Supporting effective and meaningful personal growth through spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical balance.
It's just us (wild) folks.
America's dog; the coyote!
(Let's stop killing them!)
These are such good quotes that I just keep them
here to remind me of some wisdoms I may forget day-to-day. So, I may
add to them now and then but in the main, just leave them to keep my
brain happy. c
"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing." William James
"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have."
Garrison Keillor
"I was determined to spend my life seeking Truth while being spared the company of those who claimed to have found it." (attributed to) John Henry Faulk
'I don't know, I just work here."
Joseph, Beautiful Painted Arrow, Real (in response to any spiritual inquiry)
"I am a member of 'The Church of There's-Something-Going-on-Here!'" coyote
He was constantly narrating his own actions in a writerly way, in his head. "I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued." George Orwell
(Me, Garrison Keillor & George, and probably a million other
writers on the planet. )
"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing." William James
"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have."
Garrison Keillor
"I was determined to spend my life seeking Truth while being spared the company of those who claimed to have found it." (attributed to) John Henry Faulk
'I don't know, I just work here."
Joseph, Beautiful Painted Arrow, Real (in response to any spiritual inquiry)
"I am a member of 'The Church of There's-Something-Going-on-Here!'" coyote
He was constantly narrating his own actions in a writerly way, in his head. "I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued." George Orwell
Coyote's
Cards, original photographs on beautifully lithographed cards with
envelopes. Bob Clancy has created a fully functional page for us. Just
Click-the-link!
(All Spirit Earth Path ceremonies are in Bold!)
September
20th-22nd, The Men's Weekend
28th, Sweat Lodge, 6 PM
October
8th, Men's Circle, 6:30 PM
11th-13th, Colorado Springs fair
22nd, Men's Circle, 6:30 PM
26th, Women's Circle
"We're Managing Wildlife"
the Trappers say;
We say:
Ban Trapping,
And "Manage" Trappers!
• • •
Help us support these activist organizations:
The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
www.nmwild.org
...and ProjectCoyote
www.projectcoyote.org
Little known movies to rent from Netflix and books to check out:
Books
I no longer look back by counting years, it's now all about blocks of time we call "decades". So, decades ago I read Paul Horgan's "The Great River"(the Rio Grande) and decided, a few weeks ago, to pick it up again. It's a thick book, not just in the number of pages, but in information about, the Southwest, the America of the mid 1800's, the nature of Americans (whites) Mexicans, Indians, humans, what stagecoaches were made of, how battles began, the Mexican-American war, Santa Fe, D.C., Pancho Villa, James Polk, the nature of the cowboy and his relationship to his horse......too much to list, way too much. This is one incredible book. (won the Pulitzer) I can't recommend it highly enough. What a book! Should be required reading for anyone who cares about how we became the U.S.
Path of the Puma. We live in Mountain Lion country here in north-central New Mexico. In the twenty-five years we’ve been here we’ve seen three, one big one and two smaller. We have been extraordinarily lucky. Some people, even those given to lots of hiking in the back country may never see one in their lifetime that’s why some call these elusive animals “ghost cats”. But they DO see us. If you are in mountain lion country you can bet you are being watched, not as prey, they much prefer deer, but certainly as presence.
Jim Williams book is a great read, all about the puma, panther, catamount, mountain lion in all its beauty and its importance to the survival of the entire Wild in both North and South America. This book is another worth-your-time read with very fine photography to boot. It follows the mountain lion’s range from Canada to Patagonia and tells the story well. Don’t pass it up.
Check out Michelle Obama' book "Becoming" and you'll soon know why it's a best seller. Her style is open and accessible, just as she is. This is a marvelous read and a sad reminder at the same time –––– knowing what we had compared to what we have now.....well, what can be said?
• • •
• • •
• • •
Just a short look at a book I finished this week (this is why I'm not getting any of my own writing done....but I AM trimming trees after all so it's not like I'm slacking off). This book is Red Cloud, a bio of the Sioux Chief by Robert W. Larson. It's a good read and a very clear description of the times (mid 1800's to early 1900's) and this important Sioux presence.
By the way, I also want to plug any book by Mari Sandoz who was a genius of a writer about so much in the west and the Great Plains....and the Indians of course. Read anything by her and she will take you there both in time and in language. Some readers back in her day (mid 20th Century) didn't like the fact that she did not romanticize the Old West...quite the opposite. Another writer whose work is worth your time.
Do NOT pass this one up! The title might seem to predict a dry read about self-help tricks, but that is not the case at all. This one is well written, a first person narrative about how to change how we both perceive and experience what we keep believing is reality. If you invest time in reading anything over the next few weeks, make it this one!
• • •
• • •
Movies (& TV)
• • • • • •
We never darken the door of a commercial movie house, we just stream 'em from Netflix, or Amazon Prime, or Acorn. So no "New Releases" here...but we watched a couple of good ones in the last week or so and they come highly recommended from a couple of old movie buffs.
• • •
• • •
• • •
The Men's Page
Men's Health
(Up-dated August 21st)
"You Americans and Your Guns!"
Fallout for me.
The Notes Page
A Rant and an Idea
Notes from Seneca
We Are Still Young
Where Have You Been...?
I'm Losing it!
Considering Beginnings
A Hobby (New)
What Are You Doing.....?
Return with me Now....
I Usually Avoid Backward Glances
The Albuquerque Big Band
Just Say No!
Last Flight
Finally
White Privilege?
It was a very good day.
What's in a Name?
"Surely there comes a time when counting the cost and paying the price aren't things to think about any more. All that matters is value- the ultimate value of what one does." James Hilton
"Never regret," Elenor Hibbert said. "If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience."
• • •
• • •
20th-22nd, The Men's Weekend
28th, Sweat Lodge, 6 PM
October
8th, Men's Circle, 6:30 PM
11th-13th, Colorado Springs fair
22nd, Men's Circle, 6:30 PM
26th, Women's Circle
"We're Managing Wildlife"
the Trappers say;
We say:
Ban Trapping,
And "Manage" Trappers!
• • •
Help us support these activist organizations:
The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
www.nmwild.org
...and ProjectCoyote
www.projectcoyote.org
Little known movies to rent from Netflix and books to check out:
Books
(I read a lot of books but don't review those that are unremarkable to
me. So there will be "blank" spaces here...nothing reviewed for a time.
Doesn't mean I'm not reading, just nothing to report at present.) c
I went to the library this week and picked up four books. They all looked interesting (if one wasn’t then I had three to fall back on. This is my usual approach.)
One is Bob Newhart’s memoir, “I shouldn’t even be doing this!” It’s good bedside reading and a little bit interesting as well.
The second was “Signs of Life”, rock art of the Upper Rio Grande, which is right about where we live. Lots of pictures supported by informative text. Another good bed side read.
The third, a coffee table book, “The Shamans of Prehistory”. This is about the cave paintings and rock art all over the world. Big color plates in this one....a bit too academic for my tastes. Photos were good though.
And the fourth, which I’ve just finished, is…has been, a fascinating read….and you will have to take some time with it. It’s “Hi Hitler”…..yes, you read that right, “Hi” not “Heil”. Author Gavriel D. Rosenfeld explores both Hitler the man and the myth and Nazism, and this is a wide ranging journey through books, movies, the internet, fiction, fact, fantasy…..for example, he examines the obsession with the what-ifs of history. Does it even serve to bother with this undertaking? he asks. An interesting response to this is to wonder if the Nazi government would have continued to function without Hitler at it’s head? One answer says “yes”. The machinery was in place, the German population supported it, so after a time it didn’t matter who stood at the wheel, so assassination would not have stopped anything. (Would impeachment?)
Was Nazism a singular experience of the time(s) or is its venom always present in humanity ready to poison a civilization at any moment?
Lots of questions like this and he’s not trying to reach conclusions as much as deal with ALL the possibilities.
It’s not dull by any means. In fact, it’s absorbing.
Written in 2015, it needs an addendum under the current circumstances……for obvious reasons.
It’s a good thing I didn’t get ahold of Roger Welsch’s book “The Reluctant Pilgrim, A skeptic’s journey into Native Mysteries” before I wrote mine. (Becoming Coyote, A Journey of Enlightenment…Mostly.) because I would have been accused of plagiarism (by me at least).
Chapter after chapter in Roger’s book parallel my own, not word for word, but at least concept by concept. I DID borrow, actually quote, one of Roger’s ideas. It came as a result of a phone call to him which might have taken place right about the time he was writing “Reluctant…” about 2014 or so. In that call, a rare one since Roger is phone-call adverse, he told me his granddaughter had commented to him that she thought he was a “…..member of the church of ‘There’s Something-going-on-here.’” (How did I get his number? A result of “Something-going-on-here!”)
When Roger related that to me I immediately recognized that that was exactly the “church” I belonged to and that the idea of Something-going-on summed up my thinking as well. I’ve use it ever since. (Thanks Roger!)
I’ve tried to contact Roger, even re-opened my Facebook account temporarily only to get in touch with him (I don’t “do” social media) but to no avail…so I’ve let go of the idea.
“Reluctant” is a good one and if you are seeking any kind of spiritual path, this is the read for you….ESPECIALLY if you’re a skeptic.
I went to the library this week and picked up four books. They all looked interesting (if one wasn’t then I had three to fall back on. This is my usual approach.)
One is Bob Newhart’s memoir, “I shouldn’t even be doing this!” It’s good bedside reading and a little bit interesting as well.
The second was “Signs of Life”, rock art of the Upper Rio Grande, which is right about where we live. Lots of pictures supported by informative text. Another good bed side read.
The third, a coffee table book, “The Shamans of Prehistory”. This is about the cave paintings and rock art all over the world. Big color plates in this one....a bit too academic for my tastes. Photos were good though.
And the fourth, which I’ve just finished, is…has been, a fascinating read….and you will have to take some time with it. It’s “Hi Hitler”…..yes, you read that right, “Hi” not “Heil”. Author Gavriel D. Rosenfeld explores both Hitler the man and the myth and Nazism, and this is a wide ranging journey through books, movies, the internet, fiction, fact, fantasy…..for example, he examines the obsession with the what-ifs of history. Does it even serve to bother with this undertaking? he asks. An interesting response to this is to wonder if the Nazi government would have continued to function without Hitler at it’s head? One answer says “yes”. The machinery was in place, the German population supported it, so after a time it didn’t matter who stood at the wheel, so assassination would not have stopped anything. (Would impeachment?)
Was Nazism a singular experience of the time(s) or is its venom always present in humanity ready to poison a civilization at any moment?
Lots of questions like this and he’s not trying to reach conclusions as much as deal with ALL the possibilities.
It’s not dull by any means. In fact, it’s absorbing.
Written in 2015, it needs an addendum under the current circumstances……for obvious reasons.
It’s a good thing I didn’t get ahold of Roger Welsch’s book “The Reluctant Pilgrim, A skeptic’s journey into Native Mysteries” before I wrote mine. (Becoming Coyote, A Journey of Enlightenment…Mostly.) because I would have been accused of plagiarism (by me at least).
Chapter after chapter in Roger’s book parallel my own, not word for word, but at least concept by concept. I DID borrow, actually quote, one of Roger’s ideas. It came as a result of a phone call to him which might have taken place right about the time he was writing “Reluctant…” about 2014 or so. In that call, a rare one since Roger is phone-call adverse, he told me his granddaughter had commented to him that she thought he was a “…..member of the church of ‘There’s Something-going-on-here.’” (How did I get his number? A result of “Something-going-on-here!”)
When Roger related that to me I immediately recognized that that was exactly the “church” I belonged to and that the idea of Something-going-on summed up my thinking as well. I’ve use it ever since. (Thanks Roger!)
I’ve tried to contact Roger, even re-opened my Facebook account temporarily only to get in touch with him (I don’t “do” social media) but to no avail…so I’ve let go of the idea.
“Reluctant” is a good one and if you are seeking any kind of spiritual path, this is the read for you….ESPECIALLY if you’re a skeptic.
Before
all my filters and boundary’s were put into place I was a lot more
accepting of differences….so I must have been about seven when I was
wider open than I subsequently became. (I am opening again now I
notice.)
Back then I’d listen to just about anything on the radio (our only exterior form of home entertainment). Indicative of one area as an example was that I loved country music (the Grand ol’ Oprey, Sons of the Pioneers…) and an obscure radio program called “Lum and Abner”. It was a strange little peek into what we called “Hill Billy” country, a story about the happenings at the “Jot-em-down store” located at some back country crossroads in the Appalachians ( a word I’ve never been able to spell).
Time and I moved on and most of that was lost to me, BUT! I must add here, lately I’ve caught a few of the “Lum and Abner” shows on XM radio and found them, at the very least, charming……and then I came across a little book in our local library. I was looking for a bio, any bio for light but informative reading and happened upon “Running on Red Dog Road” (Drema Hall Berkheimer). Subtitled, “And other perils of an Appalachian Childhood”. I was immediately not interested…BUT! I looked at the first two pages and scenes shot by Dorothea Lang and images of the thirties dust bowl, and tumbled down coal towns and the movie “Matewan” (a must see by the way) and Ludlow, Colorado….all of these came sneaking in past my censors so I checked it out.
Even when I got it home and after checking out a few more pages, I didn't think I’d dive into it….;Appalachia….just not interested……and then I did….and then I was….and then I fell into Drema’s story telling…..and I found all the humanity she storied about……and I will just say this right here, I fell enough in love with all those people, people I could have cared less about before Drema’s revealing of them, so much so that I decided to try to contact her to thank her for the gifts of this story……and then I found out that she had died just one year ago almost to the day that I had finished her book.
This isn’t the end of the story however.
I found out about her death at the web site of author Kathleen M. Rodgers, a friend of Dremas' and I emailed her about my experience of Drema’s book and next thing I know she has called me and we had a long conversation, which included sharing tears, about Drema’s story telling. There were a number of small miracles embedded in that conversation and I’m sure I will write about them one day soon, but right now I will just sum all this up with a little quote from “Red Dog…”,
“Grandma had warned us that those places were just as crooked as a rattlesnake and we had no business whatsoever going anywhere near them and she’d better not hear tell that we had or we would be plenty sorry and we should mark her words because we’d have her to deal with when we got home and make no mistake about that.”
“So, that’s where we headed.”
I was seven again, and this book opened all those doors into rooms I hadn’t visited for a long, long time. You might like a visit as well.
PS Yes, yes "Lum and Abner" were stereotypes of Appalachian people and can be seen as making everyone from the area seem simple. Well, I never believed that entirely, Minnie Pearl notwithstanding.
I once met a guy from Appalachia in a punch press plant I was working in and he built a stereo amp for me from scratch. It wasn't pretty, but it sure as hell worked. Nothing "simple" about him.
(This was not a coerced disclaimer. Just thought I'd add it in.) c
Back then I’d listen to just about anything on the radio (our only exterior form of home entertainment). Indicative of one area as an example was that I loved country music (the Grand ol’ Oprey, Sons of the Pioneers…) and an obscure radio program called “Lum and Abner”. It was a strange little peek into what we called “Hill Billy” country, a story about the happenings at the “Jot-em-down store” located at some back country crossroads in the Appalachians ( a word I’ve never been able to spell).
Time and I moved on and most of that was lost to me, BUT! I must add here, lately I’ve caught a few of the “Lum and Abner” shows on XM radio and found them, at the very least, charming……and then I came across a little book in our local library. I was looking for a bio, any bio for light but informative reading and happened upon “Running on Red Dog Road” (Drema Hall Berkheimer). Subtitled, “And other perils of an Appalachian Childhood”. I was immediately not interested…BUT! I looked at the first two pages and scenes shot by Dorothea Lang and images of the thirties dust bowl, and tumbled down coal towns and the movie “Matewan” (a must see by the way) and Ludlow, Colorado….all of these came sneaking in past my censors so I checked it out.
Even when I got it home and after checking out a few more pages, I didn't think I’d dive into it….;Appalachia….just not interested……and then I did….and then I was….and then I fell into Drema’s story telling…..and I found all the humanity she storied about……and I will just say this right here, I fell enough in love with all those people, people I could have cared less about before Drema’s revealing of them, so much so that I decided to try to contact her to thank her for the gifts of this story……and then I found out that she had died just one year ago almost to the day that I had finished her book.
This isn’t the end of the story however.
I found out about her death at the web site of author Kathleen M. Rodgers, a friend of Dremas' and I emailed her about my experience of Drema’s book and next thing I know she has called me and we had a long conversation, which included sharing tears, about Drema’s story telling. There were a number of small miracles embedded in that conversation and I’m sure I will write about them one day soon, but right now I will just sum all this up with a little quote from “Red Dog…”,
“Grandma had warned us that those places were just as crooked as a rattlesnake and we had no business whatsoever going anywhere near them and she’d better not hear tell that we had or we would be plenty sorry and we should mark her words because we’d have her to deal with when we got home and make no mistake about that.”
“So, that’s where we headed.”
I was seven again, and this book opened all those doors into rooms I hadn’t visited for a long, long time. You might like a visit as well.
PS Yes, yes "Lum and Abner" were stereotypes of Appalachian people and can be seen as making everyone from the area seem simple. Well, I never believed that entirely, Minnie Pearl notwithstanding.
I once met a guy from Appalachia in a punch press plant I was working in and he built a stereo amp for me from scratch. It wasn't pretty, but it sure as hell worked. Nothing "simple" about him.
(This was not a coerced disclaimer. Just thought I'd add it in.) c
I no longer look back by counting years, it's now all about blocks of time we call "decades". So, decades ago I read Paul Horgan's "The Great River"(the Rio Grande) and decided, a few weeks ago, to pick it up again. It's a thick book, not just in the number of pages, but in information about, the Southwest, the America of the mid 1800's, the nature of Americans (whites) Mexicans, Indians, humans, what stagecoaches were made of, how battles began, the Mexican-American war, Santa Fe, D.C., Pancho Villa, James Polk, the nature of the cowboy and his relationship to his horse......too much to list, way too much. This is one incredible book. (won the Pulitzer) I can't recommend it highly enough. What a book! Should be required reading for anyone who cares about how we became the U.S.
Path of the Puma. We live in Mountain Lion country here in north-central New Mexico. In the twenty-five years we’ve been here we’ve seen three, one big one and two smaller. We have been extraordinarily lucky. Some people, even those given to lots of hiking in the back country may never see one in their lifetime that’s why some call these elusive animals “ghost cats”. But they DO see us. If you are in mountain lion country you can bet you are being watched, not as prey, they much prefer deer, but certainly as presence.
Jim Williams book is a great read, all about the puma, panther, catamount, mountain lion in all its beauty and its importance to the survival of the entire Wild in both North and South America. This book is another worth-your-time read with very fine photography to boot. It follows the mountain lion’s range from Canada to Patagonia and tells the story well. Don’t pass it up.
Check out Michelle Obama' book "Becoming" and you'll soon know why it's a best seller. Her style is open and accessible, just as she is. This is a marvelous read and a sad reminder at the same time –––– knowing what we had compared to what we have now.....well, what can be said?
Wayward Lives,
Beautiful Experiments, Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval
is a rare blend of prose poetry and history, specifically the history
of
black women from about 1870 to around 1935. In other words, from the
end of slavery into the middle of the jazz age…..an escape from the
violence of the South to the oppression of the North.
It’s an unblinking look at the officially sanctioned and unsubtle racism that black people seeking freedom from the overt racism of the South found in places like New York and Detroit, the escape from the plantation to continued subjugation ……an examination of the foundations that were laid, despite best intentions, for the construction of black ghettos. About how poor equals crook in the minds of cops, judges, social workers*, and politicians and how black people in particular were, and are, set up as targets of suspicion and mistrust.
Saidiya Hartman is the author and she is a genius when it comes to story telling, touching your heart, and telling it how it is. (A black specialty as far as I’m concerned.)
*This is also still going on. (One of these times I'll tell my experience of a local, New Mexico, food stamp office visit.)
It’s an unblinking look at the officially sanctioned and unsubtle racism that black people seeking freedom from the overt racism of the South found in places like New York and Detroit, the escape from the plantation to continued subjugation ……an examination of the foundations that were laid, despite best intentions, for the construction of black ghettos. About how poor equals crook in the minds of cops, judges, social workers*, and politicians and how black people in particular were, and are, set up as targets of suspicion and mistrust.
Saidiya Hartman is the author and she is a genius when it comes to story telling, touching your heart, and telling it how it is. (A black specialty as far as I’m concerned.)
*This is also still going on. (One of these times I'll tell my experience of a local, New Mexico, food stamp office visit.)
• • •
“Everyone loved sunsets. The light lost its sanity
as it fell over the
hills and into the Pacific¬––––it went red and deeper red, orange, and
even green. The skies seemed to melt, like lava eating black rock into
great bite marks of burning. Sometimes all the town stopped and stared
west.” (p-129 in “House of Broken
Angels”)
Who wouldn't love to have written that paragraph.....and that's just a
tiny taste of the kind of writing Luis Alberto Urrea produces time
after time in his masterful works of both fiction and non. Of those
I've only read, Hummingbird's
Daughter, Queen of America, & The Devil's Highway (couldn't
finish that one, too painful). Urrea is one of our great masters. • • •
It's such a drag that we lost Ivan Doig. He left us
in 2015 and left
behind in incredible legacy of wonderful writing that always leaves me
wondering at his skill as a prose-poet and wondering why I even try to
write anything. (Yes, I know I shouldn't do this
destructive-to-my-own-writer-skill thing, but.....I mean Ivan Doig was
someone apart from any ol' writer, and I read a lot of them.
Here's just a tiny example taken from "Mountain Time" (1999) His main character is meeting a woman at the airport. (Her name is "Mariah" by the way.) so he writes, "There. Announced by the hair." Now any other writer would have said something like, "Then he spotted her." or "He couldn't miss her red hair in the crowd." But not Doig. In just five words we can guess she's probably a red head with a massive amount of hair.
In the next paragraph he says, "Mariah, all footwork and grin, cut a sharp angle through the concourse crowd." We already know a lot about her just with that little description.
Doig. An amazing writer.
I first came upon him in "The Whistling Season" and then, "This House of Sky". I haven't read all of his stuff (his Bartender's Tale was just so/so) but these last two are certainly tops!
Frankly it's hard to enjoy another read after one of his. Have to take a bit of a breather so as not to be let down by what may be a "flat prose" writer.
Just finished David McCullough's "Truman". What a contrast to today's insult to our country (and the World). I wonder how long we have to wait for the final chapter to this pathetic and nightmarish "joke".......(we've had enough of the punch line.)
After the politics of Truman I was ready for something totally different.....I found it in Fredrick Backman's, "Britt-Marie Was Here"! It's a novel which begins with;
"Forks. Knives. Spoons. In that order. Britt-Marie is certainly not the kind of person who judges other people. Far from it. But surely no civilized person would even think of arranging a cutlery drawer in a different way from how cutlery drawers are supposed to be arranged. We're not animals are we?"
Etc.
And this is the way this wonderfully strange book ambles along....and then moves in another beautiful direction....or directions.
You will love this one. (Even if you're not a dedicated novel reader.)
Here's just a tiny example taken from "Mountain Time" (1999) His main character is meeting a woman at the airport. (Her name is "Mariah" by the way.) so he writes, "There. Announced by the hair." Now any other writer would have said something like, "Then he spotted her." or "He couldn't miss her red hair in the crowd." But not Doig. In just five words we can guess she's probably a red head with a massive amount of hair.
In the next paragraph he says, "Mariah, all footwork and grin, cut a sharp angle through the concourse crowd." We already know a lot about her just with that little description.
Doig. An amazing writer.
I first came upon him in "The Whistling Season" and then, "This House of Sky". I haven't read all of his stuff (his Bartender's Tale was just so/so) but these last two are certainly tops!
Frankly it's hard to enjoy another read after one of his. Have to take a bit of a breather so as not to be let down by what may be a "flat prose" writer.
• • •
Just finished David McCullough's "Truman". What a contrast to today's insult to our country (and the World). I wonder how long we have to wait for the final chapter to this pathetic and nightmarish "joke".......(we've had enough of the punch line.)
• • •
After the politics of Truman I was ready for something totally different.....I found it in Fredrick Backman's, "Britt-Marie Was Here"! It's a novel which begins with;
"Forks. Knives. Spoons. In that order. Britt-Marie is certainly not the kind of person who judges other people. Far from it. But surely no civilized person would even think of arranging a cutlery drawer in a different way from how cutlery drawers are supposed to be arranged. We're not animals are we?"
Etc.
And this is the way this wonderfully strange book ambles along....and then moves in another beautiful direction....or directions.
You will love this one. (Even if you're not a dedicated novel reader.)
• • •
Just a short look at a book I finished this week (this is why I'm not getting any of my own writing done....but I AM trimming trees after all so it's not like I'm slacking off). This book is Red Cloud, a bio of the Sioux Chief by Robert W. Larson. It's a good read and a very clear description of the times (mid 1800's to early 1900's) and this important Sioux presence.
By the way, I also want to plug any book by Mari Sandoz who was a genius of a writer about so much in the west and the Great Plains....and the Indians of course. Read anything by her and she will take you there both in time and in language. Some readers back in her day (mid 20th Century) didn't like the fact that she did not romanticize the Old West...quite the opposite. Another writer whose work is worth your time.
•
Here is a very important read; "How
to Change Your Mind, What the new science of Psychedelics" teaches us
about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. (Michael
Pollan)Do NOT pass this one up! The title might seem to predict a dry read about self-help tricks, but that is not the case at all. This one is well written, a first person narrative about how to change how we both perceive and experience what we keep believing is reality. If you invest time in reading anything over the next few weeks, make it this one!
• • •
My own book, "Becoming
Coyote, A Journey of
Enlightenment (Mostly)" is
not quite as "important" as Pollen's BUT! it's NOW available and is it
worth the read? After 14 edits I never want to
see it again.......however, you might like it and my
writer-editor-publisher daughter (Winter) says it's "...really good."
and it DID get good "reviews" from a couple of pre-publish
readers....so there you go.
It's thick enough (400+ pages) to make a good door stop and has a very nice cover.....which, for some obscure reason, I can't get to load here....? It beats any over-the-counter sleep aid and has no horrible side effects. (so far)
Anyway; it's $20, which will cover book, envelope, and postage. (No, not available in a "Kindle" edition or on Amazon so rare to begin with....and I'll sign it too!)
It's thick enough (400+ pages) to make a good door stop and has a very nice cover.....which, for some obscure reason, I can't get to load here....? It beats any over-the-counter sleep aid and has no horrible side effects. (so far)
Anyway; it's $20, which will cover book, envelope, and postage. (No, not available in a "Kindle" edition or on Amazon so rare to begin with....and I'll sign it too!)
• • •
If you can find it (at Amazon or your local library)
get ahold of "New Mexico: Voices in an
Ancient Landscape"
by Douglas Kent Hall. I read it and found three as gifts for other NM
lovers. This is a classic! First published in '95 it's a bit dated when
it comes to some of the views of the people interviewed, but it's a
fine piece of NM and Southwest history.
• • •
“In the absence of fact, myth rushes in, the kudzu
of
history.” What a great line. It was written by Stacy Schiff of whom it
is said, “Even if forced at gunpoint, Stacy Schiff would be incapable
of writing a dull page or a lame sentence.” For proof read her "Cleopatra, a Life".
What an epic work! This is not a book you can rush through, not if you
want the full benefit of Schiff’s hard won knowledge about this “last
empress” (as described by Schiff).
Here’s what the late Elroy Bode, author of eight books (among them; Commonplace Mysteries, To be Alive, Texas Sketchbook) said of Matchbook; “…the details, the perfect rendering of people and places…sentences that shine, words, phrases like jewels.”
He quotes one line, “During the last three years I had submerged the memory of Ella in a river of alcohol, watched as she sank below the turbulent surface of my mind.” and comments; “There is not a writer alive who would not be proud to have written that sentence.”
PS, She just finished a second, not a sequel, and it's every bit as good as Matchbook.
She's on a roll. That book, When I Knew You, is now available too.
• • •
Winter Desiree's book "Matchbook"
is detective-fiction.....not a genre
I usually read...BUT! this is one fine piece of reading and as one of
the comments on the back cover notes, "You will not be able to put it
down."...well, that's for sure. Don't pass this one up, my daughter has
written one FINE story and YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN....i.e.,
I read it in one day, Raven took two. We have 'em so to get a hard copy
contact us.
Cost is $10 + shipping (probaby $2) read and pass the word, this is a
good one.Here’s what the late Elroy Bode, author of eight books (among them; Commonplace Mysteries, To be Alive, Texas Sketchbook) said of Matchbook; “…the details, the perfect rendering of people and places…sentences that shine, words, phrases like jewels.”
He quotes one line, “During the last three years I had submerged the memory of Ella in a river of alcohol, watched as she sank below the turbulent surface of my mind.” and comments; “There is not a writer alive who would not be proud to have written that sentence.”
PS, She just finished a second, not a sequel, and it's every bit as good as Matchbook.
She's on a roll. That book, When I Knew You, is now available too.
Movies (& TV)
• • • • • •
We never darken the door of a commercial movie house, we just stream 'em from Netflix, or Amazon Prime, or Acorn. So no "New Releases" here...but we watched a couple of good ones in the last week or so and they come highly recommended from a couple of old movie buffs.
• • •
"The Good Place" is
lots of fun and throws in some "thinking" as well (I've had to watch
some episodes twice to really "get it". Nothing lost in a second view.
Like "Frazier" the intelligent writing holds these episodes up well. )
"The Bookshop" is the story of a woman trying to open a bookshop in a small English town ca. early 60's. Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, & cast. A fine story. (Amazon)
"The man who invented Christmas!" Yes, it's a story about Dickens, cleverly told by a cast of Brit. stars.....a really heart warming story about writing the book (A Christmas Carol of course.) Need your spirits lifted? This is the movie to see. (Netflix)
Rumors of Angels with Vanessa Redgrave. Heart felt and magical....likewise, Collateral Beauty with Will Smith and another fine cast. Both of these are about death of a loved one (a mother in the first, a child in the second) and both are very well done. (Netflix)
Binge watching report;
I finally gave in to recommendations from friends and began “Blue Bloods”. Of course I had to get by the lead stars political leanings (yes, towards THAT one) but Tom Selleck does lighten up some and drops a few laughs at himself now and then. (Had to endure the same process with Kelsey Grammer in Frazier.)
Just can’t deny that B.B. is really well written and acted and it’s nice that most of the time each drama plays out in one episode. Very nicely done.
(God I hope Blue Bloods has a 9th season soon.)
Yes, I know this is old hat to those who keep up with all of this on regular TV....but..we don't.
Designated Survivor is a combination of West Wing, Madam Secretary, and Blue Bloods. It’s a political drama about a president, the nature of the story telling seems based upon what could actually happen in D.C. and world today (and the kind of political maneuvering that could, and in some cases should take place in order to actually get things done) and the plot twists and cliff hangers that make up a true-crime drama.
Phew!
Yeah, it promotes binge watching for sure. In fact one night we watched SIX episodes just to get through to a conclusion that would allow us to turn off the TV and get to sleep without regret.
I won’t go into the set-up, it’s a bit too complicated to go through but the interesting thing is that the man who becomes president doesn’t belong to one of our two major parties. This sets up a theme all on its own. But more than that, the concept has challenged the script writers to come up with solutions to something our electorate has not been able to come to terms with….and even more interesting, the problems that the writers have the country dealing with are ALL front page issues in our real lives right now….and they have included real people, not actors, embedded in the story who bring up these issues both as statements separate from the story line, and some built into the story line as it unfolds.
For example, a group of trans-gender people meet in one of the episodes to discus the kinds of barriers they run into as they try to live their lives everyday. Two gay black men must deal with AIDS as their love affair unfolds (rather explicitly) as part of the main story (one of them is on the presidents Secret Service detail).
I could write a small book on all the “issues” dealt with in this show but it would take more time than I want to spend right now. I’ll just say that at first we thought it was a bit contrived and over-the-top, but as we continued to watch the 3 seasons it held up well and felt it belonged in the same company as those three “classics” we compared it to.
Check it out.
"The Bookshop" is the story of a woman trying to open a bookshop in a small English town ca. early 60's. Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, & cast. A fine story. (Amazon)
"The man who invented Christmas!" Yes, it's a story about Dickens, cleverly told by a cast of Brit. stars.....a really heart warming story about writing the book (A Christmas Carol of course.) Need your spirits lifted? This is the movie to see. (Netflix)
Rumors of Angels with Vanessa Redgrave. Heart felt and magical....likewise, Collateral Beauty with Will Smith and another fine cast. Both of these are about death of a loved one (a mother in the first, a child in the second) and both are very well done. (Netflix)
Binge watching report;
I finally gave in to recommendations from friends and began “Blue Bloods”. Of course I had to get by the lead stars political leanings (yes, towards THAT one) but Tom Selleck does lighten up some and drops a few laughs at himself now and then. (Had to endure the same process with Kelsey Grammer in Frazier.)
Just can’t deny that B.B. is really well written and acted and it’s nice that most of the time each drama plays out in one episode. Very nicely done.
(God I hope Blue Bloods has a 9th season soon.)
Yes, I know this is old hat to those who keep up with all of this on regular TV....but..we don't.
Designated Survivor is a combination of West Wing, Madam Secretary, and Blue Bloods. It’s a political drama about a president, the nature of the story telling seems based upon what could actually happen in D.C. and world today (and the kind of political maneuvering that could, and in some cases should take place in order to actually get things done) and the plot twists and cliff hangers that make up a true-crime drama.
Phew!
Yeah, it promotes binge watching for sure. In fact one night we watched SIX episodes just to get through to a conclusion that would allow us to turn off the TV and get to sleep without regret.
I won’t go into the set-up, it’s a bit too complicated to go through but the interesting thing is that the man who becomes president doesn’t belong to one of our two major parties. This sets up a theme all on its own. But more than that, the concept has challenged the script writers to come up with solutions to something our electorate has not been able to come to terms with….and even more interesting, the problems that the writers have the country dealing with are ALL front page issues in our real lives right now….and they have included real people, not actors, embedded in the story who bring up these issues both as statements separate from the story line, and some built into the story line as it unfolds.
For example, a group of trans-gender people meet in one of the episodes to discus the kinds of barriers they run into as they try to live their lives everyday. Two gay black men must deal with AIDS as their love affair unfolds (rather explicitly) as part of the main story (one of them is on the presidents Secret Service detail).
I could write a small book on all the “issues” dealt with in this show but it would take more time than I want to spend right now. I’ll just say that at first we thought it was a bit contrived and over-the-top, but as we continued to watch the 3 seasons it held up well and felt it belonged in the same company as those three “classics” we compared it to.
Check it out.
Going in Style
is a classic heist movie but the perps are all "oldies and goodies";
Morgan Freeman, Michael Cain, and Alan Arkin (and Ann Margret). It's a
revenge-bank holdup, a theme we can all identify with. (Guess I'd better
not give away the ending.) Have fun, it's light viewing and good times.
• • •
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio with
Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson is a winner. It's the true story of
a woman who kept her family of 10 kids and husband (played by Woody)
fed, clothed and housed just by winning jingle contests (before the age
of lotteries). Really well done (why Moore didn't even get nominated
for this one is a mystery). It's hard to watch, given the raging
alcoholic Woody plays (full out), but the up-side makes it worth it.
• • • "The Last Movie Star"
stars, of all people, the late Burt
Reynolds.......and he's remarkably good,
as is the
rest of the cast. Plot: Burt, a long over-the-hill movie star is
invited to a film festival featuring his list of movies (as the
character not as Burt). It turns out to be a very low-budget affair
held in a bar and he is insulted and furious about it.....and, well
THAT is
the thematic material for a very good story. It's on NetFlix &
Amazon and really
worth a look.
• • •
The Men's Page
Men's Health
(Up-dated August 21st)
"You Americans and Your Guns!"
Fallout for me.
The Notes Page
A Rant and an Idea
Notes from Seneca
We Are Still Young
Where Have You Been...?
I'm Losing it!
Considering Beginnings
A Hobby (New)
What Are You Doing.....?
Return with me Now....
I Usually Avoid Backward Glances
The Albuquerque Big Band
Just Say No!
Last Flight
Finally
White Privilege?
It was a very good day.
What's in a Name?
"Surely there comes a time when counting the cost and paying the price aren't things to think about any more. All that matters is value- the ultimate value of what one does." James Hilton
"Something will have
gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining
wilderness be destroyed ... We need wilderness preserved — as much of
it as is still left, and as many kinds — because it was the challenge
against which our character as a people was formed ... We simply need
that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive
to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves
of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope." Stegner
“It is easier to get over what has happened to you than to get over what you imagined happened to you.” M. FitzSimons
“Spontaneous dance, like singing, bypasses the brain, comes from the center of you…it IS you…unfiltered.” c
“It is easier to get over what has happened to you than to get over what you imagined happened to you.” M. FitzSimons
“Spontaneous dance, like singing, bypasses the brain, comes from the center of you…it IS you…unfiltered.” c
"Never regret," Elenor Hibbert said. "If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience."
• • •
Mike Cooley,
friend, poet, Wildman, Long Dancer, Vietnam vet (Marine & Marine
Guard, Washington, DC), dad, friend-of-the-Earth, dog lover, City
Planner, therapist, compassionate man. 1947-2018. He died this
past June. We miss him every day......yes, every day.
Stephan Landau, another wonderful man, died August 18th after a long struggle with liver cancer. He left a lot of friends behind; his partner and best buddy Lynda, his two sons, and The Men's Circle.
Stephan Landau, another wonderful man, died August 18th after a long struggle with liver cancer. He left a lot of friends behind; his partner and best buddy Lynda, his two sons, and The Men's Circle.
• • •
“Some
men
look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like
the Ark of the Covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the
men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose that
what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged
to it.
“But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1816
“But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.”
"Be yourself; everyone else is taken."
(*Actually it was Oscar Wilde)
| Dick Prosapio, MSW, aka Coyote; ceremonialist, psychotherapist (recovering), writer (Intuitive Tarot, Becoming Coyote) drummer, photographer, dancer, and leader of experiential workshops for 30+ years. Co founder of; The Foundation for Common Sense©. | Elizabeth Prosapio, BFA, RMT, aka Raven; leads WildWoman weekends, is co leader of The Long Dance and Shadow Dance, leader of Woman's Spirit Weekend, a (very) fine artist and massage therapist and co-wrote Intuitive Tarot with Dick. (US Games pub.) Elizabeth is available for "Soul Face" drawing (more info by contacting her) and is also the co founder of; The Foundation for Common Sense©. |
For more information on any event listed, contact us at: 
coyotecall@spiritpath.net raven1680@gmail.com |
Spirit Earth Path Raven's Email: raven1680@gmail.com |
September 28th, 6 PM.
(Will be a kiva no-sweat.)
Be sure to RSVP for our next Sweat or No-Sweat!
Last
updated;
6 AM, September 19th, 2019.
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