It’s that time again. I was talking to a friend not too long ago and remarked how as I’ve gotten older, time passes quickly, while simultaneously the amount of time it takes to get tasks done has increased. (Warning to you younger folk on the list, lol.) And when I was wondering why my father never warned me about this, I had cause to reflect that I’m now almost 3 years OLDER than he was when he died….time, time, time. As I used to say to the chagrin of my language profs: tempus fugit, nicht wahr?

As always, music first! I would encourage you to WATCH the videos if possible, esp. the one of Gary Clark, Jr. It’s visually such a treat to see him, almost enough for me go watch the movie. I start off with a polyphonic offering from the band San Salvador- La Fin De La Guerra.  Doesn’t matter that you don’t know the language (though there’s always Google Translate!)-they sound so wonderful…….; Then transition to the Senegalese musician Cheikh Lo singing Kora music , the song Degg Gui from his album Balbalou in Portugese-Wolof. Back to America for Fantastic Negrito, as he sings about what we are all feeling these days in Push Back. And then Gary Clark, Jr just gets BEYOND AWESOME on his version of COME TOGETHER! ( Seriously-watch this one video, if you watch no other!) I don’t drink, that one glass of hard cider at Abingdon Vinyards notwithstanding. But I found this video called Drink by La Chica and thought it fun for y’all who do. When I heard that the group And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (of COURSE I’d listen to this group, right?) had a new album out, I knew I had to include a song-so here’s one for All Who Wander! Maybe to South Korea to hear Ak Dan Gwang Chil do music like THIS-Youngjeonggeorri. They are a multi-award traditional music group. BACK to America for some American Indie with Green Day’s new Father Of All. (And let me say, that they are one band that hasn’t lost their edge with age!) Then a female punk band to keep the theme going-The Bombshells with Notre Dame. And finally I’m sending you off with some 70s ska I chose with my tongue firmly lodged in cheek for ALL sorts of reasons. Plus ca change…..lol! You can look up the references if you wanna know why. Otherwise, just enjoy the song! Here’s The Specials singing A Message To You Rudy.

Articles! It’s become a standing joke among some of my friends to throw random “namastes” at me. (Long story.) So I found an article that explains the origin of the word and why Hindi users cringe along with me when it is casually misused EVERYWHERE in America.

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/01/17/406246770/how-namaste-flew-away-from-us?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Second. I know a lot of you like to cook. But even if you don’t cook, this is still fascinating. A group of archaeologists  and scholars have been busy reconstructing from cuneiform the world’s oldest recipes! How cool is THAT? There’s a lamb stew, a lentil broth, a vegetable soup akin to the one you might serve to someone recuperating from a cold or flu, and a chicken pot pie!

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20191103-the-worlds-oldest-known-recipes-decoded

Third. We all cuss sometimes. (As part of my resolve to be kinder this year, I’ve limited that.) But in case you DO need to use profanity, here’s a list of useful LATIN curses!Some of them are actually pretty funny. My personal fav is: Te odeo, interface cochleare! (Yes, you will have to look it up!)

14 Useful Latin Profanities You Can Use To Curse At People (And Impress Them)

Books, books, books! (I’m 7 books ahead on my reading challenge, in case anyone wants to know.) Starting off with a wonderful book of POETRY (coz poets read other poets!):

Oblivion Banjo: The Poetry of Charles Wright. With a name like THAT? He’s won multiple prizes: Bollingen, Pulitzer, and been Poet Laureate of the U.S…not that that would mean I would like his work. He currently lives in Charlottesville. But I do like his poems very much. He writes with a sense of place and time that resonates.

The Highly Selective Thesaurus And Dictionary For The Extraordinarily Literate by Eugene Ehrlich. This was a gift many years ago from a dear friend. It is now worn from being well-used but has a permanent place by my chair-side, as I find it an invaluable resource.

Stay With Me by Ayoba mi Adebeyo. Written by a Nigerian author and set in Nigeria, this book offers a picture of family life that will be unfamiliar to most living in the U.S. But it deals with themes that are familiar: How to save a foundering relationship? How to negotiate the ties of family? How to deal with the pressures of society?

Halibut On The Moon by David Vann. I miss Todd at the library for so many reasons. He introduced me to Vann several years back and both of us would eagerly await his (Vann’s) new book. I offer you this one. But I will warn that Vann is a savage writer who deals with difficult issues in visceral ways. (Why I love his books, right?) This book, for instance, re-creates the last days of the author’s (in the book, not Vann’s) father as he struggles with mental illness. Powerful, gripping, and potentially triggering.

This is my musing section. I rent my dwelling. Over the years I’ve found a number of items to be extremely useful. So I thought I would share these, for those of you who are also renters. And for those of you who own your places, well, skip this if you like or read on. Who knows, maybe you might need these things, too…Lint roller. Useful for much more than cleaning Miss P’s fur off of my black cashmere coat. It can de-wool an ottoman, do a quick pick-up of the couch if you lack time to vacuum, and remove odd things here and there.  Basic tools: hammer; screwdriver; pliers; wrench; allen wrench; You don’t need buy a toolkit, unless you just want to be pretty in pink (or whatev.) They generally contain items you will never ever use. I’ve listed the items I have used over the years. Flashlight. We all know the power WILL go out at some point. So grow up and buy a good one already. And batteries, fer goodness sake.  Tape, duct and otherwise.  Funnels. I have a set of three I recently purchased at the thrift store.  Incredibly useful. Comes under the category of “how did I not realize I needed these?” Your mother might not be around to tell you, so I am.  Micro-duster. It will dust EVERYTHING, including your pet! (Miss P is looking nervously at me as I type this…..) Finally, a step-stool, folding or otherwise. Speaking of Miss P, the folding metal step-stool I own is part of her trifecta of terror. Every time I fetch it out, she hides under the bed.  No idea why. Poor whippet. Her life is fraught….

 

 

 

Greetings, all! I’ve decided to make The Review available on my blog (andifnotnowblog.wordpress.com).  I write the drafts there anyway, so why not publish them? Duh! Sorry this was belated-Virginia Organizing has been eating up time this week. I’ll do better next week.

You might be wondering at the marked absence of overtly political items from the items I proffer. So I thought now might be a good time to give a brief raison d’etre for The Review, at least as I’m doing it now.  If you’re a good enough acquaintance to get this, then I know your political bent, more or less.  We’re inundated and saturated with politics, I figure. From tweets from the Cheeto-In-Chief to Anthony’s TGIF Rural Progressive Roundup, there is plenty to keep up with. I don’t need to add my two cents to that. The Review is meant to be about more than ephemera, as important as those might be. And I want you to find herein articles and books that might make your life better, more interesting, or at least make you think a bit. (Or in the case of the music, listen and sometimes dance.) What I used to do when I taught, right? But again, don’t worry, I grade easy!

That being said, let’s go! Music first, as always! I began with Souad Massi, a wonderful Berber singer-songwriter. Then the new song by Alicia Keys that celebrates those who are doing the hard work. The song by Concrete Blonde, Days and Days, WAS chosen for political reasons, after I heard Trump & Co going on with their endless (and ever-changing) explanations about Solemani’s assassination. (If I had to choose ONE group to provide a soundtrack to this admin, I think it would be Concrete Blonde!) Nathaniel Rateliff provides a little hope with his And It’s Alright. But then Beth Hart takes some of away with her haunting Woman Down. To relieve you a bit after that, I give you The Black-eyed Peas and J Balvin RITMO to dance a bit. The next two songs take us out of the country. The HU do their Wolf Totem, And for some Chinese grunge that rivals anything Nirvana ever did, here is Xie Tian Xiao doing Cold-blooded Animal. Bringing it back to home with Mavis Staples singing We Shall Not Moved. And to end on a positive note, I hope that you enjoy this as much as I do, the wonderful experience of musicians joining in to collaborate simultaneously to play STAND BY ME. (I really encourage you to watch that one!!!)

On to articles! I’ve got some good ones. YOU prompted some of them! 😉 I’ve watched friends and loved ones say I’ve got to get my steps in. And I wondered just what was the rationale behind this. I found an article that explains it. (A Japanese company wanted to sell their pedometers…..)

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190723-10000-steps-a-day-the-right-amount

Aside from whippets and capybaras, naked mole rats are one of my favorite animals! I check out the Smithsonian’s Mole Rat Cam regularly (it’s live!) There’s also one by the Pacific Zoo, if you need more Mole Rat! So there you go, if you become enamored yourself, after reading this article!

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/14/751235929/in-defense-of-naked-mole-rats-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them

And b/c MLK Celebrations are upon us here in Abingdon, I found this AWESOME paper by a university student that gives a history of APPALACHIAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISM.

https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Parker,%20Patrick_2016_Thesis.pdf

Moving to BOOKS:

Hill Women by Cassie Chambers. Subtitled: Finding Family And A Way Forward In The Appalachian Mountains. This was eminently readable, well-written, and very warm. Another antidote to J. D. Vance. Can we PLEASE have a forum of writers-in person-to counteract that hated tome? Just a suggestion, now that it’s being made into a movie?

Silence by Thich Nhat Hahn. Subtitled: The Power Of Quiet In A World Full Of Noise. I’m always struck by the power of Master Thay’s writing. He writes so simply and sparingly. Therein lies the beauty. If you know anyone who has ever said: I can’t do meditation but they WANT to try? This is the book to give to them (or use yourself.) An excellent book for anyone who wishes to learn to disengage for a bit.

I wanted to throw some Haruki Murakami at you but struggled with WHICH one of his novels. To save myself from agony, I chose his latest, Killing Commentadore. It is a tour de force, complex as are all of his works, and well worth your time. It’s winter-curl up in the evening and devote some time!

And for my final book, the Taiga Syndrome by Cristina Rivera Garza. This one is uniquely suited to this cold winter months, as it is set in a very frigid environment and is a enigmatic mystery indeed. I read this one on my Kindle.

McAfee has calmed down about the Wolf Whistle. But the events I have to mention come knowledge outside of that source. MLK Events Sat Jan 18 (held in Abingdon, center of the universe): Discussion On Diversity-Jerry Hill, Charles Wesley UMC 12:30; MLK March from Charles Wesley UMC 1:30: MLK Celebration, Abingdon UMC 2:30. January 19th Barter College Playwrights Festival.

Lastly, I’d like to recommend three things. We’re none of us getting any younger. I keep reading article after article about the benefits of: REGULAR EXERCISE. (Not necessarily steps, lol.) Diet I can’t speak to, though that IS important, certainly. MEDITATION has also shown to be of benefit, and there are different kinds. Lastly, I would suggest learning a SECOND LANGUAGE (or more for some of us). You can use apps such as DuoLingo on your phone OR go to your wonderful public library and use their Rocket Languages database. (It replaced Mango b/c the one patron who used Mango to learn languages apparently was yours truly).

Hope you enjoy this. Let  me know if you have any thoughts or comments. I welcome feed back! Stay warm, coz winter is heading back our way!

I cannot drive due to a seizure disorder. I rely on public transit to get from point A to point B. Well-intentioned friends will occasionally provide me with rides, and I am grateful, esp. if they are to places that I can’t access via transit. However, friends have ALSO taught me the following lesson through their behavior:

Unless it is an out of town medical trip, you can’t really rely on us. We’ll say in a conversation that we’re going to the grocery and pick you up (or maybe get some items you need), but THIS MIGHT NOT HAPPEN. And I get it. Things come up. Life happens. But unlike you, I can’t hop in a car to go get whatever. I have to call transit in advance and take a bus route that is lengthy, or walk to wherever. So I’m now asking my friends this new year to please NOT volunteer this sort of thing. I’m tired of dealing with “thoughts and prayers” offers….if you get what I mean. Offers that are insubstantial and  might not materialize. Life is uncertain enough without this sort of guess work.

Transit has its own problems, fer shure. I’ve been forgotten by THEM, too. But transit I can hold accountable…and do, btw. I will write transit up and submit a written formal letter of complaint if they miss me more than 3 times in one month. Hey, their policy holds passengers accountable….I feel that WE should do the same to them! Let the powers-that-be know that someone is paying attention! Document, document, document! But by and large, transit is reliable, and I know that I can get where I need to go. It might take longer and be convoluted. But no-one ever said life would be easy, fair, or quick.