I have been reading, just not blogging....
I have found lately that I can barely keep up with my library requests, they are coming in fast and furious. Not sure if others are reading less?
Anyways.... my recommendations of the week:
I Am Filled with Heavenly Treasures (CD) - The Enfield Shaker Singers
Simple Gifts: (CD) The Boston Camerata
both very good recordings, the stomping and singing sounded a little scarily powerful. I just visited the Shaker Village of Canterbury, NH last week - and I could picture these songs being sung and danced to. Catchy! =)
Simple Gifts: Lessons in Living From a Shaker Village - June Spriggs
A Great tale of life with the Canterbury Shakers - June lived in the village for the few years before they dissolved. Again, even better if you have visited there and seen the buildings for yourself!
Life: Selected Quotations - Paul Coehlo
I'm on a Coelho kick right now - a good book of basic quotations form his works. More relevant after I read his longer works, I think!
I'm in for a few cold days of reading on the couch while Maille uses the playdoh. Winter is here!
I've had ENOUGH of politics. And those of you who know me know that's saying a lot! I fel like I am watching a train wreck, and the American people don't seem to notice. In NH this week, there were McCain signs everywhere. I truly think the future of our conuntry rests, in part, on this election. Hope!
Link to a SLATE article about caffeinated products.
The oatmeal:
"Even if the taste were bearable, oatmeal requires more prep work than most snack foods—you need a bowl, a spoon, and hot water. As for its efficacy, Morning Spark did give me a boost, but it also left me feeling woozy and nearly spoiled my appetite for dinner. In the reading test, I got through five pages, then skimmed a few more before a headache set in. The reasonable price tag can't save it: This is definitely the worst product of the bunch"
When i worked at the store and did the overnights, i used to make the coffee with caffeinated water. It was a bad scene. But in the oatmeal??? I hope I will not ever go that far!
(I love my plain oatmeal every morning just the way it is - like Bert does.)
"Delahanty said the only event that compares to what's expected for Palin's appearance is when the high school marching band hosts 20 regional bands, an event that typically draws about 4,500 people."
Even more attendees than the marching band competition?
If it wasn't for the traffic and my toddler, I would go and carry a sign. Perhaps I will try to go anyways...
As usual, my ponderings resulted in an interesting coincidence. I've been thinking a lot about how so often cultures/peoples stake their claim on their religion being the "true" one. Someone at meeting quoted this beautiful poem of Hafiz to me yesterday:
Would You Think It Odd? (Hafiz)
Would you think it odd if Hafiz said,
"I am in love with every church
And mosque
And temple
And any kind of shrine
Because I know it is there
That the people say the different names
Of the One God"
Would you tell your friends
I was a bit strange if I admitted
I am indeed in love with every mind
And heart and body.
O I am sincerely
Plumb crazy
About your every thought and yearning
And limb
Because, my dear,
I know
That it is through these
That you search for him.
by Bill Maher - now in theaters
My mixed review: I suppose we all bring ourselves into the theater, and my current self has been thinking a lot about the role of organized religion in our society, along with organized politics, education.....
Bill Maher in my opinion just goes too far, as I expected he might. He is right to cite the similarities between early religions and Christianity, and of course, many things have been done very wrong for the better "Christian" good.
I of course reflected upon it all in the light of my little knowledge of Quaker perspective. I left the film more convinced that we'd better all get our act together and start taking care of each other and our planet, regardless of our religions.
Maher is very concerned about finding the "unchristian" tendencies of others religions, and i guess he doesn't concern himself about being "unchristian" since he is not one. But the last sections of the film are him on his pulpit, urging others to give up religion and its messes to start saving the planet and ourselves. He seems to care about the future of others. Remarkably Christian, even? Or just marketing?
I'm inspired to read a little more faith and practice today, and ponder all this.
Why i just need to read more poetry:
Adage by Billy Collins
When it’s late at night and branches
are banging against the windows,
you might think that love is just a matter
.
of leaping out of the frying pan of yourself
into the fire of someone else,
but it’s a little more complicated than that.
.
It’s more like trading the two birds
who might be hiding in that bush
for the one you are not holding in your hand.
.
A wise man once said that love
was like forcing a horse to drink
but then everyone stopping thinking of him as wise.
.
Let us be clear about something.
Love is not as simple as getting up
on the wrong side of the bed wearing the emperor’s clothes.
.
No, it’s more like the way the pen
feels after it has defeated the sword.
It’s a little like the penny saved or the nine dropped
stitches.
.
You look at me through the halo of the last candle
and tell me love is an ill wind
that has no turning, a road that blows no good,
.
but I am here to remind you,
as our shadows tremble on the walls,
that love is the early bird who is better late than never.
No blogging for quite awhile. I've had lots of stress going on - juts trying to do the right thing, for me. and certainly trying to follow the world falling apart, and election coverage has been a challenge!
This is the wall street journal article that says it all.
And I have heard that people say racism doesn't exist in today's society, and is not a factor in this election.
Regardless of whether or not I think Barack Obama should be our president, I certainly hope that we live in a country that is not still so affected by race. I hope, but do not yet believe.....
from the Huffington post:
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan offered a woeful outlook of America's economic situation on Sunday, saying the crisis with the country's financial institutions was as dire as he had ever seen in his long career, and predicting that one or more of those institutions would likely collapse in the near future.
"Oh, by far," Greenspan said, when asked if the situation was the worst he had seen in his career. "There's no question that this is in the process of outstripping anything I've seen and it still is not resolved and still has a way to go and, indeed, it will continue to be a corrosive force until the price of homes in the United States stabilizes. That will induce a series of events around the globe which will stabilize the system."
This is gonna hurt. bad. I am amazed our country has spent the past 2 weeks debating whether Sarah Palin looks like a pig in lipstick, or whatever. Our economy is now (PREDICTABLY) falling apart around us. Perhaps preemptive war and the Bush doctrine should be looked at ECONOMICALLY as well as militarily. Perhaps we should listen to Tom Friedman.
I think the world's getting flattened this morning. It certainly seems warmer already.....
The Six Mistakes of Humans, from Cicero (106-43 BC):
1. The illusion that personal gain is made up of crushing others;
2. The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
3. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
4. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
5. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and study;
6. Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.
From Mark Nepo's Facing the Lion, Being the Lion: Finding Inner Courage Where It Lives:
All these attributes replace a larger view with a smaller one. All make opaque what is clear. All reduce instead of enlarge. All heighten our isolation over our common humanity. The fact is that we can trace each of Cicero's "mistakes" to choices that are made, consciously or not, along the way. All represent habits of thinking by which we forget that we are just a small part of something larger. As we describe these shifts, it's helpful to take a personal inventory to see if and where these choices have interefered with our compassion and vitality, and ultimately, our courage... For there are some of Cicero's mistakes that I trip into all the time, and others (like crushing others and compelling others to live as I do) that I don't want to believe I am capable of. ISBN 978-1-57324-315-5, pp. 54-55.
respectfully taken from friendly circle - a Cincinnati Quaker blog
Skool has begun. Hordes of children, needing to play better. ARRGGHHH!!!!!!!!!
Actually, it has been great to see them all again and I am looking forward to another great year. I have to get back to listening to band music now. Hooray!
A staple of Scituate's economy for many years - there is a mossing museum in Scituate, MA now.
But WHO KNEW how fit and trim these mossers were???
Check out their reunion news here.
A disturbing look at a cult. I try to be respectful of religions that differ from my own, but this is a horrifying account of a young girl married off into an abusive relationship, and a controlling cult.
MUSIC, MY LOVE An autobiography with Deborah Wise
Great and entertaining, about the flute and Rampal's travels around the world while playing it. Told in an acessable tale that's as much about the food he ate as the pieces he played.
A great feel- good movie about a man who coaches girl's basket ball in Oklahoma in the 1960's. He arrives expecting to be the boy's coach, and then is demoted to girl's high school coach. They teach each other how to win, how to succeed, how to be proud even though they are "just girls". Subscribes to some predictable tugs of emotion, but overall an entertaining film!
EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU
(After Derek Mahon)
Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.
~ David Whyte ~
Watch over 1,400 hours of television and 2,000 hours of online coverage
headline from nbc. oh my goodness. even i am overwhelmed by the olympic fervor. I LOVED the opening ceremonies. I'm still trying to navigate the tv times to figure out what/when will be on.
I guess I'm firmly back into my movie obsession. It seems like every time I see a bunch of trailers, I want to see every one! Here's a list of what's hopefully coming to me:
Bottle Shock
Hamlet Two
Religulous
Sixty Six
Encounters at the End of the World
Up The Yangtze
reviews to be posted as I see them - wish me luck!
A disturbing tale, but well written. A fictionalized account of the affair between Mamah Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright. A picture i guess of a woman trapped in conventions of society, and the choices she makes to escape them upon finding the true love of her life. I was fascinated by the commentary on children and feminism the book presented. I am sure I would have made different choices, but I could see Mamah's motivations as valid too. A little stereotyping with Wright as the "tortured artist", but I do not know much of his life and work yet. A tragic ending I was not aware of - I am going to read the real accounts of what we know of these two soon!
What happens when you’re asked to build the city of tomorrow… today? Set on the rugged streets of South Boston, The Greening of Southie is the story of a revolutionary Green Building, and the men and women who bring it to life. From wheatboard cabinetry to recycled steel, bamboo flooring to dual-flush toilets, The Macallen Building is something different––a leader in the emerging field of environmentally friendly design. But Boston’s steel-toed construction workers aren’t sure they like it. And when things on the building start to go wrong, the young development team has to keep the project from unraveling. Funny and poignant, The Greening of Southie is a story of bold ideas, unlikely environmentalists, and the future of the way we live. (from The Greening of Southie website)
An interesting film from a more interesting premise. Apparently this is the "cutting edge" building of the future. But.... what they do not emphasise here - the cost of shipping all these new-fangled materials to Boston for construction. A key issue - although the building is "green" and cheaper, the cost over the life of the building for the materials will not be paid for in money saved. Not counting the ripping up of the first round of bamboo floors from China. I was glad this was shown on Sundance - I had heard about it but didn't want to buy it. I'd like to look into how these building options can be sustainable.
We went to York's Wild Kingdom yesterday. We patted an elephant (Lindsey) and feed lots of deer and goats. Expensive, but worth it for her age, when even simple animals are very exciting. Hard to see some of the smaller animals in the cages, but being surrounded by deer and goats was a big hit!
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).
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.
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")
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
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.
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: 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!
Fire in The Grove - John C Esposito
A terrible fire, a horrible moment in Boston's history, told moment by moment in this fascinating book. I had heard the tale of the fire, but was not sure of the horrible details. This book also contains a summary of the Station Nightclub fire from a few years back, and shows how perhaps we have not yet learned our lessons?
My Yard Our Message.
