Notes From A Bear's Journey

   Not sure if such a word is still in play, but as a child I remember hearing it quite regularly; there was the aerospace company General Dynamics (okay, it's still around and still rather big; but back in the heyday it was truly one of the major players), and audio speakers that boasted of "dynamic" sound.  Of course, these days the word has fallen into pretty much a single category, that of family dynamics.  Look up the definition of the singular term and you arrive at this (from the Oxford version ): (of a process or system) characterized by constant change, activity, or progress... forces producing motion... expressing an action, activity, event, or process.  But add one letter and make the word plural and you emerge with this: T he branch of any science in which forces or changes are considered... forces or properties which stimulate growth, development, or change within a system or process. Family dynamics.  Here's how Psychology Today put it: Can't we al

   For many, today marks the Christian holy-day of Christ-Mass, a day of families gathering and ovens being turned on and church bells ringing and welcoming even those coming for their one annual visit.  Stores, for the most part, are closed so that even grinch-like companies bow down to employee wishes to be home; not all of course, for there are flights to catch and cars to still gas up, police and fire and hospitals and restaurants to keep going.  And in many parts of the world, this holiday has been and gone...as the song says, Christmas future is far away, Christmas past is past.   The build-up to this day of remembrance in the U.S. has been one of crowded parking lots and last-minute shoppers, greeting cards priced at nearly $8 and turkeys and hams virtually flying off the shelves.  In my personal experience, I had never before seen every single parking space taken at Costco.  But along with all of this I still witnessed patience...people letting cars cut in despite the long wait

   Picture this, a high school track star, the envy of many girls, valedictorian, and a commencement speech in which he thanks his teachers by saying: ... for teaching me all the things that used to be hard for me, but aren't anymore,  To me, graduating doesn't mean you know everything already, but you've learned more about yourself while gaining in strength and responsibility, and figuring our how you can improve more in the real world as you get older.  These words came from Bryce Notbohm who is autistic.  He added in his speech: I think of myself as a man, not an autistic man.  To anyone who doesn't have, or doesn't know about autism, Bryce's mother offers this in her book, Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew , a book she says "will help you view autism from angles you may not have yet considered."  But here is what you won't see in her book (in her words): You won't see autism referred to as a disability or a disease...you wo

   It's that time of year when children's eyes turn especially bright and hopeful, what with all the lights and decorations, songs and fables, and traditional and religious services making the rounds.  Hopeful eyes stare out from both orphans and charities alike, mimicking the colorful ads online and in magazines wanting to capture your eyes and dollars.  But it is the children that truly capture our hearts more than ever, perhaps their eyes just mirrors of what our eyes saw so many years back... wonder and excitement and anticipation. Our adult eyes now seem to have shifted from what things we could open to what things we can now feast upon, but that child remains within us.  So it was only natural that my eyes were drawn to A History of Children's Books , a massive undertaking which the authors limited to 100 books.  Just staring at the title made me try to sum up what books I could remember as a child, the classic Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss being one of them (to be fair,

  The words are Mandarin and mean "alone," at least as described by author Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers in her story from T he Missouri Review ; she goes on to say: Yi is "one;" ge is a kind of counting word, placed beween a number and an object.  And ren means "person" or "people."  The expression "Are you yi ge ren ? when translated literally is "Are you one person?"  In context, though, I began to understand this as a way of asking, "Are you on your own? Are you alone?"  I meant to throw this translated description into the last post but felt that it fit better here, for while many of us might feel alone at this time of year, many are also traveling solo to rendezvous with someone or others.  And even while with others, one can be alone in their thoughts, thoughts which might prove a mixture of both happy and perhaps a touch sad.  This period brings out a compressed slurry of emotions as we take the time to write or to

   It's that time of year, a time when many are festive and giving of time and money to rendezvous with family and friends; but many are also finding themselves alone.  As one resident at my mother's facility told me, her family all heading out of town for other obligations, "Don't let me be an orphan this Christmas."  I couldn't help but think of this, the song by Gilbert O'Sullivan which went in part: In my hour of need, I truly am indeed Alone again, naturally.  That applies to the individual, of course, and there are many; but what of the group or of an entire population?  Having just finished a series of lectures on death and dying as viewed in different parts of the world,* one comment caught my attention, that of the "former" caste system in India (says NPR , it's still going on), in particular the "untouchables."  Described in the Britannica site, their job in life: .. .involved ritually polluting activities, of which the

  Some years ago I wrote a song titled "I Don't Undeerstand" with one of the lyrics being: I don't understand all the rich and the poor, some people want, some just want more.  Having just finished a piece on "big money" in The New York Review of Books , I find that I now understand even less.  This was a review of two new books which basically tells of the efforts by some wealthy families to eliminate or reduce government aid to those in need, all while increasing their (or their corporations) wealth: The many goals of this agenda can be summed up in a few words: lower taxes, privatization of public services, and deregulation of business...The tobacco industry opposes anti-smoking legislation.  The fossil fuel industry wants to eliminate state laws that restrict fracking, coal mining, and carbon dioxide emissions.  The soft-drink industry opposes taxes on sugary beverages.  The private prison industry advocates policies that increase the population of

    The first speaker was Goshute, his language a fluctuating mix of guttural half-syllables and volumes, some almost whispers mixed with what sounded like a clearing of the throat.  It was an interesting prayer, one not understandable to me but yet filling the air with reverence, his eagle feather circling his chest in a show of respect and of giving.  In the end, the feather sprinkled water in all four directions, a blessing to all and to mother earth.  The crowd was mesmerized.  Then came a Navajo speaker, eloquent and mixing only a bit of her language into a well-versed speech given in English, one which talked of welcoming all the various Native American tribes and how they often disagreed but were here now, all in unity and banded together, their nations under threat despite their differences, of how the land and rivers and earth itself was so vital to their ceremonies and its breaking up something so unrecognized by their ancestors...and now the oil rigs and coal mines were comi