otoh

Master Chang, my Tai Chi teacher, used to teach Chinese Literature. In class we sometimes get into conversations about Chinese history, art, and literature. A few months ago he was telling us about an old legend of the Yellow Crane summarized here as

…in Wuchang, there used to be a wine shop opened by a young man named Xin. One day, a Taoist priest, in gratitude for free wine, drew a magic crane on the wall of the shop and instructed it to dance whenever it heard clapping. Thousands of people came to see the spectacle and the wine shop was always full of guests. After 10 years, the Taoist priest revisited the wine shop. He played the flute and then rode on the crane to the sky. In memory of the supernatural encounter and the priest, the Xins built a tower and named it Yellow Crane Tower.

That tower overlooks the Yangtze River and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries. The legend and the tower have inspired hundreds of poems (at least one by Chairman Mao), but the definitive version was by Cui Hao during the Tang dynasty. There is a related story that Li Bai, one of China’s greatest poets, once climbed the Yellow Crane Tower intending to write his own poem about it. But he found Cui Hao’s poem inscribed on the wall and was so moved by its perfection that he put down his brushpen, unable to write. Of course he eventually began writing again and several of his works refer to the Yellow Crane Tower. Probably most notable is his Goodbye at Yellow Crane Tower.

Now, I told you all that so I could tell you this: After that discussion in Tai Chi class I looked at several of these sources online and picked up a book of Chinese poetry at the bookstore. I had it with me in class and Master Chang asked me about it and told me about some of the poems it contained. I mentioned that, although I like the book very much, it does not have any of the Yellow Crane Tower poems in it. At our next class he surprised me with this:

He wrote out Cui Hao’s poem for me. (Someday, I’ll be able to read it. For now it’s just really cool and a sweet gift.) I really need to get it framed….

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This will be my last HNT, at least for several weeks. My schedule is going to be getting more hectic and more erratic. Besides, I’m never as comfortable being the photographed as the photographer. I’ll still be dropping by to see YOUR photos though and I hope some of you will still drop by here once in a while. As a farewell, I’ve put together a collage of past HNTs. This is all of me (that I’m willing to reveal).

Apparently, I’m a cubist….

Technorati tags: blog~personal~otoh~photo~hnt~otohPhoto: All of Me

I’ve been reading some haiku recently. I like shorter forms of poetry and I like that haiku traditionally has themes related to nature. A really good poem, in my opinion, distills a moment or an idea into a small crystal. It is clear and compact. At a glance you might exclaim, “Yes! Oh my god, that’s it exactly!” And then you spend an eternity examining the facets and the infinite truth reflected there.

Poetry, and Asian poetry in particular, suffers in translation into another language. Still, there are gems to be found here. My favorite haiku in my recent reading is from Haiku: Seasons of Japanese Poetry edited by Johanna Brownell:

These butterflies of ours –
If they could speak, what pretty dreams
We’d hear about the flowers.

Call me a simpleton, but I get lost inside those words. How different would the world appear if we could see it through the eyes of a butterfly? This poem also reminds me of a well-known parable attributed to the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to to Taoism has this translation:

Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, fluttering buoyantly; a butterfly fully content being himself. He knew of no Zhuangzi! Suddenly, he awakened. And plain-old Zhuangzi doesn’t know if he’s Zhuangzi who just dreamt a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi.

Taoist parables are full of paradoxes. How do we decide what is reality? And, for whatever reason, this reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe, the favorite of my maudlin teen years.

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
This much let me avow
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep - while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Is it important that he makes a statement at the end of the first section that is a question at the end of the second? (Bonus: What horror movie used those last two lines in the opening credits?) Hmmm, some days I think too much. And I seem to have wandered far from where I started. Do you Haiku?

Technorati tags: Do You Haiku?~blog~personal~otoh~poetry

April is National Poetry Month and I have been remiss not to have acknowledged it sooner. But the site that explains Writing Fibs I just ran across last week anyway. These Fibs are not the regular lies fiction that I usually fill these pages with. These Fibs are poems based on the Fibonacci Sequence. Simply stated, to get the next number in such a sequence you add together the two previous numbers as in 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc. These sequences appear in nature in the arrangement of leaves or seeds, the spiral shape of shells like the nautilus, and many others.

In their most basic form, these poems are six lines long and a total of 20 syllables — the first six numbers in the sequence above. I jotted down a few quick attempts below. Feel free to try some yourself and make sure you look at Gregory K.’s site where I got the idea for lots of links to news and hundreds of examples.

Math?
Cool!
English?
That’s cool too!
And here I can add
The two together in one form!

Two
Four
Six, Eight!
Who do we –
No, just wait, wait, wait!
Whose idea was this anyway?

I
Don’t
Want to
Learn about
Math in English class
Fibonacci was no poet

Spring
and
now the
sap rises.
Young girls run away.
Boys (and dirty old men) chase them.

I
tried
my hand.
These poems
show how little time
(even less editing) I spent.

Technorati tags: Writing Fibs~blog~personal~otoh~poetry

Does it mean anything that I can do this on the left side but not on the right?

Grrrr……

Technorati tags: blog~personal~otoh~photo~hnt~otohPhoto: Snarl

Becky over at Searching for Oz posted an interesting topic last week. She pointed out that movies and television have been much more progressive in portraying American presidents than we have been in electing them. Citing three recent examples from television that feature minorities and a female in the role, she asked, “Which do you think will be elected first for President of the United States — a minority or a woman? And how long do you think it will take?” Go there to read her opinion and the discussion.

Since I’m mostly apolitical, I made a rather flippant remark about adding “None of the Above” (NOTA) to the ballots. Except, I’ve really considered what that might do to our system. Imagine exercising your right to vote and having the choice of telling the candidates and their parties, “None of you are good enough. Try again.” Currently, the best we can do if we dislike all the candidates is to abstain from voting or to determine the lesser evil of the choices and vote for that.

With NOTA on the ballot, no one ever really runs unopposed. How embarrassing would it be to lose a race when you’re the only candidate? Even if you’re not, what would we do if NOTA did win? Leave the incumbent in office until we can have another election? Even if they are already at their term limit? Leave the office vacant until we can have another election? How would the world react if we had no one as president? Would that be a prime opportunity to attack?

As anarchists go, I’m pretty conservative. [Go on, wrap your head around that. I'll wait....] But I think there could be positive effects with NOTA on the ballot. The Independents, Greens, and Libertarians wouldn’t be the only spoilers. There would be another level of accountability in promoting a candidate — they really would have to be better than nothing.

But do I think this would ever happen? NOTA CHANCEINHELL.

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There’s a part of me that knows there is nothing funny in this story:

California teacher’s[sic] blows hand off trying to squash bug with artillery shell

Canadian Press

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) - A teacher who kept a 40-mm artillery shell on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the ammunition to try and squash a bug, authorities say.

The 13-centimetre-long shell exploded Monday while Robert Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class.

Part of Colla’s right hand was severed and he suffered severe burns and minor shrapnel wounds to his forearms and torso, fire Capt. Tom Weinell said. No one else was injured. He was reported in stable condition at a hospital.

The teacher slammed the shell down in an attempt to kill something that was buzzing or crawling across the desk, said Fire Marshal Glen Albright.

Colla found the 40-mm round while hunting years ago and “obviously he didn’t think the round was live,” said Dennis Huston, who teaches computer design with Colla.
© The Canadian Press 2006

No, not funny at all. There is a part of me that knows this. And yet… ROFL! What do you want to bet the bug was just “WTF!?!” for a few seconds and then wandered away unscathed? And can anyone explain why I found this story on two Canadian sites and none in the U.S.? If I ever disparaged Canada’s sense of humor, I take it all back.

And then I read that a DEA agent, Lee Paige, is suing the Federal government. He appears in a video clip where he accidently shoots himself in the foot while he is warning a group of kids about the dangers of playing with guns. [I swear I'm not making this up!] The video was shot taken by a spectator at the demonstration. Paige claims that the video was turned over to the DEA and its release has made him the subject of ridicule and that he can no longer work undercover. Personally, I think he needs to be working under very close supervision for a while anyway.

Technorati tags: Crazy Laughter from Another Room~blog~personal~otoh

Today is the last day to file Federal Income Tax forms. We already had two extra days because the usual 15 April deadline landed on Saturday this year. So all you procrastinators better get on the stick!

If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.

The first 10% of any job is completed in the first 90% of the time available.

Top 10 reasons to procrastinate:

And don’t you hate it when people start a sentence and then just

Technorati tags: Procrastination Day~blog~personal~otoh

On Fridays we are encouraged to wear school colors (orange and white) — sort of the academic version of casual Fridays. Shortly after the start of school last fall I was in one of the local shopping malls (which is a rare occurrence, believe me) and I saw these on sale for $20. I figured, “What the hell,” and I’ve worn them almost every Friday since. They’re not really all that comfortable for as much as I’m on my feet in a typical day. Oh, the sacrifices I make for my profession if not for fashion…. Students will frequently comment on them. And I have never been hit by a car when I’m wearing them!

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So I have these quotes that are randomly displayed at the top of this page, you know. I posted some of them here, here, here, and here. So without further ado [adieu, a dew, et tu, achoo...], here are the next twenty:

When two hearts race, both win.

I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying. ~ Woody Allen

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. ~ H. G. Wells

I don’t aspire to be a great wit, but people tell me I’m half-way there.

Don’t attempt vast projects with half-vast plans

Cooking is a dangerous sport.

Any ship can be a minesweeper… once.

Sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug.

If the enemy is in range, so are you.

If you see a bomb technician running, follow him.

Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.

You don’t have to outrun the beast. You just have to outrun the slowest of your friends.

What a long, strange trip it’s been… and I’m not even a Deadhead.

Things aren’t like they used to be. But they weren’t like that then either.

I do the work of three men: Larry, Moe, and Curly.

The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself. ~ James Thurber

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost. ~ Flaubert

Likability and lickability are remarkably similar in both spelling and concept. ~Brandon: One Child Left Behind

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. ~ Einstein

Our town is so small, we have to take turns being mayor, preacher, and town drunk.

Technorati tags: blog~personal~otoh~Or You Could Just Keep Pressing F5 - part five