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Liberty v. Power

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.

—William Hazlitt

William Hazlitt (10 April 1778 – 18 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. In the above quote, Hazlitt makes a point that is relevant today as it was over 200 years ago when he was alive. As we see more and more right wing politicians striving for greater power by taking away the liberty of those they deem unworthy or a threat to their power. They attack those who are most vulnerable: transgender youth (and all other LGBTQ+ people), immigrants, minorities, and the list grows on and on. It’s not just Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and their followers, but this trend towards a 21st century fascism is on the rise around the world. 

Thomas Paine began his pamphlet The Crisis with these famous words, “These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

The right wing politicians are definitely “summer soldier and the sunshine patriot.” They wrap their undemocratic laws and policies in the name of protecting democracy, yet they are really trying to destroy democracy. The greatest threat is that if they come to power, their tyranny will “not easily conquered.” The more laws they pass and the more the courts side with these policies, the harder it will be to undo the damage. 

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So It Begins…

First, you’ll never see students on my campus dressed this way. Maybe if they are on the swim or dive team, but they they wouldn’t be out on campus like this. Rarely do I ever see guys without their shirts. It’s probably the only thing I miss about campuses in the South. 

Anyway, my first class seemed to go well yesterday, and I think I have a good group of students. It’s a small class, but once I get them all more comfortable in the class, I think we’ll get some good discussions going. I have my second class tomorrow, and then I’ll be teaching various classes nearly all day every day for the next two weeks. As I said the other day, it will slow down some after September, but it’s a marathon over the next month. After that, it will be a series of sprints for the rest of the semester. At least I get a three day weekend to rest before the “marathon” begins.

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Para mi amigo Angel, que creo que disfrutará esta foto.

The Imaginal Stage

The Imaginal Stage

By D. A. Powell

 

turns out

there are more planets than stars

more places to land

than to be burned

 

I have always been in love with

last chances especially

now that they really do

seem like last chances

 

the trill of it all upending

what’s left of my head

after we explode

 

are you ready to ascend

in the morning I will take you

on the wing

 

 

About This Poem

 

“An imago is, for many winged insects, the final form of its metamorphosis. The plural of imago is imagines, and this time in the insect’s life is called the imaginal stage. The insect at this point has reached sexual maturity and has also earned its wings.” —D. A. Powell

 

 

About The Poet

 

D. A. Powell was born in Albany, Georgia, on May 16, 1963. He attended Sonoma State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1991 and his master’s in 1993. He received his MFA degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1996.

 

Powell is the author of the trilogy of books Cocktails (Graywolf Press, 2004), which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Lunch (Wesleyan University Press, 2000), and Tea (Wesleyan University Press, 1998). His poetry collection Chronic(Graywolf Press, 2009) received the Kingsley Tufts Award and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. His most recent books are Repast: Tea, Lunch, Cocktails (Graywolf Press, 2014) and Useless Landscape, or a Guide for Boys: Poems(Graywolf Press, 2012).

 

Powell’s subjects range from movies, art, and other trappings of contemporary culture to the AIDS pandemic. Powell’s work often returns to AIDS; his first three collections have been called a trilogy about the disease. As Carl Phillips wrote in his judge’s note for Boston Review’s Annual Poetry Award for Powell’s work, “No fear, here, of heritage nor of music nor, refreshingly, of authority. Mr. Powell recognizes in the contemporary the latest manifestations of a much older tradition: namely, what it is to be human.”

Powell has received a Paul Engle Fellowship from the James Michener Center, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lyric Poetry Award from the Poetry Society of America, among other awards.

 

Powell has taught at Columbia University, the University of Iowa, Sonoma State University, and San Francisco State University and served as the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Poetry at Harvard University. He currently teaches at the University of San Francisco.

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Busy Weeks Ahead

Classes start back this week, and for the first time in over ten years, I’ll be back in a college classroom teaching a full semester long course using the museum’s collection. I’ve been teaching a class here and there for various professors who want to use objects from the museum, but that’s just one or two days in those classes. My first class will be tomorrow, and unless there was a rush of students signing up for it over the weekend, it should be a nice small group of students.

In addition to my class, we have a new exhibit we are preparing to open on Friday. Also, during the two weeks after this one, I’ll be teaching more than 30 classes for other professors hoping to use objects from the museum. Nearly every day during September, I have at least one class a day, sometimes, there will be seven or eight in a day. 

It's tiring and a lot of work, but there is always a rush at the beginning of the semester. It should slow down in October. If you’ve ever taught, you know how tiring teaching can be. You have to be “on” and at your best for your students. It’s a good tiring though, especially if your students are enjoying their learning experience.

The Great Physician

When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

—Mark 2:17

 

I’m not feeling great this morning, and I was thinking of how Jesus is known as “The Great Physician.” He is called this for several reasons, not least of all because of the many miracles of healing He performed during His earthly ministry. The Bible tells us in John 6:2, “Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were sick.” He healed many sick people in the cities he traveled to. But Jesus wanted more than to heal their physical bodies. He wanted them to believe in Him.

 

When we read the four gospels in the Bible, we see many accounts of miraculous healings that Jesus performed. He healed people from leprosy (Luke 17:11-19), paralysis (Matthew 9:1-8), blindness (Matthew 9:27-31), deafness (Mark 7:31-37), and other illnesses. He cured many people (Luke 4:40). He even brought three dead people back to life: the son of a widow (Luke 7:11-17), the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43), and Lazarus (John 11:1-44). In John 4:48, He once said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” All the signs and wonders Jesus performed had the purpose of proving that He was the Son of God, the promised Messiah. John 20:30-31 proclaims, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

 

A clear example of the purpose behind the miracles is His healing of a man born blind (John 9:1-41), a miracle that no one had ever heard of before (John 9:32). John 9:33 tells us that the Jews knew that “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” That’s why the Pharisees did everything they could to dismiss this miracle, up to the point of excommunicating the main witness (John 9:34). They knew, if they admitted that Jesus had done it, they would have to admit that He was the Messiah. So, they kept on refusing to believe the evidence because they didn’t want to believe in Jesus (John 9:39-41).

 

During His ministry, Jesus didn’t heal only people’s physical bodies. He cared for the other aspects of their ailments as well. He knew what they needed besides getting rid of their sicknesses. For example, when Jesus healed a man with leprosy in Matthew 8:1-4, He first touched him. We don’t know for how long that man had been sick. Due to the strict laws regarding skin diseases, we can assume that, for the duration of his illness, no one had ever touched him, until Jesus did. Leprosy is spread through touch, and Jesus’s touch was the first physical contact he had had in a long time. Jesus also told him to show himself to the priest and follow what the Law of Moses determined that he should do in that case. The procedure would allow him to be socially and religiously active again. After the priest confirmed his healing, he would be able to go to the Temple, to move back inside the city, and to touch and be touched. He would have his normal life back. It was not only about physical healing. Jesus took care of this man’s emotional, social, and psychological needs as well.

The Bible mentions other aspects of the mind and the heart that Jesus takes care of. For example, He takes care of our anxiety. First Peter 5:7 says, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”  He gives us peace (John 14:27), rest (Matthew 11:28), and joy (John 15:11). He gives purpose to our lives (Philippians 1:21) and makes us part of His family (John 1:12). Every good thing that we have and everything we need comes from the Father through Him (James 1:17). Jesus also gives us the respect we deserve in this life. No one can take away our faith because they say LGBTQ+ people are unworthy. He gives us the love so many of us need in this life. He wants us to be part of his family, and it is through Christ’s teachings that we can make the world a better place.

Jesus never promised to heal every sickness we have in this life. We will inevitably experience suffering (John 16:33), but Jesus wants us to be healed and saved. That’s why He died and was resurrected. The Bible tells us that, one day, we will meet with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:17). He will give us an immortal body (1 Corinthians 15:54). There will be no more sickness, no more pain. We will be free from all suffering (Revelation 21:4). And we will enjoy eternity in His glorious presence.

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Moment of Zen: Tie Dye

A friend and I are going to a couples of arts festivals today. One is the Waterbury Arts Festival, which was postponed from July because of the floods, and the Queer Arts Festival, which was just before Christmas last year. I’ve been to both of them before, and they’re a lot of fun and more so with a friend. 

These tie dye undies were the only arts and crafts pictures I could think to use. These come from the Tie Dye Undies Project.

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Sleepy Friday

I woke up around 2:30 this morning and could not go back to sleep, so I finally got out of bed sometime around 3:30 am. I was up for a bit and decided not to eat breakfast just yet and wait until later in the morning to do so. I tried to find something to watch, but nothing was interesting me. Eventually around 4:30 I turned on the local news. Finally around 5:00 am, I fell back to sleep on the couch. I woke up just enough to turn off the TV. I woke up just before 6:00 am, wrote this, and now I’m going back to bed. Thank goodness this is a work from home day.

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We Need Books!

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”  

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1997)

 

In his 1997 book The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan warned us about the “dumbing down” of America. He warned of a time when our “critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...” Sadly, Sagan’s prediction is coming true, and that time is upon us. We must do all we can to prevent that darkness from taking hold. In his book Cosmos, Sagan wrote, "Our passion for learning ... is our tool for survival." We will perish as a nation and lose any freedom we have if we allow this “dumbing down” of America to persist.

 

Last month, Montana withdrew from the American Library Association (ALA). A few days ago, a Texas state commission will disassociate with the progressive American Library Association following accusations that it pushes Marxism and gender ideology through children’s literature. A right-wing group of women in Alabama calling themselves “Clean Up Alabama” are advocating that the Alabama Republican party push to disassociate with the ALA. Republican officials in at least seven other states (Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Wyoming) are also pushing to completely withdraw from ALA.

 

The ALA provides member libraries with resources and benefits like discounts on professional development, insurance and employment aid, continuing education, and other programs. They also provide a code of ethics for librarians, and we all know that many Republicans, especially those loyal to Donald Trump, do not believe in codes of ethics. They are no longer satisfied with banning books and classes that teach about LGBTQ+ and other minority histories. They want to get rid of the libraries that keep and lend them, too. Right-wing extremists are on the march to destroy the intellect of America.

 

In the 1930s, the German Student Union began a campaign to ceremonially burn books in Nazi Germany and Austria. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representing ideologies opposed to Nazism. These included books written by Jewish, half-Jewish, communist, socialist, anarchist, liberal, pacifist, and sexologist authors among others. The initial books burned were those of Karl Marx and Karl Kautsky, but came to include very many authors, including Albert Einstein, Helen Keller, writers in French and English, and effectively any book incompatible with Nazi ideology. In a campaign of cultural genocide, books were also burned en masse by the Nazis in occupied territories, such as in Poland. Today, the Far Right and Christian Conservatives are wanting to ban books that were written by African Americans, LGBTQ+ authors, communist, socialist, anarchist, and liberal, authors among others. They may not be burning books (although some actually are), but they are taking them out of circulation in libraries and schools.

 

Sinclair Lewis First published It Can't Happen Here, in 1935, when Americans were still largely oblivious to the rise of Hitler in Europe. The prophetic novel tells a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy and offers an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America. In the book, Doremus Jessup, a Vermont newspaper editor, is dismayed to find that many of the people he knows support presidential candidate Berzelius Windrip. The suspiciously fascist Windrip is offering to save the nation from sex, crime, welfare cheats, and a liberal press. But after Windrip wins the election, dissent soon becomes dangerous for Jessup. Windrip forcibly gains control of Congress and the Supreme Court and, with the aid of his personal paramilitary storm troopers, turns the United States into a totalitarian state. While today, Democrats hold the White House and the Senate, Republicans control the House of Representatives, though with a slim majority, and are firmly in control of the Supreme Court. The rhetoric of right-wing politicians, not only in the United States but across the world, are claiming that when in power they can save the nation from sex, crime, welfare cheats, and a liberal press. They will also suppress the ability to think as they are taking away the tools to learn to think.

 

Sagan was quoted in Lily Splane's Quantum Consciousness as saying, "It is the responsibility of scientists never to suppress knowledge, no matter how awkward that knowledge is, no matter how it may bother those in power; we are not smart enough to decide which pieces of knowledge are permissible and which are not." I will take that one step further, it is not just the responsibility of scientists but all educators, librarians, and museum professionals to never suppress knowledge. The far right has always vilified college professors and intellectuals because they fear the truth. They are so afraid of someone thinking freely, that they brainwash people with 24-hour news channels like Fox News and Newsmax. They even seem to be gaining ground with CNN, though MSNBC holds steadfastly to presenting opposing viewpoints. 

 

Sagan also said in The Demon-Haunted World, "The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas." However, in the current state of America and many other countries with far-right parties gaining ground, fascist conservatives (though not all conservatives are fascist), are fighting to make sure people are not able to hear a better argument. Susan recently sent me a joke that went like this, “How many Trump supporters does it take to change a lightbulb? None. Trump says it’s done and they all cheer in the dark.” It would be funnier if it weren’t so true. For the first 234 years of the nation's history, no American president or former president had ever been indicted. That has changed this year. Donald Trump has been charged in four criminal cases which include 91 criminal charges over a four-and-a-half-month span, and yet, he is still the frontrunner, and by a considerable margin, for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. 

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Some Days

Some days I wake up and ask myself, “Can’t I just stay in bed? Do I actually have to deal with people today?” Of course, the answer is that no matter much I may want the answers to be different, the answers are almost always “No, you can’t” and “Yes, you do.” 

So, I drag myself out of bed and feed Isabella who had provided the answers for the earlier questions, but for slightly different reasons. She answers the first question with, “Meow meow MEOW,” which translates to, “Feed me NOW!” She answers the second question with “Meow meow meow…” which translates to, “You have to go to work so I can go back to sleep and you can earn the money to be able to feed me.”

Yes, I’m being silly, but some days that happens when it’s too early in the morning. 

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At the Touch of You

At the Touch of You

By Witter Bynner

 

At the touch of you,    

As if you were an archer with your swift hand at the bow,    

The arrows of delight shot through my body.

 

You were spring,         

And I the edge of a cliff,

And a shining waterfall rushed over me.

 

 

About the Poet

 

"At the Touch of You" is presented in two tercets of irregular free verse with a theme of romantic love.  The imagery in the first stanza is evocative of Greek mythology.  The second stanza uses the image of a waterfall to create a beautiful metaphor. What drew me into this poem was the first line: "At the touch of you." Most poems begin with mentioning the sight of the poet’s lover and describe their outer appearance, but Bynner instead felt his rush of emotions not when he saw his love, but when his lover touched him.

 

I feel like he is describing how it feels when his lover’s makes love to him. Without much doubt, this poem is very erotic. He touches him and as he enters him, his “arrow of delight” shoots through his body setting him off an erotic journey as his lover’s tough travels across his body setting him on an erotic edge of that cliff that brings him just to the edge of orgasm before that orgasm comes and rushes over him like a “shining waterfall.” That is quite an orgasm that is as powerful as a waterfall engulfing his body. 

 

 

About the Poet

 

Witter Bynner was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1881. He graduated from Harvard University in 1902. After college, he worked as a newspaper reporter and, later, as the assistant editor of McClure’s magazine.

 

Bynner published his first poetry collection, An Ode to Harvard (Small, Maynard, & Co.), in 1907. He was also the author of New Poems (Alfred A. Knopf, 1960); Take Away the Darkness (Alfred A. Knopf, 1947); The Beloved Stranger (Alfred A. Knopf, 1919); Tiger (M. Kennerley, 1913); and several other poetry collections.

 

Bynner was also known for his works in translation, including The Way of Life According to Laotzu: An American Version (John Day Co., 1944), and a literary biography, Journey with Genius: Recollections and Reflections Concerning the D. H. Lawrences (J. Day Co, 1951).

In 1916, Bynner and Arthur David Ficke published Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments, under the pseudonyms Emanuel Morgan and Anne Krish. The book included poems and a manifesto on “spectrism,” a parody of Imagism. In 1918, Bynner admitted that the book was a hoax.

 

In 1922, Bynner settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his partner, Robert Hunt. He died there on June 1, 1968.

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Blue Days

If you have or know someone who suffers from depression, you probably know that no matter how much their antidepressants work, there will still be blue days, or just a case of the blahs. If you have plans to do something, you can’t dredge up the energy to actually follow through. You don’t want to talk to anyone, and you probably don’t want to get off the couch all day, that is if you got out of bed at all.

Yesterday was one of those days for me. The most I could get myself to do was to lay on the couch and binge watch Only Murders in the Building. I made some soup for lunch, but that’s as energetic as it gets. I received some lovely comments on yesterday’s post that I wanted to respond to, but it was not a good day to try to communicate. (Don’t worry, I’ll respond later today.) When I’m like this, I find it hard to communicate with anyone, no matter the mode of communication.

I’m feeling better. Days like yesterday usually don’t last more than about 24 hours or so. I’m not tip top this morning, but I’m at least more functional.

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Hopes

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Each day, Wordpress offers a prompt for blog posts. Most days, I ignore them, but when the one below popped up, I thought I'd answer it for my Sunday post.

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

When I began writing my Sunday posts, I wanted a weekly post that allowed me to do three things:

1. I wanted to provide a place for other LGBTQ+ members of the Churches of Christ to be able to find people like them. There are not as many members of the Churches of Christ as other denominations, and while many denominations have LGBTQ+ support groups, both sanctioned and not, I found it hard to find other members of the church who were like me.
2. I also wanted to advocate for my fellow members of the Churches of Christ to show that being gay was compatible with what the Bible actually says, not the mistranslations people often use to justify their hate. I wanted to advocate my belief that LGBTQ+ Christians are completely compatible with the Churches of Christ and should be embraced by the church.
3. I wanted a place where I could study and grow in my faith. I wanted that place to help others to also study and grow, to be able to think about what it means to be a Christian, and to inspire myself and my readers to be better Christians.
4. I wanted to be and advocate for the Jesus I believe in: the Jesus of the Bible who was accepting and loving, who was nonjudgmental, and who wanted to make the world a better place. Too often in this world, Christians do not follow what the Bible actually says, but instead, they pick and choose what verses they want to follow and disregard the ones that don't follow their politics and prejudices.

Back in 2011, a friend of mine sent me two articles from the New York Times about homosexuality and religion.  These articles were published in print in the Sunday Magazine (pg. MM30) on June 19, 2011.  These articles made me think back on the struggles that I faced (and to some extent still did at that time) about my own faith and sexuality. It also inspired me to find other LGBTQ+ members of the Churches of Christ. I found very little. There was a defunct newsletter that had been published decades ago, a magazine published by Harding University (a university affiliated with the Churches of Christ) students, and a debate about sexuality and the Churches of Christ organized at Pepperdine University (another Churches of Christ university). So, I decided to first look at my own faith and second to create a space for LGBTQ+ members of the Churches of Christ. My discussion of those New York Times articles led me to write seven posts about my views on LGBTQ+ Christians. Here are links to the full series in order:

1. Quid Est Veritas (What is truth?—John 18:38)
2. Sola Scriptura (By Scripture Alone)
3. Abusus Non Tollit Usum (Just Because Something Is Misused Does Not Mean It Cannot Be Used Correctly.)
4. Veritas Vos Liberabit (The Truth Shall Set You Free—John 8:32)
5. Deus Caritas Est, Veritas Est Amor (God is Love, Truth is Love)
6. Vince Malum Bono (Overcome Evil with Good—Romans 12:21)
7. Via, Veritas, Vita (The Way, The Truth, and The Life—John 14:6)

I have not gone back and read these posts in a while, and I suspect my style of writing and level of editing is quite a bit different from it is today. However, it is what began these Sunday devotionals.

Second, I wanted to stay true to the hermeneutic approach that the Churches of Christ claim they believe in, but often do not follow anymore. I wanted to use the historical-grammatical method of studying the Bible. This is a modern Christian hermeneutical method that strives to discover the biblical authors' original intended meaning in the text. To study the Bible this way, you have to strive to understand the word used by the original writers of the Bible, not modern interpretations that have been highly influenced by politics. I believed that through study, I could show that the Churches of Christ should be the greatest champion for LGBTQ+ Christians. I wanted LGBTQ+ members of the Churches of Christ to know that they were not alone and should not feel shame over their sexuality.

Third, I no longer attend church. I find it hard to find a Church of Christ that I think fully follows the Bible. Also, I have never felt comfortable in other denominations, and I hated going to church by myself. Therefore, I wanted my blog to be place where I could worship, study the Bible, and spread the words of Christ. These Sunday devotionals became my personal bible study, and a place where I could grow my faith and help others to do the same.

Lastly, I wanted to spread the faith that I have in a loving and forgiving Jesus. I wanted to help the world to be a better place. I wanted to spread that love and to remind myself to guard against my own worst demons. We all have metaphorical demons inside us who think unkindly of others, judge others, and basically, have unchristian thoughts. I wanted to inspire myself and others to know those metaphorical demons and to in some show that just because we think it does not mean we have to act on on these thoughts.

Over the years, my blog has grown beyond my original intent of sharing LGBTQ+ history and culture. It has come to include my struggle with my migraines and other health issues. It has also been a place where I could show my love for the beauty of the male body and to express my sexuality. It has become a place where I have a wider group of friends. Some of you I will never know in person and will likely never know your real name. It doesn't mean that I don't consider you a friend. Others, I have become great friends with, Susan is an example of this. She has become one of my closest friends and confidants. I have met others along the way, some of who are no longer with us. There are those who seem to have stopped reading and moved on, and some who have passed away. This blog has shown the ups and downs in my life, but it has also been a place where I could grow my faith and make myself a better Christian.

So, these are the changes, big and small, I would like my blog to make in the world. I don't know if I succeed in doing any of this, but I will keep trying to make the world a better place.

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Moment of Zen: Hiking

This summer been so wet and rainy that I haven’t been able to do any hiking, but maybe there is still time.

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TGIF

I’m so happy it’s Friday. It wasn’t that it’s been a particularly difficult week, because it hasn’t. However, I’m looking forward to dinner with a friend tonight. Sometimes, it’s just nice to put on a nice outfit and go out. Plus, we are going to one of my favorite restaurants, Waterworks. It’s always been my opinion that Vermont doesn’t have many outstanding restaurants, but this one is nice. Waterworks is in an old textile mill overlooking the Winooski River. Not only does it have a great view but also a great atmosphere. I can’t wait.

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National Black Cat Appreciation Day 🐈‍⬛

Nothing is quite as elegant as a black cat, especially my beautiful Isabella. However, black cats and kittens are often overlooked by people looking to adopt a cat and can be at animal shelter much longer than they should be. So why is this?

Interestingly, cats in ancient Egypt were highly revered, partly due to their ability to combat vermin such as mice. Cats of royalty were known to be dressed in golden jewelry and were allowed to eat right off their owners’ plates. The goddess of warfare was a woman with the head of a cat named Bastet.

These days, however, black cats are often seen as unlucky or mischievous, but not everyone knows why that is. In Celtic mythology, it was believed that fairies could take the form of black cats, and therefore their arrival to a home or village was seen as sign of good luck. 

Unfortunately, the Pilgrims that came after them were devoutly religious and fearful of anything remotely related to the pagan beliefs of their ancestors, and it was because of this fear that black cats went from being seen as the vessels of fairies to the vessels of witches and demons. At that time it became common practice to severely punish those who kept black cats as pets, and even kill the animals themselves.

Although these days nobody really believes black cats are witches or demons in disguise anymore, they are still often seen as signs of bad luck by many people in the West. 

You can celebrate National Black Cat Appreciation Day in several ways. If you are looking to adopt a cat or kitten, consider adopting a beautiful black cat or kitten. If you are allergic to cats, make a donation to a local shelter to help them feed their cats, especially those beautiful black cats that people neglect to adopt. Of course, I’ll be taking a third opinion: I will be showing some extra love to my beautiful Isabella.

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Unsettling Dream

Do you ever have an unsettling dream, not necessarily a bad dream, but not a good one either, and you wake up and can’t fall back to sleep because you can’t get the dream out of your head? I woke up sometime between 2:00 am and 2:30 am, and for once it wasn’t because of Isabella. This time is was one of those unsettling dreams. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t shut my brain back off and return to sleep. I was awake for over an hour before I felt like I might be able to fall asleep again. Luckily, I did fall back to sleep, but waking up with my alarm (and Isabella) at 5:00 am was pretty difficult and I still feel really groggy. It looks like it might be a long day at work. I’d actually call in sick and go back to bed if it wasn’t that for much of today, I’ll be the only person at the museum.

So, you might be wondering what this dream was. I dreamed that I was sitting in church when the minister began to quote the Bible verses that are used to condemn gay people and then rant about the evils of homosexuality. In the dream, I stood up and began to explain how wrong he was, why he was ignorant of the Bible’s history and interpretation of translations, and that he was preaching hate and unchristian beliefs. The minister then turns to the congregation and says in a sarcastic manner, “Here we go people” in the manner of someone who is already mocking the person talking in an effort to discredit them before they begin presenting their case. That’s when I woke up, and all I could think about was all the things I’d like to say to this hateful preacher and show why he was a hypocrite who was preaching the opposite of what Christ taught.

The thoughts running through my head used to keep me up at night on a regular basis. I just wouldn’t be able to shut off my mind and fall asleep. However, I rarely wake up remembering my dreams, let alone allow an unsettling dream like last night keep me awake. I’ve had other dreams that woke me up, but they were usually more of an erotic nature. I usually have to try to take care of a very different type of “hard issues” before I can fall back to sleep. 

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If You Must Hide Yourself From Love

If You Must Hide Yourself From Love

By Christopher Salerno

 

It is important to face the rear of the train

as it leaves the republic. Not that all

 

departing is yearning. First love is

a factory. We sleep in a bed that had once

 

been a tree. Nothing is forgot.

Yet facts, over time, lose their charm,

 

warned a dying Plato. You have to isolate

the lies you love. Are we any less

 

photorealistic? I spot in someone's Face-

book sonogram a tiny dictum

 

full of syllogisms. One says: all kisses come

down to a hole in the skull,

 

toothpaste and gin; therefore your eyes

are bull, your mouth is a goal.

 

 

About the Poem

 

"Love hurts, warned The Everly Brothers. Especially when we let passion trump reason. After all, as Plato suggests, there are any number of available 'beds in nature' to make one's lovelife more complicated. As humans we struggle with the difference between physical, emotional, and intellectual love. Sometimes we simply need to bail out of the whole enterprise, and sometimes, after a great pain, we may need to censor it from our lives. To see sentimentality for what it is. Only then do we come back (to love) even stronger."—Christopher Salerno

 

 

About the Poet

 

Christopher Salerno was born on June 13, 1975, in Somerville, New Jersey. He received an MA from East Carolina University and an MFA from Bennington College.

 

Salerno is the author of Sun & Urn (University of Georgia Press, 2017), winner of the Georgia Poetry Prize; ATM (Georgetown Review Press, 2014), winner of the Georgetown Review Poetry Prize; Minimum Heroic (Mississippi Review Press, 2010), winner of the Mississippi Review Poetry Prize; and Whirligig (Spuyten Duyvil, 2006).

In the judge’s citation for the Georgetown Review Poetry Prize, D. A. Powell writes, “Salerno rifles through our empty wallets to show how much we’re missing. These poems are mystical transactions of body and soul, as dark as Faust and as illuminating.”

 

Salerno has also received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He currently serves as an editor at Saturnalia Books and teaches at William Paterson University. He lives in Caldwell, New Jersey.

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