tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.comments2010-09-18T06:58:49.825-04:00Martha Nichols OnlineMartha Nicholshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-23541358125556814362010-02-17T20:46:19.354-05:002010-02-17T20:46:19.354-05:00I like the way you were able to link Proust with K...I like the way you were able to link Proust with Kool and the Gang. Isn't music one of the most powerful triggers of involuntary memory?<br /><br />I also liked your observation and description of the de-icing of jets at the airport You even described the two colors, pink and green! (Pink, known as "Type I" is applied first, to de-ice, and then the green "Type IV" is applied to provide anti-ice protection). Personally, I find being sprayed with anti-ice fluid while sitting in the airplane to be kind of surreal. Besides making me wonder--while watching the expensive equipment and manpower complete the environmentally offensive process--how an airline can ever make a dime in profit, it also triggers its own involuntary memory: that of riding in a car as a child with my grandmother as we went through the automated car wash. That was a rare treat.Ken Hertznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-88732376912170989442010-02-10T16:49:00.859-05:002010-02-10T16:49:00.859-05:00I would proudly become an inaugural member of the ...I would proudly become an inaugural member of the International Klutz Society! I have many more stories of klutziness to tell...Elizabeth Langosyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870671096712471918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-24413616328728035122010-02-10T14:21:19.520-05:002010-02-10T14:21:19.520-05:00Hi Martha, I just wanted to leave a quick note abo...Hi Martha, I just wanted to leave a quick note about your article in Salon (since apparently only paying members can comment?). Thank you SO much for such a wonderful article - I can completely relate to your feelings on the casting, having two four-year-old siblings adopted from China who love the show. So thanks for bringing awareness to this issue!Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13104675432124950429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-26478294716737623592010-02-08T18:16:16.330-05:002010-02-08T18:16:16.330-05:00David--The "dumbness of personal space"-...David--The "dumbness of personal space"--yes! That does convey some of what I feel.<br /><br />Elizabeth--It's terrible that you and your friend had these accidents, but I have to say it does me a world of good hearing about it(!) We should form the International Klutz Society (unless it already exists). Another friend sent me an e-card today signed "The Other Klutz." Solidarity is a beautiful thing.Martha Nicholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-60547544103571640762010-02-08T16:51:01.249-05:002010-02-08T16:51:01.249-05:00Martha, I can't tell you how many weird, klutz...Martha, I can't tell you how many weird, klutzy accidents I've had! I once won second place in a contest for "strangest accident." It was about the time I was hit by not one but TWO cars when I was riding a horse on a deserted country road. Here's the story of the person who won first place:<br /><br />My friend Gayle spent her junior year in Germany. One cold night, hurrying along the street with her hands in her pockets, she slipped on ice, was unable to catch herself, and smashed out her front teeth on the pavement. She was taken to a hospital where a doctor began to prod at her empty tooth sockets with a sharp little instrument, asking all the while "Schmerzen? Schmerzen?" ("It hurts?")<br /><br />Pain...terrible pain!!!Elizabeth Langosyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870671096712471918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-87596828271990865132010-02-08T15:16:22.420-05:002010-02-08T15:16:22.420-05:00You are too funny, Martha! Yes, there are born klu...You are too funny, Martha! Yes, there are born klutzes. My middle son, who is 6'5" and 235 pounds, is without doubt a klutz. I've seen him grab a door handle, rip it off the door, and then almost burst into tears, "Why does this always happen to me?"<br /><br />My theory, such as it is, is that some of us just don't have the bumper guards of consciousness surrounding our bodies...sort of a "dumbness of personal space." <br /><br />Not to say they're dumb. Far from it. Just seemingly unable to conceive of the way their bodies interface with the universe. <br /><br />Take care of yourself.David Biddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345556742542739160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-10130633039035084362010-01-29T21:20:39.247-05:002010-01-29T21:20:39.247-05:00Writing doesn't require publishing. Write for ...Writing doesn't require publishing. Write for yourself and then think through the pro's and con's of making it public later. The answer to what may be written about depends partly on the quality of the writing and how the material is handled. So it's hard to answer the question until the writing is done. <br /><br />With regard to mental illness, we're in a catch-22 to some extent. Secrecy adds to stigma. Yet, the stigma is what propels us towards secrecy. The cycle of secrecy and stigma does great harm. It isolates people and gets in the way of seeking treatment.<br /><br />Because mental illness (i.e., brain disease) affects thought and behavior in a way that other diseases don't, it gets linked to character. Stigma comes from the notion that brain disease is a reflection of character, when it fact it's a reflection biology and environment. Not that one's willfulness and power don't play a role in recovery or relapse, but that people with brain disease are unfairly compared to those without. Holding down a job for someone with chronic persistent mental illness might be a 100 or a 1000 times more difficult than someone without born with a silver spoon so to speak and all the breaks in the world. But which person gets credit for having greater character--the psychiatrically disabled person who helps out in a hospital kitchen every day, or the mortgage broker (before the housing collapse) who sent his or her children to private schools and lived in the big house on the hill.Alex Speredelozzinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-29324657022295898412010-01-28T08:47:34.140-05:002010-01-28T08:47:34.140-05:00You express this so beautifully, Joan. There are s...You express this so beautifully, Joan. There are so many ways that we stop ourselves and stifle our personal power. From inside the storm, it feels very dangerous.Martha Nicholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-47889627635171778882010-01-28T08:06:30.224-05:002010-01-28T08:06:30.224-05:00Thank you.
I have been wondering for years now wh...Thank you.<br /><br />I have been wondering for years now why it is that, now that I'm retired and can do as I like, I'm reluctant to put serious time into political activism or some other sort of effort to make the world a better place. This post throws a wonderful explanatory light on the question. It isn't just creativity that is stifled; when living with mental illness and the particular shame that is attached to it by our culture, personal power of all sorts is dangerous. The impulse to hide, to freeze, to avoid doing anything that might have an impact in the world, is natural in an environment where people are unpredictable and anything or nothing might call forth a disturbing reaction.<br /><br />I'll be reading selections from this to my shrink.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-57375328804103901832010-01-25T23:44:52.788-05:002010-01-25T23:44:52.788-05:00Following are short summaries of the most common a...Following are short summaries of the most common arguments made by researchers, teachers, parents, and students as to why using AR is counterproductive. Hence, The 18 Reasons Not to Use Accelerated Reader: <br />http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/reading/the-18-reasons-not-to-use-accelerated-reader/Mark Penningtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13184265967777133129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-77248376180487874162010-01-24T19:04:27.410-05:002010-01-24T19:04:27.410-05:00When the police are looking for someone who has di...When the police are looking for someone who has disappeared in just that way, they don't start with the name or anything else that is easily changed. They start with hobbies and interests. If a person liked motorcycle racing or Renaissance fairs before they took it on the lam, they will eventually drift back to that, no matter what region of the country, line of work or hair color they switch to.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-16623953579832650732010-01-15T14:20:46.149-05:002010-01-15T14:20:46.149-05:00Most of the time, people (by which I mean non-writ...Most of the time, people (by which I mean non-writers) should listen to their inner voices, especially when the inner voice advises more diplomacy or "pulling back of punches."<br /><br />Writers, on the other hand, often are more sensitive than said people: for example, becoming circumspect and even overly symbolic, perhaps for diplomacy's sake, perhaps for nuance, in order to rise above the petty. In doing so, writers often err on the side of treating their audience more sensitively than even the audience would want to be treated. (Of course, some bloggers do not suffer from over-sensitivity.) So, that is my take: The main dynamic is rarely between writer and subject, more often among a writer and her readers.<br /><br />Your reflection about lag time is also interesting. If you believe in the river of Heraclitus, then you yourself become a reader of your own writing, provided you allow yourself at least a day or so of pause. Even as a writer of software (for which design is paramount), I need to be my own reviewer by letting time separate myself from the intense love of my work.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15286928141020837185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-44519843849308389892010-01-13T23:38:50.850-05:002010-01-13T23:38:50.850-05:00Laurie, this a beautiful comment and full of all s...Laurie, this a beautiful comment and full of all sorts of evocative threads. You're right that this post worked because I made myself vulnerable in it, and when I do so, I'm in the zone with my writing. But all sorts of barriers come up when I write about others in a way that makes them vulnerable--and while it does restrain me, I think showing restraint in making such work public is the ethical thing to do. I'm not in Norman Mailer's camp on this one.<br /><br />It's very clear to me that I was right not to publish the piece I mentioned. I can also see that it's not working yet as a piece of writing. Too many punches have been pulled; the drama is undercut because of all that isn't explained and the self-protectiveness of my voice.<br /><br />If and when I'm able to expose myself in this particular piece, then it will cohere--and it will be something I can publish without feeling guilt. That's the wonderful irony of all this.Martha Nicholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-39118361404375985162010-01-13T14:21:12.718-05:002010-01-13T14:21:12.718-05:00Ironically, Martha, I think this might be your bes...Ironically, Martha, I think this might be your best blog to date. You are skating over the whole hemisphere of writing, regardless of where, or in what format, the writing appears. The selection/construction process of the delivered perspective, the inherent blindness and truth in that process, the role of your "real truth and loyalties," and the coy decisions those loyalties extract, are exhausting. In addition, there is the gruesome issue of self-image. Am I writer before I am anything else, including a parent, spouse, or best friend? Should I, as Norman Mailer suggested, do anything you need to do to write a great story? Anything?<br />With autobiographical fiction, a wobbly medium, a hinterland of aesthetics and self-delusion, the quandary isn’t always so much truth, as presenting a truth. The primal effort of selecting the material from life, the right material, to translate the reality you mean to translate, is crucial, and potentially wretchedly disloyal. Everyone's first fiction workshop guru probably told them to write about what you know, but what you know is pretty cluttered. There is a dynamic peephole inside the clutter that will tell the story precisely, but getting there can be one of 100 multiple choice answers. The brain swarms, and gets angry at everything that is complicating and crowding that simple route through truth and beauty. And by the way, was the discarded material a latent form of self-aggrandizement? Did I exclude, in the first person narrator who looks and smells a lot like me, that I am pudgy and pimpled, someone terminally outside of the sweet posse of popular kids? Am I a Thomas Wolfe, writing in that big, bloated, subjective arena of moi? That selection process you describe, for me, is usually the raw essence of writer's block. The potential story is so laden with endless, endless possibilities that I feel like an eleven year old in a very abstract math class. The borders of this morass, this writerly ontology, are simply too nebulous. How many grains of sand, and along those lines, how many ways to tell my heartfelt story?<br /> So...I have no answers to your questions, but I appreciate your questions. They address the many times when a keen native voice, a voice out of nowhere, a voice with judgment and boundaries, won’t take us by the hand a la Virgil and Dante, and escort us through the writing. In those moments, I suggest a little William S. Burroughs, who made great progress in blurring and bypassing the selection process.Laurie Weiszhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18132708530832803723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-25981360082148636682010-01-11T15:42:33.204-05:002010-01-11T15:42:33.204-05:00I think you're right, Karen, about heeding the...I think you're right, Karen, about heeding the inner voice. I'll also probably be showing the unpublished piece to my writing group because sometimes I'm just too close to tell. That lack of distance in blogging both exhilarates and disturbs me. Then again, that could be just the right stance for creating engaging stories.<br /><br />Thanks, as always, for your support. It means a lot, especially as I wrestle through issues like this.Martha Nicholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-31328282476161102832009-12-14T14:36:28.286-05:002009-12-14T14:36:28.286-05:00Thanks for clarifying where the pig's blood ca...Thanks for clarifying where the pig's blood came from, aili. Your comment and information is timely, because I'm reworking the piece this week for my blog on Open Salon, and I was going to delve into some of the history a bit more.Martha Nicholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-20749955313936744302009-12-14T13:13:49.105-05:002009-12-14T13:13:49.105-05:00In response to the comment by Joanhello, regarding...In response to the comment by Joanhello, regarding the spattering of pig's blood - this was actually done not by Woolman, but by another Quaker abolitionist, Benjamin Lay. <br /><br />Lay is infamous for his dramatic personality and even more dramitic methods of protest. The blood episode involved Lay entering Quaker meeting, removing his coat to reveal a military uniform worn underneath, and commenting upon slavery, he drew a sword and stabbed a (fake) blood filled hollowed out bible, splattering those standing nearby. Such actions resulted in Lay's disownment from the Society of Friends (less for his beliefs than for his manner of voicing them). <br />John Greenleaf Whittier describes this episode in his introduction to John Woolman's Journal, which can be viewed at the Street Corner Society website http://www.strecorsoc.org/jwoolman/appre1.html.<br /><br />All I've read on Woolman consistently portrays him as mild mannered in his promotion of abolition, and that this humble approach was where his success in convincing others lay. <br /><br />I really enjoyed your description of your child's classroom experience. Sounds like a moving experience.ailihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07187432388723542599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-52684862269364624462009-12-09T19:13:18.905-05:002009-12-09T19:13:18.905-05:00Thank you for steering me to this page Martha. I h...Thank you for steering me to this page Martha. I had always imagined the Quakers a reserved, quiet bunch, so how interesting to discover some were quite outspoken about their convictions. I'm going to check out the links that you provided and look forward to your post on OS.Lacey Driggarsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-1294495391601126582009-12-09T13:17:07.081-05:002009-12-09T13:17:07.081-05:00what a lovely and inspired reflection for election...what a lovely and inspired reflection for election day......our american lore is so fraught with imperfect high-mindedness and ideals...makes the reading of our history that much more human, a little closer and more real to each of us.fran croninhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18194088119118307719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-36177694662034705522009-12-09T10:16:24.648-05:002009-12-09T10:16:24.648-05:00Great additional info, Joan. After cruising throug...Great additional info, Joan. After cruising through Woolman's <i>Journal</i> writings yesterday, I did have the sense that he was quite the dour sort, but that really is in keeping with his gadfly actions.<br /><br />Although some would say--and he would claim--that he used simple words and actions to demonstrate his convictions rather than ravings.<br /><br />The Quakers have a whole long history of standing up and making pests of themselves, of course...Martha Nicholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-32025282543803874392009-12-09T09:55:15.899-05:002009-12-09T09:55:15.899-05:00You inspired me to hunt up the Next Whole Earth Ca...You inspired me to hunt up the <i>Next Whole Earth Catalog</i> entry on Woolman, written by Anne Herbert, author of <i>Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty</i>, as part of "The Rising Sun Neighborhood Newsletter". It's longer than I remembered, so I'm just going to excerpt the relevant couple of paragraphs telling how Woolman was single-handedly responsible for making opposition to slavery an official part of Quaker doctrine, and he wasn't always nice in his tactics:<br /><br />",,.he...also did jolly things like standing outside the meeting houses and as people entered bursting a previously concealed bladder of blood in his hands saying all Quaker slaveowners and people who permitted slaveowners in the meeting were covered with blood.<br /><br />"After he did this for fifteen or twenty years and got covered with spit and hatred, Quakers decided that no Quaker could own slaves and all Quakers were abolitionists (as opposed to gradualists, which is what they'd been before). Anyone who got lonely being an abolitionist could become a Quaker or hang out with Quakers. Almost anything you read about John Woolman would convince you he wasn't a fun person to be around - no small talk, all "The Lord's wrath will visit the land which permits man to own man," and such like, never a relaxed moment, but he did do the job as the vanguard of the vanguard, which can't be relaxing."<br /><br />We tend to bemoan the modern character, so inclined to take the easy road and disinclined to do the hard work of making the world a better place, but the human character has always been like this. We have always needed persistent gadflies like Woolman to get us off our butts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-79851367897243805042009-12-08T21:28:48.889-05:002009-12-08T21:28:48.889-05:00Thanks! Glad to stop by your blog, Jody, I really ...Thanks! Glad to stop by your blog, Jody, I really enjoy it. I was fascinated by Woolman, too, and surprised (and embarrassed) that I'd never really heard of him before.Martha Nicholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-11967331663574861332009-12-08T19:14:43.120-05:002009-12-08T19:14:43.120-05:00What a fascinating story of John Woolman. This kin...What a fascinating story of John Woolman. This kind of history totally intrigues me. I had started researching the abolition movement in England earlier in the year hoping to write another book set in England. But alas, my publisher moved me to an American setting for now. But I loved reading your post and am tucking this information away for future reference! Thank you! Ande thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday!Jody Hedlundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12424307540530719614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-40452232001719683262009-12-02T14:39:31.194-05:002009-12-02T14:39:31.194-05:00So we now need a new warning on movies and interne...So we now need a new warning on movies and internet content. Caution, may contain random acts of cuteness?<br />I am very much over sensationalist journalism that insists on dramatising non-issues. <br />Thanks for sharing this post.Cassandra Jadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17515442718374750674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3757067101685257497.post-8049088348242584672009-12-01T14:58:01.592-05:002009-12-01T14:58:01.592-05:00You're right, Joan, I think it comes down to a...You're right, Joan, I think it comes down to a gut-level kind of sexism and fear of emotions--or expression of emotions. The fear of strong emotion is probably behind our love of cuteness, too, as everything gets diminished down to a socially acceptable size.<br /><br />What I really object to in something like VF, with its pretensions to cultural power-brokering, is the veiled nature of the real agenda, be it sexist, elitism, or fear of strong feelings like love and maternal attachment.Martha Nicholshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02125887259454036708noreply@blogger.com