Book completed

Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling, by Henry Lien. In the West, we tell stories in which there’s a problem or challenge that the protagonist resolves – a three-act structure. In the East, a four-act structure is more common: we learn about a situation and the people in it, the situation develops further, a twist comes along and disrupts the situation, then the situation is seen in a new and broader way, with implications for the future. I was already aware of these differences, but Lien adds insights about the psychological and social benefits of the Eastern way, which I appreciated. I also liked learning how various video games and even Western media have used the Eastern structure. He also spends time on nested and circular story structures, which we know from Rashomon and The Thousand and One Nights, which let readers see situations from multiple valid perspectives and explore their nuances. My only quibble, and it’s small, is that in My Neighbor Totoro, the mom clearly didn’t have “just a cold” because otherwise the family would never have moved to the rural area where the story takes place – they move there so she can live in the sanitarium while she recovers, and it takes a while.

Book completed

Don’t Buy It: The Trouble with Talking Nonsense About the Economy, by Anat Shenker-Osorio. This book focuses on the metaphors and framings that are often used when talking about the economy, with an emphasis on how progressives should be doing things differently. As someone who is both an expert on conceptual metaphors and framing and sympathetic to progressive politics, I agree with her reasoning, but I’d have preferred a less partisan approach. I also have some thoughts on how I’d rather she’d framed her own arguments differently. For example, by her own reasoning, focusing on the conservative ways of talking about the economy serves to reinforce them, but she didn’t start talking about the alternatives until p.56 or so – it would have been better to start with them. It was also curious that she didn’t include the “household budget” metaphor that’s so commonly used as the rationale for why a business leader should be in charge of the government. Maybe it was less common in 2012 when her book came out, but I doubt it. Also, since she was making such good points, it would have been better if the book were written from a more “timeless” perspective, whereas now it feels a bit dated, even though not all that much time has passed.

Learning about Ed M.

Today’s main event was the memorial service for a man I never met, but who was the husband of one of my co-workers, whom I’ve known for 30+ years. He was a very popular man, and quite a character, it seems! He was the head carpenter for the Oregon Country Fair, a local hippie-arts institution, and a musician/songwriter; he loved skiing and sailed the entire length of the Columbia River (which is more than 1200 miles); he also became a psychiatric nurse and worked at the local jail. We got to hear from his wife, his sister, and several of his friends, and some of them performed two of his songs from the early 1980s. We also saw a slide show of his life set to some of his own music, sung in his voice. Afterwards I spoke a bit with some of my coworkers who likewise hadn’t met him, and we agreed that his life was so rich and full that it feels like we’re not doing enough ourselves! Not literally – I’m a very different person – but he certainly lived life to the fullest.

J continues to have fun at his Berkeley event, attending a great many talks and engaging in a great many conversations, and I think it’s every bit as intense and tiring as that sounds. He’s looking forward to tomorrow’s activities, too, and I would not be at all surprised if he attends again next year.