A shell collection I picked up on the beach over time. A few I bought at a store. I like the broken and scuffed up imperfections of those found at the shore. Shells are wonderful concrete objects from nature with a variety of shapes and forms. Once they are in my pocket, rescued from the beating waves that tumble them on the sand, they can finally find a home where they exist intact, and impermeable to change. They will last longer than me. I keep them inside a giant glass fish bowl.
What book are you reading right now?
I am reading “Tom Lake” by Ann Patchett. Before TL I read “Our Town” a play by Thornton Wilder because Patchett’s book is in part based on Wilder’s work.
What historical event fascinates you the most?
The landing on the moon, July 20th 1969, and the ability of the media to broadcast it over national television, is an historical event that is etched prominently in my memory. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins made the voyage to the moon in the vessel called Apollo 11.
But why the moon? It was a challenge by JFK to put a man there, before the decade ended. Other reasons too, I suppose. For the advancement of science, and to send the message to Russia that the US was bigger and better than them.
Other events took place in 1969, such as the Woodstock concert, and the advent of Sesame Street, not to mention the invention of the internet, at least according to Google.
The landing on the moon “A Giant Leap” ended a turbulent decade in the US, whereby Race Riots and the War in Vietnam engulfed the psyche of the country, and mounting tensions across the land, and still do today. For some people, anyway.
By the end of the 60’s I was moving into my teenage years, and still, current events influenced to a degree, my fragile development. I came from a social, and politically minded family. I had a brother in Vietnam. My father, a liberal minded man who fought as a foot soldier in WWII, and my mother, an art teacher, all influenced my upbringing. And I had six siblings to bounce ideas and feelings off of, on a daily basis.
So, I witnessed the events of the 60’s with the newspaper in my hand, and listened to my parents in their adult fashion express their dismay, skepticism, and hopes for the future. Yet, despite my privileged upbringing emphasizing the importance of having an open mind, I ponder, where has that “Giant Leap for Mankind” brought us fifty-four years later, in 2023? Has it all been for humankind? How much was salvaged, how much was thrown away?
Yet, most of all, I look back at the landing on the moon with curiosity and wonder, because the moon has so many poetical possibilities; a source of human emotions since time began, and a symbol of positive power and creativity. In my mind, the moon will always represent Hope and Love. When they launched a rocket and put a man on there, I question, how many saw it the same way?
He is believed to have said:
One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures, without making a mistake.
What skill would you like to learn?
I would like to learn how to do ceramics. Either, to throw a piece, or hand build some objects of art. I would like to learn about different ceramic glazes and techniques. Ultimately, I would like to be able to use shape, form, and color to express emotion and to reflect my environment through clay. I know, that in order to make ceramics you must work hard to acquire the skills that go into the process. Maybe some day I will find the time to accomplish my goal.
Good bye summer!
You walked out the door
and in entered Fall,
wrapped in love galore.
The days ahead shall miss your glow
but summertime,
you’ll be back again.
We’ll miss your warmth in the nights
in the moonlight, and under the stars.
Your baking sunshine giving life to all the plants;
from roses we smell,
to veggies we put on our table to eat.
And while we wait for your return,
we shall put on, whatever it is that Autumn wears.
With crimson colors of gold and red
with lower sunlight above our heads,
and the moon will shine as usual, it is said.
It will be cooler in the mornings,
and in the afternoons ahead..
The night will fall sooner,
but the breezes and storms of summer,
will carry us to and fro.
Be sweet dear summer
and happy with all your gifts
for you have filled many,
with happiness, and not dread.
Good bye, Goodbye!
Summertime so brave.
You will live in my dreams
until we meet again.
Hello Fall!
Good to see you back, once more.
By Tiffany Creek
The soul grows bigger as it holds more thoughts, instead of shrinking them all down to the size of a single solution. And as we become more abundant in our souls, we can bring increased wisdom and acceptance to many areas of life.
Another benefit is the possibility of finding more profound and lasting solutions to our life problems. If we rush to solve a problem, the solution will need to be ready made or quickly put together, and will most likely be a project of the ego; but if we sustain the tension created by two worlds colliding, an unexpected solution will emerge eventually from the opening to soul that tension creates. If we tolerate moments of chaos and confusion, something truly new can come to light.
“Soul Mates” Thomas Moore 1994
“Darkness Fall on the Land of Light, Experiencing Religious Awakenings in Eighteenth-Century New England” By Douglas L. Winiarski
I am reading this book. At first I thought it would be a daunting read but it has turned out to gather my interest quite easily. Winiarski researched letters, diaries and journals from the mid 18th century in New England to understand the religious awakening which began in about 1741. This awakening was lead by a minister called George Whitefield. Whitefield rejected the conventional norms of Congregationalists, and began giving emotionally driven sermons around New England. Other riding ministers emerged, and thousands of converts ascribed to the idea that it wasn’t enough to go to church weekly, and read the bible to be saved. One had to personally and individually surrender their body and soul to God. The movement encouraged the documentation of these experiences and consequently a wealth of material survived. Winiarski describes the emergence of ‘a pluralistic religious culture’ that shook the communities in the 1700’s. This First Awakening was a precursor to the Second Awakening which gripped the population in the early 1800’s, and which traveled with people that migrated to new frontiers. In reading this book, I can better understand the presence of the religious fervor Americans have in the 21st century, and the tendency to be swept up by a culture in a desperation to understand their existence. These are beliefs that serve to validate a person’s sense of morality as familiar wisdom within a community, and which are totally unfounded in scientific inquiry. We see it exaggerated on the nation’s political scene. In fact, the power and dynamism of the fairy tales that George Whitefield adopted to captivate people reminded me so much of the rallies performed by Donald Trump. I am on Part Three called “Exercised Bodies, Impulsive Bibles.”
My simple explanation here doesn’t do justice to the complexity of Winiarski’s book but at least shows my interest in the topics of this deeply researched book, published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill, 2017.
If I fell in love with you
Would you promise to be true
and help me understand
‘Cause I’ve been in love before
And I found that love was more
Than just holding hands.
If I give my heart to you
I must be sure
From the very start
That you would love me more than her
If I trust in you, oh please
Don’t run and hide
If I love you too, Oh please
Don’t hurt my pride like her
Cause I couldn’t stand the pain
And I
Would be sad if our new love
Was in vain
So I hope you see that I
Would love to love you
And that she will cry
When she learns we are two
Cause I couldn’t stand the pain
And I
Would be sad if our new love
Was in vain.
So I hope you see that I
would love to love you
And that she will cry
When she learns that we are two
If I fell in love with you.
Press the hyperlink above to hear John’s 1980 interview with Playboy, and a great recording of the song.
“If I fell” popped into my mind today. I listened to a recording, read a few articles about the meaning and history of the song, and fell down a rabbit hole. Intrigued by the the point of view in the song, further reading enlightened me about the true songwriter of “If I fell.” I knew Paul and John went back and forth about who wrote what, but after reading The Beatle’s Bible I formed the opinion that the writing of the song is John’s, even though Paul tried to claim partnership in the writing. John gave Paul credit for the harmony. There are endless discussions on what John wrote, and what belongs to Paul.
Original songwriter aside, in listening to “If I fell,” I realized the point of view is a girl evidenced by the use of the direct object ‘me,’ of the speaker, juxtaposed with ‘than her,’ in the second stanza.
“If I give my heart to you
I must be sure
From the very start
That you would love me more than her”
John himself said that the song was about a girl, but not Cyn his first wife. He also said it was semi-autobiographical, but not consciously. The song is not only ‘about’ a girl, but from the girl’s point of view, especially in the stanza above. In the rest of the song the speaker could be changing to the guy’s point of view. He may be saying if he accepts her heart and they become two, that the second girl’s heart will be broken, and she (the other girl) will ‘cry.’ The interpretation could go both ways. It may be the girl who wants to love this man, who is speaking, but fears the pain not only for herself, but for the other girl as well.
I always loved Lennon’s Album “Imagine,’ but after reading more about this song, I came to respect, as a person, the songwriter, John Lennon. I don’t think it comes naturally for a man to write from a lover’s point of view. The idea that the song came to him unconsciously shows sincerity, and the ability to relate to the repercussions of having a non-Platonic relationship with two girls at once, especially when this duality poses a greater issue for girls, than it does for guys.
“If I fell,” sung by John and Paul is a beautiful ballad with a memorable melody. Its music came to me unconsciously just like it came to John, when he wrote it, and in that process the meaning of the words was clearer to me. John begins the singing of the song, which convinces me that he is the original songwriter, and the person who imagined the emotion from the girl’s point of view. “If I fell” is a masterful composition, simply told, that captures the puzzle of Love, and human feelings, especially in romantic relationships.
I chose a feature image from Liverpool, (home of the Beatles) of the “Lovelocks” hanging along the pier. The locks attest to many relationships, in love. I like to imagine the girl walking by, maybe listening to, “If I fell.”
It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it.
Edwin Way Teale, “Circle of the Seasons: The Journal of a Naturalist’s Year”
On Tiffany Creek 