Iowa City Meanderings

A Moment of Perfection

2010-04-16T06:02:00.000-07:00

Today, while I was commuting to work on the bus, I had a rare moment of experiencing perfection. The bus driver on my route, a generally quiet but diligent man, played classical music which is turned up to a level that the entire bus can't help but hear it. One of the riders was listening to an instrumental hip-hop piece on his iPod which he played at a high enough level for him to drown out the classical music and simultaneously loud enough to me to hear, even though he had earbuds.

So, while others texted, read their newspapers, stared blankly out of the bus window, I was treated to the blend of both urbane and urban music which synced up to produce a symphony that had to be heard to be believed. As the bus rolled toward my destination, I smiled in a secretive way that comes from knowing something tow which others are not a party.

Differences between people can often cause disharmony; but this morning, this splendid, sunny Friday morning, two very different people created the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Too bad they couldn't hear it too.

Meandering # 19

2010-02-25T12:31:00.001-08:00

I wasn’t expecting to feel this way at this point in my life. I can distinctly remember my mother having phone conversations with her mother that were largely about this Aunt being sick or that friend dying. It seemed like that was the only communication my mother and her mother had on a regular basis. But I am 51 years old. My friends are not supposed to be sick or dying. And yet they are.
What do you do with the information? What do you do when one out of three people you know are having a bad go of things? My reaction is to become more tired and earth-weary. I know it is not me that is going through the experience, but I worry. I worry that my wife could become ill or my best friend. I worry that I could become ill or slip on the sidewalk and have a brain embolism.

Ridiculous notions usually--but because of the circumstances of others, how farfetched am I being? I don’t want to become one of those people who become hyper-cautious because they are afraid that they will buy the farm somehow, some way. Yet, I find myself going back and forth between ignoring the woes of others and checking my own pulse.

More ridiculous is the fact that most people I know are alive and well and aging appropriately. How can I choose to worry so much over the one in three when two out of three are doing so well? Maybe it is a six o’clock news mentality that has crept into my brain and cannot cope with happiness while “your dog may be an AIDS carrier” is fresh on my mind.
I am beginning to understand why people become hermits. At least when you divorce yourself from the world, the only woes you have to deal with are your own. Of course that empathy vaporizes rapidly when you consider that some hermits write manifestos and send out letter bombs.

Am I fated to feel the gravity of lives falling apart around me to the point that I too end up stiff and horizontal? Or is it possible that I will become so inoculated by other people’s bad news that I will barely look up from my dinner when I hear my wife offering condolences over the phone. Maybe what will happen is that I will finally begin to appreciate the finality of this life and enjoy my time more than I do. I hope I do. If not, I hope that my friends and loved ones will be more respectful of my need to have them around for a while longer.

Chuck's 60th Birthday

2009-05-31T23:33:00.000-07:00

The Need for Honest Conversation

2009-03-04T04:09:00.000-08:00

I go to lunch occasionally with a fellow who served on the city council and whose viewpoint I often disagreed. However, we do have some common interests, jazz, Chicago, and most importantly, the belief in honest dialogue about difficult issues. It is through these pow-wows that I have formed a positive opinion about a person that many people I know are unable to stomach.

I am not setting myself up to be angelic, certainly there are times when I don't want to play nice with people who's viewpoint is polar-opposite of mine, but my experience has taught me that to have any chance for any person to budge from their position requires trust and trust requires genuine listening and empathy. And, yes, it requires budge a little from your own position too.

I wonder how many people have honest conversations these days? There are so many issues that we should talk about. The function of race, gender, wealth, religion, sexuality are some things that come immediately to mind. Probably because they push our buttons more than other things. But what if people had dialogues with people who are different from them about topics like these? Could it make things perceptively better or worse? I don't know, but I'm always up to a good conversation.

This is too Cool!

2009-02-01T06:37:00.000-08:00

See how our blue marble looks from out there.

Photos of EARTH by Sunita Williams???

View more presentations from Rahul Tiwari. (tags: rahul rt)

And you Are (Almost) There

2009-01-29T13:19:00.000-08:00

For those of us who didn't make it to the Inauguration (like the bloggers over at Blog for Iowa), here is the next best thing a super-hi-defininition view of the proceedings. If you zoom in close enough, you might see someone from the Iowa delegation (hopefully not doing anything untoward). click here.

Small Acts

2009-01-28T23:28:00.000-08:00

Over a lifetime a person gets to know him/herself fairly well, at least it is my experience. I have learned that change is generally a series of micro-events that coalesce be big events. The civil rights act was propelled by the smaller acts of thousands or perhaps millions of people who lent their support to assist those who were being persecuted. The election of Barack Obama is probably a similar phenomena as people really are changing their mind about who is "leader" material. Certainly those of us who are on the tail end of the Baby Boom and those Gen X, Y, and now the Millennials have different experiences where race is concerned.

But a different sort of sea change is fomenting and that is a call to be of service. I hear many more people giving their time to causes, but it is more than that. For instance, there is a man on the bus I ride that makes it a point to run ahead of the other riders who get off at a particular stop and open a door for every one. And the very cool thing is that other people have begun holding a second door open for the person behind them and making eye contact to acknowledge that person's humanity.

Now actions like that some would say are politenesses, not harbingers of a larger change. I say that people are actively looking for ways to matter. It is likely what got President Obama elected. Certainly it is what got thousands of people to help clean up a flood in Iowa.

It is a number of small acts that are adding up to a tidal wave of change in our world. We are living in a truly remarkable time.

Rhapsodizing While Winterizing

2008-12-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that Winter began last night. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was impressed by its viciousness--what with the nosehair-freezing temperatures and all. But still, you'd think that winter would get the message that people don't care for it very much.

Winter, as season's go, is the one that people see coming at the party and conveniently turn to speak to anyone else when it walks toward them. Winter, if you are listening, you are in need of a makeover. For one thing, do you have to be such a cold bastard? Couldn't you mix it up a little bit so that we could enjoy the sensation in our extremities for at least part of your time with us?

Also, the white stuff. We like the white stuff conceptually. We actuallly look forward to the first downpouring of your by-product. It worked in "White Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman." But the continuous pounding we take from you is a real buzz kill. So to summarize, Christmas--yes, please snow, from February to mid-April, no need to trouble yourself.

And then there is Winter fashion. There is no person the planet that looks good in a parka. If procreation of the species were dictated by Winter garments, we would have died off a long time ago. It was evolution that allowed us to devise bare-bottomed union suits, fireplaces, and hot rum toddies.

Finally, people don't do so well on ice. You may not have noticed that the National Hockey League does not have an endless sea of qualified players. Most of us are not particularly good on the slippery stuff and we haven't evolved to develop blades on the bottom of our feet at this point. Kids like sliding around on icy sidewalks because it is as close to driving a car as they are allowed to experience until they are teenagers. The rest of us truly have no need to crack our skulls open.

I will give you one thing, if you were a rock n' roll band, I'd go to your concert. Fall is a great opening act, and Spring is a hell of a headliner. The fact that we have to sit through you is a credit to your chilling staying power.

The Dumb Will Inherit the Earth

2007-11-14T15:30:00.000-08:00

I wonder if all the analysis of politics has discovered what I have learned anecdotally, that dumb people win elections. That is not to say dumb candidates win (although are examples fo some who do). No, it in close elections it is the dumb voter that wins the race.

Now the dumb vote works two ways: a) they don't vote at all--which could make them smarter than I am giving them credit for b) they vote for the worse of the two candidates in key electoral states(Refer to 2000 and 2004 elections).

I used to think that candidates actually tried to appeal to this large voting bloc, but I think it is simply too difficult to reach them, short of playing Toby Keith tunes at a campaign stop.

As long as a person has a pulse and will be 18 on election day, they can vote. The conventional wisdom is the illiterate will be left out because they can't read the ballot...or find a polling place, but they aren't the same as the dumb.

The dumb will vote but will do so with their primordial brains. For instance, they can take in the same information as the rest of us and come up with a conclusion that is lacking in logic--e.g., "the Mexicans are taking all our good jobs" (yes, millions of qualified Americans are lining up at meat processing plants to shoot cattle in the head and gut them in sub-zero temperatures).

The dumb are easily identifiable as they cast more votes for American Idol than for Congress, bedeck their cars and trucks with flags and magnets which serve to help the rest of us avoid driving next to them.

Geographically many people believe they live mostly in the South or Southwest, but clearly, they are everywhere and multiplying. You can find yahoos from Maine to California, though they tend to like high plains states or areas with motor speedways conveniently nearby.

Autumnal Meandering

2007-10-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

As I was filling my birdfeeder the other day, I noticed a very real affect of mankind on the beasties that hang around the neighborhood. In my quince bush, seventeen very fat nuthatches squatted on the branches and waited silently for me to finish my duty.

As I walked back toward the house, the aforementioned nuthatches made a beeline toward the feeder, flipped it upward momentarily, and hovered as it pendulously came to a halt. Then they stacked on top of each other to get to the tasty seeds and kernels that awaited them.

A dove landed and pecked at seeds that the voracious nuthatches had spilled from above. Meanwhile, a neighborhood cat started to slink toward the dove fancying to give the symbol of peace a chance to become breakfast.

Summer Time: Where Did It Go?

2007-08-27T14:14:00.001-07:00

Summer time and the living is easy? Who came up with that load of hooey? Summer, in the world of the middle aged, is when spring segues into fall like a extended hot flash (this I infer from my wife, who is quite the expert).

But, lest I seem like a crank of a man, I am told by those of a scientific mind that our biological clocks are as much to blame for this feeling than the actual reality of it. As we get older, time does actually fly, unless slowed down by massive pill or alcohol consumption.

This summer, between over-extending myself, and not really having a vacation, I have found myself looking at the calendar and realizing that August is really the cruelest month, rather than the April I swear we had just left not so long ago.

So as I look forward to fall, which will likely feel more like winter by the time I realize it, I bid adieu-- summer, I hardly knew ye.

Meandering #11 - Constant Surprise

2007-06-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

I am not disappointed by my life. I have experencied many things I would not have wanted to, if I had a choice, but I would have missed some incredible things had I not been around. I think of life as a contant surprise and why not? Who would think of all the billions of stars and planets that we would exist? I'm not "human-centric" enough to believe that we are the only life forms in the universe, but, until shown otherwise, it is pretty cool being us.

I look forward to the contant surprise of being alive because it is what makes it all worthwhile. The sameness and predictability of existence is not where it is at for me. It is that moment of awe at seeing the sunset a certain way or for a view of the sun shooting through the trees after a downpour highlighting the raindrops that gets my attention. Just the same as having a talk with a friend or my love can turn my world over and make feel feel renewed.

My theory about why people finally die is that they lose their awe. There is no room for constant surprise in their lives. All of their questions have been answered. Sure any number of diseases or ravages of war can do us in too, but it is the numbing of the mind that I think does the most damage.

Every day I look for the something that will give me a moment of awe. Some days I am disappointed and other days I am showered in awe-producing moments. Regardless of my ups and downs, I am happy to be here and happy to be constantly surprised.

Meandering #10 Why Context Is Important

2007-05-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's late and it's the weekend, so this is not huge news, but it makes for a little comic relief.

The P-C tells us the big news: North Liberty will have a new elementary school by fall 2008.

The crowd of about 100 people, including 60 second-graders from Clear Creek Elementary in Oxford, huddled under umbrellas as school board members, North Liberty Mayor Tom Salm and other dignitaries dug their gold shovels into the gravel. "It’s a great day,” school board president Jim Seelman said.--I suppose if you've got a gold shovel, every day is a great day.

“It [North Bend Elementary] will be a nice study tool for our children,” Paula Vincent said. “It’ll be more than just a name.” --I would think one of those gold shovels would be a better study tool (question 1: How do you get a shovel like that?) and I hope, beyond a name, the building will be used for education.

North Liberty councilor Gerry Kuhl said the construction of the new school will bring more economic development to town. “Every dollar that is spent between now and 50 years , every dollar will turn over five times,” he said. “That’s tremendous economic development.”--I am not the strongest person with mathematics, but I would think even that if a dollar turned over once a year, it would turn over at least 50 times in 50 years, but I guess that's why Gerry gets the big bucks (which I presume also turn over).

“We’re not only building a school, but we’re building a future for our children,” she [Paula Vincent] said.--Apparently North Liberty children didn't have a future before North Bend Elementary was funded, sorry Penn and Van Allen kids.

Meandering #9

2007-05-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Why does anyone think they should make a living by writing? Reading is the least popular sport in America. Jumping to conclusions is probably the first - maybe second behind futbol.

First of all, almost anyone can write, exceptions being the handless, the mindless, and the idea impaired. However, the rest of us can string words together in such a way that you have a noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb, gerund in there somewhere. I just don't get the whole "oooh, she's a great writer" thing.

I mean, sure, there have been some okay books out there, some billboards that caught my eye, and, yes, on the walls of a convenience store bathroom I have wondered if "Jamie" was really the "good time" that he apparently advertised himself to be.

But writing for a living? What kind of person pays for something that they can download for free on the Internet?

The meanderings expressed here do not have any connection to the reality of the writer, the reader, or the meta-tag finder. If you reached this log in error, please hang up and try again.

Meandering # 8

2007-04-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

What does a career mean these days? for me it is a way to pay my bills, cover my wife and I with health insurance, and a way to hang out with folks I like. But beyond that, it is not a good use of my time. My talents are not fully utilized and my sense of self is not fulfilled by the demands of my boss.

I have often thought that the answer to all of life's little annoyances--jobs being one of them--can be addressed with the simple solution of immense wealth. Sort of a welfare system for 330 million or so Americans. The downside of it is damnable free will. If we didn't need to work, would we ever do anything productive or helpful to our fellow human beings?

The next best thing is doing work that is satisfying and pays adequately. I have had a job like that twice--this one and my last one. The only problem is that satisfaction, as I expressed earlier, dissipates. That is why I generally have a two year career goal. Unfortunately I have not evaluated this goal in 5 years.

I'll have to work on that.

Meandering #7

2007-04-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

It is a stretch to think of the Coronet Apartments in their current
incarnation as "paradise", but for folks back in the day, they lived large
in the Coronet Apartments. But that was then. Never mind the 7 families
that will have pick up and go, America is about moving on up (to the west
side), when we aren't too busy staying the course.

Sonic Drive-Thru will mean tax money to fund affordable housing elsewhere
in the city for the low wages that can be earned at such places or more TIF
to knock down some other older buildings that no one is interested in
preserving. As long as the University keeps growing, the city will always
have something for that eventual rainy day.

As people are literally chewing the fat over at the Sonic to relive their
youth or trying to find it under the widening girth of their midsections,
neighbors on the other side of the fence will be putting up their for sale
signs and looking for greener pastures and Acme Realty and Electric Co.
rejoices!

In any case, we can be sure that the Sonic will likely last less half the
time that the Coronet Apartments did and will likely be torn down to put in
some nice high rise retirement apartment/casino/ and mortuary complex for all the
people who want to live near the Iowa City International Airport.

Yes, when Highway 6 becomes the Retirement Corridor, connecting the Amanas
to Muscatine, we will have more economic development than we can shake a
stick at.  With the shiny E85 stations and the roadside iPod recharging
stands,  Granny daycare centers, and Greater Johnson County Indoor Zoo
(formally known as EarthPark II), Iowa City will finally be the Mall of
America we all knew it could be.

And who knows, maybe once the pesky neighbors clear out, there will be
enough room to put up that combination City Hall and Super Wal-Mart.

Meandering # 6

2007-03-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

I get frustrated by the way we treat each other. Recently some houses in my neighborhood got tagged with graffiti. It saddened me to think that a person would do that to another person. It saddens me to think that they would do it to feel better about themselves.

I believe that there are so many things that bring us closer as people, but the most important of them is the recognition that we all matter on this planet of ours. What we believe about ourselves is largely a result of what others have told us coupled with our own resiliency and wisdom to process that information.

Education, I believe, is the great equalizer.

When I first saw the tagging, I reacted emotionally--were there gangs in our neighborhood, who my wife or i be in danger. Next I reacted intellectually--it is a problem and it needs to be solved. Next I reacted empathetically, what message did it send to the people living in the houses that were tagged. Next I reacted with community in mind--what could be done to help the neighbors.

I talked to other people, we worked out a plan, and there will be kids from a restorative justice project helping those neighbors who chose to do it to clean off the graffiti and repaint.

Meandering #5

2007-03-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

Spring cleaning.

Clearing the weariness of winter
out of my hunkered down head,
I feel the green urgings of ideas
that had been buried in the snows of discord.

Rising to this inviting budding day
and slipping outside myself,
I view my world in all its hues of gray
and begin to plot the fertile ground;
looking for places to plant my seeds
looking forward to their germination
looking ahead to the blossoms that will come.

Meandering #4

2007-03-08T15:21:00.001-08:00

Spring Ahead

This morning I felt thick, heavy raindrops fall on me as I put my two chunky dogs out for their morning constitutional. Under foot ice was becoming slush and the earth, mud. The air was redolent with dampness and, what, musky earth.

Even though neither a crocus, snowbell or any early flower is popping its head, I sense the onset of spring.

Meandering #3

2007-03-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

All We Are Saying?

I question the wisdom of how I live from time to time. I put time and effort into making the place I live more fair and peaceful. Apparently I and others, are in the minority. If I focused on making money or gardening or raising chickens, I'm sure it would be okay.

Still, I can not be complacent when I know that people don't all get the same shot at having the choices I do. I can't be complacent when I witness how one person gets stuff that another person would have to break the law to possess.

But it is tiring sometimes.

That is why I appreciate when the efforts of other like minded people come to fruition, it gives me enormous hope. When I went to the PEACE Iowa opening yesterday, it was very cool to talk to a little boy who showed me his solar powered car and to hear him correct me "it's a fuel cell car" was cool to hear from a woman who had been in Iraq before the initial war and to hear how she spent her time trying to reunite family members with sons and daughters who were being held in prisons without the ability to communicate where they were. It was cool to hear poetry and songs that fed my soul and reminded me that for all the ache of caring, it is still very much worth doing.

I am not cut from a martyr's cloth, but I do feel like I can and do make a difference. Days like yesterday reminded me how much we all can.

Meandering # 2

2007-03-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

I want a guitar

I have played the same guitar for more than 34 years. She is a perfectly serviceable Yamaha folk guitar that I have dented, scratched, and almost gone through the spruce top of along the way. Lately though, I have been lusting for other guitars. Most recently, I have fallen for an electric ESP semi-hollow that is beautiful to look at.

I will admit that I have flirted with other electrics before. I even gave in and bought a stratocaster look-alike that I later sold to a 15 year-old Eddie Van Halen wannabe. But this time it is serious. I keep visiting the other guitar (well, technically look at her, because she is at the Musician's Friend website). If you clicked the link, you can see why I am infatuated. She's a lovely blonde with golden features and unbelievable curves.

The guitar I have is not a beauty, but she is a comfort to hold and after some time away from her, I find myself in awe of what she can do. There are times in the middle of the night when I hold her, I can not imagine holding another. She just fits, you know?

I have no delusions. I know a different guitar will not make me a better guitarist. I know that I would likely tire of her, as I have my constant companion. But that is what makes us human, isn't it? The constant wanting of something that is just out of reach and not appreciating what is already in hand.

Meandering #1

2007-03-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we all take ourselves too seriously. This is a space NOT to do that. This is my space for hopeful thoughts and ideas. It is not my intention to pontificate, but merely to capture the random firings that seem to come my way during the course of every day. If you feel like participating in my tangents, knock yourself out.

The joy of a frozen sidewalk

Ever since I was a kid, I have lived for sliding on ice.
It is one of the few things that I can do as an adult that is as much fun now, as it was then.

I'm not sure, but I think it is the absolute lack of control that I feel when the bottom of my shoes have zero traction against a thin layering of ice that connects to both my fear button and my laugh-o-meter in directly proportional ways.

The fact that my my stomach can go "whoa" and a blush can form on my face simultaneously is the best kind of multi-tasking I have ever been able to do.

Anytime I find a piece of ice to slide across, it is as if a fuse has been lit and I have to do it.

The hardest thing in the world for me is to resist doing it,
as is the case when I am walking with a group of serious people.

There is a part of me that knows that they want to do it as badly as me,
and, if I would just take that risk, they would follow behind.

I imagine an endless line of people sliding across sidewalks.
Dick Cheney and Dennis Kucinich, Oprah and Rush Limbaugh
laughing and catching each other-- just in time.
Israelis and Palestinians
Red States and Blue States
Skin Heads and Immigrants
united by this simple pleasure.