Energy

For my college yoga class, I had to write a one page paper on the topic of energy. The assignment allows students to address the topic in any manner they choose. Here is what I wrote:

My body is alive with energy. My fingers tap energetically on the computer keyboard. My hands deploy energy pushing little ones on the swing or whipping tapioca with a whisk. My arms surround family and friends with the energy of big familiar hugs. I shoulder grocery bags, suitcases, book bags, and kids of all ages with a certain energy. A noble energetic pedestal, my neck lifts my head high. My head nods affirmative energy. My chest is a chamber that holds the energy of my cycling breath—inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. My diaphragm spasms with giggling and hiccupping energy. My belly’s jiggling energy can be harnessed into powerful mulabhandas and uddiyana bhandas or gyrate in kapalabhati breathing. My pelvis presses energetically against a yoga mat for cobra pose and shelters the growing energy of a baby in my womb. My thighs retain volumes of energy in every cell for marching up mountains, running marathons, standing in warrior poses, or making a lap for nursing infants or snuggling cats. My knees bend, expelling energetic pops that musically accompany every squat. The curving muscles of my calves contain the most satisfying stretch of energy. My feet hold all the energy I need for standing tall and walking firmly. My toes spread in a luxurious reach to clasp the earth and gather more energy.
ph

Reset Pain

I helped Cindy reset the analgesic section at a local pharmacy yesterday. In the life of the merchandiser, resets are a common occurrence though the rationale for the practice is a little fuzzy. Why, one might ask, can't the shelves remain with the product as is? I don't know the answer to that question. Instead, I know that the merchandiser (that would be Cindy) gets a planogram which pictures how the section is supposed to be reset, meaning that all the product gets moved to different locations in a 12 or 16 foot section which is usually 6 to 8 shelves high. There is a detailed list that accompanies a planogram which identifies every single item and its numeric location on the shelf. The merchandiser uses this information to rearrange the whole section and to "cut in" (make space for) any new product. Are you still with me?

As I said, our job yesterday, was to reset an analgesic section. Analgesics (from the Greek an-, without + algesis, sense of pain) are used to treat pain, inflammation, headache, and cramps. Many of the analgesics are also antipyretics meaning they reduce fever. Do you have any idea how many different types of over-the-counter analgesics American pharmacies carry?

There is aspirin (Bayer and Ecotrin) and acetaminophen (Tylenol). There is also a combination of aspirin and acetaminophen with "therapeutic" caffeine added (Excedrin). Then there are the ibuprofens (Advil and Motrin), and last but not least naproxen (Aleve.) But wait! Each of these comes in various strengths usually measured by milligrams, ranging from the newly popular 81 mg of aspirin (for heart thereapy) to 250 mg. (the amount usually noted as "Extra Strength"). They also come in various forms. In 1914, Bayer introduced the aspirin tablet. But now analgesics also come in coated tablets designed to protect the stomach and caplets, EZ caps, and geltabs, all of which are purportedly easier to swallow. There are also rapid release gel-caps. And for you old timers who remember aspirin powders (BC), they are still available too.

Of course, some folks want only a few pills (20-40) while others want a family-size (500). There are several sizes in between too: 50, 60, 100, 125, and 250, depending on the brand. Many of the brands offer special formulations for night-time labeled PM, and other formulas specifically for back pain (Doan's), and also ones for cramps, migraines, tension headaches, restless legs, and arthritis. There are also liquid suspensions for infants, and chewables for 2-6 year-olds, and melt-aways for 6-11 year olds. Oh, and there are topical analgesics that come in creams and balms (including non-greasy forms) and wraps and patches. The wraps and patches offer different shapes for arms, backs, necks and yes, even the forehead.

OK, you do the math! How many analgesic products do you think you'll find on the pharmacy shelf? All I can tell you is that there were five pages of product listed with the planogram, and it took us six hours with 20 minutes out for lunch to reset the section.

We were both hurting when we got home from bending and squatting and kneeling and reaching, so I popped a couple ibuprofen caplets and Cindy swallowed a couple of Excedrin Extra Strength tablets and we were ready to kick back and watch a movie.

ph

The Malady of Mortality

I'm reading The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice for reasons that are interesting but not particularly related to this post. Early in the book, Lestat is consumed by something his friend Nicolas names the "malady of mortality," a deep shuddering realization of pure emptiness, the absolute absence of any answer in death. The malady overtakes him during a drunken evening with Nicolas not long after Lestat's harrowing near death experience with a pack of wolves which was followed closely by his mother's admission that she is dying and "perfectly horrified" by the fact. Having once seen this darkness, Lestat sees death standing behind everything—"real death, total death, inevitable, irreversible, and resolving nothing."

Yesterday was the three month anniversary of Ashley's death. In a moment of hopeless sadness and tears, Cindy and I confessed to one another that we each have this constant undercurrent of fear that it will happen again, that someone else dear to us will die or that we will die and leave behind for others the huge sadness that we feel.

When it feels like the sadness will never pass, we've found the only salve is gratitude—remembering all the things we are thankful for in each day: a beautiful sunset, children's laughter, the arms of a loved one around us in a warm happy hug.

ph

Boutros-Boutros Ghali

With Andrea came the game of Boutros-Boutros Ghali. What I love about this game is that the playing field is flattened and all stops are pulled. Elders and youngsters can mix and match as can a post-modern sensibility with a 50s-antiquated intelligence. You can be book-learned or TV learned or street smart or not smart and you can still play Boutros. You simply have to be willing to play foolishly and without a need to win.

Here's the game in brief. Everyone playing gets 10 chits. On these chits, you write the names of people. They can be real (historical, friends, family or the famous) or imaginary, (characters in books, plays, movies, or cartoons). Fold your chit in half and place in the sturdy hat or can that is provided. Next comes partnering. Beans or tokens in pairs are the most playful way to match folks up, but you can also put pairs of numbers on slips of paper. Everyone blindly chooses one of these sets of pairs and your partner is the person who has the thing that matches the one you chose (for instance two pinto beans or two 5s). Partners sit side-by-side around a table or in a circle. Pairs can seem to be oddly matched, i.e. Lee with Adrian or pairs can appear doomed from the start like when Culley and Andrea were once partnered and were bickering from the start. In both of these cases, the unseemly pairs were the ultimate winners. That's the cool thing about Boutros. You never can tell who will win. Sometimes there is simply a brain wave connection between two people that causes one word to give the partner an immediate correct answer like last night when Sidney said to Shayley, "kissing" and she said, "Flogging Molly." (I think that's the name of a band which is not an acceptable chit but when you have made up the game you can also make exceptions which someone did in this case.) How Shayley got to Flogging Molly from kissing, I will never know, but it must be some generational thing that teens could grasp.

So back to how the game works: Each pair gets one minute. One partner takes a chit from the sturdy hat or can and tries to get his/her partner to guess the person listed on the chit. If guessed correctly, the other partner grabs a chit and starts giving clues. When one minute is up, you keep all correctly guessed chits and pass the hat to the next pair who takes a turn. Unless an immediate connection is made as when Lee said, "He was the President" and Adrian said "Bill Clinton," then the clues and/or the guessing becomes a comical scene of errors and silliness, and everyone watching is laughing and there is always someone whose turn it is NOT who knows the answer but can't say and hopes to get that chit when their turn comes around.

Boutros is the perfect accompaniment to turkey and stuffing. Laughter and good company is the best dessert I can think of. Thanks Andrea.

ph

Copy Cat

The idea of copying/stealing that I mentioned in the Shakespeare TaDum post, keeps pushing it's way into my experience which is a good thing if I'm going to address that bullet in my "to do" list. My friend Annie pointed out that I was doing a kind of copying when I quoted her poker report into my blog, followed by copying my friend Lynn's baseball report. Now as an English teacher, I know this was more like reporting from other sources with clear citations. But as an English teacher, I'm also acutely aware of how blurry the line can get between plagiarism and appropriate/adequate citation.

The issue also cropped up when I was making my way through the Amazon.com blog (I was totally captured by that blog and kept returning to it for most of a day--see Blog Heaven post). One particular post referenced two articles in Harpers (Feb. 07) on originality and plagiarism.

The first article is a paired response in which two artists debate artistic ownership. One of the two is a photojournalist who shot pictures of Sandinista rebels and the other is a painter who used one of these photos as the basis for a painting. (You can see the painting here. Scroll down.) The photo journalist objects to the painting because it places the subject outside of its original historical context.

I checked out the painting and it's original source (at the links provided above), and the painter has clearly cited her source in a label that accompanies the work. To my way of thinking, this is sufficient. She lets viewers know where her idea originated, and if they choose to follow it's trajectory, historical or otherwise, they can with this citation. That is exactly what I've always hoped to teach students as a critical notion regarding documentation.

The second article by Jonathan Lethem is a defense of the "artist's right (and duty) to borrow, steal, allude, echo, repeat, rework, and rob." The blogger goes on to report Lethem's closing:

Don't pirate my editions; do plunder my visions. The name of the game is Give All. You, reader, are welcome to my stories. They were never mine in the first place, but I give them to you. If you have the inclination to pick them up, take them with my blessing.

Now this argument slips into the realm of Shakespeare's version of "copying." I don't know if Shakespeare cited his sources, but I rather doubt it. I think instead that it was clearly apparent that he was often adapting popular stories of the day. While in Ashland, I listened to an actor explain the trajectory of the core idea in Tom Stoppard's play On the Razzle. The story originated (maybe) way back in the mid-19th century and traveled through time to evolve into the musical stage production and then movie of Hello Dolly. Stoppard actually returned to the earlier story placing it in the 1840s, but the director of the Ashland production chose to place the play in the first decade of the 20th century.

What all of this says to me is that creativity and art are in large part interpretation . . . a molding, carving, shaping of concepts to keep them fresh and living. Part of the fun can be looking at an idea's history, but each piece also needs to be able to stand alone on its own merit.

One more thing I learned when I was at Antioch University is that copying, stealing, reshaping and also citing are ways that artists converse with one another, the way they offer praise and gratitude as well as argue or enlarge upon ideas.

Nothing new here: Just ph thinking aloud.

Take me out to the ballgame

I'm not much of a sports fan, but as a teacher I learned it was very helpful to be up on what was happening in major sports like baseball and football (and sometimes soccer and tennis and golf). It really helps in establishing rapport with the younger guys in class, the ones I was always looking for ways to appear any way but motherly (not the best image to offer an 18-22 year old guy). But what's a gal to do when she simply doesn't watch much TV and prefers audiobooks to radio in the car?? How was I supposed to keep abreast of what was going on?

Enter my best email buddy, who is an avid Giants fan and is generally up to speed on what is going on in the rest of sports world too and who almost always gives me a daily baseball update, beginning as soon as Spring training starts that continues on through the World Series, even IF/WHEN her darling Giants don't make the grade.

Here is today's report which not unlike the Saturday poker report makes me grin (especially noticing how this Giants fan maintains heart when her team has failed miserably):

Baseball is getting very interesting. The American league is tied at one a piece but our league has the Rockies 3-0 against the D'Backs and they could close out today. The cool thing is that the Rockies have won 20 of their last 21 games! That is unheard of! The other cool thing is there are some old Giants on the Rockies team that are really doing well. Also, the pitcher who gave up the winning home run to an ex-Giant last night was an ex-pitcher for us too!

Why, you might ask, do these reports remain important now that I've retired? There are men in my family who talk sports (surprise, surprise), and I admit that I simply do not like to be left out of any conversation by lack of understanding. Plus it helps for jiving with the convenience store clerk and the neighbor walking his dogs. I'm ever eager to establish rapport and sports talk works.

And of course, there is also the language in these little ditties. Can you hear it? The lingo that rings with pleasure?
ph

Poker Face

I'm a newbie Texas Holdem player and what I love as much if not more than the game is the language of the game. When I don't make it to my local Friday night game, my poker garu sends me a report, usually posted in the wee hours of Saturday morning before she goes to bed. I'm so addicted to these reports that I check email on Saturday before even brewing the tea. This is poetry of a different ilk (and poker lessons as well). Here's this morning's report:

Tonight's game had 17 players. . . The ladies dominated the final table. I was short stacked early in the game, had middle pocket pairs, and kept running up against bigger pairs: 77 vs KK and 99 vs AA. I was barely alive as the blinds escalated and I played some wicked warrior poker.

I busted Morgan with 77 at the final table; she had KK but I hit a 7 on the flop and check raised her for her whole stack. When it came down to it, ALL of the ladies made the final table. Kathy was short stacked but hung aroung a while. Clayton went out fifth, Robert M. bubbled, Corrinne took third, I got second and Peter became the first player to win back to back. I had him dominated when we came down to heads up play, but he caught some hands and made some on the flops until I was again against it. The final hand was J 10 vs J 9. He made the straight up to the nine with a 5678 on the board.

No poker face for me on Saturday morning. These reports start my day with a delicious smile.

Easy Face

The Family

For those of you who don't get the local paper and those who live far away, my daughter's family made the news last night. (See how beautiful they be)

Here is a link to the article if you want to take a peek. It's longish but tells a version of one of my favorite love stories, that between my daughter and her husband:

http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=24655

Here is what my 10 year old grand-daughter had to say to her mother after reading the article: "They make you and Papa sound like the funniest people and like we are all a bunch of sanguine people happily doing the housework together."

Her mother's reply: "Well, I guess that's our goal dear. "

Yoga class lesson today

(not a direct quote but close enough) When moving into a place of intensity, assume an easy face.

This is a little like "fake it until you make it" combined with "smile and the world smiles with you." My mantra for today and the next and the next is going to be: "Easy face."

Shakespeare TaDum

I just returned from 5 days in Ashland, Oregon at the Shakespeare Festival during which time I saw 6 plays, 4 by Shakespeare, 1 by Moliere, and 1 by Tom Stoppard. Because I was with a Columbia College trip, there were other perks: a prologue given by an actor before every play, an acting workshop, a set design workshop, a conversation with an actor, and a backstage tour. It was all marvelous as well as fodder for self-criticism, like "I'm probably the most uncreative person in the world" and "I'm a fool to think I can write" and "If I were truly an artist, I would have accomplished something by now . . . like the book that I finished 3 years ago would be published." There were 14 young people with us who were smart and witty and full of verve, like none I ever felt way back in my 20s. I struggled for 5 days to keep from drowning in self-pity and recrimination. On the bus on the way home, I made myself write a list of what I learned during the 5 days and how I was going to use it to stimulate my creative life. (thanks to ZenChump who wrote a list a week or so ago) Here is my list:

Shakespeare stole or copied most of the ideas for his plays. I will take an idea from somewhere, anywhere and grow a piece of writing from it, tweak a line of poetry, or copy it and put in new words, or copy an essay, paragraph by paragraph but change the subject (like I did for my critical paper).

Shakespeare, in one year (forget what year??? 1598???), wrote 5 of his best plays. I must write more. I have to put writing FIRST, i.e. put my bottom in the chair everyday and write, make lists of ideas to write about; start copying quotes in my quote book and write about them; set up my office space to work better for writing; set a schedule; keep making lists of ways to generate more work . . . write them in the idea book.

Vilma Silva (who played Kate in Taming of the Shrew) talked about facing the language in a play and recommended a book, Clamorous Voices to learn how to use the silence. Hmmm . . . where is the silence in a piece of writing and how might it be used. Get the book for study.

Chris Albright (who played Juliet) said she had the goal to play Juliet for 10 years before it happened. Once I finished the goal of completing my book, I have written less, though last summer I wanted to write 1-2 essays and I accomplished that. Set a goal. (Will it be the Borgquist book?)

As You Like It touched me deeply, made me weep. Leave the chaos behind; go into the forest. Be kind and devoted. Make these themes in my work. "Like a doe, I go find my fawn and give it food . . " (Orlando speaking of Adam; Act II Scene VII).

On the Razzle. Read Stoppard's Arcadia (because I know it's famous). Is there a movie of Arcadia? Fun for fun's sake, slap-stick, puns, playing with language, making it as goofy as possible with lots of repetition. Write short pieces and poems that are goofy until I get better at it. For instance, how could I make this post more funny. Could I go on the razzle? Or am I stuck with a rattle, shaking loose change in my pockets with not a funny thought in my wallet? Keep trying PH.

Tartuffe: OMG, religious hypocrisy NEVER goes away. Am I stuck with an inabliilty to turn it all into a farce while it sits like a huge elephant in the living rooms of my family. Where does the whole idea of an Interfaith conversation fit in with what I need and want regarding religion and hypocrisy?

The Tempest: Memorize the revel speech. Wear scarves and capes, especially chiffon with jeans. Something flowing like the blue outfit I bought at the second-hand store. Be the sky for Halloween. Wear blue eye-shadow.

The Stage Tour: Theater is a complex operation that requires cooperation and collaboration and lots of money. Theater companies need audiences and volunteers and donors. Comedy is always better attended than serious drama (dark or sad stories). Dressers become actors and actors become dressers. Playwrights need money so they work theater jobs (sometimes). My favorite actor (the one who played Adam in As You Like It) led part of the tour. He was a devoted member of the troupe who lives year to year not knowing if he will be signed again despite having been with OSF since 1969. He's proud of the company, generous with his praise, full of gratitude to audiences without being effusive, and knows and willingly shares the story of OSF. So much to emulate in all of this.

Report back here on my success with this list one month from now on November 8.
PH