HOPE YOU HAD A SWELL HOLIDAY!
For those of you outside the USA, please know we take our "Thanksgiving" pretty seriously. To wit:
I was able to visit my sis-Tina, her hubby-Tom, and my Mom-Demetra, at their home, and we celebrated early with Tom & Tina's party that I've dubbed the "Fabulous Fry"( a reference to the many deep-fried turkeys that Tom & his neighbors cook).Our Dad-John, and my niece-Breaz, joined us. It was great to see Breaz, my first niece, and a hard-working, very talented, bright gal--her grades have been great, and her interests are expanding as she finishes college(she'll graduate next June!).'Nuff of my bragging on my niece!
Also incredible to get to bond with Mom, who I miss terribly since she moved away from Atlanta, this past July.(sigh).
Dad regaled me with stories as we watched "The Honeymooners"(that old Jackie Gleason show--thank you, Mom, for letting us know it was on t.v.!!)
The food--everything from Tina's famous "Corn Casserole" to classic stuffing with onions, apples and celery to mini-muffin-pineapple-upside-down cakes(like luscious tiny cupcakes--complete with glazed pineapple, and cherry! yummy!!), and mini-pumpkin cupcakes with buttercream icing, was amazing!! And the company? Delightful! Everyone from Tom's co-workers to Tina's clients(she is THE marketing manager for a large family-entertainment complex!) and neighbors, as well as our family members, were all there!
The day began well before daylight for poor Tina, who managed the big weekend exceptionally well. Great time, and something I'm looking forward to participating in, every year, from now on! THANK YOU, TINA & TOM!!
This week, it was time for what I call "Little Korea"(I say this with great affection, and good humor), as I am surrounded by cute, tiny people who all speak fluent Korean(I'm learning Korean, bit-by-bit!). This year, we did not hold Thanksgiving here at our home, but instead went to Knoxville, to our host's house(Hansoo's older bro, Young-Soo)to see the nieces, Rachel & Grace, and Young-Ae, his lovely wife. Youngest bro, Arthur, and beautiful fiancee' Toni arrived, with Richard & Kathy(her step-dad and her mom) and we had an exceptional Korean-style meal of kalbee:Korean beef short ribs(sometimes spelled "kalbi", or "galbee"), kimchee, fried-fish cakes, rice, Korean dumplings, kim, assorted pan-jun(assorted pickled vegetables--a Korean "staple" with all meals...It is similar to the small-plate Spanish "tapas" or Greek "mezes"). There was a new casserole made of shrimp and scallops and crab, and traditional items(green-bean casserole, mashed potatoes, turkey, etc.). Yummy!
I engaged in a lively political discussion with the very informed, moderate-leaning, and reasonable Richard. I correctly guessed he had a Master's in Education-it's easy to spot an intellectual--a true one asks more questions than she/he can easily answer.(My definition of the difference between an "academic" and an "intellectual": the academic believes she/he is correct; the intellectual doubts ANYone is!) It felt good to have this bit of political banter(we both deeply dislike George W., but neither of us feels he's the problem, we both blame Dick Cheney, Donald(remember him?) Rumsfeld, et al, etc.), and once we all quieted down, we were treated to wonderful music from both girls. Grace, on piano. Rachel, on flute, and piano. Both girls are beautiful, talented, extremely intelligent.
So proud of both of them!
Last night, on the phone, as I discussed issues with a dear friend, I asked him if he meditates, or prays. There was a pause and a "Weeelll..."
I quickly jumped in and said "That's okay...."
I went on to say how I was an atheist/non-theist for nearly 18 years, before I returned to a sense of faith, and I am grateful to have gone through what I did, because it's what got me here, now.
I think this fellow is quite spiritual, even though he does not realize it(and probably would refrain from using "spiritual") and it occured to me that every time he writes(he's primarily a poet,though he writes prose, too),it is a form of prayer.
I'll quote wonderful peace activist, Fr. Bob Cushing, who years ago, during our Pax Christi Day Of Peace and Reconciliation, said "When I write, I think of it as 'praying on paper'. "
Kids, I think all writers can do that--when we write, we are 'praying on paper', and hoping someone hears us. In my case, I have a loving God/Universe I truly believe in. For many writers, there is no God, but they write their thoughts, their desires, their fears, and they hope for--what? A miracle? No, but they do want to be HEARD. And perhaps, they want a bit of that "communion" I speak of so often. That connection with someone else, maybe a few someone elses', and in attaining that, they feel, "redeemed".
We writers, actors, poets, artists, have so much for which to be thankful.I am grateful to found mediums in which I may express myself, and the icing really is, that sometimes, people listen, and respond!
Have a beautiful Saturday & Sunday!
Peace, kids.
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Diamonds. And a Poet's Sword.
A few interesting tidbits from the news, below. My faith in God is strong, and the idea that gorgeous gems played a part in this "elegant universe" is lovely, and appealing!
The second story I reprinted here, gives an update on a rather obscure, but very talented, long-dead Nicaraguan poet. I included one of his poems, beneath that article.
____________________________________________________
Diamonds May Have Jumpstarted Life on Earth
Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com
One of the greatest mysteries in science is how life began. Now one group of researchers says diamonds may have been life's best friend.
Scientists have long theorized that life on Earth got going in a primordial soup of precursor chemicals. But nobody knows how these simple amino acids, known to be the building blocks of life, were assembled into complex polymers needed as a platform for genesis.
Diamonds are crystallized forms of carbon that predate the oldest known life on the planet. In lab experiments aimed to confirm work done more than three decades ago, researchers found that when treated with hydrogen, natural diamonds formed crystalline layers of water on the surface. Water is essential for life as we know it. Also, the tests found electrical conductivity that could have been key to forcing chemical reactions needed to generate the first birth.
When primitive molecules landed on the surface of these hydrogenated diamonds in the atmosphere of early Earth, a few billion years ago, the resulting reaction may have been sufficient enough to generate more complex organic molecules that eventually gave rise to life, the researchers say.
The research, by German scientists Andrei Sommer, Dan Zhu, and Hans-Joerg Fecht at the University of Ulm, is detailed in the Aug. 6 issue of the American Chemical Society's journal Crystal Growth & Design. Funding was provided by the Landesstiftung Baden-Wurttemberg Bionics Network.
Another theory, called panspermia, holds that life on Earth arrived from space, as organisms rained down inside tiny meteors or giant comets.
The new research does not conclusively determine how life began, but it lends support to one possible way.
"Hydrogenated diamond advances to the best of all possible origin-of-life platforms," the researchers contend.
________________________________________________
Nicaragua poet's sword mightier than pen. AP News service
The pen may be mightier than the sword, but it isn't quite as attractive for thieves.
Unidentified robbers have swiped a sword that belonged to Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario from a museum while leaving some of his valuable original manuscripts untouched.
Museum secretary Maria Elena Quintero said Sunday that police are investigating the disappearance of the ceremonial sword Dario used when he served as Nicaragua's ambassador to Spain. She did not give an estimate of the sword's value.
It was taken from a glass case at the museum in Dario's old home in the colonial city of Leon. It appears to be the only artifact missing.
Dario lived from 1867 to 1916 and is considered the father of the Modernismo movement.
_____________________________________________
_______
Hey kids, I selected one of his poems:
TO ROOSEVELT
The voice that would reach you, Hunter, must speak
in Biblical tones, or in the poetry of Walt Whitman.
You are primitive and modern, simple and complex;
you are one part George Washington and one part Nimrod.
You are the United States,
future invader of our naive America
with its Indian blood, an America
that still prays to Christ and still speaks Spanish.
You are strong, proud model of your race;
you are cultured and able; you oppose Tolstoy.
You are an Alexander-Nebuchadnezzar,
breaking horses and murdering tigers.
(You are a Professor of Energy,
as current lunatics say).
You think that life is a fire,
that progress is an irruption,
that the future is wherever
your bullet strikes.
No.
The United States is grand and powerful.
Whenever it trembles, a profound shudder
runs down the enormous backbone of the Andes.
If it shouts, the sound is like the roar of a lion.
And Hugo said to Grant: "The stars are yours."
(The dawning sun of the Argentine barely shines;
the star of Chile is rising..) A wealthy country,
joining the cult of Mammon to the cult of Hercules;
while Liberty, lighting the path
to easy conquest, raises her torch in New York.
But our own America, which has had poets
since the ancient times of Nezahualcóyolt;
which preserved the footprint of great Bacchus,
and learned the Panic alphabet once,
and consulted the stars; which also knew Atlantic
(whose name comes ringing down to us in Plato)
and has lived, since the earliest moments of its life,
in light, in fire, in fragrance, and in love-
- the America of Moctezuma and Atahualpa,
the aromatic America of Columbus,
Catholic America, Spanish America,
the America where noble Cuauthémoc said:
"I am not in a bed of roses"--our America,
trembling with hurricanes, trembling with Love:
O men with Saxon eyes and barbarous souls,
our America lives. And dreams. And loves.
And it is the daughter of the Sun. Be careful.
Long live Spanish America!
A thousand cubs of the Spanish lion are roaming free.
Roosevelt, you must become, by God's own will,
the deadly Rifleman and the dreadful Hunter
before you can clutch us in your iron claws.
And though you have everything, you are lacking one thing: God!
________________________________________________
____
In reprinting it here, I encountered a few problems with reproducing it exactly, with the correct line-breaks, which is sooooo frustrating. You may also access this poem at:
http://www.dariana.com/R_Dario_poems.html
This poem certainly works on many levels, and it certainly is still quite timely, despite Dario having lived only between 1867-1916. Educated by Jesuits, he apears to have rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church, though he also seems to take much pride in the culture of Catholicism.
I personally felt the downy blond hair on my arms rise when reading the lines about "our America lives." It is such a prophecy about Latin America, Central America, and their (impending) rise to power, and what it may give them: the status and wealth that the U.S. has always assumed was ours alone.
Peace, kids.
A few interesting tidbits from the news, below. My faith in God is strong, and the idea that gorgeous gems played a part in this "elegant universe" is lovely, and appealing!
The second story I reprinted here, gives an update on a rather obscure, but very talented, long-dead Nicaraguan poet. I included one of his poems, beneath that article.
____________________________________________________
Diamonds May Have Jumpstarted Life on Earth
Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com
One of the greatest mysteries in science is how life began. Now one group of researchers says diamonds may have been life's best friend.
Scientists have long theorized that life on Earth got going in a primordial soup of precursor chemicals. But nobody knows how these simple amino acids, known to be the building blocks of life, were assembled into complex polymers needed as a platform for genesis.
Diamonds are crystallized forms of carbon that predate the oldest known life on the planet. In lab experiments aimed to confirm work done more than three decades ago, researchers found that when treated with hydrogen, natural diamonds formed crystalline layers of water on the surface. Water is essential for life as we know it. Also, the tests found electrical conductivity that could have been key to forcing chemical reactions needed to generate the first birth.
When primitive molecules landed on the surface of these hydrogenated diamonds in the atmosphere of early Earth, a few billion years ago, the resulting reaction may have been sufficient enough to generate more complex organic molecules that eventually gave rise to life, the researchers say.
The research, by German scientists Andrei Sommer, Dan Zhu, and Hans-Joerg Fecht at the University of Ulm, is detailed in the Aug. 6 issue of the American Chemical Society's journal Crystal Growth & Design. Funding was provided by the Landesstiftung Baden-Wurttemberg Bionics Network.
Another theory, called panspermia, holds that life on Earth arrived from space, as organisms rained down inside tiny meteors or giant comets.
The new research does not conclusively determine how life began, but it lends support to one possible way.
"Hydrogenated diamond advances to the best of all possible origin-of-life platforms," the researchers contend.
________________________________________________
Nicaragua poet's sword mightier than pen. AP News service
The pen may be mightier than the sword, but it isn't quite as attractive for thieves.
Unidentified robbers have swiped a sword that belonged to Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario from a museum while leaving some of his valuable original manuscripts untouched.
Museum secretary Maria Elena Quintero said Sunday that police are investigating the disappearance of the ceremonial sword Dario used when he served as Nicaragua's ambassador to Spain. She did not give an estimate of the sword's value.
It was taken from a glass case at the museum in Dario's old home in the colonial city of Leon. It appears to be the only artifact missing.
Dario lived from 1867 to 1916 and is considered the father of the Modernismo movement.
_____________________________________________
_______
Hey kids, I selected one of his poems:
TO ROOSEVELT
The voice that would reach you, Hunter, must speak
in Biblical tones, or in the poetry of Walt Whitman.
You are primitive and modern, simple and complex;
you are one part George Washington and one part Nimrod.
You are the United States,
future invader of our naive America
with its Indian blood, an America
that still prays to Christ and still speaks Spanish.
You are strong, proud model of your race;
you are cultured and able; you oppose Tolstoy.
You are an Alexander-Nebuchadnezzar,
breaking horses and murdering tigers.
(You are a Professor of Energy,
as current lunatics say).
You think that life is a fire,
that progress is an irruption,
that the future is wherever
your bullet strikes.
No.
The United States is grand and powerful.
Whenever it trembles, a profound shudder
runs down the enormous backbone of the Andes.
If it shouts, the sound is like the roar of a lion.
And Hugo said to Grant: "The stars are yours."
(The dawning sun of the Argentine barely shines;
the star of Chile is rising..) A wealthy country,
joining the cult of Mammon to the cult of Hercules;
while Liberty, lighting the path
to easy conquest, raises her torch in New York.
But our own America, which has had poets
since the ancient times of Nezahualcóyolt;
which preserved the footprint of great Bacchus,
and learned the Panic alphabet once,
and consulted the stars; which also knew Atlantic
(whose name comes ringing down to us in Plato)
and has lived, since the earliest moments of its life,
in light, in fire, in fragrance, and in love-
- the America of Moctezuma and Atahualpa,
the aromatic America of Columbus,
Catholic America, Spanish America,
the America where noble Cuauthémoc said:
"I am not in a bed of roses"--our America,
trembling with hurricanes, trembling with Love:
O men with Saxon eyes and barbarous souls,
our America lives. And dreams. And loves.
And it is the daughter of the Sun. Be careful.
Long live Spanish America!
A thousand cubs of the Spanish lion are roaming free.
Roosevelt, you must become, by God's own will,
the deadly Rifleman and the dreadful Hunter
before you can clutch us in your iron claws.
And though you have everything, you are lacking one thing: God!
________________________________________________
____
In reprinting it here, I encountered a few problems with reproducing it exactly, with the correct line-breaks, which is sooooo frustrating. You may also access this poem at:
http://www.dariana.com/R_Dario_poems.html
This poem certainly works on many levels, and it certainly is still quite timely, despite Dario having lived only between 1867-1916. Educated by Jesuits, he apears to have rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church, though he also seems to take much pride in the culture of Catholicism.
I personally felt the downy blond hair on my arms rise when reading the lines about "our America lives." It is such a prophecy about Latin America, Central America, and their (impending) rise to power, and what it may give them: the status and wealth that the U.S. has always assumed was ours alone.
Peace, kids.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)