Sebastian Venable

"He wasn't a family snob or a money snob, but he was a snob alright.
He was a snob about loveliness and elegance in things -
about personal charm and physical grace in people."

-from Suddenly Last Summer
by Tennessee Williams

A Point of No Return

The Nature of Art

"Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest."

-Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
The Birth of Tragedy, ch. 24 (1872)

Look Yonder - Nature

"After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on;
you have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear
- what remains?

Nature remains."

Walt Whitman (1819-92)
Specimen Days and Collect,
"New Themes Entered Upon" (1882)

Disturb Us

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

-Sir Francis Drake (1577)

Dutiful Queen

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

-William Shakespeare
from Henry IV (Part2)

Now, Voyager

"The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find."

-Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

From The Gate of the Year

"I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'

And he replied,
'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'"

-by Minnie Louise Haskins (1875-1957)

Incomplete Democracy

"It is to the development, identification, and general prevalence of that fervid comradeship (the adhesive love, at least rivaling the amative love hitherto possessing imaginative literature, if not going beyond it), that I look for the counterbalance and offset of our materialistic and vulgar American democracy, and for the spiritualization thereof. "

-Walt Whitman from Democratic Vistas (1865)

Secrets Defeat The Good

-Speak No Evil, photograph by Ancil Nance ©2002

Click photo to enlarge

What To Do If You Find Yourself Stuck With No Hope of Rescue:

"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good for you so far;

Alternatively, if life hasn’t been good to you so far (which given your current circumstances seems more likely) consider how lucky you are that it won’t be troubling you much longer."

-from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe (2005)
by Douglas Adams
Garth Jennings, Director

On Personal Wealth and Public Stewardship

"Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community."

-Andrew Carnegie

Son of Man!

In freedom did I conceive thee.
In freedom did I purpose thee;
in living freedom created thy soul.
Live in me.

Son of Man
Bow thou not beneath the tyranny of man,
nor place upon thy neck
the yoke of thine own wayward thoughts
and fashionings.

Son of Man
Keep thy soul.
Free thyself through thoughts that lead to burning truths;
through deeds that liberate true power;
through love that lifts to higher realms of worth.
Free thy soul.

Son of Man
Live thy life creatively
and thou shalt find me living in thee;
living through thee;
living with thee;
living in endless love.
Live in Me.

Son of Man
Live in Joy!

-An American anthem
Music by John Parker
Lyrics by David Lantz
Published by Shawnee Press

Absolute Beauty

..."I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world.

Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst.

And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain
and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment
of my stupid little life.

You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure.
But don't worry - you will someday."

-Lester Burnham's ending monologue
from American Beauty (1999) by Alan Ball
Sam Mendes - Director

The Mother of My Attitude

Marlene McGuirk Tate Kiziah Edwards (nee Boren)
Photograph by: John G. McGuirk (1935-1970)
Click photo to enlarge

EGOISTE!

Le Sirenuse Hotel - Positano, Italy
Photograph by: Tom Wentling
Click photo to enlarge

Lydia the Tattooed Lady

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
She has eyes that folks adore so,
and a torso even more so.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Queen of Tattoo.
On her back is The Battle of Waterloo.
Beside it, The Wreck of the Hesperus too.
And proudly above waves the red, white, and blue.
You can learn a lot from Lydia!

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

When her robe is unfurled she will show you the world,
if you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree,
or Washington crossing The Delaware.

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
When her muscles start relaxin',
up the hill comes Andrew Jackson.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Queen of them all.
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz,
with a view of Niagara that nobody has.
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz.
You can learn a lot from Lydia!

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

Come along and see Buffalo Bill with his lasso.
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso.
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon.
Here's Godiva, but with her pajamas on.

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

Here is Grover Whelan unveilin' The Trilon.
Over on the west coast we have Treasure Isle-on.
Here's Nijinsky a-doin' the rhumba.
Here's her social security numba.

La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.

Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Champ of them all.
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
for he went and married Lydia!

I said Lydia...
(He said Lydia...)
They said Lydia...
We said Lydia, la, la!

-From At the Circus (1939)
Performed by Groucho Marx
Music by Harold Arlen
Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg

Choice of Attention

"To pay attention to this and ignore that
is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer.
In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice
and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be."

-W.H. Auden

What You Realize When Cancer Comes

"You will not live forever—No
you will not, for a ceiling of clouds
hovers in the sky.

You are not as brave
as you once thought.
Sounds of death
echo in your chest.

You feel the bite of pain,
the taste of it running
through you.

Following the telling to friends
comes a silence of
felt goodbyes. You come to know
the welling of tears.

Your children are stronger
than you thought and
closer to your skin.

The beauty of animals
birds on telephone lines,
dogs who look into your eyes,
all bring you peace.

You want no more confusion
than what already rises
in your head and heart.

You watch television less,
will never read all those books,
much less the ones
you have.

Songs can move you now, so that
you want to hold onto the words
like the hands of children.

Your own hands look good to you.
old and familiar
as water.

You read your lover's skin
like a road map
into yourself.

All touch is precious now.

There are echoes

in the words thrown
before you.

When they take your picture now
you wet your lips, swallow once
and truly smile.

Talk of your lost parents
pulls you out, and
brings you home again.

You are in a river
flowing in and through you.
Take a breath. Reach out your arms.
You can survive.

A river is flowing
flowing in and through you.
Take a breath. Reach out your arms."

-From A River Remains by Larry Smith

A Poem;with Love and Awe

..."(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody;not even the rain,has such small hands"

-From 100 Selected Poems
by e.e. cummings

Quiet Being

"It is not necessary that you leave the house.
Remain at your table and listen.
Do not even listen, only wait.
Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone.

The world will present itself to you for its unmasking;
it can do no other;
in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet."

- Franz Kafka

Song of Solomon 2:15 (KJV)

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. "

-The scriptural basis for Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman (1941)

Psych!

"This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever."

- Sigmund Freud speaking of the Irish

Photographs By:

"For half a century photography has been the 'art form' of the untalented.

Obviously some pictures are more satisfactory than others,
but where is credit due?

To the designer of the camera?
To the finger on the button?
To the law of averages?"

-Gore Vidal

Dry Wit

"I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humour."

From Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (act I)
by Edward Albee

Crazy Faith

I lit my love and watched it burn;
asking nothing in return
except the lessons I would learn
holding crazy faith.

I've been touched by that bright fire
down to the root of my desire,
while the smoke it rises higher
on crazy faith.

'Am I a fool for hanging on?'
'Would I be a fool to be long gone?'
'When is daylight gone to dawn
on my crazy faith?'

The questions will not let me sleep;
The answer's buried way too deep
at the bottom of a lovers' leap
made by crazy faith.

Love your losing; lose your love.
Let the hawk fly from the glove
and do not search the skies above;
search your crazy faith.

Love is lightning; love is ice.
It only strikes the lucky twice:
once, so you will know the price;
and once for crazy faith.

You're not asking if I love this man...
I know you don't; you don't believe you can.
Yet I've seen love open like a dancer's fan.
It's crazy I know;
but my faith says so-
it tells me.

by Allison Krauss and Union Station
on New Favorite

To Loving Support Among Friends

You and me,
We're the kind of people other people
Would like to be.
Wand'ring free,
We present the kind of picture
People are glad to see.
And we don't care that tomorrow
Comes with no guarantee;
We've each other for company.
And come what may,
You and me, we'll stay together
Year after year,
Won't we, my dear?
That's why we're you and me.

You and Me
From Victor/Victoria
Music by Henry Mancini
Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse

Supposed Thoughts of Gypsy Rose Lee While Performing

zip...
"Walter Lippman wasn't brilliant today."
zip...
"Will Saryan ever write a great play?"
zip...
"I was reading Schopenhauer last night,
zip...
And I think that Schopenhauer was right."

"I don't want to see Zorina."
"I don't want to meet Cobina."
zip...
"I'm an intellectual."

"I don't like a deep contralto,
Or a man whose voice is alto."
zip...
"I'm a heterosexual."

zip...
"It took intellect to master my art."
zip...
"Who the hell is Margie Hart?"

zip...
"I consider Dali's painting passe."
zip...
"Can they make the Metropolitan pay?"
zip...
"English people don't say 'clerk', they say 'clark'".
zip...
"Anybody who says 'clark' is a 'jark!'"

"I have read the great Cabala,
And I simply worship Allah."
zip...
"I am just a mystic."

"I don't care for Whistler's mother,
Charlie's aunt, or Shubert's brother."
zip...
"I'm misogynistic."

zip...
"My intelligence is guiding my hand."
zip...
"Who the hell is Sally Rand?"

zip...
"Toscanini leads the greatest of bands."
zip...
"Jergens Lotion does the trick for his hands."
zip...
"Rip Van Winkle on the screen would be smart."
zip...
"Tyrone Power will be cast in the part."

"I adore the great Confucius,
And the lines of luscious Lucius."
zip...
"I am so ecletic."

"I don't care for either Mickey:
Mouse and Rooney make me sicky."
zip...
"I'm a little hectic."

zip...
"My artistic taste is classic and dear."
zip...
"Who the hell‘s Lili St. Cyr?"

Zip from PAL JOEY
Music by Richard Rodgers;
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart

Television: A Medium

"...So called because it is neither rare nor well done."

- Ernie Novacs

Farther Along

Tempted and tried we're oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long
While there are others living about us
Never molested though in the wrong

When death has come and taken our loved ones
It leaves a home so lonely and drear
Then do we wonder why others prosper
Living so wicked year after year

‘Faithful til death’, said our loving master
A few more days to labor and wait
Toils of the road will then seem as nothing
As we sweep through the beautiful gates

Farther along we'll know all about it
Farther along we'll understand why
Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine
We'll understand it all by and by

-American Hymn by an Anonymous/Unknown Composer, 1911

Time Heals All Wounds

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.'
I do not agree.
The wounds remain.

In time, the mind (protecting its sanity)
covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens.
But, it is never gone."

-Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

It's Later Than It's Ever Been

The John Hand Building
Birmingham, AL
Photo by Randal Eaton Culbreth
Click Image to Enlarge

On War and Aggression

"Valuing life is not weakness;

and disregarding it is not strength.

The next time you gamble, bet your own life."

-Mirage in The Incredibles
John Walker, Producer;
Brad Bird, Director

I'd Like to Propose a Toast

Here's to the ladies who lunch.
Everybody laugh.
Lounging in their caftans and planning a brunch
on their own behalf.
Off to the gym, then to a fitting
claiming they're fat;
and looking grim 'cause they've been sitting
choosing a hat.
(Does anyone still wear a hat?)
I'll drink to that.

Here’s to girls who stay smart;
aren’t they a gas?
Rushing to their classes in optical art
wishing it would pass;
Another long exhausting day;
another thousand dollars;
a matinee; a Pinter play;
perhaps a piece of Mahler’s.
I’ll drink to that.

(…and one for Mahler!)

Here's to the girls who play wife.
Aren't they too much?
Keeping house but clutching a copy of "Life"
just to keep in touch.
The ones who follow the rules;
and meet themselves at the schools;
too busy to know that they're fools.
Aren't they a gem!?
I'll drink to them!
Let's all drink to them!

And here’s to the girls who just watch.
Aren't they the best?
When they get depressed, it's a bottle of scotch
plus a little jest.
Another chance to disapprove;
another brilliant zinger;
another reason not to move;
another vodka stinger;
I'll drink to that!

So here's to the girls on the go.
Everybody tries.
Look into their eyes
and you'll see what they know;
Everybody dies.
A toast to that invincible bunch;
the dinosaurs surviving the crunch;
Let's hear it for the ladies who lunch!

Everybody rise. Rise.
Rise. Rise!
Rise! Rise!
RISE!

The Ladies Who Lunch
from Company (1970) by Stephen Sondheim

In Memory of Jonathon Thomas

"I think the virtue of being given the Lifetime Achievement Award before you have necessarily achieved your lifetime's work is probably because if they wait until you have achieved all of your lifetime's work, you probably will have died.

This is better.

And I'm grateful.

I'm dedicating this to the memory of Jonathan Thomas, my life partner, who died only a month ago. He and I were together for 35 years. And he made me a happy playwright.

And you have made me a happy playwright tonight.

Thank you."
—Edward Albee, Playwright - on receiving the 2005 American Theater Wing's Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement

Optimism

Upon hearing an unexpected knock at the door,
or a ring of the telephone, Dorothy Parker would often exclaim

"What fresh hell is this?"

My Philosophy of Life by John Ashbery

Just when I thought there wasn't room enough
for another thought in my head, I had this great idea--
call it a philosophy of life, if you will.
Briefly, it involved living the way philosophers live,
according to a set of principles. OK, but which ones?

That was the hardest part, I admit, but I had a
kind of dark foreknowledge of what it would be like.
Everything, from eating watermelon or going to the bathroom
or just standing on a subway platform, lost in thought for a few minutes,
or worrying about rain forests would be affected,
or more precisely, inflected by my new attitude.

I wouldn't be preachy, or worry about children and old people,
except in the general way prescribed by our clockwork universe.
Instead I'd sort of let things be what they are
while injecting them with the serum of the new moral climate.

I thought I'd stumbled into, as a stranger accidentally presses against
a panel and a bookcase slides back, revealing a winding staircase
with greenish light somewhere down below,
and he automatically steps inside and the bookcase slides shut,
as is customary on such occasions.

At once a fragrance overwhelms him--not saffron, not lavender,
but something in between. He thinks of cushions,
like the one his uncle's Boston bull terrier used to lie on
watching him quizzically, pointed ear-tips folded over.
And then the great rush is on.

Not a single idea emerges from it.
It's enough to disgust you with thought.
But then you remember something William James wrote
in some book of his you never read--it was fine, it had the fineness,
the powder of life dusted over it, by chance, of course, yet still looking
for evidence of fingerprints. Someone had handled it
even before he formulated it, though the thought was his
and his alone.

It's fine, in summer, to visit the seashore.
There are lots of little trips to be made.
A grove of fledgling aspens welcomes the traveler.
Nearby are the public toilets where weary pilgrims have carved
their names and addresses, and perhaps messages as well,
messages to the world, as they sat
and thought about what they'd do after using the toilet
and washing their hands at the sink, prior to stepping out
into the open again.

Had they been coaxed in by principles,
and were their words philosophy, of however crude a sort?
I confess I can move no farther along this train of thought--
something's blocking it.
Something I'm not big enough to see over.
Or maybe I'm frankly scared.
What was the matter with how I acted before?

But maybe I can come up with a compromise--
I'll let things be what they are, sort of.
In the autumn I'll put up jellies and preserves,
against the winter cold and futility,
and that will be a human thing, and intelligent as well.
I won't be embarrassed by my friends' dumb remarks,
or even my own, though admittedly that's the hardest part,
as when you are in a crowded theater and something you say
riles the spectator in front of you, who doesn't even like the idea
of two people near him talking together. Well he's
got to be flushed out so the hunters can have a crack at him--
this thing works both ways, you know.
You can't always be worrying about others and keeping track of yourself
at the same time. That would be abusive, and about as much fun
as attending the wedding of two people you don't know.

Still, there's a lot of fun to be had in the gaps between ideas.
That's what they're made for!
Now I want you to go out there
and enjoy yourself, and yes, enjoy your philosophy of life, too.
They don't come along every day.
Look out! There's a big one...

The Miraculous Potential of Diversity

"We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself."

- Gore Vidal

On God and Money

"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to."

- Dorothy Parker

But We'll Get Together Then

My child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

Cat's in the Cradle by Sandy and Harry Chapin

The Lord Is My Keeper: A Song of Degrees

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

My help cometh even from the LORD, whom hath made heav'n and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. -Psalms 121 (KJV)

Eeyore: On Life

"Hallo, Eeyore," said Christopher Robin, as he opened the door and came out. "How are you?"

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.

"So it is," said Christopher Robin, looking up and around.

"...and freezing," Eeyore continued.

"Is it?" replied Christopher Robin.

"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."

The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne

Turn! Turn! Turn!

To Everything - Turn, turn, turn.
There is a season - turn, turn, turn.
And a time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.
To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season - turn, turn, turn.
And a time for every purpose under heaven.

Pete Seeger, adapted from Ecclesiastes

I Went to a Marvellous Party by Noel Coward

Quite for no reason,
I'm here for the Season and high as a kite.
Living in error
with Maud at Cape Ferrat, which anyway couldn't be right.
Everyone's here and frightfully gay,
nobody cares what others might say.
Seems really much queerer than Rome at it's height;
and yesterday night -

I went to a marvellous party, with Oona and Nadia and Nell.
It was out in fresh air and when we went there,
we went as we were, which was Hell.
Poor Grace started singing at midnight,
and didn't stop singing till four.
We knew the excitement was bound to begin
when Laura got blind on Dubonnet and gin
and scratched her veneer with a Cartier pin:
I couldn't have liked it more.

I went to a marvellous party, I must say the fun was intense.
We all had to do what the people we knew
would be doing a hundred years hence.
Dear Cecil arrived wearing armour,
some shells and a black feather boa.
Poor Millicent wore a surrealist comb
made of bits of mosaic from St. Peter's in Rome,
But the weight was so great that she had to go home;
I couldn't have liked it more.

People's behaviour when away from Belgravia
would certainly make you aghast.
So much the variety, while watching Society
all as they're scampering past.
If you have any mind at all,
Gibbon's divine "Decline and Fall"
seems pretty flimsy, no more than a whimsy...
By way of contrast, on Saturday last -

I went to a marvellous party, we didn't start dinner till ten.
And young Bobbie Carr
did a stunt at the bar with a lot of extraordinary men.
Dear Baba arrived with a turtle,
which shattered us all to the core.
The Grand Duke was dancing a foxtrot with me,
when suddenly Cyril screamed, "Fiddledidee!"
and ripped off his trousers and jumped in the sea:
I couldn't have liked it more.

I went to a marvellous party, Elise made her entrance with May.
You'd never have guessed
from her fisherman's vest that her bust had been whittled away.
Poor Lulu got fried on Chianti and talked about esprit de corps.
Maurice made a couple of passes at Gus,
and Freddie who hates any kind of a fuss,
did half the Big Apple and twisted his truss:
I couldn't have liked it more.

I went to a marvellous party, we played the most wonderful game.
Maureen disappeared
and came back in a beard, and we all had to guess at her name!
We talked about aging with grace, and Elsie, who's seventy-four,
said "A - it's a question of being sincere;
and B - if you're supple, you've nothing to fear."
Then she swung upside down from a glass chandelier:
I couldn't have liked it more.

Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!

Freud and the Fundamentalist Urge

"According to Freud, we crave strong leaders whose simple dictrines will account for our sufferings, identify our enemies, focus our energies and give us, more enduring than wine or even love, a sense of being whole."

From "Freud and the Fundamentalist Urge" by Mark Edmundson
New York Times Magazine, pp 15-18. April 30, 2006

From the Bible (KJV)

"For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

Psalms 30:5

The Art of Doing Nothing

"...How do you do nothing?" asked Pooh, after he wondered for a long time.

"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it,
'What are you going to do Christopher Robin?'
and you say, 'Oh nothing,'
and then you go and do it."

"Oh, I see," said Pooh.

"This is a nothing sort of thing we're doing now," said Christopher Robin.

Oh, I see," said Pooh again.

"It just means going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

An excerpt from The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

"Neither you nor I can conceive the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God." - Graham Greene

A photograph by John K. McGuirk
Click to enlarge

From the Desk of the Grand Dame, Emeritus

۞ Never put you hand on a man, except in dance

۞ Whispering and giggling at the same time have no place in good society

۞ Don't think you can be rude to anyone, and escape

۞ Whispering is always rude

۞ Don't hang on anyone for sport

۞ Never stand or walk with your chest held in,
and your hips forward in imitation of reverse letter "s".

- From House of the Blue Danube by Malcolm McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra

I'm Still Here!

I've gotten through

'Hey Lady! Aren't you "who's it?"
WOW! What a looker you were.'

or better yet,

'Oh, sorry, I thought you were "who's it."
What ever happened to her?'

From Follies by Stephen Sondheim

Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbing on the sky the message "He Is Dead",
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood,
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Peanuts by Charles Schultz

Click to enlarge

Unimaginably Complex Order or Chaos

We are all of us children, in a vast kindergarten trying to spell God's name with the wrong alphabet blocks.

- from Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams

Hebrews 11:1

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen..."

The Story – from "Frog and Toad Are Friends" by Arnold Lobel

One day in summer Frog was not feeling well.

Toad said, “Frog, you are looking quite green.”

“But I always look green” said Frog. “I am a frog.”

“Today you look very green, even for a frog”, said Toad. “Get into my bed and rest.”

Toad made Frog a cup of hot tea. Frog drank the tea then he said “Tell me a story while I am resting.”

“All right,” said Toad. “Let me think of a story to tell you.”

Toad thought and thought. But be could not think of a story to tell Frog.

“I will go out on the front porch and walk up and down,” said Toad. “Perhaps that will help me to think of a story.” Toad walked up and down on the porch for a long time. But he could not think of a story to tell Frog.

Then Toad went in the house and stood on his head.

“Why are you standing on your head?” asked Frog.

“I hope that if I stand on my head, it will help me to think of a story,” said Toad.

Toad stood on his head for a long time. But he could not think of a story to tell Frog.

Then Toad poured a glass of water over his head.

“Why are you pouring water over your head?” asked Frog.

“I hope that if I pour water over my head, it will help me to think of a story,” said Toad.

Toad poured many glasses of water over his head. But he could not think of a story to tell Frog.

Then Toad began to bang his head again the wall.

“Why are you banging your head against the wall?” asked Frog.

“I hope that if I bang my head against the wall hard enough, it will help me think of a story,” said Toad.

“I’m feeling much better now, Toad,” said Frog. “I don’t think I need a story anymore.”

“Then you get out of my bed and let me get into it,” said Toad, “because now I feel terrible.”

Frog said, “Would you like me to tell you a story, Toad?”

“Yes,” said Toad, “if you know one.”

“Once upon a time,” said Frog, “there were two good friends, a frog and a toad. The frog was not feeling well. He asked his friend the toad to tell him a story.

The toad could not think of a story. He walked up and down on the porch, but he could not think of a story. He stood on his head, but he could not think of a story. He poured water over his head, but he could not think of a story. He banged his head against the wall, but he still could not think of a story.

Then the toad did not feel so well, and the frog was feeling better. So the toad went to bed and the frog got up and told him a story.

The End."

"So how was that, Toad?” said Frog.

But Toad did not answer. He had fallen asleep.

"Les plus coupables sont les moins genereaux" - Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumachais from "The Marriage of Figaro" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

A photograph by John K. McGuirk
Click to enlarge

From "Gibran on Love"

But if in your fear you would seek
only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you
cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor
into the seasonless world where you shall laugh,
but not all of your laughter,
and weep,
but not all of your tears. - Gibran Khalil Gibran

Gratias tibi ago, Domine!

A photograph by John K. McGuirk
Click to enlarge

The Tao of Pooh

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best..."
and then he paused to think.
Because, although eating honey was very good,
there was also that moment just before eating honey...
that was even better!
But he couldn't think what he might call "that".

So there he sat, quietly, with Christopher Robin.
Smiling.
Content.

An excerpt from The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

Oh yeah!?

John K. McGuirk

Here's to "Tough Mothers"

...and how they get through it all.