During the course of a brief flurry of emails between Jeff Cochran (a frequent contributor to Like the Dew) and I, we touched upon the role of music in a writer’s life.
In that I cannot write while any music is playing (it captures me and lures me from what is always a very tentative path), I’d not given that subject much thought until now. So I shall try. A rich merlot at hand? Check. Sarah McLachlan playing? Check. (Good Canadian girl, that). Candle lit? Check.
Yes — music, literature, dance and the visual arts all leap from the same mystic wellspring but writing is such a tenuous thing, relying as is does on the patience of others. A symphony, ballet or painting has an immediate reward for the one experiencing it: reading requires a certain commitment for it is a slow unfolding with little in the way of instant gratification (unless, like me, a well crafted set of words can bring you to tears of humble astonishment).
Perhaps, however, I do listen to internal music as I tap away on this keyboard.
My mother gave me Puccini, Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss and the other celestial beings. One of my first aural memories is of La Boheme (the incomparable Victoria de Los Angeles, Jussi Bjorling version of course).
My father blessed me with Sousa, Herb Alpert, Mahalia Jackson, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, old and delicious boogie-woogie and more.
From my grandparents came the treasures of wild highland skirls, the aching melodies of World War II and the Hollywood “golden days”.
The unbridled joy and beauty of Elvis, the Beatles and Springsteen (among countless others) accompanied me through my days and nights between 8 years old and…now.
I have gathered the music of those who have touched my life as I would petals strewn upon my path. Each melody and lyric has changed me in some intangible fashion and the echoes must surely be heard in my words.
Music can be both blessing and curse. It can lift and exalt us, redeem and release us, but it can also haunt us and bring us crashing down in pain. Consider the agonizing loss of love: every song shared, every tune danced to together, every fragment of music that book-marked your days can, if love ends, send you flying to turn the radio off before the tsunami of tears and regret leaves you gasping…again.
Here it is now: McLachlan’s masterpiece (a fitting piece for merlot and candlelight):
Spend all your time waiting for that second chance
For the break that will make it ok
There’s always some reason to feel not good enough
And it’s hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction, oh beautiful release
Memories seep from my veins
They may be empty and weightless, and maybeI’ll find some peace tonight
In the arms of an Angel, fly away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie
You’re in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here
So tired of the straight line, and everywhere you turn
There’s vultures and thieves at your back
The storm keeps on twisting, you keep on building the lies
That you make up for all that you lack
It don’t make no difference, escaping one last time
It’s easier to believe
In this sweet madness, oh this glorious sadness
That brings me to my knees
In the arms of an Angel, far away from here
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie
In the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here.
Yes, the music of my life plays throughout my days and moves my fingers across the computer keyboard. It is intrinsically woven through our hearts, minds and motions.
Here’s a question for you: what one song or composition do you wish to be played at your funeral? Your choice will say it all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVbkz_3lO3c
Monday, July 26, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
In Libris Veritas Est II
Read this first and then get back to me.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Technology/jessi-slaughter-viral-tweens-violent-online-rant-spurs/story?id=11224731
Okay, you’re back. I apologize for the sick sense of disbelief and nausea that you’re now experiencing.
“Jessi's social life has largely been confined to her computer. She told ABCNews.com that most of her friends are online and posted a video in which she said “I'll Pop a Glock in Your Mouth and Make a Brain Slushy”.
Jessi is eleven years old. Her world is that of the dark corridors of internet chatrooms, blogs and the warped “reality” of cyberspace. This is not a child who is a creature of outdoor adventures, giggling sleepovers with friends and skinned knees. This is a child who is a product of our misshapen “Brave New World” wherein every idiot and crazed, froth-mouthed deviant with access to a computer can terrorize others and spew their venom into the ether. Rumor is presented as fact (hello Rush, Glenn and the rest of the coven) and truth is twisted into self-serving and unrecognizable forms.
But what are we to expect? When we deprive our children of the books that unveil the human experience and condemn them to the shallow shadows of their television and computer worlds they become denizens of the darkness and prey to the worst that lies within mankind.
And this is not just a mental cesspool for the mentally deficient and age-challenged: mature and otherwise intelligent people fall beneath the spell of the online written word, the “idiot box” and the blaring voices from the radio.
Yes, the internet has allowed the sharing of vast amounts of information, creativity and ideas. It can be the path to global enlightenment and the key to the cage for many. Sadly, however, as all inventions that are meant to better the lot of mankind, this one is being co-opted by thugs and lunatics. (As the not-proud owner of my very own cyber-stalking, mentally bizarre “village idiot” I can attest to that).
To Jessi’s parents (and I use the term in the biological sense only): buy her a gift-set of all the banned and “challenged” books in the US. Pull the plug on your daughter’s computer and read with her between therapy sessions. You may save her life, your own… and the lives of those who may, someday, be the victim when she “pops a Glock and makes a brain slushy.”
Apparently insanity, violence and corruption are only a click away. How I wish that one had to be of legal voting age and sound mind before they touched a keyboard.
(What's the bet that little Jessi and her "parents" get an appearance on Oprah and their very own "reality show" within a year?)
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Technology/jessi-slaughter-viral-tweens-violent-online-rant-spurs/story?id=11224731
Okay, you’re back. I apologize for the sick sense of disbelief and nausea that you’re now experiencing.
“Jessi's social life has largely been confined to her computer. She told ABCNews.com that most of her friends are online and posted a video in which she said “I'll Pop a Glock in Your Mouth and Make a Brain Slushy”.
Jessi is eleven years old. Her world is that of the dark corridors of internet chatrooms, blogs and the warped “reality” of cyberspace. This is not a child who is a creature of outdoor adventures, giggling sleepovers with friends and skinned knees. This is a child who is a product of our misshapen “Brave New World” wherein every idiot and crazed, froth-mouthed deviant with access to a computer can terrorize others and spew their venom into the ether. Rumor is presented as fact (hello Rush, Glenn and the rest of the coven) and truth is twisted into self-serving and unrecognizable forms.
But what are we to expect? When we deprive our children of the books that unveil the human experience and condemn them to the shallow shadows of their television and computer worlds they become denizens of the darkness and prey to the worst that lies within mankind.
And this is not just a mental cesspool for the mentally deficient and age-challenged: mature and otherwise intelligent people fall beneath the spell of the online written word, the “idiot box” and the blaring voices from the radio.
Yes, the internet has allowed the sharing of vast amounts of information, creativity and ideas. It can be the path to global enlightenment and the key to the cage for many. Sadly, however, as all inventions that are meant to better the lot of mankind, this one is being co-opted by thugs and lunatics. (As the not-proud owner of my very own cyber-stalking, mentally bizarre “village idiot” I can attest to that).
To Jessi’s parents (and I use the term in the biological sense only): buy her a gift-set of all the banned and “challenged” books in the US. Pull the plug on your daughter’s computer and read with her between therapy sessions. You may save her life, your own… and the lives of those who may, someday, be the victim when she “pops a Glock and makes a brain slushy.”
Apparently insanity, violence and corruption are only a click away. How I wish that one had to be of legal voting age and sound mind before they touched a keyboard.
(What's the bet that little Jessi and her "parents" get an appearance on Oprah and their very own "reality show" within a year?)
Monday, July 19, 2010
Kerry
Santa, me, my father and Kerry.Today I was informed that my two-year-older sister, Kerry Lynne Scott, had died suddenly. Now all that I can do is try to write my way through the numb pain of this latest blow (in the past four years I have lost my father, mother, sister…how many tears does the human body hold?).
When heartache brings me to my knees I reach for words - a life-long habit that has been my salvation – and so I will now. Then I will send it out into the ether to go where it will: hopefully, somehow, to my sister.
Kerry was, from birth, a force of nature. A slender, golden-haired child of stunning beauty, she was diagnosed with a congenital dislocated hip and subjected to new and innovative operations – over and over again. They would cut into her small body (this was ground-breaking science at the time) and then place her in a cast that extended from her waist and down over both limbs in what was called a “frog-leg” formation. I cannot even imagine the pain that she experienced throughout the years from 5 to 11.
My father created a large board with huge hooks on it. He would lift Kerry and affix the cast to the massive construction so that she could watch television and eat upright – and Kerry gleefully referred to it as her “throne”. I was her willing and loving servant. She pulled herself up the stairs, dared anything and conquered everything. She humbled me with her determination.
I remember watching her on her bicycle when half of another of the countless body-casts was removed leaving one thin leg free: flying down the hill on the street in Toronto where we lived as I raced behind her (and my mother wrung her hands in fear) Kerry would sing out in sheer joy.
My early years were spent walking my sister to school as she leaned heavily upon me and then I would beat senseless the cruel children who taunted her by calling her “Gimpy” and “Crip”. This lasted until high school when she blossomed and reigned as the Beauty Queen in situ. Slender, brilliant, charismatic and beautiful beyond belief, Kerry had finally come into her own.
After graduating from high school she attended Trent University and excelled in her chosen field of philosophy. And then the dark monster that had been lurking throughout the years finally inserted its talons into her and would not relinquish its victim.
We had known, during those tumultuous teen years, that Kerry was “volatile” and easily given to rages, obsessions and inexplicable thoughts. But only in her 30s was the beast finally named: paranoid schizophrenia.
One can no more blame the prey of this devastating disease than one can blame a cancer victim. Kerry fought back and fought back hard. Repeated institutions, episodes and relapses drained my parents as they stood by her every step of the way. As a mother I can only, in my worst nightmares, touch the iceberg tip of their sorrow and helplessness.
Kerry had times, still, of stunning brilliance, an unparalleled wit and extraordinarily gentle love. She was a deeply spiritual woman, a “rock-chick“, a strong-willed warrior and a poet.
If life-force alone is any measure, then my sister, Kerry, will have blown a hole through the heavens with her arrival. Be prepared, God: she will entrance you, best you in any argument and make you fall in love with her all over again.
And so I am left with the memories of this wild-child woman. Our lives and loves were as tightly entwined as the threads of DNA and I will miss her each day of my life.
To my younger sister, Hilary – fellow keeper of our parent’s flame – I love you. To my daughter, Erin – you are everything and more.
Friday, July 16, 2010
In Libris Veritas Est
Few people seem to be aware that school boards and libraries throughout this country are still banning a vast number of books. Apparently I, too, am naive for until I began to look into the subject, I didn’t know the full extent of this most heinous of practices.
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/ Check the lists and the map on this site – it is mind boggling.
Then peruse this brief list (from Adler & Robins Books) of literary works that are banned in various locations: http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html
This is by no means a comprehensive list. While no one would, of course, recommend that a ten-year-old child read One Hundred Years of Solitude or A Clockwork Orange, I fail to see what damage A Wrinkle in Time, To Kill A Mockingbird or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn could possibly do. I read those extraordinary books before I was ten and am quite confident that it did not result in the destruction of my moral character or the loss of sanity.
Consider the relative merits of what a child or teen absorbs (on a daily basis) through television watching. So-called “reality TV” shows proliferate like maggots on rotting meat: scene after scene of sex-saturated, casually violent, crude and useless offal.
Listen to the lyrics of much of today’s popular music: explicit sexuality, racial hatred, misogyny and more. And what, one wonders, is the level of toxicity of internet sites, chatrooms and “social networking” forums?
Sure, let the innocent young flowers stare fixedly at “Real Dirty Girls” on television as hate-rap pounds into their brains and their fingers quiver in anticipation of typing “OMG! Did u like C wut that slut ws wearing???” but protect them from the corrupting horrors of Steinbeck, Atwood, Blume and Shakespeare.
Apparently children would be irreparably harmed by exposure to artfully written words that explore the human condition. God forbid that they should read of the tragedies of racial intolerance, religious bigotry, the struggles of those living through a crushing financial depression or the soul-searing costs of war.
And what of A Wrinkle in Time with its biblical and scholarly quotes? What possible justification could there be for banning this book? It is on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most frequently challenged books due, in part, to L’Engle daring to include Jesus Christ’s name among the names of the world’s great philosophers, scientists, artists and religious leaders. http://ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm
The greatest violation of free thought is not found within the pages of a book. It is found in the misguided censorship of books. Let our children read it, read it all. Let knowledge fill and strengthen them so that they can separate life’s chaff from its grain.
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/ Check the lists and the map on this site – it is mind boggling.
Then peruse this brief list (from Adler & Robins Books) of literary works that are banned in various locations: http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html
This is by no means a comprehensive list. While no one would, of course, recommend that a ten-year-old child read One Hundred Years of Solitude or A Clockwork Orange, I fail to see what damage A Wrinkle in Time, To Kill A Mockingbird or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn could possibly do. I read those extraordinary books before I was ten and am quite confident that it did not result in the destruction of my moral character or the loss of sanity.
Consider the relative merits of what a child or teen absorbs (on a daily basis) through television watching. So-called “reality TV” shows proliferate like maggots on rotting meat: scene after scene of sex-saturated, casually violent, crude and useless offal.
Listen to the lyrics of much of today’s popular music: explicit sexuality, racial hatred, misogyny and more. And what, one wonders, is the level of toxicity of internet sites, chatrooms and “social networking” forums?
Sure, let the innocent young flowers stare fixedly at “Real Dirty Girls” on television as hate-rap pounds into their brains and their fingers quiver in anticipation of typing “OMG! Did u like C wut that slut ws wearing???” but protect them from the corrupting horrors of Steinbeck, Atwood, Blume and Shakespeare.
Apparently children would be irreparably harmed by exposure to artfully written words that explore the human condition. God forbid that they should read of the tragedies of racial intolerance, religious bigotry, the struggles of those living through a crushing financial depression or the soul-searing costs of war.
And what of A Wrinkle in Time with its biblical and scholarly quotes? What possible justification could there be for banning this book? It is on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most frequently challenged books due, in part, to L’Engle daring to include Jesus Christ’s name among the names of the world’s great philosophers, scientists, artists and religious leaders. http://ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm
The greatest violation of free thought is not found within the pages of a book. It is found in the misguided censorship of books. Let our children read it, read it all. Let knowledge fill and strengthen them so that they can separate life’s chaff from its grain.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Holding our breath...again
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/gulf-oil-spill-bps-cap-success-oil-stops/story?id=11173330
Things appear to be going "well" at this point but there will be no cheering in the Gulf for decades to come:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/14/2010-07-14_bp_oil_spill_has_already_altered_the_food_web_putting_future_of_gulf_marine_life.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/science/earth/15necropsy.html
Things appear to be going "well" at this point but there will be no cheering in the Gulf for decades to come:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/14/2010-07-14_bp_oil_spill_has_already_altered_the_food_web_putting_future_of_gulf_marine_life.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/science/earth/15necropsy.html
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Re-cap, Delays and Incompetence
Re: delays with the new capping attempt -
Kent Wells, a senior vice president with BP, said at a news conference this morning that the company, at the command of the USCG, would delay drilling on the relief well by as much as 48 hours (translation of 48 hrs: 5,040,000 more gallons of oil) so that they could perform more extensive seismic mapping of the area. Wells said that he hadn't heard what the results were thus far, but he felt "comfortable that they were good."
What would lead Wells to, without having "heard" the results, "feel comfortable"? Is that the same blind assumption that allowed BP et al to "feel comfortable" that the well would never blow? The same incompetence that originally led them to state that it was only spewing 5,000 gallons per day? The same hubris that caused them to claim, 80 days ago, that it would be sealed off quickly? The same mindless corporate attitude that led them to state that dispersants were the answer?
The disagreement over the tests centers on the risks involved: they could actually further damage in the wellhead, allowing oil to gush into the Gulf from locations where it could not be halted. It's a massive roll of the dice and (right now) the US govt. is erring on the side of caution. Scientists are worried that the sinking of the rig after the April 20 explosion may have damaged cement-well walls below the blownout "blowout preventer" at the bottom of the Gulf. The possibility of a crater forming on the sea floor around the well head - with oil flowing from several areas - would magnify this catastrophe beyond all measure.
Many local boats continue to sit idle even as BP pays the captains up to $3,000 per day. (The rate for smaller boats (less than 26') is only $1200/day plus $200/day for each deck hand). There were over 500 boats out on patrol when the oil reached the Mississippi coastline - and they didn't see it. Why? Because BP failed to provide any direction about search patterns, routes, sectors etc. There is no instruction, organization or sanity.
Meanwhile, due to lack of funding, local marine laboratories are prevented from thoroughly investigating the effects of the oil. Mississippi alone spent approximately $15 million on tourism advertising to counter the economic impacts of the "spill" but can't seem to find the funds to support research concerning the effects of the oil on the food-chain and marine species in the Gulf.
If the Powers That Be who hold the purse strings in each state think that lack of tourists will crucify their economies then they will be stunned by the financial impacts of a fishing industry that has been destroyed, thousands upon thousands of unemployed citizens and a Gulf that is dead for decades...or longer.
Kent Wells, a senior vice president with BP, said at a news conference this morning that the company, at the command of the USCG, would delay drilling on the relief well by as much as 48 hours (translation of 48 hrs: 5,040,000 more gallons of oil) so that they could perform more extensive seismic mapping of the area. Wells said that he hadn't heard what the results were thus far, but he felt "comfortable that they were good."
What would lead Wells to, without having "heard" the results, "feel comfortable"? Is that the same blind assumption that allowed BP et al to "feel comfortable" that the well would never blow? The same incompetence that originally led them to state that it was only spewing 5,000 gallons per day? The same hubris that caused them to claim, 80 days ago, that it would be sealed off quickly? The same mindless corporate attitude that led them to state that dispersants were the answer?
The disagreement over the tests centers on the risks involved: they could actually further damage in the wellhead, allowing oil to gush into the Gulf from locations where it could not be halted. It's a massive roll of the dice and (right now) the US govt. is erring on the side of caution. Scientists are worried that the sinking of the rig after the April 20 explosion may have damaged cement-well walls below the blownout "blowout preventer" at the bottom of the Gulf. The possibility of a crater forming on the sea floor around the well head - with oil flowing from several areas - would magnify this catastrophe beyond all measure.
Many local boats continue to sit idle even as BP pays the captains up to $3,000 per day. (The rate for smaller boats (less than 26') is only $1200/day plus $200/day for each deck hand). There were over 500 boats out on patrol when the oil reached the Mississippi coastline - and they didn't see it. Why? Because BP failed to provide any direction about search patterns, routes, sectors etc. There is no instruction, organization or sanity.
Meanwhile, due to lack of funding, local marine laboratories are prevented from thoroughly investigating the effects of the oil. Mississippi alone spent approximately $15 million on tourism advertising to counter the economic impacts of the "spill" but can't seem to find the funds to support research concerning the effects of the oil on the food-chain and marine species in the Gulf.
If the Powers That Be who hold the purse strings in each state think that lack of tourists will crucify their economies then they will be stunned by the financial impacts of a fishing industry that has been destroyed, thousands upon thousands of unemployed citizens and a Gulf that is dead for decades...or longer.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Message from the Gulf
I received the message below from Don Abrams (Mississippi) and thought that I should share it. This is the reality "on the ground". Money is either being squandered through mismanagement or it is disappearing into the great maw of state and local bureaucracies.
With restrictions on the media and BP’s interminable PR spin efforts, we must rely on the reports of those who live (and once worked) in the Gulf region. Their descriptions are discouraging, maddening and tragic.
http://dwabrams.com/gulfshores071210.html "Photos from Gulf Shores on 7/12/10.
"There was an extensive cleanup effort in progress but while there was much activity, little progress was being made. Crews were dabbling with sargassum remnants while ATVs ran up and down the beach grinding the small nuggets of oil into the sand.
We walked down the beach to the east and found a layer of buried oil where the waves were eroding recently deposited sand at a small 'bluff' by the water's edge, just a couple of hundred yards from the tent. Just before noon none of cleanup crews had been there that day - no tracks.
We tried to locate a supervisor to report the oil and none was in the area. There was a strong oil smell from the sand and the water. A tan/brown 'bathtub' ring was present where the waves stopped on the beach. The ATVs seemed to be respecting the red flags marking the beginning of the dunes. With a simple screen sifter and a shovel I estimate that we could have filled a five-gallon bucket with oil nuggets with 30 minutes of easy work.
It was disheartening to see all the money being spent on a poorly organized and poorly supervised effort. A two hour snapshot - lots of activity, little result. And possibly more harm than good was being done. That oil in the ATV track would probably have been relatively simple to recover before it was ground into the sand. I am horrified at the idea of having this sort of disjointed and poorly directed work done on our barrier islands."
With restrictions on the media and BP’s interminable PR spin efforts, we must rely on the reports of those who live (and once worked) in the Gulf region. Their descriptions are discouraging, maddening and tragic.
http://dwabrams.com/gulfshores071210.html "Photos from Gulf Shores on 7/12/10.
"There was an extensive cleanup effort in progress but while there was much activity, little progress was being made. Crews were dabbling with sargassum remnants while ATVs ran up and down the beach grinding the small nuggets of oil into the sand.
We walked down the beach to the east and found a layer of buried oil where the waves were eroding recently deposited sand at a small 'bluff' by the water's edge, just a couple of hundred yards from the tent. Just before noon none of cleanup crews had been there that day - no tracks.
We tried to locate a supervisor to report the oil and none was in the area. There was a strong oil smell from the sand and the water. A tan/brown 'bathtub' ring was present where the waves stopped on the beach. The ATVs seemed to be respecting the red flags marking the beginning of the dunes. With a simple screen sifter and a shovel I estimate that we could have filled a five-gallon bucket with oil nuggets with 30 minutes of easy work.
It was disheartening to see all the money being spent on a poorly organized and poorly supervised effort. A two hour snapshot - lots of activity, little result. And possibly more harm than good was being done. That oil in the ATV track would probably have been relatively simple to recover before it was ground into the sand. I am horrified at the idea of having this sort of disjointed and poorly directed work done on our barrier islands."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
