Yin and yang, off and on, day or night, isn't that the nature of this reality that we exist in. Nonbinary seems to deny the basic truths. We're biological beings with two imperatives, don't die and perpetuate your species. Old and young, liberals and conservatives, rich and poor, It seems like a simple system to me.
Great column, Garrison. I enjoy being old also. For one thing, when I was young I did somethings just because it was expected such as going to socials at the home of the boss, etc. But now there are none of those expectations. Covid also is the perfect reason not to go anywhere or do anything one does no really want to do. I actually enjoy the quiet, secluded life. Email is a great way to communicate when I want to communicate.
I'm told that there's a lot of disagreement about this, that young people are angry about having been cheated of a year of their life. Which is too bad but the idea of quarantine and social distancing is pretty basic science. Even I understand it.
Well one advantage of being old and not working is that no business or activity is waiting on me to show up and do something; and I don't get a pay check from any business or activity. I have to admit that covid has probably affected me and my family less than just about anyone in the country. We have always stayed home a lot and did a lot of our own cooking; we just do more of both now a days.
I am sorry that it has had devastating effects on many businesses and people. They say covid has hurt many restaurants and small businesses but also that Walmart and Amazon and Target are doing more business than ever. If I was God I would make everything perfect; but in the mean time all I know to do is to just deal with life the best we can.
Those young people who are angry and feel cheated of a year of life should get over it.
I understand their feeling but it doesn't pay to be angry and nurse grievances. They say adversity builds character; maybe these young people will see this as a chance to build some character.
Actually there probably is more luck in how our lives turnout than we would like to admit. The time period when born, where born, type of parents, opportunities for developing skills and interests. Luckily we were not touched too much by covid, we have not been hit by hurricanes, floods, bad health and other tragedies which befall people. Somethings which happen might be lifestyle induced but many things are just luck. My family and I have been very fortunate and lucky.
When I was growing up I did not know what was going on much of the time. I was probably roaming in the woods or sitting in a corner reading a book. But things turned out very well. Surprising how many people helped me along the way -- completely unexpected help and advice.
"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known."
I agree. Several times during my life I tried to make changes or do things which did not work out. After a few years I looked back and was glad that they did not work out. When should we be satisfied with things as they are and when should we push for change? It is sometimes hard to know. Buddha said that we should make the best of life as it is and that wanting things is the source of unhappiness. Best wishes.
Pretty basic science sloganeering … on par with “workers of the world unite!”. Sounds good, but what does it look like in practice?
Would we say the public health expertise delivered if (as of July 2021 CDC estimate) 120 million out of 300 million have had what was supposedly being quarantined? And the death rate for the very young has been practically zero? Of course the kids are angry. They were cheated because science and public health got turned into a political football.
Sounds like old folks forgot what science is - isn’t listening to the data with an open mind, and nuanced analysis part of it? Suppression of music is terrible. And is suppression of open debate about reasonable public health policy, and funding of Chinese bio weapons research.
I’m only 69 compared to your 79 (such a young thing I am) but I’m trying hard to live up to your motto: It’s not my problem, y’all. (Pardon the southern twist).
I’ve nearly given up reading the daily newspaper. There are a couple of problems out there I already know more about than practically anyone, but nobody would listen if I commented on those, so why bother with the rest of it?
All that brings me to my reason for writing. I do read the Writer’s Almanac nearly everyday (a paid subscriber by the way). The news that it may not last past the summer is disheartening. So to paraphrase the Beatles song, which you referred to:
I don't wanna sound complaining
But you know there's always rain in my heart
I do all the pleasing with you (paid subscription, remember), it's so hard to reason
Thanks for this great piece, which I read while sitting on a park bench in the sunshine. I’m 39 and trying to live like a 79 year old so I can enjoy practicing Not My Problem while I still have all my faculties intact. What is it they say about old age being wasted on the elderly?
70 was a nice age to be, but that was 10 years ago, so I have to deal with today and not the past. As you indicate, deal with the present, make the best of it and appreciate what you have today and not sometime in the past.
Thanks, kid. Doing my best. Tonight we ate dinner outdoors for what may be the last time. A few more outdoor lunches and then we go into closed rooms. I love October.
Warren Buffett auctions off an annual “lunch with Warren” for charity. There would a plenty of interest in a “outdoor whiskey with Garrison” and you could put those unused glasses to use.
Do we have to wait for the world to get over the expectation of zero risk before it can happen? There were reports of new Ebola cases last week…
You could have a dual track for the “whiskey” fundraiser… A handful could win the auction with dollars. And the other invitee(s) would be a few young people who receive the Garrison Keillor “Genius Prize for comical musical poetry”. A prize of $19.74 (in recognition of the start of Prairie Home) and a colorful certificate for framing could be of great help to some talented college students to be encouraged to carry on the tradition of teaching the world to appreciate … our homespun traditions, through wit and careful observation. How else would anyone remember Norwegian bachelor farmers? Or vaguely recall that the rhythms of small town life have something we have lost in the urban megalopolis?
You have a good mind, Dao Sung, and are very ambitious in my behalf but you leave out a crucial detail: who is the charity this money goes to? My wife likes Doctors Without Borders and I like a school in Uganda that my cousin Alec Johnson started and I also donate to losing liberals in hopeless races but that's just me. Name a charity.
"I want to hold your hand" really resonates with me - it's one of the songs my daughters used to sing around the house in those "golden years." That, and "The Power of Love!" I was at a physical checkup, on the treadmill machine, when the overhead speaker switched to that song. I had spent so many warm times in my daughter's bedroom, head in the loudspeaker, as she sang along "We're headed for something, somewhere I've never been. Sometimes I am frightened. But I'm ready to learn Of the power of love." When that was just a memory of a daughter who was grown and gone, you should have seen the spike in my heartrate on that magical treadmill!
One of the benefits of being in our "going-on eighties" is that we have such a storehouse of warm memories to cheer our days to come.
Those memories may sometimes be a bit befuddled. For example, Suddenly I see myself in the Ryman (?) auditorium, in a live APHC performance. It felt so "historic" to be in that hall - seats like a church, as though it was "sacred" to music! In the memory that suddenly overtakes me,
there's a youngish man with a white Stetson hat sharing the stage. What was his name??? Brad.... Brad Paisley - Let's hear it for Google! What was he singing? "Geology!" Oh, yes! As a compulsive rock collector and observer of rock cuts on highways myself, that song tickled me pink! I've never heard sung about geology before or since!
And, in a way, it highlights the "Glory of A Prairie Home Companion!" The recurring appearances - Dusty, Lefty and Evelyn Bebalo, the Ingqvists and all the many inhabitants of Lake Woebegon, for sure. But, beyond the regular cast, the guest musicians represented such a wide variety of interests! It was like opening a special Christmas present, week after week throughout the year! Where else on the airwaves has anyone given time to those of us with rocks in our heads? Or had an introduction to a young Moslem pianist from Detroit, for that matter?
Viva APHC, and the programs on computers that help us relive those memories in our minds!
Sentence by a guy who prides himself for having majored in English:
"I love the songs I love and for me country music hit a peak with Loretta Lynn’s 'Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin On Your Mind),' which was Loretta’s statement of empowerment and anti-oppression in hopes of changing lives and challenging patterns of discrimination so as to bring about evolution of behavior and clearly stating a moral imperative in order to liberate herself from systems of oppression to bring about a sense of authentic belonging and promoting values of mutual respect as an effective tool for social justice rather than perpetuate a structure of male privilege in daily life and mitigate its effects."
Could you please diagram that sentence. I'm a visual guy, not an English major.
Brian, it's not diagrammable, not by me. I am making fun of some mission statements by arts organizations that I've read recently. They're hilarious. But it's NOT MY PROBLEM.
My 40 year old son uses the phrase, "Not my problem" quite often. He figures there's no sense in getting worked up over something he can't fix. He's still trying to teach the skill to me, but I'm an inveterate worrywart... I guess I've got to work harder at it.
I can picture certain "conservative" "news" networks covering this fictitious country music kerfuffle in their efforts to spread hate and bigotry... No one is up in arms over Rainy Day Woman, and Christmas is not canceled!
Why does this end abruptly, mid-word?
It's a joke about the computer having issues.
Or maybe it is an unfinished work to ponder the possible endings.
Yin and yang, off and on, day or night, isn't that the nature of this reality that we exist in. Nonbinary seems to deny the basic truths. We're biological beings with two imperatives, don't die and perpetuate your species. Old and young, liberals and conservatives, rich and poor, It seems like a simple system to me.
Now it's also, been to outer space and haven't.
Great column, Garrison. I enjoy being old also. For one thing, when I was young I did somethings just because it was expected such as going to socials at the home of the boss, etc. But now there are none of those expectations. Covid also is the perfect reason not to go anywhere or do anything one does no really want to do. I actually enjoy the quiet, secluded life. Email is a great way to communicate when I want to communicate.
Best wishes and happy life to one and all.
I'm told that there's a lot of disagreement about this, that young people are angry about having been cheated of a year of their life. Which is too bad but the idea of quarantine and social distancing is pretty basic science. Even I understand it.
Well one advantage of being old and not working is that no business or activity is waiting on me to show up and do something; and I don't get a pay check from any business or activity. I have to admit that covid has probably affected me and my family less than just about anyone in the country. We have always stayed home a lot and did a lot of our own cooking; we just do more of both now a days.
I am sorry that it has had devastating effects on many businesses and people. They say covid has hurt many restaurants and small businesses but also that Walmart and Amazon and Target are doing more business than ever. If I was God I would make everything perfect; but in the mean time all I know to do is to just deal with life the best we can.
Those young people who are angry and feel cheated of a year of life should get over it.
I understand their feeling but it doesn't pay to be angry and nurse grievances. They say adversity builds character; maybe these young people will see this as a chance to build some character.
Actually there probably is more luck in how our lives turnout than we would like to admit. The time period when born, where born, type of parents, opportunities for developing skills and interests. Luckily we were not touched too much by covid, we have not been hit by hurricanes, floods, bad health and other tragedies which befall people. Somethings which happen might be lifestyle induced but many things are just luck. My family and I have been very fortunate and lucky.
When I was growing up I did not know what was going on much of the time. I was probably roaming in the woods or sitting in a corner reading a book. But things turned out very well. Surprising how many people helped me along the way -- completely unexpected help and advice.
"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known."
I agree. Several times during my life I tried to make changes or do things which did not work out. After a few years I looked back and was glad that they did not work out. When should we be satisfied with things as they are and when should we push for change? It is sometimes hard to know. Buddha said that we should make the best of life as it is and that wanting things is the source of unhappiness. Best wishes.
I agree in making the best of our lives, there's is so much potential for happiness if we would just look for it. The best also for yourself.
Pretty basic science sloganeering … on par with “workers of the world unite!”. Sounds good, but what does it look like in practice?
Would we say the public health expertise delivered if (as of July 2021 CDC estimate) 120 million out of 300 million have had what was supposedly being quarantined? And the death rate for the very young has been practically zero? Of course the kids are angry. They were cheated because science and public health got turned into a political football.
Sounds like old folks forgot what science is - isn’t listening to the data with an open mind, and nuanced analysis part of it? Suppression of music is terrible. And is suppression of open debate about reasonable public health policy, and funding of Chinese bio weapons research.
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy Tablet
----Subject: FW: Kitchens and Cellars
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy Tablet
-------- Original message --------
With thanks to Stanley Tucci's memories
Growing up I had several sets of grandparents.
My paternal grandfather had remarried a wonderful Italian woman.
We spent many a summer night with them at their camp in Bridgeton.
There was nearly always her unparalleled, fragrant tomato sauce,
Homemade meatballs, braciole, adults enjoying a glass of scotch,
Hugs and ballroom dancing lessons,
The paneled pine walls, the laughter and incredible smells
Occasionally there would be pan fried bass,
Which the men had caught an hour before on Woods pond.
My father's mother's kitchen had an old Queen Atlantic stove,
Wood fired, taking up a good portion of the kitchen,
Heating that old tin ceilinged room and most of the farmhouse.
A pantry with floor to ceiling cupboards and a hand pump
At a slate sink....
Sitting in Uncle Mitch's lap drawing fish,
Smells of chicken and stuffing.
The cellar was granite with a dirt floor, cool and damp.
An old cylindrical furnace with ducts like arms reaching up.
A door so huge that one could have tossed a body in the furnace.
When we put the wood down there in the fall,
My dad tossed a chunk down the stairs to "scare the snakes away".
There was a cold cellar down there, with an old pickle crock.
We'd dare each other to reach in and put our hands in that
Hundred year old crock.
Next door to us growing up, were Roy and Aurora Pomerleau,
A childless French Canadian couple, who became grandparents to us.
Huge gardens, a cellar fragrant with root vegetables stored in sawdust,
Roy's homemade beer lent its scent.
A toolbench with every tool needed for fixing a tractor or a sagging shed.
He'd have me (90lbs) stand on the granite counterweight on the tractor
Hanging on to the seat with a huge grin on my face,
Helping Roy because he "didn't have enough weight back there."
The kitchen was light filled, meat and potatoes abounded,
Butter on everything....
My mother's kitchen, scents of home baked bread,
Tomato sauce, sugar cookies, always a dog underfoot
Hoping for scraps to drop,
Getting to lick the bowls and beaters when she made brownies.
The cellar with tools hanging from the workbenches,
And ceiling.
Now and then he'd pour a few drops of quicksilver Mercury
On the floor and let us chase the tiny sliver drops.
Tools and petroleum smells, a hammer pounding on something.
Kitchens and cellars impossibly embedded in memory...
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy Tablet
Started my day with this column. Loved it. Thank you. You may growing older not so terrifying……
I’m only 69 compared to your 79 (such a young thing I am) but I’m trying hard to live up to your motto: It’s not my problem, y’all. (Pardon the southern twist).
I’ve nearly given up reading the daily newspaper. There are a couple of problems out there I already know more about than practically anyone, but nobody would listen if I commented on those, so why bother with the rest of it?
All that brings me to my reason for writing. I do read the Writer’s Almanac nearly everyday (a paid subscriber by the way). The news that it may not last past the summer is disheartening. So to paraphrase the Beatles song, which you referred to:
I don't wanna sound complaining
But you know there's always rain in my heart
I do all the pleasing with you (paid subscription, remember), it's so hard to reason
Why do you make me blue.
C’mon (C’mon)
C'mon (C'mon)
Please, please Me.
What is the news that it may not last past the summer (which is already over, come to think of it)?
Garrison wrote in response to Audrey in his latest "Post to the Host" column:
"The Writer’s Almanac goes limping along week to week and I doubt it will go on past summer." Maybe he will give us more information.
His computer broke down, one-word. 😂
Dang spell checker... that was supposed to say "mid-word."
:-)
Thanks for this great piece, which I read while sitting on a park bench in the sunshine. I’m 39 and trying to live like a 79 year old so I can enjoy practicing Not My Problem while I still have all my faculties intact. What is it they say about old age being wasted on the elderly?
I believe the words are “Love, like youth, is wasted on the young”. (The Second Time Around) I tend to believe it!!
70 was a nice age to be, but that was 10 years ago, so I have to deal with today and not the past. As you indicate, deal with the present, make the best of it and appreciate what you have today and not sometime in the past.
Darel Leipold
I meant 79.
Darel
You make me happy! I'm with you, Grumpy old man, don't ever lose your wonderful sense of humor, you're a breathe of fresh air! Carry on!
Thanks, kid. Doing my best. Tonight we ate dinner outdoors for what may be the last time. A few more outdoor lunches and then we go into closed rooms. I love October.
Warren Buffett auctions off an annual “lunch with Warren” for charity. There would a plenty of interest in a “outdoor whiskey with Garrison” and you could put those unused glasses to use.
Do we have to wait for the world to get over the expectation of zero risk before it can happen? There were reports of new Ebola cases last week…
You could have a dual track for the “whiskey” fundraiser… A handful could win the auction with dollars. And the other invitee(s) would be a few young people who receive the Garrison Keillor “Genius Prize for comical musical poetry”. A prize of $19.74 (in recognition of the start of Prairie Home) and a colorful certificate for framing could be of great help to some talented college students to be encouraged to carry on the tradition of teaching the world to appreciate … our homespun traditions, through wit and careful observation. How else would anyone remember Norwegian bachelor farmers? Or vaguely recall that the rhythms of small town life have something we have lost in the urban megalopolis?
You have a good mind, Dao Sung, and are very ambitious in my behalf but you leave out a crucial detail: who is the charity this money goes to? My wife likes Doctors Without Borders and I like a school in Uganda that my cousin Alec Johnson started and I also donate to losing liberals in hopeless races but that's just me. Name a charity.
"I want to hold your hand" really resonates with me - it's one of the songs my daughters used to sing around the house in those "golden years." That, and "The Power of Love!" I was at a physical checkup, on the treadmill machine, when the overhead speaker switched to that song. I had spent so many warm times in my daughter's bedroom, head in the loudspeaker, as she sang along "We're headed for something, somewhere I've never been. Sometimes I am frightened. But I'm ready to learn Of the power of love." When that was just a memory of a daughter who was grown and gone, you should have seen the spike in my heartrate on that magical treadmill!
One of the benefits of being in our "going-on eighties" is that we have such a storehouse of warm memories to cheer our days to come.
Those memories may sometimes be a bit befuddled. For example, Suddenly I see myself in the Ryman (?) auditorium, in a live APHC performance. It felt so "historic" to be in that hall - seats like a church, as though it was "sacred" to music! In the memory that suddenly overtakes me,
there's a youngish man with a white Stetson hat sharing the stage. What was his name??? Brad.... Brad Paisley - Let's hear it for Google! What was he singing? "Geology!" Oh, yes! As a compulsive rock collector and observer of rock cuts on highways myself, that song tickled me pink! I've never heard sung about geology before or since!
And, in a way, it highlights the "Glory of A Prairie Home Companion!" The recurring appearances - Dusty, Lefty and Evelyn Bebalo, the Ingqvists and all the many inhabitants of Lake Woebegon, for sure. But, beyond the regular cast, the guest musicians represented such a wide variety of interests! It was like opening a special Christmas present, week after week throughout the year! Where else on the airwaves has anyone given time to those of us with rocks in our heads? Or had an introduction to a young Moslem pianist from Detroit, for that matter?
Viva APHC, and the programs on computers that help us relive those memories in our minds!
I'm okay and you are, too. You're not my problem and I'm not yours. But I like you, anyway!
You're killing m
Sentence by a guy who prides himself for having majored in English:
"I love the songs I love and for me country music hit a peak with Loretta Lynn’s 'Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin On Your Mind),' which was Loretta’s statement of empowerment and anti-oppression in hopes of changing lives and challenging patterns of discrimination so as to bring about evolution of behavior and clearly stating a moral imperative in order to liberate herself from systems of oppression to bring about a sense of authentic belonging and promoting values of mutual respect as an effective tool for social justice rather than perpetuate a structure of male privilege in daily life and mitigate its effects."
Could you please diagram that sentence. I'm a visual guy, not an English major.
Thanks
Brian Forst
Fan from Reston, VA
Brian, it's not diagrammable, not by me. I am making fun of some mission statements by arts organizations that I've read recently. They're hilarious. But it's NOT MY PROBLEM.
My 40 year old son uses the phrase, "Not my problem" quite often. He figures there's no sense in getting worked up over something he can't fix. He's still trying to teach the skill to me, but I'm an inveterate worrywart... I guess I've got to work harder at it.
It is such a glorious run-in sentence, though!
I can picture certain "conservative" "news" networks covering this fictitious country music kerfuffle in their efforts to spread hate and bigotry... No one is up in arms over Rainy Day Woman, and Christmas is not canceled!