Monthly Archives: October 2009

Writer’s Best Friend, Reader’s Best Friend

Koontz, Dean (2009). A Big Little Life: a memoir of a joyful dog. New York: Hyperion. ISBN: 9781401323523.

Why do so many of us sit cold-hearted, distant when we read or watch a scene of a person’s death, vioolent or valiant, but weep copiously at description of a dog’s demise? It took Dean Koontz’s memoir about his special relationship with his dog Trixie to put these thoughts into concrete words for me. If at time s it seems as though Koontz is a bragging parent relating how gifted his child is, well… he is. Tricks, cookies, routines, walks, medical problems, uncanny events: all are things that anyone who has ever had a dog will realte to, and be glad someone with Koontz’s gift for words took the time to express so beautifully. Along the way we are let into the private life of a writer, glimpses of the challenges and rewards of being a successful novelist.

I connected with this book as a dog lover, savoring every story, every excuse as to why dogs are so supreme. Having lost my own dog in 2008, I knew exactly what Dean Koontz and his wife were going through at each stage of their dog’s life with them.

The book goes deeper than an account of a single beloved dog and becomes a sort of treatise on neo-romanticism. As the writer discusses his beleifs about innocence being an ideal state, I was reminded of William Blake. And his discussion of how his relationship with his dog brought about profound changes int he way he wrote and thought about writing, I thought of other Romantic writers (Coeridge and his defense of poetry especially seems reflected here). Likeso much of the fiction by Dean Koontz, this book is enjoyable on multiple levels.

Dean Koontz personal website: http://www.deankoontz.com

Dean’s dog Trixie has a web page as well: http://trixie.deankoontz.com

Writing as an anti-depression strategy

Schaefer, Elizabeth Maynard. (2008). Writing Through the Darkness: easing your depression with paper and pen. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts. ISBN: 9781587613197.

Using writing strategies, from journals to essays and fiction, as a strategy for handling depression and working through emotional problems is not exactly a new idea. But Elizabeth Schaefer PhD. manages to offer guidance for anyone who wants to do so in a nonthreatening, fulfilling way. The book is written both for people naturally drawn to writing (even professional writers) and for non-writers facing depression and other mental illnesses who want to try this a as a strategy. Schaeffer is quick to point out that doing this on your own is not a replacement for cognitive therapy, and that professional advice and care is needed for people with severe depression or people facing an emergency situation.

There is a section of the book that deals with the connection between writers and depression, which is fascinating and worth getting the book just for that.

This book offers great tips for beginning a regular writing routine, as well as its primary purpose of using writing to help deal with depression.The book gives a great many writing exercises and topics to write about to help deal with emotional issues and dealing with the causes and management of depression. Also included is a section on starting a writing group for people who want to write about depression, including advice on how to lead such a group. The writer also has a blog at http://writeoutofdepression.blogspot….

Fall Afternoon in Upper Dauphin County, PA

Connected. A greener life, rural or not

Dickson Wright, Clarissa & Scott, Johnny. (2005). A Greener Life: the modern country compendium. London: David & Charles. North American edition. ISBN: 978-0-7153-2750-0.

One of the perennial appeals of the country lifestyle is the sense of living simpler, healthier, more in tune with the planet. The idea of self-sufficiency holds great appeal for those of us who live in a world of ever-increasing specialization. Not only does this world of expertise leave us unbalanced as human beings, it takes away our power of how the things we do and consume affect the planet and even ourselves. While quite useful as a direct guidebook to all aspects of rural living, this book offers far more to people who never intend to live a rural lifestyle.

The wonder of this book is that it encompasses both the lure of the country for nostalgic reasons while offering the idea that country living can be the cure to advancing the way we live in the future. In its practical how-to explanations of the parts traditional-based, rural living, it offers explanations of why these practices have lasted so long. It also compares them quite favorably with their modern counterparts in terms of health and satisfaction.

For instance, in the section on gardening, a description of almost every kind of vegetable is given with growing instructions and cooking suggestions, but greater is the context and commentary for each that explains how contemporary large-scale farming methods often fall short.

Because of technologies like the automobile, computer, internet and such, many of us can live anywhere we like. Cities have their benefits, of course, and this book is not saying everyone should or could live in a rural area and make their own soaps and butter. Rather, the book is useful even for people who never even dream of wanting to grow their own vegetables because we all need an understanding of the context of the foods we eat and the products we buy. This is how I feel the writers draw us toward the future, by saying we should all be more aware of the choices we make.

This bit of criticism of the automatic way most of us live is softened and made more palatable by the style of Clarissa Dickson Wright, familiar to many of us as half of the Two Fat Ladies cooking team from the 1990s. Her personal feelings against supermarkets, American commerce and carrots are (except for the carrots) fully justified in facts and presented in a straightforward and entertaining manner.

This is a perspective that is not always easy to come by in the American media. We tend to focus on commerce, and nutrients and fat and cholesterol and pollution, but not on questioning the foundations of the way we live. It sounds like a lot for a manual on how to live a country life, but this book really is a worth look at by urbanites and suburbanites for its eye-opening perspective if nothing else.

Do you eat food?

Pollan, Michael. (2008). In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. New York: Penguin. ISBN: 978-1-59420-145-5

How much actual food do you eat? That is the somewhat disconcerting premise that underlies this book. Michael Pollan suggests that, because of the great many processed food products with many additives and the policies of seeking to make more food at a lower cost, much of the food in the American diet today is not actually real food.

He suggests that if we made it a point not to eat any foods or food products that our great grandmothers would not recognize as food, we would go a long way to helping world ecology and our own health (p.148). He says we should also avoid ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, and products with more than five ingredients. He says we should also avoid high fructose corn syrup. Pollan is quick to point out that these things by themselves are not necessarily bad for us, “but all of them are reliable markers for foods that have been highly processed” (p.150).

Great detail is taken in this book to explain all the nasty details of why corporate food manufacturing, contemporary farming practices and government policies have conspired to make the things we eat not as healthy and nutrient rich , plus more harmful to the environment, than in the past. He explains why the various traditional and aboriginal diets are good models to copy, because these cultures discovered over a long period of time what food combinations work well together in terms of health and longevity. Contemporary and nontraditional foods have not been tested by time, and their effect on our bodies cannot be measured.

The book outlines eating guidelines that are basically a balanced approach, and common sense: eat more plants, especially leaves; eat meals rather than snacks (preferably at a table and not alone), eat slowly, and don’t look for magic quick solutions to dietary issues.

In addition to the practical advice, the book is an eye-opening view at the way our thinking about food has shifted from food itself to the nutrients food provides, and how we have begun trying to replicate these nutrients with synthetic substitutes. Pollan paints a picture where the cult of nutrition has taken over and allowed us to be jangled around by marketing claims of health issues that may or may not be true.

His argument against nutritionism is worth considering and his practical points worth beginning to implement.

Creative Scarecrows at Morris Arboretum

One of the most interesting surprises at the Arboretum was a display they called the “Scarecrow Walk.” It was lining the oak allee and featured about 20 scarecrows designed by groups and families. Some of my favorites are pictured here. More information at the Morris Arboretum website, www.morrisarboretum.org