Miles

As part of the follow-up research to my reading of Oakley Hall’s Warlock and The Art and Craft of Novel Writing, I ran across this Oakley gave at UC Berkeley. Oakley is introduced by Michael Chabon, one of his former students.

Jon Hassler is no longer with us. I stumbled across his name yesterday in the “In Memoriam” column of Poets and Writers. My enjoyment of Jon’s novels is difficult to explain. His characters lived in small mid-western towns or, in the case of the Rookery series, a small mid-western college town, and struggled with issues familiar to most of us. He didn’t rely on hobbits, wizards, psychopaths, political intrigue or explicit sex.

I find myself looking more closely at the obituaries these days. This habit started, I believe, after the death of Strummer. I’ve discovered many people this way, including David Lavender and, more recently, Oakley Hall. Presumably, authors who happen to make it into the L.A. Times’ obituaries have managed to distinguish themselves to some extent and, in the cases above, there is something in the obituary that interests me enough to more research or read one of the deceased books. This is an admittedly morbid way of compiling a reading list. It has the advantage of identifying authors based not on this season’s buzz, but rather on the strength of their life’s work. In my case, though, I find myself looking beyond the author’s career for something more, some aspect of their life that that resonates with my interests or some indication – and in authors’ obituaries that have particularly intrigued me have done so because there was some other aspect of their life that did so. In David Lavender’s case, something in his story – growing up in Colorado, working in a mine and later as a rancher, attending Stanford and later Princeton, and finally settling in Ojai, CA where he taught high school English as the well known prep school, Thatcher School. Here was a “Western Writer” who had been there.

So there was Jon, listed right under Oakley Hall and Nuala O’Faolain. At least he’s in good company.

(via Tim Ferriss)

A few weeks ago I heard a fellow diner at my local German deli recommend Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf. This was a book I had wanted to read (somewhere earlier I had heard the same recommendation, but the source of the earlier recommendation has been lost in my gray cells) so last week I picked up a copy and, unlike most books, I took the time to read the introduction. In the introduction, Heaney puzzles over the relative obscurity of Beowulf, arguably the epic English poem, compared to Greek mythology:

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In case you missed the new / personal interest articles telling his story (the one I spotted was in the LA Times), Mike Flynt is the 59 year old grandfather who has returned to play college football on the team was kicked off of for brawling in the dorms 37 years ago. More than the obvious the obvious physical challenge of playing college football at the age of 59 — it helped that Mike spent many of the years as a strength and conditioning coach at Nebraska, Oregon and Texas A&M — I find his ability to think outside of the box an inspiration. How many men his age, even the very fit ones, would even think about going back to play football with men less than half his age?

(Here’s an AP video.)

I was very busy at work this week. Layer on top of that Back-To-School Night and a PTA meeting and there’s little time to surf the internet. So again links are thin this week …

• ElevenTwentySeven — Wonderful Photos
• My friend Joseph Taylor joins the faculty at James Madison University’s School of Music

This week was a challenge with activities on a number of fronts (work and family) displacing my usual activities so that I was active only 5 days of seven. No use crying over spilt milk — here’s the tally:

W/E 9/14/2008:

• Surfing: I didn’t make it out this week.
• Walking-Running: 19.5 miles (18.5 miles walking + 1.0 miles running) (various distances each day 9/8, 9/9, 9/11 and 9/12)
• Stationary bicycle: 25 minutes @ a moderate pace

A number of people have recommended that, as I navigate through the current transition, I take this opportunity to exercise more. During the summer I took their advice, but on a very informal basis. This month, however, I decided to focus a bit more on the task and establish some concrete goals. At this point I have two informal goals: 1) participate in some form of exercise each day, and, b) run a 10K on or before my next birthday (March 2008).

At the end of the first week in September I can report that I fulfilled the first goal (below) and I’m happy with my progress toward the second goal.

W/E 9/7/2008:

• Surfing: 2 hours each day (9/1 and 9/2)
• Walking-Running: 20.5 miles (15 miles walking + 5.5 miles running) (various distances each day 9/3 - 9/8)

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I read this:

Assmosis: “The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.”

Source: Rick Fulmer via Dan Pink.

This week my attention was elsewhere so the links are thin this week …

• Alaska Glacier Surfing!?! (Look for a link to the right of the page.)
• My lunch with Sue Ann Jaffarian
• Holliman Lake? (Holliman Pond might be a better description.)