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About This Author
My name is Joy, and I love to write.
Why poetry, here? Because poetry uplifts its writer, and if she is lucky enough, her readers, too. Around us, so many objects abound to write about. Once a poet starts with a smallest, most trivial object, he shall discover that his pen will spill out what is most delicate or most majestic hidden inside him. Since the classics sometimes dealt with lofty subjects with a lofty language, a person with poetry in his soul may incline to emulate that. That is understandable. Poetry does that to a person: it enlarges the soul and gives it wings. Yet, to really soar, a poet needs to take off from the ground.
 
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Everyday Canvas
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."
CHARLIE CHAPLIN
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.
David Whyte
This is my supplementary blog in which I will post entries written for prompts.
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December 31, 2014 at 9:45am December 31, 2014 at 9:45am
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Prompt: "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." JK Rowlings Do you agree with this?
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I neither agree nor disagree with the quote. Life depends on circumstances, and each of us faces different circumstances. After the circumstances, what influences the way we handle life is the scope of our dreams.
For some, dwelling in dreams is a way out. During the Second World War prisoners held by the Japanese had to dwell on their dreams of being rescued or succeeding to make an escape, while they were under lock and key. They had no other choice. For others, dwelling in dreams may mean resolving to a great idea like finding a cure for an impossible illness.
On the other hand, in a free society, if someone dreams of making big in business, without an education, without money, and worse yet without a nose for business, chances are he won’t make it, and he will flit away his precious time starting and losing one business after another.
Even so, I love dreams and dreamers. If we dream and try for our dreams, we may come closer to fulfilling them than we think possible. Through dreaming, we can change ourselves, the tendencies of the people around us, and as a long shot, the entire world. Through dreaming of a peaceful world, when we change the way we see life from a negative view to a more hopeful one, we might be able to awaken an awareness in other people, too.
After all, weren’t Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and most of the great authors, musicians, and artists dreamers? Didn’t King repeatedly encourage the crowds in August 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial with the words, “I have a dream…” and didn’t Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural address tell the crowds, “Your playing small does not serve the world…”?
Dwelling on dreams sometimes does work. At other times, we have to be careful not to waste our lives away on impossible dreams, or like Don Quixote, we will end up fighting the windmills, even if fighting for any dream is a romantic notion.
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December 30, 2014 at 12:58pm December 30, 2014 at 12:58pm
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Prompt: What is your formula of sticking to New Year's resolutions or any other promises to yourself, after making them?
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My sticking-to-promises-made-to-self always involves writing. I write long lists of what to do for each day either from the night before or early in the morning. On purpose, I make long lists, a lot more than I can chew. If I can do, in a day, half of what I wrote, then I am good. If I can accomplish more than half, hurrah! But sometimes, life happens and I fall under the middle of the list. I still give a pat on my own back and say to myself, “You tried, at least!” And I go on.
Long-term promises and resolutions I usually stay away from, but if I have to make them, I write in my private journal an essay-long piece on why and how I should keep to those. Most of the time, this works, too.
As to other ideas, American Psychological Association’s tips on sticking with resolutions involve these points:
• Start small
• Change one behavior at a time
• Talk about it
• Don’t beat yourself up
• Ask for support
I also came across an article on the web a while ago, which gave pointers on the same issue. (Sorry, I just don’t remember the link, although I have copied and pasted the article in a word file.)
It said:
• First don’t bite more than you can chew. (So unlike me!)
• Start on a Monday as it is the most popular day for starting.
(I can’t wait for a Monday or any other day. If I want to do something, I have to start it NOW!)
• Don’t just wing it. Plan for it.
• Do not have a plan B.
(So unlike me again. I always have a plan B.  Where would I be without plan Bs? All my life is a plan B.)
• Pick a round number.
(The article said marathon runners usually finished around round numbers. I wouldn’t know about this. I never ran a marathon, and it isn’t likely I’ll run one in this lifetime, either. )
• Put cash on the line.
To lose weight, when people didn’t meet their goal, they were fined, and this worked. (This wouldn’t work for me either. If somebody would fine me, I’d run out of that place like a wind gust passing through. This is probably what happened to some who started on that program, and because they dropped out, they weren’t counted at all. Thus the success of the program.)
• Chop it up.
(Translated to our writerly minds, this would be: Instead of saying “I’ll write 36 stories this year,” say "three stories a month.”)
• Conserve your willpower.
Every time you have to use your willpower, you’ll have less to resist other temptations. In other words, willpower is finite. Use it wisely and sparingly. (I do force my willpower to bend to my needs. It sometimes works but leaves me drained, too.)
So there! Best wishes with your New Year’s resolutions and other promises you make to yourselves.
May all our successes and also failures prove to be the best things we do for ourselves!
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December 29, 2014 at 6:19pm December 29, 2014 at 6:19pm
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Prompt: Where teaching in schools and universities are concerned, shouldn't character be as important as the intellect? Shouldn't students who are otherwise smart and capable be held responsible for the crimes they commit, such as bullying, robbery, rape, and destructiveness, or should we just overlook their crimes because they are so capable?
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The word character comes from an ancient Greek term referring to the indelible marks on coins. In the same way, once character is pressed into a student’s mind or soul, we hope it is fixed for good.
Not always, however. Good and bad aren’t black and white concepts all the time, and when someone we see as good does something bad and out of character, we are shocked. As much as we value a balanced moral stance in people, human psyche is fluid and ever-changing. With that in mind, life lessons as to morality, treatment of others, and responsibility for one’s own actions should be impressed on the student strongly enough that, if a change happens, some values will hold on to save the student from further wrongdoing.
Learning is exhilarating and gratifying, but it is also very hard. By learning here, I don’t mean the subjects taught in schools and books; I mean learning about how to behave in life. For that, students need motivation, self-respect, and good will. If what they do wrong goes unheeded, how are they going to learn to hold on to moral values? How are they going to fix their mistakes, if they are not aware what those mistakes mean in a civilized society?
With the younger, under-age students we can probably practice leniency as to punishment, but the student must be made aware that his actions were wrong, and the educators must make sure that the lesson is well learned, so the mishap or crime won’t be repeated again. At this level, there are accompanying concerns for the students as to their background and home life. These areas need a lot of attention, as well.
On the higher levels of education, however, people are considered to be adults. A responsible adult does not steal, harass, bully, or kill. No matter how great an athlete the student is, no matter how smart and capable with what the curriculum asks, at this level, I believe, the students should face the consequences of their actions like any adult in a civilized society.
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December 28, 2014 at 6:45pm December 28, 2014 at 6:45pm
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Some of the stories I come across on the net concentrate on physical appearance, social concerns, family ties, and personal habits of their characters. If they touch the idea of emotional makeup, it is either very subtle or not conclusive enough. Whereas, real people are, in fact, emotional beings. Their attitudes, self-image, general outlook on life, hopes, fears, motivations, traumas, ambitions, accomplishments, regrets, and obsessions are usually passed over or minimized. Is the person extrovert, introvert or in-between those two things? Does the character evaluate himself, learn something about himself, or come to an understanding of his own makeup by the end of the story? Will there be a change by the end of the story in the way he or she feels? These are all important concerns.
While putting together a character profile, I sometimes go to Buzzfeed, bite-charge.com, or some other site that has personality quizzes, and I take the quiz as if I am the character. I think it is one way to flesh out the character.
Also, I came across this emotional-bio chart. I am putting it here, in case I or any one of us may need it in the future. It you think of something to add to the questions, feel free to do so and maybe write it in a comment, please. 
Emotional Mini-Bio Questions
• 3-4 Things this person values in life (family, revenge, success, love, God. integrity, power, peace, pride, privacy, quiet time etc.)
• 3 things he fears the most
• His underlying attitude about life (Things will end up okay; this too shall pass; all for number one; everyone is for himself; it's best to expect nothing so I won't get disappointed; it's better not to dwell in the past and to forgive and forget; if I work at it, I will definitely do it.)
• What does he need to know about another human being in order to accept him as "all right" and trustworthy?
• What would cause this person more pain than anything else possible?
• What would this person consider the most wonderful that could ever happened to him?
• What three words would she use to describe herself, accurate or not?
• How accurate is her self-description?
• What organization most embodies this person's values? (i.e. his church or temple, or other religious institution; mensa; DAR, Veteran Pride, PTA, Bridge Club, Knitting Group, Writers Group, Elks, Firefighters Assoc. AMA, APA)
• Does he belong to that group? Why or why not?
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December 27, 2014 at 12:08pm December 27, 2014 at 12:08pm
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Prompt: What do you think is the basic secret or secrets to meaningful relationships? By this, I mean any kind of a relationship, man-woman, parent-child, sibling to sibling, friendships, etc.
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For an all-encompassing prompt like this, I always look to Shakespeare. This one's from Hamlet.
"This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
When I first thought about this subject, the first idea that came to my mind was love, but love is a misunderstood term as it is mostly mistaken for desire, which seeks gratification. A person who truly knows what it means to love doesn't worry when his or her love is unrecognized or rejected.
I think being truly loving is being real; therefore, the greatest love we can offer to people, whatever the relationship is, to transform our inner lives so that others are attracted enough to our inner goodness to stay with us through thick and thin. This is because a person who has worked on himself or herself has developed a keen insight to other people's inner workings. In any relationship, the person with the most self-insight will be calmer, more confident, and more comfortable with other people. Always working for more self-knowledge pays because we understand others to the exact degree that we understand ourselves.
I believe there are other smaller points in the way we act toward others to consider as well. They are:
• Not letting the words or behaviors of other people to decide how we feel.
• Not surrendering our original nature and personal dignity to the other person.
• Not living timidly from the fear of what others will think of us or what we will think of ourselves.
• Recognizing the virtues in others.
• Paying more attention to people's innermost motives for speaking and acting in certain ways, a lot more than to what they say or do.
• Showing psychological maturity by ignoring petty behavior. Defending ourselves vehemently against trivial words or behavior, small slanders, or any other such attacks is unnecessary, because resistance against such stuff disturbs our own state of mind.
• Not rushing to replace a valuable person lost to us, as this may prevent us from examining the heartache and coming to terms with it.
• Not being afraid to fully experience everything in any relationship, especially the pains and disappointments, for all experiences lead to better understanding of ourselves and others.
• Not fearing to be a nobody or an unimportant person in a social group. This has to do with internal humility, which is the deeper truth in becoming a genuine human being.
I believe in the truth where creation is concerned that there is no difference between us and the other person, as we cannot hurt another without hurting ourselves; neither can we help anyone without helping ourselves in some way. If we free ourselves from the unnecessary desires toward other people, they can't deceive or hurt us. If we hold on to the positive forces and do whatever we can to foster them, but try not to give in to the parts in us that don't want a loving life --as we all may have those parts in us, suppressed though they may be--, we will feel happier and more accomplished in all our relationships.
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December 26, 2014 at 12:04am December 26, 2014 at 12:04am
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Prompt: What's more noticeable to you, a person's facial expression or their body language when you are talking?
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Emotions, especially those based on the thoughts of the moment, are an incredibly important aspect of human life, and they exhibit themselves in non-verbal behaviors before they are even put to words, if put to words. I watch people all the time, and something in me rings a warning bell when someone in the same room is watching me, too. I guess, it takes one to know one.
In general, unless a person makes an abrupt motion like suddenly locking his hands in his armpits, changing his stance, or something, I tend to notice the facial expressions more. Combination of eye, eyebrows, lips, cheeks, jaw, and head movements can reveal the different thoughts and true feelings passing through a person's mind.
Reading facial expressions is no great feat, however, as we all have the innate ability to detect them in varying degrees. I guess millenniums of relating to one another has affected the wiring of our brains. On the other hand, we must be careful with such analysis in the company of a foreigner or while in a different country, as all behavior and its interpretations can change from culture to culture.
Often, when words do not match true feelings, facial expressions can be dead giveaways. Especially with those people I know, I believe I am pretty good in catching subtle or micro-expressions on faces. Micro-expressions are mostly signs of concealed emotions. They may also show unconcealed emotional states that are being processed rapidly. They occur so fast that it is easy to miss them.
When the person is nearby and talking to me, it is usually easier to see his face, but in a crowded room, I watch from afar how anyone walks, stands, and moves while interacting with other people. The way each person gestures or moves his body changes according to the man or woman or a group of people he is talking to. The motions of the upper and lower torso and the limbs, consciously or unconsciously, reflect people's mental state and intentions. Especially for us writers, these motions and gestures can be so telling…
A caveat here. Those who write or are in the therapy business need to be discreet and must not show they have read the other person. With interpersonal relationships, as well, being overly sensitive to nonverbal behaviors can be detrimental to our dealings with lovers, friends, or family, so we don't push the other people into being too careful and too cautious while relating to us.
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December 25, 2014 at 3:08pm December 25, 2014 at 3:08pm
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Prompt: What does Holiday spirit mean to you? Are you sad to see Christmas end? MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Yes, Merry Christmas!
Yet, I am not too sure about the clarity of the phrase holiday spirit. If by "holiday spirit" people mean love, goodwill among people, peace on earth, and respect for every living thing, shouldn't this concept be more widespread, like year round and all the time, than just on one holiday? Yet, if holiday spirit means good feeling for the holidays or in other words, feeling happy because of a holiday, the phrase is more rational, but doesn't it diminish the value of the word "spirit"?
Coming to December 25 or Christmas, the way we understand it today, it is a religious holiday, but then, it was always a religious holiday from the start.
"In the Roman world, the Saturnalia starting on December 17 extending toward the end of the month was a time of merrymaking and exchanging of gifts. The celebrations began with a sacrifice and continued with a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves. The poet Catullus called it 'the best of days.' " *According to John F. Miller, Roman Holidays, in the Oxford Encyclopedia.
December 25 was also regarded as the birth-date of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness.
Later on, the birth-date of Christ was attributed to this date. Whether, Christ was really born on this date or not, it doesn't matter. It has been a custom, at one time or another, to appoint a date as a birth-date to someone whose true birth-date is iffy or unknown. That we consider December 25 as the birth-date of Christ is fine with me.
As to sad or happy feelings about Christmas's ending, I am not sad at all, because each Christmas is a milestone. As in driving, when we pass each milestone, we feel good that we are on our way. The exciting part of Christmas is in the getting ready for the holiday: the decorations, thinking about each other while we buy or make gifts, cookies, food, tinsel, music…the whole package.
Besides, within a week of Christmas, comes the New Year, celebrated by everyone on earth, which makes each New Year's Eve a grand festivity in itself, hoping to add to the meaning of peace and goodwill among all people of our planet. |
December 24, 2014 at 1:24pm December 24, 2014 at 1:24pm
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Prompt: "It's like some people just come through our lives to bring us something, a gift, a blessing, a lesson we need to learn and that's why we're here." Danielle Steel
How do you feel about this?
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It is a supreme art to love the unlovable together with the lovable beings that show up in our lives. Let's face it; we love those who are nice to us and ignore and even dislike those who are not so nice. This is our human condition, and there is no reason to try to cover it up.
On the other hand, I think human relationships are an act of creativity and craftsmanship. Haven't some people who are or have been in our lives and have hurt us in some way taught us how to get out of a specific situation or learn to choose between how to answer them or ignore their antics? With each negativity and positivity, we learn how to deal with all human beings, and in doing so, we learn how to deal with life.
I can't really tell, and I believe neither anyone else can, for sure, if those people were sent into our lives by fate, by choice, or by God, or if it is why we are here. What I can deduce for certain is that we do learn from the negative people as much as we do from the positive ones.
It is a stunning development of history that the words human and humility share a common root in the Latin humus meaning earth or soil. To me, this means we all are of the same soil with some differences as there are differences in soil types, and the humility must refer to our acceptance of everyone without holding ourselves above or below them.
Anyhow, if we really look very closely to each person, we find in those, whom we classify as bad or alien or strange, aspects that are familiar and probably not so bad. Conversely, when we look closely at the people dearest to us who we think we know so well, we may find characteristics unfamiliar and even ugly. This is because human beings are extraordinary, can be polarized inside themselves, and are apt to change. They are sometimes as changeable as Superman who goes into the phone booth to become Clark Kent.
Even when we look sincerely into our own selves, don't we sometimes find an eccentric, problematic, confused, or unknowable human being? A person whom one loves or dislikes is a world, just as one knows oneself to be a world. The acceptance of this idea alone should make us thankful for the existence of every single person in our lives, no matter which trials or joys we experience with them or because of them.
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December 23, 2014 at 1:14pm December 23, 2014 at 1:14pm
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Prompt: Now that we've had the winter solstice, how does the official beginning of winter make you feel?
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Winter solstice…the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere…what a phenomenon, and an astronomical one to boot, which began when our planet started spinning about 4.5 billion years ago!
Winter has officially begun. Where I live winter is a random event. It means milder weather, not as hot as the usual scorcher days. Today, for example, it will be in early eighties with sixties at night, but thanks to the front arriving from north, Christmas will be around 40's to 60's. Not too bad, by northern criteria; here, however, the way the houses are built, the openness of them, lets the rooms feel a chill, despite the heating systems.
Winter or any other season, the weather has always been a common denominator, a conversational crutch at times, and one of humankind's greatest preoccupations, since what we can do depends on it. Weather is something we are never sure of, despite the multitude of weather-people on the news.
Yet, who needs to be foretold, especially inside a warm house on a cold winter day? Winter, when you either brave the cold wind, grey skies, bare trees, in Eskimo clothing and boots or stay in wrapped in a blanket with the book you finally can read in peace…
And, what's winter without snow! It's been years since I have seen it. Once upon a time, in my northern residency days, the silent snow fell like cotton balls covering our backyard as sluggish streaks of wood smoke from the chimneys climbed into the low-lying clouds. At night, the full moon on the pond and through the trees blended its light with that of the blanketed snow on the rolling hills. That image still burns in my memory.
Yet, there is a harsher side to winter than delightful snow scenes. Those, I could probably not weather so well in this old age, and there are other things I cannot take even more than the weather's antics either, which make me recall Shakespeare's words:
"Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;"
It may just be that we only evaluate what we see in front of us and feel with our simplistic five senses, sometimes negatively, like winter, while what is not so evident,yet dangerous, may lurk in the shadows baring its sharp teeth waiting to hurt us more deeply than the cold and the ice.
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December 22, 2014 at 3:55am December 22, 2014 at 3:55am
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Prompt: In what ways do you think reading literature enhances your outlook on life?
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The question of what reading does for the human soul is an old one, almost as old as the time when the human beings discovered writing. From then on, the value of reading literature has become enormous as is expands empathy and mental powers and ennobles the inner life, providing the readers with a simulation of real life, while informing and entertaining them.
For me literature is more than entertainment. It is therapy; it is schooling; it is a response to the human fallibility. It helps us live and die with a bit more rationality, understanding, wisdom, and appreciation of life. It allows us to consider events from someone else's point of view and shows us the results of our actions on people in a way we wouldn't grasp otherwise. As Emerson said, "In the works of great writers, we find our own neglected thoughts."
Reading literature is a cure for loneliness. Writers of great literature open our hearts and minds to ourselves and show us who or what we are, so we can travel through our experiences without feeling so abandoned, as sometimes we are reluctant or unable to say or even admit to ourselves what's really on our minds or what it is that is facing us.
Reading literature helps us to become nicer as it is opposed to the main value system of the society, which rewards power and money. Great stories and poetry make us more concerned and appreciative of important ideas and feelings that are not cynical, commercial, or status-oriented. They give us examples of kind, generous, lovable people to emulate, in contrast to the more negative materialistic ones.
Reading literature prepares us for success and failure. Through what we read, we learn not to judge harshly our own failures and not to gloat over our little successes. It gives access to a wide range of emotions and events and lets us peek into numerous situations that we wouldn't have time to experience in one lifetime. In this way, reading literature is a time-expender. It is as if we live many lifetimes in just one lifetime.
In short, the great books that we read serve as tools by letting us live our lives with more sanity, goodness, understanding, and wisdom.
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December 20, 2014 at 12:49pm December 20, 2014 at 12:49pm
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Prompt: Gandhi said, "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." Agree or disagree? Is there more to happiness than that?
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I think there's more to happiness than what goes on within an individual. What goes on around him or her must have some effect on happiness also. Still, happiness starts from within, and I agree with Gandhi, if partially, from a specific point of view because of this question: How can anyone be happy if his insides are fighting within its sections?
Then other questions also come to mind. What does it mean to live with thoughts, words, and actions different from each other? What does this say about the character of a person?
I think it shows a person with dubious values, wavering rationality, and a faulty character. It also points to a person conflicted within himself.
Most of the old Greek moralists think that if we are rational, we aim at living well. Living well doesn't necessarily mean material possessions, but it means how a person is at peace within himself. The Stoics identify happiness with “living coherently.” To live coherently, a person needs that psychological unity within himself.
First, our thoughts have great power over our life. At the core of human psychology, our thinking affects who we are. Then how we conduct our speech is a very important quality, too. Our words need to agree with our thoughts perfectly, so we don't feel their separation inside ourselves. No matter how we rationalize or ignore that separation, it will always be there, working against us, against our good mood, whether we are aware of it or not.
As human beings, we usually act what we think, but sometimes the words we utter come out differently for many reasons, some of which are: to save face, to quiet or appease the other people so they don't mess with our actions, to help the outcome of a scheme, etc.
It is guessed by psychologists that in most people thoughts, words, and deeds are in disarray. That is to say, we do not say what we mean, we don't do what we say, and our words and actions are not in sync with our thoughts. Could be true, but which one of us hasn't told a white lie, possibly to not hurt another person? Then, be it for the best of intentions, when we tell that white lie, don't we feel an uneasiness within ourselves? This, therefore, shows that sticking to truthfulness is the best thing to do for our personal happiness and peace of mind, but does it always help our environs? I value truth greatly, but I can be flexible in not exposing it in its stark nakedness, if this has to do with helping another person.
As to deeds, if they don't agree with our words and thoughts, what good are they for? Our actions spurred by our weaknesses give us even more trouble, deadening our minds to the ultimate goal of happiness.
I think, in the complicated times that we live in, it is not always possible to have thoughts, words, and actions agree all the time. For that same reason, being perfectly happy is practically impossible all the time, as well. If our time and place lacks harmony, how can we as individuals have that perfect harmony and find happiness while everyone around us is falling apart?
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December 19, 2014 at 10:00am December 19, 2014 at 10:00am
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Prompt: "Being spontaneous is being able to respond with confidence; calmly trusting that, whatever the outcome, you will have a positive if challenging experience that will lead to greater self-awareness and success.” ~Sylvia Clare
“I may be going nowhere, but what a ride.” ~Shaun Hick
“Plans are invitation to disappointment.” Derek Landy
Do you believe spontaneity leads to a richer fuller life? Or do you believe that planning every intricate detail is the only way to have a fuller successful life? I've given you three different quotes about spontaneity, which one describes your life?
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I don't like too much planning, but I won't readily jump off cliffs or suddenly go bungee jumping in the middle of a hurricane either. An idea of what I am going to do is usually enough planning for me. Anyhow, no matter how many plans I make, life happens like a sudden weather change and I have to wing it totally or partially.
I am not sure if spontaneity leads to a richer, fuller life, but it does make things a bit more exciting. I guess it depends on the degree of spontaneity or planning. I have never been a fan of intricate planning or crazy spontaneity.
Between intricate planning or crazy spontaneity, however, I'll take the spontaneity, the gentler kind of it, because at least, I don't waste my time with the planning or the frustration afterwards when things go haywire by life's intervention. Come to think of it most things that are fun happen spontaneously, like an outburst of humor or a show of appreciation and love.
As to the quotes, at times, all of them apply to me, but mostly the first one by Sylvia Clare. It all depends on the way we each define what spontaneity is.
The way I see it, spontaneity does not mean disorder or capricious behavior. It means exploration and adventure and allowing the unexpected to happen. In that way it is like art, as all art needs some information, but then we need to let our spontaneity to take over, use, or adjust that information for us to become true artists.
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December 18, 2014 at 2:48pm December 18, 2014 at 2:48pm
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Prompt: Someone is baking a cake for you in the shape of six books. Name the books you would choose for the cake.
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Who says I want one cake. To feed my greed, I am going to ask for two cakes. Although I can easily think of a dozen, but I don't want my nice baker to go bankrupt.
First a She cake, all chocolate of course.
1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
5. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
6. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
And for the icing on this cake, a mixture of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri and Rococo by Adriana Trigiani
Now the He cake. Coconut crunch and other things nutty.
I'll just walk around my bookshelves and pick the thickest volumes I can find for the bottom layers, at least. Ahha! Here they are:
1. Complete Works of William Shakespeare
2. Complete Works of Jelaluddin Rumi
3. Complete Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
5. Farewell to Arms by Hemingway
6. Beach Music or Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
And for the starry icing on the cake, The Little Prince by Saint Exupery
Then for the foodies, a true six layer cake: this comes out really delicious. I tried it once, but I won't do it again, because first it was a job finding passion fruit, (I substituted cherries) but most importantly, I made a mess in the kitchen. Unless I can hire three helpers to clean after me, I am not doing layered cakes ever again.
Here is where you can find this great recipe:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/six-layer-coconut-cake-with-passion-fruit-fil...
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December 17, 2014 at 12:26am December 17, 2014 at 12:26am
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* ( deleted the original one by mistake) So here's my December 16 entry, again. Duh!
Prompt: About the strangers you meet every day, in the supermarket, while shopping, on the road, etc. How do their offhand words, random gestures, or thoughtful or thoughtless actions affect your mood (or someone else's)?
The world can be a fun place and at times a scary one. Lots of people are upset and they need to drag others to their level.
Something funny always happens on the road, for example. When someone gives my hubby the finger or says something nasty, he becomes so upset that I end up picking up the shards of his emotions. Our whole approach is funny in a way.
The other day, a woman cut us off on the road, flipping him the bird; I guess hubby was driving too slow for her liking. Then whatever else happened, our lane got stuck. She switched to the lane to the right of me. Then our lane opened up and her lane got stuck. In the meantime, my one and only kept complaining of women who thought they were from the Wild West. While we were passing her by, she looked at us. I smiled and gave her a little friendly wave. "Don't bug her!" hubby said, "She is a nut." But the woman started laughing and I laughed, too. It turned into a friendly fleeting moment from car to car.
I think being funny or smiling at a cranky person works, depending of course that the other person doesn't have a gun. At least someone else's bad day doesn't end up controlling my mind.
I learned this trick from a newscaster that we old-timers would know. I am talking about Walter Cronkite. Anytime an interviewee became testy, Walter Cronkite became extremely polite. The nastier the other person was, the more chivalrous Cronkite acted. I guess that is killing someone with kindness, but it works most of the time, as often my good humor makes them realize how big of a jerk they are being.
Then on the positive side, especially during Christmas season, people smile and say hello, Merry Christmas, or any other kind word, open the doors for others, let them pass in front of them at a line. Those things really brighten my day up, not necessarily because someone has been nice to me, but because that someone has the niceness and good spirit in them and they are spreading the cheer around. Around Christmas, there is more of that, but then for some nice folks, Christmas is in every day, which is so comforting to find out with all the negatives going on in the world.
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December 17, 2014 at 12:17am December 17, 2014 at 12:17am
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Prompt: "Sometimes, if you aren't sure about something, you have to jump off the bridge and grow wings on your way down." Danielle Steel
What is your take on this?
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Truth be told, I am not good at jumping off bridges. Even watching bungee jumpers on TV makes my head spin. I also doubt that I'll ever grow wings. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am way too far from being an angel or a bird. Now that I have swept the physical phenomena aside, let me check on the metaphoric meaning of what this author means to say.
My guess is, this quote has to do with dreams. The author means to say that we should try every possible path, no matter how un-doable, and just jump into making a dream reality. On the plus side, to pursue a dream gives life a purpose and hope for the future. If a person doesn't strive for his dream, what is the purpose of his life?
Still, all life has a purpose, I would say, even a seemingly purposeless one because of the effect it has on those surrounding it. So what if we live because the others want us to? What is wrong with that? Isn't living for others a dream in itself?
My question is, in order to reach an impossible dream, do we have to fight windmills, a la Don Quixote? Wouldn't it make more sense to dream a difficult yet possible dream? By this, I don't mean we should settle for something easy to do, but we shouldn't aim so high that, like Icarus, we get our wings burned and fall back to earth.
For example, if I dreamt of exploring Alpha Centauri in a spaceship in this day and age, I don't think I could find anyone or anything willing to catapult me into space. Even if I did, I'd probably perish on the way over.
On the other hand, no matter how ridiculous or silly a dream might be, it’s never okay to just throw it out the window. If I have the dream of exploring Alpha Centauri, who can stop me from studying astronomy and watching the skies through telescopes, even at my age?
Giving up on our dreams is like giving up on life. Besides, working toward a dream is healthy as it builds up character. Also, in time, we learn we have a responsibility to that dream. It may just be that the dream we work toward may open other avenues to explore, other dreams to dream. Then, who knows, maybe even the most impossible dream can be possible, and one day people may travel to Alpha Centauri, based on the technological discoveries before them that someone like me might have initiated.
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December 15, 2014 at 12:36pm December 15, 2014 at 12:36pm
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Prompt: Do you think we have the right to peek into personal letters of poets and writers after they are dead, even if they have indicated inside those letters that they don't want others to see them? For example, check this letter by Emily Dickinson.
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2014/12/i-miss-my-biggest-heart.html
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I always liked lettersofnote.com because the site gives us a rare insight into writers and through them into human condition. This one letter, on the other hand, made me think, and it made to come up with this prompt to alert writers, be it unknown ones who think what they leave behind won't be important because they didn't become famous. Well, some poets and writers did become famous posthumously, like Emily Dickinson.
Obviously Emily Dickinson did not want others to read her letters. "Don't let them see, will you Susie?" I am quite sure, if she had any inkling of her present-day fame, this poet would not have written that letter or she would have asked her friends to burn such letters; but Emily Dickinson wasn't famous in her lifetime. She was a recluse to start with, and this letter she must have written believing in the strictest confidence of its receiver.
I fault neither Dickinson for writing the letter nor her friend Susan Huntington Gilbert for leaving it behind after her death. As precious as such a letter might have been for her, however, she should have burned it, so others wouldn't be reading it, so many decades after their death, but then, she wasn't a seer of future and she didn't know that.
Some say we should only be concerned about privacy, if we have something to hide, and most of us believe that if a person is a celebrity, he is game to all breaks into his or her privacy. But what if a person became a celebrity after death? Shouldn't we, at least, honor the privacy she valued during her lifetime?
My belief is, if a person has hidden something from the public view during his or her lifetime, it should be well respected after death takes that person. Otherwise, we are not any better than grave robbers.
"I dwell in Possibility"
By Emily Dickinson
I dwell in Possibility--
A fairer House than Prose--
More numerous of Windows--
Superior--for Doors -
Of Chambers as the Cedars--
Impregnable of Eye—**
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky--
Of Visitors--the fairest--
For Occupation--This--
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise—
**The underlined two lines refers to the poet's privacy, as she was hiding behind her poetry.
Symbols in this poem:
Possibility= poetry
House and its parts = the persona of the poet
Her Occupation (and the last two lines) Her creating of poetry
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December 14, 2014 at 6:35pm December 14, 2014 at 6:35pm
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A great novel keeps on having an impact on its readers even after its reading is finished, like The Brothers Karamazov, The Tale of Two Cities, or The Grapes of Wrath, even though what affects each person is dependent on his or her personality. Some of the neverending stories are epics.
The easiest way to create such a story is through plot. In this technique, the writer creates an apparent balance and then shatters it with a surprise. This reversal forces the reader to rethink all the characters and their actions that have led them to this point, such as Darth Vader ending up being Luke Skywalker's father. Now the reader thinks the plot was not what they first thought and there won't be other surprises anymore, but what if…Still, writers should not overdo these shocking surprises too much, as they become irritating and commonplace eventually.
Another way is to weave an intricate network of character, plot, theme, symbol, scene, and dialogue. In this way, there will be no limits to surprises and to the re-evaluation of the story. Some of the possible surprises or changes here can be when the protagonist does not arrive at his goal and other characters come up with new goals for him or themselves or a surprising character change may pop up for the protagonist and/or the antagonist or any other character. Examples to this can be Shakepeare's Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream or Sophocles's Oedipus Rex.
Then, yet another way can be when one of the many backstory events moves to the foreground. Examples to this can be Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and several of A. Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.
Other methods can fiddle with making the moral argument or theme ambiguous at first, in order to change it to something else as the story progresses.
The trick in this type of writing lies in withholding the final choices or changing the choices two, three or four times during the course of the story, so the readers can also relate to and explore such choices in their own lives.
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December 13, 2014 at 1:51pm December 13, 2014 at 1:51pm
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Prompt: How do you feel about home-made gifts? Do you make them yourself? Go to craft-fairs? Or do you prefer store bought gifts only?
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I have always appreciated the thoughtfulness that went behind a gift made by a friend. Granted, home-made gifts may not be as smooth and look or work as nicely as the store-bought ones, but they show care and thoughtfulness. Plus, their being cheaper may not always be true, if those who snicker at them think so.
I get a big kick out of the home-made stuff if I know the person giving it to me made it herself or himself. As much as the crafty pieces sold in fairs and other such places are called hand-made or home-made, they are still bought and done by someone else other than the gift-giver. I mean, what's their difference from the store-bought items, except for honoring the crafts and cottage industry?
Certainly not everyone has the time for sitting down and knitting, crocheting, painting, baking, or putting together gifts for numerous people on Christmas, but whether the original gift is a crafty one or store-bought, if it is accompanied by a couple of homemade cookies, a poem or a card specially worded for the receiver, a crocheted pot-holder or something little like that, it becomes so much more meaningful.
There is one thing, however, that gets me a bit annoyed. It is when people think they need to or agreed to "exchange" gifts. Is Christmas a bartering system? Don't we give gifts because we need to show we like and appreciate the other person and the holiday?
Along the same lines, I have heard people say, "I gave her this and that, but she didn't give me anything. I'm taking her off my list." This makes me cringe. It is worse than the frenzied compulsion around Christmas time of buying things nobody wants. Expecting something in return for showing our appreciation of other people? This type of thinking just doesn't have class at all.
As far as the holiday season goes, I think we should tone down the gift section inside our brains and replace it with more meaning. After all, doesn't Christmas have more to do with meaning?
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December 12, 2014 at 12:50pm December 12, 2014 at 12:50pm
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Prompt: Have you ever visited a place that remains in your consciousness, long after you left? Was it the people? The architecture?
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I think they call it episodic memory, the memory of places associated with emotions; a memory so strong that I can feel I am still in that place and I can almost visually picture it as if the time never moved.
What a miracle it is that there are so many places and landscapes, which I am delighted to visit in my mind's eye, as I have traveled quite a bit in my life. Memories of those have little to do with architecture, but a lot with the people and landscapes; yet mostly, it has been the emotions of a past moment that glued its memory to my consciousness, as if my consciousness were a scrapbook.
Starting as early as childhood, my memories, heightened by the vivid pictures of sea and landscapes, have to do with my uncles, the places they took me, and the care and attention they gave me. My uncles were the people who tried to make up for and successfully took over the place that my father had left empty; possibly for that reason alone, my memories with them glow the brightest.
Next are the places I went, visited and revisited, in my adult life, alone or with my husband: The Alps, Matterhorn, the beaches, cities in foreign countries, a barbecue on the beach at the southern coast of France, ferryboat rides on the Bosporus, London pubs, a lakefront restaurant on Lake Erie, a Canadian Winter Scene, our first son eleven months old, running on the beach in Coco Beach leaving her tiny footprints on the sand and my husband and I singing together "Beach baby, beach baby," the oak trees on Long Island, the masts of the boats in Sausalito Harbor marinas, fishermen's nets and clambake in Cape Cod…My list is too long to write, but most memories that I recall most vividly has some emotion attached to them.
Any such memory, the stark reproduction of it as if a photograph, makes me think how fortunate I am that my mind can summon it so colorfully and still has me experience, if only fleetingly, a beautiful emotion I so wish to keep for eternity. The brilliance of these reminiscences tie me to our planet and have me think what a wonderful, fantastic place this is and how lucky we all are to be living on it.
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December 11, 2014 at 1:34pm December 11, 2014 at 1:34pm
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Prompt: Was Christmas more fun as a child or is it more fun as an adult?
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My childhood is so far away that I have difficulty remembering the fun in comparison to later, but I am guessing I must have had more fun then, since I liked the Christmas's jingly music that repeated everywhere the adults took me to. In my old age, those songs stick to my head and annoy me. Although I still enjoy one song The Little Drummer Boy, and some of the Christmas music such as the Nutcracker Ballet and Corelli's Concerto Grosso in G minor.
I used to love, then, the movies It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, but I don't like watching them again, only because I have never liked to see a movie or read a book more than once. Except, I can still watch the cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas.
I also used to love the shopping and the writing of Christmas Cards and stuff like that. Not anymore. It could just be because with time and repetition some things, including decorating and putting up lights up, have become boring chores. This year, I only have a wreath on the front door. This could be partly due to the fact that, in older years, the social life diminishes somewhat, at least in respect to the old friends and family members we used to have and the big parties we all used to feel so excited about during the earlier and middle years.
One thing I still like to do is the cooking. I can get more creative with Christmas food than what we eat in Thanksgiving, since I can substitute something else for turkey, which I don't like. The one thing I appreciate about Christmas is the way people become nicer. Not that I meet "un-nice" folks at other times, but I find that people do smile more and are more polite in little ways.
I guess there are some things I still enjoy about Christmas, as long as the meaning of it doesn't get lost in the commotion, but in general, I probably felt a lot more enthusiasm about the holiday while a child and as a middle-aged adult than now.
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