Lessons from the "Man Cave"

Mark Twain was known for being a traveler. He went to Europe, Hawaii and all across the continental United States gradually gaining credibility and fame as a writer. He even spent a few stretches in San Francisco writing for the San Francisco Daily Morning Call. But he wrote some of his most famous works, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from his home in Hartford, CT, which I was lucky enough to visit awhile back.

Twain's Billiard Room where he did most his writing

Twain retreated from the noise of a busy household to this 19^th century man cave on the 3^rd floor where he could smoke cigars, shoot pool and play cards while informally entertaining friends. But more importantly, he came here to write in peace and quiet. The pool table would become a work area where he’d spread out his manuscripts to organize his thoughts. To the left of the pool table but not quite visible in this photo is a shelf of cubby holes where he would file away ideas and works-in-progress. Beneath the light of the green lamp in the right corner, he sat at his desk and penned one of the greatest and most controversial novels in American literature.

But what I found most striking about this room was that Twain’s writing desk was in the right hand corner facing the window…just like mine. Did he ever neglect Huck Finn to focus on a bird perched outside the window?

My writing desk is also in a room on the 3^rd floor of a busy house even if other tenants occupy the majority of the building.  Sometimes I use my bed to spread out my notebooks that can’t fit on my small computer desk. And once in awhile I hear the neighbors' kids down stairs running around laughing or crying and I wonder if Twain heard his own kids running about the house as he wrote some of his most famous works upstairs.

While I find these to be amusing similarities we also differ in several ways, aside from the obvious difference in skill and fame. For starters, I write under my own name, while Samuel Clemens of course was Mark Twain only on paper. His stories are based on his own life experiences while mine are based on direct observations of things I see out the window. Twain’s primary tools of the trade were a paper and pen, mine are a computer and a camera. He had cubby holes to store works-in-progress and ideas while mine are stored in Dropbox file folders on the Internet.

Twain had to use his imagination and have a good memory to recall events from his past while crafting his stories. My stories rely on being ever vigilant to catch any noteworthy activity going on outside. It can be equally challenging because a good window watcher needs more than just a computer and some time to watch. Here are a few tips for the would-be window watcher.

First, remove the screen from the window. It only gets it the way. Second, keep your viewing tools within arm’s reach. If you look closely at the photo above you’ll notice my glasses, camera and binoculars on my desk. It takes some experience to know which tool to grab at a moment’s notice. Third, you need to hone your cat-like reflexes, instantly reacting to anything that catches your attention, grabbing the right tool and training it on the subject before the bird, person or vehicle passes by and your story is lost.

Here are some examples of what can happen when you don’t follow these guidelines.

Slow Reaction Time

A few weeks ago I noticed a fire truck pass by on Lincoln Blvd right where the street light is on the left side of the photo. Then another fire truck rolled by, and another and another. I realized too late that something big was going on. I tore up my room looking for my camera until I finally found it, dove back towards the window and clicked off this photo just as the last truck passed out of view. I later confirmed that it was the funeral procession for fallen San Francisco firefighters Lt. Vincent Perez and Anthony Valerio. A huge contingent of firefighters from all across the country came to honor the brave men who died in the line of duty.

Wrong Tool

This, I believe, appears to be a military cargo plane but I made the mistake of going for the camera instead of the binoculars. The camera takes too long to zoom in all the way and focus before taking the photo. A plane is simply moving too fast for the slowest tool in my belt. The appropriate response should have been the binoculars where maybe I could have read some identifying numbers on the plane that could later be googled for more info. Now we might never know the who, what, when, where and why of that military cargo plane.

Unprepared

And finally, you may have noticed no accompanying photo or video to the entry, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” That is what happens when your tools are not within arm’s reach.

So Rear Window’s first ever Mark Twain “week” comes to a close with a few lessons learned from ol’ Sam Clemens. Whether it’s a pen and paper or high tech gadgets, you need to apply the appropriate tools of the trade to get the job done. If you want to be a writer, you need to find a quiet place and some time to write. And most of all, you need look no further than your own everyday life and experiences for inspiration.

Fool me once shame on you…

When I work in my bedroom I look out and the window to this view each day and sometimes daydream about running and biking through those hills in the distance. I feel a little like Huck Finn imprisoned in church on a Sunday, yearning to kick off his shoes, throw off his coat and run through the fields. 

Marin Headlands in the distance

Once in a great while I head over the Golden Gate Bridge and go for a run out in those hills but I haven’t biked on those trails in quite awhile especially because my mountain bike, “Black Beauty” was stolen a few months ago.

Black Beauty - A Noble Steed

But all that changed today when the UPS man arrived at the door with “Black Beauty II”.

Black Beauty II - Dawes Lightning Cross

This is a cyclocross bike. A cheap one. You’ll notice it’s not cluttered with any name brands or corporate logos. I got it from BikesDirect.com, a factory direct online retailer because no store would stock the Dawes Lightning Cross. It’s more or less a road bike with mountain bike tires. Cyclocross races are sort of a combination of road cycling, mountain biking and running. Type “cyclocross” into YouTube and you’ll get all sorts of interesting, hilarious and painful blooper reels.

I opened the box and could barely contain my enthusiasm as I assembled my new bike. The fact that the instruction manual that came with it was for a completely different bike should have been my first clue that this was all going together a little too easily. The second clue should have been that there were some extra spacers and screws left over once the bike was assembled. Nevertheless, my spirit was soaring and I charged out the door channeling Ol’ Huck.

The first four minutes were outstanding! Then I heard the “click, clack” sound of a broken spoke. I was forced to walk the bike back home to take to the bike shop for repairs. It was reminiscent of the (mis)adventure Trent and I had biking from Zambia into Malawi in 2006. Those bikes were also factory direct. We were fooled into thinking they were of a high quality because we bought them right inside the factory. In the first 10 minutes my chain broke and we spent the next 2 days picking up bike parts that had rattled off along the way.

Trent and a helpful friend make the first attempt to assemble the bike.

Bike Shop - Mchinji, Malawi

If it were not for this kid and a dozen like him who made numerous repairs for us along the way we might still be walking along that highway. My savior today was the Sports Basement and almost two hours after I started I set out again for my inaugural ride. After surviving the first downhill without any parts falling off I made it over the bridge, through the tunnel and when I hit the trail on the other side I finally had my Huck Finn moment. I sped up the trail yippin’ and hollerin’ as I passed by wildflowers blooming on the side of the trail, turkey vultures soaring overhead, a couple of wild turkeys walking across the trail and even the Oracle team boats practicing for America’s Cup beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on the way back. All in all a pretty good ride! 

Today I learned a valuable lesson: maybe there is a reason these bikes are not available in stores. In Zambia, I was fooled once by the promise of adventure offered by a cheap ride and today, well, the jury is still out as to whether I was fooled again by BikesDirect.com…we’ll have to see how many repairs are needed over the next few days and weeks!

Is life imitating art?

This truck caught my attention this afternoon. A beat up old rig with a barred window trailer that looks a little like some kind of combat vehicle from a post-apocalyptical sci-fi movie, probably used for transporting the criminally insane or carrying out top secret medical tests. So I went downstairs to investigate further. I found no corpses, aliens, prisoners or biohazards, only that the truck belongs to JSA Cone Penetrometer Testing Services, which kind of sounds like it could be any of those things listed above. But it turns out they will soon be carrying out 20 foot deep soil drilling tests in our parking lot to learn more about how to stabilize the buildings during earthquakes. It’s the Presidio Trust’s latest round of “improvements” for the Baker Beach neighborhood. What does that mean for the full time resident who works nights and weekends? Endless construction at the end of which, they raise your rent. Boy, I wish my life could have been improved sooner!

I suppose the neighborhood does need some work though. While I joke about living in “the projects” this neighborhood is very much a public housing project, technically a public/private project. It was built in the 1950s under the Wherry Act, named for Nebraska Senator Kenneth Wherry who introduced a bill providing for private companies to build, maintain and rent out housing on military bases. This tradition continues today with our landlord, the Presidio Residences, a subsidiary of the John Stewart Company, but I digress.

While I enjoy the views, scenery and wildlife it also hard to miss the peeling paint, cracked concrete and dead grass I see out this window as well. I don’t think there have been any “improvements” made in the last 50 years. In fact, the Army didn’t even want this place.  One historic account states, "The Presidio considered the Wherry housing to be below army standards and...in 1961 the Presidio drew up a long list of the buildings inadequacies: too crowded, rehabilitation too expensive, the light frame construction, bedrooms and storage areas too small, kitchens crowded, electrical wiring inadequate, utilities undersized, and they lacked sound proofing."

At roughly the same time Paramount Studios was building Jimmy Stewart’s apartment complex for the movie Rear Window. At the time of its completion it was the largest indoor set ever built by Paramount Studios. Buildings were 5-6 stories tall, containing 31 fully furnished apartments with electricity and running water. Actress Georgine Darcy, who played “Miss Torso” actually lived in her apartment during the month-long filming. That way she could relax as if really at home in between takes.

Miss Torso

So maybe the apartments featured in the movie Rear Window and the ones featured in the blog Rear Window aren’t all that different, except that if there had been cone penetrometer testing services being performed at Jimmy Stewart’s apartment building, it might have been a lot less suspenseful movie. I wonder what they will find buried in our courtyard?