Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?

Selected early stories by Joyce Carol Oates – is one of the current books I’m reading. It contains the short story of the same title, one of my all time favorites.

Today is: Purim. That Esther, eh? So later, I’ll have to share some of my latest chili conflagration, (I used a bit of Ajwain from Pakistan for the “digestive benefits”)with Lt. McCann, of Snakehead fame.

I’m listening to: Hotel Tara – The Intimate Side of Buddha Lounge www.sequoiarecords.com and very much like it. Five stars, no, six stars for this one.

I’m Reading:

F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Life In Letters – edited and annotated by Matthew J. Bruccoli

Sacred Space by Denise Linn

Voices of Savannah – Selections from the Oral History Collection of the Savannah Jewish Archives – Valerie Frey, Kaye Kole and Luciana Spraecher

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

Passing In Light by Sharon Ewell Foster – whose first line dragged me right into the book.

I finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and had the bittersweet pleasure of closing the covers for the last time. It was one of those reading experiences that will stick with me for a while.

Some things I dug about The Kite Runner – the description of Hassan, I could see him in my mind so clearly! A China doll, his moon face, eyes like bamboo leaves, his hairlip. The symbolism of the kites, the pomegranate tree, the watch given to him by Baba, and his subsequent dismissal of that watch followed by the reaction of the two little boys, whose actions were misinterpreted by Amir that they wanted his watch, and not what was in his bowl, the gorgeous descriptions of actions which revealed rich detail, a Bukhara carpet of characters.

What I’m Writing

I’ve been thinking a lot about my next writing project, and as usual, my mind travels in directions that are apparently written in Farsi or Cantonese About Bukhara carpets http://www.bukhara-carpets.com

A young tribal girl who has been taught the art of carpet weaving from a young age would probably have the following carpets and weavings in her dowry:
One Main Carpet (ghali) 9ft.10in. x 7ft.
Two small rugs (dip ghali) 6ft. x 3ft.
One engsi
One decoration for over the engsi (kapunuk)
12 small personal belonging bags 2ft.x1.5ft. and 4ft.x 1.5 ft. (mafrash & torba)
two large bedding bags (chuval or Juwal) always made in pairs
three decorated tent-bands (aq yup) 50 ft long and 2 inch to 1 ft wide

Understand, a six foot rug takes well over six months to make. Say she begins to weave shearings from her family’s sheep when she’s seven or eight – how much of her life is spent creating items necessary to appeal to a husband? He shows up sporting wood, she gets to spend years of her life weaving, shearing sheep, combing and sorting wool.

This is her dowry, her ‘hope chest.’

Dowry: Huge word, huge concept.

More later

What’s On My Mind

Ecology, the environment, global warming, that Al Gore (my personal hero) won an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, employment discrimination in Largo, adoption and foster child inequities in Florida, Mel Martinez’ amazing ability to send out non-hunting dogs, Savannah, book clubs, friends, and revising my novel - Tallulah and Posomotor, The Familiar, The Curse of CREGA.

I’m also concerned with the pressure on little girls to be all sexy way too soon. I watched my daughter putting fake fingernails on my ten year old the other day, and I am unconvinced this could be a good thing. Within minutes of the final nail application, the girl is complaining that she is relatively helpless. I see this in the same category as high heels, shoes that make me rely on a steadying arm on occasion. Then I read an article in the Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com titled

Goodbye to Girlhood

As Pop Culture Targets Ever Younger Girls, Psychologists Worry About a Premature Focus on Sex and Appearance

By Stacy Weiner

Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, February 20, 2007; Page

Since I live in Florida, specifically on the gulf coast, I am in the epicenter of the hurricane scare tactic selling methodology of everything from storm shutters to generators. The thing is, according to a recent study, hurricanes and typhoons have become much stronger in the last thirty years due to global warming. By my reckoning, had everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina purchased hurricane storm shutters, there’d be a boatload of hurricane storm shutters on those drowned homes instead of plywood. Sort of like using paper plates on the Titanic so no china would break, don’t you think?

Currently reading: The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Regarding, The Secret – DVD, book, website, et al, the naysayers and skeptics have got to have their audiences, after all. Here’s my take on it. It works for me. When I am in a place of feeling good, a positive energy attracts other positive people. I get more smiles, more hugs, more of what I want, than when I am walking around bitching about my lot in life. Yes, I’ve had some Cat 5 hurricanes in my life, who hasn’t? The difference, is when instead of saying, ‘why me?’ I say, ‘why NOT me?’

I’ve personally experienced what can happen using Creative Visualization ( Shakti Gawain’s book that I’ve had since about 1912 or so…. ) when I created a page about a relationship I wanted. Within six weeks of making the “visualization board” I met my beloved husband of blessed memory.

So, to all the critics and naysayers, I say have at it. Don’t believe, if you don’t want to. I, like millions of others realize that The Secret works – IF and only IF I do the work. No one is denying that action must follow the desire. They are simply pointing out the obvious, that in order to get what you want, you have to first determine what you want, and then send out the vibes, wishes, whatever you want to call it, and the universe will conspire to give you the tools to make it happen. And that, my friend, is all for now.