautiful day.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
COMPASS
A COMPASS guides a traveller by its ability to point to true North.
COMPASSION guides a person by pointing to true Humanity.
Let COMPASSION be my COMPASS in 2010.
COMPASSION guides a person by pointing to true Humanity.
Let COMPASSION be my COMPASS in 2010.
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