REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

SoulCollage® Card - The Book Lover

 

 This past Monday our monthly SoulCollage® group met for the day and though usually a very prolific and quick-working card creator, I had a hard time coming up with one. But this is the one I made and I must admit that I really like it. The man may be a Rockwell character, but he is me! 

I am the one who became a book aficiando from the time I could first read and some very happy times were spent in the Sunland, CA library which was a really tiny place when I was a kid. The photo of my hometown library below is from the historical collection at Cal State Northridge. 

 

My mother was not a big reader personally although she read books to me all the time when I was little and my dad was a prolific reader of science books and magazines and science fiction. My four older sisters always gave me books for gifts. My favorite was "Poppy: The Story of a Fairy," which I still own today, but is now out of print. I am the one who undoubtedly was encouraged by early teachers to read although it was my mom who took me to get my first card at age six. I am the owner of way too many books; I'm the one who is obsessive about surrounding myself with books and though I use an e-reader to travel, I still crave the feel of the pages in my hand. I knew I wanted to be a writer myself and began to type short stories very young and was soon writing and editing a neighborhood newsletter. 

I did not become a librarian, but when tested in my 30s when I returned to college seriously, all indicators were that I should have been a librarian. When traveling I always seek out libraries and in earlier years I admit I often hung out there. Now I can be seen in Palos Verdes or Redondo Beach searching and checking out. I began volunteering at the used books sales at Malaga Cove Library about five years ago and for the past four years I am the one who sits on the Board of the Palos Verdes Library's Friends board and the Malaga Cove Advisory Committee. I did not become a fiction writer either, by the way, but have long been in a profession where writing plays a lion's share of my time spent. I have written a few novels, unpublished, and still write poetry, largely unpublished. 

And though I am not a professionally trained librarian, my part-time retirement job is as an archivist--and my office and collection are--you guessed it. In a school library. 

I am the one who has a large stack of books by her bedside and have always read one fiction and one non-fiction book at the same time. If my fiction stash from the library runs out, I'll admit that I get anxious.

In SoulCollage® we have learned to ask the card a question and then I usually write about that in my handwritten journal. What is it about hard copy books, about language, about words printed on a page, that has totally mesmerized me all these years? 

And how about all you book lovers. What drives you? 

Meet Aimee Bender: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

If you have not read Aimee Bender's best seller "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake," I highly recommend it. Though I read it last year, I appreciate the book a lot more now that I've met Aimee Bender and heard her speak not only about the book and its characters, but her writing process in general. She teaches creative writing at USC and after hearing her speak, how I wish I could take her class. 

She was the featured speaker tonight at the Palos Verdes Library District's One Book, One Peninsula annual event and I had the pleasure of taking photos of her and members of the community prior to the event sponsored by the Peninsula Friends of the Library. Here are a few you might enjoy:

She is one of the most down-to-earth writers I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

Here she is with her fiancee Mark Miller--and a plate of? Lemon cake!

And here are the little lemon and chocolate cakes up close. Rose is the primary character in "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake," and she has the blessing/curse of tasting the emotions of the person who cooks. The person who baked this batch must have been really happy. 

If you check the Peninsula Friends of the Library blog tomorrow, there will be a series of photos available to see, if you are interested.  

Greg Mortenson Expose: Let It Be Not True

This morning I observed one of the student advisory groups hotly debating something but I was busy and zoned out. I remember thinking that I rarely hear them in such lively discussion. Later their advisor asked me what I thought about what the kids had been talking about.

I admitted I didn’t know their topic and she said, “The Greg Mortenson expose.” I had heard on NPR that stories about building schools in “Three Cups of Tea,” and “Stones for Schools,” were being questioned, but I didn’t know the details. She told me that journalist and author Jon Krakauer had run an expose piece of Mortenson’s accounts of building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan on 60 Minutes; she said the students were very upset to find out that perhaps Mortenson’s stories were not true, or greatly exaggerated.

Then the advisor handed me a copy of the May 2, 2011 Newsweek article from The Daily Beast called, “Shattered Faith,” and I felt so confused. “No way,” I kept saying to myself as I read it. Kind of like I was a little kid and my mom or dad had told me one of my uncles was a bad man. Even the practices of his non-profit Central Asian Institute were called into question. 

Big sigh! Mortenson is internationally famous for his humanitarian work; he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, for heaven's sake. His first book was my school’s (and countless other schools and libraries) One Book for 2010. He spoke to our student body last year and is a very successful fund-raiser; his role model was Mother Theresa. His book is required reading for our troops going into Afghanistan.

Like the author of Newsweek’s article, I WANT to believe in Greg Mortenson, even though I admit that I did query myself about certain stories when I read "Three Cups of Tea." Creative, gifted people sometimes are not perfect, but please don’t let this expose be true. I’m one of the people in this world that longs to have a hero; there are so few these days. The jaded and cynical 73-year-old me whispers, “You always were so gullible. We didn’t call you Pollyanna for nothing.”

If you haven't been following this story, a Google search will bring you countless hits about the expose, but this link from the Daily Beast was also interesting to me. 

If you are familiar with Greg Mortenson’s work and the controversy now swirling around him, I’d be curious to hear how you are reacting. He apparently is having a heart procedure and though he has replied to questions raised by 60 Minutes, he isn't speaking out right now. Is it possible that he did do a lot of good, just not as much as he reported he had? I wish I were in one of my old college philosophy classes and we were debating this for situation ethics. 

 

 

R.I.P. J. D. Salinger

I was sad to hear today that author J.D. Salinger had passed away at age 91.  

I read the story of his death in today's Boston Herald and realized I knew very little about the man, though his reclusiveness was legendary.

It was "Catcher in the Rye" that I equated with his name--and though I was a poor kid from a small town in the L.A. suburbs, Holden Caulfield utterly fascinated me not only in high school, but all the years that have followed. I wonder why? 

I don't re-read books very often, but for some reason, I read Catcher every few years--and it seems new every time. And it evokes all kinds of new emotions in me. I read it again last year. 

So, God speed J.D. Salinger. Thanks for my favorite book. 

Carl Gustav Jung's Liber Novus, the Red Book

Last fall I read an article in the New York Times about Dr. Carl Gustav Jung’s Red Book, Liber Novus, which the family had finally allowed to be published. Most people who have studied Jung know of the Red Book and I personally use red covered-journals myself to record dreams and visualizations. 

The Wild Hunt said on Sept. 20, 2009, “In 1913 Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, experienced a prolonged “confrontation with the unconscious” where he daily wrestled with visions, heard inner voices, and explored his own vast dream-scape for six years. Beginning just before World War I, and ending shortly after its close, his inner turmoil echoed the chaos erupting all around him. During this time Jung didn’t merely experience these events, he rose to meet and catalog them, and created a legendary never-printed (and never-finished) chronicle of his underworld journey called “Liber Novus” (“New Book”) in the process. “Liber Novus”, or “The Red Book” as its become known due to the work being done in a large red notebook, became legendary amongst Jungians, described alternately as holding “infinite wisdom” and being “psychotic” by the few who ever got a glimpse of it. Now, after many years, the heirs of Carl Jung have agreed to allow this lost text to see print for the first time." 

I was immediately on the hunt to find the best price on this book and was put off by its $130 cost, frugal person that I am. Instead, I popped it up on my Amazon wish list and hoped for the best. Darned if a gigantic package didn’t appear beneath my son Tony’s Christmas tree for his mom. I had no idea Liber Novus was large (16” high x 11 1/2” wide, 10 lbs.) so I was astounded when I opened it.

Here is a photo of Mollie and the book on my bed as she lays nearby patiently now as I read a few pages per night.

Having long taught and used Dr. Ira Progoff’s National Intensive Journal, who was a follower of Dr. Jung, I could immediately find a lot of influence on Ira that probably came from Liber Novus and previously published Jung works.

When I first opened my present, I was stunned as I knew Amazon had run out of them long before Christmas. Besides, it couldn't be a book--too big and heavy. Tony got it from another bookseller and surprised me. I began thumbing through it and I obviously had not done my homework because I gasped, “You ordered the German version and I don’t read German.” In actuality, the original Liber Novus comprises the first half of the book—in color as Jung wrote it, along with his paintings and drawings of his dreams and his unconscious images. It is in English in the second half of the book.

I am awe struck with this book but just started really delving into it this weekend. It will probably take me a year to finish it but my art journaling and journal keeping in general has been affirmed by having access to this incredible book. Instead of forcing myself to read, I am reading thoughtfully and slowly, taking time to gaze into space and think. Ultimately I imagine my own journal will begin to reflect what I am learning about Jung and his ground-breaking psychological work. 

What I need to do, I think, is put out word that I would like to start a study group locally because I get so much more out of a text when it is read and discussed communally. Do any of you have Liber Novus or belong to study groups? 

Palos Verdes Marine LCpl. Chris Kutlesas's Unit To Receive Books for Troops

When LCpl. Chris Kutlesa, 21, a Marine Combat Correspondent currently stationed in Japan, was younger, he introduced his mom, Karen Kutlesa, to the used book sale at Malaga Cove Library. "He was and is a book sleuth and he started me coming," she said, "and I still come as often as I can." Chris was raised in Palos Verdes and graduated from Palos Verdes High School.

So, when Karen and her family dropped by yesterday to browse and buy books, she and Gene Roeder, who directs all the book sales for the Peninsula Friends of the Library, is Vice President for Operations for PFL, and the Books for Troops program, began to chat.

Since 2004 the Peninsula Friends of the Library has been sending books, videos, magazines and CDs to troops all over the world. Gene told Karen that the PFL has shipped more than 68,182 items in 508 boxes weighing more than 336 tons to military hospitals, USO facilities, Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force units in 43 countries since joining the Books for Troops program.

He asked for her son's unit's address and said he would especially pack a box just for his unit. Small world, isn't it?

And you can help with a minimum donation of $15 which will send 40 books to our troops.  Donations can be made to Peninsula Friends of the Library, Books for Troops and sent to Malaga Cove Library, 2400 Via Campesina, Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274.

Donations of the various media can be dropped off at any of the three library locations and should be marked Books for Troops to distinguish them from our other donations. The most requested genres are: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mysteries, Westerns and Adventure.

Books are also donated to the LAX USO.

As I prepare to push this send button, I'm sending Karen Kutlesa the link for this blog post so Chris can see his mom passing on his book sleuth tradition. And I also cross posted this story to the Peninsula Friends of the Library blog. 

For additional information, call 310-377-9584, ext. 553 or e-mail at [email protected]

Henceforth I Whimper No More--

This shirt was worn by a friend on the Revlon Run/Walk for Breast Cancer this year but I keep reading the phrase over and over again.

 

A two-time breast cancer survivor myself (1989 and 1997, two separate cancers in different breasts), enough time has passed that I don’t find those experiences consciously on my mind anymore on a daily basis. Unless it is test time again, which it is: bloodwork and mammogram are scheduled this month. Now I wake up from dreams about the cancer returning—cancel, cancel, as my late 12-step sponsor would say. I can control my thoughts but I can’t control my dreams.

To my surprise, I’ve been brought up short three times in the past weeks where the memories of my own treatments bombarded me. And I was one of the lucky ones with stage I cancers and I had surgery, radiation, and long time treatment first with tamoxifen and later with Femara. To say I am grateful would be the understatement of the year.

The first memory trigger was when my son-in-law gave me a self-published poetry book called “Sometimes You Dance the Monster” by Beatrice Smart who passed away in May. It is a collection of poems she wrote during her eight-year fight. If you click on the link above, the short book is downloadable in PDF. I have read and own many, many books about cancer and rarely have I been this jolted. Next came a DVD I saw when I was at my sister’s house in Washington last month called "Living Proof" which is a biopic of oncologist and researcher Dr. Dennis Slamon, the UCLA doctor who helped develop the breast cancer drug Herceptin, and his effort to keep the drug trials afloat. His inspiring journey shows the sacrifices he makes in his personal life and the obstacles that he faces to get the drug approved. Thousands of lives have been saved because of his dedication. (The film was based on Robert Bazell’s book “Her-2.”)

Because my own first treatment was at UCLA, some of the rooms in the movie were familiar to me and I have not been able to get the film out of my mind. I highly recommend it, by the way. 

Last night, while looking for images for my art journal, I ran across a book I had not looked at in a long time--Art.Rage.Us: Art and Writing by Women With Breast Cancer published by Chronicle Books. The photos, art and essays are wonderful, but I just kept thinking, "There but for the grace of God, go I." 

The saying on the shirt above reminds me that love of myself and others is letting go of fear, which is from A Course in Miracles. The photo below also reminds me that under all circumstances one must keep a sense of humor. Apparently a lot of women in the Run/Walk brought animals, too. Incredible strides have been made in breast ca drugs and treatments. As a survivor, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

 

 

What Kind of Reader Are You?

My friend Elaine at Five Acres With a View had this up at her blog. These are my results and I'd like to know yours. I have a friend who actually has a separate house for his books, although I'll admit that he also uses that house to sell books from. As for me, I get extremely anxious if I don't have a pile of books ready to read. When I move someday the Friends of the Library will be getting thousands of books, many obscure, but having books and/or bookcases in every room of the house, literally, brings me comfort. 

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader   You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Children Who Read Together----

My office at school is in the library. I don't know about you, but these kids sprawled in their bean bag chairs look like they are in my kind of heaven. Children who read together make the world a much better place. 

Make This Christmas Memorable: Adopt a Rescue Animal

Dogs and cats seeking people! As many of you know, one of my volunteer jobs is at the Peninsula Library District’s Friends of the Library Book Sales. In addition to working at the monthly sale at the Malaga Cove Branch, I am also the communications person for the Peninsula Friends of the Library Board. That means that I keep the blog for the group which you can read at Peninsula Friends of the Library. 

This is a kind of cross-post between the two blogs today. One of the things I love is meeting all our regular customers and getting to know them and meeting new people, too.  We have become a library family of sorts.

Every sale I hear lots of people’s stories and share my own, but today I met someone really special: Junior, an 8-year old Cocker Spaniel and his foster mom Paula, one of our regular customers. 

Come to find out, Junior is up for adoption through Rover Rescue, an animal rescue non-profit organization. I realize that people around the world visit this blog and can’t come to the South Bay area of Los Angeles to adopt a dog, but look at this face, will you? What do you think those eyes are saying? 

Paula recently lost her 17-year-old Cocker Spaniel but still has another one. She is very fond of this breed. She has been fostering Junior for almost three months now and what an incredible gift this seasoned dog would make for just the right family. I was enchanted but my dog Cookie, who is 13, is too set in her ways to have a companion but as I've told you ad nauseum, Cookie is a rescue dog, too. 

Junior is housebroken, very friendly, is neutered and micro-chipped, and has all his shots. He just needs a home. 

Paula is a regular volunteer for Rover Rescue. She had just come from an adoption day event at a local pet store, but Junior's perfect match didn't take him today. Are you his match? Or do you have a feeling there is a pet out there who needs you for a mom or dad? Here's your Marley and Me moment.

You can read about how the adoption procedure works at Rover Rescue's Adoption link. My friends Kathy and Allen got their dog Scruffy about five years ago from Rover Rescue and he has enriched their lives immensely. 

By the way, Junior is unique. As you can see, he is very comfortable  around books and with book lovers. This holiday season, won’t you consider adopting a pet from one of the rescue non-profits in your own area?