Monday
Oct272008
Bullet Points!
Monday, October 27, 2008 at 01:49AM
In no real order, here is what's going on in the life of Andy O right now:
- My parents have been in town this weekend. It's been a good visit. Today we all went to feed the ducks at Radnor Lake, which is gorgeous and only three miles from our house. Sadly, it's the first time I've ever gone. Perfect spot for a run or time with the girls, though, so it won't be the last.
- Matt and Kristen Odmark had a little neighborhood house concert Saturday night. Randall Goodgame, Billy Cerveny, Mandy Mann and I each played little sets to about 100 friends and neighbors. So fun. Hot cider, smores, popcorn, old friends and new... I sang the song "Baby Mine" from Dumbo for Ella, my 3 year old, and I got one of the words wrong. From Matt's balcony-like back porch she loudly corrected me. It was awesome.
- I'm reading "Hannah Coulter" by Wendell Berry and it's stunning. Every time I read him I wonder why I don't just read all his books in a row. They're so amazing. "Amazing" is not close to describing, actually, how great he is. Beautiful, poetic, epic, real and honest. Just so good. Reading one of his books is like eating steak at a REALLY nice restaurant. It's so good you can't really do it every day, but you'll remember it and think of it often.
- That makes it sound like I care about steak far more than I really do.
- I'm excited to play another Andy and the Andys show this weekend. Georgia. Bring it on.
- Any of you graphic artists out there feel like helping me out? I need to make images for Letters 2 that can sit in the center of the main page and the top right corner of all the pages on this site. I'd love any thing anybody could send my way.
- I just discovered the game "Scramble" on facebook and am currently losing all sense of self-confidence by playing against my friend Shanin from high school. She's got the gift.
I guess that's about it. This week is a busy one in the studio. I'm mixing and producing a few different artists, co-writing with a few folks, and working on some new solo stuff with Cason at the helm. I'll try to keep you updated when I can. (I always keep up on facebook and twitter, by the way.) Thanks for caring and supporting me doing what I do.
QUESTION FOR MONDAY:
Where do you go/What do you do to find moments of quiet and solitude? What do you do with that time when you find it?
- My parents have been in town this weekend. It's been a good visit. Today we all went to feed the ducks at Radnor Lake, which is gorgeous and only three miles from our house. Sadly, it's the first time I've ever gone. Perfect spot for a run or time with the girls, though, so it won't be the last.
- Matt and Kristen Odmark had a little neighborhood house concert Saturday night. Randall Goodgame, Billy Cerveny, Mandy Mann and I each played little sets to about 100 friends and neighbors. So fun. Hot cider, smores, popcorn, old friends and new... I sang the song "Baby Mine" from Dumbo for Ella, my 3 year old, and I got one of the words wrong. From Matt's balcony-like back porch she loudly corrected me. It was awesome.
- I'm reading "Hannah Coulter" by Wendell Berry and it's stunning. Every time I read him I wonder why I don't just read all his books in a row. They're so amazing. "Amazing" is not close to describing, actually, how great he is. Beautiful, poetic, epic, real and honest. Just so good. Reading one of his books is like eating steak at a REALLY nice restaurant. It's so good you can't really do it every day, but you'll remember it and think of it often.
- That makes it sound like I care about steak far more than I really do.
- I'm excited to play another Andy and the Andys show this weekend. Georgia. Bring it on.
- Any of you graphic artists out there feel like helping me out? I need to make images for Letters 2 that can sit in the center of the main page and the top right corner of all the pages on this site. I'd love any thing anybody could send my way.
- I just discovered the game "Scramble" on facebook and am currently losing all sense of self-confidence by playing against my friend Shanin from high school. She's got the gift.
I guess that's about it. This week is a busy one in the studio. I'm mixing and producing a few different artists, co-writing with a few folks, and working on some new solo stuff with Cason at the helm. I'll try to keep you updated when I can. (I always keep up on facebook and twitter, by the way.) Thanks for caring and supporting me doing what I do.
QUESTION FOR MONDAY:
Where do you go/What do you do to find moments of quiet and solitude? What do you do with that time when you find it?
Reader Comments (26)
SO glad to hear that you're reading Hannah Coulter. One of my favorites. Can't wait for the Andys show next weekend!
AP
I'm from Corpus Christi, Tx...lots of small lakes, creeks, etc so I go late at night (usually past midnight) to this small lake on the outskirts of the city. there you can seemingly see every single star in the night sky-it's amazing. you can hear jumping fish in the lake and birds saying their goodnights to each other. usually i go there and think for awhile then pray about everything i can possibly think of. i usually stay at least 2 hours. sometimes i'll just sit there in silence for long periods of time. being at UT-austin, i don't have many places like this during much of the year so i really cherish the times when i can go home and enjoy the beauty of my Jesus place....that's the main one. other times, i'll just sit in my room and mess around with a progression on the guitar
I am from suburban sprawl right outside of Cincinnati. Not a lot of solitude. I run to get time alone. I can clear my mind and focus on one thing in the physical world - my burning lungs. This lets me focus on other things with the rest of my mind. It usually ends up in a more conversational type of prayer.
Honestly, the best solitude and quietness I get is in the bathroom. I can really get alone with my thoughts or my Bible or whatever book I'm reading. Generally, no one really ever wants to interrupt.
got an email update this morning saying my scramble best had been beaten. i'm having a hard time working.
Hannah Coulter has been making its rounds in my family (we gave it to my dad, then it went to Crystal, and her mom finished it last night...I'm next-all parties have raved about it). Crystal and I read Jayber Crow first and were entranced. We like to read allowed to one another before bed and last week commenced with Five Stories: Fidelity and it's typically great. I've read the opening two pages aloud to literary friends 3 times in the last couple of days because they are so good.
Question is, do I read a Rushie piece next or commence with Hannah Coulter?
Wish I could go to the Andy and the Andy's show -but I've done 5 concert road trips in the last month...and gas is expensive.
I tend to take a good cup of coffee to a park and sit under a tree for moments of solitude...just let your mind drift from wandering aimlessly to people watching
I am a first year high school math teacher. Teaching is a very mind consuming career! I'm also a graduate student. So doing math for grad school is a good mental getaway from teaching. Ok - I'm a dork.
I love how your daughter corrected you! I bet that was the best part of the night.
Solitude is that place of peace. But contrary to what many suggest, solitude is not about "alone time." It is best found in a genuine relation with another person, for it is there that we forget about ourselves. Solitude is not about being alone; being alone, as a separation from the Other, is nothing but narcissism. In contemplation, we dwell on our ideas and concepts. As such we worship ourselves by erecting our thoughts into idols. But in the relation with another, we are decentered, for our focus is on that which cannot be placed into a rational concept--You. You are rich with a plenitude of meaning, never lacking, always overflowing. There, I am no longer concerned with myself, my ideas, worries, longings, desires, etc. I am only concerned with You.
So, I find solitude by being with those whom I love. It is there that I am decentered and fully reminded that I do nothing in this world on my own. But this is not the aim of my relationships. Rather, the solitude that accompanies my relations is a GIFT of GRACE. Solitude is given by another. It is never achieved by my own hands.
Yes, I really do believe this.
Some of my most meaningful times of solitude have been in huge crowds, e.g. airports.
I like to be alone in solitude. I don't think I erect my own thoughts into idols when I am by myself. But maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I am, But I could be..... Nope. I'm not.
I like to be with people, but I am always with people, and I desperately need alone time to think and relax. I'm not quite sure where Joey is coming from.
Maybe he/she is talking about people who are always alone, I don't know.
i go where he goes:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2296/2801116782_8896c0523e_b.jpg
when i can't get in there, solitude is usually found through a guitar and a cigarette.
you have to be kidding me, joey. solitude is found with another person? wtf? just say you don't like to be alone. you can't just redefine a word to make it mean something different for your own little world. find another word. hell, make one up. but don't try to steal that one from the rest of us.
First off, its obvious that I touched a nerve with you , David. Good. Hopefully you'll think about it. If you think I'm wrong, it will give you a chance to think more carefully.
How are you inferring that I just don't like to be alone? I'm simply making a distinction between "being alone" and how I think we should rethink the definition of solitude. Insofar as solitude pertains to being a peace (since we normally think that being at peace involves being alone), I do not think that we are truly at peace when we are alone. Why? Are we not most at peace when we are with those whom we truly love? Does not Jesus say "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest"? To be human is to be in a relation to another. We can see this because we speak to one another. To have speech is to have another to whom you can communicate. Therefore, the relation to another person is prior to communication and most fundamental. Thus, in turn, we should redefine what solitude means. What hinders us from redefining a word besides its normative value insofar as it is located in a community of speakers? If the speakers are all, or for the most part, willing to change or expand the meaning, "my little world" has just be affirmed.
By your definition of solitude (being the one that is in the dictionary... as though that has ever stopped me from rethinking a word), you contradict your fundamental status of being a human--a relation.
I'm sorry that you feel like I'm stealing it from you. May be you should think more carefully why you hold to that position than simply deriding me and not giving an argument as to why I'm wrong.
I like being alone sometimes. But it does not give me peace.
the last sentence in the big paragraph should say "...has just been affirmed."
Ludicrous.
Joey likes to type just to see the cool words (that mean absolutely nothing) on the screen.
Michael, give me a reason to think what I am arguing for is ludicrous.
I think the words are cool too. But why do you think they mean nothing? They're words we use in everyday language whether we admit it or not. I have not used any technical terminology.
joey, from the bottom of my heart, you are a dumbass.
from a DICTIONARY (the leading authority on the meaning of words):
solitude - noun
1. the state of being or living alone; seclusion: to enjoy one's solitude.
2. remoteness from habitations, as of a place; absence of human activity: the solitude of the mountains.
3. a lonely, unfrequented place: a solitude in the mountains.
where does it say anything about being at peace? it doesn't exclude peace from the definition, but it is by no means a necessary qualification. have you ever heard of solitary confinement in prison?
what part of andy's question prompted you to try and redefine the word solitude? i mean seriously, did you even read back to yourself what you wrote? because i have read it several times, and what it says...is nothing. because what you are attempting to do is CLASSIC post-modernism. namely, redefining a word/question/statement to mean what YOU want it to mean, and you could give a damn what any one else thinks, and that includes jesus. meanwhile you hide behind this mantra of intelligence, which is a total farce in your case.
jesus used certain words because words have meaning. words HAVE to have meaning in order for communication, and relationship, to work. i wouldn't tell my hypothetical wife that i apple her, when i actually mean that i love her, even though she should know what i mean, right? because, since we're in such a great relationship, she should be able to see past the word and understand my feeling towards apples, which is that i love them, and likewise apply those feelings to my ludicrous statement towards her. that would never happen, except in an unapologetically post-modern mind like yours.
being human does (almost) always necessitate being in relationship, but the logic you use to reach your end conclusion that solitude should be redefined is mind-boggling. for one thing, how can you have a relationship PRIOR to communication. if that doesn't not make sense to you, then i'm not even going to go into it, because i'm already stressed-out today, and i'm tired.
I love apples. And I love you. Skibbidy dibbidy doo.
Well, David I'm sorry you feel so threatened by my "post-modernism." But contrary to your uninformed designation, its actually not so postmodern. The Greek Church Fathers such as Gregory of Nyssa, St. Maximus the Confessor, Pseudo-Dionysus held the view similar to mine. Take a gander. You might learn something about the Church. Eastern Orthodox theology is fundamentally communal and not about the individual. You may not agree with it, but its not postmodern.
Words are historically determined because we are historically determined and we use words. Thus the meanings the have are contingent and not set in stone. This does not negate the fact that they are meaningful. It just shows that they can be modified. If we had decided to use "apple" to convey the same meaning as we do "love" then it would be perfectly fine. If you're interested read Ludwig Wittgenstein's book "Philosophical Investigations." Our words have meaning only insofar as we agree to said meaning. We are obviously not agreeing. But this is because I'm trying to shift the meaning. Purposefully. I know very well that we usually intend "solitude" to mean what you have posted. This is how words get their meaning, debating over them.
Furthermore, the meaning of words can be uprooted and redefined. For instance, we use "republican" and "democrat" in ways that were not used during the Reconstruction period. Or have you forgotten your history. Lincoln was a Republican, of whom saw the necessity of a central government. Democrats were southern white plantation owners, or "Dixiecrats." Obviously the way we use these terms today have changed dramatically. Our words are culturally determined. Our dictionaries actually reflect this change. We just recently added "ain't" to the dictionary as a modified form of "isn't."
I don't think that we are ever truly alone, especially as Christians. Christian solitude is to be with God. But if we are with God, we are not really alone. This is classic Christianity from Augustine, to Calvin, through Jonathan Edwards.
The fact that you think that my argument is mind-boggling does not invalidate it. How can we have a relationship PRIOR to communication? Understand that I'm saying its logically prior, not temporally prior. The fact that you and I are conversing already assumes that we are in some form of relation. There must already be some sort of connection for communication to even be possible.
You belligerence and derision towards me actually tells me that you are unable to carry on a reasonable conversation without personally attacking me and/or when someone does say something you don't like.
I've managed to carry on a cordial response without tearing you down. Calling me a dumbass only makes you look the fool.
second sentence in the second paragraph should read "the meanings WE (not "the") have..." Apologies.
dear "joey",
what you are talking about has nothing at all to do with andy's question. that is my problem with your response. you are trying to completely redefine something, and although words do change meaning, they do so slowly, not at the whim of some guy on the internet. your point about democrat and republican have no bearing here, because those are abstract definitions of ever-evolving groups of people. solitude, in its entire history, has never meant anything else:
solitude
c.1374, from O.Fr. solitude "loneliness," from L. solitudinem (nom. solitudo) "loneliness," from solus "alone" (see sole (adj.)). "Not in common use in English until the 17th c." [OED]
800 years, and all of a sudden you have a better idea of what it means? who are you?
second, i never said the church, or humanity, was not communal. but that fact has nothing to do with you trying to redefine solitude.
"Solitude is that place of peace. But contrary to what many suggest, solitude is not about “alone time.” It is best found in a genuine relation with another person, for it is there that we forget about ourselves. Solitude is not about being alone"
you are being post-modern in that you are assigning your own meaning to a word. you are even admitting that you are doing that; you're trying to redefine something which ought not be redefined.
and i'm done. i can't waste my time or my mind trying to defend reality to you.
David...regardless of whether Joey is being a troll or saying things that are actually interesting and worth thinking about, your responses have been a little less than charitable; or at least, they seem that way to me. This blog has always been known for being a good place for discussion...I really hope that we won't turn it into something less than that.
steady fellas...steady...
it's only a conversation. let's all take a deep breath and see each other as human beings created in the image of Almighty God.
Before all else, I'll answer the original question:
When no one but God is around I like to crank (by which I mean leave on about 3 1/2 and still nearly go deaf. dang those 135 watts) my '79 Twin Reverb and let loose with my strat. Now that said, on to the current controversy:
First of all, Peter and Jerry are quite right, some serious calming down is in order. Second I'm not sure what all the anger is about. I never knew that the meaning of the word solitude could be such a source of tension! Anyway, I'd like to try to resolve the semantic problem here and get at the real question:
There is a state of isolation, that we call solitude. I've got to agree with David here that there is no reason to use the word otherwise. Using solitude differently, however, is not so much dangerous or postmodern as confusing. Solitude means isolation. I do not think, however, there is any reason to understand the term solitude to exclude the presence of God. I think we can all agree that God being present when we are "alone" doesn't make us any less alone and doesn't prevent us from talking about what we do when no one but God is around. But to understand solitude to mean time with other people is simply confusing and unnecessary. One might well find peace and rest with other people, much as some people seek to find peace and rest in solitude, but solitude is not peace and rest. Joey's point is perhaps better stated this way:
there is no place for complete solitude in the Christian life. The closest thing to solitude we should have is time with the people closest to us. This is the real place we can find the peace we often seek in solitude (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about what the substance of your claim is here)
Now, setting aside semantic matters, I've got some concerns with the substance of Joey's point, which does not hinge on the meaning of the word solitude:
I do not see why contemplation, or for that matter sitting alone and playing guitar, or sitting alone and reading a good book, or whatever, is a problem. I'm going to guess you typed your responses to this post alone, and you've clearly spent some time thinking about these matters. I do agree that often the greatest peace we have comes in times with other people. I am rarely at such peace as when praying with others. At the same time, sometimes we need a break from people and need time just to spend alone with God. And other times we're not even looking so much for spiritual peace in solitude. Sometimes we're just looking to get rid of all the external crap and take a moment not to be filled with all the lies and filth we see when we look around us. Sometimes we're just playing. Sometimes when I play guitar alone, when I'm writing something new, it's a process somewhere between prayer and thought. Other times I'm just stepping away from my life and just playing something, anything, just to get something less destructive in my head than the crap on tv or anger from bad traffic or whatever. Other times I'm just messing around having fun. And I don't see how any of these things is wrong.
But maybe you're not saying such things are wrong. Maybe you're just saying that sometimes we run away from other people and hide alone to try to deal with problems, when what we really need is a supportive community. And I couldn't agree with you more about that. Sometimes when we think we need to get away to have peace, it's really the last thing we need. As far as that goes, you're right on. I'm just not so sure there's never a time to be seek peace in being alone.