A Quote - Heh

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Blogging is not writing - 

it's graffiti with punctuation.

 - from Contagion, and the only funny thing in the movie

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Sunday Snippet

Thanks, all, for commenting with support and/or suggestions on last week's dilemma - I don't feel quite so overbearing and obnoxious as I did before. I'm afraid I did run a little roughshod yesterday over the conductor and the person whose job it apparently is to pick the songs - they had their heads together about 30 seconds before the meeting was supposed to start, choosing hymns, when I walked over and told them what we'd actually be singing. I felt badly about it (I still do), but I've now put together a list of hymns I'm willing to play without notice. I've also asked the ward clerk to get us a couple of copies of the Simplified Hymns so that there will be a few more songs to choose from (thank you, Michelle!). If the RS Pres says it's OK, I'll send the list and a much shorter, simpler version of the letter to all the teachers and music people.  Hopefully this will be an option that will work for everyone!

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Even with all that, church yesterday was really pretty awesome. It was a 'Missionary' Sacrament meeting, and all the recent converts spoke, along with a ward missionary and the sister missionaries. They were all fantastic, even the ones who've only been members a couple of months! The most recent convert, Oliver Bebb (remember that name, I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a GA someday) spoke on 'Faith' and wrote a wonderful analogy.

A man sitting in his car in a queue waiting for a train to pass notices a corner shop selling snacks. Knowing that he shouldn't leave his car in case traffic starts moving again, he gestures to a homeless man standing nearby. Waving him over, he asks the man if he will take some money, go into the shop, and bring him back a cup of soup. The homeless man agrees. He goes to the shop and does just what he was asked, returning with the soup and the change to the car. When he reaches out to hand over the items, the driver tells him to keep the soup for himself. Confused, not by the act of charity but by the way the man went about it, the homeless man asked, "Why did you make me go through all this? Why didn't you just give me the money so I could buy the soup myself?"

The driver smiled at him and said, "It was never about the soup. Today we have both tasted faith, a far more nourishing meal. I trusted you, I gave you money and you were not tempted, you had food and were not swayed. You did not break your word to me. Likewise, you felt the faith that I had in you. I placed this power in your hands and you knew that I trusted your judgement to do the right thing." The driver hugged the homeless man and drove away.

Oliver then went on to talk about how we have all tasted the sweetness of faith, but that it is not enough just to succeed and recognize the fruits of our labo(u)rs. We should also reflect on the journey itself, and ask: 'How did the experience affect me? Did it impact my character? Do I understand myself better?' God knows us, and He knows what we will do. Trials of faith are not for his benefit, but for ours. (Used with permission and paraphrased from a talk by Oliver Bebb.)

Pretty cool, eh?

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Thumbs Up

I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.

                - Roger Ebert






Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310-7#ixzz1XUirDSSf

Sunday Snippet

Today in Sacrament Meeting the Relief Society President quoted President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

" God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval, or admiration.

No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!


For what we love determines what we seek.


What we seek determines what we think and do.


What we think and do determines who we are - and who we will become.

... Since the beginning of time, love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens. At the heart of misery from the days of Adam until today, you will find the love of wrong things. And at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things.

And the greatest of all good things is God."   (emphasis added)


 October 2009

Ten Things - Part 10

Oh. OK.

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10
TELL THE TRUTH.
The rabbit joke is relevant because it occurred to me that looking for a cabbage in a butcher’s shop might be like looking for ethics in the design field. It may not be the most obvious place to find either. It’s interesting to observe that in the new AIGA’s code of ethics there is a significant amount of useful information about appropriate behaviour towards clients and other designers, but not a word about a designer’s relationship to the public. We expect a butcher to sell us eatable meat and that he doesn’t misrepresent his wares. I remember reading that during the Stalin years in Russia that everything labelled veal was actually chicken. I can’t imagine what everything labelled chicken was. We can accept certain kinds of misrepresentation, such as fudging about the amount of fat in his hamburger but once a butcher knowingly sells us spoiled meat we go elsewhere. As a designer, do we have less responsibility to our public than a butcher? Everyone interested in licensing our field might note that the reason licensing has been invented is to protect the public not designers or clients. ‘Do no harm’ is an admonition to doctors concerning their relationship to their patients, not to their fellow practitioners or the drug companies. If we were licensed, telling the truth might become more central to what we do.

* * * * *

Actually, on what may be a related note, today I saw "The Globe Mysteries". It was a version of the old (medieval) mystery plays, or dramatizations of Bible stories, condensed down to a select few including: Creation, Cain & Abel, Noah's Ark, Abraham & Isaac, the Birth of Christ (along with a very odd comic interlude about stealing a sheep), Miracles, the Crucifixion, Resurrection/Ascension to Heaven, and the Last Judgement. The choice of the play had to do with the year's theme, that of The Word of God. It was a little strange, though, to be watching a play of Bible stories that wasn't actually about the Bible or the stories. It was just a play. The performance came off as hollow and wordy (fortunately, the Angel Gabriel was really hot*) - this was a piece that misrepresented itself, I think. Mystery plays cannot really be produced as if they were "just" plays; they are far too intrinsically bound up in the intent to teach religion to be shown without the religion. This show rang false, even though it was very cleverly staged - it was a piece that was untrue to itself and therefore could not be true to any audience (to - ironically - borrow a Polonius moment). We must tell the truth to ourselves in all that we do as well as to others.




*Why, yes, I did happen to end up on the side of the "damned" during the Last Judgement.


For the last time

Ten Things - Part 9

In the interests of full disclosure (and in part to see if people really are reading these) I wanted to mention that I saw a matinee today of  "The Glee Concert Movie: in 3D". I very much don't care for 3D. The movie was fun - I think all 10 of us (girls) in the theatre enjoyed it. The four pre-teens behind me were having a blast. And the Mini-Warbler is hilarious/adorable/going to oust The Biebs before he's 10. (The kid's a YouTube sensation waiting to happen, if he's not there already. I'll check.) (Oh, yeah. He's there.)

* * * * *

9
ON AGING.
Last year someone gave me a charming book by Roger Rosenblatt called ‘Ageing Gracefully’ I got it on my birthday. I did not appreciate the title at the time but it contains a series of rules for ageing gracefully. The first rule is the best. Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter.’ ‘It doesn’t matter that what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or didn’t say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you don’t get that promotion or prize or house or if you do – it doesn’t matter.’ Wisdom at last. Then I heard a marvellous joke that seemed related to rule number 10. A butcher was opening his market one morning and as he did a rabbit popped his head through the door. The butcher was surprised when the rabbit inquired ‘Got any cabbage?’ The butcher said ‘This is a meat market – we sell meat, not vegetables.’ The rabbit hopped off. The next day the butcher is opening the shop and sure enough the rabbit pops his head round and says ‘You got any cabbage?’ The butcher now irritated says ‘Listen you little rodent I told you yesterday we sell meat, we do not sell vegetables and the next time you come here I am going to grab you by the throat and nail those floppy ears to the floor.’ The rabbit disappeared hastily and nothing happened for a week. Then one morning the rabbit popped his head around the corner and said ‘Got any nails?’ The butcher said ‘No.’ The rabbit said ‘Ok. Got any cabbage?’




 * I love that joke. I always tell it with the rabbit hopping into a store and asking for "gwapes", though. I don't actually know what "rule number 10" is. Something to do with persistence, maybe?




Linky link

Ten Things - Part 8

8
DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
Everyone always talks about confidence in believing what you do. I remember once going to a class in yoga where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a practical sense. Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience, which is why I find all firmly held ideological positions questionable. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being sceptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between scepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one’s openness to the world as passionate belief is. They are sort of twins. And then in a very real way, solving any problem is more important than being right. There is a significant sense of self-righteousness in both the art and design world. Perhaps it begins at school. Art school often begins with the Ayn Rand model of the single personality resisting the ideas of the surrounding culture. The theory of the avant garde is that as an individual you can transform the world, which is true up to a point. One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty.


Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know what to compromise. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad – the client, the audience and you. 


Ideally, making everyone win through acts of accommodation is desirable. But self-righteousness is often the enemy. Self-righteousness and narcissism generally come out of some sort of childhood trauma, which we do not have to go into. It is a consistently difficult thing in human affairs. Some years ago I read a most remarkable thing about love, that also applies to the nature of co-existing with others. It was a quotation from Iris Murdoch in her obituary. It read ‘ Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.’ Isn’t that fantastic! The best insight on the subject of love that one can imagine.

Essay essay essay

Ten Things - Part 7

Honestly, drawing can be a fantastic way to communicate in so many more situations than you might think.

7
HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
The brain is the most responsive organ of the body. Actually it is the organ that is most susceptible to change and regeneration of all the organs in the body. I have a friend named Gerald Edelman who was a great scholar of brain studies and he says that the analogy of the brain to a computer is pathetic. The brain is actually more like an overgrown garden that is constantly growing and throwing off seeds, regenerating and so on. And he believes that the brain is susceptible, in a way that we are not fully conscious of, to almost every experience of our life and every encounter we have. I was fascinated by a story in a newspaper a few years ago about the search for perfect pitch. A group of scientists decided that they were going to find out why certain people have perfect pitch. You know certain people hear a note precisely and are able to replicate it at exactly the right pitch. Some people have relevant pitch; perfect pitch is rare even among musicians. The scientists discovered – I don’t know how - that among people with perfect pitch the brain was different. Certain lobes of the brain had undergone some change or deformation that was always present with those who had perfect pitch. This was interesting enough in itself. But then they discovered something even more fascinating. If you took a bunch of kids and taught them to play the violin at the age of 4 or 5 after a couple of years some of them developed perfect pitch, and in all of those cases their brain structure had changed. Well what could that mean for the rest of us? We tend to believe that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, although we do not generally believe that everything we do affects the brain. I am convinced that if someone was to yell at me from across the street my brain could be affected and my life might changed. That is why your mother always said, ‘Don’t hang out with those bad kids.’ Mama was right. Thought changes our life and our behaviour. I also believe that drawing works in the same way. I am a great advocate of drawing, not in order to become an illustrator, but because I believe drawing changes the brain in the same way as the search to create the right note changes the brain of a violinist. Drawing also makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to what you are looking at, which is not so easy.




Bein' responsible

Ten Things - Part 6

6
STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
I think this idea first occurred to me when I was looking at a marvellous etching of a bull by Picasso. It was an illustration for a story by Balzac called The Hidden Masterpiece. I am sure that you all know it. It is a bull that is expressed in 12 different styles going from very naturalistic version of a bull to an absolutely reductive single line abstraction and everything else along the way. What is clear just from looking at this single print is that style is irrelevant. In every one of these cases, from extreme abstraction to acute naturalism they are extraordinary regardless of the style. It’s absurd to be loyal to a style. It does not deserve your loyalty. I must say that for old design professionals it is a problem because the field is driven by economic consideration more than anything else. Style change is usually linked to economic factors, as all of you know who have read Marx. Also fatigue occurs when people see too much of the same thing too often. So every ten years or so there is a stylistic shift and things are made to look different. Typefaces go in and out of style and the visual system shifts a little bit. If you are around for a long time as a designer, you have an essential problem of what to do. I mean, after all, you have developed a vocabulary, a form that is your own. It is one of the ways that you distinguish yourself from your peers, and establish your identity in the field. How you maintain your own belief system and preferences becomes a real balancing act. The question of whether you pursue change or whether you maintain your own distinct form becomes difficult. We have all seen the work of illustrious practitioners that suddenly look old-fashioned or, more precisely, belonging to another moment in time. And there are sad stories such as the one about Cassandre, arguably the greatest graphic designer of the twentieth century, who couldn’t make a living at the end of his life and committed suicide.

But the point is that anybody who is in this for the long haul has to decide how to respond to change in the zeitgeist. What is it that people now expect that they formerly didn’t want? And how to respond to that desire in a way that doesn’t change your sense of integrity and purpose.

Citation, you got it

Ten Things - Part 5

5
LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
Being a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One morning upon awakening I realised that it was total nonsense, it is an absurd proposition and also fairly meaningless. But it sounds great because it contains within it a paradox that is resistant to understanding. But it simply does not obtain when you think about the visual of the history of the world. If you look at a Persian rug, you cannot say that less is more because you realise that every part of that rug, every change of colour, every shift in form is absolutely essential for its aesthetic success. You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. ‘Just enough is more.’






Linky full essay blah blah

Ten Things - Part 4

4
PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
Early in my career I wanted to be professional, that was my complete aspiration in my early life because professionals seemed to know everything - not to mention they got paid for it. Later I discovered after working for a while that professionalism itself was a limitation. After all, what professionalism means in most cases is diminishing risks. So if you want to get your car fixed you go to a mechanic who knows how to deal with transmission problems in the same way each time. I suppose if you needed brain surgery you wouldn’t want the doctor to fool around and invent a new way of connecting your nerve endings. Please do it in the way that has worked in the past.
Unfortunately in our field, in the so-called creative – I hate that word because it is misused so often. I also hate the fact that it is used as a noun. Can you imagine calling someone a creative? Anyhow, when you are doing something in a recurring way to diminish risk or doing it in the same way as you have done it before, it is clear why professionalism is not enough. After all, what is required in our field, more than anything else, is the continuous transgression. Professionalism does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. So professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.




As always, full essay here

Ten Things - Part 3

3
SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC. AVOID THEM.
This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the ‘whole’ before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life. 






Full essay here

Ten Things - Part 2

2
IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
One night I was sitting in my car outside Columbia University where my wife Shirley was studying Anthropology. While I was waiting I was listening to the radio and heard an interviewer ask ‘Now that you have reached 75 have you any advice for our audience about how to prepare for your old age?’ An irritated voice said ‘Why is everyone asking me about old age these days?’ I recognised the voice as John Cage. I am sure that many of you know who he was – the composer and philosopher who influenced people like Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham as well as the music world in general. I knew him slightly and admired his contribution to our times. ‘You know, I do know how to prepare for old age’ he said. ‘Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of 12. I wake up in the morning and I try to figure out how am I going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am exceedingly well prepared for my old age’ he said.




Full essay here

Ten Things - Part 1

I just ran across a remarkable talk by Milton Glaser, given in London in 2001.  I want to share it with you a section a day, so that you have a chance to think about each point. That's what I'll be doing.


Ten Things I Learned

1
YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.

Full essay here

Thank You, Greg (and Ira)

 - from Greg's blog, image from posterous

Read 'The Graveyard Book'*

Neil Gaiman's advice to any aspiring writer:

"Write.

Don't think about writing, don't plan to write, don't hope to write.

Just write."

 - from the behind-the-scenes 'Neil Gaiman on Writing for the Doctor' video, BBC

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This could mean you'll be seeing (a lot) more random blog posts from me. Just FYI.




* Seriously, it's amazing. And kind of what you'd think, only not really at all. (Just look at those reviews!)

Sunday Snippet

"Man cannot raise himself to higher things through what he would like to accomplish, but by what he endeavors to accomplish."
 - Elder Glancy

Faith is seldom Comfortable.

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At the end of today's fast-and-testimony meeting the bishop announced the closing hymn, then looked over to find the pianist looking back at him with a little confusion and panic as the chorister was missing. (Poof. Gone. Slipped out at some point, and had not slipped back in!) The bishop, having had some musical training, picked up a hymnbook and rather sheepishly moved over to "lead" the music. (He was waving his arm - sheepishly, mind - to the music, and got the right time signature by the second measure, but I wouldn't actually say he was conducting anything.) Just before the end of the first verse, the chorister (sweet, loopy Jean) walked back in; stepped up to the stand and took a spot next to the bishop, looked up at him looming over her (tall - short), and started conducting right along with him. I thought I heard a faint choking noise behind me. The bishop, noticing Jean, rather awkwardly moved back to his seat a couple of measures into the second verse. Just as Jean really got into the swing of things, the music stand in front of her inexplicably began sinking (the bishop had been holding his hymnbook in his other hand) and she immediately stopped conducting and tried to fix it. I heard the choking sound again.

By the end of the two-verse hymn Jean was hunched over a very low music stand, the bishop had checked out, and I couldn't look at either of them because I was nearly in tears trying to keep from laughing. As Jean sat down I glanced back (it was safer than looking forward) and found the Relief Society President looking at me - both of us cracked up and fought to smother our giggles (once again, she sounded like she was choking) before the closing prayer.

I love my ward.




ETA: Just came across this post by Scott Adams. Fascinating. Such interesting commentary on communication, clarity of intent, and just how much credit people are willing (or unwilling) to give each other.

Too Good Not to Share

A good friend of mine was holding her 6-month-old son on her lap, and he was wiggling so much he was sliding towards the floor. She asked him where he was going, and from across the room her 6-year-old daughter yelled, "Don't tell Mom! She will curse your plans!"






I have been laughing (to the point of tears) ALL. DAY. LONG.



(I think my friend's blog is invitation-only, but if you want more of the same from some hilarious kids, let me know and I'll pass your info on to her.)

Commencing

Say what you will about theatre people (or don't, we've all heard it before), they really know how to throw an awesome graduation. That's right, I said it - with no other group of people will you willingly spend 2.5 hours in crappy school auditorium seats and consider it time that has amused, delighted, and amazed. Go SLSPA!

I've recorded here my notes from one of the keynote speakers. As this was his fourth year as a student-voted speaker, he promised he would give the same speech as the last three years - since he's also the acting teacher, it still sounded completely different. So, following is his list of "50 Ways to Not Ruin the World, Actually Condensed to Ten Since We Don't Want to Be Here for Two Days."

1 - Love what you do. Love the acting, not being an actor; love the dance, not being a dancer. Focus on the process, not the product. The product happens anyway.

2 - Recognize the value of what we (you) do. (Insert applicable passion/interest) What is the value of dance? What is the value music alone can bring? How would your community be damaged if it were deprived of theatre?

3 - Be dedicated. Work. Find joy in the work; turn wounds into wisdom and move forward.

4 - Recognize your talent. Do not give yourself limits. People will tell you "no" - do not be the first in line.

5 - Be yourself. Be a leader. Always preserve your integrity. Do not pretend to be something you're not. Think for yourself, and then determine whether other people's ideas and philosophies compliment what you know and believe to be true.

6 - Cherish, savor the road. Find the joy in the journey.

7 - Be aware. Be aware of others as artists, and as fellow humans. The world around you is crying out in need - LISTEN. We cannot afford to live our lives without listening.

8 - Never mind. *

9 - Turn off the TV, pick up a book. Read a sonnet. Listen to a symphony. Get up and move; dance.

10 - ACT. Take action. All that you hope to achieve is a result of taking action. Do not just spend your life, spend it DOING something. Go out and betray your age (era) - recognize the ideas and theories that are incorrect, repressive, and unfair; stand against the social commonality to change and right them. Find your profound joy, the world's deep hunger, and the place where they meet. There may you take action.

Thanks, Jared! You're amazing!

* Always sleep in the nude. In a world where people don't get dressed up to go to the theatre, it's pretty silly to get dressed for bed.

Words to Live By

"The only way to become a writer is to write. Don't talk about it; glue your behind to the chair and write, at least four pages every day, even if you end up throwing them out. If you can't make the time, you aren't a writer. You have to motivate yourself; no one else can do that for you. If you can't do that, you are never going to be a writer. Write until you've finished a book, then send it out and write another one. And keep doing it until someone buys one. It's just that simple."

- Mercedes Lackey

Author of the Heralds of Valdemar books (plus many terrific others)

The Valdemar Companion: An Interview with Mercedes Lackey (p. 70)

*Bonus* On solving previously unforseen challenges: "Problems generally create books as long as you set your mind to asking questions instead of seeing blockages in the road." (p. 80)