by Marty Coleman | Oct 22, 2009 | Thomas Overbury |
I went to Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield, Michigan, for a time, attempting to get a graduate degree in art.
The place had a glorious past, having been designed, built and presided over by Eliel Saarinen, one of the pre-eminent architects of his day. He hired incredible artists and designers to staff his Academy and it flourished in the middle of the 20th century.
By the time I got there in 1980 the original professors and creative impetus was gone, and in it’s place were many fine artists, both teachers and students, living under the shadow of the history that the institution touted constantly.
It was nice to feel a part of a glorious history. But it was oppressive and debilitating as well, since it was understood that they glory was in the past for the Academy and we weren’t about to bring it back. Not that we felt that way, but the President and board and patrons seemed to at the time and that attitude worked its way down through the ranks.
What past are you relying on? Is it keeping you under a shadow, even underground?
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors is like a potato – the only good belonging to him is underground.” – Thomas Overbury, 1581-1613, English Poet. Protagonist in a great royal scandal. Read about it here.
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 21, 2009 | John Churton Collins |
Sometimes you wish no attention was paid from the very beginning.
Perhaps a good lesson can be learned here. Instead of hoping a boy is not in a balloon we can hope a soldier is not in war, a child is not in poverty, an abused spouse is not in danger, a daughter is not in mental illness, a friend is not in disease.
Let’s pay attention and hope for those other ‘nots’ instead of the knots of a buffoon.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“The world, like an accomplished hostess, pays most attention to those whom it will soonest forget.” – John Churton Collins, 1848-1908, English literary critic
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 19, 2009 | Christopher Morley |
A vintage napkin from 2000, back when all of my daughter’s were still in middle and high school. I made 3 versions of this napkin and put it in their lunches. I don’t think I gave them spaghetti for lunch.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“No person is lonely while eating spaghetti.” – Christopher Morley, 1890- 1957, American writer
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 18, 2009 | Simone Weil |
I can imagine account managers for stock brokerages really have a lot of insight into this, especially over the past 2 years.
It’s always a hard decision as to what to get mad about and what not to. I know my 401k went in the tank, I lost money. Here is the civilized question we should ask ourselves. What was I going to accomplish by getting angry or scared or worried or distraught? Now, let’s give us all permission to react to that civilized question. And let’s use this response if someone asks us this. The answer is: I WASN’T TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING! I was just emoting, venting, expressing, feeling, hormoning, freaking out, whatever.
Ok, now that all those that think every expression has to have a purpose are set straight, let’s now go on to admit that since those emotional expressions don’t actually have a purpose and we eventually do have to have one of those (purposes, that is) we should indeed put those feelings aside and figure out how the hell to dig ourselves out. Ah, a nice contradictory resolution to it all, whew! I was worried there for a moment that I had to have it all make sense! But I realized that since the gaining and losing of money (and most other things) don’t have a lot of sense to them that I didn’t have to make perfect sense either (even though I did if you think enough about it). The end.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“If you want to know what a man is really like, take notice how he acts when he loses money.” – Simone Weil, 1909-1943, French philosopher and activist
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 16, 2009 | Ashleigh Brilliant, Self |
This is totally funny and absurd and silly and nutty. It’s also true.
We are talking about how one really does get to know oneself. It can’t be done in a vacuum, it’s always done in some part as a comparison.
If you don’t believe me just ask yourself, Am I my mother? Am I my father? Part of you says yes, a larger part says NO WAY. Why? Because you have learned who they are, you know them. Probably they drive you up the freakin’ wall. But even if you don’t and your one of those people who think your parents are just dandy (beware of those people, by the way), then you still realize that even if you WANT to be them, you aren’t.
Of course, this is only half the equation. Learning who you are not is good. I am not my neighbor, the perve. I am not my psycho boss. I am not my vain cheerleader frenemy, I am not my childhood friend, the rich, best-selling author with 3 homes, 2 BMWs, frequent trips to Europe and lots of hair (dag nabbit!).
It starts to narrow it down, but it doesn’t define. BUT…if you know enough people it will take you so long to figure out who everyone else is you won’t have time to focus on your self and next thing you know you will have become YOU!
I know, like I said at the beginning. It’s just a silly goofy saying. I just tried to make something of it. That’s just who I am.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“In order to discover who you are, first learn who everybody else is, and you’re who’s left.” – Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933 – not dead yet, American funny guy.
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 14, 2009 | Pat Schroeder |
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I drew this at 3:30 am, after waking up too hot and too anxious about stuff. Will I get the napkin xmas cards done? Will I get the 2nd napkin dad book done? How will I find a printer who can do it cheap enough? What about my other work, my photography, where should I place it online to sell it? Will I win the major art grant I am applying for this week?
I tossed and turned in bed, wringing my hands about it all (I wasn’t actually physically wringing my hands, but my feet did get quite tangled up a few times).
So, I got out of bed and drew this napkin. Sort of like late night therapy for myself.
I am not a bench sitter in general. I like to take action. But sometimes I find myself sitting and worrying. Then I look off into the personal landscape of my life and I realize the river is still raging, the volcano is still threatening and the fire is still burning while I contemplate it all.
Sometimes just realizing that allows me to relax because I know what I can and will do when the sun rises in the morning. I will roll up my sleeves and take action. I will sandbag the levee, call the fire department, and keep a close eye on that volcano in the distance.
Are you wringing or rolling?
Drawing by Marty Coleman, The Napkin Dad of the The Napkin Dad Daily blog
Marty’s website, martycoleman.com
quote by Pat Schroeder, 1940-not dead yet, American Politician
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 12, 2009 | Anonymous |
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Inside or Out.
Drawing by Marty Coleman, The Napkin Dad
The Napkin Dad Daily blog
Marty’s website
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 11, 2009 | Charley Reese |
I had a boomerang when I was young. I hurt like the dickens when it actually came back and hit me a few times. (what is a dickens, by the way?)
By the way, do you know the difference between jealousy and envy?
Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Charley Reese, 1937-not dead yet, American journalist
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 10, 2009 | Georg Christoph Lichtenberg |
Here is a vintage napkin from 2004, originally put in my daughter’s high school lunch (yes I made their lunch all the way into high school).
The same could be said of religion (which is a type of opinion when you get right down to it). Other ways of saying it are ‘the proof is in the pudding’ or ‘if you are going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk’.
Whatever the saying, the idea is the same. The only way to prove you really believe what you say you believe is for your actions to consistently (not perfectly, just consistently) reflect your beliefs and opinions.
I am much better at talking about what I believe than I am in backing it up with action. But what I have learned over time is to rein in my words, to keep them closer to what I know I will act on than to just talk about ideas as if I really can act on them all.
That is why I try in my writings here to put in the caveat that I am preaching to myself or that the idea I am presenting is one I haven’t learned very well yet.
It is important to reach farther than you can grasp though, so one should always aspire to greater things than you are sure you can achieve. You just need to keep words and deeds in close contact at all times!
Drawing by Marty Coleman, The Napkin Dad
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 9, 2009 | William James |
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What are you letting slip between your fingers today and why? Are you afraid of success or failure? Are you thinking it is absurd to try, no way you can do it? Then you have failed before the attempt was even made. Why not fail attempting it, what difference does it make, right?
Drawing by Marty Coleman,
The Napkin Dad
Napkin Dad Daily blog
Marty’s website
Quote by William James, 1842-1910, American Philosopher.
Just an interesting aside. I always look at the birth/death dates of the quote giver and think of what they saw and what they missed.
James was 19 when the American civil war started and lived to see the Wright Brothers fly. He was lucky to have missed WWI (1914-1918) but missed seeing women get the right to vote in America (1920).
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I went to Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield, Michigan, for a time, attempting to get a graduate degree in art.
