Monday, May 10, 2010
How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
This is the unedited video version.
Click on the player above for an edited (much better) audio version.
How Do I Love Thee?
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Daffodils by William Wordsworth
Click on the podcast above to hear this poem.
Click on the podbean player above to hear an edited (and much better) audio version of this poem.
Daffodils
by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Chicago by Carl Sandburg
Click on the link above to see and hear a podcast of this poem.
Click on the podbean player to hear an edited (and much better) audio version of this poem.
CHICAGO
by Carl Sandburg
Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
This poem is also available at daneallred.podbean.com
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Abundance Jan 17 Birthdays
Click on the player above to hear this podcast originally created in January.
Dane Allred expresses his thanks for the "Abundance" of this world every Sunday from 7 to 8 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time). This is the entire broadcast. The other short pieces are available at podbean and are also available here at 1001Thanks.blogspot.com. “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dane Allred”, which includes all 33 audio episodes and a free book is available on eBay.
Rebirth
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Rebirth
The best thing about birthdays is it is a chance to think about beginnings. We all come into the world helpless and dependant. By the time we are old enough to take care of ourselves someone else has invested lots of time and money to make sure we survive growing up. Then we might get a chance to take care of somebody else and help them make it to the point the can take care of another generation. A birthday is a starting point, but it can also be another beginning. It’s a day we can stop and look at the past year and see what we want to do the next year.
A rebirth can take place at any time, not just on a birthday. The miracle of rebirth is always present in nature, and an example or two can help us understand the process as it could also occur in us. I’ve recently planted some pine nuts, and they have already sprouted. Even though I planted them upside down, they are correcting my mistake, sending up the main root and turning back into the soil. If we think about the single pine nut and the potential it can have, it makes me wonder what our own potential could be. These pine nuts were for sale at the side of the road, and the guy who sold them to me wanted to roast them. I had other plans. Where a bag of pine nuts could have been a snack, I intend to turn them into a little grove of pine trees in the back yard. I might make some of them in to little bonsai plants, and since I sell stuff on Ebay, they will probably end up somewhere else in the world. They may grow to full size and produce pine nuts of their own.
The dependable way in which seeds sprout and grow into full grown plants is amazing to me. No one can make a seed, but every time we plant a seed, we have the expectation they will grow. We don’t expect them to grow into something different, so maybe here is a lesson for us. Can we grow into something we aren’t, and who decides what we are and are not?
Another exciting example of rebirth is some impatiens flower plants I had in the yard last year. They were really from the year before, and I had kept them alive over the winter and done some cuttings. This isn’t a new plant, but a part of the old plant. These flowers are sensitive to cold, and they have great stems for cutting. I took longer stems, cut them, put some rooting enzyme on them and put them in a new little pot. By spring I had dozens more to plant, and they all came from the same few flowers I dug up in the fall and kept in the greenhouse.
I did the same thing last fall. I dug up quite a few of the second generation flowers to prepare to get a third generation ready for next summer. I was surprised how many plants I had, and they were flowering very well as the snow fell. Unfortunately, the cat bumped the plug for the heater for the greenhouse before I noticed, and it got below freezing for a couple of nights. About two-thirds of the flowers died back to the soil, and the rest just died. The amazing thing is I still have some to work with, and spent the weekend getting them cleaned up and repotted. I should have a record number of bright purple impatiens ready for the spring.
It’s the same with this program. “Abundance” is the root stock of optimism, and I want a little bit of that idea to get planted and nourished in your life. I know when you stop and think about all the things we have to be thankful for in this modern world, your part of this growing idea will flourish, and before we know it, there will be a bounty of thankfulness. I do it in the hopes that I will be truly conscious of giving thanks, and remember to acknowledge the blessings of living in a world where many of us live a standard of living far above the royalty in the past.
Stop at least once each day and pay attention to the wonders all about us, that have become commonplace to us because we wake up every day and they are available to us. A thankful attitude will help you understand how truly blessed we are. Be reborn to the miracle of life every day you are given, because there will be those who weren’t given this gift of one more day. Get out there and grow into the real you today.
The Benjamins
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The Benjamins
Everybody has to be born on one of 365 days in the year. Statistically, if you get 23 people in the same room, chances are better than 50 percent two people in the room will share a birthday. With 57 people, the chances increase to 99 percent. Of course if you get 366 people in the same room, someone will share a birthday. If you want to read an explanation, there is a math one at Wikipedia.
I share a birthday with Benjamin Franklin. He was called a Renaissance man, a person who was experienced in many differing disciplines. He gave us the lightning rod, but probably didn’t do the kite flying experiment. He started one of the first volunteer fire departments, libraries and insurance companies. He helped found the first civilian hospital and medical school in the United States. He invented the glasses I wear – bifocals.
We know him best for his contributions to American Independence. I didn’t know he was the person who designed the “Unite or Die” snake which represented the colonies. You’ve probably seen that flag if you ever studied American History.
I really like his list of thirteen virtues, and though I have discussed them before, I think the 304th anniversary of his birth would be a good place to review them. I’ll bet he had an English accent. I’ll use it when I am quoting from his list.
TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
Don’t eat too much I get, but I’m guessing Ben was a quiet drunk.
“SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
I wonder what Mr. Franklin would think of our preoccupation with celebrities.
“ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
Everything in its place I fail, and I do way too many things.
“RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
Think of what you ought to do. Then do it.
“FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
Oops. I spend too much and waste more.
“INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
I like to sleep too much, but I do like to do lots of things. Mostly unnvecessary.
“SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.”
I can pass this one. I may be too sincere.
“JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
I’m big on causing no injury. I could be more generous.
“MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
I’m getting better at not resenting, but I am still pretty extreme.
“CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
I think we actually shower and bathe more than back then, but my car does need to be cleaned.
“TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
I think I am the ultimate easy-going, laid-back and tolerant person. Maybe too much.
“CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
Let’s just say I’m healthy.
“HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
I wish I was more humble. I am the poster boy for the song “Oh, Lord It’s Hard To Be Humble”.
But I do have a list of my own.
In my motivational presentation “B Positive, More than just a blood type” I focus on how to be our best selves, and the phrase “My Best Self” represents the following ideas, with each letter of “My Best Self” starting each idea.
In the word MY
M represents Make a positive contribution
Y means we Yearn to be better
In the word BEST
B stands for Believing in your potential
E means we Exercise
S stands for Smiles
T means we Trust in the Creative
In the word SELF
S represents Specialization
E means we Expect great things to happen
L means we Learn from others and the final letter
F tells us to Fearlessly forge forcefully forward.
Find ways this week to be your best self. Make a positive contribution, yearn to be better, believes in your potential, exercise, smile, trust in the Creative, specialize, expect great things to happen, learn from others, and fearlessly forge forcefully forward.
Be your best self. I hope your spirits have been lifted this day. Go out and find all the reasons we have to be thankful for in this abundant life.
Today, I’m grateful to share a birthday with Benjamin Franklin. With a couple of hundred Benjamins, nearly any problem could be solved. And I don’t just mean money.
Another 800 word/ 5 minute podcast from "Dane Allred's Partly-colored Dreamocoat". From the program “Abundance”, Dane Allred also presents pieces from "Literature Out Loud". These episodes are broadcast live every Sunday on www.k-talk.com from 7 to 8 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time), and are also available at www.daneallred .com and at www.daneallred.podbean.com. His new book, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dane Allred” is available at www.daneallred.com and on eBay. You can also sign up and get automatic downloads as a subscriber at daneallred.podbean or on Apple’s iTunes.
Caesarians
Click on the player above to hear an audio version of this blog.
Caesarians
Birthdays are interesting, but I don’t remember anything about the day I was born. I do have two daughters, and I was at both of their births. The World Health Organization recommends that no more than 15 percent of all births should be by Caesarean, which is where the mother’s abdomen is cut to deliver a child. We have exceeded this by quite a bit in my family. Both of my daughters were born by Caesarean. We have a 100 percent Caesarean rate.
Watching the birth of your own child is an amazing thing. Watching a Caesarean delivery is incredible. We didn’t plan for our first daughter to be born this way, but that’s what happened. We went to birthing classes so I could be at the birth, and we had to watch a special video on Caesarean delivery just in case. After about 18 hours in labor, my wife was getting very tired, and the process was stressing the baby, so the doctor’s told me to go scrub up and get ready to watch my first child delivered by cutting my wife open. I was only away from my wife’s side for a few minutes, but that was the only time I was really worried. I hoped nothing would happen while I was away. In surgery, everyone looked very serious, and watching a doctor use a scalpel on your wife stomach is a nerve-wracking experience, but it had to be worse for my wife, who was conscious and watching a man approach her with a sharp instrument.
Surgery is a complicated process where a thousand things can go wrong, but the professionals in our hospitals are very good. I was actually at ease watching them work feverishly to bring my firstborn into this world. It was an amazingly fast process, and very quickly the incision was made, and just as quickly a small face appeared. There was a small cut on her face where the scalpel had gone too deep; where her face had been pressing. All of the operating room personnel looked at me. I smiled, but I think they were wondering if I was going to sue. I was just happy to have everyone all right. Our new daughter was not too happy and was already crying; after all her greeting to the world was a cut to the face. I got to hold here almost immediately, and was assured my entire family was going to be fine.
This was in California, but we were moving and the doctors insisted both mother and daughter stay in the hospital for a week rather than the normal day or two. Then they both got on a plane with my mother-in-law and flew away. I drove a U-haul to our new home.
When our second child was due, it was recommended my wife have another Caesarean. Our second daughter’s delivery was much easier. When a Caesarean is planned, not suddenly needed like our first daughter, then you get to pick a date to have the baby. You even can choose a time of day. I have a pretty poor memory, and it seemed like a good idea to choose November 15th. It was the middle of the month, and since my anniversary is the month before on the 14th, I have been able to remember her birthday. I just don’t remember my anniversary sometimes. Another great advantage to planning the time and date is you can make arrangements at work, get a baby-sitter for the older daughter, and even make it home to relax for the afternoon.
This second Caesarean was much less tense. Everyone knew what to expect. The doctors even provided a mirror so this time my wife could watch the operation. I don’t know why anyone would want to watch a sharp instrument cutting into your own stomach, but she thought it was great. We were both a little apprehensive since there was still a little scar on our first daughter’s face, but the mood in the room was very good. The doctor made sure I had a nice place to sit and watch, and as he started the procedure, he turned to me and asked me if I was okay. I told him, “As long as you aren’t cutting me I am fine.” Everyone thought that was funny, but I was serious. I can’t even watch the needle when I get a shot.
So all the excitement produced two beautiful daughters, and sometimes it makes me wonder what we did back in the good old days before hospitals, doctors, nurses and support staff. I don’t want to go back to those times, but the whole process seems a lot more complicated than back then. But it does make for some memorable moments, and some interesting birth days.
Another 800 word/ 5 minute podcast from "Dane Allred's Partly-colored Dreamocoat". From the program “Abundance”, Dane Allred also presents pieces from "Literature Out Loud". These episodes are broadcast live every Sunday on www.k-talk.com from 7 to 8 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time), and are also available at www.daneallred .com and at www.daneallred.podbean.com. His new book, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dane Allred” is available at www.daneallred.com and on eBay. You can also sign up and get automatic downloads as a subscriber at daneallred.podbean or on Apple’s iTunes.
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