Unhappy in Its Own Way or Happy Alike?

As many of you know, there are many times that I like to fancy myself a wordsmith. However, it is a rare day when I actually practice this skill that I like to believe that I possess.

I often hear the advice that you should write what you know. I used to not believe in this advice because who can possibly know about unicorns and wizards and aliens. But as time has marched along I have realized that the reason that a person must write what they know is because the only way to be a great writer is to write truth. The only way to write truth is to write what you know. Perhaps this is why almost all fantasy and science fiction novels are terrible.

To know me is to know that my 2nd Favorite thing on the radio is the Writer’s Almanac. I’ve lifted a bit of Tuesday’s Writer’s Almanac on Tolstoy. Tolstoy is the email name of choice for my friend Derrick, but he also wrote the following great line:

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

I don’t know that I believe that this statement is true or not, but it is a great line. When I heard Garrison Keillor read this line it occurred to me that if I ever was to write anything great or true, I should start by writing about my family and our convoluted history.

Don’t panic. I’m not going to do that, but it is an idea.

The Tolstoy story is kind of a mixture of sadness and beauty as well. I think that is the way most family stories are in actuality. Most families are not necessarily happy or unhappy, but a mixture of both. Joy and tragedy.

It’s the birthday of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy born on his family’s estate in the province of Tula, near Moscow (1828). He led a wild life as a young man. Then in his mid-30s, he decided that it was time to get married.

He began spending a lot of time with a friend who had three available daughters, and everyone expected him to propose to the oldest. But he found himself falling in love with the less attractive but more intelligent middle daughter, Sophia. The closer he got to making a proposal, however, the more panicked he felt. He could hardly think about anything else, and he wasn’t at all sure he wanted to go through with it. He wrote his marriage proposal in a letter, but he couldn’t bring himself to send it. He kept it in his pocket for 24 hours. He finally got up the courage to go to Sophia’s house, but he couldn’t even speak. So he just handed her the letter and walked away.

That night Tolstoy suddenly realized that what he really wanted in a wife was someone with whom he could share his most private thoughts, and he decided that if he was going to marry this girl, he would have to let her read his diary. So they set the date for the wedding a week later, and during that week Tolstoy gave Sophia his diary to read. She was excited at first, but by the time she finished reading she was in tears, horrified by his descriptions of brothels and his affairs with peasant girls. Tolstoy asked if she forgave him for his past, and she said she did. He said that she could call off the wedding if she wanted to, but it was impossible to do so because so many people already knew about the proposal.

The marriage was not particularly happy for Sophia. She’d grown up in a cosmopolitan, aristocratic world, and after marrying Tolstoy, she had to live on a rural estate where her husband lived almost like a peasant. His house was extraordinarily simple, with no upholstered furniture and no carpets on the floor. He even wore peasant clothes, when he wasn’t entertaining guests.

But for Tolstoy, the early years of his marriage were some of the happiest of his life. The regularity of married life let him settle down to work more steadily than ever before. And in the midst of that happiness, he wrote his first masterpiece, War and Peace (1863). It was the longest and most ambitious novel he’d ever written, and he was only willing to attempt it because he now had his wife to work as his secretary. When he would scribble corrections all over a rough draft, she was the only person who could decipher what his corrections said. Even he couldn’t read his own handwriting. She ultimately copied by hand the 1400-page manuscript for War and Peace (1863) four times.

While he was working on War and Peace, free love was becoming fashionable among the Russian upper classes, and everyone started to think of marriage as old-fashioned and silly. Tolstoy was disgusted. In 1872, he heard about a woman who had thrown herself in front of a train after the end of an affair, and he went to view the body at the train station. He never forgot what he saw that day, and it gave him an idea for a novel about a woman whose life is destroyed by adultery.

That novel was Anna Karenina (1877), in which the story of the romance between Konstantin Levin and a young woman named Kitty was based almost entirely on Tolstoy’s own marriage. When it was published, most critics said Anna Karenina was inferior to War and Peace, but it is now considered one of the greatest novels ever written. It begins, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

The part about her copying War and Peace by hand four times just blows my mind. I hardly ever write by hand any longer and the last time I sat down to write somebody a letter, my hand starting cramping on the 2nd page. That was two years ago. I can’t imagine how bad it would be by now.

The Michael Phelps of Pufferbilly Days

So Willy didn’t actually win 8 events during Pufferbilly Days, but he did finish 2nd with his partner Avril in the Anytime Fitness Amazing Race. He backed this up by winning the Pufferbilly Days 5K for his age group the following morning.

Below is a very pixelated video taken by Jesse as Willy’s team finished the Amazing Race.



Although they were the first team to cross the finish line, another team finished with a better time and took home the 500 smackers.

Some of the tasks they had to complete along the way included:

  • Putting together a puzzle
  • Counting cars in the Pat Clemons lot
  • Make a free throw blind folded
  • 100 push ups or eat a randomly selected amount of hot dogs
  • 100 situps or drink 32 oz coolie
  • Find the prices of 10 items in Hy-Vee

I think I’ll have to watch Willy complete the whole event if he does it again next year.

The Long Road Back (Part 3)

Perhaps you were hoping to see pictures of the Cyclones schizophrenic performance last night, but I haven’t gotten that far yet. The pictures below conclude the pictures from Iowa State’s dismantling of South Dakota State.

There aren’t many pictures because a night game isn’t a great environment for photo taking.


Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Maybe it is a bit early, but I think I’m smelling an Independence Bowl Road Trip coming up at the end of this year.

Selected Pictures

This year I took a different route selecting pictures for the Photo Contest. I put together 20 pictures and then had certain people select and name 1 picture from that list. I then entered those pictures.

I liked the way this process worked out. I will do it again in the future, with only a slight tweak here and there.

These are the pictures that were entered:


07-07-08
15 Minutes

This picture was selected by Shannon. The picture was part of my experimentation with light painting. This is an experiment that I need to start back up again. The name comes from the flower being in the spotlight.


Iowa State Fair - 2008
Soaking up the Rays

This picture was selected by Teresa. This picture was taken at the State Fair.


Kentucky Vacation - 2008
Grains and Creases

This picture was selected by Jay. This picture was taken of wooden praying hands outside of a Baptist church in Paducah, Kentucky.


06-10-08
Deity Saturation

This picture was selected by my Mom. This picture was taken north of Boone. I actually named this picture. It comes from the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Nature is saturated with deity.”


Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest - 2008
“The Last Dragon”

I picked this picture because one person I asked to pick a picture never made a choice. I really can’t remember what I named this picture, but it might have been named after the classic 80s kung fu flick Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon. It is also possible that I named it “Jay LeRoy”. This picture was taken while I was sitting on my back on the sidewalk in front of the basilica in Dyersville. There has been a glow effect thrown onto this picture.


Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest - 2008
The Last Refuge

I also picked this picture because I needed to switch out another picture that didn’t print very well. This picture was originally in color, but I switched it to black and white because I wanted to enter more than 1 black and white picture. The name of this picture comes from the Samuel Johnson quote: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” This picture was taken at ground zero of the Ames fireworks show. This picture did get 3rd Place in the Black and White division. One more ribbon for the trunk.

I am currently taking application for photo selectors for next year.

The Long Road Back (Part 1)

Last Thursday, the Cyclones began their long return from the abyss. Last year the Cyclones were embarrassed at The Jack in their opening game of the season. This year they took another step towards redemption by routing their opening opponent. The South Dakota State Jackrabbits were not a match for the Cyclones. True South Dakota State is just a Division 1-AA school. But I think, my memory is a little hazy on the subject, we lost to a Division 1-AA school last year at some point during the season.

Below are some pictures from before we entered the stadium.


Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

Iowa State vs. South Dakota State

We had a bit of an abbreviated tailgating experience this week. This Saturday, before the Cyclones get their vengeance on Kent State, we will have the full tailgating experience. I guarantee it. Jay is even making potato salad.

Bereft

More pictures that weren’t selected.


Miller Farm - 2008

This is a picture of June and Dean’s barn.


Field of Dreams Road Trip

This is a picture of the Basilica in Dyersville. This picture was actually originally selected for entry, but I decided that I didn’t really like the way it looked when it was printed, so it was removed.



A picture of a flower with a little Photoshop thrown in.



A picture of a flower.