Conversations with Calliope- The Cult of Immediacy

(Immaculate Conception Monastery Garden)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. I was confused about something in your blog yesterday.
JOE: Oh?
CALLIOPE: You talked about e-book readers but then you attached a picture of a young man talking on his cell phone and ignoring the attractive girl sitting next to him. I didn't get the connection.
JOE: I guess it was a bit of a stretch. I was thinking about our need for immediate communication which I think detracts from our thinking about what are communicating and to whom.
CALLIOPE: I see. Do you think the almost immediate availability of information through machines such as an e-book reader or cell phone a bad thing?
JOE: Not necessarily. Other than getting used to the new technology, I am concerned that being in such easy touch with data makes it more difficult for us to think about it in any sort of context.
CALLIOPE: Tell me more.
JOE: It is as if we are part of the machinery conveying data bits but not evaluating what we are saying.
CALLIOPE: What would you suggest?
JOE: I'm not sure I have anything to offer right now. It's just a concern I have.
CALLIOPE: What do you plan to do personally?
JOE: Make sure I have time to digest information by stepping back from the data stream and reflecting on information as it comes in and relating it to what I already know or suspect.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like a good plan.
JOE: It's the only one I have at the moment. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- New Horizons

(Sunset over Provincetown)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. I trust you had a nice Easter.
JOE: I did. Carol and I took a long walk exploring the hidden beauties of Leroy.
CALLIOPE: What else did you do?
JOE: I read some of Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul.
CALLIOPE: Did this relate to your exploration of AmeriCorps?
JOE: Unexpectedly yes.
CALLIOPE: Tell me about it.
JOE: I have discovered the possibility of a placement at our local arts council but have not had a chance to explore it yet.
CALLIOPE: How did that relate to your reading?
JOE: I found a passage in Moore's book which fit my search nicely. "The most important thing is to become more acquainted with the realm of art, religion and dream, where images are not merely cerebral but are rooted in the human imagination and in deep-seated emotions."
CALLIOPE: Interesting that you should encounter such a quote.
JOE: Serendipitious, I would say. My writing has focused on my own and others' thoughts and not sought so much to include other realms of personal experience. Maybe that's what has been missing in my writing.
CALLIOPE: Could be.
JOE: I will sit with this idea a while and see what happens. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Life Context

(Outdoor Handball Court- Dunkirk, NY)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Good, but little perplexed.
CALLIOPE: How so?
JOE: I have been working on the narrative time line we talked about yesterday.
CALLIOPE: You mean the structured interview about your life events?
JOE: Exactly so.
CALLIOPE: Is that what perplexed you?
JOE: Yes. When I wrote about my early years I discovered how happy a child I was.
CALLIOPE: That doesn't sound perplexing.
JOE: It isn't. When I got to my early adolescence, I realized how lonely and isolated I was.
CALLIOPE: You don't remember that?
JOE: I think I buried it from my consciousness. When asked to name my best friend from that time, I couldn't think of anyone.
CALLIOPE: That's sad.
JOE: I agree. I can't change anything about it now, but maybe it will help me understand myself a little better. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning, Calliope.

CALLIOPE: Good morning, Joe. Ready for a new year?

JOE: I believe I am.

CALLIOPE: What did you do yesterday?

JOE: Not much of anything. I remember reading about crop rotation and that sometimes a field is left fallow for a growing season to restore itself.

CALLIOPE: You're not going into hibernation for several months?

JOE: No. Just for yesterday. I thought I would let my mind rest and not tax it.

CALLIOPE: I guess I can live with that. What are your plans for today?

JOE: First I have a column to write about context for my life.

CALLIOPE: Where did that come from?

JOE: A talk by Steve D'Annunzio on Sunday. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. If I have a sense of where I am headed and why I am doing what I am doing, I will be much more focused. I guess you could say I just spent yesterday thinking about this and today I will write a column about it.

CALLIOPE: Sounds good. Anything else planned?

JOE: I finished another chapter of Marital Property after we chatted on Monday. I plan to finish another today about my two main characters in a counseling session.

CALLIOPE: Do you expect fireworks?

JOE: I don't expect them, but you never know. I guess I had better get on with it and see.

(Butterfly Museum- Niagara Falls, Ont.)

Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning, Calliope.

CALLIOPE: Good Morning, Joe. Ready for the new year?

JOE: I guess so. I plan to spend today organizing things so I can find them next year rather than tripping over them and having to search for them when I need them.

CALLIOPE: A noble aspiration. Do you plan to do your whole house?

JOE: That would be a bit much for me all at once. I think I will start with my writing room and do another perhaps once a week or so.

CALLIOPE: Sounds manageable. What did you do yesterday?

JOE: I had planned to work on marketing but ended up going to Unity Church in Rochester and having my grandson over to make cookies and watch him play video games.

CALLIOPE: Did you learn anything at Church?

JOE: Steve DeNunzio gave the lesson. He talked about context, stewardship and living in the now. All three topics were good reminders for me. I tend to spin my wheels sometimes.

CALLIOPE: How do his thoughts apply to your writing?

JOE: Sometimes I have to stop to think why I write or why anyone writes. Yesterday was a chance to consider these topics.

CALLIOPE: Why do you write?

JOE: To help people consider their lives. I do this with fiction as well as nonfiction. I thought I should make it part of the introduction to my writing so readers know what to expect and don't waste their time just looking to be entertained.

CALLIOPE: Noble of you. Do you think it is worth making an issue of it?

JOE: Yes. That's who I am. If people read my writing I want them to know they can expect to be invited to look at the human condition and their own lives in the process.

CALLIOPE: I will be interested to see how that works out.

JOE: So will I. On to cleaning and organizing.

(Nineteenth Century Church- Genesee Country Village)

In and Out in Fifteen Minutes

Yesterday I accompanied someone to the hospital for outpatient surgery. She was told she would be in and out in fifteen minutes. That was true for the doctor but we were at the hospital for several hours with all the preparation and mostly waiting time. I think we sometimes consider experiences from our own point of view and do not consider what they are like for others. During the years I saw people for psychotherapy, I don't think I ever considered all the time they spent thinking about a session before or after it took place or how what we did in the session affected their lives and those of those important to them. I imagine this is true for any other interaction of which we are only a part. I will try to be aware that the significance of an experience for people is much larger that the small part which I play in their lives.