Standing in Awe: The Power of Great Literature to Inform, Transform and Rectify (Human Behavior and Effect Social Changes)

I am still in a state of awe over a series events that occurred over a two day period.

Here's what happened.  

I. Wednesday's Literary Discussion 

As part of a  Literature at Lunch class that I lead with Rabbi Moshe/Mitchell Kurtz at Congregation Agudath Sholom, we just discussed what is perhaps the most anthologized native American short story, "The Man to Send Rainclouds." It is written by Leslie Marmon Silko, pictured above, who is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe of New Mexico. 

Artistically compressed tightly in its two and a half pages are many themes and symbols. In the interests of keeping my essay brief here are some are in a nutshell. 

First, the historical background of the canvas upon she paints her masterpiece namely white European man's burden to civilize the natives--seen as savages--which involved coerced conversion to Catholicism, forced agricultural labor on missions, torture and killing of resisters. 

A major character of the story is LAND-- which, in accordance with native American traditions, is held in stewardship for the entire community. Also, land is needed, of course, to provide man with provender for sustenance. And in order to insure a steady supply of crops, a steady supply of rain is essential. And,  humans, who have passed on, are an essential part of the ritual to guarantee rain. 

To illustrate, when grandfather Teophilo dies suddenly while tending his flock of sheep, his grandchildren quickly prepare the body for a simple interment, wrapping him in a red blanket, attaching a feather to his long strand of white hair, painting  his face with symbolic colors and sprinkling  him with corn and pollen. 

These rituals insure his soul a swift protected journey to reunite with the Great Spirit while his body is infused with the sanctity acting as an agent to guarantee continued and future fertility of the soil. 

His passage begins  with a proper burial of the body, enriching the earth with nutrients as the body decomposes; and then eventually the soul is a type of offering  to the Great Spirit given to help ensure abundant rainfall.

Ernest Hemingway 

from Wikipedia

The dialog in this masterpiece is sparse, threadbare, clipped and understated ala Hemingway. The very first dialog is when the two grandchildren find grandpa hunched over in the arroyo, recently deceased;

then they perform the rites described above and one of the boys declares "Send us rain clouds, grandfather."

And...….The story ends after the funeral with Leon surmising "...now the old man could send them big thunderclouds for sure."

II. Thursday's Announcement: RADICAL AMAZEMENT

Deb Haaland, currently congresswoman from 

the Laguna Puebla tribe in New Mexico

photo from the Navajo-Hopi Observer 

The very next day after our discussion, it was announced by the White House that President Biden's choice for Secretary of the Interior would be Deb Haaland, like Leslie Marmon Silko, a native American  citizen of the Laugna Pueblo Tribe of New Mexico and 35th generation, to boot. 

Laguna Pueblo, Native American reservation near

Albuquerque, New Mexico, home to Deb Haaland 

and Leslie Marmon Silko. Photo from dream.com

Why am I in radical amazement?

The shoe-in appointee for the position of Secretary of the Interior was thought to be Tom Udall, senator from New Mexico whose father Stewart Udall served as Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson from 1961-1969. 

What's more Tom, like his deceased dad, is a staunch supporter of wilderness conservation. 

So, the announcement that congresswoman Haaland, a member of the very same Laguna Pueblo tribe as that of our author Leslie Marmon Silko, is the first native American ever to be nominated to a cabinet post, came as a  pleasant surprise.

 I am tempted against my better judgment to attribute this totally unexpected event in some small part to my teaching this work of fiction which so urgently calls for our recognition of  and making rectification to an ethnic minority--once clearly a majority on the North American continent--a group that has suffered horrifically to the point of  near extinction over the past 500 years. 

Consider these numbers: Historians put the native American population in North America in the 1500's at about 3 to 7 million. By 1800, this number shrank to about 300,000 and by the late 19th century the figure stood at about 260,000. 

That is a 90% drop. 

The decimation of this indigenous race was a result of disease brought to the Americas by settlers from European countries, by appropriation of ancestral lands,  forced conversion and internment on Spanish missions often accompanied by torture and wanton slaughter and by wars fought against military foes with superior weapons. 

Today the Native American population stands at about 2.9 million with over 574 recognized tribes. Indian land areas in the U.S. are administered as federal land areas. There are 326 reservations; the Navajo nation is the largest one comprising over 17 million acres covering southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. 

It is my hope that Deb Haaland's nomination be quickly approved and that she be the "woman to bring rectification" to centuries of abuse. 

Thanksgiving is an Oasis in Time: Finding Stillness, Calm and Beauty....

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all: 

Finally a brief respite from the tumultuous unpredictable  times that besiege us and have been belittling and harassing us for such a long time. 

This holiday gives us, as a nation, composed of so many solid caring  families, an opportunity to acknowledge and dwell upon all that we must be thankful for: our family, our spiritual traditions, our solid institutions of learning, our museums, our inventors, our high speed internet connections, and the beauty of nature...

So with a modicum of peace and a pause from the seeming chaos around us, where 'our centers do not seem to hold' (to paraphrase W.B. Yeats' poem, The Second Coming),  I sat down and just let my weary mind wander..... and penned these short haiku- influenced lines of verse: 

Irakli  Kvaratshkhelia , Photographer

A solitary cry....I cannot breathe 

I hear only the shimmering silence 

of petals floating at a calm sea. 

In memory of: 

Mom: a poetess of the divine who passed on the 2nd day of Kislev
Dad: healer of man who left us on the 10th day of Kislev
Brother, Dr. Gabe: who went to a better world on the 15th of Kislev, today's Hebrew date. 

May their memories and accomplishments serve as a blessing and inspiration to all those who aspire to creating a better world not only for us, but, above all, for our children. 

Temps reach over 117 degrees in Phoenix, Fires rage across CA, Ore. and Wash. and Denver goes from 99 degrees to snowfall in 24 hours

 Its easy to get caught up in the relentless waves of sad news 'sweeping' (clean) our country.

One plague after another. 

As if the Covid pandemic is not enough---claiming over 1,000 American lives daily....

In the summer of 2018, the Camp Fire leveled the town of Paradise, CA destroying some 14,000 residences. 

This summer saw the LNU Lightning complex (yes, multiple strikes of lightening)  igniting  many fires affecting residents in Napa County, Solano County, Lake County, Yolo County and Sonoma County. 

                                              Photo from MSNBC news, Sept. 10, 2010

And just yesterday, fires are burning in many areas of Oregon and Washington states; an area size of New Jersey is now aflame in all three Pacific coast states.  

As the West is burning, cities are still reeling from the shocking deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Daniel Prude. 

Widespread flooding and storm damage has occurred in the Lake Charles, Louisiana area as a result of Hurricane Laura.

And its aftermath has caused severe storm damage here in New England (thousands without power for over a week and communities littered with downed trees on almost every street). 

And here in Connecticut a number of freak tornadoes have wreaked havoc in the the Westport area and elsewhere. 

And the beat goes on ....the beat goes on.

Is there cause for pessimism?

No doubt!

But there is cause for optimism! Continue reading my articles in the weeks to come.

Yes, the beat need not go on. 

And I will show you how. 

So stay tuned. 

National Poetry Month: Celebrating Poetry in Motion at Transit Museum at Grand Central

Hundreds of short poems have been displayed on  train stations, subway cars and buses for over 25 years thanks to a collaboration between the Poetry Society of American and the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

This year I highlight the poetry of native american poet Sherman Alexie with this verse from Crazy Horse Speaks:

I wear the color of my skin
like a brown paper bag
wrapped around a bottle.
Sleeping between
the pages of dictionaries
your language cuts
tears holes in my tongue
until I do not have strength
to use the word "love."
What could it mean
in this city where everyone is
Afraid-of-Horses?

Sherman Alexie was born in Spokane, Washington and is a poet, novelist and filmmaker and his works reflect his experience as a native American whose genealogy includes a number of different tribes.  

Sherman Alexie from npr.com

For NPR broadcast interview, click here 

To view my prior articles celebrating the power of poetry click here. 

A Must Read Letter from a Guilford Connecticut resident on Adjusting to Virus Social Distancing

This blogger is indebted to the New York Times for publishing the following  letter written to the Editor of New York Times and published on Thursday, March 19, 2020.

We can optimize our social distancing time by writing

memoirs, collecting family photos and reaching out

to our friends and neighbors and display gratitude and compassion,

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 

 To the Editor:

 Come on, boomers! We grew up in the 1950s, hid under desks during air raid drills, suffered through the Vietnam War. Mostly we have enjoyed safety and prosperity. Now we are the elders. (Just look at the presidential candidates!) It’s our time to lead by example.

 Don’t grab all of the toilet paper on the shelves. (Store owners, set limits, two per customer.) Don’t veg out in front of the bad news being recycled on TV, whether Fox or MSNBC. Read your morning New York Times, do the crossword puzzle and then move on.

 Are you self-isolating? These are good times to be alone and quiet, go inward, seek meaning from the paths our lives have taken, write memoirs, gather family photographs. Hunkering down does not mean hiding. Send out positive messages. Wave and smile from the front porch. Grow flowers. Bake bread and cookies for the neighbors who shop for you. Wouldn’t we rather burn out than rust out?

Find a way to make a positive difference in your community. Rock on!

 Susan Coley Leonard
 Guilford, Conn.

Super Bowl Fifty Four, Palindromic Sunday, Janus the Roman God of Transitions and Change, the Resurgent Kansas City Chiefs and What We Can Expect in the Decade(s) to Come

February 2, 2020, the date of Superbowl Sunday, can be written as 02/02/2020.

 So it's a palindromic Sunday,  meaning that the numbers read the same whether read forward or backward

The last time we had a palindromic day in all formats was 909 years ago on 11/11/1111.

Statue representing Janus Bifrons in the Vatican Museums.

Janus is the God of Beginnings, gates, transitions, time duality 

doorways, passages and endings (courtesy of Wikipedia licensed under 

the Creative Commons)

This phenomenon and the date is, by coincidence,  juxtaposed to the month of January which is 'two faced.' It is, by convention, named after the Roman God Janus who was depicted on coins and statues as having one neck and one head with two faces each facing in an opposite direction. . So, one face is looking backwards at the past--- to last month as well as the last decade(s) and the other is facing toward the future-- next month and decade, etc.

Statues of Janus were traditionally placed at the entrance of homes and at gates to ward off any evil that might enter.

For those of us who tuned into to Super Bowl 54, we witnessed a remarkable comeback and victory of the Kansas City Chiefs over the the San Francisco 49'ers, the former led by the dazzling quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Final score: Kansas City 31 San Francisco 20 with   KC scoring  3 touchdowns in 5 minutes

We have to 'look back' exactly 50 years to 1970 to when the Chiefs won their only Superbowl title.

Kansas City, then, led by quarterback Len Dawson, defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-7.

So, in a sense,  The 'Superbowl  4'  team had to look forward 50 years to repeat the performance. In essence, Superbowl 4 endured 49 hapless years for a repeat performance.

So, what can we learn from the first decades of the the 21st Century.... as we look back from 2020.......What  clues can we discern in anticipating and predicting what we can reasonalbly expect to occur in the the next decade(s)....looking forward?

To learn about the next major Mega-trend, perhaps the most important Megatrend of our times--  already making its appearance on the gloabl horizon---look for my next article which will shortlty address glaringly and blatantly remarkable phenomena--- we as humans will be coerced to address NOW and in the decade to come to assure the survival of humanity. .