Connecting at Distance
We are the first generation to do so many things
We’ve conquered space. If you are reading this, you’ve received the message I’m sending from it’s storage location after it was sent into that server to be accessed by anyone with the requisite technology.
While life may be a continual series of losses for the individual, it’s clearly a way of piling things up for those who come after to be able to know us, at some level. Recently, I was reading:
I would posit that it’s likely that our role as a species is to enable our technology to transcend the limitations of biology and enable consciousness to permeate the cosmos - if it doesn’t already. Just walking the streets of Washington, DC, one can see for oneself how everything has let up to this moment:
I was grateful to see that Jon Marshall and another individual managed to pop in to watch as I was making my way from R Street NW to S Street NW - marveling at the fact that I’m still in the game and that eukaryotic life exists at all - so finely balanced to make experience of the present moment possible.
Lived experience, that’s what it is that I’m looking for.
Recently, I’ve been digging into the work of Chuck Kinder. His relationship with Raymond Carver formed something of a backdrop to my life in 2012 when I met the former. I didn’t know the connection, but, as luck would have it, on the flight to Pittsburgh to attend the memorial service for Lewis “Buddy” Nordan, I was reading a volume of Carver short stories. As I sat in the Frick Fine Art’s Building’s auditorium, where Clyde Edgerton was serving as emcee. Chuck took the podium and regaled us with a story about punking Raymond Carver over the phone with Buddy.
I went back that evening to my hotel at the Omni William Penn and looked Chuck up on Wikipedia. Imagine my surprise when I found that he’d been Michael Chabon’s inspiration for the character of Grady Tripp in Wonder Boys. It was like everything had come full circle and Buddy had been the catalyst for it all from beyond the grave. It wasn’t the last time either.
On my 7th wedding anniversary, May 3, 2015, I happened into the lounge of the Westside Club in Georgetown, DC and, where there were usually books and newspapers strewn about on the table, this time, there was just one book; The Bastard on the Couch. I picked it up and thumbed through to a story with the title “Quality Time Keeps Love Fresh.” This seemed to be timely theme. I began reading it and then glanced to see who the author was - Lewis Nordan! Like a wink from beyond the grave, there it was.
Chuck Kinder died at 72 years of age as did Buddy. Clyde, however, is still alive, so I just sent him a note inviting him to be a part of Harrowings. I want to hear more about his side of things because he was and is a writer of some talent. Come to find out he’s also a painter. So it goes.
I wouldn’t have been reading Carver at all had it not been for another random connection that happened in June 2012, a couple of months before the memorial service was held. Ana Finel Honigman had been visiting DC then and we connected for a very brief time on Connecticut Avenue. She’d heard me talking and wanted to let me know that my words had reminded her of the work of Raymond Carver who had drawn her into the writing life. Flattered, I’d gotten in touch with her back in Berlin, Germany, and we exchanged an email where she made the connection. I was grateful for the opportunity to learn more from her.
If there is a point to this story, it is that one never knows what connections might do to impact your life. Things can lay dormant for a long time. Then they can emerge back into consciousness and let you know that you are a part of something far more than just your own story. We are weaving a tapestry that others can interpret, potentially, as I am interpreting the events of the summer of 2012.
Buddy died on April 13, 2012. If I remember correctly, he succumbed to pneumonia. There is a one minute, 24 second clip on YouTube that I like to put out for people to hear:
This is what motivates me to go on….and on.
Onward!
Summer 1997
Squirrel Hill Hardware had a “Help Wanted” sign in the window. I needed some steady income to pay the rent when clients of my freelance German-English translation gig were sparse, so I went in and talked to the manager.
Let’s be the change we want to see. Get in touch, amplify my signal, subscribe to Harrowings and recommend me if you enjoy reading me. You’ll be in good company as Jesse Paris Smith recommended me a month and a couple of days ago!
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