19 November 06
Home Ground
I haven’t seen this new book yet but it’s on my to read list: Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney.
From the publisher’s blurb for it on the book’s website:
Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape brings together forty-five poets and writers to create more than 850 original definitions for words that describe our lands and waters—terms like flatiron, bayou, monadnock, kiss tank, meander bar, and everglade. The writers, including Barbara Kingsolver, Luis Alberto Urrea, Jon Krakauer, Charles Frazier, Antonya Nelson, and Samantha Chang, draw from careful research as well as on their own distinctive stylistic, personal, and regional diversity to portray in bright, precise prose the striking complexity of the landscapes we inhabit, from Missouri’s woody draws to Virginia’s runs, from the desire paths of cities to the rondes of Midwestern farmlands, from California’s bajadas to Alaska’s pingos and Hawai`i’s shield volcanoes. An advisory board has ensured the scientific accuracy of the prose. Included are one hundred black-and-white drawings by Molly O’Halloran and an introductory essay by Barry Lopez.
Not that I ever listen to All Things Considered but they did a piece on the book a couple of days ago — on that page there are also some excerpted definitions from the book.
1 November 06
Up and At 'Em
I woke up at 3:30, so I got up. I have, gentle reader, a novel to write. (And log into the NaNoWriMo site, which is clogged and sluggish.)
I wrote 2676 words this morning. I wrote them in pen, then typed them this evening. I’m tired, and I’m going to bed.
Historical fiction is hardest, I think, in the dialog. I’m not attempting any real victorian language. Keep it plain and simple should work…
30 June 06
Read And Release
I just picked up my first BookCrossing book. I was stepping outside for a break at work when I saw on a bench just inside the door a book entitled Joy in a Woolly Coat. Maybe it’s about sheep, I thought, and had a look. Actually it was about dogs, companion animals, and grief, and it was illustrated with nice pencil sketches. Then I noticed the BookCrossing bookplate and figured why not, I’ll pick it up. Bookcrossing is a neat concept. If you have a book you want to pass on to the world, you register it online, and then leave the book in a public place. With luck somebody will find it, read it, and jot down where it’s been in its online journal!
13 May 06
Losing The Heart Of Berkeley
We heard the bad news from Ron. Cody’s Books on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley is closing as of July 10. This store has been in its present location for as long as I have been alive and has always been the flagship bookstore in Berkeley and the East Bay.
The press release blames a 15-year decline in sales in the Telegraph Avenue location, together with a loss of sales from the Internet. The store has two other locations—one on the highly yuppified 4th Street in Berkeley, and another that just opened in the past year or so on Stockton in San Francisco. I have always found the 4th Street Cody’s to have a fairly paltry selection, and have never been to the San Francisco store.
Probably this decision has been in the works for some time. In my last several visits to the Telegraph store I’ve noticed that the selection of books has been getting poorer. And the recent opening of the San Francisco store worried me.
I grew up near Berkeley, and I have a routine I often follow when I return for a visit. I’ll start off at the Berkeley BART station, walk through campus visiting a few shops along the way, and then head south several blocks for a good browse in Cody’s. It’s very sad that this is no longer to be.
14 March 06
A Blog From Troy
Eurylochus, who is the lead officer under Odysseus, is keeping a blog of his experiences in the Trojan War.
28 February 06
Visit To The Mother Ship
Fifty minutes is hardly any time at all for a visit to Powell’s, but it had to suffice. After my meeting yesterday, my coworker and I hopped on the streetcar for a quick visit to the legendary bookstore prior to taking the light rail out to the airport. I left with a haul of four books.
22 November 05
Language Learning
I’m back in Hebrew. I almost didn’t, because my three classmates were not going to come back, and the opportunity arose to take the same class over again.
Part of me was very weary of the idea but also welcomed the chance to consolidate what I’d learned. It was a huge learning curve at the beginning, there.
I finally feel as though I’m making some real progress: I was able to follow along with a lot of the prayers and readings at a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday. It’s the very best kind of motivation. I know you need to push hard to get anywhere but sometimes it’s nice to get this sense of accomplishment…
2 November 05
Be Obscure Clearly
Those who are fans of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style will be pleased to learn that this classic work has been turned into an operatic song cycle. It received its first performance last month in the reading room of the New York Public Library, the accompaniment performed by the Omit Needless Words Orchestra.
31 October 05
On Spokesweasels and Bark Mitzvahs
In the spirit of Word Spy comes the Double-Tongued Word Wrester dictionary, which describes itself as a “growing dictionary of old and new words from the fringes of English.”
Fitzmas, anyone?
25 October 05
Using Language
Today I co-taught a class on Culturally Inclusive and Non-Violent Language. Here’s why this is important:
“Keep your thoughts positive
Because your thoughts become your words
Keep your words positive
Because your words become your behavior
Keep your behaviorf positive
Because your behavior becomes your habit
Keep your habits positive
Because your habits become your values
Keep your values positive
Because your values become your destiny.”
—Mahatma Gandhi