Hate talk

I just read the most remarkable screed against marching bands that I have ever encountered. Dennis Dodd, a paid character assassin for CBS sports, just completely went off on bands everywhere calling them dorks and losers basically. I am totally offended for more reasons than I can count.

First, I don't have a national pulpit to refute these attacks. If I respond with a comment, it carries the weight of "oh Yeah." And I'll get the jock smirk tone that the original essay carried as if that is an answer. This is unprovoked bullying of people who are not public figures, and CBS should be ashamed.

Second, this attitude promotes hatred. It makes high school football players think it's ok to beat up the "band geeks" because Dennis thinks they are losers and less than human. This is exactly the kind of attitude that got Matthew Shepherd killed. He was just a queer. It was ok to beat him up.

I thought we didn't pick on specific groups of people for who they were or what they did. I think this essay is a hate crime and incites hatred. I'd like to see Dennis prosecuted under

federal law because no matter how cute he thinks this is it isn't.

I'm not sure what made him decide this was his target, but someone ought to make sure he doesn't assault anyone again. I'm sure he couldn't think of what to write about, so he decided to go with what is easy--picking on someone. I can easily make this entry all about the various sins and bloopers committed by various sports broadcasters/writers. It's easy to pick a target and throw hearsay around. I could spend days just on the overwrought prose of Super Bowl writing. But I don't bully. I merely present facts.

I hope CBS thinks this is serious. Making fun of people who are not public figures is mean and hurtful. And potentially dangerous. Dennis needs to direct his anger at whatever drove this drivel. I can suggest a good therapist.

Oh, and Dennis, ole buddy, you don't march a French horn.

The earlier you

The last couple of weeks I've been thinking about having some sort of gathering where all your friends bring their wedding pictures. First marriage if that applies. I'd like to see everybody with all the hair replaced on heads and weight unreplaced on bodies.

I believe this stems from the fact that I have incomplete memories of so many friends. I didn't go to high school with them or most of the time even college. I'd like to see how they looked back in the day. I feel like I'm missing a part of who they are.

I began thinking about this when I stayed at a friend's house, and the wedding pics were on the wall. The couple looked so different from the 50something grandma and grandpa that I know. I think I feel like I've got no better handle on the people they were than their kids and grandkids do. And we do share the same time if not the same geography.

I also recently tried to describe my wedding attire to a friend and she tried to describe hers to me. And her sister's because my friend was maid of honor for her sister. It turned out that both being Northern Illinois girls our finery came from the same place. New Glarus, Wisconsin--the place to go at the time for material, etc. if you were making your dress, and accessories if you were not. All of mine came from there. Her sister's as well. Including the maid of honor dress.

Today if these people got married, I'd be at the wedding. But we were strangers then. I want this glimpse of these friends of mine, married now almost as long as I have been. I love to get out my pictures because my husband looks about 12. And nobody sees that guy anymore. I want to see the guy/the gal that they married in the same way. Because we all were not born old and fat despite what our children think.

So if I can think of a reasonable way of doing this, I'll let you know. It intrigues me.

Technophobe

I have a confession to make. Despite this blog and my iphone, I'm a bit of a Luddite. Science and technology whirl around me without my grasping even a bit of it. Typing this on my computer uses as much technological knowhow as I possess.

You know those neat link things people send you in emails? I don't know how to do that. Copy and paste and attachments are as savvy as I get. And pictures and audio files? Forget it. I have no notion of what's involved in Heather's blog with pictures and blurbs, etc. Way way beyond my ken.

I operate on the transistor radio model. I had a little black model in the 60s that came right up to my level of competence. Two switches. One to turn the thing on and off which also acted as the volume. One switch to learn that did two things. Nirvana. And the other control handled the stations. Only AM. No FM. It fit me to a tee. I listened to WLS from Chicago, and it was all I needed to do that. I want everything to match that level.

But I am disappointed in my quest for the transistor radio model. Every appliance, computer, phone, etc. wants to do more. and more. And I lose my mind trying to buy simpler models.

Recently we looked for a new refrigerator. We had to. The old one went. So every model I looked at had all the stuff in the door. I want this appliance to hold my food at an acceptable level that prevents botulism in my home. That's my requirement. Trying to find one that didn't serve me seven settings of ice through the door and cold water was nearly impossible. Finally managed that. But an added feature of this one is an alarm when the door stands open. Like when I'm putting groceries away. Everyone in the house at one time or another has yelled, " shut the **** up." Ah yes appliances which annoy you. That's a goal.

There are buttons on my car that are a mystery to me. I can't turn on the DVD player in there. Don't know how. And the car explains everything to me in pictures. I'm not only a Luddite; as I mentioned in the last blog, I'm completely non-visual. I picture things through words. So a car with many buttons (non-transistor radio) and picture (non-word) is nearly impossible for me to cope with. It's a wonder I know where the key goes.

I'm equally mystified by all the magical forces at work in my home--electricity, plumbing, etc. For me, I turn switches or handles, and sometimes the magic works. And sometimes it doesn't. Burned out bulbs, blocked sinks--the magic failed. Right now the magic works on the computer. If it doesn't, I'm lost. I'm that person who needs to be reminded that the magic doesn't work if the inoperative appliance is unplugged.

My solution is to live in a house full of gadget geeks. It strokes their egos to give me that smirk as they roll their eyes and fix everything. I'm fine with that. If they want to clutter their heads up with how all this stuff happens, so be it. Just don't make me do it. I'm busy filling my head with words, not processes. I like it that way.

The soundtrack of your mind

So yesterday I went outside to comfort my plants and cheer them on. Despite all the rain, some of them are gobsmacked by the heat. I visited the vegetables and the perennials who were being quite the wimps about the whole thing. Especially the ones in the "shade" garden. Not enough shade apparently. Then I went around to the roses. And my brain started playing "Yellow Rose of Texas" when I was--you guessed it-- looking at the yellow roses.

Now I don't hate the song, but let's just say it's not on my ipod. I wasn't necessarily looking for a concert at the time. Why did my brain feel the need to serenade me?

This happens to me quite often. I don't dare watch the swiffer commercial or I'll hear "Don't you want me baby" all day long. What I want to ask my brain is why it has this compulsion.

Why does my brain have this life of its own where it picks and chooses the soundtrack of my life? And why doesn't it pick songs I really like? "Get Back" is always appropriate to be playing in my mind. It's one of my favorite songs of all time. However my brain seldom plays it for me.

Now this is a disconcerting. Either my brain doesn't know what I like or it does this on purpose. I would think since my brain is what forms what I like that it knows the songs I like. So that leaves option number two--it does this on purpose.

Putting a positive spin on this phenomenon takes some doing. But I think it does this because that part of my brain is bored. I seldom listen to music or television because I really enjoy quiet. Maybe the years of 4 boys in the house made me long for silence.

But my brain doesn't accept that as an excuse. Stimulate me now or I'll play dreadful things you hate. And this is an effective tactic because I run for the ipod to make "The Yellow Rose of Texas" go away.

Apparently I am trainable after all.

Why I buy books

The outfit collective had an interesting question: Why do you buy the books you buy? Basically the question was posed in reaction to the thought--Does my publisher's marketing department have a clue about what sells a book? And if the publisher's suggestions are any indication, no they do not have a clue.

First and foremost I have NEVER read a book because of cover art. Even from the library. I am totally a word person. Pictures have no meaning for me at all. This includes icons on cars and appliances. I can't speak this visual language. DOORS OPEN. That I get. An icon of my car viewed from the top with the doors open--I got nothin'. First of all I never view from the top. And everything else that's wrong with the assumption that I should be able to "read" the picture. I can't. I am verbal, not visual. My feeling is that a lot of readers are word not picture people like I am. So all the stress about cover art is wasted on me. People who like words read books.

I do read books because someone I trust to have somewhat my taste in reading recommends that I do. This can be a personal friend, a bookseller, a reviewer, or less frequently, a blurb from an author I already know. I won't buy a book based on this, but I will read it. I will read books from the library based on recommendations. This happens a lot. And I do move from there to purchasing the author if I liked the book. Of course if I start to distrust the reviewer after a couple of bad steers, I'll quit reading the reviewer, too.

I will read authors if I like a short piece of theirs in a magazine. This is how I started to read Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes. I'm not a big short story fan, but it can suck me in. And mostly once I like a certain author, I buy their books until they write a stinker. Or go so off course that I'm no longer interested.

I will buy a book if I meet the author and like her/him. I just purchased two books at a mystery convention because I liked the author. Maybe I'll never buy them again, but that does work for me. Although if the books sound like something I'd never want to read, even the most charming author won't get my money.

Now and then I'm drawn to books by the subject matter. I started reading Pat Barker because I was in the midst of my World War 1 mania. Read her trilogy and then read all the rest of her books. This happens infrequently because I'm mostly not caught up in a subject like that. But it can happen.

I'm not sure about the whole facebook/twitter thing. I can't imagine finding an author that way without a recommendation from someone, and I'd get that without the electronic intervention. I personally haven't discovered any author or book that way, but I know someone who has. I'm dubious about its practical application for me.

That's me really. Voracious reader always looking for the next book.

Do what I want

Thinking about what writers owe readers.  Not that this is an issue for someone who doesn't have readers, but I've seen a couple of discussions elsewhere about the direction characters go or how often they show up.  Readers, having immediate access to their favorite authors, are unafraid of telling them  online where they have gone wrong. I'm personally guilty of being tired of author "stand alone" books which take them away from my favorite series characters. Of the mystery authors I read, Dennis Lehane has been most guilty of this lately.  And I've just quit reading his books.

The most famous instance is the letters received by Doyle and his publishers after Sherlock Holmes  was "killed" by Moriarty.  An outcry ensued.  Doyle was forced into resurrecting him, much against his own inclination.  He felt pressured and unhappy with this result.

Anthony Trollope killed off a character in the Barchester series when readers complained about her personality.  Then the same readers complained because a lot of the tension left that series of books.  In this instance the readers were wrong.  They were supposed to hate her.  They forced him to continue the series without a villain.

I am one of those readers, my friends.  I'm not gonna get on someone's blog and tell them they are doing it wrong.  But I will quit buying the books.  I missed Angie and Patrick, so I quit reading Lehane.  Mystic River I read, but then my attention wandered.  Haven't read one since. And I have quit reading Elizabeth George because she killed a main character.  That truly peeved me.  In a series I want the main character to have something go right.  After the trials and tribulations of the book, toss the character a bone.  Don't just add to the misery.

I'm not advocating authors arranging panels to make sure they know what the readers want to happen next.  But going in a bold new direction may have its own little problems for you.  Your book sales may decline.  I do think being perverse because you are in a snit (which I think is what happened with Conan Doyle) may cause more headaches than you think.

So what do you owe your readers?

Back from tour.  Beyond the whining.  Don't miss it like I used to.  Just a sense of duty that I've done my bit.  Mostly get no appreciation back, so don't really enjoy it anymore.  I did my best and as usual it's not enough.

But back to my garden and my house.  My poor pink garden was so choked with timothy grass that I'm surprised it's even surviving.  It was good to spend the morning pulling up miscreant plants up by the roots.  Focused my energy and anger.

Other less satisfying jobs are slated for later today.  Cleaning out the fridge and making a grocery list loom large for this afternoon.  After tour, I really don't want to sit and plan menus, but it's gotta be done.  Because I crave non-sysco type food.  Salad will be featured prominently this week and maybe broccoli since it made heads while I was gone.  As did my Romaine lettuce.  YUM.

I hope to tackle the backyard later in the week.  I think I've weeded as much as I can today.  

My best surprise for a Monday was that my large rose in the pink garden did not die after all.  I was a very happy camper to see it coming back.  I'd given up on it.  So it's a good thing I was gone and didn't dig it up or something before it had a chance to come back.  Made it all worthwhile as I tore all my remaining nails.  

Time to move on to less time wasting pursuits.  oh bother.