Helen Hunt jackson looks with suspicion at New Year’s Day resolutions but then offers us a different way to see life transitions.
Monthly Archives: December 2015
Each Sunrise Sees a New Year Born
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "New Year's Morning", Helen Hunt Jackson, New Year's Day, New Year's resolutions Comments closed
Conservative Extremists as King Lear
In another significant post that appeared this past year, I compared GOP extremists to King Lear–more interested in self-indulgent behavior than in responsible governance. The result is a divided country at war with itself.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Benjamin Netanyahu, GOP, Iran, Iran agreement, King Lear, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Donne’s Warning about Climate Change
Looking back over the past year, I repost an essay on John Donne’s “Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and climate change denial. Given that 2015 has been the warmest year on record and that “the weather outside is frightful,” Donne’s comments about “moving of th’ earth” are only too relevant.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Good Morrow, "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", climate change, extreme weather, global warming, John Donne Comments closed
“Emma” as Aid to Alzheimer’s Caregivers
A luminescent “New York Times” article explains how a woman used Emma to help her deal with her mother’s Alzheimer’s. Literature at such times does some very heavy lifting.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alzheimer's, cognitive impairment, Emma, Jane Austen, Mental Illness Comments closed
The Constellated Sounds of Bells
First Sunday after Christmas Sewanee, Tennessee, where I spend each Christmas, is a great place for bells and chimes. There is the 56-bell carillon in All Saints’ Chapel—once one of the largest in the world although probably no more—and the single Otey Parish bell. There are also the bells in Breslin Tower, which strike the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Noel Christmas Eve 1913", Christmas, church bells, Robert Seymour Bridges, World War I Comments closed
A Season for Miraculous Breakthroughs
In this Scott Bates poem about Operation Breakthrough, the 1988 American-Soviet rescue operation that liberated three ice-bound gray whales, the possibility for international cooperation to save the planet is imagined. Were he still alive today, my father would be excited by the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Great Whale Rap", climate change, Environment, Operation Breakthrough, Paris climate accord, Scott Bates, Whales Comments closed
Our Christmas Owes Much to Walter Scott
While Charles Dickens can be credited with resurrecting Christmas, Sir Walter Scott paved the way in “Marmion” with his depiction of Christmas and pre-Christmas banquets.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Charles Dickens, Christmas, Christmas Carol, Marmion, origins of Christmas, Sir Walter Scott, Victorian Christmas Comments closed
Beauty Amidst the Refugee Heartbreak
Adam Zagajewski’s beautiful poem “Try to Praise the Mutilated World” is particularly relevant at the moment with the tragedy of the Syrian refugees.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Try to Praise the Mutilated World", Adam Zagajewski, Beauty, Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko, Syrian refugees Comments closed
