Pause for Purpose

Mark K September 3rd, 2008

Years ago, when I was attending college in southern California, we were exposed to all kinds of avant-garde concepts which we readily accepted and incorporated into our personal beliefs. I remember taking a humanities course – I don’t even remember the exact topic now – taught by a young, hip professor named Sherry Webber.  She told us about a concept called the “pseudo-event”, which I have since learned was first proposed by Daniel Boorstin.

According to Wikipedia, a pseudo-event is “an event or activity that exists for the sole purpose of garnering media publicity and serves little to no other function in real life”.  Examples of pseudo-events include a press-conference, advertisement and even sitting for a family portrait.

Armed with this information, I left for a summer trip to Europe minus my camera.  I reasoned that if I had the camera with me, I would be so intent on recording pseudo-events that I would see everything through the viewfinder of my camera rather than experiencing the actual event.  I would constantly be asking myself, “Is this a good photo opportunity?” “I can’t wait to show the people back home,” rather than being in the moment and appreciating what I had seen.

I remember a few years later when a British friend of our family visited us in the San Francisco Bay Area.  He had heard about the giant redwoods just north of San Francisco and had asked me to take him for a visit to Muir Woods.  When we got there, he promptly took out his camera and lay down on the ground on his back, clicking pictures of a redwood tree from that perspective.  Then he got up and said, “Okay, we can go now.” We had been there for about five minutes.

Today I wish that I had some photos from that trip to Europe back in 1973 – the only ones I have were taken by my Italian relatives when I visited them.  But at the same time, when I travel I sometimes find myself spending too much time with my nose buried in a guidebook or my eye glued to my digital camera.

These might be two totally unrelated topics, but when I try to sort out what approach I should take to traveling, I am reminded of some advice I was given right before my first child was born.  The advice was this: Before your child is born, read every book about childbirth, babies and raising children that you can get your hands on – everything from the classics like Dr. Spock to the current favorite (Dr. T. Berry Brazelton in our case). Educate yourself until you are thoroughly familiar with all of the facts, theories, and philosophies.

Then, when your child is born, throw all the books away.

What this said to me was that as a parent, it’s important that you educate yourself and prepare yourself the best that you can, but when it’s “game day”, you need to think for yourself, use your intuition, and make the best decision for your child and your family.  Like the so-called experts, you won’t be right all of the time, but that’s life.

What does that have to do with traveling?  I’m traveling to Europe again next month and I think that I’ll adopt – let’s call it the T. Berry Brazelton approach to traveling.  I’ve started studying and preparing myself by studying the language, reading the guidebooks, and reading books and watching movies that take place in France.  I know where I’m staying and have helped plan the itinerary. I don’t know that I’ll go so far as to throw the books away, but although I plan to bring a camera, I want to avoid running around seeing sites with one eye focused on the guidebook, as if to say, “Now what is it I’m supposed to be seeing right now?”

I want to be fully present for the travel, even though I’ll have some “pseudo-events” to show friends when I return home.

Tags: pseudo-events, slow travel, travel philosophy

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Mark K September 2nd, 2008

I ran into my friend Tom the other day who was telling me about his trip to Ireland.  He told me that he had had a great time and the Irish were among the friendliest people he had ever met. They really seemed to enjoy chatting with and getting to know strangers and  the only thing that they required of you was that you bring good crack.  He quickly explained to me that this wasn’t a type of drug, but was a Gaelic word, (often spelled “craic”) that could loosely be defined as fun, good times, good conversation, or partying.  “How’s the crack?” or “What’s the crack?” is something like asking, “What’s up?”

Tom’s idea was that to be the beneficiary of good craic, you needed to bring something to the table – add something interesting to the conversation, have a good sense of humor, be a good listener at the same time that you share something of yourself. I’d been reading about the cafes of Paris and the Gertrude Stein’s salons to which she invited artists and writers that came to be known as the Lost Generation.  I imagined that she had similar criteria – bring your talents and an active, curious mind, and be prepared to jump into the lively conversation.

I asked Tom if being exposed to this concept of craic had changed him in any way – would he be more aware of bringing good craic to a conversation?  He said that it probably did help shift his thinking a little and if were choosing a guest list for a party, he would probably be more aware of the craic potential of each of the guests.

I don’t know if our discussion of craic really went along with how most Irish people would define the word – you can read some interesting definitions on the Urban Dictionary website – but it definitely made me think about finding, giving, participating in, and sharing some of the stuff sometime soon.

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Mark K July 18th, 2008

These pictures were all taken in Chicago’s Millenium Park. The first one is called “Cloud Gate”, but is commonly referred to as “The Bean”. It was inspired by a drop of liquid mercury and is made of shiny stainless steel which reflects everything around it. The picture was taken from underneath, looking upward. At first it struck me as kind of a corny gimmick, but then when you see the kind of excitement and fun it produces, it’s hard to imagine that a traditional statue would encourage this kind of interaction.

The next two pictures are of the Crown Fountain.  There is a giant wall at each end of a wading pool and each of them projects a face of a Chicago resident.  As you can see in the two photos, the face changes expressions.  From time to time, water spurts out of the mouth – which was modeled after gargoyles.  There were throngs of school-age kids playing in the water and standing next to the walls where the water was dripping down on their heads.  When the water would spurt from the mouths, you could hear the screaming as people rushed to get drenched.

I could imagine the artists of these sculptures watching with a great deal of satisfaction as they witnessed the excitement and fun that these works have encouraged.

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Mark K June 25th, 2008

3000 miles, 6 days, 5 budget motels, 1 breakdown, countless bad meals, and my dog still knows me!

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Mark K June 24th, 2008

After driving north all day from Tucson and Phoenix, pine trees start to appear and you realize that you’ve climbed to 7000 feet by the time you reach Flagstaff. For the first time on our trip, the temperature was pleasant and we continued on to the Grand Canyon, trying to get there before the sun went down. When we reached the viewing area, we stood with tourists from throughout the world – Germany, Denmark, Italy, England, and Japan. Like us, they were all speaking in hushed tones which reflected the awe and respect that we all felt for the miraculous sight in front of us. Some of us walked gingerly down to the viewing areas perched on the edge of the cliff, clinging to the railing on the side away from the edge. You couldn’t see too much by looking to the west, where the canyon was completely in shadow, but if you looked upstream, the colors were spectacular. Directly below us, there was a glimpse of the trail leading to a tiny sliver of the river that was visible from our vantage point. Someday, I hope to return and hike that trail.

One of my goals for this trip had been to help Joe and Eric stop and appreciate the beauty and variety of our vast country. When we agreed to make the trip together, I had suggested, for starters, that we stop and see New Orleans and the Grand Canyon. Judging by their reactions, I don’t think that any of us will ever forget this trip.

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Mark K June 23rd, 2008

We visited this army surplus store in Tucson while we were waiting for our car to be repaired. The owner had a selection of ammunition used by the military in Iraq and was explaining to a customer what kind of carnage each one could cause. He told a story about how Katie Courac had interviewed a U.S. Marine sniper in Iraq and had asked him what he felt when he shot and killed an enemy soldier with a high-powered weapon. “A slight recoil,” the Marine answered. The store owner seemed to enjoy this response, and had an article about the story taped to his cash register.

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Mark K June 23rd, 2008

Remember that thing about “Cali or Bust” a few days ago? Well, the fuel pump busted and we’re stuck in Tucson overnight. The temperature is about 105, but Will and Mark at Will’s Auto Repair are taking good care of us – gave us a ride to the mall to watch a movie and then later to a motel. Fortunately, everything has air conditioning and we were back on the road by noon the next day.

I guess even cars need to pause for a purpose every now and then!

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Mark K June 22nd, 2008

It took all day to cross Texas, from Austin to El Paso. Somewhere out in the middle, we came upon this sign. It wasn’t until I uploaded it that I noticed the word “old” in the middle of the bottom line. West Texas gets pretty dry and monotonous, but there is some really interesting country in the middle of the state – lots more hills and trees than I would expect. We also passed through Johnson City – a very interesting looking old-timey place near where LBJ used to have his ranch. I still remember them talking about him spending time at the “Texas Whitehouse” and had imagined that it was a dusty God-forsaken place. It’s actually beautiful country, and I could see why the president would want to get out of Washington and spend some time there.

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Mark K June 21st, 2008

Another city that I had never visited, but was very curious to see. They say that Austin is the place to visit for live music, especially for a different flavor of country music than what you might find in Nashville. On the Saturday night when I visited, 6th Street was blocked off to traffic and you could sample all kinds of music as you strolled down the street, much like on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but not quite as crazy – almost, though.

We did another kind of sampling at the Salt Lick barbecue a half-hour out of town. After wolfing down their combo plate of brisket, pork ribs, and sausage, they actually ask you if you’d like a refill and then bring you another heaping plate. We could barely find room for the pecan pie!

It seems that my fellow wanderer, Matt (from Where the Hell is Matt) was in town at just about the same time.

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Mark K June 20th, 2008

 

 Bourbon Street [2:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This was my first visit to New Orleans and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, post-Katrina. We entered the city by crossing Lake Pontchartrain on a long causeway next to a bridge being built to replace the one that was destroyed during Katrina. When we reached the city, we could see homes that were damaged and destroyed during the hurricane and there was a general “down and out” feel to the neighborhood that we crossed while trying to find the French Quarter. There were a number of homeless people and boarded up buildings. I imagined that this neighborhood was not too prosperous prior to Katrina, but that it was in really bad shape now.

Then when we entered the French Quarter, everything changed. There was little or no evidence of Katrina and the quarter had a European feel with the narrow cobbled streets, ancient buildings and wrought iron balconies. We had dinner at a restaurant in the old French Market and sampled jambalaya, red beans and rice and a gumbo. We then had beignets for dessert at the Cafe du Mond down the street.

Bourbon street that night (it was a Friday) was insane. As you walked down the street, you could hear four or five different kinds of live music coming from the clubs and bars, people were standing on balconies throwing beaded necklaces to the crowd, there were street performers, strip clubs, you name it. It’s hard to imagine just how much more crazy it might be during Mardi Gras.

The audio clip gives a sampling of the sounds of Bourbon Street, starting with some street performers who are (jokingly, I hope) threatening to rob the crowd if they don’t contribute when the hat is passed and ending with the band and dancer pictured above.

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