cheerful weirdos
+ a new hobby? + the surprise of artifacts + another salady thing
I love it when you:
hey-ho,
I’m a California girl yearning for a beach to walk on, an umbrella to relax beneath, and a wave to dive through. Portland in the summer, with neither coastal fog, nor the long sweep of sea and sky meeting at the horizon, makes me feel hemmed in. After 21 years I figured I should take more advantage of the rivers. (Slow learner? Yes.)
We set out to buy a stand-up paddle board. Problems ensued.
SUP in the car, we dashed to a river park with a terribly strong current. Due to recent news of a drowning, we abandoned the idea of launching and instead waded in to our hips and talked about what we weren’t doing, SUPing.
At another river park we encountered swarms of people. We scoped a parking spot but someone rudely dashed in front of us. It was hot, we’d been momentarily elated, only to have hopes dashed. Do you blame me for flipping him off? Well, my husband did.
We tried a boat launch but between the motor boats and jet skis coming and going the river was like a full force Vitamix, and the air smelled of diesel.
“This is why we shouldn’t buy a SUP,” I said, but what I really meant was, this is why we should move back to California.
My husband, believing water would be a balm for cantankerous me, insisted we keep trying, and thus we spent the afternoon hurrying from launch to launch, with zero success.
“If we keep at this, we’re going to fight.”
Driving home over our third bridge, the glittering river below seemed to be flipping me off. My husband decided to pump up the SUP in the driveway. “I want to see how long it takes,” he said. The visual was not good—man sweating over a pump, hot asphalt, no river. I nobly watered the plants and dreamed of a Zillow session.
At seven the next morning, with the semi-flaccid SUP jammed in the car, we drove back to the river. There was parking aplenty. We topped off the SUP and launched. A dark sky pressed down, but the air was warm, the water smooth and a deep forest green. I took the first spin up the Willamette, past quiet houseboats and condos on the east bank, looking to the west bank which is wild and thick with trees. My paddle dripped with each lift, and swooshed with each dig. Birds I couldn’t name swooped over me and at least one fish jumped. It was lovely.
All the hassling and hurrying to get to this slow and easy crawl up the river was worth it. Is it the same as the beach? Absolutely not. Was it a balm? Absolutely yes.
If you’re a SUP enthusiast in Portland and you have a favorite spot to launch, come sit by me and whisper in my ear!
read:
I recently read that the world needs more cheerful weirdos. Specifically we need people like Dr. Ruth and Richard Simmons, both of whom recently died, and both of whom were goofballs. (I say that with fondness!) The article, Dr. Ruth, Richard Simmons, and the Joys of Eccentricity had me loving them and yearning for more.
They were true eccentrics. How else to describe a 4-foot-7 grandmother with a thick German accent doling out explicit sex advice with an impish giggle or an exuberant man in short shorts with a halo of curls who talked with his hands and implored everyone to sweat to the oldies?
Our world now feels too staid and too unkind, bereft of their brand of joy. Do you think it’s social media and anger, haters with bullhorns that make altruistic eccentrics afraid? I was trying to think of cheerful weirdos, that is people who push against the norm. I can think of Jonathan Van Ness, with his hairy chest and feathered ball gowns and his loving acceptance of everyone. Or, Mychal, with his gorgeous smile and abundant hair, preaching about mental health and libraries and a grown-up Scholastic Book Fair. Lynda Barry too, with her love of children’s imaginations and her weird/true drawings and her message of letting go to be more real. Or, what about this guy, eccentric, loving, creative on a small scale. And of course, Marcel The Shell! “It would be my pleasure.” If you know you know.
Yes, please. More, please. I’m certain you must know more cheerful weirdos.
Here are a three books about cheerful weirdos which I have loved:
GOODBYE VITAMIN, by Rachel Khong. Ruth quits her job, leaves town and arrives at her parents' home to find that her father, a prominent history professor, is losing his memory and is only erratically lucid. Conversely, Ruth's mother is always lucidly erratic. As Ruth's father's condition intensifies, the comedy in their situation takes hold, gently transforming grief.
BIG SWISS, by Jen Beagin, in which Greta, our hero, spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately refers to as Big Swiss. One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss's voice in town and they quickly become enmeshed.
ARBITRARY STUPID GOAL, by Tamara Shopsin. Shopsin time-travels to the Greenwich Village of her bohemian 1970s childhood. A funky, tight-knit small town in the big city, at the center of which is family's legendary greasy spoon, Shopsin’s, run by her dad, Kenny--a contrary, huge-hearted man who, dishes up New York's best egg salad on rye, and serves as sheriff, philosopher, and fixer all at once. This is truly a delight!
Do you have a favorite book about cheerful eccentrics? Do tell:
For our next r.w.e. book group we will be reading and discussing GOD OF THE WOODS, by Liz Moore, described as “…riveting .. an epic mystery, a family saga and a survival guide.” I’m in! If you’ve not read any Liz Moore, do check it out. Also check HEFT, which I loved.
We meet on Zoom, 18 August from 9:30 - 11a PT. The book group is a perk for paid subscribers and let me tell you we are a lively bunch! Do consider joining us. A paid subscription is a mere $1.25 per week! Far less than the cost of one coffee. Go ahead, upgrade to paid and let me know if you’re in. I hope so!
Check my read.write.eat. Bookshop Store, where you will find many of the books I've recommended in the newsletter. Buying books from my shop is a way you can be a friend to the newsletter.
write:
Rilke’s poem, “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” ends with the lines:
nor would this star have shaken the shackles off,
bursting with light, until there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
The speaker is addressing a sculpture, the headless torso of Apollo, in which he recognizes “brilliance from within.” He is entranced and moved to a sort of despair, moved to self reflection and desire for his own brilliance from within. What else can you do, when faced with such beauty, but be inexplicably moved inward. Of course using the second person, the speaker is addressing us as well. Is it an admonition? A call to action? A gift? “You must change your life.”
When I was a little girl the Total cereal commercial had a tag-line, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Believe me, I wanted Total! I wanted today to be a new beginning, even at 8-years-old. I recognized that the world saw me as a ‘project,’ and I saw myself as always needing improvement. Sheesh! Ouch! What a burden from a bowl of cereal.
Another poem came across my desktop this week. “Refusing Rilke’s ‘You Must Change Your Life’ ” by Remica Bingham-Risher, which is an ebullient catalogue of artifacts from a life well lived and ends in this way. “…filled to the brim with us.”
a safe deposit box with no key
or lock, a pair of baby socks
and toys full of dust, a statuette—
Black bride and groom—above
the dresser filled to the brim with us.
And so, I offer everyone this prompt today.
Write from the voice of your character, or yourself, when is a time you’ve wanted to change your life? Why? What were you fleeing, what were you running toward?
Write a catalogue of artifacts, tchotchkes, photographs, mementos, souvenirs from your life or your character’s life. What stands out? What do you learn when you see it all written out like that? Are you surprised? What could you use as an entryway to a story, a chapter of your memoir?
eat:
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Hello delicious! I’ve made this hearty and tangy salad three times in the past month and I will probably make it again this weekend!
Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad w/Grilled Salmon - serves 4-6
Salad:
1½ c sugar snap peas, thinly sliced lengthways
10 radishes, thinly sliced
1 package of brown rice noodles cooked per package directions and rinsed in cold water. I like these
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
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