https://joansbasicverses.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-incompleat-gargoyle-this-is-where.html
###
Sunday, August 30, 2020
JOAN'S BASIC VERSES -- LINK
This is a link to verses I wrote during the University of Chicago Basic Program in the 1990's.
https://joansbasicverses.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-incompleat-gargoyle-this-is-where.html
https://joansbasicverses.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-incompleat-gargoyle-this-is-where.html
Saturday, August 15, 2020
ABRAHAM LINCOLN - THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
—Abraham Lincoln November 19, 1863
Friday, August 14, 2020
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
ULYSSES THROUGH ANOTHER LENS
For a wonderful analysis of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Ulysses, and how it was mis-applied by a former Illinois governor, see this article in the website of the Poetry Foundation.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69193/to-strive-to-seek-to-find-and-not-to-yield
(When you are done, you may be able to use the back arrow to return, or you may need to enter this URL. http://joansgoodstuff.blogspot.com)
###
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945
Today, April 12, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 debacle so exacerbated by the bungling of our national leadership, I would like to observe the 75th Anniversary of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States.
I cannot help but wonder how President Roosevelt would have handled this situation.
During the years when polio was killing and crippling so many, President Roosevelt mobilized the entire country -- the entire world, in fact -- to fight this scourge (then popularly known as "infantile paralysis" because it seemed to target the young).
He did this much as he lifted the country from the Great Depression of a previous administration.
-- He recognized the problem immediately (perhaps because polio affected him personally).
-- He responded in a way that involved every segment of the economy. And this was during the time of WWII!
-- He heard and heeded the scientists and the others whose expertise he recognized and valued.
-- He mobilized everyone - men, women, boys and girls.
To do this, among other things, he started the March of Dimes to get EVERYONE involved in this effort.
The March of Dimes funded the first successful vaccine against Polio, the Salk Vaccine. (The live Sabin vaccine used today came later).
And most remarkably, he managed all of this from a wheelchair!
All of this while fighting WWII, developing the atomic weaponry which ended that war, and putting safeguards into our economy for which we can be thankful today.
True, he was elected to four terms to do all of this. He served from 1933 to 1945 (before the 1951 limitation on presidential terms under the 22nd Amendment to the U. S. Constitution).
Certainly people may agree or disagree with some of President Roosevelt's methods.
That said, I sure wish he was with us today!
March of Dimes continues today in the fight against COVID-19
https://www.marchofdimes.org
And here's a bit more history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_Dimes
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/franklin-roosevelt-founds-march-of-dimes
I cannot help but wonder how President Roosevelt would have handled this situation.
During the years when polio was killing and crippling so many, President Roosevelt mobilized the entire country -- the entire world, in fact -- to fight this scourge (then popularly known as "infantile paralysis" because it seemed to target the young).
He did this much as he lifted the country from the Great Depression of a previous administration.
-- He recognized the problem immediately (perhaps because polio affected him personally).
-- He responded in a way that involved every segment of the economy. And this was during the time of WWII!
-- He heard and heeded the scientists and the others whose expertise he recognized and valued.
-- He mobilized everyone - men, women, boys and girls.
To do this, among other things, he started the March of Dimes to get EVERYONE involved in this effort.
The March of Dimes funded the first successful vaccine against Polio, the Salk Vaccine. (The live Sabin vaccine used today came later).
And most remarkably, he managed all of this from a wheelchair!
All of this while fighting WWII, developing the atomic weaponry which ended that war, and putting safeguards into our economy for which we can be thankful today.
True, he was elected to four terms to do all of this. He served from 1933 to 1945 (before the 1951 limitation on presidential terms under the 22nd Amendment to the U. S. Constitution).
Certainly people may agree or disagree with some of President Roosevelt's methods.
That said, I sure wish he was with us today!
March of Dimes continues today in the fight against COVID-19
https://www.marchofdimes.org
And here's a bit more history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_Dimes
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/franklin-roosevelt-founds-march-of-dimes
###
Saturday, January 11, 2020
BALLAD FOR AMERICANS
I have loved this work every time I've performed it in the chorus - -at least three times in grammar school, high school and religious school!
Amazon Music presents this performance with the inimitable Paul Robeson as soloist!
https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited?tag=39384264us-20
(This may require a subscription to Amazon Music)
Here is the Text
In seventy-six the sky was red
thunder rumbling overhead
Bad King George couldn't sleep in his bed
And on that stormy morn, Ol' Uncle Sam was born.
Some birthday!
Ol' Sam put on a three cornered hat
And in a Richmond church he sat
And Patrick Henry told him that while America drew breath
It was "Liberty or death."
What kind of hat is a three-cornered hat?
Did they all believe in liberty in those days?
Nobody who was anybody believed it.
Ev'rybody who was anybody they doubted it.
Nobody had faith.
Nobody but Washington, Tom Paine, Benjamin Franklin,
Chaim Solomon, Crispus Attucks, Lafayette. Nobodies.
The nobodies ran a trea party at Boston. Betsy Ross
organized a sewing circle. Paul Revere had a horse race.
And a little ragged group believed it.
And some gentlemen and ladies believed it.
And some wise men and some fools, and I believed it too.
And you know who I am.
No. Who are you mister? Yeah, how come all this?
Well, I'll tell you. It's like this... No let us tell you.
Mister Tom Jefferson, a mighty fine man.
He wrote it down in a mighty fine plan.
And the rest all signed it with a mighty fine hand
As they crossed their T's and dotted their I's
A bran' new country did arise.
And a mighty fine idea. "Adopted unanimously in Congress July 4, 1776,
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal.
That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable
rights.
That among these rights are Life, Yes sir!, Liberty, That's right!
And the pursuit of happiness."
Is that what they said? The very words.
That does sound mighty fine.
Buildiing a nation is awful tough.
The people found the going rough.
Still nobody who was anybody believed it.
Everybody who anybody they stayed at home.
But Lewis and Clarke and the pioneers,
Driven by hunger, haunted by fears,
The Klondike miners and the forty niners,
Some wanted freedom and some wanted riches,
Some liked to loaf while others dug ditches.
But they believed it. And I believed it too,
And you know who I am.
No, who are you anyway, Mister?
Well, you see it's like this. I started to tell you.
I represent the whole... Why that's it!
Let my people go. That's the idea!
Old Abe Lincoln was thin and long,
His heart was high and his faith was strong.
But he hated oppression, he hated wrong,
And he went down to his grave to free the slave.
A man in white skin can never be free while his black brother is in
slavery,
"And we here highly resolve that these dead shall not haave died in
vain.
And this government of the people, by the people and for the people
Shall not perish from the Earth."
Abraham Lincoln said that on November 19, 1863 at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania.
And he was right. I believe that too.
Say, we still don't know who you are, mister.
Well, I started to tell you...
The machine age came with a great big roar,
As America grew in peace and war.
And a million wheels went around and 'round.
The cities reached into the sky,
And dug down deep into the ground.
And some got rich and some got poor.
But the people carried through,
So our country grew.
Still nobody who was anybody believed it.
Everybody who was anybody they doubted it.
And they are doubting still,
And I guess they always will,
But who cares what they say whem I am on my way
Say, will you please tell us who you are?
What's your name, Buddy? Where you goin'? Who are you?
Well, I'm the everybody who's nobody,
I'm the nobody who's everybody.
What's your racket? What do you do for a living?
Well, I'm an
Engineer, musician, street cleaner, carpenter, teacher,
How about a farmer? Also. Office clerk? Yes sir!
That's right. Certainly!
Factory worker? You said it. Yes ma'am.
Absotively! Posolutely!
Truck driver? Definitely!
Miner, seamstress, ditchdigger, all of them.
I am the "etceteras" and the "and so forths" that do the work.
Now hold on here, what are you trying to give us?
Are you an American?
Am I an American?
I'm just an Irish, Jewish, Italian,
French and English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Polish,
Scotch, Hungarian, Swedish, Finnish, Greek and Turk and Czech
And that ain't all.
I was baptized Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, Luthern,
Atheist, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist,
Mormon, Quaker, Christian Scientist and lots more.
You sure are something.
Our country's strong, our country's young,
And her greatest songs are still unsung.
From her plains and mountains we have sprung,
To keep the faith with those who went before.
We nobodies who are anybody believe it.
We anybodies who are everybody have no doubts.
Out of the cheating, out of the shouting.
Deep as our valleys,
High as our mountains,
Strong as the people who made it.
For I have always believed it, and I believe it now,
And now you know who I am.
Who are you?
America! America!
###
Monday, October 21, 2019
Sayings I've Liked Over the Years
These are some bits and pieces I've liked over the years.
--------------------
You cannot stay on the summit forever. You have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below but what is below does no know what is above. One climbs and one sees; one descends and one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower region by the memory of what one saw higher up. Whence no longer sees, one can at least still know.
---- Mount Analog
(From someone at Kripalu in the '80's -- see more on this below)
----------------------------
The Edge
Come to the Edge;
We might fall.
Come to the Edge;
It's too high.
Come to the Edge;
So he pushed,
And they flew.
This poem, that I believe refers to the mythological Icarus and Dedalus, was a favorite poem of actor Hume Cronyn, first heard on radio around 1992.)
-----------------------------------
Paraphrase from Elder Olson:
Climbing out of a pit is harder than climbing a mountain, and no one ever, ever applauds.
--------------------------------------
A mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains it original shape.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
---------------------------------------
Things are more like they are now than they have ever been before! Scott Mattingly
-----------------------------------------------------
W. H. Auden
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
--------------------
You cannot stay on the summit forever. You have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below but what is below does no know what is above. One climbs and one sees; one descends and one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower region by the memory of what one saw higher up. Whence no longer sees, one can at least still know.
---- Mount Analog
(From someone at Kripalu in the '80's -- see more on this below)
----------------------------
The Edge
Come to the Edge;
We might fall.
Come to the Edge;
It's too high.
Come to the Edge;
So he pushed,
And they flew.
This poem, that I believe refers to the mythological Icarus and Dedalus, was a favorite poem of actor Hume Cronyn, first heard on radio around 1992.)
-----------------------------------
Paraphrase from Elder Olson:
Climbing out of a pit is harder than climbing a mountain, and no one ever, ever applauds.
--------------------------------------
A mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains it original shape.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
---------------------------------------
Things are more like they are now than they have ever been before! Scott Mattingly
-----------------------------------------------------
W. H. Auden
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
(Read the entire poem, Night Mail, here:
And see post on this elsewhere in this blog.
-------------------------------------------------
William of Ockham, also called William Ockham (Ockham also spelled " Occam") (1285-1347/49), a medeival monk Ockham's razor, also spelled "Occam's razor", but also called "law of economy" or "law of parsimony", is a principle stated by William of Ockham, that entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity (non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem).
--------------------------------------
Rene Daumal (Gurdjieff student) in Mount Analog. "You cannot stay on the summit forever. You have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is above, but what is below does not know what is above. In climbing, always take note of difficulties along the way, for as you go up, you can observe them. Coming down, you can no longer see them, but you'll know they are there if you have observed them well. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up, When one can no longer see, one can at least still know."
--------------------------------------
In 1600, Sir John Harrington wrote these immortal words:
"Treason doth never prosper; what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."
-----------------------------------------------
Everyone's values are defined by what they will tolerate when it is done to others. William Greider
Read more:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_greider.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Aeschylus: Agamemnon
Wisdom comes through suffering.
Trouble, with its memories of pain,
Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep,
So men against their will
Learn to practice moderation.
Favours come to us from gods.
Variant: He who learns must suffer
And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
And in our own despite, against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
Historical Note: This was quoted by Robert F. Kennedy in his speech announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968. His version:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God
---------------------------------------
Maybe from Adam Ringl - -a Viennese analyst:
Happy are they who have repressed,
What may not longer be redressed.
--------------------------------
Four Functions of Arithmetic from Alice in Wonderland's Mock Turtle
Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision
------------------------------------
The bad news is, time flies
The good news is, you're the pilot.
Michael Altshuler (?)
--------------------------------------
Time flies like an Eagle
Fruit flies like a banana.
(Source mercifully unknown)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Muir:
Muir sends a message to the 1908 Governors' Conference on Conservation: "Nothing dollarable is safe, however guarded. Thus the Yosemite Park, the beauty glory of California and the Nation, Nature's own mountain wonderland, has been attacked by spoilers ever since it was established, and this strife I suppose, must go on as part of the eternal battle between right and wrong."
-----------------------------------------
John Wilmot 1647-1680
Earl of Rochester re Death of Charles II
Here lies the Sovereign Lord, the King,
Whose word no man relied on.
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
---------------------------------------------
"Yoga chitta vritti nirodhah." Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the Mind
(one of many translations I've seen)
----------------------------------------------
People pay for what they do --
And still more,
For what they allow themselves to become.
And they pay for it simply:
By the lives they lead.
Edith Wharton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------------------------------------------
William of Ockham, also called William Ockham (Ockham also spelled " Occam") (1285-1347/49), a medeival monk Ockham's razor, also spelled "Occam's razor", but also called "law of economy" or "law of parsimony", is a principle stated by William of Ockham, that entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity (non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem).
--------------------------------------
Rene Daumal (Gurdjieff student) in Mount Analog. "You cannot stay on the summit forever. You have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is above, but what is below does not know what is above. In climbing, always take note of difficulties along the way, for as you go up, you can observe them. Coming down, you can no longer see them, but you'll know they are there if you have observed them well. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up, When one can no longer see, one can at least still know."
--------------------------------------
In 1600, Sir John Harrington wrote these immortal words:
"Treason doth never prosper; what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."
-----------------------------------------------
Everyone's values are defined by what they will tolerate when it is done to others. William Greider
Read more:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/william_greider.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Aeschylus: Agamemnon
Wisdom comes through suffering.
Trouble, with its memories of pain,
Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep,
So men against their will
Learn to practice moderation.
Favours come to us from gods.
Variant: He who learns must suffer
And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
And in our own despite, against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
Historical Note: This was quoted by Robert F. Kennedy in his speech announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968. His version:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God
---------------------------------------
Maybe from Adam Ringl - -a Viennese analyst:
Happy are they who have repressed,
What may not longer be redressed.
--------------------------------
Four Functions of Arithmetic from Alice in Wonderland's Mock Turtle
Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision
------------------------------------
The bad news is, time flies
The good news is, you're the pilot.
Michael Altshuler (?)
--------------------------------------
Time flies like an Eagle
Fruit flies like a banana.
(Source mercifully unknown)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Muir:
Muir sends a message to the 1908 Governors' Conference on Conservation: "Nothing dollarable is safe, however guarded. Thus the Yosemite Park, the beauty glory of California and the Nation, Nature's own mountain wonderland, has been attacked by spoilers ever since it was established, and this strife I suppose, must go on as part of the eternal battle between right and wrong."
-----------------------------------------
John Wilmot 1647-1680
Earl of Rochester re Death of Charles II
Here lies the Sovereign Lord, the King,
Whose word no man relied on.
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
---------------------------------------------
"Yoga chitta vritti nirodhah." Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the Mind
(one of many translations I've seen)
----------------------------------------------
People pay for what they do --
And still more,
For what they allow themselves to become.
And they pay for it simply:
By the lives they lead.
Edith Wharton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill of Rights Re-Gurgitated -- 7.17.1787
The Bill of Rights, Regurgitated
(c) Joan D. Levin 2017
Just take to heart what’s written here,
And I will bet a dollar,
That you can be the same as me:
A near-constitutional scholar!
The First Amendment guards our rights,
To gather, speak and pray.
The Second lets us fire off shots,
And helps the NRA.
The Third Amendment keeps our houses,
Free of sleeping troops.
The Fourth protects our privacy,
From governmental snoops.
The Fifth Amendment guarantees,
Some values tried and true:
Life, liberty and property,
Secured by process due.
It also makes it very clear,
That no one else can take,
Confessions pouring from our mouths,
That we don’t want to make.
In crimes, the Sixth requires the State,
To show its grounds for trial,
By means of an indictment,
For admission or denial.
And promptly prove your lawlessness,
To jury peers, and then,
Once the trial is over, they
Can’t have at you again!
And you may cross-examine
All the folks who wish you ill,
And bring supporters for your side
(Regardless of their will.)
And best of all, a lawyer comes
To polish up your star.
The government may pay, how nice,
For this supports the bar!
The Seventh calls for civil juries,
The Eighth says “Have a heart!”
"Keep untried poor folk out of jail!"
And “Torture isn’t smart!”
Nine protects remaining rights,
That are not listed here.
And Ten says states may legislate,
Where this pact isn’t clear.
So now you have the Bill of Rights,
In brash and breathless rhyme.
And aren’t you glad I wasn’t with
The Framers at that time!?!
###
See this also at: https://joansoccasionalpoems.blogspot.com/2019/10/for-constitution-day.html
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