Today will be different than normal, well as normal as I get. Today I want to introduce you to the book that launched an idea, which I still really want to turn into an art project. The book is “Death of a Salesman”, written by Arthur Miller.
You all probably know that I have an art project called “Home Was Where the Hearth Is”, a collection of photographs of freestanding hearths in the wild. I believe early this year I mentioned starting another art project to be called “In Others’ Words”, which would be a collection of photographs of books which have an inscription, and the inscription within them. Once I figure out how to arrange these photographs I will begin the project. While my copy of “Death of a Salesman” doesn’t have a proper inscription, it does have the name and address of the person who owned it before I did, written in meticulously fine penmanship; this is what intrigued me.
For many years I wondered about the man who once owned this copy of “Death of a Salesman”.
– Who was he?
– Was this a book he purchased, or was it a gift?
– Why did he write his name and address in this book?
– Did he do this for all of his books?
– Why did he get rid of this book?
I’ve been in possession of this book for over forty years, and lived not far from the address when I first obtained it. I believe that I attempted to Google him years ago as well. When I repeated this effort this week, I discovered that he died in 2007. I never got to meet Mr Wyllie, but he altered the trajectory of my life.
FWIW- “Death of a Salesman” is my second favorite play, eclipsed only by “Glengarry Glen Ross”. Unsurprisingly both of these plays are about men in sales, down on their luck.
As Paul Harvey used to say… “And now you know the rest of the story.”
One more thing: This must be Anniversary Week. Yesterday I realized, thanks to the t-shirt I wore, that ten years ago today I rode the GA400 ride.
Wordle: four, my starter was RISKY
Given that I am riding in Brevard at the beginning of next month, and it appears that it might be wet this week, I should have gone out for a ride this morning. Instead I walked over to WLF@UFO to kill some Mexican Bean Beetles. I would have extended my walk home for more exercise if not for the notification that a nature break was imminent.
If clean, Tadej Poge?ar will be the most dominant rider I’ve ever witnessed. However, yesterday he made this TdF boring for me since unless he crashes it’s essentially decided.
Should have known better than to use a foreign character in the POS software known as WordPress…
Wordle in 4.
Taddy is mostly superior to anyone else in the field, he really does make the racing boring. And today being a sprint stage is especially boring- yet, I watch.
I got the scooter out with its new windshield yesterday for a little test ride. More wind hits my helmet, but it’s cleaner, so less noise. I’m joining a ride tomorrow with the BMW Club of GA near Barnesville for lunch.
We watched France beat Morocco and Debbie made a salmon salad. Today I crawl under the house to see if I can figure out what’s wrong with the ductwork. Won’t be fun.
-FP
I walked up to Midway to watch the game. Smartly got there early enough to claim a table under cover knowing that the sky would open up.
you got rain ????
we had a crazy wind/thunder event – but it only lasted maybe 10 minutes – and we really got very little rain
Skies opened up for a heavy downpour, and lasted about fifteen minutes.
I was hoping for more, but just a few drops fell.
Allan & the boys are off to the Ocoee to do some afternoon rafting.
Spain plays at 3pm, so when they get done, there is now a brewery up there, very close to the outfitter – so they can see the 2nd half of the game at least
I’m surprised to report that I finally have a World Cup team, Norway. Their striker Haaland end up on my radar yesterday. That dude is not of this earth. And apparently he eats calf hearts as part of his daily 6,000 calorie intake. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7433514/2026/07/10/erling-haaland-usa-world-cup/?unlocked_article_code=1.wlA.gXdw.jkRSoDfGNilK&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta
Separately, I like the constraints of your two art projects. I’ll never see a standalone hearth again without thinking about Hearth is Where the Home Was, and the inscription project sounds like it can take you down some interesting rabbit holes. If you’re not sure where to go with that project, an AI chat would make for an interesting sounding board. I’ve communed with ChatGPT to a level that elements of my trips to Death Valley and other national parks are serving as a new framework for how I teach Excel.
Haaland has been on my radar since he used to play in the Bundesliga before joining Manchester City.
Thanks for the suggestion. As a Luddite I never consider turning to AI, so I will have to give it a go.
The key to success using AI with your project is to keep iterating, meaning keep the conversation going, critique what it gives you, and keep typing out whatever comes to your brain. ChatGPT once described itself to me as a thought collaborator, and that’s exactly how I use it. I’ve trained it to reflect my own thoughts back to me, which then lets me see them in new ways that I can riff off of. So, specifically for your art project, think of it as having a running conversation with someone that’s just invested in your art project as you are. I think you’ll be amazed at what surfaces.