so much to do and so little time

"So much to do and so little time", Churchill told secretary when he told him he had drunk half a traincar of liquor. We must all feel that way for sure.

Once again I want to start a new version of the book, probably my tenth version, listing all the anecdotes I can think and interlace them with current comments. there are the stories I tell whenever I get into the past stories during my talks to schools or in private. I don't know why some people knock out books like sausages, as Joyce Carol Oates does with great success. She says she does not know what a writer's block is. Some writer have one book in them, and that's it. Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22, Invisible Man and so on. I believe I have one book in me. I have tried several version, all of them I keep but give up on. Some sections I will keep for sure, because they work and friends who have read the mss still remember those passages. I like what Nick Flynn did with his books. Short chapters, almost poetic. And he tells his story, but touches on universal themes, homelessness and alcohol addiction. It certainly is not hopeless since he did well and recovered enough to be able to put it all down in a wonderful manner. So much to do and so little time.

schools of the North

I went up north to talk to several schools, Fort Kent, Eagle Lake and Caribou. Amazing events, in big and small ways.

giving talks all over Maine

I just returned from the north of Maine, Fort Kent, Eagle Lake, Caribou, to give three talks to students. The first one was very interesting, at the auditorium at the University of Maine

Now and Then

this is in fact my new format for the book, a book, in progress, once more. Times passes, the new year begun, the new decade, just amazing to be here, alive, in 2010.
I get those family letters from some people each year around Christmas and each time they read like self parodies. One in particular tells me how this couple went all over Maine, by foot, bike, even swam across the state for thousands of miles, returning home exhilarated. They tell me how their daughter is still working on her PHd and probably making the rounds of boys from one end to the other, a marathon also of sorts. Do I need to know all this? oh and yes, at the end of the letter I am informed that the author will attend a workshop on family intervention. Now is that a clue that this family needs an intervention. That is to walk inside, rather, than outside, and see what is going on, really going on with everyone, from the inside out? Or perhaps it does not matter? can one live forever and never know what is inside. Isn't true that a life unexamined is not worth living?

the end lane....going fast

My brother's wife fell on her head and when the ambulance came took both my brother and her to the hospital...there after a blood transfusion, she died a week later. My brother is now living in a long term facility and I think glad about it. he lived alone for about 1 year and half with not much help. he will need the help he needs now...I will go see him thanksgiving week, which is in about a week from now.
Mostly, it is a shock to me, and the reality of mortal life, that it is just a question of time when we all have to go into the void.
Even giants like John Updike had to die, when he still had so much more to do.
I have a lot to do. I try to do this...right now making another film to make sense of the war years. I know it can't be done, but asking questions does not hurt.
I will go back to my film to make a shorter version, cut out long scenes that are meaningless to most, and add more comments.
I applied for a grant to get a real good camera and I will go back and do more filming, carefully this time around. I like what I did before. But I want to do better, wait for better light, go slow with some takes, use a tripod, a good mike etc...and mainly a good camera.

now it is Atwood

reading Atwood's new book, The Last Flood...really has an effect on me. Even though the book is futuristic and apocalyptic, it feels very current, as if she was describing the world as it is today. will keep you posted on this..

Jacoby's new book

Susan jacoby's book the Age of American Unreason is a must read...dense but replete with tons of information...You can become an overnight intellectual reading this book. she hits issues head on, such as the dumbing down of America by fundamentalists who would rather see no education that did not use the bible for as a main source, as well as for all the laws...on and on...great read.