still not christmas yet?
no, but so close i can feel it.
—
“a good holiday is one spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours.”
-j. b. priestley
—
art credit: e. halpin
Dec24
Author Archives: beth
Dec23
an answer.
THE NIGHT TRAVELER
Passing by, he could be anybody:
A thief, a tradesman, a doctor
On his way to a worried house.
But when he stops at your gate,
Under the room where you lie half-asleep,
You know it is not just anyone—
It is the Night Traveler.
You lean your arms on the sill
And stare down. But all you can see
Are bits of wilderness attached to him—
Twigs, loam and leaves,
Vines and blossoms. Among these
You feel his eyes, and his hands
Lifting something in the air.
He has a gift for you, but it has no name.
It is windy and woolly.
He holds it in the moonlight, and it sings
Like a newborn beast,
Like a child at Christmas,
Like your own heart as it tumbles
In love’s green bed.
You take it, and he is gone.
All night—and all your life, if you are willing—
It will nuzzle your face, cold-nosed,
Like a small white wolf;
It will curl in your palm
Like a hard blue stone;
It will liquefy into a cold pool
Which, when you dive into it,
Will hold you like a mossy jaw.
A bath of light. An answer.
—
credits: poem from Twelve Moons, 1979 by Mary Oliver, painting – google images
Dec22
all is bright.
out seeing the lights tonight.
may you and your family be filled with light and laughter.
—
“always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”
-e.b. white
Dec21
this is the solstice.
“this is the solstice,
the still point of the sun,
it’s cusp and midnight,
the year’s threshold and unlocking,
where the past lets go of and becomes the future;
the place of caught breath,
the door of a vanished house left ajar.”
-margaret atwood
—
art credit: Alica Block
Dec20
inside edition.
side eye and some intense discussion going on at a recent meeting
as co-editors in chief olive and yeti make the tough calls.
—
insider exclusive – behind the scenes backstory of ididnthavemyglasson.wordpress.com:
before each and every time i post a blog
i am subjected to the scrutiny of my photo editorial board
who can be
exacting and my most challenging critics
or
supportive and my most passionate champions
often made to defend my choices
i am never sure how it will go.
—
“they can’t censor the gleam in my eye.”
charles laughton
Dec19
zero finders, one keeper.
The $50 cash prize along with a congratulatory note hidden in a locker on campus.
With every new college semester, students are faced with multiple syllabuses outlining the subjects in their classes. But do students read them thoroughly? One Tennessee professor put it to the test. Kenyon Wilson is the associate head of performing arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and decided to put an Easter egg in the syllabus for his music seminar class this past semester.
Wilson waited until final exams were done and the semester was over before checking the locker.
He revealed the unclaimed cash in a Facebook post. He said that students have been “good sports” about it. “I know my students read, and I don’t expect them to religiously go through word-by-word but if they did, I wanted to reward them.”
Haley Decker, a recent graduate from the university, took Wilson’s seminar-style class for the past 3 and a half years and was one of the students who failed to find the hidden cash this past semester. “I honestly thought it was hilarious. This class typically is the same format every semester, so students know what to expect and don’t take the time to read the syllabus like we should.”
Decker said she texted a group of friends that were in the class with her and everyone thought it was a clever move by Wilson. “I think this was a really smart experiment for Dr. Wilson to test out,” Decker said. “It definitely made the music students realize that despite repetitive information you should still read through your syllabus carefully.” The professor notes that it was all in good fun.
The hint read: “Thus (free to the first who claims; locker one hundred forty-seven; combination fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five), students may be ineligible to make up classes and …” This would have led students to a locker that contained a $50 bill, free to the first student to claim it. But at the end of the semester, when he went to check the locker, the bill was still there.
“It an academic trope that no one reads the syllabus,” Wilson said. “It’s analogous to the terms and conditions when you’re installing software, everyone clicks that they’ve read it when no one ever does.” The class was made up of 71 students. Wilson said his syllabus typically doesn’t change much, but with Covid protocols there was some new information this time around. “There’s a standard boilerplate that doesn’t change. The university has us put a lot of legal stuff towards the end,” Wilson added. “But on the first day of class I told them there was stuff that had changed, and for them to make sure they read it.”
“i used to keep my college roommate from reading my personal email by hiding it in her textbooks.”
-joan welsh
—
story credits: Sara Smart, CNN
Dec18
officially on staycation.
my staycation agenda:
“take wrong turns. talk to strangers. open unmarked doors.
and if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing.
do things without always knowing how they will turn out.”
-randall munroe
come to think of it, i’ve done this my whole life
—
image credit: vintage pinterest – beach in nantucket, ma
Dec17
all together.
“here’s to fresh coffee and good books and kind hearts and found beauty
and the weird, kindred souls who help us know we are all in this together.”
-nanea hoffman
—
image credit: Branger/Harper’s Bazaar – Vintage Paris 1925
Dec16
parenthood.
advice from the kinder to the parents of a classmate’
about how to take care of their new baby.
one so sweet
one filled with adventure
all the others equally from the heart
everyone has their own unique way of approaching parenthood.
“folks, i don’t trust children. they’re here to replace us.”
- stephen colbert
Dec15
the 3 wise guys.
you never know quite when and where these sages will appear, but they always have something to say.
—
yeti the yeti- “when no one else does, believe in yourself.”
geoffrey the giraffe – “giraffes are awesome, i am awesome, therefore i am giraffe.”
marty the zebra – “life is not all black and white.”
—
