Algae on Lake Erie near Port Clinton
A Rant: This is what pollution, chemical fertilizer in particular, does to our beautiful lake.
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But I Didn’t Mean for It to Happen
Image by Drimagez via Flickr
A Rant
“The man who hit me went to prison for ten years. Now he is out, and I am still here in this chair.” The young man in the wheelchair spoke slowly, forcing out the sounds that had once come naturally to him. Now every word, every phoneme, required a painstaking effort.
Still I found it difficult to understand his halting speech.
He was still fighting, he said, fighting to walk again. The previous week he’d gotten up and walked five feet, then returned and sat down again, all on his own.
It’s easy to see what a tragedy this is, and there’s clearly one person at fault. But, what’s most tragic is that blaming the driver of the car who hit this man doesn’t do a damn thing to make things any better.
The driver was drunk, of course. For all we know, he may not even remember what happened. The man in the wheelchair, though, will never forget, no matter how many decades the perpetrator spends in prison. The man in the wheelchair now lives in his own kind of prison and will do so for the rest of his life.
Strangely, however, this is not a rant about drunk driving. It should go without saying that no one should drive if they’ve been drinking.
My point today is simply this: Things like this happen because we don’t think. We don’t think that drinking and driving one time will maim or kill someone. We don’t think that our careless comment could wound someone. We don’t think about how our actions might affect others in ways we would have foreseen if we ever made the effort to think at all.
God knows I’m guilty of this. I can’t count the number of times I’ve unintentionally hurt someone by something I’ve said.
Whether we mean for it to happen or not, our words and actions impact other people. I know it’s a cliche but the world would be a lot better place if we remembered that fact.
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Tagged Alcohol, Driving under the influence, Drunk Driving, Wheelchair
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I Doubt It
A Rant
Good heavens, but it’s easy to doubt your own ability, isn’t it?
Most of the time I totter along, trying to write according to my daily schedule, to meet my goals and improve my skills. But then I’ll read something that I really enjoy, and it’s like “Damn! I could never write like that. Why do I even bother to try?”
Yup. Doubt has reared its ugly head once more.
Although so far I’ve always managed to get back into the race, it always takes some time spinning my wheels before I get back on track (and that’s quite enough of that cliched analogy, thank you very much).
I usually overcome self-doubt by remembering that there are many, many published writers in the world, and they can’t all be more talented, more determined, and more hardworking than me. Then I think about an author that I once heard speak. She brought a suitcase full of her rejection letters and told how one publisher told her to never, ever submit to them again — that they wouldn’t even consider anything she’d written.
Wow, that’s harsh.
And yet, she’s now a highly successful writer with many books to her credit.
More power to her, right?
In some ways, working as a librarian makes it easier for me to stamp down the doubts. Every day I hear people say how much they loved a certain book. And two days later, someone else will tell me how much they hated it. That’s how people are.
Well, guess what. Editors and agents are people. Some of them will like my writing (and yours). Others won’t. And that’s okay. I look on it as preparing me for readers and reviewers who may not — gasp! — love my books (once I finally find an editor and agent who do).
Until then, I’ll just keep working because I know that writing is an art, but it’s also a craft. And though this may at first seem discouraging, it’s actually quite the opposite. Skills (craft) can be improved with practice.
That means there’s hope for all of us.
Addendum:To illustrate my point about agents and editors being people with individual tastes, I offer the following. In one contest, I received a critique from from a well-respected agent who clearly didn’t care for my style. He called my writing “just okay.” Compare that to the editor of a major publishing house who, although she rejected the book I’d submitted, said, “… you are a fine writer and I enjoyed reading this.” Everyone has different tastes, including the people who will be making decisions about our work. That’s just the way things are. If we want to be professional writers, we can’t afford to make it personal.
Tear Off the Rearview Mirror and Don’t Look Back
A Rave About Writing
I love to edit, although I admit I find it difficult to separate editing and revising. In my opinion, a good 80% of writing is editing, and that’s before a piece ever gets to an “official” editor.
If you don’t believe me, just ask my daughter. She’s come to realize that there’s no point in asking me to proofread one of her papers. I can’t. It’s either a full edit or nothing. I can’t seem to help myself.
To illustrate my point: the second half of the first sentence of this post was originally a separate sentence reading, “I can’t seem to separate editing and revising.”
It became, “I find it difficult to separate editing and revising.”
Then it was, “I find it difficult to discriminate between editing and revising.”
The next version? “I love to edit, although I admit I find it difficult to discriminate between editing and revising.”
And finally, because I’m not going to look at it again, it is now “I love to edit, although I admit I find it difficult to separate editing and revising.”
I’m still not happy with it though.
You see what I mean?
The idea of writing being mostly editing goes hand in hand with my second point: Good writing means finding precisely the right word to say exactly what you mean. As Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
I discovered these two precepts many years ago when I interned at my college’s Public Information Office. Also during that time I began to divide writing into two categories: English class writing and newspaper writing.
English class writing is the kind of stuff you read in — no surprise — English class. Full of literary devices and symbolism, it drones on and on about the color of the wallpaper and what people are thinking.
On the other hand, by their very brevity, newspapers require that writing be short. Concise. Succinct. Exact.
You can guess which style I prefer.
I’m not saying that “English class writing” can’t be done well. There are excellent literary novels that prove this isn’t the case. But, I am saying the authors of good literary novels — which, since this is my blog, I’m defining as ones that hold my attention — use the right words in the right place to say exactly what they mean, as do the best journalists.
Whichever style of writing you prefer, editing is an important step in getting to that point.
The problem is, editing can become so all-encompassing that you never even reach a final draft.
Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?
If you’re a writer though, I bet you know what I mean. We’re like engineers or inventors. We love to tinker, but we play with words instead of electricity and metal parts. We insert a different one here, take out another there, then try putting them all in a different order, convinced that we can find a better way to say what we want to say because we usually can.
And it’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking each paragraph must be perfect before moving on to the next. While it’s true there are authors who proceed that way, I’ve found it doesn’t work for me. I would never ever finish.
I know this because when I wrote my first manuscript, it took nine months to write the first half. I kept writing and editing, and editing again, convinced it had to just right before pressing on. Finally, I realized that if I didn’t learn to just say, “Good enough,” I would be writing that same book when I was eighty.
We discussed this at an author panel I moderated recently, and one of the writers, Craig McDonald, said something like, “You have to tear the rearview mirror off, and don’t look back.”
I love that analogy because it reminds me that because writing is about balance. We have to find the right words, yes, but we also have to — and this is very important — finish the book! There’s not much point to having the perfect sentence or exactly the right paragraph if we never complete the work so people can read it. The fact is, most writers will tell you they could find something to change in their books even after they’ve been published, well-reviewed, and loved by their readers.
So, after we’ve written and edited and edited some more, we need to learn to look at our work and say, “It’s done.”
That’s not a garden spider it’s a bloody tarantula!
This was on our screen, on the inside! It was at least two inches big, maybe three!
At first I thought it was a big beetle (bad enough), but when I saw it was a huge hairy spider, I about had a heart attack.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says it’s a wolf spider.
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/kidsthings/oct05/tabid/555/Default.aspx
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World Building for Writers
Rave on Writing
Today’s post is a bit of a cheat — a link to someone else’s blog. You see, on Saturday, I moderated the Buckeye Library’s “World Building for Writers” panel discussion featuring authors Susan Gee Heino, Craig McDonald, Linda Robertson and Carla Buckley. An attendee (and fellow librarian) blogged about some of the high points. Here’s the link:
http://www.caridubiel.com/?p=232
If you’d like to check out the authors, you can find them at the following websites:
Craig McDonald – http://www.craigmcdonaldbooks.com/index.php – writes historical mystery/suspense/fiction. Also some non-fiction.
Carla Buckley – www.carlabuckley.com – I’d call her book a literary thriller, but it’s genre crossing so read the description, or better yet the book, and judge for yourself.
Linda Robertson – http://www.authorlindarobertson.com/ – writer of urban fantasy.
Susan Gee Heino – http://susangh.com/ – author of historical romance books that feature feisty and fun heroines.
I’m sorry if you missed the event; it was a great discussion. If you live in Ohio, perhaps you can come to next year’s.
Have a great day. Now, get busy on your work in progress!
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Update “In Oshkosh. B’Gosh.”
Here’s a photo of the original “Metro Warbird” plane, November 4529 Kilo.
(Photo courtesy of Bernie Ockuly).
The story I’ve heard is that the owner of this plane liked to emphasize that, since it’s a Navion, it actually was a warbird, (a plane once used by the military). Hence the “warbird” part of Metro Warbirds. The “metro” part came from the company that used to handle the port-a-potties at Oshkosh. Evidently, someone heard the warbird comment one too many times and slapped on one of the toilet stickers, as sort of an editorial comment.
The name stuck, and twenty-nine years later, we’re still the MWBs.
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Things to Do in Oshkosh. B’gosh.
Rave
Even if you’re not big on planes, Oshkosh has plenty to keep you busy.
REO Speedwagon played on Monday.
Past years have featured the Doobie Brothers, Chicago, Foreigner, and the Beach Boys.
You get it, right? The bands are always 70s and 80s groups whose stars have faded enough to make them affordable, but who have enough hits to keep the audience saying, “I didn’t know they played this” and “I forgot about that one.” Not so popular with the young folks but well-received by the aging baby boomers and the “Generation Jonesers” like myself. (Never heard of Gen Jones? We’re the ones between the baby boomers and gen x-ers.. At least that’s what Wikipedia [http://tinyurl.com/4lr38h] says).
My husband was temporarily sidetracked by a trip to the post office so I headed off with Steve who led me through the crowd and beneath the sound tent. We walked right under that canopy and plopped ourselves down.
To my astonishment, no one challenged us. I was ready to whip off my hat and play the cancer card, pleading that I needed the shade. (No lie — those chemo drugs mean I’m especially susceptible to the sun, plus I’m not supposed to get burnt, especially on my right arm, which has no lymph nodes to protect it). Since every other square inch of the concrete was pulsing with heat and the sound tent provided the only available cover, I figured it might work. But the roadies didn’t even glance our way, and eventually Dave joined us.
With the exception of a few amateur photographers who came and stood directly in front of me, we had a perfect view of the stage. When the shutter bugs over-stayed their welcome, which I judged as more than one song, I politely asked them to move. No woman should have to stare at a middle-aged butt for longer than that. Don’t you agree? Even if said woman’s butt is also middle-aged.
Of course, REO had to play “Time for Me to Fly.” It was the best part of the show.
On Saturday, there was a Blues Brothers tribute band, and country music star Aaron Tippin brought his “Red, White and Loud” tour to the stage.
Remember Forrest Gump? Gary Sinise played Lt. Dan in the film and now has a band called “Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band.” They played on Friday. Perhaps this clip will refresh your memory as to who Sinise is. Other than an accomplished musician, I mean.
Speaking of movies, the EAA Fly-In Theater shows one every night, usually (but not always) featuring aircraft of one kind or another. Executive Producer and EAA member and pilot David Ellison introduced “True Grit,” George Lucas opened the preview of “Red Tails,” and Astronauts Gene Cernan and Dick Gordon discussed “Apollo 13.”
Harrison Ford came on Wednesday to introduce “Clear and Present Danger.”
Unfortunately, he was a bit … under the weather and introduced “Air Force One” instead. Too bad I missed it, but that theater is a l-o-n-g walk from camp.
Oshkosh also has an outlet mall. More importantly, it has a bus that will take you there. http://horizongroup.com/our-centers/oshkosh/ if you want to plan your shopping for next year.
When Sarah was younger, we always visited KidVenture, where a host of age-appropriate activities are provided for children, but now our days usually center around volunteering. All three of us sell raffle tickets for a brand new Mustang at the Young Eagles booths. Young Eagles is an EAA effort to introduce aviation to young people. All across the country, volunteer pilots (like Dave) take kids up for their first flight for free. (If you know someone under eighteen with an interest in aviation, check it out at www.youngeagles.org). There are many opportunities to volunteer at Oshkosh, and it’s a great way to meet people.
Oh, and spend a morning or afternoon at the seaplane base. It’s an oasis of serenity and green, away from the crowds; I guarantee you’ll love it.
Lastly, camping at AirVenture brings with it many of the same activities as camping anywhere, some of them fun, some of them not-so-fun. These include being away from your job and ordinary life for a few days (or even ten), sitting outside counting shooting stars while chatting with friends over a cool one, and enjoying coffee perked over a propane stove. Or not. At the MWB camp, we’ve found that Irish Cream greatly improves the flavor, should you choose to take that option.
Swatting mosquitoes is a popular camping pastime, as is dousing yourself and anyone else in the vicinity with bug spray and/or sunscreen. And there’s nothing quite so adventurous as using a port-a-potty at night. You can never be sure what surprises await you in the dark.
A more challenging daily pursuit is wrestling with a shower head that requires you to squeeze it with one hand at all times if you want any water. Then again, why bother showering? The race to get everything stowed in your tent when a sudden thunderstorm hits will only make you sweaty again, as will hanging on to someone else’s tent so it doesn’t blow away during the next day’s unexpected high winds. (Smug note: Our own tents remained fixed firmly to the ground).
I must admit, it was entertaining to watch as an air mattress took to the sky — I kept picturing someone in Fond du Lac finding it in their back yard after work and saying, “Now, where on earth did that come from?” (Smug note #2: Both our mattresses stayed in their respective tents where they belong).
Whether you like planes or not, watch at least one of the air shows. If you can only handle one, make it Saturday night’s. Although I missed the debut of this event last year, this year’s fireworks held me enthralled. You can catch glimpses of it on this video, which gives an excellent overview of Oshkosh 2011.
And, if you are big on planes, you certainly don’t need me to tell you what to do. You’ll have a great time just walking around.
Oshkosh. It’s not just for overalls anymore.
Photos of seaplane base by Sarah M. Lucas.
In Oshkosh. B’gosh, Part 2. Cooking for a Crowd
Rave
Dining MWB-style is not for the faint of heart. Cooking for thirty or more — you never know who or how many will show up for dinner — is more art than science, which can make grocery shopping a challenge. Fortunately, we have Janis to guide us. In the past she got stuck doing a lot of it herself, but in recent years, we’ve had success with different people taking charge of dinner each night.
We shop every day. Otherwise we’d run out of beverages, and that would be a serious problem. Janis, Joyce and I went on Monday. As best I can recall, here’s the list we worked from.
- 7 cases of beer (might have been ten)
- 10 pounds of bacon
- 4 dozen eggs
- 3 cases of water
- 4 cases of soda
- 3 gallons of milk
- Large bottle of hot sauce
- 4 bags of chips
- 2 pounds of butter
- 10 pounds of potatoes
- 3 large bags of salad mix
- 6 peppers
- A package of tomatoes
- A large bottle of salad dressing
- Two big bottles of salsa
- Cheese curds, lots of cheese curds — after all this is Wisconsin!
- Bulk-size barrel of peanut butter filled pretzels
- Tub of spinach dip
- Institutional size box of crackers
- Two air mattresses to replace ones that had flattened overnight
There may have been more; I don’t remember. Our purchases usually fill about three carts. They’re paid for from the kitty, which we all pay into according to how many days we stay. This money covers breakfast, dinner, and all you care to drink.
Breakfast is usually bacon and french toast, bacon and egg-in-a-hole, bacon, scrambled eggs and home fries, or bacon and … well, there’s lots of bacon consumed at Oshkosh.
Here’s the link to the EAA website information on camping with your plane. http://www.airventure.org/planning/camping_with_aircraft.html
If you scroll down, you’ll see a picture someone took several years ago at one of our breakfasts. Although you can’t actually see the bacon in the photo, you can be sure it was there.
Dinner can range from the simple to the sublime. Spaghetti on Saturday, followed by sloppy joes on Sunday (that would my contribution — Sarah’s really, since she did all the work — the simple part of the equation), tacos on Monday and Wisconsin brats and corn on Tuesday.
For the sublime, Wednesday brought pork stew, created by Rand of California, and on Thursday we had a sizzling jambalaya, courtesy of Todd, another West Coast chef. Then, Friday, we were back to spaghetti, a mix of the Saturday, Sunday, and Thursday’s leftovers. There may have even been some of Tuesday’s bratwurst in the pot.
That’s what I mean when I say cooking at Oshkosh is an art.
It was delicious.
Oh, and even though he didn’t cook as far as I know, Mike gets a special honorable mention for bringing the margarita machine.
I told you the Metro Warbirds lead a charmed life.
Frozen margaritas while camping under the wing of a plane. How cool is that?
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Tagged Airventure, Airventure 2011, Cooking for a crowd, Metro Warbirds, Oshkosh
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In Oshkosh. B’gosh.
Rave
A week ago yesterday we returned from our family vacation, and between recovering from that, chemo on Monday and “the shot that makes me ache” (Neulasta) on Tuesday, I haven’t had the energy to even think of writing about it until now. But now I’m feeling a little better, and it’s time to talk about the trip.
Tell most people you’re going to Oshkosh, and the reply is, “You mean like the overalls?” For many, the city’s name is synonymous with the sturdy dungarees worn (and handed down and worn some more) by thousands of American children. My daughter had several pairs, and I swear the things never wear out. 
(Image from official Oshkosh B’gosh website – http://www.carters.com/oshkoshbgosh/baby-girl-world-best-overalls-overalls/oshkosh-baby-girl-overalls,default,sc.html)
Mention Oshkosh to an aviation enthusiast however, and the reaction is somewhat different. “Oshkosh?” they’ll repeat. “You were at Oshkosh? Did you fly in?”
Well, yes, in fact we did, as we do every year, along with more than 10,000 other planes of every shape, size, age, condition, and type.
This year, Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner made an appearance. So did Fifi, the world’s only airworthy Boeing B-29 Superfortress. There were other warbirds too, from every war since planes have existed. As always, ultra-lights soared above, so fragile looking that you’d swear you could swat them down like mosquitos, while immaculately restored and polished vintage planes proudly held their props high as people stopped to admire them.
Of course, I already mentioned (in an earlier post) the beautiful balloons inflated at 6:00 am each day, directly across from our tent. If you missed it, here’s a link to the photo, which I took without even getting out of my sleeping bag: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30899856@N07/5973394255/
Beautiful, to be sure, but oh so noisy at that hour of the morning. That’s okay. It’s Oshkosh, and for that week, aviation rules.
You see, Oshkosh is host to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s yearly “Airventure,” America’s largest gathering of aviation enthus — what the hell, let’s just call them aviation nuts. Most of them are anyway.
For that week, the control tower at Oshkosh’s Wittman Regional is the busiest in the world. Just for comparison, let’s look at the numbers for Friday of 2009. On that day, Wittman controllers handled more than 3,400 operations. On the same day, Chicago O’Hare (ORD) saw 2,400 and Atlanta Hartsfield (ATL) had about 2,700. But the numbers from ORD and ATL were for an entire 24-hour period. The Oshkosh figures include only the ten hours the airport is open, without the daily airshow. (Figures from official EAA Airventure 2011 website article — http://www.airventure.org/news/2011/110730_wanda.html).
That’s a lot of planes.
There’s also a lot of people. This year attendance topped 541,000, and I’ve heard on any given night there are more than 100,000 sleeping on EAA grounds.
Yes, the lucky ones fly to Osh; the adventurous and fortunate camp on the grounds. And those who really lead a charmed life camp under the wings of the Metro Warbirds.
Ahh, the Metro Warbirds … how can I explain us?
It’s easier to tell you what we’re not. The Metro Warbirds aren’t a club, an organized group or an association. We’re not regionally based either. Rather, we come from all over — Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Texas, Missouri, Montana, and Michigan, to name a few. Think of us as a family, spread across the country, which reunites once a year for a gathering centered around planes and friendship. A family that encompasses, as all families do, a host of weird characters held together by love and not much else.
“No dues. No rules. No one’s in charge.” That’s our slogan.
At least, it’s one of them. The second, more colorful, MWB motto is “$@## ’em if they can’t take a joke,” from our somewhat, shall we say, controversial theme song (also known as the forbidden song). Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRz2La0IhWQ, if you’d like to tarnish your unsullied mind by listening to an excerpt. Mothers, including myself, who would otherwise box their children’s ears for such language have been known to sing the lyrics out loud and clear for all the world to hear.
Oshkosh is the exception to many rules. I say, if you can’t take a joke, you’re pretty much already f—ed … er, screwed … I mean messed up already.
The truth is, there are “Oshkosh Rules, at least three that I can think of.
- Everyone pitches in. At least, most do, and that’s enough to make things work. As for those who don’t (and we all know who they are), it’s not worth fighting about. So, chill. This is Oshkosh. Here, chop these vegetables.
- You move your feet, you lose your seat. I’ll admit this is one I occasionally break when I can’t find a chair and I know there’s someone who didn’t lug one all the way from Ohio sitting in mine. So sue me. I’m selfish like that.
- Complain about the food and you cook the next meal.
That pretty much covers things. It’s kind of like that book — All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten? — if it doesn’t break one of the rules, it’s probably okay.
You’re probably thinking that no group could exist for long with such simplistic guidelines. You’d be wrong. There have been Metro Warbirds, in one form or another, at Oshkosh for the last twenty-nine years.
I hear the original members were rowdier back then, but nowadays, we’re pretty mellow.
As long as you don’t break one of the rules. 🙂
Photo of Dreamliner by Sarah M. Lucas.
Reading, Writing, Ranting and Raving 