The molecularity of being

It is accomplished

2010-04-03T07:14:00.002-07:00

Eucharist and Orders, Fruits of the Spirit

For Holy Thursday 1998 as a part of his preparation for the Holy Year of 2000 John Paul II writes in a letter to his priests:

In tender and mysterious language, the Gospel of John tells the story of the first Holy Thursday, when the Lord, at table with his disciples in the Upper Room, "having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end" (13:1). To the end! : until, that is, the institution of the Eucharist, which anticipates not only Good Friday and the sacrifice of the Cross but the entire Paschal mystery. At the Last Supper, Jesus takes bread in his hands and for the first time utters the words of consecration: "This is my body which will be given up for you". Then, over the chalice filled with wine, he proclaims the words of consecration: "This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven," and he adds: "Do this in memory of me". Thus, in the Upper Room and without the shedding of blood, Christ completes the Sacrifice of the New Covenant, which will be accomplished in blood on the following day, when he will say on the Cross: " Consummatum est " - "It is accomplished" ( Jn 19:30).

Eloi, Eloi Lema Sabchthani

Translated this means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" and according to Mark and Matthew this phrase is a citation of the Hebrew or Aramaic text of Psalm 22:1. It is one of several allusions to Psalm 22 in the narratives of the death of Jesus. There are six other utterances from Christ on the cross as noted by the Gospel writers. "I thirst," ¹ "Father, forgive them," ² "Woman, behold your son; here is your mother," ³ "Today you will be with me in Paradise," ⁴ "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," ⁵ " Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit," ⁶ and "It is accomplished."⁷

Each evangelist presents the death of Jesus from his own perspective. For Mark, the death of Jesus was the occasion for the unveiling of the messianic secret. Only at the crucifixion could he be acknowledged as the Son of God ⁸ Mark may have been offsetting the view that exaggerated the miracles as revelations of Christ's divinity. For Matthew, the cross was Israel's rejection of the Messiah. Because of it, God's judgment came upon the nation at the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. ⁹ For Luke the death of Jesus at Calvary and his following assumption into heaven ¹⁰constituted a major crossroad in the account of salvation, launching a new period of the church and its widespread mission. This period would be go on to be covered in the book of Acts.

However the Gospel of John progresses like a pendulum. It opens by proclaiming, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" Then the story arcs in a descending sweep, as the Word becomes flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. The earliest disciples accepted Jesus cheerfully. They dubbed him as Rabbi, Messiah, Son of God, and King of Israel, and jovially went along with him to Cana's wedding feast. But the pendulum kept on plunging, as people became more and more bewildered, cynical, and unreceptive to Jesus' claims; they charged that he was a blasphemer, tried to stone him, and finally they pulled out all the stops and began plotting his execution. The low point comes in the middle of the gospel, when Jesus' public ministry comes to an end, and it's clear that even though he had presented all of these signs they still refuse to believe. All that is left to do is to throw down the challenge and prove his case. Craig R. Koester explains in his manuscript The Passion and Resurrection According to John:

The Fourth Gospel... portrays the crucifixion as the glorious completion of Jesus' ministry and the fulfillment of God's will. In contrast to the other gospels, John says that Jesus went out "bearing his own cross" (19:17); there is no suggestion that Simon of Cyrene had to help Jesus reach Golgotha. Unlike the other gospels, there is no reference to darkness or mocking at the cross. Instead, the text stresses that the cross brings Jesus' ministry to its telos or "goal." Jesus knows that all is now "accomplished" (telein, 19:28a) and asks for a drink "to accomplish" the scriptures (teleioun, 19:28b). His final words are "It is accomplished" (telein, 19:30). The cross is the completion, not the interruption of Jesus' ministry.
The Old Testament scriptures provide further clues to this Johannine perspective. An ordinary observer would assume that the soldiers divide Jesus' clothing and cast lots for his tunic for the sake of their own personal gain. But John explicitly states that these actions fulfill Ps 22:18, indicating that the scene is governed by divine purposes (John 19:23-24). Again, Jesus' words "I thirst" (19:28) could be a simple statement of human need. But John points out that this too accomplishes God's will, since the vinegar fulfills Ps 69:21.

The work of Christ

The phrase the work of Christ it is intended to describe the saving significance of the Christ event or soteriology. The original Christian traditions recorded in Acts does not draw attention to the death of Christ, but addresses the Christ event in its entirety as God's act of salvation. Over the course of time, more exact descriptions were established to understand the implications of Christ's death and it is John who shifts the focus away from the cross and spotlights the revelation that Jesus brings in his earthly life. ¹¹

His death looks on the surface as if to be no more than the occasion when he retuned to the Father from whom he came ¹² But this miscalculates the magnitude of Christ's death in the Fourth Gospel. The words and works are all eclipsed by the hour of the passion. ¹² When he states, "It is accomplished" Jesus conveys that he has done his part and what happens next, is up to the power and love of God. Earlier in Luke, Jesus gives a hint to his disciples as to the divisions that are to come and uses this phrase for the first time saying, 'I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished.' ¹³ By the time he repeats the expression again he has been convicted by both the Romans and the Jews and is hanging from the cross. As was customary for the times, a notice is fastened to his cross. It is a charge sheet and every criminal who was crucified received one so that people would know what happens to those who would commit similar crimes. The two greatest charges against humanity at this time are the crimes of defying the rightful authority of God and of trying to set oneself up in the place of God. Jesus has been found guilty of treason and blasphemy.

As Jesus hung from the cross for six hours Luke notes that there was darkness over the land. Vinegar is offered to him for the first time. It is refused and then Jesus accepts the second offering, then John writes that he says, 'it is accomplished or completed or fulfilled —tetelestai. Having spoken his last, Jesus bows his head and hands over his spirit or wind or breath —pneuma.'(John 19:30). Theologian Derek Morphew, in a book on Gnosticism says, "Tetelestai means 'it is accomplished' or 'it is consummated.' Christ was declaring His sacrificial work to be completed."

Despite of all of the confusion, the secrecy and plots, the conspiracies of Herod and the Pharisees to trump up charges and set the stage for the subsequent conviction. Up until this split second, all of the miracles and mysteries lead up to what Jesus would finally complete on the cross. It is the instant where he brings in the new order that he represented by the changing of the water into wine. ¹⁴ It is when he makes his flesh accessible for the life of the world, ¹⁵ that he heals the blindness of humanity, ¹⁶ and that he bestows eternal life. ¹⁷

It is also on the cross that all the claims made in his great "I am"s are confirmed. The I ams are the sayings of Jesus that not only raised a lot eyebrows but also goad the community leaders into taking action against him. After saying, "I am the bread of life," Jesus left most of his disciples scratching their heads, grumbling that it was a "hard teaching" that no one could figure it out. After declaring, "I am the good shepherd," many people called him a lunatic, saying he was "raving mad." Finally, John tells his readers, it was when he said, "I am the resurrection and the life," that the case against Jesus was cinched and the chief priests quickly set into motion the judicial wheels that would get Jesus arrested and put to death.

Throughout his gospel John emphasizes that it is because of what is accomplished on the cross that Jesus is the true bread from heaven, ¹⁸ that he is the light of the world, ¹⁹ the door of the sheep, ²⁰ the good shepherd, ²¹ the resurrection and the life, ²² the way the truth and the life, ²³ and the true vine. ²⁴

Additionally, it is through his accomplishment at the cross that the Spirit-Paraclete is released which leads the Johannine community into all truth. ²⁵ So it was the death of Christ and his glorification that made it possible for the Fourth Gospel to not only ascribe the "I am" sayings to Jesus but to demonstrate that the work of Christ as complete.

In spite of the noticeable concern of the author on the Revelation with the events leading up to the end and with the new heaven and the new earth that lie beyond, the cross for John played a crucial role in salvation history. Later on it would be the central Christological image in Revelation as the Lamb that was slain, along with Jesus' fulfillments of the prophecies in Psalms, that would establish the new covenant with God and determine future course of history.

Sources:

Fuller, Reginald H. The Oxford Companion to the Bible,(1993) p. 184.

Koester, Craig R. "The Passion and Resurrection According to John"

Accessed May 7, 2005.

Pope John Paul II. Letter of the Holy Father Pope John Paul II to Priests
Accessed May 7, 2005.

Sarris, Chris. It is Finished Six Hours One Friday
Accessed May 7, 2005

Tiller, Patrick A. The Oxford Companion to the Bible,(1993) p. 184.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

2010-04-02T07:41:00.002-07:00

Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the

communication below, expressing at the same time

our great gratification that its faithful author is

numbered among the friends of The Sun:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say

there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it

in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is

there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have

been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age.

They do not believe except they see. They think that

nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their

little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be

men's or children's, are little. In this great

universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his

intellect as compared with the boundless world about him,

as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping

the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and

devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give

to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how

dreary would be the world if there were no Santa

Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.

There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no

romance to make tolerable this existence. We should

have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The

external light with which childhood fills the world would

be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not

believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire

men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to

catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa

Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees

Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no

Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those

that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever

see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but

that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can

conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen

and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes

the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the

unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the

united strength of all the strongest men that ever

lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love,

romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture

the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real?

Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives

forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times

10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad

the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

From The People's Almanac, pp. 1358-9.(Public Domain)

Virginia O'Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter thirty-six years after it was printed:

"Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had

never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little

boys and girls said there wasn't any Santa Claus, I was

filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a

little evasive on the subject.

"It was a habit in our family that whenever any

doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some

question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to

the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would

always say, 'If you see it in the The Sun, it's so,'

and that settled the matter.

"Well, I'm just going to write The Sun and find

out the real truth," I said to father.

"He said, 'Go ahead, Virginia. I'm sure The Sun will

give you the right answer, as it always does.' "

Francis P. Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and worked for 20 years at The New York Sun , more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. The son of a Baptist minister he usually received the more controversial subjects on the editorial page, in particular those dealing with theology. A sardonic man, Church had for his personal motto, "Endeavour to clear your mind of cant."

"Is there a Santa Claus?" the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church said he knew that there was no avoiding the question. He had to answer, and it was imperative that he answer truthfully. And so he turned to the task and began his reply which was to become one of the most memorable editorials in newspaper history. Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April, 1906, leaving no children.

Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" originally appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, more than a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until the paper went out of business 1949.

Virginia O'Hanlon grew up to become a teacher and principal for the New York City school system retiring after 47 years. Whenever she received mail about her Santa Claus letter she penned a reply and attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.

Public domain text

Spring

2010-04-02T07:38:00.001-07:00

O my grey hairs!
You are truly white as plum blossoms.

In spite of the burden of his medical practice and a young family, Williams published four books of verse, Al Que Quiere! (1917), Kora in Hell (1920), Sour Grapes(1921), and Spring and All (1921), that visibly launched him as America's leading modernist. It was throughout the 1920s and 1930s while Williams labored mainly in anonymity during his stint with Robert McAlmom editing Contact where strong ideas arose to bond the earth with the reality of life. Soon the editors of the short-lived publication insisted that art stem from everyday life.

This celebration of the everyday came in part from a response to archaic forms of expression. Early in the century, poets of the movement known as imagism included many American poets. In addition to Pound and Lowell, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) and William Carlos Williams–turned from ideas to things. They endeavored successfully to use a detached depiction of objects in the world, an approach that could truly create a deep emotional response in the reader.

Williams' work was frequently published in both Pound's and Amy Lowell's Imagist collections of poetry. Hence his first successful poems adhere essentially to the dictates of Imagism. The poems from this period of his life illustrate Williams steadily fashioning his elastic enjambment modes from the unrefined textile of run of the mill Modernist verse. They expose a gathering of distinctive imagery, alongside his desire to prove that he really values them. Words are used to envision short scenes and vivid objects. From time to time they pay homage to Eastern precedents and the subject of living life, love and the nature of truth and beauty, many of which are encapsulated within the metaphor of fruit. Profoundly influenced by Chinese and Japanese poets, Williams composed verse in which the existence of an object took center stage.

In this manner Williams shapes his response to the forces around him and Spring is no exception. Like summer spiders, an autumn moon or the winter bush warbler of the well seasoned haiku. The poet brings to the reader spring plum blossoms. He does a stunning job of putting such a simple sentence before the reader and allowing the mind's eye to clearly place it in an 8 X 10 mental Rolodex.

Sources:

Original text: "Spring," Sour Grapes: a Book of Poems (Boston: The Four Seas Company, 1921): 58. York University Library Special Collections 4748.

Selected Poetry of William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

Public domain text taken from The Poets' Corner

William Carlos Williams

Williams' Life and Career

Solar sail

2010-03-31T05:35:00.003-07:00

"We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean.
We are ready at last to set sail for the stars."
-Carl Sagan

Inspirations for setting sail for the stars in science fiction goes back at least as far as Cordwainer Smith's The Lady who Sailed the Soul published in 1960. Arthur C. Clarke popularized the idea four years later in his short story Sunjammer, since reprinted in 1972 under the title The Wind from the Sun.

I first read about the idea of a spacecraft unfurling a huge but incredibly thin solar sail,in Larry Niven's sci-fi novel The Mote in God's Eye . His idea was to utilize the pressure of sunlight on the sail - radiation pressure – on a craft weighing several tons that could accelerate to more than a kilometer per second within days, and then go on accelerating so long as it remained relatively close to the sun. It was one of his technological ideas I could understand and it has fascinated me ever since. Niven's idea is similar to what Xeger discuses in the previous write up. By using giant ground based lasers that would give the craft an initial shove and it would even make it possible to tack the craft by angling the sail. By using the light of the sun which is composed of electromagnetic radiation that exerts force on objects it comes in contact with with a solar sail and lasers the combination would create the potential to send a craft anywhere within the solar system.

Related to many gossamer dreams about space travel, solar sailing is most often read about in science-fiction tales, however using the sun to glide through space has more than just a fictitious etymology; it's now being given more serious consideration as new materials composed of lightweight carbon fibers only a few microns thick become available. Ed Gabris, a senior engineer at NASA, notes:

Mercury Mariner

The proposal of using the sun's energy to propel spacecraft across the cosmos has been around for centuries, says one expert:

Johannes Kepler

comet tails

Continuous force exerted by sunlight
A large, ultrathin mirror
A separate launch vehicle

To give you an idea how fast (solar sailing) is, you could travel from New York to Los Angeles in less than a minute with a solar sail vehicle traveling at top speed...If NASA were to launch an interstellar probe powered by solar sails, it would take only eight years for it to catch the Voyager 1 spacecraft (the most distant spacecraft from Earth), which has been traveling for more than 20 years. By adding a laser or magnetic beam transmitter, NASA said it could push speeds to 18,600 mi/sec (30,000 km/sec), which is one-tenth the speed of light. At those speeds, interstellar travel would be an almost certainty.

Actual theories about solar sailing had their beginnings in the Russian aeronautics pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and his associate Fridrickh Tsander. In 1924 they were making notes about "using tremendous mirrors of very thin sheets" and "using the pressure of sunlight to attain cosmic velocities". It was American engineer Richard Garwin who has been attributed with coining the term in the latter part of the 1950s. Early on models included huge aluminum-coated Mylar sheets that could be aimed at the sun and "blown" toward deep space, powered by sunlight. However, such relatively heavy sails would take a very long time to go anywhere, so scientists have spent years researching and developing fresh kinds of sails and innovative techniques to thrust them into space faster and more efficiently. The promise of solar sailing in space continues, NASA has recently been in the news about awarding funds for the expansion of solar sail hardware and simulation development. The time is coming soon where we can set sail for the stars. A solar sail powered space ship is scheduled to be launched in the fall of 2002:

The craft will be launched on a rocket fired from a submarine in Russian waters. The solar sail spacecraft will separate from the rocket, then unfurl and fly for a few weeks or months around the Earth pushed by the Sun.

For many space enthusiasts the modest sum of a four million dollars price tag for this Kitty Hawk moment embodies the future of practical, reasonable and quicker space travel exploration. Soaring through galaxies on sunbeams is magic and I for one can't wait!

Sources:

How Stuff Works

Picture Source

SPACE.com Exclusive: Breakthrough In Solar Sail Technology

Space News

Turns of Phrases

Douglas C-47 Gooney Bird

2010-03-26T13:56:00.001-07:00

The early 1900's saw great progress in aviation. Though most research at the time was spent on the military operation of this newfangled and far-fetched mode of transport, the civilian sector was able to take great advantage of the groundbreaking movements forward in flight. The Douglas Aircraft Co. constructed the first DC-3 at their California plant in the mid thirties. On the whole it was an advanced improvement of the earlier DC-1 and DC-2 airliners, the DC-3 became the most adaptable transport aircraft of the 20th century. At last carrying passengers could make profits. It made such a splash people called it "the airplane that changed the world" and by the middle of the decade the Douglas DC-3 had launched their commercial airlines and in 1939 the DC-3 accounted for 90% of all world airline trade. One writer at the Photovault Aviation Museum notes:

The cabin of the DC-3 can seat up to 28 passengers in comfortable reclining seats. I still get goose bumps seeing this venerable airliner take to the air. The legacy of this aircraft type is unmatched in the history of aviation.

Nicknamed C-47 Gooney Bird, the DC-3 is the plane that made civilian transport a profitable reality, and has become a legend in its own time. It has many names and designations - Skytrain, Spooky, Puff the Magic Dragon, DC-3, C-47, R4D, Li-2 and several others. But the name that most USAF pilots know it by is the Gooney Bird. Eisenhower depicted this plane as one of the most important weaponry of WWII. The C-47 "Gooney Bird" was the military version of the dependable DC-3. C-47s were based out of some of the most primitive airfields around the globe. It flew in a multiplicity of configurations. The rugged and dependable C-47 made a crucial contribution to the Allied war effort during World War II, serving as a transport for troops, supplies, and wounded soldiers There were over a thousand C-47's, carrying paratroopers for the assault, filled the skies over Normandy on D-Day. As a military aircraft the C-47 Gooney Bird was used for supplies to airfields and, most importantly, dropping paratroops for taking over neutral airfields. A slow climber it was easy pickings to blow the Gooney Bird with a single hit. It was never intended to fulfill a high altitude role, and thus is limited to 25,000 feet or below. She carried a single rear gunner and typically flew with an escort.

The Gooney Bird has played many roles besides being an aerial workhorse to transport people and cargo. It has been a bomber, fighter, airborne communications center, amphibian, living quarters, hospital, a flying washing machine, and command post. No aircraft in history has held the longevity of the C-47 in all of its variations. Capable of carrying substantial loads to and from even the most primitive of airfields, and possessing a durability record unequaled in aviation, this type is in wide service still files into the 21st Century. When some of the more than 10,000 built ended their days, they have been made into a hamburger stand, tea house, mobile home, seaside cottage, an officers club and even a chicken coop.

Sources:

C-47 Skytrain, D- Day Invasion, Olive Drab - Pacific Aircraft

Commercial Aviation-Aircraft: the Douglas DC-3

Conversations with my dad.

Literary criticism

2010-03-21T08:04:00.001-07:00

The most basic definition of literary criticism would be a reasoned consideration of literary works and issues. Often taken as the earliest important example of literary criticism is Plato's warnings against the hazardous outcomes of poetic inspiration in general in his Republic

More specifically it has been referred to as"practical criticism," the interpretation of meaning and the judgment of quality. In the most narrow sense:

philosophy

student of

literature

biographical questions

and problems of method

this distinction often proves artificial

notable works of criticism

discussion of texts

nature of literature

Concepts and contents of literary criticism include, but are not limited to, an author page citation,bibliography ,direct quotation,extrinsic criticism,impressionistic criticism, intrinsic criticism, judicial criticism, literary criticism,paraphrase, précis, correct usage of private domain vs public domain, summary, technical criticism, and works cited.

To demonstrate a mastery of literary criticism the author creates a working bibliography listing and properly formatting a number of sources of information from literary criticism sources, at least three indices to find sources for a research a preliminary outline, and identifying the best sources to support their thesis and subtopics. Is able to adjust their topics based on the availability of sources, take notes to gather information to support their outlines, and communicate their appreciation to others by selecting a variety of appropriate media sources.

Using outlines and notes, adjust their topics based on the availability of sources take notes to gather information to support their outlines communicate their appreciation to others by selecting a variety of appropriate media sources Literary criticisms customarily have a title page, a final outline, author page citations, and a works cited page.

As the very basic definition of a literary criticism it is a discussion of literature, including description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of literary works. Like literature, criticism is hard to define. The critics objective is to challenge definitions of literature and criticism that seem unworkable, too general or to narrow in some manner. The task is to deal with different dimensions of literature as a collection of texts through which authors evoke more or less fictitious worlds for the imagination of readers.

For example one can look at the text's formal characteristics, critics usually recognize the variability of performances of dramatic works and the variability of readers' mental interpretations of texts. By paying particular attention to its language and structure; its intended purpose; the information and world view it conveys; or its effect on an audience--in studying an author's purpose the literary critic forces beyond a writer's conscious intentions affecting what the writer actually communicates. At heart an exploration of the complex relationship between truth and fiction in various types of storytelling. In studying literature's impact on its audience, critics have been increasingly aware of how cultural expectations shape experience.

Works of literature are studied long after their first publication, awareness of historical and theoretical context contributes to the enjoyment, appreciation, and understanding of them. Historical research relates a work to the life and times of its author. Paying heed to the nature, functions, and categories of literature provides a theoretical framework joining a past text to the experience of present readers. The tradition of literary criticism combines observations by creative writers, philosophers, and, more recently, trained specialists in literary, historical, and cultural studies.

Selected References

ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA

Literary Criticism

Cuban Missile Crisis

2010-03-20T08:51:00.003-07:00

Fourteen days in October 1962 when John F. Kennedy went eye ball to eye ball with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

Russians are discovered installing offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba when an American U-2 RECON spy plane returns with intelligence photos catching Khrushchev red-handed. Khrushchev categorically denied it until Adlai Stevenson, an American statesman, showed the photos to the United Nations. This angered Khrushchev to the point that he took his shoe off and pounded on the table in an effort to gain attention.

President Kennedy, in a televised address on October 22, 1962, announced the discovery of the installations and proclaimed that any nuclear missile attack from Cuba would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union and would be responded to accordingly. He also imposed a naval blockade on Cuba to prevent further Soviet shipments of offensive military weapons from arriving there.

The stand-off lasted for a day or two after the United States blockade against Cuba. Khrushchev backed down and removed the missiles.

Source: Most of this information comes from recollections of my father. At the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis we were stationed at Dobbins AFB in Marietta, Georgia, near the Third Army Headquarters. He recalls lots of flying time in the C-47 Gooney Bird taking Army VIP's down to Key West, Florida. The Army moved a lot of troops down there during the crisis. Nike missiles were installed in preparation to shoot down any Russian missiles should they appear over the horizon. Most of his work that he did while stationed there is still classified.

While Army brats wore dog tags in case the world went up in smoke and we needed some identification, a couple of Navy brats living across the street, twins Kevin and Ken, disappeared overnight. I asked at the bus stop that morning and was told their family were given eight hours notice to bug out.

Picture Source

Womyn

2010-03-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

anthropomorphically

womyn

James Finn Garner,
"Goldilocks ," Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, (1994).

When I first saw this word womyn there was lots of confusion, then a deep sigh of realization. Gone were my guilt-free days of eating Cool-Whip out of the tub in a chocolate induced bliss. Now they had reshuffled semantics to demonstrate compassion toward people who can't spell.

I was wrong. This isn't about spelling in the strictest sense, but more about how people view themselves in terms of societal values. Several studies by linguists have discovered that a good deal of the time many people think that using the word "men" refers to both genders. Since the idea of women as men's possession is becoming more and more antiquated in first world countries a significant number of womym would like to change grammar that reflects a more modern image of their gender in today's society by replacing the letter 'a' in the singular sense and 'e'for plural usage with the letter 'y.'

The word man evolved from Old English which was used to describe a man, mann, human being, or person. Sometime around the latter part of 1000 AD it gained the sense of "adult male." Later on people began to use wer and wif to distinguish the sexes, but wer began to disappear by the end of the 13th century and was replaced by man. Many think that woman means "of man." arieh explains where the suggestion of this comes from, "People may think that woman means 'of man' because of Genesis 2. Of course, the words in question there are the Hebrew Ish and Ishah, not the English. And Ishah doesn't even mean 'from Ish.'" A little research into the etymology reveals that woman comes from Old English in the form of wimman and the plural wimmen. It began replacing the older Old English term wif sometime during the 17th century. Before that the archaic word quean was used to describe a "female human being."

Since America had no authoritative source that determined what vocabulary was acceptable Noah Webster published his first of dictionary in 1806. Many editions followed and were considered the authorities, prescribing the "correct" spelling and the "correct" meaning of words. By middle of the 20th century the unabridged Webster's Third International Dictionary was published and this particular kind of prescription came to an end as being the primary reason for a dictionary. Rather than telling readers what was "correct" and "incorrect" about language, dictionary editors "described" how the language was being used. By the early 1990s the Random House dictionary listed gender-neutral words like chairperson as well as gender specific ones such as herstory, and spellings like "womyn." This is what lexicographers call "word choice." As words begin to appear in the media they note down citations in the popular press like the example above. Political cartoons and advertisements are another source for citations. When a particular word appears in "reputable" papers dictionary editors will finally accept it.

The debate over this word is a lively one. Many camps claim it as their own and several think it quite clever to eliminate the male association and promote feminism or lesbianism in one fell swoop. Others say it's mind-bogglingly childish and it makes their head hurt to think about it. Yet at the same time a number of people point out that this is another form of sexism. No matter what anyone's preference is, only time will tell whether or not this word becomes a linguistic preference in the English language and the best way to find out is keep checking those dictionaries.

Sources:

Online Etymological Dictionary

UrbanDictionary.com

Word Use and Abuse

Lion of Lucerne

2010-03-20T08:26:00.003-07:00

The commerce of Lucerne consists mainly in gimcrackery of the souvenir sort; the shops are packed with Alpine crystals, photographs of scenery, and wooden and ivory carvings. I will not conceal the fact that miniature figures of the Lion of Lucerne are to be had in them. Millions of them. But they are libels upon him, every one of them. There is a subtle something about the majestic pathos of the original, which the copyist cannot get. Even the sun fails to get it; both the photographer and the carver give you a dying lion, and that is all. The shape is right, the attitude is right, the proportions are right, but that indescribable something which makes the Lion of Lucerne the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world, is wanting.
The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff--for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. How head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder; his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies.
Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion--and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.
Martyrdom is the luckiest fate that can befall some people. Louis xvi did not die in his bed, consequently history is very gentle with him; she is charitable toward his failings, and she finds in him high virtues, which are not usually considered to be virtues when they are lodged in kings. She makes him out to be a person with a meek and modest spirit, the heart of a female saint, and a wrong head. None of these qualities are kingly but the last. Taken together they make a character, which would have fared harshly at the hands of history if its owner had had the ill luck to miss martyrdom.
Mark Twain, The Nest of the Cuckoo-clock A Tramp Abroad (1880)

Four years after the success of Innocents Abroad, Twain undertook a new journey; for his journeys have been largely the occasion of his books and from this adventure emerged A Tramp Abroad written as a humorous and cynical commentary on his walking trip through the Black Forest in Germany to the Alps. In this excerpt Twain is remarking upon his visit to a Swiss monument. Located in the heart of Europe, Switzerland is a banquet of beauty, with indigo blue waters that shine brightly against the verdant hills of the nearby mountains. High-speed trains whisk vacationers around at astonishing speeds, though many decide to take a trip by longboat on some of the country's quiet waterways and easily reach its charming communities and modern metros. It is one of the world's most advanced industrialized nations, yet Lucerne remains a captivating medieval city. Located in north central Switzerland Lucerne, also called Luzern, is adjacent to lac des Quatre Cantons. It's easy to understand why Lucerne belongs to the ten most recommended cities in the world with its magnificent settings of lake and mountains The town grew up around an 8th century monastery and has been a vital trade center since. Today the city enjoys a bustling tourist trade and thriving manufacturing plants for metals and chemicals.

And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane
Troilus and Cressida. Act iii. Sc. 3.

Just northeast of Löwenplatz is one of the highlights of Luzern, the somber Lion Monument. Craved into the face of a sandstone cliff It is a monument to the Swiss Guard who perished during the French Revolution shielding the Tuileries.

The sanctuary is 6 meters high and 10 meters long. Carved into the face of the rock is a dying stone lion above a reflecting pool. An inscription etched in Latin above the memorial reads "Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti -- "To the fidelity and bravery of the Swiss"; Underneath are the names of the 26 officers who fell protecting the Tuileries. Mark Twain described it as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world."

It's easy to be royal
If you're already leonine
- I just can't wait to be king

From the 15th to the 18th century the Swiss mercenaries were a highly respected fighting force among the European armies. The most famous of these were the Swiss guards in the French army hired by the Bourbon Kings for protection in 1516. On August 10, 1792, King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their children at the Tuileries Palace in Paris found themselves encircled by a violent horde of 30,000 French Revolutionaries. Demanding that the contingency of 900 Guards step aside the Swiss mercenaries, prepared to die for the French royal family they had been hired to protect, refused. As a result over 700 Guards lost their lives in the fight that followed.

Shortly before the crowd arrived at the palace gates the king and his family snuck out and ran away. No one told the Swiss Guard that they were protecting a vacant palace; their noble sacrifice was pointless. Within a year a decree by the French Legislative Assembly which suspended the king's powers King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were captured and executed by guillotine.

The French revolutionists attempted to bring to an end the Swiss troops. However in 1803 Napoleon I employed a number of Swiss regiments, which were practically wiped out in the Moscow campaign of 1812. Swiss Guards were hired for the Bourbon restoration, and countless were slaughtered in the July Revolution of 1830, after which they were abolished for good. In 1874 the constitution of the Swiss government constitution "forbade all military capitulations and recruitment of Swiss by foreign powers." Finally by 1927 even volunteering in foreign armies was prohibited. Only one exception remains today and that is the Papal Swiss Guard of the Vatican. Established by Pope Julius II in 1505, the Guard remains as a personal sentinel of the pope. Enlisted from the Catholic provinces of central Switzerland, the Swiss Guard at the Vatican consists of 6 officers and 110 privates who are not allowed to marry. These papal guards of the Vatican in Rome wear colorful uniforms that, are by some accounts, designed by Michelangelo.

Courage...is the complexion of virtue.
Diogenes

It is the heroism of the Swiss Guard at the Tuileries Palace that was eventually commemorated in 1821 by the great sculpted lion outside one of the gates of Lucerne. Commissioned by one of the survivors in 1812, it was designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844) a principal neoclassicist; he created sculptures of mythological characters, including Hebe (1806), and monuments, such as the Lion of Lucerne (1819). Most of the work was done by a student from Constance, Lukas Ahorn (1789-1856). The original stucco model is on exhibit in the nearby Glacier Garden. During the early 1800's many artists felt that neither reason nor neoclassical art could do justice to human reality. Much of the art was affected by the rational ideal of Neoclassicism and its use to symbolize moral and heroic links with the ancient past. The lion, always considered a symbol of courage and strength, served the artist to demonstrate a heartrending event, a struggle to the death. Added into the mix was the strong trend of nationalism sweeping Europe during the 1800's. This gave rise to commissions for large monuments and the earliest one was the Lion of Lucerne and it was clearly meant to convey a sense of national identity.

There is no doubt that the monumental three dimensional relief is an allegorical reference to the noble courage of the Swiss Guards The large innocent creature is depicted, suffering pains of mortal wounding, alone and in silence, unable to articulate or express the depth of his anguish. The poignant expression on the lion's face rivets the eye. As the observer looks beyond the face they see that the dying beast is draped over his shield; his heart impaled with a broken lance. Cast aside is a shield with the Swiss state seal recognized throughout Europe as the insignia of the Thirteen Cantons of Switzerland. The Guards had no flag but they had a shield with a white cross "traversante" on a red field, and it came to be known in Switzerland as the "federal cross". A paw reaches forward in final allegiance protecting the French fleur de lis even as it dies, the motif of the Bourbon kings. Sometime during the 12th century a French monarch became the first to use the fleur de lis on his shield. It may have been Louis VI or, some sources say, Louis VII. Later on the kings of England would take on this emblem as a part of their coat of arms to call attention to their claims to the throne of France.

Since its creation this particular lion has earned a special place in many hearts. The German war memorial in Fuchsstadt, near Hammelburg, has a dying lion analogous to the well-known Lion of Lucerne. There is also the Lion of Atlanta. A civil war memorial unveiled in 1894 to pay tribute the approximately 3,000 Unknown Confederate Dead. The large marble replica of the Lion of Lucerne also portrays a dying lion lying on a furled Confederate flag.

Sources:

Bram, Robert Philips, Norma H. Dicky, "Swiss Guard," Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia , 1988. Swiss Guard

The Fleur-de-lis Symbol in Crests, Arms, and History

Lion of Luzern

The Lion of Luzern Monument

Lucerne : The Lion Monument and around

Oakland Cemetery

Picture Source

Public domain text taken from Project Gutenberg's A Tramp Abroad, Part 4, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

This is Just to Say

2010-02-22T08:00:00.001-07:00

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

- William Carlos Williams

A 'found poem' in the form of a note left on the refrigerator door using a recurrence of personal pronouns instead of phonetics, This is Just to Say (1934) is also a typography left open to a wide variety of interpretations that veterans of marriage and cohabitation can enjoy as well as understand. Williams once recalled that this poem was an actual note he had written to his wife-"and she replied very beautifully" It provides directions for the eye that reads the lines silently and that teases out the poem's meanings.

Leonard M. Trawick in World, Self, Poem: Essays on Contemporary Poetry from the "Jubilation of Poets says it..... might suggest three possible readings. The poem could be concerned with the uselessness or self-entrapment of sexual desire, comparable to "Th'expense of spirit in a waste of shame." There's the potential Oedipal reading, with the boy thwarted in an attempt to comprehend his origin; to learn of it from his mother. Or there's the reading that would suggest self-referentiality; it is the poem itself that "means nothing."

A more subtle literary analysis by Charles Altieri in his essay Presence and Reference in a Literary Text: The Example of Williams debates the merits of this little poem as having a more sophisticated intent--

" that it creates and inhabits a middle ground between myths of presence, on the one hand, and Derridean absence, on the other, and functions as a speech act to affirm community and communication. A request for forgiveness for the small theft of some plums, the poem enacts the relationship, the relatedness with the wife, that permits the speaker to expect that he will be forgiven...."just saying"–it is an ordinary utterance, something just said, that, because of the way it calls the community, or marriage, into being, and creates the other in her freedom to forgive or withhold forgiveness, attains justness." Altieri writes that in the poem, "A strong sense of humanity ultimately prevails. . . . The justness of the speaker's poem is its recognition of his weakness and its lovely combination of self-understanding with an implicit faith in his wife's capacity to understand and accept his deed and, beyond that, to comprehend his human existence as a balance of weakness, self-knowledge, and concern"

Inspired by hunger playfully raiding the icebox like some Dennis the Menace caught on tiptoe with hands in the cookie jar, Williams admits to his Dagwood raiding of Blondie's refrigerator, piling the stolen food high, to make one of his infamous midnight sandwiches. The narrative poem on the surface gives a glimpse into one of his slice of life poems on the subject of stealing plums in the words and moments he did steal the plums, stole them from his own icebox, stole them away from the breakfast that he might himself have had on them, reveled in the stealing and loved the confessing of stealing.

Much anthologized and frequently parodied (see:Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams) William Carlos Williams is Patron Saint of American Poetry and master of the ordinary phrase ....and for Flossie, in fair exchange one delightful poem for the plums she was saving.

Sources
Fisher-Wirth, Ann. "The Allocations of Desire: 'This Is Just to Say' and Flossie Williams's 'Reply.'" William Carlos Williams Review 22.2: 47-56. Osborn

Gandy dancer

2010-02-19T15:21:00.002-07:00

Gandy dancer comes from a part of American railroad terminology. Along with the engineer, lengthman, trackman (US), pointsman, signalman, station manager, and, porter; there were the gandy dancers. They were the laborers in a railroad section gang. The evidence for such a personage is sketchy at best and the word-detective.com explains:

Gandy Manufacturing Company of Chicago

Gandy

gandy dancing

However, he goes on to tell that no such manufacturer has ever been found to exist in any Chicago business directory during that period. Since then it has come to identify in more general terms as a designation for an itinerant laborer. Most dictionaries list its origins as unknown. One web site that hosts information about the Gandy Dancer Trail in Wisconsin says frequently the crews used vocal and mechanical cadences to synchronize the swinging of hand tools or the movement of their feet. So perhaps the name Gandy dancer originates from the rhythms of work used by the past crews who constructed the railroads.

Alabama Arts tells an interesting story about African American men teamed in groups of 8 to 14 whose responsibility it was to lay or care for the tracks of the southern railroads. Called Gandy dancers they developed a rich work song tradition composed of:

dogging

The most efficient callers were comparable to the powerfulness of a preacher who could inspire a congregation. Each caller created his own particular signature and style by using tonal boundaries and melodic style typical of the blues.

Railroad.net recounts a similar story from Texas. Because teamwork was needed to lift and move heavy sections of track or rail many groups of men developed calls and hollers. All would move together in unison at a particular point of the call and the movements required to move together resembled dancing movements. Like sea shanties it was the rhythm of the song that was importdatnt to the execution of the task at hand. It would stand to reason that the most coordinated job was rail alignment. Tracks would shift slightly after a certain amount of traffic. If not aligned, derailment, and disaster might happen. Aligning track was an onerous and difficult task because of the great weight of the track and timing needed to move it. Here is an example of a Gandy dancer call I discover on-line and found interesting:

Not My Job

I'm not allowed to run the train

The whistle I can't blow
I'm not allowed to say how fast

The railroad train can go
I'm not allowed to shoot off steam

Nor can I clang the bell
But let the Damned train jump the track

And see who catches hell.

-The Gandy Dancer's Verse

The phrase first appeared as a term around 1918. Since then it has had various slang meanings, including a petty crook or tramp, an Italian, a jitterbug, or a womanizer or active socialite. Many wonderful railroad terms were not so fortunate. H.L. Mencken noted that the now extinct fireman on steam locomotives was called an "ash cat," a "bake head" and a "diamond cracker," among other names. Though we still have a few metaphors that use railroad workers' jargon making the leap into todays' usage such as : "jump the track" and "asleep at the switch" for example. It has been used as a reference to railroad slang in a book called Railroad Avenue by Freeman H Hubbard, published in 1945. Others have suggested that gandy may be a corrupted form of gander, from the nodding heads of the workers using the tool, implying that the tool was actually named after the gandy dancer who used it. But this is no more than guesswork as they say, but still an interesting phrase with a very rich and colorful history behind it.

Sources:

Alabama Arts

Gandy Dancer's Verse

Railroad.net

word-detective

Dumpling

2010-02-19T15:14:00.004-07:00

Mr Loo and I ventured out of the Little American City and into the street markets of Taipei. There I saw some unusual items that were exotic and new. A mass of dried bamboo leaves, tied up in bunches. A profusion of dried chestnuts, hard and wrinkled, shells removed, with flecks of brown skin still caught on them. Shrunken mushrooms and fat shrimp piled high in open boxes, all with their distinctive aromas. As we browsed the stalls he told me a story from his school days that was very similar to the following:

When fishermen heard of his suicide, they set forth in boats to look for him. Thus began the tradition of having dragon boat races at this annual festival. Legend has it that when Qu Yuan's body could not be found, his admirers threw rice wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river so that the sea creatures would spare the patriot's body.

Dumpling making was a family affair, he explained, one that had abruptly ended when the Chinese government came to take his son away. Today was a day for him to remember his ancestors, the origins of the festival and reflect for a moment on patriotism, the importance of loyalty and commitment to the community, an honor that I was too young to appreciate. For me it was all about the simple joy of delicious dumplings.

We had purchased a variety of them made with fillings of shrimp, chicken, pork, scallops, Chinese sausages, and even salted egg yolks. A trace of citrus mingled with oil as they slipped down our throats trails of savory sensations blending the sweet, nutty flavors of the ingredients. My next experience with dumplings was at a potluck dinner after church in the states. Interesting, but understandably it was not the 5th day of the 5th lunar month and the sermon was not about the patriotic poet. All things considered they were not quite up my expectations.

Dumpling theory

The actual definition of the dumpling is very broad and they share a universal genesis having arrived in the present from the myriad cooks who more than likely wondered what to do with leftover scraps of pasta or bread dough. Since the physics of boiling water guaranteed a constant temperature with relatively little tending of the open fireplace that invited the addition of vegetables, it's easy to imagine that the cook simply dropped the bits of dough into the soup and made dumplings.

"Little dumplings from basket" or xiao long bao first appeared at least a century ago in Nanxiang, northwest of Shanghai. yclept says that, "Incidentally, xiao long bao are in the same family as the stuffed steamed breads (the wrapper is actually a very thin yeast dough). Jiaozi and wontons use a noodle skin instead. The ubiquitous little bundle of joy seems to be indigenous to almost every culture. From boiling and steaming to baking and frying the gastronomic records are dotted with a dozen different dumpling names. The Chinese fried up wontons millennia ago and Scandinavians supplied us with klubs. While the Germans added spaetzle and knodel, Italians served up ravioli, and Spaniards added tamales and empanadas.

It seemed as if life without dumplings was simply not worth living or was it? The Europeans explored the shadier side of dumpling theory during what is called "The Golden Age of Poisoning." The Victorians relished the idea of purchasing poisons at the local pharmacy and arsenic was the most popular choice since the white powder imitated the effects of cholera as well as food poisoning. Historian Katherine Watson did a delectably gruesome study of poisoning that began around 1752." The typical Victorian poisoning took place in a home," she says, "which was poor, but with enough spare capital to make killing worth the trouble. The typical murderer sat down to a meal with the victim. " In the 540 cases she researched there were more than 50 different toxins used. They murdered according to their means and the poor picked arsenic. In the 1840s the good citizens of Yorkshire could procure an ounce of it for a mere two pence:

Children were also quite likely to be poisoned. Between 1863 and 1887, homicide victims (from all causes) were more likely to be children under five than all other age groups combined, and poison took its share of this grisly toll. "I'll poison you out of the road" was a threat easily understood by children of the Victorian poor.

Anyone not getting on well with their family were warned," Don't eat the dumplings," but laws were eventually introduced to limit how the dangerous drugs could be purchased.

Southern flavors with dash of history

The recipe that follows is one from the grandmother of a friend from El Paso, Texas. I would have never imagined that basil could add such a wonderful sage-like essence that complements the flavor of the chicken. It's never disappointed unless of course there weren't enough dumplings to quell the cravings for more.

Lorri's Chicken and Dumplings

chicken

sweet basil

evaporated milk

Place the chicken in a 5-quart pot, cover with water and bring to a boil for a half hour. Remove the chicken and set it aside. While the chicken is cooling add the basil, broth, evaporated milk and butter. Cut the biscuits in fourths and drop into the potage. Some salt and pepper to taste would be nice too. While the biscuits are dancing around on top of the boiling water you can pull the chicken from the bone and shred it into bite size pieces. Add it back to the stew. Cook it for fifteen more minutes to make sure the dumplings are cooked through. For classic southern style cooking serve with fried okra, turnip greens, buttermilk biscuits and apple butter for a deliciously soul warming meal.

The aroma and feel the cottony lightness of these dumplings have eventually become our family's comfort food. The globs of dough that sit atop a thick pot of stew cooked to fork-flaking perfection just beg to be bathed in butter. But whether it's dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves ready for steaming or a big pot simmering on the stove, either way, the tastes and textures of dumplings remain as fresh in my memory like a breath from a spring breeze on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in the Little American City on the other side of the Pacific.

Sources:

Chinese Dumpling-The Traditional Chinese Food

www.phys.ttu.edu/~chenxp/ChineseCulture.html

Don't eat the dumplings

Feeding the dragon

Modern Unified Dumpling Theory

Picture Source

Prairie Fare

Xian Dumpling Dinner

One of the Heroes

2010-02-05T21:19:00.001-07:00

In old family letters my cousin found this poem written in the fine script of a woman's handwriting. There is no name or date. The paper and handwriting indicate that it was written a long time ago, perhaps as early as 1883, the earliest date found so far. The author is unknown and may be a family member or a poem copied because they liked it.

If you know who the author might be, please leave a comment.

One of the Heroes

Hark, through the wild night's darkness rings out a terrible cry,
And the woman shudders to hear it, in the room up close to the sky:
"Fire!" in accents of terror, and voices the cry repeat,
And the firebells join in the clamor out in the stormy street.
"God grant we are safe, my darling," she says to the child in her arms,
While the voices far down in the darkness add to the bells' alarm.
Then she thinks of the two little children who are sleeping peacefully near],
And, "God pity the people in danger," she adds with a thrill of fear.

The voices ring louder and louder. She hears the swift tread of feet
And the sound of engines rumbling below in the stormy street.
"It must be the fire is near us." She listens: a step on the stair.
Then the door is flung wide and beyond it she sees the red flames aglare.
"Give me the child!" cried the fireman, "There's not a moment to spare!"

The flames like a glittering serpent are writhing up the stair.
"No, I will carry my baby," and then she points to the bed
Where the light from the hall shines brightly over a golden head.
One little head on the pillow - one only - the fireman sees,
With flossy curls stirring about it in the firey breeze.
He lifts the child while the other is cuddled away from sight.
And springs down the stair where the flame-hounds snarlafter their prey in its flight.

On, on, through the fire that leaps round as a swimmer breasts the wave,
Scorched and blinded and breathless, to go by, and he comes not back.
The flames leap higher and higher.
The weak walls sway and crack.
"Oh! My lost child!" cries the mother, forgetting the babe at her breast.
In this moment of awful anguish, she loveth the lost child best.
Up from the crowd, all breathless with horror and doubt and fear
Goes a cry: "Thank God, he's coming with the child!" and cheer on cheer

Rings through the night, blending strangely with the wind and the wild flame's roar,
As out of the tottering building, the fireman springs once more.
Straight to the mother he staggers with the rescued child and cries:
"I left him, and I have saved him!"

Author Unknown

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

2010-02-05T14:10:00.002-07:00

The Sonoran Desert is one of the largest stretches of protected arid ecosystems in the world, and its biological diversity is vast. If you ever pass through Tucson this is the best place for me to astonish guests! The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum will celebrate its fiftieth year this Labor Day having displayed living plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert, Southern California, Sonora and Baja California since 1952.

Spending a good week camped nearby our group of college science majors lived off of peanut butter sandwiches, oranges and oatmeal. (shh-- don't tell; I threw in raisins to hide the weevils). This is defiantly the Disneyland for geologist, anthropologists, biologists or any other 'ologist' you could dream up. You could spend days here and by the time you think you've seen everything they've built something new to grok.

There is always a piece of nature anywhere you go in Tucson. Nature and wilderness are as close as anyplace else. It can be 110º in the shade and there are all of these amazing plants that survive while waiting months and months until it rains again. And so many colors of green, that's another special thing about this desert. Many times people think that a desert is all brown but that's not true. The plants here are every kind of green imaginable. There are bobcats, coyotes, and great horned owls that live in the city limits, Peregrine falcons take off from the city towers. There are birds everywhere, in the back alley or a vacant lot; there might be a pocket mouse or beetles feeding in cacti, or a pack rat nest, there is always something to see.

Back then most of the animals lived in cement and chain-linked cages. Since my colleg days they have built biomes of artificial rocks and boulders, and invented Invisinet, a net type fencing that out lines the animal's enclosures and is nearly invisible. So much so that when Chras4 and I were there I thought a coyote was on the loose when he strolled by. It is so much better now to see the large enclosures, open to the sky and planted with desert vegetation to provide a comfortable and more natural habitat.

For years the Desert Museum has endeavored to be an environmentally perfect zoological site. They strive to save endangered animals, aiding the Mexican Grey Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) breeding program, and researching ways to help with the survival of certain desert plants, fish (yes there are fish here, a most amazing story), reptiles, mammals and birds. The Mexican Grey wolf was common to the woodlands of the Sonoran mountain ranges. About a century ago the wolves were almost hunted to extinction.

"When wolves were eliminated in the early 1900's," says one Desert Museum scientist, "there was a whole different mind-set. The intent wasn't to control them, but to eliminate them. But times have changed and now people see that the wolves are part of the ecosystem. Today wolves roam the forests of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico because in 1983 a program was initiated to save and reintroduce it back into the wilderness. A captive breeding program to protect and build up the population of these wolves began from just seven specimens growing to 215. The first litter of Mexican wolves were born in 1978 at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum , by the spring 1992 the number of Mexican wolves stood at 42. On March 29, 1998, 11 Mexican wolves were released into the wild in Arizona. The area they were released into is called the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in the Apache-Sitgreaves and Gila national forests. It's hoped that these are remote enough areas to avoid run-ins with people and cattle, but still many ranchers are very worried even though there are plenty of deer and elk for the wolves to hunt.

The wolves have been fitted with radio collars to keep track of where they are. As of January 2002 there were 33 with radio collars and about a dozen more without collars. Some have fit in very well in the wild roaming for miles and having pups. Others have died from natural causes, been hit by cars or shot.

The Desert Museum was founded by William H. Carr and Arthur N. Pack. Both were convinced of the importance of educating others about plants and animals and their relationships to one another and to mankind. Many times people will wonder what all the fuss is about building in a particular spot here in the desert. Sometimes there are ongoing discussions in the paper and on the news. On more than one occasion I have been told, "What's the big deal? The animals will just move to another place." While this may be true in some cases for highly adaptable animals, but not so in other cases like the pygmy owl. Some critters will only nest and breed in a particular plant and only at a certain height. In turn the plants they live in can only survive at a specific altitude; when these plants disappear sometimes this leads to the extinction of the animal. One of the most controversial endangered species in Tucson is this mild mannered "earless" owl. That doesn't mean it doesn't have ears, but that it doesn't have the feather tufts that are seen on more common owls like the screech owl. The pygmy owl is only six inches tall, barely weighing 2.5 ounces, but it's tough enough to hunt and eat other birds, lizards and wee mammals. It's flight is long and undulating like a shrike's with a call that is a long repetition of single or double dove like notes. A black patch at the side of its hind neck distinguishes it from most owls. Pygmy owls like to live in the holes of the giant saguaro and trees where they sometimes store food. The saguaro has such a slow growth rate of many decades one can see why the pygmy owl would disappear well before a sagauro was tall enough to nest in. Most recently this feathered creature has brought the construction of roads and schools to an abrupt halt near our home on the northwest side of Tucson.

George L. Mountain lion was the mascot for the museum. Arriving there in 1953 when the museum was only 6 months old he had been raised by people in California he was very friendly, purring ---very loudly. He enjoyed having his ears and chin scratched and when he was excited to see someone he knew he would say, "Yap,yap yap!" He was usually walked on a leash and visitors were allowed to pet him. Sometimes he would perform in his cage for visitors by holding on to his hind foot or tail and do somersaults.

When George passed away he was buried in the grounds. Today his gravestone can be found on the History Patio near the restaurant. There was a George the II and George the III was donated by The San Diego Zoo. George the IV's sisters Honey and Georgette were the first to produce off spring at the Desert Museum in 1971.

There are summer camps, special classes and family activities galore. For more than three decades Hal Gras drove a station wagon called the Desert Ark to schools. He would bring along such animals as badgers, porcupines, snakes, ringtail cats and sometimes-special young animals, such as a baby mountain lion. Today the museum has the Desert Trek Outreach Program along with the Amigos del Desierto Program that focuses on bilingual and natural history educational activities. Classes visiting the museum on field trips receive suggestions for activities for both before and after their visits.

One special organization is The Coati Club for ages 6-12. For teens there is the Junior Docent Program where participants study desert ecology and provide useful services to the museum on a regular basis. This program grew out of a similar one led by Mr. Carr when a number of teens helped build paths and care for the animals. One of these teens at the age of 18 became the youngest curator of small animals there while two others received their Ph.D. degrees in biology and taught at the University of California.

The world-renowned museum is divided into sections, so you can easily head for your favorite animals or plants. Mine of course, is the Hummingbird Aviary which is at this time under construction. Sadly Chra4 and I couldn't see it when she was here for a visit, but that didn't stop us from seeing my second favorite stop and that is a Walk-in Aviary filled to the brim with cardinals, Gambel's quail, ducks, doves and one unusually brazen and smart aleck Black-Headed Oriole.

There is the Cactus Garden with over 140 species of desert fauna. Sagauro, cholla, beavertail and hedgehog to name a few catcus along with the beautiful Palo Verde trees with their green trunks and beautiful yellow flowers. You can see from the top or go underground and view the Cat Canyon with it's musky smelling ocelots, as well as, margays, jaguarmundis and coatimundi. Visit the incredible Bighorn Sheep exhibit. Just imagine how incredible these majestic creatures are with their ability to climb rock faces that would puzzle the most well-equipped mountain climber. At the Riparian Habitat, otters and beavers can be observed through underwater glass panels.

There is more to see at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum than I can describe. I haven't even mentioned the reptiles and invertebrates, the chuckwalla or the colorfully exquisite parrots that are found in this desert and south into Mexico.

Bring your camera, bring you field notes and binoculars. Most of all bring a lunch or plenty of money. A vegetarian burrito, small bag of Saguaro chips and soda cost me an astounding ten dollars!

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a fantastic oasis in the desert with the Tucson Mountains with their Kitt Peak Observatory as a back drop. Located 15 miles outside the city in the dusty desert at 2021 N. Kinney Road, Tucson, AZ 85743-8918. To get there take the Speedway exit off of I-10 and turn west, rive though the breath taking Gates Pass and into the amazingly beautiful Saguaro National Monument West and follow the signs. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is also located very close to the historic Old Tucson Studios where movies such as Rio Bravo, Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Three Amigos , and more recently, Tombstone with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, were filmed there. The television series High Chaparral made its home at Old Tucson, as well as episodes of Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and countless TV commercials.

for Chras4.

Sources:

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Larson, Peggy. "Happy Birthday, Desert Museum." Arizona Daily Star. 20 January 2002, p 3-4.

Picture Source

Robbins, Bruun, Zimm, Singer.A Guide to Field Identification, Birds of North America. Racine, Wisconsin.: Golden Press, 1966.

Decadence

2010-02-05T14:05:00.001-07:00

Decadence describes an attitude of poets as opposed to a type of poetry. As the word suggests, there is a 'going down', however the decline is from the attitudes of a preceding generation of poets. A decadent poet thinks of things in particulars of what they mean to him or her and not what they might mean in a general sense. This characterizing word was initially used in the 1880s to describe a group of flamboyant and self-conscious poets, publishers of the journal Le Décadent in 1886 . The decadents venerated the French symbolists and Baudelaire , the group with whom they are commonly and mistakenly identified. Oscar Wildes's Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) presents a vivid fictionalized portrait of the 19th-century decadent, a synopsis of his moral inversion, restlessness, and spiritual confusion. The decadent movement during the latter part of the 1800s in England was embodied by the works of the likes of Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater, Ernest Dowson, and Aubrey Beardsley, as well as, the writers of the Yellow Book and J. K. Huysmans's À rebours (1884) .

It's not really a very definitive word because poets as different as Walt Whitman, Yeats and T.S. Eliot could be called 'decadent' Frequently applied to Greek literature and works from the Alexandrian period (c. 300- 30 B.C.) and in Latin literature to the period after the death of Augustus (14 A.D.). In the arena of modern literature it's frequently associated with the French literature of the late nineteenth century that unfolded along lines of symbolism and demonstrated anti-social, hermetic, egotistical, and eccentric behavior that brandished loftily the label "decadent".

The authors centered their experiences as one of a private and personal one, confined within narrowly egocentric limits. Outcomes of the work displayed usually but not always unsatisfied desires concerned with the 'experience itself' and with private sensations rather than the 'fruit of the experience'

Alfred G. Engstrom lists several distinguishing traits he found common in the poems of French Decadents.

The search for novelty with attendant artificiality and interest in the unnatural;
Excessive self-analysis;
Feverish hedonism, with poetic interest in corruption and morbidity;
Abulia (inability to make decisions), neurosis, and exaggerated erotic sensibility; (the "erotic" sensibility did not always involve a quest for carnal knowledge; sometimes it involved the opposite -- an eroticism made keener and intellectually / spiritually more productive by chastity)
Aestheticism, with stress on "Art for Art's Sake" with the evocation of exquisite sensations and emotions this was at its source a reaction to the naturalism of the European realists, the decadents espoused that art should exist for its own sake, independent of moral and social concerns;
Scorn of contemporary society and mores; (scorn is most frequently directed at the bourgeoisie and values connected with positivism and industrialization)
Restless curiosity, perversity, or eccentricity in subject matter;
Overemphasis on form, with resultant loss of balance between form and content -- or interest in jewel-like ornamentation, resulting at times in disintegration of artistic unity (the Nazis destroyed a number of Gustav Klimpt's masterpieces for this alleged "problem");
Bookishness;
Erudite or exotic vocabulary;
Frequent employment of synaesthesia (describing one sense in terms of another: "it tasted yellow");
Complex and difficult syntax;
Attempt to make poetry primarily a means of enchantment, with emphasis on its musical and irrational elements;
Experiments in the use of new rhythms, rich in evocative and sensuous effects, alien to those of tradition and often departing from the mathematical principles of control in established prosody;
Anti-intellectualism and stress of the subconscious;
Abandonment of punctuation, and use of typography for visual and psychological effects;
Substitution of coherence in mood for coherence and synthesis in thought;
'Postromantic' irony in the manner of Corbiere, Laforgue, and the early Eliot;
Obscurity, arising from remote, private or complicated imagery or from a predominantly connotative and evocative use of language, with obvious reluctance to name an object ('Le suggerer, voila le reve' -- "To suggest it -- there's the dream." says one scholar);
An over-all aura of something lost -- a nostalgic, semi-mysticism without clear direction of spiritual commitment, but with frequent reference to exotic religions and rituals, or to such mysterious substitutes as Tarot cards, magic, alchemy, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, The Kabbala, Satanism, and the like.

R. L. Patterson writes....In my view the mysticism was quite serious, though often only half-consciously "absorbed" from the spirit (or, more exactly, the spirits) of the age and it reflects the eclecticism of the Decadents. I think that Theosophy and Gnosticism were most congenial to the Decadents, the former because it is an eclectic system that attempts to bring together into one more or less harmonious, though necessarily incomplete, mosaic all religions and the latter because of its similar blending of religious thought and its emphasis on the heretical and individualistic religious quest....adding

Let us add another characteristic of Decadence: Spleen: The neo-Romantic Decadents, like their Romantic forebears, tended to be "splenetic" (at least in the first phase of Decadence).

Patterson applies decadence to Baudelaire's work Spleen in the sense that Spleen is a 'precondition to abulia' among other attitudes with it's setting of sadness and 'protracted annoyance, boredom over the actuality that nothing seems justified or, perhaps, justifiable.'

The nature of Decadence has been divided into three phases by some:

Youthful Decadence where pose and efforts are to shock the bourgeoisie are in the forefront; exploring of language and stylistic resources; experimenting artistically; energies directed at going beyond human limitations by way of drugs, sex, spiritism, automatic writing, "unconscious" symbolism

Mature Decadence the appearance of greater emphasis on cognition, method, philosophy, religion, significance and intelligibility

Theosophy or Gnosticism where sometimes one of the orthodox religions, (for example Huysmans ultimately returned to Catholicism) accepted as a religious frame, with maximal retreat into Art and the Self.

Sources:

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF DECADENCE

infoplease.com

Mesquite

2010-01-31T12:14:00.002-07:00

The Magnificent Mesquite

Mesquite (Prosopis pallida) is pronounced mess-KEET, it's also known as algarroba in most South American countries. In Spanish it's spelled mezquite, and the Nahuatl Indians spell the word mizquitl. When the Conquistadors searched for gold in the 1500's through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, mesquite seedpods served as a dense, high-energy horse fodder; three centuries later, the southwest is still plush with these hardy trees.

A common desert tree here in Arizona currently enjoying a great popularity for outdoors grilling. It's almost smokeless and burns very slowly, with its dark wood of tangled grains it burns hot with an unmistakable aroma. There's nothing like a thick slab of yellow crookneck squash grilled to crunchy and tasty perfection. And while cooking with wood and mesquite chips is good but nothing compares to cooking with the dried mesquite bean pods. The flavor is much richer.

It's one of the few trees that thrive in the desert heat. It has no known insect or disease pest and spreads readily by seeds or sprouting from its crown. There are two on the west side of our home in our backyard that provide shade in the summer and since they are deciduous they lose their leaves in the winter allowing the sun in along with some warmth an energy wise saving strategy. I put them there because nothing can kill a mesquite tree, not even me. When the world ends, I will be dead and only Cher and my mesquite trees will survive. The Tucson Electric Company may still provide them to homeowners for two dollars to help cut costs of delivery. With the canopy pruned high they make a nice landscape plant and with their graceful branches, feathery leaves, and fragrant flowers give the impression of cool almost tropical feeling. Wielding sharp three-inch thorns, and growing in dense thickets, birds are attracted to them for shelter and long thorns as protection from them feline varmints.

If you've ever thought they look a lot like the acacias of the African deserts that have been trimmed into feathery graceful arches across the landscapes by browsing giraffes you're in the right family! Both belong are legumes that belong to the Pea family or the more scientific name Fabaceae.

They range across the Sonoron, Mojave and Chihuahuan deserts from western Texas, west to extreme southwestern Utah, southeastern California and into Mexico. Typically found at elevations below 5,000 feet they are well adapted to the desert and are especially valuable for uses such as lumber. Its wood is hard and fine grained that polishes beautifully. It's a common sight to see them used as fence posts and the roots are amazingly large in comparison to the size of the tree. For example, Acacia roots in Egypt average around 98 feet deep, while mesquite roots may reach up to 175 feet deep.

Many Texas farmers consider this tree to be an aggressive and invasive pest among their crops, while others find creative ways to put them to good use. Some times after a late summer rain when the ground was soft, Granddaddy and Dad would dig up the roots and set them in a kiln to dry for fire wood to heat the house in the winters. Here in the Santa Cruz valley south of Tucson is a stand of mesquite forest that has trees reaching as tall as 20 feet high while out on the drier mesas they tend to be scrubbier and thicker, yet still a fair shade tree at half the height.

Did you know that the seed of the mesquite bean is so hard that it will tear up a good coffee grinder? What is needed is a mill called a hammer mill. To make mesquite flour meal, you can grind them with a coffee grinder but remove the seeds first. You will still have the same taste and much of the nutrition, just a little less protein. You may be interested to know that while the soybean's protein content is about 35% the mesquite bean has a protein content of approximately 39%.

Here's a charming little recipe for Mesquite Bean Jelly I found on line. If you try it let me know how it turns out.

Mesquite Bean Syrup/Jelly/Sugar

potato masher

cheese cloth

strongly over high heat

pectin

Sure-Jell

It is as native as rattlesnakes and mocking birds; as blended into the life of the land as cornbread and tortillas. The tree exudes a gum that is equal to the gum Arabicand was used by untold generations before the pyramids were built; we are still making use of it. The mesquite trees greatest asset lies in its seedpods, which look similar to green beans and grow in clusters, nourishing about everything that either walks or flies in the desert. Cattle that feed on the open range will leave good grass to browse on a mesquite bush. Traditionally the desert dwelling Native Americans have gathered the seeds to make mesquite meal for breads called pinole and use it as a condiment or spice because of its natural sweet taste. They also make use of the bark for fabrics and baskets, as well as, in medicines for stomach ailments and as eyewash. Many critters such as the Harris Ground Squirrel eat the seeds too. The coyote's diet in late summer and fall is composed of 80 percent or more of mesquite beans.

There are three types of mesquites found in the American southwest; the Honey Mesquite, sometimes called the Texas Mesquite, (Prosopis glandulosa), Screwbean Mesquite (Prosopis pubescens ) and Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis velutina).

Honey Mesquite

Screwbean Mesquite

Tornillo

compound leaves

Velvet Mesquite

This is probably the mesquite most commonly found in Tucson landscaping because it can be grown on golf courses and lawns. In its natural habitat, Velvet Mesquite grows along washes, in valleys, and on desert plains. It ranges form 1,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation and is distributed throughout southeastern California, southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, west Texas, and Sonora, Mexico. This tree is gnarled and quite shaggy with fine soft hairs that cover the young growth. The fernlike compound leaves are 3-4 inches long and up to 1 inch wide, divided into tiny leaflets. The gray green foliage is deciduous in winter. Spines are present at the base of the leaves and are ¾ inches long and often in pairs. Velvet Mesquite is a large shrub to a tree depending on growing conditions. Near watercourses it can reach heights of 20 –30 feet and 15 feet wide. Springtime and sometimes in summer, 3 inch long light yellow fuzzy flowers, droop from the branches. Pods 5 inches long by ½ inch wide mature from the flowers, typically tan in color, but sometimes beautifully streaked with red.

Would you like another recipe from mesquites?

Sources:

Judy Mielke, Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes,227-230 (1993).

Mesquite Majic

Picture Source

Rogers, Ken E., The Magnificent Mesquite (2000)

Here lies one whose name was writ in water

2010-01-31T12:10:00.001-07:00

Utter this phrase to just about any English Lit major and chances are they will know whom you are talking about. So why the nebulous expression and what body of water is the author referring to?

In many literary circles water can indicate a cleansing and certainly Shakespeare's The Tempest is awash with it. Water in Genesis is a means of destroying the wicked and in Matthew as a way of remitting sins. It can also symbolize the river of life or the extinguishing of baptism by fire and re birth.

Calling it his "posthumous life" in 1820 John Keats dutifully headed to the warmer climes of sunny Italy after being diagnosed with an almost certain death sentence, tuberculosis. After declining Percy Bysshe Shelley's invitation to join him at Pisa, Keats went to Rome with his friend, the painter Joseph Severn where they lived in the Piazza of the Spanish Steps. Not far from the bottom of the steps is the Fontana della Barcaccia (1627) or "leaky old boat" created by Pietro Bernini, the son of Giovanni.

In a city famed for its fountains, this one stands out from the rest. Pope Urban VIII commissioned the Fontana della Barcaccia and even reopened an ancient aqueduct from the 17th century to provide water to the arid region. Instead of spouting grandeur with the magnificence of great crashing torrents, the streams flow with gentle murmurs. Carved in the shape of a half sunken ship with water overflowing its bows, researchers differ on what it is a tribute to. Some say that its mild mannered form was simply a necessity in a part of the city with such low water pressure, while others conjecture that it is symbolic of the Catholic Church ceaselessly afloat in the face of unfeasible odds. Another theory suggests that the fountain is a reminder of the Tiber River which frequently flooded this area of Rome. Still many like to imagine this is the where Domitian, a Roman emperor, held splendid sea battles in his great water stadium.

Keats could hear the sound of the water flowing soothingly from his deathbed and perhaps the marble carving echoed Charon's leaky boat upon the river Styx. He said it reminded him of the lines from the 17th century play Philaster Or: Love Lies A-bleeding (1611) by playwrights Beaumont and Fletcher. They often portrayed stories about the loyal devotion of both men and women to king, lover, or friend and Philaster is one of their best. The tragedy is about a Sicilian king whose kingdom was taken by the father of the woman he loves. It is a romance and tragicomedy about forgiveness. Thinking he is about to be put to death King Philaster observes:

all your better deeds
Shall be in water writ

Philaster. Act v. Sc. 3.

Beaumont and Fletcher's published Philaster in 1714 having borrowed the line from another tragicomic romance. These kinds of plays were rising in popularity at the time and it was a genre Shakespeare frequently used nearly a century earlier. In this instance the expression comes from Henry VIII a different play that centers on the instabilities of another royal court. Only this one dates from the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The Bard's intentions are to portray the warning signs of far-ranging consequences of infighting among the members of the court. One historian says, "The king of Shakespeare's day, James I, was a direct descendent of the royal family in this play. The merging of romance and history provides the suggestion that fate or providence helped to determine the unfolding of English history of the previous century."

In the fourth act Queen Katherine is being divorce from Henry VIII and discovers Cardinal Wolsey has schemed against her for political reasons. Angry, she swears him as her enemy. The Cardinal is put to death for his plans and hearing of his demise Katherine speaks out against him again and her attendant Griffith observes:

King Henry VIII IV.ii

Katharine is eventually convinced by Griffith to exonerate Wolsey with his elegy of forgiveness and pity that is encouraged throughout the play. So perhaps it is with speech and pardon in mind that Keats desires his pithy epitaph. There is no doubt that there are a few readers who are wondering what has brought this 25-year-old poetic genius in the making to such a humble summit.

The lower class son of a livery stable owner John was apprenticed to a surgeon only to discard a medical career in pursuit of a passion for poetry. By the fall of 1816 two of his sonnets, O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell and On First Looking into Chapman's Homer were published in the Examiner, a literary magazine edited by journalist and poet Leigh Hunt. Hunt introduced Keats to an upper class circle of literary men including poet Percy Shelly Blythe. With the support of this group Keats was able to get his first volume of verse Poems by John Keats published in 1817. His thesis was a justification of Romantic poetry and it main beliefs as publicized by Hunt and the assailing of the practice of Romanticism as represented by Lord Byron.

Two years later a follow up volume by Keats was published, Endymion. It was brutally criticized by the Quarterly Review and in particular Blackwood's Magazine who called it "nonsense" recommending Keats abandon poetry altogether. One biographer writes:

Endymion

Tory

letters

Blackwood's was relentless with their criticisms calling the romantic verse of Hunt's literary circle, "the Cockney school of poetry." But in spite of the disparagement Keats most impressive production of verse followed and by the summer of 1820 his third and best volume Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems was published. Not only did he benefit from a huge critical success, Keats also fell madly in love with Fanny Brawne (1801-1865) and it was also the year that he first showed signs of tuberculosis.

Dying in a small room in Rome Keats realized that his accolades on the publication of the volume Lamia, Isabella would be the end of his career as a poet. Keats told Joseph Severn that he wanted no dedications on his gravestone not even his name, but simply the words: "Here lies one whose name was writ in water."

After Keats death Severn deliberated on a variety of combination of Keats' words that would explain his choice was from the poet's sense of disregard by his peers. Nevertheless he kept his word for the time being and although the common sentiment towards the remembrance of Keats between English residents and visitors were for the most part considerate, there were a few insolent jeers, -"his name was writ in water"; yes, and his poetry in milk and water.' Even so his friend Shelley nobly defied Keats vague phrase in his own poem Adonais with," He lives, he wakes - 'tis Death is dead, not he."

Over the years Joseph Severn eagerly looked for any signs of growing admiration of his friend's poetry, or of change in attitude from the scoffers, but reprints of Keats's poems weren't published until nearly a decade later, "and then only by the Paris house of Galignani, who printed for the continental market, in a single tall volume with double columns, a collective edition of the poems of Shelley, Coleridge, and Keats."

Severn felt regret at agreeing to such an insignificant tombstone and after much deliberation among his group of friends that included several proposals of change Keats tombstone was carefully re-cut more than half a century later. A design of a lyre with only two strings attached was added perhaps as a symbolic metaphor for lyricists life cut tragically short. Today Keats's tombstone rests upon a green, sunny slope in the Rome's Protestant Cemetery. In addition to the lyre is the inscription:

This Grave
contains all that was Mortal
of a

Who
on his death bed
in the Bitterness of his Heart
at the Malicious Power of his Enemies
Desired
these Words to be engraved on His Tomb Stone
"Here Lies One
Whose Name was writ in Water"
Feb 24 1821

When John Keats died it had only been a handful of years after he had begun to write and the value of his legacy was only evident to his friends. There was a deep desire to ensure that Keats' brief work became well known, and it soon attained great popularity. Not only is it a reminder to many that the poet was a victim to the malice of his enemies, but that he was also capable of forgiveness. And like Shakespeare's plays about court rivalries and the ripples they cause across time, the simple epitaph has had its own far-ranging consequences of infighting among the poetical elites because today Keats' odes are to be found in almost every anthology of English poetry.

Sources:

CCS Web Academy - English IV - Unit 6, Lesson 1

Fontana della Barcaccia

John Keats

JOHN KEATS: HIS LIFE AND POETRY, HIS FRIENDS, CRITICS AND AFTER -FAME

The Literature Network

Philaster

A Pilgrim in Paradise

Teaching Letters

Soybean

2010-01-27T11:43:00.001-07:00

The ignoble soybean has become a snack food craze. The bright green pods sold here are akin to pea pods in color and size but the skin is fuzzy rather than smooth. They're best served blanched for snacking, have a mild nutty flavor and a bit firmer than other dried beans. Adding seasoned salt is a nice way to flavor them up.

Dried soy beans contain 1½ as much protein as other beans and are highly valued as a weapon against high cholesterol, osteoporosis, cancer of the breast, colon, and prostate. They are such high quality protein that soybeans are frequently used as meat extenders and are comparable to animal protein in helping with body growth and energy. Soy flour or grits and soy protein concentrate (textured or powdered) are used commercially in baked good, baby foods, candy, cereals and some sausages. Isolated soy protien (extracted) is used in sausages and cold cuts, whipped toppings, frozen dessert, dips, sauces, gravies and snacks. Textures soy protein (from the three previously mentioned products) is used for meat extenders or substitutes, including imitation bacon. While soy foods will not replace meats they provide protein in a wide variety of ways.

To prepare fresh soybeans for snacking, heat water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and one pound soybeans in the pod. Return to a boil and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.

Beans should be cooked but still firm. Drain into a colander and, whiles till warm, toss with a salt based seasoning mix such as Cajun or lemon pepper for some zip. They can be refrigerated as long as 4 days or frozen as long as three months.

Picture Source

Slow, slow, fresh fount

2010-01-27T11:40:00.001-07:00

SLOW, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears;: Yet, slower, yet; O faintly, gentle springs:
List to the heavy part the music bears,: Woe weeps out her division, when she sings.; Droop herbs, and flowers,; Fall grief in showers,; Our beauties are not ours:; O, I could still,
Like melting snow upon some craggy hill,: Drop, drop, drop, drop,; Since nature's pride is, now, a withered daffodil.; Ben Jonson (1573-1637)

An English playwright Ben Jonson was the first Poet Laureate. As one of Shakespeare's contemporaries his creative talents were many and varied and had a considerable effect upon the Jacobean and Carolinian periods, most likely the result of his critical theories. He desired to advance English drama as a form of literature and he gave in to no one in the high esteem he placed on poetry. He saw it as essentially an art that should adhere to classical forms and rules. He spoke out most often about the mixing of comedy and tragedy. An effective advocate of the principles of drama established by Aristotle, which he praised at the expense of flexibility and improvisational qualities of dramatists like Shakespeare. Jonson's importance rests today in his comedies of manners and their portrayal of contemporary life in London.

Slow, slow, fresh fount, written in 1600 as part of his satiric play Cynthia's Revels in which he satirizes other writer, in particular, the English dramatist Thomas Dekker and John Marston. (Dekker and Martin retaliated by attacking Jonson in their Satiromastix.) A portion of the comedy deals with the myth of Narcissus, a young lad who falls in love with his own reflection, pines away, and eventually is transformed into a flower. Echo falls in love with him but in the end she fails to save him from himself. This lament is sung by Echo to Narcissus. The very first line with its dense spondaic rhythm, slow slow and alliteration, fresh fount, along with the internal rhyme of time and my of second half of the phrase would stand alone as poetry. Samuel Johnson extolled this pretty and sad little song for how well Ben Jonson matched his thoughts with his words. What could sound slower than "Slow, slow, fresh fount"?

Despite his literary feuds, Jonson was the recognized leader of the men of letters of his era, the leading wit and dean of the group of writers who met regularly at the Mermaid Tavern in the Cheapside district of London. His most famous song is probably Drink to me only with thine eyes . He was made Poet Laureate by King Charles I in 1636 and died a year later at Westminster on August 6th.

Sources:

Blair, Bob

Bram, Robert Philips, Norma H. Dicky, "Jonson, Ben," Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia , 1988.

Public Domain text of the poem taken from the Poet's Corner

Filibuster

2010-01-25T21:55:00.001-07:00

Pseudo_Intellectual

Of pirates and politics

Filibuster initially appeared in the English language around 1587 as flibutor meaning pirate. Most etymologists say that the root of the word is ultimately derived from the Dutch term vrijbuiter. Fashioned from vrij meaning free and buiter meaning plunderer this offered up for American English the word freebooter or "One who plunders or pillages without the authority of national warfare." And if you're wondering if booty is a related word you're right! The boot in freebooter means advantage or profit. So filibuster and freebooter are doublets, both coming at first from the Dutch vrijbuiter. It was apparently a very functional word because the French purloined it as well and muddled it a bit more into flibustier which one must not befuddle with bustier! The French "filibuster" came from the Dutch word flieboot meaning flyboat. They were small fast boats that pirates used in the Caribbean. While the English also used the French word with a variety spellings the Spanish buccaneered it from the French and turned it into filibustero. In all of this pillaging and plundering of the term, the English didn't recognize it already had two forms of the same word in flibustier and freebooter and nicked the expression from the Spanish so that by the middle of the 19th century a freebooter was "anyone who lives by plundering others, especially a pirate."

American filibuster in Nicaragua

So what was going on that caused all of this fast and furious finagling of a Dutch word among the Europeans? Mostly it was a bunch of lawless adventurers from the United States who were stirring up revolutions in several Central American countries. These wannabe Conquistadors were not simple pirates, but profiteering adventurers who flouted "international law, ran guns and fomented revolution against the European colonial powers throughout the West Indies, Central and South America." Possibly the most legendary filibuster is William Walker who started by trying to confiscate part of Mexico and invaded Nicaragua twice and was tossed out both times. Born in Nashville, Tennessee Walker was:

Politics as usual

There were several colorful filibusters who conducted assaults against Cuba, the Caribbean, and Texas when it was still part of Mexico. The exploitations of the "filibusters" were the focus of a great deal of debate in the United States at the time. Enter Virginia Senator John Randolph (1773–1833) who was an eccentric figure of the same era that claimed Pocahontas as a fore bearer. Many of his constituents admired him for his concise wit and biting tongue, he also possessed a brilliant mind and during his lifetime he became a distinguished orator. Eventually he acquired the custom of making long and immaterial speeches on the floor of the Senate for the purpose of putting off a vote on a particular subject.

The Senate became so fed up with these tactics that it voted to give the presiding officer explicit power to deal with such problems. Schuyler Colfax who was the Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant put an end to this hasty handling of Senate business with his ruling that "under the practice of the Senate the presiding officer could not restrain a Senator in remarks which the Senator considers pertinent to the pending issue." Within a few years the use of these delaying devices in the Senate was rampant. As a result a senator or group of senators could speak on extraneous topics and phrases like reading the telephone book are still frequently used. Now that the rules of the US Senate allow for debates to go on as long as the vocal cords of the senators held out, they could stop legislation from moving forward.

During this time the term filibuster had become commonplace and a few historians suggest that because the savage and illegal attacks of the filibusters had acquired a such negative undertone, they have little doubt that at some point one U.S. Senator became outraged by the obstructionist legislators and possibly claimed that they "pirated" the debates comparing the scheme with the military filibusterers who had recently been wreaking havoc in other countries. Thus filibustering was born and what was once "an attack" lives on today as "long, boring delaying tactic."

Reforming politicians

By 1917 the Senate granted cloture which is a way for ending the debates called. Cloture calls for the signatures of sixteen Senators and the votes of three- fifths of the Senate. Even though many attempts of cloture have been attempted it's rarely applied. Efforts to streamline requirements have been unsuccessful, in part because the Senate is reluctant to interfere with the institution of free debate, which incorporates the right to speak on anything no matter how irrelevant--even if it is simply to keep the floor.

Today's tradition of filibuster in the US Senate is very strong and has been employed by assorted alliances of Senators for a great variety of reasons. The example Pseudo_Intellectual mentions was a filibuster led by conservatives resisting civil-rights legislation in the 1960s. Beginning in 1945 Congress had considered a civil rights bill every year, but didn't pass one until 1957. Eventually The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on February 10 by a vote of 290 to 130. Two weeks later, the U.S. Senate voted the bill onto the Senate calendar, sidestepping the Judiciary Committee that was dominated by members from the southern states. "On June 10, 1964, the Senate adopted a motion-for-cloture vote that ended a filibuster on the bill, 71 to 29, and on June 19, 1964, the Senate passed its own version of the Civil Rights Act by a vote of 73 to 27. The House approved the Senate bill on July 2, 1964, and President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill into law the same day." Today's filibusters are not officially constrained to the U.S. Senate, but that's where the tactic works best and given the peculiar rules of the Senate the term filibuster is most often used in reference to that body.

Sources:

The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology edited by Robert K. Barnhart (New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988).

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1990).

Take Our Word For It Issue 42

Online Etymology Dictionary

Walker, William:
http://www.bartleby.com/65/wa/Walker-W.html

Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1997).

Word Detective:
http://www.word-detective.com/092403.html#filibuster

yourdictionary.con:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/wotd/wotd.pl?date=2004-09-11

Petrified Forest National Park

2010-01-19T05:26:00.001-07:00

Arizona's most popular natural wonders include the Grand Canyon, Havasu Canyon, Grand Canyon Caves, Lake Powell/Rainbow Bridge, Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, Monument Valley, Sunset Crater, Meteor Crater, Sedona Oak Creek Canyon, Salt River Canyon, Superstition Mountains, Picacho Peak State Park, Saguaro National Park, Chiricahua National Monument, and the Colorado River. Oh! and don't forget the reconstructed London Bridge at Lake Havasu City! Today some 18 million tourists a year visit the state, two million of whom are (not counting bleepin' snowbirds) visitors from other countries. I was trying to decide between doing a write up about the Grand Canyon National Monument or the Petrified Forest National Park. My husband said Do the one about the Petrified Forest! Nobody knows about it, most people have not even have heard of it I would even bet you 90% of the people in the United States have even ever heard of it. It might even be higher than that! Most people in Arizona haven't heard of it! Well that may be a bit exaggerated but when we visited it there weren't very many people. Certainly fewer that the over crowded Grand Canyon but just as breathtakingly beautiful! It was surprising to learn that over a million people visit the park annually with peak visitations occurring in the summer months.

President Teddy Roosevelt signed the proclamation making the 93,532.57 acre forest a national monument on December 8, 1906. In 1962 congress made it a national park. It's a Rock hound's Paradise! Did you know that the movie The Painted Desert starring Clark Gable and William Boyd was filmed at the park in 1931 and five years later Betty Davis and Humphrey Bogart made another movie called what else? The Petrified Forest! And guess what? Petrified wood (Araucarioxylon arizonicum) is the official state fossil of Arizona! Most petrified wood comes from the Petrified Forest right here in the Mojave Desert.

I visited there as a little girl and remember wanting to pick up a piece of petrified wood as a keepsake. Thankfully today people are prevented from picking them up, if everyone did that pretty soon there wouldn't be a Petrified Forest anymore. In the early 1900's, so many were removing the the wood from the area that this led to calls for preserving areas with large deposits of it. The park exists for this purpose and there is no collecting or giving out of samples permitted. Dad bought me one from a commercial dealer who do their collecting outside the park. Many artisans collect and make beautiful objects with them. It wasn't until April 2001 that it was removed from the National Parks Conservation Association top ten most-threatened list. In the early days of the park, tourists were constantly taking logs from the desert floor to keep as souvenirs. They were removing 12 tons of petrified wood each year in violation of federal law. Don't take any of the wood, not even a small piece because you just might regret it. Make sure to visit the Rainbow Forest Museum before you leave. Along with the exhibits they have what is referred to as "conscience letters" displayed on the wall. These are from people who have stolen petrified wood from the park and feel obligated to return it, sometimes even sixty years later. One man made a bolo tie (the official state tie of Arizona) from his stolen petrified wood, and he returned it in its altered state. Another woman smuggled three pieces out of the park in her bra, returned two of them (keeping one to remind her of her mistake) AND sent $0.20 for the park to buy more petrified wood--from whom, I don't know.

Within the Petrified Forest National Park is The Painted Desert also called the Chinle Formation of the Late Triassic Period composed of wonderful colorations and hues. On top if that there are several archeological sites and displays of 225 million-year-old fossils in an expanse of badland hills, flat-topped mesas and buttes. The land is arid, heavily eroded by the desert winds and has very little vegetation.

hematite

You weren't expecting petrified trees where petrified birds perch singing petrified songs were you? You can feast your eyes on the multihued sandstone battlements abruptly raising from the vibrant sandy sea. Row upon row of silty-gray mounds emerge from the earth split by layers of pink, orange, mauve, and purple sediments that change color with every angle of the sun or drifting cloud. Here and there, the hillsides are adorned with brick red colored boulders the size of box cars. And, scattered about plain and hillside alike are the remains of broken fossilized trees that give the park its name. It's a land that time forgot, but now, through tectonics and erosion, has exposed itself again.

Most of the trees today are lying about in broken sections of various sizes. The Agate Bridge, which is really a petrified tree and not related at all to the London Bridge in any way, is the largest specimen. But watch out for hoodoo's! A geomorphologist paraphrases the Apache legend about how the Creator let loose a great Deluge when He was upset with the earth and decided to start over. He favored the Apache, and was willing to give them shelter. However, a group of greedy and evil men took advantage, and rushed up to the hills without helping the young, the elders, and the women from the approaching flood. The Creator was so angered with them, that He punished them by turning them into stone as they stood on the ridges. Thus, the hoodoos are the petrified men who abandoned their tribe. Who do I think I'm fooling! It sounds a lot like the biblical story of Noah and the flood doesn't it? Actually they are formed when a hard top crust of sediment is eroded in areas exposing the soft rock underneath which then erodes rapidly. The hard crust remains in parts protecting the soft rock underneath and forms a pillar, or a hoodoo. Some of them are quite large. Hoodoos are common in areas of badland , the most well known are found in Bryce Canyon National Park. There are a few that lurk around the Petrified Forest too, only the "cap rock" on the hoodoos is petrified wood. These are entombed in the soft, easily eroded Chinle Formations. The petrified logs and stumps, protect the underlying rock, producing some very elongated and somewhat squat hoodoos.

At one time the area was a great floodland with large copses of trees like Araucarioxylon, Woodworthia and Schilderia that fell during the frequent flooding and washed down stream where they were covered by silt, mud, and volcanic ash. Sealed in the airless tombs the log decayed slowly and eventually ground water containing silica seeped in surrounding the tissue of the wood and crystallized into mineral quartz preserving the tree as petrified wood. That was about 225 million years ago during the late Triassic period. After that the land sank where it flooded with freshwater and covered with sediments. Later the land was lifted above sea level and the wind and rain eroded the now stressed and fractured trees leaving them exposed on the terrain along with other fossilized animal and plant remains

Petrification occurs when the tissue of ancient trees become complexly replaced by minerals. This is called permineralization. When the branches and trunks become stone, details of ancient plants become quite remarkable. Sometimes when they are preserved in amber the cell structure is protected so perfectly that DNA fragments within them can be extracted and sequenced.

The area was mapped by the United States Army in the mid 1800's and soon word spread about trees that had turned to stone and the beautiful Painted Desert. Archeologists have discovered that the area has been inhabited by humans for well over two thousand years. There were several individual occupations with potsherds, rubble, and pictures that tell a story of transitions from nomadic families to agricultural settlements, pueblos and trading with nearby villages until 1400 AD when these civilizations all seem to fade away.

There are literally thousands of petroglyphs and pictographs scattered around the American southwest. Newspaper Rock in the Petrified Forest an interesting example. It's the name given to a huge boulder that is covered with these drawings by ancient Indian tribes. Even though the rock itself is at the bottom of a cliff and hard to access on foot, the petroglyphs are easily seen using binoculars. Patterns of circles and images of animals are etched or painted onto the rocks for reasons archeologists aren't completely sure yet but studies have revealed a few clues.. It's known that around the time that Francisco Vásquez Coronado came through Arizona in the mid fifteen hundreds the area was pretty much uninhabited. However only a few hundred years earlier there were a group of people who belonged to the Ancestral Pueblo People that farmed the area and occupied up to 600 known sites in the Petrified Forest. One scientist, Bob Preston has spent the last two decades studying the sites and the images left behind. He is convinced that many of them were used as a solar calender and function much the same way today as they did years ago by tracking the sun across the sky through the interplay of sunlight on the petroglyph. Over the last 16 years he has identified about 120 examples of similar solstice events at more than 50 petroglyph sites in Arizona, New Mexico and southern Utah. He calls them "solar observatories." One web site explains how they work:

Chaco Canyon National Monument

solstice

equinoxes

Shadows and sunlit images are found to move across petroglyphs due to other rocks being in the path of the sun's rays. As the sun's path across the sky changes throughout the year, the positions of the shadows and sunlit images change on the petroglyph panels. In many cases the petroglyphs have been placed on the rock faces in just the right position so that specific interactions occur on the solstices. The most common types of petroglyphs on which solsitial interactions have been identified are spirals and circles.These consistent interactions may involve a point of sunlight or shadow piercing the center or tracing the edge of a spiral or circular petroglyph; or shadow lines may suddenly appear or disappear at the center or edges of the petroglyph; or they may move up to the center or edge and then retreat. It is not uncommon for a single petroglyph to display multiple interactions of this type, either on the same solstice or on each of the solstices. In fact, at one site, there are five circular and spiral petroglyphs that show 15 interactions on the both solstices.

How fascinating! Archeology and astronomy all rolled into one. A small window into the ancient peoples of the desert as they watched these slow motion movies through the seasons. To make a petroglyph they would look for a rock covered with what is called "desert varnish." The surface of the rock is dark and when scratched the lighter rock underneath created a contrasting image. The varnish on the rock is caused over a long period of time becoming a filmy layer of organic components made mostly out of a thin coating of iron or manganese, and bacteria. These petroglyphic images have been classified into six categories: anthropomorphs, zoomorphs, kachinas, hands\tracks, geometrics, and indeterminate.

Anthropomorphs and Kachinas represent the human form. Anthropomorphic figures may have complete bodies but generally lack facial features. Kachinas often take the form of heads or masks and most have facial features.
Zoomorphs include large and small animals, reptiles, and birds. Look closely and you will see cougars, birds, lizards, snakes, bats, coyotes, and rabbits on petroglyph panels at Petrified Forest.
Hands and tracks include bear paws, bird tracks, cloven hooves and human feet or hand prints. Some human tracks even appear in pairs.
Geometrics consist of textile and pottery designs, spirals, circles, and other geometric shapes. You will see many of these elements at Puerco Pueblo and Newspaper Rock.
Indeterminates may be simple doodles or might be a picture to commemorate a special event in a life or the community.

Paleontologists are slowly reconstructing the Triassic ecosystem by piecing together fossil records. The creatures that wandered the vast forest of the period were crocodile-like reptiles, giant fish-eating amphibians and small dinosaurs living among a variety of ferns and cycads. Exhibits in the Rainbow Forest Museum at the park include freestanding casts of some Triassic Period reptiles and displays on early dinosaurs.

Placerias was a large, bulky plant-eating reptile weighing up to 2 tons. It had strong but toothless jaws and probably lived on a diet of tough, fibrous plants. The large tusks may have been used to dig up roots and tubers for food. Belonging to a group known as phytosaurs, fossils indicate that some individuals reached 30 feet in length. They lived a crocodile-like life in the rivers and lakes preying on fish and smaller animals. Bony plates protected the body and tail.
Desmatosuchas was a 16-foot long, plant-eating reptile that sported a long, pig like snout and looked like an overgrown armadillo. A bony carapace (shell) covered the long narrow body and large spikes on its sides were probably used for defense.
Chindesaurus was an early primitive dinosaur. It was 8 to 12 feet long from head to tail, with sharp, sickle-shaped teeth indicating a meat diet. Lightly built with exceptionally long hind legs, it may have been one of the fastest land-dwellers in this area. This speed helped it overtake its prey.
Coelophysis was one of the early known dinosaurs. It was about 8 feet long and could weigh 50 pounds. Long slender jaws lined with sharp, flattened teeth indicate it was carnivorous. This agile animal probably walked on its hind limbs and used its forelimbs to catch and hold prey. Large eye sockets suggest keen eyesight. This ferocious looking reptile was a large land-dwelling predator. It moved in a dinosaur-like way with its legs tucked under its body not sprawled out to the side like most reptiles. A medium sized animal was about 13 feet long.

There are no established trails so hiking is a cross country trek. The weather ranges from the 90's to low 100's during the day to the 30's and 40's at night. There are summer time thunderstorms and the possibility of flash floods so check the weather. It's a wide open range and perfect for cross county hiking. With rabies and hantavirus it's best to avoid contact with any animals living or dead. For you herpatologist fans the petrified forest is also home to the milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum taylori), Arizona's rarest snake. If you come across a fossil leave it in place and report it to one of the rangers. It's a piece to a giant puzzle of time for documanting and studied for clues to the past in this fascinating area. Make sure to bring enough water at least a gallon per person on hot days and wear a wide brimmed hat with long sleeves since there is almost no shade. Watch out for poisonous desert dwellers too! Look but don't touch. Make sure to check crevasses and under shady rocks for any critters before putting your hands in there or sitting down for a rest. Shaking out clothing will help avoid scorpions, spiders, and centipedes. Overnight camping is free but a permit is required. Only back pack wilderness camping is allowed but there are campsites outside the park.

How to get there:

The Petrified Forest National Park is located in east central Arizona near Holbrook, (the land of petrified everything for sale), a 27 mile road runs through the Park, from the I-40 exit number 311 to US 180. Open from 8am to 5pm every day except Christmas. No reservations are needed and fees range for a five days pass from five dollars for hikers and bikers to ten dollars for private vehicles.

Sources:

Hoodoo

Petrified National Forest

Picture Source

Praline Syrup

2010-01-19T05:25:00.001-07:00

2¼ Cup Sugar
¼ Cup Brown Sugar
1 ½ Cup Water
3/4 Teaspoon Vanilla
3/4 Teaspoon Maple Flavor
Pinch Salt
1 Tablespoon Oleo

Combine sugar, water, and salt, bring to a boil and boil two minutes. Remove from heat, stir in oleo and flavorings
Optional: Stir in 3/4 cup finely chopped Pecans

A handy recipe to have on hand when if you run out of syrup.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

2010-01-19T05:19:00.001-07:00

S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

LET us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherised upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent

To lead you to an overwhelming question. . .

Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"

Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes

The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes

Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening

Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,

Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,

Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,

And seeing that it was a soft October night,

Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time

For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,

Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time

To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"

Time to turn back and descend the stair,

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair --

[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]

My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,

My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin --

[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]

Do I dare

Disturb the universe?

In a minute there is time

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all: --

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

I know the voices dying with a dying fall

Beneath the music from a farther room.

So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all --

The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,

And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,

When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,

Then how should I begin

To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?

And how should I presume?

And I have known the arms already, known them all --

Arms that are braceleted and white and bare

[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]

Is it perfume from a dress

That makes me so digress?

Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.

And should I then presume?

And how should I begin?

. . . . .

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets

And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes

Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? . . .

I should have been a pair of ragged claws

Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

. . . . .

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!

Smoothed by long fingers,

Asleep . . tired . . or it malingers,

Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.

Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,

Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?

But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,

Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a

platter,

I am no prophet -- and here's no great matter;

I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,

And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,

And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all,

After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,

Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,

Would it have been worth while,

To have bitten off the matter with a smile,

To have squeezed the universe into a ball

To roll it toward some overwhelming question,

To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,

Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all" --

If one, settling a pillow by her head,

Should say, "That is not what I meant at all.

That is not it, at all."

And would it have been worth it, after all,

Would it have been worth while,

After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,

After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along

the floor --

And this, and so much more? --

It is impossible to say just what I mean!

But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:

Would it have been worth while

If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,

And turning toward the window, should say:

"That is not it at all,

That is not what I meant, at all."

. . . . .

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

Am an attendant lord, one that will do

To swell a progress, start a scene or two

Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

Deferential, glad to be of use,

Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;

At times, indeed, almost ridiculous --

Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old . . . I grow old . . .

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

T. S. Eliot

Not considered by some scholars as Eliot's best poem, Prufock is probably his best-known, readers enjoy it because it seems to express the anti-social angst it affects. It is not as complicated a poem as one would think, but I missed some important points and thought some explanatory notes might be of interest.

The Italian preface to the poem is from Dante's Comedia, canto 27 of the Inferno.

John Ciardi's translation of these lines is:

If I believed that my reply were made
to one who could ever climb to the world again,
this flame would shake no more. But since no shade
ever returned -- if what I am told is true --
from this blind world into the living light
without fear of dishonor I can answer you;

Prufrock's confession is like that of a condemned soul in hell and the reasoning behind it is that even complaining is hopeless. The poem is full of striking and meaningful lines:

I should have been a pair of ragged claws

Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

In this example,when Prufrock says he should have been a crab he is speaking about moving backwards, which is just what he desires to do, but cannot. There's a line in Hamlet that this most likely refers as well where the terrible shock of his father's murder has gotten Hamlet to thinking, probably for the first time in his young and idealistic life, about the irreversible reality of death. However, rather than openly drive home the link between Hamlet's passivity and his preoccupation with death and decay toward the purpose of tragedy, to the reader, Prufrok's meaning is hidden and mysterious, having to be drawn out by critical thinking . "Nor was meant to be," calls up an association with Hamlet's soliloquy, "To be or not to be? — That is the question." Unable to decide, Prufrok is asking a question about establishing of the relationship with the woman is "not to be." Then on another level, he is hazards that he is not "meant to be," implying that he is meant after all to merely exist and never really participate in life.

Allusion is present here too as a verse reference to a character in another literary work. T. S. Eliot alludes or refers to the biblical figure John the Baptist in the line,

Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter...

Taken from Mark 6 where John the Baptist's head was presented to King Herod on a platter.

It was surprising to learn that Eliot was twenty two years old when he wrote this piece. At the the heart of the poem is the fretting of a middle aged man, the complacency of his social contacts; his own incapability, indecisiveness and decomposition; and incapable of redemption of a life that is going the wrong way and will not be turned around. And in this fashion he can be put in with other poets of decadence.

The first couple of lines earned Eliot immediate recognition as an extremely capable writer when they were published in 1917. Using older more traditional styles he worked them in combination with vers libre creating a whole new rhythm that had never before been heard and the effect of reading it aloud is quite impressive.

Sources:

Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Literary Terms & Concepts
accessed August 22, 2003.

Public domain text taken from the Poet's Corner

TS Eliot - The Academy of American Poets
accessed August 22,2003.

Easter 1916

2010-01-17T06:58:00.001-07:00

I HAVE met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
That woman's days were spent
In ignorant good will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our winged horse.
This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vain-glorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.
The horse that comes from the road.
The rider, the birds that range
From cloud to tumbling cloud,
Minute by minute change;
A shadow of cloud on the stream
Changes minute by minute;
A horse-hoof slides on the brim,
And a horse plashes within it
Where long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call.
Minute by minute they live:
The stone's in the midst of all.
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead.
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse --
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.: September 25, 1916; William Butler Yeats

After years of occupation a spark of nationalism occurred in Ireland during World War I. Ireland was unhappy about sending it's men to war because the Mother Country said so. Frustrated The Easter Rising was a protest against British rule and the participants were members of the Irish Volunteers, a parliamentary force formed during the crisis over the home rule bill of 1912.

England reacted by suspending home rule bringing about a meaningless and violent rebellion. From the 1890's, nationalism found expression in the Irish Literary Renaissance and one of the leaders of this movement was the poet William Butler Yeats.

An important event in Yeat's lifetime, he wrote this long piece approximately six months after it occurred in 1916. On April 24th a group from the Irish Volunteers of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, approximately seven hundred in all, took possession of central Dublin over a period of five days. When defeated the leaders were for the most part summarily executed. On May 11th, Yeats wrote a letter to Lady Augusta Gregory that said in part:

"I had no idea that any public event could so deeply move me -- and I am very despondent about the future. At the moment I feel that all the work of years has been overturned, all the bringing together of classes, all the freeing of Irish literature and criticism from politics."

Yeat's poem is his personal appraisal of the Uprising. The first stanza Yeats creates the scene referring to the actors in this event They are the Revolutionaries in an everyday general sense setting the tone as he the author is remote, an observer of the unfolding events. The lines:

form a striking portrait of people play acting in contrast to the impending and all to real savagery. The last two lines of the first stanza are among the most notable in twentieth century literature....

A terribly beauty is born

The second stanza begins to describe the significance, events, and people of the uprising. Yeat's knew the four leaders of the Rebellion personally. That woman in the first few lines is the wife of Count Markievicz, Constance Gore-Booth. She is the subject of another of Yeat's best poems, "In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz". She was condemned to death for partaking in the uprising but she was later freed when her sentence was commuted.

This man who had kept a school was Padraig Pearse, a published poet of the day, a founder of St. Enda's School and, for the Easter week, President of the provisional government.

This other man was Thomas MacDonagh who adored the Celtic language, taught at Pearse's school and was a friend Yeats held in high regard.

The second other man however, is one whom Yeats held in great contempt. He was a one Major John MacBride a soldier in the war against England in South Africa and whom had married Maud Gonne (the woman Yeats loved) only to....according to Yeat's, 'cruelly divorce' her. This misfortune must have seemed to Yeats especially wonderful.

Transformation and beauty is born in the third and final stanza. A litany of the failed revolt the conception of hearts "enchanted to a stone" becomes not only central to the rest of this poem but represents a change of focus in Yeats' view of Irish politics. The passions of revolutionary politics had stymied Yeats personal and artistic goals at every turn for the past twenty five years. Yeats creates the stone and it becomes a product, as well as a symbol of the Cause.....'a cause of turbulence in the stream and the condition of the hearts of those who gave their whole existence to it'. The next stanza depicts this turning point of Yeat's politics...... it has transformed from things which rely upon the events to something incapable of being avoided, the deaths of ..

...are the inescapable effect.

At the time England had promised home rule to the middle-class Irish and The Easter Rising was not immediately well received since there were well over one hundred thousand Irishmen serving in the British Army. By the time Yeats published his Easter 1916 the stone had gained enough momentum that it could not be turned. A terrible beauty was born, and as Yeats says near the end of his piece "England may keep faith" it was too late, the swift and deplorable execution of the leaders by then had turned them into martyrs.

Public Domain text taken from the Poet's Corner

Some information was gathered from Poet's Corner

Josephus

2010-01-17T06:53:00.001-07:00

The knowledge of the life of Josephus, Flavius ( 37-ca. 100 CE) comes directly from his own writings, four of which have survived. A history of war called The Jewish War comprised of seven books, in which he attempts to dissuade his people and other nations from courting annihilation by extending their revolts against the all powerful Roman Empire. A history of the Jews from the creation up to the war (66 CE)where he movingly describes how his people had flourished under God's law. An autobiography called Life and a defence of Judaism Against Apion where he refutes the charges made against the Jews made by the anti-Semitic Greek grammarian Apion (fl. 1st cent.) and other writers of similar opinions. Against Apion is his most invaluable contribution, because Josephus recapitulates writings on Jewish history, religious life and culture that are no longer in existence. A key to understanding the last two pre-Christian and first post-Christian centuries. So influential is his work in playing a role in the developing culture of the Radical Reformation that the Puritans who arrived in New England owned in addition to their Bibles the writings of Josephus.

Born Joseph ben Matthias his life can be separated into two parts: the controversial and dramatic years in Judea and the years he spent living in Rome as the client and some sources say as a prisoner of the Flavian emperors. Born in Jerusalem he spent his adolescence in the wilds as a member of the Essenes, a monastic brotherhood of Jews in Palestine who practiced from the 2d century B.C. to the 2d century A.D. Josephus found their devotion to scripture and ascetic way of life romantic.

As he matured he aligned himself with the Pharisees and played an important role in the revolt by the Zealots (qv). This led to the ambiguity and often conflicting accounts in the writings of Josephus. Beginning in 66 CE during the revolt against Rome by the Zealots he was appointed as general to take charge of the defence of Galilee (in what is now Israel). In one account he writes that he took charge of the forces there to lead the Galilean phase and yet in another later accounting he writes that he sought to prevent the revolt rather than play an role in leading it. The end results of his preparations were negated when Vespasian overran the Jewish forces. By Jospehus telling this defeat was because of the superior forces of the Roman army and tactical skills of their leader. But detractors declared that Jospehus had been a traitor and the Roman victory was from some form of treachery committed by Josephus himself; this suspicion of Josephus would follow him for the rest of his life. Josephus and some of companions escaped the besieged town of Jopata and formed a suicide pact to escape capture of the Romans. Somehow Jospehus managed to become the lone survivor of this scheme and them promptly surrendered to the Romans. Whichever story may be true Josephus did succeed in preparing Galilee for the coming onslaught in 67 and valorously repulsed Vespasian for a time. Having proven his military abilities with his 47 day defence of Jopata garnered him the respect and later a prized position with Vespian. He would have been sent as a prisoner to Nero had he not possessed the wit to prophecy that his captor, Vespasian would one day be an emperor. The prophecy aligned with Vespasian's ambitions and when this prophecy came true Vespasian chose to keep Josephus by his side most likely saving his life. Thus adopting the family name of Flavius from Vespasian he later found himself in the position of accompanying another future emperor Titus, the son of Vespasian. It was during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus that he came to witness and record its subjugation in 70 CE.

Spending the remainder of his years under their royal patronage he discovered the Romans had a great interest in Judaism and Jewish history. He first earned their attentions by devoting himself as a skilled historian. Producing his works under the name Josephus, Flavius he wrote about The Jewish War in seven books in order the set the scene, describing how the Jewish people and the history of their unrest beginning two hundred and fifty years in the past up to the great rebellion. His account of the war then takes two directions managing to depict the heroism and courage of the Jewish defenders of Jerusalem and at the same time magnify the deeds of the Roman generals.

The Romans whose interests were now flattered as welll as piqued about the history of the Jews, Jospehus set about writing a rather lack luster but exceedingly comprehensive accounting. In the first ten books of The Jewish Antiquities he expands and embellishes his own paraphrasing of their history and the Hebrew Bible, supplanting his narrative with Jewish lore known as Haggadah and further combines relevant Greek sources. In the second series of Antiquities, Josephus commits his writings to the rise and reign of Herod the Great using to a large extent the writings of the secretary to Herod, Nicolas of Damascus.

After his charming reply to Apion in his Against Apion where he defends the Jewish people and their religion to these ancient slanders of the Jewish people, at last, Josephus presented his autobiography. Originally a part of the Antiquities most of which relates again what was written in The Jewish War but with more information as the authors dispute with a rival historian Justus of Tiberius. Josephus enjoyed imperial patronage of his final days with the Romans under Titus and later his brother and successor Domitian until his death in Rome around 98 - 100 CE.

Sources:

Bram, Robert Philips, Norma H. Dicky, "Josephus, Flavius," Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia , 1988.

The Oxford Companion to the Bible, 1993.

Xrefer:

The Romans whose interests were now flattered as well as piqued about the history of the Jews, Jospehus set about writing a rather lack luster but exceedingly comprehensive accounting. In the first ten books of The Jewish Antiquities he expands and embellishes his own paraphrasing of their history and the Hebrew Bible, supplanting his narrative with Jewish lore known as Haggadah and further combines relevant Greek sources. In the second series of Antiquities, Josephus commits his writings to the rise and reign of Herod the Great using to a large extent the writings of the secretary to Herod, Nicolas of Damascus.

Sources:

Bram, Robert Philips, Norma H. Dicky, "Josephus, Flavius," Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia , 1988.

The Oxford Companion to the Bible, 1993.

Xrefer

The Crucifixion of Christ

2010-01-17T06:45:00.003-07:00

There are many common misconceptions about the crucifixion of Jesus among secular communities. Most modern Christians endeavor to use critical methods in studying the New Testament, but the purpose is not to attempt to write a life of Jesus in the contemporary sense of a psychological study; the objective is to reconstruct the barest outline of his career and to give some account of his teachings and message. Most reasonable thinking people would agree that to blame all Jews for the crucifixion of Christ makes about as much sense as holding all Italians responsible because Pontius Pilate was Roman, that kind of discourse is nothing more than the lowest form of bigotry.

Numerous Christologies give emphasis to the divine initiative in the execution of Christ understanding it as a previous custom, as a sacrifice, like that of the Day of Atonement or that of the Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). Succeeding references to "blood" in connection with the death of Christ repeat both these traditions. Blood denotes not a material substance but the event of Christ's death in its saving significance.

Approaches to Biblical authority have been many and wide-ranging. The Bible speaks of inspiration or divine breath as the source of vitality and power. Genesis 2:7 asserts that the Lord God "breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life, and man became a living being." Ezekiel 37:10 says the lifeless bones that "the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet." So Paul can say, "Our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in the Holy Spirit." (1 Thessalonians 1: 5. The implication is that, just as divine inspiration had made the prophetic message a living one, so the words of scripture are signposts to something that goes beyond words.

Liberal denigration of the Bible in the 19th century seemed to many to chip away at the authority that had been attached to scripture. Many have linked the notion of verbal inspiration with inerrancy and infallibility, but its significance, that while Martin Luther can speak of the Bible as "the Holy Spirit's very own book" with "God.... In every syllable," he can also affirm that mistakes and inconsistencies do not affect the heart of the gospel. "The Holy Spirit," he affirms, "has an eye only to the substance and is not bound by words." Many Christians agree that inspiration is no guarantee against human fallibility, nor does it affirm uniformity in quality and authority. There are levels in scripture: the kernel is encased in a shell; the baby lies in a manger.

To hear the Bible merely as a compendium of ancient literature and to limit oneself to critical, historical study of its contents would be a denial of the believer's experience that in the Bible they have found the word of God addressing them with "transforming and liberating power" as Thomas Merton put it. If Christianity is a religion of the spirit rather than the letter (2 Corinthians 3:6), we should expect a range of diversity in interpretation. There must also be a subjective element in interpretation just as there was in the writing. The more one brings of human experience, spiritual sensitivity, and common sense to the Bible the more one will get from it. Hence, to recognize the authority of the Bible is to respond to the imperatives made by the God of the Bible. For in due course what is looked for is an encounter not with words but with a person.

To address the main topic of this node one first has to take a look back at what crucifixion was. The Oxford Companion To The Bible defines it as:

The act of nailing or binding a person to a cross or tree, whether for executing or for exposing the corpse. Considered a brutal and most appalling form of capital punishment many ancient historians by the likes of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus wrote about the assorted types used by the Assyrians, Scythians, Phoenicians and Persians (Ezra 6:11). The institution of crucifixion was incorporated by Alexander the Great and his descendants, and in particular by the Romans, who reserved if for slaves in cases of robbery and rebellion. There was only one reason in Roman law whereby a citizen of Rome could be crucified and that was for the crime of treason. Josephus noted mass crucifixions in Judea under a number of Roman prefects, most particularly Titus during the siege of Jerusalem; the same also happened in the Jewish quarter of Alexandria, according to Philo. Before the execution the victim was scourged (Mark 5: 15), required to bear the transverse beam (patibulum) to the place of execution (John 19: 17), was then nailed to it through the hands and feet to the cross (Luke 24:39); John 20:25), from which a wooden peg protruded to support the body; some of these literary details are established by archeological findings of the bones of crucifixion victims.

Jewish law doesn't elaborate as to whether or not crucifixion was a practice of capital punishment. There may be a suggestion that crucifixions occured within the Jewish community in Deuteronomy 21: 22-23, which calls for persons to be put to death saying they 'must be hung on a tree and buried on the same day.' The Temple Scroll of Qumran also spells out penalties that amount to crucifixion for the crime of high treason, for example, if an Israelite curses his people or delivers it to a foreign nation. In rabbinic writings " crucifixion is the death penalty for "robbers" (bandits {t. Sanh. 9:7 Qoh Rab. 7:26 (190b}) and for martyrs (Gen. Rab. 65 {141a}; Mek. 68b). Isaac, carrying the wood for his sacrifice, was compared to a man bearing the cross on his shoulders (Gen Rab. 56 {118b}). Similarly, a disciple of Jesus must take up his cross and follow him (Mark 8:34 par.; Matt. 10:38 )."

Jesus arrived from Galilee to continue his ministry in Jerusalem preaching and teaching. His adversaries became engaged in conflicts with him, but these conflicts, Mark indicates, were of a different manner from previous ones in Galilee. By now Jesus is a marked man and his enemies' anger him on explicit issues, looking to ensnare him into self-incrimination. John also depicts Jesus as infuriated with theological clashes among religious authorities in the city.

Jesus' challenge reaches its pinnacle with his entry to Jerusalem and the "cleansing" of the Temple. Among the Synoptic writers; John shifts the "cleansing" for theological reasons to the beginning of the ministry and it's not precisely clear what the issues were that led the Sanhedrin's to plot Jesus' execution. (For the plot read Mark 14:1-2; 10-11; John 11 :45-54). The Synoptic credits the conspiracy against Jesus to the Sanhedrin's response to the temple cleansing (Mark 11: 18) While John makes a less persuasive case for conspiracy based upon Jesus' raising of Lazarus even though it's John's report about the Sanhedrin meeting (John 11:47-53) that appears to bear additional support on reliable tradition: the Sanhedrin decided to get rid of Jesus out of fear that disturbance of the peace would give way to Roman interference destroying the fragile balance between Jewish and Roman power.

Following the more plausible account of John, on the eve of Passover, Jesus celebrated a farewell meal with his disciples During the meal he interpreted his impending death as the climax of his life of self-giving service. (Luke 22:24 –27; cf. John 12:1-11; Mark 10:42 –45a may have initially belonged in this framework). The literal words that Jesus spoke over the bread and cup are impossible to recover due to an assortment of accounts of the institution that have been colored by liturgical developments in the post-Easter community. However, all agree that Jesus coupled the bread with his body or his person and the wine with his blood as the significance for the giving of his life in death. In addition it is the unilaterally agreed among all Christians that his death was an inauguration of a new covenant, assuring his disciples that beyond his death lay the coming of the kingdom of God. (Mark 14:25; Luke 22: 15-18).

The disciples and Jesus went out to the garden of Gethsemane after their supper (Mark 14:32: John 18:1) where the Temple police arrested him, and as well if John is correct, by Roman soldiers proof that indicates the priestly party and the Roman prefect were in close collusion over the affair. A preliminary investigation was held before the Jewish authorities (Mark 14:53-64; John 18: 12-14, 19-24 is thought to be more accurate) Less of a formal trial, it was similar to a grand jury proceeding. They found with their inquiries to their satisfaction that there was enough support to justify an indictment of high treason before Pilate's court (Mark 15:1-15).

By bringing Jesus before Pilate (Mark 15: 1) the members of the Sanhedrin could anticipate a sentence of "death by crucifixion," under the assertion that claiming to be the Messiah was an act of rebellion against Rome. It's for this reason that Jesus was compared to the revolutionary Barabbas (Mark 15: 7-27) After the people asked for Barabbas release Pilate had no other option that to crucify Jesus, who was scourged, mocked by the legionaries and crucified together with two "robbers. "

The mockery in which Jesus' guilt is repeated may have been meant to make him understand his error and lead him to a confession of sins. Even so his first words from the cross were, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."(Luke 23:34); his was a willing sacrifice for others. While he was put on the cross by Roman soldiers the burial in the evening of that day was done by a Jew in accordance to Deuteronomy 21:23. (Mark 12: 42-46 ; John 19: 31) Deuteronomy 21: 22-23 is also related to the crucifixion by Paul in Galatians 3: 13, since a person hanging on a tree is cursed by God, the cross of Jesus became a stumbling block for Jews.

According to Matthew 20: 19 and 26 Jesus said that once delivered to the gentiles he would suffer crucifixion. The predictions of suffering by Jesus were not necessarily prophecies after the fact. The inscription on the cross told all who were witness to his death that Jesus was crucified as "King of the Jews" (Mark 15: 26) In his trial before the high priest (Mark 14: 62) and before Pilate (Mark 15: 2), Jesus had admitted to being the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God. It was the members of the Sanhedrin who proclaimed Jesus deserved the death penalty because he had uttered blasphemy (Mark 14: 61-64); they must have taken to mean Deuteronomy 21: 22-23 in a like manner of the Temple Scroll (cf. John 19: 7,15) A false messiah could deliver the people of Israel and the Temple to the gentiles (John 11: 48-50). The Babylonian Talmud affirms this judgment based on Deuteronomy 13: 1-11 that Jesus was executed because he had led Israel astray.

Jesus was condemned to death as a messianic pretender, taken out to Golgotha and crucified alongside two criminals guilty of sedition. (Mark 15: 20-32: John 19: 16-19). Jesus died later that day and was buried according to gospel tradition, by sympathizers (Mark 15: 42-47: John 19: 38-42). This marked the end of his earthly career.

Noung's write up cites the scripture as one that has been used frequently to support a historical foundation for Anti- Semitism:

Matthew 27

This cry for Jesus' blood has caused untold pain and Christians have used it to justify oppression of Jews. By the time Jesus was nailed to the cross, practically everyone had denied, rejected and vilified him. The spirit and meaning in Matthew's words displays how all had deserted Jesus. The guilt is common and great; responsibility is universal.

Sources:

The Bible. Revised Standard Version.

Metzger, Bruce M., and Coogan, Michael D. The Oxford Companion To The Bible. Oxford University Press, New York, 1993.p. 66-67. p 141- 142. p 359-360.

Picture Source:
Christ Crucified is a 1632 painting of the Crucifixion of Jesus by Diego Velázquez, currently in the Museo del Prado.

Saturn Devouring His Children

2010-01-17T06:41:00.003-07:00

From his so-called Black Paintings painted in oil on the walls of his house, Saturn Devouring His Children was one product of Francisco Goya' misanthropic and pessimistic style. Based on the myth of Saturn (Time).Losing power to his childrens' ends he glares in lunatic frenzy while devouring part of a small body clutched in his hands. Goya emphasizes the gruesomeness.... forms are torn and jagged, the colors raw. Here , Goya's tragic vision returns to the haunted interior world of The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. Depicting what happens when humans are without reason saying the subject, man, cannot out-wit destiny.

This appalling late work is not only a savage expression of man's inhumanity to man, but a recognition of the desperate conditions of life itself.
Life is in time, and time devours all.

Bibliography

Justus, Kevin. "Art and Culture II." Tucson , Arizona.
1992. (Lecture presented at Pima Community College.)

De La Croix, Horst, Richard D. Tansey, and Diane Kirkpatrick.
Art Through the Ages. University of Michigan: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
1991.

Picture Source

April

2010-01-16T08:13:00.003-07:00

Sour Grapes (1921)
by
William Carlos Williams

April

If you had come away with me
into another state
we had been quiet together.
But there the sun coming up
out of the nothing beyond the lake was
too low in the sky,
there was too great a pushing
against him,
too much of sumac buds, pink
in the head
with the clear gum upon them,
too many opening hearts of lilac leaves,
too many, too many swollen
limp poplar tassels on the
bare branches!
It was too strong in the air.
I had no rest against that
springtime!
The pounding of the hoofs on the
raw sods
stayed with me half through the night.
I awoke smiling but tired.

Sources:

Picture Source

Public domain text taken from The Poets' Corner

Eggs

2010-01-16T08:02:00.001-07:00

Eggs are a source of complete animal protein and the best kind of meat stretchers and meat substitutes. Recipe servings are adequate for nutritional needs and are frequently combined with foods such as pasta, rice and bread which is nice because it adds up to a larger serving than those nutritionally adequate serving of meant fish and poultry. It's great for those who enjoy a filling meal and still be able to eat correctly.

Buying Eggs:

Size:

eggs

Large

extra large, large,

medium

Grade: Standards set by the US Federal Government classify eggs as AA, A, B, and C . AA and A are best for poaching, frying, and eating in the shell. The yolks are firm, round and high. The thick white stands high around the yolk with a less amount of the thin white. Grade B eggs have the same nutritive value and are more economical as AA and A; they are perfectly acceptable for other uses than poaching, frying, or eating in the shell.

Color: Brown Eggs or white, pale yellow yolks or deep yellow ones-- all are the same when it comes to cooking performance and nutrition. Shell color is the result of pigmentation from feed or the yolk color.

Storing Eggs

Egg Equivalents

You will need 4 to 6 eggs to get the equivalent of a 1 cup measure or 8 to 10 whites or 12 to 14 yolks.

Helpful Hints

crack it on a flat surface

put whole eggs into plastic containers

Source:

eggs

My batter spattered Betty Crocker's Cookbook.

Eggs

2010-01-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

Buying Eggs:

Size:

eggs

Large

extra large, large,

medium

Storing Eggs

Egg Equivalents

You will need 4 to 6 eggs to get the equivalent of a 1 cup measure or 8 to 10 whites or 12 to 14 yolks.

Helpful Hints

crack it on a flat surface

put whole eggs into plastic containers

Source:

eggs

My batter spattered Betty Crocker's Cookbook.

Opportunist

2010-01-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

From Popes to realpolitiks

Any person that takes advantage of circumstances without regard to what is just or honest can be described as an opportunist. The term is derived from the French opportuniste and first appeared in the English language during the 19th century. The root word is Latin opportunus from around 1408 the phrase ob portum veniens meaning "coming toward a port." This is a reference to the wind, from ob which indicates to or toward and portus meaning harbor. Both opportunism and opportunist were eventually borrowed from Italian politics opportunismo. In the Roman Catholic Chrurch during the Vatican Council of 1870 an opportunist was a person who held that "the time was opportune for the promulgation of the doctrine of Papal Infallibility." By 1881 Opportunist was used to denote a political party in France. In particular it was used frequently to refer to French republican statesman Léon Gambetta (1838-82).

In 1902 the word reappeared in the German political realm indicating 'proponents or practitioners of opportunism to portray any socialist or communist who advocates the making of concessions to the bourgeoisie.' Eventually the term crept into the English language to describe anyone who "seeks profit from the prevailing circumstances."

Carpetbaggers and making hay while the sunshines

Biological organisms are called opportunist as well. For example some medical professionals theorize that pulmonary disease is caused by opportunist mycobacteria. The opportunists of the plant world are primary grasses. These emerge soon after a forest fire and stabilize the freshly bared ground until the more prevalent species of larger plants like trees arrive as replacements. The alder is primarily a pioneering arboreal and considered as opportunist species by ecologists because of its capacity for direct colonization of even the rawest soil material. The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) are known to be opportunists in the animal kingdom because their foraging habits. Even though they are primarily hunters that have a varied diet including mammals, reptiles and birds, they will scavenge wherever and whenever possible.

Sources:

Allwords.com Definition of opportunist

Etymology Online

OED

Yourdictionary.com

Burgundy Ragout

2010-01-14T11:47:00.003-07:00

This is family recipe from my mother's side. The basis for this recipe was published in the Detroit Free Press on Thursday, October 15, 1970 on page 12 D. It was originally called Ragout Burgundy for Thursday. The menu they suggested to go with this stew was a tossed green salad, garlic bread and lemon cake pudding for dessert. Of course, Mom being the culinary genius that she was adopted it and made her own version. It filled the house with delicious smells and we loved coming home to it after a day traveling 20 miles back and forth to school on a school bus at below freezing temperatures.

1½ lbs Stew Meat, cubed
2 TBS Olive oil
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 Cups Water, or beef broth
8 oz Can Tomato Sauce
1-2 Teaspoons Salt
½ Teaspoon Powdered Oregano
½ Teaspoon Pepper
1 Teaspoon Sugar
4 Medium Potatoes, cubed
12 small Carrots, quartered
3 large Onions, quartered
1 package frozen green beans 1 Cup Burgundy, red wine or beer works as well

In a large kettle brown meat in olive oil for 15 to 20 minutes, seasoning with pepper to taste. Add garlic, water, or broth and tomato sauce, salt to taste if you used the broth. Add in the pepper and oregano. Cover and simmer gently for 1½ hours. You will see a nice gravy form. Add more water if needed, sugar, potatoes, carrots, and onions and simmer ½ hour or until veggies are tender. Add burgundy, wine or beer and the green beans. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Thicken gravy if desired. Serves 4 -6 people. Can be served over rice or with biscuits.

Enjoy!

Picture source

Silence

2010-01-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

THERE is a silence where hath been no sound,
There is a silence where no sound may be,
In the cold grave--under the deep, deep, sea,
Or in wide desert where no life is found,
Which hath been mute, and still must sleep profound;
No voice is hushed--no life treads silently,
But clouds and cloudy shadows wander free,
That never spoke, over the idle ground:
But in green ruins, in the desolate walls
Of antique palaces, where Man hath been,
Though the dun fox, or wild hyena, calls,
And owls, that flit continually between,
Shriek to the echo, and the low winds moan,
There the true Silence is, self-conscious and alone.: Thomas Hood (1799-1845)

Poet, satirist and humorist, his The Last Man is said to have inspired Mary Shelley's novel of the same name. Thomas Hood was an English poet famous for his humorous verse. A great wit with puns which was the true power of his mind. I have had a few students over the years in the field of education that could drive most teachers to distraction with word plays that I saw as welcome additions to (and was frequently criticized for by peers) a lesson here and there. Some teachers thought these kids were more of a nuisance, but for the most part the entertainment was welcomed as long as it was within reason. Knowing many others would benefit it made for more powerful writers, after all the primary goal in teaching is to teach students to think critically.

To have enough of an understanding of words and their meanings to craft a novel idea, well that is quite a talent and Thomas Hood possessed just this gift. For a while he was a sort of "sub editor" of London Magazine during its heyday from 1821 until 1823 . At the time there were a number of members from the great literary circles of the era including Charles Lamb, Thomas De Quincey, and William Hazlitt. In 1827 he published a volume of poems strongly influenced by Keats by the title of Plea of the Midsummer Fairies. Yet he was known primarily as a humorous writer and won his reputation for the most part through his compositions for the Comic Annual between 1830 and 184, in which he deftly caricatured events and contemporary figures.

Hood had also a serious side, and a deep sympathy for the poor. You may be interested in another of his poems written about here called The Song of the Shirt which reveals his feelings about the social evils of the day; sweat shops, unemployment, and the double sexual standard.

When he did write about a more sedate subject like Silence, he was able to produce a remarkable sonnet like this one. Submitted only to be rejected by the London Magazine in February 1823, it was later printed in the Burton's Gentleman's Magazine issue for September of 1839. You might recognize the first verse:

There is a silence where hath been no sound
There is a silence where no sound may be
In the cold grave, under the deep, deep sea.

It's from the movie, The Piano where it is recited in voice-over by Ada.

Deep thoughts are not necessary to good poetry and there is nothing profound here however there is a unique conceit and that is the idea that there are two kinds of silence, that where life has never been, and that which flows back after man has come and gone. Hiking along fragile desert trails in the shadowless heat of summer there are times one can glimpse this after image of silence. It's the one that comes into focus at the point of no longer appearing natural or spontaneous, the showing of a realization of certain knowledge.

One is struck by the maze of upright rocks, ancient sandstone giants keeping mute vigil over vanished civilizations. How powerful a poem is this one that has the ability to please one hundred and fifty years after it was written.

Sources:

Blair, Bob

minstrels Silence -- Thomas Hood

Public Domain text taken from the Poet's Corner

March

2010-01-14T09:28:00.001-07:00

I
Winter is long in this climate
and spring--a matter of a few days
only,--a flower or two picked
from mud or from among wet leaves
or at best against treacherous
bitterness of wind, and sky shining
teasingly, then closing in black
and sudden, with fierce jaws.: II
March,
you reminded me of
the pyramids, our pyramids--
stript of the polished stone
that used to guard them!
March,
you are like Fra Angelico
at Fiesole, painting on plaster!
March,
you are like a band of
young poets that have not learned
the blessedness of warmth
(or have forgotten it).
At any rate--
I am moved to write poetry
for the warmth there is in it
and for the loneliness--
a poem that shall have you
in it March.: III
See!
Ashur-ban-i-pal,
the archer king, on horse-back,
in blue and yellow enamel!
with drawn bow--facing lions
standing on their hind legs,
fangs bared! his shafts
bristling in their necks!
Sacred bulls--dragons
in embossed brickwork
marching--in four tiers--
along the sacred way to
Nebuchadnezzar's throne hall!
They shine in the sun,
they that have been marching--
marching under the dust of
ten thousand dirt years.
Now--
they are coming into bloom again!
See them!
marching still, bared by
the storms from my calender
--winds that blow back the sand!
winds that enfilade dirt!
winds that by strange craft
have whipt up a black army
that by pick and shovel
bare a procession to
the god, Marduk!
Natives cursing and digging
for pay unearth dragons with
upright tails and sacred bulls
alternately--
in four tiers--
lining the way to an old altar!
Natives digging at old walls--
digging me warmth--digging me sweet loneliness
high enamelled walls.: IV
My second spring--
passed in a monastery
with plaster walls--in Fiesole
on the hill above 'Florence.
My second spring--painted
a virgin--in a blue aureole
sitting on a three-legged stool,
arms crossed--
she is intently serious,
and still
watching an angel
with colored wings
half kneeling before her--
and smiling--the angel's eyes
holding the eyes of Mary
as a snake's hold a bird's.
On the ground there are flowers,
trees are in leaf.: V
But! now for the battle!
Now for murder--now for the real thing!
My third springtime is approaching!
Winds!
lean, serious as a virgin,
seeking, seeking the flowers of March.
Seeking
flowers nowhere to be found,
they twine among the bare branches
in insatiable eagerness--
they whirl up the snow
seeking under it--
they--the winds--snakelike
roar among yellow reeds
seeking flowers--flowers.
I spring among them
seeking one flower
in which to warm myself!
I deride with all the ridicule
of misery--
my own starved misery.
Counter-cutting winds: strike against me
refreshing their fury!
Come, good, cold fellows!: Have we no flowers?
Defy then with even more
desperation than ever--being: lean and frozen!
But though you are lean and frozen--
think of the blue bulls of Babylon.
Fling yourselves upon: their empty roses--; cut savagely!
But--
think of the painted monastery: at Fiesole.

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

March is a part of Williams' Sour Grapes (1921) collection.The following excerpt is Williams's 1920 Kora in Hell. Kora was one of Williams's favorite creations because it revealed as he said "myself to me." I thought it was of a novel interest because it shows a frank, uncompromising attitude about his work. He and Dolittle were at first classmates at the University of Pennsylvania introduced by Ezra Pound and later friends.

Hilda Doolittle

Ten years later as assistant editor of the Egoist she refers to my long poem,March, which thanks to her own and her husband's friendly attentions finally appeared there in a purified form:

14 Aug. 1916
Dear Bill:--

I trust you will not hate me for wanting to delete from your poem all the flippancies. The reason I want to do this is that the beautiful lines are so very beautiful--so in the tone and spirit of your Postlude--(which to me stands, a Nike, supreme among your poems). I think there is real beauty--and real beauty is a rare and sacred thing in this generation--in all the pyramid, Ashur-ban-i-pal bits and in the Fiesole and in the wind at the very last.

I don't know what you think but I consider this business of writing a very sacred thing!--I think you have the "spark"--am sure of it, and when you speak direct are a poet. I feel in the hey-ding-ding touch running through your poem a derivative tendency which, to me, is not you--not your very self. It is as if you were ashamed of your Spirit, ashamed of your inspiration!--as if you mocked at your own song. It's very well to mock at yourself--it is a spiritual sin to mock at your inspiration--
Hilda

Oh well, all this might be very disquieting were it not that "sacred" has lately been discovered to apply to a point of arrest where stabilization has gone on past the time. There is nothing sacred about literature, it is damned from one end to the other. There is nothing in literature but change and change is mockery. I'll write whatever I damn please, whenever I damn please and as I damn please and it'll be good if the authentic spirit of change is on it.

Sources:

Center for Bookculture.org

Public domain text taken from The Poets' Corner

Five Alarm Chili

2010-01-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Oh this is so good! It'll warm your innards and set your mouth ta jumpin'. You'll soon forget aaaall about that no good terrible bad day you just had cause you'll be busy putting out the far ! Now as you may or may not know, here in the desert come July, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car and I have seen some of the birds using pot holders to pull worms out of the ground. And while I can say 113º with out batting an eye, it does get a bit cold here since there's not much for clouds to keep the heat on the ground, and so it's nice to have a nice piping hot bowl of chili to warm up or even cool down with dependin' on the time of year and your point of view. I've had a few comments about this recipe ranging from, A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick. and Good side dish for fish or other mild foods. to Holy smokes, what is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway with it. oh!! and my all time favorite compliment was from a former college roommate outta Sayville, New York while we were pounding her on the back, My ears are ringing Lo... it sounds like rushing water, I can't see out of one eye..... I've decided to stop breathing, it's too painful, I'm not getting oxygen anyway. Well last night was a two blanket night I'll tell ya'll, it was cold enough to freeze the balls offa pool table and this here is what all ya'll need when you head off to the Piggly-Wiggly.

A pound or two, thereabouts of ground beef (or turkey if you're watching your weight and cholesterol, not to worry this is so flavorful, all all ya'll will never know). Swing round to the fresh produce section and grab up a garlic clove, a big yellar onion, 5 or 6 Roma 'maters (toe-mah-toes) some green bell pepper (or red if you like color with your fireworks) a couple of jalapeño peppers or if you're really venturesome try seranos. whaaaa hooo! Accidentally knock that pyramid of oranges over and exclaim, My stars and bars!!! and Why bless your heart! at least onced, if not twiced, peek over the tops of your sunglasses while you help that cute produce boy pick them up. (*winks* Who said just cause you're on a diet you can't look at the menu!) Get some cilantro too and head off to the spice aisle if you're plum outta chili powder and cayenne pepper. Now for the dairy section pick up some real sour cream and a big'ol hunk of sharp cheddary cheese, something like Colby and when your fixin'to go home grab some kidney beans.

Here ya go:

While the 'maters, garlic and jalapeños are busy roasting on a cookie sheet in the oven (reckon it 'round 15 minutes at 450 ºF till golden brown to lightly black). Brown the meat and onion in a pot, drain off the fat, toss in the beans, chili powder, bell pepper and the stuff out of the oven. While that simmers over a medium heat to thicken up a bit throw some cornbread in the warm oven and whip up a spicy topping outta:

Have a coldbeer while you set the table with condiments such as saltine crackers, corn tortilla chips, salsa and lots of sweet tea,or for a more Intercontinental Cuisine serve over rice or pasta; go next door and hire the neighbor to help you enjoy the show!