Evan for Baba Time

Evan joined me for Baba Time, and as we talked about his family’s recent vacation in central Oregon, he built a car out of a bottle, some cardboard, chopsticks, and duct tape. I told him I feel I’ve reached a plateau in piano study; I feel slow and halting, not making progress. He asked how long I’ve been taking lessons. A year. He said he’s been studying piano for nearly three years now, and he remembers that plateau. Said he reaches plateaus too. Kindly and gently he exhorted me, “Practice, Baba, just keep on practicing, even if it feels frustrating. It’s the only way.”

A new game, Poetry for Neanderthals, absorbed us for a couple of hours. It’s a cooperative game that challenges players to create definitions by forming sentences composed of one-syllable words. The other player has to guess the word being defined. The name of the game is based on stereotypical insults to Neanderthals, who are part of our lineage, but putting that aside, it leads to imaginative (and often hilarious) use of language. For example Evan defined “bagpipe” as “Thing that hold stuff and have Loch Ness tube, make wind.” I laughed till I cried but guessed it correctly, a win for our team. When I defined “Close Encounter” obscurely as “Not far meet and greet,” we lost a point. I redeemed myself by defining “Poop Scoop” as “Thing pick up thing come out of butt,” which had Evan falling out of his chair with laughter.

The photo is a wire toy on Evan’s arm, garbed in his mother’s old Adidas jacket that fits him now (he’s having another growth spurt).

On a more serious note, I appreciate Juan Gonzalez’ take on the Democratic National Convention and the “Two Faces of Capitalism” in the USA. Seldom have I heard a journalist reflect my own ideas about the event so clearly and succinctly. I hope she wins, but I have little optimism that it will lead to a more compassionate government nor to a ceasefire in Gaza. I would love to be wrong about both.