Bend and Stretch (Romper Room)

Synchronicity strikes again!

Even before my friend Eileen shared the 30-day Yoga Challenge with Adriene (which I signed up for immediately, and began today), I was thinking of choosing Move as my Word of the Year... but I then decided to fine-tune it even more to Stretch; the second half of 2021 found me strettttcccchhhhing myself in various ways on many levels, as evidenced by the multiple definitions below:

Stretch

~ (of something soft or elastic) be made or be capable of being made longer or wider without tearing or breaking.

~ cause (something) to become longer or wider by pulling it.

~ straighten or extend one's body or a part of one's body to its full length, typically so as to tighten one's muscles or in order to reach something.

~ extend or spread over an area or period of time.

~ last or cause to last longer than expected.

~ make great demands on the capacity or resources of.

~ cause (someone) to make maximum use of their talents or abilities.

~ adapt or extend the scope of (something) in a way that exceeds a reasonable or acceptable limit.

~ a difficult or demanding task.

~ a continuous period of time.

It was beyond amazing, and I want to continue the good feeling and stretch myself even further... past my boundaries, limits, comfort zone... emotionally, physically, spiritually.  I have (oh so) High Hopes for 2022!

Bend and stretch,

Reach for the stars.

There goes Jupiter,

Here comes Mars.

Bend and stretch,

Reach for the sky.

Stand on tip-e-toes,

Oh so high!

SONG:  Bend and Stretch (Romper Room)

BOOK:  The Big Stretch: 90 Days to Expand Your Dreams, Crush Your Goals, and Create Your Own Success by Teneshia Jackson Warner

POEM(S):  Becoming Her by April Green

When I started showing up

as the woman I wanted to be,

the world began responding to me;

showing me all the different ways I needed to keep moving,

and healing and growing

and stretching beyond myself,

beyond anything, I had ever reached before.

When I started showing up

as the woman I wanted to be,

the world led me to a place where

I could finally say:

‘I am her.’

Song by Adrienne Rich

You’re wondering if I’m lonely:

OK then, yes, I’m lonely

as a plane rides lonely and level

on its radio beam, aiming

across the Rockies

for the blue-strung aisles

of an airfield on the ocean.

.

You want to ask, am I lonely?

Well, of course, lonely

as a woman driving across country

day after day, leaving behind

mile after mile

little towns she might have stopped

and lived and died in, lonely

.

If I’m lonely

it must be the loneliness

of waking first, of breathing

dawn’s first cold breath on the city

of being the one awake

in a house wrapped in sleep

.

If I’m lonely

it’s with the rowboat ice-fast on the shore

in the last red light of the year

that knows what it is, that knows it’s neither

ice nor mud nor winter light

but wood, with a gift for burning.

.

QUOTE(S):  "Yesterday I met a whole person. It is a rare experience, but always an illuminating and ennobling one. It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the enlightenment and the courage to pay the price… One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to embrace the world like a lover, and yet demand no easy return on love. One has to accept pain as a condition of existence. One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, yet open always to the total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying." ~ Morris West 

"Whatever wishes to grow within you—a curiosity, a talent, an interest—is life seeking its expression through you.  Our old desire for comfort, even happiness, may prove an impediment.   We are here a very short time. Let us make it as luminous and as meaningful as we can.  Time to stop being afraid, and time to show up as yourself." ~ James Hollis

"I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise. The first step was a good thought, the second, a good word; and the third, a good deed." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Call It Democracy (Bruce Cockburn)

I couldn't decide between the two memes, so you get both (the first from Sarah via her friend Nicole, and the second from Judi via her daughter Jennifer).  Thanks and love to all.

Where do I even begin?  How much time do you have?  Last week's insurrection/riot (it was not a f*cking protest!) was the proverbial poop icing on the sh*tshow cake that has been this presidency.  Crazy that it is only in the last two weeks that some (not all, mind you!) Republicans (including our Vice President) have realized it's a smart move to abandon the sinking ship.  Then again, they are doing it for the party, and not for any reasons of ethics or integrity.  Where were they for the last four years as everything we stood for during the intelligent and articulate eight-year Obama administration was systematically dismantled?  Really, they get a wake-up call two weeks before Biden's inauguration?  Then again, better late than never, I guess. [shrugging woman emoji is working overtime these days]

To paraphrase the longstanding chant:  this has *not* been what democracy looks like!  But we are soon to be reminded that our country consists of more than angry white racist armed men (and women) who thrive on hatred and violence.  Justice and equality will prevail, and I will breathe a huge sigh of relief when we are moving forward again... 💞

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert YouTube Channel says it all.

 

This from Penzeys:  "Honesty is the heart of democracy. This week after 25,000 false and misleading statements by the president we witnessed the clearest example yet of how far from truly safe these lies have left our democracy. As a spice business we connect you to history like pretty much no other business, and if history has a lesson about democracy it’s that democracies are a lot like chickens. If you want to keep them safe you have to keep the foxes out of the henhouse.

That so many congressional Republicans after Wednesday’s events would choose to vote against the will of the people and vote in favor of fueling the president’s lies about the outcome of November’s election is heartbreaking, but after these last four years not unexpected. The henhouse of American democracy is now thick with foxes.

We’ve overcome so much these past four years, but to hold onto our hard-won victories we are going to have to get back to the basics of democracy building. That starts with standing up for truth and holding those accountable whose lies intentionally destroy the public good. We have laws against most everything that we’ve witnessed since the election and it’s past time we use those laws. But this is about more than laws, this is about basic decency and the fundamental difference between truth and lies, between right and wrong.

As we witnessed this Wednesday, Republican lies about the legitimacy of November’s election have brought our nation to the brink. There’s a very good probability that not all of Wednesday’s events were actually spontaneous, and that a whole lot of what we saw was crafted. History is full of what at first appeared to be failed coups that turned out to be dry runs for future success. It’s time to be done believing there is some sort of politeness in failing to call out the lies of those who would do our country harm. In this moment the stakes are far too high to be silent.

Truth has a fundamental basic value far too great for us to simply let it be another victim of our time. As cooks, as people who give of ourselves to care for others, the values we live by are far more respected than many of us may imagine. Through caring for others you’ve earned moral authority; please use your standing to speak out for the truth. Your country needs you."

SONG:  Call It Democracy by Bruce Cockburn

BOOK:  Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn't, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think by David Litt

POEM(S):  What Kind of Times Are These by Adrienne Rich

There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill

and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows

near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted

who disappeared into those shadows.

I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled

this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,

our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,

its own ways of making people disappear.

I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods

meeting the unmarked strip of light—

ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:

I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.

And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell you

anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these

to have you listen at all, it's necessary

to talk about trees.

Revolutionary Letter #1 by Diane di Prima

I have just realized that the stakes are myself

I have no other

ransom money, nothing to break or barter but my life

my spirit measured out, in bits, spread over

the roulette table, I recoup what I can

nothing else to shove under the nose of the maitre de jeu

nothing to thrust out the window, no white flag

this flesh all I have to offer, to make the play with

this immediate head, what it comes up with, my move

as we slither over this go board, stepping always

(we hope) between the lines

QUOTE:  "It'll be a shame if history allows one horrific event on this President's watch to overshadow all the other horrific events on this President's watch." ~ Stephen Colbert

No Mermaid (Sinead Lohan)

Here's more mermaid content, a delightful hodge-podge of items/ideas left over from my googling for M's birthday party post - the essay below is a long-time favorite...


Where do the Mermaids Stand? by Robert Fulghum

Giants, Wizards and Dwarfs was the game to play. Being left in charge of about 80 children 7 to 10 years old while their parents were off doing the parenty thing, I mustered my troops in the church social hall and explained the game. It’s a large-scale version of Rock, Paper and Scissors and involves some intellectual decision-making. But the real purpose of the game is to make a lot of noise and run around chasing people until nobody knows which side you are on or who won.

Organizing a roomful of wired up grade-schoolers into two teams, explaining the rudiments of the game, achieving consensus on group identity– all of this is no mean accomplishment, but we did it with a right goodwill and were ready to go.

The excitement of the chase had reached a critical mass. I yelled out: “You have to decide now which you are—a GIANT, a WIZARD or a DWARF!”

While the groups huddled in frenzied, whispered consultation, a tug came at my pant leg. A small child stand there looking up and ask in a small concerned voice, “Where do the Mermaids stand?”

Where do the Mermaids stand? A very long pause. A very long pause. “Where do the Mermaids stand?” says I.

“Yes. You see, I am a Mermaid.” ‘ There are no such things as Mermaids.” “Oh yes there is, I am one!” She did not relate to being a Giant, a Wizard or a Dwarf. She knew her category, Mermaid, and was not about to leave the game and go over and stand against the wall where a loser would stand. She intended to participate, wherever Mermaids fit into the scheme of things, without giving up dignity or identity. She took it for granted that there was a place for Mermaids and that I would know just where.

Well, where do the Mermaids stand? All the Mermaids—all those who are different, who do not fit the norm, and who do not accept the available boxes and pigeonholes?

Answer that question and you can build a school, a nation or a world on it.

What was my answer at the moment? Every once in a while I say the right thing. “The Mermaid stands right here by the King of the Sea!” (Yes, right here by the King’s Fool, I thought to myself.)

So we stood there hand in hand, reviewing the troops of Wizards and Giants and Dwarfs as the rolled by in wild disarray.

It is not true, by the way , that Mermaids do not exist. I know at least one personally. I have held her hand.

SONG: No Mermaid by Sinead Lohan

BOOK: A Mermaid's Tale: A Personal Search for Love and Lore by Amanda Adams

POEM: Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich

First having read the book of myths,
and loaded the camera,
and checked the edge of the knife-blade,
I put on
the body-armor of black rubber
the absurd flippers
the grave and awkward mask.
I am having to do this
not like Cousteau with his
assiduous team
aboard the sun-flooded schooner
but here alone.

There is a ladder.
The ladder is always there
hanging innocently
close to the side of the schooner.
We know what it is for,
we who have used it.
Otherwise
it is a piece of maritime floss
some sundry equipment.

I go down.
Rung after rung and still
the oxygen immerses me
the blue light
the clear atoms
of our human air.
I go down.
My flippers cripple me,
I crawl like an insect down the ladder
and there is no one
to tell me when the ocean
will begin.

First the air is blue and then
it is bluer and then green and then
black I am blacking out and yet
my mask is powerful
it pumps my blood with power
the sea is another story
the sea is not a question of power
I have to learn alone
to turn my body without force
in the deep element.

And now: it is easy to forget
what I came for
among so many who have always
lived here
swaying their crenellated fans
between the reefs
and besides
you breathe differently down here.

I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.
I stroke the beam of my lamp
slowly along the flank
of something more permanent
than fish or weed

the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth
the drowned face always staring
toward the sun
the evidence of damage
worn by salt and away into this threadbare beauty
the ribs of the disaster
curving their assertion
among the tentative haunters.

This is the place.
And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair
streams black, the merman in his armored body.
We circle silently
about the wreck
we dive into the hold.
I am she: I am he

whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes
whose breasts still bear the stress
whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies
obscurely inside barrels
half-wedged and left to rot
we are the half-destroyed instruments
that once held to a course
the water-eaten log
the fouled compass

We are, I am, you are
by cowardice or courage
the one who find our way
back to this scene
carrying a knife, a camera
a book of myths
in which
our names do not appear.

QUOTE: "But if I don't have my voice, how can I...?" ~ Ariel