A bagel in space

As mentioned in a previous post, I have published "Nightmare," a compliation of Morrie Scwartz stories, beginning with "Shrink." This effort, which involves a re-publishing of three stories that appeared previously with different publishers, is an effort to consolidate various earlier writings, most of which have never been published One effort will combine short pieces that appeared in this blog and a previous blogsite. I searched for a name for this planned compilation and came up with only prosaic possibilities. Last night around 4:00AM, in a half sleep state, the name "Bagel in Space" came to me. I don't know why.

In thinking about that name, it occurs to me that most of my writing is something like a bagel--hard on the outside, a trifle mushy beneath, and perhaps empty in the center. It goes out into (cyber)space with few responses in return. Whether it is filled with cream cheese or lox, it remains untasted. Pehaps my efforts at consilidation are ihtended to make them more palatable as well as more accessible.

It seems that consolidation goes contrary to the future of the universe. An astrophysicist at Berkeley, UCLA shared the Nobel prize for research demonstrating that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. This was contrary to his original belief that the universe should be contracting because of the pull of gravity among the various stars and planets. The measuremen required to draw this conclusion is not quite comprehensible to me. It involved the observation of supernovas exploding and their color which provides information about how many millions of light years away they were. Even public radio's Terry Gross, whom, I consider the brightest and best interviewer I've ever listented to, remarked to the physicist after one of his not to lucid explanations, "I'll just pretend I understand and let's go on." The entire thing is a mystery to me. The universe is usually described as infinite. Both contraction and expansion seems to belie the meaning of infinite. If it was infinite before its expansion and infinite after its expansion, apprently it really wasn't infinite before its expansion. In any event, I am contracting my feeble attempts at writing which are far from infinite...perhaps infinitesimal.

On second thought, perhaos I'll stick with the prosaic--"Blog log" or something like that.

On self-publishing

While I used to be able to publish textbooks fairly easily with traditional publishers, it is almost impossible to publish my more recent attempts at popular writing. For several years I have self-published. Most self-publishers are no more than "vanity publishers," appealing to those who like to see their name on the covers of books and are willing to pay for it. After one experience paying for publication, I decided this was really a rip-off. Why should I pay for someone to make money on my efforts? I switched to a publisher who does not charge me for publication but whose business model is to charge exhorbitant fees for the purchase of my books--even to me. I have recently switched to Create Space, an Amazon division. They do not charge me and sell me my books at a reasonable price. The fly in the ointment is that I have to prepare the copy for print myself on my computer. Computer skills are not my strong point and I wind up spending more time trying to get spomething ready for publication than writing the material. I'm not exaggerating.

So there are no free cigars. "Nightmare," a 400 page compilation of four Morrie Schwartz, psychologist (my alter ego) fantasies and "I dreamed I was a bluebird," advice to parents on explaining dreams to children, will soon be available on Amazon. If you should happen to read either of these (master)pieces and find typos, please don't tell me; just read on.

On participating at meetings

My boss at Elwyn, Gerald Clark, President, would often send me in his place to meetings, where I was to persuade the group to act in a way he wished. He could have ordered them to do so but it would be more powerful if the group came to the decision on their own. His advice, which I have used ever since at meetings if I wanted to influence the outcome, has proven to be extremely powerful. This is what he told me:

"Let everyone have their say. Don't say a word; just keep your trap shut. After they have all expressed an opinion they will become aware of your silence and look to you for advice. Tell them precisely what they must do and why. The chances are they will do as you recommend."

It has never failed. If I so desire, I can own a meeting.

On writing reports

Jim Diggpory, my doctoral dissertation supervisor, was dissatisfied with the long sentences in my dissertation draft. He wrote on the first page, "Marvin, there is no substitute for a simple declaritive sentence." I took that to heart. Gerald Clark, President of Elwyn also wanted brief, concise reports when I served as his assistant. "If you can't say it on one page," he lectured me, "it's not worth saying at all. "I took that to heart as well. I think poetry is often the very best writing (epigrams, Haiku, and the like). No one could beat Robert Frost for eloquence and economy of words.

Several years ago I left retirement to return to work part time for Interboro School District. They need psychological evaluations. I had spent many years doing psych reports and I knew what I was doing. But in Pensylvania the Department of Education dictates how reports should be written. Their cumbersome, redundant guidlines violate every rule of good writing. I refused to comply and wrote many reports the way I thought they should be written. "I'll be gone anyway before they catch up with me," I told the school psychologists I was working with. "No one wants to read twenty page reports." Several years after leaving Interboro for another school district, where I do not do psychologicals, I learned that the present Director of Pupil Services at Interboro was highly displeased with my old reports. When this was gleefully relayed to me I told the true story of being asked to paint a room by my new wife. I made a mess of the job and was relieved of my assignment after I stepped in the bucket of paint. She never asked me to paint again. So it is with psychologicals.