What The Mole Does

Spirit is an invisible force made visible in all life.

Maya Angelou
********************
Never mind, I know what you're thinking, "Oh my, he's beating that old drum is he."
Angelou says it just about as well as anyone could. I sit here wondering if I can approach this topic with any newer, better words. Maybe, maybe not.

When I was young(er) I wondered what this word "spirit" meant. One person said it was energy. In fact a lot of people said that. Another person said to think of the spirit of a horse. Well if spirit is energy it certainly seems that the horse has more spirit than the mole. But maybe not. Maybe it's the same invisible spirit but the mole just expresses it differently.

"The hills are alive with the sound of music." When was the last time you heard the trees and flowers sing? When was the last time you saw a beautiful melody or smelled the aroma of poetry? The hills are alive not with music but with the SOUND of music. What's the difference? You won't know unless you listen.

Certainly it takes energy for the horse to gallop and the mole to dig, It also takes energy for the tree to grow and the flower to blossom. But it's not just energy. It's not energy from a bowl of cereal in the morning, running on a treadmill or burning fossil fuel, spirit is energy with a purpose.

I mean to say that it is spirit which causes the flower in the first place and that it is an expression of that spirit, an individual expression in growth and blossoms of intelligent spirit. You can dissect the flower and find no intelligence in the stems and blossoms just as you can dissect the human body and find no soul among the nerves, muscles, bones and blood. Man's spirituality doesn't live there.

What the idea of purposeful spirit does is join life and mind together in holy matrimony, or at least in mutual admiration. It is not in anything but it embraces everything. The universe is an expression of spirit; the galaxy, the space ship, the harp, the mountain, the tree, the song, the flower the horse, the poem, the mole, "made visible in all life."

When we see, hear, feel and enjoy all the things of life and mind that surround us we are witnessing the invisible spirit becoming visible. And that's the true mystery of life.

DB - The Vagabond
*********************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 7 responses so far. Summer is closing up her gates fairly soon. Get with it. Don't be left out.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Words From The Bench

This age thinks better of a gilded fool,
Than of a threadbare saint in wisdom's school.

Thomas Dekker
******************
There are a lot of gilded fools around these days. They are gilded by bright lights, microphones and TV cameras, by video clips, sound bites, and interviews, by podiums and pulpits and by sycophantic sparkler worshippers.

Many people have opinions which they think are based on reason but which aren't. If a fact emerges which challenges that opinion they don't ;like it and will stop listening. If I went to church, which I almost never do, I would go to a small store front church with no fancy pipe organ but a guitar player or at best a spinet piano and a pastor who deals with the hard knocks of life every day and whose faith and understanding are based on survival, not on wealth. I will stay away from the big glass and marble palaces with thousands of emotion charged worshippers cheering for the rich man up front.who promises salvation for the right price and the right political choices.

There are smiles and then there are smiles. I have seen the flash of the two thousand dollar teeth as the crowd shouts "Hallelujah" and "Thank you Jesus" and I have seen the benign and peaceful grin of the bedraggled philosopher who has come to terms with the dichotomies of life. The best class room in the world is a park bench.

All the rhetoric, speech making, public appearances and stack of opinions are worthless compared with one solid grain of truth. I like the story of the Hebrew scholar who was going for his PhD. He had done all the research and paper work and, had taken all the tests. The only thing left was his dissertation. On his way to the room where he would deliver it he met his professor in the elevator. As they rode up together his professor asked him one question. He answered it and when the elevator door opened his professor said "You passed."

In my career I have performed for an audience of three thousand people. To receive an ovation from that many is a formidable experience to be sure. But even though they enjoyed the show the message did not get through to all of them. On the other had I've played in a theatre so small it housed no more than ten people. There were people so close to me I could have reached out and touched them. To look a man in the eye when he says "Bravo" is worth three thousand.

I have lost friends and readers. Saturday I had ten. A small house. I didn't bake the bread or bottle the wine. They were given to me during my own sessions on the park benches of time by the threadbare saints I have known. But I will break the bread and pour out the wine for others and if I get a single "Bravo" it will have to be worth the hundreds of readers that some writers have.

DB - The Vagabond
*********************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 7 responses so far.
This is evidently not a populate question.
I have a few great answers. I want more.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Weekend Puzzle Answers

WEEKEND PUZZLE ANSWERS

Well, this was interesting.

I asked you (ordered you) to correct some bogus film titles. There 4 contestant, all from the Blogspot Tigers. Krissy is the winner because she came up with answers to all of them, although in some cases the answers were not what I was looking for but I include them even so. Val and Sue take honorable mentions because they got all but one.

1. Uprising by all the fruits and vegetables. Mutiny On The Bounty, Grapes of Wrath
2. Skipped town with the clarinet. Gone with the Wind
3. The lizard came out after dinner was over. Night f The Iguana, Creatures Of Darkness
4. The Raging Dozen 12 Angry Men
5. Don't be wary of a female novelist. Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
6 Me and the chess piece. The King and I
7. The long distance runner. Marathon Man
8. Ain't living just grand? It's a Wonderful Life
9, Vocalizing with the tempest. Singin' in the Rain
10. There's a ghost backstage at the Met. Phantom of the Opera
11. After this we close down the theatre. The Last Picture Show, The Final Curtain
12. Youngsters in the Amazon Boys From Brazil, Children of the Forest

Thank you all
DB

Endless Journey

I ain't what I used to be, but who the hell is.

Dizzy Dean
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Being human is becoming or trying to become. Along the dusty, roots and rocks filled path there are many stumblings and wrong turns. And yet with the carrot of the future dangling in front of us and the whacks and jabs from the past behind us we keep going. "Thy rod and they staff they comfort me." And the question that keeps appearing like a specter at tired moments is "Is there any terminus, and end, any point to this? Is existence just one long tautology?" One might ask if there is any end to the universe, to existence or to human reason and imagination.

I personally find it comforting to think that there is no end. I am pleased to think that I am always in a state of becoming. I am not the man I was yesterday, or last year. "I ain't what I used to be." We get physical reminders of time passing. The seasons come and go, things change shape and form, things change in importance, our desires take new forms, even what we may think is our destiny alters its aspect as we grow, as we become.

"What's going to become of you?" I heard as a child. No one really ever knows the answer to that question. There are too many variables even within a strict discipline of life for anyone to be sure of what they are going to become.

Many doors you think are locked, aren't. They're just closed. Grab the handle and give it a turn. A little 4 year old girl (I've written about her "A Tale of Two Russians" Vagabond Journeys 1/27/10) is born in northern Russia and has never seen anything but the relentless whiteness of snow and ice. One night the family moves south and the little girl wakes up in the morning to see flowers for the first time in her life. Colors she never imagined. She went on to become an important artist.

We never know when the flowers will bloom in our lives or where we'll be or what we will do about it. The certain thing is that we will change, we will become. No one can avoid those moments or those changes. It's moving down the path trying to stay on the trail and to avoid the roots and rocks that is real being, and there is no point in wondering where the path leads because there is no end. It leads to your goal, then to your next goal and to some more goals after that.

Many changes seem subtle and unnoticeable but every second of our lives we are coming to a new place on the trail and becoming a new person.

DB - The Vagabond
********************

WEEKEND PUZZLE

These are not the right titles for these films.
Please Correct them.
______________________
1. Uprising by all the fruits and vegetables.
2. Skipped town with the clarinet.
3. The lizard came out after dinner was over.
4. The Raging Dozen
5. Don't be wary of a female novelist.
6 Me and the chess piece.
7. The long distance runner.
8. Ain't living just grand?
9, Vocalizing with the tempest.
10. There's a ghost backstage at the Met.
11. After this we close down the theatre.
12. Youngsters in the Amazon.

DB
****************

Follow The Finger

The beauties that we know, an amazing sunset, the taste of ripe fruit, the warm breeze of a Spring day, a painting by Van Gogh, the music of Mozart; these things are not complete. They are merely hints of the real beauty that is.

DB - The Vagabond
*********************
Years ago there was a BBC TV program called "The Long Search." In it a British anthropologist went all around the world interviewing devout people of all the world's religions. He was attempting to discover what made a person religious and what kept them in a permanent state of faith.

I remember many of those interviews, but the one that stands out to me the most was with a Hindu gentleman. He was saying that Hinduism was a very non-materialistic religion. The interviewer asked how he could say that when all around them there were idols. The Hindu agreed that there are idols but he explained that he looked on them as so many fingers pointing to an invisible world of Spirit. He said that one could spend a lifetime looking at the finger until one day he begins to look at where the finger is pointing.

I was in rehearsal for a play and having a difficult time with my role. The character seemed to be very challenging and argumentative with the other characters, and I was portraying him with a heavy hand (as usual) which I knew was wrong. One day, during a break, the director, who was a very incisive and gifted director in his idiosyncratic way, walked past me, tapped me on the shoulder and said "Prometheus, my boy." and walked on. That set my head spinning and sent me to the dictionary. Prometheus, the mythical hero who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humanity. Thinking about that legend helped me to understand my role, not as an angry, discordant debater but as the one voice of reason who could enlighten the scene. That changed my approach to the role and it worked.

I can tell from some of the comments and emails I get in response to the things I write, that there are people capable of and who do often look behind the veil, see the unseeable and examine the unexaminable. Prometheus was punished by being chained to a rock by Zeus for a long time. To be a literalist and to assume a thing is only what it looks like on the surface is a pointless habit. Those are things a true scientist and a true artist would not do, nor should anyone else. When I come upon the rock that says "There are certain things we are not supposed to know" or that says "It's just an apple. Don't try to read anything else into it." that is the very rock I refuse to be chained to. In fact I'm most likely to turn it over and see what's underneath.

The veil of the temple has been split in two, the sanctum sanctorum is open for all, not just the high priest. We are capable of knowing the unknowable, of completing the sunset, of handling the fire, as long as we stop staring at the finger and begin looking to where it points.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
***************************

WEEKEND PUZZLE

These are not the right titles for these films.
Please Correct them.
______________________
1. Uprising by all the fruits and vegetables.
2. Skipped town with the clarinet.
3. The lizard came out after dinner was over.
4. The Raging Dozen
5. Don't be wary of a female novelist.
6 Me and the chess piece.
7. The long distance runner.
8. Ain't living just grand?
9, Vocalizing with the tempest.
10. There's a ghost backstage at the Met.
11. After this we close down the theatre.
12. Youngsters in the Amazon.

DB
****************

Always Leave Them Laughing

The one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous.

Salvador Dali
********************
I have so few readers these days that I thought I would indulge myself a bit and write about my grandmother. Those of you who often join me as travelers on the vagabond's journey may enjoy it. I hope so.

Her name was Charlotte Cole. That was her married name and her professional name. She was born in the 19th Century, as were her three children, two boys and a girl, my mother. Charlotte was trained as a youngster to sing, dance and play the piano, she was also given acting lessons..

She married a man who wanted to be a pioneer. So the two of them set off for Nebraska where he built a sod house and was a farmer and rancher. Charlotte gave birth to all of her children in that sod house.

One day she told me about getting supplies form the village. While her husband was working in the fields she would drive an ox cart into town. When the cart was filled there was no room for her so she road back sitting on the ox.

When her husband died her boys were grown and her daughter was a teenager. They moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where my mother finished school. Charlotte taught my mother to sing and dance, and a day came when they joined a traveling theatre company as a variety act. My grandmother was always very young looking so they became the Cole Sisters, a song and dance duo. She had amazing stories to tell about those years.

They played in some very rough places, some of them weren't states yet. Men would come to the theatre with their rifles. The theatres were often very primitive, with little or no sanitary facilities for the actors. There was no such thing as privacy.

One of the skits that was performed involved a Native American being shot and killed by the villain of the piece. Wherever the company went they would hire a local Indian to play the part. In one location he arrived for the show with his whole family and when the villain fired his pistol, once, the entire family fell down.

She told about another time when the entire company got diarrhea during the performance. The only way out was through the back door which was covered by a piece of scenery. As soon as the first act was over and the curtain closed there was a mad dash to the out houses which immediate filled up leaving every one else to use the forest out behind the theatre.

They eventually got to New York City. In those day the motion picture business was located in New York, before Hollywood was born. So Charlotte became an actress in silent films.

She taught me things and encouraged me to go into show business. She was the only one in my family who did.

One of the most remarkable things about my grandmother was her sense of humor. When something struck her funny she would laugh in such a way that everyone around her was infected by it and would laugh along with her even if they didn't know what was funny. One day we were driving somewhere and the wind blew her hat off, right out the window. My brother went chasing after it and each time he leaned over to pick it up the wind would blow it again. After a couple of times watching that she started to laugh. Even though it was her hat she couldn't resist the humor of it and neither could the rest of us. My poor brother eventually saved the hat but didn't appreciate being laughed at.

Another time she was visiting me, my mother and my sister. She decided to take a bath. When she was finished she couldn't get up. My mother and sister tried to get her up but were unable to, she was a bit overweight by this time. So they called me. Charlotte held a towel in front of her, I grabbed her under the arm pits and hoisted her up, then went about my business. Charlotte was unfazed by the whole thing.

The most memorable story about her and her sense of humor happened a few days before she died. She was very independent. She had lived for many years by herself in a residential hotel in New York. One day she called my mother and said to come and get her because she was passing on. We were living in a New York suburb at that time. So we drove into town and picked her up.

This was in the 40's. In those days you didn't enter an upscale New York hotel without being properly dressed. So I wore a tie and jacket. I was 14 years old. Not only that but Charlotte never went out without being immaculately dressed, which meant a nice outfit, her fox fur stole, gloves and a hat with a veil.

When we reached our apartment, which was on the second floor, Charlotte took one look at the stairs and declared that she would not be able to climb them. So I got a chair. We put Charlotte in the chair. Mother got in front, I got behind, and we lifted her step by step up the staircase. Except that every time I leaned over to grab the back of her chair my tie fell in front of her face and she had to blow it away. Well, about half way up the stairs it struck her funny and she started to laugh. Within moments she, mother, I and the two people from the first floor who came out to see if they could do anything, were helpless with laughter.

We finally got her upstairs and into a bed. Two days later she went to the hospital and made her exit. She was 88.

I'll never for get that day. There she was an old lady knowing that she was going off to die and yet she found something humorous about her own passing. I vowed to be like her. If I have to go, that's the way I want to go. Leave them laughing.

Dana Bate
The Vagabond
**********************

WEEKEND PUZZLE

These are not the right titles..
Please Correct them.
______________________
1. Uprising by all the fruits and vegetables.
2. Skipped town with the clarinet.
3. The lizard came out after dinner was over.
4. The Raging Dozen
5. Don't be wary of a female novelist.
6 Me and the chess piece.
7. The long distance runner.
8. Ain't living just grand?
9, Vocalizing with the tempest.
10. There's a ghost backstage at the Met.
11. After this we close down the theatre.
12. Youngsters in the Amazon.

DB
****************

Good Habits

Having looked the past in the eye, having asked for forgiveness and having made amends, let us shut the door on the past - not in order to forget it but in order not to allow it to imprison us.

Desmond Tutu
*****************
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once write something about the mind being like a room and that one should put into it only the furniture and other things one wants and everything that doesn't belong there should be thrown out.

We all have regrets. The older you get the more of them you have. They accompany wrinkles and gray hair like an entourage, nasty folks who weren't invited to your party but came anyway. Recently I was talking with a woman who was feeling very down because she had been remembering her past mistakes and bad things that had been done to her. She said she kept going through her mind trying to imagine what she could have done to avoid them. I told her to stop it. I told her to look forward, not back. I said don't rehearse a show that's closed.

Earlier this year I wrote about the modern Kabbalist who likened the mind to a radio that only plays two stations. On one station you can hear only good news and on the other only bad news. When you aren't alert the radio will automatically switch over to the bad news station. One has to keep switching back to the first station or the mind will give bad news to you all the time. It takes mental discipline to keep focused on only what you want in your mental room.

The past is hard to forget. Regrets pop into the mind without warning. A word, an event, a picture, something triggers a memory and zap! there you are reliving some scene you wish hadn't happened. Something has imprisoned you, locked you up in the wrong room. But fortunately you've a choice, it's called Freedom of Thought. It isn't hard. It just has to be exercised and used. It's easier than losing weight and much easier than giving up cigarettes, take it from me.

As an actor I found it was vitally important in order to clearly and faithfully portray the character that I was always concentrating on what he was thinking. Thus I developed an alarm that would go off whenever my thoughts were wandering into erroneous paths. The silent alarm would go off in my head and a voice would say "What are you thinking about?" Now I find the same alarm in my daily life. It's a habit. A good one.

DB - The Vagabond
************************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 7 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

A Proactive Life

A man with outward courage dares to die.
A man with inward courage dares to live.

Lao Tzu
***************************
Aw, life is too difficult. There's too much work, too much sorrow, too much pain, too much trouble, too many things go wrong. Come on! Why not just pack it up, cash yourself in and quit?

Every day you've got to get up and face things. There's always something. If there weren't there'd be nothing. And if whatever it is is important to you then it's important enough to live for.

It's true that sometimes we feel as if we are hanging onto life by our fingernails, about to plunge into oblivion. But the mere fact that we have felt that way before and survived means that we will survive it again. It takes courage to let go and plunge. But it takes more to hang on until help arrives.

Recently I had the opportunity to relax into a soft bed of assisted living. I decided not to because I wanted to continue to be in charge of my life and pursue the goals I still have. I don't say that a choice like that may not be the right one for some people and, in fact, a choice to live and not give up. But it wasn't for me.

It was said to me by one person that I lacked the courage to face my old age and my need to be taken care of. That remark made no sense to me. It seemed to me, and still does, that it took more courage to continue to live and be in charge of my own life. To capitulate into old age was not an option.

Since becoming a bold faced blogger I've met a number of older folks through the electrical net whose minds are sharp and who express a zest for living and doing things, not in a hurry to jam a life together before they croak, but because they continue to look forward to today and tomorrow. I think the best defense against giving up is the constant consciousness of life.

It is one of the easiest things in life to dwell on the wrongs. But think how many times you shook your fist at trouble and got the better of it. It's the flowers that grow in your garden that bring a smile to the universe, not the weeds. It's the song you sing, the letter you write to a friend, the thought that brings joy to your heart, the successful completion of a project, the tasty dinner, the sigh of recreation and rest that make up a life. These are some of the fruits of my 7 decades of living. Put the angry, hateful, biting, sarcasm of the world in a bag, seal it and throw it in the trash. Real life is not made of scorn.

Not giving in to the easy life was one of the smartest decisions I made. Almost within the day other people began to show up in my life to help me solve my problems in more proactive ways. Gandhi once said something about how if you have a positive goal people will show up out of nowhere to help you with it.

It was very beneficial for me to have to face that decision, for if I hadn't I might not have seen how important it was for me to continue living the life I had planned for myself and to more vigorously pursue my goals and visions.

"The mightiest space in fortune nature brings to join like likes, and kiss like native things." wrote Shakespeare. It seems amazing and inconceivable to most people that when positive desires are planted in the wind and held there by strong faith, hope and courage nature will nourish them and bring them blossoming back into one's life. It happens too many times not to be true.

DB - The Vagabond
*********************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 7 responses so far. Come on people. Think.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Find The Light Switch

I am often baffled and bewildered by life. In other words, I am a human being.

Unknown
*******************
Most of the authorities in the world, aren't. Those who know the truth, don't. Those who have figured everything out, haven't. Those who can tell you the facts of life, can't. There are places where up is no longer up. There are times when the beginning is also the end. When is a crime not a crime and when is a falsehood not false? There are times when the solid ground we stand on starts behaving like the sea.

If I have gained any wisdom at all it's to know how uncertain things are and to adjust to the mutable and incomprehensible with grace and patience, to adapt to the changing world with compassion and an open mind as much as I can.

The human being is at a great disadvantage just being human. We make rules for living that sometimes take us down a dead end street, we are constrained to follow orders that make no sense, we set up idols of civilized life that often crumble into dust and oblivion. Today there is something that wasn't so yesterday and something we counted on being so that no longer is. What's the poor human creature to do?

A translation is what's needed, of identity and perception. Carl Jung wrote "So far as we can discern the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being." If that is correct then we all, each one of us, has the access to that light and the tools to kindle it. Darkness doesn't cover up the light, It's the other way around. It's a question of looking past the darkness that surrounds us and seeing our lives as otherwise. We limit ourselves by gazing upon our mortality and measuring ourselves solely by the matter that we carry around with us every day. Those are bad habits. But we all have invisible qualities of spirit and mental might that gleam when something strikes them. "It is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing" it says in the big book. But most of the time we just wait until something comes along to generate those qualities and get them up and running. A beautiful song, an inspiring lecture, a sunset or a poem may be the thing that sets our thoughts in their orbit. But that we each carry the light of being is a noble obligation. To shine that light on every spot of darkness in our lives and others' lives is an activity of supreme importance. If we all did that all the time, every day, there would be no darkness of being.

DB - The Vagabond
**********************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 7 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Embrace The Idea

Let your heart be without words, rather than your words without heart.

Unknown
*******************
It has been said the reason for Shakespeare's abiding success as a playwright is because he loved all of his characters, even the nasty ones. I think that's true. How could he have written the serpentine maneuverings of Iago, the flamboyant character of Richard the Third or the electrifying ravings of Falstaff if he didn't thoroughly enjoy their company.

And yet I think there was probably a lot more to those characters in his mind than he could include in his limited traffic of the stage. Once the image moves from the mind and takes it's place in the heart the writer is faced with carefully crafting the words and engineering the plot to tell the stories of those characters. But their lives remain in the writers heart.

In my novel, "Brian and Christine" (which someone had better publish one day soon because it's damn good) I introduce the character of Mother Magda, the faux nun and arch villain of the story. When I first invented her I sort of knew what she looked like and how she sounded. She doesn't appear until late in the story. You only know about her as a silent voice on the telephone, which means all you know of her is how the main character reacts to talking with her. She gradually took shape. When she finally does appear she doesn't say much but you are ready to treat her with the disgust she deserves. I love that character.

I have been asked who I fashioned the character of Christine on. The answer is no one. She is a pure invention of mine. I don't know any 10 year old girls. Unlike Mother Magda who gradually came to life in my thoughts, Christine showed up magically, right away with no invitation and quickly won my heart.

That is the way it is with writing, art and any worthwhile endeavor. The idea must live in one's heart until it becomes beloved before the words and deeds that truly articulate it can be found.

Dana Bate
The Vagabond
*********************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 7 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Basic Bravery

Whatever there be of progress in life comes not through adaptation but through daring.

Henry Miller
*****************
I know an actor who is moderately well trained though lacking in certain bits of essential instruction. But he has talent. I have performed with him a couple of times. He has a regular office job, working from midnight to the morning. He does shows, now and then, on a very temporary basis, but he would rather be sleep deprived than to give up his job and pursue a career as an actor. He is frankly frightened of the insecurity. One day I tried to encourage him by showing him that even with my vagabond life my yearly income was approximately the same as his and thanks to the union my health and retirement benefits were the same.

So what was the difference? He always knew he had a job and I usually didn't know where my next job was coming from. He made the same amount of money each week while my salary varied depending on the job. He was afraid of being out of work. I could and did take temp work if times were slow. He grew up in a secure middle class family. I grew up in a economically depressed situation where we had to move all the time. I ask myself if any of those issues were really the cause of his reticence at taking the plunge into a career he trained himself for. I don't think so.

He was once let go from a job when an entire department was cleaned out. He lived for a year on unemployment and dabbled in theatre and when the unemployment ran out he got another steady job. Circumstances gave him a chance to get going and he didn't take it.

He once said that every time he thought about leaving his job and trying to start a career it gave him a knot in his stomach. Of course. That's the knot of fear we all experience when we have to face something fearful and uncertain. I have faced things like that many times. I have compassion for anyone who feels that knot, but it is not an excuse to hide and deny oneself the rewards of facing it down and living a life doing what one loves.

A career in the arts is a very big and complicated thing. In the acting world there are many facets, opportunities and requirements. To make a life out of it means not limiting oneself. To go from having a tomato patch in the back yard to suddenly being responsible for a 40 acre farm would be an intimidating thing for sure. It takes courage.

If my friend the actor took assessment of himself and saw his strengths, he's young and strong, good looking, intelligent and talented, has no family to support, he would see what he had to offer and how to sell himself. The one thing he lacks is courage, and that will keep him from the life he could have and will deprive the world of the results of his artistry.

Someone I know recently criticized me for not having the courage to stop and give up. "Be brave" she said. I laughed. It takes courage not to give up. It doesn't take super intelligence to know that.

To live a full and successful life it seems to me one has to face the fear and the stresses and go for it. We need the daring of Hannibal to take our elephants across the Alps and attack Rome, the daring of Washington to move our army across the freezing Delaware in the middle of the night to liberate Trenton. the daring of Eisenhower to invade the beaches of France to cut off the German Army. Life is no part time business.

A few years ago I was asked to play Zorba in the musical. Everything said I shouldn't do it. I'm not a singer, I'm not a dancer and I don't do musicals. So naturally I said "yes." I used to sit backstage 5 minutes before the curtain and wonder how I was going to get through it, even though I had done it the night before. It was a huge role, like running up a mountain with a pack of elephants. I was frightened. I had a knot in my stomach. But the music would start, I would go out and throw myself into it. If I still had the knot in my stomach I wasn't conscious of it. 2 hours later I had done the job. If you do the thing you fear you destroy the fear.

To be brave, to have courage, to dare sometimes feels like we're shaking our fist at destiny, but if we take the risk and strive for the results nature itself can come forth with forces to assist us. "Whoever strove to show her merit that did miss her love" Shakespeare wrote.

DB - The Vagabond
*************************

New Improved Weekend Puzzle

Straighten out these titles please.

AABIILRS

AAOTTW

ACEEGHNNOP

AEHNST

AEIJKKRVY

AGHINNOSTW

AIPRS

BDILNU

CHKLMOOST

DLNNOO

EHIIKLNS

EMOR

(dgoo cklu)
DB
*********************

The Other Guy Is Wrong

Growth in wisdom may be exactly measured by decrease in bitterness.

Friedrich Nietzsche
************************
I am one of those who, with many others, has a respect for other people's firmly held beliefs as long as thy are positive, constructive and progressive, be they political, religious or philosophical. As a child I was influenced, as most youngsters are, by the traditional beliefs of the family I lived in. And in my case there was no discussion or disagreement allowed. It was the truth and that was that. A wise person once said "Respect those who seek the truth, beware of those who find it."

Some people's ideas are just plain stupid, but growing up and getting to know people of other beliefs, influences and traditions I was struck by how diverse and complex the world is. To live in harmony with people without losing my own sense of what I thought was right and true I had to develop a tolerance for others' opinions.

But then one day I read an essay for a radio program on ethics which challenged the idea of tolerance. It taught me that to tolerate an opposing idea of right thinking and behavior was to start from the basis of my own unchallenged convictions. The other fellow was wrong and therefore his opinions must be tolerated.

It's true that without tolerance arguments ensue. It's a shameful thing to witness one seeker for truth who is convinced he has found it defensively putting down another seeker for truth. And if they are both convinced they are right and try to convert each other the argument either becomes comical or it leads to war. And as Nietzsche points out where there is bitterness there is no wisdom.

As a result of reading that essay I began to stop thinking of myself as a tolerant person and went looking for something better. The better is to acknowledge that my opinions, beliefs and faith are mine based upon my early influences, my thinking, my research and my life experiences. To realize they are not going to go through any radical change as long as they are honestly held. To understand that the search for truth is an infinite, eternal process and that if another sincere seeker has a different path than mine his journey must be respected. The differences are far less important than the wisdom gained.

There used to be a Museum of Philosophy in New York. There was a computer there that asked you a whole set of questions about your beliefs and opinions. It wasn't a test; you weren't graded. But when you finished and pressed "enter" it gave you a list of a few philosophers who agreed with you. Now, whereas it's nice and cozy to have your own opinions reinforced by thinkers who are more articulate than you are, I was more interested in those who disagreed with me, so I started reading works by people who weren't on the list. And what happened? Behold, a few of them changed my mind about things. I gained some wisdom.

DB
--------------------------------
New Improved Weekend Puzzle

Straighten out these titles please.

AABIILRS

AAOTTW

ACEEGHNNOP

AEHNST

AEIJKKRVY

AGHINNOSTW

AIPRS

BDILNU

CHKLMOOST

DLNNOO

EHIIKLNS

EMOR

(dgoo cklu)
DB
*********************

An Acting Lesson

A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not dictate the answers, but to stimulate the students' curiosity enough so that they go out and find the answer themselves.

Herbie Hancock
(Thank you Bruce)
*********************
I think I could be a reasonably good acting teacher if I ever had the opportunity to have a class of students over a period of time. There are no easy ways to learn acting or any art. But in the world of theatre there seem to be more charlatans than in any other art form. I have seen the results upon young people of the fraudulent training many of them have had. They face years of having to undo the damage done while getting by on talent. The few times I had a young actor under my charge I felt somewhat like a surgeon, cutting away the problems caused by other so-called teachers or by assumptions made by the student himself.

On the other hand to start fresh with a young person who really wants to learn can be an exhilarating experience. I have had a few brief chances over the years to bring a youngster out of the shadows and see the true art reveal itself.

Once, years ago I had a group of young hopefuls in a room to learn what I know. It was a large, bare room with a few simple pieces of furniture: a few folding chars, a bench, a card table. One girl had a speech she had written and learned. It was a letter to her boy friend breaking off the relationship. It was a fiction, she said, because she had no boy friend at the time.

She did the speech for the class and it was nicely done. But then I started to ask her questions. I asked her to describe the room she was in, beginning with the chair she was sitting in. I pressed her for details, what color things were, how they were shaped and any other distinctive things about them. She gradually described her bedroom, or the bedroom of her imagination. She told me what the bed covers looked like, what her desk was like and the details of everything that was on it. I asked her to think about any time that she and her boy friend had spent in the bed and try to recall it. She described the door to the closet. I asked he to think about a few items in there and to describe them. She told me of the door to the bathroom. I asked for every detail in the bathroom. She said there were two windows to the outside. I asked he to describe the shades or blinds on the windows. I asked her to see out the windows and tell me what she saw. She said there was a street below, with a fence across the way. Beyond it and in the distance train tracks. She said it was raining. Finally I asked her describe the boy she was breaking up with in as much detail as she could.

I handed her a piece of blank paper to use as the letter and said she could refer to it whenever she wanted to. Then I told her to mentally go through again all the details she had given me about where she was, what she heard out the window and even to add some facts as they occurred to her and, when she felt ready, to do the speech again.

The second time through the difference was amazing, she even wept at one point. As she was finishing she carefully folded the piece of paper and put it in her pocket. There was silence in the room until one of the other students said "Wow" and the class applauded her.

She looked a little baffled at the applause. She said she forgot there were people watching her and that she didn't feel like she was acting because she really felt it. "Of course" I said.

Everything, the room, the letter, the circumstance, the other person and her experience were all from her own creative imagination. All I did was ask questions.
It was only the beginning but it was her first real lesson in the art of acting.

DB - The Vagabond
********************
I am the minstrel knight,
with sword and harp.
with switch blade and flute.
****************************
WEEKEND PUZZLE

So get out your Scrabble set if you must.
Straighten out these titles.

AAABDILMS

AAADKMNRS

AAAEEHLLSST

AABNOSTW

AACEMNORST

ABILNSTU

ADIKLOOSTVV

AEIJKKRVY

AEJNUU

AILM

BEHIPRSTTU

(dgoo clku)
DB
***********************

Where Do You Live?

The future will be different if we make the present different.

Peter Maurin
********************
I remember Montauk. Several times I worked at the John Drew Theatre in East Hampton, New York and during one of those times a friend came out to see the show. While he was there we drove out to Montauk, which is at the far eastern end of Long Island. It is almost surrounded by water. Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean meet at that point. There is no other land in sight.

The tide was out. I stood on the pebbles at the beach and stared out to sea. I had the unusual sensation that the entire nation of the United States of America was behind me. My country was literally behind my back. My mind went out to embrace it. Besides China and Russia there is no civilization as complex as the United States. But my embrace did no stop at border lines.

I read recently that in England they do not consider Canadian soccer players Americans. That's plain silly, as far as I can tell. Canada is a nation in the North American continent, of course they're Americans. We live in the Western Hemisphere, North America, Central America and South America, which means that the Inuits of Nunavut, the natives living on the far off remote Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the Norwegian farmer in Minnesota, the Italian restaurant owner in New York, the Louisiana Cajun, the Puerto Rican, the Haitian, the Cuban, the Panamanian and all the way down to the Argentinean are all Americans.

Sixth Avenue in New York City used to be known as Avenue of the Americas and still is to some degree. The reason it was called that was because there were plaques hanging from posts along the Avenue with the seals of the various Western Hemisphere countries that belong to the United Nations.

One summer day I was on a break from rehearsal in midtown. I went out to enjoy the sun and bought my Sabrett's hot dog and a can of Coke. I was on Sixth Avenue and near me a temporary wooden platform had been erected. A string was tied to the rail and extended up to a bag which was wrapped around one of those plaques. Soon two limos drove up and four men in suits got out, three black men and one white man, and ascended the steps to the platform.

The white man spoke first, identified himself as being from the mayor's office and introduced one of the other men who was a part of the United States consulate to the UN, he spoke for a bit then introduced the new permanent Representative to the UN from the nation of Barbados. That man spoke for a moment and then introduced the Prime Minister of Barbados (no less) who pulled the string and the bag dropped uncovering the plaque with the seal of Barbados gleaming in the sunlight.

The Prime Minister spoke with his cultivated Caribbean accent and I remember him saying that it was a beautiful day in New York City but in February, when the cold winds are blowing and the snow is falling. to think about coming down to gambol on the white and sandy beaches of Barbados. He was a charming man.

"Gambol" is a grand word. It means to cavort, to romp, to frolic. I can easily picture myself frolicking on his "white and sandy beaches."

The last time I looked the plaques were all removed from Sixth Avenue. I don't know why but it's quite likely because some idiots were throwing rocks and bottles at the Cuban or Nicaraguan signs.

I'm not against borders, they can help to define cultural and historical traditions. I am against barriers. I'm not against immigration, it has been helping to shape and enhance western civilization for hundreds of years. I am against illegal immigration. I am not against multiculturalism and multilingualism, it creates a broader spectrum of art and ideas and aids in articulating and understanding human life. I am against those who say it's "globaloney" and who practice the weak and limiting exercise of exclusivity for fear of losing their own traditions.

Spanish is the major language of America. English is the second language. English speaking Americans must make room for Spanish just as Spanish speaking people have made room for English. We are a multilingual hemisphere, but we are all Americans.

I may be the only person in the western world who thinks this way but I long for the day when the barriers come down and when we all start thinking of ourselves as Americans first and citizens of the United States, or whatever country we live in, second. At the very least we must stop thinking of other people in the Americas as foreigners. And when disaster strikes a poor relation such as what happened to Haiti or in the Gulf of Mexico, all America rushes to help.

I'm sick of hearing compassionless rhetoric and muddy minded finger pointing about evil and sin. I am against the nasty, dystopian hatred, cynicism and suspicion of the judgmental and self righteous. It's limited thinking that makes limitations.

I am alarmed that my part of America has been off fighting useless wars in Asia under the fraudulent excuse of defense. A grandly diverse but unified America, from Canada to Brazil would be not only the best defense on this space ship but also the key to demonstrating how real peace is to be accomplished on it. What an opportunity not to waste! Impractical? So was going to the moon. So was the transcontinental railroad. So was the Declaration of Independance.

Is there antagonism against the United States? Of course there is. But it is possible, if we really wanted to, to find out what it is about and start straightening out the misunderstandings on both sides. There is no overnight solution. But a commitment to America first can be made now, today, if we want a future. It's necessary, it's vital, it's inevitable.

"Let there be peace in the world and let it begin with me."

Dana Bate
The Vagabond
*****************

Growing Up Some More

It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.

e e cummings
****************
Understanding ourselves, perhaps the most important activity of our lives, is no easy matter, as has been said many times, and also by me ad nauseam. Even facing the necessary steps toward self knowledge is usually a daunting task. Though we may move gracefully from who we thought we were to what we have become to what we wish we were, there are still boulders and depressions along the way. It takes a lot of courage to face those changes, to step over or around the boulders and to climb up out of the depressions. With every effort we try to make those changes positive ones for ourselves. Without positive changes we are just sushi, raw flesh for the birds.

But there is something else in the process that may take even more courage and that is the relinquishment of who we used to be or thought we were. In the trunk we pull along with us through life is a wardrobe of influences from other people and life experiences. We can't ignore that those influences are there but we can begin to chose which ones are positive and discard the rest. It's hard to tell the difference.

I am grateful for those in my life who have left a thumbprint on my character. Some of them are no longer my friends, for one reason or another, but whatever mark they made on my life is always with me, and many of those marks were made on a man who thought he knew himself, a man who didn't know how much growing up was in store for him. Some of those imprints caused resentment, for which I need to forgive myself, and some caused joy and a feeling of approval, for which I'm grateful. To live a true life is the best response.

I have to know that I have left my mark on others also. Without realizing it I have shaped other people's character and reaction to themselves by how I have treated them and even how and what I have been to them in the past. I also have to understand and be compassionate with other people because events I know nothing about have shaped their lives and their personalities. Everyone's life is worth a book.

Some people, most of us, face a later life without having really lived it, because we turned it over to the world's expectations of us or to satisfy someone else's desires. To mold ourselves to fit another's character is to be a shoe that forms itself to fit a foot. That is not a bad thing in itself provided one does not sacrifice one's own person in the process.

After we broke up an ex girl friend of mine got married. The man she married refused to acknowledge anything about her past or even that she had one, even to the point of eliminating every scrap of evidence that I had ever known her. After a while she would call me and chat, but she had to do it on the sly because he would have raged. What a terrible thing! Our relationship had been very close, so naturally we had shaped each other in many ways. The woman he married did not come fresh from the factory. She has a right to her past and to choose what to keep and what to discard. She also has the right to become more of the person she really is. And she has the courage to do it if she is allowed to.

This happened many years ago and I have no feelings about it except well wishing. I have moved on.

It takes courage to face ourselves and acknowledge who we are, with all the failures, faults and wrinkles. But it also takes courage to let go of who we used to be.

Memories are antiques. Save the good ones. Put them on a shelf, Dust them off every now and then. And get on with life.

Dana Bate
The Vagabond
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 7 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Verse From A Vagabond's Song

A man cannot live without a permanent trust in something indestructible in himself.

Franz Kafka
***************************
Let me tread patiently along the road I'm on even though it is not the one I chose.
Let me walk among the trees and rest beside unknown brooks.
Let me see the stars at night and wonder on which one is my home.
Let me plow this stranger's field in peace and spend some time with my brother mouse.
Let my song be sweet but let it not interrupt the birds.
Let the wilderness with all it's dangers surround me.
Let my spirit hang like a harp on a branch and let the wind play it.
Let my tears water the ground and bring forth violets.
Let my days be wrapped in cool, soft linen and my nights fly on moth wings.
Let me sleep in comfort and dream of peacocks.
Let me see the lambs at play.
Let me gather wild ferns and flowers from the hills.
Let me fling my wrongs into the sky like sand from the desert.
Let me name the clouds as they form.
Let me be important to someone or something.
Let my final stopping place be safe.

DB - The Vagabond
*********************

What Do You Mean By That?

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
***********************
Unfortunately we are close to fools' fates, closer than we think. And one of the biggest dangers to our survival is what it has always been, the felonious use of language, the written word but more importantly the spoken word. How people speak influences either consciously or subconsciously the way people think, and most people don't notice it.

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately" Benjamin Franklin.

During the Revolution hanging was a common form of execution but no simple matter. Most Americans don't realize how extremely dangerous it was for our founders. If we had lost that war they would have faced terrible deaths.

Even as the conflict was going on many people lost their lives at the end of a rope. There was almost no falling through a trap door and breaking your neck. People were simply strung up and left to struggle until they died. It took some hardier sorts 3 days to die, jumping up to grab a breath in a futile effort to stay alive. Thus the phrase "dancin' at the end of a rope" came to be. Fortunately for the United States the founders did "hang together."

Today the battle is with words. Lately, one of the nastiest uses of language is something called "implicature," a seemingly simple remark with another, sometimes, hidden meaning. "He's Italian and therefore he's very musical." Are there any Italians who are not musical? Of course there are.

A few episodes ago I wrote about my colleague in Connecticut who was sincerely struggling with his racism and who referred to a man he had recently met as "black but nice." He was in effect saying that all or most black people are not nice. I had to talk him out of that verbiage. He wasn't even aware of how prejudiced a remark it was. And that's the problem with implicature.

"The Liberals have got it wrong again" is a vicious remark which says that all Liberals are always wrong and always have been. No one can make that claim. History proves it wrong.

Or how about "Even though he's a Conservative he's very smart."? Meaning all or most other Conservatives are stupid. History proves that one wrong also.

Now we have "He's a Muslim therefore he must be a terrorist sympathizer."

How are we ever going to live together as brothers with this sort of unjust and egregious language? How can we hang together if we can't acknowledge an individual's right to be who he genuinely is? How can we avoid the fool's fate if we keep speaking foolishness?

Beware of implicatures. They will fool you if you don't listen carefully to the fast talking fabulists.

DB - The Vagabond
************************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 6 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Weekend Puzzle Answer

Sci Fi Story

A man gets on a bus in Boston at 1:45 and travels for half an hour.
When he gets off the bus it's 1:15.

Some very interesting answers here. Only one winner Stan in N H of the Blogspot Tigers. Congratulations Stan.

Some contestants thought the bus traveled into a different time zone. A half hour bus trip from Boston in any direction will not take you into another time zone.

A few people gave me interesting scenarios about the man falling asleep in the parked bus and sleeping thorough to the next day.

But the answer is very simple. He boarded the bus at 1:45 a.m. on November 1, 2009. During the half hour bus ride Daylight Savings Time ended and when he got off the bus what would have been 2:15 a.m. was now 1:15.

Thank you all.
DB

Being Alive

All that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.

Charles Kingsley
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In today's Joy In The rain Val has a great quote from Helen Keller, "Life is an exciting business. Joy In The Rain: Helen Keller Quotes... > Helen Keller quotes

Some people are so busy living they don't even notice they're alive. We spend a lot of time searching around for things to entertain ourselves, whereas life itself is the most entertaining. It's a constant show with a complicated plot, a bunch of fascinating characters and lots of action.

It becomes even more interesting when other people are involved. If we consider other people in our "pursuit of happiness" life gets even more interesting. I have more books in my library than there are people I know. I often wish it were the other way around. To become interested in what other interesting people are interested in enriches my life. Everyone's life is worth at least one book.

That brings me to another great activity possible and rewarding and that is the sharing of life, particularly the sharing of light. What could be more rewarding than to light someone else's candle from your own?

In my broadcasting days I was a friend and colleague with an amazing announcer named Duncan. He had a sharp intellect, a quick wit and a great sense of humor. He once said to me that with all the cigarettes, coffee and liquor available he still found the best stimulation to be good conversation. I finally came to understand what he meant. The exchange of thoughts, ideas and impressions in a friendly atmosphere is a life enhancing experience. I miss that very much.

When there is down time in theatre many members of the company like to sit around and tell stories. Live theatre being such a perilous activity everyone has stories of what went wrong, what almost went wrong and what kinds of shenanigans the less enlightened were capable of. I also miss those sessions. Facebook and Twitter don't do it for me.

My neighbors are very nice people but they're not conversationalists. In the artists group I belong to the talk is usually all about the business of the next exhibit. To live life anly on an exoteric level is fine but it does get boring.

Taking the time and trouble to help someone may give rewards one doesn't expect. One day a neighbor seeing me struggle down the street came over to me and offered to drive me to the market to do my shopping. She's been doing that once a week now for about two months. In the process I've learned a lot about her life as a teacher and she has learned about my life as an actor.

Life is a great adventure and the more enthusiastically you live it the better it gets.

DB
The Vagabond

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Weekend Puzzle

Sci Fi Story

(an easy one)

A man gets on a bus in Boston at 1:45 and travels for half an hour.
When he gets off the bus it's 1:15

DB

Hate Thy Neighbor As Thy Self

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate them.

Booker T. Washington
*************************
I have genuinely tried to remember the last time in my adult life that I hated someone. I have been appalled by some subhuman behavior and disgusted by the arrogance of the selfish and self important. But hatred is not an emotion that has lived in me. I am certain to forgive wrongs done to me and to bear harsh criticism not with a smile but with a patient hurt.

There was a young woman in New York who took to hating me because I corrected her work. It was my job to correct her work and I didn't do it harshly or with an angry or insulting tone. But for some reason she could not bear to be corrected by me. The 5 or 6 times I saw her after that she would sit straight up on the edge of her chair and glare at me like a wild beast reedy to strike. We never once spoke to each other. I don't think about her and it doesn't matter what she thinks of me, but she carries with her a threat which controls at least a part of her life.

Lately I've been noticing with alarm the teeth gnashing venom that comes from some parts of this country against other parts. I see and hear bald hatred against our president, our government, our nation, our constitution. People are hissing hatred against minorities, against blacks, Latinos, Mexicans. So-called Christians are spreading hatred of Islam. Some Conservatives are spreading hatred of the Democrats and Liberals. Some people actually want to change the Constitution in order to exclude other people. Some people's lives are controlled by anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia. Some people are grouping to prevent the happiness of same sex marriages and saying that "God hates fags" thereby lending their own hatred to a God who is incapable of hate.

It isn't just a matter of difference of opinion, nor is it a matter of scriptural authority whatever passage they may find to quote, it's a matter of insanity. People who quote the Constitition on Monday to support their own prejudice will try to rewrite the Constitution on Tuesday because it doesn't fit with their prejudice. Racism is rampant. One religion wants to dominate the country and tries to cite nonexistent reasons for it. Rational adult thinking has been left in the dust.

Road rage is alive and well. Some people will not put up with giving anyone else the same space they demand for themselves. Selfishness and a false sense of entitlement fill the sidewalks, streets and neighborhoods. There are guard dogs and attack dogs alive to protect the nasty people from the nice people.

There are good people in the world. People who will wait for you if you are trying to turn a corner, who will let you get in front of them in a supermarket line if you only have one or two things to purchase, who will let you know if you accidentally drop something and who will let you have your own opinions without yelling at you and shouting about how stupid you are.

I'm grateful I live in a neighborhood of good people. If you're a some-of-a-bitch don't come here. You won't be hated, but you won't be welcome unless you shape up and join the rest of us adults.

DB - The Vagabond
*********************
Weekend Puzzle

Sci Fi Story

(an easy one)

A man gets on a bus in Boston at 1:45 and travels for half an hour.
When he gets off the bus it's 1:15

DB

Breaking The Rules

The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.

Oliver Wendell Homes
************************
Yesterday I wrote about Charlie the director who came into rehearsal with a button saying "There are no rules." Of course there are rules. But the wise artist knows when to break them. And how.

When I was learning to draw one of my teachers was a grand old curmudgeon named Marshall Glazier. One day he came into the class before it had started and found me studying a book on anatomy, with pictures of bones. He said "My advice is to take a good course in anatomy and then forget about it." At the time I didn't understand what he was saying. After all we were attempting to accurately draw the human figure, why shouldn't we concentrate on learning the anatomy? I have since come to understand what he meant.

There are two famous artists who seem to have thrown the ideas of anatomy out the window. One of them is Amedeo Modigliani. In his paintings you can see that he does know the anatomy of the figure, but a part of it is extended: a long neck or an stretched out torso, thus creating an elegant picture. His purpose is not to paint a portrait but a work of art based on the human figure. It is as Matisse once said "I don't paint women. I paint pictures."

Similarly the sculptures of Alberto Giacometti show a definite understanding of the human figure even though the entire figure is stretched out and distorted. The various parts of the sculpture are in correct proportion to each other but the entire piece is an expression beyond the literal.

An artist will go to the drawing pad in the same way a musician will go to scales and finger patterns and a dancer will go to the barre. The artistry comes from there but is not frozen there.

In short, in any endeavor, a person should know the rules and know how and when to make exceptions to them, not for the sake of breaking rules but from the demands of imagination and necessity.

DB
========================
Weekend Puzzle

Sci Fi Story

(an easy one)

A man gets on a bus in Boston at 1:45 and travels for half an hour.
When he gets off the bus it's 1:15.

DB

Trail Markers

Believe those who seek the truth, doubt those who find it.

Andre Gide
***************
On the first day of rehearsal the director, Charlie, walked into the room wearing a button which read "There are no rules." Immediately I realized that this was a person I could work with.

I always get a chuckle out of hearing people who are stone headedly sure of one form of so-called truth or another. I'm laughing at myself at the same time because in my younger days I was just as implanted in my own opinions and would not listen to opposing options. I rue those days.

I once saw an English speaking woman from Moscow extolling the virtues of Communism and how it was the only true and practical form of government and that anyone who didn't realize it was ignorant. I wonder what she thought when the Communist government in Russia began to erode.

Is there any difference between that and the insistence of so many religionists on the undeniable truth of their particular form of worship. It has been said many times, in many ways that if your faith cannot be doubted and challenged it's not worth a nickle.

True seekers for truth are about it every day and have been for centuries. The disciples of Jesus and Mohammad, the rabbis of Europe, the Buddhist and Shinto priests, the Sufis of Asia and philosophers and scientists since ancient Egypt have been and are in the search for truth.

Every rock must be turned over and observed. No one person can do it alone. But in the wilderness there are trail guides, marks that tell you someone has been there before. For me those aphorisms and rare quotations, such as the one from Gide above, are those trail markers. I hope to someday leave behind a trail marker or two for future seekers.

When one reaches the point of absolute certainty one is in a cul de sac, the bottom of the bag. The only hope is to turn around and go back. To doubt is to continue the journey, the exploration. There are more rocks to turn over.

In my own journey to understanding I am grateful for the trail markings of those who have gone before me, I am grateful for my own discipline and I'm grateful that there is always something more to discover.

Never give up.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
*****************************

SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 6 responses so far. Let's go folks. Get with it. I don't care if you're hot.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Copied fromVagabond Journeys, March 18, 2010

Musicians are children who take a stick and bang on a can, or stretch a rubber band and listen to it twang, who whistle or sing.

Poets are children who fall in love with words like "murmur," "spoon" and "click."

Painters are children who take crayons and make designs everywhere or who dip into finger paints and push it around on a piece of paper.

Architects are children who put twigs together in the back yard or who pile stones on each other.

Potters are children who play in the mud.

Writers are children who make up stories.

Actors are children who tie towels to their backs and pretend they are superman.

Dancers are children who skip and spin when they hear music.

As George Bernard Shaw put it "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."

May you never lose your childhood.

The Joy Of Music, The Music Of Joy

The only obstacle to realeasing joy is the unwillingness to express love for someone or something.

Arnold Patent
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I was doing a play in central Massachusetts one summer. A friend in New Hampshire, David, who had heard me on the radio but had never seen me perform on the stage drove down to see it. After the performance we went out for a beer with a few of the cast. David jokingly said "I don't know how much they're paying you but it's too much because you're having too much fun."

One of the silliest things some directors will say, at the end of the rehearsal period when there's nothing left but to perform it, is "Have fun with it." Of course, unless it's a stupid play, in which case it probably wouldn't be done, or unless the director has messed it up, we are going to have fun with it. We enjoy the work. If we didn't we wouldn't do it because it's very difficult, if it's done right.

Over the years I have tried to share my love of music and my joy in hearing it. I don't understand why people who can enjoy popular music run and hide when a concert of classical music is about to happen. I have tried, oh how I've tried, to get friends interested in opera and orchestral music. They are usually polite but unresposive.

I have a preference for classical music, of course, but that's mainly because it stretches over a period of 600 years. I started out as an opera lover, but gradually my ears and my head opened up to include all kinds of music and I soon realized that's what a true music lover does. I was a Beatles fan at the same time I was a Beethoven fan. I remember one day amazing a young woman when I started to sing "Fist there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is." She was surprised that I knew about Donovan. "Of course I do" I said.

Today I enjoy jazz, rock, folk, country. I even have a distant relative who was a country music entertainer, Dr. Humphrey Bate and his Possum Hunters. Google them if you don't believe me.

It's a question of developing a taste for quality and expression. Some friends and I went to the Newport Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall one year. Some of the world's best musicians came and jammed through one song for hours. Davis, Gillespie, Mulligan, Garner (one of my favorites) A rock musician who is a master guitarist is a joy to hear. I remember seeing and hearing a duet played by George Harrison and Eric Clapton, Their differences were not apparent in their music, or maybe it was resolved in the music. I came of age during the folk music revival when there was Pete Seeger and the Weavers, Joni Mitchell, Jesse Winchester, The Dillards. Country Music was taught to me by a former girl friend and I learned to love Doc Watson, Vassar Clements. I used to live in Inwood, which is the northern tip of Manhattan Island. When I crossed Broadway I was in Little Dominica, my bank was over there. On the way there was a music store. In the good weather the owner put out a speaker on which he played Salsa music. Salsa if you don't know it is music of joy and life. I loved to stop and listen along with the local folks. The late, great Tito Puente was a graduate of Julliard School, which meant he analyzed Bach fugues, composed traditional music, learned to play percussion and to conduct before he graduated.

I have written before about one of the most exciting concerts I ever was fortunate enough to attend. It was in the band shell, Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, New York. where I saw and heard Percy Sledge and the Uptown Brass. It was an hour of pure love and joy. I will never forget it.

So, with all this great music around why do people shy away, get tight lipped and start looking for their coats to get away from classical music, why are they intimidated by it, or why do they think it's boring and not for them? It's music after all. "I don't understand it." If you listened to the Berg Lyric Suite as often as you listen to the Rolling Stones you would come to understand it and like it. If you knew the Bach B minor Mass, Mozart's Don Giovanni, the late Beethoven String Quartets, Wagner's Parsifal, the Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, Stravinski's Rite of Spring and Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht, just to name a few, you would know music like I know music.

"So much of that modern stuff just sounds like a lot of noise." It's only noise because you are not hearing what you expect to hear and so not hearing what's there. I wouldn't subject you to Webern, Berio, Stockhousen or Carter before you're ready but I can promise you once you have broken down the obstacles you have erected for yourself between you and any form of new and old music a whole world of expression, fascination, entertainment and joy will open up.

I love music, and that is one of the main sources of joy for me.

Dana Bate
The Vagabond
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 6 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Congress Of What?

The true champion of justice, if he intends to survive even for a short time, must necessarily confine himself to private life and leave politics alone.

Socrates
********************
I often wonder if there is any nation on Earth for a good man to live in where the government isn't destroying it's own country. I also wonder why anyone would want to get into politics considering how corrupt it is. Even if it is not overtly corrupt with bribes, inequities and influence buying and selling. It is covertly corrupt by the fact that few politicians understand what life is like for the average citizen.

Now we have a nation where politicians can be bought by big corporations. There is nothing new about that, it is that it used to be covert corruption but now the court has put it out into the open as legal practice.

The government is considering digging into Social Security benefits for older Americans thus creating hardships and, in some cases, homelessness. Are their eyes only on government expenditures or on their absurd fear of Socialism? Whatever umbrella their action may sit under it is "government against the people."

I think I would be ashamed to be a Congressman right now. That such measures are even being considered at any time is rabid, bile spitting injustice. What happened to common sense?

The government wastes money on wars we can't win, overfunded useless programs and
Congressmen's extracurricular activities. Greedy Big Business wastes money buying Congressmen to protect their greed. Who doesn't waste money? Last week I bought a quart of apple juice, an expenditure I can't afford.

If they cut back on my Social Security benefits I won't be able to pay my rent, along with thousands of other seniors, and that's a fact. The government will say "move." And who is going to pay for that?

The biggest, fiercest injustice in the land is the irresponsability of Congress and it's failure to face facts. They tell us what the American people want without asking the American people. The last time I was asked what I want by the government was 9 years ago when I had the option to have money taken out of my Social Security to pay for more Medicare.

My quiet, solitary protest is for Congress to stop wasting our money, stop the wealthy corporations from gouging us and not paying their fair share of taxes, stop funding useless programs, put the money to work for the nation. Spend it on improved education for our young, including better teacher's salaries, taking care of the unemployed and underemployed, strengthen the US Postal Service so it doesn't go out of business, and, for mercies sake, continue to provide for us older citizens who for years have voted, paid taxes, obeyed the laws and given our lives working for one American industry or another.

Dana Bate
The Vagabond

Avoid The Swamp

Summon the power of your happiness.

Unknown
************
It is an amazing and quietly miraculous thing to realize that just under the surface of all our grief and sorrow are the thoughts and memories of things that make us happy. There is a fist of determination that can pull the plug on the sink full of nasty things if we choose to use it.

Joy is a powerful thing. It can change the way we think and since most of life's troubles come from the way we think joy can make anguish tremble in fright. A certain Jewish mystic and Kabbalist scholar once described the mind as like a radio that only had two stations, one broadcast only good news and the other only bad news. If we don't keep alert the radio will automatically switch over to the bad news station. We have to keep our hands on the knob to keep it playing the news we want and need to hear. If I let my mind wander it will soon take me into bug filled swamps of ugly thoughts and memories. I have thankfully adopted a good angel who puts up with my negatives long enough and then says, with benign scorn, "What are you thinking about?" That stops me and makes me laugh.

It's truly a matter of consciousness. A constant consciousness of good makes a better life, and consciousness is the result of disciplined and habitual thinking. That's why we have to stay close to that radio.

I'm not a great Biblical scholar but if you want a Bible reference here it is:

"whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

And stay out of the mental swamps.

DB - The Vagabond
*******************

SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 6 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Weekend Puzzle Answer

WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWER
Hitch up the teams.

What teams do the following letters represent?
There was only one contestant, Val of the Blogspot Tigers. so by default she wins the shocking pink plastic ampersand. &
Her first 6 answers agreed with mine


1. A & C Abbot & Costello
2. B & B Barnum & Bailey
3. G & S Gilbert & Sullivan
4. GB & GA George Burns & Gracie Allen
5. L & H Laurel & Hardy
6. LR & T Lone Ranger & Tonto

Then she got biblical whereas all my references were in show business
7. M & L she gave me Martha & Lazarus, where I wanted Martin & Lewis
8. P & T Paul & Titus where I expected Penn & Teller

9. PP & M but then she hit it right with Peter, Paul & Mary
10. RR & DE Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
11. R & M Rowan & Martin

12. W & F is the most obscure reference in the group. Val tried Wells & Fargo, Wilma & Fred. Nice try. I was looking for Webber & Fields, the longest running comedy duo in Show Business. Fields daughter Sally Fields kept up the tradition.

Thank you Val.

DB

Stop The Presses

The more you do, the more you'll do.

Bate
***************
Oy, am I tired. I spent the day exchanging printers. I haven't had a printer that worked for over a year. There have been so many printers through this place I can't remember the number. The latest new printer was not compatible with the new computer so I had to buy a newer new one. Friday was "uninstallation" day. There ought to be a better word for that. How about "outstallation"? Why not? People say "outro" as opposed to "intro."

Yesterday was INstallation day. That meant unplugging the old printer and taking it to the basement. Getting the new one out of the box and making sure all the parts were there. Holding the big heavy thing in my lap while I squinted through a magnifying glass with a flashlight trying to read the tiny numbers from the bottom and write them down so I wouldn't have to do it later with a phone in my hand. I also crawled around and made certain of the computer numbers.

As I opened the package with the instructions I was thinking about the remark I heard recently of the typical man who thinks he can put together the barbecue without reading the instructions. I guess I am not the typical man. I read the instructions and they made no sense whatever.

So I called HP. Naturally I got a chap with a difficult accent, but he was patient with me and I with him. Together we got the hardware up and running. First the cartridges wouldn't go in, then they did. Then it wouldn't take the paper, then it did. Then it wouldn't print, then it did.

At last we got to the software part. That meant more crawling around on the floor plugging, unplugging and replugging. Getting down and crawling is hard if you're 71, but getting back up is even harder. It's very undignified. He had to run me through all the steps because, for some reason, he couldn't get control of my computer. That took hours. At one point my phone fell apart. The battery fell out onto the floor. I thought I would have to call back and start all over with someone else but when I pressed to get the dial tone he was still there. Don't ask. Now I'm laughing.

I clicked all the OKs, NEXTs, AGREEs, ACCEPTs, and CONTINUEs and finally got to the one that said FINISH. I then printed one of my pages just to make sure and out it came fast and neat. I've written two novels and a bunch of stories and for the past year or so I've been unable to print any of them. That's what this is all about.

Now I'm very tired and very sore, and I'm looking forward to a Sunday of no heavy lifting and no crawling around on the floor like a mad man and that's that. Who knows, I may even do some printing.

DB - The Vagabond
******************

WEEKEND CONTEST
Hitch up the teams.

What teams do the following letters represent?

1. A & C
2. B & B
3. G & S
4. GB & GA
5. L & H
6. LR & T
7. M & L
8. P & T
9. PP & M
10. RR & DE
11. R & M
12. W & F

0 answers so far

DB

Mistake

To those doing the weekend puzzle number 4 should be GB & GA. Sorry about that.

Amuse Me

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, be always in your own best company.

Dana Bate
***************
I was in rehearsal for an original play, a comedy, and one day on my way to work I came across the playwright and one of the actors. I told them I had just been on the phone with a friend in New York who asked me how it was going and I had replied "They make me go out on the stage in front of everybody and expose my comic timing."

I am one who fortunately developed an appreciation for the ironies and absurdities of life. Years ago I met an older woman who was so unconcerned about growing older that she would laugh when she couldn't remember a name. To her age was just an annoying inconvenience and was not about who she really was.

There is nothing in this world that is so deadly serious that it doesn't have its humorous side. I don't mean I would laugh at another creature's suffering, but I may ultimately laugh at my absurd struggles trying to alleviate that suffering. If the pig out wits the farmer and escapes being slaughtered I cheer for the pig, even though I know its freedom is probably temporary. But I hope the farmer gets a genuine laugh from it.

I also find humor in my own struggles to survive and live. Why get outraged and curse because there is an ice filled snow bank in your way. Get over it, get through it or get around it. In any case you're going to look funny doing it. So laugh at yourself.

Unfortunately my sense of humor has a negative side to it. I also can't remember names. And I have to go slowly and stagger as I walk, another result of age. And if I have to face an ice filled snowbank it's a major problem. But I confront all those problems and others with a smile on my face because I don't take any of it seriously. But sometimes other people do. If I say that I stagger to the market and stagger home again people think I'm complaining about my lot in life. "Woe is me, look how sick and decrepit I am. Alas and alack. How sad." Well it isn't. Life isn't perfect. Have you noticed that? "Much of grief shows still some want of wit" wrote Shakespeare.

Once a month I meet with a surly group who seem to think everything I have to say is of no value. But whether I'm with them, with others or by myself I'm accompanied by a sense of humor. It is my companion, the company I keep.

I suppose there are those who have no sense of humor and cannot develop one. But if you are reading this journal you are probably not one of them. So my advice is no matter what the situation, without losing sight of its serious nature, look for the humorous side. It's there.

We don't need stand up comics, who could be funnier than politicians? It's too bad they don't have my comic timing.

DB - The Vagabond
***********************

WEEKEND CONTEST
Hitch up the teams.

What teams do the following letters represent?

1. A & C
2. B & B
3. G & S
4. GB & GA
5. L & H
6. LR & T
7. M & L
8. P & T
9. PP & M
10. RR & DE
11. R & M
12. W & F

good luck
DB

Think It Through

If the power of reason is what defines man then it's feeling that guides him.

Jean Jacques Rousseau
(Thank you Bruce)
**********************
One of the silliest things in the world of crossword puzzles is to come across a clue for a five letter word meaning "to act." The chances are good that the answer is "emote" as if actors go out on the stage and "emote". Try going around emoting here and there for no reason. You will soon twist yourself into a knot of tension and get very little emoting done.

Some inexperienced actors try to begin by establishing the emotional life of the character. They make a lot of mistakes doing that and also make it difficult for the actors they are working with to deal with them. I think that tactic comes out of some faulty training. An actor is one who jumps in the water to save a drowning man not one who stands on the shore in a state of shock.

If you check your dictionary I think you will find among other things that an actor is one who does something. Emotions don't come out of nowhere, they are the result of actions and actions are the pursuit of objectives, great or small. I used to tell young actors to start with the story, learn how your character fits into the story and then determine what that character wants to accomplish and why. Once those things are clearly in mind the physical life begins to unfold and the emotions follow. I also frequently said that a character should take charge of whatever scene he is in. That requires thought. If there is nothing for him to do, fine, but he is therefore always ready to do something if necessary.

So when are emotions a guide as Rousseau claims? How does feeling guide us? The answer is in the quote, "If the power of reason defines" us we will act according to it and the "feeling" will follow. In life, just as on the stage, sometimes the reasoning is faulty. My life would be so much better if so and so was dead, so I'll kill him. So thought Shakespeare's Richard the Third and so think some Third World potentates about their opponents. I have no job and yet I need money so I'll steal it. That kind of thinking makes sense to a desperate man. He insulted me so I'll smash his face in. It sounds reasonable to the insulted party, but to be guided by those feelings is anything but rational and reasonable. He might find his own face smashed in.

On the stage we shoot blanks, have dulled knives and swords and rehearse all the fights every day so that no one gets hurt. We think it through before the emotions take over. But in real life those safe guards are not in place. People get hurt, and hurt themselves.

Another way of stating the Rousseau idea is: If you allow yourself to be defined by reason and careful thought then the feelings that guide you will be positive ones.

DB - The Vagabond
***********************

WEEKEND CONTEST
Hitch up the teams.

What teams do the following letters represent?

1. A & C
2. B & B
3. G & S
4. GB & GE
5. L & H
6. LR & T
7. M & L
8. P & T
9. PP & M
10. RR & DE
11. R & M
12. W & F

good luck
DB

Printer

I had to buy a new HP printer to go with the HP computer you Blogspot angels gave me because the old one hasn't printed anything in many months. I spent the entire afternoon uninstalling the old one. Whatever happened to unplug the old thing and throw it away? Oh no. The 20th century is over. Now we have to dismantle all the software that went in with the flick of a CD one day. I'm a telephone and postage stamp kind of guy. But I'm learning. DB

One's Own Truth

A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace.

Tennessee Williams
***********************
How far must we search or how deep must we dig to find those small but priceless pearls of innocence, righteousness and grace? Every word we type and every movement of the mouse across the page is recorded somewhere. Our movements down the street are seen by a camera and stored up in some electronic vault. Our medical records are available in many places. We have numbers, a Social Security number, credit card numbers and a phone number that connect us to encyclopedic records of our lives that can become public information. We have a DNA number that tells what we are like, what we are liable to do or suffer from. It would seem that no one owns himself. How, under the tyranny of past behavior carved in stone, could anyone possibly redeem himself from his past?

The subjective part of my life is my own business and no amount of statistics piled up to describe me can possibly define what that is. Can it? What is an appalling experience to one is a way of life to another. What to one is a shocking event is a party to another. We can reach out to help someone and sometimes regret that we did. We can walk past and ignore the one who needs help and then regret that we did. Whether the nightmarish situation is thrust on us, or we have made it for ourselves, we have choices to make. To strike out against difficult, often unbearable circumstances in fear and rage. To rationally and intelligently dismantle the outragous circumstance. To quietly and courageously bear it until it clears up on its own. To accept and condone the misery even to the dangerous extent of destroying our sense of decency.

Each person must find his own truth on the battlefield, the torture chamber, the court or the side walk. The important question is, when it is over and done with, what will I think of myself?

DB - The Vagabond
******************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 6 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************

Handle The Hissing Fear

Fear is what happens when reality collides with our personal fiction.

Lama Tsonly
*********************
I avoid fear as much as I can. Fear has the strength to alter our lives by focusing the mind on negatives until they become realities. "The thing I greatly feared has come upon me" wrote Job. If we aren't careful we can manufacture the thing we are afraid of. But if that is not the cause of our fear then the fear itself must be challenged and the thing we are afraid of must be taken up and handled until its fangs are removed,

When I retired, like most retirees, I looked forward to a life of ease, a cessation of troubles and having my days spent doing the things I enjoy most. Well let me tell you that turned out to e a personal fiction. I don't want to start every day by rolling up my sleeves and taking on the task of fixing my life, But that is what I find myself doing most of the time.

If I had the eye sight and strength of a 25 year old my normal day of reckoning, rearranging, searching, maintaining, stomping my feet and settling things wouldn't be so daunting.

I do eventually get to do some of the things I enjoy but it seems I have to win the opportunity every day. Who would believe it? There's a price tag on retirement. One of the marauding influences against a calm and peaceful retirement is the opinion from the outside, working world that since I am retired I have all kinds of free time on my hand to loll around and indulge myself in whimsical maneuvers. Ha! Do my clocks run faster than anyone else's? No? Then where does it go, out the window when I'm not looking?

The only answer I can find, and it seems to be a good one, (are you taking notes) is to get ahead of the fictions. My imagination, which never rests, is responsible for some of the most flaming fantasies. I'm going to get right up and start a business. Today!

By the time I visit the bathroom, wash off what the sand man has left on my face and make a cup of coffee, my fictions have been reduced to a more appropriately senior citizen level. It is then that I recall the unseen things, the work left undone, the obligations I have somehow accumulated and the dangers of the world at large, creditors still circling around and snarling, certain parts of the body here and there that are not behaving right and must be look at, and, of course, during my, at last, sleep I forgot all the things I'm supposed to worry about. They comer hissing back.

What is this retirement thing I've heard so much about? Something AARP dreamt up to fool us old geezers? The opponents of Social Security (just wait until there are no chips on their side of the table) complain that old folks are living longer. Of course we are. We can't fold up, because we're out having fisticuffs with the wicked world at large. I collect Social Security and two pensions and I live a simple life. So why don't I have any money left at the end of the month? "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where (low interest rates and variable mortgages) doth corrupt and where (banks and credit companies) break through and steal." A word to the wise and the otherwise.

Do I fear? You bet I do. But I put on my sturdy L L Bean boots and go kick fear in the butt, every day.

Dana Bate
The Vagabond
******************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)

Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?

Only 6 responses so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

Thank you.
DB
********************