Daily writing prompt
What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance?
el matador. No significance whatsoever.
PROMPT: Middle Name
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Category Archives: Autobiography
PROMPT: Autobiography
Daily writing prompt
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
“And that’s how you do that!”
(I’m told that in medias res is the ideal narrative approach for memoirs.)
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PROMPT: First Name
Daily writing prompt
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
I think it means “naked bear,” which is quite apropos because (while – for a human being – I’m quite hairy) as a bear I would definitely need Hair Club for Bears. (Adopted into English over time from the German Bär + nackt.)
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PROMPT: Colleges
Indiana University [IUPUI], Georgia Tech, and Georgia State.
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PROMPT: Name
I wasn’t consulted on the matter. Like most, I labor under the impression that it came from my parents, but for all I know it was just a random person off the streets who scribbled it on the clipboard hanging off the hospital bassinet. If there even was a hospital…
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PROMPT: Describe Yourself
Of middling tallishness, perpetually perplexed, and independently impoverished.
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BOOKS: “Lost in the Twentieth Century” by Albert Szent-Györgyi
Lost in the Twentieth Century by Albert Szent-GyörgyiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Available Online – NIH National Library of Medicine
This is the very brief autobiography of a fascinating man. Szent-Györgyi is most famous for work in biochemistry involving Vitamin C, work that won him a Nobel Prize. However, his life is not only notable for science before and after the Nobel (after he worked on the physiology of muscular activity, on electron activity in physiology, and on cancer.) He also performed important works outside the laboratory, notably he conducted an espionage / diplomatic mission during the Second World War (“Espionage” in that he traveled to Turkey under false pretenses, under cover of giving a lecture at a university, “diplomatic” in that the trip’s true objective was to negotiate with the Allied powers.)
Szent-Györgyi has some interesting quips and insights that make it worth reading this pamphlet-scale book, even though his Wikipedia page probably contains as much information. He had an interesting way of thinking about matters, both scientific and not, and was politically and socially engaged in the world.
If you’re curious about Szent-Györgyi or enjoy biographies, in general, I’d highly recommend reading this one.
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PROMPT: Taglines
30% More Nuts.
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BOOKS: “A Carpet Ride to Khiva” by Christopher Aslan Alexander
A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road by Chris AslanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – ICON Books
“Travel-centric memoir” is how I’d classify this book, but it’s one of those books that isn’t easily categorized. The author cleverly interweaves explorations of Uzbek history and culture with his own story of living in the Uzbek city of Khiva for seven years as an NGO worker and traditional crafts entrepreneur. The side voyages into history and culture not only support the readers’ contextual understanding of the author’s story but also make for a fascinating journey of understanding of the locale. Uzbekistan has had many lives, from beating heart of the Silk Road to forgotten backwater of the Soviet Union, and these many lives have shaped what Uzbekistan is, and what it’s becoming.
I should point out that Uzbekistan has apparently made a hard shift since the days described in this book (late 90’s early 2000’s, i.e. fairly early in the wake of independence from the Soviet Union.) I mention this to avoid discouraging travelers through discussion of the author’s experiences. [I, myself, am planning a trip in the near future.] I’m sure that Uzbekistan continues to have deep-seated problems, but it seems to be making great efforts to be tourist-friendly these days. Which is not to say that the individuals were ever unfriendly to travelers. The author describes an Uzbek people who are warm-hearted, welcoming, and helpful. But when the author was there it was also on the list of the biggest human rights violators, corruption was ubiquitous, and tourism was almost non-existent. In fact, the penultimate chapter of the book describes the author’s experience of a visa denied, ping-ponged deportations, and a life sharply diverted by corruption.
The final chapter is intensely compelling and describes the author’s (late 2000’s) visit to Afghanistan to help apply the lessons he learned in Uzbekistan to building a rug weaving operation in that war-torn country (allowing women to make some money, an activity disallowed by the Taliban before and since.)
This is a fascinating book, and I’d highly recommend it for travelers and those interested this lesser-known part of the world. Even the descriptions of silk production, rug weaving, and natural dyes (topics that I expected wouldn’t resonate with me) were interesting and engaging.
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PROMPT: Title
The Bigger they Fall, The Harder They Are
Tiger Riding for Beginners 