Naomi Shihab Nye, 73, has won many awards for her poetry. In her nomination for one, it was said: “Naomi’s poetry masterfully blends music, images, colors, languages, and insights into poems that ache like a shore pacing in ebb and flow, expecting the arrival of meaning.” Of Palestinian descent, she was born in St. Louis, is married, has one son, and lives in San Antonio.
She wrote the following about the poem that follows it:
“What an honor it’s been to work with students all over the world through Zoom sessions during the past five years. Sometimes their poems and beautiful selves are unforgettably haunting. This little Palestinian boy, perhaps eleven or twelve years old, speaking and writing in English, was one of those for me. He was so passionate about his writing project. I hope he is safe, and I hope he finished his book to his satisfaction. And there is nothing I want more than peace for children all over the world.”
In a Village in the West Bank
One little boy writing a book,
“making pictures for it too,” he said over Zoom,
proud face bright as an apple in my screen.
“It’s about a problem,” he smiled shyly
in that occupied land where soldiers sneak around at night
breaking into houses, chopping olive trees, smashing lamps.
“A problem between spiders and ants.” Well, this sounded
refreshing, a problem not made by humans. He said
spiders and ants each want to dominate their corners,
not letting other species have space. I didn’t quite understand,
since spiders spin high-up webs and ants tunnel in the ground,
but he insisted on friction, something about vicinity.
They want the whole space. I could see stone walls behind him.
Hear his parents speaking Arabic in the background,
a spoon clinking a bowl. I felt homesick for my whole life.
Now he was whispering, other kids listening in,
scattered in villages around the West Bank where my grandma
once lived. I knew exactly what their world looked and
smelled like, and wished to be with them
on that ground, stirring smoky coals in a taboon.
“But there’s something the ants can do,” he went on softly.
“So they don’t all get killed. The spiders are stronger
than the ants, you know. So the ants pretend to be spiders!”
What? How does an ant pretend to be a spider?
He showed reluctance to tell, being still immersed
in the making of his story, but gave a clue.
“It’s an expression on the face. An ant makes his face look like a
spider’s face. For safety. Then they won’t attack.
It’s not that hard.”
The following snippet from the testimony of RFK Jr before a Senate committee was recounted in the newsletter of historian Heather Cox Richardson:
Senator Dick Durbin spelled out for Kennedy his concern about cuts to research funding for the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease. “On April 1, ten laboratory heads at National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes received their layoff notices,” he said. “They were all PhDs and senior investigators. They’re not administrators, whatever that might be. They were running intramural labs at NIH. If you have your way, they’ll all be gone on June 2nd. Science magazine reported 25 of 320 physician researchers at NIH’s Internal Clinical Center are leaving, and the number of patients treated in the hospital has been reduced by 30%. Three grants involving ALS and dementia work at Northwestern University have been paused. Just last week, an ALS researcher at Harvard had his grant cut.” Durbin asked: “How can we possibly give hope to people across the country who are suffering from so many diseases when our government is cutting back on that research?”
Kennedy replied: “I do not know about any cuts to ALS research.” Durbin responded, “I just read them to you.” Kennedy clarified that he didn’t “know about them until you told me about them at this moment.”
Similarly:
Rubio testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It had become clear to Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, below, that for members of the administration congressional appearances were merely opportunities for arrogant game-playing. So she pulled back, and said she wanted to speak to him “as a mother, a senator, and a fellow human being.” She said “I’m not even mad anymore about your complicity in this administration’s destruction of U.S. global leadership. I’m simply disappointed. And I wonder if you’re proud of yourself in this moment when you go home to your family?”
Seriously.
Since the retirement of LMS, our favorite commenter on Rex Parker’s blog has been egsforbreakfast, or “egs.” He combines a great sense of the ridiculous with a facility for, and love of, wordplay: perfectly in sync with Owl Chatter’s mission statement. E.g., actress Emma Stone popped into the puzzle today. Egs noted: Academy Award-winning actress confirms she’ll do Simon and Garfunkel cover: “I EMMA Stone will sing I am a Rock.”
We loved the puzzle today. Rather than bumble my way trying to explain the theme, I’ll let you intuit it.
“Smile for the photo, dude!” was CHEESE, DOG.
“Work on your enunciation, bro!” was DELIVERY, MAN!
“That is messed up, girl!” was TWISTED, SISTER!
“Protect the quarterback, buddy!” was BLOCK, BUSTER!
“That’s unbelievable, love!” was WILD, HONEY!
And, speaking of honey, this pretty song was completely new to me.
I wish my heart was as cold as the morning dew
But it’s as warm as saxophones and honey in the sun for you
“Women. Can’t live with ’em. Pass the beer nuts.” That was a line of Norm’s in Cheers. He also said: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world and I’m wearing Milk-Bone underwear.”
OMG. Too funny.
Nah-mie, of course, was George Wendt and he died yesterday in his sleep at his home in LA at the age of 76. [Ouch.] He appeared in all 273 episodes of Cheers and received six Emmy norminations (typo intended). He married actress Bernadette Birkett in 1978 and they had three children. George himself was one of nine children. Norm’s wife Vera never appeared on Cheers, but her voice did and it was Bernadette’s. And you know the actor Jason Sudakis? He’s George Wendt’s nephew.
George is survived by Bernadette, the kids, the rest of his loving family, the entire gang at Cheers, and all of us, who couldn’t get enough of him. Rest in peace, Norm. The next one’s on us.
It was a good sports night for some of our teams. In women’s hockey, Ottawa eked out a tough crucial Game 1 win in its best-of-five finals against a tough Minny team. The Charge couldn’t hold a 1-0 lead, but Emily Clark scored just 2:47 into overtime. Yikes. Game 2 is on Thursday.
Rebecca Leslie scored Ottawa’s first goal.
And the Gnats pulled off a sweet win at home against the Braves. Can it be? They have won 5 of their last 6.
Gotta love Francisco Lindor of the Mets. Boston’s Buehler was mowing them down in the third inning when Lindor sorta, a little, leaned into a pitch and got hit by it. On a later pitch right down the middle, Lindor stole second. The ump, who may have been blocked by the catcher throwing to second, called the pitch a ball. Buehler went nuts. “It was right down the f*cking middle of the plate,” he “explained” to the ump. The ump suggested Buehler get back on the mound. Buehler followed with a “F*ck you” and got tossed from the game. But what I loved about it was as it was all going on you could see Lindor on second base gesturing for the ump to throw Buehler out. Buehler later saw Lindor’s antics on tape and expressed a measure of displeasure. He had the last laugh, though, as the slumping Mets blew the game 2-0.
Here’s the whole shebang. Lindor’s antics are towards the end.
Too much excitement for me today. I’m just a simple dull man. Gotta get some sleep. See you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 