One of the best things about tutoring an inquisitive ninth grader in the humanities – literature and history, writing and global studies – is that I have the opportunity to revisit stories I have read in the distant past, when I was a different person. Doesn’t the passage of time change us at least a little (or maybe even immensely)? Reading stories a second time makes me notice and appreciate the way I have changed. Thus, I found myself re-reading Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (Hilda Rosner’s translation). The first time I read it I was 19. I was on a plane. When I reached the last page, I remember looking…
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Eavesdropping on a Conversation with Ursula K. Le Guin
It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end. On a cold and windy Sunday afternoon, Bill and I settled into our seats in UCLA’s Royce Hall to listen to Ursula Le Guin in conversation with Meryl Friedman from UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. It felt something like participatory eavesdropping (where one does not have to pretend in any way not to be eavesdropping). It was also a 90-minute dose of inspiration. I want to share with you a few notes I jotted down. And I will share this with you: I have carried around Ursula Le…
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Whistler’s First Lesson: Manage Your Palette
If you cannot manage your palette, how are you going to manage your canvas? In Glasgow, Scotland, we visited the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Art Gallery and discovered a treasure trove: The Whistler Collection. Upon James McNeill Whistler’s death in 1903 (b. 1834), most of his work went to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), who had been Whistler’s companion and assistant since the death of Whistler’s wife Beatrix (1857-1896). The Whistler Collection includes the contents of his house and studio at the time of his death, including unfinished work and artist’s materials. Rosalind Philip outlived Whistler by 55 years. During those years, she devoted herself to safeguarding Whistler’s reputation. Eventually,…
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An Unexpected Journey: Breast Cancer
I received a diagnosis of invasive breast cancer six years ago, two weeks before I was due to go on a much anticipated 2 1/2 week trip with William and Natalie. I am so glad my surgeon realized that I not only wanted to still go on the trip, but that I needed to go. She realized I needed to feel emotionally prepared and at peace about having surgery. It also didn’t hurt that I had found a medical reason in my research (revealed below) that made sense to her. I thought back to those emotional weeks in my life while reading an article in the New York Times this…
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Older = Wiser?
People of a certain age group 🙂 get frustrated when we sometimes can’t remember a word or name or place when we know we know… So frustrating! It can feel like we are sitting in the Blackstone Chair and can’t remember the answer to the question we know we know! Indeed, research shows that cognitive function slows as people age. But, guess what? Speed isn’t everything. A recent study pointed out that older people have much more information in their brains than younger ones. Retrieving it takes longer. But while younger people are faster in tests of cognitive performance, older people show “greater sensitivity to fine grained differences” (Topics in…
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Skipping Middle School Taught Us…
It’s been six years since our family made the bold decision to “skip middle school” and home school Natalie during her 7th and 8th grade years. At the time, some people questioned our judgement. One mother asked, “What about high school? If you do this, won’t Natalie have a hard time getting into a good school?” Yet others expressed their envy and support. One man confided, “I’m still recovering from middle school. If only I could have skipped it.” Natalie and I took notes during our two years and then we wrote our story about the fears we faced and overcame, the trust (and schoolhouse) we built together, the “Professor-Daddy”…
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Creativity = Courage + Uncertainty + Curiosity
“The creative place is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can’t go there by bus, only by hard work, risking, and by not quite knowing what you’re doing. What you’ll discover will be wonderful: yourself.” — Alan Alda Being creative isn’t limited to disciplines practiced by artists, writers, musicians, dancers… We have been lucky enough to have a husband-wife carpentry team who has created all types of creative projects in our home. Recently, we decided we had stubbed our toes one time too many on the baseboard of our bed.…
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The Perfect Baguette
Two posts ago, I wrote about discovering the perfect book, which I found in a delightful book shop in London. Read my post: Persephone, A Novel Book Shop here http://twointhemiddle.com/2015/07/23/persephone-a-novel-bookshop/ Each year Paris holds a competition for the Best Baguette. Numerous bakers enter in hopes of having their baguette designated the Best Baguette. I loved learning about this year’s winner: Antonio Teixeira, who is only 24. A total of 187 baguettes were submitted for a blind tasting, but 50 were rejected for not being the correct size (55-65cm) or weight (250g-300g). The loaves must not contain more than 18 grammes of salt per kilo of flour. Each is judged…
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Post Trip: A New Morning Routine
After returning from a trip, as I have just done (read my posts about our trip to London, Edinburgh and Glasgow), I find that it’s a good time to try some new things at home. I’ve decided to change my early morning routine and see what happens. Instead of reading the newspaper in the morning, which informs me but also agitates me, I’m reading books for twenty minutes while I have my morning coffee. I then read the newspaper later in the afternoon (with a cup of tea to soothe my soul). This morning I chose to read a bit from two books. You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for…
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Persephone — A Novel Bookshop
The morning after our arrival in London, Natalie awakens at four a.m. and cannot go back to sleep. Instead she reads and studies the map of London and gets all excited about visiting Persephone Books. Natalie has been studying Persephone’s website — http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk — for weeks before our trip and has identified the books she wants to find and place in her suitcase. (Note: Some will have to be mailed due to her small suitcase being unable to accommodate the weight and volume.) To set the stage, here are few introductory notes from their website: “Persephone Books began in a room above a pub in the spring of 1998. Founder…
