Azar Nafisi Postponed

If you were planning to attend the Azar Nafisi event at the Plaza Library tomorrow night, it has been postponed.  There should be information forthcoming soon about when it will be rescheduled.

Technorati Tags: Azar Nafiai,Kansas City,Plaza Library

Sunday Morning

Listening to Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 E Major

Mood: Awake

I'm up and ready for the day. I've made an unsuccessful trip to Target to see if their shipment of Skinny Cow Fudge Cones have come it. They haven't. This is like crack to my wife. Evidently to many others as well because they don't seem to ever run out of the other Skinny Cow items except this. When momma don't got no Skinny Cow Fudge, no one is happy.

Super Bowl Sunday is not quite as special to me as it may be many guys. I'll likely watch the game but with less enthusiasm than many. The biggest significance to me is that once it is over it clears the way for Spring Training and the real poetic sport.... Baseball.

There are a hand full of football teams I have some interest in, but not a lot for the sport in general. There have been past times that I've rooted for Pittsburgh, but I'm probably pulling for the Cardinals today. Regardless of how it turns out I won't lose any sleep over it.

Reaction / Action

 

Listening to: Chiquitia by ABBA

I was thinking today about how much time I spend in reaction rather than action. In some respects I think such an assessment could provide a good benchmark for how much one is in control of their life. Am I in control of my day or do I allow my day to control me?

My job is has a largely crisis driven aspect to it that I'm not able to really control. I can plan, and I do, but in the end my plans are often reshaped by and taken over by events in spite of my best efforts otherwise. This is highly frustrating, stressful and I imagine gives cause to my reluctance to even attempt to impose any meaningful discipline upon myself after work hours. My evenings and weekends often are thus allowed to unfold upon their own as opposed to attempting to decide what and when and stake out a plan.

There are of course in the post work hours where I will recognize a deadline is upon me for something and will step in out of a combination of the pressure associated with the deadline and some degree of guilt causing me to roll into action.  Not a very smart or fulfilling way to approach life.

This approach is often applied to my writing and the more mundane clerical matters like submitting material to journals. I can honestly say that last year the reduction in submissions I made to journals was at least in part due to such a reactionary work ethic. It's one think to accept the fact that my 9-5 job is going to be impacted in such a way that reaction will always be a factor. Writing on the other hand should not be impacted in the same way. Sure there will be interruptions that come about when an emergency arises, but this should be the exception rather than the rule.

Anyone else experience this kind of problem? What drive you forward in your writing and what road blocks do you build for yourself? 

Technorati Tags: Writing roadblocks,planning

A few bit from my journal...

Technorati Tags: journal bits

• you water the lawn with thought so fertile they spring up on contact
• if nakedness were a genre / you would be published / as total frontal and make no apology for an Freudian / complexes you may have caused
• the TV was black with apathy / your voice, reversible / is turned inside out

Just a thought- Why in the course of modern warfare with precision bombs and rockets are there still many innocents severed from the arteries that make us whole? 1-13-09

 

Good News....

• Reports of chicken wing shortages this weekend baseless (story)

Wings, which in my view are the best part of the chicken are evidently not in short supply for the weekend.

Technorati Tags: Chicken Wings,Thumbs up

Azar Nafisi at the Plaza Library on Feb 3

The Kansas City Public Library welcomes international bestselling author Azar Nafisi for a presentation based on her new book Things I've Been Silent About - the follow up to the acclaimed Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books - on Tuesday, February 3, at 7 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

A master of the modern memoir, Nafisi describes her formative years as part of a prominent family in Things I've Been Silent About. Her disappointed and frustrated mother created mesmerizing fictions about herself, her family, and her past - which hid as much as they revealed. Her father offered narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with classic tales like the Shahnamah, the Persian Book of Kings. This unforgettable portrait of a woman, a family, and a troubled homeland is a deeply personal reflection on how Nafisi found inspiration to lead a different kind of life.

Nafisi is a visiting professor and project director at JohnsHopkinsUniversity's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., where she teaches courses on culture and politics.

The event is co-sponsored by Rainy Day Books. Nafisi's books will be available for sale, and she will sign copies purchased during the event.

Admission to the event is free. Call 816.701.3407 to indicate your interest in attending or you may RSVP online.

 

Technorati Tags: Azar Nafiai,Kansas City Public Library

 

It Looks like it Snow Melt fell out of the Sky

Listening to: Under Attack by ABBA

Lots of writing this weekend. Also just finished up some work I brought home from the office.

I'm booking a flight tonight to visit my two daughters in Phoenix. Will be able to catch the Giants in Spring Training too!

God I've been missing Giants baseball.

We had geese wonder across the street from the ball field this morning to our front yard. They are way cool.