Writing Contest Unwritten Rules, Revisited

I didn’t know what to blog about today, until Hardingfele suggested our conversation regarding the Public Radio writing contest (you may remember my post about their unwritten rules), so here goes: Hardingfele sent me her story today, and I said it wouldn’t win because it wasn’t the right style. She asked what it was missing, and I said:

“I don’t know how to explain it. They are looking for a very particular style of writing, which I neither like nor can emulate. There is a pervading sense of sorrow, and the protagonist is flawed but comes to realize it by the end of the story. I don’t have any interest in reading about over privileged white women realizing that their lives aren’t perfect because they are focusing on unimportant things, unless it is that they have a spiritual epiphany, which they never did in the winning stories. To me, that is the only thing that could fill all these women’s yearnings. So you have to address the angst that only a spiritual life can fix, but without bringing spirituality into it.”

She said, “You nailed that, exactly.” That got us thinking about how we both have leftist sensibilities, but upper middle class white liberals do drive us crazy, and I think these stories provide the key. When you don’t have God in your life, but your material needs are all fulfilled, you feel a deep longing that people who either are striving to survive or who have a relationship with God don’t have. Then you look around you, trying to fill that emptiness but not with God, and you settle on trying to change things that are unjust, but you focus on the wrong things. For example, Hardingfele told me about a “Safety Pin Ally” thing, in which whites full of liberal guilt wear safety pins to show their solidarity with people of color. Now I am not a person of color, so I cannot speak for them, but I imagine such a move would strike me as an empty gesture. How hard is it to wear a safety pin? What does it cost the wearer? It does not involve any work or having to face the fact that you do have advantages because of your own whiteness. I have been thinking for the last few months about what my response to racism could be that would be helpful, and I am thinking of volunteer work. It seems more productive to ask the victims of racism what they actually need (mentoring?) rather than wearing a pin they never asked you to wear.

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The Pack Are Back! Phew!

I am very happy because the Packers finally won last night. It had been a while! Their offense scored right away after a monster drive down the field, and I thought, “At least they have shown up to play!” But the defense did not seem capable of stopping the Eagles from answering with their own touchdown. However, after that the defense started to come to life too, batting the ball down and even intercepting it, while the offense kept racking up points. And this was on the road – and the Eagles were undefeated at home! It’s good to have our Pack back! Though I do have to admit that the officiating seemed weirdly biased towards the Packers. Now let’s see if they can keep up this momentum…

In sad sports news, a soccer team from Brazil just died in a plane crash as they were on their way to a tournament. They were a small-time team who had really begun to coalesce the last couple of years, and this year they were on their way to the second-tier championship, with their sights on the first-tier one next year. It was a Cinderella story with a tragic ending. Pray for them and their devastated fans.

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Thanksgiving Weekend Hiking and Jazz

Sorry for the long silence. I hope my readers had a good Thanksgiving – mine was very relaxing! Wednesday evening Travalon and I started off our four-day weekend by going to Octopi for their Trivia Night. Our team (“Famous Hats”) came in fourth out of eleven, and that was just the two of us versus teams with about six people. We want to try it again sometime!

Thanksgiving Day Travalon and I spent a few hours with his mother, then we went for a hike on Tivoli Island in Watertown, and then we went to Rich’s crazy dinner. There were about twenty people there, including most of the Rosary Ladies, two little kids and a whole enclave of vegetarians at one end of the table. A political discussion did break out among the vegetarians, but I was able to avoid it from where I was sitting just at the edge of their section, and some random singing broke out too, but that I don’t mind as much. I spent much of my time talking to a delightful woman from Nicaragua. As always, I provided the turkey and other people brought all sorts of things, including at least three types of sweet potatoes and half a dozen pies.

Friday Travalon and I took the day off of work, slept in, and made chocolate croissants for breakfast. We drove to Reedsburg to visit the Corner Pub and took a long hike in Mirror Lake State Park. Anna Banana II was in town briefly from North Dakota, so we met her, Jilly Moose, and OK Cap for dinner at Himal Chuli. Some of them went on to Rich’s house for leftover dessert, but by then Travalon was really not feeling too well, so we just went home and had a quiet evening.

Saturday Travalon was really under the weather, so we did not travel to Ma and Pa Hat’s house. I met the Rosary Ladies and Rich for brunch at Crema Café, then we went to the craft market and the pottery place in the same strip mall. I had been hoping to get Kathbert to come up to Cherokee Marsh because I knew she would remember how to get to the boardwalk, and indeed she did! We went for a long hike in the marsh, running into a bandmate of mine, then we went to Rich’s for leftovers. Thanksgiving Part Two!

Yesterday we went to brunch at Sofra in Middleton, then Travalon was feeling well enough to go on a gentle hike in Cherokee Marsh, so I was able to show him the boardwalk. We also went to a memorial concert for Doc DeHaven, a local jazz trumpeter and high school music teacher who had died this summer at the age of 85, and that was great. Different groups played all sorts of jazz, and it was all the kinds I like. (True confession: I am not an Ornette Coleman fan.) So it was a wonderfully relaxing weekend, and Travalon was recovered enough to go to work today.

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Ukulele Newbie Christmas Jam

I want to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving. I will be going to Travalon’s family’s dinner for lunch and then Rich’s place for dinner. As if that won’t be way too much food, we had a potluck at work for lunch today, so I am already over my calorie budget and haven’t even eaten dinner yet. Sorry for my silence the last couple of days. Monday evening I joined a bunch of other ukulele newbies to play a number of tunes (including some Christmas ones) at a retirement community right near my house. If it weren’t so dark and cold, I could easily have walked! It was mostly a jam, but we did have an appreciative audience of some of the residents. When we played “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” a couple of relatives of one ukulele player stood above us on a balcony and danced around with stuffed hippopotami. (Is that a word? Spellcheck doesn’t mind it.) Then last night I totally forgot about the magic berries they had at Liliana’s (they make sour food taste sweet), so Travalon and I went swimming in the warm pool at our health club. On further reflection, that was probably a better choice: getting some exercise burns off calories, while eating magic berries adds them, and we already paid for the health club while we would have had to pay for the berries. All the same, I was sort of bummed when I remembered this afternoon about the berries. People tell me it is the craziest thing! Slices of lemon taste just like candy! Maybe someday I will get another chance to try them…

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Shakespeare Folio

I hope my readers had a good weekend. Mine was a little quieter than past ones due to the cold weather. Friday evening Travalon and I did join Rich, Cecil Markovitch, and the Single B-Boy for the fish fry at the Dorf Haus. They had tropical plants out in containers, and it really bothers me that people treat tropical plants as annuals that can be thrown away each year. How hard would it be to bring them inside?

Saturday Travalon had to work, so I met Rich for coffee and then went to a free concert at Grace Episcopal: Lute Player’s husband on the organ, joined by a violinist. Lots of Bach, which is what sold me on it. Then I went to the Chazen Art Museum to see the Shakespeare folio, which looks like a book, and not even that old compared to some I’ve seen. I believe it was dated 1623. I also checked out some of the art there: didn’t like the modern stuff, loved the Asian and African stuff, and really enjoyed an exhibit of photographs of the facades of Gothic cathedrals. In the afternoon Travalon and I went to Sauk to see if we could spot any eagles; we didn’t, but we did get an impressive view of water spewing over the dam, and the town was done up charmingly with Christmas lights. Then we met OK Cap for dinner at Bellitalia.

Sunday after Mass Travalon and I had brunch with Cecil at the Crema Café, then we ran some errands, and then we went to the movie Arrival, about a linguist trying to communicate with space aliens. I felt it was a more realistic depiction of how a first contact might go than you generally see at the movies, but the mind-blowing twist was, on further reflection, not at all logical. We took a hike around Teideman’s Pond and then watched the Packer game, which started kind of okay but devolved in the second half when the defense couldn’t stop Washington. We have just resigned ourselves to this being a bad year for them – now they have a losing record. Ah well, they can’t be good every year, and they are good most years. The announcers did make some comment about how fans are getting frustrated because we are so spoiled, with the Pack going to the playoffs every year. However, I would say Packer backers have been loyal through some historically low periods, like the decade before Lombardi and of course the 80’s. They will be good again someday. Look how long it took the Cubs to win again!

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Milkweed Collectors Helped the War Effort

Sorry that I didn’t blog yesterday. Travalon and I went to the East Side Club’s Thanksgiving dinner for members, which was catered by Bunky’s. (They have closed their restaurant and only do catering now.) We sat at a table with three kindergarten teachers who were very friendly, and one tried to talk me into joining the Social Committee. Not that I have an abundance of free time, but maybe that way I would at least know when social events have been canceled… After dinner, a member talked about how as a child during World War II she collected milkweed pods so the fuzz inside could be used to make life preservers, and several other people in the audience had done the same thing. I had no idea this huge war effort existed! The speaker had even made a DVD of two survivors of the USS Indianapolis disaster (if you didn’t know anything about this, join the club) who had survived in the ocean for five days before being rescued, thanks to their milkweed down-filled life preservers! It is kind of cool to think that back then kids were expected to contribute to the war effort with such an age-appropriate yet obviously important task. Not that I desire in any way to be in a war, but I wish there were something that united us all the way the war effort seemed to unite people seventy years ago. We could sure use it after this contentious election!

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Chinese Light Festival Photos

Sorry that I didn't blog yesterday. I was very tired after Irish class, but after uploading the photos from my phone onto my computer, I realize there are enough for at least three posts. Today's post will just be of the Chinese light festival Travalon and I went to a couple of weekends ago.

Oyster with pearls

Chinese fan 

I took this picture because she looks like she is playing a mandolin!

These lotus blossoms were overhead as we walked on a boardwalk.

This dragon was huge!

Ginkgo tree

Pandas!

Year of the Tiger

I didn't think the Year of the Pig was that cute, but Travalon and I both liked this Year of the Goat depiction, and the goat is my Western sign.

Peacock

Tomorrow I will try to post photos from our Lower Dells trip and some of our other road trips.

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