"She understands a peculiar language which has nothing to do with what you are saying. A daughter." -- Robert M. Pirsig, Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance - An Inquiry Into Values.
Just
bought a copy of that book, which I first read 40 years ago. It gave me an aha
moment regarding women. But that wasn't the big news for me at the time. My
epiphany was of the action variety. The book gonged up some confidence I
didn't know I had, boosting me out of a soul-grinding rut and on to a swift
powerful motorcycle for a three year 30,000 mile journey across the American
southwest.
Turns out my unintended destination was an entirely new perspective. That journey continues to this day, only with a computer through cyberspace instead of on a motorcycle across a desert. As with the bike trips, there have been a lot of rest stops along the way. And this way I don't get speeding tickets.
This week my friend Tim Menees got me back on the writing road to a long intended destination: getting published, with Tim as the illustrator. Tim is a Pittsburgh-based artist who was a political cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post -Gazette before the bean counters slashed and burned the editorial staff, picking off people nearing retirement, an all too common bum deal among America’s newspapers today.
Tim surivived. Even flourished. He and his displaced colleagues were awarded a settlement from the Post-Gazette management and Tim opened his own gallery. You can see his work at www.timmenees.com.
He is also a musician who recently confessed to taking up the accordion. Since he uses it to perform zydeco tunes with a band of like-minded and equally talented friends, he can be forgiven.
Tim and his wife, Kay, were visiting their kids and grandkids in the Bay Area this week. Tim made a side trip to Sacramento, a 90-mile train ride on AMTRAK's California Zephyr. Tim likes trains. He also likes ferry boats, drawbridges and the art of Wayne Thiebaud, who teaches at the nearby Davis campus of the University of California. Thiebaud's work is on display at Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum. So is a touring exhibit of Toulouse Lautrec's paintings that Tim wanted to see.
After an al fresco lunch at my fave Chinese semi-drive-in, (Tim's treat), off we went to the Crocker where I gasped at the cost of admission. Eighteen bucks for the two of us. I know, I know, that's cheaper than a pair of tickets and two boxes of stale popcorn at your local multiplex, but the Crocker exhibit was well worth the price, especially since it was again Tim’s treat.
The roadway of my life – and Tim’s – had a detour when I drove Tim back to the AMTRAK station, which occupies an entire city block in downtown Sacramento. Just because I’ve lived here for 40 years doesn’t mean I can’t lost -- and did. Tim spotted the train depot while I was rediscovering the downtown area. We barely made it. He boarded the train with one minute to spare before the California Zephyr zephyred off to the Bay Area.
I
went home to a pot of coffee, a book, and meditations about life ”on the
railroad earth,” a phrase I stole from Jack Kerouac. I tellya being a mobile
bookworm is not for the faint of heart, especially if the bookworm is lousy at
finding his way around.
-o-
Comments?
I
just laughed my head off reading about When Womyn Rule America. What a gem! [As
for your Zen piece] It was wonderful to relax and read about the lovely, wending
journey and your newfound actions with your friend to get you published! --
Amanda
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Put me on the list. I would love a bound, illustrated book, personally signed by you, to me.-- Linda
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Oh my, marvelous as always! And I look forward to buying your books, Materman! -- Julisari
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Enjoyed the piece. Not sure how to convey how I feel, but the writing is so easy to read. It just flows. -- Mimi
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Well,
this piece hit me a lot of ways. .....read this thing forty years ago...women
and men....politics....idiots....a little serious....a lot of humor.....points
made.....damn.I think ... I'm a woman. I think too much already. --
Zoey
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I am really really really happy you are talking about publication again. I would very much like to see your stories neatly bound in book form . Not only because it would be a great way for me to store them but because it has been a goal for you. -- Tammy
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Glad you are producing great art again, my dear -- Karen
Great art? Oh please. MB
