Mr. Keillor, This is one of your best SubStack posts that I’ve read. I instead to forward it onto friends whom are not fans of yours because although not fans, they are appreciative people who recognize good prose and wise philosophical insights. I’m happy to know more clearly why you are still performing. To,a non-performer, your performance schedule seems a tortuous gruel. To you, it is enjoyment. Good for you. I am aware of your Pub Radio biz warfare events. When I mused and observation to a wise book editor asking why our publishing business can be so nasty, she said, “Because there is so little at stake.” I have applied this observation to Pub Radio business practices. I’m pleased that your personal relationship with your talented wife has mellowed you and you enjoy time with one another. It encourages me that in your old age you find joy in a city. I have found the same pleasure in the urban lifestyle yet remember our rural experiences and the friends we made there very fondly. This piece added pleasure to this day. Thanks.
Another English major here. Having completed more years of higher education than I care to admit to, I want to say that the most valuable course I ever took was the course in typing I completed on a whim in summer school between my sophomore and junior years in high school. I made a manageable if not a generous living off my ability to type like a demon at many points in my life. But, OK, it was good to have read some fabulous lyric poetry as well. For both, I am grateful. Yes, education is most definitely a privilege.
No time for typing class in the '50s so I asked my girlfriend (future executive secretary and my wife) to teach me during the summer. Took a couple of sessions, practiced at home, but then got too busy. Graduated from hunt and peck to the world's fastest, most error prone, four-fingered typist (I'm somewhat dyslexic especially right-left on the keyboard).
I love this post and will share it to my Facebook friends! I
In my high school a personal typing class was recommended for college-bound students (49% of my classmates (1967) attended 4-year colleges and another 32% enrolled in some other kind of higher education) so I took the class - twice a week for one academic year. I never was able to type very fast, but I thought it would be helpful in college, so I did enough to get Bs in it. It turned out not to be of much use to me in college – I didn't actually have to type many papers because I was a chemistry major who took extra math and physics courses beyond the requirements and satisfied most of my humanities requirements by taking two years each of German and Russian, with no typing required. In my very last semester I took a course in FORTRAN for which we had to type the lines of our programs on punched cards to submit them. My typing skills finally paid off! Since then I used computers in graduate school extensively in my teaching career, so now I am really thankful that I can type pretty fast without looking at the keyboard!
I took typing in the 8th grade just to be in a class full of girls.😉😄😄Passing the class with straight D's didn't have anything to do with the girls because I only typed 20 wpm with no errors, I fault the perfectionist in me. On the other hand the girls were doing 70-90 wpm but the grades didn't count because they usually had more than 5 errors. It's funny these days how my daughters can text about 50 wpm without even looking at the keyboard and that's just with a thumb or two.
Michelle! Your story reminds me of the time I was working for the Dean at UCLA Library School. I had collected stacks of references for the paper he was writing, and I needed to present them as a typewritten Bibliography. I took the girls in to the office on a Saturday, sat them down at a couple of typewriters, and let them type away. Sure, I had to do a bit of proof reading, but we got a huge job done in a few hours. For me, though, it wasn't the $10 each that I paid them for their efforts, but the IDEA! We were on the edge of the time when Only Men really had jobs (unless you were a maiden secretary or teacher, that is). The idea that they could do "Real Work" and "Earn Money" from it was somewhere up in the stratosphere. But that one Saturday - just being in the environment and seeing that they really could do something useful and significant really meant a lot to them! After that, I had to find "real work" for them to do on weekends at my own library job. And, needless to say - the "I can do it!" imagery paid off! Today one of my daughters is a schoolteacher. The other one is the business manager at a university book store. "Seeing is Believing!"
Everything important is included in this post: reverence for teachers, love for your wife and acceptance that she does not admire the blizzard painting, and your joy at age 80 to still sing with your audiences. Others might have thought life was for accumulating; you knew it was for sharing.
Dear Garrison, we are two retired Episcopal priests (73 and 76) who read TWA together every morning and I am one of countless mothers who welcomed PHC into the kitchen each Saturday evening to help me make supper. When we moved to our retirement community 6 years ago we had to downsize. Giving away the books was the hardest. Our local library was the (grateful?) beneficiary of carload after carload including my own unread copy of Moby Dick. Thank you for helping me make peace with this…one less regret lightens the load!
We are looking forward to seeing you in Lancaster next week,
My cheerful cup runneth over every morning I awake to find you in my inbox. My cheerfulness increases with each paragraph read, especially since I can hear your voice in each wonderful sentence. It’s almost like taking a trip to dreamy book heaven as I am reminded of my own library lunches, extra help in school from special teachers, and all of my husband’s love sacrifices. It all makes a smile form from deep within my soul. Thank You! May the good Lord continue to bless you and keep you…….
What a wonderful post. I too began disposing of possessions during covid and the paring of books is difficult (oh, this textbook reminds me of the tough Literature professor I grudging admire now). In a way I feel like a time traveler rarely regretting what I have given away but relishing the gift of memory each item brings. P.S. At least read the first page of Moby Dick as it is an excellent example of a young man who knows he is depressed and takes action to mitigate it.
Hi Garrison, if you've no time to read Moby Dick, then read a much shorter work of Herman Melville's, Bartleby the Scrivener. Considered by many, including myself, to be one of the best, if not the best, short story ever written. Melville is too good a writer to pass by in one's life without experiencing him, at least in part. I use Bartleby for my advanced voice acting students, telling them if you perform great authors' works, they've already done much of the work for you.
Agree wholeheartedly with "Bartleby" recommendation. Read "Moby Dick" during college, and it was worth the time and effort then. Starbuck is a particularly memorable character.
I am reading this at 5:30AM, PST and your summary of Moby Dick made me laugh out loud.
I enjoy so many things that you write about but I admire the seeming lack of fear when you include your opinion. Maybe it is better tolerated because you are fair in your criticisms. Oh to be so fearless when expressing a thought.
Glad to hear that you are keeping baseball on your TV screen because it’s a mighty fine year for my O’s.
Know that the Doxology is alive and sung in this household and, will hope your travels bring you close enough to the heathen town of Portland, Oregon; where I might get to join in a sing along.
This is, indeed, one of your best- slough becomes meditation. I love it! Hopefully you stay 5 and a half years older than me for a good long time so I can keep learning and you can keep teaching.
December 9, Town Hall, a PHC show with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks and Heather Masse, actors, Rich Dworsky, the whole deal.
Mr. Keillor, This is one of your best SubStack posts that I’ve read. I instead to forward it onto friends whom are not fans of yours because although not fans, they are appreciative people who recognize good prose and wise philosophical insights. I’m happy to know more clearly why you are still performing. To,a non-performer, your performance schedule seems a tortuous gruel. To you, it is enjoyment. Good for you. I am aware of your Pub Radio biz warfare events. When I mused and observation to a wise book editor asking why our publishing business can be so nasty, she said, “Because there is so little at stake.” I have applied this observation to Pub Radio business practices. I’m pleased that your personal relationship with your talented wife has mellowed you and you enjoy time with one another. It encourages me that in your old age you find joy in a city. I have found the same pleasure in the urban lifestyle yet remember our rural experiences and the friends we made there very fondly. This piece added pleasure to this day. Thanks.
You seem to speak for a whole lot of us, J.P. Dwyer, this is one of his best out of many!
Another English major here. Having completed more years of higher education than I care to admit to, I want to say that the most valuable course I ever took was the course in typing I completed on a whim in summer school between my sophomore and junior years in high school. I made a manageable if not a generous living off my ability to type like a demon at many points in my life. But, OK, it was good to have read some fabulous lyric poetry as well. For both, I am grateful. Yes, education is most definitely a privilege.
No time for typing class in the '50s so I asked my girlfriend (future executive secretary and my wife) to teach me during the summer. Took a couple of sessions, practiced at home, but then got too busy. Graduated from hunt and peck to the world's fastest, most error prone, four-fingered typist (I'm somewhat dyslexic especially right-left on the keyboard).
I love this post and will share it to my Facebook friends! I
In my high school a personal typing class was recommended for college-bound students (49% of my classmates (1967) attended 4-year colleges and another 32% enrolled in some other kind of higher education) so I took the class - twice a week for one academic year. I never was able to type very fast, but I thought it would be helpful in college, so I did enough to get Bs in it. It turned out not to be of much use to me in college – I didn't actually have to type many papers because I was a chemistry major who took extra math and physics courses beyond the requirements and satisfied most of my humanities requirements by taking two years each of German and Russian, with no typing required. In my very last semester I took a course in FORTRAN for which we had to type the lines of our programs on punched cards to submit them. My typing skills finally paid off! Since then I used computers in graduate school extensively in my teaching career, so now I am really thankful that I can type pretty fast without looking at the keyboard!
I took typing in the 8th grade just to be in a class full of girls.😉😄😄Passing the class with straight D's didn't have anything to do with the girls because I only typed 20 wpm with no errors, I fault the perfectionist in me. On the other hand the girls were doing 70-90 wpm but the grades didn't count because they usually had more than 5 errors. It's funny these days how my daughters can text about 50 wpm without even looking at the keyboard and that's just with a thumb or two.
Lol Now I use Google Voice to type very quickly, bid farewell to typing with both hands
Michelle! Your story reminds me of the time I was working for the Dean at UCLA Library School. I had collected stacks of references for the paper he was writing, and I needed to present them as a typewritten Bibliography. I took the girls in to the office on a Saturday, sat them down at a couple of typewriters, and let them type away. Sure, I had to do a bit of proof reading, but we got a huge job done in a few hours. For me, though, it wasn't the $10 each that I paid them for their efforts, but the IDEA! We were on the edge of the time when Only Men really had jobs (unless you were a maiden secretary or teacher, that is). The idea that they could do "Real Work" and "Earn Money" from it was somewhere up in the stratosphere. But that one Saturday - just being in the environment and seeing that they really could do something useful and significant really meant a lot to them! After that, I had to find "real work" for them to do on weekends at my own library job. And, needless to say - the "I can do it!" imagery paid off! Today one of my daughters is a schoolteacher. The other one is the business manager at a university book store. "Seeing is Believing!"
Disney spells! Love it!
See comments below.
DITTO!
Everything important is included in this post: reverence for teachers, love for your wife and acceptance that she does not admire the blizzard painting, and your joy at age 80 to still sing with your audiences. Others might have thought life was for accumulating; you knew it was for sharing.
Ahab and Ishmael
a part of the tale
Aboard the Pequot I would never sail
Keep working at it and you'll become a limericist.
A delightful read this morning. Aging is a blessing of sorts.... yes. The BS fades away and good memories soothe the soul.
Isn't "diminution" a more academic noun?
I think it's a beautiful word but of course academics are welcome to use it.
Dear Garrison, we are two retired Episcopal priests (73 and 76) who read TWA together every morning and I am one of countless mothers who welcomed PHC into the kitchen each Saturday evening to help me make supper. When we moved to our retirement community 6 years ago we had to downsize. Giving away the books was the hardest. Our local library was the (grateful?) beneficiary of carload after carload including my own unread copy of Moby Dick. Thank you for helping me make peace with this…one less regret lightens the load!
We are looking forward to seeing you in Lancaster next week,
Daphne and Ed
I will open the show with prayer so don't be late.
My cheerful cup runneth over every morning I awake to find you in my inbox. My cheerfulness increases with each paragraph read, especially since I can hear your voice in each wonderful sentence. It’s almost like taking a trip to dreamy book heaven as I am reminded of my own library lunches, extra help in school from special teachers, and all of my husband’s love sacrifices. It all makes a smile form from deep within my soul. Thank You! May the good Lord continue to bless you and keep you…….
What a wonderful post. I too began disposing of possessions during covid and the paring of books is difficult (oh, this textbook reminds me of the tough Literature professor I grudging admire now). In a way I feel like a time traveler rarely regretting what I have given away but relishing the gift of memory each item brings. P.S. At least read the first page of Moby Dick as it is an excellent example of a young man who knows he is depressed and takes action to mitigate it.
Thanks for reading my comment and liking it. Frank
“Disney spells”. Good one, Garrison. Thank you again for your morning chuckles and uplifting words.
One of the first things I do to start my day is read your column.
Hi Garrison, if you've no time to read Moby Dick, then read a much shorter work of Herman Melville's, Bartleby the Scrivener. Considered by many, including myself, to be one of the best, if not the best, short story ever written. Melville is too good a writer to pass by in one's life without experiencing him, at least in part. I use Bartleby for my advanced voice acting students, telling them if you perform great authors' works, they've already done much of the work for you.
Recommendation noted.
Agree wholeheartedly with "Bartleby" recommendation. Read "Moby Dick" during college, and it was worth the time and effort then. Starbuck is a particularly memorable character.
Good morning Mr. Keillor,
I am reading this at 5:30AM, PST and your summary of Moby Dick made me laugh out loud.
I enjoy so many things that you write about but I admire the seeming lack of fear when you include your opinion. Maybe it is better tolerated because you are fair in your criticisms. Oh to be so fearless when expressing a thought.
Glad to hear that you are keeping baseball on your TV screen because it’s a mighty fine year for my O’s.
Know that the Doxology is alive and sung in this household and, will hope your travels bring you close enough to the heathen town of Portland, Oregon; where I might get to join in a sing along.
All the best to you.
Laurie
This is, indeed, one of your best- slough becomes meditation. I love it! Hopefully you stay 5 and a half years older than me for a good long time so I can keep learning and you can keep teaching.