Love you and your dad together. Learned a little, laughed a few times, and even got a little wistful at the end. Hope you both went for a game of catch in the drizzle.
ALICE: You loved Pedro, and I was a monkey who thought whatever you did was best.
DAD: This is why you have great taste.
ALICE: 🥰
DAD: This has been a lot of fun. I don’t want it to end.
ALICE: We could go to the school and play catch. . . .
This is hard for me. I don’t like commenting. I feel out in the open. (There’s a lot to that, which Sandor Ferenczi has something to say about.)
I’m here because of Nancy Franklin, and now you. She retweeted the interview and I follow her. I admire her work. It is singular, as yours is, and I can’t decide on a quote I like best from the interview. I used one on my own retweet, and now I’ve used that one I pasted here. There needn’t be a best; each needn’t compete. “Which of your two sons do you think is the better looking?” an acquaintance who needed help once asked me. I went mute. Here is what I want to say:
The interview is full and rich and alive, hovering upon as much said as unsaid. On a story I wrote about a boy betraying his trusting, unpopular friend—they were in the first grade—my teacher, Kathryn Harrison, wrote, “I don't know how life unfolded in so-called real time, I know only what you put on the page. What you lived may have seemed devoid of light, of God, but should you ever wonder - doubt - its presence, just go back to your own work.”
Your work is its very own home for you, I think. I’m glad you open it to us.
You probably weren't expecting a comment over five months later, but someone linked this over at our baseball (Dodgers) blog and so I read it and was absolutely delighted that he found it and shared it with us. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of reading this.
One of best-read commenters in our community gave this brief review,
"Rarely have I been so charmed. Love this." and another termed it "an absolute delight."
As a dad to 2 girls (20 and 18), I'm very impressed with your dad's patience and good humor in the face of your off-topic provocations. 😆 Looking forward to reading your future sports posts!
I love this exchange and truly appreciated Alice's open-mindedness on baseball, which is not an easy sport to love in these turbo-charged social media times where everybody has an attention span of 30 seconds. Not a sport built for the 21st century.
Alice's father sounds wonderful. An exceptionally erudite and loving man. You can see why his daughter turned out to be equally special (even if she does hate sports, LOL). I'm curious about the timing of his evolution from Mets fan to BoSox fan. Did it happen before 1986 (because that would have killed him, but made Alice's uncle cackle with joy).
Sending the link to my sister, most definitely a "tantrum and stomping off" case in her day. Even if she doesn't enjoy this piece as much as I did, she'll find a lot of great writing here. Congrats!
This is priceless. Every word had my full attention. I’m reminded of Shana Alexander’s depictions of conversations with her father, Milton Ager, in her book Happy Days. It’s out of print but I saw one on Amazon just now.
I didn't know there was a Jane Austen reference to "baseball", trust you to get that in! :D I did use to play "rounders" in junior school which is similar to baseball (in so far as it involves a bat, ball and four bases to run around), no catcher person with a big glove involved though - you either hit the ball on the first attempt or you don't but regardless of that you've still gotta run! Anyway good to see you back in the substack game. :)
Jeez, this was great, both of you. A great oitcher catcher team.
--Ron Rosenbaum
this was very lovely
Love you and your dad together. Learned a little, laughed a few times, and even got a little wistful at the end. Hope you both went for a game of catch in the drizzle.
Thanks,
Ray.
ALICE: You loved Pedro, and I was a monkey who thought whatever you did was best.
DAD: This is why you have great taste.
ALICE: 🥰
DAD: This has been a lot of fun. I don’t want it to end.
ALICE: We could go to the school and play catch. . . .
This is hard for me. I don’t like commenting. I feel out in the open. (There’s a lot to that, which Sandor Ferenczi has something to say about.)
I’m here because of Nancy Franklin, and now you. She retweeted the interview and I follow her. I admire her work. It is singular, as yours is, and I can’t decide on a quote I like best from the interview. I used one on my own retweet, and now I’ve used that one I pasted here. There needn’t be a best; each needn’t compete. “Which of your two sons do you think is the better looking?” an acquaintance who needed help once asked me. I went mute. Here is what I want to say:
The interview is full and rich and alive, hovering upon as much said as unsaid. On a story I wrote about a boy betraying his trusting, unpopular friend—they were in the first grade—my teacher, Kathryn Harrison, wrote, “I don't know how life unfolded in so-called real time, I know only what you put on the page. What you lived may have seemed devoid of light, of God, but should you ever wonder - doubt - its presence, just go back to your own work.”
Your work is its very own home for you, I think. I’m glad you open it to us.
Sure, be my guest! Please attribute to @DavidYoungTBLA. And thanks again!
You probably weren't expecting a comment over five months later, but someone linked this over at our baseball (Dodgers) blog and so I read it and was absolutely delighted that he found it and shared it with us. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of reading this.
One of best-read commenters in our community gave this brief review,
"Rarely have I been so charmed. Love this." and another termed it "an absolute delight."
Thank you for writing it and bringing it to us.
As a dad to 2 girls (20 and 18), I'm very impressed with your dad's patience and good humor in the face of your off-topic provocations. 😆 Looking forward to reading your future sports posts!
This was delightful, but I have a simpler explanation for why baseball was the pastime for a hundred years:
1. It was played at a MUCH FASTER pace than it is today
2. Because there are a small number of discrete, easily visualizable events, and has a daily rhythm, it is the best sport to follow in the newspaper.
3. For similar reasons, it is arguably the best sport on the radio.
Put simply, television wounded baseball and the modern style of play is going to kill it.
I love this exchange and truly appreciated Alice's open-mindedness on baseball, which is not an easy sport to love in these turbo-charged social media times where everybody has an attention span of 30 seconds. Not a sport built for the 21st century.
Alice's father sounds wonderful. An exceptionally erudite and loving man. You can see why his daughter turned out to be equally special (even if she does hate sports, LOL). I'm curious about the timing of his evolution from Mets fan to BoSox fan. Did it happen before 1986 (because that would have killed him, but made Alice's uncle cackle with joy).
I actually watched enough baseball this year such that I could predict most balls in play by the end. This is as bizarre as it sounds.
Touching and moving baseball explainer!
Sending the link to my sister, most definitely a "tantrum and stomping off" case in her day. Even if she doesn't enjoy this piece as much as I did, she'll find a lot of great writing here. Congrats!
This is priceless. Every word had my full attention. I’m reminded of Shana Alexander’s depictions of conversations with her father, Milton Ager, in her book Happy Days. It’s out of print but I saw one on Amazon just now.
I'm not crying, but I loved reading this. I miss talking baseball with my brother, who died last year.
I didn't know there was a Jane Austen reference to "baseball", trust you to get that in! :D I did use to play "rounders" in junior school which is similar to baseball (in so far as it involves a bat, ball and four bases to run around), no catcher person with a big glove involved though - you either hit the ball on the first attempt or you don't but regardless of that you've still gotta run! Anyway good to see you back in the substack game. :)
As someone who grew up on basketball and only got into baseball very recently, I really enjoyed this. Felt like I learned stuff