For the Children by Gary Snyder

The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

~ Gary Snyder ~


(Turtle Island)

Awarded Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, 2008,
for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry

Mark Morford Nails It.

In "The Last Tuna Nigiri on Earth" he has a Republican moment and then recovers.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/07/02/notes070210.DTL&nl=fix

Is it just me, or is word usage and spelling going to hello in a sandbasket?

I have an unfortunate tendency to notice errors in spelling, usage, punctuation. I let some things bug me. Part of it is that I can see something that the other person apparently doesn't. What do I do with that?
Recently I have heard a lot of word misuse, often with the fancier sounding word substituted for the correct word. This shows up when people always use "so-and-so and I" even when it is an object in the sentence and the correct pronoun would be me.
"They took my friend and I to the beach." Aaaaarrgggh. Friend and ME! So my internal corrector says.
I think competence became competency in this way. I recently heard "methodological" when the appropriate word was "methodical."
Today I received an e-newsletter where the writer referred throughout to people "waiving" at each other. Many times. Spell check doesn't know when you use the wrong word.
Once I wrote to an e-sender to suggest she needed a proofreader. She asked for the basis of my comment so I sent her some examples. No reply or even thanks for the time it took me to do it. We don't like to be criticized. I just take advantage of those times when I am asked to edit copy, and make it my gift to friends.
I appreciate the kindness of those who take care of their language as it is easier for me to read!

Drew Faust talk on Unscripted Life from Harvard Commencement

“By ancient and curious custom,” President Drew Faust told the graduating class of 2010 in her May 25 Baccalaureate address, “it falls to me to offer you a final sermon before you go.” Speaking from experience shared with the class—of grand plans rethought in the aftermath of “the biggest meltdown of world financial systems since the Great Depression”—Faust recounted the lesson learned: “Life never follows a script.” (Read the text of Faust’s address here.)

“We didn’t have to melt down the roof of Harvard Hall into bullets—as we did in 1775; but we did curtail plans,” Faust told the class, suggesting that the crisis is part of their education, that upheavals teach lessons.

“The first is about humility,” she said. “We have been forcefully reminded that we cannot control or even predict the future or what it will require of us…. The unforeseen events of the past two years have forced us to imagine the world differently; they have demanded that we adapt, and throw away the script we thought we were following. And they have reminded us once again of the value of the liberal arts, which are designed to prepare us for life without a script—for a life with any script.” The second lesson? “Embrace risk…Don’t settle for plan B until you have tried plan A,” Faust urged. Then, echoing a message that Bill Gates delivered on a visit a few weeks earlier, Faust said the third lesson is that “The world really needs you”—a lesson the class seems already to have absorbed, she added: “Nearly 20 percent of you applied for Teach for America—far more than at our peer institutions, and the largest percentage of any school class in the history of the organization.” And finally, Faust told her audience, the fourth lesson is that “living in a world without a script demands and rewards creativity.”

The address was full of historical references, but also touched with humor on current events. As freshmen, “Your accomplishments were legion….At least you said they were,” Faust joked, alluding to the widely reported story of a student admitted under false pretenses.

Faust went on to recount a few of the class’s notable accomplishments: the startup of an NGO that built a school for girls in Afghanistan; the creation of a senior-thesis film selected for screening at Cannes; the establishment of a sustainable water-supply system for a rural community in Ghana.

The service, a Harvard tradition since the seventeenth century, also included remarks from the Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Plummer professor of Christian morals and Pusey minister in the Memorial Church. It included readings from the Analects of Confucius, the Hebrew Bible, Hindu Scripture, the Holy Quran, and the New Testament.

As Gomes’s message in the program said, “The occasion is both joyful and solemn, intimate and public, filled with the exuberance of youth and sustained by venerable and weighty tradition.”

Meeting Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!

 

 

Rockport Chair. Graceful.

 

Choices about Afghanistan

Hearing the positions as the government debates strategy for Afhanistan, I am

Sad that we are in a position of deciding how much war to carry out in someone else's country, spending tax dollars that are needed to rebuild our economy and social safety nets.

Sad that it will likely be perceived as invasion and occupation rather than assistance by most of the people who did not request help to become a democracy - and have fought off outsiders many times.

Concerned that, as Rep. Barbara Lee points out, Congress has transferred the power of declaring war to the White House.

And distantly hoping that our efforts will actually support a regime that affords women education and full participation.