Jim Putnam - Thinking Through My Fingers

Miscellaneous Bits

Let me begin with Al Franken.  Today, the Minnesota Supreme court in an unanimous decision declared Franken the winner of the Senate seat.  He won in last November's vote but legal wrangling has not allowed him to take his seat.  It is anticipated that he will be sworn in next week.

I was quietly pleased when Franken declared in his speech this afternoon that:

“I know that there's been a lot of talk about the fact that when I'm sworn in I'll be the 60 member of the Democratic caucus. But that's not how I see it. The way I see it, I'm not going to Washington to be the 60th democratic senator, I'm going to Washington to be the second senator from the state of Minnesota and that's how I'm going to do this job.”

To me, that places the emphasis exactly where it should be, representing the people of his state and not merely a member of a caucus.

I'm unable to stop myself from making the observation that Al Franken began as a comedy writer.  He will be taking his place in a body of people who often act like comedians.  Perhaps he will at least bring the body some professionalism.

Today there were celebrations in Iraq as the US troops turned over control of the cities to the Iraqis. People were dancing in the streets.  There were also explosions today, killing 33 in Kirkuk.  I must admit that I believe the next few weeks, no more than 6 probably, are going to be extremely difficult.  There will continue to be violence.  We will continue to have troops in bases that could be used to quell it.  But, the people of Iraq don't want us there, and our people don't want us there.  What will happen if the  Iraq government admits that it does not control even their cities?  Will the US be asked to step back in?  It seems to me that we cannot.  It may be cruel, heartless, and even more negative terms, but I just cannot see the US re-engaging in Iraq.

Lastly, via Eschaton I learned that there is a Personal Democracy Forum Conference occurring.   The link in Ackroyd's post took me to the Data set he is so excited about.  It looks to me as if a person who understands the tools and statistics (Felix?) could become as lost in this library as anyone could in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.  I think he is right that this kind of data repository and tool set would be very difficult for some future administration to take apart.

The web site for the Forum sure looks interesting.  The speakers are interesting, and there is certainly something, or someone, there for almost everyone.  The breakout sessions sound like they are both broad and deep.

My technical expertise is no longer up to speed, and I know that I would be completely lost in any of the breakouts.  But it sure would be interesting to be able to sit and listen to some of those speakers.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon

In an interesting bit of synchronicity, I found a Times magazine interview with Zafon, the author of "The Angel's Game," while reading this afternoon.  It isn't a very in-depth interview, but it provides an interesting insight to the author.  The interview also confirmed something that I had only suspected.  "The Angel's Game" is a prequel to Zafon's first novel, "The Shadow of the Wind."  I had thought that it might be; it certainly was set earlier in the century than "Shadow", both are set in Barcelona, and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books is a part of both.  I don't know why I hadn't recognized that it is a prequel, but I had not.  Perhaps because the book cover didn't refer to it as prequel.  I can state that both novels stand on their own.

When asked about the Cemetery, Zafon describes it, and then follows his description with this:

The idea came to me probably in the late '90s. I think it came from something that I was becoming aware of at the time, which was the destruction of memory, the destruction of history. I've always thought that we are what we remember, and the less we remember, the less we are. So thinking that and driving across the country and finding all these fantastic used bookstores that nobody was paying attention to — all these things were tumbling around my mind, and at some point I came up with this image of this place. It was clear that it was a visual metaphor, not just for forgotten books, but forgotten people and ideas.

The destruction of memory.  It's accurate, but also inaccurate.  What is memory?  Is it the sole province of a person's ability to recall, or is it merely a storage system for facts, memories, and histories?  Surely memory is deteriorating.  The ancients passed their entire history to their children in memorized chants, songs, and stories.  Few of us today can even remember the preamble to our Constitution.  Doesn't that imply that personal memory may be deteriorating but that the overall memory of a culture is better available in books, or data bases?  I can't answer.  It is something I will think about, and possibly write about another time.

But, later this evening I will probably write another blog post about a repository of data that is, in a manner of speaking, a repository of memory.  And it might be worth exploring which is more important, the ability to recount history from memory, or find recorded stories available to everyone.

I think the interview is interesting enough to recommend it to anyone who is considering reading either, or both, of Zafon's novels.

Squeezing My Brain

At times, writing regularly is difficult.  As I mentioned in my review of "The Angel's Game", Carlos Zafon, its author, recommends placing one's bottom in a chair, elbows on its top, and squeezing the brain.  Thus, the title of today's post.  While writing may at times be difficult, it is almost always enjoyable too.  The mental exercise of finding the exact word, using it properly, and punctuating the sentence so that a reader is led, at least a little, and gently, into a similar view is interesting and somehow relaxing.  I don't expect, or even want, an exact replica of my view.  When I read, a major part of the entertainment and learning experiences come because I apply the author's perspective to my own projections, and come away changed.

All writing is an author's particular expression.  Even the wildest fiction begins somewhere in an author's brain, and finds its way onto a page.  The process is very different from author to author, but most writers who have written about their profession say that Zafon's recommendation is absolutely essential.  The discipline of being in place every day, squeezing the brain is essential.

This evening, against my own advice, I am going to write about health, my health.  It's what is on my mind, and all that squeezing is producing.  I had a doctor's appointment this morning, a follow-up after last week's overnight stay in hospital.  I am doing quite well; the tests show no major problems, and I am glad.  But I did learn something today that I knew, but also did not know.  Two years ago I had a pacemaker implanted because my heart would go into atrial fibrillation.  The pacemaker was supposed to keep my heart beating more regularly, or at least I thought it was supposed to.  Until last week, I had no problems since its implanting.  Today, I'm told that I have been vacillating between normal, sinus, rhythm and atrial fibrillation.  I can't feel it when the switch occurs, so never know which I am in.  I do know that atrial fibrillation isn't particularly good because it increases the opportunity for a clot to form and that would probably lead to a stroke.  I take cumadin, a blood thinner, daily to help preclude clots.  I also know that atrial fibrillation seems to cause me to be very lethargic, and I don't like that either.  There may be nothing I can do to stop the fibrillation.  I can't feel my heart change either into or out of it.  That is the point that bothers me most of all.  What has changed after two years to have me begin switching in and out again?

Having even these minor heart problems sure causes the brain to begin to think about a lot of things other than enjoying life.  I am 70 now.  My father died of a heart attack when he was 72, though my mother lived until she was almost 88.  I have a long bucket list of things I want to do before I kick that bucket.  Living long is not a goal I've ever set, but I don't believe I've accomplished all that I can or want.  My spiritual beliefs have changed a lot over the past 20 or so years, and I'm not sure what I believe of an afterlife.

Since my 70th birthday party, I have been reminded several times of what is essentially important about a life.  It is the friends you meet and enjoy being with.  It's family, friends, and fellowship.  I have been fortunate to have these.  I've made terrible mistakes, alienating some of both family and friends, but even that has taught a lesson.  Along with, and a part of those three F's, is balance and love.  Balance I wrote about yesterday.  Love I have written about numerous times.  I hope that I can squeeze the brain more over time to continue to write.

Balance

This post is, at its core, about something I know almost nothing about, economic stability and recovery.  But I am going to dive in anyway, using thoughts gathered from disconnected sources, and try to make sense.

My thought process began when I read this post in Talking Points Memo Cafe.  Its title, Export Emergency, seemed to speak to a problem I, as a retired no-nothing, have been concerned about for years.  How is it that the US can continue to have such a surplus of imports over exports.  When I read the excerpt from General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt's speech in Detroit, it seemed as if a major industrial manufacturer has begun to have a grip on the problem.

Many bought into the idea that America could go from a technology-based, export-oriented powerhouse to a services-led, consumption-based economy - and somehow still expect to prosper. That idea was flat wrong. And what did we get in the bargain? We've seen a great vanishing of wealth. Our competitive edge has slipped away, and this has hit the middle class hard.

As a nation, we've been consuming more than we earn, saved too little and taken on far too much debt. Growth in research and development has slowed. Our country has made too little progress on some of the defining challenges of our time - like clean energy and affordable health care. Our budget and trade deficits have reached levels that are clearly not sustainable...

Recently my colleague Peter Loescher, the CEO of Siemens, extolled the importance of Germany as an exporting country. In my career, I have never heard an American CEO say that the United States should be leading in exports. Well, I am saying it today: This country ought to be, and we can be, not just the world's leading market but a leading exporter as well.

But an excerpt isn't enough, so I went in search of another report on the speech.  The best that I could find was a GE Reports column, here.  It is undoubtedly biased also, but it does contain more of the speech.  Next, I followed the TPM link to Bob Herbert's column in the NY Times.  Herbert's column added another perspective. The most troubling thought, however, came from the last paragraph of Taplin's TPM article and some of the comments that followed it.

If a year from now we still have 30 million underutilized workers the civil unrest could be exploited by demagogues of the right and the left. Take your pick. It could get ugly.

If a year ...  could be ...could get... The writer seems to me to be using soft words, phrases that if not predict at least warn of a very negative future.  It is that future that has had me concerned for some time, as it obviously has some others.  This comment to Taplin's article speaks more clearly.

Barring some miraculous inventions which can't be easily copied by the Chinese, to who are we going to export? The Africans? They don't have two cents. The developing world? They'll never allow it. The rest of the first world? You're kidding, right?

Nope. There's world wide overcapacity and/or oversupply of labor. Especially cheap, unskilled labor. Reclaiming at least some manufacturing capacity is better than not doing so...but it will not solve our problems. Sorry.

Americans are in for some very, very hard times as the middle class slowly (or not so slowly) descends to working class standards and the working class descends into abject poverty and starvation. Nor will we have to wait long to see it. In a few days California will either deprive huge numbers of its vulnerable of a safety net or/and renege on its bond obligations.

The comment is more pessimistic that I am, but it captures my concern.  Much of the so-called developed world will, I fear, be in the same restrictive financial straits as California, and I really believe the commenter is correct, California will very soon erase any safety net available to its vulnerable.  The vulnerable of the world will be set adrift.

We went to church this morning and listened to Bob preach a very good sermon which he titled "Graciously Sufficient."  I hesitate to bring the sermon into this because it will not be available on the church's web site until tomorrow or Tuesday, and I don't particularly like using my memory as source.  But it is important to me to show why I titled this post "Balance."  Using Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 8: 7-15, he spoke of balance.

What I think is needed is balance economically, exports and imports, manufacturing and consumers.  Those nations, individuals, cultures, and families that have more should assist those who have less.  I can't state outright that it is so simple as that, but it's sure a lot less complicated than the world is making it now.  As Paul wrote:

For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has - not according to what one does not have.  I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.  [2 Corinthians 8: 12-14]

If the eagerness is there.  There lies the central, deciding point.  And there lies my source of pessimism.  It seems to me that we are all for ourselves, and that those who dare vulnerable will be allowed to drift away.  There is no desire, much less eagerness, to protect them.

Except that they will not drift away.  Then we will have the kind of ugliness that Taplin closes his article with.  And the question for me is this.  Do I do more to assure that the vulnerable will not be abandoned, or do I buy a gun to protect my own?  Essentially, that question is the same one the nation's leaders have to answer.  I don't have an answer for myself.  I hope that our leaders do.

Another Thread Of "The Angel's Game"

At the very end of yesterday's post about "The Angel's Game" [2009, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Doubleday, New York], I said there would be at least one more post from the book.  As I sit here, I am encountering the very problems that the other thread is about, difficulty writing.

Although I certainly wouldn't attempt to say exactly what any writer had in mind when I read his or her works, at times it seems to me that the author is writing messages to himself, and possibly to other writers out in the ethereal audience of readers.  This thread is such a time.

Several times throughout the book, Martin writes about writing, either through guiding his assistant in her writing or in telling himself what is necessary.  On page 182, he is speaking to Isabella.

"I think you are talented and passionate, Isabella.  More than you think and less than you expect.  But there are a lot of people with talent and passion, and many of them never get anywhere.  This is only the first step in achieving anything in life.  Natural talent is like an athlete's strength.  You can be born with more or less ability, but nobody can become an athlete just because he or she was born tall, or strong, or fast.  What makes the athlete, or the artist, is the work, the vocation, and the technique.  The intelligence you were born with is just ammunition.  To achieve something with it you need to transform your mind into a high-precision weapon."

"Why the military metaphor?"

"Every work of art is aggressive, Isabella.  And every artist's life is a small war or a large one, beginning with yourself and one's limitations.  To achieve anything you must first have ambition and then talent, knowledge, and finally the opportunity."

For me, the military metaphor is a little off; he should have stayed with the athletic metaphor but on the whole, I think he is very much correct.  At another point in the text, he tells her:

"Inspiration comes when you stick your elbows on the table and your bottom on the chair and start sweating.  Choose a theme, an idea, and squeeze your brain until it hurts.  That's called inspiration." [page  232-233]

Later, he writes:

One of the first expedients of the professional writer that Isabella learned from me was the art of procrastination.  Every veteran in the trade knows that any activity, from sharpening a pencil to cataloging daydreams, takes precedence over sitting down at one's desk and squeezing one's brain. [page 326]

I like the image of squeezing one's brain.  I shall use it.  I find myself cataloging daydreams too often, and then mumbling an excuse that I couldn't think of anything to write.

Ambition, then talent, knowledge, and finally the opportunity.  I've known that talent is not primary, but I'd never thought that ambition as its precedent.  I think I would place persistence in the list somewhere, and desire.  For without those no amount of talent, knowledge, or opportunity is sufficient.  Maybe Zafon encloses them within ambition, but I think they are slightly different.  It's his book, and he can write whatever he wants.  The important point is that I can extract whetever I want also, even possibly add to his intent.

Zafon can probably be considered among the intellectuals, either in Spain or Los Angeles, where he now lives.  In this book, he describes intellectuals in such a way that I would believe he doesn't like the label.

"An intellectual is usually someone who isn't exactly distinguished by his intellect," Corelli asserted.  "He claims that label to compensate for his inadequacies.  It's as old as that saying Tell me what you boast of and I'll tell you what you lack. ...  The incompetent always present themselves as experts, the cruel as pious, sinners as devout, usurers as benefactors, the small minded as patriots, the arrogant as humble, the vulgar as elegant, and the feeble-minded as intellectual.  Once again, it's all the work of nature.  Far from being the sylph to whom poets sing, nature is a cruel, voracious mother who needs to feed on the creatures she gives birth to in order to stay alive." [page 203]

Granted, that's Corelli, i.e. Lucifer, the bringer of light, speaking, but it rings with the sound of truth.  Always is overly strong, but far too often that is exactly the impression I get of so-called intellectuals.

For me, a book that reads on multiple levels is the best.  "The Angel's Game" does that.  I've only touched on a few.  There are more for a reader to discover.  I recommend both of Zafon's books without reservation.

A Very Interesting Second Novel

Last year, perhaps two years ago, my wife and I read "The Shadow Of The Wind" [Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 2001, Translated by Lucia Graves, 2004, Penguin Press, New York].  We thought it an an excellent book and recommended it to everyone.   I thought I had written a blog entry on it, but a search through Archives finds nothing at all.  Either I didn't write about the book, or wrote it somewhere other than the blog.

"Shadow" was an excellent book.  I remember being impressed that its translator was Lucia Graves, the daughter of poet Robert Graves.  I have no idea why that seemed important, but there's no accounting for random bits of floss that add perspective or meaning.

Zafon has followed Shadow with another novel, "The Angel's Game". Published by Doubleday June 9, 2009, this novel was again translated by Lucia Graves.  That's interesting, partly because Zafon has lived in Los Angeles since 1993.  McIntyre's, our local Fearrington Village bookstore, knew that we enjoyed Shadow and got us a copy of "The Angel's Game" as soon as it was published.  We were surprised, and very pleased to see that it is an autographed copy, but that's immaterial to the power of the book.

I liked "Angel's Game", perhaps not quite as much as Shadow, but it is a very good novel.  Angel's Game is very good from several perspectives.  I am still wrestling with its dark religious overtones.  I find a very definite tone of darkness in this book, necessary for Zafon to carry the story, and he does it very well.  It's a great story, and very much a love story.  There is so much more though.  It poses great questions, some unanswerable.  And a believer will find much to disagree with or fume about.  A non-believer may simply nod, muttering that Zafon has said it exactly correctly.

Here is a passage in which Zafon has the two primary protagonists, David Martin and Andreas Corelli, talking about a book Martin has been commisioned by Corelli to write.

"I want you to muster all your talent and devote yourself body and soul, for one year, to working on the greatest story you have ever created, a religion."

I couldn't help bursting out laughing.   ...

"You've got the wrong writer.  I don't know anything about religion."

"Don't worry about that.  I do.  I'm not looking for a theologian.  I'm looking for a narrator.  Do you know what a religion is, Martin, my friend?"

"I can barely remember the Lord's Prayer."

"A beautiful and well-crafted prayer.  Poetry aside, a religion is really a moral code that is expressed through legends, myths, or any type of literary device in oirder to establish a system of beliefs, values, and rules with which to regulate a culture or society."

<snip>

"You're telling me that a doctrine amounts to a tale."

"Everything is a tale, Martin,  What we believe, what we know, what we remember, even what we dream.  Everything is a story, a narrative, a sequence of events with characters communicating an emotional content.  We only accept as true what can be narrated. ..."

[page 145]

I nod, of course.  Of course, Martin accepts the commission.  There's a bit more to it than that but, essentially, that's it.  Later, he presents a partial draft for Corelli, who by this time in the story is being referred as the boss.  Martin is writing the book, and the boss is satisfied.  Martin describes a warrior messiah.

"I've given this some thought, I said, "and I realized that most of the great religions either were born or reached their apogee at a time when to societies that adapted them had a younger and poorer demographic base.  Societies on which 70 percent of the population was under the age of eighteen - ha;f of them males with their veins bursting with violence and the urge to procreate - were perfect breeding grounds for an acceptance and explosion of faith.

<snip>

"Why not get straight to the point and establish a mythology behind this warrior messiah?

<snip>

"We get to the adults by having recourse his frustration.  As life advances and we have to give up the hopes, dreams, and desires of our youth, we acquire a growing sense of being a victim of the world and of other people.There is always someone else to blame for our misfortunes or failures, someone we wish to exclude.  Embracing a doctrine that will turn this grudge and victim mentality into something positive provides comfort and strength.  The adult then feels part of the group and sublimates his lost desires and hopes through the community."

And women?

"The main pillar of organized religion, with few exceptions, is the subjugation, repression, even the annulment of women in the group.  Woman must accept the role of ethereal, passive, and maternal presence, never of authority or independence, or she will have to suffer the consequences.  She might have a place of honor in the symbolism, but not in the hierarchy.  Religion and war are male pursuits. ..." [page 250-251]

As I see it, much of that is accurate.  Christianity may be the opposite.  Instead of a warrior messiah, Christianity has a shepherd who was crucified.  But over the centuries much of it has been true of Christianity, or more accurately, of the hierarchy that developed within.  Religion and war have become male pursuits.

David Martin, by this point, recognizes that the boss is Lucifer, the bringer of light.  He doesn't win the eternal conflict, but he does prevail in his own fight.

I said this was a love story, and so it is.  David loves Cristina, yet is not able to win her.  He has a young assistant, Isabella, who he guides as teacher and closest friend.

This is an excellent book, with more levels than I have the skill to describe.  It has provided me with hours of pleasure, first in the reading, and then considering the numerous threads Zafon weaves so eloquently.  There is at least one other blog post coming from another thread, one that is much more clear and instructive.

Wellness Report

Some of you may already know, but for the rest of you, this is a status report on me.  I'm afraid that partial news may have spread and want to fill everyone in.

 

Everything seems fine now.  I have had a mixed two weeks though.  Here's the story.

 

On Friday, 12 June, I began to have body aches and pains similar to the flu.  There was, however, no respiratory problems, clogged head, fever, or anything that normally goes along with the flu.  I slept 12-13 hours a day, and by Tuesday was feeling much better, except I had no energy.  Since I already had a long-scheduled appointment with our doctor, I didn't go in.  Sunday, I began having some bad chest pains but, again, since I already had that Monday appt. I didn't go to the ER.  Memo to self, next time, even if I have an appointment the next day, go in to the ER with chest pain.

 

Monday morning my doctor had me go to the hospital.  They admitted me and began testing.  I had some atrial fibrillation but that cleared itself.  They swabbed me for all strains of flu, and that test came back negative.  So, Tuesday afternoon late they released me.  They didn't change, add, or delete any of my regular meds, which aren't many to begin with.

 

Wednesday, our family all went to Asheville to celebrate Marrianna's aunt's 90th birthday.  It was wonderful.  Marrianna and I rode with someone both ways.  We stayed overnight, and got home yesterday afternoon before 2:00.

 

I am feeling very well.  We have two other doctors appts, one next week and one the 15th of July.  They cannot say exactly what caused the chest pain but the body aches, while not flu, may have been viral and eventually triggered the heart stuff.  Bottom line, I am fine now, feeling well, fit and without any problem.

And now, back to more regular blogging.

 

Home and Feeling Better

I was discharged from hospital this afternoon.  I am feeling much better.

I appreciate all the people who have been so kind while I've been ill.  That especially applies to Felix Grant.  Thanks very much Felix for letting people know more than my short post could.  An illness like this shows clearly the hazards of being a sole author of a blog.

Tomorrow our family is gathering to celebrate Marrianna's aunt's 90th birthday.  For that reason, regular blogging will not resume until Thursday. I'll try to explain more about what has been the problem.  I'll also write a blog post about a book I managed to read that impress3d me very much.

In the meantime, thanks very much to everyone for your concern and kind thoughts.  I'll be back in Full Thursday.

ILL

For two days I've done little more than sleep.  I don't know what is wrong, but I am so fatigued that I cannot find energy to read, blog or email.  This post is a quick explanation.  I don't think it is flu because my sinuses and head are completely clear.  But my joints ache, pain shoots through my muscles regularly, and in general, I feel terrible.  I will return when I can.

More on A Post-Journalism World

A couple of days back I wrote a post about the post-journalism world.  I've been considering how that world will affect me and have come to no conclusion.  For me, the consideration is where we receive news if newspapers go away.  I think that, in general, newspapers are becoming superfluous.

This morning, as I was quilting, I had my NPR radio station, WUNC, playing the BBC World Newshour.  I realized that this was an excellent source of world news.  It is very good, and I listen every chance I have.  Close to the end of the program, they had a segment on schools in Zimbabwe schools.  They began the segment by stating that the BBC was banned from entering Zimbabwe and, therefore, names and locations were changed.  The segment was riveting, but it raised another question about news.

Clearly, the BBC had slipped into Zimbabwe without governmental approval.  But, what if they had not?  What if they had simply allowed Zimbabwe to repress the atrocious conditions of schools in the nation?  The BBC is to be commended highly for telling the story, but what would happen in a world where every nation represses or controls news?  It's obvious isn't it.  There would be no news, only PR and propaganda.

News agencies like the BBC and Associated Press are crucial to receiving news of the world.  They and television news bureaus are very important.  But NBC is owned by GE, and Sony owns CBS.  I remain unconvinced that a) we get all the news because of their corporate owners, and b) that what we do get is not influenced by them.

I have fourteen news organizations tabbed on my computer, and three more in bookmarks.  I read nine of them every day, and all at least weekly, and I don't consider myself a news junkie.  But, this household is fortunate.  We have three computers in the house right now, all connected to a wireless home network.  How are folk in the US who don't have a home computer at all going to receive their news?  Even worse, how are nations that aren't as "connected" as the US, and I assume most of the EU, going to receive their national or world news if newspapers go away?

I suppose I worry too much.  Ethical news organizations, such as I believe the BBC to be, are going to continue to find ways to get the story out of places such as Zimbabwe.  The news will be there for those who want it.  I hope that is true, and that there will be enough of us.