Blog – Top of JC’s Mind

Fastest response ever

Yesterday, I submitted a poem to the blog of an independent press that features a monthly poetry series on a given theme.  Next month’s theme is “Me, as a child.”  I submitted a poem I had recently written about playing on our school playground. By evening, I had a rejection notice in my inbox, which is far and away the fastest turnaround time I have ever seen. They wanted poems that focus on the individual, whereas my poem focused on children as a group. The positive part of this is that they invited me to send another poem, which feels much better than most of the rejections I’ve received which don’t give any feedback. I don’t know that I will actually submit again for this series; the only poem I have written that deals with my childhood on a personal level would take significant revision to use for this series and I don’t think I have enough brain power to complete it by March 31st.  This does give me confidence, though, to submit to their series in the coming months.

Postscript:  I was entering my tags for this post and was about to type in “submission” as a tag, but, in these days of 50 Shades of Grey, I thought better of it and opted for “publication submission.”  (And, no, I have not read 50 Shades of Grey or seen the movie nor do I plan to do so.)

Perspective

A classic depiction of the powers of ten, courtesy of NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day series – and IBM of 1977:  http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150324.html

Bach fugue

Early this morning, I was driving to 7:30 Mass at a church that was a bit further afield than usual, so I put the car radio on and caught the cadence of an organ prelude. I immediately thought it was J.S. Bach, although I did then think, perhaps it would be prudent to withhold a conclusion until I had more than two measures to go on.

As soon as the fugue began, though, I knew it was Bach – and one of the preludes and fugues I had learned while I was at Smith. (For the other organ geeks out there, it was a Prelude and Fugue in G major, although I am not sure of the BWV.) Next, they spoke about how composers often borrowed themes from their own work or others’ work and played a choral movement that used the fugue theme, transformed into a minor key. (Maybe the US court system needs to hear a bit more about this long-time compositional practice.)

It was odd for me to think about my playing Bach on the organ. There is even a bit of wonder that I ever could. It’s been almost ten years since I have played on even a limited basis and even longer since I played such complex repertoire. Long-standing tendon problems in my right elbow led to years of physical therapy and finally surgery which we had hoped would fix the problem. However, I developed calcifications that caused the symptoms to recur, so I could only play for short amounts of time, not nearly enough to practice Bach fugues.

I had been still doing some accompanying for the choirs at our church, but almost ten years ago, we lost our church home, and I have barely so much as touched an organ since.

This spring and summer will be the tenth anniversary of a string of really painful life events, the aftermath of each still present in my life and the life of my loved ones in different ways. I have the feeling that these upcoming tenth anniversaries will be as complicated as a Bach fugue, but not nearly so organized.

SoCS: eyedrops

Last night, I watched my mother put in her prescription eyedrops. In the ER. Before we saw the doctor. After she had been there several hours. Before they decided to admit her.

I usually try to read the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda on Friday. If my Saturday is supposed to be busy, I will write it on Friday and schedule the post to appear on Saturday. Friday afternoon when I read:  Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “I/eye/aye.”  Use one, use ‘em all – just make it yours. And have fun! I fully expected to be leisurely writing my SoCS post Saturday morning before setting out on other tasks or just puttering about the house. No big plans.

Instead a Friday night call from the ER sent me over to the hospital, where I stayed until after midnight. I spent a good chunk of the day there today and will be back at the hospital tomorrow morning while my mom has a test. If things go well, she should be released tomorrow afternoon.

I hope. We all hope.
*****

This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday.  Please join in!  Details here:  http://lindaghill.com/2015/03/20/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-2115/  Badge by Doobster@Mindful Digressions

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Record “likes”

Apparently, on Wednesday, March 18, I set a new record for “likes” with 27.  Much of that was thanks to Linda‘s One-Liner Wednesday, along with the fact that I published two re-blogs that day. Maybe my visitors prefer other people’s writing to mine?  😉

Where Pope Francis stands when it comes to women | National Catholic Reporter

Where Pope Francis stands when it comes to women | National Catholic Reporter.

I commend Father Tom Reese for writing this column. He makes a lot of good points, but I felt compelled to make the following comment:  “I don’t think that women are upset with Francis calling for a theology of women because they prefer to think of a theology of person. Rather, what upsets me and other women that I know is that there a decades of profound writings in feminist theology that Francis does not seem to even know exists. While we all welcome further work on this theology, we must acknowledge that a lot has already been accomplished, whether or not the clergy and other men of the church have been reading and studying it. Another instance of the men of the church not listening to the women’s viewpoint?”

Descriptions of Marriage

Re-blogging this post from my friend Rev. Pat Raube about the nature and definition of marriage and the decision yesterday of her church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), to establish marriage equality in their constitution:   http://swimmerinthefount.blogspot.com/2015/03/descriptions-of-marriage.html
I am happy to know that Pat can know officiate at weddings for any couple that is committed to living together as spouses. She writes:

As a result of this, the denomination in which I serve is now saying to all its members: You are welcome here. Your relationships are real and valid. God has made you who you know yourself to be, and we rejoice with you in what that means for the world. In your marriage we see– not pie in the sky perfection, but real human beings, children of God, striving to live with meaning and joy. Just like all the other married people, in the PCUSA, and beyond.

Amen!

One-Liner Wednesday: Words

“I am by nature a dealer in words, and words are the most powerful drug known to humanity.”
– Rudyard Kipling

This post is part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays. Join us! Details here:  http://lindaghill.com/2015/03/18/one-liner-wednesday-on-editing/

March Madness Spring Fling Blog Party

Yadadarcyyada is hosting a blog party! I’m sure she’d love you to drop by and say hi – and leave your blog link and info for others to visit and keep the party going!

D. Parker's avataryadadarcyyada

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Depending on where you are, this week is:
Spring Break,March Break,March Madness,Spring Equinox,St. Patrick’s Day or maybe it’s just March.

So for our own form of March Madness, a Spring Fling to get us in the mood, let’s have a Blog Party!!!
Please use the comment box below to tell other bloggers about your blog –
don’t forget to include your blog link!
Tell us something about yourself and/or your blog
and share it so other bloggers will find out about you and everyone else!

1blog21bull18

I started this blog for relaxation (although sometimes, especially when WordPress makes changes, relaxation is not the word I use), but now, over 500 posts later, I look at my followers and views with wonder.
As a single mom with Fibromyalgia, raising a child with Autism and other health concerns, relaxation is important because most days I feel…

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poetry day

Quick post on an odd day. I couldn’t get to sleep last night. I got up at 12:45 to write down a poem that I had composed and edited several times in my head, then, stayed up until about 3:00 trying to get tired to the point of falling asleep. I think I may have finally fallen asleep at about 4:00. I was awake before my mom called at 8:10, talked a while, ate breakfast, showered, dressed, and wrote down another new poem that had started to formulate in the shower.  I tackled my “homework” for Binghamton Poetry Project, which turned into a rather major edit of the poem I drafted from a prompt in class last week – with research using google and my journal from the Smith College Alumnae Chorus tour of Sicily in 2011. I had had plans for practical things like shopping and cooking, but decided that I needed an afternoon nap instead because I have to get through BInghamton Poetry Project class at 5:30, where I need to be able to write a poem in fifteen minutes from a prompt, followed by University Chorus rehearsal at 7:30, where I need to use brain power to not mess up our new wording in the Mendelssohn.  While not being the day I thought I would have, what transpired is probably the most productive poetry day of my life. I’m hoping I can have more similarly productive poetry days, but with more hours of sleep involved.