Dross and other favorite words

New favorite word: dross. Replaces my other favorite word: lotus eaters.

I liked the Goodreads' book review for Shirley MacLaine's newest book. The review ends with "So read the book for the entertaining aspects. Consider she has some wisdom and much to offer. But be discerning: take the good, leave the dross, enjoy the ride with Shirley MacLaine."

Equally as nice was the review that said, "Shirley is that favorite aunt who's traveled the world and lived an incredible life, the one who has an opinion on everything, loves to be the center of attention, and who gets crotchety when she's tired."

Oh to travel the world, and then be forgiven for being crotchety when one is old and tired. This is agreeable to me.

Vitruvian man

Leonardo da Vinci believed the workings of the human body were an analogy for the workings of the universe. His 1490 drawing of the Vitruvian Man form one overlapping image depicting a cosmography of the microcosm.

Using this analogy of the symbiotic relationship of man and cosmos, could the rhythmic beating of a human heart be but the expansion and contraction of the universe?

26,000

Our solar system will be in direct alignment with the center of our galaxy in 2012. The first time in 26,000 years. The distance from our planet to the center of our galaxy will be approximately 26,000 light years. The average human life span is 26,000 days. Will we experience a magnetic reversal? A polar shift? Will we be the woolly mammoths left with half-chewed mouthfuls of grass, frozen in our denial of what our existence means, or will we expand our consciousness and embrace a new awakening? Either way we may see a shifting in our existence. To what degree depends on how we, as a species, embrace change.

Seasonal Age

Spring babies, summer youths, fall adults, winter oldies. As we age do we become more like the seasons we are compared to? I thought when I retired I would love to sit carefree on a beach, a dream I've had since sunbathing on a white sandy beach in Caesarea in my early twenties. Nothing could be closer to heaven than that moment. Now as old age peeks at me around the corner, I find that a cozy chair next to a warm fire while the snow falls outside seems more appealing. When did that change?

Kindness and Good Friday

Good Friday is a time to think about kindness. Kindness is when a soldier put a moistened sponge on a stalk to wet the lips of a dying man. Kindness is sitting in the dirt as you wait for someone to die because you know your presence is important to them. Kindness is giving up your burial tomb for a stranger and his family because they have no place to bury their loved one.

These acts of kindness are the giving of ourselves when we don't have to. The world would be a better place if we practiced acts of kindness especially when we are too busy, when we are too tired, when we are too old and know our body will hurt in the morning. We do it not for reward, or because we have to, or because its a friend. We do it because there is no reward, because we don't have to, and because its not a close friend.

I hear America singing

Animoto is an engaging online tool which could be used in the classroom to create a visual/audio slideshow such as book trailers and poetry presentations. I would like to collaborate with a Social Studies teacher using Animoto for digital storytelling focusing on themes such as Change or Colonization. I found Animoto to have some easy features such as uploading photos and music. It is limited in the amount of text one can use. Therefore I took a screen shot of my Works Cited page, copied it into Paint and then uploaded it as a photo.

Buergenthal