The Black Band

Ode to the Elastic on My Table

She stands on the hills of Killarney,
Sends one wave of good-bye to her life
Then turns: the land calls for a tilling
(As the sailor called for his wife.)

She weeps with the truth of the parting -
Once grown they never return.
And her cry, the hope of all mothers,
Is heard in the heart of her bairn.

“Don’t work to remember your childhood
For glimmers will come as the rain
Nourishes all that you’re planting
In the place where you’ve staked a claim.

A claim that began in home’s kitchen.
And as you packed for one of your own,

You freed your hair for laughter
With the toss of a small black band
That will always serve to remind me
Of the good that comes from the land.”



Beth November 2007

REVIEW: Stephen King "On Writing"

ROOTS: REVIEW: Stephen King on Writing.

Horror is too horrible in real life so I’ve avoided reading Stephen King novels except for “The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon.” (It’s summer 199?, Tom Gordon is a closer for the Boston Red Sox, our protagonist is a girl who knows Baseball, lost in the woods for weeks in with only a transistor radio.) He DOES write a good story, so when a friend who is published recommended his “On Writing” I picked it up. His conversational style gave me a sense that I was being mentored by an older brother:

1. “What you know makes you unique. Be Brave.”
2. Take time in the world to listen and observe.
3. BUT write alone, everyday.
4. Write for an ideal reader, but don’t let him/her see the first draft.
5. Don’t let ANYONE see your first draft.
6. Put your first draft away - “Look back when you’re immersed in something else - like your life.”
7. Second Draft: Delete anything that doesn’t contribute to your meaning… and delete your favorite description of something irrelevant.
8. Share your work with people you trust. Trust their responses.

ROUTES:
Stephen King doesn’t write for the money. “Not now, never did.” He writes because “In the end, (writing is) about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life as well.” That’s why I write too – and I know that others lives will be enriched if I publish. However, Mr. King’s last bit of advice has left me confused. He said, “ “Read a lot, write a lot, read what you write.” What I read is tomes of every genre. I write short poems and essays. Do I read a novel or head to the bookstore to stock-up on poetry and magazines? Maybe I’ll just head to my “writing place” and do a few hundred words on my dilemma.

Why We May Be Skipping Thanksgiving

The appearance of Christmas decorations everywhere on Nov. 1 caused me to think that the nation may be skipping Thanksgiving this year. Here are my top 10 reasons why this might be true:

10. No one has manufactured a lawn pilgrim so people put up their inflated snow globes to hide the dead grass created by their air pumpkins.

9. Drought in much of the country prevented leaves from turning color, thus creating a shortage of fall wreaths.

8. With the plethora of jack-o'-lantern carving contests throughout October, there are too few pumpkins left for Thanksgiving pies.

7. Most deer and turkeys are protected in wildlife sanctuaries, so there is little meat to roast.

6. Now that adults also celebrate Halloween, there are no extra calories left in people's November food allowance.

5. There is no music to download for Thanksgiving. Snow figures prominently in its one song, "Over the river and through the woods . . . ," but thanks to global warming, the song is no longer applicable.

4. Halloween's roots are pre-Christian, and Christmas began some 2,000 years ago. Thanksgiving is just too new a holiday to generate much excitement.

3. The early start of the 2008 presidential race has distorted time. Christmas must begin now if it is to be celebrated in full before the New Hampshire primary.

2. Giving thanks has gone the way of giving one's bus seat to the elderly and infirm. (Most people don't ride buses, you say? Exactly.)

1. President Bush warned on Oct. 17 that "the possibility that Iran has nuclear weapons puts us on the brink of World War III. I believe people started to pray like crazy for "Peace on Earth" then and retailers have just picked up on the vibes.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (and the rest of his Dark Materials)...A Book Review

Roots…

I like the way fantasy and science fiction novels give me a way to unconsciously wrestle with moral dilemmas while turning pages into another world. I also like to read a book before I see the movie so I picked up Philip Pullman’s the Golden Compass because it met two of my “How to Choose a Book Criteria" as the film is due out in December. The stories are compelling - I couldn't just read the first book - but my Catholicism was agitated throughout for the story's main character is caught in the middle of a violent power struggle between a very restrictive institutional church and scientists who are trying to understand the relationship between childhood innocence and the soul in multiple parallel universes. Pullman writes children’s literature from an English classics background as does J.K. Rowlings (Harry Potter), J.R. Tolkein (The Lord of the Rings) and C.S.Lewis, (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) but the world he creates on first, second and even third glance appears to be the anti-thesis of their allegories; most especially C. S. Lewis’ Narnia. Our young heroine, Lara, has no Aslan (Christ figure) to answer questions, give directions, or even to trust. All the struggles are her own, and while there are many beings who come to her aid, in the end she names for herself the pain, power and joy of selfless love.

And Routes…

Pullman says Lara’s journey was most influenced by John Milton’s Paradise Lost, so I turned to this classic poem to see if I could quiet the spiritual discomfort that this series generated in me. In his prologue, Milton calls on “the Spirit” to

“Instruct me, for Thou know'st; …
What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert th' Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men. Paradise Lost Book I *

Pullman’s “Spirit” is not God, but Lara, whose innocence, fears, evolving courage and coming of age illuminate the Dark Materials in a way that will bring hope to children who struggle in the parallel universe we call “Middle School.” Pullman does not to “justifie the wayes of God to men,” but, by making the church’s leadership the “bad guy”, and removing “God’s will” as an explanation for disasters, challenges his readers to explain the dark ways of humanity to ourselves.

Most people will not analyze this story as I have, but some children, and I suspect, many Christian parents may find themselves uncomfortable with the plot line until they realize the dilemmas Lara faces are our own: Are we pleased and proud of the face we show the world? Are we ready to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good? Would we walk into the valley of death to save a friend, not because God tells us to, but because it is the right thing to do? I would like to believe that most of us will do the right thing, but unlike the people in Lara’s universe, I count on God’s Grace to help me make difficult choices. I this universe, I am grateful for people like Phillip Pullman who are able to create worlds and characters that challenge and inspire me to remember that.

* Note on the e-text: this Renascence Editions text was transcribed by Judy Boss in Omaha, Nebraska, and is provided by Renascence Editions with her kind permission. This edition is in the public domain. Content unique to this presentation is copyright © 1997 The University of Oregon.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See ... A book Review

Routes … In Snow Flower and the Secret Fan the context of our journey is 19^th century China, a culture where the feet of little girls are bound physically as the lives of women are metaphorically. It is a patriarchal, hierarchal tradition rich in ritual and ceremony, and, as Lisa Lee tells the story, full of secrecy and mystery as the women find a way to define their identities through friendship.

The story is told by eighty-year-old Lily who is writing her memoir full of regret with the hope that those who have passed before her will forgive her when they meet on the other side. She is most concerned about how she will be received by Snow Flower, to whom she has been bound for life by contract and covenant as “laotong” (far more than best friends for life) since their seventh year. Lisa Lee makes our journey through Lily’s life rich as we taste the food she eats, walk painfully and deliberately on her three inch bound feet, and feel her confusion as she watches Snow Flower’s sense of childhood adventure disappear in a life of poverty and despair. The “Secret Fan” of the title is Sunflower’s first gift to Lily, and carries the deepest thoughts in picture and poetry of the girls life long friendship, using nu shu a language developed by women unreadable (or just ignored) by men in Ancient China.

And Roots… It is the communication on the Secret Fan that invites the reader to discover in her own roots the rites and rituals of friendships that last and maybe those regrettably lost. What makes a life long friend? Is it common interests? An empathy that embraces another’s joys and sorrows even though they aren’t understood? What are the rites and rituals that bind friends today? Lily and Snow Flower invite you to consider and share the answers to these questions with your own “old sames” and “sworn sisters”.

Brothers: the Hidden History of the Kennedy Years by David Talbot

Roots … A Book Review
Jackie Kennedy was my daughter’s age, 31, when she became First Lady. Robert Kennedy was 38, my nephew’s age, when he became Attorney General. As I read this well researched history, awe-struck by the complexities of politics then, reflecting on the politics now, I imagined my children and their peers making decisions about life, death and nuclear war. They could, they are engaged in the world, but their politics are local, their work for justice quiet and persistent. I wonder if it’s because they grew up knowing what I still find hard to believe (even after reading this book !) that fear generates violence, and if one wants to do good one needs to work under the radar or be prepared for the ultimate sacrifice.


And Routes ... travel to the Kennedy Museum in Boston, the Vietnam Memorial and the MLK Memorial Library in DC, Dallas, Miami.