Hermits – Blog From A Hermit Dot Com

When the Quiet Quiet Down

May 30, 2010

Here’s one for the hermit researchers – or the shrinks. The wordiness of life has been bugging me more than usual lately. It’s been almost six weeks since I’ve written anything for this blog and I have to confess there were moments when I seriously considered abandoning the endeavor. I’ve talked about these phases before. [...]

“…quite a lot of solitude.” – Agnes Martin

March 14, 2010

Most hermits we actually know about are not hermits absolutely. For the memorable hermits list, I look to individuals who experience solitude deeply, report back and return to solitude, having discovered solitude’s value to them as a desired state. Those, like Agnes Martin, who speak of solitude as part of the creative process have a special [...]

Blogopause with Aside of Cat Blogging

January 19, 2010

Where’d she go? I realize it’s been almost three weeks since I posted. That probably shouldn’t bother me or anyone else at this point; though I do wish I hadn’t read all those best-blogging-practices articles before I started this blog. “Three posts per week plus three comments per week on other blogs” always sticks in [...]

Solitude, SHOULD & The Hermit Uncertainty Principle

November 22, 2009

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I admit it. One of my attractions to solitude is the free pass it provides – a free pass from should. When you live in solitude, no one cares if you’re naked or nocturnal – as long as you’re self-supporting (sometimes tough in solitude) and not bothering anyone (extremely easy in solitude). Why would anyone [...]

Memorable Hermit Georgia O’Keeffe: “…No One to Satisfy Except Myself.”

November 17, 2009

Georgia O’Keeffe in Abiquiu, New Mexico, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, August 16, 1950

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The Lifetime Channel recently aired a made-for-TV movie entitled Georgia O’Keeffe starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons. In spite of excellent acting, the movie was a big disappointment to me* [see footnote], focusing primarily on O’Keeffe’s turbulent love affair with New York photographer Alfred Stieglitz (played by Irons), her ultimate marriage to him and her [...]

Hermit Research: Pseudonyms & Tracking Collars

September 27, 2009

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I looked out the front window this morning just in time to see two grad students fitting Griz with a tracking collar before he recovered from the effects of their tranquilizer dart. Then I woke up. But I know what prompted the dream: yet another hermit researcher found this blog and hoped for an interview with [...]

Ration of Solitude: Sorry, My Cell Phone’s Been Sleeping In

September 12, 2009

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Griz and I have had mobile phones since the days when they were big and clunky. They’re an invaluable tool, no doubt about it – especially for a household with disparate careers, pressing family commitments and frequently a lot of highway miles surrounding it all. Modern-day schedule juggling – a phase from which Griz and [...]

"The silence between the notes is as important as the notes themselves” – Mozart

July 31, 2009

I’ve decided to take the month of August to remind myself of life without blogging and Twitter. I haven’t been a very active blogger (or Twitteur) over the last couple of months anyway… …the hermit needs a break – again. In reality I’ll probably only get about a week of solitude out of the deal. [...]

Unintentional Hermit Chuck Noland

May 19, 2009

Actor Tom Hanks created a truly Memorable Hermit in the 2000 motion picture Cast Away. Hanks’ character, Fed-Ex manager Chuck Noland, is the only survivor of a plane crash and is forced to survive alone on a desert island for four years. His transition from a portly, time-obsessed urbanite to a tan, bearded, slightly-emaciated athlete is [...]

Hermit Psychology: Introverts Spinning Donuts In the Cave

April 29, 2009

It’s a fair assumption that most intentional hermits are introverts – like Griz and me. There may be a few extrovert hermits about, but they are likely unintentional hermits – living in solitude by accident or sacrificial choice – hiding from the law, castaways on uncharted islands, last-man-on-earth characters like Will Smith in I Am Legend. Introverts as a whole (not just [...]