Author: Chad
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Camcorders and the quotidian
Two things my wife and I are really glad to have are a camcorder and a digital SLR camera. We got both of them several years ago, the camera as a wedding gift and the camcorder from my mother-in-law. Mostly we wanted them to be able to document family get-togethers, trips, and our nieces growing…
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Advice for selling a typewriter
Here’s my advice for selling a typewriter: Don’t Google it before selling. Don’t see what it’s going for on eBay or Etsy. Especially if it’s a functional model of a popular and photogenic brand you’re just using for decoration and know nothing about. Just sell it to me at a ridiculously low price. That is…
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Four months old
The Boy just turned 4 months old and is absolutely perfect. He is starting to roll over, has recently discovered his own feet, and is super chubby and smiley. So you can imagine my reaction when I read “The Youngest Child Separated From His Family at the Border Was 4 Months Old” in the New…
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Quotes from the Underland
I’ve only made it through the preface of Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane—an “epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself”—yet rich quotes abound: “The same three tasks recur across cultures and epochs: to shelter what is precious, to yield what is valuable, and…
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This is my pocketknife
Part of the This Is My series. When my grandpa died in 2007, I informally inherited several of his possessions. Nothing from an official will, mind you—just my grandma saying “You should take this” as we were clearing out his stuff. That’s how I got, among other things, his wallet, a few shirts, an old…
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Scenes from another Evanston type-in
Putting on a type-in last year was a lot of fun, so I was happy to be asked by the Evanston Literary Festival to host one again. This year it was at my favorite secondhand bookstore in Evanston: Squeezebox Books & Music. Rather than setting the typewriters at a table together for a shared typing…
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series on books, movies, and music I’ve encountered recently. Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion. Their Mozart Meets Cuba and Classical Meets Cuba mashups are great for people who want to get into either classical or Latin/jazz. What is the Bible? by Rob Bell. I much prefer Bell in audiobook form, where his engaging…
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Recent Views
More photography here and on my Instagram. My primary view lately: More chubby baby: My library shares a parking lot with a church (pictured with its wacky window placements), and the lot regularly floods due to crappy drainage. It’s annoying for parking but good for cool shots: I liked the colors on the sign here…
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Advice for parents
Generally I take a liberal stance towards unsolicited advice. You never know when you’ll get something worthwhile, and you can always just ignore the bad stuff. We’ll see if that stance changes once people start chiming in about particular parenting choices. So far I haven’t had a problem. In the meantime, Lifehacker’s Offspring parenting blog…
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This is his song
One day I was trying to soothe my fussy baby with some bouncing and singing. I faced him toward me and then out of nowhere started singing a melody that popped into my head. The combination of the song and how I swayed and bounced him calmed him right away, and even elicited a smile.…
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This is my jacket
Part of the This Is My series. If you have met me in the last 15 years, there’s a decent chance you have seen me in this orange jacket: I acquired it in 2004 on a trip from Madison to Kansas City with a few people from my youth group to attend a conference. We…
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Renewing your library card is an act of hope
All the time people come to the info desk asking how they can renew their library card. Maybe they got a reminder call or noticed the expiration sticker on the card or were blocked from checking out an ebook. Either way, I point them to the circulation department and off they go. They show their…
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Black hole stun from backwater bipeds
In case you haven’t been following the news (and who can blame you?), that’s the first-ever image of a black hole: There’s plenty of writing out there on what it means, much of it going over my head, but here’s some grounding perspective from Scientific American: It is also worth noting that in the two…
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Babies are wizards
Here’s a recent text exchange with a friend of mine that I started: I keep thinking about the part in How to Change Your Mind about how babies are basically tripping all the time because of their undeveloped brains. Even mundane stuff can blow [my infant’s] mind. Right?! He’s probably still seeing the cosmic consciousness!…
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This was my couch
Part of the This Is My series, documenting meaningful objects in my life. This pullout couch was in my grandparents’ lakeshore cabin for decades before I was born. Then it was in my parents’ basement for another two decades or so. Then it was in my apartment for a few years. And now it’s gone…
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series on books, movies, and music I’ve encountered recently. A Clockwork Orange. Had been putting this off based on what I’d heard of its disturbing content, but finally bit the bullet for the sake of the AFI 100. Typically impressive Kubrickian cinematography and dark satire. An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago…
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When we make our art
“When we make our art, we are also making our lives. And I’m sure that the reverse is equally true.” — Wendell Berry, in the beautiful documentary Look & See. Might have found my new life motto.