At lunch today, scooping leftover tortellini with pesto, I looked at Jean & said:
During the rain, I had an urge to strip naked & run out in the back yard & dance in the downpour.
Spooning a bit of chicken tortellini, she asked: What about the neighbors?
I said: Sam & Nick are not here, Jason is not here, most of the neighbors are at work.
Jean pointed out: What about Juta next door? She doesn't work.
I said: Juta would approve. After all, she & Dietmar have been swimming in the nude in their pool for years.
Jean thought for a moment & said:
Next time, dance in the rain.
I just might.
I love my mother.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Tulips & Peonies
Years ago, in another life, I watched the late floral designer Bobb Wirfel, deconstruct a tulip.
Bobb brought beauty and clarity and grace to everything he did. He was a gentleman with one of the most sincere smiles I have ever been privileged to receive. A lovely soul with a kind heart and mesmerizing wit.
A bride wanted peonies for her bridal bouquet and peonies were out of season.
Bobb stood at his station, telling me a witty story, and with his artist’s hands, gently peeled back the petals of a pale pink tulip. Wiring & taping each individual petal, never crushing its beauty.
He did this for what seemed like forever with what seemed like hundreds of tulips.
Then, still talking but never faltering in his movements, he began to assemble the wired tulip petals, weaving from them a peony.
Still tulip petals but transformed into a different form, something richer, fuller, fragrant with meaning.
All for a young woman who wanted to carry peonies down the aisle on her wedding day.
In still another life, when I studied Roland Barthes and his theory of text as a braid, I thought of Bobb and that bouquet.
Barthes posited that all text comes from previous texts, that writers and readers pull strands from the braid and reweave them into a new, but connected text.
Like Bobb creating peonies out of tulips.
Bobb brought beauty and clarity and grace to everything he did. He was a gentleman with one of the most sincere smiles I have ever been privileged to receive. A lovely soul with a kind heart and mesmerizing wit.
A bride wanted peonies for her bridal bouquet and peonies were out of season.
Bobb stood at his station, telling me a witty story, and with his artist’s hands, gently peeled back the petals of a pale pink tulip. Wiring & taping each individual petal, never crushing its beauty.
He did this for what seemed like forever with what seemed like hundreds of tulips.
Then, still talking but never faltering in his movements, he began to assemble the wired tulip petals, weaving from them a peony.
Still tulip petals but transformed into a different form, something richer, fuller, fragrant with meaning.
All for a young woman who wanted to carry peonies down the aisle on her wedding day.
In still another life, when I studied Roland Barthes and his theory of text as a braid, I thought of Bobb and that bouquet.
Barthes posited that all text comes from previous texts, that writers and readers pull strands from the braid and reweave them into a new, but connected text.
Like Bobb creating peonies out of tulips.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Thinking about the Canon
A dear friend of mine, with whom I just recently connected, posted this article which appalled, but did not surprise me.
New Edition Of Bible Specifically Mentions Second Amendment
August 14, 2010 | ISSUE 46•32
CHICAGO—
A new translation of the Bible released this week directly mentions the Second Amendment on eight occasions, and includes a version of Psalm 23 that begins, "The Lord is my shepherd, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Positive early feedback praised the new edition for its clean design, readability, and beautiful rendering of proverbs that condemn the foolish ban on semiautomatic weapons for personal use. "For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you," Deuteronomy 23:14 reads. "Your camp shall be holy, and if that means exercising your constitutional right to purchase a firearm, then that's your own damn business." The leather-bound book also comes with a handsomely crafted carrying case and a fully loaded, nickel-plated Glock 17 8mm.
Having been raised in the Church, I spent a lot of time reading & memorizing & studying the Bible. I read translations other than the King James Version - a former employer gave me a copy of the Torah. I read it. I compared.
All the versions of the Bible were created based on translations by others, monks & priests with their own agenda, basing their translations on what came before, on what was available.
One thing I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that there are ancient texts in obscure monasteries in Greece & Turkey & Rome & Israel that have never been seen, much less given to the public.
The other thing I know is as disgusting as this translation introducing material that did not exist at any evolution of the sacred texts, it does not matter.
Because God is God. With or without the Bible or the Koran or the Torah or the Talmud or any ancient Buddhist or Hindu texts.
I learned this on a retreat, where the leaders confiscated all our copies of the Bible (I had three) under the pretext of seeing what age group brought the most. Then we spent a week reconstructing what we remembered from all that memorization in Sunday School.
What I learned during that week, without access to what is ultimately The Canon, is that God does not require the presence of a text to make Her presence & love known.
God was there, on that retreat. On & in the river, on & in the air, with us during every song, every discussion, every prayer. Surrounding us, engulfing us, loving us.
Make no mistake: I love the Bible. But I am realistic about its origins & evolution.
For me, it doesn't matter. God is here.
New Edition Of Bible Specifically Mentions Second Amendment
August 14, 2010 | ISSUE 46•32
CHICAGO—
A new translation of the Bible released this week directly mentions the Second Amendment on eight occasions, and includes a version of Psalm 23 that begins, "The Lord is my shepherd, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Positive early feedback praised the new edition for its clean design, readability, and beautiful rendering of proverbs that condemn the foolish ban on semiautomatic weapons for personal use. "For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you," Deuteronomy 23:14 reads. "Your camp shall be holy, and if that means exercising your constitutional right to purchase a firearm, then that's your own damn business." The leather-bound book also comes with a handsomely crafted carrying case and a fully loaded, nickel-plated Glock 17 8mm.
Having been raised in the Church, I spent a lot of time reading & memorizing & studying the Bible. I read translations other than the King James Version - a former employer gave me a copy of the Torah. I read it. I compared.
All the versions of the Bible were created based on translations by others, monks & priests with their own agenda, basing their translations on what came before, on what was available.
One thing I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that there are ancient texts in obscure monasteries in Greece & Turkey & Rome & Israel that have never been seen, much less given to the public.
The other thing I know is as disgusting as this translation introducing material that did not exist at any evolution of the sacred texts, it does not matter.
Because God is God. With or without the Bible or the Koran or the Torah or the Talmud or any ancient Buddhist or Hindu texts.
I learned this on a retreat, where the leaders confiscated all our copies of the Bible (I had three) under the pretext of seeing what age group brought the most. Then we spent a week reconstructing what we remembered from all that memorization in Sunday School.
What I learned during that week, without access to what is ultimately The Canon, is that God does not require the presence of a text to make Her presence & love known.
God was there, on that retreat. On & in the river, on & in the air, with us during every song, every discussion, every prayer. Surrounding us, engulfing us, loving us.
Make no mistake: I love the Bible. But I am realistic about its origins & evolution.
For me, it doesn't matter. God is here.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Thinking about that Community Center / Mosque Near Ground Zero
Like all Americans, I remember exactly where I was on 9-11.
And I remember thinking, This is not the world I wanted to leave my sons.
This debate about the Islamic community center located several blocks from Ground Zero is insane.
We are a nation evolved from a melting pot of ethnicities & experience.
In spite of the propaganda we teach our children, this country was founded by Dutch merchants seeking a fortune. Our founding fathers (bless their souls) never believed that the average white man (let's not even discuss men of color or women of any race) could govern themselves.
I love this nation. I love what we stand for, what we strive to be. But it would not exist without its people.
We have changed, grown & are stronger for the change & growth. I have witnessed Houston grow in the last forty years - I first had Indian food in London, Vietnamese & Cous-Cous in Paris, pizza over a fire in Rome.
Now I can travel anywhere in this town & enter another culture, another world. I love that.
Amazing, this melting pot.
And I remember thinking, This is not the world I wanted to leave my sons.
This debate about the Islamic community center located several blocks from Ground Zero is insane.
We are a nation evolved from a melting pot of ethnicities & experience.
In spite of the propaganda we teach our children, this country was founded by Dutch merchants seeking a fortune. Our founding fathers (bless their souls) never believed that the average white man (let's not even discuss men of color or women of any race) could govern themselves.
I love this nation. I love what we stand for, what we strive to be. But it would not exist without its people.
We have changed, grown & are stronger for the change & growth. I have witnessed Houston grow in the last forty years - I first had Indian food in London, Vietnamese & Cous-Cous in Paris, pizza over a fire in Rome.
Now I can travel anywhere in this town & enter another culture, another world. I love that.
Amazing, this melting pot.
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