Quotes from "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" by Rev. MLK, Jr.

5 things:

1.  Alan Grayson, my favorite congressman from Florida (and no, he's not MY congressman, though who is?) sent an email in which he quoted some highlights from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter from the Birmingham Jail.  The letter was first published 50 years ago tomorrow.  Here are some parts I especially like.

2.  "...although I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label.  Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."  Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."...Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God."...So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.  Will we be extremists for hate or for love?"

3.  "One day the South will recognize its real heroes."  [N.B.:  Please don't hold your breath....]

4.  [Among the heroes] "There will be the old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up...and responded..."My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest."

5.  "Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty."

Things I Love to Eat

5 things:

1.  Eggs--any way

2.  Asparagus, baked or grilled.

3.  Potatoes, mashed especially, but really any way.

4.  Arugula

5.  Rye bread, especially toasted.

Thanks, Mom, for.....

5 Things:

1.  Being so connected to trees and flowers and birds and gardening.

2.  For cooking fish so wonderfully, and for your delicious canned pheasant.

3.  For being so generous with what you had.

4.  For being our mother without experiencing what it was like to have one yourself after age 2.

5.  For loving art--the making of it, not just Art Appreciation 1.

New De-clutter Trick...

5 things:

1.  TURN on some MUSIC (I have David Van Tieghem's wonderful "Thrown for a Loop" on my iTunes) for 15 minutes.

2.  Grab a trash bag and start tossing stuff.

3.  Alternate/supplemental activity:  SHRED junk mail.

4.  Put shredded stuff in trash bag.

5.  Get dressed and take a load of wash down to the laundry room.

Waitin for the parcel delivery....

5 Things:

1.  My shipment (a replacement cell phone) has been "on the truck for delivery" for almost 14 hours today, since the wee hours of the morning.

2.  I do like tracking shipments, though I do not always TRUST the shippers to ring my bell and wait for me to answer.  So often they manage to arrive unseen & unheard to slap the nondelivery ticket to the lobby door.

3.  One of those shippers is more reliable than the others, and I do do do prefer the USPS.  Unless somebody is sending me a whale in a tank of water, it is delivered right here to my home.  I don't have to go out to pick it up at their far distant depot.

4.  It's been raining more or less nonstop all day here.

5.  I moved the rubber tree and a small azalea out onto the porch.  I expect they will look vibrant tomorrow a.m.

Thursday is Stuff Yourself Day

5 things:

1.  I participate in Daily Challenge, an online health/fitness thing, and one of my fellow DCers noted that in her house, they celebrate Thursday by eating anything and as much of it as they want.  That sounded like a good idea to me, but by the time I got to the supermarket, I didn't feel like eating anything they had.

2.  A rack of lamb chops looked good, but they were $17.99 a pound.  And I was just too lazy to devise anything wonderful out of vegetables or fruits.

3.  One of my problems with food these days is my refrigerator, which is on the blink.  Even after the repair guy came and vacuumed the coils (which helped a little, though only briefly), I still can't keep any food alive in there.  AND NO ICE CUBES!  gah.

4.  I still have two tea eggs, but they are more or less pickled with Asian spices, so they're holding out.

5.  And a box of organic strawberries has been delicious with my morning cereal (which I never usually eat).  The repair guy comes back tomorrow to give the fridge a good boost of freon.  If that doesn't work, the owners will have to cough up for a brand new fridge!!  shudder.

"Five Big Fears" from THE CREATIVE HABIT by Twyla Tharp

Five things:

1.  "People will laugh at me? Not the people I respect; they haven't yet, and they're not going to start now.  (Some others have.  London's Evening Standard from 1966:  "Three girls, one of them named Twyla Tharp, appeared at the Albert Hall last evening and threatened to do the same tonight."  So what?  Thirty-seven years later I'm still here.)"

2.  "Someone has done it before?  Honey, it's all been done before.  Nothing's really original.  Not Homer or Shakespeare and certainly not you.  Get over yourself."

3.  "I have nothing to say?  An irrelevant fear.  We all have something to say.  Plus, you're panicking too soon.  If the dancers don't walk out on you, chances are the audience won't, either."

4.  "I will upset someone I love?  A serious worry that is not easily exorcised or stared down because you never know how loved ones will respond to your creation.  The best you can do is remind yourself that you're a good person with good intentions.  You're trying to create unity, not discord.  See the curtain call.  See the people standing up.  Hear the crowd roaring."

5.  "Once executed, the idea will never be as good as it is in my mind?  Toughen up.  Leon Battista Alberti, a fifteenth-century architectural theorist, said, 'Errors accumulate in the sketch and compound in the model.'  But better an imperfect dome in Florence than cathedrals in the clouds."