ignorant opinions

-


I don't like Anne Lamott. She is the kind of endless chatty I don't like. The kind that has fourteen million stories about her life and ideas and friends. (Please note as the title says, this is an ignorant opinion ... I write this from reading five pages of one of her books I got from the library yesterday). 


And even as I write that, I remember that I actually do like Anne Lamott. I borrowed Bird by Bird from my sister and read the first 20 pages and thought it was very helpful. 


Let me spin everything around again and take a slight Lamottian tone. I think of myself as too occupied with the contents of books and many abstract notions (not that history is abstract, but it is past). I imagine that if Lamott was at a party she would be surrounded by guests and she would be telling story after story like a grownup shooting ducks at a carnival (assume the distance between shooter and ducks were set for children). And all the stories would be of her experience (insert crazy thing that happened to her, shocking family history or exotic location).  

And precisely when this happens, I would be sitting, slightly annoyed, and unable to think of a single personal story. I don't know why my brain has been trained out of that kind of sharing ... so much so that my memories itself are affected. If I was a character in a bad action/suspense sitcom on NBC there would be an episode where some mad doctor, under duress and torture would somehow open a metaphorical creaky door into a dramatic past that was intentionally hidden from me.  


I hate NBC shows. 


But I am at a loss as to why I am such a dreamer who struggles to engage in my own life, if that is even an accurate assessment. I have lived an interesting life. I have been places. Maybe sharing an ignorant opinion is a start to my being an annoying dominant personality at parties ... 


(Another ignorant opinion you don't want to hear about: I hate The Avett Brothers.) 

Comments

Matt said…
You're on you're way to party domination! Ha, this made me laugh.
April 13, 2021 at 6:29 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Intellectualized Racism is Still Racism

-
Image
John Eastman wrote an opinion piece in Newsweek on Aug 12th 2020 asking questions about Kamala Harris's right to run as Vice President. Eastman is actually arguing what he wishes/wants to the law to say: that you are only a citizen by birth if your are parent was a citizen, AKA he is questioning birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship is one of the unique things about America and it massively contributes to our diversity as a nation.  It is also born out of the racist maneuvering of the laws around slavery. The famous Dred Scott case of 1857, which contributed to starting the civil war, resulted in a 7-2 decision that African American Dred Scott had no claim because he was not a citizen. In an opinion written by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, the court ruled that black people "are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizen' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrum
Read more

Lack of Empathy from Liberals

-
I just finished a book which I don't want to name. It was by a really good parent and about parenting children with neurodifferences. It had great information and ideas in and and it came recommended to me by close friends who I love and respect and who are also exceptional parents. So I really don't have anything to say about the content of the book or the need for the book.  It was the tone. It was clear from many references this person was a certain type, an NPR listener, someone who used  to drink diet coke, fluent in a million cliches, etc. This type could be narrowed to white liberal, but lets just stick with liberal for the moment. One major beef liberals (which I consider myself in the completely impoverished terms we have for ourselves in this country) have with conservatives, is how narrow-minded they are and how they refuse to see various perspectives and have empathy for people who are different than themselves. Liberals typically wear the love of difference on thei
Read more

The Hearth

-
Image
"A stove used to furnish more than mere warmth. It was a focus, a hearth, a place that gathered the work and leisure of a family and gave the house a center. Its coldness marked the morning, and the spreading of its warmth the beginning of the day. It assigned to the different family members tasks that defined their place in the household. The mother built the fire, the children kept the firebox filled, and the father cut the firewood. It provided for the entire family a regular and bodily engagement with the rhythm of the seasons that was woven together of the threat of cold and solace of warmth, the smell of wood smoke, the exertion of sawing and of carrying, the teaching of skills and the fidelity to daily tasks." (Albert Borgmann: Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life ) So what is our new center? Warmth is now provided in a completely uniform way requiring no demands on our skill, strength or attention. In fact, the warmth device (central heating system) is c
Read more