Author: ktnorlander

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Make a Difference

Need Holiday Gift Ideas? Check Out These Alternative Gifts.

Have you and your loved ones agreed to give gifts that make a difference this year? Do you know someone who would appreciate a gift that helps others? Check out these ideas for alternative gifts.

Make a donation.

If your loved one doesn’t want a tangible gift, consider the issues that are important to them and make a donation to a nonprofit related to one of those issues. Are they concerned about wildlife? Consider the World Wildlife Fund. Are they interested in fighting slavery? You might want to donate to International Justice Mission. There are countless nonprofits doing good work, so do some research and find an organization that you know your loved one would support.

Note that some organizations allow you to enter the name of the person you are honoring when you make a donation online, but others do not. In my mind, that isn’t a big deal. I simply let the gift recipient know that I made a donation to a particular organization in their honor, even if I couldn’t officially register the gift as such with the nonprofit.

Give a heifer or shoes or…

Some organizations offer you the opportunity to make a donation that feels a little more specific than “I donated $x to [NAME OF CHARITY] in your name.” In a few cases, such as Soles4Souls, you really are giving a very specific item to someone in poverty. In the case of Soles4Souls, you would either bring shoes to a drop-off location or order them through Zappos for Good. (If you are dropping off shoes as a donation in someone’s name, I suggest buying new shoes rather than donating gently used shoes.)

But in most cases, you are really just making a donation to the organization in a cute way by supposedly tying it to something. For example, I could “give a heifer” in someone’s name by making a $500 donation to Heifer International, but the organization would not necessarily give a heifer to a poor family with that money. Instead, they would use the donation in a way that would best meet the needs of the people they serve. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. The gift is symbolic. But you should understand this about such charitable gift catalogs before you make your donation.

Purchase a t-shirt, bag or other item that benefits a nonprofit.

If you know that the gift recipient would like a tangible gift but would also like to support a nonprofit, consider purchasing an item from the organization’s gift shop. In many cases, the item you purchase will have the name of the organization on it. Preemptive Love, which I mentioned in a recent post, is just one of many organizations you can support through the purchase of clothing and other goods.

Give a gift that supports job training for those who need it most.

While all jobs provide some sort of training or valuable experience for employees, some social enterprises focus their employment opportunities on those who face significant barriers, such as people who were formerly incarcerated. Some organizations, such as Women’s Bean Project and Thistle Farms, sell goods online. You can also find local organizations, such as restaurants, that you can support. If you’d like to pursue that route, you might want to Google “social enterprise restaurant [your city’s name]” and then let the gift recipient know that you will be treating them to a meal at one of the restaurants that you discover through your search.

Give a fair-trade gift.

Rather than purchasing an item made overseas by people who work long hours for very little pay, consider giving a fair-trade gift that allows families to earn fair wages and pursue a better future. Fair-trade shops, such as Ten Thousand Villages and SERRV, sell items such as clothing, housewares, toys, and more.

Purchase gifts from an artist or small business.

So many of our gifts come from major retailers. People with artistic careers (or side jobs) and owners of small businesses could really use our support. Would any of the people you are giving gifts to appreciate artistic prints, books, or tickets to performances? If you know someone wants a game, can you find it at a small, independent store rather than a big-box retailer? What if, instead of looking for inspiration at a major online site or by wandering through a national chain store, you checked out a local shop instead? In this way, you’d be giving two gifts: one to the recipient, and one to a person who is struggling to make a living in the face of Goliath-sized competition.

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Something Wonderful

Read Blue Highways and Fall in Love With People Again

When I was a senior in high school, I came up with an oddly specific career goal. I wanted to travel dusty back roads in New Mexico, searching for people with interesting stories. I’d interview those people and turn their stories into museum exhibits.

I have yet to do exactly that, although I came close enough to satisfy me when I profiled alumni for various magazines at the University of St. Thomas.

Part of the inspiration behind my dream was the book Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon. The book was one of many I plucked off my parents’ bookshelves during my adolescence. It soon became one of my favorite works of nonfiction. While part of what moved me was the author’s description of places, his encounters with strangers meant the most to me.

Ever wanted to run away from it all?

As he notes in his 1999 Afterward, Least Heat-Moon had thought about traveling across the United States without using a federal highway a few years before his trip. The dream was delayed by obligations, but in 1978 a series of circumstances — he was separated from his wife and had lost his job — gave him the final push to pursue his project.

Although Least Heat-Moon was traveling both to pursue a dream and reboot his life, his story speaks to anyone with the urge to explore new places. Even if we can’t leave everything behind for a few months, we can at least ride along with the author.

Least Heat-Moon takes us to the hidden corners of the U.S.

By traveling the “blue highways” — the rambling routes that many drivers abandoned after federal freeways were created to move people quickly from place to place — he largely avoided the big cities, visiting small towns instead. Sometimes he stopped at a town because it was along his route. Other times he went out of his way to visit a town simply because he liked the name.

Dime Box, Texas, is not the funniest town name in America. Traditionally, that honor belongs to Intercourse, Pennsylvania. I prefer Scratch Ankle, Alabama, Gnawbone, Indiana, or even Humptulips, Washington. Nevertheless, Dime Box, as a name, caught my ear, so that’s where I headed the next morning out of College Station.

Much of Blue Highways is about place. Least Heat-Moon writes beautifully about the towns and landscapes he travels through. Some of it he loves, some of it he hates, but it all makes for good reading.

Wartburg, on the edge of the dark Cumberlands, dripped in a cold mist blowing down off the knobs. Cafes closed, I had no choice but to go back into the wet mountain gloom. Under massive walls of black shale hanging above the road like threats, the highway turned ugly past Frozen Head State Park; at each trash dumpster pullout, soggy sofas or chairs lay encircled by dismal, acrid smoke from smoldering junk. Golden Styrofoam from Big Mac containers blew about as if Zeus had just raped Danae. Shoot the Hamburglar on sight.

But it’s the people who really make the book

While the author says more about what he sees and thinks than who he talks to, his conversations with people from across the U.S. are the true heart of the book. I don’t think that’s just true for me as a reader. When Least Heat-Moon includes photos, they are always photos of people he talked to, not photos of landscapes he traveled through. That hints that the people were the heart of the journey in his eyes, too.

Least Heat-Moon is a realist; not everyone he talks to is a likable person, and he doesn’t pretend they are. Nevertheless, many of the people are so enjoyable to “hear” through his words that they will make you want to sit down and start up with a conversation with a complete strange. I say this as an introvert who usually needs a writing project to get me to talk to strangers, as much as I enjoy listening to them.

The people Least Heat-Moon converses with give him advice. (He meets a metallurgical engineer who tells him, “I notice that you use work and job interchangeably. Oughten to do that. A job’s what you force yourself to pay attention to for money. With work, you don’t have to force yourself.”) They teach him things, telling him about hang-gliding or, most memorably, taking him out on a fishing trawler. They tell him stories. (In Hachita, New Mexico, one man talks about being near Alamogordo when an atomic bomb was tested.)

For me, the best parts of the book are the times when Least Heat-Moon connects with people who are very different from himself — something many of us hope for in a time when we feel hopelessly divided. One of my favorite encounters is between the author and Arthur O. Bakke, a hitchhiking Seventh-Day Adventist who dedicated his life to telling other people about Jesus following a frightening car accident. His earnestness scares many people off, including, at first, the author, though he offers Bakke a ride and eventually engages him in conversation about his calling. On their second day together, Bakke and Least Heat-Moon have an exchange consisting largely of quotations from the Bible on Bakke’s side and from Walt Whitman on the author’s side. Neither changes his point of view, but the discussion is friendly. Least Heat-Moon writes:

He [Bakke] lived clean: mind, body, way of life. Hegel believed that freedom is knowledge of one’s necessity, and Arthur O. Bakke … was a free man hindered only by his love and conviction. And that was just as he wanted it. I don’t know whether he had been chosen to beat the highways and hedges, but clearly he had chosen to. Despite doctrinal differences, he reminded me of a Trappist monk or a Hopi shaman. I liked Arthur. I liked him very much.

Least Heat-Moon’s journey may have occurred more than 40 years ago, but it’s exactly the sort of thing we need to be reading now.

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Make a Difference

So This Celebrity Walks Into a Bar…

Earlier this year actor David Tennant launched a podcast titled, appropriately enough, David Tennant Does a Podcast. In each episode he interviewed a celebrity. Frequently David and his guest would talk about how that person’s fame had destroyed their ability to go out in public. If they had small children, they were particularly dismayed about how their fame affected their children’s lives.

So what?

There are a host of problems in the world: climate change, income inequality, racism… the list goes on and on. Why on earth should we care about whether or not privileged celebrities and their families can go out in public without being harassed? And, really, isn’t the inability to go out in public a fair trade-off for the wealth and power that celebrities have?

Here’s the problem with believing that lack of privacy is a trade-off for fame and fortune: This does nothing to solve problems such as income inequality. Furthermore, celebrities are human beings. We should recognize their humanity and treat them as people who have value. Not greater value than the people we see every day (the fact that we often overemphasize celebrities’ value is, after all, why celebrities are hounded in public). But celebrities and their families do have value, and as such, we should respect their human need for privacy and leave them alone.

But I really like [Name’s] work, and I want to tell them so.

It’s fine to enjoy someone’s work and want to let them know that. The key is to seek out forums where expressing that admiration is welcome.

  • Many celebrities make themselves available to the public at specific times and places, such as fandom conventions and book tours. Yes, you may have to pay to get your favorite celebrity’s autograph or picture, and you will almost certainly have to stand in line with many other fans. But these are the most appropriate times to shake someone’s hand and let them know you’re a big fan.
  • Some celebrities are active on social media. While they may not respond, this is a great place to send them a message letting them know that you loved their most recent performance.
  • If all else fails, you can always send a fan letter. I know, I know. It’s not at all the same as talking to a celebrity in person. But if your intent is really to express your admiration, fan mail is a perfectly acceptable way of doing this.

Aren’t the paparazzi the real problem?

The paparazzi are definitely part of the problem. But if we stopped showing an appetite for celebrity gossip, the paparazzi would no longer exist.

Want to learn more about someone famous? Many celebrities promote their careers through interviews. Others may publish a memoir. If we use these channels for more information on our favorite celebrities, we can hear their stories without intruding on their privacy.

I know that in light of all the problems in the world, it seems shallow to say that you can make a difference by leaving celebrities alone. But stepping back and giving them space takes virtually no effort on our part and doesn’t interfere with our efforts to do good in other areas. In fact, if we give less attention to celebrities, we will have more to give to the things that really matter.

What about famous people whose decisions directly affect others? Are you saying we shouldn’t speak up in the name of justice to political or business leaders if we see them in public?

No. I see that as a different topic. There are still strong arguments against approaching those leaders in public, but there are also valid reasons for doing so. (Christians, if you want to see one argument in favor of pestering leaders in the name of justice, read the Parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 8:1-18. While the parable is about persistent prayer, note that the hero in the story is a woman who repeatedly approaches an unjust judge, seeking justice.)

Categories
Something Wonderful

Love Books? You Really Need to Read Ex Libris.

When I finally got around to reading Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman, I was surprised to see that she was also the author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which I read several years ago. The Spirit Catches You is a nonfiction book about the culture clash between a Hmong family in California and the American medical system. It was hard for me to imagine that the author of that book had also written a book of essays on “a lifelong love affair with books and language” (from the copy on the front flap of Ex Libris’ dust jacket).

Why I’m so surprised that the same person could write about very different subjects in very different styles is beyond me. My own interests are all over the map. At any rate, while I found The Spirit Catches You well-written and informative, I thought Ex Libris was downright delightful. The fact that Anne could write a good book on cultural conflict and medicine and a great book on bibliophilia just increases my admiration for her.

If you’re a bibliophile who has not yet read Ex Libris, here’s why you need to get your hands on a copy (if you don’t already have one sitting in a stack of unread books) and immerse yourself in Anne’s delightful essays.

Ex Libris Is Funny

While I wouldn’t go so far as to call Ex Libris “comedy,” it’s very funny. At least, it is if you’re a word nerd. Anyone who has had the urge to correct public signage will love the essay “r/ Inse∧t a Carrot e/.”

My brother revealed that in a 364-page computer-software manual he had consulted the previous month, he had found several hundred errors in spelling, grammar, and syntax. His favorite was the oft-repeated command to “insert a carrot.” He had written the company, offering to trade a complete list of corrections for an upgraded version of the software, but had not received a reply.

The author did her brother one better: After finding 15 misprints in an edition of Nabakov’s Speak Memory, she wrote to the author to let him know. You’ll have to read the essay for yourself to find out what happened.

In “The Catalogical Imperative,” Anne writes about the joys of reading catalog copy. Again, if you are a person who gravitates toward print — any print, just give me something to read! — you will understand.

Who could read the Garrett Wade tool catalogue without thinking, ‘This is a poem’? Not I. In fact, here it is. The following syllabically impeccable haiku consists entirely of items you can order by calling (800) 221-2942:

Joiner’s mash, jack plane.

Splitting froe? Bastard cut rasp!

Craftsman dozuki.

I hope you noted the Japanese touch in the final line, which refers, of course, to Item No. 49117.01, a saw whose blade ‘has a very smooth action with a very narrow kerf.’ (I am currently composing a villanelle inspired by the word kerf.)

This is nerdy humor at its best.

You Will Feel Like Anne Could Be Your Friend

You know those books that make you think, “I wish I could meet the author, because I’m sure we could be friends?” This is one of those books. Anyone whose idea of the perfect birthday present is walking out of a store with 19 pounds of used books is someone I could talk to for hours.

Read Ex Libris, and you will find yourself saying again and again, “Yes, yes! Me, too!” In the same “Catalogical Imperative” essay I mentioned above, Anne writes about the J. Peterman catalog:

My analysis of J. Peterman’s appeal is that it is a Harlequin romance for the kind of people who vacation in Krk. For example (to quote from the blurb for an ankle-length crêpe-de-Chine floral dress with leg-o’-mutton sleeves):

‘He spends the morning repairing the deer fence. The next job is to start a compost pile. It’s getting warm. As he takes off his flannel shirt, he observes that you are no longer reclining in the bay window reading Proust.’

This paragraph makes a number of assumptions, all exceedingly pleasant:

  1. I own a country house.
  2. I own a deer fence.
  3. I own a compost pile.
  4. I have enough time to read Proust.
  5. While reading Proust, I wear ankle-length dresses with leg-o’-mutton sleeves.

But I didn’t order the dress. My problem—and it has made Anne F., though a devoted reader of catalogues, a faithless patron—is that I never want the item, I want the associated fantasy.

Amen, Anne.

Most Importantly, Ex Libris Is a Celebration of Books and Words

In Ex Libris, Anne explores everything from how libraries are organized to the joys of “reading books in the places they describe,” which she calls You-Are-There reading. She writes about the perfect pen, about changing language to make men and women equal, and about reading aloud. If your idea of a horror story is being confined to a place with no reading material, Ex Libris was written for you. You will not be disappointed.

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Make a Difference

Do You Believe That Love Is the Most Important Thing?

"Love Anyway" is a core value of Preemptive Love Coalition
“Love anyway” is a core value of Preemptive Love Coalition.

This is the first in an occasional series of posts about organizations you might want to support with your time and/or money as you strive to make a difference in the world.

What is Preemptive Love Coalition?

When we think of “preemptive” action, it’s often in a violent sense: preemptive strikes, preemptive wars. But what if we decided to take Jesus’ words “love your enemies” seriously and engaged in preemptive love?

Preemptive Love Coalition was founded in 2007 in Iraq by Jeremy and Jessica Courtney. Much of their work is in Iraq and Syria, although they also work at the U.S.-Mexico border, and in Iran, Libya, Israel and Palestine, and the Korean peninsula. Preemptive Love’s purpose it to bring aid as close to the frontlines of conflict as possible and to help families rebuild their lives after the need for immediate aid has passed.

Preemptive Love is a peacemaking organization that believes we need to “love anyway” — even across enemy lines. Its staff and volunteers include Christians and Muslims, Iraqis and Americans, veterans and pacifists. The organization doesn’t sweep in to deliver what it perceives to be the needs of the people it serves; it asks them what they need and partners with local organizations to meet those needs. Preemptive Love depends on private donations, not UN or government funding.

How can I get involved in their work?

  • First and foremost, you can donate to support their work. Of course one-time donations are great, but regular monthly gifts are even better, giving them a steady stream of contributions they can count on.
  • Pulling together your shopping list for holiday gift-giving? Consider purchasing gifts from Preemptive Love’s online store. You can help families who are rebuilding their lives by purchasing soap, candles, and knitted goods that they’ve made. You also can buy items like t-shirts and reusable bags to support Preemptive Love’s work.
  • I strongly encourage you to sign up to receive email messages from Preemptive Love (a sign-up form is on their homepage). This organization sends messages that are worth opening. This summer they asked people on their contact list if they wanted to sign up for a weekly series of challenges that would encourage readers to “love anyway” right where they are. What a great resource for people who want to make a difference!
  • You also can subscribe to their podcast. Like their email messages, the podcast is well worth your time. Not only will you learn more about Preemptive Love’s work, but you’ll hear episodes that will inspire you to act as a peacemaker in your own community.
  • If you use social media, follow Preemptive Love on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
  • Want to be even more involved in their work? You can volunteer for them or apply for an open job.
  • And, of course, you can spread the word about their work, as I’m doing here.

If you believe in the importance of love, I can think of no better organization to support than Preemptive Love Coalition.

Full disclosure: At the time I’m writing this, I do not financially support Preemptive Love Coalition’s work. I hope to be able to do so in the near future.

 

Categories
Something Wonderful

Halloween Viewing: Want Spooky But Not Too Scary?

The Lost Boys is more gory than scary -- a good Halloween movie pick for people who aren't into scary movies.

We all have different tolerance levels for scary movies. Some people can watch anything; others are very sensitive. I’m somewhere in between. I made it through The Shining and had no trouble sleeping that night, but I deeply regret watching The Blair Witch Project.

If Halloween puts you in the mood for movies that are slightly spooky  — but not too scary —  I have two suggestions for you, both from the 1980s. While I can make no promises, the first film is probably fine for all but young children. The second, a vampire flick, is a little more gruesome but still relatively mild for a “scary” movie.

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

Young Sherlock Holmes doesn’t have anything to do with traditional Halloween topics, but it’s a great choice for anyone searching for a “scary” movie that older children can watch. Written by Chris Columbus, directed by Barry Levinson, and produced by a team that includes Steven Spielberg and Henry Winkler, this underrated film imagines Sherlock Holmes’ start as a detective. The mystery begins with a series of deaths caused by hallucinations.

Most of the hallucinations and resulting deaths are just disturbing enough to lend a spooky air to the film. But the story behind these deaths give it an even more chilling edge. As Holmes digs deeper into the mystery, he discovers the Rame Tep cult, which drugs young women and then sacrifices them by covering them with molten wax.

Young Sherlock Holmes is a spooky, but not scary, movie suitable for Halloween.

Fans of the BBC series Sherlock may be interested in certain parallels between the cult scenes in “The Abominable Bride” and those in Young Sherlock Holmes. And if you think post-credits scenes began with Marvel superhero movies, you’re in for a pleasant surprise: this movie should be watched all the way through to the end. (No, this isn’t the first movie to feature a post-credits scene.)

If you and your fellow viewers can watch the ceremonial opening of the ark at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, you should have no problem with Young Sherlock Holmes. One word of warning: in Raiders of the Lost Ark, deaths are mostly confined to the “bad guys.” I make no such promises for Young Sherlock Holmes.

The Lost Boys (1987)

Now we’re going to take the scare factor up a notch — but not too far. The Lost Boys is a vampire film that is more gory than frightening, though I definitely wouldn’t show it to young children (it’s rated R for a reason). The gore starts during a meal with some unappetizing hallucinations but gets far worse during a series of confrontations with vampires at the end.

Unlike many full-on horror films, The Lost Boys is sprinkled with levity, primarily delivered through the Frog Brothers, who are dedicated to ending the plague of vampires in their town. If you’re a fan of the two Coreys, this is the first movie to feature them together. Corey Feldman plays one of the Frog Brothers, while Corey Haim is a new kid in town.

The vampires in this movie are not sexy, Anne Rice-style vampires, nor are they sparkly, good vampires like Edward and his family in the Twilight series; only the half-vampires have any appeal. This would seem like a good recipe for a scary movie, but — perhaps because of the comic elements — the film lacks true horror. There’s tension. There are gross, bloody scenes, with most of the blood coming from the vampires themselves, not their victims. But this film is unlikely to keep you up at night. If it doesn’t bother you to watch Shawn of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, you should have no problem with The Lost Boys.

Bonus: If you are familiar with “I Still Believe” by The Call, you’ll probably find the cover of that song at the beginning of the film pretty hysterical — or at least a bit disconcerting.

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Make a Difference

The 2019 Guide to Fair-Trade Halloween Candy

When I explored the topic of fair-trade Halloween chocolate last year, there wasn’t much available in stores, but there were some good options online. What’s changed in 2019?

First the Bad News

Target still offers virtually no fair-trade options. This year you can find Dove pumpkins in their Halloween candy section, but they didn’t appear to be Rainforest Alliance-certified.

It also appears that Endangered Species has stopped manufacturing Bug Bites. I found exactly one case each of milk chocolate and dark chocolate Bug Bites on Amazon. That’s a pity, because they were perfect for Halloween.

It’s also disappointing to see that some of the options trotted out as fair-trade Halloween candy are targeted more toward adult tastes. From my experience offering tastings at anti-slavery chocolate parties, I know that most children prefer either milk chocolate or dark chocolate with lower cocoa content. Fancy bean-to-bar minis with cocoa content that may be as high as 77% aren’t going to be a hit with many trick-or-treaters. It’s bad enough that we have to offer chocolates they may not recognize and therefore may shy away from. Let’s not offer them chocolate that will be too bitter for their tastes.

Now the Good News

Many of the treats I mentioned last year are still available, including:

Unless you are able to find these candies at a store near you, you will have to order them online.

Also, in a “why didn’t I think of this before” moment, I decided to check out Lake Champlain Chocolates, and they have Halloween-sized treats.

The best news of all is that Tony’s Chocolonely is offering “Tiny Tony’s” for Halloween. If you’ve watched The Chocolate Case, you know that fair-trade chocolate isn’t always as fair as we’d like to believe and that Tony’s is working hard to become truly slave-free. These are chocolates you can be proud to offer on Halloween — both ethical and tasty.

Here’s hoping that someday I won’t have to recommend fair-trade Halloween chocolate, because you’ll be able to find it easily wherever you shop!

Categories
Something Wonderful

In the World of Music, Jazz Dominates Autumn

Being a quirky person with broad musical taste, I create themed playlists that could give many people whiplash. While I’ve never shared any of my odd, multi-genre playlists on the blog before, I thought I’d give it a try with this selection of autumn-focused music. It’s dominated by jazz — not merely because I love jazz, but because there are a number of wonderful jazz numbers about autumn. Sample these songs and pick your favorites for your own playlist. You may decide that you, unlike me, want to focus on only one genre of music.

Many of the jazz pieces in this list have been performed by a number of different artists; I have listed my favorite artist with each of those pieces. Likewise, there are many recordings you can choose from for the classical pieces, but although there are differences between recordings, I have no strong feelings about any particular version, so I leave that up to you.

If you have any favorite songs I’ve missed, please share them in the comments!

The Accursed Huntsman — César Franck

We start with something classical. This piece tells the story of a hunter who decides to ignore the Sabbath and hunt on Sunday. He ends up becoming the Devil’s quarry. What could be more autumnal than a spooky hunting story?

Autumn — Ed Calle

Once upon a time I had a coworker who was in charge of the music for our office, and she loved smooth jazz. Hours of forced listening to a smooth jazz station made me somewhat allergic to the subgenre, but there are still individual pieces I like. This is one of them. “Autumn” is a song for early to mid-fall, when you can still feel some summer in the air and the leaves are turning; it doesn’t really fit gray November days.

Autumn in New York — Ella Fitzgerald

You absolutely cannot have a list of autumn songs without including this one, and Ella Fitzgerald sings it beautifully.

Autumn Leaves — Nat King Cole

This is another “can’t omit it” classic. I love Nat King Cole’s silky smooth voice, so I had to pick this version.

Autumn Nocturne – Lou Donaldson

This is a lesser-known jazz piece, covered beautifully and in-depth in this blog post by Steve Wallace. The first version I heard was Claude Thornhill’s — apparently the earliest recorded version — but it sounds “dated” to me (I can just see couples dancing on a ballroom floor to the sounds of Thornhill’s orchestra). I prefer Lou Donaldson’s take.

Autumn Serenade — John Coletrane and Johnny Hartman

While I meant everything I said about loving to listen to Nat King Cole, I can’t imagine preferring his voice to Johnny Hartman’s on this one. Somehow, Johnny makes it sound as if he is singing about something he really experienced. And you can’t go wrong with John Coltrane on the sax.

Autumn Song — Van Morrison

It may not be pure jazz, but Van Morrison’s “Autumn Song” certainly has a jazzy feel. Google “Autumn Song Van Morrison,” and you’ll find more than one person proclaiming how perfectly the song captures autumn.

Don’t Wait Too Long — Blossom Dearie

Here autumn is merely a metaphor, but this song about a romance between two people of different ages is beautiful.

Folk Songs of the Four Seasons: Autumn — Ralph Vaughan Williams

I’m a sucker for Ralph Vaughan Williams, including his arrangement of seasonal folk songs for a women’s choir. There are actually three folk songs in the autumn section; “John Barleycorn” is the first one. You can find the other two, “The Unquiet Grave” and “An Acre of Land,” on YouTube.

The Four Seasons: Autumn — Antonio Vivaldi

This choice isn’t much of a surprise. Ask someone to name some classical music related to autumn, and they will almost certainly mention “Autumn” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

Graceful Ghost Rag — William Bolcom

This has even less to do with autumn than “Don’t Wait to Long,” but since I first heard it on Halloween, I always think of autumn when I hear it. This is the best-known of three “ghost rags” that Bolcom wrote.

Harvest Moon — John Pizzarelli

What a beautiful autumn love song! With apologies to Neil Young, I prefer this cover to the original version. It’s also one of my favorite songs on this list.

Harvest Home: Autumn (Thanksgiving Hymn) — Jay Ungar and Molly Mason

Jay Ungar is the famous composer of “Ashokan Farewell” (the song Ken Burns used on his series, The Civil War). Molly Mason is his partner in music and marriage. This piece comes from Harvest Home, their five-part suite about the seasons in rural America.

If I Could Make September Stay — Michael Franks

I love summer and hate winter, so while I enjoy autumn, it also makes me a little sad. This song about hanging onto those last summery days resonates perfectly with me.

October — U2

Although this short song ends on a note of hope (“…kingdoms rise/and kingdoms fall/but you go on and on”), it sounds as sad as a cloudy autumn day after most of the trees have shed their leaves.

The Seasons: Autumn — Alexander Glazunov

This energetic piece makes me think of the riot of fall colors and fall festivals during peak autumn.

The Seasons: October — Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky

This is one of twelve piano solos Tchaikovsky wrote for each month of the year. To me, it is the most autumnal of the bunch. Actually, the mood is somewhat similar to U2’s “October.”

September — Earth, Wind & Fire

The only thing autumnal about this song is the fact that the singer is hearkening back to a particular September night, but it’s a great song, and I could not possibly leave it off the list. My kid and I consider it a must-listen on September 21.

September Song — Dave Brubeck

This is Brubeck’s straightforward take on a Kurt Weill tune. In the words of lyricist Maxwell Anderson: “Oh the days dwindle down to a precious few/September, November/And these few precious days I’ll spend with you…”

Summer Is Gone — Carmen McRae

Summer may be gone, but Carmen McRae looks on the bright side. “Winter is near/the fire soon will glow. … The crocus buds are bedded down with snow – just a disguise ’til spring.”

Thanksgiving Theme — Vince Guaraldi

You’ll recognize this from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Anyone up for a feast of toast, pretzels, popcorn, jelly beans, and ice cream? I’ll let you have all my jelly beans.

‘Tis Autumn — Jackie Paris

My favorite version of this song is by Jackie Paris (in fact, there is a documentary about him titled ‘Tis Autumn). Unfortunately, I can’t find a legally uploaded version to link to right now, so here’s a lovely version by Lily Bee.

Categories
Make a Difference

If You’re Going to Be a Single-Issue Voter, Make This Your Issue

I’m not in favor of single-issue voting. Pick any issue you that you think is of utmost importance. If you found a candidate who would make great strides on that one issue but would otherwise make horrible decisions on all other issues, do you really think that person would be a good leader? What if, on top of all of that, that person had a terrible character? What if they lied and said horrible things about other people and used their political office for their own gain? Would advancing one issue that you see as being more important than all others really be worth it?

There are people who vote based on one issue. I hear most often about abortion being the single issue that moves a voter to pick a particular candidate. Gun control also inspires some people to pledge that they will only vote for candidates that mirror their beliefs. I understand feeling strongly about particular issues. I just believe that blindly voting for candidates based on their stance on just one issue can result in poor leadership.

But if there’s one issue that determines your vote, it should be climate change.

The evidence is clear: We are facing a climate crisis. And while some people believe it’s too late to fix things, others are more optimistic. If we are going to change things, we need to be realistic: Individual decisions matter, but the biggest contributors to climate change are corporations, and since corporations tend to value short-term profit, we need leaders who will set laws that will favor wise environmental choices, even at the expense of short-term gain. We need public policy to guide the way.

And if we don’t do anything about the climate crisis, no other pet issues will matter. The likelihood of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, droughts, and extreme heat, will increase. More people will be displaced due to climate change. The warming climate will have a negative impact on biodiversity. And, just focusing on the U.S. economy alone, the effects of climate change will cost billions of dollars. One of the more pessimistic scenarios predicts “a high likelihood of human civilization coming to an end” by 2050 if we cannot stop climate change.

Beside such scenarios, any other single issue fades in terms of its significance.

Please don’t be a single-issue voter.

I want to return to what I said at the outset: I don’t believe in single-issue voting. The world is too complex for us to hold one issue up as the sole reason to vote for or against a candidate. I am deeply troubled by the notion of electing a morally repugnant individual simply because that person will support our pet issue. But if you disagree with me, if you feel that sometimes you have to put one issue above all others, then make it climate change. No other issue impacts so many different aspects of life. And if we don’t act now, it may be too late.

 

Categories
Something Wonderful

The Subversive Anime You Need to See

For some time, whenever I’ve considered writing about Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I’ve stopped myself, because I assume that few people in my audience watch anime. Part of what makes this series so great is how it subverts the magical girl genre in anime. But how many of my readers know anything at all about magical girls?

Then I realized that most of what I know about magical girl anime comes from the anime geeks around me. It’s not a genre I typically enjoy, so when I watched Puella Magi based on the recommendations of others, I was watching it with mostly secondhand knowledge of magical girl anime. And yet I still loved it and understood what makes it so good.

So, because it is such a good series, I’m going to give readers a very short introduction to the magical girl genre, and then I’ll tell you why you need to watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica, even if you don’t normally watch anime.

What’s a Magical Girl?

Magical girl anime has been around since the 1960s, when a Japanese cartoon called Sally the Witch first aired. (Some magical girl manga came out before that, as early as the 1950s.) It first took off in the U.S. with the series Sailor Moon.

Not all magical girls are exactly like this, but Sailor Moon exemplifies a very popular type in this genre: a regular schoolgirl who is called to save the world. Before doing battle, she transforms into a magical version of herself. She sometimes works on her own, but she often is part of a larger team, such as the girls in Ojamajo Doremi.

Magical girls also are often accompanied by an animal or animal-like mentor, such as the winged creature in Cardcaptor Sakura. In anime such as Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura, this “Mentor Mascot” informs the main character of her magical calling and then advises her as she learns how to be a magical girl.

 

Essentially, magical girls are cute, powerful girls who battle evil. I wasn’t at all surprised to find an essay titled, “I Want to Be a Magical Girl.” I’m sure many a little girl wishes she had powers like the characters in these shows.

And Then Came Puella Magi Madoka Magica

If you noticed the image at the top of this post, Puella Magi Madoka Magica appears to be just another magical girl anime.

It’s not. Puella Magi turns the genre on its head. While the magical girls are cute and powerful, and there’s an animal-like mentor, this series is dark. More importantly, it raises questions about what it means to be a magical girl.

In the world of this series, magical girls battle witches, whose presence can be discovered through concentrations of human misery, such as a rash of suicides in one area. Each magical girl possesses a soul gem, a container in which her soul is kept after she becomes magical. Over time, these gems become corrupted and must be cleansed through grief seeds collected from the witches that the girls battle. The very act of fighting evil corrupts a magical girl’s soul.

There are enough twists that I don’t want to give away too much about the plot of this series, but as it continues, it questions the whole notion of the heroic magical girl. Is becoming a magical girl, even for a very good reason, worth the cost? Is this really a role to aspire to?

Most magical girl anime is too sweet for my taste, but the depth and artistry of this series held my attention.

And speaking of artistry…

Don’t Just Watch This Because It’s Subversive

The animation for Puella Magi is stunning. When the girls are in the “real world,” the animation is typical of what you might expect of anime (and very well done). But when the girls move into the labyrinths where the witches hide, the style changes, and it’s really something!

The music is good, too.

The original series is only twelve episodes, each approximately 25 minutes long, so this isn’t a major commitment. If you get really into it, there’s also a trilogy of films (which I haven’t seen) and a lot of manga. You can find the original series on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.