Wisdom is for statues. Humor uncaps our inhibitions, unleashes our energies, seals friendships, patches hurts. Laughing is probably the most alive you can be.
Durham Comics Project
The Durham County Library has some great librarians interested in graphic novels and cartooning. Here’s a link to the Durham Comics Project site, with an absolutely charming little strip drawn by a little girl in their comics workshop. The strip is titled “Our New Swing Set.”
I love the little look of puzzlement as they’re building the set.
Furlough Diary – Day 10
I work for a government contractor, and we were sent home at 11:30am on Tuesday, Oct. 1. The company (rather generously, believe it or not) covered everyone’s hours that week. This week, we’re taking mandatory vacation. No indication yet what next week’s plan is. Continue reading “Furlough Diary – Day 10”
Movie: “Enough Said”
Warning – Mild spoiler alert. I don’t reveal plot points, but if you read this post, you’ll be able to put it together.
We’ve had an astonishingly good run of movies this summer, apart from the abysmal — dare I say Pepto-Bysmal — “Blue Jasmine.”
Our latest was “Enough Said,” a small, sweet romantic comedy from writer-director Nicole Holofcener that is a terrific star vehicle for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose acting and energy I’ve always liked. It’s also one of James Gandofini’s last movies and what a nice note to go out on. Continue reading “Movie: “Enough Said””
Ebooks—What We Gain, What We Lose
Link: Ebooks—What We Gain, What We Lose | doug toft
Writer Doug Toft finished reading a big book on his Kindle, and noted the positives and negatives of ebooks, ending with a pensive quote from David Byrne.
Byrne is right to be concerned about the persistence of ebooks. Ebooks and PDFs will last only as long as there is technology — hardware and software combined — to run and display them.
Consider that most of the books and artifacts of written language we have from the ancient world survived by accident, before the age of temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms, before the age of professional librarians. We have a great understanding of paper’s tolerances and preserving books and paper is not that expensive, overall. Digital objects are, by comparison, more fragile and, as Byrne notes, more ephemeral.
Each of us has a different capacity to give to others without losing ourselves. Some of us can give only a bit, some of us give so much there is nothing of us left. Your real job, not necessarily the one you get paid for, is to find the opportunity to infuse meaning into your life by challenging yourself to give in a way that jeopardizes your happiness.
Look around for where you can make a big difference. It is likely a place that will shake you up.
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