As a change from the kind of thing you usually see on the Ramblings at the end of month, for my final January post I’m pleased to be taking part in a blog tour! You might consider this an advance guard for #ReadIndies month, as the book is issued by Melville House Press, a publisher I’ve covered before on the Ramblings; and the book is fascinating work called “Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time” by Sheila Liming.
Liming is an associate professor at Champlain College, Burlington, Vermont and author of two previous books: “What a Library Means to a Woman” and “Office”. A regular essayist for publications like ‘The Atlantic’ and ‘The Los Angeles Review of Books’, she has an intriguing history which is revealed throughout the pages of her new book.
“Hanging Out” is a fascinating work which explores the frantic state in which we find ourselves in the modern world. Glued to screens and schedules, having much of our contact remotely, we seem to have lost the simple art of hanging out, being together with other people in unstructured social situations where we can simply chat, interact and make those essential human connections. Truly, the world had been headed away from that kind of socialisation for ages, since the digital started to take over; but the COVID-19 pandemic cemented our dependance on remote contact and has pretty much destroyed our opportunities for casual meetings.
Liming subdivides her book into chapters focusing on different methods of hanging out; from dinner parties to full-on parties, fraternizing on the job or on TV, these are all activities people undertake on a regular basis, but this kind of contact is becoming harder and harder. Each section is laced with personal experience of hanging out; from academic conferences to jamming in a band, Liming has had a varied life moving through bartending, being a musician, moving into academia and writing. This history informs her thoughts on the value of these human connections and the benefits they bring us; whether recalling drunken nights when living alone in Aberdeen, feeling out of the loop in North Dakota, or misreading the signals at a conference, she’s never dull! She communicates her ideas well, and much of this is because she uses those events from her own life to illustrate her points, as well as revealing her left-leaning views (with which I found myself in much sympathy!)
Fun, after all, is supposed to be an anathema to work, which is why the prospect of fun gets treated like a contagion. Fun threatens to infect and pervert the sanctity of labor and also the power of those who would have us do more of it, for free, by cramming more into the slim, pre-existing spaces of paychecks and contracts.
“Hanging Out” states its case as a radical text from the outset via its subtitle, and in fact her view *is* quite a militant one. Her narrative is underpinned with a belief in the value of our free time, and she’s very critical of the forces of control which expect us to be on call at every hour of the day. The lines between work and free time became ever more blurred during the various lockdowns, and if nothing else the book is a clarion call to reset those boundaries and make sure that we log out of work mode when our working day ends. Liming is well aware that we are constantly being suckered into spending more time on our jobs for no more reward, afraid of not being seen to be actively doing something at all times, and all that stolen time could be literally spent doing nothing but hanging somewhere and resetting our systems – truly, we really do need to re-learn the value of inactivity!!
Liming is an erudite commentator, drawing in all manner of sources and references from Adorno to Benjamin, and as well as reminding us of our right to time away from the pressures of work, she’s also a passionate advocate of taking time out of the digital. Putting down your phone, pulling up a chair and just having a real life conversation is good for us, although as she makes clear, many of the urban spaces where we used to be able to hang out aren’t there any more – her discussion of the lack of ‘Third Places’ (social surroundings distinct from work and home) was particularly interesting. The pandemic has also taken away many opportunities but it’s clear from the benefits that it really is worth making the effort to spend time doing nothing…
“Hanging Out” was a book which really resonated with me; I come from a time pre-technology when hanging around with your friends, chatting, laughing and exchanging ideas was culturally fascinating as well as fun. Casual encounters, following serendipitous trains of thought and conversations, and random discoveries gave life a flavour; and I met some of my dearest friends simply from being in a particular place at a particular time, just hanging around at an event, and going on to discover we had much in common. In fact, when I get back to taking my trips to London again, to meet up with my old pal J., we will bimble round in a flaneuse-y kind of way and just enjoy being together and hunting out art and books! We need to get back to these old habits if we can, and Sheila Liming’s book is a brilliant reminder of the value of hanging out!
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Jan 31, 2023 @ 09:27:04
There’s nothing I disagree with here and much I roundly cheer. I’m reminded that a certain political party yesterday voted in favour of curtailing workers’ rights to strike, a punitive action which goes to the heart of what Liming argues for – the liberty to get enjoyment out of the work we do with others, an impossible task if you’re forced to keep your nose to the grindstone regardless of the toll or the fairness.
And meanwhile a certain class get to … well, we know, rub their freedoms in our faces.
Jan 31, 2023 @ 11:22:25
Yes, my leanings are definitely left wing and so are Limings. The expectation that we’ll work more for the same pay is outrageous and none of that class would do so. I’m quite a fan of the concept of ‘quiet quitting’…
Jan 31, 2023 @ 10:42:44
Love it. Presenteeism at work is such a scourge, and even though I’m totally on board with hanging out, resetting yourself, etc., I know I’ve internalized productivity culture much more than I’d like. Actively working on not feeling guilty about doing “nothing” in 2023!
Jan 31, 2023 @ 11:20:50
Couldn’t agree more – we have this terrible guilt nowadays if we’re not seen to be doing anything. Trying to teach myself to relax about it and do nothing and reset!!
Jan 31, 2023 @ 11:39:19
I enjoyed this so much more than I expected. She’s a good writer and had a varied life pre-professorship which made the text much more fun. I do miss the pre-internet age of hanging out more a bit – but for us blogging friends it’s often the only way to hang out on each others’ blogs.
Jan 31, 2023 @ 13:50:22
I’m the same Annabel – it’s a fascinating topic, and her personal experience and varied life added so much to the book. But you’re right about the internet for us book bloggers – I don’t have many people I can hang out with in real life and discuss books, so the online contact is very important to me!!
Jan 31, 2023 @ 12:01:01
What an interesting book! And the fact is, all of the research I know about suggests the vital importance of those in-person connections. Studies of school children show, for instance, that learning at home during the pandemic was not just hard on them in terms of their learning, but also led to more loneliness, stress, and even depression. People need each other in person as well as online, so these arguments make sense.
Jan 31, 2023 @ 13:49:04
You’re spot on there, Margot – the lack of human contact has such a negative effect, and I’ve seen it in the children at the school where I work. We definitely need to fight back and make sure we build in that spare time to simply hang around together.
Jan 31, 2023 @ 16:00:59
This does sound excellent and very timely. I had to definitely redefine my boundaries between home and work when we shifted away from office working. Work took over all too easily!
Jan 31, 2023 @ 19:41:52
It really is Madame B – and working from home was such a strange shift that it takes some getting your head round the fact that you still need the boundaries and limits!
Jan 31, 2023 @ 16:14:59
Adding this one to my list. Smartphones plus earbuds limit those random chats with fellow train passengers or even simple good mornings which can lead to making friends. I’m a veteran of working from home so am all too familiar with that never off feeling
Jan 31, 2023 @ 19:41:12
It’s very timely – the pandemic and working from home did put the pressures one, but I’m trying hard to readjust to switching off at the end of the day and having that down time.
Jan 31, 2023 @ 20:08:32
I’d be happy to pass on my copy Susan.
Jan 31, 2023 @ 20:41:22
That’s very kind! Thanks, Annabel.
Jan 31, 2023 @ 19:22:06
A timely book and one that sounds really well-done. It’s way too easy to get sucked into that mentality of always being ‘on’ for work and feeling guilty when we dare carve out any downtime. It sometimes seems as if libraries are the only spaces left for community ‘hanging out’. And I hope ‘quiet quitting’ becomes a positive tsunami everywhere!
Jan 31, 2023 @ 19:39:54
It’s very well done, and a reminder of what we need to be doing for ourselves. The pandemic made refusing to be constantly available very difficult – I worked from home at times and it was hard to keep the boundaries. Libraries are still spaces for hanging, although they’re so under threat here. And yes – I’m all for quiet quitting!!
Jan 31, 2023 @ 23:32:49
What a fascinating sounding book. Our modern world is certainly frantic, exhausting in fact. I expect there is a lot I would agree with here. The thing about expectations put on workers definitely resonates, so many people under more and more pressure but earning less in real terms. Hence the current strike action. People should be able to just hang out, or go off by themselves to chill out.
Feb 01, 2023 @ 10:58:29
It really is interesting, and a powerful reminder that we need to claw back our free time and not feel guilty about relaxing and doing very little. Totally agree that these strikes are tied in with unrealistic expectations of how much people should work – especially when we see certain classes swanning about and doing little and getting paid so much for it…
Feb 02, 2023 @ 08:23:46
This sounds excellent and a good counter to all those books about being more productive! I agree with your point on the blogs being a place we all hang out, though – I would have been lost in the lockdown without my blog friends and cherish the time I spend in their “company” now of course. Having said that, a lot of us pop up on each other’s blogs so it is almost like hanging out together, isn’t it!