J. D. Salinger Becomes Jerry

I've been writing this in my head ever since I watched a documentary on J.D. Salinger on PBS.  Maybe I knew some of the information, but I pushed it out for room for quilting stuff in the past 15 years.  I am usually very good at separating the personal and the performer. Usually I don't care that an actor is an idiot personally if his acting is such that it moves me on screen to either laugh or cry.  I mean acting, writing, all the creative arts are meant to be viewed separately from their creators so if they're human and flawed, it's ok as long as the art they produce isn't.  Maybe that's not expressed very well but I never cared that Elvis was a bloated druggie who seduced his wife when she was a teenager and then cheated on her, but only that some of his music was amazing and that I liked it.  However, I have been known not to watch a movie made by a known pedophile.  Ok, back to "Jerry," as he was called throughout the documentary.

First, I didn't realize he was actually of my parents' generation and had endured all the horrors of World War II.  When I read Catcher in the Rye as a teenager, I felt that immediate connection to Holden and to the author and was sure he wasn't much older.  I remember discussing the novel with my parents and their rejection of his premise of "phoniness."  I am sure I didn't present the ideas well and certainly included criticism of them in my comments, but they were definitely rejected.  My folks were his age, Dad was in the Navy during World War II, but they didn't seem enthralled with Jerry's book as I was.  I think Salinger didn't write for his own generation but for a younger one.  It's almost impossible to believe that much of Catcher was written as he tromped through bloody battle fields.  It seems almost as though he wants to forget that horror and return to a younger age.  It was mentioned that he often hung out with much younger people, and that people his own age were too old for him.

Also, Jerry didn't want to be popular.  He wanted to be revered as a great writer whom only a few would be intellectual enough to understand.  Wow!  He was therefore disappointed in the Catcher's success.  That universality of his novel is what made it great but it's what he rejected about his own writing.  I think he rejected that he was just like a lot of us, and that his youth was similar in any way to anyone else's.  He seemed to want more to be unique than to be universally read.  I think he was successful in that with his Glass family short stories and novelettes.  I read those as well and they are not as universal in theme as Catcher in the Rye.

The documentary pointed out that three times the novel had inspired individuals to commit violence, with intent to eradicate some of the phoniness in the world.  I wonder how many times the Bible and other religious tomes have inspired violence.  I think crazy people do crazy things and find their inspiration in whatever is handy and you cannot blame the author.  But maybe it preyed on Salinger?  I think he had already been exposed to all the horrors of war and what human beings do to other human beings and would have known his book was not at fault.

The most bizarre thing about Salinger to me, and when he became Jerry in my mind and not the great writer J. D. Salinger, was the discussion of his fixation on girls, very young, innocent women, whom he liked only until he personally had thrown them off the cliff.  He wasn't catching them from becoming adults, only watching until finally they realized for themselves that he was a bit of a pervert and was using them.  Then, he would kick them out.  The documentary implied that it was wrong of the one woman to write of her affair with Jerry and later to sell the letters written to her by Jerry.  Nope, can't see it.  He wrote to all sorts of young women, and I think they should all sell the letters if they wish to.  He exposed himself to ridicule by writing the letters in the first place.  He knew that once something is written down, it can't be erased; he knew the power of the written word and its worth.  He used words to seduce these childlike women, and the society of the time all but thrust them at him.  I think this is where the parallel to Elvis came to mind.  Jerry had several Priscilla's.  My sympathies were most drawn to the wife with whom he had two children and whom he rejected when she was no longer his girl, but the mother of his children.  Even that is not unique to Jerry; many immature men are known to have that issue.  Most work through it and realize the advantages to being an adult but I don't think Jerry ever wanted to be an adult.

I think he didn't publish in his later years because he was either afraid it wasn't any good or afraid it would be popular, once again showing his lack of esoteric uniqueness.  The PBS documentary was very well done and consumed 10 years of the producer/director's life.  It certainly changed my view of Salinger to Jerry, but I will always think of Catcher in the Rye as a great novel.

Teary Trip

It was a teary trip home from Dublin yesterday.  Quinn and I spent the afternoon with her cousins, 3 year old Jack and almost 3 month old Rhys.  Quinn and Jack had a great time playing in the back yard with Quinn in the lead.  They settled into the sand box for a while until they discovered bugs!  I went out and rescued them once by pitching the crawly thing out into the yard, but they discovered "thousands" more ( maybe 10) when moving a bucket and they were out of there.  It was great to be able to leave the 8 year old and 3 year old outside in a securely fenced back yard with two chocolate labs bouncing around as well while I took care of Rhys.

Rhys is adorable, cooing and smiling.  He took his bottle like a champ, and in spite of Grandma's preference he stay awake and play, fell asleep for a 2 1/2 hour nap.  All in all, when Daddy came home from errands, we had had a great afternoon.  So where do the tears come in.

Our Dublin family is moving to Cincinnati.  For over three years, I have made almost weekly trips to help out, to babysit, to have fun with my grandson Jack and now his brother Rhys.  It didn't really hit me emotionally until Quinn and I were making our way down Sawmill in rush hour traffic that this would be the last time.  Fortunately, Quinn was so worn out from a really busy day of Vacation Bible School and playing with Jack that she fell asleep before I even turned onto the 270 outer belt.  So my tears didn't have to be explained to the 8 year old who would think her crazy grandma had finally lost it. 

I am happy for my daughter and her new challenges:  new job, new house, new city, even new job for hubby--all of that.  I know that we will work out visits and keep in touch, but every time a child moves a bit farther away, it is difficult for the mom and grandma who loves to be part of their lives.  I just want to keep rescuing them from bugs and pushing them on the swings and singing them to sleep.  Sigh!  It'll be ok.

What a bitch!

One of the best things about being a quilter is the challenge of it all.  No matter how experienced a quilter is, there is always a block or a pattern that causes her to stretch her abilities.  So it's no wonder when I loaned my copies of our Guild's Spirit Quilt pattern to another member, that there was a block that just didn't go well.  Having taken it apart to the point that some of the fabric was starting to fray, she reread the directions to made sure she was doing it correctly.  It was then that she noticed that I had written "What a bitch!" in the margin of the paper.  Our shared frustration and perseverance were helpful in her finally getting the block made.  And I greeted her sharing of the story with a shout of laughter as I knew exactly which block she had been working on.

I once conned a group of friends to work on a Pam Bono block of the month.  Not only did they have to put together a block of 200 pieces each month; I got them to pay me as well.  Block #1 was easy enough that we were confident it was going to be fun.  Then they became difficult enough that we often called it "Oh, No, Pam Bono."  One especially complicated block of pieced bunches of grapes caused two of the mildest members to throw the blocks across their sewing rooms.  And I was told "There will be no grapes in my quilt," by another.  It all came together and most of us ended with a finished quilt or at least a wallhanging.  Even I lost enthusiasm when it came to the border and used a floral fabric instead of the pieced flowers designed by Pam Bono.  But we certainly bonded during that 12 month ordeal and learned a great deal about piecing.  And for some reason I have never been able to get them to do another Pam Bono pattern.

Winter Jubilation

For the past eight years I have been very involved with the Heart of Ohio Quilters Guild Quilt Show, and this year I am the chairman of Quilting Jubilation, our biennial show, which will be held October 4th and 5th, 2013, at Bryn Du in Granville, Ohio.  The goal of the quilt show is not to make money but to share with the public our enthusiasm for quilting.   Most shows barely break even, and honestly, that's my goal.  Each quilt show is partially supported by the sale of raffle tickets on a quilt.  This year's is an amazing hand quilted redwork called Winter Jubilation, with nine patches and snowball blocks and a piano key border.  It's just gorgeous.  Every year our raffle quilts become more wonderful.  Tickets will also be drawn for a wallhanging and a table runner of redwork blocks when the raffle quilt is given away at 4:00 on October 5th.   Here's your chance to own a wonderful quilt and support the Guild's efforts. 

A Few Book Notes

I've read some interesting books this last few weeks.  The novel Ghostman by Roger Hobbs was very well written, and even though I thought I might not connect to the main character who is a career criminal, I found myself totally sucked into the plot and really liked the book.  But the author only graduated from college two years ago.  Ouch!  It's an amazing book for an early twenty-year-old and he's already being compared to other major writers.  So now I'm wondering how fast he can write and I'm hoping he will cotinue the adventures of his main character.

Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night are the first two books of a trilogy by Deborah Harkness.  Her main character is a reluctant witch and eager historian.  I actually picked up the second book in the series and couldn't get into it.  I searched out the first book and found I needed that back material to make a successful transition into the second novel. I'm looking forward to the final book of the trilogy.

I'm currently trying to read Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell who also wrote Swamplandia.  I may not finish it or may speed read it to see where it's going.  There's something about the style of writing and characters that aren't my interest, but it's certainly well written and the characters are well developed.  I just don't like them.  And if a vampire story can be realistic, this one is.  That's probably my problem as I'm a Twilight geek; I like my vampires romantic.

Quilt Envy!

We're waiting semi-patiently for the birth of our fourth grandchild.  Our younger daughter Lisa is expecting her second baby boy any day now.  We've had one false alarm and now are all trying to pretend that we aren't anxious or anything.  One of the things I do to keep myself busy is to quilt.  And each of my two daughters' pregnancies has been filled with my making quilts for the new babies.  I also always want to make a quilt for the older sibling too, so there is no feelings of quilt envy.  HaHa. 

With my two older grandchildren, that might actually have been a bit of an option as they seem to keep track of how many quilts each has and have been known to ask for a quilt if they think they haven't gotten one for a while.

Jack who is expecting a new brother any day seems to have a different view.  He's only three so things may change but so far I haven't seen him ever use any of the quilts I have made him.  Recently I presented him with a  quilt for his third birthday which is one day before his little brother's due date.  I carefully backed it with minkie like fabric which is similar to the blankie he uses on his bed so that maybe he would like to use it.  I dragged it out and showed him the alphabet on the front and how soft the back was.  Nope! Not interested.  Ok, maybe no more quilts for Jack for a while.  I make too many for each of the grandchildren anyway, but I personally think that you can never have too many quilts.

Just One More Joe Story

A few years ago, Joe got into his car and promptly dropped his keys.  He looked everywhere, couldn't find them, and called me at the shop, demanding I come home immediately to give him my key to his car.  Grumpily, I did so and offered to look in his car for his keys but he insisted if he couldn't find them, no one could.  When I came home from the shop later that day,  I found he had continued his search and had decided they must have somehow slipped into the seat itself and he had cut the side of the seat open with a knife.  Of course, the keys weren't there.  I again offered to look for the keys and was refused.  A few days later, Laura was over and exasperated with her Dad, went out to the car without his permission and found his keys.  They had simply fallen in the passenger side well and were hiding under the passenger seat.  Although he was glad to have his keys back, he was a bit disgruntled that Laura could find them and has never admitted that if he had let me look in the first place, there would be no slash in the seat of his car which he still has in part because of this story.  This car was the one and only car he ever leased.  Since he abused the mileage and the interior of the car, he had to buy it.  So he still is driving a 1998 Chevy. 

This car does not like him and he continues to abuse it.  He has duct tape on various parts of the interior just to hold it together and to keep the above mentioned seat from ripping his jeans as the springs are coming through.  You might wonder why he doesn't buy a new car.  Long story short, we have another vehicle which I drive and keep in good shape, and it seems senseless to buy another one until this one dies.  It refuses to die but it continues to annoy Joe.

Last night when he couldn't find his cell phone, he admitted that it had been in his coat pocket and probably fallen out somewhere.  This coat is notorious for losing things but he continues to put things in the pockets.  Of course, it's in the car; the phone fell in between the seat and the seat belt mechanism on the right hand side of the driver's seat.  Having wedged itself comfortably there, it refused to be pryed out.  Joe tried, I tried; our hands are too large.  I tried a screwdriver, pliers, tongs, duct tape, with no success.  Probably he will have to ask either Laura or Quinn, our 8 year old granddaughter, to please reach in and pull it out.  These things happen to no one but Joe.