A headline sums it all up: “Spaniard raised by wolves disappointed with human life.”
(Above: drawing of Humpty Dumpty by Owen, age 5)
A headline sums it all up: “Spaniard raised by wolves disappointed with human life.”
(Above: drawing of Humpty Dumpty by Owen, age 5)
Another Peanuts remix. (More here.)
The most embarrassing thing I do when I’m working in the privacy of my studio is suck on one of these cigarette pencils.
My dad, my two brothers, and my best friend were all nicotine addicts when I was growing up, so when I first tried smoking cigarettes like every other moronic college student, I was too scared by how much I liked them to form a habit.
Then I bought one of the cigarette pencils in a novelty store a few years ago and was surprised how much dangling one from my lips helped me concentrate on my work. Really strange. I also, ironically, got kind of addicted to these tea tree toothpicks I originally bought to help my dad stop smoking. I like to chew on one when we watch TV.
Then, a few weeks ago, musician Blake Leyh tweeted things he learned from Brian Eno as a studio in 1980, and the first one was: “You can hold an unlit cigarette in your hand in the studio instead of smoking it, & it has much the same effect.”
So I’m not the only one!
Moominpappa as inspiration. Don’t break the chain…
Perhaps because I am entering middle age — in between my parents starting their 3rd act and very young boys starting their 1st act — I think a lot these days about what children do or don’t owe their parents. (And whether we should use debt as a metaphor at all.)
In Oliver Sacks’ memoir, On The Move, he quotes from a letter he sent his parents when he decided to stay overseas:
As for the other intangible and incalculable things you have given me, I can only repay these by leading a fairly happy and useful life, keeping in touch with you, and seeing you when I can.
I thought that was lovely, so I reversed it, and made it my request for my boys.
I’m reminded of Ursula Franklin, who quoted Pauline Laing as saying, “When parents send their children to school, they hope that, in the end, the young people will be personally happy and publicly useful.”
Personally happy and publicly useful. I love that.
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