When Your Book Is Late, and Other Thursday Musings

--For those of you who are saying, "It's August; where is Kristin's book?":  there's been a delay at the printer's.  Hopefully, it will be on its way to you in 2 or 3 weeks.

--I had hoped to have new books for this Saturday's reading (4 p.m. at the Books and Books location at the Museum of Art Ft. Lauderdale--I'm reading with Shefali Choksi and Marissa Cohen).  Oh well.  This one is out of my control.  We also have a reading at the Sol Children's Theatre on Oct. 20, so maybe by then, I can reward our faithful public with a new book to buy.

--For those of us thinking about print vs. electronic publication, here's an area where we might favor electronic books.  Of course, I'm sure publishing electronically comes with its own share of delays and headaches.  Does electronic publishing come with the same sort of events-outside-of-our-control feeling?  For me, probably.  I haven't done computer programming since the olden days of BASIC, so I imagine the electronic publishing process might feel just as mystical.  I might feel uncoordinated and helpless.

--I've been feeling uncoordinated in real life (as opposed to electronic life) too.  I'm in the last few weeks of the weight loss challenge program at my little gym, and I'm trying all sorts of new classes.  I've been doing weight lifting too, and between the weight lifting and the new classes, I'm feeling muscles that I've never felt, like the ones on my side.

--Yesterday, I tried cardio kickboxing for the first time, which for the most part, made me feel very uncoordinated.  But for part of the class, we did a shuffle step in a circle while doing boxing moves with our arms.  I almost felt like I was levitating.  It took me back to elementary school, where we altered our consciousnesses in similar ways.  I don't think I've twirled in a circle for a very long time.  It felt good.

--It's hard for me to hold my body in plank shape.  I was not born to be a plank.

--At least my body isn't allergic to many things.  Sandra Beasley will be on the Diane Rehm show today.  You can listen to it later if you miss the 11:00 a.m. airing.  Have you read Don't Kill the Birthday Girl yet?  It's next on my pile of books to read.

--Right now I'm reading Albert Brooks 2030:  The Real Story of What Happens to America.  It's been interesting reading this book during the run-up to the debt ceiling vote.  You'd think my inner apocalypse gal would like this book.  I'm still deciding.  I'm having trouble keeping the characters straight--I'm not sure they're real relevant to the plot, so it may not matter.

--Does it matter that the characters aren't relevant to the plot?

--Am I having trouble with this book because I don't have long enough stretches of reading time to immerse myself or is there something wrong with the book?  Is it the book or is it me?

--I'm also having trouble reading/listening/researching/focusing on all this political debt ceiling and deficit reduction talk.  Once I would have been enraged, but now I'm simply weary.  And I'm also tired of all the rage expressed by others.  This anger doesn't serve us well at this point.  We can't afford it.

--Where are the visionaries who could inspire us to dream of a better world?  Are they out there, and I'm just not seeing them? 

--Should we aspire to being the visionaries?  Could poets emerge to save us all? 

--It's the birthday of Shelley, the one who wrote "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."  Can an unacknowledged legislator make a difference?

--What kinds of differences would you most like to see in the world?  Dream big.  Shelley dreamed big, and was mocked and persecuted for it.  But what a thrilling life he had.

--And yes, lots of human wreckage in his wake, not all of it his fault.

--But let's not let the human wreckage angle topple our appreciation of Shelley, who tried to live life on his own terms, who was warm and generous and tried to end poverty and tried to support his poet friends.  Yes, he really did have a fierce sense of social justice, and he really tried to live a life in synch with his ideals.  He succeeded magnificently on some levels and failed miserably on others.  But he tried.

--May we all be similarly blessed.