General Interest Archives - Page 14 of 20

A Difficult but Needed Book

December 22, 2017February 17, 2016 by Debi Simons

book cover for Travesty In Haiti

Travesty in Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, food aid, fraud and drug trafficking by Timothy T. Schwartz, Ph.D., first edition 2008, second 2010. No publisher listed; available in multiple formats.

How’s that for a compelling headline? I went back and forth over putting this book here in the blog, as so much in it is extremely unpleasant, depressing, and . . . maddening. The subtitle also seems to imply that Christian missions are going to be a main target of its criticism, but that isn’t the case. Secular NGO’s come in for much of the blame heaped upon attempts to help Haiti. (An “NGO” is a “non-governmental organization,” a term of astonishing flexibility and scope.)The book opens with a gruesome scene: five Haitian peasant men are murdered by a mob because they are supposedly communists. In reality the men, and hundreds more like them, are actually members of a charitable cooperative advocating land reform. The violence drives out their organization and others like it, but soon new projects come back. Schwartz comes to Haiti also and stays for a decade, doing research for his doctorate and then working for various relief organizations himself. You’d think that his tenure there must have been post-earthquake, but no. The book ends well before then, around 2005.

The Sadness of an Abandoned Passion

December 22, 2017February 12, 2016 by Debi Simons

Not a very cheerful title, is it? I was sitting here pondering what would be a good subject for an end-of-week post when a Chopin waltz came on the radio, a piece that I labored over back in the days of my piano obsession. (After a fruitless search on the playlist and YouTube I decided that the exact opus number and title didn’t matter.) What a beautiful piece, and how much I wanted to be able to play it! The contrast between my labored and hesitant version, even after hours of practice, and the sprightly performance on the radio is pretty stark. I so wanted to be able to play it, and I so . . . couldn’t. Or any other of the pieces I longed to play. Finally, about five years ago (and it shouldn’t have taken me that long) I declared myself Free From Piano Playing. You may say, “Hey, why not just play for your own enjoyment?” But that’s like saying, “Why not play chess for your own enjoyment?” The fact is . . .

What Makes an Event Fun?

December 22, 2017February 11, 2016 by Debi Simons

cartoon of people watching football at a party Well, here it is Thursday already, four days after the BRONCOS WON THE SUPERBOWL. I hope if you like reading about cooking and food that you’ve visited both the preview and the review of my menu and maybe tried out something.

What impressed me especially about the evening was the warmth and camaraderie in the room as we all watched something we cared about. That’s what made the occasion special, although it was nice that we won. (WE WON!) I try to explain to my son the anti-football person that it’s not really a matter so much of liking the game; I watch very few non-Broncos matchups. It’s more of a cultural thing, at least for me. I thoroughly enjoy watching a game with my family. It’s a way for us to participate in an activity together, to be unified. We all get along quite well anyway, so it’s not as if we’re at each other’s throats the rest of the time or anything like that. It’s just fun, the kind that creates a warm memory. The fact that WE WON (okay, I’ll stop) didn’t make a dab of difference in my own life; I actually came down with something on Tuesday and spent two miserable days on the couch and in bed.

Not All Relationships Are the Same!

December 22, 2017February 3, 2016 by Debi Simons

Is there no end to the stream of wisdom I’ve gained from watching “A Chef’s Life“? This is now the third post I’ve written inspired by that TV show on PBS. (Read the other posts here and here.) We’re now into the third season, and as I watched Episode 8, “Honey, I’m Home,” I picked up another little nugget from Vivian Howard, the “chef” in the title. (Jim got seriously freaked out by the chicken-liver segment.) She and her husband Ben Knight run the restaurant “Chef and the Farmer” together, and it doesn’t always go smoothly. In this episode dear Ben, who’s often labeled, somewhat unfairly, as “grumpy,” is having his first art show in a decade. He’s been busy acting as general manager, emergency fill-in, and beverage artiste, which has left him very little time to pursue his painting. But now he has a show in Durham NC, and he and Vivian are cramming in visits to as many restaurants in town as they can before it starts. At some point Ben bails out, his nerves (and probably stomach) getting the best of him, but Vivian presses on, undeterred. That woman must have the capacity of an anaconda!

The Difference Between Pleasure and Happiness

December 22, 2017January 29, 2016 by Debi Simons

I wrote about the “hedonic treadmill” last summer, a concept dealing with how we adapt to pleasure, especially as that pleasure relates to possessions. So, for example, when I first poked my head into the entryway of our house I thought I was going to pass out from excitement. When I come in the front door now do I have that same almost-unbearable sense of pleasure and anticipation? Of course not. My friend Clover said once when she had come upstairs with me and was going back down, “Wow, this is such a wide-open vista from up here!” And she was right. Coming down those stairs does indeed open up a beautiful view. I try to remind myself of her comment when I’m coming downstairs, but most of the time, let’s face it: I don’t pay any attention.

Does It Matter When You Do Tasks?

December 22, 2017January 28, 2016 by Debi Simons

I am so, so sorry for the hackneyed image. I could have used a clock or the old rocks-in-a-jar, but I figured that an hourglass was the clearest illustration of what I was trying to say. So, to answer the question: Yes, it does matter. I like to think that, as long as I get everything on the list done for that day then I can do the tasks in any order and it doesn’t make any difference, but it does. For me to look at the difference between yesterday (when I worked through the day roughly according to schedule) and today (when I allowed myself, chose to allow myself, to get distracted by watching a “Frontline” episode online during breakfast and then started working my schedule around it) is a perfect illustration of the principle. So here I sit, writing this post at 3:00 in the afternoon instead of 9:00 in the morning. The sand for this day has run out big time. I can still get lots done and plan to do so, but how much better it would have been if I had gotten going this morning. Yes, I did the rest of the ironing and got on my exercise bike while watching, but then I got interested in some other stories, including one about Lee Harvey Oswald and another about some convicted arsonist, both of which I had already watched, and totally lost my momentum.

Seeking Happiness for the Wrong Reasons

January 18, 2018January 26, 2016 by Debi Simons

Poverty, Inc. Poster I haven’t written about a book or movie for awhile, which doesn’t mean that I haven’t been reading or watching anything. I’ve been wending my way through a hefty history of Rome which will show up at some point, and we’ve recently watched nine of the 10 episodes of ‘Making a Murderer” on Netflix. I don’t think I’ll be recommending that one–what a downer!

Anyway, this past Sunday evening, at the very time when the Broncos were wrapping up their VICTORY over the Patriots, I tore myself away from the screen and raced to the Sie Theater in east Denver to see this film, which was being sponsored by the nonprofit Christian organization CrossPurpose. As far as I’m concerned, every person on the planet should see it.

My Personal Checklist Manifesto

December 22, 2017January 22, 2016 by Debi Simons

Cleaning tasklist by day of week Daily task list

I said in the previous post that I would show pictures of my attempt at some kind of personal checklist, an idea I’ve been thinking about for awhile. It comes from two sources: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, a book I mention in my own book, and Marla Cilley, the Flylady. Surely you’ve heard of her. I think her original book, Sink Reflections, shows up in my bibliography. (Just so you know: I signed up for her e-mails and lasted about a week, as I couldn’t stand the deluge, the avalanche of chirpy messages I got daily. Yikes! And I do not, not, not go around breathing in and thinking ‘I love” and then breathing out and thinking ‘myself.’ Double yikes. Or yuck.) Anyway, Cilley recommends that you keep a regular-size three-ring notebook with every conceivable task laid out, put in sheet protectors, and mark off the day’s/week’s/month’s lists with a washable marker. When you’re ready to start again, rub off the checkmarks. But this just wasn’t something I was ever going to do. Where would I keep the notebook? I thought about putting up laminated lists in various places, but that didn’t seem workable either.

Don’t Go Off Half-Cocked!

December 22, 2017January 21, 2016 by Debi Simons

mechanism of antique gun Honestly! You’d think I’d learn. Two days in a row this week I’ve assumed I knew where to go somewhere and didn’t bother with the GPS. On both occasions I wasted time wandering around until I finally figured out where I was going.

And these experiences made me think about how often I do this sort of thing. They also made me wonder about the phrase “going off half-cocked.” I knew it had something to do with old guns, but it was interesting to find out how the phrase actually originated. If you look at the picture you’ll see a lever or pin sticking up there on the left. That’s the “cock.” When it’s back as far as it will go and you pull the trigger, it will fall forward

The Triumph of Hope Over Experience

December 22, 2017January 19, 2016 by Debi Simons

The title of this post is from either Samuel Johnson or Oscar Wilde, talking about second marriages. But–in my life this quotation applies much more clearly to the pursuit of gardening, in particular vegetable gardening. Today I got my seed order from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, and here are all the hopeful little packets spread out on the kitchen table. I had said that I wasn’t going to order any seeds from catalogs this year as I tend to over-order. I was just going to buy seeds at the garden center. In order to keep this resolution I had to immediately throw all seed catalogs in the trash, without allowing myself so much as a peek.