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The White Noise Meander, Week 7

Congratulations ye mighty Meanderers!

A full-on fabulous 19 folks made it to the finish line and will receive magnets via mail (one of these days soonly). As we get ready to send the design off to Vortex Industries for replication at our famed factories in the beating heart of old town Poznan, here’s a peek at what this was all about.

I mean yes, there was the book itself, which I think everyone agrees was way too well-timed for this unsettling moment. And yes again, there was the fact that the word “Meander” somehow made an unexpected appearance in the third sentence of the week 6 section — a fact first noted by Itto Ogami in the comments. And sure, there was the exceptional back and forth in said comments. Always a joy on these journeys, but especially appreciated this go around.

Still, you were drawn to this adventure by the promise of a free magnet, and a free magnet you shall have.

Figure 7.1: Truly, this image could gaze at The White Noise Meander Magnet and part its hair!

All 19 winners will receive this spectacular magnetized collectible, featuring collage and design by Meanderer elisabeth beller and images from MohammadHosein Mohebbi, Jakub Nawrot, Valentin Salja, and Jason Rosewell.

Your friends will be envious and your enemies will be confused!

Plus: something to hum to whilst adhering said magnet to your refrigerator! Way back in week 1, Meanderer Neil invited folks to share “the 80s tune you think of when you consider what we’ve read so far.” So-called Bill recently turned this into a Spotify playlist that’s open for editing — please drop by and add in any songs we missed.

I’m overwhelmed! Where do we go from here?? The votes are in and the next Meander will feature Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin, starting Sunday April 5. Shipping is a tad slow at the moment, but Kindle and audio books are available now. If you’re so inspired, I’d love to have you along for the ride. Feel free to chime in below if you are interested in the journey….

Thanks for all and hope to see you on the trail soon….
-Cecil

March 23, 2020
Write what we know

Wondering about
all the quarantine screenplays
that are being written right now
in smallish spring apartments with
open windows where
people perhaps don’t bother
zipping up their flies as
much as they
normally would.

The romcoms sure about falling in
love on Zoom, but also
the quarantine buddy comedies the
online detective stories the
psychedelic misadventures the meditative spiritual
wonderama’s the Judd Apatow-produced
off-color with a heart of gold
guy and gal night outs without
actually going out the
all in one day coming of age
teen true stories the castaway
remakes with a basketball because that’s what was on hand
and the turners.

and the hooches.

March 22, 2020
Sheltering in Place…

The Bay Area went to shelter in place last night at midnight. In case it comes to your area too, I thought I’d share what “shelter in place” is like around these parts. And granted, it’s super early, and I know I’m a lucky fella in a million ways, so please read this with that context.

—–

In brief: day to day it’s much less severe than I think most of us expected. But the economic impact will be profound.

Things we can do include:
Go for walks or runs (at a safe distance from other folks)
Go to the supermarket, as needed, one family member at a time
Get gas for the car
Go to the doctor
Go take care of a loved one.
Go to work if we have a critical job (medical, police, shipping I believe, laundromats, etc)

So food hoarding, for example, doesn’t appear to be all that necessary. Things are still coming in, and we can go shopping. We also aren’t confined to our houses, which is a relief.

We just went out to drop food off for loved ones and were surprised that we weren’t the only car on the road. My wife went into a local convenience store and there were 5-6 people in the aisles, staying 6 feet apart, of course. On the way there we past a lone skateboarder in the night, so that was odd.

Things we can’t do:

Go to friends’ houses or have them over to our house.
Go to restaurants/cafes/museums/movies/most stores/etc.
Anything fundamentally social (no hoops, no soccer games, all as you’d likely expect).
Go to the office, and for many jobs, go to work period.

That last one is the key thing for many people — in terms of day to day life, while shelter in place is perhaps less severe than you might think, the impact on many jobs is very quick and serious. More important than toilet paper is thinking about how you can help the people and businesses you care for.

So that’s the neutral and the (seriously) negative.

Here’s the one positive: when your town or city goes to shelter in place, people’s lives in your area are being saved every day. It is a little inspiring, at least at the start, to be part of a collective effort aimed at keeping folks healthy, keeping hospitals from being overrun.

I’ve been comparing this whole thing to preparing for a typhoon, boarding up windows. But it’s different than a typhoon because what we do now does more than protect our own houses. This is about slowing these strange winds down to protect everyone.

And that’s the news from the area by the bay, where the sheltering is in place and I’m pretty sure my cat is just confused why we’re around so much.

Best to all…..
Cecil

March 17, 2020

The White Noise Meander, Week 6

Our potassium levels are suspect but nonetheless we’ve made it to the start of Week 6, in which we’ll make a wee leap to the back of the book.

Thanks again for taking the trek. I have missed these group reads, and the book is much richer for having all of your thoughts in the swirl.

Figure 6.1: If this image saw the WNM magnet reflected in a puddle, it would not comb its hair.

Last week the thread included ruminations on mortality, faith, and pleasure, and a defense of nostalgia, to which: amen! There were also questions about how exactly one walks like a European, and a hat tip to the permanent-patient status that blinks above our heads.

A few of us — me included — were struck by the Gotham-esque moment of the insane asylum burning down, and our characters watching like it was another show on TV. And we survived the Hitler convention, with their terrifying (at least to me) name tags, and their love of sweets.

All of which added to a general feeling of life and decay (“the time of dangling insects”), creation and ruin, garbage-sorting mayhem, and a sort of death-worshipping vibe that jangles the air in Blacksmith and environs.

As my nemesis Murray noted, you can be homesick even when you’re home. Which is a little like spending your life in mourning for your inevitable death. Be here now, Jack. Before the bracketed numbers with little stars have their say.

This week: It’s the last time you’ll need to comment to qualify for magnetized glory! Shout out as you finish, and let’s meet up at the bottom of page 310 aka the end of our tale….

Be sure to check back for next week’s post when we’ll get a preview of the magnet from the artist herself (“so-called eb”).

Say pally, how’s this work again? Finish on time, comment each week, and stay in the hunt for a free “I Survived the White Noise Meander” magnet. Oh, and in case you were wondering: This is the post for comments on Chapters 37-40 as well as any last contributions you’d like to make to The White Noise Meander Playlist (with a big thanks to Alyssa for volunteering to make that a real thing once our journey is complete).

The White Noise Meander, Week 5

With all plots moving in one direction, it’s time to launch our Collective into Week 5. There are only two more weeks to go, ye mighty Meanderers, and it continues to be a great treat to read your comments as I trot along the trail.

The Week 5 Meander (image) — Figure 5.1: When you put this next to the magnet, you’ll know which is which and what’s what.

Last week I went back in time to my first job. It was the end of the day and dark already, so it must have been winter. I shut down my machine, meandered over to my car, and ended up chatting with the head of our editorial department in the parking lot.

After a minute or two the conversation took a turn to real life. One of us shared a hard thing that we were dealing with, I can’t remember whether that was her or me. We talked about the likelihood that most people had something hard they were dealing with, much of the time, and never talked about it.

I remember us nodding out there in the parking lot, in no rush, saying it was super interesting that we all know death is a real thing, a thing we’re going to get around to one of these days. But we put that aside and find a way to focus on fixing the typos on page 57 of a computer book, which back then was almost the definition of an ephemeral object, born to be put out of print.

The tone wasn’t grim. It was “isn’t that something?”

I was barely out of college, and she wasn’t just a grown up, she was the personification of leadership and focus, of hitting dates and doing quality work. But she knew that we lived in two worlds at the same time. It’s stayed with me all these years that we paused there, and we took a moment before driving home, to acknowledge a big truth.

In this little ditty, about Jack and Babette, our protagonists have lost their ability to put this big truth aside. To forget their fear so they can take a step. Take a breath.

They compete to see who’s more terrified.

Him: “I wake up sweating. I break out in killer sweats.”
Her: “I chew gum because my throat constricts.”
Him: “I have no body, I’m only a mind or a self, alone in a vast space.”
Her: “I seize up…”

Jack, Babette, DeLillo, all of us — interesting animals for sure, smart enough to know we’re really truly, no joke, going to die, but not quite smart enough to know what to do about it. Or even how to think about it.

I’m loving this book, Jack’s jackassery and all, for making me think about it, for sending me back to that conversation in the parking lot. And especially, in this moment of fairly high anxiety, for surfacing all the throat constricting moments around us and the many ways we wave our hands at those moments, like flies we’re trying to push up, down, over, away.

This week: Let’s meet up at the end of page 268 aka the end of Chapter 36, where it turns out “Your doctor knows the symbols.”

And then, one week later, magnets await at the finish line!

The White Noise Meander, Week 4

After a fairly average sunset at least hereabouts, welcome to the start of Week 4!

Last week thanks for the rich thread, packed with references to Secret Hitler (a “social deduction” game), the adventures of a mischievous pool toy, some frustrations with J.A.K’s POV, reflections on what White Noise would be like in the 2020s, and a reminder that airborne dangers and face masks require no updating to fit the times.

Extra thanks to Xian who created a fab family tree I love so much I had it turned into a back tattoo. Which really doesn’t help me much now that I think of it. Dag.

Week 4 Meander — Figure 4.1: When the magnet looks in a mirror, questioning, wondering… this is not what it sees.

I’m still really enjoying the read, underlining scads of sentences. Murray upsets me. The dude is everywhere. And the camp felt like some dream I probably had last night. (“You were there, Dr. Vitz. And you were there too, Computillo.”)

The image that’s stuck with me for a few days is the horror of the Airborne Toxic Event coming into view, like The Blob sliding down main street. Taking on all comers, like King Kong beating its breast while metal birds and spotlights circle round.

I was waiting for the ATE to start to speak. I wondered, what would I do if Climate Change walked into a bar (Trout Fishing-style) and ordered a drink I despise?

And then happily, I think, they were back in town and we all had a moment to reflect on the snow. To frown at Murray. To maybe think a little about being “assigned death” (to borrow Maggie’s excellent phrase from the comments). And to get ready for the next leg of our journey.

This week: Let’s meet up at the bottom of page 219 aka the end of Chapter 30, where we’ll take “a last look at the sky and start walking down the hill.”

The White Noise Meander, Week 3

Hey presto and welcome to the start of Week 3 (and Book II)!

Last week I tried unsuccessfully to keep track of which kid belongs to which parent. (Speaking of which, who’s-whose-kid? cheat sheets will not be deleted from the comments.)

Really appreciated all the thread-goodness on everything from keening kids, to Kate Hepburn, from where White Noise falls on the plastic spectrum, to the pros and cons of DD’s language and style, to a reminder that there’s a grotesque pop culture-ization of Hitler at the heart of our tale.

The White Noise Meander, Week 3 — Figure 3.1: The magnet and this image will be easy to tell apart.

From the text these last few days, I’ve been thinking about Chapter 20 and the fact that we all (or is it just me and Jack?) run the numbers on how many years we and our loved ones will get. All the decisions we make, all based on a simple formula where X won’t be resolved until it doesn’t matter much.

It didn’t make me blue, but it did leave me feeling grateful to be spending some of my copious X meandering this trail with all of youse.

This week: Book I done, Book II looks to be a fast flip and a zoom. I’ll see you at 50 more pages and a stretch — the end of Chapter 23 aka the bottom of page 164, where “it might make her suspect that something was wrong.”

Update! Xian created this lovely family tree for folks like me who were having trouble keeping all the 23andJack deets straight. Enjoy!

The White Noise Meander, Week 2

And just like that, we’ve made it to the start of Week 2!

Thanks to everyone who’s Meandering and commented on Week 1. Really happy to have you along for the amble!

Last week while we braced for what feels like a bad breeze or perhaps just the next person to fall into a rack of paperbacks at the supermarket, the comments were filled with dogs taking a stand against generic food, suggestions for emotionally aligned tunes from the ’80s (make mine “Cities in Dust”), and visions of peacocks wandering around parking lots.

Figure 2.1: Artist’s rendering of what the magnet won’t look like…

Meanwhile I was trying hard not to think about a Professor of Hitler Studies naming his son Heinrich, by underlining sentences like “a scrape and gargle that sounded like the stirring of some beast’s ambition,” while pondering “a dull and unlocatable roar, as of some form of swarming life just outside the range of human apprehension.”

This week: The pace feels right, the company’s fab, and you’re tan, rested, and ready for week 2. Let’s meet up at the bottom of page 104, aka the end of Part I, where someone appears to be “crying softly, uncertainly, in low heaves and swells, as Murray took notes.”

Wait, how’s this work again? Finish on time, comment each week, and stay in the hunt for a free “I Survived the White Noise Meander” magnet. Oh, and in case you were wondering: This is the post for comments on Chapters 12-20.

The White Noise Meander, Week 1

Hail and welcome to the kick off for this here White Noise Meander.

What’s the big idea?

A group of us are teaming up to read Don DeLillo’s (well heck I can’t describe it because I haven’t read it yet!) novel….

How’s it work?
We’ll be reading roughly 50-60 pages a week. Each week I’ll post the next week’s target. Read along, comment on each thread by week’s end, make it to the finish line, and you qualify for one free “I Survived the White Noise Meander”magnet, designed by long-time Meanderer, Elisabeth Beller.

Figure 1.1: This is not what the magnet will look like…

I’ll confess I broke all the rules and read 12 pages or so ahead and it was a blast. That said, distractions pop up, life takes twist and turns, and thus it always is that people drop off along the way.

But I believe in you and your ability to read a book in 50 page increments and post on a blog. You’re a sure bet to make it to the end. Me? My track record is so-so. But every Meander starts with optimism so yes, yes, and yes again: I’ll see ya at the back cover, my friends!

This week: Read through the end of Chapter 11, pumping the brakes when “a series of frightened children appeared at our door for their Halloween treats.”

Onward and throughward!
-Cecil

The White Noise Meander moment of restful contemplation

Greetings gentle reader! And welcome to the last Sunday before the first Sunday of the rest of your Meander.

What are we talking about?

A group read of Don DeLillo’s it’s-a-little-early-to-call-it-immortal White Noise!

You can find all the deets in last week’s post.

Can’t you sum it for me here?

What the heck — you seem nice! Here goes:

Join the gang
Read along as we tackle around 50 pages a week
Comment on each weekly post
Finish the book…
…and qualify for an original “I Survived the White Noise Meander” magnet, designed by long-time meanderer Elisabeth Beller!

And now? Now’s a wonderful time to hydrate, to buy a copy of the book, to take faded black and white photos of yourself with loved ones.

Today? Today’s not a great day to actually start reading the book, tempting though that might be.

But next Sunday? Yes! Next Sunday we’ll hit the road en masse! Meet back here on Feb 2 for the Week 1 post and the exciting reveal of the first target. The very Web trembles with fear and/or excitement!

Feel free to leave a comment below sharing hopes, dreams, and wishes. And remember: Any good meander is all about the curve in the road.

See ya in 7!
-Cecil