Linguistic Samurai
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "earthpen" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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12:08 pm
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Remembering
This morning I helped carry some items destined for the holiday gift bags for the kids at church, and I remembered stories my mother told me of Christmas celebrations of her youth. They were sharecroppers, a group of people characterized not only by extreme poverty, but also extreme resourcefulness. Late in the fall, long after all crops were in and the garden "put up," there came to East Texas the crisp weather that marked the time for hog butchering. All the surrounding tenant families joined together, traveling by wagon from one farm to another to help each other out. In the midwest, one might be said to be "cooking for threshers," but in East Texas, the equivalent gigantic feast would be "cooking for hog killing." Intent on using “everything but the squeal,” everyone joined together for long days of hard work to help in harvesting and preserving the meat -- and those lucky enough to have raised a hog shared with those not so fortunate. Christmas, following soon thereafter, profited from the yearly bounty. There was “crackling bread,” a nourishing fried dough that incorporated the crisply fried chunks of pork fat (often with a shred or two of pork still attached) known as “cracklings.” The bacons, butts and shoulders were still in the smokehouse, but Christmas featured sausage made from the select cuts from alongside the backbone – known as eating “high on the hog.” And my grandmother always made a mince pie. While “mincemeat” contains no meat these days, back then it did – at the close of the hog butchering, the “bare” bones and skull were boiled to retrieve the last bits of pork. These bits were chopped, combined with berries, fruits, lard and spices, and canned as “minced meat.” As a kid, of course, I wanted to know about presents. Mama explained happily that on Christmas Day, each child in the family received an orange – an enormous treat for them.
She would have been 89 years old today. I enjoy her memory. When the kids find the oranges in their bags on Sunday, they may wish it was more candy, but it will make me smile.
Current Mood:  nostalgic
Current Music: "Recapturing the Banjo" Otis Taylor
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11:40 am
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I Love Early Voting
On my way to Louisville this morning I stopped off at the Clark County Courthouse. I walked into the County Clerk's office, signed in, sat down in a comfy chair for at most two minutes, was then called back to the polling place, got my ballot, marked it, deposited it, and got back on my way to work. Quick, easy, confidential. I will probably never again travel the ten miles out of my way to stand in line at my polling place.
Of course, there is that possibility that between now and November 4 I will change my mind and decide that I am actually a McCain-Palin supporter, but somehow, I think the risk is acceptable.
This morning Bonnie Hunt announced that Alaska is changing its state motto. From now on, claims the satirist, Alaska's license plates will read, "We're watchin' Russia for ya."
Current Mood:  content
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09:27 am
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Thoughts About a Song
The Pasture
by Robert Frost
I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I shan't be gone long. -- You come too.
I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I shan't be gone long. -- You come too.
I was unfamiliar with this poem before it was introduced to the choir in song form, but since then, I've found my mind returning to it repeatedly both as I work about the farm, and as I work about my office. There is so much to do that I feel the powerful tendency to keep throwing my attention to the future, as though I could live there. You know what I mean: "Once I get this cleaned/researched/prepared and this built/written/accomplished, then I will be able to move on to this and this and this ...." I feel as though I'm living when I say to myself I'm going to adopt a new schedule; I'm going to meditate for thirty minutes every morning; I'm going to write in my journal every day; I'm going to do *x* exercise program on a regular schedule; and on and on. They're all "gonna do's," and not one of them has any intrinsic energy unless I'm DOING them. "The Pasture" reminds me to pull back and live in THE PRESENT (which, unlike the past and the future, actually has life and energy). Frost's farmer experiences that tension, telling us the tasks that he is going to do (clean the spring, fetch the calf), then realizing that he needs to slow down and just be in the moment (watch the water clear, the cow licks the calf, the calf totters). And then -- the ultimate insight -- he reminds us that we can be with those about whom we care only in this present moment (you come too). Wow.
What is even more remarkable to me is how the composer matches the energy of the song to this poem, a poem that is simple and straightforward and simultaneously deep, rich and compelling: The announcement of the "gonna do's" is a straight musical line (first with soprano and alto unison, then with tenor and bass unison). It is gentle, to be sure, but nonetheless businesslike, plainly leaning to the future and directed toward *getting things done.* When the text reflects awareness of the present moment, the richness of the harmonizing vocal lines appears for the first time. And when the text turns to the singular importance of being *WITH* in the present moment, the music returns to a focused single line, but with an important difference: Now it is a line that shows awareness of the energy in the here and now, not one that is busy and on its way somewhere else. For this, the choir must have perfect blend to make the text meaningful.
Possibly my favorite point in the matching of the song to what I perceive as the poem's meaning comes when the tenor and bass lyrics diverge ever so slightly -- one sings "standing by the mother" and the other sings "stands by the mother." When I hear the back row sing that part, I invariably smile, recognizing in myself that instant in which part of me is still on a businesslike quest to get things done and another part is saying, "whoa, Jo Ann, look at what you are-seeing-right-now."
And so it is that I love being in the choir -- not for what we are going to do next Sunday or three Sundays from now, but for what we are doing *right now.*
Current Mood: contemplative
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07:50 am
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great "word for the day"
grammatolatry
PRONUNCIATION:
(gram-uh-TOL-uh-tree)
MEANING:
noun: The worship of words: regard for the letter while ignoring the spirit of something.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek gramma (letter) + -latry (worship).
USAGE:
"The worship of words is more pernicious than the worship of images. Grammatolatry is the worst species of idolatry."
Robert Dale Owen; The Debatable Land Between This World And the Next; Trubner and Co; 1871.
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10:59 am
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Death by cuteness
Got this in an email today, and it seemed appropriate to share with my friends:  Current Mood: amused
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10:48 am
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giggles
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09:34 am
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What is UUism?
Someone whose thinking I respect has opined that Unitarian Universalism consists of many satellites, but it has no true center. I thought it might be interesting to invite discussion regarding what Unitarian Universalism *is."
The various beliefs or cosmologies embraced by UUs do not define what UUism is. Furthermore, while "inherent worth and dignity" comes close to being a deep and enduring core truth, I do not think the "seven principles" tell us what abiding truths lie at our center. Yes, they are important *expressions* of our religion, just as the Passing of the Peace, full-immersion baptism, and bar mitzvah are important *expressions* of other religions, but they are not the true core of those religions.
The core, as I see it, is that UUs share three things:
1. We share a belief in the trinity of love, truth, and justice for everyone and for the earth.
2. We share an understanding of the awesome (word chosen advisedly) power of *connection* -- connections between people, connections with the earth, and connections among theologies.
3. We share a willingness to accept individual personal responsibility for increasing justice and decreasing suffering in the world around us.
So what do YOU think?
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09:15 am
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Prom Dress
It seems an appropriate time of year to recycle this well-worn (haha) image:   |
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09:47 am
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Books, books, books
The big church is having a used book sale on April 19. holmes put us in touch with the fellow who managed the university Honors Council book sale -- he was willing to let us have the leftovers. The catch was that we had to pick them up this week because of the approach of exams. So, although we had hoped to delay receiving book donations until April 16, 17 or 18, several of us met at the school yesterday to pick up the books. The gentleman had said the books wouldn't fit into a car and we would probably need a van or a pickup. We arranged for a pickup truck, and -- probably out of an overabundance of caution -- the "pricing/sorting chief" asked that I bring our station wagon. What actually confronted us, however, was a wall of boxes that would have benefited from a U-Haul truck! The job ended up occupying eight people from 5:00 in the afternoon until 9:00 at night.
But we do have some very interesting books for the sale. We will also be offering fine coffee, tea, and cocoa, pastries, lunch, and afternoon cookies and brownies, with proceeds of food sales benefiting the Parents and Friends of Gays and Lesbians Scholarship Fund and House of Ruth. Locals, mark your calendars! Going to Conglomeration (?) or Earth Day at the Falls? Plan on taking a break to check out the books and food.
Jo Ann
Current Mood:  tired
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01:11 pm
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Mother Earth Cartoon
Current Mood: amused
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