World Beginnings

  Gandi’s glasses recently sold for $340,000 USD at a British auction; more than ten times the pre-auction estimate. The singer Edith Piaf sang about living life looking through rose-colored glasses, " La vie en rose ”,   and John Lennon made round-colored lenses his trademark while proposing a perfect world in his song “ Imagine ”. We “see” the world out of the lens of our complicated lives and history. Some only see next season’s couture show or exotic vacation. Some see the world colored by past loss or perceived wrongs; impacting every relationship and decision today. As a young man, Gandhi had many choices but he chose a simple path. While his countrymen were embracing Western clothing and values, he tossed those aside, wearing a plain cotton loincloth. eschewing all but the simplest of food. World leaders, philosophers and thinkers came to seek his wisdom;  his message of change through nonviolence still rings today. Just think how wonderful the world would be now i...

  One of my favorite activities in the school year was Week Without Walls, WWW. This was a time for students to learn and experience beyond the classroom. Teachers were in charge of planning the trip and there was a learning focus, to most of them. One that will stay with me forever, not my trip, was building bathrooms in Bali. We tend to think of Bali as an exotic vacation but there is extreme poverty off of the glitzy tourist paths and the students came back changed forever. It is important to point out that these students are extremely privileged, living in a rarified world of drivers, maids, cooks and gardeners. They’ve never cleaned anything in their lives.  Unsurprising, to those who know me, I always focussed on local animal shelters. My last year in Beirut our project was to build cat shelters for a woman who was feeding and caring for about thirty cats in a vacant lot across from her house. Students raised money through bake sales to buy all of the supplies, Then alon...

This is one of my favorite pictures from my time in Beirut. This well-dressed man, starched white shirt, silver cufflinks and polished Gucci loafers wanders down from the corniche after a long day in an air-conditioned office. He borrows a pole from a random fisherman. As he casts his line into the teaming Mediterranean, yesterday, today and tomorrow float away in the tide. Occasional low, deep murmuring voices, the smells of the sea, fish and men take him back long ago with his father and his father’s father. Soon he has left the screaming problems of today and he is on a Phoenician ship sailing to the Greek Isles with a precious cargo of olive oil in earthen jars. Too soon, his reverie is broken by a tug on the line. He carefully pulls his catch in, placing it in a bucket, leaving it for the others whose needs are greater. He trudges up the stairs to the crowded corniche and makes his way home to his luxurious flat, with walls of glass overlooking the sea. The sea air still clings to...

Every year they migrate from parts unknown to build their nests and raise their young. Unfortunately, they had a nest under the eave of my house, right next to my covered walkway. Last year they hatched at least two sets of young. And while it was beautiful to watch the cycle of life, not only did I live in fear of a baby falling to the ground only to be pounced on by my dogs or the cat, they left unimaginable piles of poop.   This year I decided that the area would be off-limits for swallow housing and I knocked everything down and cleaned it up. Swallows are persistent to say the least. As badly as I felt for them and their need to make a home for their young, I spent two months washing off their vain attempts to create a base for their nest; every time, apologizing and telling them the area was designated “No Nesting”. Yesterday I noticed a flurry of swallow activity under the eave at the back of the house. Yes, there was a nest built and poop below. A swa...

We are born into this world helpless and our path is unknown. Every parent wants the very best for their child and harbor secret dreams, but we never truly know what lies ahead for them. We cherish each success and share their sadness when things don’t work out as hoped. My daughter-in-law, Jira, was born in a small village, hours outside of Bangkok to a farming family. Little could her parents imagine where her path would take her on that April day. Gaining acceptance into Thai universities is not easy, but Jira was successful and earned a university degree. Sadly not recognized in the USA. Brett and Jira met in Bangkok where he was working and they fell in love. When he came back to the US, Jira soon followed and Brett navigated the maze of the immigration process. He said the naturalization ceremony was one of the most moving events he has ever experienced. The judge’s remarks brought tears. What adjectives would I use to describe Jira? Intelligent, determi...

Sara Teasdale wrote There Will Come Soft Rains after the horror of WW1,   depicting the power of Mother Nature to regenerate after war’s destruction. In 1950, Ray Bradbury took the title and wrote a science fiction short story describing the destruction of a self-functioning house as it slowly breaks down after a strong wind blows a tree branch into the kitchen. Bradbury’s choice of the kitchen for the start of the destruction of the house is important. This room has traditionally been the symbol of family life…the hearth and the home. Love for the soul and food for the body. But the mother was replaced by automatic coffee makers and toasters. An automated voice droned out birthdays and the weather. The imagery of a busy family, dashing madly out of the door to make more money, to buy more things is painfully sad. What is our response after a disaster? Often it is one of defiance “We will rebuild bigger and better” with more gadgets to make our lives simp...

Little spider spins   and spins her web fragile and beautiful straight from her body. Toiling day in day out. Blinding sun Battering rain. Spinning her sticky home Woman gives life   through her   fragile and beautiful body. Spinning protective cocoon, shielding her young. Assailed by prejudices expectations ill   conceived. But the little spider hears no angry voices and spins again. Photo Wikipedia Ajijic, April 2020