Here you go--an AI image, courtesy Freepik.com
Happy May Day! Have you ever
danced around a maypole? I picture young girls in Scandinavian costumes merrily
twining colorful ribbons around a tall pole. I’m told in real life it is
neither that colorful nor that easy—it takes practice and skill to turn out a
beautiful pole and not just a tangle of ribbons. Thanks to author and botanist
Susan Tweit for reminding me May Day is also Beltane on the Celtic calendar, a
day for celebrating the high peak of spring when things are greening and
growing and our world is turning toward summer, a long day as we stretch toward
those lovely summer evenings. I for one love daylight savings time and will be
crushed if it is ever done away with. I love long, light evenings and dislike
those shortened days when winter closes you in darkness as early as four or
five in the afternoon. So go celebrate Beltrane and dance around your own
imaginary maypole.
An ordinary, dull day at the
cottage, but Jacob provided a bit of excitement. Jordan and I were watching the
news and having a bit of wine when he came running out looking frazzled and
said, “There’s a huge problem.” In literal terms, it turned out not to be huge
but rather small—he’d found a baby tarantula in his bed. Mother and son tore
out of here like the house was on fire, with me futilely calling after them, “They
don’t bite.” I was so afraid in their panic they would smush the poor baby. Jordan
is quite squeamish about bugs and critters, and she’s pretty much passed that on
to Jacob. To my relief the tarantula was on a shirt, and they simply folded the
shirt around it and rushed it outdoors. Score one for Mother Nature1\
I was reminded of the welcoming
ceremony for my youngest son Jamie—because my husband was Jewish and I
Protestant, our children were welcomed into the concerned community at a
Unitarian church. When it was Jamie’s turn, a friend brought him a gift—a live
tarantula in what I think was a cottage cheese container. If I remember
correctly, the creature went to Colorado on a plane with my sister-in-law’s
brother. And that wasn’t the most unusual welcoming ceremony: at another, I
think for Megan, when parents were asked to bring their children to the front,
a man brought his dog. The minister didn’t know what to do, so he simply asked
the man, as he had asked other parents, “How do you call your dog?” Substituting
dog for child was his only concession to the strange request. My brother loved
to tell that story.
Benji has a new fascination—the
motion-activate automatic garbage can. He will stand and stare at it, waiting
for action, for hours. Once or twice he has gotten his nose close enough to the
sensor that he has triggered it open—his nose is just the right height. Then he
jumps back in alarm. Sometimes when I am cooking, I am tempted to open it just
to give him a thrill.
I am disturbed these days by
the protests—and the official reaction to them—on campuses across the country.
Tonight I worry particularly about UCLA because I have a granddaughter there. I
remember the sixties and Kent State too clearly. Instead of a knee-jerk
reaction with law enforcement in riot gear, I think university officials should
meet with protest leaders, listen to them. I read an eloquent statement by a
Jewish student from New York who said pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups were
working together, trying to find common ground. Why can’t the so-called
grown-ups do this too? I have not read of much violence on protestors part, though
there has been some, but I have read of at least two faculty members badly injured by those heavily armed troops.
And I think that’s a crying shame in America. There is another side to the
story: Senator John Cornyn of Texas said today that a high percentage of those
arrested at UT/Austin had no connection
to the university. If Cornyn is correct—he’s not one of my favorite people, so
I’m not sure I always trust him—that means outside agitators are stirring up
the trouble on campuses. Even so, I think administrations should meet with
student leaders and listen and negotiate. As bombs rain down on Palestinians
who have taken refuge, as told to, in Rafah, How do you tall people to take
refuge somewhere and then bomb that place and threaten to send troops in? I am
not at all certain of the US position of absolute support for Netanyahu.
Israel? Yes. Netanyahu and Zionism, not so much.
May we find peace in our time,
but not at the cost of liberty or democracy!
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