Imagination & Spirit: A Contemporary Quaker Reader

Imagination & Spirit: A Contemporary Quaker Reader - J Brent Bill

This was a great book of general peace and clarity, as well as some Quaker traditions. Quaker experiences probably vary widely, but this collection takes some key points without being preachy or overly dogmatic (what you'd expect from a Quaker collection of readings?) I also appreciated the short bios from each chapter.

Recipes!

Williams Sonoma has an on-line recipe page. This excites me. I love their cookbooks - and we have NO more room for cookbooks!

Hilary and Jackie

from Amazon.com......

It earned Oscar nods, yet this cinematic look at a genius--that of English cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who enraptured audiences with her bold, emblazoned, and wholly unconventional playing style, and who died at age 42--was criticized for its "lapses" in truth by people who purportedly knew du Pré. Some of the controversy revolved around the other main character in Anand Tucker's gorgeous, involving movie--du Pré's sister, Hilary, whose book, A Genius in the Family (cowritten with brother Piers), dished some dirt on Jackie's sleeping with Hilary's husband. But don't let that deter you from this ebullient movie experience. The film is a bisected story (each sister's tale is told in the same amount of screen time) teeming with heartfelt drama that belies the cheap shots it received from its detractors. It's stirring, reckless, loving, involving, and rife with unconventional passion; passion for music, life, art, and the delicate relationship between these two synchronous, extraordinary sisters as played by brilliant actors Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths (both of whom earned Oscar nods). Though Watson got the juicy, showy role as Jackie, it's Griffiths who provides the heart, soul, and spine of the film. And director Tucker has that gift of being able to explain through the visual medium what is happening inside of his character's heads. He's helped by a fine screenplay by Frank Boyce Cottrell. No matter what the truth of Hilary and Jackie might really be, this is an exceptional, rare film that is defined and graced by fine acting and writing. --Paula Nechak

I liked this disturbing film. I have reserved the book from the library to read and compare. I knew little of either du Pre sister, beyond the basic fame. I saw it on Sundance, but apparently it is readily available (in Amesbury, anyways).

Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall

Kinda involved, lots of historic names, but a great read. It was hard to hear of the loss of so many children to illness back then. Also hard of course, to hear of the witch trials. I've read extensively on them already, and this is just a mere overview - but a good mention of the times leading up to the trials (including King Philip's war, which some now have attributed to the mass hysteria that then ended in the witch trials themselves).

Also very interesting ties to the North Shore and especially Plum Island - where Sewall thought Jesus' second coming would most certainly occur. No sightings yet - but I am itching to go to Bob Lobster!

Brainy Babies

Can't get it out of my head
A father's yearlong quest to grasp the infant musical mind from the Boston Globe

We certainly never hooked Maille up to monitors (see above). But... I must admit, musical choices did cross my mind. Here is a very entertaining article about someone else who thought perhaps what music a child listens to will determine more in the future.

Learn to labor and to wait.

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

- Henry Wordsworth Longfellow (from "A Psalm of Life")

Starbucks closings

As you have probably heard (and probably do not really care, most of you) Starbucks is closing a number of its stores. I am shocked by this news as a refletion of how bad the economy really is - everyone I know who drinks at Starbucks seems to NEED the fix: and its a sure sign that disposable income is drying up even from the pockets of the financially foolhardy.

The company has admitted to its wrongdoing - the rush to open stores in areas that might not support business has caught up with them.

What most intrigues me (yay internet) is this map I have found. Listing all the stores so far, with commentary from loyal fans. Now here's an interactive map I had not seen before. Check it out!

llamas!

Smolak farms is a great place to see animals. There's nothing like a little llama tongue tickle to brighten your day (they also have lots of hand sanitizer).

Canterbury Shaker Village

I'm planning a visit here soon, but i found this website with great pictures.

Also more information on the village can be found here.

The Little Ways That Encourage Good Fortune

The Little Ways That Encourage Good Fortune

Wisdom is having things right in your life
and knowing why.
If you do not have things right in your life
you will be overwhelmed:
you may be heroic, but you will not be wise.
If you have things right in your life
but do not know why,
you are just lucky, and you will not move
in the little ways that encourage good fortune.

The saddest are those not right in their lives
who are acting to make things right for others:
they act only from the self—and that self will never be right:
no luck, no help, no wisdom.

—William Stafford

It's been a tough week of soul searching for me. No need for details - but Stafford, as usual, sums up some life issues. This poem is on my fridge. Still on the path towards Wisdom......

more Stafford can be found here

In Honor of Football Season

Let's face it - I don't get football. But perhaps by linking it with obscure literary-style musings, I will at least be entertained..... get the full link here at McSweeney's.

NFL PlayersWhose Names Sound Vaguely Dickensian,and the Characters They Would Be in an Actual Dickens Novel(2007–2008 RegularSeason Edition).

Ethan Albright
Honest and upright youngest son of the dissolute Lord Albright. Childhood favorite of his deceased mother, Lady Alicia Albright, and said to resemble her most uncannily. He comes to grief attempting to foil his father's plot against the innocent Jeremy Trueblood.

Marcus Maxwell
Dodgy owner of the disreputable Circus Marcus. Suspected by Magistrate Petitgout of feeding the circus's performing tigers upon surplus orphans.

Darnell Dinkins
Ticket-taker at Marcus Maxwell's Circus Marcus. Testifies against his employer before the Queen's Bench, though he knows it may well cost him his life.

Luke Petitgout
Energetic city magistrate who appears, early in the story, to be integral to the plot, but spends the last two-thirds of the novel on injured reserve.

Channing Crowder
Disreputable eldest son of the hidebound and sanctimonious banker Mr. Epaphroditus Crowder. Employed by Marcus Maxwell on an unsavory bit of business, he returns home transformed in a truly startling fashion.

Rex Hadnot
Orphan.

James Dearth
Orphan.

Will Witherspoon
Dead orphan.

Yao!

The Year of The Yao (DVD)

Really fun film. Also, I couldn't understand a word of the Chinese - how embarrassing after that UMASS minor! Yao's first trip into USA and NBA history is accompanied by a 29 year old translator who is also thrust into the media spotlight. Good to see that too. I saw this film on IFC - but I think it's also at our local library.

Simplexity

Simplexity: Why Simple Things Become Complex (and How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple) - Kluger

Great read. Fascinating. Especially when he reduces everything, chapter by chapter, and then can't seem to simplify the arts. Too legitimately complex - I could have told him that without the research!

Here we go again.....

unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters - David Kinnaman

According to Kinnaman's Barna study, here are the percentages of people outside the church who think that the following words describe present-day Christianity: * antihomosexual 91% * judgmental 87% * hypocritical 85% * old-fashioned 78% * too political 75% * out of touch with reality 72% * insensitive to others 70% * boring 68% It would be hard to overestimate, says Kinnaman, "how firmly people reject-- and feel rejected by-- Christians" (19). Or think about it this way, he suggests: "When you introduce yourself as a Christian to a friend, neighbor, or business associate who is an outsider, you might as well have it tattooed on your arm: antihomosexual, gay-hater, homophobic. I doubt you think of yourself in these terms, but that's what outsiders think of you" (93). (from Amazon)

I really thought I was going to like this book. I even wnated to like this book. It seemed at first glance like a frank look at the problems with the devisiveness I see in Christianity today.

Until it got to the inevitable "love the gays because God loves them too even though they are misguided" part. I never finished it. It proved the point of the book, I guess, depsite my strong pesonal spiritual convictions, I couldn't get around this. Neither can a lot of people I know.

Would I recommend this book? Perhaps. I borrowed it from the library, so no money went to the authors. I think I have more information for a more informed opinion now, which is always good. grrrr.

10 Items or Less (DVD)

A quirky, great film. I love Morgan Freeman. In this, he is "scoping out" a location for a new independent film he's been offered... a "real" fiction movie. Good acting, not over the top, good character development. A gem of an unknown film.

Eastland disaster

Greatly disturbing - yet another example of how people mess up construction and safety for money in this country. An excellent and interesting read, however!