Nostalgia and enlightenment . . .
My Saturday and Sunday spent at the lovely Post Oak Lodge in Osage County, just NW of downtown Tulsa to attend the fab annual gathering of The Oklahoma Symposium. Logo titled All the Vino, most of the Veritas, the 250-300 attendees represented diverse fields of progressive politicians, artists, poets, musicians, philosophers, thinkers, and journalists. Sessions, like the original Greek Symposium, featured outstanding discussion sessions, presentations, much vino and equal veritas, along with superb dining. If that seems like something you might be interested in, drop me a note and I'll make sure you get on the invite list for next April 14-16.
Today is the 127th anniversary of Thornton Wilder's birth. The multiple Pulitzer honoree was born on this date in 1897 Madison, Wisconsin. He gave us the novel The Bridge of San Lius Ray, and the play Our Town.
While you're at it, check out Iris Dement's nostalgic rendition of her song (Sun's Settin' Down On) Our Town, with Emmy Lou Harris joining in harmony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikZwgj89HI
You might want a Kleenex handy.
Speaking of Kleenex worthy experiences, Today is also the 138th anniversary of Isak Dinesen's birth. Born Karen Blixen on a rural estate called Rungsted near 1885 Copenhagen, Denmark, she gave us Out of Africa, and Babette's Feast. “Babette” is the #1 film in my library of 300.
Catching up on the weekend mail:
On Friday the 14th in 1865 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Washington, D.C.
and 88 years ago in 1935, “Black Sunday,” the Great Plains region experienced one of the largest dust storms in American history. Oklahoma was particularly hard-hit. While time has passed and few survivors of the event remain, it is still a topic of conversation as the memories continue to be handed down. To this day it is difficult to overstate the event and its impact.
Below, an edited narrative from Garrison Keillor provides a “pretty good” perspective:
Cars were shorted out, and animals were smothered on the spot — countless birds, mice, jackrabbits. Cattle’s stomachs were later found to be filled with several inches of dirt, their eyes cemented shut by a mixture of tears and dust. . .Thousands fled to California during the Dust Bowl, overwhelming the state’s resources. Others suffered health and respiratory problems from the constant presence of dust. Homes and farm equipment were buried in great dunes of sandy dirt. The multiyear tragedy led to the federal government’s passing of the Soil Conservation Act in 1936.
Hope your weekend was as interesting, profound and fulfilling as mine . . . seize yas, tomorrow … jb
Flying pigs . . .
In Freya's mailbox this 14th day in 2023 April, an interesting mélange …
There’s always a cost for doing the right thing. We don’t have to pretend that there’s no downside to Bragg’s indictment of Trump in order to conclude that he did the right thing. He did. – Philip Rotner
[H[opes and fears and emotions of all kinds need not be regarded as obstacles, nor as a big deal...friends, enemies, and those who are indifferent to you could all be regarded as reminders for overcoming passion, aggression, and ignorance. – Chögyam Trungpa
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” – Anne Lamott
Every time you wake up and love your life and the world, you're praying . . . I'm sure of it. – Mary Oliver. See also: Dog Songs
FYI: I’m out of pocket this weekend attending The Oklahoma Symposium The annual event is as good a reason as any to gather a gaggle of liberal democrats (and a few republicans who can remember when that was a critically reasoned realistic political path) to eat, drink, and share matters of significant concern — it IS a Symposium. As noted on the “about” page of this blog, this may be an occasion when I miss a post …
Oh, I almost forgot. Last week I read about a woman whose pet pig—named “Freedom”—accompanied her to Seattle by plane. I guess some pigs do fly. – Cynthia Thatcher
A little madness . . .
In Thor's mailbox in these Ides of April . . .
It's Thomas Jefferson's birthday. The primary author of The Declaration of Indepence was born today in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of 1743 Albemarle County, Virginia.
Today is the 117th anniversary of Samuel Beckett's birth. The Irish playwright and novelist was born on this date in the 1906 Dublin suburb of Foxrock.
Another Irish writer was born on this date: Seamus Heaney. The poet was born in 1929 Castledawson, Northern Ireland. Both Beckett and Heaney were recipients of the Nobel Prize for literature.
A Dog Was Crying Tonight in Wicklow Also
. . . they saw their souls in a flock at twilight
Cawing and headed back to the same old roosts
And the same bright airs and wing-stretchings
Each morning.
Death would be like a night spent in the wood:
At first light they’d be back in the house of life.
– Seamus Heaney
Despite our lifetime of experience with change, something within us never stops insisting on stability. Any change, even a change for the better, can feel a little unnerving because it seems to expose our underlying uncertainty about life. We’d rather think we have firm ground to stand on than see clearly that everything is always in transition. We’d rather deny the reality of continual change than accept the way things are. – Pema Chodron.
. . .some activities are worth pursuing simply because they share in the beautiful, the good, or the true. . . the real project of humanity – of understanding ourselves as human beings, making a good world to live in, and striving together toward mutual flourishing – depends paradoxically upon the continued pursuit of [a] ‘splendid uselessness’. – Joseph M. Keegin
A little Madness in the Spring
A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown—Who ponders this tremendous scene—
This whole Experiment of Green—
As if it were his own!