Family Writing

My mom has recently published an article through http://www.syracuse.com/ reflecting on family memories. Please enjoy, "Remembering summer at the family's Lake Ontario cottage," by Ellen Riley.

Haiku I

in, out. coming, gone.
prepare, repair. growth, decay.
life in ev’ry breath


may ups and downs be

grounded, wheel rotations, maybe

autumn’s bright as spring


Nub leaves screeched, “Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” 

whilst midst schmaltzed spruced, and sprung spring.

Stretched scrounged growths reach strengths!


Agglutination: Antidisestablishmentarianism


a man, a woman,

a touch, a love. Always, a-

cross the universe






-MANGO

When are you an adult?

Concluding a class capping our undergraduate curriculum, and which prepared us for the next six months of full-time internship experience, our professor posed the question, "When are you an adult?" Perhaps it's when you turn 18 and vote. Or you leave home. Or if you go to college. Or turn 21. Or your brain fully develops around age 23. Or you reach your 'physical prime' around age 25. Or graduate college. Or get your first 'real' job. Or when you pay for all of your own bills, insurance, computers, cars... Or when you buy a house. Or when you get married. Or have kids. Or you take care of your own parents. Or you have grandchildren. Or you retire.


Or maybe it is whenever you accept the responsibility for your actions and their consequences, both good and bad. When you regulate or respond adaptively to your emotions, your body, the environment, and all sorts of changes. When you set and accomplish your own goals. When you define and live by your own rules. When you know how to expand your strengths and overcome your limitations. When people can trust you, and you can trust yourself. When you develop your own social networks, and when you are comfortable in your own head. When you can love, and others can love you. When you make sense of your life and your world. When you live towards a higher purpose. When you are filled with awe, wonder, curiosity, passion. Perhaps it is whenever you choose to be whatever you think an adult should be.

Why should you be an adult? Adults choose their destiny. Adults play with bigger toys. Adults can love other adults. Adults must change the world. Adults are not so different from children, or from parents, or from friends, or storybook characters, childhood dreams, or persona ideals. Adulthood subsumes childhood. Adults are everything they want to be, if they are adult enough to make such a choice. I have felt very low, and purposeless, and unmotivated, and helpless. And alone. As an adult, it is up to me, alone, to help myself grow up. To generate the motivation for creating purpose in my life. To soar high above the shortcomings of spoon-fed living. An adult embraces their burden of freedom. An adult goes about life building the playground of heaven.

Fivology?

A series of three works is well known as a trilogy. Sometimes life seems to come in threes (or not), and we certainly have given symbolic significance to sets of three, interior design, storytelling, and comedy. Trilogies are everywhere. Douglas Adams referred to the fifth work in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe series, "Mostly Harmless," as, "the fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy." Well, we tend to label everything and there so happens to actually be a name for that. A series of five works is a pentalogy. To label a numbered series really is as easy as substituting the appropriate Greek numerical prefixes: duology, trilogy, quadology, pentalogy, hexalogy, heptalogy, octalogy, ennealogy, decalogy...

Distant, From Somewhere Not So Far Away

Tell me what to do
I'll try to listen,
Tell me what to do

I'll try to listen over the city's grumbling
I'm not often patient enough to hear your words,
But I am listening

Your words are huge, too big to be heard
When I don't stop to pay attention
To the many signs I fail to observe

Where is my heart?
My courage?
My home?

I'm ready to sit still
And wait for the bus to arrive.
Help me be ready to meet the passengers on board
Someday taking the wheel to drive

Let me drive without being alone
The people will help you tell me what to do
I'm ready to drive your road home



-MANGO

Reaffirmation

To change the world,
I must change myself
Must repurpose unnecessary habits
Modify my life towards another wealth

To be paid only in friends and loved ones
To accrue fitness and health
And raise interest, long overdue, for creative pursuits



-MANGO

Tanks for nothing...

Just do it: Inflated tires create less friction with the road.

AC/EZ: The Mythbusters suggest that cracking your windows to circulate the air and forego the AC altogether while driving under 50mph is more fuel efficient, but driving over 50 mph (on that Highway to Hell), you'll do better just to run the AC. Turn your Air Conditioning off five minutes before you arrive. Park in shaded spaces so that your air conditioning won't have to work as hard when you return. In safe neighborhoods you may even want to crack open your windows.

Full house: After planning what you need to do/buy, checking store hours, and being clear about directions, try to get three errands done in twice the time by combining trips and saving your car from extraneous mileage (Gas is a gamble, and you'll have a better chance at losing less into the poker pool, or rather, tank of gas). Also consider grabbing your bro and three queens - carpooling with a full house is a social way to go green, and save each of you a whole lot of green.

Change your diapers: Nobody wants to, but change out that old oil every so often with the correct motor oil, replace the disgusting air filter that came with car five years ago, check that your engine is properly tuned, and for the love of Gas, repair any serious maintenance problems. When changing diapers, it's always a good idea to watch out for unexpected leaks! The air filter can make a big difference, and you can simply shake a lot of build-up out yourself.

Out with the old, in with the new: I can't afford a hybrid (or any other new vehicle), but it might be worth considering a motorcycle or a car with manual transmission. Shift to a higher gear early, and shift down late. I prefer throwing it into neutral and coasting as much as possible. Whether in manual or automatic transmission, you will save gas by keeping your RPMs low. Pedal bikes have incredibly low RPMs, and burn nothing but birthday cake and cookies. Walking and public transportation are good options.

What a drag: It's good to slow down. Drag forces depend on velocity. Don't drive with cargo carriers or bike racks when they aren't being used. Driving faster increases a car's amount of drag, which increases fuel consumption. However, if you are behind a steady speed driver and able to maintain a safe distance, try to find their slipstream tail and draft - it will save gas for both cars, though especially the rear. Trucks will create the most drag and a longer tail, and they are probably more consistent drivers.

F=ma: Newton's laws explain acceleration to burn more fuel, especially as multiplied by a bigger, heavier vehicle's mass. Build momentum before reaching a hill so as to avoid accelerating on an incline. Minimize the amount of braking and reaccelerating in stop and go traffic by holding a slower speed and allowing more distance between the car ahead of you. Be consistent once driving at your target speed; use cruise control when possible. Try to otherwise avoid heavy traffic and frequent traffic lights.

Mind the gas: Remember that a heavier car burns more fuel. If there's no need to leave heavy items in the car, take them out. It's good to fill up when you find a lower price for gas, but aim to fill up when your tank is low. An emptier tank technically weighs less than a consistently full tank. Consider buying additives to improve gas mileage, but be aware these products are not as effective as they are advertised to be.

Retail therapy: Feel better about yourself by shopping smart. Save 5¢ per gallon at Shell for every $50 you spend at Winn-Dixie, or take advantage of their other select grocery rewards. Explore other partnerships and discounts given to regular customer. 

Knowledge is power: Compare gas prices, visit www.fueleconomy.gov, or explore multitudes of tips through Google. Ask other commuters near you about local deals, smart shopping tips, or cheaper gas stations (name brands may not offer a better product, just a higher rate). Some people suggest keeping a log of what works for you, what doesn't, and what to what work on.

Take life by the horns: My most important tip won't actually save any money, but will reframe how you think about necessary expenses. Choose to enjoy the ride rather than get trapped in the rat race! Remember to burn a good CD, call your mother, sip some decent coffee, and enjoy the long and winding road before you.

I Am Wikipedia (And So Can You!)

While Wikipedia should be explored with healthy skepticism (and what in the whole world shouldn't be?), this free and easily accessed encyclopedia is an effective way to first explore most any topic, a powerful resource to launch further study, and yes, a source of entertainment. Download a free book on guitar from Wikibooks, explore Wikisource, walk off the plank and succumb to Colbert on Wikiquote, and muse on the farcical Uncyclopedia.

I Am Wikipedia: This Music Therapy Activities Wiki is an online guide to activity ideas, resources, techniques, tips, research, and further reading. Content is categorized by the role of music, such as Songwriting or Music Games. Find new iPad apps, a Boomwhacker handbook, Karaoke websites, Repertoire, or search songs for Lyric Analysis with a huge database of popular music themes, concepts, and topics. 
And So Can You! Everyone approaches Music Therapy differently and addresses various needs for diverse populations. Small contributions you can offer make a huge difference! Each page also encourages you to add your name to the list of contributors. The more people contribute their suggestions, resources, complementary blog posts, books, web pages, etc., the more benefit we can all receive. Please spend a few moments to share your activity ideas, resources, techniques, tips, research findings, and educational material to further our understanding; just click "Edit" on any page or "Contribute" (top right) a new page altogether.

Fuck! Just fucking fuck the fucking fucker!

Warning: This article features suggestive material and excessive use of offensive language to explore grammatical function. Admittedly, if this disclaimer is being read, it is probably too late to prevent "virgin minds" from being exposed to the explicit nature of this educational pursuit. So read on!

Also, acknowledge that this is a personal blog. I also write about Music Therapy or professional topics, but do so because I personally love the field or the topics.


Most people my age get very excited about a good "fuck," especially as they discover its incredible flexibility. Can you imagine why? I never thought I would be giving this talk so soon. Well... There are only eight parts of speech in the English language, and so, as a typical testosterone-driven male, I wondered which words might fit into every word class. Can you think of any? I suspected slang could broaden the possible grammatical uses of a root word and expletives might be applied in many creative ways.

Peevish Penman published an argument that "fuck" can qualify for nine parts of speech, including sub-category examples. (Articles are sometimes considered to be an independent category - who knew "a" and "the" were so special?) I dream I could agree, but scroll down through the comments and an anonymous reply more accurately negated "fuck" as a pronoun, conjunction, preposition, or article, and composed a perfect example of it being used as an interjection, adverb, verb, adjective, and noun: "Fuck! Just fucking fuck the fucking fucker!"

I think "fuckhead" exemplifies an appropriate use as a pronoun, thus personally concluding "fuck" to comprise 6 out of 8, or 75% of all English lexical categories. Fat bottom line: "fuck" is a grammar slut. Experiment for yourself with the safety root word in the Urban Dictionary, and be sure to educate your dirty talk by looking up "fuckspeak."

"Little Wing," by Jimi Hendrix

For a soft side of the guitar guru, "Little Wing" is a short song with (comparatively) humble instrumentation. He sings a poetic description of some woman, perhaps in memory of his mother, a guardian angel, a free-spirited lover, a dream-like imagination, or psychedlia. In an interview, he clarified that the song was written to personify the atmosphere of the 1967 Montery Pop Festival. She is quite the colorful character: "Well she's walking through the clouds with a circus mind that's running round. Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams and fairy tales, that's all she ever thinks about, riding with the wind."

As you listen to the song, let Jimi Hendrix slip past you altogether. Listen for the bells. The glockenspiel's complementary melody is what most intrigues me about this recording. I'm not yet able to describe beauty, but I will elaborate on a transferred concept: support. The glockenspiel supports the electric guitar and voice, and the song would sound entirely different without it. The glockenspiel earns a gig with Hendrix, and Hendrix sounds better.

Support is comforting someone when they need help, but is also celebrating another's success. Support is validating someone's humanity, and also affirming the good, the exciting, the nobel. There is a spectrum of complementary roles we may fill, from selfish manipulator to selfless lover, and including vicarious living, simple chivalry, communication, empathy, altruism, and compassion. How you relate to others defines who you are, how you raise your kids, how you support the people you let in your life, or even what your professional boundaries are. "When I'm sad, she comes to me with a thousand smiles, she gives to me free. It's alright, she says, it's alright." "Love grows by giving. The love we give away is the only love we keep (Elbert Hubbard)."

Haiti: a journal's POV

"Spring 2012 Haiti mission trip, a reward for the soul after my first semester of graduate school. The Intergenerational Rock Band concert finished past eight, then after stopping home, I hit the road towards my dad, the Peace Covenant Presbyterian team, and Missionary Flights International in Fort Pierce. We flew out (literally) a couple of hours later. We landed in Exuma and Cap Haitien (on earth and grass) before our final destination of Port-au-Prince. A missionary named Roger escorted us to the transport bus and drove the insanity he assured us are just normal Haitian streets. We were overwhelmed by the amount of struggle and hardship so apparent all across the city. The beautiful Baptist Haiti Mission compound was a miraculous sight after all we had seen.

"A house is your bank. It is your savings account. Houses are left 'under construction' for years as they're gradually able to be developed. Everything appears to be unfinished mounds of broken cinder blocks. The state of existence around the entire country is shocking. Words nor pictures could describe a third world country completely. Despite the conditions, I've observed the brightest of emotions. People seem so much more connected to one another. The cacophany is routine, but so is the the sense of community.

"Day 2 - We toured the compound, bartered for fresh vegetables in the local market, bought, loaded, and unloaded 600 cement blocks, and began construction on a home. Showers and food that night felt amazing. The food available to the compound is surprisingly delicious, and there's plenty of it. The BHM provides education (i.e., terrace farming), medical care, employment, housing, and more, but also nourishes our own American souls. We all bond and feel God's presence. We grow as humans and as Christians. We see what is possible in this world, pray before and after everything, and most powerfully, will sure savor the coming Sunday, the day of God given rest.

"I was much more awake this second night than yesterday, after a full day, rock concert, six hour drive, and a 4:30 alarm to get ready for the day's international transport. The evening devotional and reflective discussion was really nice, engaging and thinking aloud with a now intimate group. I'm much more spiritual than religious, and though I define God as the whole of existence, Jesus as the model symbol of and model for humanity, and the Holy Spirit as some learned intuition or phenomenological sense of morality with a call to action, I'm feeling very comfortable and connected with this Christian religion. So much depends on the company you keep. I believe religion is a human construct to explain and guide existence, but as a myth perpetually enacted, it becomes reality, and often a preferrable sense of reality. Religions keep us together, fills us with purpose, defines right from wrong, and establishes an everlasting humanity.

"Day 3 - We worked hard. Very hard. Heavy labor the whole day. It was a lot of fun. There are a variety yet limited number of jobs, and the group trades and works where needed. We depended on teamwork. We were a single machine, and each piece was necessary. After screening a pile of sand, I had the great joy of playing futball with a young boy and speaking pidgeon French-ish creole with the other kids. One human family.

"Nobody gives a back massage like a dad. After any strenuous day, I feel alive by stretching, and feel incredibly recharged after some breathing and opening up.

"Dinner featured a special pumpkin soup, with a slow spice. Locals celebrate independence with this soup composed of all things they were prohibited from eating throughout slavery. Such extremes of coordinated missionwork, discussion, and pure fellowship make us feel very unified and single-minded, through Christ. Mrs. Turnbull visited during dinner, a bright and clear witness of God. One memorable concept: Ask God not only for insight, but LONG SIGHT to think ahead.

"I'm excited to sleep because dreams have seemed so vibrant and frequent. I miss Katy very much; I think of her constantly. Well, quite often despite the cultural and communal stimuli. I sense her presence, even in the way I move and think, as if still with her.

"Day 4 - We attended a bible class. Residents sat against one wall, we upon another, Haitians at the center table, and the leader at the opposite end of the table. Though I appreciated the proverbs (and definiton of 'wisdom') we opened with, I did not agree with the didactic religious constructs discussed. Church service began while we sat in the class, and my focus was fully entertained. When we stepped out, I was carried to the sanctuary, wholly filled with the Holy Spirit. The music was so beautiful and divine, empathic and human. Truly, filled with the Holy Spirit.

"We spent our Sunday afternoon of 'rest' hiking down the mountain to a waterfall. Arduous trek, but gorgeous taste of true Haiti. I can't imagine this much effort just to access a source of water, or going all the way down and up to another peak altogether in suit and tie for church. We went to Elsa's for a third service. I got to play a baby grand piano on a mountain in Haiti. Roger joined us for dinner (and hot sauce) and brownies (with peanut butter) after the service. We've a tight group, and even Roger seemed to enjoy the intimate fellowship.

"Day 5 - We worked really hard. Always. Samedi was the roughest labor, but I definitely hit a wall today, fighting my muscles to move.

"This journal has certainly been a personal account, a selfish point of view, which has been the utter antithesis of my whole deeply social experience. When we first landed in PAP, I tried to photograph the trash and devastation, but now I hope to convey the inner simple beauty that one must experience to understand.

"How fitting that I open the bible to find Proverbs 24:3.

"Day 6 - BHM has pre-sifted sand, fine enough for stucco. Thank God, perhaps literally. Steve and I stayed on the compound to replenish the sand while the team (Dad, Bill, Niels, Randy, Libby, Jen, our translators Benjamin and Able, plus the hired construction crew) headed to the work site. My arms bore the heat of a thousand suns! Even without hyperbole, it was rough and I chose over and over again to exceed my limit, just to go on. I appreciate and do thoroughly enjoy the trip, but have reached a point now when I'm thinking of home more often than not. Especially during repetitive physical labor, I can think only of Katy. It is really tough to be without even any form of communication.

"Day 7 - The true day of rest. We dedicated the house through scripture, message, and song. The interior floor was inscribed with 'S 118,' meaning Psalm 118. Dad, Neils, Steve and I went to the schools afterwards. We met Valdo, the young boy Dad has begun supporting throughout primary school.

"After lunch with a gorgeous mountain view, we walked the streets nearby the BHM compound. I fell in love with one painting and knew how to settle on a $20 deal. I wanted a necklace for Katy, but all the jewlery was made of leather, braided, or beaded, and nothing befit my Katybaby. The painting is 'ours,' and either in Tallahassee or New Orleans where we will very soon visit, some small token will speak and serve as a physical reminder of my care and compassion while she studies abroad in London this summer. After laboring as hard as most Haitains do and knowing how little they earn, the thought of international travel is an astonishing miracle to be praised.

"We dined with the other BHM missionaries as usual, and tonight they shared another ongoing project: cereal boxes rolled, schlacked, and beaded into necklaces and bracelets. Several of us followed Elsa home for delightful conversation and to hear her incredible experiences with Vudou and with Christianity in Haiti.

"We've dedicated time to: a very enhanced awareness of universely human features, cultural differences, and all that is God's body; gorgeous human beings, the power of community, and the sum of a symbolic Jesus Christ; and a tempered will, heightened compassion, and a magnified communion with the Holy Spirit within us.

"Day 8 - A day of travel. It began with a double rainbow, a last hearty breakfast with coffee (oh! and we bought some bold mountain grown coffee to brew back home), and a newfound sense of spiritual growth. Dad took better note of names and details. Pictures will inspire memories. The bible will further inspire and offer a common language, however we may choose to speak it. The world will seem very different. Amongst the culture shock of returning home may we be wiser, more loving, and always strive to establish finer fellowship.


"Post Script - Haiti's history of leadership is rough. As an example, Papa Doc, who declared himself President for Life and convinced the Pope to appoint him Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, had the Lord's Prayer rewritten to be the catechism of the revolution: 'Our Doc, who art in the National Palace for life, hallowed by They name by present and future generations. Thy will be done in Port-au-Prince as it is in the provinces. Give us this day our new Haiti and forgive not the trespasses of those antipatriots who daily spit upon our country. Lead them into temptation, and poisoned by their own venom, deliver them from no evil. Amen.'"

Twenty-For Seven: 7/7/12

24/7: For continuity's sake, I will publish lists of at least twenty items for the seventh of each month, material enough to muse on twenty-four seven. This month is a game of twenty questions, selected from "The Book of Questions," by Gregory Stock. Before opening conversations with companions or diving into devotions of self-reflection, allow the brief introduction to effectively add a certain depth and purpose to the following:

1) If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven't you told them yet?

2) Do you think that the world will be a better or worse place 100 years from now?

3) Would you rather be a member of a world championship sports team or be the champion of an individual sport? Which sport would you choose?

4) What would constitute a "perfect" evening for you?

5) Would you rather be extremely successful professionally and have a tolerable yet unexciting private life, or have an extremely happy private life and only a tolerable and uninspiring professional life?

6) Do you feel you have enough time? If not, what would give you that feeling? How much has your attitude about time change since you've aged?

7) Whom do you admire most? In what way does that person inspire you?

8) When you tell a story, do you often exaggerate or embellish it? If so, why?

9) Does living as though you control your own destiny lead to a more powerful life?

10) Do you feel ill at ease going alone to either dinner or a movie? What about going on a vacation by yourself?

11) Where would you choose to be if you could place yourself anywhere on a scale from one to ten, where one is hardship, struggle, and extraordinary accomplishment and ten is comfort, peace of mind, and no accomplishment. Why? Where are you now?

12) What are your most compulsive habits? Do you regularly struggle to break these habits?

13) Do your comments and suggestions influence other people much? How could you present your ideas so that they would have more impact?

14) If you could take a one-month trip anywhere in the world and money were not a consideration, where would you go and what would you do?

15) What kind of people do you like to spend time with? What do such people bring out in you that others do not? What can people learn about you by looking at your friends?

16) Who is the most important person in your life? What could you do to improve the relationship? Will you ever do it?

17) What important decision in your professional life have you based largely upon your intuitive feelings? What about in your personal life?

18) Can you be counted on to do what you say you'll do? What does it take for you to trust someone?

19) What are you looking for when you converse with people? What kinds of things do you usually discuss? Are there other things that would be more interesting to you?

20) If you were guaranteed honest responses to any three questions,
who would you question and what would you ask?

The United Art of Individualization

Bombs bursting in air

Rift begets evolution

America is a complex system

What is to be American?

To have denounced a former self

To have become somebody anew



-MANGO

HANDS!

Paws, claws, and talons are merely the metaphorical Dee Dee of "Dexterity's" Laboratory. Only the mammalian order of primates have developed true grasping hands. Hands are our predominant tools for physical manipulation of the environment. Though many animals also have opposable thumbs, our thumbs enabled complex tool use and important fine motor skills, such as writing. The emergence of a writing system coincided with man's transition from hunting and gathering to an agrarian lifestyle (and we quickly recorded how to brew beer!). Writing facilitated commerce through token economies such as money, gave ideas permanence, standardized language and transferred information to further groups of people, and organized higher order symbolic thought. Hands are used to read Braille and to communicate through complete sign languages. A simple thumbs up, middle finger, or a wave good-bye are only a few of the hand gestures of which we all infer meaning. Across the globe, hands speak tremendous volumes through physiological changes and unconscious nonverbal communication (Great article), but you should be responsible for which rude hand signals you use while traveling!

About a quarter of the motor cortex is devoted to controlling the hands. Left or right handedness is controlled by the opposite side of the brain, and is indicative of individual brain functioning. Michelangelo painted with both hands. The lengths of the bones in our fingers approximate a Fibonacci sequence. Fingernails grow about as much as the continents move every year. Fingerprints are permanent and unique to each person, making them dependable for personal identification. Palmistry is the (less dependable) practice of reading someone's life - past, present and future - from their hands. Chirophobia is the fear of hands. Polydactyly is the presence of extra fingers or toes. There are 174 words beginning with, 324 words containing, and 22 words ending with "hand." Also check out these "50 handy expressions about hands."

A newborn's grip is surprisingly strong, and most can actually support their entire weight. Handshakes initiate the beginning of most relationships. Sergei Rachmaninov's long and slender fingers were said to span an octave and a half on a keyboard, necessitating Igudesman & Joo to invent a most entertaining way to perform his piano music. Parts models can earn their living with their hands; some hands are worth $1,200 a day. Reflexologists apply pressure to relax fight-or-flight all across the body, using each hand's 73 reflex points. Lovers may want to give a more intimate hand massage. Holding hands continues to be a very comforting form of physical contact for those near the end of life, or even 1,500 years after life!

Thank you for reading my handiwork, no applause is necessary!