Polyglottery
For a whole bunch of reasons I appreciated this story: Mostly his acquisition of the language, of any language by anyone for that matter. Polyglots have begun to fascinate me lately.
Flash Flood Warning NY
There was a flash flood warning issued for New York at 7.37pm
It read:
“7:37PM: FLASH FLOOD WARNING in effect until 10:30 pm for eastern Passaic County, Manhattan, southern Bergen County, eastern Essex County and Hudson County. Rainfall rates between 1 and 2 inches per hour can be expected. If you encounter flooded roadways, TURN AROUND DON’T DROWN!”
I really appreciated the last emphatic line in it. I am sure it dissuaded plenty people from drowning!
On the West Coast, well specifically this dot which I inhabit it is muggy. A mixed day that began with cascades upon the roof at 5am and has been indecisive all day. The freshest of breeze came by at around 11am and a hit of bright sun was in evidence at 4pm.
Irish Times Interview: Brought to the Book
Thank you to Martin Doyle who interviewed me for the Irish Times this week and thank you for the warm comments I received about it from readers.
Brought to Book: Anakana Schofield on parallel reading, the literary patriarchy and books as portals
‘I write in a very troubling manner that I wouldn’t advise anyone to adopt’
“Being a writer has taught me I am nothing without other women. It has also taught me I am often the shortest person at festivals and not to sit too far back into the chair because when my feet don’t touch the ground, I have to make embarrassing paddling signals attempting to right myself upright. ”
The whole interview is readable here.
Hong Kong weather warning symbols
In honour of the blazing days we have been having here weather-wise: here are some fun weather views I’ve been appreciating.
First “the brief description of warning symbols” from the Hong Kong observatory can be seen here
My favourite warning symbol is frost, but also enjoyed the multi-coloured rain warnings.
I was looking at various weather symbols and charts online and noticed one instance, where the warning for fog was simply FOG in large black letters.
Here is Barbara Edwards, the BBC’s first woman weather forecaster, clutching some weather symbols while doing a forecast for the BBC in 1974 and here she describes the experience in an interview. I love how people kept bothering her on her holidays! And that description of the cardboard and scribble job that preceded the rubber symbols arriving on the scene.
Dervla, Eurovision
While I am tempted to write an entire post on the Eurovision Song Contest, I shall restrain myself to one paragraph.
Very moving to see Conchita nail it, she was fantastic and I’m fixated on the fact her act involved a lamp post. It was suggestive of weather. The Polish entry was a puzzling advert for plumbing porn (via butter making) which set feminism back 50 years by suggesting all women want to do is shag plungers, possess inflatable breasts and look dopey, while all clever people know very well that them loose goose writhing motions will not create butter. Plumbing has become a whole new pragmatic gesture thanks to youtube & how to fix your u bend yourself videos. There’s no going back to the reductive rescue trope as Poland learnt when they received virtually no points. Italy sang about parking problems, while wearing a very Stations of the Cross head wreath, due to recent $155 tow truck kidnap of my car, point taken. There is NO rain in Spain, yet Spain sang endlessly about rain. There was a very strange Indie-guitar entry, which has no place in the Eurovision. Slovenia remains the Capital of Eurovision. The excellent singer who played the flute and conducted non playing flute waving like the Flying Fox bat (really youtube the two videos) was remarkable. Wavy flute arm gestures are the ones to be topped next year. People should start carrying silver flutes around just to reveal their dynamic potential for self-expression during heated conversations, never mind needing to play them. Iceland was as formidable as ever. All countries near Russia voted not to be invaded over any musical considerations, except Lithuania who are already in that situation and were able to consider the treble clef. Immense boos for Putin throughout score results and a strong suck it to the homophobes as Conchita was crowned. Ireland gave Conchita douze points, let’s hope the govt now moves to vastly improve Trans rights. The UK entry sang we are children of the universe, while the NHS is dissolving/struggling, libraries closing and you must pay for wifi at Heathrow. I am perplexed by Malta’s double-headed, cross pollinated guitar/uke instrument, there were no mouth organs in any entry I saw (she squints, was there maybe one?) and one accordion in Germany’s otherwise dud entry. Instead Celine Dion has much to atone for in destroying true Euro pop and an increase in belter, yowling type tunes. Johnny Cash has made an entry also and again we need to consider the ramifications of this very carefully. The whole point of the Eurovision is bad synth, mad costumed Euro pop. France was almost there, except for the Vanilla Ice influence. Twitter was hilarious and some of the funniest observations flowed. I regret that much of my Saturday was consumed with the Eurovision and not the more serious duties that are outstanding, but my faith in human humour and devilment was restored. Conchita’s speech was very moving.
It is nearly Mother’s Day and musically things have changed channel to Dvorak.
A very long paragraph that almost became a post.
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Here is a lovely video interview with Dervla Murphy, where she comforts one of her dogs repeatedly by scratching his armpit and shares succinct insights on big questions. I love how sparse her kitchen is. You can see where everything is and how practical and cosy her house is. She’s very sensible and a mighty writer. I’ve given her books to many. I still remember reading the first one so many years ago, about her crossing Ethiopia on a donkey. There’s another longer radio interview with her here.
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Chronic kidney disease epidemic in agricultural workers and virology links
MediCC Review have devoted an entire issue to the epidemic of chronic kidney disease that is affecting agricultural workers especially sugar cane workers in Nicaragua and other places.
You can access the issue here and download the studies and reports.
Also this week via a helpful Australian virologist on Twitter I was given the link to this comprehensive list of viruses in Australia. Note how a few of them have the word river in their name. The Hendra virus (encephalitis related I think) that affected the racehorses which was spread by flying foxes (largest bat in the world) was very curious. I saw some videos of flying foxes on youtube. Megawatty sized bats with foxy features about them.
You too can acquaint yourself with Australian viruses by clicking here.
Also, extraordinary virology lectures available online by rock star virologist at Columbia university right here (scroll down to the chart and click on the far right where it says itunes iphone etc for the videos)
Note: I have a plain person’s or lay person’s interest in this topic the way some folks enjoy train spotting or baseball. You too can join me in becoming a part time, very vague virology nerd. I think it’s important the plain people educate themselves about obscure stuff. I am deeply saddened to have mislaid my found-on-the-side-of-the-road Virology textbook. I may have discarded it in one of those why on earth do I have this book moments. Quelle dommage. Que paina. Or it might be holding up a piece of wobbly furniture. (best case scenario).
I have not lost my textbook on the principles of neural aging which I had to consult during Wednesday’s dinner. Phew.
Trip
I received a text today that read: Two words Bridget and Eamon
The usefulness of Bruce Springsteen
I am surprised to learn how useful Bruce Springsteen is that he managed to propel this woman through at 26 mile marathon experience.
“Marathon training has its highs and lows. As a huge Springsteen fan, his music makes up the majority of my training runs, the miles made marginally easier with a different live recording each Saturday. Psychologically, the distraction of a Springsteen set list has helped, but it is also reducing my stamina: jabbing my fingers to the sky, slapping my thigh to the beat and singing while running is not the best way to conserve energy. Plus, I think I’m starting to scare people.”
Hannah Summers writes a funny blog called burgersandbruce where she roams about giving plates of chips and solo burgers the profile they deserve.
It isn’t that I consider Mr Springsteen unuseful it’s just I see he may have new prowess when it comes to doing the hoovering or extremely tedious tasks that last 26 miles in duration. Since I have a pretty crappy hoover, it sometimes takes 26 miles of hoovering to lift the debris from my 400 square foot carpet. The other day I found a whole unpeeled mushroom lounging by the leg of the couch for example. It must have taken flight from the kitchen, which required it to steer left.
For my part my poor attempts at running rarely exceed 3K and involve Mandarin language classes in my ear, mixed up with dreadful rave music when I can take the pavement no longer.
Marathon novel demise
I appreciated the forthright opening paragraph of Mary Wellseley’s LRB blog on marathon running and the history of women’s participation: I wish more people would be forthright about crippling pain in the knees and all round misery rather than the jubilance of the finishing line in any running situation. I cannot be the only soul who finds running — enticing though it is — a major and relentless agony to every limb and ligament below my neck.
“Before I ran the London Marathon on Sunday I was told that I would ‘enjoy the first 15 miles’ and ‘be buoyed by the crowd’. No such luck. It hurt from the start – I never hit the famous ‘wall’, just felt a steady increase of pain over time – and the crowd might as well not have been there, as far as I was concerned.”
– See more at: http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2014/04/16/mary-wellesley/three-hours-and-thirty-seven-minutes/#comments
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The monogrammed cheese board has prevailed over the serious literary novel. By serious, I do not mean ham strung and sans humour, I mean a work that does not offer ease as an entry point, that does not insist on the linear to guide the reader to its close, a work that delights in language and mixing it up. I mean a work that depends on language and form as it’s interrogation. Hence I concur with Will Self.
However, this week I did read aloud the title of piece from Time magazine someone had tweeted to my fourteen year old son, the title inferred the dangers or what you should know about ebooks.. I did not click on it for the simple reason I don’t need any further reason to be depressed over the assumptions people are making about our perfectly apt and informed youth. My son responded “More bullshit”. I have no idea whether indeed the article was bullshit or had merit. Sauf to say that said 14-year-old, who is an avid video gamer, reads approx 2 ebooks a day and puts said mammy to shame with his present prolific reading habits and seriously adds to her credit card bill. Who can complain in the name of reading?
So how does a novelist concur with Will Self’s position and not begin digging a grave? Well first, the local cemetery is full and secondly, you do your life’s work, with the consolation if no one reads it, none shall be confused by it! Moreover, I continue to do my life’s work and a rare struggle it is and I console myself by reading in multiple languages. (*simple phrases lest that sound ambitious)
Any writer who disagrees with Will Self’s honest assessment either pens very linear and accessible “coat hook” works or reads only them or perhaps has an inheritance that permits them to write not with no worry how they’ll pay the ESB or feed a teenager or eventually crown the many uncrowned teeth in their crackled mouth?
Will Self remains, for all his admitted shortcomings, one of the few writers I can listen to on BBC Radio 4. He does not speak the language of the marketing department and he has ideas.
We go on. I maintain my faith in readers, while worrying fervently about how to reach them.
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Cork World Book Fest
The Cork World Book Fest was especially sprightly on account of the Dalkey Archive event, where Susana Medina and Tõnu Õnnepalu read from their contributions to Best European Fiction 2014. I learnt from Tonu that Estonian is a genderless language and from Susana all kind of contemplative thoughts on objects and of the ability the wearer of a cochlear implant has to turn it off. Revelations that appealed to me.
The weather in Cork was windy to start followed by a bit of rain and mostly sunshine. The buildings I had long forgotten about since I haven’t been to Cork for nearly 20 years. It’s a city that has maintained itself well when contemplated beside Dublin. The signage in Cork is fun. I took some photos and will upload them. Cork people are very warm. I long to return.
Plenty to think about in Cork. It’s a city with a thriving cultural scene. The city council seem committed to sustaining this. I was very impressed with the library where I taught a workshop on the 23rd of April. A lively and diverse group of 20+ people turned up and were very enthusiastic and engaged by what I offered them. This was invigorating. Thank you to them all and to the library who organized the workshop.