Books, Dreams, Meanings & Leanings

Books, Dreams, Meanings & Leanings   Disclaimer: I love television, it helps me sleep. Truth be told, it’s really not love; there are times when the characterization of love is better suited descriptively as escapism from the current world we all happen to be existing in today.         Today, almost all of us as countrymen find ourselves singing the same song, perhaps a touch out of tune, but an abide-full harmony of thought patterns between us—

1962: “Stop the world, I want to get off”. According to Oscar Levant, the play's title was derived from a graffito. The show, set against a circus backdrop, focuses on Littlechap from the moment of his birth until his death. Each time something unsatisfactory happens, he calls out 'Stop the world!' and addresses the audience. Source: Wikipedia          …As an aside, watching Sammy Davis perform his medley of songs from “Stop The World: I Want To Get Off”, is as good an artistry of performance delights, imaginable. In sports jargon, an athlete is referred to as being in a zone.         So, stealing from their book, there as I sleep in front of my television, good tastes of life are free to return; meanings and what can be gleaned from dreams far too short to be remembered, yet some way, somehow banked for another day. For a moment or two, I have stopped the world, soon to awaken. I have chosen not to get off.   hk

The Malaise of Indecision and Fear

The Malaise of Indecision and Fear   The other day… In deep thought This man’s considerations Of oneself Of nature’s ways Human imperfections Too damn many to say The usual forms, unable to be formed All my fields, A year without planting No harvest will be found Young things wilting Just look around Here I sit in contemplation I am a teacher Adrift without sound Nothing in bloom They ask for me to do the impossible My children must not breathe on each other They who ask must all be Mad Hatters                     At best Insane characters Giving me riddles to solve Professing love An erstwhile endeavor, If only they meant it

…And I take this time from your read Offering some solace to those of us in need Our children will all become rewarded Recompensed with everlasting elation Each heart pounding out an ever-stronger beat. There will always be teachers to serve them. Guaranteeing every child, a chance to succeed.    Too far in my distant past, at the end of an arduous teaching day, I take this moment of recollection…thinking back to a most pleasant moment. My mind working for me, a little overtime, a person might say. After exchanging phone numbers and all agreeing to stay in touch, the class had come to an end of a six-week cycle. The students had all left the building except for one. Three things in a row followed as she walked up to where I sat at the front of the recording area. She offered her hand to shake, she handed me this little white box, tied with a red ribbon, and a tiny card, and kissed me on the cheek as she departed. I opened the box. It contained a bright “delicious” apple. The note read, “Always remain the teacher you are”! Enough said!

Often the times we live in, some would say we exist in, degrees of extremes, heaped upon us by the very people we are relying on to bring us from life’s doldrums to a higher hill in search of a flow of fresh air. We find ourselves depending on the very people we voted for, believing their promises as a guarantee, then discovering there is no working guarantee of a joyous lifetime to behold.   HK

Good times, just around the corner

“Old is when the liver spots show through your gloves.”

Phyllis Diller 

Phyllis Diller began her career in 1937 as a standup comedian at age 17.

Note: da harv still doesn’t require gloves—unless I happen to be pruning my Bougainvillea.       Phyllis had an enrapturing laugh. I was fortunate enough to have been able to hear it resound in person, although unfortunately, I can’t recall when it was.   …And then there was a young lady named Shirley Temple Black.   “When I was fourteen, I was the oldest I ever was….I’ve been getting younger ever since.” Shirley Temple         Shirley began her career at age four, and she remains the biggest child star of all time. Little da harv was about ten years of age (that would be me) when his dad told him: he thought Shirley Temple did more than any politician ever to help our country come through the Great Depression. Da harv saw his first Shirley Temple movie at age six.

Little Colonel, 1935 - Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Shirley Temple

And though Shirley Temple and Phyllis Diller appeared to have great differences in their talent to entertain, and the enormity of juxtaposition in their lifestyle and attitudes, they accomplished great similarity within their abilities to bring joy to people during some of our country's most trying times. Both of these ladies were far more as references in aiding humanity than what the general population became aware of during their entertaining lifetime. It appears to folks today that those days of the Great Depression were different than they are now, but…were they?       It was the Great Depression from August 1929 to March 1933, a duration of 43 months. The reported unemployment rate was in excess of 10%. The United States/Population in 1933 was 125.6 M (and if you’re interested, we have tripled our population size during the course of the last eighty-eight years). The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic disaster, everyone suffered by its toll. Source: Wikipedia         One of the things my mother and father agreed about in our household: laughing and smiling were all the ingredients necessary for stimulating happiness and some very deep conversations. Both Phyllis Diller and Shirley Temple Black were two of the more vibrant entertainers supplying grit for salvation during the misery engulfing our entire country.        Like most kids existing in a happy household, none of us were aware of the trying times our parents were going through for so many years; forty-three months in our case. As a very little kid, I took great joy helping my dad shovel snow during the early evenings when he returned home from whatever job he was able to find. I was never told he was being paid to shovel that damn snow. I remember seeing my mom and older sister rubbing dad's back. I was far too young to understand as a three-year-old—they told me they were playing a game.       And then one day, the shoveling of our neighbor's snow came to an end. It was time for World War II to enter our lives; little da harv had matriculated to the seventh grade, junior high school. Little da harv was now a ripe thirteen-year-old.    1941: Good-bye Depression, Welcome World War II

The enormity of our American spirit proved unequaled in the history of the world; everyone suffered by its toll. Over sixty million people died in World War ll. From then and up until now, historians all agree, without the United States of America, the world we know today would not exist.   In windows throughout our great land Many mothers with stout hearts Replaced blue flags with gold   Settings left beset Lives to be lived Choices to be made   Life’s unwanted vacancies Somehow being dealt with Sorrows remain Sorrows abound   And those at home Men, women, boys, girls All together Helped Those returning Though some remained seated They all stood tall   They managed to overcome Theirs was a different war than ours   Our people remain Our people Some seated, all standing tall Many more hands today Extending hands As we did yesterday   No stirring waters Will create a wave With a height Or strength Beyond ours -HK-

All Photo Sources: Google Images

Masks

Masks Questions for my child   What if masks covered our eyes   What if we all needed to clasp Hands to get around safely   What if words weren’t allowed   If love was conveyed by the touch Of another’s hand As in a mom, a dad, a friend   Must we always talk So we might understand   What if love Was our only way Every day   And when you dreamed Would it be of tomorrow Another most wonderful day When we’re all back at school Clasping friends' and teachers' hands Showing love   Guess what Everyone understands! -hk-

Finnegan McKenna and Maxwell Hanson | CREDIT: BOY MEETS GIRL