If You Need a Smile on Turkey Day...

Here you go.


Pardoning the Turkey.


Long live West Wing.

Winter is icumen in

I have taken an extra day off from work before the Thanksgiving holiday, and Boulder has received its first real snowfall of the season.

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.

Ancient Music, Ezra Pound

M and I had a brief but fervent argument the other day about the author of the above poem. He said it was Robert Frost (hah!); I knew that it was Ezra Pound due to my excellent education in English literature at Indiana University hundreds of years ago. During this discussion at Heidi's Brooklyn Deli on Pearl Street, I ended up proving that I was right with a brief Internet search using my Blackberry. I am particularly proud of this small victory because M has given me no end of grief over the years for somehow earning a degree in English without ever reading Melville's Moby Dick cover to cover (which he believes to be the finest American novel ever written – global before its time, yada yada). I have tried. But I can’t seem to get past the endless chapter in which water flowing from mountain springs, down creeks and streams, into rivers, and eventually into the vastness of the ocean, is described in detail as yet unmatched in all my subsequent literary perusals.

To see the radical difference between the poets, I recommend reading Robert Frost’s wonderful poem, much preferred in tone to Ezra’s, and one I quote frequently:

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

A statue of Robert Frost sits in front of the Old Main building on the University of Colorado campus. Once, CU was doing some construction work around the statue and put up a protective fence to be sure that it would not be damaged. Very quickly a sign appeared on this cage: “Free Bob.”

M has headed out to shovel our sidewalk and buy last-minute Thanksgiving supplies at King Soopers – and I have informed him that I will be blogging about his gross literate error. This has earned me the title “Evil Bloghead.”

I am indeed looking forward to the holiday, and the snow is welcome; it gives me a cozy feeling as I sit here typing away by the window. Oddly enough, "Winter is icumen in" also has always given me a cozy feeling – something about the inevitability, and therefore comfort, of the seasons. Not what Ezra had in mind, I am guessing.

Memory

In the second season of the television show Heroes, a major theme continues to be memories: “Memories are what make us human.” One hero has lost his memory. Another can steal memories. A third character is threatened with the horror of having his happiest memories obliterated: the day he met his wife, his wedding day, the memories of a daughter who has died.

In the movie Vanilla Sky, the main character David, after several perplexing experiences, ends up realizing that he has willingly given up terrible memories to live a “Lucid Dream,” but like any technology, this one is has glitches and he is left to the mercy of “Tech Support.”

Yes, memory is a two-edged sword. You may wish to expunge terrible (or merely mortifying) memories, but what will the unintended consequences be? And who would we be without our memories? One of the greatest fears as we age is that our memory will fade.

Memory and thoughts have an enormous impact on state of mind and well being. As I read more about meditation and mindfulness I’m noticing how much of the time my mind can be seized by images, earworms and whole trains of thinking that are trivial, painful, obsessive, repetitive, unproductive.

It is like suddenly noticing a background sound that has gradually increased to the point of a dull roar; as it finally reaches your consciousness it is suddenly excruciating.

Often my attempts at meditation remind me of a birds trapped indoors, battering themselves against the daylight from outside windows, trying to get free. Past memories that bring sorrow, future fears that bring anxiety. It is amazing how difficult it can be to focus on the here and now.

Hua Qing Hot Springs – China

Another sight I saw while visiting China was the Hua Qing Hot Springs at the foot of Mount Lishan about 40 minutes outside Xi’an. Many stories are told about these hot springs and their usage by emperors throughout China’s history, as well as a more recent altercation in which Chiang Kai-shek was captured there. A young woman who I hired as my guide for a quick tour told the story and pointed out the bullet holes in the window and wall.

During the Li Dynasty, Emperor Li had his Winter Palace at this location so that he could enjoy the hot springs. The hot water with its healing minerals was a great luxury in China. Of his 3,000 concubines (busy guy), Li had a favorite, the Empress Yang Guifei, and her statue still stands in one of the gardens.

The Great Wild Goose Pagoda - Xi'an, China

Another place I had a chance to visit while in Xi’an, China recently was the Great Wild Goose Pagoda. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens and many statues of Buddha. It was built in 652 during China’s Tang Dynasty.

Two white stone lions guarded the entrance to the Pagoda. In the garden nearby was a large golden Buddha and people were waiting in line to kneel before the statue. In a building nearby there were many niches with Buddhas deep inside, shining golden or glowing with blue backlight in the darkness, cushions at each station for those who wished to meditate or pay respects.

People were lighting candles and buying incense to light and burn at one spot.

Beautiful and colorful wall decorations and paintings surrounded the niches containing the various Buddha statues, including this one featuring one of my favorite shades of blue. The Great Wild Goose Pagoda was one of the more exotic sights I saw while in China, and I was glad I made it one of my tour stops.

Imperial Terracotta Warriors - Xi'an

Few people get the opportunity I got this past week. I traveled on business to Xi’an, China and Singapore. My first full day in China was on Sunday so I took a tour.

I hired a car to take me about 45 minutes outside the city of of Xi’an to view the world famous 2,200-year-old archaeological dig with, the Imperial Terracotta Warriors. The ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, in an elaborate attempt to preserve his soul forever, had over 6,000 warriors made of clay and fired in kilns to guard his tomb. All of them were larger than life size (for China anyway), and each with distinctly different features and postures. Figures for archers, generals, and other soldiers were made, facing to the east, west, north and south, guarding the emperor’s tomb. A separate area for headquarters has those figures facing inward; the theory is they are strategizing their next battle. Horses were also made, some saddled for the soldiers and some to pull chariots. Bronze arrows, shields, horses and chariots were also buried at the site, as well as other artwork including bronze cranes and other water birds.

Now the Chinese people are unearthing and painstakingly restoring them. They stand in row upon row in the earthen holes. The original statues had color as well, but the Chinese quickly discovered that once they were unearthed and exposed to the air, the color faded. A display shows what some of them looked like before fading.

I spent the extra money to hire a Chinese tour guide who spoke English, Liu Hong Jun, and he took me through the beautiful gardens with pomegranate and persimmon trees surrounding the site and to view the three separate excavation pits in various stages of restoration. It was a chilly fall day in China and the air was clearer here than in Xi’an itself which has quite a thick and murky atmosphere, the kind that makes your chest hurt a little bit after awhile.

The first pit was found in 1974 by a farmer named Yang who was working in a field. He or a relative still signs books about the museum to this day in the gift shop. My colleagues at work later told me that according to the story, this farmer had to stop signing books for awhile because the flash from the tourist’s cameras had made him temporarily blind; he seemed fine on the day I paid 150 Yuan to buy a book which he signed for free. I leave to the reader the question of whether this was really the original farmer or a surrogate standing in for the day.

My guide told stories of the many measures the emperor had taken, using concepts of Feng Shui, to align his palace and tomb correctly for best good fortune near the mystical Li Mountain. Emperor Qin began the work of his mausoleum when he was 13 years old and it took 38 years, using up to 720,000 conscripts at one point. He had the tomb builders buried alive to ensure that the location of the tomb was kept secret. The Qin Dynasty was a relatively short, cruel one and he was actually emperor of China for only fifteen years. His mausoleum, built of earth and wood with grass mats covering the tomb, was burned by a rival, destroying or damaging many of the relics. Emperor Qin was no friend to Confucians, often having them killed. In the end his efforts to live forever were futile. Confucius said:

"All men desire wealth and high status, but if these cannot be achieved in accordance with the moral law, then they should not be accepted. All men hate poverty and low status, but if these cannot be avoided in accordance with the moral law, then they should be accepted. How can anyone who departs from virtue be considered a Chun-Tzu? A Chun-Tzu never departs from virtue, not even for the time of a single meal. When he acts in haste, he acts according to virtue. In times of trouble, he acts according to virtue."