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Happy Merry Christmas!!!

12/21/2014

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According to Henri Frederic Amiel, "There is no respect for others without humility in one's self."  Well, I for one, would definitely apply this idea to the phenomena that is known as culture shock.

Several years ago, (seven, to be precise), my husband and I flew to Tokyo, Japan to spend the Christmas holidays with our daughter, who was studying there for her Bachelor's Degree in Japanese.

The Abroad Office of her stateside university had encouraged parents, such as we, to visit our kids if possible, during the holidays, lest they become depressed so far from home.  We happily obliged.

In Japan, the English language, as well as holiday sentiments, tend to morph into a sort of near-miss.  Christmas, for instance, is a couples holiday in Japan, and it is very like our Valentine's Day.

Strolling about Tokyo we soon noticed that the malls, and other public areas, were all decorated in colorful heart motifs.  It was, by far, the prettiest Christmas that I have ever yet experienced.     

While waiting in line for popcorn in a Tokyo cinema, I took the photo, above.  I was curious about the bourbon bottles that sat on either side of the image, and the slogan "Happy Merry Christmas."

Our daughter explained that this unusual holiday greeting had recently become very popular, owing to a local celebrity who had accidentally coined it.  And what about the bourbon sitting there?

It turned out that this was an ad for Four Roses Bourbon, which is produced by
the Kirin Brewery Company of Japan.  "Ah," I said.  "It's kind of like American holiday ads for spiking eggnog with alcohol."

There was the Ebi Burger, (made with a ground shrimp patty), that I totally enjoyed at McDonald's, the separate shower and bathtub arrangement, and transiting the famous five-way Shibuya crossing.

We sampled Takoyaki, (battered octopus orbs), rode Tokyo trains, (a different song greeted us at every station), and the entire bedroom, which my husband and I shared, was the size of one king-size bed.

My ability to decipher much of what I was experiencing  in Japan was overshadowed by the conceptual template that my American experiences had contrived.  In other words, I was slow on the uptake.
 
I learned to ease up on my fixed ideas so that I could accept new ones on their own terms.  It was culturally humbling, and it helped me to gain a deeper appreciation of, and quieter respect for, Japan.

In a future post, I plan equate these concepts with the act of reading an author's work, or a poet's verses.  They all touch upon making certain adjustments in our own perceptions and expectations.

But, for the time being, with the holidays decidedly upon us, I will finish this post by wishing you all ...

... a Happy Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

       




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Anonymously yours ...

12/14/2014

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It sometimes happens that a word or a phrase is repeated without regard for the person who said it first.  Such items are generally  attributed to "Anonymous."  But what if you are "Anonymous?"

I picked up George Orwell's novel, 1984 in the Summer of 1984, having decided to wait until that year to read it.  The very second that I finished reading the last page, I laid the book down and said:

"Orwell is an optimist!"


At that moment, the irony was ever so palpable to me, and it wasn't long before I had this phrase emblazoned on a T-shirt, which I frequently wore, and etched into my car's license plate frame.

Today, if you do a search on the internet for this phrase you will find many, many instances of it, on websites that I don't ascribe to.  It became a meme long before memes, and social media, even existed.

A meme, for those who don't yet know the word, is:  

  1. a cultural item in the form of an image, video, phrase, etc., that is spread via the Internet and often altered in a creative or humorous way.  Dictionary.com

I happened to be looking online for information on Mr. Orwell when I came across this meme.  Simply put, I was shocked!  There it was, my silly phrase, on page after page for all the world to see and share.

My next reaction was , "Wait a minute!  I coined that!"  But my name was not attached to it, anywhere.  Of course not.  I had left it in plain sight, anonymously.  Alas, someone(s) took it and ran with it.

So, would it considered theft if I had chiseled my unsigned words into a piece of wood, left it behind on a park bench, and another person picked it up and started quoting it?  I'm not convinced it is. 

But, the writer in me does appreciate at least a little recognition for coining such a successful idiom.  For about the past ten years I have stewed over the lack thereof.  Apparently, I am  in good company.

In 1844, Alexander Dumas published The Three Musketeers.  In that initially serialized story, he wrote the sentence, "It was a dark and stormy night." ... a brilliant phrase which I thought he had coined.

But no.  When I "googled" those words, I was surprised to find that Edward Bulwer-Lytton had coined them in his 1830 novel, titled Paul Clifford ... fourteen years before Dumas's story was published.

Dumas is thought to have heavily plagiarized the works of his contemporaries; authors I know little about and whose works I have not yet read.  Every kid knows the novels of Dumas, but Lytton?

In my case, only those who I have shared my slogan with know that it originated with me.  But for all of you who have happened upon it elsewhere, I am finally setting the record aright ... because I can.

Unlike
Auguste Maquet, who sued Dumas for royalties from The Three Musketeers, citing his contribution to Dumas's work, I am of no, absolutely no, mind to do so.  I only wish to lay reasonable claim to having coined it ... credit where credit is due: Romans 13:7.

"Orwell was an optimist!"  Janice Thompson (1984)




Image:
www.writingupastorm.com
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The young man who built a robot ...

12/7/2014

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My many years spent in teaching have taught me that a teacher's enthusiasm is a vital element.  As Benjamin Franklin said, "Tell me and I forget.  Teach me and I remember.  Involve me and I learn."

I once encountered a young man who was entirely resistant to learning.  He sat on the sidelines of my small arena and flatly refused to try, or even to try to try, the activity that I was teaching.

My every invitation to him was met with an impassive shrug ... until I asked him to select a color from among the many colorful felt tip pens in my hands.  He only barely obliged me, but he picked one.

As soon as he touched that pen I could tell that I had him.  He had responded to me!  When I asked him for an idea about where to place that pen on the robot I was building he pointed to a spot on it.

Slowly, eventually, he began to choose pieces from the pile of paper, pens, plastic cups, and motors that lay before him.  He'd choose a piece, and I taped it into place.  Together, we built a motorized robot, (see photo above), that drew an abstract image as it moved.

And then, he asked me if he could build one by himself!  "Sure," I said.  "Go for it."  I moved on to help others at the table with their projects, clandestinely keeping an eye on that one young man.

When he was done with his robot, I laid out a sheet of paper for him to place it on.  We uncapped the pens, started the motor, and his robot drew decorative lines.  He got to keep the robot's artwork.

Earlier this year I wrote a ten-part series titled, A key to writing in rhyme: to inspire would-be rhymers, and to involve them, (possibly you), by teaching one tried and true method of writing poetry.

The problem with this approach to teaching, for all my enthusiasm,  is that the remoteness of the teacher allows for passive learning wherein one is merely told, rather than being involved in, the lesson.
 
And yet, I learned how to compose verse by emulating outstanding poets who had passed on their knowledge, before passing on passed away ages ago.  I emulation their the works that they left behind.    

So, it can be done, this notion of involving others from a distance.  In any event, their poems, and my series, are available to all who would, evenly remotely, apply them .. like that young man who built a robot.





Image:
funny-pictures.picphotos.net
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    About the author:

    I've written many poems over the years.  This blog is a preview of my books: Echoes, Neo-Victorian Poetry (April 2013), Echoes ll, More Neo-Victorian Poetry (May 2014), Echoes lll, Even More Neo-Victorian Poetry, (August 2016), A Compilation of Echoes. (September 2016), and When None Command (April 13, 2019)

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