Mr. Kabodian’s Blog

Armen, not to be out-done by Rachel (see Jan. 19, below), was in the Detroit Free Press on Sunday. He has been working with a group of companies on a inspirational contest that gets 18 year olds in high school or college working on ideas to turn Michigan’s economy around. The article, called “It’s students’ turn to shape recovery,” described the contest and its website called Motivate Michigan. Armen has been involved in the contest from the very beginning and is doing some of the fundraising of the over $71,000 in college scholarships that will be given away based on the ideas of the young people competing. It’s really an excellent idea; young people have many unique ways of looking at problems, they have a huge investment in their own future, and the incentive of money toward college makes sense. I wish Armen well with the contest and I hope it has some tangible benefits for our state.

Recently, I finished reading a book about traveling the world. It was actually the autobiography of Langston Hughes, but it read more like a travel guide or personal journal of a traveler of the 1930’s. While I do my share of roaming the country and sometimes even the world, my job ties me to mid-Michigan most of the year.

A couple of my friends, though, are getting the feel of retirement by taking a trip to the Southwest. My friend, Peggy, and her husband, Marv, have recently begun their journey. She is blogging their travels like a champ. And I’m stowed away in the glove compartment. I can vaguely feel the warmth of Arkansas, the chill of Dallas (oddly enough), the hope for more warmth around the corner, — and it’s enough to keep me going until Spring. Check our their adventures at The Savage Traveler blog.

The literary world has lost one of the great ones: J.D. Salinger. He died at the age of 91 this week. And I tend to agree with the general consensus out there — we’ll miss him, sort of.

photo from http://www.planetvideo.com.au/blog/2009/01/04/CatcherInTheRye1.jpg

The New York Times article, “Reaching Holden Caufield’s Grandchildren” and John Schneider’s column in the Lansing State Journal both speak to the fact that Salinger wrote one of the coming of age, angst classics of all time in The Catcher in the Rye. It’s one of my top ten favorite books. Influential to millions, probably, and still read in schools around the country, the book will be read as long as books are read (which I hope is forever).

On the other hand, Salinger had not published anything that I know of in around 50 years. How can you miss someone who is silent? I have to believe that the man was still writing. When you have a gift, you tend to use it. Maybe not share it, but at least use it. There’s an interesting blog entry from a year ago that brings up some of these same issues called “Waiting for Salinger.” I’d give one whole paycheck just to wander through his house looking for drafts that he never published. Skim through a journal. Peruse his library and see what he was reading. Now that’s my idea of fun. And when I was done wandering his house, I would sit down and time-travel with Holden back to the first time I shared his exploits in New York City and wondered about this crazy world and how I fit into it.

P.S. Here’s a funny list of what Salinger has been writing for all these years.

Rachel and her friends helped paint murals at Osborn High in Detroit on Monday. They also painted over graffiti and spruced up other walls as part of City Year’s work in a day of volunteering that continued the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. The article that accompanies the photo of Rachel is in today’s Detroit Free Press.

I write a million blog posts…
in my head.
Some make it to a rough draft stage
and others are at least scribbled on a piece of paper.
But most
like glorious dreams
disappear
into oblivion

to be written by someone else
or not.

———

Here are some suggested things to do for those of you who are either really bored or momentarily unsure about which thing on your list to do next:

• Read the New York Times online. The best, free, credible, online news source of which I’m aware. Currently, I recommend their articles and multimedia on the terrible Haiti earthquake.

• Watch one of the following wonderful movies that I’ve seen lately

o Amelie — There’s something about listening to a movie in French that makes me want to leave everything I know and love and start afresh in Paris. And this is the most delightful, creatively written comedy I have watched in a long time. Maybe that’s why it’s rated at the #4 most popular comedy on the Internet Movie Database.

o What’s Eating Gilbert Grape — This is Leonardo DiCaprio’s first major role and one of his best; Johnny Depp is amazing also. The story is quirky, fun, sad, and thought-provoking all at the same time.

o Sherlock Holmes — Though only vaguely reminding me of anything I’ve read by Doyle, these characters and this story is intriguing, exciting, and just plain fun.

o Up — A well-written, wonderfully crafted piece by Pixar/Disney.

• Read one of the books I have read lately

o I Wonder As I Wander — If you’d like to travel the world with one of the best American poet/writers of all time, read this book. Langston Hughes shares his travels from Cuba through the South to California to Russia and beyond in this autobiography covering a few years of his life. I’m sure you can find it in your library, as I did, but it’s available for purchase, of course.

o Farewell, My Subaru — I listened to this one on a playaway/tape and Doug Fine, the author, was reading it. It’s his journey/experiment toward a greener life. He documents his first year living in New Mexico’s rural areas trying to raise goats, go solar, and use vegetable oil in his car. Honest and articulate, Fine’s adventure is worth your time and a “fine” model for us all. This one’s also at your library and for purchase.

Sometimes I just marvel at the way the world works. My dad used to say “What a system!” — that was his way of being amazed at the same thing. There’s some force at work here. Holding it all together. Even when things seem out of sorts, they usually balance back out somehow.

I often go back to the following scene from Shakespeare in Love.

HENSLOWE (says)
Mr. Fennyman, let me explain about the
theatre business.
(they stop)
The natural condition is one of
insurmountable obstacles on the road
to imminent disaster. Believe me, to
be close(d) by the plague is a bagatelle
in the ups and downs of owning a
theatre.

FENNYMAN
So what do we do?

HENSLOWE
Nothing. Strangely enough , it all
turns out well.

FENNYMAN
How?

HENSLOWE
I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

(from The Internet Movie Script Database)

I see that mystery everywhere I look. Something as simple as the left-turn arrow at a stoplight. Or the fact that there are thousands of airplanes in the air at any one time and they almost never touch each other. Or when the person that you never would expect to say “sorry,” says it. Or the fact that the interconnectedness of the internet works at all (including facebook, craigslist, ebay, couchsurfing, and paypal).

Now, I’m well aware that things don’t always turn out. And that I happen to be saying this while living a very comfortable life in a safe neighborhood of a wonderful community. I’m blest. There’s no doubt. And there’s also no way I came to this place and time and situation by myself. Sure, I had something to do with it. But many people helped me along the way. And they had their troubles too. And, yet, they still helped. Call it luck, grace, fortune, Providence, karma, or whatever you want.

It’s a crazy world, but it’s the only one we have. And I like it.

Even though I’ve been absent for almost two weeks, I’ve still been writing/creating. After a month of daily poems, I needed a break (unlike Kevin who seems to write more often and in more varied ways all the time).

I had to share the videos I took with the school’s Flip camera; so I put a bit of time into a fun overview of a digital story about my four days in Philadelphia at the National Writing Project and National Council of Teachers of English annual meetings. You can find the video and my notes about the trip on the Red Cedar Writing Project blog. Check it out.

Here’s a rough draft of a poem that didn’t make it into last month’s daily group. It came out of a session at NWP and it’s a rant, of sorts. I was thinking about putting it all in caps, but then I would be lowering myself to their level. For right now, the title is…

Explode Your Thinking

Get comfortable with grey,
You black-and-white thinkers!

Your all-or-nothing mindset
Holds you back from so much of life

You’re modeling an angry,
narrow way
Of looking at the world

Have you ever said
“I’m not quite sure about this, but…”

Did you know that studies show
37% of people are somewhat sure about things
100% of the time?

Consider the alternatives
Whatever they are and

Listen,

Please.

————-

Thornton Wilder’s
Stage Manager remarks that
saints and poets
are the only ones that
“realize life while they live it”

I know nothing of saints,
but these past thirty days
I’ve felt like a poet

life has smacked me in the face
daily

I wake up
open to poems

listening
looking
feeling
for
je ne sais quoi
but
always open to poems

my challenge
is to keep
listening
looking
feeling

for
Jenny to say “Quah”

for
Billy Collins eating a banana

for
chances to fly in my dreams

for
the bird cloud to return;

Our Town
Our World
Our Imagination

all fodder for poets

poets
like me
and you

Graceful sparrows dart
Wet feeder food excitement —
Squirrel’s leftovers.

Here’s my peace pipe of a poem.
I offer it as acknowledgment
That I’ve screwed up
That I am sorry
That I’ll try to be
More like
That person
You have in mind

It’s not much of a poem
But it’s heartfelt and
For you.

——————

Yesterday is gone
And with it

Whatever it was
That you did

I’m moving on

Can you?