Magazine Mania! (Part Three)

And...even more magazines. See? It is a mania!

The Paris Review

It’s usually not a good idea to subscribe to a fiction magazine. If there is a variety of authors and styles represented, then it tends to be a hit or miss affair. Some stories/authors resonate and others fall flat. If there is a narrow focus then, even if you like that focus, the magazine will start to feel stale after a few issues.

However, the issue I read of The Paris Review largely avoided these pitfalls. It’s a 200+ page quarterly containing poetry, a few interviews, a half dozen short stories, and a serialized novel. That’s a lot of material! Surprisingly, I liked all of the prose even though it seems quite varied in subject matter. I didn’t ‘get’ some of it right away, but most of the stories presented meanings if I marinated on them a bit. I’ve even considered re-reading some of them to see what I may have missed the first time around. The serialized novel was thoughtfully written. While I’m not sure what the thrust of the story is, it’s only the second chapter. I’m happy to have found a magazine like this so I can maintain some connection with contemporary writers and writing. That’s usually missing amid my classicist reading preferences.

While the interviews left me cold, it was likely because the subjects didn't resonate with me more. What I’m unlikely to warm to is the poetry. I found virtually all of it typically contemporary: self-referential to the point of opacity, self-consciously arty, devoid of the love of language, and full of grindingly unevocative imagery. I’m hoping I just hit a bad issue. Otherwise, I can only pray the poetry content was higher than normal because the issue fell over National Poetry Month.

Luckily, the bulk of The Paris Review is fantastic prose that is more than enough justification for the subscription.

Astronomy

Astronomy has been around for a long time, and I have a long history with it. I read my first issues back when I was in grade school! I’ve come back to the magazine many times since. While it’s definitely a lighter magazine than Scientific American, what makes Astronomy such a good read is the tight focus. The magazine does a great job bringing the most interesting developments in planetary science and even a bit of astrophysics to the general reader. Best of all, there is excellent coverage of the most interesting developments from current space exploration missions and satellites.  Complete with the ‘pretty pictures’ we all love to see, Astronomy has an instinct for what someone with a general interest in the title subject wants to read.

If you are a telescope or space photography enthusiast, it’s hard to imagine what could be better than this publication. It contains plenty of content about how to see what and when to see it. I skip over all this material since I do not own a telescope, and there’s probably too much light pollution where I live for it to make sense buying one. While that’s a lot of pages I’m not reading each issue, I don’t mind at all. It’s even kind of a plus, given the volume of magazine reading I’m undertaking of late.

Apollo

This is an absolutely beautiful magazine about art and art collecting. It screams high end and delivers a luxurious tactile and visual appeal in every issue. The latter is especially important in a magazine about the visual arts. Apollo tackles all periods of art from ancient art all the way to contemporary painting. The writing is rather scholarly but avoids being stuffy for the most part. Of course – small quibble – there seems to be an odd bashfulness about acknowledging the sexuality of homosexual artists. The words “companion” and “friend” have appeared in some articles, as if the writers were at a tea party in the 1950s.

The magazine has an extra dimension in that almost every issue contains an article about a major art collector. While I can’t imagine I’ll ever become so expert in collecting, I find it super interesting to read their thoughts on their collections, why they collect, and how they got started. Kind of inspiring really. There are also tremendous book reviews.

I’ve been introduced to many artists in the pages of Apollo and, thanks to the scholarly approach to the writing, the profile's of the artists include their milieu. This has introduced me to some relatively obscure, yet highly rewarding, authors. I’ve picked up several novels based on references in an Apollo article, sometimes being exposed me to entirely new genres. This enriches me as well as heightening my appreciation for the art I’m viewing. Tremendous publication!

Seeing the Buddha in Other People

Something I picked up at the sangha I sat with for a while was the idea of seeing the buddha in other people. During each session our leader would have us bow at certain times, either to each other or towards a statue of Buddha. She was always very clear that we were “not bowing to Buddha. We’re bowing to the Buddha in each of us.” In my head, I just saw the bowing as akin to the show of respect that it represents in a dojo. However, later on, it took on a significance closer to what was intended.

I’m not sure if I’m alone in this but, as I got older, I found I had a harder time naturally making eye contact with new people I met. I have to consciously think about making that contact and holding it. I’m not really sure why this happened. It could be a result of moving into the city, where such eye contact is not always the best idea. Or perhaps it's simply part of the cynicism that creeps into our mindset as we get knocked around by our (sometimes negative) experiences with people in life.

Whatever the case, I wondered if  ‘seeing the buddha’ in people might help change that. So I started thinking about it. Everywhere. With people I passed on the street. With people who cut me off in traffic. With people at work. I found that I started to naturally seek out people's eyes more. I was looking at them rather than simply dealing with them. It was an odd mental shift, and the fact I had to make it suggests there’s something I can learn from this.

Of course, it’s hard to focus on this idea all the time. It’s running counter to a mentality I’ve clearly formed over a lot of years. However, one positive side effect is that I find myself thinking more about what lies behind the people I meet. I also feel more at ease around people, and perhaps even a bit more positive towards them. I’m not sure where this will lead (if anywhere), however it’s interesting in that it seems to have tweaked my relationship to the world around me.

Magazine Mania! (Part Two)

More magazines in my recently established queue...

Scientific American

Okay, I know this is not an especially original selection, but over time I have truly found Scientific American to be a great balance between hard science magazines and those that are popular because they're a bit too lightweight (e.g., Discover). The articles in Scientific American seem to emphasize subjects that non-scientists will find interesting, and yet do not pander to us. At least not too much...dinosaurs do seem to appear on the cover an awful lot ; )

Another great thing about Scientific American is that articles end with a thumbnail box listing further reading, often including books or articles from harder science pubs. So if a subject really fires my imagination, I have some directions for how to dive into the deeper water. On the other side of this, about twenty years ago I read so voraciously about theoretical physics and cosmology that I was considering taking a calculus course, because the books I wanted to read started using equations to explain things. My ever migrant imagination took me in another direction before I got too serious that, but with Scientific American I feel like I can keep up somewhat with a discourse I still find thrilling.

American Craft

For some time, I've toyed with the idea of opening a gallery someday. While this may be one of my many ideas that ultimately goes nowhere, it spurred me into visiting some galleries, talking to the owners, and thinking about what kind of creative works I admire enough to represent in my imaginary gallery. What I discovered is that I get really excited about where art and craft intersect. There are brilliant artists out there whose process is just as fascinating as the work they ultimately produce. For example, I came across one artist (or artisan?) who weaves baskets and other forms. She apparently grows all her own materials. She grows plants, harvests them, and then creates the reeds, string, and whatever else she needs to create her works. For me, this made her objects a thousand times more meaningful.

Lo and behold! There is an arts magazine that focuses on just this kind of work! American Craft - in just a few pages - made me realize I held an assumption that 'crafts' are a lightweight cousin of painting and sculpture. I really can't believe I actually held this opinion, but I have been thoroughly cured of it. In the issue I read, the volume of artists covered and the array of media and materials touched on made me feel like a kid in a candy store. So much amazing work is out there, and I'll be surfing the web to explore many of the artists covered and even some of the works advertised. Definitely looking to have my perceptions stretched by this magazine!

The Humanist

One of the benefits of being politically independent is that you are not a Democrat or a Republican, a conservative or a liberal. You are free of labels and, thus, free to explore and accept any and all ideas you find worthy. When someone balks at a belief I hold that doesn't fit predictably with wherever they have attempted to pigeonhole me, I get to smile blithely and say: "I'm an independent, my dear."

As I was exploring potential magazines to subscribe to, I thought: "What I would love to have is a magazine that - without stinking of pot and hippies - introduces the latest super-liberal, non-religious thinking." There are tons of ideas that come from this end of the spectrum. Today, they get dismissed as left wing Utopian idealism...only to end up informing our reality years later. It's like when you watch a couture fashion show or visit a cutting edge art gallery. You wouldn't wear or buy much of anything you see, but this is the fertile ground of ideas from which everything cool that you will end up wearing or buying comes from.

The Humanist may be that magazine for me. While I get my dander up when I sense shallow polemic (see recent post refuting one article that annoyed me), there are fantastic ideas in this magazine. Since I naturally lean towards fiscal conservatism and yet am all too aware of the social and economic equity issues we face in our nation, exposure to these ideas on a regular basis will help broaden my perspective. Whatever we might think of hippies and left wing Utopian idealism, the US needs this element in our discourse to stay fresh and vibrant as a nation.

More pubs to be covered in subsequent posts.

By the way, it's amazing that I am actually reading all this material (so far)! Ensuring that a good number of the pubs I select are quarterly or bi-monthly helps keep the reading level manageable.

Magazine Mania! (Part One)

With a lot more time to read lately - and a determination to take a break from Zola - I decided to dive into the world of publications. I have nothing against reading on my tablet, but I do prefer print magazines because it allows me to escape screens. That's got to be good for my eyes.

Of course, I had to turn the selection of pubs I would subscribe to into an adventure! I went to a few bricks-and-mortar bookstores and scoured their massive rows of magazines. Exploring all these small, obscure pubs was fun! There are so many crazy magazines out there that you can't believe command a readership that keeps them afloat. Wanting a variety of subject matter, I picked the pubs that seemed to be the best for me. I figured I'd read them and, if they clicked, subscribe.

Some of these are magazines are quite popular, others I was already familiar with, and some come to me from supporting charitable organizations. Here are a few of the pubs I chose and am currently enjoying. I'll need a few posts to get through them all as I really have gone on a 'mania' with them.

The Economist

For a long time, have been lax in keeping up on world events. I suppose I got turned off by how phony news outlets have become: the generic human interest stories, morbid sensationalism of randomly selected crimes, and loathsome political polarization. For example, I know Fox News will bash anything Obama does because their politics drive their news. And there are left wing sources with the same ax to grind. So why bother? I also turn-off to overly manicured newscasters. I just don't find someone who looks like they spend more time in make-up than they do reading news credible.

Of course, this is all just a (lame) excuse, and I wanted to be informed again. Over the past several years, whenever I was at an airport preparing for business travel, I'd pick up a copy of The Economist knowing it was quite well-respected (and has been around for about 150 years!). I like the standardized text, lack of personalities, and the occasional dry remark that never gets too clever for its own good. While they have definite editorial positions, I sense a good mix of conservatism and liberalism in its pages. So I finally signed up!

The New Criterion

During the past few years I'd benefited from reading biographies of several authors I'd tackled (such as Melville, Zola). I also found myself introduced to writers as I learned about the milieu of certain artists. I wanted a magazine that would give me this kind of input on a regular basis. The New Criterion may fit the bill for me. Aside from great articles on the humanities, I like that there seems to be a healthy dose of skepticism employed in assessing contemporary work. While I love contemporary art and writers and enjoy having my sensibilities stretched, I find that many arts magazines seem to convey a bland acceptance of everything. I believe part of being an art or literature lover is actively evaluating what I am exposed to. I push to be open - very open - because some of the best art experiences are those that shatter our boundaries or drag us outside our comfort zones. However, this must be balanced with a level of discernment or the entire concept of art is destroyed.

The only potential downside to The New Criterion is its sliver of political essays. The low level of thought in these essays is all the more noticeable given the intelligence of the other content. For example, the April 2014 issue has an article about which races are best suited to succeed in America based on their inherent qualities(!). The article names the Jews and the Chinese as the most effective races. Oh and, by the way, one of the authors of the essay is Jewish and the other is Chinese. Seems the magazine loses it's self-touted critical edge when it comes to politics and public policy. But I can skip a couple articles when the bulk of the material is so thought-provoking.

Lapham's Quarterly

When I came across Lapham's Quarterly, I could scarcely believe what I was holding in my hands! This quarterly magazine is over 200 pages in length. Each issue selects a theme around which the magazine amasses two to three page excerpts and essays from writers, thinkers, artists, scientists, world leaders, politicians, etc. The writers are from around the world and throughout time and, at the end of each essay, there is a thumbnail biography so you get the context and setting behind the text. The pages are also richly illustrated with art, photography, charts, and visual miscellany related to the subject.

In the issue I picked up, the theme was revolutions. Among the over 80 writers/thinkers included, the most recognizable names were Martin Luther, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Karl Marx, Shakespeare, Aristotle, Lord Byron, Margaret Sanger, Giacomo Balla, Albert Camus, Che Guevara, Emerson, Copernicus, Thomas Jefferson, Adolf Hitler, Isaac Newton, Aeschylus, and Leon Trotsky. Among the lesser known 'contributors' (at least lesser known to me) were plenty of historic and contemporary figures from other cultures that I'd likely never be exposed to on my own.

While each issue is long and text from certain writers can be a bit challenging, the brevity of each selection led me to move very quickly through the issue. Lapham's Quarterly is the literary equivalent of dining at a tapas restaurant. A little of this, a little of that. A variety of dishes that don't all go together but are all expertly prepared and create a very satisfying experience.

More to come in another post...

Officiating a Wedding!

A few months ago, two close friends of ours asked me to officiate their wedding. The request was a total surprise, and I was totally honored. I immediately said yes, thinking how wonderful it would be to help make their day special and that it would be a fantastic life experience.

What I didn't think about - until I was back home - was whether I could legally do it! However, a quick bit of research made it clear that in most states it is not difficult to become legally qualified to officiate a wedding. So I became an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church, and I am now allowed to officiate over a wedding in my state.

I spent a lot of time working on the ceremony text, making sure there was enough traditional aspects of the usual wedding ceremony in it but also wanting it to be unique enough so that it would be special for the couple. At the same time, I felt as though it was important to include some spiritual aspect within the ceremony to give it greater resonance and to personalize it. This was a bit tricky, because I sensed neither of my friends wanted overt religious content of any kind.  However, without this sort of content, the ceremony seemed cold and a bit too 'justice of the peace'-like.

In the sangha I go to, we end each evening with Gandhi's prayer for peace. During this prayer, we form a circle by joining hands: with one hand palm up and the other hand palm down. The idea being that you are taking from the group (palm up) but also giving as well (palm down). I felt this could idea could easily be adapted to the idea of a relationship. So, after writing the text for the bulk of the ceremony, I included this shortly before the vows:

As a sign of this love, please raise your right hand, palm down. This represents what you promise to give to one another:

·     - Expressing your thoughts and feelings to each other

·     - Sharing your triumphs and successes

·     - Offering encouragement and strength in times of need

·     - And always, your love and understanding

Now also raise your left hand, palm up. This represents what you promise to take from one another:

·     - Listening to your partner’s thoughts and feelings when they share them

·     - Celebrating their triumphs and successes

·     - Accepting encouragement and strength when you need it

·     - And always, being open to the gift of love and understanding that is given to you

Join hands now. This represents a circle of giving and receiving, an unbreakable union between you. Hold fast to the vision and the promise of this special day. Please meditate for a moment on the meaning of this commitment.

It went over very well with the couple when we talked it over and rehearsed it. So the ceremony text was ready (and approved!) after a lot of thought. All I had to do then was show up (and clean up). The weather was amazing for the wedding, and it was beautiful and a lot of fun. I was so happy to be a part of making this day special for my two friends.