I have about $10 to last me until next Wednesday or Thursday.
The lost art of readingThe relentless cacophony that is life in the 21st century can make settling in with a book difficult even for lifelong readers and those who are paid to do it.By David L. Ulin August 9, 2009 Sometime late last year -- I don't remember when, exactly -- I noticed I was having trouble sitting down to read. That's a problem if you do what I do, but it's an even bigger problem if you're the kind of person I am. Since I discovered reading, I've always been surrounded by stacks of books. I read my way through camp, school, nights, weekends; when my girlfriend and I backpacked through Europe after college graduation, I had to buy a suitcase to accommodate the books I picked up along the way.…(B)ooks enlarge us by giving direct access to experiences not our own. In order for this to work, however, we need a certain type of silence, an ability to filter out the noise. Such a state is increasingly elusive in our over-networked culture, in which every rumor and mundanity is blogged and tweeted. Today, it seems it is not contemplation we seek but an odd sort of distraction masquerading as being in the know. Why? Because of the illusion that illumination is based on speed, that it is more important to react than to think, that we live in a culture in which something is attached to every bit of time.Here we have my reading problem in a nutshell, for books insist we take the opposite position, that we immerse, slow down…These days, however, after spending hours reading e-mails and fielding phone calls in the office, tracking stories across countless websites, I find it difficult to quiet down. I pick up a book and read a paragraph; then my mind wanders and I check my e-mail, drift onto the Internet, pace the house before returning to the page. Or I want to do these things but don't. I force myself to remain still, to follow whatever I'm reading until the inevitable moment I give myself over to the flow. Eventually I get there, but some nights it takes 20 pages to settle down. What I'm struggling with is the encroachment of the buzz, the sense that there is something out there that merits my attention, when in fact it's mostly just a series of disconnected riffs and fragments that add up to the anxiety of the age…When I was a kid, maybe 12 or 13, my grandmother used to get mad at me for attending family functions with a book. Back then, if I'd had the language for it, I might have argued that the world within the pages was more compelling than the world without; I was reading both to escape and to be engaged. All these years later, I find myself in a not-dissimilar position, in which reading has become an act of meditation, with all of meditation's attendant difficulty and grace. I sit down. I try to make a place for silence. It's harder than it used to be, but still, I read
.. Gabe did great with his Torah portion and haftorah, and his D'var Torah is fantastic (including a very funny jab at Fox News, I might add).
Quote from: JMK on August 12, 2009, 08:01:44 AM.. Gabe did great with his Torah portion and haftorah, and his D'var Torah is fantastic (including a very funny jab at Fox News, I might add).Hmmm...should I open a separate dossier on Gabe or just notate his activities in the Kauffman family folder?der Brucer
DR JMK I did just notice that the Sandra Dee biography is on the BIOGRAPHY CHANNEL today and I think she was part of Hollywood Heartbreak week when Frances was first on, so she may have been on yesterday....with you.
(We're waiting, DAW)
Quote from: JMK on August 12, 2009, 11:31:51 AM (We're waiting, DAW) Sorry to be so predictable.On the other hand, you can set your watch by me!
That was sweet of you to move your post, DAW.
On the other hand, you can set your watch by me!
LATIMESQuoteThe lost art of readingThe relentless cacophony that is life in the 21st century can make settling in with a book difficult even for lifelong readers and those who are paid to do it.By David L. Ulin August 9, 2009 Sometime late last year -- I don't remember when, exactly -- I noticed I was having trouble sitting down to read. That's a problem if you do what I do, but it's an even bigger problem if you're the kind of person I am. Since I discovered reading, I've always been surrounded by stacks of books. I read my way through camp, school, nights, weekends; when my girlfriend and I backpacked through Europe after college graduation, I had to buy a suitcase to accommodate the books I picked up along the way.…(B)ooks enlarge us by giving direct access to experiences not our own. In order for this to work, however, we need a certain type of silence, an ability to filter out the noise. Such a state is increasingly elusive in our over-networked culture, in which every rumor and mundanity is blogged and tweeted. Today, it seems it is not contemplation we seek but an odd sort of distraction masquerading as being in the know. Why? Because of the illusion that illumination is based on speed, that it is more important to react than to think, that we live in a culture in which something is attached to every bit of time.Here we have my reading problem in a nutshell, for books insist we take the opposite position, that we immerse, slow down…These days, however, after spending hours reading e-mails and fielding phone calls in the office, tracking stories across countless websites, I find it difficult to quiet down. I pick up a book and read a paragraph; then my mind wanders and I check my e-mail, drift onto the Internet, pace the house before returning to the page. Or I want to do these things but don't. I force myself to remain still, to follow whatever I'm reading until the inevitable moment I give myself over to the flow. Eventually I get there, but some nights it takes 20 pages to settle down. What I'm struggling with is the encroachment of the buzz, the sense that there is something out there that merits my attention, when in fact it's mostly just a series of disconnected riffs and fragments that add up to the anxiety of the age…When I was a kid, maybe 12 or 13, my grandmother used to get mad at me for attending family functions with a book. Back then, if I'd had the language for it, I might have argued that the world within the pages was more compelling than the world without; I was reading both to escape and to be engaged. All these years later, I find myself in a not-dissimilar position, in which reading has become an act of meditation, with all of meditation's attendant difficulty and grace. I sit down. I try to make a place for silence. It's harder than it used to be, but still, I readder Brucer
Quote from: JMK on August 12, 2009, 12:15:01 PM That was sweet of you to move your post, DAW. Euphemism??
Yes, we get your drift, bk. Franco Zefferrelli was gay and preferred showing men's bodies to women's. I'm not defending the practice, and certainly am not defending the wretched film that is ENDLESS LOVE, but you have to admit there are plenty of heterosexual directors who are like-minded in terms of showing female flesh and keeping the males in their movies covered. That's how many of us gay guys feel when we're subjected to ENDLESS exploitive shots of the female anatomy in movies with no male anatomies in evidence.
And even in just showing skin...I mean there are so many examples of women wearing almost nothing and the men are fully clothed! That's just not right!
Lost and Found Dog Saves Life of Boy with Down Syndrome Warning to Jose - this is a two hankie read.der Brucer
