Little Things can be Big Things

I was at a friend’s house this weekend, and she had something that said, “Pay attention to the little things – because someday you may find out they turn out to be big things.”

I was reminded of this again, the next day. I ran into an old, very dear friend, whom I had not seen or heard from for a very very long time. It was so joyous to see her, and spend just a few moments catching up. A few years back, this friend told me, simply but in the forceful way that friends can have with one another when they are saying something important: “Go for it.” I had just told her about how my entire life’s dream was to write a book. And not just any book, but a non-fiction history book, about which I had been doing research for years. It truly was my passion. “Go for it” she said. “Go ahead. Call the publisher. Ask them what to do.” I thought, no, I don’t even have it written. I need to do more before I call. “Go for it” she said. “Call them.” So at her urging, I did. The phone call led to me submitting a formal proposal, which they liked. Now, for the past few years, I have been doing the writing. Although it is taking a long time, I believe that I can get this published, and with a reputable publisher, at that. Now, I can’t say that I recommend this particular approach, for everyone. In fact, it is probably not a good idea or publishing etiquette, to call a publisher so far in advance of having a complete manuscript. But my point here, is – those three simple words from her – “Go for it” – truly changed my life. They set me on a path that I could not have imagined becoming real. And they gave me confidence and faith in my abilities and the story I had to tell. I have often told my friend how very grateful I am for her encouragement, and her support, and her insistence that I take that first step in this journey. I compare it to a tiny pebble that starts an avalanche. A very small thing, that has a huge impact. I have always been very grateful for her friendship – but that for me will always be a defining moment.

So – fast forward to today, several years later. Me and my friend had since drifted apart – not deliberately, and with no hard feelings – just mutually busy lives. So I run in to her today, and we spend a little time catching up. She tells me about her teenage daughter, who was about 11 when the previous story took place. At that time, years ago, my friend mentioned that her daughter was working on a “novel”. I was impressed because her daughter was in about fifth or sixth grade – and that she literally had been working on this consistently for more than just a day or so. She had been doing some sustained writing. In fact, she had been doing more writing on her book than I had on mine! So of course I was impressed! I think she had maybe 6 or 10 or maybe even 12 pages. In any case – a lot, esp. for someone that young. Well, today, my friend told me, “Remember when you read ______’s novel? That meant so much to her. She started writing then and hasn’t stopped since.” Wow. I started to cry, it meant so much to hear that. Now, of course, obviously, this young woman’s parents are to be given all the credit for encouraging her to pursue her writing skills – but to be told this by the young lady’s mother, nearly four or five years after the fact – and to have it be one of the first things she tells me as we are filling each other in on our lives – was so humbling and such an honor. “It just goes to show you,” my friend said, “you just never know how you’re going to impact someone’s life.” Wow. What an honor.

It’s true that sometimes what seems like a little thing can turn out to be a very big thing, indeed.

Would love to hear from some of my readers of any of their own experiences with how something that seems like a little thing, turns out to be big thing.

© writingreading, 2009

Your Brain on God?

Heard a fascinating story on NPR today. I missed the beginning, but it is about near-death experiences and as part of the story, they interviewed a woman who had an experience while undergoing surgery that is flat-out weird and uncanny – even eerie. She had an out of body experience where she saw herself on the operating table, counted 20 doctors in the room, identified and described medical instruments in use, and even commented upon hearing the song “Hotel California” playing while they were operating. All of what she described was confirmed and true, even though she was completely unconscious, her eyes were taped shut (part of the surgery procedure) and she was even wearing headphones to help the surgeons monitor her brain activity while she was undergoing surgery.

I’m a skeptic when it comes to such things, but the details on her story, and the impossibility of her being able to know these things through “conventional” methods, really made me wonder about this one.

Listen to the full story at NPR, and draw your own conclusions.

© writingreading, 2009

Famous Women You’ve Never Heard Of #3 – Ruth Brown

Librarians are demure, quiet, old ladies with buns, right? Well, not exactly.

Although Ruth Brown fits much of the stereotype – a little bit frumpy, a single woman, plain in appearance – she took a stand for Civil Rights in her library in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1950 that cost her her job. What she did took courage and conviction. Her story is told in the book, The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library by Louise Robbins.

Don’t let the “library” aspect of this one throw you. It is full of intrigue, community infighting, passionate defenders of the status quo, persons willing to take great risks in an attempt to awaken a new social consciousness and justice among their fellow townspeople, class warfare, Red Scares, fabrication of evidence, issues over power and gender, and more. It is, in fact, a bit of a thriller.

Brown had been a librarian for many years in Bartlesville, leading a somewhat true-to-stereotype existence. But as the horrors of the Holocaust during WWII were revealed, she and other like-minded individuals formed the “Committee on the Practice of Democracy” to fight discrimination.

Bartlesville was very much a segregated city in the late 1940s. African-Americans were allowed to use the library and did not have to use a separate facility, but their use and access of materials was under different rules and conditions than white customers, at least prior to World War II.

But when Brown walked into a diner on night in 1950 with two African-American friends who were teachers, she crossed the racial line. The campaign to label her a subversive communist – and thus, oust her from her position, was underway. The American Legion, the D.A.R., and corporate magnates from Phillips Petroleum mounted an overwhelming effort to have her dismissed. She was accused of distributing “subversive” literature, although the books in question were actually recommended by the national professional library association as proper to have in a library, in order to represent a diversity of viewpoints on various subjects. One was even written during WWII when the Russians were our allies, but now it was labeled “subversive.”

Ruth Brown knew when she walked into that diner that day that her act would be provocative, and that her membership in the Committee on the Practice of Democracy could get her fired. She did it anyway.

As a single woman, she did not have much to fall back on after a job loss, personally or financially. She ended up leaving town of her own volition. But her cause was taken to the courts, the national library association made important innovations in their practices and policies, and even Hollywood got into the act. A few years after the actual events, her story was thinly fictionalized and turned into a movie called Storm Center. Hollywood had been through the mill with the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the producers saw in her story a reflection of their own.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book, besides Ruth Brown’s story, is that it unveils so many aspects of American society that we are still struggling with today, particularly in recent years. “Terrorism” is the “new Communism” – and actions are taken today by our government and individuals in the name of “fighting terrorists” that 50 years ago, were used to defend America against the threat of communism. Although the events described in the book happened 50 years ago, much of it is very relevant to today. The book deals with issues of racial equality and justice, women’s power (or lack thereof), censorship, class and economic issues, and more.

Learn more about this brave woman, and be inspired! You’ll never think of librarians as “boring” again.

© writingreading, 2009

Web 2.0’s role in economic crisis

I think the pundits have it all wrong. It wasn’t just the bad mortgages that brought about the seizure and near-collapse in the US. economic system. It was – and is – Web 2.0.

Yup. That’s the conclusion I’m drawing, after reading The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture by Andrew Keen (link to newer edition). As you can tell by the title of this earlier edition, Keen’s premise is not really an economic one, though it is about what he sees as the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of our nation and culture brought about by Web 2.0.

What he points out – in a book that was published in 2007 – a year before the big economic meltdown – is that the free and freewheeling nature of Web 2.0 means that the anyone can create content. That means the death of the “expert” – which in turn, is really the death of many many experts. And entire industries.

Let’s look at the media. The massive layoffs and closures of large city newspapers, to a great extent, can be attributed to the growth of online media. To cite one example from Keen: Craigslist, which at the time of Keen’s writing, employed just 22 people, is essentially a free online classified ad service. But Keen points out – it is not free. It has cost us all. Each “free” ad takes money away from a local newspaper, and eventually, it takes away jobs. A San Francisco Chronicle VP believes Craigslist single-handedly depletes the Chronicle and other Bay newspapers of $50 million a year. Multiply that across the country for all the other large and small cities, consider that advertising revenue is a major part of the income needed for newspaper operations, and it is easy to see the domino effect of just one website – and a mere 22 people – upon the economy. In 2006, nearly 18,000 people lost jobs in print journalism.

And that is only one example. Granted, I’m not “blaming” Craigslist, nor do I dare to propose or suggest that it is single-handedly responsible for all of those job losses. That would be ridiculous. The point that Keen makes, is that job losses in the “real world” are not being replaced with job creation in Web 2.0. The 22 people of Craigslist stand in for thousands of people who worked in advertising at newspapers all throughout the country. Because ad revenues are down, that creates layoffs in the news department. And on it goes.

The example can be multiplied across any of the media formats – TV, radio, bookstores. Increasingly, these industries are losing jobs at a frantic pace. And “replaced” by virtual megastores, like Amazon.com, or user content like You Tube. User content sites like You Tube, obviously, won’t hire as many people as the movie industry in Hollywood or the news and cable stations throughout the country.

It’s easy to say “so what” if newspapers fail, or the millionaire Hollywood big shots and movie stars feel a little economic pinch. But all of these industries are made up of many many ordinary people. From the “go-fer” on the sound stage to the subscription order taker at the newspaper and many many others. Their jobs – if they still have them – remain at risk.

Keen worries that the proliferation of content by amateurs (I include myself in that group) not only “dumbs down” our culture, but may in fact threaten our democracy itself. Who, Keen asks, will do the hard-hitting and important investigative journalism that brought about Watergate, or any of the other major important news stories that help maintain and uphold the Constitution? Does any single blogger have the clout, skills, knowledge or power to do this? It is only businesses and industries that have this capacity.

I don’t entirely hold to all of Keen’s premises, but I do believe that much of what he writes about the economic consequences of Web 2.0 is very real – with frightening consequences.

Keen’s book now is available in a new edition, which I haven’t read, but it looks like it could provide some additional insights, judging from the subtitle, which explicitly includes the economy as one consequence of Web 2.0.

© writingreading, 2009

Inspiration from Public Transportation

I’ve started riding the bus over the past few months, and I find it has aided my creativity considerably. First, I have a bit of a walk to the bus stop, and I am pretty much on autopilot in the morning, so the two things together kind of combine to let ideas just kind of seep out from my semi-conscious state. Riding the bus also means I am free to observe – my surroundings, the street scenes as they go past, the people on the bus.

Here’s an example. Here’s some of the characters I “met” or invented, just from today’s trip, alone.

Smells: the man who gets on in the afternoon who smells like machine oil; the man who smells like beer even at 7 a.m., the woman with too much perfume and too much makeup who is beautiful but insecure and looks very afraid.

Conversations overheard: the woman who sits down and promptly picks up her Biblical debate where she left off yesterday. Yesterday’s lesson was “fossils”; today it is Native Americans and the tribes of Israel. Phone conversations overheard: The woman telling her son that he will be OK at school today. People on the bus: The large man who everyday greets each passenger loudly but pleasantly: “Good morning. How’re you today? That’s good.” He’s lonely but his bus-friendliness makes him feel useful and wanted.

Riding the bus beats old-fashioned “people-watching” by a long shot. I’ve been to some people watching spots – and you know, there’s not that much to it. People come, people go, or they talk in hushed tones, or they simply walk past. No good. Riding the bus, I’m with my fellow passengers for 20 minutes to an hour. That’s a lot of time. And because of the close-quarters of the bus, there is plenty of opportunity for observation.

Here’s a few more examples. Sort of “character sketches” – entirely made up, but based upon people and situations observed on trip.

The smooth-faced pasty slightly pudgy certainly-37-year-old-virgin who is reading a science fiction book with a barely clad woman and man with a flaming sword on the cover. And then she [another character] realized with horror that he must work at the XXX bookstore.

Young African-American male, 23, talking loud enough for the entire bus to hear, about how he beat charges on marijuana and cocaine possession and a weapons charges, and how he served a 9 mos. sentence and got out 3 months ago. A young African-American woman who is his bus-companion (but not his friend), tells him that he should be more concerned about his girlfriend, wants to know if that doesn’t bother him, tells him he should give it up, tells him Jesus can help him if he wants to start a new life.

A 60 year old man who sits and quivers from some disorder or disease, and is listening to his Ipod.

The young medical student, who is always exhausted and often falls asleep, nearly missing her stop. She has been working nights in the emergency room.

A geeky guy with a long droopy nose who wears an earring in a vain attempt to be cool. He looks ridiculous, especially because he is 48 and has more gray than black hair, all of it growing thin on top.

An 8-month-old boy who is unbelievably cute and adored by all. He is the darling of the bus – except on those occasions when he clears the 6 seats surrounding him because of his stinky diaper.

The Indian couple whose sing-song voices bring to mind curry, incense, and Vishnu.

There’s a few characters there. All based on people I saw or conversations overheard (sometimes not even people I could see), or other thoughts I had as I rode the bus to and from work today. I’m not saying all of these ideas are worth pursuing. Some characters are stronger than others. But the point is – I definitely wouldn’t be having any of these ideas or “meeting” any of these characters if I weren’t riding the bus.

Public transportation isn’t just good for the environment. It’s good for your creativity, too!

© 2009 writingreading

Procrastination: The Confidence Game

By now, it’s obvious that one of my favorite topics to write about – because it is so often present in my life – is “writing procrastination.”

This morning I realized that procrastination is really a matter of confidence. When I lack confidence in my work, in my writing – I am likely to procrastinate. When I don’t worry about the outcome of my work, or when I am exceptionally focused, then procrastination is less of a problem.

The good news is, I realized this after reading a chapter I had written, and finding myself surprisingly satisfied with the results! It makes it considerably easier to go back to the keyboard and get to work – whether it is doing further revision, or starting from scratch on the next chapter!

© writingreading, 2009

St. Becca of Tennessee

I’m tempted to make this a “Famous Women You’ve Never Heard Of” post – but I think of those entries as primarily historical – and this is a living breathing Saint of a woman – so I’ll have to think of something different to call this post.

The amazing, inspiring, incredible-beyond-words woman I am talking about is Rev. Becca Stevens. She runs essentially a “half-way house” for prostitutes and helps them get out of the trap and tragedy of that kind of life. What is truly amazing is the way that she believes in these women, and the way she sees them as whole people, and ultimately, people worth saving, worth helping, and truly, she devotes her life to helping them.

I learned about her work a few years ago, but periodically, every so often, it comes to my attention again. The story of Magdalene House is shown in a documentary film called “Chances: The Women of Magdalene” and it is a truly inspiring story. Rev. Stevens has also written several books, and the women of Magdalene operate their own business, making home made and natural bath and body products, as a means for personal and spiritual healing for themselves, and sell the products as a way to help support the work of Magdalene House.

I truly believe Rev. Stevens is the “Mother Teresa” of America, and her compassion and dedication to this effort is astonishing and powerful. I rarely think of compassion as being a force of Power but what Stevens does is truly nothing short of miraculous, and is like capturing and bottling the energy of the Sun. It brings Light and Life.

Learn more about Magdalene House, shop Thistle Farms, or just learn more about Rev. Stevens at her blog.

She is an amazing and inspiring woman, regardless of your walk of life, personal background, religion, or beliefs. If the rest of the world had only 25% of her energy and compassion, what a blissful, beautiful place it would be.

© writingreading, 2009

Page Smith’s Sweeping History

I’ve been meaning to write for sometime about Page Smith’s huge and sweeping multi-volume “A People’s History…” series.

First, let me say that I’ve only read one volume of this eight volume work. Each book is massive. Vol. 4, entitled The Nation Comes of Age: A People’s History of the Ante-Bellum Years weighs in at slightly more than 1000 pages. Umph!

But let me tell you why you should read it, or any of the other volumes in this series. Forget the boring history textbooks of high school or college. Smith’s work is both vast, and detailed. He covers all of the basic historical ground – politics, presidents, wars, economy, exploration and so on. But he also has fabulous chapters about cultural life – theatre, literature, religion, and more. He impressively combines narrative of larger historical events with eyewitness history, built from diaries, letters, newspapers, and other first hand sources. These first hand accounts breathe life into the old dusty facts that died in a history class long ago, and are now revived with vigor in Smith’s work.

Sure, it is a massive tome, and one that may take quite some time to read. But I found it interesting, educational, and a helpful way to quickly dig into specific subjects and areas of interest, even if I wasn’t interested in the whole thing.

However, I did have two small problems with it. One, is the lack of an index. This means if you happen to recall reading about something several hundred pages ago – but can’t recall which chapter, there’s no easy way to go back and find it. The second problem I have is a related one – and that is a complete lack of footnotes. The good news is that he is pretty good about including at least a general source citation within the text, like “So-n-So wrote in his diary…”, but I miss having the specifics.

© writingreading, 2009