Imagine
Imagination is what better schools, better teachers provide to students who can open themselves to the experience. Oates is right about that.
Imagination is what the arts ignite; just look at Jasper Johns’ work or listen to Aaron Copeland or watch the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Imagination is the way man got to the moon, did the first remote surgeries, replaced the first heart.
Forgiving the Present (in Three Tries)
Poetry on the Elliptical
Empty Pods and Pleasant Graveyards
Six Good Places
On Pleasure
What We Love
Essays in Response to a Friend’s Writing
Forgiving the Present (In Three Tries)
What matters most to me in this essay is this quotation from William Stafford, “Justice will take us millions of intricate moves.” Oates adds, “And gestures of forgiveness must begin each one. Recognition of suffering: one’s own, one’s neighbor’s.”
Oates writes this after reflecting on his anger about the war in Iraq and the blind adherence to fundamentalism, whether it takes place in an evangelical church that teaches a child to loathe what he is, or from a U.S. talk show that encourages people to become angry enough not to care about the difference between civilians and combatants, or a cleric that teaches all Americans hate all Muslims.
Forgiving the Present (in Three Tries)
Poetry on the Elliptical
Empty Pods and Pleasant Graveyards
Six Good Places
On Pleasure
What We Love
Essays in Response to a Friend’s Writing
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Poetry on the Elliptical
(See A Review of Smokes by Burt Wheeler for his clever turn.) I’ll play a tiny trick on David when he least expects it.
Forgiving the Present (in Three Tries)
Poetry on the Elliptical
Empty Pods and Pleasant Graveyards
Six Good Places
On Pleasure
What We Love
Essays in Response to a Friend’s Writing
Empty Pods and Pleasant Graveyards
Coyote Walking by Richard Spencer
Sometimes, to make a point, one must reveal an uncomfortable fact. Some years ago, when I thought I was going crazy, it took quite a bit of therapy for me to understand that the world I lived in was reasonably crazy. At the time, I lived in Northern California and worked for a very hip software company.
Behind the home I had lived in for ten years, a builder undertook what he proudly called the largest earthmoving project since the building of the Hoover Dam. The white-tailed kites, golden eagles, jackrabbits, pheasants, coyotes, and deer disappeared long before the earthmoving was complete. The housing developments were called Pheasant Run and Coyote Creek and Eagle’s Landing.
Forgiving the Present (in Three Tries)
Poetry on the Elliptical
Empty Pods and Pleasant Graveyards
Six Good Places
On Pleasure
What We Love
Essays in Response to a Friend’s Writing
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Six Good Places
Image from sxc.hu.
Oates’ leads readers through six good places with the intention of showing that urban environments, correctly scaled and possessing a view, a resting place, water, and a place to gather can provide for both the public and private needs that all people have.
When I decided to stay in Portland after trying on rental housing for a year, I looked for a dwelling on a hillside with a view of water. When you live and work from home, that environment has to encompass most of what you need. The one aspect that the home I chose did not have was a public space: that is, a space in which neighbors could gather.
Forgiving the Present (in Three Tries)
Poetry on the Elliptical
Empty Pods and Pleasant Graveyards
Six Good Places
On Pleasure
What We Love
Essays in Response to a Friend’s Writing
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On Pleasure
The second essay in What We Love Will Save Us includes the line, “Intoxication is a universal human desire. It is both a pleasure and a need, sometimes even a sacrament.” In this essay, Oates tells us about his delights in music, in wine, in his beloved. Pleasure he describes as a giddy, leafy feeling and one that may exist on many levels.
Forgiving the Present (in Three Tries)
Poetry on the Elliptical
Empty Pods and Pleasant Graveyards
Six Good Places
On Pleasure
What We Love
Essays in Response to a Friend’s Writing
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What We Love
Waterfall at Eagle Creek, OR (Photo by C.Frischmann)
David loves his partner. David’s parents cannot bear to think of their son as gay. David’s passion is supporting sustainability. His parents don’t believe that global warming is real. On his annual visit home, he hikes to a favorite Sierra meadow and sits under a snow-laden cornice that will tumble when temperature warms.
Forgiving the Present (in Three Tries)
Poetry on the Elliptical
Empty Pods and Pleasant Graveyards
Six Good Places
On Pleasure
What We Love
Essays in Response to a Friend’s Writing
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Essays in Response to a Friend’s Writing
David Oates’ book of essays, What We Love Will Save Us is the right book at the right time. I admire David’s writing. He thinks deeply about what is going on in the world, listens to what others are saying, and then thinks about how we can make the most of the situation. Much of what I hear from family, friends, media, and even my own internal conversation sounds harsh. Reading about love and being saved sounds appealing.
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