Dana Gioia - Prayer at Winter Solstice

“Blessed is the road that keeps us homeless.

Blessed is the mountain that blocks our way.”

This is the start to “Prayer at Winter Solstice,” a poem by Dana Gioia and included in his new book, Pity the Beautiful. On Thanksgiving, he recited it on American Public Media’s program, “Giving Thanks - A Celebration of Fall, Food and Gratitude.” My husband and I were in the car at the time, chatting but also listening along to the program of interviews and music, but then hushed up quick when Gioia started talking, particularly when he began this poem. Originally titled “Thanksgiving,” the poem is about being humble in and grateful for life, no matter what it brings. And sometimes, often even, what life brings is hard.

“Blessed is the pain that humbles us. 

Blessed is the distance that bars our joy.”

You can listen to the entire interview with him and his recitation of the poem in its entirety by clicking this link to the Thanksgiving program. You’ll find a 2-hour and 1-hour program option. If you choose the 1-hour option, Gioia’s interview starts at 24:43 and the poem starts at 25:43. You’ll also hear him in the 2-hour program, but there you’re on your own to find the minute markers.

“Blessed is this shortest day that makes us long for light.

Blessed is the love that in losing we discover.”

~~~

For a review of Pity the Beautiful, see also "Redemption Songs" by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell in America magazine.

Patchett, Erdrich, Keillor – Book proprietors

The current issue of The Atlantic (Dec 2012) has a story about Ann Patchett's new bookstore in Nashville. The story, written by Patchett herself, is titled "The Bookstore Strikes Back," but interestingly the issue's cover refers to the story as "Me vs Amazon," which is really the story of every independent bookseller these days. Patchett and her business partner, Karen Hayes, opened Parnassus Books after Nashville's only two bookstores closed. It's a great story about the angst of living in a city with no bookstore, the wild idea they worked out over lunch one day, and the work of turning the idea into a brick-and-board reality.

You can read the whole piece online at this link, but here's the last paragraph:

"Maybe it’s working because I’m an author, or maybe it’s working because Karen toils away like life depends on this bookstore, or because we have a particularly brilliant staff, or because Nashville is a city that is particularly sympathetic to all things independent. Maybe we just got lucky. But this luck makes me believe that changing the course of the corporate world is possible. Amazon doesn’t get to make all the decisions; the people can make them, by choosing how and where they spend their money. If what a bookstore offers matters to you, then shop at a bookstore. If you feel that the experience of reading a book is valuable, then read a book. This is how we change the world: We grab hold of it. We change ourselves."

I applaud Patchett and Hayes. I can't imagine living in a city with no bookstore. The metropolitan area in which I live (Minneapolis/St. Paul) is blessed to have a number of book-buying options, including two author-owned bookstores. Birchbark Books is owned by Louise Erdrich, whose novel "The Round House" just won the National Book Award for fiction. Common Good Books is owned by Garrison Keillor.

Keillor's store recently moved from one of the greatest corners in St. Paul to another location, which I haven't been to yet, but the last place was filled with nooks and crannies where you could sit and ponder a stack of books before making your final purchase.

Birchbark Books is nestled into a residential neighborhood down the block from one of Minneapolis's finest lakes, Lake of the Isles. It is small, cozy, and filled to the brim with books and has a wonderful children's section complete with a little reading fort. The restroom is plastered with poetry cut out from magazines, and the staff could not be more helpful or generous with their reading suggestions. Once I got into a conversation with the woman working there (who I think is the manager and I regret now not knowing her name) about something and she found me a few minutes later and gave me a related article that she had just printed off after finding it online.

We also have Magers & Quinn, which is fabulous and the largest bookstore in the area. It frequently has author readings and sponsors literary events throughout the city. On the north side of St. Paul is the lovely and classic Micawber's. Since it's a bit of a hike, I don't often get there but when I do it's always an inspiring visit. Plus we still have a number of Barnes & Nobles, which I also much appreciate. Such good fortune, to live where there are bookstores. I'm grateful to the owners and management staff who work so hard to keep the doors open.

~~~

Even the rocks will cry out

I heard a sermon a couple years ago that I still think about from time to time, as I did this morning when my notes from that morning popped up. In that sermon, the minister described a pseudo-baptism scene from the movie "Nacho Libre," starring Jack Black as a Mexican priest, named Ignatio, turned wrestler, named Nacho. Nacho wants his wrestling partner baptized before their match with “Satan's Cavemen” to better increase their chance for a win and so shoves his head in a bowl of water and declares a blessing. Disclaimer: I've never seen the movie, but this link goes to a clip of the scene.

The minister said this scene should tell us there is a better way for telling others about Christ than to push them into it. He gave the example of Philip in the story from Acts and went from there to cover much good and earnest theology about being a witness for Christ and about the movement of the Spirit.

But I couldn't stop thinking about the priest shoving the guy’s head into the bowl of water. Skipping past the false theology, past the adolescent sacrilege, what does it say about the hunger for a concrete splashing of grace, the reality of the place of baptism in the human narrative? It’s like finding a hieroglyphic or prehistoric drawing showing the offering of life for life.

Even the rocks will cry out.

Just do it

Today was the funeral for the grandmother of my son's lovely girlfriend, Katherine. The funeral was across the country and so we didn't go, but I've been thinking about the family all day. Her grandmother died after a short illness and leaves a large legacy. Last week her daughters, the "Satellite Sister," posted a tribute to their mother.

You can read it here.

Mrs. Dolan was a do-er, and this tribute is as motivational as anything a highly-paid conference speaker or self-help author could hope to achieve. I've done a few things myself this week that I had put off doing, with her in mind. Read it and see if you don't agree.

I'm grateful for examples of "ordinary" men and women who have lived good lives.

~~~

How to use a wedding registry to help people survive and rebuild: The Hurricane Sandy Wedding Registry

Since last Saturday I've been watching something miraculous unfold long distance. Over Twitter and emails, texts and phone calls, I've witnessed my son, Alex Nordenson, and two friends, Katherine Dolan and John Heggestuen, (all live in Brooklyn, NY) go from being Brooklynites who were inconvenienced by Hurricane Sandy but generally unscathed to becoming Metro citizens who have spearheaded an enormous donation drive for those who did not fare so well with Sandy.

That part's not the miracle.

The generosity of people is the miracle, the bubbling joy this effort is fueling, the sheer number of people who are participating, the speed with which the message to give is replicating. It's gone viral. Search Twitter or Google for "Sandy Registry" or #sandyregistry or @sandyregistry and you'll see what I mean. 

The giving drive they've created is this: an online "wedding registry" on Amazon for Hurricane Sandy victims. They are working with the nonprofit "Occupy Sandy" to provide specific needed items directly to those who need them. All purchases are sent to the Occupy Sandy relief center at the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn and then delivered daily by volunteers. 

Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/registry/wedding/32TAA123PJR42

They are continually updating the list to reflect what’s needed in real time, and because they’re working with volunteers in daily contact with the people in need they can be spot on with requests. For example, the registry first emphasized flashlights and batteries, then blankets, diapers, and items for water clean up, such as hoses and pumps and mops and rubber gloves. Now the temperature is dropping and there’s demolition to be done, so stop by the registry today and you’ll find requests for sleeping bags and long underwear, sledge hammers and crow bars, as well as other items for the long haul ahead. Yesterday someone purchased the 6 laptops that were requested to help people fill out requests for FEMA assistance for faster processing.

Here’s just a small sampling of what’s been purchased so far: hundreds and hundreds of fleece and wool blankets; hundreds of sleeping bags; more than 300 canisters of baby formula; nearly 500 boxes of disposable gloves; more than 600 48-pack battery boxes; mobile hotspots; generators and water pumps; safety glasses. To see the growing list of purchases, go to the registry and sort by “Purchase Status.” The numbers are amazing and continually increasing!

In the last 24 hours alone, 1,000 orders have come in.

The team encourages registry buyers to use expedited shipping so that items arrive while the need is pressing.  For those who have Amazon Prime, 1 to 2 day shipping of qualified items is free, but not everyone has Prime and many needed items don’t qualify. The team has been reaching out to Amazon to chip in with free shipping but so far Amazon isn’t talking.

Jeff Bezos, if you’re reading this, please give my son a call. 

This registry is getting attention. Journalists are interested. Here’s a piece from The Atlantic and another from ABC News. Here’s a video from Mashable. I’ve even heard that some “experts” have been reaching down to ask the team for info and advice. A similar registry has now been started for New Jersey and that one is in contact with the original.

This strategy, with its heavy use of social media, could very well change the face of disaster relief.

There’s something very personal about this way of giving. You can select a canister of baby formula and package of diapers and picture a grateful mother opening her arms to them half a country away. You might choose to forgo buying a CD for yourself on Amazon and instead head to the registry and send a tool belt to someone rebuilding what they lost, or put the purchase of the complete series of your favorite TV show on hold while you click and buy a wheelbarrow. 

Follow the Sandy Wedding Registry on Twitter @sandyregistry.

~~~

Art in the park and soon on the wall

The Powderhorn Art Fair is an annual summer event in Minneapolis. This year my husband and I bought this original piece from Jennifer Gilles. I haven't decided where to hang it yet, but I just love it.

Her pieces are watercolors in various grid-like patterns and made us think of stained glass windows. We talked to her for awhile and learned that she started doing this work while her baby napped. Great story!

You can find Jennifer Gilles' work here at etsy: www.womenasbirds.etsy.com.

Are you happy?

Are you happy?

This is Weiner’s default question in his book The Geography of Bliss. Books on happiness abound but this one is unique in that it is geographically pursued and organized. Weiner visits ten countries with varying statistical rankings in the World Database of Happiness. Yes, there is such a database, in the Netherlands. Each country gives Weiner (pronouned “whiner”) multiple pegs on which to hang musings and research about happiness according to the factors for or against happiness in each of his host countries.

Everywhere he went he asked, “Are you happy?” He made appointments with people and met them in coffee shops, visited their homes and places of work to ask that same question. I like the idea of being on a mission to understand something, to have a default question to ask that is of some heft.

He visited Reykjavik, Iceland in winter, defending his timing with the news that in general, people who live in colder climates are happier than people who live in warmer climates. I liked this chapter the best and made a mental note of the fact that Icelandic Air allows free multi-day layovers in Reykjavik on their transtlantic flights. Reading about this culture’s appreciation for mystery and imagination, language and beauty reminded me to listen to more Sigur Ros, an Icelandic band one of my son’s introduced me to.

I really enjoyed the book. Weiner has an easy-breezy style of merging narrative, research, and reflection in one steady stream that is fun to read and before you’ve read too far you realize you’ve learned a thing or two. By the book’s end, you can’t help but look at your own geography and start to figure its bliss factors, pro or con. Minneapolis certainly has the cold factor in its favor.

~~~