Charleston Families: We Have been Taught Forgiveness

“I believe that our God is a god of purpose,” she said.
Article

Elizabeth Gilbert

Seduction is the art of coercing somebody to desire you, of orchestrating somebody else’s longings to suit your own hungry agenda. Seduction was never a casual sport for me; it was more like a heist, adrenalizing and urgent. I would plan the heist for months, scouting out the target, looking for unguarded entries. Then I would break into his deepest vault, steal all his emotional currency and spend it on myself.
-Elizabeth Gilbert,‘‘Eat, Pray, Love.’’ Her new book, ‘‘Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear,’’ Riverhead Books due out in September.
Source

It Was a Tornado

WRENTHAM – An EF-0 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 80 miles per hour whipped through the downtown area Tuesday afternoon, uprooting an 80-foot-tall maple tree in the town common and snapping tree tops and limbs in the brief time it was on the ground.

While much of the Blackstone Valley was spared the brunt of the storm, straight-line wind gusts Tuesday afternoon knocked down a tree and ripped branches from trees on a portion of Milk Street in Blackstone.

A survey team from the National Weather Service in Taunton observed damage in Blackstone, Bellingham, Franklin, and Wrentham Wednesday morning. Aside from the area in Wrentham where the tornado touched down, there was very little damage, according to NWS meteorologist Joe Dellicarpini.

While the storm rode along the border between Blackstone and Woonsocket for a period of time Tuesday afternoon, there “really wasn’t that much significant damage” in Woonsocket, Dellicarpini said.

Woonsocket Call

A Taste of Sweden in RI

Patti Reslow and Nancy Swanson:
Cardamom braided bread. Swedish apple cake. Almond ring. Limpa, Swedish rye bread. Mixed berry strudel. Cinnamon chip scones. Swedish creams. Semlor. A taste of Sweden in Rhode Island
Article
"Do you want to go into business with me?" Nancy asked Patti.

So Swede-a-Licous was born in 2011.

"If you told me 20 years ago I'd be baking, I wouldn't have believed it," said Patti. "But I find it relaxes me."

They cook twice a week in the state-certified commercial kitchen at the Church, and tithe monthly on the gross sales.
Swede-a-Licous.com

"At first people thought it was a porn site," said Nancy.

Howard Norman Novelist

“Friendship is provisional, you have to keep earning it, back and forth, give the gift that's only each other's to give.”
― Howard Norman

“What good is intelligence,' Akutagawa asked, 'if you can't ever discover a useful melancholy?”
― Howard Norman

“In The Highland Book of Platitudes, Marlais, there's an entry that reads, "Not all ghosts earn our memory in equal measure." I think about this sometimes. I think especially about the word "earn," because it implies an ongoing willful effort on the part of the dead, so that if you believe the platitude, you have to believe in the afterlife, don't you? Following that line of thought, there seem to be certain people—call them ghosts—with the ability to insinuate themselves into your life with more belligerence and exactitude than others—it's their employment and expertise.”
― Howard Norman, What Is Left the Daughter

“Anyway, who in their right mind would ever say a person was supposed to be happy? In your life happiness is either cut to your length or isn't.”
― Howard Norman

“Everything I loved most happened most every day.”
― Howard Norman, I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place

“I can only repeat what I say to myself day and night: I expect nothing, yet life keeps taking unexpected turns.”
― Howard Norman, The Museum Guard: A Novel

“When I returned, I never once walked past the house where my mother, aunt, and I lived together...It was as if the past would judge me. The house would judge me. That merely looking at it would somehow cause me to calibrate my life, and in all aspects of usefulness I would come up short.”
― Howard Norman, The Haunting Of L

“I have always thought a person needs to constantly refine the capacity to suspend disbelief in order to keep emotions organized and not suffer debilitating confusion, and I mean just toward the things of daily life. I suppose this admits to a desperate sort of pragmatism. Still, it works for me. What human heart isn’t in extremis?”
― Howard Norman, Next Life Might Be Kinder

“Yasunari Kawabata wrote: “When speaking of those who take their own lives, it is always most dignified to use silence or at least restrained language, for the ones left most vulnerable and most deeply hurt by such an occurrence can feel oppressed by the louder assertions of understanding, wisdom and depth of remorse foisted upon them by others. One must ask: Who is best served by speculation? Who is really able to comprehend? Perhaps we must, as human beings, continue to try and comprehend, but we will fall short. And the falling short will deepen our sense of emptiness.”
― Howard Norman, I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place

“I didn’t know you could break your finger just hanging up clothes. God Almighty, you situate your hand wrong between a blouse and a clothespin and everything suddenly changes. What a stupid life this is.” “Did”
― Howard Norman, The Bird Artist

“I NOTICE THAT IT TAKES PRACTICE, NO MATTER HOW CLEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ARE. PLUS WHICH THIS IS A LETTER”
― Howard Norman, The Bird Artist

More About Jane Shore

Robert Boyers said of Shore:

Put another way, there is in the poetry of Jane Shore, a freshness of outlook, even when the dominant instinct is retrospective. The poems seem a vivid refusal of desolation, though there is no reluctance in them, to confront the usual varieties of estrangement and suffering....This is a poet who gives to directness, honesty of emotion and fundamental sanity the good name they deserve.
quote by Robert Boyers (2002). A book of common praise. Ausable Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-931337-03-8.

Poetry collections

Lying Down in the Olive Press. Goddard Journal Press. 1969.
Jane Shore. (1977). Eye Level. University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst). ISBN 978-0-87023-246-6.
Jane Shore. (1987). The Minute Hand. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-0-87023-570-2.
Jane Shore. (1996). Music Minus One. New York City: Picador USA. ISBN 978-0-312-16944-2.
Jane Shore. (1999). Happy Family: Poems. Picador USA. ISBN 978-0-312-20310-8.
Shore, Jane (2008). A yes-or-no answer : poems. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-547-00603-1.

Anthologies

Catherine Cucinella, ed. (2002). Contemporary American women poets. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-31783-5.
Robert Pack, Jay Parini, ed. (2002). "Public Service is Rich Enough". Contemporary poetry of New England. UPNE. ISBN 978-0-87451-966-2.

I LOVE Jane Shore's Poetry

I first heard Jane Shore read over the radio 20 years ago and I have been a devoted fan ever since.

This One

By Jane Shore


This One got to keep the Warhol.That One got an S.T.D.

This One left & kept on walking,making That One his Penelope.

Friends at first sided with This One.Later they jumped to That One’s side.

Razor, pills, noose, & tailpipefor This—or That—One’s suicide.

“Fifty-fifty’s fair!” shouted That One.So This One cut their dog in half.

X marks the spot on That One’s cheekwhere This One slapped his autograph.

That One drinks hot tears for breakfast;This One whiskey-on-the-rocks.

When This One got the seven-year itch,That One scratched her chicken pox.

Since This One left, That One’s singing.How should they divide the pelf?

Now This One’s alone & so is That One.Each One wants a couplet to himself.

Three Great Pulp Art Books

Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings for the Great American Pulp Magazines
by Robert Lesser

H.J. Ward
by David Saunders, H.J. Ward

Norman Saunders
by David Saunders, Norman Saunders

Paul Krugman

So another atrocity has us talking about race again. And rightly so. Nothing about America makes sense without understanding the long shadow cast by the original sin of slavery.
-Paul Krugman

Try Going to Bed with a Mosquito

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
- Buddha

The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.
- Oscar Wilde

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
- Kahlil Gibran

If you think you're too small to have an impact,
Try going to bed with a mosquito.
- Anita Roddick

Do your little bit of good where you are;
It's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

We make a living by what we get,
But we make a life by what we give.
- Winston Churchill

Be the change you want to see in the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi

The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

He who wished to secure the good of others,
Has already secured his own.
- Confucius

Where there is charity and wisdom,
There is neither fear nor ignorance.
- St. Francis of Assisi

Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.
- Moliere

If you haven't any charity in your heart,
You have the worst kind of heart trouble.
- Bob Hope

Charity begins at home, but should not end there.
- Proverb

Charity sees the need, not the cause.
- German Proverb

May your charity increase as much as your wealth.
- Proverb

He who opens a school door, closes a prison.
- Victor Hugo

The work of volunteers impacts on all our lives,
Even if we are not aware of it.
- Anthony Worrall-Thompson

Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.
- Plato

An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above ourselves.
- Mrs. Lydia Maria Child

We cannot do great things on this Earth,
Only small things with great love.
- Mother Teresa

Happiness is not something ready made.
It comes from your own actions.
- Dalai Lama

The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
- Mitch Albom

Pink Clouds

Last night I finally got out to walk Lily. It was 8PM! Bill gasped pointing. It was the most amazing sky. There were orange-y pink stripes shining up fanning out from the horizon. It looked just like the Tibetan flag. On the horizon was a bank of whipped cream clouds. "That's the second storm approaching," Bill said. "It will be here in about an hour." We crossed East School st at St. Germain and walked behind the baseball field to poop alley. A lone 8 year old girl was on the berm dancing and singing. She saw us and came down to meet Lily. "Lily loves everyone, I said. as she pet Lily's head gazing into her eyes. "I heard you singing!, I said. Bill was holding Lily's leash. I quickly grabbed a few stray paper cups and bottles at my feet. "You pick up trash? she asked. Yeah. "Why?" she asked. "Because look how beautiful it is without it!" I already carry bags for poop. So why not! I said. She climbed the berm and grabbed the trash she saw in the grass. "Thanks so much," I said. "Now look how gorgeous it is." I exclaimed. Everything was green and there was no trash anywhere. That was quick and easy and let's face it's wonderful to see our beautiful city look her best. I thought.

A woman's voice called the girl. "Bye!" she said, running away.

A pink-cheeked Elk came out crossing the parking lot to greet Lily, "Beautiful dog," he said holding an open bottle of Budweiser and petting Lily's big head. "Look at the sky," I said, "I know, it's amazing" he chimed in. "I like how it looks with the mural and the yellow and green striped circus tent," I said. Did you know the artist Duzio got the neighborhood kids to paint the mural with him. That's why there's no graffiti on it. "Great idea, smart move," I said.

"We joke about the bronze Elk statue being fenced in." I said. "Do you know why?" he asked. One summer day a woman hopped up on the elk. She was wearing little white shorts and she burned the inside of her thighs. "Wow. Ouch!" I said. "You could fry an egg on his back," I said. That's for sure," he said. The egg would probably drip down, I realized. So that's why they have the bronze elk behind a wrought iron fence.

We continued walking. Eyewitness news van and TV truck was set up across from the police station. "We're doing a story on the weather, and the tree that got struck by lightning on Morin Heights," the young newsman said. "More storms are coming, in 20 minutes," I said, warning him. "We'll be here" he replied. "Be careful." I said as we left not realizing that he probably get the weather updates, after all he's the news.
"Look, no trash," I said to Bill admiring the green-way. "That's my work," I said. It looks beautiful," he said. When we arrived home the rain started. We ran around and shut all of the windows and watched the storm from the little 3rd floor porch. Lightning flashed so bright it hurt my eyes. God's flashbulb! It was over quickly. I climbed into bed and fell asleep instantly.

In transmit, I can't wait to wake up! I wake very early (2, 3, or 4 AM). In the depths of receive I dread morning and oversleep. (7, 8, 9AM)

Watlao Buddhist Temple

I must visit Tom Thipphavong's family at Watlao Thammajadi Buddhist Temple 115 Railroad St, Woonsocket. I have had amazing visits and meals with when the Monks have ceremonies in my neighborhood, at the Elks Hall.

Thunder Cell, Wall Cloud, Funnel Cloud + Funnel Cakes

The radio announcements interrupted the classical music. The city emergency alert warning had come in to my email. My neighbors had TV News on, and it was telling them to STAY INSIDE. Everyone from the neighborhood tenements came out onto the street and held up their pink, blue, and yellow phones. The tornado watch was in effect and we were all watching. The clouds were ominous dark and swirling in a huge dark flat circle above us. I felt like a dust mote on the verge of being swept away.

Pink Shorts

I went out when the fire trucks came. A team of burly firemen in blue shirts rushed in to the building next door with their paramedic equipment. I went out to the sidewalk and admired the big shiny red fire truck. I wondered who was hurt. I went back to my yard and started tearing up weeds while I was waiting. A white ambulance came from Blackstone so I went back down the driveway to see what was happening. Luckily nobody was getting carted away. One of the four fireman returned his heavy blue bag to the side compartment of the truck and noticed me standing there. "Is everyone okay?" I asked. "Everyone is great!" he said smiling, looking like Mr. Gentleman's Quarterly muscular fit and trim in his blue emblemed shirt. "Are you okay?" he asked me. I had just hosed off my head with the garden hose and my hands were covered in mud. "Yeah," I said smiling, "I'm just digging up weeds." "Put them back!" he ordered, and I laughed out loud. He smiled and climbed into the passenger seat of the truck. I smiled too, and turned to go home. I went inside and headed for the bathroom. I took off my slacks, stepped into the empty tub, lathered my legs, and shaved them. I climbed out, looked in the mirror, and decided to put on my shocking pink shorts.

Rock on the Box

I got up at 4AM to go swim and yet I am still at my desk enjoying working with the kitchen windows open. I haven't left the house or yard. Now there's a tornado watch coming over the radio so I'm going to stay home and batten down the hatches. Maybe I'll swim tonight if the pool isn't swept away. Sammy the monkey-boy reached into the cardboard box and took out Gerry's black fireman's uniform tie. It got completely covered in white and orange cat hairs. Oh my god, don't tell Mr. V. I cleaned it with a sponge and put it back and put a big rock on the box.

Direct Dial

I was in the garden when I spotted Father Onisie in a blue Nike T-shirt walking down East School Street. "Onisie!" I shouted. He came over to say hello. His van had broken down and he was on the way to pick it up from the mechanic. "Now I am walking, like you!" he said in his Romanian accent. I invited him into the yard and showed him my tiny garden of four plants. "A friend down the street gave these to me so I could have a vegetable garden. I have two tomato and two squash plants and they are flowering, I'm so excited."

I walked him over to the big side yard. "Welcome to our amazing jungle," I said. "We have a mulberry tree and blackberry bushes and raspberry bushes . . ."
"And a Japanese Maple," he chimed in.
"Yes, a friend rescued it, and gave to us. He's a landscaper from our old band."
"Whats she eating?" he asked, watching Lily.
"Lily loves the mulberries."
"We have a tree like this in Romania," he said. Then he took out his smartphone and played a video of a famous Romanian band from his home town on tour performing in Italy. In the video they were outside in a courtyard and it was night-time in the summer. The music was lilting Eastern European folk music with three fiddles, a keyboard accordion, and a clarinet.
"I love it," I said. "And the singer is like Pavarotti!"
"Yes, he is very good. Maybe you and Bill can learn to play this for our festival," he suggested.
"I would love that." I thought about how lucky I was to grow up with my step-father playing folk music from all over the world.

"Yesterday when I walked down our street I smelled curry, and I got so excited. Someone new has moved in, maybe from India, or Pakistan, and maybe they love to cook too! We got to eat with the Southeast Asian Monks a few times at the Elks Hall. We walked by and they invited us in to eat with them, it was amazing." I paused and smiled. "I know you have direct dial to God. What I believe is this, if we could share food and music we'd have no wars."
"Yes it's true!" he said.
"We have people from everywhere in this little neighborhood."
"I love when the Asian family next door has a big party every summer and they sing and dance all night!" he said.
"Yes, I've heard them."
"Maybe you can come to cook with us and the ladies at the church," Onisie suggested.
"I would love it," I said. "But what about the older ladies in the congregation who were against the idea the last time?"
"We have a new group of people, a new generation. They are all younger than you," he said smiling.
"That's perfect. The new generation seems to like me. I'm the old lady now!" I laughed.
"How old are you? I am 62," he said. "My wife is 60, my son is 36."
"I'm 54, and Bill is 60," I said. "I remember your 50th birthday party, was that really 12 years ago?"

"Look at our peaceful parking lot," I said, waving my arms as we walked back to the gate. "Thanks to the help of our fabulous mayor and wonderful police chief and all of the departments of the city we now have kids playing together, riding bicycles, parents talking to each other. Instead of all that trouble we had with the crack-house and the chop-shop, it's like a park now, a real neighborhood community. I want to make home made ice-cream with the old fashioned hand-cranked machine using ice and rock salt, for the kids out here, and maybe make the pizzelle ice cream cones too. We did it 20 years ago when we first moved in and the neighborhood kids loved it, they still talk about it."

Devon and Mamadou

Devon and Mamdou are best friends and they live in the same apartment house. They had fun this winter on snow days because they can always call on each other. Their moms take turns keeping an eye on them. Apartment living has a lot of benefits for kids!

Physics Picnic with Physics Teacher Bill Calhoun

Video

Medusa with Arlo Guthrie Hair

My husband reminded me that I look like Arlo Guthrie now. I have silver spiral wringlets from swimming the turquoise sea (my local pool). My hair is rotini style (Italian corkscrew pasta) Shirley Temple hair. I prefer the Medusa image of snakes. As I tell the kids in the 'hood I have never dyed my hair it's changing color on its own. I would opt for purple hair, like grapes if I could try it for a day. I hope to have all white hair someday and maybe the spirals will still hold if not I'll tie it in a bun like my pal Anita does. She is 99 and looks like Georgia O'Keefe.

I love looking at huge black and white photos of artists, musicians and dancers faces especially pictures of their maturity when they are in their 70's, 80's 90's. I love how artists faces age. I am fascinated by the face of a well-lived creative life. When I was 11 drew an 'aged' portrait of myself. I have that face now but it is more interesting because I have a life more fascinating than I could have ever imagined. This time around I have love, health, imagination and community.

Kaleidoscope of Kali

My husband reminds me all the time you're a traitor to your class, the worst sin imaginable. I am beginning to see what he means. But I think I am a traitor to the norms and habits of our crazy and strange society.

Last night I said to my husband. The black cloud has lifted a little. I spent the morning looking at pulp art.

I am shifting into transmit mode. I swam at midday yesterday instead of my religious habit of 4:30 PM. These are signs of the shift. I have opened all the doors and windows and turned on all of the fans. I am seduced by images and music. I have forgotten about coffee or tea and breakfast. I am reading. My thoughts are racing but I am taking notes. I should read my transmitty energy-inspired notes in receive mode!

In a few hours all the things that have been plaguing me won't matter. Last night I went to bed excited about waking up. I woke at 4AM ready for life. Good think my wallet is always empty otherwise I might get very distracted by societies baubles. Last night we went to Wal*Mart to by two boxes of my favorite black Micro-Uniball 5mm drawing and writing pens. I also bought a head of gorgeous green celery and white tuna shrink-wrapped together in a 4 pack for five bucks. What a scary place!!! Meanwhile I live like a monk in a bomb shelter. Actually that is not completely true. I love my city where I walk my dog and say "hi" to people as I pick up trash.

My job is to stay grounded and keep on with my kaleidoscope of kali; a life writing, painting, dancing, baking, photographing, blowing the baritone saxophone, swimming, walking, listening to people, reading, practice bravery by learning new songs.
and occasional vacuuming.
visit
Kali
I googled the phrase kaleidoscope of kali as I often google phrases in my head to see what the genie box has to say and I found this blog and landed on writing I loved:

There are so many wonderful movements happening in the world right now - people making new kinds of art, people taking control of technology, new kinds of sharing economies and an enormous amount of social curation of all these things. And yet, there is some kind of melancholy lurking nearby, a deep disconnect that I have felt. Perhaps you have felt the same.

All of this human creation…. art, invention, and commerce - is a sort of attempt to get away from something, something very fundamental. If you are not close to the underlying basis of reality ( not God per se, just the laws of Nature perhaps) you will feel the same melancholy. For me that peace and harmony comes when I am studying the history of science and mathematics.
Kali& the Kaleidoscope