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My sister knows someone who has a glass eye. She was telling me about him and relaying a story he had told her. Once he was in an air-conditioned building and walked outside into a hot day and his glass eye shattered. Someone helped him to clean out the glass, but he was bummed because he didn’t have another glass eye to insert. He went home and told his mom and she went to a box where she kept all of his old glass eyes and she pulled one out for him to use. He washed it before inserting it. My sister said that he had all these glass eyes because as he grew, he’d have to be refitted for a new one every so often.
Wow. The questions this raises in my mind …
How often does a person have to be refitted for a glass eye?
If it’s not replaced, will it eventually become too small for the socket and fall out?
Does a glass eye track like a normal eye? Or does it stay stationary?
How is it lubricated?
Is it heavy? How does it feel in the socket? Does it get to a point where the body can’t really feel it (like glass, contacts, or a hearing aid)?
What’s it like to insert a glass eye? What’s it like not to wear the eye? How does an empty eye socket feel?
How many people in the world have glass eyes?
Who makes glass eyes?
What’s the typical age for getting a glass eye?
Is a glass eye obvious when looking at someone who has one? In what way?
How does the other eye compensate?
My ignorance on the subject of glass eyes is obvious. I imagined a glass eye to be an orb that gets popped into the socket and that’s about it. My sister’s story opened my own eyes to the fact that there is a lot more to know about glass eyes. Online research gave me a glimpse into the subject and answered a number of my questions.
I found a video on YouTube showing a young man demonstrating how to remove and insert a glass eye.
Those who make glass eyes and assist patients in glass eye fitting are called ocularists. There is an American Society of Ocularists.
Glass eyes, by the way, are no longer made of glass, although they used to be. They are now made of a particular type of plastic. They are also not the round eyes of my imagination. Rather, if the entire eyeball must be removed (called enucleation), an orbital implant is used to fill the socket and give it shape. The artifical eye is a cupped form that fits over either the orbital implant or the remaining natural eyeball. This eye is created to appear as life-like as possible, with an iris that closely matches the existing eye, surrounded by the white of the eye. “Artificial eye” and “prosthetic eye” seem to be the proper terms for these replacement eyes.
It is recommended that infants visit an ocularist every three months. A child under the age of 9 should go twice a year, and every one else, once a year. Although the website I’ve linked to for this info indicates these visits are more about keeping the artificial eye polished and making sure the human tissue is still healthy, rather than discussing the refitting for size.
I’ve learned many interesting things about artificial eyes, but there’s still more to learn. If anyone reading this has an artificial eye or knows someone with an artificial eye, I’d really be interested in hearing about what the experience is like on a personal level. Comments are moderated on this blog, so they won’t go public until I approve them. If you want me to keep your message private, please let me know within your comment, or send me an email at woowooteacup (at) gmail (dot) com.
The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot by Charles Baxter
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Marvelous book on how to work subtext (the story under the story) into fiction. Charles Baxter makes what could be a pedantic and plodding subject one that is comprehensible and interesting. I highly recommend this for writers attempting to build more depth into their writing.
My short GoodReads review of “The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot” belies the fact that I have a lot more to say about the book. I really want to expound upon a particular chapter in Charles Baxter’s book and also urge readers not to turn away from this book because of its plain cover and understated title. Baxter uses many examples from well-known literature in order to illustrate the points he makes and he does so in an entertaining way. While not explicitly stated, this book encourages writers to examine their own work for subtext that they may not have been aware of including in their stories. It sure made me take a closer look at a particular scene in Greenville (chapter 10, Johnny Jesus Boots), and has informed how I will move forward on a current project (specifically in making sure to describe faces more closely).
Now that I’ve told you not to discount the book with the plain cover, I’d like to turn my attention to the chapter called “Creating a Scene.” Throughout the chapter, Baxter discusses how creating a scene is absolutely crucial to good fiction, even though creating a scene in real life is typically frowned upon. Creating a scene in this case is not about whipping up some scenario from your imagination and describing it on the page. In the sense Baxter is using the phrase, he means making a scene, causing a commotion, stirring feelings of discomfort in others through engaging in behavior that is unacceptable to polite society. Fiction lives through the scenes its ill-mannered characters make.
Baxter says, “If you were raised in the genteel tradition, as I was, you avoid scenes, even when people say they love you. This is not the best preparation in the world for writing stories.” (pg. 117)
I, too, was raised to avoid making scenes. The tradition wasn’t so much about gentility as it was about children being seen and not heard – and preferably not seen all that often, either. The purpose of squashing a child’s ability to make a scene was to uphold the comfort zones and order of the surrounding adults. (Can you imagine creating a scene in school?) When you become an adult, though, you discover that the ability to make an occasional scene is critical to not being steam-rolled by people who haven’t got your best interests at heart. (The Iranian elections are coming to mind, by way of illustration.)
When it comes to fiction, all bets are off, according to Baxter, as far as avoiding scenes is concerned. “In daily life, a writer may practice conflict-avoidance, but in fiction a writer must welcome conflict and walk straight into it.” (pg. 115) Conflict is where the story is. If life is all fine and dandy, running smoothly, happiness and bluebirds, that’s great for real world, but it means there is no story in fiction. You may as well be watching the grass grow if your story is free of conflict.
Along these lines, Baxter wrote, “Stories often require sparkplug characters — radically unpleasant types — as focusing agents.” (pg. 121)
I like that image – “sparkplug characters” – and the notion that they are “focusing agents,” pulling the action, the conflict of a story into a sharpness than makes you, the reader, pay attention to what’s happening. You’ll notice that sparkplug characters making a scene in real life also cause you to focus upon them, even if you’d rather not.
Baxter indicates that there are a couple of ways to create a scene about making a scene, either by having our sparkplug characters flout convention through the display of bad manners (pg. 128), or by having them attempt “to be visible to others, often in the service of a wish or a demand that [they] seek to impose.” (pg. 129)
Look at me! Look at me! Here I am! I have needs that need to be met, by golly! We can go a very long time without getting our needs met in real life because we refuse to create a scene. Along the way, we become crotchety. And the pressure builds. And the needs, if they haven’t been snuffed by stupor or hopelessness, keep rising and making their demands from the inside, until they overcome our desire to avoid a scene and suddenly we’re making a scene regardless of propriety.
The best part of fiction comes when the writer begins with the build-up of pressure and lets us watch to see if the character is going to blow.
———-
(As an aside, Baxter happens to mention one of my favorite writers in this chapter – Brenda “Strength to Your Sword Arm” Ueland. Baxter actually knew Ueland personally. While he doesn’t cite Ueland as an example of someone who made scenes, after observing her personality through her writing, I’m pretty sure she was as capable of creating a scene (through flouting convention) in real life, as well as in her writing.)
I was catching up on Twitter this morning and was shocked to discover that Billy Mays, the dark-haired, dark-bearded gentleman with the loud voice who sells all manner of products, had died this morning. I thought it must be some kind of a joke, especially after Michael Jackson’s untimely passing, so I did a further online search. ‘Tis unfortunately true.
Billy was one of those instantaneously recognizable human beings. He had a hook (more than one, really – the voice and the beard). He was easy to poke fun at (which I’ve done a couple of times) because he was larger-than-life, but he sure seemed to love what he was doing. Who doesn’t want to be in such a position?
It was a brilliant move on the Discovery Channel’s part to create a show with Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan, another recognizable face in advertising. The show is called Pitchmen and after watching a couple of episodes, I gained a greater appreciation and respect for the type of work these men do. Plus, if truth be told, I started taking Billy more seriously. Dang! I’m going to miss him.
Rest in peace, Billy. My condolences to your family and friends.
Though the question be oft-asked, I shall ask it again (and risk a magnificent storm of spam on my blog). What is up with the twin outdoor bathtubs on the Cialis ads?
Hubby and I saw one of these ads tonight on television and astute as we can be about symbolism and suchlike, we often turn to each other and scratch our heads over this. While the advertisers may have been attempting to hint at romance, rather than slam, bam, thank you, ma’am sex, they’ve missed the mark. The problem is that the bathtubs are distracting because they lead to unanswered questions.
Who in their right mind would drag what appears to be a cast-iron claw-foot tub out of doors? Who in their right mind would drag TWO such bathtubs out of doors and set them side-by-side on some hill/cliff overlooking the water? Is there any water in the tubs? It’s pretty obvious from the setting that there can’t possibly be plumbing attached to these tubs. If the tubs are empty, why would any normal couple each pick one to sit in so they could hold hands? Wouldn’t a bench be more comfortable? If the tubs are full, how did they come to be in such a state? Isn’t it likely that the water would have cooled off by the time someone managed to get two ginormous tubs filled? How does the couple handle getting in and out of the tub? I’m assuming they are naked, which is the usual state when bathing. Isn’t there an awkward moment when they drop or don their towels and some fisherman on the lake looks up and spots them?
But the most important question du jour is this: If this couple really wants to put Cialis to work for them, why would they choose to sit in two separate tubs?
At least Smiling Bob from the Enzyte commercials left no mystery as to why he was playing Santa.
Hubby, Daughter and I went on a couple of college tours today. The tours were fine, but the heat was miserable – anywhere between 92 and 97 degrees Fahrenheit for much of the day. Even though we bopped in and out of air conditioning and I had plenty of liquid to drink (just ask Daughter how many times I had to use the bathroom), I still got a heat headache – a dull, behind-the-eyes pain – that will likely be with me until tomorrow morning. A good night’s sleep should help, provided I’m not too warm.
As soon as I got home, I ripped off my shoes and socks, which immediately made me more comfortable. It’s all in the extremities. My dad says that if you can keep your feet warm in the winter, rest of your body will feel warm. I think the reverse goes in the summer. If you can keep your feet cool, the rest of you will feel cooler in general. (Although a nice patch of shade with a Caribou Smoothie can’t hurt.)
While we may be wilting from the heat, the campus visits today were helpful. Daughter rearranged her rankings of the colleges she’s interested in attending. What was her bottom choice has now become her top choice.
Anyone here remember the punishment of being sent to bed without supper? I’m trying to remember if my parents ever sent me to bed without supper. No incident along these lines is coming to me at the moment.
What childhood infraction could be so bad that a kid isn’t fed? On purpose? Unless a family is in a poverty situation wherein there isn’t any food, why would anyone think to do this? Does anyone do this anymore?
I was thinking about this earlier today and ran into this horrific story. I think this mother would believe that sending her child to bed without supper was too lenient.
Do you ever reach a point of routine in being online? Checking the email, checking Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, reading the same blogs … everything pretty much in the same order? Wearing the inter-tubes into a deep groove?
The groove can be comforting and exciting for a time. Until it’s not.
When I reach the point of boredom with my online routine, I purposely shake things up by finding new people to follow, new applications to try. I’ve been in shaking up mode for the past week or so, even go as far as to rearrange and tidy my blog’s sidebar.
As I work myself into a new routine, I’ve been looking for blogs by creative people. By doing a Google search and poking around within blogrolls, I’ve found a few interesting new blogs to follow.
A most helpful on is called Artists Who Blog by Stephanie Levy, an artist and illustrator in her own right. Artists Who Blog is an interview format blog, with Stephanie finding other artists – specifically those who blog – and asking them questions about both their art and their blogs. There are lots of great photos included, as well as links to the artists’ blog.
Through Artists Who Blog, I’ve discovered two other artists whose blogs I’ve just begun to follow: La Pomme by Apol Lejano-Massebieau and Creative Thursday by Marisa Haedike. With both, I was attracted to their art first and foremost, then to what they said about their experiences with art and blogging. (I really can’t explain adequately why I’m drawn to some people over others. Can you?) I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy getting to know all three of these women through their blogs. I’m also sensing that I have to check out this whole Etsy thing.
I was ironing shirts for my sons the other day when I noticed a strangeness about one of them.
Which of these things is not like the others?
Check out that last buttonhole. It’s horizontal, rather than vertical. The odd buttonhole out. Hubby says he has a shirt like this, too. This particular shirt was from the now-defunct Steve & Barry’s.
Hubby and I made a trip to Wal-Mart this evening. Eldest Son needed some thank you cards to send out for his graduation gifts. Young Son was hoping for some orange Tic Tacs. I had a hankering for orange pop. While we were at the store, I remembered we needed some Parmesan cheese so we can make Alfredo sauce. Hubby grabbed some Crunch ‘n Munch as a last-minute, at-the-counter, impulse buy.
Thank you cards, Tic Tacs, orange pop, Parmesan cheese, Crunch ‘n Munch. The only way this shopping list could be more random is if we had needed Preparation H.
The air is heavy in Central Minnesota. The sky is gray, but it’s not raining here. Feels as though it might at any moment. Apparently in the Alexandria area, west of here, conditions are ripe for tornadic activity. I feel both edgy and lethargic. My brain is on slow, which is making me unproductive. Several of us in the Warner family have had moments of crankiness between last night and today. The air pressure must be affecting us all. I wish it would storm and get it over with.
Maybe I’ll retype our phone contacts list. Doesn’t take much thinking and I’ll feel like I accomplished something.
I am one of those people who tends to mishear song lyrics. When there was a move from vinyl records to cassette tapes to CDs, I didn’t have much of an issue shifting technologies because each of these forms came with paper inserts or booklets that typically had the song lyrics for the album printed on them.
The shift from CDs to digital music was a much harder one for me to make, and it wasn’t simply because I’m becoming one of those old fogies who doesn’t like change. My biggest gripe with digital music was the loss of the art and printed lyrics. I’ve since come to terms with my digital music player (an iPod Nano), and not only come to terms with it, but come to adore it. Anything that allows me to carry hundreds of songs in my purse or pocket and has a fun little button/wheel to fiddle with AND includes the album art is bound for eventual love and admiration. The only thing still missing is the lyrics.
After mishearing the word “vagabond” as “bag of bones” in The Killers’ song “Losing Touch,” I thought I should investigate whether there was a way to put lyrics on my iPod. Sure enough, there is a way to do it, but it’s perhaps the most retarded (can I use that word anymore?) way I can think of to accomplish what should be a simple and automatic task.
The process involves selecting each individual song, opening “Get Info” from the File menu in iTunes, selecting the Lyrics tab and typing the lyrics into the text box. That works wonderfully if you want to type the lyrics to over 400 songs (or whatever number you have in your iPod) and you can understand all the lyrics. You can shorten this process by looking for the lyrics online and doing a copy/paste, but not all lyrics services will allow you to copy the lyrics, plus some of these services have obvious errors in the lyrics.
If Apple can manage to provide the song, the album art, artist and composer names, and genres for each song, why can’t it also automatically provide the lyrics? And, yes, I get that the lyrics are under separate copyright from the musical recording. Come on peeps in the music industry, work out some kind of a licensing deal on this. I’d like to be able to sing my favorite songs correctly in the shower and car.
One of the deciding factors in choosing to publish my Greenville book through a print-on-demand supplier was that the supplier, Cafe Press, gave me the ability to create other merchandise to go along with the book. I knew I wanted to offer some t-shirts and it’s been on my list of things to do for several months now to design one and get it uploaded to my store. I went crazy with the Cheez Whiz today and designed a bunch of t-shirts, selecting six to upload.
Here are three of the designs. You can see the rest at my Cafe Press store.
Town Character T-shirt Design
Comfortable Sanity T-shirt Design - Quote from Greenville
Move the Rock T-Shirt Design
