Daily Archive

Ahh, fairy tales and children’s nursery rhymes.  Not all of them were for children however.  Some of them were also meant for parents.  Giving advice on how to raise children, for  example.

                                                                                                                                                          
There Was An Old Woman

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.*     
She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.**
She gave them some broth without any bread.***
She whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.****  

                                                         
*Ancient slang for pre-fab houses in the suburbs.
** These were the days before Sesame Street & Barney.
***  What you do when there’s no McDonalds in the neighborhood.
**** The recommended advice to parents and the point of the rhyme.   

                                
Isn’t it great the times have changed?  Now we have Dr Seuss and books like “Hop on Pop”.  

      
“Hop on Pop” from Wikipedia

It is a very simple rhyming book, intended for younger readers, filled with colorful pictures. The book has no apparent plot, just pages of silly and fun rhymes.
“Hop On Pop” is an existential odyssey contrasting the child’s desire for freedom and the intrinsic need to satisfy parental authority figures. The rhyming couplets represent at once an acceptance of cultural form and tradition and a free-form explosion of self-actualizing creation.

Hop on Pop– an example of modern values.  A vast improvement.                                                       

Disclaimer: No children were harmed during the making of this posting.  And reports of Dr Seuss’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.  From personal experience I can assure you that Dr Seuss is still on the loose.  He was last seen in the company of the Elvis the King (uh-huh, uh-huh).  An album of their greatest hits is expected soon–who can forget such chartbusters as: Let’s Hop On Pop with Blue Suede Shoes, Horton Hears A Who In The Ghetto, or The Green Eggs & Ham Jambalaya??  To order your copy now, call 1-800-666-9999.  Have your credit card number ready for speedy delivery.  The Taverna di Muse is in no way responsible for the preceding offer or the contents of this post and will disavow all knowledge.

Here are several of my favorite  quotes.     

The Way It Is by William Stafford

“There is a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old. Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread.”

What is your thread?  I think mine is my passion for creativity, in as many forms as I can experience.

In Western civilization in general, it is so hard not to be totally focused on outcome/results/the product.  When I feel I am getting sucked into it again, I reread this quote and start again.

“The object of painting a picture is not to make a picture–however unreasonable this may sound. The picture, if a picture results, is a by-product and may be useful, valuable, interesting as a sign of what has passed. The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a high state of functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence.”
Robert Henri

This quote gives me the chills (in a mostly positive way) every time I read it.  He’s describing a risky path indeed.  But, as far as I know, it’s the only way that-at the end of your life-you can look back at your life and honestly say, “Yeah, I lived my life.”   Instead of  your parents’ life, the “American” way of life,  a life of external achievements only,  etc.

“I took the lamp. And leaving the zone of everyday occupations and relationships where everything seems clear, I went down into my inmost self, to the abyss whence I feel dimly that my power of action emanates. But as I moved further and further away from the conventional certainties by which social life is superficially illuminated, I became aware that I was losing contact with myself.  At each step of the descent a new person was disclosed within me of whose name I was no longer sure, and who no longer obeyed me. And when I had to stop my exploration because the path faded from beneath my steps, I found a bottomless abyss at my feet, and out of it came - arising I know not from where - the current which I dare to call my life.”
Teilhard de Chardin