Reflections From The Bell Curve
About Me
- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
The Hardest Subject?
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Gardeners On Fire
Few things get me as reliably juiced as being around passionate people. Even when the passion in question is something that doesn't ignite me, I have trouble staying unengaged. Don't you find this kind of energy contagious? What passion - one not high on your list - were you most recently exposed to where the folks around you seemed to be on fire?
Late last week I got lit up by a bus full of self-described plant nerds. In her capacity as the founder of the Monmouth County Chapter of the Native Plant Society of New Jersey (NPSNJ), my wife organized a trip to Mt. Cuba Center, a non-profit botanical garden located in Hockessin, Delaware. Not every conversation on the two-hour ride to/from Mt. Cuba centered on gardens, ground cover, invasive species, etc. But most of the conversations I overheard that strayed too far from the passion of most everyone on the bus circled back quickly. And everything covered by the Mt. Cuba staff in the hours spent at this beautifully serene place further nourished that shared passion. Despite the little time I've ever spent digging, planting, or weeding, it was hard to resist being pulled in.
What sets you on fire?
Friday, April 26, 2024
A Path to Manageable Lists
After several years of steady whittling, I'm now approaching the point where my reading list no longer feels oppressively overwhelming. I'm additionally pleased to report that since leaving the full-time work world, I've finished at least one book by many authors I'd told myself I'd sample "eventually" from a list I'd been maintaining for at least forty years. Though a few longstanding, ambitious reading goals remain unmet, I'm satisfied with how focused my reading life has been since 2010. One factor above all has helped keep me on this path - an enhanced vetting process for books or authors recommended to me.
Beginning about the same time I began using a book journal, I jettisoned the habit of adding either a book or an author to my list without first learning a few key things about the person doing the recommending. What were the last several books that moved that person? Which authors are on this reader's "go-to" list? I even began asking more targeted questions of my reading posse a few years back. For example: What specifically made this book you're recommending to me so special? It's not that I'd lost any trust in my posse. But my discernment continues to deepen and time has grown increasingly precious. Though I don't keep score of the individual batting averages of my posse, if I sense any of the four have dipped below Ted Williams territory, a probationary period is now possible. Just saying.
With respect to admitting new members into the posse, that bar is both high and non-negotiable. A new recommender must go five for five to start. Currently, there is one strong potential contender who has, to date, gone three for three. This individual recommended This is Happiness (2019) - Niall Williams, Say Nothing (2019) - Patrick Radden Keefe, and Profiles in Ignorance (2022) - Andy Borowitz, an impressive hat trick. If the streak continues with two more winners, this person will be the first new posse inductee since 2014. Stay tuned.
Reflections From The Bell Curve: This Is Happiness
Reflections From The Bell Curve: An Antidote for Lazy Thinking
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
47 vs. 74
Friday, April 19, 2024
An Antidote for Lazy Thinking
"The romantic idyll of a revolutionary movement is easier to sustain when there is no danger that one's own family members might get blown up on a trip to the grocery store."
I recommend Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (2019) without reservation. Author Patrick Radden Keefe is an exceptional writer, masterful storyteller, and rigorous researcher. I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.
The murder of Jean McConville - a Belfast mother of ten - is the scaffolding on which Keefe constructs his compelling tale. But true to its subtitle, memory plays an equal role in this remarkable book. With the Troubles in Northern Ireland haunting and distorting - in equal measure - the memories of many people who lived through those traumatic years, the whole truth about McConville's abduction and murder remains unknown, even with two prominent players confessing their part in the crime.
And the "calibrated sophistry" of Gerry Adams - who wouldn't sit for an interview with Keefe as he researched the book - boggles the mind. Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, to this day the ex-Sinn Fein representative still maintains he was never a member of the Provisional Wing of the Irish Republican Army. After reading Say Nothing, I could picture Adams's delight when he first heard Kellyanne Conway refer to "alternative facts". Words to live by for a maniacal dissembler like Gerry.
The shrewd observations Patrick Keefe sprinkles throughout his brilliant book - like the sentence from Chapter 19 opening this post - chastened me. Looking for easy answers, ignoring shades of gray, and reflexively taking sides are blunt ways of looking at complex problems. More than once, the armchair revolutionary in me has blustered about conflicts akin to the Troubles and offered glib solutions for other intractable problems that plague our world. By continuing to read books like Say Nothing, I'm hopeful I'll begin to mitigate that type of lazy thinking.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Forty-Six and Counting
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Another Reason to Get Out of Dodge, Frequently
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Living Life Aloud
Although I've embarrassed my daughter more times than I can count via my habit of engaging strangers in conversations - on the streets, in restaurants, anywhere really - I don't plan to ever stop doing this. Truth be told, not only is this habit something I like about myself, on more than a few occasions I've connected in a genuine way with people. The fact that it's unlikely I'll ever interact again with any of these strangers is irrelevant. The human connection is what energizes me. And who's to say the same thing won't be true for one or more of these strangers? What have any of us got to lose by trying to connect in this way?
While making a few trips to my car carrying my equipment after teaching a class at a local college, it was hard to ignore the two young women sitting in the lobby engaged in an animated conversation filled with infectious laughter. With a big smile on my face I joked with them about keeping the noise down, a remark that elicited more laughter from both. Before leaving the building, I engaged them further - this is the part that drives my daughter to distraction - suggesting they would benefit from retaining their contagious enthusiasm as their lives unfold. I briefly shared how often in my younger life well-meaning but misguided naysayers would tell me to "tone it down" or words to that effect when my enthusiasm struck one of them as "too much". In my experience, the stifling of positive energy - like those two young women embodied - is an all-too-common occurrence. Why not encourage enthusiasm and reward the passion of people who live their lives aloud? Who benefits when the energy that makes the world a more vibrant place is shushed? How can shaming enthusiastic, passionate people ever be worthwhile?
It was obvious both young women were moved as our interaction ended. This touched me deeply. Please forgive your old dog Dad, sweetheart. Learning a new trick to replace this habit is probably not in the cards.