It’s been some three decades since I last watched them do it, and I can’t quite replicate it. I wish I could multitask like my parents, who excelled at the feat before it had a name.<\/p>\n
There’s one round of activities of theirs that I envy. They could read mysteries and novels (Mom) or thrillers and novels (Dad) while watching prime-time TV series. I can’t even ignore TV while reading with comprehension, such as when My Beloved is watching something I have little interest in. Yet I try all the time.<\/p>\n
This bypasses the first fact that multitasking is a myth, that there always is one primary activity and one or more secondary ones. There also is a Fact Two, that multitasking is not a myth so far as mothers are concerned. Dads can’t even swing intuitively many simultaneous efforts like moms do. But my dad was on a par with his wife in active reading while taking in Hill Street Blues<\/em> or All in the Family<\/em>.<\/p>\n Mom went to the library every week of her adult life. In her last two years, widowed and in assisted-living, the library in the person of a volunteer came to her apartment. In middle age, she\u2019d get eight-nine books for the two of them, off the just-arrived shelves. Took her 15 minutes, including chatting with the librarian she grew up with, Anne Sims. Certainly she judged books by their covers \u2014 authors\u2019 names and jacket design indicating the genre.<\/p>\n Mom and Dad did not read four books apiece every week. Just two or three. Neither hesitated to return a book to the counter in the breakfast nook after a few pages. Vertical if unread and lying flat if finished or dumped. Both vowed to me that they did read and did NOT skim those novels they did like. Until Mom returned them the next week to the Carnegie Library (now the KFSM-TV studio) and in the early 1970s to the new Fort Smith Public Library next to the city auditorium. (The library now is in a grand space by the great Creekmore Park.).<\/p>\n Two or three books a week. Both worked. And both watched TV from 7 to 11. Read while they watched. Then to bed and read another half-hour or hour. Talked. Read two daily newspapers (Fort Smith\u2019s and Little Rock\u2019s) and the weekly New Yorker<\/em> and Time<\/em>. Cooked dinner and washed dishes. Raised three kids. And I\u2019m the only book reader among the trio.<\/p>\n After years of attempts I cannot read well while the television is on. I could go to a quiet room but I enjoy MB’s company. So I read all the way through one or two books a month, plus ingest about one recorded book a month in the car during commutes.<\/p>\n Yes, I have other reading, I\u2019m not a complete idiot, not to mention reading is what I do at work, being an editor. I devour the Internet at all hours, a daily newspaper, The New Yorker<\/em>, the back of the cereal box.<\/p>\n I could ignore the computer. But I do count all reading as reading. Another solution is to turn off the TV; MB can read while watching! Not satisfactory, not realistic.<\/p>\n I know, I could kick myself. Kicking myself, now there\u2019s a win-win all \u2018round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been some three decades since I last watched them do it, and I can’t quite replicate it. I wish I could multitask like my parents, who excelled at the feat before it had a name. There’s one round of activities of theirs that I envy. They could read mysteries and novels (Mom) or thrillers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-lessons"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4143,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2013\/02\/chasing-a-tale\/","url_meta":{"origin":2389,"position":0},"title":"Chasing a Tale","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Book report: A Dog's Journey: Another Novel for Humans by W. Bruce Cameron, 2012 Bruce Cameron's novels make me scream. I read novels, not as many as I would like, maybe one and a half a month. Literary novels -- the popular ones far more than ones from small publishers,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mr. Boo Klist"","block_context":{"text":"Mr. Boo Klist","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/mr-boo-klist\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bo, the dog of President Barack Obama, amuses Burmese Opposition Leader Aung San Suu Kyi","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-Barack-Obama-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2263,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/10\/but-seriously-folks\/","url_meta":{"origin":2389,"position":1},"title":"But Seriously, Folks","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is my column for the October 2010 edition of the monthly newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Defining and analyzing humor is a pastime of humorless people.\" -- Robert Benchley To avoid betraying my idol, Mr. Benchley, I'll rationalize. This is not analysis but a lesson\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":353,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/09\/fun-fun-fun\/","url_meta":{"origin":2389,"position":2},"title":"Fun, fun, fun","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time to concede this one, this long-standing argument with My Beloved. Not argument, debate. No, discussion, a ... philosophical discussion. We must define the frame. Any of these words can turn in reflection to \"fight.\" Even \"conversation\" is loaded. Healthy couples have conversations. A conversation at its meekest is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":147,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/mothers-day-2005\/","url_meta":{"origin":2389,"position":3},"title":"Mother’s Day 2005","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Sunday, May 8, 2005: An ode to Mother's Day. It's the first one since Mom passed last November. I've started reading a new, and perhaps the only so far, full biography of Ogden Nash. Here is a lede that won't work in my eventual newspaper\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1339,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/06\/audio-stunts-your-growth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2389,"position":4},"title":"Audio Stunts Your Growth","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Web site of the town stacks, Fayetteville Public Library, offers to e-mail patrons about new arrivals. A couple of months ago I signed up for the non-musical recordings notification to help me grab new book-on-CD titles. The shelves increasingly are picked over every time I stop by, at least\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mr. Boo Klist"","block_context":{"text":"Mr. Boo Klist","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/mr-boo-klist\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5001,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2014\/12\/ends-do-not-justify-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":2389,"position":5},"title":"Ends Do Not Justify Mean","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This \"119\" fight in my hometown could've just offended me like the reasonable person I think I am. But it enrages, rekindling a pair of memories. While I support full nondiscrimination in my community and country, when proposed this summer Fayetteville Ordinance 5703 \/ Chapter 119 Civil Rights Administration fell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Promotional sticker from the producers of Hair, circa 1971. The Pollock Archive.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hair-sticker-1000x2-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2389"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2394,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions\/2394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}