The trouble with October

At the moment, the only complaint I have about October is the amount of political ads and commentary we have to suffer. I suppose an alternative is to forego tv, social media and newspapers from now until Thanksgiving. Go ahead, tell me what’s wrong with that approach.

A well known Native American writer phrased it more positively when she wrote:

“The only way to get change is not through the courts or — heaven forbid — the politicians, but through a change of human consciousness and through a change of heart. Only through the arts — music, poetry, dance, painting, writing — "can we really reach each other,” 
― Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony

I’m bringing this up in part because this month is National Arts and Humanities Month. I can’t decide if it’s consummately ironic celebrating arts and humanities the month before elections or, perhaps, incredibly hopeful that politics may some day improve enough to be encompassed by the humanities. That’s something to be wished for devoutly, right?

what’s the story behind this sign?

Photo by J. Harrington

One of the losses in politics these days  that troubles me the most is we seem to have lost interest in trying to really reach each other. Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, have moved beyond seeing and treating each other as opponents and now behave as if those who do not concur are enemies. That shifts the terms of politics from compromising on solutions to the country’s problems to winning a war by vanquishing the enemy. That may be what some of US prefer but I hope it isn’t what most of US want.

Some time ago it occurred to me that I could fix a problem or I could fix the blame for the problem, but I didn’t have the time and resources to do both, especially if the alleged cause of the problem was instrumental to its solution. Yes, you’re correct, I’m referring to training dogs. Scaring a dog into obedience is not likely to produce a satisfactory relationship. How can we get beyond corporate funding in politics and only nominate those who represent the best in humanity? Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?

Why We Tell Stories

by Lisel Mueller

For Linda Foster

I
Because we used to have leaves
and on damp days
our muscles feel a tug,
painful now, from when roots
pulled us into the ground

and because our children believe
they can fly, an instinct retained
from when the bones in our arms
were shaped like zithers and broke
neatly under their feathers

and because before we had lungs
we knew how far it was to the bottom
as we floated open-eyed
like painted scarves through the scenery
of dreams, and because we awakened

and learned to speak

2
We sat by the fire in our caves,
and because we were poor, we made up a tale
about a treasure mountain
that would open only for us

and because we were always defeated,
we invented impossible riddles 
only we could solve,
monsters only we could kill,
women who could love no one else
and because we had survived
sisters and brothers, daughters and sons,
we discovered bones that rose
from the dark earth and sang
as white birds in the trees

3
Because the story of our life 
becomes our life

Because each of us tells
the same story
but tells it differently

and none of us tells it
the same way twice

Because grandmothers looking like spiders
want to enchant the children
and grandfathers need to convince us
what happened happened because of them

and though we listen only
haphazardly, with one ear,
we will begin our story
with the word and 

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