Read what Ritzenhein, Hall, and Sell had to say about the marathon.
I’m glad the Olympics are over. They’re exciting and inspiring but it seems like most of us get tired of the hype after a week. I was disappointed with the coverage of the marathon, although pleased to see that they showed the entire event without switching to other events. Toward the end, they stopped showing the mile splits beyond 7th place, and the cameras rarely switched to anyone behind the lead pack.
For the last year or two, I’ve thought a lot about various rhythms in life. There is rhythm in
time
seasons
language
poetry
prayer
liturgy and the Church calendar
running
Books that have guided my thoughts on this matter include both The Cloister Walk and The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and “Women’s Work” by Kathleen Norris, as well as Lauren F. Winner’s books Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath. I highly urge you to read one or all of these books. The shortest are the latter-mentioned by each Norris and Winner, although all are worth it.
All too often I forget that writing is as simple as adding one word to the next.
I’ve been trying to teach myself consistency, be it in running, writing, Bible reading and prayer, or cleaning. It’s easy to spend hours planning how best to do something, then never get to it because the exhausting effort it took to plan was too much.
So if you’re struggling to write, commit to one sentence several times a week.
The other day I did what we do most days: I looked in the refrigerator and the pantry to see what we had. Hmm, a container of sliced zucchini and yellow squash, Roma tomatoes, a carton of macaroni noodles. While boiling the noodles, I chopped a tomato and heated the zucchini and squash in the microwave. Once the noodles were done, I drained them and used that pan to heat a smidge of olive oil and garlic salt (because I didn’t feel like getting out the real garlic), then tossed in the tomatoes and after a minute, the zucchini and squash. When the pan grew noisy, I threw in the noodles and stirred. Topped with a little Parmesan cheese, this felt like a gourmet meal, and it was delicious, and I didn’t have to waste any vegetables that might have soon gone bad.
I think most of us can throw together a good meal if we have just an ounce of cooking experience. And if not, it’s not difficult to look at what you have and go to the cookbooks for inspiration.
How do you save money on food? Do you cook straight from a recipe or invent new ones?
This, from the Image blog, captures some of what I was trying to say in my recent entry “New Yorker Fiction Podcast.” What Foster describes is something we should all strive for, I think.
The New Yorker published a piece (not sure if it is part of his book or separate) in their summer fiction issue by Haruki Murakami, who also has a book out called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir. There’s also a review in the New York Times here. (It’s not a kind review, and the writer has the nerve to criticize Murakami’s musical taste and call it “blandly familiar.”) He just decided to write one day, completed a novel, sold it, and became a writer. Then he decided to run and has since run 26 marathons. Murakami makes writing and running sound easy. I think he caught on to the secret: you just have to do it. So often we make running and writing and other pursuits more complicated than they need be. Sure they involve hard work which does not guarantee success as some define it, but it’s easy to find excuses to delay starting. So if you want to run or write or sing or work in a certain field, start now.
Jeffrey Eugenides is on the New Yorker’s fiction podcast with Deborah Treisman this month reading Harold Brodkey’s “Spring Fugue.” They talk the anthology Eugenides edited and why he’s drawn to Brodkey. If you’ve never listened to the New Yorker fiction podcast, do. There are some lovely writers reading stories not their own, and then a bit of discussion with Treisman. Beware, though. Sometimes I find it unsettling to hear an author’s voice after I’ve read their novels. Fortunately, Eugenides has a nice voice and there was nothing too strange (in the sense of “oh, I didn’t imagine him sounding like that“).
If you’ve got some time, or if you have household chores, check out this dialogue between Salman Rushdie and Eugenides. They discuss Rushdie’s most recent book among other things. Eugenides tells a story about trying to visit Rushdie when he was young and had just read Midnight’s Children.
Eugenides reminds me why I love good writing. At the sake of sounding like a spiritual weirdo, there’s something transcendent about the sense of awe that comes from brilliant writing. I think of O’Connor’s Mystery and Manners, in which she touches on mystery in religion and literature. I suppose all good art (whatever that means or however you would define it) brings a person to their knees (hopefully not in idol worship but in appreciation of the creation, perhaps the Creator, too, at least for the Christian [if I were to digress further, I’d mention Romans 1:20). For example, I have never liked swimming. I don’t like getting wet and I’d much rather be running if I have to be active. But after watching the U.S. Olympic swimmers and Michael Phelps’ historic feat last night, I was awestruck by their strength and athleticism and the sheer technicalities of their sport. Ryan said he’s become “a student of swimming” in the last week, and he explained a little about the way the “wake” affects a swimmer. (Forgive me my ignorance of swimming terminology, and please ignore any blunders.) At any rate, I think a person can find beauty and meaning in things as vastly different as sport and art and science and even cleaning. A person who does something well allows others to see the beauty in their work (be it auto mechanics, landscaping, or writing). I’m reminded of Donald Miller’s initial words in Blue Like Jazz.
Track and Field starts today, hooray! With the time difference, we already have a day’s worth of results. In the women’s 10,000m run, Shalane Flanagan took third and Kara Goucher took 10th.
Get excited for the men’s marathon by watching footage from the Trials. Wow, Ryan Hall looks at ease when he sets a record. Two days until the women’s marathon! It’d be exciting if Deena Kastor took the gold, but I kind of hope that Paula Radcliffe will instead, especially after Athens.
Go to this page to watch the men’s 4×100m relay if you missed it. What a race. What’s more hilarious impressive is the commentator’s voice and the cheering at the end. It looks like Michael Phelps only needs two more gold medals to set a take Mark Spitz’s record for the most golds at one Olympic Game. He’s already become the winningest Olympian.
On a side note, I’m glad that the U.S. beat the French in the 4×100m relay, only because of the comments from France’s team. It’s a pity that anyone would trash talk at the Olympics. To make it there is such a feat in and of itself, it’s a shame when there isn’t more camaraderie among countries. Sure, an athlete wants to win, but to talk about “smashing” the opponents shows poor sportsmanship.
This article brings up an interesting question for the upcoming election. More importantly, I wonder if it’s healthy that we give our country’s leader such a high-stress job. Maybe there aren’t other options. To look at the youngest and oldest presidents, click here. Apparently the average age is 55.
I stumbled on this interesting “electopedia” that contains trivia about the presumed candidates. It looks slanted, and I doubt it’s wise to fill in a personality based on out-of-context quotes, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
Family Dinners and Disappearing Values
My favorite way to spend family gatherings, second only to playing hide and seek, various sports, and indoor and outdoor (sometimes made-up) games with my cousins, was crowding around the kitchen. Okay, maybe it was a tie with playing cards. But still. Growing up we spent a lot of time with my mom’s side of the family since my grandparents lived within five minutes of us and my cousins visited regularly. Few activities are more fun than wedging your way into a kitchen full of Italian-Americans talking and cooking.
Reading chapter nine in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle brought back memories and starting me thinking once again. Kingsolver writes about the value in a shared family meal and cooking from scratch. I didn’t realize it was rare to sit down to dinner with your family or to spend weeknights at home until I went to college and learned that many people did not know family dinners and spent most nights with friends. I’m enjoying all the time Kingsolver spends ruminating on food culture and all its extensions.
We’re on a tight budget, by choice mostly. We take as much joy in buying fruits and vegetables and eating healthy food as some people do in going to the movies or bowling or whatever is the activity du jour. This past weekend we took advantage of the grand opening sales at Sunflower Farmers Market. We, and throngs of people, were like giddy children going from one item to the next, amazed at the prices and variety of food. We didn’t even make it to the other half of the store.
Unfortunately, the more I read of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the more I realize the process of changing and establishing new food habits will take time and money. Most of what she writes is not new to any awake person. However, her book convinces me to finally take the plunge, that it’s worth it. I’d rather spend money on food than on clothes (although, that’s a no brainer for a shopping-detester like myself). But it will take continued research to find quality food. It’s scary to think of what goes into to our food. A good friend told me on Friday that the insides of babies contain pure, perfect organs and parts, but you have to cut through the thick layer of fat to get to adult organs which are surrounded by all sorts of grime and grossness. If that’s not motivation enough to eat better, I don’t know what is.
Of course, the issue of food (organic, local, healthy, time-consuming, from scratch) is counter-cultural, as are most worthwhile pursuits. But I want to take time now to build a life that lives in tension with our culture and embraces disappearing values. But that is another topic for another time.