Author: halfcnote

…and my mother thanks you…

Whilst lying abed and nursing my first winter cold and frankly hiding from the Yoda sleepover leftovers, I caught up on a couple of blog messages sitting in my emails.  One of these was from awkwardeldon.com, in which he admits that he is remiss in acknowledging the blog awards he received.

This brought to mind the Versatile Blogger Award nomination that Hotoffthewire.com presented me with back in November.

Doing what I like to do, I researched this award.  Can’t be too sure on the internet, you know.  Turned out it’s a real thing passed about the blogosphere. Not everyone out there is impressed or flattered with this prize, but I am.  A total stranger appreciated my words and passed the award my way.  It wasn’t as if my friend from down the way said, “Hey, I’ll nominate you, if you nominate me.”  I think its rather neat.

Now, I’m not so naive not to know that these awards are also used to drum up business for other bloggers.  But isn’t that what we are here for in the first place, to be read?  And if someone takes the time to notice my little blog then I should take the time to acknowledge that fact.

I let the nomination fall by the wayside because I didn’t have enough information on other bloggers to recommend the 15 that are suggested in the nomination “rules”.  But after sticking this out for a few months and stalking around and joining the Weekly Photo Challenge, I’ve found kindred souls and some not-so kindred souls who make my reading and viewing pleasure more enjoyable, if not challenging.

So here it goes – according to the rules:

To fulfill the nomination, the nominee must:

  1. Give credit to the person who nominated you and create a link to their blog in your post (coming up so watch for it!).
  2. Create a list of 15 blogs that you enjoy most and link to those as well. You must then tell those bloggers you have nominated them for the award. If you don’t have 15, you can’t do this step. If you can’t do this step, you can’t claim the award.
  3. Finally, you must create and post a list of seven things about yourself.

Forgive me please of you are one of the bloggers I found that prefer not to partake.  Just know that I nominate you in kind because I’ve found your site interesting, humorous, insightful and/or thought provoking:

  1. Thanks to Kelly Thompson of www.hotoffthewire.com for the nomination.  Sorry it took so long to acknowledge.
2. The LIST:

(For no other reason than being the first 15 in order of my Blogs I Follow list)

  1. Bashert – www.bashert04.com –  My lovely and creative life partner.  Her photos are beautiful.
  2. The Pamela Chronicles – http://pamelamarie.wordpress.com- A newish friend met through Bashert.  Premiere archivist and genuinely sweet person.
  3. Publikworks – http://publikworks.wordpress.com – Dry, funny, witty.  Makes the everyday a little bit better to take.
  4. The Laughing Housewife – http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com – The first blog I ever “liked”.  A funny, british lady who’s in love with the British version of Whoppers.  Great jokes to have a laugh, groan or borrow.
  5. Janine/Shambolic Living – http://shambolicliving.wordpress.com – A wonderful blog I found through the weekly photo challenge. I stayed for the writing.
  6. Margie – http://latebloomerbuds.wordpress.com- Wonderful photos, full of colour and texture.
  7. Northern Narratives – http://northernnarratives.wordpress.com – Photos and words from where it’s really cold.
  8. Max Adams – http://celluloidblonde.wordpress.com – Sundries across the gamut.  I never know what might pop up and get me thinking.
  9. Straight Guy in the Queer Skies – http://brianeasley.wordpress.com/ – Interesting tales of a straight airline steward.
  10. Spectra – http://spectrumwoman.com/ – She had me at her “other incarnation” photo.
  11. Becoming Cliche – http://becomingcliche.wordpress.com/ – A wonderfully humorous, if somewhat bumpy ride on the pathways of life.
  12. Eldon – http://awkwardeldon.com/ – The guy who reminded me about this. You just have to read.
  13. FrizzText – http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/ – Interesting conglomeration of thoughts, photography and guitar.  How ‘bout that for a combination?
  14. Susie & Amy – http://insatiablebooksluts.wordpress.com/ – Just what they say they are right up front.  Any site that promotes reading and uses 1940’s pin up art is okay in my book.
  15. Dan/a LEGO a day – http://legomyphoto.wordpress.com/ – A fun must for anyone who loves their LEGOs with a pinch of humor.
Seven things about me:
  1. I was the fastest typist in my 8th grade typing class; 56 wpm.  Typing, not keyboarding – you know…clack, clack, clack…bing!
  2. I once held hands with Leif Erickson (the actor, not the viking).
  3. If I developed a vice that would be the end of me, it would probably be gambling – Vegas and I did not part ways as friends.
  4. I have a small collection of playing cards, baseball caps and elephants.  It’s one hell of a poker night.
  5. I missed graduating from college (the first time) with Cum Laude by 1/100th of a point. A very sore 1/100th of a point, indeed.
  6. I have not worn a dress since 1995. And truth be told, it was actually a skirt that my divorce attorneys made me wear.  They thought it would make me look more feminine in court.  Ever see a steel worker in drag?  That was me.
  7. I wrote my one and only fan letter to Bobby Sherman in 1969. I understand he is a very nice man, who works in the California emergency services industry now.  I still have his greatest hits on my iPod.  Well, some of the greatest hits, well…okay, one song – Julie Do You Love Me.  Eight year old me and 50 year old me don’t exactly have the same appreciation for his music.

Okay, there you go. Rules fulfilled and compliment acknowledged.  Thank you for welcoming me into the sphere.

Hungry for Fiction

Courtesy of Scholastic

Since I am not in school right now and starved for something to read other than textbooks and nonfiction support of those textbooks, a coworker offered up the three book series The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. And since I still had some Amazon gift cards left, I said what the heck, I’ll bite.

I had no idea what the books were about, just that my coworker said they were “greeaaatttt!”.  Okay.  What I failed to take into consideration was the fact that my coworker is half my age, my daughter Nenè’s age to be specific.  I guess I should have known something was up when I saw that they were printed by Scholastic.

Now, the last time I read a book that had a teenager as the center was when a friend loaned me the Twilight series several years ago and insisted I read them.

I don’t mind my vampires twinkly, but I did get rather mired in the teenage angst.  A bit vapid for my tastes, which run more toward Lestat (the non-Tom Cruise version) and Armand. So when I realized that the central character was sixteen I was a bit hesitant to dig into the storyline.

But since I was really in the mood for some reading, I bit the bullet and took a chance on the first book.

The premise sounded interesting.  The setting is a futuristic North America caught in the grips of a cruel and sadistic central ruling government referred to as the Capitol.  The country Panem is now divided into thirteen districts, twelve of which supply all the material needs of the Capitol.

In order to keep the populous under control (as if keeping most of them in a near starvation state and under the watchful eyes of official “Peacekeepers” wasn’t enough), the powers-that-be maintain a yearly televised contest, whereby one girl and boy from each district are chosen lottery style to compete to the death.  Each tribute is wined, dined and given a team of stylists before being deposited in the arena for battle.

Think The Lottery meets The Most Dangerous Game meets Lord of the Flies meets Project Runway.

The story line is pretty much the archetypical fable and fairly predictable – missing parent figure, non-parent mentor to substitute, supporting cast to represent needed virtues, a seemingly omnipotent villain to overcome.  The one additional component – teenage angst—vapid, teenage angst.  The constant overwhelming crush of emotions amid the child genocide and governmental overthrow.

Does Gale really like Katniss in that way?  Does Peeta really love her?  Why does the President hate her so?  What was the true meaning behind that kiss?  Will Katniss forgive her mother for becoming a catatonic robot when Katniss’ father was blown to bits in a coal explosion?  Will Luke really defeat Darth and find out that the girl of his dreams is really his sister?  Will Dorothy find her way home?…Oops.  But you get the drift.

There was only one twist that I didn’t see coming in the entire series and that was one scene near the end of volume three Mockingjay– I won’t be bold enough to spoil it for anyone who wishes to read the books – but honestly was that truly necessary for the storyline?  It seems extraordinarily out of place and even more contrived than anything else in the entire series.  Left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the book, much like when John Jakes killed off Anne in the bicentennial series The Kent Family Chronicles.  Never forgave him for that one.

Lost my train of thought there…

I read all three volumes to satisfy my curiosity and my coworker.  She was astounded that I finished all three in a week.  Really?  By the time I got to the third one I was ready to be done.  No witty repartee or exciting sex scenes, nope just lots of glossed gore and emo.  I can see there being a “team Gale” and a “team Peeta” coming when the movie is released.

Ah, yes…archetypical story lines and teenage angst.  I think I’ve had my fill once more.  I’m going to write a note to keep up – “Books. Ask someone over thirty.”

Oh, please say to me you’ll let me hold your hand

Yeah you, got that something

I think you’ll understand

When I say that something

I wanna hold your hand

Lennon/McCartney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palm cupping palm or just fingertips held gently, the simple gesture of holding hands speaks volumes.  Comfort, familiarity, solidarity, friendship, love, safety; it’s all in a simple touch.

Nurses lightly touch hands when ministering to the ill, clergy does the same. We hold our children’s hands to guide them through the first mazes of life. We shake hands in greeting and in agreement, a variation on holding hands.  A personal thing without being intrusive.

I smile when I see my parents, now married almost sixty years, holding hands.  A small jolt of joy runs up my arm each time Yoda reaches out and takes my hand.  Bashert and I will often just lightly touch fingers to pass quiet communication; I’m still here. I care.

My friend’s husband is dying by infinitesimal moments.  Holding his hand is what remains. She sits vigil while man’s inhumanity drains the life out of both of them.  But as the hours and minutes go by, she holds his hand; comforting, familiar and loving to help ease both of them into their next worlds.

Perhaps its not such a simple thing after all.

Finals Week – Waiting will have to wait

It’s time to put the fall semester to bed, but first I have to tuck in the edges with an Anthropology final and delivery of my final portfolio for Creative Writing.  Translation: Weekly Photo Challenge will be late coming.

So pardon me for a little while longer, as I go gas up on another cup of coffee and a quick dance around the dining room, so that I can wake up enough to finish review of three more chapters.  And I thought I took the night off to be rested for tomorrow.  Silly me.

Oxymoron & the Holiday Concert

By definition an oxymoron is a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

 

Secular: denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.

Christmas: the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ’s birth, held on December 25. (italics mine)

 

Thus I give you: Secular Christmas

 

There is no such thing as a secular Christmas.  I should think one wouldn’t be wanted if what is being celebrated is the very foundation of the religion.  “Reason for the Season” and all that.

Santa Claus represents Christmas.  No matter how commercialized the figure has become, his entire basis of being is Christmas, the religious holiday.  Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick appears at no other time of the year other than Christmas Eve, which apparently starts the day after Thanksgiving these days.

A Santa hat represents Christmas, not winter.  Ask any kid.  And any adult who says otherwise is attempting to skirt the issue or possibly from The Netherlands.

Now, before anyone gets their knickers in a knot, let me say this; I was born into a family that celebrated Christmas, they still do.  My daughter Nenè celebrates Christmas.  There are many Christmas songs/hymns that I truly love.

I am not antiChristmas.  I repeat, I am not antiChristmas.

What I am is Jewish and a supporter of equal representation in public institutions that are supposed to be separated from religion in the first place, at least here in the States.

I will also add that Bashert and I love our son’s school.  It is a public school that prescribes to the International Baccalaureate system of world inclusion; global thinking.  It’s one of the few remaining public elementary schools in our area that has a fine arts program and full time foreign language program. The principal is a fantastic woman, educator and administrator who stands up fiercely for her teachers, students and school.  The teachers are wonderful and creative (many of them have won teacher of the year several times over).

So why bring this up, this secular Christmas?  I’ll tell you why since you asked.

This was the description given to Bashert by Yoda’s new music teacher in regards to this year’s school holiday concert.

Don’t worry about your Jewish child being excluded because we are only singing secular Christmas songs.  Not secularly themed songs about winter time, but secular Christmas songs.

And by the way, Yoda will need to bring a Santa hat for costuming.

Excuse me?

That’s pretty much tantamount to me telling your Christian child that he needs to bring a kippah to school so that he can participate in our High Holiday concert, but its okay because we are only going to be singing prayers that the Jewish religion is based on.

The crux of the matter lies in the blatant disregard for our son’s significance and the simple minded arrogance that assumes that it just okay to have everyone conform to the same belief system.  Really, what harm is wearing a Santa hat, while singing Christmas songs, right?

In real life I work for a multinational corporation and yet every Monday and Friday now until Christmas, I am being forced to listen to Christmas holiday music via the satellite feed.  Every year I have to write an official letter reminding the powers that be, that as a multinational corporation we need to be mindful that not all cultures celebrate or appreciate the holiday of Christmas (the same music plays when someone is placed on hold).  And every year I get the same response that it was agreed upon that the music would play during the prescribed times only.  Big whoop.  I’m just the Jew in the ointment spoiling everyone’s holiday cheer.

I guess what it all boils down to; arrogance, assumptions and significance.

Every kid matters.  Every kid deserves to be seen as significant.  Every kid deserves respect.

Perhaps if we started really practicing this at Yoda’s level, I wouldn’t have to write a letter every year.  But until that happens, Yoda won’t be wearing a Santa hat during any song at the holiday joy night concert and I will keep writing my letters each year.

Perhaps someday, in his lifetime Yoda will see the true spirit of this season.

And maybe all of us won’t have to suffer the effects of Christmas music burn out two days after Thanksgiving.