FRIDAY FOTO: HOMEWARD BOUND

 

This FOTO FRIDAY comes to you via St Louis as it wasn't easy returning home via my Dallas connections due to horrific weather.  24 hours later from Louisiana vs Texas, this was my window view landing in St Louis... almost home.

TUESDAY TUNES: DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

What else fits the last day of my Texas adventure? 

 Deep in the Heart of Texas , of course!

TBT: TOUCHING BASE WITH MY JAZZERBUDDIES

Celebrating Megan’s birthday with some of our Jazzerbuddies at Java Vino last May 23, 2023

Megan's Grandparents

other classmates

It is always fun exercising and having coffee time afterwards.

MIDWEEK MUSINGS:: CONTiNUING THE CONVO

 

Another Canadian couchsurfer stopped over in Little Rock this week and we had limited time together since rain storms were expected and he needed to head back North. His cycle, an older model Honda  needed a couple parts which he would pick up in Nashville.

We drove by city murals per his request and also some popular sites but one thing I felt he had to see was the National Parks Historic Site of Central High School to understand the importance of Brown vs The Board of Education and what happened here in Little Rock in 1957. 

After a bit he realized he had heard about integration and then understood he was in the city where this monumental event took place.

Being woke is a  good thing,

MONDAY MUSINGS: BREAKING THE BOX

We all still have a lot of work to do regarding race relations. Yes, it's complex and an uncomfortable dialogue, but it's necessary nonetheless. 

Last week I was privy to an excellent opportunity to participate in a dramatic presentation called Sparkling Dialog: Breaking the Box.

In an intimate space at the Arkansas Fine Arts Museum, the audience traveled back in time as two actors energetically worked the small space with their dramatic dialogue with movement, music and videos tackling American historical issues of race, education and the school-to-prison pipeline and how it has and continues to affect both identity and culture, the importance of breaking the box.

In a talkback after their emotional performance, we heard about how the Breaking the Box came to be. Our 2 performing artists with the playwright and director used a storyboard to decide which topics and stories they wanted to include in their performance. Then the writing began for the playwright and director to make it theirs.

Historic issues included The Supreme Court ruling in  Brown vs Board of Education in 1954 which left it to the States to take care of integration independently.  Segregation was finally challenged in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 with the Central 9.   Gov. Faubus had to call in the National Guard to help with the angry white mobs in protecting those 9 brave students who had no clue the strife awaiting them.  We  learned of the harrowing first day when one of those 9,  excited to begin high school,  couldn't get to school that first day due to the mobs. She sought refuge at a bus stop with hopes the city bus would arrive to take her safely back home...

The audience was included in playing 'Simon Says' with lessons with harsh messages of doing what you are told, conform and don't even consider higher aspirations. 

Through time travel we witnessed police brutality towards black citizens throughout the country. We also listened to President Bush spewing harsh words re: the threat of drugs in society. A 50 year war ensued with drugs against offenders inferring hippies used pot and for the blacks it was heroin. We know who gets the longer sentences regardless of the infractions.  Incarcerated individuals will always have a difficult time getting a job, loan credit, housing, education, etc... We heard about a model facility that does vocational training, life skills and job placement  

Our children of the 80's participated in school programs wearing t-shirts with the logo Say No to Drugs. First Lady Nancy Reagan made it one of her programs.

Examples of Redlining insures the absence of black owned neighborhood grocery stores, banks and businesses. 

One of the questions asked was  "Why now? " for this presentation.    The audience felt the discomfort of the long overdue conversations and accountability of our American society. 'Breaking the Box' is long overdue. 

If not now, when? And if not us, who?  The dialog and action are both necessary.

I wish all of you could have experienced this powerful dialog.

BTW: This presentation ironically fell on the anniversary of the Brown vs the Board of Education. That was not lost on me...

Kudos to our actors, you gave it your all. Loved the outfit changes as you alternated wearing  the wardrobe

Question & Answer after the play

s. The post-show discussion with the creators allows the audience to dialogue with the artists on the themes presented.

Due to the subject matter, the recommended audience age range for this program is high school students to adults.

Sparking Dialogue Through Drama is supported by the Alice L. Walton Foundation.

Photo by Dylan Pojar-Weatherly.

TUESDAY TUNES:GLAD U CAME

 TUESDAY TUNES :Jason Derulo must know how much I like to dance and dancing an all nighter .. ooh.  Did you know Jason's real surname is Desrouleaux. He grew up in Miami with his Haitian family . "I watched my parents work so hard," Derulo told The Guardian in 2020. "My mother went to law school, had two jobs and still came home to cook us dinner. It was inspiring. It's where my worth ethic comes from." Who knew?

GLAD U CAME

FOTO FRIDAY: THE NEWEST ADDITION

 

FOTO FRIDAY: The newest room in the house is complete ... 

 Looking forward to many mealtimes al aire fresco-

Last week's Foto Friday was :HANGRY

TBT: CELEBRATING LIFE

TBT: Yesterday two years ago it was a gorgeous day at Goose Island alongside the back waters of the Mississippi for Natureman's Celebration of Life. 

It was just like he wanted it, surrounded by family, friends, food, music and memories...

9 years ago today bonus son Simon received his Ph. D. from U of Wisconsin , this year after teaching at Ball State, University of Iowa and back in Wisconsin he has now received tenure on his alma mater campus ... So proud.

MIDWEEK MUSINGS: WHAT'S THAT I HEAR NOW RINGING IN MY EARS?

MIDWEEK MUSINGS  have me contemplating where the word 'ring ' has gone.  In the old days I loved hearing our wall phone ringing with hopes of a friend calling...

That retro phone is still hanging on the same wall but those rings only signify those pesky marketing robocalls. One after another... You all know what I am talking about as we are all plagued with this marketing tool.

Yet it's the new use of the word 'ring' that has been in the household this past week as one of the items I bid on at a fundraiser came home with me. My household now has its own RING. 

RING today's video doorbell has replaced my old security system, Balto, my ever faithful husky shepherd who is no longer on the job.  I 'd rather have the breathing companions back but technology seems to have replaced everyone, right?

TUESDAY TUNES: WHAT'S IT GONNA BE?

 EN VOGUE  spoke to me this am and not just to my biceps, it's interesting how folks regard relationships and how they can evoke old memories.  How telling are these lyrics?

WHAT'S IT GONNA BE?  

MONDAY MUSINGS: DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE

In our crazy world it is up to us, the living, to remember those who have passed and validate their existence by carrying on their work to make this world a better place. 

In Israel on this special day, daily life really changes, not just the blaring sirens when traffic stops at midday to mark this Day of Remembrance. Special programming, closed stores, it isn't business as usual. 

Yesterday, Sunday, was not only a local funeral of a member in our Jewish community but also later on in the day a service for Yom Ha'Zikaron Israel's Day of Remembrance specifically commemorating the fallen Israelis on October 7th and since. 

Walking into the sanctuary photos  of the recent fallen covered stairs, partition railings and individual seats. Putting a face to those numbers which are continuing to grow...

On my chair was the photo of Sargent First Class Ben Zussman, z"l. Each soldier writes a letter which is written as their military service begins in case their life is taken... Fate had it that it was  Ben's letter was to be one of 2 chosen to be read:

May Ben's memory and all the deceased be for a blessing... May our world find a peaceful way to coexist...

FOTO FRIDAY:'HANGRY

 

FOTO FRIDAY : The new kids on the block are 'hangry'.

TBT: A GOOD RETURN POLICY

 TBT:15 years ago Natureman returned from the dump with a set of bamboo porch furniture with 4 rattan seat chairs. Their finish was gone and one of the chairs was weak. But Natureman guaranteed me even I didn't want them , the dump had a 'good return' policy. 

Each year since I have resprayed them and the set minus one chair made the move with me 3 years ago to Arkansas.

( If my youngest bonus son is reading this, I am not pointing a finger at the demise of the fourth weakened chair after a boys get together ...but it would have been nice to have to have let us know of its truly weakened state LOL)

Even with the use of pillows the rattan cane had long since been replaced with plywood and the chairs were becoming very rickety. I was sitting out on the front porch on a sunny winter day speaking on the phone with my brother when I heard a crack and I fell through the rotted plywood. 

Now I wish I had that picture! I told my brother to not hang up because if my V-shaped body couldn't pull myself out without being punctured by the rusty nails, he needed to high tail it over to extricate me... What a sight it would have been to the next walker passing by  hearing me calling  'HELP'.

I did manage to hand pull the chair apart and escape without injury. I decided to also dismantle another weakened chair so nobody else would experience this embarrassment.

I have one chair left. It's a bit too far to return it to the dump with their 'good return' policy or add it to the recycling trash but I am gifting it this weekend to a hanging plant. Its weight is a lot less than its owner...

MIDWEEK MUSINGS: REMEMBERING FOR TOMORROW

Monday evening members from 3 different congregations gathered for an evening program sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Arkansas and the 3 Jewish places of worship with an observance of Lives Lost and Voices of the Second Generation.

Eight second generation Holocaust survivors lit a Yizkor candle in memory of their family members who didn't survive the Holocaust in Hungary, Poland, Belarus, Romania, Ukraine and Germany.

Three clergy also led 3 prayers amidst poems, readings and a short presentation of DorsGeneration by the new director of the Federation called The Voices of the Second Generation, Their Objects: Their Stories which she has been working with for the last 2 years.

The 6 objects shared with us included: a sampler

A Hanukiah (candelabra  for Chanuka)

a doll and 

and letters...

It's important to remember what atrocities can happen due to hatred...

 

TUESDAY TUNES: WHERE IS THE LOVE?

Here's a tune you might have forgotten. So for your TUESDAY TUNES here's The Black Eyed Peas asking a very good question...WHERE IS THE LOVE?

MONDAY MUSiNGS: OCTOBER 7th & THOSE AFFECTED

 I don't know about you, but sometimes one needs time to digest after a presentation. Such was the case last Wednesday after an Israeli guest speaker shared how her life has been affected by what transpired last October 7th. You could have heard a pin drop during the hour as the guest speaker shared her raw story. Tears flowed...

Our speaker first explained why she calls herself a 'Jewish' Israeli as many Israelis are secular and she learned about Judaism when she visited the United States in her 20's. After an assignment to a Jewish summer camp, she returned to Israel yearning that same camp feeling. She found a good fit at a kibbutz near Tel Aviv. She still lives there with her husband and now 3 children. It was one of the kibbutzes targeted on October 7th.

Her name / the name of her kibbutz near Tel Aviv are not what is important but the events she emotionally relayed are re: her friends,  family, and community along with other affected kibbutzim including her elementary students she had taught for four consecutive years. 

On last October 7th her phone lit up with red alerts with increased  frequency and urgency along with her husband's phone. The ironic part was she and her family were visiting the U.S. at the time and not in Israel nor on their kibbutz...

Futile attempts followed to communicate with her students and kibbutzniks. She set up a group chat for her students. Pieces of information were gathered by texting, videos, phone calls and eventually return trips to their Israeli kibbutz filled in the hours, days, weeks and months that followed...

Hamas had infiltrated her kibbutz at 3 different points: one at the main entrance where Hamas set a fire at a factory to force workers outside. (Fortunately, that plan didn't come to fruition as the workers remained safe inside), the second where the animals are housed (where her eldest child worked) and the third, 5 houses down from their home,

Hamas arrived knowing who lived where and what jobs they held on the kibbutz. The first responders were the first targeted.

 Horrifying reports followed with acts of kidnapping, torture, rape and killing. Hamas infiltrators had brought  their own children with them  and  these kids were seen riding around the kibbutz on the kibbutz children's bikes as the atrocities occurred. 

Even though initially she avoided videos, she yearned for more information.  Eventually she saw a video with one of her students with bound hands on the floor.( He was kidnapped and has since been returned).  Family members and friends suffered different fates, some still are being held hostage / others are never coming home.

Passover was different this year for our speaker and her kibbutz as well as many other tables with the narrative of the story of the Exodus and slavery, What will the future hold ?

October 7th  affected more than Israelis as Jews worldwide are experiencing a resurgence of anti-Semitism.., a hot bed with hatred preventing Peace any time soon.  Can a two state plan ever be achieved? Only time will tell... 

FOTO FRIDAY: RAIN BRINGS THE FUNGI

 

FOTO FRIDAY: What the rains have wrought...

Make 'room' for finding these in your yards / on your walks...

Last week's :AS PRETTY AS A PICTURE