May I Recommend a Book About Book Recommendations? - by Scott Goldberg

I am fortunate both in real life and on Facebook (for I know what is on Facebook is not real) to be friends with book readers.  Having never actually witnessed a friend reading, I know this mainly from requests on Facebook for book recommendations.

Responding to book recommendation requests has never been easy for me.  Does this person have the same tastes as me?  For instance, I recently read and enjoyed Lives in Ruins: Archeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson.  Now if I knew you, or more likely your kid, was considering a career in archeology I would say this is a must read.  Otherwise, this book is only for those curious about what a different career path might look like---spoiler alert, the grass is not always greener.  

Just as important  (ok, actually more important, especially on-line) is how I will be perceived by making this recommendation.  I want to come across as thoughtful and literate and hip and well it’s difficult when I am really not any of those things.  So I found a book that allows me to seem to be all of those things, because the author is.  And the whole book is about books the author has read.

I found this treasure meandering the shelves of the Lane Road Library.  I love libraries.  I love the ideas of borrowing and returning.  I love that it’s basically free.  I love that it provides access to just about anyone and caters to all sorts of tastes and interests.  I guess it’s sort of like the internet, but infinitely more pleasant.  Having said that, it doesn’t take long to meander all of Lane Road’s first floor book collection.  Probably 70% of the space is devoted to computers and DVDs and CDs---stuff that are not books.   And if you eliminate self-improvement, how-to, cook books and romance novels, you are left with about three shelves from which to brouse.

Anyways, there among the remaining books this spine caught my eye. Read from top to bottom: Hornby Ten Years In The Tub A Decade Soaking In Great Books. I’ve read most of Nick Hornby’s books, so this spine caught my eye.  If you like witty, concise writing often with pop culture references pick up High Fidelity by Nick Hornby.  It includes discussions of creating the perfect mix tape (remember those pre-Spotify as if I know what I am talking about having never once used Spotify, although I do get billed monthly for it for my daughter).   The book was later made into a movie starring John Cusack (although Jack Black steals it)which I enjoyed as well.

Ten Years in the Tub is a compilation of essays that ran in a magazine called The Believer which I never heard of but sounds if it might be passed out for free by folks either in free-flowing robes or in neat suits knocking at your door at inopportune times.  His mandate was to write only positive book reviews (although he often humorously complains about this limitation).  The book spans 10 years from 2003 to 2013. Each month ( a few months are combined others are skipped) Hornby lists the books he bought/acquired (he buys/gets a lot) and the books he has read.  Although there is often some overlap between the two lists, just as often they have nothing in common.  Warning—the dude reads a lot.  At any one time, I am reading one or two books and I would say I rarely read more than one book a month.   Hornby knocks out four and five books a month consistently.  And he has many of the same excuses I have for not reading more—kids, work, alcohol, kids, watching sports, alcohol and kids.  His essays sprinkle in pop culture, sports (much of it English soccer—he might call it football) and small personal events from his life.  The essays read part book review and part scenes from a really good sit-com.

Currently, I am half way through 2006 and I have compiled a list of about eight books I want to read.  At my pace that is about 8 months of reading or basically how long Trump has been our President which seems like a really long time.  I am hoping many of these recommendations will lead me to new authors and additional books by them.  To be honest, some of the most fun in reading Hornby’s essays is when you come across a book you have already read.  It sort of validates your own taste in books and who couldn’t use a little validation now and again.

So next time you are looking for a good book, get Hornby’s book and read an essay or two (they are short and addictive—insert potato chip metaphor).  Just don’t run over to Lane Road Library to grab it, I still have that copy, sucker.

I just want to briefly address my only other contribution to this fine endeavor? blogosphere? black hole? When last I wrote, the Indians had just lost the World Series and we had elected our new President.  My emotions were a little raw.

9 months or so later, the Indians are once again perched atop the AL Central and look better than last year.  If everyone gets healthy…and the starting pitching is consistent…they are primed to break my heart and crush my dreams again this Fall—hope springs eternal.  

I will say one controversial thing about the Indians.  I know this player is a fan and team favorite, but the Indians best lineup does not include Jason Kipnis.  To me eye, Jose Ramirez is a better second baseman.  With Ramirez at second, Chisenhall can play third, and then the outfield is Brantley in left, Zimmer/Jackson in center, and Jay Bruce in right.  That team is a beast.

Sorry I got off track, but last Fall I wrote that if I could change only the outcome of the World Series or the presidential election, I choose the World Series.  In my defense, I have waited my whole life for the Indians to win a World Series.  I have not waited my whole life for Hilary Clinton or any woman to be President.  Even so, looking back I can see my words were a little self-centered veering towards self-absorbed.  Which makes me think I am more like this President, that I can barely stomach, than I care to admit.  

When you don’t like someone, and if it isn’t clear I don’t like Trump, almost everything they say or do can get under your skin.  His trip to Texas in the aftermath of the flooding was a perfect example.  Does he emphasize the devastation, the human tragedy? No he focuses on the size of the crowd that came out to see him.  If he were my son (a teenager), I would smile and shake my head at his utter self-absorption.   But this guy (who acts like a child all the time) is our President.  It got me to thinking about what book I would recommend our President read—not that I believe it would change him or make a bit of difference.  The Diary of Anne Frank comes to mind as does To Kill a Mockingbird.  But the first book I would give our President is The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss.  Happy reading Mr. President. 

Scott Goldberg also wrote It's Been a Tough Month for this Indians Fan in 2016. As of this posting the Tribe have won 19 straight games. 

Get to the Wex To See Gray Matters - by Anne Marie

Gotta Get to the Wex to see Gray Matters!

Those of us who live in Columbus (is Buckeyes the only collective word for us?) are so lucky to have such a vibrant music and arts scene providing a giant ever-changing playground for our personal entertainment.

Probably my number one go-to source for entertainment is the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University.  The Wex rocks! Every month when their calendar of upcoming events comes out, I can't possibly fit all the exhibits, films, theatrical and musical acts onto my calendar.

On exhibit now, but only for a few more days, until July 30, is Gray Matters. To me, the title of this exhibit was a little off-putting. It sounded a little boring. Gray matters. Dull, gray matters. Or, possibly worse, boring and cerebral. I already sometimes have difficulty figuring out what the heck some of the art at the Wexner Center even means. I wasn't sure I was up to an exhibit called Gray Matters.  

Luckily, last Thursday night, I threw caution to the wind and visited the exhibit and discovered that I could not have been more wrong! Gray Matters may be an exhibit showcasing 37 women artists who have produced art while limiting themselves to a palette of black, white & gray but the similarity stops there and the art is NOT BORING AT ALL!! I saw everything from paintings and sculpture to a disco ball made up of every known image of a solar eclipse ever recorded by humans to a video set in a morgue where the victim of a suicide and her animated organs and her ghost debate their demise.

Also luckily, there is a small but mighty exhibit guide that is free and readily available in various stands throughout the exhibit. The guide has concise, helpful details about each work. I walked through looking at each work, appreciating it at face value and trying to figure it out on my own. Only then would I read the guide and see how close (or sometimes far off!) my interpretation was from the artist’s reality.

Here are just a few of the pieces that you can experience if you get into the Wex in time to catch this great exhibit.

Lorna Simpson Left, Right, Black America Again (2016)

Rachel Whiteread Untitled (Cast Iron Floor) (2001)

Tara Donovan Composition (Cards) 2017

Each of these was a surprise to me in that there was so much more to them - in either artist intention/representation or technique - than immediately met my eye.

Untitled (Cast Iron Floor) is literally a piece of art on the floor and, unlike other usable pieces of art in the show such as tables, this one does not have a sign asking you not to touch the art. But I was still deferential and walking around rather than over the piece until called out by a burly security guard who instructed me to walk on it, adding that he does every day. I did and it was a strange feeling to trample upon something that an artist had created. It felt solid and I felt grounded while walking around and over it but wasn’t sure I was experiencing quite what the artist intended. Upon consulting the guide, I learned that artist Rachel Whiteread’s casts “materialize negative space...mummifying the air in the room and making it solid, transforming these voids into masses of memory and loss.”  Wow.  That merited another slow walk across while I pondered that some more.

I'll leave it to you to uncover the secrets of the other two - and the remainder of the works - if you make it to the Wexner Center by July 30th. Click here for more details.  #theWex #leapintotheWex #womenattheWex  - Anne Marie

Kids Say Some Crazy Things! - by Andra Gillum

My favorite part about being a children’s author is reading and sharing my stories with kids.  I am often invited to schools as a “visiting author”.  My audience can range from preschoolers to middle schoolers.

Each group is unique.  I love to watch their reactions, hear their laughter, listen to their connections and field their questions which are always genuine, often very insightful, and occasionally very funny.

I started writing down some of my favorite remarks.  

First of all, kids always ask me how old I am.  I always try to deflect the question, but they typically won’t take no for an answer.  A few boys have said they expected me to be older, so I guess that’s a good thing.

One day I was telling a class that it took me well over a year to write my book.  A boy exclaimed:  “Your hand must have been really tired!”  I started to explain that I wasn’t actually writing for that entire time, but then I just let it go.

One little girl wrote me a thank you note after my visit and asked if I was a teenager.  That letter has been framed and hung it on my wall.

During a classroom presentation, a preschooler raised his hand.  “Is your book available on Amazon?” he inquired.

“Yes,” I laughed.  “How do you know about Amazon?”  

“My Dad says that Mom has an addiction.”  

While reading to a kindergarten class, I asked the kids who has a dog.  Most of them raised their hands.  One little boy blurted out “My dog died.”  

“I’m so sorry,”  I responed.  “Was your dog sick?”  

“No.” he replied.  “He was hit by a comet.”

“That happens sometimes,”  I told him.

Kids like to blurt out random things. “Do you like Luke Bryant?” one boy asked.

“Today is my birthday!” a little girl once proclaimed.

“That’s why I’m here”, I assured her.

I was asking one group about the difference between an author and an illustrator, when an impatient boy blurted out: “Did you draw the pictures?”

“No.” I responded.  “I wish I could have, but that isn’t my talent.”

He replied: “You could have just taken an art class.”  Why didn’t I think of that?

One day I was visiting a school to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Suess.  A boy asked me if I am friends with Dr. Suess.  “No,” I replied.  “Dr. Suess has been dead over 25 years.”  

He still thought we should be friends.

When I was explaining part of one book where the older sister is rather bossy, one 5 year old raised his hand.  He admitted:  “I’m pretty bossy.”  

I told him it’s good to be self-aware.

My Dad talks about a TV show he used to watch called “Kids Say the Darndest Things”.  

I love how they freely speak whatever comes to their mind.  They never consider whether it might sound strange, or be embarrassing.

It seems to be around age 11 or 12 when we become more self-conscious of what we say.

I suppose it’s good to filter our words to some extent, but I do love listening to little ones as their  thoughts flood out of their mouth like an open tap.

I wouldn’t want it any other way!  

Andra Gillum is a free-lance writer and the author of the children’s books “Doggy Drama” and “Puppy Drama” and “Old Doggy Drama” (coming soon).  Learn more at www.doggydrama.com.  Like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/doggydrama.   

If you work for a school, or know of one who would be interested in an author visit, please contact Andra at andrag@wowway.com.  Follow Andra on Twitter @GillumAndra

Surrealism in the Art of Honore Sharrer - by Anne Marie

A DANGEROUS WOMAN: SUBVERSION AND SURREALISM IN THE ART OF HONORÉ SHARRER is on display at the Columbus Museum of Art until Sunday May 21st. Click here for more info.

On Mother’s Day after brunch, we headed to the Museum Shop at the Columbus Museum of Art because the kids wanted to buy me a present of their own and I can usually find cool earrings, a necklace or other unique things I love in museum shops. Cameron asked whether I had seen the exhibits and I told him I had seen all but the main exhibit and we decided to go see A Dangerous Woman: Subversion and Surrealism in the Art of Honore Sharrer.
Good call. This is a must see exhibit, on view only through May 21!

This is the best curated exhibit I have seen at CMOA.  None of us had ever even heard of Honore Sharrer prior to entering, and yet the exhibit provided everything we needed to understand and appreciate her art as a reaction to a world which tried, luckily unsuccessfully, to subjugate her.   
I found her social, political and religious commentary to be deliciously biting!  I had so many favorites that it’s hard to narrow the field but “Reception”, “Before the Divorce” and “Resurrection of the Waitress” are a few I recall in extreme, glorious detail.  “Reception” was particularly subversive because Honore, who, together with her husband, had been forced to leave the United Stated States and live in Canada for a period due to their left-leaning politics during the Cold War years, places Senator Joseph McCarthy, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Cardinal Francis Spellman at an opulent reception, all the while softening the effect by adding various birds throughout.  “Who me?  Be subversive?  I’m just a housewife painting a party with beautiful birds.” Cameron found “Mother Goose”, her painting of three teenage boys so caught up in their posturing in the foreground that they completely miss a young, naked Mother Goose flying by in the background to be so dead on that he marveled at a woman’s ability to capture that feeling.  
CMOA asks viewers why they think Honore Sharrer was considered such a dangerous woman.  The exhibit’s notes throughout suggest that Sharrer’s art was thought-provoking and disruptive. Sharrer’s willingness to poke fun at, and even mock or deride, established institutions was challenging for Cold War society, and especially so coming from a woman.

If you can make it down to the CMOA by May 21st, you will not be sorry!  Museum admission is free to members on Sundays. - Anne Marie

This Health Care Bill is an Act of Domestic Terror - by Colin Gawel

As loyal readers know, Pencilstorm is not a political website. We prefer to stick to serious subjects like movies, rock n roll and pro wrestling. However, I don't consider access to health care a political issue. Last I checked, sickness strikes both Republican and Democratic families. Both cancer and sprained ankles are strictly bi-partisan, so I am going to weigh in briefly with a couple of thoughts on the health care bill being voted on today in the House of Commoners.

As every single person (except one) knows, health care is a really complicated issue. Our whole system has been gradually erected on a swamp, so unless we rebuild the whole thing on a solid foundation, it's always going to have flaws. Until that day, we are always going to be propping it up. Or to put in Monty Python terms, our system is always in danger of falling into the swamp.

So let's skip the complicated stuff and save you some time. I am going to give you a quick quiz and by the end you will know if this health care bill is good for you.

Colin's Three Question Heath Care Quiz:

1) Are you under 35 years of age?  y / n 

2) Can you pay cash in advance for either your children's college education or your parents' long term care in a retirement home? y / n

3) Are you a member of Congress with guaranteed health benefits for life? y / n 

If you answered "No" on all three of these questions, this bill is a very bad idea and you need to call your representative today and voice your concerns. My rep is Steve Stivers and his # is 202 225 2015  I will be calling later and respectfully expressing my opinion. Remember, these folks work for us, not the other way around. 

And it's not like I'm out on a limb on this. The AMA and the AARP along with many prominent leaders on both sides of the aisle think this is a fiscally damaging and needlessly cruel bill capable of making life miserable for millions and millions of people. 

You don't think the AARP crosses their t's, dots their i's and even their j's when it comes to researching heath care? You bet your sweet ass they do. You want the complicated stuff?  Read this. or this   

And in closing, just to show that I too have narcissistic qualities that could one day lead me to the Oval office, I would like to quote myself. 

"Even Jesus would surely agree, to make somebody decide between their money and their life, that's as tough a chemotherapy"  - me

Columbus singer/songwriter Colin Gawel and The Lonely Bones released this track earlier in the year. With President Obama's health care speech of September 9th it resonates now more than ever. Find about more about Colin Gawel and his music at www.colingawel.com

Colin Gawel owns Colin's Coffee and is a musician. If somehow this bill passes, he and other hard working small business owners and musicians will be really screwed. He also plays in the band Watershed and The League Bowlers. You can read about him in the book Hitless Wonder. 

Giving Us the Roundabout - by Andra Gillum

I grew up in Dublin, so I’m always amazed by the city’s growth.  In my day, there was literally only one elementary school, one middle school and one high school.  Now there are dozens. Consequently, the traffic has gotten much worse.

The City of Dublin seems to have decided that roundabouts are their best solution.  They started by building smaller ones all over town.  I guess they were easing us into it.  Then came the monster.  Last fall, they installed a huge roundabout at the intersection of Rt. 161 and Riverside Drive.  I have maneuvered that monster several times.

I almost said that I have survived that monster several times, but it seemed a bit melodramatic. The point is, I don’t like roundabouts.  Truth be told, I don’t totally understand how to use them.

Best I can tell, none of us really knows how to use them.  That’s the problem.  Some drivers are way too aggressive, surging ahead into the circle whether there’s traffic or not.  Other drivers are way too timid, as they sit there waiting and waiting for all traffic to clear.  They’re looking for the perfect opportunity that never comes.

Roundabouts originated in England around 1963.  The first US roundabout was built in Las Vegas in 1990.  Today, there are over 5,000 roundabouts in the world, mostly in England, France and the U.S.

Now don’t confuse a roundabout with a traffic circle: they are two entirely different things. Who knew?  Traffic circles are much larger than roundabouts and often have traffic signs and/or traffic signals inside them.  Cars also travel through traffic circles at much faster speeds.
I have a tough enough time with the roundabouts.  I fear I’d never survive something filled with lights and signals, all at 50 miles per hour.

Roundabouts are designed with a raised island in the center intended to slow cars down to a steady 15-20 miles per hour.  I’m sure I‘ve seen cars whipping through much faster than that, and I have certainly seen cars come to a complete halt.

And don’t confuse a roundabout or a traffic circle with a traffic calming circle.  Those are something else entirely.  Like speed bumps and their larger brother speed humps, traffic calming circles are meant to slow us down.  They are found mainly in suburban neighborhoods.  I have driven around several of them, and I’ve never felt calmed.

Since no one I know seems to like roundabouts, I researched why road engineers keep adding them, especially in Dublin.  Someone there must be getting some big kickbacks.

According to the Federal Highway Commission,  roundabouts increase traffic capacity 30-50%. They also reduce major collisions  40-60%, and traffic injuries by 35-80%.  (Can you authenticate a statistic that broad?)  

I can’t find any statistics on fender-benders in roundabouts, but my money says they are much higher.  I wonder if 3C Body Shop is behind this proliferation of roundabouts?  If so, they should just own up to it.  How about naming rights?  The Dublin 161 roundabout brought to you by Frank’s Auto Body.

Even if statistics support the theory that roundabouts are quicker and safer, that assumes that drivers know how to use them properly.  I think that’s the problem.  We are all a little confused. Surge ahead?  Yield?  Switch lanes?  Stay in one lane? Slow down?  Speed up?  Stop entirely? Where’s the manual for these?

And what about pedestrians?  How do they get through the roundabout?  Do they run around the perimeter until they find their exit?  This seems dangerous.  More like a game of Frogger (or Crossy Road for you Millenials) than an efficient system.

Bicycles?  I don’t think they stand a chance.  Do they stay in the inside lane or outside lane or cut straight through?

At some point, we need to start teaching how to drive roundabouts in Driver’s Ed classes.  I would probably take a night class.   It would definitely be more useful than the traffic cones I learned to maneuver through back in the 1980's.

Andra Gillum is a free-lance writer from Upper Arlington, Ohio, and the author of Doggy Drama and Puppy Drama.  Both books are available at www.doggydrama.com, or pick one up at Colin’s coffee.  Send your comments and feedback to andra@doggydrama.com.