A review of Finding Livelihood out of Gainesville (Christian Study Center; Reconsiderations, July 2015)

Tuesday brought word of a new review for Finding Livelihood. Betsy Clover, program administrator, of the Christian Study Center of Gainesville, Florida, wrote a review in the center's publication: Reconsiderations: Exploring Christian Thought in the University Community.

Here's part of what Clover wrote:

"Part of the Study Center’s philosophy that serves as an anchor to me in my own thinking is the insight that good questions frame meaningful comprehension. Along this same line of thinking comes a bit of wisdom my friend recently shared with me: the opposite of arrogance is curiosity. These principles encourage me to a posture of humility and challenge me to look deeper than surface issues to find the question that will answer other questions. Nancy Nordenson does this through her writing. By approaching the subject of work with lyric style, she invites us all to embrace curiosity, and allow seemingly contradictory realities to shape understanding….[H]er her writing invites people to identify with her in shared experience. From this starting point she continually keeps her reflections in context of a transcendent reality by running creation alongside Creator, temporal together with eternal, and finite next to infinite." 

Oh, this makes me happy. That she felt the invitation to curiosity and shared experience, that she saw the reflections within the context of a transcendent reality. That she wrote the words: "creation alongside Creator, temporal together with eternal, and finite next to infinite."

I love that she saw hope and empathy coming through.

She continued:

"Because her writing is not from an authoritative, prescriptive stance, she invites readers to think about work without reactionary over-correcting – she holds thoughts about how it is and ideas of how it should be in balance, allowing empathy and hope to come through. The entire book comes from an understanding that there is no textbook formula applicable to individuals grappling with livelihood."

You can read the review in full here. (Scroll to page 6.)

Of course I'm so pleased with this review, but I'm also pleased that this review came out of Gainesville. I came close to going to college at University of Florida in Gainesville alongside a number of my high school friends. I was actually enrolled but changed my mind at nearly the last minute, heading to Chicago instead, yet I always think of Gainesville and U of F with great fondness.

~~~

While you're at the link for the review, I hope you also read the piece starting on page 1, written by James Lynch, MD, an oncologist. He writes about approaching work – in his case, medicine, but he expands the view to whatever your work is – from a mode of incarnation and hospitality. As a medical writer and an occasional patient myself, I applaud this.

Here is some of what Lynch writes about his own work:

"I often start my medical conversation by asking my patients to tell me their stories leading up to and through their diagnosis. It is not infrequent that I hear, “Really? You want me to tell you the story?” They can’t imagine a busy physician actually wanting to hear the “back story.” But after we have a conversation and exchange thoughts and ideas for 15-20 minutes, something wonderful begins to happen. We become human to one another. I cannot help but see them as real, unique persons struggling with a disease and they see me as human too—offering to help and hopefully bringing some expertise."

"We become human to one another." Excellent!

~~~

[Photo: taken from my window seat about 10 minutes after leaving the gate at Tampa International Airport last week following my HS reunion. Given the distance from Tampa to Gainesville, my guess is that the plane is somewhat in the vicinity of Gainesville at this point in the flight, although likely further west. A fitting photograph, also, for a post about Finding Livelihood, given the plane motif in the book.]

Questions about work, faith, and livelihood – Two interviews and an excerpt

I'm grateful for two recent opportunities to talk about Finding Livelihood and some of the complex issues of work and faith: with Lisa Ohlen Harris at Collegeville Institute's Bearings Online magazine and with Stan Friedman at COV magazine online. While at the COV interview, you can also click through to read a book excerpt.

The interviews have some overlap in a couple questions – both want to know where the book started and what's my quibble with the famous Buechner line ("“the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet") – but both spread out in different directions and cover unique territory. 

Both interviews ask questions about things that perhaps you've been thinking about also, such as keeping your eyes open for the movement of God in your work life, even in, and maybe particularly in, work's shadow side.

~~~

[Photo: taken at our favorite Dunkin Donuts rest stop between here and Chicago. My husband noted the incongruity of the people in the wall mural and the people sitting below it.]

Talking about work - a review, a podcast, and readers stories

In the Prologue to Finding Livelihood, I wrote, “I wrote this book looking out from where I sit at my own work desk, but this book is not about me. Let the word and images spin you off into meditations of your own experiences of work.” I’m delighted to see that this is what is really happening among its readers. I’m hearing back stories of first jobs and job searches, memories of strikes and layoffs, concerns about now and future career decisions.

Today over at Duke Divinity School’s Faith & Leadership website, Allison Backous Troy writes about Finding Livelihood within the context of her own search for meaningful work and her friend’s search for work that “didn’t kill her soul.” She reflects on her parents work and the bar tips her father used to buy groceries, even as he reminded Allison to be sure and follow her dreams when she grew up.

In "Livelihood and the path between vocation and work," Allison writes,

"After my college graduation, I thought "following my dreams" meant standing in front of a classroom on the South Side of Chicago. Then I thought it meant standing in a college classroom, teaching writing. Then I got married and moved cross-country and had a baby. But when my job fell through and my husband and I both scrambled to find work, my father's advice became a luxury I could not afford. The gap between our mounting bills and our dwindling savings became more pressing than following the confusing trail of my dreams."

She continues,

"'I yearn,' writes Nordenson, 'for the inner equipping of freedom and play, time for my soul to lift and expand to all that there is, even while on the path of work. I want a place at the table where data meets humanity. I want to sing while collecting my pay.'

This is also what we want -- the place at the table, the song and the pay. The recognition not only that we have worth but that life beckons to us at the edges of our working days, our gladness and the world's hunger rooted in a longing for what Nordenson calls "the integrated transcendent life." Not a transcendence that can be discovered in self-help books or watered-down spirituality, but one that recognizes, like Irenaeus, that 'the glory of God is man fully alive.'"

I hope you’ll read more from Allison’s reflection on my book and her own work life here at Duke’s Faith & Leadership site. Allison is a beautiful writer and frequent contributor there, so click on her name to read more of her columns.

~~~

In other book news, a podcast I recorded several weeks ago is now live at Anglican Review. Michael Porter interviewed me about the book and asked several interesting questions, including one I’d never been asked before. I hope you’ll take a listen.

I also hope you scan the other interviews available on the podcast’s site. Porter interviews authors, theologians, philosophers, and others, and has an international listening audience.

~~~

[Photo: taken of geraniums resurrected after a winter in the basement; they got a slow start but now they're on their way.]

Excerpts from Finding Livelihood – Quote Pictures + Drawing

I’ve been having fun this week making quote images based on excerpts from Finding Livelihood. You’ll find them below in the picture carousel; scroll through to see all nine. (If you’re reading this post via email, you may have to click through to the online post in order to scroll through.)

What are they for? you may ask. They are, first and foremost, for your viewing pleasure, hopefully an aesthetically pleasing way for you to take in a good word in a short moment, like a quick bite of chocolate to get you through an afternoon.

They are also for you to use as content on your social media boards and walls. You can pin them to your Pinterest wall, or put them on Instagram, or use them on Facebook or Twitter or Ello or wherever you like to be.

To use the pictures, it’s best to go over to the Shareable quotes page where they are laid out separately and expandable with a click. Each has a “pin it” button in the top left corner to use for Pinterest. To use in other ways: 1) if you’re on a desktop, you can download and save the image by control-click on Mac or [is it right click?] on a PC; 2) if you’re on a smartphone, you can click and hold on the image to save it.

Of course, the quotes are also for spreading the word about Finding Livelihood. I’d be so happy to see them pop up here and there around the web that I'm going to hold a drawing on Friday, June 19 in celebration of your generosity. If you use one of the quotes on a social media site between now and then, or even if you just email one or more of the quote pictures to a friend, send me an email or leave a comment below to let me know (or tag me on Instagram if you use it there: @nancynordenson). On June 19 I’ll gather up all the names and randomly pick one to receive a free copy of Finding Livelihood plus a $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble.

Thank you for reading!

~~~

You can order Finding Livelihood from: 1) the publisher, Kalos Press; 2) Barnes & Noble; 3) Amazon; 4) Hearts & Minds Books; 5) Eighth Day Books; 6) me (let me know if you want it signed); or 7) any bookstore.

Celebrating in community – Finding Livelihood's book party

Last weekend we officially celebrated the launch of Finding Livelihood. We invited guests and rented a room at Open Book (home to The Loft Literary Center, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Milkweed Editions).

Inside those word-saturated walls, we ate cupcakes and drank Italian soda; we ate watermelon and raspberries, roasted vegetable antipasto and cheeses I don't even know the names of; all was prepared and served with beauty and skill by Blair Zafft and Nicholas Garding of JJ's Café Catering.

We played music. You can listen to the party soundtrack here on Spotify: http://sptfy.com/livelihood. We talked and laughed, maybe all of us a little giddy at the reminder that good things happen and new things are born.

While the congratulations about the book were flowing, inside I was secretly flooded with gratitude for the people who were there. Not only grateful that they chose to spend this Sunday afternoon in response to my invitation, but grateful, so grateful, that they have been in my life. They may not have contributed a word to the book, but they all have contributed to my life and the communities we share, out of which the writing of the book emerged. We all help shape each other, and I have been so fortunate to have these people in my life.

I said a few words before reading a couple sections from the book, and one of the things I said was that it is good and right to celebrate in community, that as I’ve gotten older I’ve learned more and more that nothing of value is created in isolation or in a vacuum.

In the room: my husband of 35 years; my sons and daughters-in-law (I burst from love and pride just thinking of them); my parents, to whom the book was dedicated; my sister and brother-in-law; my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nieces; dear close friends; neighbors and old friends; friends from college; my former pastor and current pastor; friends from church; friends from former Bible studies or book groups; friends I've met in classes; a teacher of a class I currently take; long-time family friends; new friends I'm just getting to know; writing friends; the man who cuts my hair; a friend from my graduate program; an uncle and a second cousin; the list goes on.

There were many who couldn't be there and who have been an important part of my life and this book, and I hope you know who you are if you're reading this.

So Finding Livelihood is launched and on its way in the world. Tons of love and good will sent it forward from that room, like a smash of champagne across its bow. My heart is full. Travel well, little book.

~~~

My thanks to David and Ben Vessel for taking and sharing their pictures.

Book Trailer as Art

Over the last couple weeks I released three videos that I made related to Finding Livelihood and want to share them here. I also want to tell you a little bit about how I made them in case you want to try making their own book video. You could also follow the steps I outline below for making a fun video of you reading a piece of poetry you love or an essay you've written or a story your child wrote or any number of other things.

Book trailer as art

First the backstory. In April I went to the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) annual meeting here in Minneapolis and attended a session led by David Flores, a photographer who creates, among other things, videos for books. The session was called “Promotion as Art: Thinking Beyond the Book Trailer.”

He showed several of the videos he’s made, and they were different than the traditional book trailer. The videos featured an author, poets mostly, reading. Sometimes they showed the actual person, but other times it was voice over while the film showed related photos and clips. There was no interview or description of the book, just something from the book presented in an experiential manner.

Rather than being ads for a book, they were stand-alone offerings. A viewer could watch the video and come away with something valuable from the author/poet, whether or not she went on to read the book. He encouraged those of us in attendance to think outside the box and use our phones and computers to make a video; have fun and be creative; don’t worry about being amateurs.

Taking the challenge

I was intrigued. It sounded like a fun challenge, and so I went home and opened iMovie for the first time to see what I could do with it. I decided I would try for a set of three videos. My first attempt, however, was incredibly boring. At that point I consulted with my friend David Vessel, who is a photographer and videographer par excellence. He helped me understand more about the principles involved in making a video and how better to use the features of a video program and a camera phone. I also did some more reading online to fill in the gaps of what I needed to know.

Over the next couple weeks I came up with three videos. I’ve included one of them at the end of this post. Here are the links to all three on Vimeo and YouTube.

12 steps to making a book video

Here are the basic steps I took. This will get you started on a project of your own.

1. Pick a short section of the book to read. You don’t want the video to go much longer than a couple minutes so pick something less than 300 words.

2. Record yourself reading the section. I used the free recording software Audacity.

3. Find pictures or video clips that complement the recorded book section. You can use what you already have or set out to take something new. Although you could use copyright-free images you find online, to me it seems best to use your own so that even the pictures have your own voice in them.

4. Open your movie software and start playing around with it. Open a new movie project and name it. I used iMovie because it came free on my computer.

5. Import the visual components to the movie software, then add them into the timeline of your developing movie in an order that seems appropriate. You will adjust them later.

6. Import your audio file to the movie software. First, though, you have to export it from the recording software so that you have it as a separate file. Once it’s in the movie software, you can add it to the movie timeline. In iMovie it just slides in as a separate item below the line-up of images.

7. Adjust the length of video clips and the duration of still images within the timeline. Add other effects. You’ll need to learn about the specific features of your own movie software for specifics on doing this. Keep playing the movie while you’re doing this so you can match the flow of images to the flow of words. Let yourself play around until it feels right.

8. Add one or more additional soundtracks. iMovie has some built-in ambient sounds, which I used for one of the videos. For another video, I walked down a moderately busy street in my neighborhood with my phone recorder on, capturing car and airplane traffic noise as well as the occasional rustle of wind and tweet of birds. For a music track, I commissioned the talented Berg Holmgren, who also happens to be my nephew, to write and perform acoustic guitar background for two of the videos. I took a different approach with the third video, finding a piece of royalty-free CC0 music online (you can’t use copyright-protected recorded music).

9. Add a title image at the beginning and credit images at the end. iMovie provides formatted images for this.

10. Select and add transitions between the images. Transition options are provided within the movie program. I used a simple “Cross Dissolve” consistently.

11. Make final adjustments of starting points of audio and soundtracks, and duration of images and clips so that time wise it all fits together.

12. Export the movie file to Vimeo, YouTube, or other destinations. Check the size requirements for where you’re going to export it. Given those requirements and the type of images I had to work with, I exported the files as SD, not HD.

One of the Finding Livelihood videos

Here’s one of the videos I made: Walk The Path. You can view the other two here at Vimeo and at YouTube.

 
If you like the videos, please share them on your social medial channel of choice.

And if you give this a try for your own and want to share the results, leave a link in the comments below.

~~~

You can order Finding Livelihood from: 1) the publisher, Kalos Press; 2) Barnes & Noble; 3) Amazon; 4) Hearts & Minds Books; 5) Eighth Day Books; 6) me (let me know if you want it signed); or 7) any bookstore.

The person behind a book blurb: Marcus Goodyear

Part 7 in the series on the generous endorsers of Finding Livelihood.

Scroll through the full series with this link.

BONUS! Keep reading for a chance to win a copy of Finding Livelihood at The High Calling

The final Finding Livelihood endorser I want to thank by highlighting him on this blog is Marcus Goodyear, acting Editor-in-Chief for The High Calling, a website devoted to exploring issues of faith and work. The High Calling as well as Laity Lodge are programs of the H. E. Butt Family Foundation. I’ve never met Marcus in person but he and I met online about 3 years ago when he saw a post from my blog about work-related art from The Museum of Russian Art here in Minneapolis. He sent word of the post to a colleague of his who lived near me, who then reached out to me, and the multi-layer connection was made.

I asked Marcus if we could do something different with this post compared with the others in this endorsers series. So instead of me giving a bio introduction to Marcus, he agreed to do a Q&A with me about him and his work at The High Calling and elsewhere. I love learning how people came to do what they do, and Marcus generously shares of his story here, including letting us in on his childhood career dream.

NN: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

MG: In kindergarten I wanted to work at a car wash. I was so fascinated by the machine itself, and I wanted to be near that machine. It must have been alarming to my parents for me to have drawn a picture of myself drying the windows of somebody’s car as it left the wash. I still want to be close to the machine, but now I have a better understanding of what that means. In some ways, though, an editor is still the guy who puts the polish on what the machine spits out.

Of course, I also have the more traditional answer. I wanted to be a cartoonist, because I liked the idea of telling stories. Then I wanted to be an engineer, because I loved math and statistics. Then I was editor of the newspaper and the literary magazine, and I decided that teaching English was my future.

NN: What was your path to your current position at The High Calling?

MG: I was teaching community college and high school AP English and Literature when a friend in publishing called me about a job at the H. E. Butt Family Foundation working for Mr. Butt himself. I was feeling a little stale at the time, so I tossed an application, resume, and portfolio into the mail. A few weeks later, I was interviewing at Mr. Butt’s house and we hit it off. I remember sharing my vocational approach to teaching high school English. I said something like, "The school district hired me to teach students to write, not bring them to Christ. So if I’m not careful, an evangelical stance in my classroom can be manipulative to the students and dishonoring to my employer. This means my first task is always to honor God by honoring my employer by teaching kids to write really well.” Mr. Butt was quiet for a moment, and then said, “How did you learn this at such a young age? I spent most of my life trying to learn that.”

At the time, I didn’t know where I had learned to approach the gospel in that vocational way. Now I know that Mr. Butt himself had paved the way for me. His work through Laity Lodge and the H. E. Butt Family Foundation had percolated throughout churches in Texas where I spent many of my formative years. In a sense, his life’s work led me to The High Calling even though I didn’t know it. When I was hired, The High Calling was a very small part of my job. There seemed to be so much potential there, and gradually I spent more and more time on it.

NN: How has The High Calling changed since you first became involved?

MG: Back in 2005, The High Calling was probably 10 times smaller than it is now. Each week we published a new audio message, two related devotional articles, and reprints of devotionals written by Eugene Peterson. Shortly after I came on, I started choosing the articles for each week and helping with the audio messages. By accident we discovered that writers with a strong print platform may not have a strong online platform. The Message has sold very well as a print product, for instance, but Eugene Peterson doesn’t attract much of a digital audience. At the time, bloggers attracted the biggest audience. They understood the digital space and understood how to extend digital hospitality to their readers. Gordon Atkinson first introduced us to many of these ideas, and I still remember sketching out some strategic goals on napkins at a pub years ago. As the digital, interactive landscape has changed, expanding beyond blogs to social media, we have tried to change as well. Thus, we don’t lean nearly as much on bloggers as we used to do.

NN: What’s your vision for the future of The High Calling?

MG: Now that we have a new president, David Rogers, we are taking a look at the future of all H. E. Butt Family Foundation programs, including The High Calling. Recently, we relaunched the site to create a better mobile experience for our readers, who are mostly on mobile devices. David Rogers and several of us have been talking about the future in much more comprehensive ways than just a redesign though. Without a doubt you will see some exciting things coming out of the H. E. Butt Family Foundation in the future.

NN: When you’re not working at The High Calling, what else are you working on?

MG: My family is very involved in community theater in our home town. I try to support my kids to follow their passions. My daughter plays violin in a variety of orchestras and recital groups. My son and I work on his 4-H projects together during the fall and winter. And I help coach the local First Lego League. Our robotics team is going to nationals this year!

NN: What role does leisure have in your life? How do you re-fuel? What practices help you reflect back on meaning within ordinary events of your daily work?

MG: I like board games a lot, so I torture my family with Nerd Night. They are fairly accommodating and don’t complain too much. I also like to run, and need to do that at least three or four times a week or I go a little stir crazy.

NN: You have a book of poetry called Barbies at Communion: and Other Poems, published by T. S. Poetry Press in 2010. Tell us about the writing of that volume. Are you working on another book?

MG: Poetry has become my primary form of prayer. I still write a lot of poetry, but I have pulled back from sharing it for several years. It is hard to be fully present for my family if I’m looking to take on a second job in publishing. Instead, I have chosen to engage in local projects, performing Shakespeare with my wife, raising animals with my son, coaching robotics, and all the other things I mentioned. As much as I love writing poetry, there is no time pressure to publish poetry on a national scale. A good poem today should be a good poem in five years. Every now and then I submit to various chap book contests, and I’ve been thinking of submitting another collection somewhere. We’ll see.

Finally, here's what Marcus wrote about Finding Livelihood:

"Finding Livelihood is a breath of radical honesty for the workaday Christian. Nancy Nordenson does not fear the long dark night shift of the soul, but neither does she accept it. Her real world stories of people at work inspire and challenge at every turn."

~~~

For a chance to win a copy of Finding Livelihood, head over to The High Calling,at this link, and share where you're finding meaning in life and work this week and/or what you wanted to be when you grew up.

~~~

You can order Finding Livelihood from: 1) the publisher, Kalos Press; 2) Amazon; or 3) me (let me know if you want it signed). Also, sign up to win a free copy from Goodreads!

Finding Livelihood is also now available at Hearts & Minds Books for 20% off.