An Opaque look at life won’t get you anywhere. Search until you can see the light. Look out the window. You might see a woman walking steadily on one leg. 🙂
Can’t see through the obstacles?
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A different approach to gender in art
Wow! A friend sent me this link about a painter, Felice House, who changed the “sexy cowgirl” image into the powerful.
Click here to see the entire collection and to read the article.
What numbskull wrote this?
While sitting for my 14 month old granddaughter, I thought once again about the lyrics of this creepy song:
Rock a bye baby,
in a treetop,
when the wind blows,
the cradle will rock,
when the bough breaks,
the cradle will fall,
and down will come baby,
baby and all.
What a horrible song to sing to little ones at nighttime!
By the way, I’ve never sang those lyrics to any of my babies!
So, here’s the deal.
The song was first published in 1765 in Mother Goose’s Melody. The only change from today was the first line – Mush-abye-baby. (Still weird) The editors noted, it is “a warning to the proud and ambitious, who climb [too] high that [they] generally fall at last.”
Here’s one theory:
James II had a son by his second wife in 1688, displacing the presumptive heir, his daughter, Mary, married to the Protestant William III of Orange. One speculative theory simply holds that the baby in the song is this little guy, and the lyrics were a “death wish,” that the little Catholic prince would die and a Protestant king would ascend to the throne.
Here’s another: A relative of Davy Crocket made up the song when she was babysitting. (IMDB lists her as the writer of “Rock-a-Bye Baby” when it was used in well-over 100 movies.)
Alrighty then.
Another theory is when the pilgrims encountered the Native Americans, they put their babies in cradles up in trees to protect them. (Stupid because surely, the cradle would fall. Maybe it was really the Native Americans who created the song to make fun of the of the newcomers putting their kids in trees.)
Whatever. It’s still a scary song.
My ending goes like this,
“And Mommy/Daddy will catch you, cradle and all.”
At least the song “Ring around the Rosie,” sad because of its original meaning, didn’t have scary words.
Okay, off my soapbox now. And remember to always hold your children tight.
Hoo Hoo, Hoo Hoo
He tries to avoid the draft in 1945, battles a Nazi goat in 1943, hits Adolf Hitler’s head with a giant mallet in 1943, and outwits Hitler from a plane in 1944.
Happy Birthday, you wacky Daffy Duck. Good work.
Shining Bosoms
Mama liked Miss Helen’s moonshine, but only when she drank with Beauty. Once, when the summer was too hot for anything else, Mama, Scooter and me, took Beauty to the swimming hole. Mama spread out a red blanket and plopped a picnic basket on top. Scoot and me ate cheese and tomato sandwiches and crunched apples while Mama and Beauty drank Miss Helen’s hooch out of paper cups. Beauty got so ossified, she stripped naked and jumped in the creek. It Jolted me a bit, but Scooter didn’t care on iota.
“Betty Bedford, get out of the creek before you drown,” Mama said, laughing.
Then Beauty stood up in water only waist deep, her bosoms shining with moisture. She’d laughed and said, “Hard to do unless something pulls me under.”
No matter where we went, Mama and Beauty always had fun together. Except when everything went wrong.
Excerpt from The Moonshine Thicket
Hoppy Day to you!
Whatever you are celebrating today, I wish you a wonderful day of peace, love and Hoppy-ness.
And, don’t let any take it away from you!
Climbing out of Guilt
Cono Dennis, my father, at age 18
I still think it’s a crying shame that I had to spend so much time thinking it was my fault. I guess that’s what we do sometimes, take the blame for things that just aren’t our fault, especially when we don’t know any better. But back then I didn’t have a Colonel Posey to tell me any different.
Last week on the base, that responsibility was especially tough, and I don’t feel much like I lived up to it. I was right in the middle of running a training exercise when a young private missed the rope leading down from the
I still think it’s a crying shame that I had to spend so much time thinking it was my fault. I guess that’s what we do sometimes, take the blame for things that just aren’t our fault, especially when we don’t know any better. But back then I didn’t have a Colonel Posey to tell me any different.
Last week on the base, that responsibility was especially tough, and I don’t feel much like I lived up to it. I was right in the middle of running a training exercise when a young private missed the rope leading down from the Climbing wall. He fell fifteen feet to the ground, landing wrong. We all ran over and circled him like a bunch of buzzards.
“Sergeant Dennis,” he says, “My neck. I don’t feel so good.”
“Aw, you’ll be all right son,” I told him. “They’re coming to take ye to the hospital. You’ll be all right.”
But he wasn’t. Private Henderson died later that day.
So far, almost every night since then, I imagine him lying there on that hard ground, his eyes staring into mine with confusion and fear. I’d lied to him.
Colonel Posey told me I had done nothing wrong, that it wasn’t my fault Private Henderson had died. He told me I was the best sergeant he’d had so far, told me how he appreciated me. I looked at him for a second or two until all the guilt flew off my shoulder like specks of dirt in a windstorm.
Excerpt from No Hill for a Stepper, my father’s story
Be careful when cranking your Model T!
otherwise, you’ll get Cranky. Cranking it wrong could cause serious injuries to your wrist and arms! So, before you, my blogger friends, start your cars today, be aware. 🙂
Pay attention to his words, Mr. Trump
Today in 1865, our 16th President of the United States died after being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a confederate spy.
Quotes from Abraham Lincoln:
“I hold that while man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind.”
“Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.”
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
“I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think and feel.”
And finally,
“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.”
A cranky prostitute
Sadie threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shoulder. “I’m so grateful you’re here. Maybe it’s time for me to go out. I think Miss Fannie won’t mind as long as I’m with you. I could take you to Brackenridge Park. It’s supposed to be beautiful. It’s named after one of our citizens, George Brackenridge. You know, the waterworks magnate?”
George Brackenridge, Mary Eleanor’s brother.
“I can’t today, Sadie. I’m going to visit Aunt Amelia. Another time, perhaps?”
Sadie withdrew her hug and narrowed her eyes. “I thought you just saw her. Truly, Meta? A visit every day?”
Her sarcastic wrath unwarranted, I clenched my hands into fists. “She is the reason I came here, Sadie. Did you forget?”
Sadie took a step back and glared at me. “I’ve changed my mind about going downstairs. You don’t like me because I’m a prostitute. I know that now. You’re only here so you can play your precious piano.”
“Sadie—”
“Please, do go down without me.”
Veins pulsed in my neck. “And you are only using me to ameliorate your guilt. Your insouciance for others is heartless.”
“You realize, don’t you, that you rely on your big words to puff yourself up. It’s unbecoming.”
Thoughts of Uncle Dirk reappeared. Why? Because Sadie had spoken to me with arrogance and superiority? Because she questioned my intelligence? My stomach churned.
“Let me know if I should move into Etta’s room.” Bitterness dripped from my tongue. I felt happy to descend the stairs alone.
Excerpt from The Last Bordello
Carolyn Dennis-Willingham 