Posts
I am fascinated by the job of hostage negotiators. Perhaps it's due to my role in my family.
It comes down to this.
Do you really know how to listen?
Read
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Host and Guest
Thinking a lot about what it means to be a good receptive guest and a proper host.
When entertaining there's a dance that goes on between host and guest that is not unlike a performer and his audience. It is a dance of control and surrender, or lack of control. A good guest and a good host must let go and be receptive to the adventure. Just like in life.
Whenever I "entertain" I prefer a small gathering of one two or three people since I get more excited than Lily my Labrador and my appetite flies out the window. Even with careful planning my excitement can take over and it may be hours or days before I recover.
When people ask what to bring to my house I always say the same thing. "Surprise me!" I don't want to make demands beyond when to show up and of course I hope my guests will be open minded, polite and willing to receive my environment and offerings. When they are not open or make impolite and cranky demands, I retreat back stage for some quick deep breathing, and self talk, before I go back out on stage.
Why are people so difficult? I think the secrets and customs of the table are dying off.
Everybody eats! The table is a sacred altar. A table changes conversation. It is much different than eating at a counter.
Entertaining is not something I do a lot of for a myriad of reasons, but making a dinner invitation can be a great excuse to clean up the house and yard, and have some fun cooking. I even love washing all the dishes the next day or that night if I am too wired to sleep.
I love to cook for people in their kitchens. People know this about me and I am often invited to be the guest-chef. I could enjoy being a personal chef and culinary tutor. What a great idea!
When entertaining there's a dance that goes on between host and guest that is not unlike a performer and his audience. It is a dance of control and surrender, or lack of control. A good guest and a good host must let go and be receptive to the adventure. Just like in life.
Whenever I "entertain" I prefer a small gathering of one two or three people since I get more excited than Lily my Labrador and my appetite flies out the window. Even with careful planning my excitement can take over and it may be hours or days before I recover.
When people ask what to bring to my house I always say the same thing. "Surprise me!" I don't want to make demands beyond when to show up and of course I hope my guests will be open minded, polite and willing to receive my environment and offerings. When they are not open or make impolite and cranky demands, I retreat back stage for some quick deep breathing, and self talk, before I go back out on stage.
Why are people so difficult? I think the secrets and customs of the table are dying off.
Everybody eats! The table is a sacred altar. A table changes conversation. It is much different than eating at a counter.
Entertaining is not something I do a lot of for a myriad of reasons, but making a dinner invitation can be a great excuse to clean up the house and yard, and have some fun cooking. I even love washing all the dishes the next day or that night if I am too wired to sleep.
I love to cook for people in their kitchens. People know this about me and I am often invited to be the guest-chef. I could enjoy being a personal chef and culinary tutor. What a great idea!
Sister City
I am very worried about the heroin epidemic. Worcester is a sister city to Woonsocket.
Read.
Read.
Anaïs Nin
It is a sign of great inner insecurity to be hostile to the unfamiliar.
-Anaïs Nin, volume five of her diaries.
Friday, August 08, 2014
Thursday, August 07, 2014
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Dr. Zeyada
The healthy processing of grief and fear works best when those affected feel they are out of danger, Dr. Zeyada said...
...“You are,” he said, “like a prison doctor treating a victim of torture, making the prisoner healthy to be interrogated and tortured again.”
Article
Small Apples
The summer has been dry which is lucky for us since we have roof leaks. I have noticed on my walks the apples on the trees are very tiny.
I love the thumping sound of apples falling off the trees. We won't get that satisfying sound if the apples don't grow larger.
I love the thumping sound of apples falling off the trees. We won't get that satisfying sound if the apples don't grow larger.
5 Historical Attempts to Ban Coffee
by
Emmy Blotnick
Source
Coffee may seem harmless, but its historical rap sheet is a mile long.
1. Mecca
Coffee was banned in Mecca in 1511, as it was believed to stimulate radical thinking and hanging out—the governor thought it might unite his opposition. Java also got a bad rap for its use as a stimulant—some Sufi sects would pass around a bowl of coffee at funerals to stay awake during prayers. (Note to Starbucks: Time for a new size, the Funeral Bowl.)
2. Italy
When coffee arrived in Europe in the 16th century, clergymen pressed for it to be banned and labeled Satanic. But Pope Clement VIII took a taste, declared it delicious, and even quipped that it should be baptized. On the strength of this papal blessing, coffeehouses rapidly sprang up throughout Europe.
3. Constantinople
After Murad IV claimed the Ottoman throne in 1623, he quickly forbade coffee and set up a system of reasonable penalties. The punishment for a first offense was a beating. Anyone caught with coffee a second time was sewn into a leather bag and thrown into the waters of the Bosporus.
4. Sweden
Sweden gave coffee the ax in 1746. The government also banned “coffee paraphernalia”—with cops confiscating cups and dishes. King Gustav III even ordered convicted murderers to drink coffee while doctors monitored how long the cups of joe took to kill them, which was great for convicts and boring for the doctors.
5. Prussia
In 1777, Frederick the Great of Prussia issued a manifesto claiming beer’s superiority over coffee. He argued that coffee interfered with the country’s beer consumption, apparently hoping a royal statement would make Prussians eager for an eye-opening brew each morning. Frederick’s statement proclaimed, “His Majesty was brought up on beer,” explaining why he thought breakfast drinking was a good idea.
Emmy Blotnick is a writer and comedian in New York. She's a blogger for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. This story originally appeared in mental_floss magazine.
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