An Ode of Joy on my Birthday

 

An Ode of Joy on my Birthday                                               

                                                                                                               

Ah, to be born,                                                                                

Ah to be born again 

Each day.... is a new horizon 

And a golden opportunity  

to make our dreams come true. 

The Power of Words, the Awesome Majesty of the Printed Word: An Ode to Celebrate National Poetry Month

An Editor, Diplomat, (Ad) Minister to Current, Recent and Past Alumni and Friends and a Poet, at ❤ 

 Whoever It is your search committee interviews

 

 To Hire

 

 Should be, ONE, above All, with the drive Vision, Enthusiasm and Energy

 to Inspire

 

Your  staff and its many Talented Writers Along with its Advisory Personnel And Gift Planning Officers

 With Fire……

Indra Nooyi, a force of nature, leads Civility in American into its 11th year

 Wow!.......Awesome!......

That’s how I have to describe last night’s dialog conducted by Bob Dilenshneider and hosted by Stamford’s Ferguson Library in front of a live socially distanced audience and a remote one on zoom one as well. 

Bob, one of the initiators of this series (along with other sponsors) was very much in command as he ‘peppered’  Ms. Nooyi  with a series of short questions. All were based on her book, Life in Full: Work, Family and our Future.

Indra Nooyi

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia 

Miss Indra Nooyi, born in Tamil Nadu, India rose to become the CEO of PepsiCo, the first woman of color and immigrant to run a Fortune 50 Company. 

The program will be posted shortly on the Ferguson Library Website.

Here’s  my brief  takeaway in what was a ‘whirlwind’ covering many subjects. 

!. To be a leader (she teaches a course in leadership at U.S Military Academy at West Point)one must be a follower.  To listen to others requires a large dose of humility. 

2. Company strategy must emphasize sustainability in the workplace as well as in the environment. Companies must seek out and foster talent that is rooted in integrity. She discussed the Pepsico acquisition of Quaker Oats (including gatorade and its emphasis on natural foods), the company shift to solar, and  the recycling of plastic waste and employing hybrid vehicles. 

3. Above all, she kept emphasizing the primacy of the family structure. Parents must find the time, harness the energy and resources on rearing their kids.

On a more personal note, I chatted briefly with Bob before the program and he remarked how much Stamford has grown with so many young professionals moving in as well as saying  ‘we are all young’ meaning he plans to continue this program for many years to come. 

At the end of the meeting I chatted with former Connecticut congressman  Chris Shays who was eager to hear the question I wanted to ask. I told him I wanted to know her opinions on what, if any, corporate responsibility should be for arresting the serious global climate change. His comment: ‘great question.’

Our President Under Fire

 

These past few weeks have been very trying times for President Joe Biden. 

  Grave issues facing our country seem to have piled up to weigh heavily on the moral and leadership responsibilities that our POTUS faces.

  Our exit from Afghanistan has been replete with images of thousands at the airport clamoring to  secure a seat on one of the Air Force C-17 transport planes. Though over 100, 000  people have been carried to safety, hundreds of American citizens and friendly allies have been left behind. 

 And who will be able to forget the 13 U.S. marines and scores of Afghanis who gave their lives in the suicide attack at the airport?

Back home forest fires are out of control in the California's Dixie and the Caldor fires,the latter now threatening thousands of acres near Lake Tahoe. 

Hurricane Ida has just struck the east coast with a vengeance leaving millions without power, homes and streets flooded and dumping over 8 inches of rain in some metropolitan areas.

The delta variation of the corona virus is taking a strong toll of those in states where citizens refuse to take the vaccine such as Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. As of today, only 57% or about 189.9 million people have been fully vaccinated. To achieve herd immunity a majority of the remaining 43% unvaccinated people need to receive the two jabs. 

Finally, though the house  has passed the 3 billion dollar infrastructure bill; the senate is the big hurdle where the bill faces a filibuster. 

There are many who believe that Biden is simply incapable of dealing with so many burdens at one time and I can understand their point of view. He does, at times, show the effects of stress.

In my opinion, he is up to the task of leading America today and into the future. 

On the home front, if President Biden can turn the corner on controlling  the pandemic and secure passage of the infrastructure bill (which includes measures to stem climate change), he will show he has the fortitude and courage to lead America forward. 

He has 49 years of solid experience in national politics and has built a solid reputation for compromise and  working across the aisles to get important legislative programs passed. 

May he continue to lead America forward and God give him the strength, wisdom and purpose to continue his mission of securing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all. 

Milton Appreciation Week: Satan's Encounter with the Fires of Hell: Paradise Lost, Book I

Satan/Lucifer, another of Gustave Doré's illustrations

for Paradise Lost by John Milton

Here is our first glimpse of the landscape surrounding the fallen and angels and their leader. What powerful images Milton creates for us.

Satan and his rebellious crew of fallen angels have been "hurl'd headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Sky with hideous ruin and combustion down to bottomless perdition." (Paradise Lost, I: 45-47).

A few lines later the poet writes:

...for now the thought

Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes

That witnesse'd huge affliction and dismay

mixt with obdurate pride and steadfast hate:

At once as far as Angels ken he views

The dismal Situation waste and wild,

A dungeon horrible on all sides round

As one great furnace flam'd, yet those flames

No light, but rather darkness visible,

Serv'd only to discover sights of woe, (italics mine)

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes

That comes to all; but torture without end

Still urges and a fiery Deluge, fed

With ever-burning Sulphur, unconsum'd:

Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd

For those rebellious, here thir Prison ordained

In utter darkness and thir portion set

As far removed from God and light of Heav'n

As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole.

(Book I, Verses 54-74)

Just as I focused-in my recent blog- on the woe ( "Nature from her seat Sighing through all Words gave signs of woe Book IX, Verse 84) that Eve abruptly ushered into our universe by her eating the apple from the forbidden tree, so too here, Milton gives us a vivid picture of the sights and pains of woe that Satan first experiences as he plummets from heaven to the burning seas of hell.

Milton draws upon Dante's inscription on the Gates of Hell in the Inferno: "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." Milton writes: "And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all.... but torture without end."

Satan's 'baleful eyes' survey the scene; the dictionary meaning of baleful is malignant or evil in intent. What he takes in is an expanse that covers long distances, miles and miles; he is enveloped in a 'dungeon' a vast prison from which he cannot seemingly escape. Sulphurous flames envelop him and his entourage of fallen angels.

Milton uses a powerful metaphor--'darkness visible' to describe the scene. The phrase is an oxymoron, for, indeed, how can darkness be visible. I think what Milton is hinting at is the inner state of mind, the dark evil, the inner blackness that permeates Satan and his crew. The persistent flames of hell burn bright and eternal to reveal the depravity of its denizens that will never be concealed.

In other words, light exposes evil.

Milton describes their 'Prison ordained in utter darkness.' This is a reference, I believe, to Satan being 'ordained' or self-crowned) the Prince of Darkness--at the opposite pole to God, who is embellished by the 'light of heaven.'

It's National Poetry Month: Here's succinct verse to celebrate both the lows and highs of life

 The Lingering Pain that Will not go away 

A solitary cry I cannot breathe 

I hear only the silence

 of petals floating at a calm sea

Sudden pain on my chest

Like the weight of 50 bricks

The medics rush to rescue

All I hear are the sounds of silence 

Celestial Love 

Slipstreaming in winter skies 

Two centripetal bodies drawn ever closer

Echoing the harmony of the spheres

-Haiku inspired verse composed in honor of Women’s History Month (3/8/21)

Celebrating Unsung heroes: Contributors to the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County and the Kitchen Staff at Greenwich High School

 First, its wonderful to see the overflowing Food Bank bin at my local Newfield Greens Grade A supermarket where shoppers are responding with generous weekly donations to the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County. It is so heartening to see so many  reach out to help feed the many many hundreds of indigent and hungry residents of our communities especially during these pandemic times. 

                                        The overstocked Foodbank bin at Grade A Newfield Greens  Supermarket 

Likewise I wish to commend the food service employees at Greenwich High School who daily prepare hundreds of meals to feed the hungry residents of the community. 

                                            The kitchen staff at Greenwich High School prepare

                                             lunch boxes that buses deliver to distribution centers