Favorite Celebrity

Your Favorite Celebrity?

Cookie Monster 

Why are they your favorite?

I admire someone who knows what they want and isn’t shy about going after it. 

What’s their best feature? 

He’s blue (my favorite color).

Have you ever met them? 

No, but I’d love to hang out sometime, as long as there are enough cookies to keep him interested.

What do you like about their personality?

He seems genuinely nice. He has a diverse set of friends, but I’ve never seen him argue with anybody.

What else to you like about them? 

Well, he’s very furry, but he doesn’t seem to shed. I never see blue fur flying all over the place, just bits of cookie.

Do you have their autograph? 

No. I would ask, but I’m afraid that he would eat my pen.

What would you say to them if you had the chance?

Thanks for all of the fun times! And keep enjoying those cookies!

The Limits Of Visualization

Occasionally, while chatting with photographers or reading accounts of how a well-know photograph was made, I’ll encounter someone claiming that they knew what an image would look like before they released the shutter.

We can acknowledge that as people build skills, they will be better able to predict the results of certain actions in a given set of circumstances. It’s like an experienced driver visualizing the potential hazards of traveling on a slick road surface. He can predict how his car might get stuck in a ditch if he tries to take a curve too fast. As a result of this graphic mental imagery, the he takes the necessary precautions to avoid an incident. 

But prediction is not practice. If it were, photography enthusiasts wouldn’t have to take pictures at all. They wouldn’t have to buy any equipment. They could just sit on the couch visualizing images all day while feeling completely satisfied.

Photography is all but designed to capture surprising results. The world is a dynamic place. A small change in lighting can modify the look of a photograph in profound ways. A person walking into the frame unexpectedly can give the image an entirely new dimension. If a photographer of any skill level doesn’t find his results surprising from time to time, they must be playing it very safe by doing what they have always done. If that’s the case, they probably aren’t having much fun.

The magic of photography is rooted in the unexpected - a movement, a gesture, a person showing up in an unusual outfit, a passing cloud formation that will never be repeated. Photographers wake up before sunrise, hang out in congested neighborhoods, and seek challenging conditions for precisely this reason. They are looking for that next magical moment, and they know that they have to be out there to find it, even though they have no idea when or where it’s going to appear. The bigger the surprise, the more memorable the image.

Photography is not the only creative endeavor that thrives on discovery of the unexpected. Surprise is a critical element in all of the arts. 

When I write prose or poetry, I begin with an idea of what I want to say. As I work on writing down my idea, details become clearer, words and descriptions come to mind that narrate my thoughts in ways that I could not have anticipated. Sometimes, the words lead in an unexpected direction, and the final product is vastly different than what I first imagined. But even when I stay true to my original idea, I discover unexpected ways of expressing myself. The magic of any enterprise comes during its realization. 

This is why writers face the blank page again and again. Each attempt at expressing an idea is an adventure. Sometimes, it’s frustrating, but if we stick with it, our hearts and minds eventually find the right words. The rewards are magical, and the magic comes from the process.

Music is perhaps the most surprising of all of the arts, because music and sound are inherently mysterious. The tone of an instrument can inspire a musical idea; no one understands how that works. When we hear a saxophone, we’ll think of a different musical vocabulary than when we listen to a violin. An electric guitar inspires different musical ideas than a Spanish guitar. The way that human beings respond to various tones is not well understood, and yet we all have a sense for how it works.

Gershwin claimed that ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ appeared in his mind one day as a complete idea. I have no reason to question the veracity of this account, but I can guarantee that hearing the work performed by an orchestra for the first time was vastly different than imagining it in his head.

We can visualize anything. I can imagine being at the top of the Empire State Building on a warm summer evening. I have been there many times; I have a clear recollection of how it felt, how it sounded, how it smelled, and of course, what I could see. But the next time I go up to the observation deck, the experience will amaze me all over again, as it does every single time. The general experience will be similar to what I imagined and recalled, but richer, more detailed, and more satisfying. Life’s experiences are thrilling and powerful and engaging in ways that our imaginations cannot fully replicate. An artist’s imagination is no exception.

Random Thoughts - 20200430

Random Thoughts - 20200430

An alarming number of people are more concerned with making a buck than saving a life.

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People who don’t like to be blamed aren’t shy about blaming others.

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The most painful memories are the most difficult to forget.

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If women really are smarter than men, why was there never a ‘Spice Boys’ group?

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If you want to avoid emotional pain, don’t let yourself care too deeply. But if you desire a life that’s profoundly fulfilled, take that risk and love with all of your heart.

Leaving

If he leaves her 

To be with you

He’ll leave you 

For someone new 

Let’s recognize 

What’s also true 

This rule applies 

To women, too 

Kriej Flabbit

Kriej flabbit nepht navoumi 

Wantle phleening ziere 

Nysk aacklus delbitt nierey 

Tamble rohtus plear 

Intil raskish nemming oodhus 

Freck complanktous foosk 

Braygghed nimm tussallis meszwer 

Tehp intümgriss loosque 

August Morrison

I had a chance to see a number of concerts during my college years. One evening, a bunch of us got tickets to see Frank Zappa. We piled into the car and drove to the city, where we picked up another friend who was studying at one of the universities there.

There was no such thing as a mobile phone back in those days. I don’t think the guy even had a phone in his room; we had to physically knock on his door to let him know that we were there. We couldn’t just walk into this dormitory, though; we had to sign in at a visitors’ desk. 

I was first in line to sign the book. I don’t know what possessed me to do this - I guess I was in one of my goofy moods - but I decided to make up a fake name.

I wrote down the first two words that popped into my head: Jack Modern

The next guy saw what I wrote and came up with his own phony name. 

The third guy, perhaps lacking imagination, wrote down ‘Frank Zappa’.

The fourth and final guy in our crew was earnest enough to use his real name. I won’t use his real name here - he’s a nice guy, and I don’t want to embarrass him. Let’s say, for the sake of the story, that his name was August Morrison.

The young lady behind the desk picked up the ledger and looked at it for a moment. “Ah, come one guys!” she protested. “You can’t make up fake names.”

“They’re our real names,” I insisted.

“Yeah!” the others chimed in.

She looked at the ledger carefully once again.

“August Morrison!” she exclaimed angrily. “What kind of a name is that?”

The only real one, actually...

A Grim Milestone

COVID-19 has now killed more Americans than the Vietnam War.

Have you been to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.? Have you seen all of the names carved into those walls? COVID-19 would need a bigger memorial, and it’s just getting stared. 

The war raged on for more than a decade and traumatized our great nation in profound and unforgettable ways. The virus has killed more US citizens in less than two months.

Public Health And Individual Rights

No one has unlimited rights. No one has the right to dump sewage into the water supply. No one has the right to drive on the wrong side of the street. No one has the right to sneeze on the produce section. 

When public health officials set guidelines to limit the spread of serious illness, one might argue successfully that those guidelines impinge upon individual rights. But the rights of the individual cannot override the rights of a community to stay healthy and prosperous. No one has the right to harm others in a vain expression of individual liberty.

Government Forces Infected Meat Plants To Stay Open

Pundits and protestors are demanding that they economy reopen quickly. They claim that government has infringed on their rights by closing businesses and preventing gatherings in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Explain this to me. Do the workers in these meat processing plants have rights? They are being sent back to work in properties where COVID-19 has been spreading out of control. They work without adequate safety gear. The Trump administration has ordered that the plants reopen and stay open. CDC guidelines are being considered as suggestions rather than rules. The workers cannot sue their employers. If they refuse to work, they will not be permitted to collect unemployment insurance. The government is playing Russian roulette with the lives of US citizens.

Those protestors say that they don’t want the United States to act like Communist China. Frankly, I don’t see a difference. Forcing workers into unsafe conditions harkens back to dark chapters in our history, to the America of the 1800’s, when workers had no rights and were seen as disposable. Is this the right direction for our nation?

9 Thoughts That Hold You Back

9 Thoughts That Hold You Back

1. I don’t have time

You have time for lots of things. Can you do some of those things more quickly? Can you delay or eliminate them if they are not important for your long-term fulfillment?

Even with a little bit of time here and there, you can make great progress. Fifteen minutes a day is a whole lot better than zero. Can you find fifteen minutes somewhere in your day, time to dedicate toward reaching a dream? Can you find thirty?

2. I’m too busy

You will always be busy. You’ll always have bills to pay, chores to do, errands to run, and people to satisfy. You have to find a way to work around all of that. Prioritize. Get a partner. Just say no. Do whatever you have to do. Life is not going to stop and let you work on your dreams.

3. I’m tired

When was the last time you didn’t feel tired or hungry or stressed or moody? If you’re waiting around for abundant energy and sheer bliss, you’ll never get anywhere. You’ll never get started.

Fatigue is real, but frequently we use it as an excuse to avoid action. Think about doing a task that you don’t want to face, and your brain will trick you into believing that you’re too tired to function. 

Forget about how feel; it’s irrelevant. You’re going to feel a whole lot better once you get moving.

4. I don’t really know what I want to do

That’s a common problem, and the solution is simple. Do something. Do anything. No action is a waste of time. 

Try something. You’ll know fairly quickly whether it’s right for you. If you discover that you should be doing something else, then switch gears and do that. No matter what you do, you’ll learn skills that will make you a stronger person, you will learn a lot about yourself.

5. I don’t know where to start

Start anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you start. The path will become clearer once you get moving. You won’t know which turn to take a mile down the road until you actually get there. Start moving. You’ll figure out where to go.

6. I don’t have what I need

Sure you do! If you have a dream, a will, a brain, and a body, you have enough to get started. You can pick up the rest as you go along - people, resources, funding, opportunities. But unless you’re already moving forward, no one is going to believe in you enough to want to help out.

7. I’m not sure that I’m good enough

Here’s a sobering fact. In the beginning of your journey, you probably won’t be good enough to do what you want to do. But don’t worry about it. You’ll get better as you work on it. 

If after a bunch of work you’re still not good enough, you can hire specialized help in the areas where you have weaknesses, or you can switch to a different goal entirely, something that you are able to do better. 

You’re not going to gain mad skills by sitting on your couch and dreaming about the promised land. You have to get up and do things, try things. One you start pushing your way past obstacles, you’ll gain skills that you didn’t even know you needed.

8. What if it doesn’t work out?

Then, it doesn’t work out, and you’ll try something else. But win or lose, you’re going to gain valuable skills and insights along the way. Those skills will help you to succeed at whatever comes next.

9. It’s too late

It’s never too late to do something meaningful, something that you have dreamt about and longed to do, something that will make you truly and deeply happy. Today may not be as good a day as yesterday, but it is infinitely better than tomorrow. Don’t wait another day to get started.