Blog

ByGD

Opera on Tap

Opera on TapOn a recent Wednesday night, while the rest of the family was upstairs reading bedtime stories, I snuck out of the house and met my friend parked car on the corner. We drove to Ballard, where a meet-up of over a hundred motorcycle riders restored some of the neighborhood’s old, salty character. Drifting uncertainly through a sea of leather-clad riders and parked bikes, we found the warehouse with the letter H painted on the side.

“I think that’s it. Doesn’t the name of the bar start with H?”

“Yes, this is it. See, there’s a sign.”

Next to the door of the warehouse was a white homemade sandwich board. Stenciled in black block letters was the word, “Opera.”

We were in the right place.

Read More

ByGD

Late Bloomers

I was a precocious, Type-A, perfectionist, high-achiever child with the GPA and SAT scores to prove it. Measuring achievement in real life has proven more challenging.

Just figuring out what I wanted to achieve had me stymied for decades. And that is why I always appreciate late-bloomer pep talks like this one.

ByGD

Finding the PATH

path logo
I drove to the dog park every day when my border collie was young, passing by a nondescript building with this logo on it. Like Charlie Bucket in Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, I wondered what went on inside the mysterious industrial building near my house. Finally I got the brilliant idea of googling it, and discovered that the building housed something more wonderful than Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

Read More

ByGD

Book Report: The Perfect Landscape

perfect landscape book coverAfter reading several perplexing Icelandic novels in a row, it was a breath of fresh air to read a straightforward, plot-driven narrative. Whew! Icelanders still tell stories after all. Fun stories about creativity and mystery; intrigue in the fine art world. Read More

ByGD

What the Steadfast Reader Said About Clean Reading

Last month I tried “reblogging” for the first time. Although the whole point of having a blog is to share your own thoughts, sometimes you run across something that you just want to share. Mostly, I use Twitter for that, but lately I’ve seen a few blog posts that really seemed to fit my blog more than my Twitter, and that didn’t really need much commentary from me.

The Problem

This blogger isn’t on WordPress, {2018 update: or anywhere else on the web anymore} so I can’t link to it. It’s the first I’ve heard of “clean reading” and I think she did a pretty good job of explaining and debunking the practice. I especially appreciate this statement

I do think that every now and then we should make an effort step outside our own echo chambers and explore things that make us a little uncomfortable or that we find a little bit ugly. Those are the places where we will learn the most, where we will grow the most. 

I’m a big fan of the blog No Clean Singing. After this, I’m tempted to rename my blog No Clean Reading. Would you read it?