Questions about China

Posted on August 3, 2008 by ruthek

I’ve been spending a lot of time reading China Wakes by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. It’s an easy read–lots of stories about how they got the job done as New York Times correspondents and stories about how people are living in China. All of those stories are used to illustrate the point that all is not well in China. Interspersed with the stories is speculation about the end of the Communist Party, because of corruption, peasant uprisings, various other disasters. The book was written around the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre, certainly reason to think about these kinds of things. But it hasn’t happened yet, and the Party is probably as strong as ever. To give Kristof credit, he says it could take a very long time.

It’s a scary book to read. He makes the point, and I know this from my study of Chinese history, that sometimes dynasties have fallen because of natural disasters, such as that earthquake. He was actually talking about a previous earthquake. The book was published in 1994. My inner voice of gloom is speculating about what might happen if the Olympics are not a huge success. I was left with lots of questions about China’s stability, and also about Kristof.

In his most recent column about China he is much more optimistic and tempers his criticism in ways he did not do in the book. Have things improved, or is Kristof older and wiser?

My biggest question is why the book is on the reading list I got from CCS. If their concern is that we might all be starry-eyed idealists then a better and more recent book with more narrative and less prognostication is Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China by Kang Zhengguo. His terrifying picture of life in Communist China comes from his own experiences and reads less like propaganda, although I had to wonder about his naivete. So I am not going to China because I think I will change anything. I am going because I had a Chinese pen pal, Laura, when I was 13 or 14, who had to stop writing because of the Communist take-over. I am going because my interest in Japan constantly leads back to China. And more than anything, I am going, as I used to tell my mother, because it is there.

Literary week

Posted on March 20, 2008 by ruthek

New Osher classes began this week. I’m taking one called Reading and Writing the Iron City. We did a fun exercise in class that may inspire me to do more writing. The instructor created a blog for the class, which you can visit here. BTW, the 250 in the blog name refers to this being the 250th anniversary of Pittsburgh’s founding as a city.

On Monday night, Robin and I went to a lecture by Scott Simon, the NPR Saturday morning anchor, who has written a novel about the Chicago city council. He said some of the reviews have called this satire, but he calls it political comedy; he says satire requires exaggeration. I loved the talk. He loves Chicago and so do I; very nostalgic. And, of course, I have to read the book. (After I finish writing my paper for the Japanese art class and read at least two other books: Hiroshima in America by Robert Jay Lifton and Gregg Mitchell, and David Halberstam’s last book, The Coldest Winter. My paper deals with Hiroshima, but the books are not reference material.)

Last night, Robin and I went to another talk, this time by Dave Eggers, of McSweeney’s, also with a book: What is the What, about Valentino, a Sudanese refugee. Although Eggers talked about the book and his visit to Sudan, most of his time was spent on the project dear to his heart, 826 Valencia, a writing center for children 6-18, now with spin-offs in seven cities around the country.

Have to stop now; it’s time to go to tai chi.

So many books, so little time

Posted on February 18, 2008 by ruthek

Two books on China, by Peter Hessler, have kept me fascinated for some time. I love his point of view, giving both sides of every issue, with a large dose of irony. I have lots of reading from my Japanese Art class: History of Japanese Art by Penelope Mason, journal articles, chapters from other books.

Thursday I went to a new Osher class: Travel writing from the margins. Unusually for an Osher class, a textbook was assigned–Meeting Faith, by Faith Adiele, now a professor at Pitt, about her experience being ordained as a Buddhist nun in Thailand. The focus of the class is on travel writing done by unusual people, or with unusual points of view. Unfortunately, I missed the first class when I was in Chicago, because I’m really enjoying it. We have an assignment to make a presentation at the last class.

My presentation will be about Emily Carr, a Canadian artist/writer/traveler. I discovered her paintings four years ago in the Vancouver Art Gallery, and fell in love. She’s right up there with Georgia O’Keefe, but doesn’t get the same recognition, at least not in this country. I came back with two books, one of her writing and one with pictures. I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t read much of either book, but I’m enjoying them now for the presentation.

Questions from Earl in Dallas

Posted on February 2, 2008 by ruthek

Thanks, Earl, for making me think about this. (Comment below) Certainly the page layout and the binding came out exactly as I originally envisioned them. I decided to include all the emails after I had completed the first 20 or 25 pages, so that meant reworking those pages. Fortunately, the computer and page layout program makes that fairly easy.

I toyed with the idea of sewing the binding with a thick hemp cord to emulate the cords used to differentiate sacred objects in Japan,
but decided it might make opening the pages more difficult. I began sewing with waxed Irish linen carpet cord, decided I didn’t like it (too much of an industrial look) and used DMC embroidery perle cotton. My instruction book, Japanese Book-binding, by Kojiro Ikegami, calls for silk cord, a better choice, but I didn’t have any.

The picture on the cover took a lot of time, mostly for thinking. I began with a pattern, played with it, looking and moving pieces around for a week. I finally used some pieces from the pattern and more pieces I just cut to fit. In the end I used only the thrust of the pieces: diagonals moving left and right at the bottom; pieces in the center more or less vertical.

The pattern called for appliqué stitching by hand. I tried it; made a mess; ripped everything out. My eyesight, and patience, just aren’t up to it. I tacked the pieces in place, using something called Heatbond, then machine appliquéd around each piece.
For the quilting, I found a pattern in a Dover book of Japanese clip-art; sized it on the computer; printed it on translucent paper; and stitched directly over the pattern. I had already couched the border using rattail cording directly on to a piece of the handmade paper cut to size. I think the whole thing took me about two weeks of not very steady work. I can only do this kind of work early in the day. My eyes (and brain) don’t function well at night.

Am I satisfied, Earl? Not really. I wanted the cover picture to be as professional as the layout. It didn’t make the grade, but it’s the best I can do for now.

The book is almost finished

Posted on February 1, 2008 by ruthek

Everything is completed except for drilling five holes and sewing the Japanese style binding. My page layout was done in Adobe InDesign. I copied all of the posts, comments and pertinent emails, along with the photos I originally posted and some additional materials. Here is a sample page with comments on the side:

This page has emails in the sidebar:

Page with additional material. Most of these materials were linked in the blog.

The book has 144 pages, printed on both sides. I am trying to maintain a Japanese spirit in it. Here I have used binder clamps to hold the pages together, then created paper clamps at the top and bottom of the left hand side of the stack. The piece of white paper is shielding the pages from the binder clamps. The paper clamps, which are decorative only, are made of Japanese paper I bought years ago at Aiko’s Art Materials in Chicago.

Using more of this paper, I created endpapers that will go under the covers.

I cut boards for the covers about one-half inch larger than the inside papers. I then cut one-half inch off of what would become the left, binding side, of the boards, and glued this piece about a quarter inch away from the board. Holes will be drilled in that space, allowing the pages to open more easily. I’m sorry I forgot to photograph the boards so you could see the placement of the extra space. This type of binding is usually finished with soft covers that would not require the extra space.

Here is the finished cover, a truly global effort. The picture is actually a quilt (3 layers) made of fabrics I brought back from Japan with the addition of a few bits of silk I had from others sources. I sewed it down to the handmade paper from Japan, using thread I bought in Paris, many years ago. The little beads are probably from India and merit a post of their own; someday I’ll write it.

Book update

Posted on January 8, 2008 by ruthek

I am almost finished laying out the book: 143 pages. I added some extra pictures and all of the pertinent emails and chats I had in Japan. I want to check out all of the pages; add a few more pictures in some of the blank spaces; add an afterword that I will also post on the website; then print out the whole thing. Then comes the fun part: binding. I bought a small plastic bag filled with tiny fabric scraps at the flea market in Kyoto. I plan to use some of those fabrics with handmade paper I bought at Itoya in Tokyo. I’ll post pictures when I’m finished.

Back to the same old

Posted on January 2, 2008 by ruthek

Yesterday was a gray, windy day. I needed to do some grocery shopping, but didn’t feel like going out. So today, with cold sunshine, was it: veggies, fruit, some whole grain English muffins, and broccoli pancakes. Renee brought some of those pancakes to the New Years party. Very good, not too caloric. I’m trying hard to eat healthy stuff, much as I’d like to limit my diet to ice cream and banana nut muffins.

Made a lot of phone calls, playing catch up, then lost patience, so tomorrow will be another phone day. Spent the rest of the day working on "the book." I’m determined to finish before the end of the month. I’ve got 88 pages and I’m up to November 3. Not too much forward progress, but I’ve added lots of additional material.

Ink, paper and friendship

Posted on December 12, 2007 by ruthek

I just got off the phone with raja who complained about the persimmons being left so long on the blog–I’m supposed to keep writing. Raja and I have been friends for thirty or forty years. We no longer see each other very often but we talk and read each other’s blogs. Good way to keep in touch.

It’s kind of a slow week. I’ve been exercising, riding buses, another form of exercise, because my car is in the shop for three days. I usually ride the bus, but it feels different when I have no choice. I’ve spent most of the last week working on making the Japan blog into a book. It’s slow work; I’m adding more pictures and retrieving some of the information from the links. I have already created 42 pages and I’m only up to October 25. Like I said: it’s slow work.

I’m still wrestling with the pictures. I love the printed page, but there are too many pictures to consider printing them all out. I have a few videos; one of these days I might even get them posted on the blog. I suppose what I really want is something like that new device Amazon came out with, but not quite that one. Something where I can put slides and videos into the printed page so I can touch the paper.

Amazing experience

Posted on October 7, 2007 by ruthek

Last night we went to a book signing. What’s the big deal, you say. First, it is a very special book, written by Karen Williams and Khadra Mohammed. Read more about it here. Karen and Khadra are both very special women. Khadra runs the Pittsburgh Refugee Center. Karen is a writer who does no end of incredible things; read about her here.
This is Karen reading to the children who came
to the event.

The older children were reading to

themselves.

But the astonishing thing about the event was the place where it was held.

About six blocks from where I live is a huge old warehouse. It looks almost deserted. Casablance Gallery has a mural painted on the truck entrance door to the building, and someone who repairs musical instruments, or teaches music, has something painted on another door. Neither place ever seems to be open, and the neighborhood appears to be iffy, at best. We walked down the street uncertain about whether we were in the right place. Steve spotted some balloons in front of an open door. Stepping inside was like walking into another world–a magical world.

Everything was clean and shiny, beautiful color on the walls, wonderful decorations to look at as you walked up the stairs.
The huge loft space was organized by conversation groupings–sofas, chairs and decorative items inviting you to sit and be comfortable, but also be excited and examine all of the interesting objects decorating the group. None of these pictures
does justice to what I saw. I wanted to live there, at least in a small part of the space. When it was time to leave I felt like we were breaking the spell; going back to the real world.

Book binding

Posted on March 6, 2007 by ruthek

I’m going to the Tai Chi class this morning then leaving for Kentucky. I’ve spent the last few days getting ready to bind a paper copy of my Charna Rieger book. I decided to print an image on fabric. Although you can buy pieces of various fabrics that have a stiff backing so you can put them through an ink-jet printer, I decided to make my own. I ironed freezer paper on the back of a piece of some kind of synthetic stuff (I have boxes of fabric from when I did a lot of sewing), but it didn’t work. I tried again with some muslin, or it might have been an old sheet I had dyed beige, and I’m very happy with the result. I will glue or sew the picture on to another piece of fabric that will go over the cover board. When I finish I’ll post a photo. For now, this is the design, printed on a light beige background.

100 Books Before I Die

Ruthe Karlin

Category Archives: Books