Minus Linus

Mystery

2014-07-10T22:58:00.000-05:00

Mystery

Hidden things.

Joseph dreamed amazing dreams of a destiny too fantastic to believe.

Daniel used an uncanny gift to interpret the symbols of Kings' dreams; uncanny in his ability to interpret not just the dream but the dreamer.

We're not comfortable with the unknowable, are we Linus?

Campy 1960's B-budget sci-fi flicks. They tell on us. At each new level of technological advancement and scientific breakthrough, we puff out our chests. We think far too highly of our grasp of the universe and the macroverse and the microverse... In black and white, arrogant scientists in stylish suits makes boasts and blah blah blah in lecture hall style oration some developing theory now mocked among advanced scholarship.

But at the time...

I mean, it's science.

Theories. Hypotheses. Educated guesses.

Educated guesses never get it wrong, do they?

We're not comfortable with the unknowable.

What we don't know, we just make up as we go.

Call it an educated guess.

I'm not mocking science. I love science.

I'm mocking me.

Us.

As a philosopher and a theologian there is an uncomfortable proximity to mystery.

In dreams

In prophetic statements

In parables

we grope for the meaning of

life

faith

suffering

wrestling with our own angels on the other side of the Jabbok; contending with the mysterious

to grasp with an iron grip

the revelation of God's present and future activity;

present and future purpose;

plans

Something in our hands we can't explain

like the way God is saving us, even now.

Afraid of what we don't understand many are afraid to open their hands.

Grace is terrifying.

Why I need God's grace is creepy-crawly.

Am I really that guy? Deep down in the dark basement of my soul is the creeper capable of anything.

I don't claim him on my taxes but I know he's there.

Why God would gift grace to me is terrifying.

Unconditional love is always awkward.

Unexpected.

Strange.

What is God up to?

What will God do next?

What did God just put into my hands?

Grace?

Best thing we can do, Linus, is pass it along.

Fast as we can.

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet,and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelvesand replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid ofyou now? It was sin that made death so frighteningand law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ.

Thank God!

~ 1 Corinthians 15:51-57, The Message

Linus and Levar Burton

2014-05-30T22:40:00.003-05:00

Levar Burton made reading fun but Linus made reading cool.

The patron saint of nerdy intellectualism, Linus can take the most excruciating human event, like say, a crush's devastating rejection, and put it behind plexiglass for objective observation!

Having raised $2 million dollars to bring Reading Rainbow back to production is its own story. But knowing that Burton raised the first million in only 11 hours reveals a cultural hunger that is for more than just an effort to excite children to read. This is the power of story. Burton lifted words from the page and brought them to life. Reading was merely the skill that, if mastered, opened a multiverse of imagination and interpretation.

No one else captured this with the ease and brilliance of Reading Rainbow. Burton hosted each episode with a passion contagious with wonder. We caught it.

Face it. Books are as close as we may ever get to reading one another's minds. Fact is, books really are Telepathy. Those written words transport someone else's passion across not just geography, but the distance of years, culture, politics and economics. Is it possible to see life through the eyes of a blind woman? The art of text mixed with the power of story takes us there when someone like Helen Keller practices the courage to write. Without the reader, however, the experience is lost forever.

This is where Linus comes in. He is the patron saint of the avid reader whose thirst for knowledge and understanding is insatiable. While others flaunt biceps, pecs and lats, Linus flexes his vocabulary, command of grammar and reading comprehension. Telepathically, books translate our collective stories as we experience the farthest reaches of the territories called When and Where and How and Why.

Just when we think we have gone as far as we can go, another hungry caterpillar metamorphs before our eyes; another insistent mouse teaches us that cookies come to the persistent.

Just when our library card is ready to expire and our lethargic minds are ready to let it go... another story stretches aglow across the horizons of a book's binding. Each word is another step down a road not seen before; paved but not without danger; a path cleverly cleared yet not without mysteries.

"Let's take a look.

It's in a book.

A reading rainbow."

Jean Schulz's Blog: Comics and Reading (2013)
Reading Rainbow App for Kindle
Reading Rainbow App for iPad

Where does resolve come from?

2012-01-09T11:59:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986) (TV)

Linus van Pelt:
When Leo Tolstoy was writing "War and Peace", his wife, Sonya, copied it for him seven times. And she did it by *candlelight*, *and* with a dip pen. And sometimes, she had to use a magnifying glass to make out what he had written.

Charlie Brown:

Linus, I really...

Linus van Pelt:
Had to do it after their child had been put to bed, and the servants had gone to their garrets, and it was quiet in the house. Just think, Charlie Brown: she wrote the book seven times with a dip pen. And you're telling me you can't even read it once?

Listen, Linus. I know what you’re doing.
You want Charlie Brown to show some resolve.
The assignment is overwhelming.
The deadline is looming.
You just want your friend to succeed.

But you’re going about it all wrong.

Sure, it’s the time of the year for resolutions and Charlie Brown needs to be resolute; to resolve that he will finish the monolithic tome.

But, Linus, who has ever found the power to push the train uphill purely on inspiration juice pressed from the monumental suffering of others?

If sacrifice and suffering impelled the race to greater feats, humanity would now be deified. Suffering saturates the air we breathe; it clogs news-feed arteries.

Sacrificial dedication based on someone else’s sacrifice? It lacks oomph.

Leo wrote the voluminous War and Peace because he believed it.
Sonya copied it seven times because she believed in Leo.
If Charlie Brown is going to read it through, even once, it will happen because Charlie Brown believes that he is worth more than the “lowest grade you can get without failing.”

Resolve doesn't come from appreciating the enormity of another’s sacrifice.

Resolve comes when you are ready to claim and defend and ever protect that which if washed away would erase you from the human schema.

This is a new kind of responsibility thinking: personal and communal.

Linus, what do you say you and I explore this? I just happen to have a book here with me...maybe we should start here?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T14:18:00.001-06:00

Keeping X in CHRISTMAS

2011-12-23T12:06:00.014-06:00

Linus, you amaze me with your Google like mastery of knowledge. Especially history. Especially Church history.
History is not a cage, but it does give shape and structure to the future.
Linus would be the first to shake his head at all the fuss over "Xmas".
Xmas isn't secular in origin, its Christian.
All the rhetorical bar fights over this stem from the bigger problem within Christendom: poor, ineffective discipleship.
Important bits of knowledge have fallen off the wagon.
That's understandable. It's been a long journey. A lot of things got picked up along the way, squeezing more and more things off to the side and some things right onto the road.

Xmas. It's an acceptable abbreviation for Christmas used by Christians for more than 1,000 years. The hated "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός translated "Christ" - anointed one.

Xp or Xt were commonly used for CHRIST.

Xn is still found in the dictionary as an abbreviation for Christian.

As a GenX Christian, Xn is attractive to me.

It's a brand I can get behind. It speaks to a generation of Christians reclaiming primitive Christian thinking and lifestyle. A clear statement is made about the connection of those first generations of Christians who didn't presume to have it all figured out. Their dialogue had not yet been constricted by a double elimination bracket of winners.

Orthodoxy, for them, gravitated around the cross.

X.

The Christ.

"Who do you say that I am?" Jesus infamously asked his disciple Peter.

Fisherman Simon. Disciple Peter. Apostle Peter. Saint Peter.

This kind of personal, spiritual journey begins with the answer to that question.

Gen X is boxed in at the center of the information age. Overwhelmed by data and hypothetical answers that change with every new text book as new discoveries pour in on us exponentially, this is a generation more comfortable living in the questions than pretending to have the answers.

That's why this Christmastide, this Xn will be keeping the X in Christmas.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-17T22:36:00.004-06:00

Strolling through the memories of Thanksgivings gone by I wonder aloud if there is any integrity left in it.

Thanksgiving. The forgotten gentile feast day.

Retailers push Christmas shopping incentives closer and closer to Halloween.

The traditional Christmas dinner is a Thanksgiving remix.

Turkey or Ham; honey'd and saturated in cholesterol enhancing steroids. Bacon-ny green beans floating in some kind of goo. Orange potatoes float in a hot tub of marshmallow foam. Pies. Cakes. Cookies.

It's as if the angel of gluttony is passing over taking the first born of anyone who does not have their doorposts splashed from a ladle full of spinach dip and carrot juice.

Our gluttonous indulgence with visions of bursting cornucopia dancing in our heads deceives.

Puritan and Aboriginal sit together at an Amish built trestle table glowing over genetically enhanced golden brown Butterballs and magically sweetened mythological maize of supermarket proportions.

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. -H.U. Westermayer

Thanksgiving. The tradition teaches the discipline of managing our attitudes. Thanks is given, not for things granted -- or taken for granted-- but for life where death oppresses like a guerrilla boss and family where most of your kin are unreachable and friends where enemies abound and are born exponentially from a fragile trust.

Maybe it is no accident that Thanksgiving falls close on the calendar to Veteran's Day.
For those close to our hearts but far from our grasp, I choose to revere the forgotten feast day. In their honor and in the spirit of the first Thanksgiving, gratitude will be an intentional attitude. It is an awareness of what I lack that fosters appreciation for what I have and those with whom I have to share it.

Linus van Pelt: This is not unlike another famous Thanksgiving episode. Do you remember the story of John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins, and Captain Miles Standish?

Patricia 'Peppermint Patty' Reichardt: This isn't like that one at all.

Linus van Pelt: In the year 1621, the Pilgrims held their first Thanksgiving feast. They invited the great Indian chief Massasoit, who brought ninety of his brave Indians and a great abundance of food. Governor William Bradford and Captain Miles Standish were honored guests. Elder William Brewster, who was a minister, said a prayer that went something like this: 'We thank God for our homes and our food and our safety in a new land. We thank God for the opportunity to create a new world for freedom and justice."

Patricia 'Peppermint Patty' Reichardt: Amen.

HOO-ah. Schulz was NCO with the 20th Armor Division in 1945

2011-11-10T14:38:00.001-06:00

The Walls Must Fall

2011-10-23T23:12:00.004-05:00

Transparency.

It is the first ingredient for confession. You will never win at life if you play with a poker face.

Linus, the life coach, taught me that much.

Come to the wall.

Whatever wall blocks you from moving forward.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall; that wants it down. Yes, Mr. Frost, that is true.

The wall has pent up all my dreams.

I hear them, there, bantering on the other side.

So I come to the wall. I shout to the wall. I say to the wall, "Hey, I'm here. I'm not hiding anymore. Hey, I'm here: vulnerable, powerless, angry. Hey, did you hear me? I'm calling you out, wall. I'm not leaving. I'm not running. I hate this wall. I want it down."

I am marking my territory. My shouts provide echo-location for the source of my angst. Everyone will know: that I have a wall, that I hate this wall, that I cannot break it down.

You can't embarrass a wall down.

You can't harass a wall to crumbling.

I can be honest.

I can be transparent.

I can find the strength that is hidden in weakness.

My confession, made public, becomes our confession.

Nehemiah, the Hebrew governor-prophet, profoundly proclaimed to the persecuted people rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem:

"The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us."

My confession: that I hurt; that I struggle; that I am under attack; that I am weary from well-doing...

One voice that calls many.

I am one voice.

I am many voices.

Accountability is fraternity.

Fraternity is strength.

In numbers...numbers that rally to my cry...numbers that march beside a wall...numbers that shout with shared frustration at a thing that will not move...that keeps me...keeps us...from the grand things waiting on the other side...

When masses march

and shout

walls fall.

Such movements begin

and only begin

with a face

easily read

by others

standing by

the same wall.

Friend to the Friendless

2011-10-22T14:44:00.000-05:00

Strange. Humility and kindness are inexplicably welded to being characteristically stupid and gullible. It could be that whole brain people (those who adequately use both left and right sides regularly) pity the stray dog behavior of others. Perhaps Linus operates above the circumstance.

Linus knows that the wild dogs of life are as likely to snatch his hand as the chunk of ham he offers the shivering mongrel. But the complexity at work in his brain suggests to him that the most base and vulgar creature needs care and companionship.

If not he, then who?

Haughtiness is absent in Linus. His actions are reactions. Impulsion is driven by this deeply entrenched value. This is the quality of sainthood. Mere mortals can be motivated to charitable deeds and good works by substantial tax credit or monuments named in their honor. Nice guy actions are currency in the open market of public relations.

Linus doesn't need good karma. Karma hasn't worked, as a principle, for him-- ever. Only Mother Theresa had more good karma stored in the cloud. Neither of them were showered with brilliant blasts of good things. Both of them found good in the wretched, wicked things of life. Both of them believed that mere actuality qualified one to be the recipient of kindness and sincere company.

Linus makes friends of enemies because Linus neither covets what another has nor has any cause to slander. Nor does Linus hold on to anything any one would want to take by force. Linus has no nemesis. He is only surrounded by those who are convinced he is hiding some icon...some token...some charm that wards away anger and chaos; pettiness and contention. Maybe it's that baby blue blanket...

They try. They try with clever schemes and ninja beagles. They try with parental authority and peer pressure. Linus, they are sure, would be nothing without his blanket...his Orthodox icon...his Lutheran cross...his Catholic rosary...his religious-like crutch. Deprived of his blanket surely Linus will be mortal like us...able to bleed; and bleeding to feel pain; and in feeling pain to strike back...bite back against his enemies and those who take advantage of his good nature and good intentions.

But Linus does not bite.

Linus pities.

Linus cries for the both the bleeding hand and the shivering dog who has taken the ham and run.

Linus: friend to the friendless, will be at the gate tomorrow with a piece of ham in his bandaged hand.

An autumn gust blasts as Lucy shouts something inside the house. As both die down, Linus shivers. His expectant eyes narrow, focusing on the litter strewn alley, and the flash of fur that stops and meets his stare. Confused, it tilts its head to one side. Stupid round headed boy, it thinks. So gullible.

For some, it is hard to understand humility and kindness. They can be looking right at it and still be incapable of making sense of what they see. It would seem that the more "perfect" something is, the more difficult it becomes to see it for what it is.

How well do you trust your mind to correctly interpret what is so clear and obvious right in front of you?

Linus knows the secrets of the successful leader...

2011-10-17T13:52:00.000-05:00

Linus is a natural when it comes to leadership. Kara Ohngren's article in Entrepreneur captures in summary those qualities I learned from watching Linus closely. The principles are simple: make others feel important & empower the strengths of the entire team.

10 Secrets of Successful Leaders

BY KARA OHNGREN | 10 hours ago|

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” But, becoming a great leader isn’t easy. Successfully maneuvering a team through the ups and downs of starting a new business can be one of the greatest challenges a small-business owner faces.

Leadership is one of the areas that many entrepreneurs tend to overlook, according leadership coach John C. Maxwell, whose books include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Thomas Nelson, 1998) and Developing the Leader Within You (Thomas Nelson, 1993).

“You work hard to develop your product or service. You fight to solve your financial issues. You go out and promote your business and sell your product. But you don't think enough about leading your own people and finding the best staff,” Maxwell says.

It turns out, the skills and talents necessary to guide your team in the right direction can be simple, and anyone with the determination can develop them. Here’s a list of 10 tips drawn from the secrets of successful leaders.

1. Assemble a dedicated team.
Your team needs to be committed to you and the business. Successful entrepreneurs have not only social and selling smarts, but also the know-how to hire effectively, says leadership trainer Harvey Mackay, who wrote Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive (Ivy Books, 1995). “A colossal business idea simply isn't enough. You have to be able to identify, attract and retain talent who can turn your concept into a register-ringing success,” he says.

When putting your team together, look for people whose values are aligned with the purpose and mission of your company. Suzanne Bates, a Wellesley, Mass.-based leadership consultant and author of Speak Like a CEO (McGraw Hill, 2005), says her team members rallied around each other during the worst part of the recession because they all believed in what they were doing. “Having people on your team who have tenacity and a candid spirit is really important," she says.

2. Overcommunicate.
This one’s a biggie. Even with a staff of only five or 10, it can be tough to know what’s going on with everyone. In an effort to overcommunicate, Bates compiles a weekly news update she calls a Friday Forecast, and emails it to her staff. “My team is always surprised at all the good news I send out each week,” Bates says. “It makes everyone feel like you really have a lot of momentum, even in difficult times.”

3. Don’t assume.
When you run a small business, you might assume your team understands your goals and mission -- and they may. But, everybody needs to be reminded of where the company’s going and what things will look like when you get there. Your employees may ask, “What’s in it for me?” It’s important to paint that picture for your team. Take the time to really understand the people who are helping you build your business.

“Entrepreneurs have the vision, the energy, and they’re out there trying to make it happen. But, so often with their staff, they are assuming too much,” says Beverly Flaxington, founder of The Collaborative, a business-advising company in Medfield, Mass. “It’s almost like they think their enthusiasm by extension will be infectious -- but it’s not. You have to bring people into your world and communicate really proactively.”

4. Be authentic.
Good leaders instill their personality and beliefs into the fabric of their organization, Flaxington says. If you be yourself, and not try to act like someone else, and surround yourself with people who are aligned with your values, your business is more likely to succeed, she says.

“Every business is different and every entrepreneur has her own personality,” Flaxington says. “If you’re authentic, you attract the right people to your organization -- employees and customers.”

5. Know your obstacles.
Most entrepreneurs are optimistic and certain that they’re driving toward their goals. But, Flaxington says, it’s a short-sighted leader who doesn’t take the time to understand his obstacles.

“You need to know what you’re up against and be able to plan around those things,” she says. “It’s folly to think that just because you’ve got this energy and enthusiasm that you’re going to be able to conquer all. It’s much smarter to take a step back and figure out what your obstacles are, so the plan that you’re putting into place takes that into account.”

6. Create a 'team charter.'
Too many new teams race down the road before they even figure out who they are, where they’re going, and what will guide their journey, says Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One-Minute Manager (William Morrow & Co., 1982) and founder of The Ken Blanchard Cos., a workplace- and leadership-training firm. Just calling together a team and giving them a clear charge does not mean the team will succeed.

“It’s important to create a set of agreements that clearly states what the team is to accomplish, why it is important and how the team will work together to achieve the desired results,” says Blanchard, who is based in Escondido, Calif. “The charter provides a record of common agreements and can be modified as the business grows and the team’s needs change.”

7. Believe in your people.
Entrepreneurial leaders must help their people develop confidence, especially during tough times. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, "Leaders are dealers in hope." That confidence comes in part from believing in your team, says Maxwell, who is based in West Palm Beach, Fla. “I think of my people as 10s, I treat them like 10s, and as a result, they try to perform like 10s,” he says. “But believing in people alone isn't enough. You have to help them win.”

8. Dole out credit.
Mackay says a good salesperson knows what the sweetest sound in the world is: The sound of their name on someone else's lips. But too many entrepreneurs think it's either the crinkle of freshly minted currency, or the dull thud of a competitor's body hitting the pavement.

“Many entrepreneurs are too in love with their own ideas and don't know how to distribute credit,” Mackay says. “A good quarterback always gives props to his offensive line.”

9. Keep your team engaged.
Great leaders give their teams challenges and get them excited about them, says leadership expert Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Free Press, 1989). He pointed to the example of a small pizza shop in a moderate-sized town that was killing a big fast-food chain in sales. The big difference between the chain and the small pizza joint was the leader, he says.

Every week he gathered his teenage employees in a huddle and excitedly asked them: “What can we do this week that we’ve never done before?” The kids loved the challenge. They started texting all their friends whenever a pizza special was on. They took the credit-card machine to the curb so passing motorists could buy pizza right off the street. They loaded up a truck with hot pizzas and sold them at high-school games. The money poured in and the store owner never had problems with employee turnover, says Covey, who is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

10. Stay calm.
An entrepreneur has to backstop the team from overreacting to short-term situations, says Mackay, who is based in Minneapolis. This is particularly important now, when news of the sour economic environment is everywhere.

“The media has been hanging black crepe paper since 2008,” he says. “But look at all the phenomenal companies and brands that were born in downturns, names like iPod, GE and Federal Express.”

The Security of Insecurity

2011-10-15T04:42:00.003-05:00

Wiser people than Linus Van Pelt have roamed the earth. Still, profundity per capita considered, Linus ranks highly among the definitive sages under sixteen. While Charles Schulz allowed him to outgrow the marvelous, blue blanket, his expansive need for it is useful to me even now.

There is a wisdom in insecurity. There is a security that creeps out from insecurity. There is a powerful claim being made in the embrace of the silent blue guardian.

Blue blankets blazon that change is sudden and near. Blue blankets are more subtle than street corner prophets and their cardboard declarations of doom. More subtle, but no less fatalistic. Suffering is immanent. Danger lurks. Trust is a highly inflated currency created and disbursed with little to no collateral.

Linus knows something about the actuality and certainty of suffering:
Kids at camp will mock him.
Sally will stalk him.
Lucy will pound him and throw him out of his own home.
Snoopy will rob him.
The girl who sits behind him will reject him.

There is something remarkably comforting about certainty.

It is precisely the presence of a blue blanket that makes Linus
a voice to be heard.

It says he has his eyes opened to the messy menagerie of life moments exploding all around him.

Charlie Brown will never get it...the football that is...because, well, Charlie Brown will never get it.

Lucy might help us with some pop psychology worthy of a spot on Oprah's new network...
but in the end you and I are just another nickel in her mind.

Schroeder's lost in the arts -- out picketing budget cuts for after school programs
and for all the love of Snoopy, he just can't get out of the past -- still fighting yesteryear's front page public enemies.

Linus is our only hope.

The security of his insecurity has led Linus to a fascinating philosophy toward life. It has equipped him with three powerful charms that ward off the bad ju-ju of the impending epic fail lurking behind and looming overhead and laying traps just ahead.

Linus has FAITH: something to believe in that heals his life.

Linus has HOPE: something to look forward to that makes today tolerable.

Linus has LOVE: something to do that makes the first two happen in someone else's life.

And though all the other spiritual gifts named in the Christian Bible are, in those pages, predicted to fail in time, these three remain...because suffering remains. And so long as there is suffering these co-exist to be a response, a deep inner reconciliation, to the problem of pain. This is the security found in insecurity: there is plenty to fear. And when what we fear most happens, those three seeds of wisdom are plowed deep in sacred soil.

The only thing there is to fear is...

A rabid bat tangled in a toddler's hair?
http://www.ky3.com/news/ktla-rabid-bat-in-hair,0,2205072.story

friends like these?
http://www.ky3.com/news/kdvr-two-men-accused-of-partying-with-dead-friend-20110915,0,2635207.story

swamp monsters!
http://www.ky3.com/news/wpix-monster-crocodile-caught,0,5255740.story

Another SAW sequel?
http://www.ky3.com/news/ktla-glendale-hernia-butter-knife,0,6898818.story

Gumby???
http://www.ky3.com/news/ktla-gumby-robs-convenience-store,0,6543594.story

Linus has the X Factor

2011-10-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

One thing about Linus: he has a remarkable singing voice. It would only make sense that Linus pays homage to the Police at the P.Nutz Club on karaoke night. The Police are eclectic, like Linus, influenced by punk, reggae and jazz. Literate and informed, Linus digs any band that can pull off pop stardom while streaming the likes of Carl Jung and Arthur Koestler.

Herein is Linus's charm. Disarming, his non-threatening persona is equally equipped to challenge everything from misinformed mythologies to abnormal psychology. He is a theologian and a philosopher; an investigative scientist and a poet.

And when the days grow short and the air crisps with chill, Linus dons his blue cloak and ski cap for a long stroll to breathe deep the hushing sounds of industry and the rushing wisp of October's exhales. Schizophrenic sidewalks scroll under his feet; aging grays and cobbled brick and asphalt scars tell the story of city founders and boom and bust; harsh winters and neglect and taken-for-grantedness flickering like a nickelodeon show.

And when the sidewalk's story wheezes to an end, Linus looks up to find himself standing outside the P.Nutz. The walls rattle to the revelry inside. Voices rush together: orchestral tuning to an oboe's happy "A".

Inside, Linus waits patiently at his table for his chance. He sings the Police. That is no surprise. But who does Linus sing of when he coos "every little thing she does is magic..."?

One more "x factor" in Linus's long list of charms: a man of mystery. No wonder Sally is so smitten.

http://youtu.be/6AvBL2Mx2xA

Introverts aren't anti-social just anti-obvious

2011-10-03T23:27:00.000-05:00

Great book: Introvert Advantage.

It taught me how to speak extrovert. Extrovert is a tedious language. It requires a lot of words. Spoken out loud. To others. Sometimes to many-- at the same time.

This is because extroverts think with their mouths wide open. Introverts, on the other hand, think with open ears and open eyes, and generally, as God intended, inside their brains.

Extroverts love to talk, especially about themselves. They seem to try to comprehend the world by warping the world around themselves. Extroverts are like black holes. They have an amazing and enviable ability to bring all things to themselves, bend it, consume it and make it their own. This is why extroverts are the power brokers of the world. You might think I'm out to mock extroverts but I'm not. I am ever fascinated by them. Besides, if I were to mock them it would only be an expression of frustrated jealousy. The power to draw energy from a crowd of people and to channel that energy into a personal marketing campaign for the spoils of love and money is one that I admire from afar.

Linus knows the pain of the introvert. He is not easily spooled into dialogue about the obvious. Like most introverts he is regarded as "shy" or "anti-social". In truth, introverts just won't waste precious socializing energy on ego engorging chit chat leading to an axiomatic conclusion. Introverts are simply bored by the self evident.

Introverts reserve such energy for the really important things like identifying the three most important people to greet so the actuality of your presence can be confirmed later when everyone asks on Monday why you weren't at the party on Saturday; texting your emergency contact to call you in fifteen minutes with a fake emergency; and locating the most convenient restroom and all viable exits.

The Introvert Advantage helped me to understand that extroverts are really, really, really annoyed by the Linus in the room. It's like checking out a book from a librarian who insists on quoting the last two paragraphs of whatever you've picked. Introverts often respond with a blank stare during conversations because the most obvious response can't possibly be the anticipated response...thoughtful reflection later...the answer is ten minutes behind the conversation and too heavy for the levity of the moment.

What is Linus to do? To bless the topic with the sacred introspection anything worth talking about deserves is to ask too much of the common extrovert. To blow off the topic with smug indifference anything not worth talking about ruins the simple game of human interplay.

Oh Linus. It's not neuroscience (as much as you rather it were). Make little Sally feel important. That's all Hoyle's instructs for this game of social play. She's not asking you about a patch over her eye. She asking you about her: to notice her, to focus on her, to be concerned about her. Sally just wants Linus to say, "Yes. I noticed that when you walked in. Tell me about your eye patch, Sally." Nod and smile a bit. Let Sally show you what she knows about her condition. Maybe Sally wants you to believe she is smarter than you give her credit. Maybe, in this moment, it really isn't all about her. Maybe, in this moment, it's all about you, Linus. And while you may know a lot about amblyopia ex anopsia what do you really know about Sally? Between them, which stores the richer knowledge that will better you in the end?

http://www.amazon.com/Introvert-Advantage-Thrive-Extrovert-World/dp/0761123695

The Rarely Rising Great Pumpkin

2011-10-03T14:29:00.000-05:00

Linus. He's the perfect companion to the pessimistic Charlie Brown. If Charles views the glass as half empty, Linus quips that there is, at least, a glass. This is what makes Linus at once lovable, laughable and pitiable. Linus is the sage of ancient wisdom whose own insecurity toward life illumines as a great blue, fuzzy beacon. He is the observer; never the doer-- ever the thinker but never the courageous advocate of his own ideals. His is the cause of the cautious philosopher. You know, he might just like little Sally but to admit as much would put him too close to reality for comfort. He is the eye in the sky. The power of eyes in skies is their distance. Eyes on the ground get trampled. It's messy stuff. Everything is too large...too near to make any sense of; and in the panic stricken end you never even have the satisfaction of knowing what it was that crushed you.

So Linus keeps to himself and the pursuit of his own interests. His optimism is shrouded but it is there, wrapped around him like the warm embrace of flannel or fleece. Hope abounds in Linus. Quiet hope. Enduring hope. Linus has needs. After all, it is something, not nothing, that impels him to a random pumpkin patch each October in search of the elusive Great Pumpkin. Linus needs the Pumpkin to rise even if it is only to quantify his own professed conclusions. Letters don't lie. Legends are intrinsically bound to their truth.

Each October Linus misses out on chocolates and sweet, hard candies and, yes, even rocks. Rocks, at least, would be something. Linus exiles himself to bitter disappointment in exaggerated expectation of the rarely rising Great Pumpkin. He remains undaunted. It has risen somewhere, for someone, just not for him... just not for him. It is a rite of despair. For, if one is convinced that a Great Pumpkin rises, then one must hold in trust one ragged, blue blanket of reassurance: to guard against the chill of October nights, to quickly receive and conceal the boldest of tears, to be the icon of shattered hopes for one who copes from afar and sometimes in concert with Brown's depression at a common wailing wall.

You might think that Linus would be better off with stale suckers and miniature faux-chocolate rolls. You might think that Linus should be with friends enjoying the thrill of deep October evenings in spooky revelry. You might think that Linus's great mind could be put to better use, say, helping Charlie Brown make a ghost costume.

You might be right.

You should tell him.

And you can, If you can find him in one of his many points of isolated meditation, where right now his rite of failure has evaporated with the warmth of a family fireplace. He is working on his list for Santa... I wouldn't disturb him.