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All pros have their home court or field. The Blazers have the Rose Garden, the Cubs have Wrigley Field, and the Bears call Soldier Field home. Writers are no different. The bar at The Ritz in Paris was where Papa Hemmingway spent many an hour imbibing and seeking inspiration, decades before it was named in his honor. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis hung their hats in Oxford's Rabbit Room at the Eagle and Child. Norman Mailer called New York City's White Horse Tavern home.
For the last dozen plus years, my literary HQ has been a single branch of a chain of bookstore cafes. I'm speaking of the Beaverton branch of Borders. Many of my afternoons have been spent within those walls sipping espresso, observing publishing trends, discussing a variety of topics, and receiving bits of inspiration. It was literally the place where everybody knew my name.
I've attended book release parties there, bought my holiday gifts and had them wrapped there (those who know me know how important it is for me to have gifts wrapped for me), held business meetings there, and generally used it as my home base away from home. I've even fantasized about having my first book signing there, once I get published.
This afternoon, I strolled its showroom floor for the last time. Although the liquidation is only in its forth day, the cafe is already dark and stacked with boxes. Garishly bright discount signs hang above rapidly emptying shelves of alphabetically jumbled volumes, as a multitude of shoppers take advantage of bargain prices.
I could write about how the trend toward buying E-readers, rather than physical books, has severely damaged the book publishing and retail industry. I could write about the tragedy of losing 10,000 American jobs as our country heads into default. For me, the closing of Borders is more personal than those stories though. It's about saying goodbye to friends losing a security blanket of brick and mortar.
In a few short weeks, the shelves will be bare, the windows will be void of weekly specials, and the doors will be locked. Ghosts of avid readers and caffeine seekers, will be the only vestiges of life occupying the lonely stone walls, as former employees, some being special friends of mine, will be forced to seek their next source of income.
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This blog began as a writing and literature blog with the occasional Op-Ed piece on current events & issues. The political writing has, slowly but surely, taken this blog over. Readers will still be treated to some of my thoughts on pop culture and sports, but, for the most part, Blogito Ergo Sum will feature my opinions on the state of our union and world.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Tautologies Can Be Big Huge Annoying Annoyances
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I have to start this entry with a brief side note, and declare Costco to be as magical a place as the fabled Hogwarts. I can make this claim with a high level of certainty, for the simple reason that I turn invisible every time I go there. It's true. I can be completely still, looking at prices, and people will walk smack into me. And, they'll be shocked to learn I'd been in their path to begin with.
I only bring up the big-box store, because I was on the way home from Costco when this blog began to take shape in my mind. At the store, a young man had been passing out samples of laundry soap. Upon giving me my sample, he promised me it would, "clean a whole entire load of clothes." I wanted to ask him if that was opposed to a partial entire load, or a whole fraction of a load. I wanted to explain that the phrase "whole entire" is a tautology, and that using one word, or the other, would convey the same idea, without sounding redundant. Unfortunately, the lady behind me, with two toddlers in tow, wanted her sample, and an educational opportunity slipped from my grasp.
Websters Learners' Dictionary defines a tautology as, "a statement in which you repeat a word, idea, etc., in a way that is not necessary▪ 'A beginner who has just started,' is a tautology."
Examples of tautologies include:free gift, big huge _______, new innovation, lonely isolation. I thought about the linguistic habit during the trip home. At first, I took the position that using such terms demonstrates an obvious lack of education. Surely, an argument can be made, especially given the rampant habit of abbreviated texting, that people have become linguistically lazy. Thus, lazy speech is thought of as being the norm. It's hardly a stretch, at that point, to attribute frequent use of redundant words to the idea that sloppy speech is "normal speech."
While it was tempting to write the habit off as being solely the product of poor tutelage, I found myself stuck having to account for poetic and literary examples of the practice.
If you ever think of dying
and you fear to wake tomorrow
Plant a garden! It will cure you
of your melancholy sorrow
Once you’ve learned to know peonies,
petunias, and roses,
You will find every morning
some new happiness discloses.
In the final stanza of Edgar Guest's Plant a Garden, the tautology "melancholy sorrow" is used to induce a particular emotion, the way a painter might use shades of gray and black. Likewise, in Shakespeare's Othello, Emilia spoke of, "...some most villainous knave, some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow," to drive home the fact the Moore (Othello) is being lied to by the lowest form of life Emilia can imagine. In these cases, the use of tautologies is a conscious choice, rather than a stumbling of the tongue or pen.
If tautologies have legitimate places within poetry and literature, is it fair to think of them as products of lowbrow speech and writing? In my firm opinion, yes and no. The answer, in each case, depends on the intent of the speaker/writer. Certainly, a columnist writing about the "sick twisted crazy pervert" accused of killing a lone eight year old boy, in New York, may use tautologies to communicate a monstrously grotesque level of depravity. On the flip side, if your buddy's describing the "big huge burrito" he bought from the food cart, the word "huge" is probably a good enough to describe his lunch.
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I have to start this entry with a brief side note, and declare Costco to be as magical a place as the fabled Hogwarts. I can make this claim with a high level of certainty, for the simple reason that I turn invisible every time I go there. It's true. I can be completely still, looking at prices, and people will walk smack into me. And, they'll be shocked to learn I'd been in their path to begin with.
I only bring up the big-box store, because I was on the way home from Costco when this blog began to take shape in my mind. At the store, a young man had been passing out samples of laundry soap. Upon giving me my sample, he promised me it would, "clean a whole entire load of clothes." I wanted to ask him if that was opposed to a partial entire load, or a whole fraction of a load. I wanted to explain that the phrase "whole entire" is a tautology, and that using one word, or the other, would convey the same idea, without sounding redundant. Unfortunately, the lady behind me, with two toddlers in tow, wanted her sample, and an educational opportunity slipped from my grasp.
Websters Learners' Dictionary defines a tautology as, "a statement in which you repeat a word, idea, etc., in a way that is not necessary▪ 'A beginner who has just started,' is a tautology."
Examples of tautologies include:
While it was tempting to write the habit off as being solely the product of poor tutelage, I found myself stuck having to account for poetic and literary examples of the practice.
and you fear to wake tomorrow
Plant a garden! It will cure you
of your melancholy sorrow
Once you’ve learned to know peonies,
petunias, and roses,
You will find every morning
some new happiness discloses.
In the final stanza of Edgar Guest's Plant a Garden, the tautology "melancholy sorrow" is used to induce a particular emotion, the way a painter might use shades of gray and black. Likewise, in Shakespeare's Othello, Emilia spoke of, "...some most villainous knave, some base notorious knave, some scurvy fellow," to drive home the fact the Moore (Othello) is being lied to by the lowest form of life Emilia can imagine. In these cases, the use of tautologies is a conscious choice, rather than a stumbling of the tongue or pen.
If tautologies have legitimate places within poetry and literature, is it fair to think of them as products of lowbrow speech and writing? In my firm opinion, yes and no. The answer, in each case, depends on the intent of the speaker/writer. Certainly, a columnist writing about the "sick twisted crazy pervert" accused of killing a lone eight year old boy, in New York, may use tautologies to communicate a monstrously grotesque level of depravity. On the flip side, if your buddy's describing the "big huge burrito" he bought from the food cart, the word "huge" is probably a good enough to describe his lunch.
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Friday, July 8, 2011
Sacrificing Future Innovation And Discovery
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"There are a lot of hungry people in the world, Mal, and none of them are hungry 'cause we went to the moon. None of them are colder and certainly none of them are dumber 'cause we went to the moon.... 'Cause it's next. 'Cause we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill and we saw fire; and we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the west, and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on a timeline of exploration and this is what's next." ~ The West Wing: Galileo, written by Aaron Sorkin & Kevin Falls
Today, the 135th shuttle launch marked the end of the United States' manned space program. I, for one, am saddened by this crippling blow to the realm of scientific discovery. Medical science, alone, has benefited tremendously from the space program. The list of medical inventions spawned from the space program includes, but is not limited to:
The list doesn't scratch the surface regarding the number of space spawned medical innovations, nor does it include the vast array of non-medical advancements which rose out of space technology, such as Velcro, ATM technology, freeze-dried food, water purification filters, cordless power tools, Teflon-coated fiberglass for roofing, Tang, and a number of other products which make modern everyday life possible as we know it. Yet, the loss of future innovation isn't the most tragic result of ending the space program.
In January of 2004, the Hubble Telescope took a series of pictures of very small section of space, equal to roughly one thirteen-millionth of the total area of the sky. Upon examining the pictures, researchers found 10,000 galaxies existing billions of light-years away. Not only does the number of galaxies, within a single miniscule field, give us a revised concept of the vastness of the Universe, but their distance necessarily means we're viewing events which occurred billions of years ago. There's no telling what such observations could potentially reveal about our own origins.
Yes, the telescope is unmanned. Yet, once we forfeit the ability to send operatives into space, we'll lose the ability to do maintenance on what is arguably the most important piece of scientific equipment ever built. Granted, we're in the middle of a severe economic crunch, and the space program is enormously expensive to maintain. Yet, I can't help but think that saving money by sacrificing future innovation and discovery is remarkably short sighted.
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"There are a lot of hungry people in the world, Mal, and none of them are hungry 'cause we went to the moon. None of them are colder and certainly none of them are dumber 'cause we went to the moon.... 'Cause it's next. 'Cause we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill and we saw fire; and we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the west, and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on a timeline of exploration and this is what's next." ~ The West Wing: Galileo, written by Aaron Sorkin & Kevin Falls
Today, the 135th shuttle launch marked the end of the United States' manned space program. I, for one, am saddened by this crippling blow to the realm of scientific discovery. Medical science, alone, has benefited tremendously from the space program. The list of medical inventions spawned from the space program includes, but is not limited to:
- Digital imaging breast biopsy system
- Tiny transmitters to monitor the fetus inside the womb
- Laser angioplasty, using fiber-optic catheters
- Forceps with fiber optics that let doctors measure the pressure applied to a baby's head during delivery
- Cool suits to lower body temperature in treatment of various conditions
- Voice-controlled wheelchairs
- Light-emitting diodes (LED) for help in brain cancer surgery
- Foam, originally designed to insulate space shuttle external tanks, is being used for less expensive better molds of artificial arms and legs
- Programmable pacemakers
- Scratch resistant lenses for eye glasses
- CAT Scans & MRIs...
The list doesn't scratch the surface regarding the number of space spawned medical innovations, nor does it include the vast array of non-medical advancements which rose out of space technology, such as Velcro, ATM technology, freeze-dried food, water purification filters, cordless power tools, Teflon-coated fiberglass for roofing, Tang, and a number of other products which make modern everyday life possible as we know it. Yet, the loss of future innovation isn't the most tragic result of ending the space program.
In January of 2004, the Hubble Telescope took a series of pictures of very small section of space, equal to roughly one thirteen-millionth of the total area of the sky. Upon examining the pictures, researchers found 10,000 galaxies existing billions of light-years away. Not only does the number of galaxies, within a single miniscule field, give us a revised concept of the vastness of the Universe, but their distance necessarily means we're viewing events which occurred billions of years ago. There's no telling what such observations could potentially reveal about our own origins.
Yes, the telescope is unmanned. Yet, once we forfeit the ability to send operatives into space, we'll lose the ability to do maintenance on what is arguably the most important piece of scientific equipment ever built. Granted, we're in the middle of a severe economic crunch, and the space program is enormously expensive to maintain. Yet, I can't help but think that saving money by sacrificing future innovation and discovery is remarkably short sighted.
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Review: Bossypants, by Tina Fey
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During the mainstream TV season, one show I never miss is 30 Rock. Not typically a fan of sitcoms, most of which treat their audiences like morons, Tina Fey's brain child makes my must watch list by poking fun at actual issues. It doesn't hurt either, that the jokes are obviously skewed to reflect a liberal bias, which I personally identify with. Much like The Simpsons, 30 Rock uses over the top caricatures of cultural stereotypes to lampoon politics, business, pop culture, and social traditions, while treating viewers like intelligent well informed people. Thus, when the show's creator/head writer/star, Tina Fey, wrote a humorous memoir about her life, I didn't have to think twice before snatching up a copy.
Like most memoirs, Bossypants begins with Tina's childhood. It then chronicles her early acting years, continues on to her tenure at Saturday Night Live, and includes her time at 30 Rock. She uses the last few chapters to answer letters from supposed belligerent fans, and to speculate on her final five minutes of fame.
The story of her life is filled with humorous observations regarding her adolescent discovery of womanhood, her first experiences with gay people, her time working at the YMCA, the behavior of male writers, breast feeding mothers, and other parts of her life. We even see her express a moderate amount of respect for the motherly side of Sarah Palin. These chapters are sharp funny and a pleasure to read.
On the flip side, while the last few chapters are funny, the come across as forced filler, written to extend the book to a desired length. Perhaps it's just me, but I can't fathom of a person who'd write to her asking why she's so ugly. First of all, she's not ugly, and secondly, the question of aesthetics isn't typically expressed as a why-type question.
Even with the latter deficits, Bossypants is a witty entertaining fun read. I give it 4 out 5 stars.
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During the mainstream TV season, one show I never miss is 30 Rock. Not typically a fan of sitcoms, most of which treat their audiences like morons, Tina Fey's brain child makes my must watch list by poking fun at actual issues. It doesn't hurt either, that the jokes are obviously skewed to reflect a liberal bias, which I personally identify with. Much like The Simpsons, 30 Rock uses over the top caricatures of cultural stereotypes to lampoon politics, business, pop culture, and social traditions, while treating viewers like intelligent well informed people. Thus, when the show's creator/head writer/star, Tina Fey, wrote a humorous memoir about her life, I didn't have to think twice before snatching up a copy.
Like most memoirs, Bossypants begins with Tina's childhood. It then chronicles her early acting years, continues on to her tenure at Saturday Night Live, and includes her time at 30 Rock. She uses the last few chapters to answer letters from supposed belligerent fans, and to speculate on her final five minutes of fame.
The story of her life is filled with humorous observations regarding her adolescent discovery of womanhood, her first experiences with gay people, her time working at the YMCA, the behavior of male writers, breast feeding mothers, and other parts of her life. We even see her express a moderate amount of respect for the motherly side of Sarah Palin. These chapters are sharp funny and a pleasure to read.
On the flip side, while the last few chapters are funny, the come across as forced filler, written to extend the book to a desired length. Perhaps it's just me, but I can't fathom of a person who'd write to her asking why she's so ugly. First of all, she's not ugly, and secondly, the question of aesthetics isn't typically expressed as a why-type question.
Even with the latter deficits, Bossypants is a witty entertaining fun read. I give it 4 out 5 stars.
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Sunday, July 3, 2011
Sky Rockets In Flight
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A year ago I wrote a blog about my 4th of July holiday in Seaside. In the blog I pointed out the fact that police were advertising zero tolerance for illegal fireworks, then turning a blind eye to sky rockets being launched along the crowded beach. I was floored by the blatant lack of enforcement, as well as the obvious waste of money spent on posters and radio spots warning would-be offenders.
A few days ago, I was talking to my friend, Sonya, about the number of buffoons who seem to have no qualms about igniting incendiary devices around kids, dogs, homes, or anything else which happens to be around. The conversation inspired me to look up some numbers.
As you'll see from the Oregon State Police's table, over the last 5 years the number of reported illegal incidents has decreased while the number of injuries and monetary value of damaged property has gone up. One would be tempted to explain the increase in fiscal losses by writing them off to inflation and the bad economy. Yet, while property damage due to fireworks rose 48.3% between July of 2006 & July of 2010, the rate of inflation only rose 7.13% over the same period.
If I had to explain the numbers, I'd theorize that fewer people are, in fact, breaking the law, but the ones who are, are doing so around larger crowds. Thus, the gross number of idiots breaking the law has decreased, but the idiots who still are breaking the law are doing significantly more damage.
I'll be celebrating the founding of our nation, at Portland's waterfront this year. If for no other reason than to keep the thick smoke from torturing my eyes, I hope Portland's police do a better job enforcing a real zero tolerance policy than Seaside's police did last year.
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A year ago I wrote a blog about my 4th of July holiday in Seaside. In the blog I pointed out the fact that police were advertising zero tolerance for illegal fireworks, then turning a blind eye to sky rockets being launched along the crowded beach. I was floored by the blatant lack of enforcement, as well as the obvious waste of money spent on posters and radio spots warning would-be offenders.
A few days ago, I was talking to my friend, Sonya, about the number of buffoons who seem to have no qualms about igniting incendiary devices around kids, dogs, homes, or anything else which happens to be around. The conversation inspired me to look up some numbers.
As you'll see from the Oregon State Police's table, over the last 5 years the number of reported illegal incidents has decreased while the number of injuries and monetary value of damaged property has gone up. One would be tempted to explain the increase in fiscal losses by writing them off to inflation and the bad economy. Yet, while property damage due to fireworks rose 48.3% between July of 2006 & July of 2010, the rate of inflation only rose 7.13% over the same period.
If I had to explain the numbers, I'd theorize that fewer people are, in fact, breaking the law, but the ones who are, are doing so around larger crowds. Thus, the gross number of idiots breaking the law has decreased, but the idiots who still are breaking the law are doing significantly more damage.
I'll be celebrating the founding of our nation, at Portland's waterfront this year. If for no other reason than to keep the thick smoke from torturing my eyes, I hope Portland's police do a better job enforcing a real zero tolerance policy than Seaside's police did last year.
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