Big surprise, huh? The surprise is my reason for buying it. I'm on Facebook, where folks change their "status" fairly often. I have a hard time deciding what to say and, since I like it when others share little aphorisms, I got this book to share "tranquil" sayings. You have the privilege of reading my very first selection from the book, from page 257 of A Thousand Paths to Tranquillity by David Baird (2000). Maybe I should even call it a teaser.
"It is the same moon that is reflected in the puddles as in the fountains."
Is torture ever justified? Would you steal a drug that your child needs to survive? Is it sometimes wrong to tell the truth? How much is one human life worth? What do you think and why?
"Justice" is one of the most popular courses in Harvard’s history. Now Harvard opens its classroom to the world. Professor Michael Sandel challenges us with difficult moral dilemmas and asks our opinion about the right thing to do. He then asks us to examine our answers in the light of new scenarios. The results are often surprising, revealing that important moral questions are never black and white. This course also addresses the hot topics of our day—affirmative action, same-sex marriage, patriotism and rights. Here are the twelve classes:
Oct 12 ~ The Moral Side of Murder / The Case for Cannibalism ~ 1
Oct 19 ~ Putting a Price Tag on Life / How to Measure Pleasure ~ 2
Oct 26 ~ Free to Choose / Who Owns Me? ~ 3
Nov. 2 ~ This Land is my Land / Consenting Adults ~ 4
Nov 9 ~ Hired Guns? / Motherhood: For Sale ~ 5
Nov 16 ~ Mind Your Motive / The Supreme Principle of Morality ~ 6
Nov 23 ~ A Lesson in Lying / A Deal is a Deal ~ 7
Nov 30 ~ What's a Fair Start? / What Do We Deserve? ~ 8
Dec 7 ~ Arguing Affirmative Action / What's the Purpose? ~ 9
Dec 14 ~ The Good Citizen / Freedom vs. Fit ~ 10
Dec 21 ~ The Claims of Community / Where Our Loyalty Lies ~ 11
Dec 28 ~ Debating Same-sex Marriage / The Good Life ~ 12
Every week, starting Monday, October 12th, I'll ask a question (or two) from each of these topics. You are welcome to watch Harvard's weekly video, do the readings they provide (not all episodes have related readings), and come here to see what's being said. I'll post a link on the sidebar of Bonnie's Books that will bring up ALL questions in this series, and you can answer earlier questions as well as the current one. Here's this week's question: Does morality interest you enough that you'll join us in exploring the ideas?
"Justice" ~ let's think about this stuff together.
You can also hear a video of Laurie Halse Anderson reading a poem that includes words written to her by a lot of young people after reading her book Speak. One sentence stood out for me: "Your book cracks my shell." Because the book is entitled "Speak," Laurie entitled the poem "Listen." You should. You should listen to her poem. She reads it well, though the words may be hard to hear.
And if you are on Facebook, read Laurie's notes, a continuing series of reports about what's happening to her books. Just this past week Twisted was one of several books challenged by a parent.
To read what some of us have posted on the Banned Books blog about Speak, click here. If you've read the book, tell us about it in the comments.
Life magazine is now available on Google books, covering the years from 1936 to 1972. The one that caught my eye was this Sep 24, 1965 issue, showing photos taken from space by Gemini. Ike was 75. You'll definitely want to see the fashions.
Even the advertisements are fun. When I saw the two-page spread of The Sea from Life's Nature Library, I'd swear I could remember that new-book smell. The TV dinner, on the other hand, looks better than I ever remember it tasting. And -- surprise! -- there are cigarette ads. And how times have changed: "Even in the rain, 'Fill 'er up' also means 'Lift the hood'." Another advertisement has Lawrence Welk in it. And there's a top-loading dishwasher.
It was lots of fun looking through this 44-year-old magazine, at least for me. Kiki was not impressed. Next time I'll look for this one.
Today's teaser is from pages 8-9 of Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk, 2009.
"Get me a phone," he snaps. "I want to make a call."
"Pardon?"
"A phone damnit. Look, I am Columbus. Christopher Columbus. I know the queen, the queen and the king. They can vouch for me. I am to lead three ships across the Western Sea. We've got a deal, damnit! Just get them on the phone."
Whoa, she thinks. Consuela can hear the earnest certainty of his voice. He believes what he's saying. "You want to fall off the edge of the Earth?" Consuela is performing her own little experiment. "You want to die?"
"You don't believe that. Nobody but a simpleton would believe that old wives' tale. Try not to underestimate my intelligence and I'll do the same for you."
"I'll let Dr. Fuentes know you're awake."
"Yes, let your doctor know that I'm hungry, and I have to piss, and I'm not crazy."
"How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness, how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?"
The Social Construction of Reality ~ by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1966) is #11 in my series on "fifteen books that will always stick with me." I read this decades ago, so I don't remember details. What I do remember is the flash of insight that came from realizing we construct reality. People of a particular culture decide what's real and what isn't, and thus we "see" what society has decided we shall see.
"...the primary knowledge about the institutional order ... is the sum total of ‘what everybody knows’ about a social world, an assemblage of maxims, morals, proverbial nuggets of wisdom, values and beliefs, myths, and so forth” (p.65).
Let me give you an example of how I undersand what the authors mean. I grew up in a time and place where "everyone knew" -- meaning the grown-ups around me "knew" -- there's no such thing as a ghost. Therefore, if a child is frightened by a "ghost in the closet," her parents assure her nothing is there. The little girl may not be convinced right then, but by the time she is an adult she too will "know" there are no ghosts.
I grew up long before the movie "Sixth Sense" was popular in 1999. As a matter of fact, I was a 59-year-old grandmother by the time that movie child confided in his psychologist that he "sees dead people that walk around like regular people." One day recently I was captured by this phrase in a synopsis of Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation by John Phillip Santos (1999): "as a girl, she saw a dying soul leave its body." I had never expressed it quite that way, but I have described many times what I saw when my grandfather died. I was four years old and can still visualize the scene. The adults were all around his hospital bed, looking down at him. I wondered why they weren't looking up, since he was floating over them toward the far wall on my right, headed toward the intersection of wall and ceiling. And then he was gone. On the day I read that synopsis I decided to google an illustration for "soul leaving a body." This is what I found.
The one on the left is close, but the one on the right is more accurate.
This drawing has the right idea, except it's way too stiff. Though my grandfather's form was wispy like steam, the motion was very fluid and natural. And he went head first off to the right, kind of like the one on the right. However, the rising soul/spirit didn't exactly look like his body. It looked more like steam rising from hot coffee, though identifiable as the person himself. I could tell it was my grandfather and wondered why the grown-ups weren't looking where he was going, toward the wall and ceiling over to my right, as in these pictures.
The Social Construction of Reality confirmed something I knew deep inside, probably since the age of four. For allowing me to trust my reality, I rate this book 10 of 10.
Big surprise, huh? The surprise is my reason for buying it. I'm on Facebook, where folks change their "status" fairly often. I have a hard time deciding what to say and, since I like it when others share little aphorisms, I got this book to share "tranquil" sayings. You have the privilege of reading my very first selection from the book, from page 257 of A Thousand Paths to Tranquillity by David Baird (2000). Maybe I should even call it a teaser.
