Michelle

Michelle
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

Our friend Michelle was in the recent production of Willie Wanka. We had a great time; especially since one of our friends was in the production, and we heartily enjoyed watching her practice her craft.

Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

Wendell Berry is a Kentucky Saint. Thankfully, he's not afraid to speak his mind; write his conscience, and craft thoughtful essays and works of fiction and poetry.

A Timbered Choir is a collection of poems from 1979-1997, that Berry composed while on Sabbath walks on his farm and land near Port Royal, Kentucky. Highly recommended.

Deane C. Davis

Deane C. Davis
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

As an award for my high school graduation in 1981, I was given a copy of the book Justice in the Mountains: Stories and Tales by a Vermont Country Lawyer by Deane C. Davis.

Davis was a Vermont Republican Governor in the late 60's early 70's, and wrote a book of stories about Vermonters while he was a practicing attorney.

sweep sweep

sweep, dust, vacuum, cough, wipe. Trying to get back in the blogging mode; up next are a few more autographs.

Perfection?

As one who struggles with needing to have everything be perfect, I ran across something in the recent Ministry of Money newsletter (issue 154), on perfection.

Jan Sullivan (co-director) quotes an email from Richard Rohr's Center for Action and Contemplation about how Navajo rugs have imperfection woven into the rug, for that's how the Spirit goes in and out of the rug. I already knew that as any reader of Tony Hillerman would know.

However, what I didn't know was that the Eastern mind (Jesus would have been closer to that than our Western mindset), understands perfection not as eliminating imperfection, but as a way to include imperfection. Perfection includes, involves imperfection, and does not strive to eliminate it. Chaos and control (oblique reference to the upcoming Get Smart movie this summer), yin and yang, etc.

Dad Autograph

Dad Autograph
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

Moving on to a family autograph connection: this book was written by my dad and published 10 years ago.

He wrote a chronological history of Southern Baptists in New England, using original interviews, documents, and even a paper I wrote in my church history class while in seminary. It was published the year I went back to school, and is as comprehensive as a historical dissertation.

This book is a bit nostalgic for me, since I was raised there, and once was Southern Baptist, before the leadership drug the denomination in a more autocratic direction.

James Still Autograph

James Still Autograph
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

This is the last of the KY author autographs I have for the moment. James Still (1906-2001) was from Knott County, KY. River of Earth is his best known book, which I must confess I have not read.

It was published in 1940 and involves a KY family trying to survive on the land or by working in the coal mines.

Kate Sanders Autograph

Kate Sanders Autograph
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

This is one of my most treasured autographs; a book of poems from my dear friend Kate Sanders. She self-published this book in 1993, and I had misplaced it for several years. While looking for something else, I found it (what was it doing there?!).

There are 14 poems, and among my favorite are Bookcase, It was years after "Yesterday," I Dream of God and Her Dog Jake, and A Wildness.

Kate is part of the singing duo Down to Earth. Their CD launch party for A Fiercer Love is February 28, 2008 at Clifton's Pizza: 7:30-9:30 PM

Jesse Stuart Autograph

Jesse Stuart Autograph
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

This is from a book called God's Oddling that belonged to Susan's grandmother before it belongs to us. Jesse Stuart wrote this book about his father. The book's full title is: God's Oddling: The Story of Mick Stuart, My Father.

I haven't read it, and have only read one of his books: Daughter of The Legend, about the Melungeons who lived in the mountains. It's an ill-fated love story between a Tennessee mountain Melungeon (Deutsia), and her valley-dwelling lover, Dave.

Riddled with cliche's; I didn't think it was a very good book. I've never really been able to enjoy Jesse Stuart, although I agree he's an important Kentucky and regional writer.

The Melungeons are an interesting lot though. Shrouded in mystery because they often had different appearances than their neighbors, they are generally thought to have come from Louisa County, Virginia, although other theories have Turkish ancestory, Native American and other groups. Go here, for more information, including a list of web sites.

Bobbie Ann Mason Autograph #3

Bobbie Ann Mason Autograph
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

Here's my last Bobbie Ann Mason autograph from her short story collection: Love Life: Stories. The book was published in 1989, and contains 15 stories.

I have a British edition, something she noted when signing it. I said I didn't know why I had that, afraid and embarrassed to tell her that I bought it off the remainder table. Probably saw her at the old Hawley Cooke on Shelbyville Road.

Bobbie Ann Mason Autograph #2

Bobbie Ann Mason Autograph
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

This is my second Bobbie Ann Mason autograph. Her short story Weeds, is from Voices Louder than Words: A Second Collection, published in 1991.
I guess I heard Mason read at the old Hawley Cooke on Shelbyville Road around 1992. This was one of the first times I realized I could support my reading habit and send some money to homeless programs.

Other authors include: Robert Boswell, Andre Dubus, Jane Smiley, Bret Lott, and 18 other authors.

Book Author Autographs I have

Bobbie Ann Mason Autograph
Originally uploaded by Kurwin.

I got the weird idea the other day to photograph and upload author autographs I have. Here's one of my first, by Kentucky author Bobbie Ann Mason.


It was in 1982 or 1983 that Shiloh and Other Stories had been out for a short time, and she came to do a reading at Georgetown College, in the Spring semester.

I remember a friendly argument the Shakespeare professor had with our modern fiction professor; basically that nothing good was written after 1620 or so.

I was delighted when I told her that I really liked her story "Still Life With Watermelon," and she read it the next day.

Od Magic

I just finished reading Od Magic, a 2005 book by one of my favorite writers; Patricia McKillip.

Od is a giant of a wizard of saves the kingdom of Keilor from it's enemies. In return, the king allows her to establish a wizards school. Generations pass until Od invites Brenden to be a gardener at the school. Brenden's arrival sets off a series of events which leads to a series of questions around magic, control of education, and expecting the unexpected. There's magic afoot that the wizards know nothing about.

Brief review of Discover Your Inner Economist

Just finished reading Discover your Inner Economist, by Tyler Cowen. Dr. Cowen is an economist (oddly enough), who writes the often intriguing Marginal Revolution blog.

This book is a loosely tied together collection of themes on how we can all improve our inner economists, and learn how to use incentives to succeed in life, and to know when incentives don't work. Cowen is a polymath, and he ranges far and wide in interests and expertise. This book is one of several "pop" econ books trying to bring economics to the non-economist people. Books such as Freakonomics, and The Underground Economist (read the former and recommend it, and haven't yet finished the latter).

I was very interested in the chapter on how to save the world, subtitled "More Christmas Presents won't Work," something dear to the hear of my fellow Jeff St. church members and our annual Reclaiming Christmas project.

Anyway, Cowen suggests we don't give money to beggars, mainly because the more beggars become successful, the more beggars there will be (same argument against buying and freeing sex slaves, because the price will rise and more people will be kidnapped in order to be freed by payments). He suggests giving the money to the poor who don't try very hard (a poor family sleeping on the sidewalk, and not expecting $$, for example). He also has ideas on giving to charities; one of the most interesting being being loyal to a charity and giving to them on a regular basis, so that they won't keep sending you mailings that cost them money (how much does email cost now?)

He has an extensive chapter on how to eat and cook well (tips for while in a foreign country, how to become a better cook), how to become a better art lover (in a museum pretend to have enough $ to buy some paintings and decide what you would choose). Seems like an interesting way to stay focused in a museum.

I took away how important it is to know human nature, tendencies and behavior in order to make the world a safer, healthier place.

Very interesting

How to describe this? South Korean boy soccer fans act like a giant LCD, creating shapes and designs. Humph. I can do the wave, so there.

The War

I've seen most of the 3 episodes that have aired so far of The War, the new Ken Burns documentary currently running on PBS.

It has moments of tediousness, and moments of terror and beauty; what war is like, I guess. I'm struck by the honesty of the production; mentioning how we didn't know how to fight early on; the mistakes made by the generals at Anzio, for example. I had read about the sacrifices made by all Americans to fight this war, but this documentary really brings it home. A real contrast to the current war; where military families are making the greatest sacrifices, while most Americans go on with their normal lives.

I was also struck by how the later civil rights struggles were planted in the 40's in the South, as African Americans demanded jobs, equal treatment, the chance to fight. The membership of the NAACP zoomed much higher in this time.

Highly recommended, and so far much more thought-provoking than much that is on TV.

Paul Potts

I can't seem to stop watching this video; I've lost track of the number of times I've watched it. I just love it that the results are different than the judges first think. I wonder how often we make the same judging first appearances mistake?

Something I stumbled upon from A Pale Blue Dot. One technique I've heard for reducing the irritants found in our daily lives is to ask, if in the grand scheme of things, what's got you in a bother will ultimately matter. Here's a more eloquent version of that technique, given in a speech by the late astronomer Carl Sagan:

"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.

The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Well, hmm

You scored as Hermione Granger, You're one intelligent witch, but you have a hard time believing it and require constant reassurance. You are a very supportive friend who would do anything and everything to help her friends out. Hermione Granger 65% Ron Weasley 60% Remus Lupin 55% Albus Dumbledore 50% Sirius Black 45% Draco Malfoy 35% Severus Snape 35% Harry Potter 35% Ginny Weasley 25% Lord Voldemort 20% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

When the Music's Over

One of the more interesting book anthologies I've come across recently is When the Music's Over, edited by Lewis Shiner. I just received it in the mail today. Put together in 1991, Shiner asked his contributers to write stories where violence was not the solution to solving a problem in a story. In other words the writers were deliberately constrained by the need to write in a non-violent manner.

I'll write a brief review after I finish it.