Repost: Language in America, Part 1

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted June 4, 2011

I just finished reading Language in America: a report on our deteriorating semantic environment.  It is a collection of essays on, well, language in America.  It was published in 1969 and it’s out of print (used copies are available on amazon).  One of the editors is Neil Postman who is most famous for Amusing Ourselves to Death, a book that will change your life in magical ways.  I’d like to share a few thoughts from the book if you’ll bear with me.

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Exceptional, Except

It may have been on the way home from India, maybe it was a trip to California, all I remember for sure is that Papa, Mama, and Isaiah were in an airplane.  Our boy was unhappy and loud, as small children often are while traveling. We did what we needed to do to get through the trip and convince him to calm down. My wife processed the experience publicly through Facebook, sharing something like:

“I hope I’m not a bad parent giving my kid this much chocolate on the airplane”

The resounding response from our friends and family was that, even for great parents, exceptions are permissible during airline travel.

It would be chaos, anarchy, and foolishness to live without guidelines, standards, and even rules. We should all aspire to The Good. Parents should not give children large amounts of chocolate.

On the other hand, all of these rules need to allow for exceptions. Compassion, necessity, or wisdom will reveal times when the rule must be suspended.

…Like on an airplane with a three year old.  

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Repost: Losing Grasp on My Dominion

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted May 30, 2011

For the last day or so my lovely wife has been gently reminding me of the things I need to be doing.  One of those things is this blog. 

I didn’t really have any amazing inspiration so I had been stalling, but that’s not the whole story.  The other half of the problem is that I’ve recently become obsessed with a particular game.

Dominion is a card based strategy game by Rio Grande Games.  It was bad enough that we played it with some friends of ours, then bought it and an expansion, then bought three more expansions, then played it with more friends….but then I found that I could play it online.  No set up time. No counting cards.  No double checking rules in the rule book.  No getting anything else done.

Oops. 

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Knowing Louie

It’s no secret that Louis CK often speaks insightful truth, albeit sometimes in the midst of off-color comedy. His comments on the influence of technology on the human condition have gone viral on two separate occasions. He’s outspoken about racism and white privilege. He’s honest, though perhaps exaggerating for comedic effect, about his flaws and foibles.

A few lines in particular of his stand-up have stuck with me for a few years. I have reproduced them below.

I just want to ask you, have you ever done something or lived a moment that you afterwards said,

“yeah, I don’t think I’m going to tell anyone about that. Yeah that’s going to my grave with me, that one is.”

Either because it’s stupid, embarrassing, or horrible you just think…

“yeah that’s staying with me. I’m not telling any people about that.”

I would say that probably 40% of my life is made up of moments like that.

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Repost: The Dark Bus Ride of the Soul

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted May 17, 2011

Today was the second day that our son rode the bus to school.  He walked Candice and me outside to wait really early.  He yelled and laughed at a squirrel in a tree.  He pointed happily to where the bus would be arriving.  Then he screamed in terror when it was time to get on and leave.  Mama and Papa discussed whether or not he’s ready for this as we walked back in the apartment. 

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Freedom, Then and Now

Then

I don’t remember how old I was when I first started asking. But I do remember, with fondness the many times that I was able to “stay in the car by myself” when my parents went into the store.

I may have been tired or grumpy. But probably, most frequently, I wanted to read a book. My parents would go into the store and I had my own private time to immerse myself in whatever story I was reading at the time.  The sun in Ventura County, CA would warm the car to a comfortable, nap-inducing climate (nowhere near enough to be dangerous, of course).

I honestly don’t remember how many times this happened. It happened more than twice, for sure, but memories blur. I just remember it as a period of time in my life, not as individual occurrences. My parents probably remember the details better than I do; I remember things better from my adult years than I do from my youth. Parents also tend to remember milestones in the lives of their children fairly well. 

I assume these instances, or this period of time in my life, held the same meaning for my parents as it did for me, albeit from a different perspective:

It meant that I was growing up.

I had volition of my own.

I could make important choices.

I could separate myself from my parents in small but meaningful ways.

It meant that I had freedom of my own.

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Repost: Cool Hunting

Every other week my blog will feature a reposted work. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted May 14, 2011

Our son just finished his first week of preschool.  Candice and I have reflected with each other on the different perspective on the world found in preschool.  Almost everyone tries to be cool.  Interestingly, in preschool, ‘cool’ is found in ways that are odd for most other contexts.

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