Sunday, March 15, 2009

Childhood Summers in Florida

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Summers in Florida


I don’t know why I remember something so uneventful as sitting on Aunt Effie’s
screened-in front porch at dusk. The damp evenings were almost as warm as the days. Thank
goodness the porch was screened in; otherwise, without that protection from the mosquitos, my
sister and I may have been eaten alive as we slept.

Rocking chairs, the old-fashioned kind with the high backs and enough room in the seat,
perpendicularly lined two sides of Aunt Effie’s house. My sister Shari and I had so much fun
listening to her talk with Mima, my grandmother. Mima used to smoke and I would get so
mesmerized by the “trail” of light the lit end would create. Between Mima’s trail of light,
listening to the high-pitched little voice my 4’11” Aunt Effie, the sounds of the crickets, and the
light show that the fireflies gave us, Shari and I were always entertained.
Every now and then my mother would speak but mostly she would listen. I’m sure that
she was thinking about her father, my grandfather and brother of Aunt Effie. I barely
remember him because I was only three when his ship disappeared. I do remember the last
time that I saw him, though. Mima drove us all to the Port of Beaumont where his ship, the
Sulphur Queen, was docked. I later found out that he was supposed to be on leave but filled in
for a fellow mate who had taken ill. The ship was enormous! My mother and Uncle Buddy
walked with my grandfather onto the ship while Shari and I stayed in the parking lot with
Mima—she could not bear to say goodbye so she never went onto the ship. It seemed like we
were there a long time, just waiting.
Mom was a Daddy’s Girl from what I understand. She has a gentle, quiet soul, a typically
sensitive artist. Losing her father and divorcing her husband, especially at such a young age, had
to have been almost too much to emotionally handle. Southern women were different back then
because their lives always seemed to cater to their husbands and taking care of their children.
However, she was determined to finish her Master’s Degree in English and when that happened,
she packed the three of us up and moved us out west to Tucson in the summer of 1966. That
was the beginning of my “wonder years.”

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Shakespeare in Love - "It's a Mystery"

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"Shakespeare in Love" review

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YouTube is selective about which videos are reproduced, so this video selection was not my first choice!
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In John Madden’s film Shakespeare in Love, the idea of Gwenyth Paltrow convincingly dressing like a man may unbelievable. However, as the story to unfolds, many seemingly implausible components of the film coalesce, creating a plausible vision of Shakespeare’s life. In conjunction with playwright Tom Stoppard, Maddon creates a successful love story between William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) and Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow). The interplay of fact, fantasy, humor, and allusion create a portrait of Shakespeare and his environs.
In Shakespeare in Love, Madden blends fact and fantasy with the characters in the film. Such characters as Christopher Marlowe, Philip Henslowe, Will Kempe, John Hemings, Augustine Philips, and Richard Burbage were all characters in William Shakespeare’s life.

In the movie, the roles they played in Shakespeare’s life are altered to further the plot. One example is Philip Henslowe, who was in debt to loan shark Hugh Fennyman. In exchange for a partnership in the comedy "Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate’s Daughter", Henslowe is able to absolve himself of his debt because he is sure the comedy will be a hit. Henslowe was unaware that the play would be renamed Romeo and Juliet, and would end in a tragedy. The ensemble of characters in the story worked together to create something extraordinary.

Shakespeare maintains undertones of comedy in Romeo and Juliet, such as the character of the Nurse. Stoppard and Maddon retain the same undertones, and inject present-day humor in Shakespeare in Love. The presence of a coffee mug marked “A present from Stratford-on-Avon” gives the viewer the first clue to many other humorous subtleties to come. Madden brings smiles to viewers when Shakespeare jumps into the ferry and says “Follow that boat!”; and the often said phrase, “It’s a mystery,” keeps the unique lighthearted feeling alive as the audience compares the parallel plots of Shakespeare in Love and Romeo and Juliet.

The parallel plots uniquely endear William Shakespeare to the viewers. Initially, as the film establishes its own plot, Madden uses fact, fantasy and humor to captivate the audience. As Gwyneth Paltrow’s character disguises herself as Thomas Kent, romantic comedy emerges. The clever allusion to Romeo and Juliet within the plot of the actual film delights the fans. For example, Will and Viola are making love and reciting the lines from Romeo and Juliet, lines which Will includes in his current play. The film volleys back and forth between Will and Viola to characters, Romeo and Juliet.

John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love not only demonstrates how the interplay of fact, fantasy, humor, and allusion create a portrait of Shakespeare and his environs, but enthralls the audience. The successful love story of Romeo and Juliet haunts the minds of most Shakespeare fans, and finds ways into the hearts of viewers everywhere, through Shakespeare in Love.




Work Cited
Shakespeare in Love. Dir. John Madden. Perf. Gweneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Geoffrey Ruch, Colin Firth, and Ben Affleck. Videocassette. Miramax, 1998.
~Dana







Thursday, March 12, 2009

Northern Ireland on alert for smuggled bomb


I borrowed this article from the Christian Science Monitor website. I just think it's so important, and also very sad, that this is happening again.


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Northern Ireland tense as officials hunt for smuggled bomb
Ireland unites in protest against violence as police begin crackdown on dissident groups.
By Jason Walsh 03.12.09
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DUBLIN, Ireland – A security alert has been issued today in the Northern Ireland town of Ballykinler, the site of a British Army base.


The Ballykinler base in County Down is one of several feared targets of dissident republicans intent on reigniting Northern Ireland’s “Troubles” – a three-decade long conflict between Irish republicans and Britain. Despite widespread condemnation of the dissident activity, many fear the attacks are being stepped-up in order to destabilize Northern Irish society.


A joint operation now underway by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Garda Síochána, the Republic of Ireland’s police, seeks to uncover a bomb believed to have been smuggled into Northern Ireland by a dissident republican group calling itself the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), which claimed responsibility for killing two British soldiers Saturday.
The bomb alert follows a report in London’s Guardian newspaper that stated security forces are scouring the country after receiving intelligence reports that the RIRA has smuggled a large bomb into Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland.


Guardian correspondent Henry MacDonald says the alert has been at “red light level” since Monday. “The evidence is on the streets and roads – there are checkpoints in South Down and South Armagh.”


Security has been tightened on the largely open and unpatrolled 224-mile border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, according to media reports.


A PSNI spokesperson said that they do not discuss operational matters. The Garda Síochána also declined to comment.


The bomb scare comes as heads of Ireland’s two police forces are set to meet in Belfast today to discuss the recent violence by dissidents. Police chiefs Hugh Orde and Fachtna Murphy will assess the security threat posed by the emboldened groups still opposed to the 1998 Good Friday Peace Accord.


Northern Ireland remains tense after a recent spate of shootings in which three people – two soldiers and a police officer – were killed. The soldiers were shot by the RIRA in Antrim on on March 7, the Monitor reported here. Two days later, we reported on the killing of a police officer by another breakaway group called the Continuity IRA. The two attacks are being treated as unrelated by the authorities. Mr. Orde said reports of a connection were “speculation.”
Four people were also injured in the Antrim attack, including two pizza delivery men. Two men were arrested in connection with the shooting of Constable Carroll in Craigavon on Tuesday.
The surge in violence follows more than a decade of relative calm on the streets of Northern Ireland.


Police have denied there are plans to release security camera footage of the attacks on Massarene barracks in Antrim.


An interview with the family of murdered PSNI officer, Constable Stephen Paul Carroll, was carried out by local television on Wednesday evening and will be released to the media Thursday night. Constable Carroll will be buried tomorrow in his hometown of Banbridge in County Down.
The sudden outbreak of violence has been met with widespread revulsion across Northern Ireland’s divided Roman Catholic and Protestant communities. Political leaders from all sides have condemned the attacks, including Sinn Féin, the party linked to the now disarmed Provisional IRA, the main republican player in Northern Ireland’s 30-year “Troubles.”


As the Monitor reported Thursday, more than 10,000 people gathered in Belfast Wednesday to hold a rally demanding an end to dissident violence.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Attempts to Negotiate Peace After Bloodshed in Northern Ireland

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ANTRIM, Northern Ireland – It may not be over yet as leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant government pledged to keep the peace Sunday, after Irish Republican Army dissidents fatally shot two off-duty British soldiers meeting pizza delivery men at a barracks entrance.


Police said the gunmen opened fire from a car outside the base, then shot at least some victims at close range as they lay on the ground. The bloodshed is all too familiar when we learned of four UK soldiers being hit with two fatalities. Also shot were the two delivery men, a local teenager who was seriously wounded, and a 32-year-old Polish immigrant who remained in critical condition Sunday night.


The Sunday Tribune newspaper said it received a claim of responsibility in a phone call from a man claiming to represent the Real IRA splinter group. The paper said the caller, who used a code word to verify he was a spokesman for the outlawed gang, defended the shooting and described the Domino's Pizza workers as "collaborators of British rule in Ireland."


The Real IRA was responsible for the deadliest terror attack in Northern Ireland history: a 1998 car-bombing of the town of Omagh that killed 29 people, mostly women and children.
The senior Catholic in the power-sharing coalition, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, said dissidents were trying to rekindle sectarian bloodshed and force Britain to resume sterner security policies.


The IRA killed nearly 1,800 people from 1970 to 1997 in a failed effort to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and into the Republic of Ireland. The IRA disarmed and renounced violence in 2005, but splinter groups using a wide range of labels have tried to continue the campaign.
~Dana
Dana's Muse
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AP

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Your Soft Place

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The world won't stop spinning
even though it stands still
in moments I have to share
with you


Working through the days
of embittered pasts, I am here
as my time stands still
for you


I am soft in many ways
you can lay your head down
I will stroke it, quietly,
for you


You may want to know I can be
your soft place to fall in the days
when everything seems to be
against you


Cradling your heart in my palm
I will be your soft place to fall
wherever you may go I am here
for you


Through smiles, making love
through strife and discord
I can be the soft place to fall
for you


*******
the night is so quiet
except for the whispering wind
tickling the windchimes
tantalizing my mood
looking up to the celestial garden
knowing that the stars which shine
also shine for you
attempting to catch one that falls
across the sky into my hand
lighting my life
with a momentary glimpse
of what is to come
making me smile through the dark
so that I may be a light
softening blows in a mortal world
and I could be your soft place
wanting to feel you there
as you land in my arms
your soft place
for a time such as this
knowing whatever may come
it will be all right
as I pillow your fall into the night
that you may remove your mask
if only for a little while
and maybe I can be your soft place
your soft place to fall
when all else seems to fail
as I am so very soft
in many ways