The Coffee Shop – Classical Music Mashup

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

The Coffee Shop is an open thread-style discussion forum for human interest news of the day.

From grantwoolard:  “I’ve woven together 57 famous classical tunes by 33 composers. How many can you identify?”

—oooOooo–

This is an open thread. There are several hosts, each host being responsible for picking a “theme of the day” and starting the discussion. However, there is no hard and fast rule about staying on topic, especially if you have a personal story burning a hole in your pocket trying to escape.
Pictures and videos are welcome in the comments.  If photos are used, please be sure you own the copyright. We would rather see your personal photos anyway, rather than random stuff copied from the internet.  Our only request is that if you use pictures or videos, take pity on those who don’t have broadband, and don’t post more than two or three in a single comment.

Coffee cup

This is an Open Thread. Grab your cup, pull up a chair, sit a spell and share what’s on your mind today.

Posted in Classical Music, Music, Short Video | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Readings – Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy speech

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

~  Readings highlights content from elsewhere on the web.  ~

hrc foreign policy speech screen shot from cnn video

 

Yesterday, in San Diego and standing in front of nineteen United States flags, Hillary Clinton delivered a widely anticipated speech on foreign policy in which she lambasted Donald Trump.  But as the New York Times noted, “the speech was devoid of new policy prescriptions, and she skipped over difficult episodes during her tenure as secretary of state.”

 

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Posted in 2016 Election, Readings | Tagged , , , | 15 Comments

Walking with Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass – Inscriptions – One’s-Self I Sing

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

Walt_Whitman,_cropped 1Walking with Walt Whitman
A daily installment from Leaves of Grass.

~ ❦ ~

Inscriptions

One’s-Self I Sing

One’s-self I sing, a simple separate person,
Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.

Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the
Muse, I say the Form complete is worthier far,
The Female equally with the Male I sing.

Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
Cheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine,
The Modern Man I sing.

~ ❦ ~

Leaves of Grass – Wikisource
Image – Walt Whitman, age 35, from the frontispiece to Leaves of Grass, Fulton St., Brooklyn, N.Y., steel engraving by Samuel Hollyer from a lost daguerreotype by Gabriel Harrison (my frame)~ Wikipedia

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Readings – Little heroes put out fire with their super-soakers

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

~ Readings highlights content from elsewhere.  ~

These kids are awesome!

Neighborhood kids put out fire using Super Soakers

By Forum staff reports, May 31, 2016

WEST FARGO — Neighborhood kids with water guns are credited with saving a homebound West Fargo resident from a fire Tuesday afternoon, May 31.

According to a release from West Fargo Fire Chief Daniel Fuller:

Firefighters were called to a deck fire at an apartment unit at 3426 5th St. W.

While en route, units were notified that the occupant of the apartment was on home oxygen and could not leave the apartment or put out the fire.

When firefighters arrived, they found the remains of a planter that had caught fire. The flames had extended into the siding and wood decking adjacent to the planter.

The fire was already out, however, and it was later determined that five neighborhood kids saw the fire, alerted the occupant, and then used their water guns to control the blaze before firefighters arrived…. Continue reading

 

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Notes in Emily Dickinson’s pocket – “Our share of night to bear” (Life, 2)

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

Emily_Dickinson_daguerreotype 3
‌
Our share of night to bear,
Our share of morning,
Our blank in bliss to fill,
Our blank in scorning.

Here a star, and there a star,
Some lose their way.
Here a mist, and there a mist,
Afterwards—day!
‌
‌
‌

‌Emily is said to have carried a pencil and scraps of paper in her pocket in order to always be prepared when a poem came her way.

~  “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant.”  ~
❦
Image of Emily Dickinson – from the daguerreotype taken circa 1848. (my frame)
Poem – Emily Dickinson. Complete Poems. 1924.

Posted in Emily Dickinson, Poetry | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Word Cloud: SYNTHESIS

Posted on June 3, 2016 by wordcloud9

Word Cloud Resized

by Nona Blyth Cloud

The United States is a nation of borrowers. What we borrow is stuff from other cultures: words, food, music, clothing – whatever catches our eyes and ears. Then we put our own spin on it, or combine something from one culture with something else from another part of the world – American fusion. It’s one of our great strengths as a country, although there have always been groups that seek to post ‘Keep Out’ signs to protect the ‘purity’ of America – whatever their fantasy of the ‘Good Old Days’ might be.

If one of these groups were ever to succeed in building a 7,600-mile barrier around – and above and below – the shared-border states of America, and then they could pull up all the drawbridges (sacrificing Alaska, Guantanamo, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and a number of other  islands), the country would undoubtedly wither into a new Dark Ages.

Some of the best work in contemporary American poetry is coming from emigrants, refugees and their children, who synthesize the cultures they straddle, and re-define what ‘American’  means. We are far too interconnected with the rest of the world for isolationism to work, so let’s embrace and celebrate the many gifts of these Americans.

One of my favorites is Naomi Shihab Nye (1952 — ), born in St.Louis, Missouri. Daughter of a father who came to America a Palestinian refuge, and a born-in-America mother. “I grew up in St. Louis in a tiny house full of large music – Mahalia Jackson and Marian Anderson singing majestically on the stereo, my German-American mother fingering ‘The Lost Chord’ on the piano as golden light sank through trees, my Palestinian father trilling in Arabic in the shower each dawn.”

During her teens, Shihab Nye lived in Ramallah in Palestine, the Old City in Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas, where she later received her BA in English and world religions from Trinity University.

Palestinian embroidery border - SML

Her poetry vibrates with life – when she reads it, her enthusiasm is irresistible.

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Posted in Immigration, Poetry, United States, Word Cloud | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Walking with Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass – Title-page epigraph

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

Walt_Whitman,_cropped 1Walking with Walt Whitman
A daily installment from Leaves of Grass

~ ❦ ~

[Title page epigraph]

Come, said my soul,
Such verses for my Body let us write, (for we are one,)
That should I after return,
Or, long, long hence, in other spheres,
There to some group of mates the chants resuming,
(Tallying Earth’s soil, trees, winds, tumultuous waves,)
Ever with pleas’d smile I may keep on,
Ever and ever yet the verses owning—as, first, I here and now
Signing for Soul and Body, set to them my name,
Walt Whitman

~ ❦ ~

Leaves of Grass – Wikisource
Image – Walt Whitman, age 35, from the frontispiece to Leaves of Grass, Fulton St., Brooklyn, N.Y., steel engraving by Samuel Hollyer from a lost daguerreotype by Gabriel Harrison (my frame) ~ Wikipedia

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Notes in Emily Dickinson’s pocket – “Success is counted sweetest” (Life, 1)

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

Emily_Dickinson_daguerreotype 3 Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.

Emily is said to have carried a pencil and scraps of paper in her pocket in order to always be prepared when a poem came her way.

~  “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant.”  ~
❦
Image of Emily Dickinson – from the daguerreotype taken circa 1848. (my frame)
Poem – Emily Dickinson. Complete Poems. 1924.

Posted in Emily Dickinson, Poetry | Tagged , | 3 Comments

The Coffee Shop – Willie Dixon

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

The Coffee Shop is an open thread-style discussion forum for human interest news of the day.

Sharing some favorite Willie Dixon songs….

More Willie Dixon over the jump.

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Posted in Blues, Music, Short Video | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Readings – The Clinton Investigation Enters a Dangerous Phase

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Joy of Fishes

From reason.com, former judge Andrew Napolitano reports that the FBI is wrapping up its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails and that the next stage is particularly perilous for her.

Continue reading →

Posted in 2016 Election, DOJ, News, News Roundup, Readings | Tagged , , , , , , | 19 Comments