An Old Friend on Cooking

I've been revisiting Gladys Taber after a 15+ year absence. When I was housebound in the winter with young children, her nature descriptions were a breath of fresh air, the second best thing to being outside myself.

 It's funny that when you read a book a second time, many years later, you see it from a whole different perspective. This time around, the  author's opinions on cooking and food and hospitality are standing out.  Gladys has definite and strong opinions:

"I deplore a dinner where the hostess leaps in and out during the whole meal. Genuine conversation is impossible. And, after all, it is the talk that should nourish the spirit, no matter what is on the platter."

Homey recipes are sprinkled throughout the book, substantial Yankee food to be cooked in cast iron with fresh ingredients. "My Dutch oven is my best friend," she says. I smiled at what she had to say about Julia Child, who was her contemporary:

". . .I listen to Julia Child. By the time the hour is over, I am exhausted just watching her dice and slice and knead and roll and throw things around in a kind of Olympian abandon. Julia is the most vigorous cook I have ever observed. . .The only thing we have in common is that both of us have written cookbooks. . ."

Even though her recipes are dated---heavy by today's standards---her substantial offerings are infused with love. Her unhurried preparations remind me of my Mother-in-law, who always hummed while she peeled the potatoes.  I've honed my cooking skills through the years, and although I enjoy an occasional gourmet meal, I tend more toward "Gladys style" than "Julia style" cooking. But I think the highest compliment any cook can receive is to have her family or guests taste the secret ingredient: love.

Art for Book Lovers

The Librarian. c.1566. Oil on canvas. Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527–1593), Italian.

"There can be no great art without great fable. Great art can only exist where great men brood intensely on something upon which all men brood a little. . . (snip). . .Since the newspaper became powerful, topic has supplanted fable and subject comes to the artist untrimmed and unlit by the vitality of many minds."-John Masefield, English poet 

We are studying the golden Greek age of Pericles in our homeschool and noting how Greek myth--stories deeply entrenched in national thinking-- became the impetus for the great art, sculpture, and architecture that came forth from that era.

 At one time, the Bible was the one great story that was a uniting factor in our culture. We cannot fully appreciate our past history or our Western culture without a knowledge of the Holy Writ; our forefathers "brooded intensely" over it and made liberal references to it in their writings. Shakespeare's works are sprinkled with Biblical quotes and allusions. I have a friend who sagely comments, "Biblical illiteracy is a chosen misfortune." Do you agree?




I

The Farmer Takes a Wife: The Poetry of Love and War

  

The fictional Clovis Fossey, a farmer from the pages of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, does not want to attend any book meetings. "My farm is a lot of work, and I did not want to spend my time reading about people who never was, doing things they never did." He's not much interested in poetry, either, but thinks that it might give him an edge in wooing an eligible widow. Mr. Fossey's exploration of poetry leads him to Wordsworth on behalf of the widow and then to Wilfred Owen for his own edification. Owens' WWI poems struck a chord in Fossey's heart because he, too had served in the trenches.

A friend put The Oxford Book of Verse- 1892 to 1935 into Fossey's hands. The revered William Butler Yeats chose the verses in this anthology, and Clovis Fossey has a strong opinion about his selections:

"They let a man named Yeats make the choosings. They shouldn't have. Who is he and what does he know about verse? I hunted all through the book for poems by Wilfred Owen or Siegfried Sasson. There weren't any--nary a one. And do you know why not? Because Mr Yeats said--he said 'I deliberately chose not to include any poems from WWI. I have distaste for them. Passive suffering is not a theme for poetry.'


Passive suffering? ...I nearly seized up. What ailed the man? Lieutenant Owens, he wrote a line,

 'What passing bells for those who die like cattle? 

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.' 

What is passive about that, I'd like to know. That is exactly how they do die. I saw it with my own eyes, and I say to hell with Mr. Yeats."

I love Mr. Fossey, the literate farmer. He imbibes poetry that embrace the great themes love and war--classic fodder for the poets' pen. Some folks think poetry is for dreamy-eyed visionaries, but  this war veteran-cum-farmer finds it of great benefit. The Wordsworth poems roll off his tongue and he snags the charming widow. The war poems of Owens and Sasson are healing salve, helping him make sense of the horrors he witnessed.

Most of all, I love how poetry makes Clovis Fossey a man of confident opinion. He has a view of the world, and he isn't afraid to defy even the great William Butler Yeats.

It was Wordsworth who noted that  "poet is man speaking to man".  The Clovis Fossey vignette is a perfect illustration of this lovely truth.

     

Book Review: The Tehran Initiative

The Tehran Initiative by Joel C. Rosenberg

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was the most exciting of Joel Rosenberg's books, in my opinion. Fast paced, full of intrigue and numerous twists and turns, the reader is allowed a glimpse inside the CIA, the Mossad, the Middle Eastern Caliphate, and the Iranian ring of nuclear scientists. The time comes when Israel must take a pre-emptive strike on Iran in order to spare their country from a nuclear holocaust. The action wins the displeasure of the U.S. Commander in Chief, President Jackson. Jackson drags his feet on taking any action to assist Israel, instead taking the bait of the Twelfth Imam (Religious leader of the Caliphate) by agreeing to seek diplomatic measures.

This book is a great adventure novel, but is so accurate in portraying our country's  precarious position in world affairs that it renders me a little uncomfortable. There are no easy answers to the problems in our world today and this novel reveals the sad consequences of weak leadership and ignorance of the great destruction that can result from misplaced religious fervor.





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How Do You Bookmark?

 Ruby Slippers Bookmark

How do you bookmark?

This article gave me a chuckle. I have a drawer full of "nice" bookmarks, but in a pinch I've been known to  use:

•  a tissue (unused!)
•  a grocery list
•  a piece of junk mail
•  a dollar bill
•  a gum wrapper
•  a paper clip  
•  a library receipt

But I will never, never dog-ear a page.

How about you?

Book Review: Island of the World by Michael D. O'Brien

The Island of the World by Michael D. O'Brien

My rating: 41/2 of 5 stars


The Island of the World is not reached by swimming the shallows. This is a book with depth and pathos, a tale of a Croatian who suffered unspeakable horrors and loss as the winds of war engulfed his country. An 800+ page tome, the lengthy story begins in 1933, painting the picture of the idyllic and remote mountain village into which Josip Lasta is born. The author takes great pains not to sweep over this happy season quickly, imbedding vivid scenes of Josip's simple and wholesome childhood deeply in the reader's mind. Tender moments with his Father, books he loved, the first stirrings of love, the little game he plays with his Mother as she is hanging out the laundry---evocative pleasures are painted in a way that leaves one feeling the way a child feels; the days are long but the years are short. Because the reader has lived with Josip during his brief, happy years, the stage is set to also deeply feel the loss he endures during the later phases of his life.



One would think that a handful of apolitical peasants in a mountain village, tucked away from the strategic centers of war, would be safe. But no one was safe during the storm of WWII. Josip Lasta suffered unimaginable loss and witnessed horrific scenes of such violence that it took his entire life to wrestle with their aftermath.



Michael D. O'Brien's talents lie not just in storytelling, but in art and iconography as well. The reader will pick up and collect many icons along the way, just as Josip Lasta does: the swallow, the dolphin, the white stag. There are many layers of spiritual depth in much of the reading, many wisdom nuggets to pick up. Most of it was enriching but toward the end of the book I felt it was becoming a little too much. One can only pick up so many nuggets before they become heavy.



That was a small fault, however, and gladly exchanged for the privilege of the interior ruminations of a man who clung to life and love with a tenacity that was remarkable. Josip Lasta's life was ultimately a triumph of faith and sacrifice over a set of circumstances that can only be described as "hellish". A truly brilliant picture of a simple kind of hero.



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Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I waited too long to read this book, probably because the title makes it sound like something boring and straight-laced. It is not! Chesterton engages in a game of verbal ping-pong, bouncing around modernist notions such as evolution, progress, equality, materialism, crime as a disease, miracles, and science. Sometimes I would get bogged down because he can talk an issue to death. But most of the time I found him pithy, witty, humorous, and profound. Always, Chesterton was able to lucidly argue his way through modern truisms and come to the finish line: TRUTH as contained in orthodox Christianity. Highly recommended.



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Book Review: Brother Bosch, an Airman's Escape from Germany

 Photographic Print: Robert Hunt

"Brother Bosch", an Airman's Escape from Germany", was a free e-book I downloaded on a whim. My knowledge of WWI is shallow, so shallow in fact that I did not realize that the reference to "Bosch" in the title was a derogatory term used by the British to describe the Germans. "Bosch" or, alternately, "Boche", is a slang word from the French. Loosely translated it means "head" or "cabbage", and so came to be associated with the idea of pig-headedness or stubbornness. Thus, when the Brits desired to put the "kibosh" on the enemy, it meant they desired to stop or squelch them.

I love learning history via first-person accounts, and Gerald Featherstone Knight has an exciting story to tell. He is winsome in the telling, somehow managing to make the adventure a huge romp rather than a grim war story. By turns, he is both humble and proud. Humble, when recounting his own feats relating to his escape from a German prison camp, but proud when speaking of his English heritage. He has a very obvious sense of superiority over the Germans, often expressed humorously:

"..we reached Hanover and were marched off through some of the main streets to an unknown destination. The town is all right; it is the people that spoil it."


"The Germans put an illuminated Christmas tree in the dining hall, but unfortunately counteracted their display of good feeling by decorating the large portraits of the Kaiser and Hindenburg, who stared down at us from the walls and quite spoilt our already nasty food."

As you might ascertain from those quotes, the humour is typically British: subtle sarcasm that "jabs" the enemy. I am quite sure that Mr. Knight's humour just might have been his saving grace, being one of the weapons in his arsenal to keep despair at bay and ultimately deliver him mentally unscathed in spite of harrowing circumstances.

The author's prison camp escape required a long journey, mostly traveling by night and hiding in the daylight. He swam canals, took refuge in hay stacks, endured the elements, and suffered privation. Here he gives the recipe for eating the last of his rations:

"I sat down and dissolved my last Oxo cube in a mug of cold, greenish canal water. The meal is prepared as follows: First suck your middle finger until it tastes clean, then stir the Oxo until it is dissolved (this usually takes about half an hour). Before drinking the concoction it is necessary to remove any dead fishes that may be floating on the surface, and also make certain that none of the Oxo is wasted by remaining underneath the finger nails."

Ultimately, his surreptitious journey and its accompanying miseries ended when he crossed safely into Holland. In the final account, he gives a nod to God's role in his escape, but even God does not escape his humour:

"Of all my escapes this was the most inexplicable. To what was it due? Certainly not to my own initiative alone. Man's extremity is indeed God's opportunity. Supreme in the world of red tape, far above the ken of misguided mortals, lives an omnipotent being--the Censor. In imagination, he sits in a huge armchair, wreathed in tobacco smoke, casually sorting, from piles of manuscript, the sheep from the goats. The former are destined to be smothered in official stamps and coloured inks, while the latter are cast ignominiously into the gigantic waste-paper basket. Though this little sheep, in particular, may have a little of its wool shorn off, I trust that it may eventually avoid the rubbish heap."

I suspect the sensibilities of some modern readers might be offended by Knight's racial superiority, but if you can forgive that fault you are in for a interesting read. This is a short memoir, less than 100 pages. It is a human adventure story that merits the time it takes to read it.

The Lost Stradivarius

This was the first book I read on my new e-reader, and the dictionary-at-my-fingertips feature was much used and appreciated. It is written in elegant Victorian -era English. The book is billed as a ghost story or a horror story, but I would categorize it more along the lines of a mystery. Victorian horror stories bear no resemblance to the modern horror genre !

An English gentleman finds a fine Stradivarius violin,  along with the diary of its former owner, hidden in a secret cupboard. He becomes obsessed with duplicating the music and lifestyle of the past owner, even to the point of being snagged into the Neo-Platonistic and pagan philosophies that he practiced. Sadly, this constituted the demise of the new owner, from which he never recovered. There was no "happily ever after" but yet there was a satisfying conclusion that drew meaning from sordid events.

This is a short book, with well drawn characters and a moral point. The point is that music has power over the human spirit, and as such can be an instrument to lead one into temptation.

I had never heard of this book or its author; I downloaded it as a freebie because I liked the evocative title. It was a little gem of a find and I have now scouted out 2 other titles by  this author that I plan to read.



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A Tale of Two Marriages: Part II

photo by andy.w2008

At first glance, Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln seem ill-matched: she, the elegant daughter of wealth and society, and Abraham the homely son of a poor frontiersman.  But the two things they held in common were enough to cement their lives together in matrimony, namely a shared literary interest and an unabashed political ambition.

Mary enjoyed a truly classical education, some of it obtained surreptitiously when she sought out the tutorship of a man who was headmaster of a private boys' school. She mastered classical literature and languages while other girls her age were sewing a fine seam. All her life she remained an avid reader and lover of the arts.

Abraham, however, did not have opportunity to sit under learned scholars but his similar thirst for knowledge drove him to self-education.  Philosophy, Burns, poems of despair such as Holmes' "Last Leaf," and other classics all became fodder for his mind's ravenous appetite. He repeated things aloud to himself to fix them in his mind. He read to himself, to Mary Todd, and to his children. In the darkest days of the Civil War, when no man or woman could share his sorrow and perplexity, he drank deeply of Shakespeare's tragedies and the Bible, especially the book of Job.

The self education of this man produced something of a rarity: a political-poet.  His succinct, well chosen words were always penned to be spoken to an audience, and in some cases his words proved absolutely spell-binding.  Lincoln's "lost speech" was so profoundly moving that the journalists laid down their pens, listening as if entranced. 

If the literary magnet was what drew their minds together as one, it was the fire of political ambition in their bellies that cemented the relationship between Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln.  Since Abraham was subject to bouts of "hypo", which today would probably be diagnosed as manic depression, Mary's ambition was strong enough to carry them both. Without her, he may not have been able to sustain the effort that was required to rise to the top of the political barrel.

Mary would pay dearly to promote her husband's political career.  In the early days of their marriage, she was home alone with two small children for extended periods of time as Lincoln rode the circuit as a lawyer.  When he did arrive home, her loneliness was sometimes painfully extended as she had to wait out Abraham's bouts of "hypo." 

"His friends were saying, 'Poor Abraham Lincoln, married to Mary Todd'...If they knew the full facts, if they had to live with him, might they not rather say, 'Poor Mary Todd, married to Abraham Lincoln'?"

The saving grace:  the ability to re-engage in companionship and camaraderie after such absences had ended.  Mary and Abraham seemed to be able to pick up where they had left off each time, to repair the disjointedness and to move forward.  

"Would you keep me company?" seems a simplistic remedy to marital loneliness and yet it is so effective.  Visits to country clients, shared visits to wounded soldiers, a carriage ride in the country---none of these moments shared between Mary and abraham seem significant in themselves. Each is a slender thread, but the accumulation of many threads creates a tightly woven bond of unity, one that can survive even a civil war.

Engraved on the wedding ring that Abraham slipped on Mary's finger were the words "Love is Eternal." Irving Stone chose those same three words as the title of his biographical novel of Mary's life. It is a sympathetic novel, one that elevates Mary above the usual caricature of an ego-centric, materialistic, shrew.  She was a complex woman, a woman who endured the tragedy of losing two sons and several brothers. She was not always able to bear her tragedy with grace, nonetheless she was a faithful spouse and I believe her love for Abraham Lincoln survived the fires of affliction.  Her story is poignant and instructive.

Anthem by Ayn Rand




A deceptively quick read. You can read it in an afternoon but I guarantee you will still be thinking about it days later. "Anthem" is the first book I've read by Ayn Rand, though I am somewhat familiar with her philosophy called objectivism. The tenets of that philosophy intersect with my Christian world view on some points: the value of the individual, personal responsibility,property ownership, etc.

The title of this book encapsulates the part of her philosophy that I take issue with. "Anthem" infers music infused with the divine, and in this case the praise is unabashedly directed toward the "I" or man's ego. Ayn Rand seems to believe there is no power higher than man's reason. I choose to believe that reason must bow to God, and that my thoughts are judged by the higher revelation contained in His Word (the Bible).

Nevertheless, this book presents a valuable exercise in considering where collectivism leads us. Very apropos for our times, especially in light of the political ideas being bounced around today, i.e. "collective salvation", social justice, and equality. She paints a chillingly accurate picture of where these popular ideas will lead a society. Antithetically, she drops rosy hints about where objectivism leads and here is where I feel her to be unrealistic & Utopian. Why is she able to see man's sin so clearly in collectivism but fails to see that those same seeds must be harbored also in the heart of the free & reasonable man?

I'm looking forward to discussing this book in depth with my 16 yr old son this year. There's a fine line between respect for the individual and worship of the individual, and I can't wait to bounce these ideas around verbally. The Sovereign God who declared Himself the "I AM" created us in His image. I am an individual with the freedom to make choices because of how HE made me. I celebrate my individuality but I do not worship it. Just goes to show you, religion can be neatly divided into two antithetical camps: you either acknowledge JEHOVAH IS GOD or you claim I AM GOD. I recommend this book if you like to wrestle with philosophy and think about where it leads society.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
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Tale of Two Marriages: Part I

photo by andy.w2008

A.W. Tozer is one of my spiritual heroes. I'm now in my fourth decade of reading his incisive, literary books and essays, and have greatly benefited from his other-worldly perspective. Sadly, Tozer did not attain hero status in the eyes of his wife.

A portrait of the marriage of A.W. and Ada Tozer is chronicled in Tozer's biography, A Passion for God by Lyle Dorsett. Tozer's entry into the "deeper life," the place of mystical communion with God for which he was so respected, was birthed in the living room of his (then future) Mother-in-law. The young Tozer received the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a result of this woman's influence, an enduement of heavenly power that would launch him into a fruitful, lifelong ministry as preacher, prophet, and penman for God.

Ada was a lovely and very suitable marriage partner for the young, serious, and largely untrained preacher. Possessing a godly family heritage, she was both literate and wise. One can easily see how her gifts complemented her husband's drive and desire to be self educated and effective in using pulpit and pen.

It is unclear to me whether Ada and A.W. were ever truly soul mates. From the beginning, it seemed that A.W. had one burning desire: to know God. Everything else was incidental. In reading the early history of their marriage I almost felt out-of-breath as I traced A.W.'s course. He accepted calls to preach at the drop of a hat and sometimes Ada was left behind to secure her own passage as best she could manage. The telling of the story made me feel as though there was never time for them to focus on each other or build a strong marital foundation.

Through the decades, Ada seemed always to be two steps behind A. W. She had to secure transportation to church services as best she could by depending on others, since her husband refused to purchase an automobile. Sometimes she walked a considerable distance to church and arrived shivering from the cold, harsh Chicago winter.

Struggling with the elements was only a small part of what Ada had to deal with. Being the one partner who was always home with their seven children, her management skills were honed to the maximum in order to stretch a "half sized" paycheck to cover daily necessities for the growing brood. Why was this popular preacher's paycheck only half sized? Because A.W. disdained money. He usually returned half of his paycheck back to the church and often refused pay increases.

Most likely, A.W. Tozer was never purposely ill-intentioned toward his wife and family, but he was so singly focused on spiritual matters that his managing of practical matters bordered on insensitivity. How do two people thrive in a marriage when, for years and years, they live and move and breathe in entirely different spheres, when one is feasting on living ideas and stimulating conversations and the other is left to feast on macaroni and cheese day after day?

If Ada did not thrive, she survived. She had too much dignity to complain openly or denigrate her husband. She "made do" on cheap food, by begging rides or taking public transportation, and to her credit even extended herself to others less fortunate than herself. But by all accounts, her life exuded a marked lack of joy.

Meanwhile, A.W. was thriving in his sphere of ministry. He spent countless hours on his knees in prayer, purportedly the secret to his heavenly perspective, his powerful preaching, and his prolific writing. Young people, especially college students, benefited greatly from his ministry and he had countless speaking and conference engagements.

As I was considering the contrast between husband and wife's circumstances, it struck me that the rich writing that I have hungrily devoured was purchased at the expense of Mrs. A.W. Tozer, all of which leads me to ask: could it have been different? If the Tozer's had enjoyed a sizzling marriage, would his focus have shifted? Would his brilliant spiritual perspective have been pulled down to mediocrity? Dare I ask....would it have been better for a man like A.W. Tozer to remain unmarried?

Because I am a pastor's wife, or perhaps only because I am a woman, my sympathies are aroused and I am indignant for Ada Tozer. My mind envisions how wrongs might have been remedied and inwardly I scold Ada's insensitive husband. Then the counter arguments present themselves; great things are achieved at great cost. Both members of the marriage sacrificed themselves in different ways, and as this biography reveals, even the greatest and best among us are still only flawed earthen vessels.

A.W. said, toward the end of his life, "I've had a lonely life."

Hauntingly, Ada's recorded words were very similar: "No one knew what a lonely life I had."

There is a sense of sadness when one reads those words. Surely the difficult circumstances were not insurmountable, surely God intended joy in the midst of such circumstances. Why did they fail to penetrate the loneliness, to share the joy?

My personal experience leads me to believe that loneliness can be endured if there are sure occasions of emotional connection to look forward to. When those connecting times wane, I think that the human soul seeks to build a protective shell around the heart, a shield against the pain of loneliness. A vicious cycle is established---it becomes increasingly difficult to bridge the barrier between two beating hearts. The story of A.W. and Ada Tozer gives me renewed impetus to keep and hold sacred regular times of connecting emotionally with my beloved. Youth can rely on spontaneity, but as the years go by and responsibilities increase it takes a purposeful effort to guard spaces of time set apart for strengthening the tie that binds.

I am left with a profound sense of gratitude to both A.W. and Ada Tozer for their sacrifices and gifts that continue to strengthen my spiritual life. I am also left with the great certainty that in spite of the joy they may have missed in this life, there is a Biblical guarantee that

"Those who sow in tears

Shall reap in joy"
Psalm 126:5

A Tale of Two Marriages: an Introduction

photo by andy.w2008

My summer reading list includes a biography of A. W. Tozer and a biographical novel about Mary Todd Lincoln, and I keep finding myself mentally contrasting their marriages. It would never occur to me to compare the marriages of two such disparate personages except for the fact that their life stories happen to lie side-by-side on my reading table. Strange bedfellows, to be sure, but the juxtaposing of the two marriages elicit some interesting thoughts and questions.

It's lonely at the top. That aphorism seems to hold true even for people who start their climb with a beloved soul mate. Paradoxically, in the case of both A.W. Tozer and Abraham Lincoln, entrance into their destined arenas was granted via their wives. Stepping over the threshold, they went on to live and move and breathe in a world in which their partners seemed locked out. Is it possible to remain soul mates when living in two separate worlds?

I've also wondered whether marital tension actually serves to catapult the man to the top, by forcing him to make a conscious choice about how he spends his lifeblood, about where he channels his energy. Tension creates a climate where the man must define his boundaries and clarify his goals.

It is always instructive to study the lives of great men and women, and to consider where their choices led them, but because my ruminations are lengthy, I've chosen to write them in separate parts. I will recap the stories of the Tozers and the Lincolns in separate posts, and then seek to ask questions and draw some conclusions from there.

Buggles the Mind

You don't have to be an entomologist to enjoy the unique art of Christopher Marley. He arranges insects in symmetrical patterns that mimic a kaleidoscope. The colors leap off the page and beg to be studied up close. His book, Pheromone: The Insect Artwork of Christopher Marley, is an unusual collection that will engage even an avowed insect-hater.

Iron Music

Forth he sends the good news, making
Iron music through the land.
How they shouted! What rejoicing!
How the old bell shook the air,
Till the clang of freedom echoed
From the belfries everywhere.

The old State House bell is silent,
Hushed is now its clamorous tongue,
But the spirit it awakened
Still is living, ever young.

~~Author unknown

We visited countless memorials, museums, battlegrounds, and places of historical moment during our last vacation, but the only time I was moved to tears was when I stood in front of the Liberty Bell. I tried to analyze my unexpected burst of emotion: what was it about this icon that touched me so deeply? Perhaps it was a respect for the incredible history this venerable bell has witnessed. Or was it the crack, the jagged gash that evokes memory of the scar our nation bears from her Civil War? Was my emotion tied to my deepening belief that there is an impending need for its iron music to sound anew?

I shelved my feelings for further examination at some more private and convenient time. That appointment with myself came due today as I was reading Bruce Feiler's book, America's Prophet. The 13 page chunk he devoted to the liberty bell and its history affirms that my experience is by no means unique.

One reason cited for its universal appeal is the fact that it is a flexible symbol, borrowed by the people for purposes beyond the Revolution. It was sent from state to state after the Civil War as a unifying symbol. It was borrowed as the symbol of hope for women suffragettes, civil rights activists, and others who deemed themselves oppressed. Even though the bell was created to be heard, it has become a visual object of hope. Its famous inscription only enhances its ringing purpose:

"Proclaim Liberty thro' all the Land to all the Inhabitants Therof." Leviticus 25:10

I love this quote from the book:

"Hearing is our most fundamental sense. Even a deaf person can feel vibration. And it's the same with this place. The bell is the most important part of this otherwise public building. It's the universal part. It sings the Declaration of Independence. The smallest part of the building turns out to have the biggest voice." ~~ Karie Diethorn

Singing the Declaration. Making iron music. The clamorous tongue hushed, but the spirit of liberty awakened. I love these phrases.

Our American icons are packed with meaning. They deserve a special place in our hearts and in our heritage.

Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar by James Marcus Bach

"A buccaneer scholar is anyone whose love of learning is not muzzled, yoked, or shackled by any institution or authority; whose mind is driven to wander and find its own voice and place in the world."

This is a deliciously dangerous book: delicious because it taps into the refreshing fountain of intellectual freedom and dangerous because it dares me to cut the moorings of the traditional educational system and launch out into uncharted waters.

Have you ever felt flawed because you could not corral your attention to a linear course of study? After reading this book, you will begin to see your mental wanderings in a new light. Capitalizing on the premise that "knowledge attracts knowledge," Bach pronounces those random and seemingly irrelevant nougats of learning desirable, enjoyable, and useful. Do you have 13 half-finished books on your nightstand? Do you read parts of them and then meander off on bunny trails somewhere else? No worries--give yourself permission to wander because somewhere along the way those disparate threads of knowledge will converge and connect.

Bach excels at analyzing the rhythm of his own unorthodox learning patterns, and in so doing he gives his readers the tools for wiggling free from constraining straight jackets of thought, such as: you must go to school to learn, it is imperative to get good grades, you must not daydream, you must be able to learn from a textbook, you must be able to pass standardized tests, blah blah ad nauseum.

No one can accuse Bach of inexperience as a buccaneer-scholar. From his youth he despised school and could not be cajoled into doing the "drudge work served with sanctimony." As an example, he loved physics--played with slide rules (remember those?) and calculated rocket trajectories for fun. Yet he earned only a 49% in the class. Why the "failure"? In his own words:

"The problem was the labs. (snip) A 'lab' was a set of instructions in a book and blanks to fill in. These were turned in to the teacher, so that he could check that the blanks were filled with the expected numbers. (snip) These labs were represented to us as "experiments," but there was no inquiry in them. They were just ritual for getting a grade. In practice, a few student performed the ritual to obtain the magic numbers; the rest copied the numbers into their own workbooks.

For me, the labs turned physics into a sham. I was told I would not pass the class unless I turned in my completed workbook. Instead, I turned in nothing. My workbook remained empty the whole year. I failed physics, but to this day I feel good that I took a stand for ethics in education."

At the tender age of 14, James moved out of his home and into a motel (!) He was not a runaway and his parents were not rejecting or neglecting him. They gave him a monthly allowance and kept in touch. His experience on his own reminds me of Ben Franklin's early years:

"I no longer felt angry all the time. I learned how to manage money. I discovered I could live for weeks eating only pancakes. Then for weeks more, I lived on spaghetti. One month I ran out of cash and couldn't afford food for three days. I ate white sugar to stave off the hunger (it just made me sick). I would not repeat that mistake."

I have to admit, his parents were gutsy. His father, the author of the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, provided a lifeline of support and maintained a strong long-distance influence via the telephone. It was he who finally encouraged James to "quit school and take care of your own education."

That he did. James holds no formal degrees, yet he is an expert in the field of computer software testing. His list of accomplishments -- from Apple Computers to Silicon Valley and many places in between--is truly remarkable.

I loved this guy's honesty, integrity, and gutsy passion for learning. I was a typical "good girl" on my journey through schooling, but have entered into the world of intellectual freedom and learning outside of the box as an adult. Much of this has been learned as I've had the opportunity to shepherd my four children through 13 years of homeschooling (and still at least 7 years more to go!) As he shared his life as an autodidact, I could relate so some of the ways that he has learned and I certainly share his enthusiasm for the subject.

Our early years of homeschooling provided structure and a certain level of discipline and routine. But I'm sensing a shift in my approach as the wind changes during the teen years. I covet "real" learning opportunities for my children and have noted that when those opportunities present themselves the fruit far exceeds any contrived lessons I might assign for them. A partial list of their experience would include:

• Planning a retreat for other teens
• Serving as a photographer at a wedding
• Teaching guitar lessons
• Choosing their own books for homeschool
• Recording an original CD of instrumental music
• Watching every single episode of Star Trek and picking apart the philosophy
• Traveling to Israel
• Decorating their own bedrooms

When I take my hands off and risk losing control, I gain influence. I become a valued coach who can enjoy the journey with them. I think one of the most common weaknesses of homeschool Moms is the desire to control. Let's face it, we enjoy charting their course! It's been great
choosing books and planning field trips. But at a certain point we must take the risk and relinquish that control.

It is amazing what young people are capable of doing. My 10 year old daughter recently painted her own bedroom--walls and woodwork--without a speck of help from me. She did a perfect job.

Guess what? I NEVER would have released my older kids to do that when they were ten! This is just an example of how I've changed and relaxed my grip. Maybe I could call myself at this juncture a buccaneer-unschooler? I like the ring of that!

James Marcus Bach has a website, including a learning video here.

The Maytrees: a review of Annie Dillard's book

Is Annie Dillard a philosopher? A poet? A naturalist? Or a storyteller?
It's difficult to determine by the reading of her most recently penned novel, The Maytrees. Of those four distinctions, Annie's storytelling seems to be the weakest, apparently used only as a vehicle by which she might display her other gifts.

The novel is billed as a love story, the romantic history of Lou and Toby Maytree. Dialogue is spare, almost non-existent. In its place we are invited to share the inner ruminatings of the poet Toby and the quiet Lou as they seek their entire adult lives to make sense of love, the shortness of life, and the big questions: How do we make our brief moments count? What is it we are meant to do? Does love come as a gift, or is it an act of will?

I could follow some of the philosophical threads in the story but kept feeling that I was not grasping enough to make sense of it. Is beauty enough? What happens to our cache of knowledge and experience when we die? I felt unsatisfied when the main characters did not come to any final conclusions. The threads of thought seemed never to be woven together, but were left to dangle so that at the end I was left with a big question mark.

The story line was not compelling, the characters were not fully developed, the philosophy was tangled and enigmatic. So what kept me reading this story?

I suppose in the end it was the love of words that kept me reading, because while Annie lacks as a storyteller, she more than compensates as a wordsmith. Her descriptions of the Cape Cod beach, the flora, the fauna, the night sky, the dunes--paint a multi-layered work of beauty, stroke-by-stroke. She has an unusual way of turning words, rather poetical, which for me required slow reading and focused attention.

I'm including some of the quotes that stood out to me.

Will I read more of Annie Dillard? I might read her almost classic Pilgrim at Tinker Creek because I know that to be her thoughts on nature, where she truly excels as a writer. But another novel? No.

The quotes:

Of Lou, the quiet woman:

"After their first year or so, Lou's beauty no longer surprised him. He never stopped looking, because her face was his eyes' home."

"Her mental energy and endurance matched his. She neither competed nor rebelled. Her freedom strengthened him, as did her immeasurable reserve."

Of Maytree, the poet:

"He endorsed Edwin Arlington Robinson's view that anthologies preserve poems by pickling their corpses."

Other:

"What gave adults the cheer to tolerate their hypocrisy? Even his mother praised generosity and hoarded; she preached industry and barely worked. Perhaps every generation passes to the next, to hand down to yet more children, an untouched trunk of virtues. The adults describe the trunk's contents to the young and never open it."

On beauty:

"In her last years Lou puzzled over beauty....She never knew what to make of it. Certainly nothing in Darwin, in chemical evolution, in optics or psychology or even cognitive anthropology gave it a shot. (snip) Philosophy ...had trivialized itself right out of the ballpark. Nothing rose to plug the gap, to address what some called 'ultimate concerns' unless you count the arts, the arts that lacked both epistemological methods and accountability..." -------->

This last quote makes me so thankful for the gift of faith. My faith "plugs the gap" and although some would call it simplistic, I'm grateful that it keeps me from the tortured mental gymnastics that must weary great minds devoid of faith. Keep me simple.

Book Review: Chesapeake by James A. Michener

Chesapeake: A Novel by James A. Michener


In his fictional history of Chesapeake Bay, James Michener takes you to the top of a large building and lets you watch the pageant of centuries pass like a parade beneath your gaze. Though you can see the details of individuals as they pass, your perspective predisposes you to see the broad sweep of centuries. It is an amazing amalgam of crooks and colonels, priests and pirates, fishermen and floozies, merchants and mechanics with the natural history of Chesapeake Bay providing the backdrop for it all.

I am amazed by the extensive research and detail contained in this epic work (1,083 pages!), yet never do the facts present themselves overtly. Always, they are packaged as part of the intricate web of life woven within the history of three founding families. Their diverse backgrounds and idiosyncracies are destined to intertwine as the generations unfold and the telling is a treat for all armchair adventurers. I closed the book with a profound sense of awe; Michener brought forth a vivid sense of understanding that individuals are both the product of those who have preceded them and the predictor of what lies ahead.

Each person occupies only a small and fleeting role in history, but one life can color the entire sweep of a generation. What if the first English settler had taken the lovely Indian princess as bride, instead of waiting for his proper English wife to arrive by boat some years later? How would the Quaker family line have been affected if the patriarch had capitulated to the pressure to build boats for the purpose of slave trading?

Momentous decisions face every generation, but seldom are the players cognizant of the truth that their decisions are not trivial---they deeply affect posterity. I'm encouraged by my glimpse into the Chesapeake saga because it is ultimately an affirmation that life matters; and by extension--yes MY life matters, too.


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


View all my reviews >>

Summer Reads

It's been a while since I've participated in a reading challenge. I'm ready to tidy up my big pile of books and bring some semblance of order to it! Because I have two NEW floor-to-ceiling bookshelves to flank my fireplace, I've been doing true "book work" this month. It's been fun sorting, organizing, fingering old favorites, and looking at long forgotten notes found inside some of the volumes. I've also uncovered quite a few duplicates, which will be passed on to either the church or homeschool library. There are some books I've intended to read that were tucked away, forgotten. Summer is the time to make a plan and dig in!

Here's my list:

* Chesapeake- I remember seeing Michener novels at grocery stores and on nearly every adult's coffee table during my growing up years. He's written about 40 historical fiction books and I've always wanted to read at least one, so I chose Chesapeake - reputed to be one of his best. I'm about half-way through this epic length story (1000+ pages) and enjoying every page. The broad sweep enlightens me as to how an idea is germinated in one generation and comes to fruition the next. Case in point: the Quakers' opposition to slavery. One thread of this story revolves around Quakers, and their history is so colorful. Since Michener was raised a Quaker, this thread has peculiar insight and interest.

*How Does a Poem Mean?- recommended by Cindy at Dominion Family, I am reading a poem each evening and enjoying the insights of the author along the way. I won't finish this in a summer, but will savor it slowly.

*How Lincoln Learned to Read: Twelve Great Americans & the Educations That Made Them (by Daniel Wolff)- This is my "teacher read" for the summer. Each chapter highlights the education of a different historical personage. So far I've read about Ben Franklin, Abigail Adams, and Andrew Jackson. The modern chapters will include Rachel Carson, Jack Kennedy, and Elvis Presley. I'm enjoying the approach, learning history along with the ideas about teaching.

*Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present- a monster sized book that I purchased for my oldest daughter to use in school next year, I was hooked as soon as I began perusing it. This is a collection of actual letters from the Revolutionary war era to the present. History becomes personal and very memorable when read in this fashion. There are selections from famous people and unknowns, writings on significant historical events and significant personal events. One letter is from a missionary woman in Hawaii, who had to undergo a mastectomy in the 1800's sans anesthesia. Can you imagine? She lived 20+ years after!

*Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture (by Makoto Fujimura)- an artist's perspective on Ground Zero and how living through that experience impacted his art.

*Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch--an encouragement to contribute to building culture rather than to just criticize it.

Mosey on over to Seasonal Soundings to look at what other bloggers are reading this summer, then throw your own picks into the hat!

What Are These Stones?

Photography by Joy

"And these stones shall be for a memorial....when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' Then you shall let your children know...." Joshua 4, selected


I counted it a privilege to view and discuss the "memorial stones" of our country with my family, the monuments and museums in Washington D.C. The Lincoln Memorial is a truly awe inspiring landmark, a not-to-be-missed attraction for anyone who is touring the city.

This is not the first time I've been in the Lincoln Memorial. Each time I enter, I am amazed again by its immensity. The thirty-six imposing Doric columns of the Lincoln Memorial represent the thirty-six states that comprised the union at the time of Lincoln's death. Quoting from Newt Gingrich's book, Rediscovering God in America (which incidentally served as a wonderful walking guide to the city):

"The imposing style of both the large Doric columns and the statue of Lincoln himself are meant to depict the strength of the Union, held together through the tireless efforts of Lincoln."

Shifting focus from large to small, did you know that you can see the statue of Lincoln on the back of the penny? Put a drop of water on it, which will serve as a magnifying lens and you will see him inside the columns. Oh, the things you learn when you homeschool ;)