For Jazz Lovers- Cicily Janus Interviews Mulgrew Miller

Cicily Janus & I both write for the online lit magazine Eclectica www.eclectica.org. I learned recently Cicily loves Jazz. She has combined her love of Jazz with her love of writing and is writing a non-fiction book on Jazz.

Cicily wrote :

"I am attaching a link if you would like to see the review I did of Mulgrew Miller from this past weekend. He was absolutely wonderful. If you don't have any of his works, I encourage you to go to iTunes and get at least one of his albums. He is Oscar Peterson with a flair. A tour de force of Jazz Piano.

http://www.rockymountainjazz.com/photos.html

The photos included in the review were taken by the photographer I am using for my non fiction book on Jazz. Ned is a complete blessing to my project. His artistic vision and organizational skills work in great harmony with mine. I can't wait to show you all the final product."

Ned Radinsky
http://nedradinsky.vox.com/

Forms of Intercession Poems by Jayne Pupek

Dear Caleb

by

Jayne Pupek

How can I explain? You were small and indifferent.
Maybe I craved the sound of a vacant house,
no voices or footsteps,
no one seeking me out with a litany of needs
I couldn't fill. Maybe I wanted to spare us both
that moment when we'd awake, mother and child,
hating each other. I'd be lying if I said
I'd had second thoughts. I can't tell you if the notion
floated into my mind that day or if it had been there all along,
a seed wedged in the crease of my brain.
The certainty of what I was about to do, the unwavering course-
how can I break those into segments you might comprehend?
I was compelled to take the life I'd given you.
The sequences unfolded like the scene in a play,
you sitting on the floor with a fistful of crayons,
me in the next room, kneeling by the tub,
waiting for he water level to rise
before I called your name.

from Forms of Intercession
Mayapple Press
Reprinted with author's permission.


I often wonder what the moment is like before a change. I think about how trees grow. We can't watch this growth yet it happens. Our minds are not hardwired to view such small subtle increments of transformation. Cameras can capture this slow motion growth.

In terms of people I think about how fragile our lives are, how things can transform in a split second by a word or action. What is that moment like before an action occurs that can change a life for the better or the worst forever?

Something totally unthinkable is about to happen in Jayne Pupek's poem. Pupek captures this time before change. I found this a powerful poem.

I Wonder If Howard Dean takes Ambien to Get to Sleep At Night

I think Ambien is a sleeping pill. I don't use sps. When I have insomnia, I stay up and watch the hands of my clock and or lately I have been listening to Conservative Talk Radio. Talk Radio is a new world for me. I feel like I am Christina Columbus and have found not only that the world is not flat but everyone is not a Democrat. Where have I been all these years? In liberal land. My parents were liberals. Everyone I knew was a liberal. My aunt once told me if I ever voted Republican she would disown me. But since the whole Obama - Clinton DNC debacle I am learning how like religion politics can cause people to yell, lie, embellish, rant, swear, revert to temper tantrums, become illogical, pull their hair, disown their friends, have insomnia, and send every extra dime they have to the person they think can fix the country and their lives. People are fed up and want change. No more George. For others that means no more Clintons. This is all very interesting.

I could be wrong about Howard Dean and Ambien. HD may be sleeping like a baby. I don't know how much he or any members of the DNC who have endorsed Obama are affected by the blogs written by angry Democrats pledging to vote for McCain and leave the Democratic party.

I have been seeking out these blogs. I too am concerned about change. I love this group's name PUMA, Party Unity My Ass. I have a fondness for witty anger. But this is no joking matter. I do feel that the DNC' s election process is flawed, and I am concerned that people have been disenfranchised. I am also worried about who will become the president. For now I am watching the whole thing play out. I do think the DNC is in more trouble then they know. Is party unity only a dream?

http://blog.pumapac.org/blog-goals/

Review of A White Girl Lynching in Her Circle E-zine

http://www.hercircleezine.com/2008/05/20/a-white-girl-lynching-by-elizabeth-p-glixman/

New York Echoes

"Warren Adler is a unique and prolific writer. He is a world-renowned novelist, short story writer, and playwright. He has written 24 novels and four short story collections. His novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages. Two of his stories were made into movies: The War of the Roses starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner and Random Hearts staring Harrison Ford. In 1974 after the publication of his first novel Banquet Before Dawn by G.P. Putnam's Sons, Adler became a fulltime writer, leaving behind a successful career in business.

New York Echoes (Stonehouse Press, 2008) is his most recent short story collection, and Funny Boys (Overlook Press, 2008) is his new novel that reviewer Stefan Kanfer describes as "powerful, poignant, sexy and, as the title suggests, hilarious."

The War of the Roses is a darkly funny film. Adler's short story Collection New York Echoes is also often dark and funny and relevant to any reader interested in the twists and turns of human relationships. I interviewed Mr. Adler about his story collection and about writing fiction for Eclectica.

Read More

http://www.eclectica.org/v12n2/glixman_adler.html

focusorganic .com

Copyright 2008 A.Coven
Copyright 2008 A. Coven

Nothing makes me happier than to be in the woods or in a field or in my friend's front yard (where these photos were taken) surrounded by nature and it vast spectrum of colors.Thats' why I read blogs http://focusorganic.com/ by people who are into "green" living. I want the earth to stay " green." I want flowers to bloom and animals and people to stop being poisoned by the errors of human thought.

Many people do not believe global warming is real. Many of these people want to drill in Anwar for oil. Read the arguments pro and con. This site has mostly a conservative pro- drilling attitude.
http://www.anwr.org/http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/25223/Drilling-in-Anwar....Good-or-Bad---/

Defenders of Wildlife are anti-drilling.

http://www.savearcticrefuge.org/

I am not a scientist and I haven't read all the data that supports global warming or rejects it. I do believe that going green is a good idea no matter what the reality. There are carcinogenics in certain cleaning products, other chemicals that are not people friendly in construction materials, and pesticide residue in foods. Going green also can reduce energy consumption and reduce our sole dependence on electricity and oil which is good thing when the cost of a gallon of gas could reach $5.00 this year.

Wicked Alice Poetry Journal Spring 2008

Cows c1990 Elizabeth P. Glixman*

My poem "Ride" can be read in the Spring 2008 Wicked Alice Poetry Journal.There are images of cows in the poem incase anyone wonders what the the heck this photo is doing in this post.

 http://www.sundresspublications.com/wickedalice/glixman08.html

Other poets included in this issue are Rachel Dacus, Jen Blair, Bethany Carlson, Elizabeth Bruno, Kelli Rush, April Dressel, Suzanne Grazyna, K. Goodkin, Amy Bracken Sparks, Kirsten Holt, Amy L. Sargent, Juliet Cook, Lily Scarborough Heehs

* photograph cannot be reproduced without permission

Would You Be Upset If Someone Said You Had Stainless Steel Thighs?

Take a look at the Hillary Clinton Nutcracker.
http://www.stupid.com/hillary-clinton-nutcracker.html

How do many women feel about Hillary Clinton's treatment in this election? You can click on this link and find out.

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/

And check out NARAL blog link on Guerilla Women. Over 3,000 people posted on the NARAL website to show either suport or anger at their endorsement of Obama.

It is my belief that the feminine is abhored, disrespected and ridiculed in our patriarchal culture and sexism is alive and well. It is so ingrained in many peoples' (both women and men) thought processes, they can't see it. Too many women equate sexual freedom with being free not seeing they are still de- personalized sexual objects and second class citizens. I think Clinton's campaign has many problems besides the blatant sexist media, but I do think her campaign has shown this country is not ready for a woman president. Women have the vote but what huge strides have we made? Some women feel the way Clinton has been treated has set the Women's Rights Movement back.
Here is a disgusting comparison I just thought of- Sexism is a pimple and it is coming to a head.
Will angry women affect the outcome of the Democratic primaries?

And another thing to ponder. Are Republicans ( in part) responsible for Obama's rise to power?

Literacy

I love words. I can't imagine not being able to read or write. There are people who can't. They never learned. Sometimes this is the fault of the school system. In the mid 90s I took a course in literacy as part of a graduate program in education. I did practicums in first and third grade classrooms. I read a lot of books and articles on how children learn to read and write and what educators and parents can do to encourage reading and writing. I thought about the socio- economic divide in our culture and how it affects children's education. At this time educators were divided as to how to help children from all socio economic backgrounds become readers and writers. Classrooms in the city I lived in were confronted with children of immigrants whose parents(collectively) spoke over twenty languages. Children were not on the same page when it came to language in school.
The how to teach reading and writing debate was in some ways like the present divide between candidates and parties in our present presidential race. The old ways didn't seem to work so onto the new.The Whole Language http://www.funderstanding.com/accelerated_learning.cfm method of teaching was a "new" way to bridge the divide .
The whole language proponents say that teaching students grammar and mechanics in oral and written language was less important than teaching content-process, meaning. But was that true? The linguist James Gee’s book "The Social Mind" supports a different view. He uses ideas from psychology, sociology, and linguistics to support his belief. He looks at how people come by the discourses they are members of. He makes a distinction between acquisition and learning. Acquisition is what we learn from modeling our discourse (values, talking, actions) from those people and situations we are exposed to. We must learn a discourse to function in our lives and create a place for ourselves in a group. Learning is more conscious, formal, reflective. What needs to be known is broken down and analyzed. Reflection and meta cognitionhttp://www.gse.buffalo.edu/fas/shuell/CEP564/Metacog.htm as well as formal teaching are parts to learning.

For minority or low-income students who have not acquired mainstream discourse but the discourse of their group, success in school and life can be unattainable. Since schooling cannot make up for acquiring a discourse, Gee suggests that schooling that teaches the superficialities or surface aspects of a discourse, the grammar and mechanics and meta cognitive skill can help students make do enough with a discourse to give them more of a chance in life to succeed in mainstream society. It is the small technical aspects of language that separates language insiders from outsiders. Racism or classicism will not be eradicated but opening the doors to mainstream discourse is a positive way to start changes in society.

I believe what Gee writes is important. Children who are taught how to speak and to write mainstream will do better in testing which unfortunately our culture values. Children who are given meta cognition skills have power. I saw this in a first grade classroom. Ms. A’s first grade class demonstrates this power of shaping and expressing ideas and feelings. Her children are from a mixed ethnic background in this inner city school and many of them exhibit verbal skills that surpass some older mainstream children I have seen at other schools. It is the critical thinking skills I believe that make the difference, thinking about thinking leads to reflection on what you know. Not all the children in Ms. A’s class exhibit success in language and thinking but quite a percentage do. They are young enough to acquire some skills through Ms A’s modeling, but I am sure the discourse of many of their homes is different. Parents from all different socio economic backgrounds were able to choose this school for their children. They probably chose the school because they have a common set of values about doing and saying and aspire a “successful mainstream life” for their children.

I believe as does Gee that partial acquisition “coupled with meta knowledge and strategies to make do” is better than leaving these non mainstream students in a classroom where there is no explicit teaching of mainstream discourse. If educators and politicians really want to improve education they need to be realistic. You cannot expect people with different discourses to enter school and talk the same language. The language of the classroom needs to be made more explicit! Ms. A gives children this explicitness. She says we are now doing critical thinking questions to the children. What is the name of these 3 letters that slide together? The children are learning processes.

Sheila Tobias whose interest is math and science education describes in her article 'Tracked to Fail" how children are divided through standardized test results into the smart and “dumb” and are put in ability groupings or tracks that have different curriculums; higher level thinking skills are encouraged for the intelligent children, rote memory for “dumber one." These tests scores once meant the child needed to try harder. Today they have come to mean the child can’t learn. I think the use of standardized testing to group children is very harmful. I still remember being in the lowest college preparatory track in junior high and how I always felt I just made it and really belonged in the general track. This placement effected my self-esteem.

The idea that one child’s is brighter than another may have some initial truth but once a children are labeled why should a child try to learn, they are not smart anyways or they are so smart who needs to study.

Levin’s idea of accelerated schools* appealed to me. At first I was not too crazy about the idea but when I looked at if from what standardized testing can do to children’s self esteem and our society as a whole, the idea of Levin’s model seems a constructive hopeful alternative. Schools besides teaching have to undo a lot of the damage teaching has done to children’s belief in their ability to learn. The idea of a product standard is a great way to teach and assess learning at the same time. It is truly authentic assessment.

I became aware from my readings and observations that the self-image problems low achievers have are the same as students who cannot use English or Standard English because they did not acquire the language as children. It really appears that these children are being sorted out as the failures of the future.

I can hear people saying that children from different cultures should not have to become immersed in the dominant culture's speak. It is the assimilation thing vs. keeping your own identity. I agree no one should have to assimilate and loose their heritage. School is a public institution where education is free. Schools are social organizations. The dilemma of how to deal with differences and have learning occur is complex. The bottom line is that no matter what culture you are from you need to be literate to be able to read and write and understand that language will shape your life. Diversity presents a whole lot of challenges.

I am through with my rant.

Gee

http://www.amazon.com/Social-Mind-Language-Ideology-Practice/dp/0897892496

Tobias
http://www.sheilatobias.com/talks.html

*Levin

http://www.funderstanding.com/accelerat_learning.cfm

Removed

Inspiration 3- A Poem by Kamau Daaood

Kamau Daaood is a pioneer of the spoken word movement. His poems are musical, influenced by jazz. They have been called "chronicles, incantations, portraits, invocations."

I am a devout poet. I believe that the right words offered in the right way can be music holding us together. When we can speak the language of essence, we will be able to commune in a space miles above dogma and the confines of individual traditions. And we can develop into evolved human beings capable of radiating profound love, light and service to others. I believe wholeheartedly that art in community is noble work that fosters beauty and meaning into our lives. That art is vital and necessary. I believe in the sacredness of breathing.

Kamau Daaood

Many of Kamau Daaood's poems in The Language of Saxophones got to me in a good way. The following poem THE MEN scored a home run.



THE MEN

for my sons

I

deep the space between father and son
deep the place where chests meet
fragile the air carrying words
from the male heart
difficult the eyes meeting

father, pass the story
and tell the secrets
son, humble the ears and cling
to the wings of the words
that carry the torch
of your son's song
on the tongue of your father
your grandfather speaks
of his father
to your unborn grandchild

clip the wings of ego that hinders flight
tip toe with clenched fist
in this hour of the breaking of chains
deep is the conversation
of bearded hearts
sacred the word that dwells there

II

in the firm gripping of hands
the silence of the male air
folklore of barber shops
shielded speech
muscle and stance
the music our fathers whistled
sweat and hue
hats that cover the head
minds full of stars and wonder
the spit shine of noon
the deep thighs of night
hard voice of reason
in the long scar of memory
you will find it....

III

i will show you the beauty of my scars
they are concealed beneath my skin
some given me by your mother
to teach me to see myself
i have many scars
i pull them out when i am alone
i read them like scripture
i bathe them in prayer and memory
i offer them to you in light



website
http://www.kamaudaaood.com/index.htm

Inspiration 2 * Sacred Art - The Mandala Experience

Mandala by Charles Gilchrist "The Flower or Life in Nature's First Pattern"
http://www.mandalaproject.org/What/Main.html

Mandalas are in nature, in experience, inside us. We create our own experience mandalas often without knowing. Artist create concrete mandalas ( sometimes on paper, sometimes in the sand or on the ground) for religious ceremonies and as visual catalysts for meditation and awareness. This poem was written years ago when I was given this Gilchrist mandala as a gift. It hangs on my living room wall. Today it reminds me of the organic nature and mystery of life's experiences. When I look at the mandala, the shapes begin to shift. As they move something happens. It is hard to describe. It is like an invisible oil that greases a wheel getting it to go forward. It is like a hand that comforts. It holds an energy that transforms.

SHAMANIC ARTIST, LA DI DA IN SIX PARTS

Elizabeth P. Glixman

I
Shrieking harmonic convergences
unleashing unified fields of hues
He blows light from his hands
to those who can catch
glowering balls
without falling downward
in the after shock of glazed echoes
and the heat of ruby red slippers
sparkling wings filmed by a universal studio
His hair streaked an orange tipped fire frenzy
flails startles sleepy caterpillars
and anyone with curves who desires
the anonymity of smoke.

Feathers flower from his quaking nostrils
They rhumba the rhythm of yahoo
the whipped cream of it all
His percolating ear vibrates to magma moans
a seismic transformation gone wiley
He is a derelict cohabitating with
fruit of the loom cotton that dabs
his burning eyes
Is that why people think he is mad?
Genital seeing is not cognized by many.

II
At birth painted sounds were in his womb
His knuckles turned red clapping
archetypal images
conjuring prismatic paper multifaceted bells
Templates of ringing wake his third eye
from transcendental sleep
His fingers spin three-dimensional spheres
the free river of refined visual language

III

One point is the beginning of time
Then there were two and then
there were snowflakes
endless in calligraphic directions.
The words on the pear tree
the vistas
the pavement
ground like mutton

Plato watches the lambs in rubber boots
walking the river of shadows
He outlines the mad man's geometry
the focused eye of his hand
Meticulous mandalas bulls eyes of contemplation
Bravo thinks Plato about the octahedrons
tetrahedrons
roused in circular heavy weight
bond flames

IV
The first word of God was laughter
He never spelled it phonetically
He let it burst out in a catastrophic hug
He wrapped his insides in spectacular unformed
cobweb fireworks
bringing in diminishing darkness
Dispersed fireflies fondled the
weightless space kissed voracious ambiance
learned to recite
the alphabet in choral repetitions
without a lamp by the bed stand
Forms began

V

In the age of Kali Yuga
a complete 432,000 years
Destruction is the tune our ancestors
watch and can not vocalize
They are too busy spying

VI

The painter with his stretcher sticks and pliers
pries our minds open
underneath the generic
gravestones of in and out breathe
The acrylic visionary wins
the world series of names
bats the square root of all
He colors the beginning
and ending of God's laughter
with watercolor cubed mandalas
ink stained pyramids
and other shapes
inhabiting his uncluttered mind

The mad man bellows and puffs
He waves his pencils marks
They are freedom flags
wrapped in God's arms
embracing us
Arms as large
as what can never be colored
only in vague nightmares by children
with fat hand chalk.

The man in red tipped hair is mad.
He sees proportions that we can not measure
Rulers we can not name
When a toe crushes the galaxies
we can begin to imagine
God's coat size and the circles of his eyes.

Published in
MUSE APPRENTICE GUILD :: SPRING 2003

I am Inspired by the Beauty of Wolves*Yellowstone Wolves In Danger

35 Years of Rocky Mountain Wolf Conservation on the Line
17 Yellowstone Wolves Killed Already
Open Season on Wolves

As of March 28, 2008, due to the delisting by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies no longer have Endangered Species Act protections.

Learn more

Read our Blog:
My Yellowstone Wolves

http://www.defenders.org/index.php

More wolves killed 5/2/09. Female Wolves among them. Please go to the Defenders of Wildlife website and read about the inhumane leg hold traps and poisons that the Bush Administration is allowing to be used to kill the Yellowstone Wolves and other wolves in Wyoming. You will also find out how you can help to stop this, if you are interested. Legal action is being taken to halt this unconstructive method of wildlife management.

A Favorite Quote About Poetry

"Let us remember... that in the end we go to poetry
for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit
our lives and the world in which we live them, and
that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might
be less apt to destroy both."

Christian Wiman, Editor
http://www.poetrymagazine.org/

Familial Relationships,Oy!

People navigate conflicts about closeness and distance and others' weaknesses and strengths in their relationships. In relationships that work each person feels respected and open communication can flow. Sometimes the dynamics get bogged down by individuals who are unable to be honest or healthy in how they deal with others. There can be blame, over use of power, and demeaning words and actions.This happens in all types of relationships. A lot of adult behaviours that bring people happiness as well as misery are rooted in the family and culture of origin.

See what happens when you put an unhappy marriage, an overprotective Jewish mother, a stressed out son, and an emotionally absent father together.
"Why I Learned to go Shopping by Richie Freeman" published in Women in Judaism, Vol 5, No 1 (2007).
https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/wjudaism/article/view/3145/0


As long as I'm talking about relationship here is one Slate.com writer's view on the
the dynamics of the Obama and Clinton marriages from Slate's First Mate Series.
http://www.slate.com/id/2176679/pagenum/all/#page_start

"Painted Stories From the Dutch"

"Painted Stories from the Dutch" is one of the poems in my chapbook A White Girl Lynching.
I mentioned paintings in the poem by Rembrandt, Vermeer and other masters from the Golden Age of Dutch painting. I am fascinated by 17th century Dutch history.

Here are a few of the paintings and artists I used for inspiration in the poem. The images do not show the quality of light of the paintings and the amazing details of texture. I also did not post any florals or landscapes. They are easy to find by typing Dutch Still Life, Landscapes, or Genre Paintings into an Internet search engine.

Vermeer, Jan Woman in Blue Reading a Letter c. 1663-1664 Oil on canvas 46.6 x 39.1 cm (18 11/32 x 15 13/32 in.) Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Vermeer, Jan
The Music Lesson
c. 1662-1665
Oil on canvas
74.6 x 64.1 cm
Royal Collection, St. James' Palace, London



Willem Kalf




photo by about.com guide Linda Garrison

REMBRANDT VAN RIJN

Syndic of the Drapers' Guild

Merchant

Here are links if you want to learn more about this period in history.

http://www.albanyinstitute.org/Education/archive/dutch/dutch.painting.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/rembrandt-impasto-a-master-in-the-shadows.html

A White Girl Lynching, Pudding House Chapbook

Review in Full of Crow

http://www.fullofcrow.com/crowreviews/2009/06/a-white-girl-lynching/

Review in Her Circle Ezine

http://www.hercircleezine.com/2008/05/20/a-white-girl-lynching-by-elizabeth-p-glixman/

Here is part of the Artist’s Statement from the chapbook.

"These poems are ultimately about respect for all individuals and races. The idea of respect is shown in the reverse in many of the poems about what happens to people when they are "lynched." I interpret lynched as meaning having an important element of individual dignity taken away from an individual or group. Many of the poems are women oriented. Some uphold the right of animals to true care and respect. Other poems talk about the effects on a society of not allowing differences to be heard."

A White Girl Lynching is part of the Ohio State University Library Special Collections, SUNY/ Buffalo Lockwood Library Special Collections, Kent State University Library Special Collections, Brown University Library, and Poets House/NYC collection. A White Girl Lynching is listed in Bowker/Books in Print.

A White Girl Lynching

Poems by Elizabeth P. Glixman

Pudding House Chapbook Series

ISBN 1-58998-665-2

27 pages

Pudding House Publications
Columbus, OH 43213



Blog Post on one Poem in A White Girl Lynching
http://elizabeth-inthemoment.blogspot.com/2008/04/painted-stories-from-dutch.html

Links to some of my poetry on the web

http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/gallery.php?item=2192

http://www.mindfirerenew.com/issue5winter2006/0106-Elizabeth.html

http://www.subtletea.com/elizabethglixman2006

http://www.friggmagazine.com/volumeonearchive/slaughter

 http://www.friggmagazine.com/issuetwentyeight/poetry/glixman/nolen.htm

http://www.nashvilleisreads.com/glixman.html