Yesterday one of the members of my book group hosted a “Book Group Movie Sunday.” It was a double-feature showing of two films based on books we’d read – with a very fun and very smart collection of women.
Usually I don’t like to be inside glued to a screen on a Sunday afternoon, but luck or the “Book Group Movie Sunday” gods must have been smiling on us because it was a perfect afternoon to huddle together in Barb’s cozy family room. Cold, rainy, and occasionally wild and windy – not at all what one might hope for the third Sunday in May, but just great for a Movie Sunday!
The first film, Love in the Time of Cholera, was beautifully rendered, and – we all agreed more enjoyable than actually reading the book by Miguel Marchez Garcia. The film was textured and layered, a visual treat. The book seemed dense and a lot of work. But hey, that was just our take on it.
The second film – after a pizza and wine break – was The Kite Runner, based on the book by Khaled Hosseini, was also visually gorgeous and knock-out powerful. We felt the same way about the book. Though it dealt with some incredibly difficult subjects, this is a book that teaches, enlightens, breaks one’s heart, and begins to mend it. And the film does what a film based on a great book so rarely does – it lived up to the book!
The films, though – as much as I enjoyed both of them – aren’t really what I wanted to write about today. No, the films were only a small part of the experience of “Book Group Movie Sunday” for me. The greater part of yesterday’s enjoyment came from the company of such an interesting women – none of whom I have been connected to for much longer than a year.
I’ve been acquainted with several of the women I now call my reading friends, but until talking about books gave us the excuse, our acquaintance hadn’t blossomed into real friendship. And the great majority of our group are women that I had never even met before joining the group. What a gift I have given myself!
We’re a diverse group. Some retired public school teachers, some currently teaching – from subbing to high school French, to non-credit child care, to college level nursing or art education – a nurse practitioner, a couple businesswomen. Individually and collectively, these are interesting women.
So I’m congratulating myself at least two ways. One, that I get to hang out with these women, and two, that I’m smart enough to recognize just what a gift that is. I haven’t always had the geographic proximity with women friends, and I am savoring the opportunity!
May you have such an opportunity to savor in the coming week – and maybe see some really good films and read some really good books as a bonus!
Sally
Monday, May 19, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Monday Moment - Accelerating Through a Curve
You know how it is when someone throws you a curve? Seems to me I either go off the road – or I accelerate through the curve and discover something new. Today’s curve actually seems to have helped me discover something old…
Today’s curve:
At 8:16, as I’m driving into Rochester to lead a training at 9AM, I got a call from the person who set up the training. Three of her staff – the three she most wanted to receive the training – didn’t show this morning. Could we reschedule?
Oy! Rochester is an hour from home, I don’t like to make unnecessary trips, and I already scheduled another commitment this afternoon – also in Rochester. Oy!
But maybe we could reschedule the training for this afternoon? Early afternoon so I could still make my other commitment? Okay then! First curve handled.
Now what to do till then? In Rochester, because I’m already in the city by this point and won’t make the trip back home to turn around and come back again. So I head for a free wi-fi place where I might do some work I’d brought along, draft my Monday message to you – and coincidentally enjoy a frothy cup of chai. Next leg of the curve handled.
And here’s the place where I accelerated and discovered something old. Do you recognize my stars? If you’ve joined the Monday Moments in the last few months, you probably won’t recognize my old email stationery. But if you’ve been with me for a long time, here are those old familiar yellow stars! Again!
Why did I re-instate the stars today? Because the curve gave me a little extra explore time that I’ve never seemed to take before. I thought – when I changed my email program – that my stars were gone forever. Alas. Truth is, I never really looked. I just assumed they were no longer available.
But today, when I took the time to look – because I had this unexpected curve – I found my stars again! They were lurking in the background all along. Who knew? Hooray for the curve that helped me find my stars!
I should know by now that what seems like bad news often turns into something helpful and positive. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn the lesson. I really hope that next time somebody throws me a curve, I’ll grin and step on the gas, knowing that whatever is on the other side of the curve can be terrific!
Wishing you something unexpected – and excellent in the coming week!
Sally
Today’s curve:
At 8:16, as I’m driving into Rochester to lead a training at 9AM, I got a call from the person who set up the training. Three of her staff – the three she most wanted to receive the training – didn’t show this morning. Could we reschedule?
Oy! Rochester is an hour from home, I don’t like to make unnecessary trips, and I already scheduled another commitment this afternoon – also in Rochester. Oy!
But maybe we could reschedule the training for this afternoon? Early afternoon so I could still make my other commitment? Okay then! First curve handled.
Now what to do till then? In Rochester, because I’m already in the city by this point and won’t make the trip back home to turn around and come back again. So I head for a free wi-fi place where I might do some work I’d brought along, draft my Monday message to you – and coincidentally enjoy a frothy cup of chai. Next leg of the curve handled.
And here’s the place where I accelerated and discovered something old. Do you recognize my stars? If you’ve joined the Monday Moments in the last few months, you probably won’t recognize my old email stationery. But if you’ve been with me for a long time, here are those old familiar yellow stars! Again!
Why did I re-instate the stars today? Because the curve gave me a little extra explore time that I’ve never seemed to take before. I thought – when I changed my email program – that my stars were gone forever. Alas. Truth is, I never really looked. I just assumed they were no longer available.
But today, when I took the time to look – because I had this unexpected curve – I found my stars again! They were lurking in the background all along. Who knew? Hooray for the curve that helped me find my stars!
I should know by now that what seems like bad news often turns into something helpful and positive. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn the lesson. I really hope that next time somebody throws me a curve, I’ll grin and step on the gas, knowing that whatever is on the other side of the curve can be terrific!
Wishing you something unexpected – and excellent in the coming week!
Sally
Monday, May 5, 2008
Monday Moment for Health - Make peace with your batting average
Last week Ben Sherwood, author of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, came to my community as part of “Canandaigua Reads,” which has been modeled after similar programs often titled “What if everyone in (Chicago, Seattle, Rochester…) read the same book?”
Our school district has taken on this program in a big way, choosing a book that is appropriate for all our high school – and many of the middle school students, so that the whole school is buzzing about the same book. The acting classes put on a dramatization of scenes from the book for the community, discussion groups are held, and when we can get him or her here, the author comes to speak with students and community groups.
Ben Sherwood had a busy day last Thursday. He spoke to an assembly of all high school students, a classroom of kids who wanted to talk more deeply about the book, and students in our alternative high school – at least one of which had never taken another book home before. And then he spoke to two groups at the library, did a book-signing at our local – and quite phenomenal – grocery/pharmacy/all-purpose store, and spoke to another community group in the evening.
I was fortunate to attend three of these multiple sessions, but the one that I got most from was the Author’s Round Table in which Ben spoke with local authors about writing. He shared many useful tips, but the one that has stuck with me goes something like, “Make peace with your batting average.”
I’m not a die-hard baseball fan so please accept my advance apologies for the likelihood of mixed metaphors. But the idea goes like this. None of us – not even the greatest literary minds – bat a thousand. And most writers probably have a batting average between 200-400. Every page, every paragraph, every sentence won’t be a home run – even for the incredibly gifted.
Sherwood calls himself a 270 writer. If he edits carefully, he might raise his average ten points. With an excellent coach, he might gain another ten points. He wants to work diligently to get better at the writing craft, hoping for and aspiring to great works. But – and here’s the most important part of the message - he doesn’t let the fear of not batting a thousand – or even 500 – keep him from sitting down at the typewriter and banging out something! He recognizes that even a writer with a 270 batting average can have something important to say – and create a book that a high school student might take home for the very first time in his life.
As one who aspires to write, I immediately got what Ben Sherwood was trying to say. In fact I created a sign years ago that still hangs in my office. It says, “Write one BAD page every day!” If I try to write something brilliant every time I sit down to write, well believe me, I’ll find every procrastination excuse known to humankind before I put a single word to the page. But if I don’t worry about whether it’s good or not – and just write – I’m often surprised at what comes out.
It’s occurred to me to wonder in recent days if making peace with my batting average might be a good idea in other arenas of my life as well. I’ll never have the cleanest house, the nicest clothes, the most carefully managed weight, or any other of the hosts of pipedreams my less mature self might have hoped for. Nor do I need those pipedreams to live a satisfying – and still growth-oriented life.
As my friend and mentor Sid Simon taught me, “Perfection is not required. Excellence will do just fine.”
May you have a week of excellent attempts!
Sally
Our school district has taken on this program in a big way, choosing a book that is appropriate for all our high school – and many of the middle school students, so that the whole school is buzzing about the same book. The acting classes put on a dramatization of scenes from the book for the community, discussion groups are held, and when we can get him or her here, the author comes to speak with students and community groups.
Ben Sherwood had a busy day last Thursday. He spoke to an assembly of all high school students, a classroom of kids who wanted to talk more deeply about the book, and students in our alternative high school – at least one of which had never taken another book home before. And then he spoke to two groups at the library, did a book-signing at our local – and quite phenomenal – grocery/pharmacy/all-purpose store, and spoke to another community group in the evening.
I was fortunate to attend three of these multiple sessions, but the one that I got most from was the Author’s Round Table in which Ben spoke with local authors about writing. He shared many useful tips, but the one that has stuck with me goes something like, “Make peace with your batting average.”
I’m not a die-hard baseball fan so please accept my advance apologies for the likelihood of mixed metaphors. But the idea goes like this. None of us – not even the greatest literary minds – bat a thousand. And most writers probably have a batting average between 200-400. Every page, every paragraph, every sentence won’t be a home run – even for the incredibly gifted.
Sherwood calls himself a 270 writer. If he edits carefully, he might raise his average ten points. With an excellent coach, he might gain another ten points. He wants to work diligently to get better at the writing craft, hoping for and aspiring to great works. But – and here’s the most important part of the message - he doesn’t let the fear of not batting a thousand – or even 500 – keep him from sitting down at the typewriter and banging out something! He recognizes that even a writer with a 270 batting average can have something important to say – and create a book that a high school student might take home for the very first time in his life.
As one who aspires to write, I immediately got what Ben Sherwood was trying to say. In fact I created a sign years ago that still hangs in my office. It says, “Write one BAD page every day!” If I try to write something brilliant every time I sit down to write, well believe me, I’ll find every procrastination excuse known to humankind before I put a single word to the page. But if I don’t worry about whether it’s good or not – and just write – I’m often surprised at what comes out.
It’s occurred to me to wonder in recent days if making peace with my batting average might be a good idea in other arenas of my life as well. I’ll never have the cleanest house, the nicest clothes, the most carefully managed weight, or any other of the hosts of pipedreams my less mature self might have hoped for. Nor do I need those pipedreams to live a satisfying – and still growth-oriented life.
As my friend and mentor Sid Simon taught me, “Perfection is not required. Excellence will do just fine.”
May you have a week of excellent attempts!
Sally
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