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Date:         Sun, 24 Dec 2006 13:59:18 -0800
Reply-To:     Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Come out of the closet, all (absolutely NVC!)
Comments: To: Joy Hecht <jhecht@alum.mit.edu>
In-Reply-To:  <5hbed6$a2rqmb@smtp01.lnh.mail.rcn.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

We ain't illiterate Joy, and we definitely think that writing is ART!

Do you think that Fahrenheit 451, Stranger in a Strange Land & The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test are taught to apprentices like "How to Weld Mild Steel" ?!

How about The Handmaid's Tale, The Chrysalids, The Poisonwood Bible? Joy, Joy, Joy.

I believe it was John Ruskin who said:

A man who works with his hands is a laborer. A man who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. A man who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.

Merry Christmas anyway. :)

On 12/24/06, Joy Hecht <jhecht@alum.mit.edu> wrote: > > Yipes, who knew that vanagonauts were so illiterate??? Dear me, get that > DVD player out of your van, and get yourself a pile of books! > > John McPhee is a very famous writer of what he calls "creative > non-fiction." > He has written for the New Yorker for as long as I've been reading it > (since > I was a kid in New York and my parents subscribed), teaches writing at > Princeton. Let's see, books you might have heard of? Coming Into the > Country, about Alaska. The Control of Nature, about the Army Corps of > Engineers' attempts to channel the Mississippi River, and other human > attempts to control water. Annals of the Former World, about geology and > geologists. Encounters with the Archdruid, about journeys into the > natural > world and people engaged in such activities - including an > environmentalist > (David Brower), a mining person, a resort developer, and an engineer who > builds large dams. Most of McPhee's work focuses as much on the people > engaged in the activities he studies and what makes them tick as on the > activities themselves. For more info see http://www.johnmcphee.com/ > > And Bill Bryson is an only-slightly-less-famous writer of very funny > memoirs > and travelogues. I recently read his book on Australia, In a Sunburned > Country, which was so funny that I sat in my living room by myself > laughing > out loud. Seriously. That got me on a roll (OTFL, of course), so I read > his most recent book, a memoir of growing up in Des Moines in the 1950s, > Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Other famous works include Notes > From a Small Island, about England, and A Walk in the Woods, about hiking > the Appalachian Trail. And there are lots more. See > http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/. > > So I guess instead of my technical writing, I wish I were like John > McPhee, > and instead of my website stuff, I'd rather be like Bill Bryson! > > > > > Joy > > > :::-----Original Message----- > :::From: Mike Miller [mailto:mwmiller@cwnet.com] > :::Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 3:10 PM > :::To: Joy Hecht; vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > :::Subject: Re: Come out of the closet, all (absolutely NVC!) > ::: > :::OK who are John Mc and Bill B? > ::: > :::Inquiring minds... > ::: > ::: > :::On 12/24/06 10:34 AM, "Joy Hecht" <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU> wrote: > ::: > :::> Hey, I once apprenticed to a craftsperson too! To a bookbinder, at > the > :::> Metropolitan Museum of Art. Naah, we weren't working on the > Gutenberg > :::> Bibles, or whatever they have in their rare book collection - just on > :::the > :::> ordinary library books. > :::> > :::> The most fun, actually, was her industrial paper cutter, for cutting > :::through > :::> a whole book (used to trim edges and other things). It was a rather > :::> powerful contraption, which could easily as a guillotine or for rapid > :::> amputations. So the only way it would work was if you had each hand > :::> pressing down on a different lever, so you couldn't possible have one > :::of > :::> them making last adjustments to the placement of the book before you > :::made > :::> the cut. > :::> > :::> I always thought that was pretty creepy. I must have, if I remember > it > :::in > :::> such detail 33 years later! > :::> > :::> It sounds like more of us are craftsy than artsy - I've also done a > :::fair bit > :::> of sewing, quilting, graphic design, and layout and paste-up back > when > :::it > :::> was about x-acto knives and rubylith and transfer type and hot > waxers. > :::> (Anyone else remember all that stuff?) Lately I've been fooling > around > :::with > :::> photography (which you know, if you've read my website) and drawing > and > :::even > :::> water colors. Those last two take a lot of skills I haven't yet > :::mastered, > :::> though. > :::> > :::> Yeah, and writing, though I don't quite think of that as artsy. > :::> > :::> Of course I make my living mucking with data (GREAT fun!) and writing > :::> analytical reports (definitely not artsy), mostly in weird places > like > :::> Mongolia and Malawi and other countries beginning with M. > :::> > :::> I used to what to be John McPhee when I grew up. I've changed my > :::ambition, > :::> though, now I want to be Bill Bryson. > :::> > :::> > :::> > :::> > :::> Joy > :::> > :::> > :::> > :::> **************************************************************** > :::> Joy Hecht > :::> now living in a real house in northern Virginia > :::> and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon > :::> now living in the driveway and resting after two and a half years > :::> lugging Joy and her stuff around... > :::> > :::> For musings about life traveling in the van or living in one place: > :::> http://www.joyhecht.net > :::> > :::> **************************************************************** > :::> > :::> > :::> > :::> :::-----Original Message----- > :::> :::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On > :::Behalf > :::> :::Of neil > :::> :::Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 12:55 PM > :::> :::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > :::> :::Subject: Re: Come out of the closet, all > :::> ::: > :::> :::Oh yah forgot to mention this part of my art. > :::> ::: > :::> :::I actually apprenticed (had already gained a few years experience > in > :::> :::brass and some woodwind repair) with a local fellow making > trombone > :::> :::bells. Yes it's true! This guy had actually designed and made his > :::own > :::> :::mandrels for the bells and associated tubes, for a tenor/bass and > :::> :::trumpet bell. (the most crucial part of the instruments > acoustically > :::> :::speaking) I mean talk about an artist. This guy (Joe) was a > :::musician, > :::> :::designer, manufacturer, and repairman amongst other things. > :::> :::Anyway....... > :::> ::: > :::> :::I learned to acutally make a trombone bell from scratch (with his > :::> :::tooling. Quite archaic. i.e. Drawing conical tubes through lead!). > :::> :::Trumpet bells were another thing. Hand hammered they > were.......... > :::> ::: > :::> :::Although my memory of the manufacturing process is a little > sketchy > :::> :::now, this knowledge has contributed a lot to my music, my skills > as > :::a > :::> :::brass playing instrumentalist, (my art) and in fact has helped > with > :::> :::repairs to my Westy. I don't repair brass/woodwinds anymore, but > :::would > :::> :::love to get a lathe etc. and keep what I learned alive. > :::> ::: > :::> :::As for "artsyfartsy", I don't like that term. Especially coming > from > :::a > :::> :::layman. If another muso/artist used that with me, I'd understand > :::that > :::> :::it was being said with "tongue in cheek". Or sarcastically. > :::> :::(musicians? sarcastic??) Hearing it from the layman is like > hearing > :::> :::them refer to a "gig". Another term reserved for musos/artists. > :::> :::Anyhoo....... > :::> ::: > :::> ::: > :::> :::Cheers, and Merry Christmas/happy holidays all! > :::> ::: > :::> ::: > :::> ::: > :::> :::-- > :::> :::Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia. > :::> ::: > :::> :::http://web.mac.com/tubaneil > :::> > :::> >

-- Jake 1984 Vanagon GL 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie" www.crescentbeachguitar.com


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