Mel Sundquist’s portfolio

Idle hands make for good conversation

Originally published in the UVU Review on August 11, 2008.

Everyone splits the population of the world into groups of their own choice. These groups vary based on the choosing individual’s experience and point of view; men and women, Republicans and Democrats, the employed and the unemployed, etc.

For me, the groups are those who knit, and those who don’t.

In this case, “knitting” is a euphemism for having a time-consuming hobby. You might think that everyone has a hobby or two, but the majority of these don’t really qualify as hobbies. A real, honest-to-goodness hobby is more than just a pastime or leisure pursuit. For an activity to qualify as a hobby, the partaker must be partly obsessed.

The hobbyist should own collections or stashes of materials needed to pursue this hobby, and a regular amount of each paycheck should be allotted to feed these collections. The hobbyist should frequent Web sites and forums committed to their hobby of choice, and own several books that explore the philosophy and technique of the hobby. A true hobbyist attends local meetings with like-minded colleagues at least once a month and attends a festival or convention related to their hobby once a year, at minimum. Further stripes are earned if they wear hobby-related costumes to these events.

Having a hobby combats boredom, which is one of the leading causes of acting like an idiot. If I had a grandma, she would say, “I’m glad you knit — it keeps you out of the gutter.”

I often find myself with a friend or two heading to the movies, only to find that our chosen film doesn’t start for an hour or so. If I were alone sitting in the foyer, waiting wouldn’t be torture — there is always more knitting to do. However, that’s not an option for my hobbyless friends, so we wind up setting things on fire lakeside or getting useless piercings just to pass the time.

On the other hand, a hobby can be detrimental to a social life. Unless it’s something done with a group of people, like a team sport, hobbies can take the place of socializing. Why go to that party when there are model boats to build or fan-fiction chapters to read?

If you’re really into it, a hobby can be a route to serenity. In a recent health article from CNN (“How one busy mom found inner peace,” August 1), the listed mediums to find enlightenment were Tai Chi, walks in the woods, and knitting. A hobby is something that you are or will become adept at, something that you can wrap around your head completely. This brings self-confidence, and gives you one area of life over which you are in complete control.

So really, it doesn’t matter that I sometimes forget how to make small talk or that I’m never in class on time: I’m about to finish an immaculately constructed wool sweater, and that’s enough of an accomplishment to get me through the end of the week.

July doldrums and a poll to make my job easier

Originally published in the UVU Review at 7/28/2008.

Sometimes the editor of a section in a newspaper is lucky enough to get his or her own column. And sometimes editors make their own luck. After two years of Cool Beans by Luke Hickman (the retired life-editor), we’re moving on to something new.

This is where you come in. As a reader of the Life section, you’re entitled to some control over what we write about — after all, we do this all for you.

By suggesting a title for a new weekly editor’s column, you can influence what type of topics the column will focus on. You can see a copy of the poll here, but to answer it, you’ll have to go to uvureview.com If you want to suggest your own ideas, just leave a comment on this article on the website.

Now on to what’s important this week: summer entertainment schedules. Particularly in Utah County, they make no sense. Typically, during the summer, the general public’s schedule is more open to local entertainment. Sure, we go on vacations, but that takes up only one or two of the twelve weeks of summer.

For the weeks spent at home, we’re abandoned by the local entertainment industry — summer television is a bomb, and quality live theater is practically nonexistent. There is usually at least one good concert a week in Utah and Salt Lake Counties, but that can get expensive quick.

Terrible summer television almost makes sense. Television means staying at home. Concerts, movies and the theater could get us out of the house a few nights a week — an activity as much a part of summer as corn on the cob or mosquito bites. Staying home to watch television on a summer evening is about as unAmerican as not being afraid of the IRS. And that doesn’t make for good ratings.

But why do local live theaters leave us high and dry between June and August? In most large cities, there are theaters that do a rolling repertoire in the summer, which makes for at least three well-crafted productions. But the closest theater of this species is in Logan, which means it might as well be out of state.

It’s difficult to think of a logical reason for this trend. There is money to be made in the summer, the audience is willing to get into an air-conditioned theater, and vivacious, young actors usually busy with school are free to dedicate their time to rehearsal.

In the end, this problem most likely arises because the actors don’t want to work in the summer. This issue leads to an underlying flaw in the local theater community: 80% of the art is created for selfish reasons. They’re willing to let you see how great they are, but only on their time.

But really, summer is the perfect time for whimsy — the perfect time to listen to a story. So it bites when our only options are Beauty and the Beast and Pride and Prejudice, the Musical.