flight paths discussion

How is the prevalent disquiet contributed to your choice in reading?
Reading Naomi Klein at last was prompted by the fact that I figured I had the time. It's disturbing reading for sure but valuable so I'm not ripping through it just keeping at and taking notes.
I do feel as if I can trust her and that's important because it's hard to know what's true these days with so many contradictory hypotheses.
I did just read another article linking the use of round-up and toxic chemicals contributing to covid death. there's a lot on The pro and useless sides of the mask debate.
There have also been some amazing articles by black people that cut through all the bs. One woman who is the grandaughter of a slaveowner who had 9 children with his slaves makes it totally clear, the south has no claim on anyone's nostalgia.

Everything is connected is one lesson we had better not forget.
May we all recover our equilibrium and peace of mind so we can enjoy renewed vitality and delight in life and be able to read again with focus, on the grass.

Happy Canada Day!
It's a gloomy, dark, rainy start to the month but my hopes are high that this will be a good one for us.

Magdelanye, everything is connected. So simple, yet so easily forgotten, too. I find myself realizing the truth of the statement more and more as time passes.

I think (but am not assuming to be correct) that the States never got over the Civil War, which means they never reconciled or agreed or whatever is needed to the need of equality. Perhaps because the country went into war, instead of education and teaching/showing growing awareness, there was never a resolution?
It's a big issue. Inequality stems from somewhere and each generation seems to continue it in some way. It is a very difficult issue to resolve. But, I'm hopeful that we can do it and will do it. It may take a few generations but we will continue to move forward on this issue.

I admire your ability to take notes while reading. That must help when writing your wonderful reviews. My reviews stem more from gut-feelings after finishing the book and ponderings about the generalities of what the book contained. Notes would allow for more specific ponderings and reviews.

My reading during pandemic is basically the same as before pandemic. I was reading what was on my at-home shelves at the beginning of the pandemic and now that the libraries have pick-up service and long return dates (at least a month), I'm looking more closely at my "For Later" shelves and choosing those that I think will take me more time and dedication to read.

For July, I am taking part in a group read of Mason & Dixon. What a huge tome! It's been awhile since I've held a book this size. Yikes! I hope the story pulls me in. LOL.
I also have A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Entrelac 2: New Techniques for Interlace Knitting (I wanted the first book on this technique but it's in someone else's hands) and Dear Committee Members.
Of course, other books will pop up throughout the month and perhaps push these aside.

I feel like I've been MIA. For some reason, time has gotten out of control--I'm spending a lot of Zoom time with friends.

Petra, I think you're right about the South never accepting defeat and the U.S. has never really dealt with our racism. Our economy is built upon racism--systemic, structural--it's going to take a lot to dismantle it. I have hope that we will (although I don't know from where that hope comes).

I so want to read Mason & Dixon--I bought it right before the pandemic hit, when I was still able to read. Maybe if I ever finish Little Dorrit, that will be the next fiction I tackle.

So Magdelanye, the pandemic has seriously effected my reading. I haven't got any patience or concentration for fiction or even poetry. All I seem able to focus on is non-fiction, specifically on anti-racism. In response to your question about The Workbook for White Fragility--it is not nearly as good or powerful as the book. And Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor is stronger than both. I'm waiting until mid-July to go back to Me & W.S. because a friend wants to do it with me.

I'm loving Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of RAIN. And not just reading, I'm actually doing some of the meditations. She's wonderful.

And I'm reading Ibram X. Kendi's How to be an Anti-Racist.

The schools are going to open in September. I realize that I'm going to miss having them around! Even though we sometimes get on each other's nerves, it's mostly been wonderful.

How they're going to handle opening the schools is a big question. The governor has all kinds of rules so it may be a hybrid remote/in person with staggered classes. But how will parents be able to work? The one commentary I read suggested that parents will have to hire nannies who are able to supervise the children on the computer which was one of the most classist solutions I've read. How can most working parents afford that? And working from home is also a solution that tends to only be available to the more affluent workers. But my kids work in special ed--with some of the most disabled and often behaviorally difficult students in the system: many of these students will not wear masks. Not to mention diapering and feeding. So.

I'm hoping there won't be another spike. That the worst is over. That's as likely as anything else. I'm going to be much more on my own than I've been. It will be interesting to see how it goes. Katie is not happy that NYU will be mostly online. Tuition is very high--she was really hoping to go in person.

I was hoping to go to a beach in Long Island but the pictures all look way too crowded. I didn't see much social distancing going on. I'm tempted to go anyway but my daughter is much more cautious than I am so that's not happening.

Ellie, the issue of racism runs deep. It's very hard to dismantle but we've got to keep trying.
Is "the rift" an issue of the South not accepting defeat? I hadn't thought of it in that light......but then, it's not a subject I think about often. I should one day familiarize myself more with these issues.

Mason & Dixon is a combination of frustrating and funny. It's got great humor; then it gets puzzling, then it clears things up... It's my first book by Pynchon and I'm still a bit perplexed (but enjoying it, too).

I think school is going to be a topsy-turvy endeavour here, too. I'm not sure if anyone really knows yet how it's going to run. It'll be interesting.

I've been doing some painting on carving pieces this afternoon. The pieces have been collecting, so today I thought I should start on the painting. I finished 2: a hound dog and an elderly lady. She was meant ot be a young girl in braids but her face is not young, so she's an elderly lady with braids. LOL. She's wearing a bright orange-red dress with lime green polka dots.....and purple shoes and hair ties. She may be elderly but she's certainly not dull.

We were carving in the park and a little boy came over and started hanging out with the group (his mom was right there, too). It turns out that he's an avid hobbyist, knows how to use a penknife and was totally enthralled with carving. As luck should have it, there was a box of cottonwood bark pieces for the taking. We let him pick out a few, told him how to find information on the internet, then invited him to join us next time (with his mom's permission.....she's just as thrilled as he is to have him join us). So, this little 7-year old boy (soon to be 8) is the new member of our group. He's going to bring his cottonwood pieces and his knife to next week's carving session.
I think it's wonderful that he's so enthused and wants to join in. I wonder if he'll stick with it. His mom says he doesn't let things go easily and really tries.

Ellie, social distancing would be difficult at the beaches. I think (but who knows, really) that Covid would be hard to pick up at the beach …...but easy to pick up in the after-beach life of restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
I'm staying away from crowded areas, too. I don't really like being indoors for too long when around others. Winter is not going to be a fun time this year.

it seems im rather speechless this week
i did enjoy reading about Petra 's activities...that's wild about the little boy.
Do you think you might get up here?
I have a lovely array of small branches from various types of trees .

Ellie I hope you can find a nice alternative to Long Island.

Its finally cleared up here but in the distance it looks like its still raining.
waiting for the landlord to show up is gloomy enough.

Just finished Topeka School .
I wasnt ready for it to end and it still feels too many loose ends.

Hello everyone,

It sounds like everyone is doing well. What a crazy world we're living in.

I've been off the radar looking after my son and being outside as much as possible. And this has been my first week back at work and my son's first week back at daycare. It's been a HUGE adjustment and I'm exhausted but it's nice to be back. Thanks to everyone who offered kind words of support, it meant a lot.

I just finished reading Powershift, which was a great book about history of the patriarchy and the new feminist wave that is happening. It was a great read.

I also read White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism which honestly took me like a week to process after I read it. I thought I was doing well with dismantling racism in my own way, I was wrong and needed to hear that, even though it hurt my white fragility.

Sunday morning and fired up to do a couple of reviews I have no interet on the laptop and while i am getting swifter on the fone, this message will suffice. Writing a review on it is just too much .
Was planning to visit here anyways.Nice to hear from you Megan. Hope the new routine has things calmed down. Everything is so uncertain. It is assumed we are all watching the same news channel. I force myself to listen to the cbc news on the fm radio once a day, and then there is facebook but really i have no idea what 'phase' we are in here.
Then the whole mask/shaming debacle.
Powershift sounds like a book to read next. Just this morning finished This Changes Everything which was far more pertinent than i thought it might be considering how fast things are changing.

Petra I had to hide your branches in the forest while the landlord is around. My goal for today is to keep my equanimity.

Hoping things are improving in New York! And all over the world of course!

actually dear friends i did it, wrote a rather simple review on this device and while i will wait till im on the laptop again to write up my adventures with Naomi Klein, I can get started on it.

The wather looks much nicer today from my window. May this be be the case for everyone!

Happy Sunday!
Megan, it's nice coming here and seeing you! Life sounds exhausting. I hope everything settles into a routine soon.

Magdelanye, I hear you. Typing on the phone is a bother. I do very little of it and never here on GR. Too much hassle.

How long do you have to find a new place to live? It's seriously doubtful that I'll make it up there. I'm not going on the ferries yet. Then there's the issue of small communities not wanting visitors. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can get the branches.

I currently have 3 "how to carve totem poles" books out of the library. One of them is particularly interesting. I was thinking of the branches when I took them out, thinking of a combo walking stick/totem type of project.
I really thank you for trying. I'll look for a good branch around here.

Mask shaming?! I don't think it's around here (yet). I haven't heard of any, anyway.

We're in phase 3. Phase 4 is "everything back to normal, like the old days". Phase 3 is "about 65% back to normal". Hubby is following the news closely (he always does, it's not because of the pandemic), so I catch it, too.
Balancing "sensationalist news" with my hospital background is interesting. So much of the news is misleading in subtle ways, it seems.

So much serious reading being done lately. It's great to see. Me, I'm making it through non-serious novels:
Mason & Dixon
The Night Nurse: A Massage Therapy Thriller

I seem to be in a dream state these days. I rarely get on social media or even GR. I write and take walks and read. I'm doing Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor with a friend. Otherwise, I have to admit I've been pretty much out of contact with the world.

I'm not sure how I'm even going to do re-entry in Phase IV. We are going to a B&B in Carmel NY for Katie's 30th birthday--Katie, David and Antonella (his girlfriend--whose stay with us is actually going very well), and two of Katie's friends. So that should be fun.

Hope all are well.

I never thought Mason & Dixon would be described as "non-serious"--now I really do have to read it.

It has taken me awhile to get into the "groove" of Mason & Dixon. It has terrific episodes, followed by tedium and confusion, then terrific. It seems to have settled towards the good side after the first 150 or so pages. It was (at times) a slog to get here.

Ellie, the get-away to the B&B sounds wonderful. Have a wonderful time. It'll be great for you to charge your batteries and just let the stress go.

Anyone interested in reading Dickens?
I am in a new Dickens group and we're choosing our next novel to read, beginning in September.
So far, we've read one book (David Copperfield) and discuss at the rate of one chapter per day. I also kept my reading to this pace and it worked really well. Dickens ends each chapter with a tiny cliffhanger, so I always looked forward to the next day's reading.
The discussions were good & interesting, too.

Through the month of August, we'll be reading and discussing a short story a week. I think that's going to be interesting. I haven't read any of Dickens short stories.

If you'd like to join, now's the time as we're considering our next read and you'd have a voice in that decision.
The group is called Dickensians! and can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Hope to see you there.

ETA: I should add that I'm not a moderator or play any administrative role in this group. I'm just a happy member.

Well its the phone again but I do want to put in a word here, so glad to hear from you Ellie and Petra.
Ellie you didnt say when you were going on your adventure but it sounds divine. I imagine you will spend more time picking out the books you will take than choosing what clothes. We will understand if those days you take a hiatus from Flight Paths. Mayhe travel gods be with you!
ted to read
I love Gravity's Rainbow and have long wanted to read Mason & Dixon...not quite enough to get me on it. I consider it a formidable book. I'm glad it's picking up for you Petra.
But LOL at the timing of your post because I just read and commented on Violets hilarious review of Hard Times.
You might want to pass on that one for now.
I am having a lot of fun with Laurent Binet'sThe 7th function of language.
Like his other book, it is meticulously done and part of the reason that it's taking it so long to reattd is that I keep getting diverted by the references. Most of the characters I am acquainted with in a general way given my earlier fascination with French existentialism, Italian film, and linguistic theory. Some of them were so vague to me i was compelled to look them up.
This is not really a synchronisity but this afternoon the name Althuser got me searching and I found out, after getting to observe him and his wife at a posh political lunch in the book, that he actually murdered her. When I picked the book up again the next section begins with a short account of the murder. He was never charged but committed and I have to wonder how his philosophy served for the last decade of his life as a non-person.

Went shopping for women's clothes with my younger sister. This is the happiest I've been in months.

Glad to hear it Malcolm.

Magdelanye, I've been fascinated for years by Althuser. Being a murderer seems the opposite of being a philosopher but I guess not. You pose a good question about what his relationship to it was in the last years of his life: was it a consolation or a non-starter?

I also loved Gravity's Rainbow. And what I read of Inherent Vice (as so often happens with me, I somehow got distracted and didn't finish but I hope to go back to it--some day!).

I finished Tara Brach's Radical Compassion--and spend time every day reviewing my notes. Such a wonderful book and teacher. I listen to her talks on YouTube and use her guided meditations. I am especially connected to RAIN these days (Recognize, Allow, Investigate and Nurture)--I'm finding it very healing.

I'm also continuing with the Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor, answering the questions. It's hard and painful but also, I believe, necessary. My friend and I are doing it together. I don't know what it will be like to share such personal material but he is a dear friend whom I trust deeply. We shall see.

Also, I love David Copperfield. But my favorite Dickens is Our Mutual Friend. And then, I think, Great Expectations. I know I'm a little strange but I also was very fond of Nicholas Nickleby.

I am (very slowly) reading Ibram Kendi's How to Be an Anti-Racist. Between the workbook and meditation, I hardly have time to read. Also, probably the main reason, I'm so preoccupied by what's happening in my country, I can't turn my eyes away--like some horrifying accident. I am terrified right now by what's happening in Portland with a secret army. I think it's a dress rehearsal for the November elections, if he loses. Terror makes it hard to concentrate on fiction. For me. I don't have an intellectual problem with any kind of reading at any time; I just can't do it.

Always good to check in here. Thanks for being present. :-)

Ellie said, Terror makes it hard to concentrate on fiction!

Don't we have a thread for particularly well put succinct observations? Every time I allow myself to relax there comes another opportunity to freak out. It helps if the book being read is so well written you can get lost in it, and especially if it addresses the issues that strike terror in our hearts, like Taras book, and the racism stuff you've been reading Ellie. I found, after a bit of a struggle getting into it, that Apeirogon by Colum McCann was such a book. I had been intimidated by the size but even with all the detours I took, crying breaks and looking up references, finding the music, it was a swift read. Curiously, I noticed my focus was better with the other books I'm currently reading, even The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis which rather disgruntled me but I finished this morning.
I am excited to begin A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott and for fiction The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar

Petra, did your new member show up to carving?
And what Dickens did your group agree on?
Ellie, maybe the T man will find an elaborate excuse not to run?
I too am very disturbed by the Portland situation. And the Israeli situation. But I feel enough that I dont feel the need to expose myself to negative iterations. In fact I feel the need to protect myself from them by not tuning in, and taking days off entirely from the computer.

I don't think I've found that what I read has changed, but I do find that I'm not reading as much, so my concentration is down, I think.

I'm still reading Mason & Dixon (and will be for some time to come....it's huge!). I've settled into the groove of the story. I'm not sure whether this is the sort of style that really works for me but I do see the genius of it. Pynchon adds humor (and distraction?) to characters, throws in true historical & little known happenings to bring them to our attention and uses the project of the Mason-Dixon line as his anchor. One example, is that Benjamin Franklin is portrayed as a rather Elton John figure, with changing & outlandish glasses, playing music in public houses and a couple of groupies. LOL. It was a fun depiction.

Magdelanye, yes, he has shown up for 2 carving sessions now. In his first he carved an axe out of cottonwood. In the second, he started a little snowman out of basswood. He's trying so hard and has a knack for it, if he sticks with it.
I was working with him on the snowman. The basswood, while a soft wood, is a bit hard on his little hands. He can carve it but he doesn't quite have the strength to carve it comfortably. But he wouldn't take any help. He was determined to do this on his own.

I was thinking that I'll steer him to more cottonwood projects (another snowman, perhaps? …..he says he loves snowmen) and maybe soap bar carving. I'm going to bring a couple of bars of soap and we'll try for a fish or maybe a car (his choice). I'll sell it as a fun present for his parents.

I'm not around many 7-year olds anymore but he seems very sure of what he wants and is willing to put in the work. I kept saying that he could go for a break & rest anytime he wanted to, then come back. He'd think about it, then say that he'd prefer to stay and work on his project. LOL.

He's going to keep David (the other carving member who is teaching the kid) and myself busy. LOL.

The Dickens poll for the next read just went up yesterday. The top 3 member's choices are Dombey & Son, Martin Chuzzlewit and The Old Curiosity Shop (??….I may be misremembering this one). There's still time to join and put in a vote. LOL.

Petra, I love Dombey & Son (I saw an 8-hour/2-day adaptation on Broadway from England many years ago and have read it twice). One of my favorite. And parts of Curiosity are phenomenal. I read Chuzzlewit but don't remember it clearly.

I love your 7 year old! They are always sure of things. It's a great age.
Magdelanye, I'm still intending to finish Apeirogon--I loved it and then the plague hit and I lost track. I do hope to get back to all the books I was loving before. When I could still read.

I'm working my way through Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor which is challenging and no fun but undoubtedly important for me to do. I participated in a Zoom meeting of a dialogue between Tara Brach and Lama Rod Owens who spoke of his experience as an African-American Buddhist. He wrote a book, Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger which I'm now reading. It's very exciting, sad, painful, whatever--lots of strong stuff. He led a meditation at the beginning. It's on YouTube if you're interested.

I think I only come on GR these days to see how you two are doing!

Ellie I love Lama Rod and I had a hard choice to participate in that or a different workshop that im signed up for? 6 sundays altogether i think. with Justin Michael Williams. Im glad to hear that what i was hoping is so, that i can watch on you tube.
justin is pretty young and brash and he lifts my spirits.
i think it was Martin Chuzzlwit that did me for Dickens.

Meant to comment on Mason & Dixon
I cant remember if Petra said it is the first TP she has read. Im wondering if its as mindboggling as Gravity's Rainbow

I have actually finished all my covid books. Reams of notes now still to do but what a plethora of 5 stars.