tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756811312765485422024-03-01T11:09:45.511+01:00paperpoolsLies, Damn Lies and Statistics (especially statistics)Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.comBlogger1270125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-16655508505706721682023-09-24T14:17:00.001+01:002023-09-24T14:17:23.291+01:00time out<p> Looked at my website, designed in 2007 or 2008 with a few later changes, and it's pretty much unreadable on my phone. (I only got a smartphone a couple of years ago, when you had to have one to show vaccination status in Germany, so the website has probably been unreadable for a long time.)</p><p>Will probably move to Squarespace, but I'm dreading it.<br /></p>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-70080606684218242652023-08-13T11:50:00.012+01:002023-09-21T19:28:14.237+01:00Clearing out books (last chance before they go to bookstore or Lesekiosk)<p>[All books now gone or spoken for - thanks to everyone who helped clear my shelves!] <br /></p><p>I probably can't stay in Berlin, so trying to get collection of books down to what I can afford to put in storage. I've been drawing up a list for a secondhand bookstore that stocks foreign-language books. I'll send the link to a few friends first in case anyone sees something they want. All free to good home.</p><p>I live in Kreuzberg, about 5-minute walk from Mehringdamm U-Bahn.<br /></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">* = now spoken for <b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"><b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"><b>French</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Mille et cent ans
poésie française*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Simone de
Beauvoir, Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Millet, La vie
sexuelle de Catherine M.*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Artaud, Van Gogh:
Le suicide de la société*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Francis Bacon:
Entretiens avic Michel Archimbaud*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Marie Cardinal,
Comme sie de rien n'était</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Alain Damasio, La
Horde du Contrevent</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Philippe Djian,
Ardoise</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Giraudoux, La
guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu (édition annotée)*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Michaka, Stéphane: Ciseaux (novel based on Gordon Lish and
Raymond Carver)*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Rodin: Éclairs de
pensée</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Stendhal, La
Chartreuse de Parme*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Zola, Au Bonheur
des Dames*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Oulipo</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Pierre Lusson,
Georges Perec, Jacques Roubaud: Petit traité invitant à la découverte de l'art
subtil du go*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Roubaud: La
licorne*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Roubaud: la
dernière balle perdue*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Queneau, Zazie
dans le métro (2 copies)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Queneau,
Entretiens avec Georges Charbonnier, 2 CDs (fabulous)*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Philosophy, sociology, literary theory & criticism</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Raymond Aron, L'opium
des intellectuels*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Georges Bataille,
La part maudite*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Bourdieu: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Le sens pratique</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">La reproduction: éléments pour une théorie du système d'enseignement*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">L'amour de l'art: les musées d'art européens et leur public*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Contre-feux (et al.): Penser l'art à l'école*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Ce que parler veut dire: L'économie des échanges linguistiques</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Choses dites*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">La noblesse d'état: grandes écoles et esprit de corps*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Les règles de l'art*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">The Rules of Art (tr. Susan Emanuel)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Les structures sociales de l'économie</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">The Logic of Practice</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Monique de Saint
Martin: Les fonctions sociales de l'enseignement scientifique*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Bergson, Le rire*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Barthes, Leçon*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>S/Z*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Barthes et al.:
Poétique du récit*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Deleuze: Foucault*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Foucault, Les
mots et les choses*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Jappé, Anselm:
Les Aventures de la marchandise: Pour une nouvelle critique de la valeur*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Simon Leys, Le
Studio de l'inutilité*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Arabic</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">AFL Beeston, Written Arabic*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Danish</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;">Henrik
Pontoppidan, Lykke-Per 1 & 2</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;"><b>Hungarian</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;">Sándor Márai,
Föld, föld!...</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;"><b>Turkish</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;">Orhan Pamuk, Kara
Kitap</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="SV" style="mso-ansi-language: SV;">Orhan Pamuk,
Öteki Renkler</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Poetry</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Penguin Book of Irish Verse*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Spanish</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Berlitz Spanish Verb Handbook</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style> <br /></p>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-48223961179154589802023-03-11T11:29:00.002+01:002023-03-11T11:29:26.312+01:00More on Cormac McCarthy<p> Aaron Gwyn, Twitter, images of Cormac McCarthy's letter to his editor Albert Erskine about stylistic nuances of colons, commas, hyphens in his his first novel, The Orchard Keeper. (Gwyn describes these as stylistic quirks, which seems odd to me given the substantive arguments given for his choices.) Doesn't seem kosher to help myself to these images and post them here, but you can see what McCarthy had to say <a href="https://twitter.com/AmericanGwyn/status/1634316194395176961">here</a><br /></p>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-29273316936283501412023-01-11T13:21:00.000+01:002023-03-11T16:47:27.762+01:00mute inglorious Nabokovs<p>[This was originally posted back in 2009, I think, but was depublished by Blogger for violating Community Guidelines. Not sure what was wrong, but went in and cleaned up a few things, now it has been reinstated as a recent post.]</p><p>Went to a meeting / dinner at Golden Parachutes, a gallery in Kreuzberg run by Jesi Khadivi and Paul Tyree-Francis. Paul and Jesi are planning to open the space to anyone who is interested in offering a course, seminar or other event; the idea was to talk about some possibilities. </p><p> This coincided, as it happens, with Obama's speech on education and also with a piece in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/sep/09/language-courses-threatened">Guardian</a> on the severe decline in British universities of degrees in modern languages, following the removal of the language requirement at GCSE. I write in that context. </p><p>One of my ideas is to offer a two-hour (well, maybe three) class called Mute Inglorious Nabokovs. Nabokov was taught English and French from an early age; this early exposure to languages other than his mother tongue seems to have been important in his formation as a writer. In Speak, Memory he talks about the entertainment offered by working through a little grammar book, in which the student started on simple sentences, could look forward to ever more exciting grammatical features, and at the end was able to read a simple story. He remembers sitting inside while a servant swept the gravel walk outside; he wonders whether she might not have been happier sweeping the walk than driving a tractor in later years under the Soviets. </p><p>This passage always makes me think: But perhaps she was a mute inglorious Nabokov. Perhaps the servant, too, had gifts which would have benefited from reading an introduction to English culminating in an adventure for little Ned.
One thing that's certain, anyway, is that most schoolchildren do not get this kind of chance at an early age. More generally, it seems to me, there is never a point at which people are encouraged to try a range of languages, and in particular to see what it is like to read a short passage in each by a great writer.
It seemed to me that one could try something like this: introduce three languages of increasing difficulty,* beginning with the simple challenges presented by reading, then working through a short text. </p><p>So, for instance, one might start with
1. Italian. (A good starting point for the many people whose first second language was Spanish or French.) One introduces the principles of Italian orthography, so that the reader, looking at a text, knows how it shd be pronounced; one then goes through a short passage from Calvino's Invisible Cities, providing relevant grammar and vocabulary. </p><p>One would then go on to
2. Ancient Greek. Alphabet not dissimilar to ours; the student still starts with a big advantage. The object is to work through the first 7 lines of the Iliad.
One points out that the Greek alphabet can be divided into true friends, false friends and aliens. There are letters that look familiar and do, in fact, represent roughly the sounds represented by their modern lookalikes (α β δ ε ι κ ο τ υ ς Α Β Ε Ι Κ Μ Ν Ο Τ Ζ); letters that look familiar but represent different sounds (γ η ν ρ χ ω Η Ρ Χ Υ); exciting letters no longer in use outside mathematics (ζ θ λ μ π σ φ ψ ξ Γ Δ Θ Λ Π Ξ Φ Ψ Ω). One starts the student off with exercises spelling English words in Greek letters, moves on to introduce Greek pronunciation and some Greek words, and then goes through the first 7 lines of the Iliad.
(One does not need all these letters for Iliad 1-7.)
(Sceptics may think starting with Homeric Greek is really jumping in at the deep end, but it <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> only 7 lines. ) </p><p>One would then go on to, as it might be
3. Arabic. Totally different script, with many letters representing sounds not found in English. Also, a Semitic language! (How lovely!) But this, too, is less difficult than it looks; one starts on the script, using a version of the method described above, introduces the new sounds, and then works through a short passage - I was thinking, maybe, a few lines from Ibn Rushd on tragedy.
On reflection 2 hours seems wildly optimistic and even 3 somewhat optimistic. Seems as though explaining how a Semitic language works would not be the work of a couple of minutes. </p><p>Luckily, though, I can now use Jesi as a guinea pig and try to achieve a more realistic sense of how it is all to be done.
Once the materials have been properly worked out they can be posted online and also, I suppose, published in book form (though it wd need an accompanying CD). Just the sort of book one wants on a long flight. The sort of book one could give to a child who has been dragged to the beach on vacation because younger siblings are not too old for the beach. I'm thinking primarily, obviously, of anglophone readers, also German readers since we are sending up a trial balloon in Berlin.
PS Hello visitors from Guardian Books Blog! If you'd like to be sent pages from the beta release as they're developed, do drop me a line!</p><p> </p><p>Update (2023): I'm sorry to say that this project has made virtually no progress (there have been many, many disruptions), and Jesi has long since closed her place in Berlin and moved on to other things. Meanwhile Blogger has flagged the post for violating community guidelines; not sure what the problem was, but since I'm revisiting I've tried to clean it up a bit. <br /></p>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-72680443317372573292022-08-18T21:25:00.003+01:002022-08-18T21:25:47.645+01:00Undervaluation of women artists<p> BBC radio segment on undervaluation of women artists (roughly, selling at 10% of what male artists sell for) <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0019z2b " target="_blank">here</a></p><p>For those who recoil from audio, as I normally do, there's also a summary in the Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/aug/02/painting-gender-pay-gap-recalculating-art" target="_blank">here</a> <br /></p>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-19367204046036680962022-08-09T15:50:00.004+01:002022-08-09T15:50:40.852+01:00Berlin (notes for writers)<p> <a href="https://allaboutberlin.com/guides/how-to-get-a-kitagutschein">How to get a Kitagutschein</a> on All About Berlin blog<br /></p>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-15866126564389781702022-08-09T11:08:00.001+01:002022-08-09T11:08:23.291+01:00Randall Collins has a blog, how could I not know<p> Collins published The Credential Society in 1979, when his publishers took so tepid an interest in the book they refused to publish a paperback edition. It's now a classic, took on new life with increased concern over escalating costs of university education and student debt in the US.</p><p>Turns out, he has a blog, The Sociological Eye - a blog I know I will never find again if I bookmark it. So I link to it <a href="https://sociological-eye.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /></p>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-65256432708855440032022-08-09T10:59:00.002+01:002022-08-09T10:59:09.282+01:00Rejection of Proust by Gallimard<p> Short segment on Radio France on Proust's rejection by Gallimard, account of the many revisions Proust made to the MS once accepted for publication and typeset (he apparently made significant changes to FIVE galleys). The text originally submitted to Gallimard was a "dactylograph" which did not have the now famous first line (Longtemps, je me suis couché de bonne heur.) - instead there was a rather long and not very interesting sentence setting the scene. It sounds as though the famous line did appear, but was written in as an interlinear note on the dactylograph.</p><p>The whole thing <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/superfail/l-editeur-qui-refusa-d-editer-proust-5489310" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /></p>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-24919682688559912392020-04-09T17:48:00.003+01:002020-04-09T21:40:24.700+01:00Lives of AstronomersIn summer 1997 I went to Oxford to do research on a character I thought should be an astronomer. I went to the Radcliffe Science Library and began reading journals, increasingly aware of how ill-equipped I was to create a fictional astronomer: I should probably spend several months getting a better understanding of the kind of research he might do.<br />
<br />
My agent, Stephanie Cabot, had said in June 1996 that with 6 chapters she could get me money to finish the book; somewhere along the line she seemed to have forgotten this, so it was not easy to know how to do justice to this astronomer. In the meantime I went on looking at journals in the few days I had managed to take off work. I came upon the Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, which includes a splendid feature: each issue included a brief autobiography by a distinguished astronomer or astrophysicist.<br />
<br />
I don't think any of these were used in the book, but I offer a couple of examples, mainly as a reminder of how much better it would be if all academic journals offered this kind of feature:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
From Evry Schatzmann's autobiographical entry, Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 1996<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
THE WAY TO ASTROPHYSICS<br />
<br />
<i>Saving My Life </i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.96px; top: 423.737px; transform: scalex(1.00783);">July 1, 1943: I was joining the Observatory of Haute-Provence. I was full of</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.96px; top: 443.663px; transform: scalex(1.00477);"> emotions and feelings, which certainly had, in a very subtle way, an influence </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.96px; top: 463.589px; transform: scalex(0.982606);">on my scientific life. It was the beginning of an illegal life. I had a complete set </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.96px; top: 483.515px; transform: scalex(0.991807);">of papers (false papers), identity card, food card, and most important the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 578.21px; top: 483.515px; transform: scalex(1.05219);">Carte </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.96px; top: 503.441px; transform: scalex(0.98869);">du Service du Travail Obligatoire </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 321.231px; top: 503.441px; transform: scalex(0.977213);">(the government of Pierre Laval in Vichy had </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.96px; top: 523.367px; transform: scalex(1.02932);">negotiated an agreement with the German Government: boys born between</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.96px; top: 543.293px; transform: scalex(0.979273);">1920 and 1922 had to go to work in Germany), with the notation “</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 529.64px; top: 543.293px; transform: scalex(1.01901);">trente-quatre</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.96px; top: 563.219px; transform: scalex(0.993639);"> mois de captivit</span><span class="full_collocation"><span class="hl"><a href="https://en.pons.com/translate/french-english/captivit%C3%A9">é</a></span></span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 203.369px; top: 563.219px;"></span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 210.741px; top: 563.219px; transform: scalex(0.801654);">.”</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 11.6233px; left: 221.09px; top: 562.168px;">2</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 234.087px; top: 563.213px; transform: scalex(1.00293);">When I went to Digne a few days later to meet my young </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.9589px; top: 583.139px; transform: scalex(0.976613);">wife Ruth who was coming from Nice, these papers demonstrated their validity.</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.9589px; top: 603.065px; transform: scalex(1.00606);">Just as I got off the bus, I had an identity check by a gendarme</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 11.6233px; left: 515.452px; top: 602.018px;">3</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 526.44px; top: 603.065px; transform: scalex(1.00713);">and he let me </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 622.991px; transform: scalex(1.03567);">go without any problem. I learned much later (after the liberation) that the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 642.917px; transform: scalex(1.0245);">gendarmerie in this part of France was closely connected with the resistance </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 662.843px; transform: scalex(1.02633);">movement. Did the gendarme simply feel comfortable seeing a young man,</span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 682.769px; transform: scalex(0.96612);">who was of an age to work in Germany, carrying the proof that he was exempted </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 702.695px; transform: scalex(0.983067);">from this kind of constraint, or was he connected with the resistance movement and supporting illegal activities? I shall never know.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 702.695px; transform: scalex(0.983067);">the rest <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.astro.34.1.1" target="_blank">here</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 702.695px; transform: scalex(0.983067);"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 702.695px; transform: scalex(0.983067);">From Lawrence H. Aller's autobiographical entry, Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 1995</span><br />
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
AN ASTRONOMICAL RESCUE<br />
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 702.695px; transform: scalex(0.983067);"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 702.695px; transform: scalex(0.983067);"><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.4567px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.987374);">After </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 129.565px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.9881);">school, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 180.477px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(1.03259);">on </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 200.22px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(1.00298);">the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 223.438px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.993831);">dreary </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 268.863px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.992482);">afternoon </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 335.263px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.962035);">of November </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 424.015px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.976492);">22, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 447.91px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.985197);">1928, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 12.75px; left: 488.405px; top: 358.472px; transform: scalex(1.1818);">I </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 497.605px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.99081);">went </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 532.225px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.992245);">down </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 571.645px; top: 357.832px; transform: scalex(0.979542);">to the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.21px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(1.00127);">Seattle </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 140.825px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(1.01233);">Public </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 187.215px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(1.00137);">Library </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 241.235px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(0.993003);">to seek </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 291.943px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(0.994317);">some </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 330.373px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(0.998255);">forbidden </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 398.98px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(0.985255);">books, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 446.88px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(0.933968);">i.e. </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 470.978px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(0.989118);">books </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 514.8px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(1.03259);">on </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 535.592px; top: 378.382px; transform: scalex(0.977581);">astronomy. </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.21px; top: 399.032px; transform: scalex(1.01021);">There </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 135.193px; top: 399.032px; transform: scalex(0.937722);">I found </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 190.57px; top: 399.032px; transform: scalex(0.998631);">the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 216.37px; top: 399.032px; transform: scalex(0.975475);">second </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 267.5px; top: 399.032px; transform: scalex(0.976833);">volume </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 321.992px; top: 399.032px; transform: scalex(0.96544);">of Russell-Dugan-Stewart </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 14.75px; left: 498.107px; top: 397.441px; transform: scalex(1.05842);">Astronomy, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 579.12px; top: 399.032px; transform: scalex(0.985675);">with </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 90.8583px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(1.0489);">the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 116.533px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(0.98772);">tantalizing </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 191.403px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(1.00476);">title </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 222.048px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(0.985263);">of "Astrophysics </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 337.172px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(0.993344);">and </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 365.53px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(0.988248);">Stellar </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 413.797px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(0.969035);">Astronomy." </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 504.328px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(0.995476);">I checked </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 573.315px; top: 419.548px; transform: scalex(1.00321);">it out </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.675px; top: 440.165px; transform: scalex(0.987111);">and </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 119.265px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(1.01968);">read </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 151.823px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(0.992453);">it with </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 198.142px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(0.99069);">great </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 235.063px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(0.982015);">enthusiasm; </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 317.637px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(1.01645);">the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 341.8px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(0.95961);">text </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 369.99px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(0.974618);">was always </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 447.602px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(0.990531);">fascinating </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 524.148px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(1.00451);">if not </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 563.183px; top: 439.865px; transform: scalex(0.986515);">always </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.6917px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(1.00189);">intelligible </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 168.292px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(1.01939);">to a high </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 231.977px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(1.00931);">school </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 279.525px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(0.990431);">sophomore. </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 364.24px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(1.05691);">My </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 392.258px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(0.987542);">elders </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 436.812px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(0.983092);">were </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 472.87px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(0.977287);">annoyed, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 537.95px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(1.00699);">so </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 556.8px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(1.0109);">I had </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 596.19px; top: 460.448px; transform: scalex(1.00162);">to </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.6583px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(1.02211);">read </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 123.407px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(0.993067);">it surreptitiously, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 239.203px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(0.976258);">at school </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 300.81px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(0.961539);">or at home. </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 379.153px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(1.01013);">From </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 418.395px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(1.00756);">that </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 446.902px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(0.987509);">moment </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 504.398px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(0.974911);">on, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 528.332px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(0.973993);">I knew </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 576.72px; top: 481.748px; transform: scalex(0.989088);">what </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.6267px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.994797);">I wanted </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 152.213px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.984699);">to do </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 188.2px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.97821);">in life </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 229.805px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.975889);">but </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 253.808px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.998174);">did </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 278.203px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(1.00285);">not </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 302.783px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(1.00281);">yet </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 325.733px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(1.00032);">appreciate </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 396.76px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(1.01645);">the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 420.375px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.992775);">obstacles </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 484.503px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.998117);">that </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 512.697px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.983092);">were </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 548.107px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(0.96097);">to be </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 582.937px; top: 502.498px; transform: scalex(1.01332);">cast </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.4067px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(1.03098);">in my </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 133.585px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(1.00214);">way. </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 170.383px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(0.989985);">There </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 213.117px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(0.991149);">was </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 241.853px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(1.09445);">no </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 262.337px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(0.992329);">surer </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 299.23px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(0.975795);">road </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 332.405px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(0.960623);">to ruin </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 378.782px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(0.988787);">than </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 411.022px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(0.967674);">to have </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 461.417px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(1.00421);">followed </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 523.993px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(1.01899);">the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 548.02px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(0.997998);">advice </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 595.228px; top: 522.748px; transform: scalex(1.06606);">of </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 91.755px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(1.05488);">my </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 117.437px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(0.994004);">elders, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 165.773px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(0.99095);">particularly </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 246.033px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(1.03247);">that </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 275.65px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(0.994171);">of my </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 318.785px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(0.974038);">worthless </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 385.135px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(1.06163);">old </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 410.53px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(0.983784);">man. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.605px; left: 97.948px; top: 702.695px; transform: scalex(0.983067);"><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 410.53px; top: 544.065px; transform: scalex(0.983784);"></span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 108.805px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.993267);">In the </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 150.44px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.998877);">autumn </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 204.025px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.985673);">of 1928, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 262.357px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.98106);">I was </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 300.752px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.984886);">living </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 342.532px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.978034);">in Seattle </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 407.937px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.992009);">with </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 440.478px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(1.00801);">my </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 465.175px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.98882);">oldest </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 507.683px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(1.01042);">brother, </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 563.635px; top: 564.648px; transform: scalex(0.983573);">Leeon. </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 92.0033px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.979325);">The </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 124.452px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.987061);">old </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 152.145px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(1.00499);">man </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 186.77px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.993215);">had </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 217.357px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.989421);">parked </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 268.53px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(1.05488);">my </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 296.122px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.989326);">mother </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 349.223px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.961964);">and </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 378.908px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(1.01598);">me </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 405.422px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.992117);">there </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 445.202px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.98467);">until </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 481.132px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(1.01486);">he </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 503.393px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.993331);">deemed </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 561.29px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(1.01598);">me </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 587.997px; top: 585.448px; transform: scalex(0.987061);">old </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 92.2533px; top: 606.115px; transform: scalex(0.996782);">enough </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 145.417px; top: 606.115px; transform: scalex(0.996932);">to work </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 200.875px; top: 606.115px; transform: scalex(0.992617);">as a slave </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 267.962px; top: 606.115px; transform: scalex(0.999504);">laborer on </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 339.59px; top: 606.115px; transform: scalex(0.958894);">his </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 362.635px; top: 606.115px; transform: scalex(0.988747);">crackpot </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 423.747px; top: 606.115px; transform: scalex(0.9967);">mining </span><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.75px; left: 475.347px; top: 606.115px; transform: scalex(0.963583);">venture.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
the rest <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.aa.33.090195.000245" target="_blank">here</a></blockquote>
While I was in Oxford I made a call to Stephanie, who had been trying to set up a meeting with Philip Gwyn Jones, then at Flamingo: he had read two chapters of the book early on and loved them, and I assumed the point of the meeting was to push through a deal. He had in fact offered an appointment later in the week. It seemed to me that I could do much better by this astronomer if I could take more than a few days off work, so I went back to London for the meeting. Gwyn Jones seemed embarrassed and awkward, said there was a lot in the book that one wanted to skip (Greek, Japanese, quotations ...), said it needed a lot of work. (It seemed to me that it is in the nature of an unfinished book that it needs work; money would permit the book to benefit from the undivided attention of its author. I kept my inevitable reflections to myself.) He said he wasn't sure what to suggest, perhaps if he sat down with the MS over a weekend ... I mentioned that Stephanie had said she could get money so I could concentrate on finishing the book. He seemed somewhat surprised. I still don't know what Stephanie thought to achieve with this meeting.<br />
<br />
I can't persuade myself that I ever came up with an astronomer to match the extraordinary contributors to the Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, but that's all the more reason, of course, that these pieces should be known to a wider public.<br />
<br />
[There's also a wide-ranging interview of Aller <a href="https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4481" target="_blank">here</a>, including this:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Of course, I first became aware of the existence of atomic physics from
reading Russell—Dugan—Stewart, but I learned these things in physics
courses, and sometimes by reading books like Pauling and Wilson (Quantum
Mechanics, 1935, Mc—Graw Hill). Alas, my background in physics was
built up in a very spotty and haphazard way, Sometimes I did not get
adequate advice from my mentors, but also some of the important physics
courses were given at barbaric hours, as far as a practicing astronomer
was concerned. To do classical astronomy what you really had to know was
mechanics and a few elementary things about optics. The realization
that you had to know electromagnetic theory as thoroughly as mechanics
had not appeared. Thermodynamics was something chemists did and physical
optics was a lot of fun but it did not have much to do with measuring
star positions. These views seem so archaic now but you must realize we
are recalling a generation of astronomers who were versed in orbit
theory and astronometry pretty much to the exclusion of “speculative”
topics. My physics teachers were mostly very good. Harvey White let me
read his “Introduction to Atomic Spectra” 1934 McGraw—Hill in manuscript
form in his office. I got interested in all kinds of spectroscopic
problems. I recall the very first observations I ever got of a planetary
nebula.] </blockquote>
<br />
<br />Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-3548225703562094362020-04-09T03:38:00.000+01:002020-04-09T03:38:16.197+01:00Continent cut offAm writing on my sister's laptop, as mine is on the fritz and I can't even find out whether it can be fixed because Maryland is under lockdown. Tried to leave a comment on my last post (ON MY OWN BLOG) and Google would not let me do it (despite the fact that I am, as you see, signed in as me and allowed to publish new posts). <br />
<br />
It wasn't much of a comment, but anyway, Andrew! Such a great post! <br />
<br />
It may be some time before I post again, as the Governor of Maryland is having trouble keeping order in class. He has now announced that if people don't cut down their visits to grocery stores he may keep us inside until September. Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-60891194737277539032020-04-06T23:58:00.001+01:002020-04-06T23:58:55.719+01:00Interview of Hadley Wickham (woot)The real purpose of this blog, you may not have realised, is to have a place to put things where I can conveniently find them again. Am in the middle of an interview of Hadley Wickham by Will Chase, an interview in which HW (we are not worthy) says:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So
I think for a long time there was this big pool of people that could
potentially be contributing, but they were really put off by R-help (<em class="iw">note: R-help is a notoriously hostile mailing list and was the only way to get help with R in the early days</em>).
And then the timing was lucky enough that there were two significant
changes that allowed the community to reinvent itself to some degree.<br />
<br />
The
first of those was StackOverflow. It seems hard to imagine now, but at
the time, StackOverflow was so incredibly welcoming and friendly. And I
think part of that was that in contrast to R-help, anything would seem
welcoming and friendly, </blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
This made me laugh, because I had spent countless hours trawling through installments of the R-help mailing list, and the principal contributors of answers (Brian Ripley, Uwe Ligges, Duncan Murdoch, Peter Dalgaard, others I could once have named without thinking) were often very severe. But after one had trawled through HUNDREDS of installments one couldn't help but be struck by the generosity of contributors who kept answering question after question for months, years on end. To this day I feel an affection for Ripley, Ligges and all (the mere name Uwe Ligges has only to come to mind to make me smile), an affection yet to be inspired by professional contacts who are EXTREMELY friendly and dodge questions like so many bullets. <br />
<br />
The whole thing <a href="https://medium.com/nightingale/dataviz-and-the-20th-anniversary-of-r-an-interview-with-hadley-wickham-ea245078fc8a" target="_blank">here</a> (this is, of course, the link I want in a convenient place).Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-50205913280540688442020-01-21T05:32:00.001+01:002020-01-21T05:52:02.404+01:00Jewish, of courseYear ago David Levene (my ex) went to a talk about how you know whether someone mentioned in the Jewish Chronicle is Jewish or not. I've sometimes picked up Jewish papers in the US, and it's never been clear whether they followed this kind of code, so I can't tell whether this is what I love about Judaism, or whether it's what I love about Anglo-Judaism (I converted in the UK, and never feel at home going to services in the US). [This is an extract from my diary]<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
D called. He had been to a talk on linguistic markers in the Jewish Chronicle: how are Jews and non-Jews identified? Sometimes context is enough: John Smith has been appointed Court Recorder. If the name is Jewish, and the person is Jewish, this need not be specified. If the person is famous, it's assumed readers know - Frankie Vaughan performed at such-and-such a charity event. What if the person is famous, but not that famous? "Michael Tilton-Thomas (whose grandfather was the Yiddish scholar Tomashevsky) . . ." Suppose there's a long piece about a woman and her family; at the end it says "Mrs So-and-So, her parents and children are members of the West London Synagogue." This is to indicate that her husband is not Jewish. Or this: "Mr Aarons, the pro-Israel writer . . ." -- it would not be specified that a Jew was pro-Israel. Sporting event: "AB came fourth in the tennis singles, losing to CD. EF won the event." AB is the only Jew (that's why the person who came fourth is mentioned first in the article.) Oh - one brought up earlier. A piece about Seinfeld. Everyone knows Jerry Seinfeld is Jewish. But what if it mentions Seinfeld and George (Jason Alexander)? People may not know Jason Alexander is Jewish. "Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander (born Jason Greenspan) . . ."</blockquote>
(Surely I cannot be alone in being enchanted by the grandfather who was the Yiddish scholar Tomaschevsky. )<br />
<br />
I'm really putting up a post, though, because there's a piece in the Guardian about divorce (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/20/marriage-story-was-stunningly-on-point-what-divorce-lawyers-want-you-to-know" target="_blank">here</a>), and I wanted to put forward a different point of view, and I thought I'd do this on Twitter and wanted to link to a post HERE about the talk in which the Yiddish scholar Tomashevsky was a case in point.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I should write a post later about divorce, but hey.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, I was asked for a bio by my editor at PRH a few years back, when they decided to reissue The Last Samurai, and I was initially baffled - what could people possibly want to know? I then realized that, while most biographical details would be no interest to anyone, the Jewish Chronicle and its readers would DEFINITELY be interested in the conversion to Judaism. (I have no idea how the Jewish Chronicle would convey the fact that I had merely converted to Reform, in the eye of many Judaism-lite, but this is exactly the kind of thing we suddenly realize we would very much like to know.). Sadly, my editor thought this was TMI, so, hm, but also wtf? Are we all not enchanted by the JC? But OK, OK, OK.Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-25896592590532384242020-01-15T03:38:00.000+01:002020-01-15T03:38:03.211+01:00brave new babies, Glover revisitedWas reading Jonathan Glover's website and came across this video (70s? early 80s?) on genetic engineering, with contributions from his two young sons, enchanting:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.jonathanglover.org/genetic-ethics/brave-new-babies" target="_blank">http://www.jonathanglover.org/genetic-ethics/brave-new-babies</a>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-55119166803972420902019-11-27T22:17:00.000+01:002019-11-27T22:17:24.777+01:00Vermont, wood, silver liningEarlier this year I joined ANUFF Wood, a loose group of people in Windham County (VT) who turn up at each other's houses to cut/split/stack firewood. The idea is roughly that if you turn up for 4 or 5 you can ask them to come to you, though I don't think this is very strictly enforced, and the core members seem to turn up for many more sessions than they possibly "redeem."<br />
<br />
I've been to a fair number (wd go to more if I had a car), and recently asked the organizer, Michael, whether it might be possible to have three dying beech trees at the edge of my clearing felled etc. Someone had told me years ago that I should have them down, and had then left the business, and each year I had meant to do something and left it too late. And I'm not confident enough of my chain saw skills to fell trees, especially if alone on the hill in a place with no cell phone access.<br />
<br />
Michael came about a week ago to have a look, and said the trees were manageable, and a session is now planned for Sunday. On Monday I managed to reach Mark Russ, a local workman with a pickup truck, who agreed to get some palettes for stacking (for which he thought $10 was a reasonable fee). Today I rode my bike to the supermarket 4 miles up the road to pick up provisions, and when I got home Michael's car turned up in the road - he had decided to fell the trees early to make sure there were no problems. He headed off to the edge of the clearning. Meanwhile Mark Russ arrived in his pickup truck with the palettes, courtesy of Ron's Husqvarna. He said Ron had said he expected to have more palettes and offered to bring more if needed. We shook hands on this (that is, I did not have change for a $20, and cd definitely use more palettes for other things). <br />
<br />
Mark headed out. Meanwhile Michael finished felling (or rather dropping) the three trees. The last, with a wedge in its trunk, refused to fall, so he went out in front to pull at various long branches, which eventually worked. (Timber!)<br />
<br />
No one reading this is going to understand - I was so happy! I had meanwhile received an email from a foreign rights agent at the agency that did not work out, declining to provide a contract template for a deal they had declined to see through on the basis that it was proprietorial. This is the agency that managed to take over a year to handle paperwork for a French publisher who had been publishing an illegal reissue of Le dernier samouraï - I should have known better than to approach anyone who worked there, because they were all toxic and it had taken months to get maybe 70% of the nastiness out of my system.<br />
<br />
So the fabulous thing about ANUFF Wood (ANUFF = A Neighborhood Uniting For Fuel) is that everyone is so generous with their time, so happy to turn up on a weekend morning to help out, and by the end of a couple of hours two or three cords of woods have been stacked. Something has been ACCOMPLISHED. Within, maybe, a week or so of the beneficiary putting in a request. And now someone has actually come to my place and solved a problem! And the whole thing will be sorted out by Sunday pm!<br />
<br />
Of course, from a professional point of view, it would be better if my neighbors took a Not my circus, not my monkey approach to their fellow man, while someone who has actually agreed to represent me is a miraculous of competence and efficiency AND anxious to help. Also from a professional point of view, it's in some ways a handicap to have Vermonters as a point of comparison when dealing with the biz. Perhaps I am not really, in the long term, better off knowing that 15 minutes is about the time it takes to drop three trees. But for now, no, this was the highlight of the year. It is my substitute for the highlight of yore, which was visiting Best Dentist in the World (Roz Tritton has now retired).<br />
<br />
<br />Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-40976199335807268752019-11-09T16:56:00.004+01:002019-11-09T16:56:39.580+01:00They warned meI was recently interviewed by Jeremy Kitchen and Michael Sack for Eye 94 Radio (105.5 FM in Chicago), Lumpen Radio's books and literature program. Shortly before the interview began I got a call from someone at the studio to run through things that should not be said on air (basically various bad words, which would be tricky to bleep out). This helpful person reminded me that this would be a live show, not a podcast.<br />
<br />
If I had been writing my replies for an email interview, for example, I would probably have edited them down for brevity and coherence, but instead (in my memory, at least) I babbled madly on. I've now been sent a link to a recording; needless to say, I can't bring myself to listen to it. Still, what's done is done. YOU can listen to it <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/lumpenradio/eye-94-10-27-2019-helen-dewitt/" target="_blank">here</a>.Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-86232059410758622842019-04-03T19:01:00.004+01:002019-04-03T19:01:58.140+01:00you take paradise, put up a parking lot (John D. MacDonald cover)Terrific piece by Craig Pittman on John D. MacDonald, the Travis McGee series, and Floridian environmentalism smuggled into the adventures of a knight in tarnished armor:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span itemprop="articleBody"></span><br />
The more I read, the more fascinated I
became. MacDonald’s books weren’t just straight-ahead puzzle mysteries
like my grandfather’s Perry Mason books. This author digressed. He
quipped. He had a lot to say about a lot of things—particularly about
the greed and carelessness driving the bad decisions being made about my
state. What he had to say was a revelation to teenage me. I’d spent
lots of time hunting and fishing with my dad, as well as camping and
canoeing with my Boy Scout troop. Until I read MacDonald, I didn’t
realize that the places I’d enjoyed visiting might someday be turned
into cul-de-sacs and convenience stores, or that such changes might not
be for the best. <br />
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span itemprop="articleBody">
</span>
My experience with MacDonald’s writing is shared by a lot of my fellow Floridians. <br />
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span itemprop="articleBody">
</span>
“I read all JDM’s books in my early 20s,” non-fiction author Cynthia Barnett (<em>Rain: A Natural and Cultural History</em>)
told me. “My father and grandfather had both read them all and it was a
point of inter-generational connection for us. We didn’t agree on many
things, but Travis McGee and Florida and rapscallions, we could agree
upon.”<br />
</blockquote>
The whole thing <a href="https://crimereads.com/john-d-macdonalds-mission-to-save-florida/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
I read all the McGee books in Jan 2018 (2C2E); it's interesting to me, at least, that both Carl Hiaasen and Lee Child took him as a starting point. It's interesting that lifestyles that have mass appeal are so scandalous to the people representing the people who dream up these gloriously marketable gigs. Interestingly or not so very, it's seen as dodgy if influencers who promote, as it might be, brand of makeup don't use it, and A Good Thing if they do.Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-13340198623229940972019-04-03T18:05:00.001+01:002019-04-03T18:05:46.995+01:00the paranoia of celebrities<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If totalitarian regimes greatly restrict public language, pushing people
toward coded language but making codes problematic by taking away the
shared platforms where they could be unambiguously decoded, then a
fraying totalitarian regime where people are bolder with their codes but
still lacking the platforms for decoding is doubly problematic.<br />
<br />
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="af30" name="af30">
(Think of a
situation where any attempt at alignment, at “clearing up", could
constitute an act of transgression in itself, threatening with high
costs all participants.)</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="af30" name="af30">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="3524" name="3524">
So while <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">doublespeak </em>and
expected complicity were becoming commonplace in the city of my
childhood, people were still rightly worried that 1) their codes may be
misconstrued, 2) any innocent remark would be interpreted as a code by
someone wishing them harm.</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
Amazing piece on Medium by Anna Gát (Three Prologues to Language), the whole thing <a href="https://medium.com/@TheAnnaGat/three-prologues-to-language-edfea3e6adbd" target="_blank">here </a>Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-6590142362952563312018-12-30T18:42:00.000+01:002018-12-30T18:42:20.156+01:00adeste fidelesI'm staying with my mother in Silver Spring for a few weeks and have agreed to do an informal event at Politics & Prose down in DC on Sunday, January 6, at 6 pm. <br />
<br />
P&P is at 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW, which is just by the intersection of Connecticut and Nebraska. The event will be a sort of get-together downstairs in the Den café - not a formal signing or reading, just a chance to talk about books or whatever else occurs to us. The link to details on the P&P website is <a href="https://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/gathering-helen-dewitt-some-trick-lightning-rods-last-samurai-in-den" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
The events coordinator (Jonathan Woollen) and I are also trying to work out a way to distribute largesse. I am trying to clear books from my mother's garage and guest bedroom - there are foreign editions of The Last Samurai dating back to 2000-2002 (!), books I brought to New York for a residency in 2003 which never managed to get taken back to Europe, books bought at college, books bought as a graduate student, books bought on visits to the US . . . My idea at the moment is that anyone who buys a book at P&P (not necessarily by me) should have a souvenir book for free. (We may refine this closer to the day.)<br />
<br />
I suppose this all does mean I must grapple with updating my website (the horror), but now my mother and I must go to lunch.Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-36467785836951492472018-02-20T10:58:00.000+00:002018-02-20T10:58:28.348+00:00Torments<blockquote class="tr_bq">
People who at once start talking 19 to the dozen are exasperating. Just consider those documentary films about animals, in which those young, good-looking commentators say something which doesn't have anything to do with an answer. This is actually meaningless, because things are just being read off and because the spokeswoman has never seen the animal. This is one of my chief torments.</blockquote>
<br />
Gadamer, interviewed by Hans Ulrich Obrist in May 2000 (Interviews 1)Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-61926278472091003312017-12-23T17:20:00.001+00:002017-12-23T17:20:24.941+00:00reprieveMany, many months ago I met a reader who commented that I never seemed to write on my blog. I said all kinds of bad things were happening and I was dealing with difficult people. He seemed to think I could find something else to write about. I think if you're struggling to keep your head above water you can't think about anything else.<br />
<br />
A long time ago my ex's mother had breast cancer. That is, it had been in remission and came back. The thing I remember about Norma is that she never talked about it, never complained. <br />
<br />
One problem with dealing with difficult people is that it takes up a lot of energy. It's hard to force yourself to do more than tackle immediate problems. But in late summer/early autumn I forced myself to write some applications - one for a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, one for a Stipendium in Berlin for writers in a language other than German, one for a grant from the Society of Authors.<br />
<br />
It looks as though I didn't get the stipendium (the announcements were to go out in December). The Radcliffe fellowships won't be announced until March. But today, when I came in from doing a load of laundry, I found a letter from the Society of Authors and a cheque - they'd given me a grant which will let me replace my ailing MacBook. (Its keyboard died in July 2016; I've been nursing it along with an external keyboard every since.)<br />
<br />
So that's the good news for the year, because I was wondering what I should do. I could definitely cut costs by switching to a PC - it's not nearly as worrying if a $300 laptop suddenly has to be replaced. And it's not as though I'm a fan of Macs - I loathe Apple with every fibre of my being. But it would limit the kinds of book I could write. I would have to leave all my Mellel documents behind. I had the feeling that it would be bad to sit down and try to think of a book that did not require X, Y and Z, and talk myself into it. <br />
<br />
So now I don't have to make that decision. Thank you, Society of Authors!Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-28069077433261711112017-08-25T08:30:00.002+01:002017-08-25T08:30:31.595+01:00Sexual Codes of the Europeans in Evergreen Review<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_4zx">
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_599fd16e9cc1e8f12951875">
A
long time ago I started thinking about a book of sexual codes, inspired
by Calvino's Invisible Cities. What if cities had sexual codes - that
is, systems of conventions for communicating sexual preferences, like
the bidding systems of bridge? Travel books would include a brief
overview of the relevant codes, the way they now sometimes include
useful phrases for ordering a meal or finding the way to the train
station.<br />
<br />
I was thinking how odd it was: endless ingenuity has b<span class="text_exposed_show">een
spent developing bidding systems, to the point where if you play bridge
with a new partner you always start with a conversation where you ask
whether they play Acol, Standard American, Precision or some other
system, and where, if you're playing a natural system, you ask whether
they use standard conventions (Stayman, Blackwood), whether you will
play weak or strong no trump, weak jump overcalls, what system of
discards you'll use, and much more. If you play duplicate, everyone has
to fill out a preprinted (!) card setting out the conventions they play
for the benefit of opponents. The hanky code is the closest thing to
this that I've heard of in the sexual realm, but a) it was always pretty
simple and b) I'm told it is now passé. For the most part, the rules
for communication never get past NO MEANS NO and YES MEANS YES. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
Bridge players are obsessed with finding a good fit, and they
understand that no system is perfect. (Hence the restless search for
workarounds.) But the outcome is not the only thing that counts. It's
boring to get a strong well-balanced hand. Sometimes you pick up a hand
that's not very good and get wildly excited, because it gives you the
chance to deploy a convention that rarely comes up. Preferably a really
complicated convention. A rare, complicated convention that both
partners have probably half-forgotten - the Multi-Colored 2 Diamonds is
best of breed. The partners bid on, gazing at each other with a wild
surmise... <br />
<br />
Anyway, I thought about this as the basis for a book,
and sometimes talked about the book, and most people (not, perhaps,
being bridge players) looked at me no so much with wild surmise as with
blank incomprehension. But I went to New York several years ago and had
dinner with Dale Peck and began talking about bridge and sexual codes,
and Dale understood instantly! Dale had willfully revived the hanky
code in his youth; Dale had been a fanatical bridge player; we talked
and talked.<br />
Dale is now editor of the Evergreen Review, an online
magazine, and he has published "Sexual Codes of the Europeans: a
Preliminary Report" in the latest issue. It's <a href="http://evergreenreview.com/read/sexual-codes-of-the-europeans/" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
</div>
</div>
Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-73408192487182689022017-07-20T14:51:00.002+01:002017-07-20T14:52:15.098+01:00shoulder to shoulderToday I got an uplifting email in an account I rarely use for registrations. I'm not convinced this will rate as Good News for Modern Man for anyone I know, but it cheered ME up. This, mind you, on a day marred by the Hardyesque twists of fate which technology has made so commonplace (and no, I DON'T want to talk about it). Excerpt from cheering email:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: green;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Exciting News - ShareLaTeX is joining Overleaf!</b></span></span><br />
<br />
We've got some <a href="https://www.overleaf.com/blog/518-exciting-news-sharelatex-is-joining-overleaf?utm_source=Overleaf+Master+List&utm_campaign=4b4cb77a9e-EMAIL_ShareLaTeX+Acquisition_All+Users&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_352a2e9e38-4b4cb77a9e-128351281#.WXC0P3DidB8" style="-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; border-bottom: 1px solid #008000; color: #2baadf; font-weight: normal; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: green;">exciting news</span></a> —
Overleaf and ShareLaTeX are joining forces, and we will be bringing our
teams and services together as we continue to build the best tools for
collaborative writing.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
Over the past 4 years, both ShareLaTeX and Overleaf have gone from
strength to strength — seeing rapid, sustained growth in usage — and
have emerged as the two most popular online LaTeX editors. Our combined
community comprises over two million authors at thousands of
institutions and enterprises around the world. Naturally, we've always
been compared and provided each other with some friendly competition,
but behind the scenes, we've often been trying to figure out a way to
work together.<br />
<br />
Going forwards, our aim is to bring the best of both Overleaf and
ShareLaTeX together in a way that benefits everyone. The ShareLaTeX team
has done a fantastic job of building a truly real time collaborative
LaTeX editing environment, including a great new tracked changes
feature, intelligent help for common LaTeX errors, and amazing resources
for learning LaTeX. The Overleaf team has at the same time been busy
working on its WYSIWYG editing tools for users new to LaTeX and its
partnerships with journals, publishers and publisher back-end systems
that enable direct submission and streamlined editorial workflows for
over 10,000 journals. By working together, we can finally avoid
duplicating our efforts when we're both trying to achieve the same
goals.<br />
<br />
<b>What does this mean for you as an Overleaf or ShareLaTeX user? </b>No worries! ...<br />
<br />
I have watched both projects from afar - it should come as no surprise to learn that BOTH have Tufte templates - and it was really rather like reading about Scandinavian welfare systems. Since they were already being all Scandinavian and helpful and empowering, it comes as no real surprise that they have decided to join forces. But, still, awww....<br />
<br /></blockquote>
<br />
<br />Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-52888076668923565382017-06-28T09:54:00.001+00:002017-07-18T11:07:24.282+01:00cheating@DegenRolf posted this on Twitter:<br />
<br />
<img alt="" data-aria-label-part="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDZIxgJXoAY5dOA.jpg" style="top: -0px; width: 100%;" /> <br />
<br />
He apparently came across this in Pharaoh's Land and Beyond, ed. Pearce Paul Creasman (Ch. 11,<br />
The Flow of Words: Interaction in Writing and Literature during the Bronze Age) and then performed various arcane manipulations to come up with a quotation that blithely bypasses the 140-character limit. My sister spends much of the school year initiating small children into the mysteries of a writing system only loosely connected with how words are pronounced (but is beautifully functional as a mainstay of our new scribal culture) - so lovely to be reminded of how it all began.<br />
<br />
(If you are not following @DegenRolf on Twitter, you should, and if you are not on Twitter you could do worse than sign up and follow only the incomparable @DegenRolf.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-86264421388262229712017-05-14T13:55:00.002+01:002017-05-14T13:55:41.878+01:00accents of ColombiaHT Margaret Sherman, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bbcmundo/videos/10155069528809665/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED" target="_blank">video</a> on BBC Mundo. (Yes, there probably IS a way to embed this video.)Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375681131276548542.post-63441847096612828522017-05-08T14:50:00.000+01:002017-05-08T14:50:00.767+01:00what is (and is not) to be done<div class="_6a _5u5j _6b">
<h5 class="_5pbw _5vra" data-ft="{"tn":"C"}" id="js_6">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My initial prejudice against Facebook took a dent when I managed to get in touch again with Margaret Sherman, who was my best friend in Cali, Colombia when I was 13. If the Internet (and email) had existed back in the day we would not have lost touch, but it didn't. Both sets of parents moved frequently; we weren't good correspondents; we had no contact for (at a guess) 40 years. </span></span></h5>
<h5 class="_5pbw _5vra" data-ft="{"tn":"C"}" id="js_6">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Margaret has now put up a post on influencing Congress which is largely useless to me (I'm based in Berlin, none of the US ZIP codes with which I might claim affiliation entitle me to vote in the relevant state). I'm copying it here because, erm, I probably have more in common with the readers of PP than with my miscellany of FB friends. The post told me something I didn't know; I wish it weren't true (given my anomalous status), but I'm still glad to know it. So I think some readers of PP will be glad to know, which I can't necessarily assume of my FBFs.</span></span></h5>
<h5 class="_5pbw _5vra" data-ft="{"tn":"C"}" id="js_6">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">What Margaret has sent my way: </span></span></h5>
</div>
<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_8">
From
Damsels in Defiance: "This post is long because of all the practical
information. Only those who are trying to actively speak out on the
political scene need read it.<br />
<br /> Reposting advice from a friend who
knows how things work in DC. Please heed this guidance from a high-level
staffer for a Senator: You should NOT be bothering with online
petitions or emailing. Online contact basically gets immediately
ignored, and letters pretty much get thrown in the trash unless you have
a particularly strong emotional story - but even then it's not worth
the time it took you to craft that letter.<br /><br />
There are two things that
everyone opposing what is happening in DC should be doing all the time
right now, and they're by far the most important things:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
1. The best
thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay
attention is to have face-to-face time - if they have townhalls, go to
them. Go to their local offices. If you're in DC, try to find a way to
go to an event of theirs. Go to the "mobile offices" that their staff
hold periodically (all these times are located on each congressperson's
website). When you go, ask questions. A lot of them. And push for
answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those the
better.<br /><br />
2. But, those in-person events don't happen every day. So,
the absolute most important thing that people should be doing every day
is calling.<br /><br />
***You should make 6 calls a day (yup. SIX)***:<br /><br />
Two each (DC office and your local office) to your two Senators & your one Representative.<br />
Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to. Every single
day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the 3
most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (in DC
and local offices), and exactly how many people said what about each of
those topics.<br /><br />
They're also sorted by zip code and area code. And
this is IMPORTANT: She said Republican callers generally outnumber
Democrat callers 4-1, and when it's a particular issue that
single-issue-voters pay attention to (like gun control, or planned
parenthood funding, etc...), it's often closer to 11-1, and that has
recently pushed Republican congressfolks on the fence to vote with the
Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats
have not.<br /><br />
SO, WHEN YOU CALL:<br /><br />
A) When calling the DC office, ask
for the Staff member in charge of whatever you're calling about ("Hi,
I'd like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please").
Local offices won't always have specific ones, but they might. If you
get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don't, that's ok - ask
for their name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the
phone. Don't leave a message (unless the office doesn't pick up at all -
then you can...but it's better to talk to the staffer who first
answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your
topic).<br /><br />
B) Give them your zip code. They won't always ask for it,
but make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra
points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them,
since they'll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.<br /><br />
C) If you
can make it personal, make it personal. "I voted for you in the last
election and I'm worried/happy/whatever" or "I'm a teacher, and I am
appalled by Betsy DeVos," or "as a single mother" or "as a white, middle
class woman," or whatever.<br /><br />
D) Pick 1-2 specific things per day to
focus on. Don't go down a whole list - they're figuring out what 1-2
topics to mark you down for on their lists, so, focus on 1-2 per day.
Ideally something that will be voted on/taken up in the next few days,
but it doesn't really matter…even if there's not a vote coming up in the
next week, call anyway. It's important that they just keep getting
calls.<br /><br />
E) Be clear on what you want - "I'm disappointed that the
Senator..." or "I want to thank the Senator for their vote on..." or "I
want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision
for our state because..." Don't leave any ambiguity.<br /><br />
F) They may get
to know your voice/get sick of you - it doesn't matter. The people
answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyway, so even
if they're really sick of you, they'll be gone in 6 weeks. From
experience since the election: If you hate being on the phone & feel
awkward, don't worry...there are a bunch of scripts (Indivisible has
some). After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more
natural. Put the 6 numbers in your phone all under Politician, which
makes it really easy to tap down the list each day!<br />
<br /> Now go get 'em!<br />
<br /> ps - please COPY/PASTE/POST vs Share - it will be visible to more people."</div>
Helen DeWitthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619602559096610012noreply@blogger.com0