Fair is Fowl(er)

Found this article on the new edition of Fowler's Modern English Usage, a book I adore. http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/72770362.html I completely agree with the reviewer, Liam Julian (what a pretty name!), on his take on what makes Fowler so readable and charming. My favorite bit:

"Fowler also saw no problem in placing and or but at the start of a sentence, nor in plopping a preposition at its end. While he could get hooked by crotchets — objecting to amoral, for instance, on the grounds that it was an ungainly combination of a Greek prefix and a Latin derivative — he was generally practical in his rule-making and rule-breaking. His abiding hope was to promote production of precise and pleasurable sentences, and if old prejudices stood in the way of that goal, they were knocked aside. David Crystal, editor of the rereleased first edition, writes that Fowler 'turns out to be far more sophisticated in his analysis of language than most people realize.' What’s more, 'Several of his entries display a concern for descriptive accuracy which would do any modern linguist proud.'"

CD

Another thing...

I'm acquiring the above painting, "Autumn," by Hickory Mertsching (a name for the ages, I should think), which is currently hanging at Coffee Plant in John's Landing, PDX. See his stuff here: http://www.hickorymertsching.com/. This little picture doesn't do it justice, of course. It's quite big (30 x 40), the colors are vivid, and the draftsmanship very strong. God only knows where I'll hang it...

Round Up

David Oates shared bits of his new book, What We Love Will Save Us, yesterday in the Cannell Room at Clark College's library. It was a pleasant hour of reading and discussion and I was glad to see him sell a few copies of the book. He took the odd turn of publishing it himself under his own imprint--Kelson Books--after several publishing houses rejected it. He felt the timeliness of the material warranted an immediate release: it deals largely with the effects of the Bush administration's brutality, narrow-mindedness, and criminality on the imaginative mind. But the experience of publishing has enthused David so much that Kelson Books is now working on releasing more titles. I'm eager to see what comes next.

Other news: Last week's whirlwind trip up to North Idaho to close down the lake cabin for the winter, though largely a chore, took us briefly through Spokane where we visited two new establishments that I can highly recommend:

First is Atticus, a coffeeshop and store located on Howard St. downtown (Bennett Block) in the space that has housed coffeeshops since time immemorial. It's owned and run by Kris and Andy Dinnison who also own and run Boo Radley's, a shop full of toys, books, games, and curios two doors down. I know Kris and Andy from way back when and I'm very happy to see them embark on a new project that so benefits downtown Spokaloo. Their dedication and devotion to Spokane is admirable. They poured me a great cuppa Joe too. Come for the coffee, stay to read the wallpaper: The entirety of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is pasted up on one wall!

Second is Madeleine's Cafe and Patisserie at 707 West Main, about two blocks away from Atticus. Our good friends Tod Marshall and Amy Sinnisterra recommended it for breakfast and it did not disappoint. I had french toast topped with whipped cream and berries (shared..no, GAVE them to Ian) and K had, if memory serves, something with cinnamon and apples piled on it. I need to return and explore their menu further. Here's their very attractive website: http://www.madeleines-spokane.com/ Koehler said he wants to make a Spokane North Idaho excursion down memory lane sometime this summer and I want to tag along. Maybe then, eh?

Speaking of Koehler, here's a link to his site and some pics from his book tour. The hand holding the mug of coffee is, predictably, yours truly: http://jeff-koehler.com/?p=286. The pear painting is mine too.

CD

Let me toss this on here for good measure

The Columbia Writers Series Presents
Author and Clark College English Professor

David Oates

~ FREE: Thursday, November 19th, 12:00 noon, in the Cannell Room of Clark College’s Cannell Library

David Oates will read from and discuss SteelHead, a work in progress that presents the life story of Ranald “Tole” MacDonald, a half-Chinook, half-Scot adventurer who, in 1848, smuggled himself into still-closed Japan – years ahead of Commodore Perry's famous gunship "opening." From Fort Vancouver MacDonald had travelled halfway around the world searching for what he imagined was the racial/ancestral home of his own, vanishing, Chinook people. Welcomed, but imprisoned in Nagasaki, MacDonald taught fourteen of the Emperor's best scholars, so that Perry later found himself greeted by English-speaking Japanese – MacDonald's students.

In addition, Oates will be reading from his latest book, What We Love Will Save Us. In this collection of brief, intense lyrical essays, Oates finds wildness and grace breaking out in unexpected places – from city streets to mountain peaks – offering a crucial balance to his dramatically personal account of what it has been like to be a "citizen of the regime" during eight years of unprecedented propaganda, torture, waste, and war. What is the right response, when the government that belongs to us goes seriously off course? How does a person's private and creative life relate to the life we share in common? Readable, memorable, smart but straight from the heart – these essays give voice to our shared experience of a dark and frustrating time in the nation's life. This book is about keeping faith and experiencing darkness:

There's a random dangerous rightness abroad in this wide shining world. It's a rightness, not a correctness. We don't need so much to counter other people's errors as to bring the light and joy of that right and beautiful world: what we desire for our planet and ourselves. What we are doing instead of hating and denying and bombing.
Our job is to work on what we love. Daily. With precision and determination.

~About the author:
David Oates writes nonfiction and poetry about urban life and the natural world. Most recently he explored the urban experience in City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary. In his ground-breaking book Paradise Wild: Reimagining American Nature he challenged environmental sacred cows. His personal essays are widely read in newspapers, through Writers on the Range Syndicate, and in popular, environmental, and scholarly periodicals, including Creative Nonfiction, Earth Island Journal, Orion (forthcoming), High Country News, Northern Lights, etc. In Portland he teaches the Wild Writers Seminar and writing courses at Clark College, Marylhurst University, and (starting in Summer of 2010) Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Author's website: http://www.davidoates.info/.

~Praise from advance readers:
"What We Love Will Save Us is a journey. David Oates knows what kind of place he’s looking for—a place for hope and truth, imagination and renewal. What We Love Will Save Us is. . . compact and expansive, erudite and carnal, playful and angry and full of subjunctive dreaming and inescapable facts."
– Ana Maria Spagna, author of Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: a Daughter's Civil Rights Journey and Now Go Home: Wilderness, Belonging, and the Crosscut Saw.

"Personal honesty, humor, zinger endings. . . This is a stirring, creative collection of essays stoked with ideas, some of them urgently of our time and place, some timeless. People with regard for language will reread passages for their genuinely beautiful writing. I got a lump in my throat (and had to take a walk) after I read the final six words: 'Brief lists, perseverance, and long vistas.' AMEN. A mantra for our century."
– Jeff Gersh, founder and principal of NarrativeLab Communications

"There is a tightly wound lyricism to these very American essays, crafted out of bumps and bruises and sheer joys. David Oates is a writer companion you'll want to have as you hike across this beleaguered planet – testy on the switchbacks but more than congenial around the fire; at the end of the day, he always chooses the best campsite."
– Paul J. Willis, author of Bright Shoots of Everlastingness: Essays on Faith and the American Wild.

More Days Like This One, Please...

Many blogacious things to note here at the Dabbler. Hope I can remember them all...

Last Saturday (Nov. 7) was a perfect example of a great Dabbler day. K, Ian, and I went to our favorite French bakery in a.m., St. Honore (in Lake O [also in Nwst]) for coffee and almond croissants, then proceeded to George Morland's where we investigated faucets. Ian was in absolute heaven, fiddling around with all the fixtures, the rows of bath tubs, and the toilets with automatic seat lifters. We noticed, too, that there was a frame shop and gallery across the street, Katayama, so we ducked in there after Morland's and found it to be a wonderful place--great displays of Oregon artists both past and present (Hank Kowert, Maude Kerns, Amanda Snyder, James Lavadour, among others), and an excellent gallery attached, Murdoch Collections, exhibiting the works of NYC/PDX sculptor and painter David Hacker.

Here's wikp on him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hacker.
Here's the Murdoch site: http://murdochcollections.com/.
And here's a little something on Katayama: http://katayamaframing.com/. Love their front door!

Ian discovered Tinker Toys in a kiddie korner at Katayama and let us know in no uncertain terms that separating him from them was an atrocity unparalleled in human history. (We know what he's getting for Xmas!) After the wonderful Katayama visit , we wandered next door to the building's open garage and found a new--less than a month old--fish 'n' chips stand: The Flying Scotsman. We had excellent haddock and chips, served up by a freshly arrived broguing son of Alba.

But the big event of the day was the arrival of Jeff Koehler for his book party at Vino. He arrived mid-day with his folks, Joanne and Bill--great to see them. We met down at Vino, where he'd read later at 7:00, and visited with Bruce Bauer, Vino's proprietor, and ate tacos from Kiko's, the fab cart across the street. We then went home and let Jeff relax and settle in; we drank a bottle of Beaux Freres 2005 Pinot Noir, which was effing gorgeous. At close to 7:00 we were at Vino again and greeting people coming to the reading (many were friends and relatives of Jeff), sipping Bruce's wine, and flipping through the Jeff's book Rice, Pasta, Couscous. He gave his talk from 7:30 to 8:30, telling great stories about how the book came to be, the research process he went through, including travelling to many amazing Mediterranean locales, and reading some of the short narratives that accompany the recipes. It was a hugely entertaining talk and Jeff is a great storyteller. He sold 40 plus books, too.

After, we went to dinner with Bruce and his wife Wendy. Our reservation at Beaker and Flask got lost in the shuffle, so we ended up in the cafe section of Castagna, which was just fine. More wine flowed, conversation followed; I ate Alsatian sausages in a broth; K had coq au vin, Jeff a good ol' American hamburger, which he'd been craving.

All in all, what a terrific day: we got to discover new art and new food, see old friends, and hear great stories. What more could we ask?

***

In the a.m. Sunday, fueled by K's amazing rosemary buttermilk biscuits, Jeff and I visited Powell's where we surreptitiously snapped photos of his book on the shelves and planted advertising cards in various spots around the store. I bought 3 more of Paul Collins' books (more on this later, perhaps). We met Joanne and Bill again at the Pearl Bakery, and there I said goodbye to Jeff. He's off to SF and Seattle for more readings. He was going to see our old friend Tod Marshall read poetry in Seattle later that day. Good timing, eh?

Adeu,
CD

Here's a painting by Hacker. Somewhere in the DeKooning, Pollack, Johns, Dine universe, eh?:

What Cheer, My Love?

A strange synchronicity occured yesterday that is worth musing over here. I'm fascinated by the little moment in 1.1.122 of A Midsummer Night's Dream when Theseus, having stood behind Egeus' stupidly selfish decision to force his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius or "die the death", says to his bride-to-be, Hippolyta, "What cheer, my love?" From the script we have no idea what he's responding to, but most directors make Hippolyta quite upset with Theseus over his standing up for the "law" rather than "justice". Presumably she is pouting or fuming or sighing or drooping or all of the above.

But as my thoughts were thus directed, I came upon the little crumb of poetic wit sent to me by Kate Scrivener and included in yesterday's post. I did a quick search of David McCord and found out what I thought was his pseudonym: "What Cheer"! This spurred me to wiki him and find related links. I looked up What Cheer but found no reference to McCord. I then Googled his real name and found that What Cheer was, in fact, the title of a volume of his poetry. Oops. (but wouldn't make a great pseudonym? Squirrel that away for safe keeping.)

But the wiki entry on What Cheer turned up this gorgeous bit of folksy numbskullery (I've found that if Wikp is good for anything it's as a kind of vast e-version of "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable"--a treasure house of the bogus):

"What Cheer (pronounced 'WAH-cheer') is a city in Keokuk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 678 at the 2000 census.

"What Cheer is named for a Native American greeting used in the area of modern-day Rhode Island during the 1600s. In 1636, Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island who left Salem, Massachusetts to seek religious freedom, landed at modern-day Providence and was greeted by Narragansett Native Americans with "What Cheer, Netop". Netop was the Narragansett word for friend, and What Cheer was an old English greeting brought to New England by English settlers. Over time, the story of Williams' welcome was absorbed into the legend of Providence.
When the future What Cheer was founded, it was named Petersburg for Peter Britton, the settlement's founder. The What Cheer story and name was brought to Iowa by Joseph Andrews, a major and veteran of the American Civil War in 1864. Andrews was a native of Providence and offered the name of What Cheer for a post office in the town in 1866. Petersburg was officially renamed What Cheer on December 1, 1879."

CD

Link to a NYT article on Anglo-Catholics

Here's a much more mature commentary from the NY Times on the Vatican's recent announcement regarding Anglo-Catholics than my snotty little post of a few days ago. (I still stand by my snotty little post, however.) In any case, read these pov's for a rounder sense of the issue than I'm capable of giving (at present, anyway):

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/why-the-vatican-wants-anglicans/?ex=1271822400&en=d4d612a417bd9745&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=OP-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M120-ROS-1009-L1&WT.mc_ev=click#david

CD