"What is, is most precious"

Her Animals, a collection of poems by Emily Johnston, seeks to explore what it means to think about our relationship with the planet and with ourselves.  She forces readers to confront difficult questions regarding our destruction of the environment through her use of vivid, authentic language.

A particular poem that caught my attention appears near the beginning of the text and reads: “Like a child emerging from the ocean of possibilities / between two people: / what is, is most precious. Begin there” (Johnston 17).  This poem reminded me of the Franciscan value of care for creation as is commanded in the book of Genesis with the following: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (The Woman’s Study Bible, Gen. 1.28).

While Johnston explicitly tells readers that she does not believe in a god, I still think correlations can be drawn between her poem and the verse from Genesis.  God created each thing that “is” and therefore, each living thing should be cared for.  Johnston is telling her readers to begin with what is most precious – “what is” – it we do not care for what is most precious, the destruction of the earth will continue its downward spiral.

I also thought her description of conception was quite unique – I had never heard “ocean of possibilities” used in context with childbearing before.  There are many possibilities when two people conceive a child together!

Johnston’s poetry is full of vivid descriptions of environmental destruction and the consequences of not taking care of the earth.  What do you think about my comparison between this poem and the verse from Genesis?  Do you agree?

Works Cited

Johnston, Emily. Her Animals. Seattle: Hummingbird Press, 2015.

The Woman’s Study Bible. New International Version, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2012.

Moon Cycles

Terry Tempest Williams, an American author, conservationist, and activist, draws inspiration for her writing from her homeland of Utah and her Mormon culture.  Her memoir, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, draws parallels between the flooding of the Great Salt Lake and the devastation at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, to her journey through the ravaging effects of breast cancer on her family and her relationship with the environment.  Her memoir presents her relationship to nature and throughout her memoir she refers to the moon in personal ways.  Each mentioning is intentional and conveys an important idea, so I have taken the liberty of bolding each appearance of “moon.”

Terry first mentions the moon in the chapter entitled “Magpies.”  As she is discussing her mother’s strength, she says, “Today, I feel stronger, learning to live within the natural cycles of a day and to not expect so much from myself.  As women, we hold the moon in our bellies.  It is too much to ask to operate on full-moon energy three hundred and sixty-five days a year.  I am in a crescent phase.  And the energy we expend emotionally belongs to the hidden side of the moon” (Williams 136).  Upon doing a little bit of digging, I discovered that the moon is often associated with femininity, not just regarding monthly cycles, but the cycles of life. 

Terry is in awe of her mother who seems to have learned this, to live each day to its fullest and not worry about tomorrow.  Her imagery is quite beautiful in this passage.  I agree, using “full-moon” energy 365 days a year is too much to ask, as we will become burned out, tired, and frustrated.  Terry explains that she is in a “crescent phase” and that the emotional energy expended appears on “the hidden side of the moon.”  Even when we are not expending physical energy, we typically continue to expend emotional energy, particularly in times of stress.

Another interesting occurrence of “moon” references appear in the “Curlews” chapter: “But the flipside of darkness is light.  The new moon is also the resurrected moon, soon to be crescent, quarter, then full.  It is the time in many cultures to sow seeds.  During the waxing moon all those things that needed to grow are attended to.  In the dark of the moon there is growth.  Plants do not flourish in the noonday sun, but rather in the privacy of the new moon” (Williams 146).  This passage struck me in a personal way because as a child, I always wondered at what point in the day plants grow.  I remember sitting and staring at the seeds I planted, willing for them to grow in front of me (innocence of a child), but my patience was never rewarded. 

In a way, this new moon privacy can be related to the personal growth of a woman.  Terry’s mother is an excellent example.  During her final years with her cancer, she comes to terms with death, but does not let the fact that she will inevitably die stop her from enjoying the days she has left.  There is a lot of emotional growth occurring inside of her that is not always visible from the outside, similar to a plant growing in the dark of night.

The idea of a “resurrected moon” returns after the passing of Terry’s mother.  In what appears to be a journal entry, Terry states, “A full moon hung in a starlit sky.  It was Mother’s face illuminated” (Williams 232).  This is not the first time that Terry compares the moon to a mother.  Prior to her mother’s death, Terry observes “One night, a full moon watched over me like a mother” (Williams 189).  It makes sense that Terry would compare the moon to her mother because both are watchful over their “children.”

The full moon marks the end of a cycle, in this instance, the cycle of Terry’s mother’s life.  This must bring comfort to Terry, to visualize her mother watching over her as a “full moon.”

The final profound passage I’d like to reflect on appears in the curlew chapter: “Maybe it is not the darkness we fear most, but the silences contained within the darkness.  Maybe it is not the absence of the moon that frightens us, but the absence of what we expect to be there” (Williams 146).  Instances such as this demonstrate how Terry becomes more introspective, truly discovering who she is.  This passage connects well with the following which seems to be a turning point for Terry: “I am slowly, painfully discovering that my refuge is not found in my mother, my grandmother, or even the birds of Bear River.  My refuge exists in my capacity to love.  If I can learn to love death then I can begin to find refuge in change” (Williams 178).

 

These two passages demonstrate Terry’s personal growth in just a few chapters.  She goes from believing that it is the absence of what we expect to be there that we fear the most, to acknowledging that her refuge, or what she expects to be there, is not in her mother, grandmother, or the birds, her refuge exists in her capacity to love.  What a beautiful transformation.

Terry’s close relationship to the environment is apparent throughout Refuge.  She acknowledges the importance of the moon’s cycles, both in relation to nature and a women’s life cycles.  The passages quoted may seem like small instances, but Terry included them intentionally to underscore the significance of the moon in life.

Works Cited

Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

Owls vs. Cancer

Terry Tempest Williams, an American author, conservationist, and activist, draws inspiration for her writing from her homeland of Utah and her Mormon culture.  Her memoir, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, draws parallels between the flooding of the Great Salt Lake and the devastation at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, to her journey through the ravaging effects of breast cancer on her family and her relationship with the environment.    

Refuge begins with a background about the burrowing owls at the Bird Refuge.  While visiting the Bird Refuge with a friend, Terry is confronted with the realization that developers have completely leveled the mounds the burrowing owls lived in.  Three men tell her that the owls were messy and basically a nuisance.  Terry reacted in the following way: “Restraint is the steel partition between a rational mind and a violent one.  I knew rage.  It was fire in my stomach with no place to go” (Williams 12).  Obviously distraught over the loss of the owls, Terry responds by giving the three men the middle finger, a gesture her mother was appalled by, as women did not deliver obscene gestures to men.  Later in the book, she describes that “in Mormon culture, authority is respected, obedience is revered, and independent thinking is not” (Williams 285).  In following the traditions of her culture, she should have stayed silent about the owls, rather than “making a scene.”  It is understandable that the destruction of the owls’ habitat would enrage Terry, as the Bird Refuge had always remained a constant for her, something she could depend on.

It is interesting that Terry becomes enraged over the owls, but does not react in the same way when told the news of the tumor her mother discovered.  When her mother explains that she thinks she found another tumor, Terry does not get angry, she appears to be more in a state of disbelief.  Perhaps she believes that because her mother survived cancer once, that she can overcome it again and fight it.  She certainly becomes visibly upset, “the tears I had wanted to remain hidden splashed down on the notes I was taking, blurring the ink,” but she does not become angry over her mother’s diagnosis (Williams 27).  Terry’s mother comes to terms with the fact that she will not live much longer, and by spending time with and caring for her mother over the course of the book, Terry comes to terms with her mother’s death.

I am wondering why Terry exhibits such anger over the destruction of the owls, but does not react in the same way when told that her mother has cancer once again.  What are your thoughts on this?

Works Cited

Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

To Be or Not to Bee

We all know that Emily Dickinson, the famous poet, never married, but it is obvious from her poetry that she understood love quite well.  Often labeled a “reclose,” Dickinson seems to be okay with the freedom that comes along with being by herself, as apparent in her poem, “Could I but ride indefinite.”

Falling under the nature category of Dickinson’s poetry, this poem creates an interesting juxtaposition between a meadow-bee that is free to fly wherever it pleases and Dickinson who wishes she had that same freedom.  She is in awe that the meadow-bee has the ability to fly all over without a care.

The meadow-bee is able to visit where he likes, flirting all day with buttercups (a type of flower), and dwelling a little everywhere.  The speaker of the poem (I’m assuming it is Dickinson), wishes she could marry anyone.  For a woman of her time period, it would have been frowned upon for a woman to display agency enabling her to basically select her own husband.  Perhaps not marrying at all was her way of pushing against society’s standards. 

The speaker also states that she wishes she could run away with no one to chase her.  It is not clear in the poem who she is trying to get away from.  Who do you think Dickinson is addressing when she says, “till I should jump peninsulas to get away from you"?

Dickinson’s overall tone in the poem is certainly not one of loneliness.  It seems like she is quite adamant that she does not want the company of a man to chase her around.  She wants to be free like the meadow-bee to roam as she pleases.

Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. “Could I but ride indefinite.” Bartleby.com. 2015. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

Birth of Dawn Woman - Luci Tapahonso's "A Breeze Swept Through"

Dawn, dusk, sunsets, morning, August, and November – all of these words are ways to mark the passing of time.  Luci Tapahonso’s emphasis on the passage of time was our focus when studying her poem, “A Breeze Swept Through.”  After a lengthy discussion, the class decided the poem was about the birth of her two daughters, Lori Tazbah and Misty Dawn. 

Later Tuesday afternoon, I was still pondering some of the lines in Tapahonso’s poem and thought it must have a deeper meaning than just the birth of her children.  After some digging, I realized that this was the case – in the video, “Native Voices” on the Annenberg Learner website, Tapahonso’s poem is identified as borrowed from the Navajo creation story.  As stated in the video, “The poet’s birthing of her daughters is retold as part of a sacred narrative, a story about the birth of the world.  Like a chant wave, the poem repeats “she is born” four times, connecting the birth to the Navajo value of harmony and completion.”

Unfamiliar with the Navajo creation story, I read it through on the Navajo Legends website and the story definitely sheds some light on Tapahonso’s poem!      The creation story outlines four worlds that depict the emergence of the Navajo people into their homeland.  Man and woman are created in the first world, “Above the sea there was a black cloud, a white cloud, a blue cloud, and a yellow cloud.  The female spirit of life lived in the black cloud, while the male spirit of dawn lived in the white.  When the blue and yellow clouds came together, the First Woman, while the black and white came together to form the First Man” (“Navajo Creation Story”).  In the third world, the First Woman gave birth to twins, neither male nor female; four days later a second set of twins, a male and female; and after twenty days, five sets of twins had been born.  These children of the First Woman and First Man go on to bring many people into being, according to the creation story.

In the video interview I watched, Tapahonso reflects on her poem: “It’s a poem that acknowledges first woman.  It begins by acknowledging a holy person and the idea of dawn, but it also acknowledges the beginning of my daughters’ lives, which is a very sacred thing.  (“American Passages”).

It is clear now that I’ve read the Navajo creation story, that Tapahonso is connecting herself with the First Woman, referenced as “dawn woman.”  Staying connected with her ancestors is an important part of Tapahonso’s life.

I am curious yet about the colors of the male and female spirits presented in the creation story.  It states the male spirit of dawn lived in the white, while the female spirit of life lived in a black cloud.  Is there a significance to the reference of dawn connected to a man?  Tapahonso’s poem uses the term “dawn woman” not “dawn man.”  What are your thoughts on this?
 

Works Cited

“American Passages: A Literary Survey – Native Voices.” Annenberg Learner, 2016, https://www.learner.org/series/amerpass/unit01/usingvideo.html.  Accessed 2 Feb. 2016.

 “Navajo Creation Story.” Navajo Legends, 2017, http://www.navajolegends.org/navajo-creation-story/.  Accessed 2 Feb. 2017.

 Tapahonso, Luci. “A Breeze Swept Through.” Sisters of the Earth, edited by Lorraine Anderson, Vintage Books, 2003, 48-49.

Beatrix Potter - Morality Teacher

The name Beatrix Potter is often associated with the cute children’s books created at the beginning of the 20^th century.  Potter was born in 1866 and grew up in a well-to-do household in London.  She did not attend school, but rather, was taught by governesses, which limited her interaction with other children besides her younger brother, Bertram.  Each summer, her father rented a country house for three months, at first in Scotland and later in the Lake District, which allowed Potter to explore the countryside, learning about plants and animals from her own observation.  Her career as a children’s storyteller and illustrator began in 1902 when The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published.  She continued to produce about two books each year until 1910 and in all, she wrote twenty-three Peter Rabbit books.

These books have more to offer than just cute animals and beautiful illustrations – Potter’s short books also offer wonderful lessons of morality for children.  Her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, teaches children to listen to their elders, as they know what is best.  This is demonstrated by the rabbit, Peter, who after his mother tells him not to go into Mr. McGregor’s garden, does exactly that, and ends up being chased by Mr. McGregor.  Had Peter listened to his mother, he would not have gotten sick, and could have enjoyed bread, milk, and blackberries for supper with his sisters.  The story continues in 1904 with the book, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.  In this book, Peter is visited by his cousin Benjamin Bunny, who convinces Peter to go to Mr. McGregor’s garden to retrieve his coat and shoes because Mr. McGregor is gone to town for the day.  While inside the garden, Peter appears nervous and is constantly checking his surroundings.  Peter and his cousin have a run-in with Mr. McGregor’s cat, but are saved by Mr. Benjamin Bunny, Benjamin’s father.  Peter returns home to his mother, who is happy to see that Peter has found his coat and shoes.  Perhaps the lesson in this story is that if you experience a bad feeling about something, go with your instincts and turn around before you get into trouble.

Beatrix Potter’s twenty-three children’s books teach important lessons amongst the cute illustrations of cuddly animals.  These books continue to be widely read today and their moral lessons still resonant with children around the world.

The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter. London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1989. Print.

Narrator Reliability

Reliability is an important quality in a person, no matter their gender or their age.  In Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Villette, the main character Lucy is considered an unreliable narrator because she does not always tell the truth, and she withholds information from the reader.  Withholding information and reliability does not just apply to narrators of stories; it also applies to real-life situations.  An example of this is the upcoming trial of a former Auschwitz camp guard in Germany.  Oskar Gröning, now ninety-three years old, has been charged with complicity in the murder of 300,000 Holocaust victims.  During World War II, Gröning was referred to as ‘the accountant of Auschwitz,’ as he was assigned to confiscate the luggage and money of prisoners arriving at Auschwitz concentration camp, in his capacity as an SS guard.  On Monday, April 20, around sixty joint plaintiffs that were due to give evidence expressed a wish that Gröning would use the trial to admit to having been more than just a passive witness to the horrors of the concentration camp.  Christophe Heubner, a German writer who will follow the trial, was quoted stating, “The open wounds caused by the non-existent justice system is an enduring scandal that has lasted since Auschwitz until today and caused huge indignation among the survivors.  The fact that most perpetrators died without seeing the inside of a courtroom, with most of them continuing to live in the middle of society without being confronted with their guilt, is not something we can change.  But it’s very important that these survivors can testify as witnesses now.”

As a history major, I see read flags all over this situation.  Historians are taught to be wary of sources and even people’s testimonies that have been taken down many years after an event took place.  That is why this is alarming because Gröning was twenty years old at the time he worked at Auschwitz, and is now being put on trial seventy-three years after the fact.  How does the court know that the testimonies given by Gröning and the witnesses are reliable?  Seventy years is a large gap in time, where memories could fade or become skewed due to new information released on the issue.  This is very similar to reading Villette and questioning Lucy’s reliability as a narrator.  The information Lucy provides must be evaluated for truth, rather than being taken at face value.  The same can be said for the witnesses of this trial because their testimonies may not be reliable seventy years after their time at Auschwitz.

Connolly, Kate. “Former Auschwitz Death Camp Guard to Go On Trial in Germany.” The Guardian. 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.