Are you happy?

March 20 is International Day of Happiness, and it also happens to be the first day of Spring.  After a rough winter, I imagine lots of folks are happy to see the arrival of spring.

I have a copy of Clean Speech St. Louis, Volume 4.  It encourages us to speak words of kindness during the month of March this year.  Each year has a slightly different focus.  It reminds us (daily during March) that what we say makes a difference.

I noticed some trees between me and the highway are turning white.  I wonder if they are dogwoods.  I would go check, but my spring allergies say "no" to that.

Active April

I haven't posted a calendar from the Action for Happiness folks in a long time.  Having just finished a month of Clean Speech St. Louis, this seems like a good time for me to continue focusing on making our world a better place.  Click on the calendar to enlarge it, and see the words along the bottom that say:  "Happier, Kinder, Together."

My sign-up post for TBR 24 in '24

This challenge is hosted by Gilion at her Rose City Reader blog.  This is a challenge aimed at reading books from our TBR shelves.  The idea is to read 24 books in 2024, which means one book for each year of the century.  If you're interested, the sign-up page is HERE.  Oh, you want to know what "TBR" means?  To Be Read, books you have on your shelves, but still need to read.

Gilion says we don't have to decide when we sign up, so I won't try to guess which 24 (or more) books I'll read from here forward.  But here are a few possibilities from what I once called my Teetering Towers of TBR Books (I've had the first one since 1976):

1.  Window to the Past: Exploring History through ESP ~ by Hans Holzer, illustrated by Catherine Buxhoeveden, 1969, history, 247 pages

2.  The Way to Rainy Mountain ~ by N. Scott Momaday, illustrated by Al Momaday, 2019, Native American literature, 104 pages

3.  House Made of Dawn ~ by N. Scott Momaday, 1986, 2018, historical fiction, 224 pages

4.  The Way to Rainy Mountain ~ by N. Scott Momaday, illustrated by Al Momaday, 2019, Native American literature, 104 pages

5.  To Love As God Loves ~ by Roberta Bondi, 1987, religion, 111 pages

6.  The Gospel of Thomas: Discovering the Lost Words of Jesus ~ by John Dart and Ray Riegert, introduction by John Dominic Crossan, 1998, religion, 122 pages

7.  I and Thou ~ by Martin Buber, 1923 (translated and with a prologue by Walter Kaufmann, 1970), philosophy, 185 pages

8.  Our Town: A Play in Three Acts ~ by Thornton Wilder, 1938, (Foreword by Donald Margulies, 2003; Afterword by Tappan Wilder, 2003), drama classic, 204 pages

9.  One God: Peoples of the Book ~ edited by Edith S. Engel and Henry W. Engel, 1990, religion, 146 pages

10.  The Teacher of Warsaw ~ by Mario Escobar, 2022, historical fiction, 368 pages

11.  Girl Country ~ by Jacqueline Vogtman, 2023, short stories, 200 pages

12.  In the Image ~ by Dara Horn, 2002, fiction, 302 pages

Word of the Day

duvet (doo-VAY) = A duvet is usually called a comforter or (down-filled) quilt in American English.  It is a type of bedding consisting of a soft flat bag filled with either down, feathers, wool, cotton, silk, or a synthetic alternative, and is typically protected with a removable cover, analogous to a pillow and pillow case.  The term duvet is mainly British and is rarely used in the United States.

I wrote about duvets last year, HERE.  And I posted a pun about the word HERE, that says:  "My friends and I have named our band 'Duvet.'  It's a cover band."  But why am I talking about that word now?

A few days ago, as I was going toward the elevators to go home, I passed a group of folks I know in the lobby.  I had not heard anything they were talking about, but one woman turned to me and said something about a "duvet."  I frowned, trying to figure out, "What about it?"  She took it differently, though, and said, "I'm glad somebody else doesn't know what a duvet is!"  And she laughed at those around us.  I wanted to say, "But I *DO* know what a duvet is!  I have one on my bed upstairs, as a matter of fact."  I chose not to say those words, even though her remark left all of them assuming I had no idea what a duvet is.

Looking at it from the peaceful and caring point of view, I could have saved myself from looking like I didn't know the word by making HER look dumb and feel worse.  I walked away, even though I hate looking stupid, too, so I knew how she felt.  Saying nothing can be "words of peace" (peace in Hebrew is "shalom").  If I had "taken sides" and said I knew it, that would have made her feel even worse.  So I chose to say nothing.  (By the way, I know she does not read my blog and won't see this.)

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon

to share what we've read and done during the week.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts the Sunday Salon

Clean Speech St. Louis

Our communities are torn apart by division and strife.  The way we speak is both the problem and the solution.  Clean Speech St. Louis is a community-wide education and awareness campaign to unite us in the practice of Jewish mindful speech, to build a more positive, respectful, and peaceful world.  People at the Crown Center for Senior Living are taking part in this program, and that includes me.  I have done this since the beginning, so it's my third time to participate.  Here are my posts for 2022 and 2023.

Talking and reading ~ the usual stuff

"Thank you for calling....Loved it"

Yesterday, I called one of my two best friends, and we talked for two hours and twenty minutes.  For part of the time we were in school together at Emory University, I lived with their family — she has a husband and four children.  After our talk, I sent her a link to something we discussed, and she emailed back:  "Thank you for calling....Loved it."

I later called my other best friend, who returned my call after lunch.  We talked a long time, too.  What?  Why can't I have two best friends?  One lives hundreds of miles east of me, and the other lives hundreds of miles west of me.  I wish we could get together and talk for hours.  Phones are the next best thing, but I can't get a hug over the phone.

Clean Speech St. Louis

I picked up a 2023 workbook for Clean Speech St. Louis (Volume 2) in the lobby recently and brought it home to read.  Crown Center for Senior Living is one of 32 participating organizations.  Last year's subject was about harmful or hurtful words said about a third party who is not present; this year's focus is on the verbal mistreatment of the person with whom you are speaking (p. 12).  The third day suggests we review what we learned last year.  They'll be happy to send a link to download the curriculum from last year, if you missed it:  <https://cleanspeech.com/stl/>.  Examples from the book:

Day 1 example

"Steve wakes up one morning to a text message from his brother, berating him for not being more helpful with their elderly parents.  In a foul mood, he complains to his wife Beth that there's no coffee creamer.  Feeling criticized, Beth is short-tempered with their teenage daughter, Sarah, who goes off to school in a huff, silent and moody in her carpool.  Over dinner that night, they sit at the table and describe their rotten day, before retreating from the tension into separate corners of the house on their devices."

Day 2 example

"Steve wakes up one morning to a text message from his brother, thanking him for being so helpful with their elderly parents.  In a cheerful mood, he compliments his wife Beth on the outfit she's wearing.  Feeling loved, Beth is more patient with their teenage daughter, Sarah, who[m] she encourages to speak more confidently with the challenging girls in her carpool.  Over dinner that night, they sit at the table and share small victories from their day, enjoying each other's company a little longer than usual."

What a difference a kind, positive word makes!  I'm sure we've all seen this in real life.

2022 = Lashon hara (Hebrew: לשון הרע) means "evil tongue" for speech about a person or persons that is negative or harmful to them, even though it is true.

2023 = Onas devarim (Hebrew: דְּבָרִים) is the prohibition against saying hurtful words to a person.

With Her in Ourland ~ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1915, utopian fiction, 123 pages

This is the third book in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's utopian trilogy which begins where Moving the Mountain and Herland left off.  Gilman masterfully compares our modern male-dominated world with an imaginary perfect society comprised of only woman. Gilman was a well known and deeply respected sociologist and this trilogy holds an important place in feminist fiction. All of our books are printed to order. This reduces waste and helps us keep prices low while greatly reducing our impact on the environment.

A blogger had this to say about the book:  "With Her in Ourland reads less like a story and more as philosophy."  That's okay with me, since philosophy was part of my double major undergraduate degree.

In response to my St. Patrick's Day post a couple of days ago about being Irish, a friend sent me this photo.  I love it!  Hmm, I'm taller than most of my friends around here, even though I've shrunk a couple of inches in my old age.  Does does that make me less Irish?

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

hosts The Sunday Salon.

Mindful speech

I picked up a Clean Speech St. Louis Workbook in the lobby yesterday, discovered it had a page for each day in March 2022, and started reading.  Page 5 shows that Crown Center for Senior Living is one of 37 participating organizations.  Here are the weekly topics:

Week 1:  Is it important to care about "clean speech"?

Week 2:  Talking about how we talk

Week 3:  Talking about how we listen

Week 4:  Sometimes you have to speak up

Week 5:  The end

Here are the daily subjects this week:

Day 1:  It's a Beautiful World

Day 2:  Words Create Reality

Day 3:  No Band-Aid Big Enough

Day 4:  Learn to Argue

Day 5:  Judge Others Favorably

Day 6:  Practice

Day 7:  What a Legacy We Have

I like the first sentences for the first day:  "This is not a book about speech.  It's a book about us.  Clean Speech St. Louis is not just about what we say.  It is about who we are. . . . If we remove negativity, gossip, slander, and divisiveness from our vocabulary, we automatically and dramatically improve our own lives and the lives of everyone around us" (p. 8).