One morning Ella Sarah got up and said,
“I want to wear my pink polka-dot pants,
my dress with orange-and-green flowers,
my purple-and-blue striped socks,
my yellow shoes
and my red hat.”
                                    from Ella Sarah Gets Dressed
               written and illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
                                                 Harcourt, Inc. 2003

    When I was about seven, I longed for a pair of saddle shoes. Mom said “no” in a hurry. She said they were labor-intensive. Too much of a chance of scuffing. Too much polishing. Too much lace-tying. Mom was neat and tidy. I was not. 
    She bought me loafers and even gave me a penny to stick in each one.
    I don’t remember a line about shoes in our school’s strict dress code, but lots of girls wore saddle shoes. We had to wear dresses or skirts that reached at least mid-knee. No pants, Blouses were tucked in. No t-shirts. Yes to belts or suspenders, though. My brother wore suspenders, but, I suspect he might have preferred a belt. No jeans. The back of a boy’s hair was not permitted past the top of his collar. No shorts for boys or girls. Men teachers wore ties. Women wore dresses or skirts. 
    Authorities such as principals, guidance counsellors, and school boards promoted school dress codes to add decorum to the classrooms, encourage politeness, and promote concentration, they claimed. If scientific studies backed these claims, they weren’t cited. When the late 1960s turned into the early 1970s, school dress codes fell by the wayside (pretty universally) in favor of allowing students their freedom of expression. There were limits, of course, but they were few and far between. 
    Societies have dress codes, too. Although our parents didn’t say so outright, we all understood that dressing up was expected when we went shopping or to our yearly doctors’ appointments or for the occasional restaurant meal. 
    Whole books have been written about the history of clothing and fashion. Seems like everything from a fig leaf to a formal frock can make a fashion statement. 
    According to the on-line site Brainfodder, our clothing choices say a great deal about us. They touch on how we perceive ourselves and how others see us. For example, do your t-shirts have slogans, pictures, advertising? Do you avoid synthetic fabrics in favor of natural fibers? Do your clothes conform to society’s expectations helping you “blend in?” or do you favor bright colors and flamboyant accessories help you stand out? Do you express your cultural identity with your clothing choices? 
    “Science even has a name for this phenomenon. The term coined about 10 years ago, “enclothed cognition” describes how the clothes we wear affect our behavior, attitudes, personality, mood, confidence, and even the way we interact with others.” (Brainfodder, emphasis included) 
    A recent study split men into two groups: suits and sweatpants. The result was the suited participants won over $2 million in a simulated business deal experiment. The sweatpants group ended up losing $1.2million! Studies continually show that wearing a suit, formal and structured, puts us in the right frame of mind to conduct business. And encourages others to see us that way. Hillary Clinton comes to mind.
    Donning a white lab coat resulted in better intelligence scores when a subject was told the coat was a doctor’s lab coat than when they were told it was a painter’s smock.
    Based on many social experiments, scientists report that we tend to match our actions to our clothing more-so than the other way round. Wearing gym clothes results in more visits to the gym, for example.
    But people tend to be less open to socializing when dressed in business attire. Dress-down Friday encourages friendliness and creativity. 
    Recently the US Congress has weighed in on both sides of the argument. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa) usually ignores the unwritten Congressional dress code. This week when he showed up in his typical sweat shirt, shorts, and sneakers, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer directed the Senate's sergeant-at-arms to stop enforcing its unwritten code. But Mr. Schumer said he would continue wearing a suit.
    Republican criticism was quick. Two days later, 46 Republicans told Schumer, “The world watches us on that floor and we must protect the sanctity of that place at all costs,” and “Allowing casual clothing on the Senate floor disrespects the institution we serve and the American families we represent.”
    Russia is continuing its assault on Ukraine. Hurricanes, tropical storms, and wildfires rage. Gerrymandering continues to proliferate. Politics is mixed in with our justice system, blurring the line between Religion and State. Book banning. Politicizing immigration. Exhibiting unfocused fear and anger. Gun violence. Anti-Semitism. Racial hatred.
    The looming shut-down of the US Government used to be unthinkable.
    Dress-down Friday would be a step in the right direction for Congress. A little creativity will go a long way toward finding compromise on so many difficult choices. A little friendliness could encourage acceptance of colleagues’ different ideas. 
    Fetterman and Schumer have the right idea.     
     
Many years ago I read The Soul of an Octopus (Atria Books, 2015) by Sy Montgomery. It’s a fascinating look at octopuses through the eyes of a journalist and marine biologist. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (HarperCollins, 2022) is fiction. But similar themes of loss, finding unexpected love, starting over, and how it feels to be an octopus all ring True. Highly recommended.
                                           -—Be curious! (and friendly)

One morning Ella Sarah got up and said,
“I want to wear my pink polka-dot pants,
my dress with orange-and-green flowers,
my purple-and-blue striped socks,
my yellow shoes
and my red hat.”
                                     from Ella Sarah Gets Dressed
                written and illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
                                                  Harcourt, Inc. 2003
   
    When I was about seven, I longed for a pair of saddle shoes. Mom said “no” in a hurry. She said they were labor-intensive. Too much of a chance of scuffing. Too much polishing. Too much lace-tying. Mom was neat and tidy. I was not. 
    She bought me loafers and even gave me a penny to stick in each one.
    I don’t remember a line about shoes in our school’s strict dress code, but lots of girls wore saddle shoes. We had to wear dresses or skirts that reached at least mid-knee. No pants. Blouses were tucked in. No t-shirts. Yes to belts or suspenders, though. My brother wore suspenders, but, I suspect he might have preferred a belt. No jeans. The back of a boy’s hair was not permitted past the top of his collar. No shorts for boys or girls. Men teachers wore ties. Women wore dresses or skirts. 
    Authorities such as principals, guidance counsellors, and school boards promoted school dress codes to add decorum to the classrooms, encourage politeness, and promote concentration, they claimed. If scientific studies backed these claims, they weren’t cited. When the late 1960s turned into the early 1970s, school dress codes fell by the wayside (pretty universally) in favor of allowing students their freedom of expression. There were limits, of course, but they were few and far between. 
    Societies have dress codes, too. Although our parents didn’t say so outright, we all understood that dressing up was expected when we went shopping or to our yearly doctors’ appointments or for the occasional restaurant meal. 
    Whole books have been written about the history of clothing and fashion. Seems like everything from a fig leaf to a formal frock can make a fashion statement. 
    According to the on-line site Brainfodder, our clothing choices say a great deal about us. They touch on how we perceive ourselves and how others see us. For example, do your t-shirts have slogans, pictures, advertising? Do you avoid synthetic fabrics in favor of natural fibers? Do your clothes conform to society’s expectations helping you “blend in?” or do you favor bright colors and flamboyant accessories help you stand out? Do you express your cultural identity with your clothing choices? 
    “Science even has a name for this phenomenon. The term coined about 10 years ago, “enclothed cognition” describes how the clothes we wear affect our behavior, attitudes, personality, mood, confidence, and even the way we interact with others.” (Brainfodder, emphasis included) 
    A recent study split men into two groups: suits and sweatpants. The result was the suited participants won over $2 million in a simulated business deal experiment. The sweatpants group ended up losing $1.2million! Studies continually show that wearing a suit, formal and structured, puts us in the right frame of mind to conduct business. And encourages others to see us that way. Hillary Clinton comes to mind.
    Donning a white lab coat resulted in better intelligence scores when a subject was told the coat was a doctor’s lab coat than when they were told it was a painter’s smock.
    Based on many social experiments, scientists report that we tend to match our actions to our clothing more-so than the other way round. Wearing gym clothes results in more visits to the gym, for example.
    But people tend to be less open to socializing when dressed in business attire. Dress-down Friday encourages friendliness and creativity. 
    Recently the US Congress has weighed in on both sides of the argument. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa) usually ignores the unwritten Congressional dress code. This week when he showed up in his typical sweat shirt, shorts, and sneakers, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer directed the Senate's sergeant-at-arms to stop enforcing its unwritten code. But Mr. Schumer said he would continue wearing a suit.
    Republican criticism was quick. Two days later, 46 Republicans told Schumer, “The world watches us on that floor and we must protect the sanctity of that place at all costs,” and “Allowing casual clothing on the Senate floor disrespects the institution we serve and the American families we represent.”
    Russia is continuing its assault on Ukraine. Hurricanes, tropical storms, and wildfires rage. Gerrymandering continues to proliferate. Politics is mixed in with our justice system, blurring the line between Religion and State. Book banning. Politicizing immigration. Exhibiting unfocused fear and anger. Gun violence. Anti-Semitism. Racial hatred.
    The looming shut-down of the US Government used to be unthinkable.
    Dress-down Friday would be a step in the right direction for Congress. A little creativity will go a long way toward finding compromise on so many difficult choices. A little friendliness could encourage acceptance of colleagues’ different ideas. 
    Fetterman and Schumer have the right idea.     
     
Many years ago I read The Soul of an Octopus (Atria Books, 2015) by Sy Montgomery. It’s a fascinating look at octopuses through the eyes of a journalist and marine biologist. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (HarperCollins, 2022) is fiction. But similar themes of loss, finding unexpected love, starting over, and how it feels to be an octopus all ring True. Highly recommended.
                                                           -—Be curious! (and friendly)

    “Oh I’m lookin’ for my mission’ piece
    I’m lookin’ for my mission’ piece
    Hi-dee-ho, here I go,
    Lookin’ for my missing’ piece.”
                                            from The Missing Piece
                        written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein 
                                                  HarperCollins, 1976

    Some of us are content, full of gratitude for our ability to wonder, to think of new ideas, to spend precious time with our friends and family. But, humans are seekers. We seek patterns of predictability. We seek comfort in familiarity. We seek excitement in something new. 
    Research funded by the National Science Foundation has shown that variety in daily experience improves [a person’s] mood and how the brain generates that improvement. People who have many different experiences in a day say they are happier, more attentive, stronger, more relaxed, and more excited. 
    While we all fall somewhere on a continuum that defines our desire for predictability and routine on one hand, and serendipity and surprise on the other, most of us thrive when our experiences blend the two extremes to land us in the center. 
    It is when we wish for some new thing all the time, or over-schedule ourselves so we can take advantage of all (or most) experiences near and far, that we end up exhausted, depleted, and depressed. We feel left out, socially inferior, and second-guess ourselves about whether we are doing enough. 
    While not currently a diagnosable condition, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is real. It can disrupt our ability to make good decisions, interfere with our ability to concentrate, and leave us feeling sad, tired, and lonely.
    A lot of FOMO comes from viewing our friends’ photos of their exciting vacation, (and wishing we could be there, too) finding out we missed a “great sale” at our favorite store, not being able to contribute (or even understand) the “office talk” about a current TV show or popular music group or sports team or generally anything that fosters our feeling of being left out. 
    We humans need to feel we belong. It is fundamental to our sense of well-being. But we can’t belong to everything. We can’t choose every event or cause or opportunity that sounds interesting, fun, or important in our limited time on Earth. And that, according to Patrick McGinnis (who coined the term FOMO back in 2004) is the crux of the problem. More than fear of missing out or even fear of better options (FOBO), he attributes the inability to make choices, especially between good options, to a fear of letting go. After all, when we choose one thing, everything else is left UN-chosen. 
    Decision-making is difficult. Making the “right” decision can be anxiety-fraught, especially when the decision is an important one. Many factors influence our choices. We weigh our biases. We consider our memories. We balance the emotional “cost” of the decision with the expected consequences. And a lot of the time we’re unaware of all these internal goings-on.
    Life is a balancing act. Just like the main character in Shel Silverstein’s book quoted above, sometimes the “search” is as rewarding as the “find.”
    Even those of us who enjoy our own company need other people who share our interests, values, and memories (or want to build some new ones). They are our people, our peeps. 

I just finished reading The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni (Lake Union Publishing, 2018). It’s the journey to self-acceptance told through flash-backs and present time by an eye-doctor who overcame intolerance, bullying, and a Catholic education. The balance between plot and character development makes this one truly extraordinary. Recommended
                              -—stay curious! (and find your peeps)

See you right here next week. 

    Humans are allergic to change. They like to say, “We’ve always done it this way.” I try to fight that. 
                 from Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code
                                         written by Laurie Wallmark
                                               illustrated by Katy Wu
                                      Sterling Children’s Books, 2017

    My mom did not let me have a Barbie doll. She told me they were too mature. When Mom grew up, all dolls were baby dolls. Heck, when I was little, at least until I was 7, all dolls were baby dolls. 
    When Ruth Handler and her husband Elliot created Mattel in their garage in 1945, I wonder if they envisioned a global toy company that would grow to be one of the “strongest portfolios of children’s and family entertainment franchises in the world.” Their mission, “to create innovative products and experiences that inspire, entertain and develop children through play,” is noble.
    The company has had iconic success, especially with their Fisher Price line including xylophones, snap beads, and corn poppers. One million Magic 8 Balls are still sold every year. 
    Then, in 1959, Barbie was born. Ruth, inspired by her daughter Barbara, recognized the opportunity to inspire girls to become anything they dreamed of. And grown up girls in the real world were, well, grown up. We needed, reasoned Ruth, a role model. Her new doll needed to be grown up too.
    Indeed, Barbie can be and is everything to any girl with an imagination. Again from their website, [p]laying with dolls empowers children to develop empathy and social skills such as caregiving, friendship, collaboration, and conflict resolution.
    Children's’ play is crucial to their development. Scholarly articles have been written after scientists have conducted extensive research. Books for parents and teachers are easy to find in bookstores and libraries. Most is common sense that most parents are doing, anyway and calling attention to how children learn is affirming to most parents and teachers. Here’s a whole collection of books and articles about the importance of play from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). 
    So why is the Mattel website gender specific? Probably not on purpose, but the children playing with Barbie are girls. The children playing with vehicles are boys. Action figures, boys. The girl playing with building sets is wearing glasses. (To show us she is intelligent?) OK, all that’s a subject for another day. 
    I just wanted to mention it because the Barbie Movie, distributed by Warner Brothers, is in theaters now. I saw it last weekend. 
    First, the movie is not a chick flick. It’s also not for children. And I came out with a lot to think about. Next, you will find no spoilers here, even though I was probably one of the last people to see it.
    Stereotypical Barbie, the main character played by Margot Robbie, wanted to be everything to everyone until she realized she didn’t and couldn’t. As she experiences her existential crisis, she enters our real world to find herself. Of course, Ken comes with her and while Barbie is discovering the power of self-confidence, he gets a whiff of macho masculinity that goes right to his head. I’m not sure he ever comes to understand that he has no identity except to be Barbie’s boyfriend. 
    The movie is a spoof on our materialistic, consumeristic culture. It also makes a statement about the importance of reaching our potential, making goals and working toward them, discovering what (and who) we love, and that human ideals should not be gender-specific. 
    Didactic? a little. Funny? yes. Thought provoking? absolutely. From the opening scene to America Ferrara’s portrayal of Gloria in her speech toward the end of the film, the wonder of being female and the unlimited good that is possible when everyone’s success is celebrated is shouted loud and clear.   
    Part of the movie’s message echoes Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio. But whether you’re a puppet who comes to life or a young woman who loses her stereotypicality when she gains her uniqueness, all of us who become “adults,” discover that being human is complex, ever-changing, and mostly pretty wonderful. 
    I’m ready to see this one again.

I’m still reading The Measure (Nikki Erlick, William Morrow, 2022) after not reading at all during a week of distraction. I told my daughter I was putting it down, but she encouraged me to keep going. More next week!
                  -—Be curious! (and look for your own uniqueness)   

    “Hi,” siad the boy. “Want to play?”
    The robot blinked. “Affirmative!”
                                                        from Boy + Bot
                                             written by Amy Dyckman
                                          illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
                                                  Alfred A. Knopf, 2012
                                     (accessed on YouTube 8/27/23)

    Sometimes I lose a word. I sometimes struggle to remember the name of someone when I meet them again. Not very often, I lose my train of thought. But these aren’t the types of language skills I’m thinking about.
    Some people are non-verbal. They don’t have expressive language. Some of my daughter’s special ed students are non-verbal. They use a picture board to point to how they are feeling, what they need, or answer a question she poses.
    People cannot speak for many reasons. But scientists are experimenting with ways to help people who have not lost their language skills, but are hampered physically because of paralysis, loss or weakness of the muscles used to talk, or anomalies in their voice box. 
    We’re familiar with Stephen Hawking’s computer-generated speech. Due to a tracheostomy performed to save his life after contracting pneumonia, Dr. Hawking was provided with a computer linked to a speech devise. It was adapted to allow him to use his thumbs to move a cursor and painstakingly point, letter by letter, to produce words that the computer voice spoke for him at about 15 words per minute. English conversations in the United States average about 150 words per minute. As Dr. Hawking’s ALS progressed, he was unable to use his thumbs. His devise was adapted again to respond to only one cheek muscle.
    Since the 1990s neurologists and computer scientists have been developing ways to use AI to convert a persons’s thoughts into an action. BCIs (Brain-Computer Interfaces) use electrical signals in the brain, generated by a person’s thought waves, to accomplish an action. For example, a person with a prosthetic arm or leg or finger can imagine moving that limb or digit and through the BCI, it will move. 
    Says Seong-Whan Lee, professor of artificial intelligence and brain engineering at Korea University in South Korea, “We are now extremely interested in generating voices…from imagined speech.” Lee continues, “The main aim of our research is using [imagined speech] to analyze what a person is thinking and predict what they want to say…as these can be very direct and intuitive.”
    Think of the message app on your phone filling in words before you finish typing them. Its choices are based on words and patterns you’ve used before and allows you to type a sentence word by word or even phrase by phrase instead of letter by letter. 
    Adding a voice component will enable a person who is unable to speak to become part of a conversation. 
    Applications for the technology are many and far-reaching. New England Journal of Medicine reported recently that a “[m]an who is unable to move or speak can now generate words and sentences on a computer using only his thoughts.” It’s due to an experimental brain implant that decodes signals once sent from his vocal tract, but is now unable to because of his paralysis. Work is also being done at Emory University and Georgia Tech. 
    Called neuroprosthesis, the device could help people who have suffered a stroke, survived a traumatic brain injury, or are living with ALS or other degenerative, paralyzing diseases.
    Science has given us breakthrough after breakthrough regarding our complex brains. The biggest hurdle is not being able to decode brainwaves into words or even generate understandable, natural-sounding language. 
    The biggest challenge will be to provide people who will benefit from this brand-new technology the privacy necessary for them to keep some thoughts to themselves. So far, a neuroprosthesis does not come equipped with a door to close and lock against intruding eavesdroppers.
    AI in all its many, many iterations, from autonomous vehicles to ChatGPT, to severe weather alerts depends on the ability of a computer or a robot controlled by a computer to solve problems by learning from its mistakes. 
    And it’s coming, ready or not. Some of it is scary. It’s (almost?) impossible to tell a fact from a fallacy, an original photograph from one that’s been photo-shopped, or a human from a hologram. 
    And while some of it is practical and useful like weather predictions, and all the “smart” appliances, devices, and cars, some of that is scary, too. 

I’m trying to enjoy The Measure by Nikki Erlick. While I understand the importance celebrating the mundane, trying to transform regrets into positive action, and the threat of how prejudice affects society, I’m distracted by the premise: the strings and boxes themselves. And while I have a sense of my own mortality, I’m not sure I’d be any better (or worse) off knowing when my end will come. Or when anyone else’s will. But I’ll keep reading. 
                     -—be curious! (and forge ahead with caution)

A told B, and B told C
"I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree!”
…
Chicka chicka boom boom!
Will there be enough room?
…
Still more, W, and X, Y, Z!
The whole alphabet up the-
Oh no!
Chicka chicka
Boom! Boom!
from Chicka Chicka Boom, Boom
written by by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
illustrated by Lois Ehlert
Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 1989


    Because letters and words are fun and a good way to learn, I requested a magnetic bulletin board for the new children’s room at the newly refurbished Main Library. One of my favorite displays was a set of large magnetic letters. I stuck them to the board in random order and set out some of my favorite abecedaries (ABC books). I’d watch or help the youngest kids put the letters in order. Sometimes I’d craft a message like “Dance to your own tune” or something equally inspiring and trite. Sometimes, older kids would spell words. Surprisingly, I never had a problem with this!
    Fast forward a decade or so. We have Wordle! My older daughter was the first to introduce me. Soon, both my daughters were sharing their solves. We had a team of three. That was then. Now our team of eight sends each other our solves (there is hardly ever a miss) and by the end of the day, everyone who solves the puzzle in the least number of tries wins a (virtual) crown. I think we’re all having fun with it. 
    And the best part for me: You can only play once.
    I know there are Wordle knock-offs you can play, but none of them is a one-off. Wordle is just enough to get my brain going in the morning. Then I read for a while before I move on to email and the rest of my mundane chores before my day really begins. Right now my laundry is washing itself. I finished my grocery list. I watched an old webinar I’d been putting off.
    But I wondered, where did Wordle come from? According to New York Times, “Wordle Is a Love Story,” (1/3/22). John Wardle created a word game as a gift to his partner. The game caught on fast with his family, friends, and the rest of the world. “On Nov. 1, 2021, ninety people played. On Sunday, just over two months later, more than 300,000 people played. Since Wordle was acquired by the New York Times, participation has declined a little, but seems to have leveled off to about 250,000 games played per day. That seemed like a very low number!
    In trying to verify it, I found a stat from The Conversation.com “Wordle has nearly 3 million players across the world and versions of it are appearing in other languages.” And from The Houston Chronicle “[B]y the end of [January, 2022] there were millions.”
    Wordle’s easy rules and one-and-done format are part of its attraction. Being able to share answers with friends and family sure seems like a plus for us.
    Plenty of people, maybe even most people, spend time playing computer games when their time might be better spent on exercise, learning something new, weeding the garden, conversing face-to-face in real time with friends, family, and acquaintances…
    I know “all work and no play makes Jack and Jill dull children (and adults, for that matter), but video game addiction is a real thing. Also called internet gaming disorder, about 3-4% of people who play video games suffer from video game addiction. (GameQuitters.com) 
    While many researchers consider video game addiction similar to gambling disorder, other equally brilliant scientists claim it is different since gambling is pure chance while gaming requires a skill such as quick fingers or quick thinking. While gambling involves winning money (usually), gaming does not (usually). Both, however deliver that rush of good feeling at a win.
    Regardless, The Cleveland Clinic warns “any activity or habit that becomes all-consuming and negatively impacts daily functioning can cause significant mental, social and physical health issues.” If this is you or someone you love, seek medical help.
    While researchers are still studying the causes of video game addiction, most agree that it is the rush of dopamine that floods our brains when we win that keeps us coming back for more. A person who is overcome by gaming will usually feel sad or anxious. They need to spend more and more time gaming in order to feel the same excitement and sometimes lie about their behavior. Giving up previously enjoyed activities or social relationships in favor of gaming is also something to watch for. Find a list of symptoms here. 
    Talk therapy done with a a trained psychologist or psychiatrist is the usual treatment. While many, maybe even most people play video games, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic caution that “it is important to be aware of the amount of time spent playing them.”
    I’ve been known to play more than one solitaire game in a row. I have a jigsaw puzzle app, and a version of Angry Birds, too, but for me, nothing beats a walk in the park, tending my plants, and curling up with a good book. 


I’m reading Stolen Focus:Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How You Can Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari (Crown, 2022). The author traveled all over the world asking scientists why we are losing our ability to stay “on task” for longer than a few minutes at a time without being distracted. While I’m only at the beginning of his work, he has learned how “we can get our focus back, if we’re willing to fight for it.” Watch him promote his book on YouTube or explain his ideas on depression and addiction in his TED talks. 
  
—Be curious! (and learn a new 5-letter word)


FB: Here’s a sentence with only two five-letter words. The week before the Canfield Fair finds me wishing for one more sunny week before the leaves change. And another one: Enjoy!
    

    After a minute Dad says, “Do you know what stars are made of?”
    “What?” I say.
    “Energy,” he says. Same as you. Same as the beetles and crows and coyotes…”
                                                 from A Bed of Stars
                              written and illustrated by Jessica Love
                                               Candlewick Press, 2023
                                      (accessed on YouTube, 8/13/23)

    I was eleven years old the year I slept under the stars at Girl Scout camp. After the usual girl-chatter, we arranged ourselves on a soft-enough spot in the grassy area next to a well-worn trail. We pulled our sleeping bags around us and most of the girls fell asleep. But not me. I’m not sure why I felt so wide awake, but I lay on my back watching the stars dot the inky sky. 
    Then the stars started falling. I was not scared stiff. I knew the Perry Como song, “Catch a Falling Star” (and put it in your pocket. Save it for a rainy day) from a 45-single my dad brought home for us to play on the hi-fi. But still. I had never seen a falling star with my own eyes. I watched about 347 of them before I decided Earth would survive until morning and I fell asleep.
    At breakfast, my counselor told me shooting stars are not that uncommon. That’s it. No excitement. No comment. Not even a teaching moment. None of the other girls were able to corroborate the sighting. They had all slept through it. 
    The Perseid Meteor Shower is an annual event. It peaks around mid August as Earth passes through a cloud of dust particles and debris from a comet known as 109P/Swift-Tuttle. 
    Some comets travel a predictable path. Comets with solar orbits of less than 200 years are called short-period comets. Halley’s Comet, probably the best known, is visible from Earth every 75-79 years.
    Like other comets, the center of 109P/Swift-Tuttle is a combination of icy chunks, frozen gasses, and bits of dust. 109P/Swift-Tuttle’s nucleus is over 16 miles in diameter, about twice the size of the object that some say brought about the demise of the dinosaurs.
    As comets travel closer to the sun in their own orbits, some of their gas melts and creates a trail of dust, its visible tail. 
    As we pass through this space-dust on our own Earthly orbit, the dusty bits collide with our atmosphere. We’re watching their natural disintegration into fiery, colorful streaks as we star-gaze.
    Comets are named for the people who discover them. As luck (or science) would have it, both Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle discovered the comet independently in 1862. Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle (The P stands for short -period) orbits the sun about every 133 years. Since its solar orbit is less than 200 years like Halley’s Comet, Swift-Tuttle is also a short-period comet. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, provides photographs of short-period comets here. 
    The next time Swift-Tuttle, itself, will be visible from Earth is 2125. 
    Short-period comets live beyond Neptune in an icy swath called the Kuiper Belt which includes the dwarf planet Pluto.
    A meteor is a chunk of space ice and can be an asteroid or a comet. It depends on where it originates.     
    Meteors are often called falling stars. They generally burn up or disintegrate before they reach Earth. If remnants or particles do enter the atmosphere and land on Earth, the resulting rock is called a meteorite. 
    Comets are icy space-balls that originate beyond Neptune and orbit the sun. Sometimes their frozen gasses, as they warm up in their orbit, form a tail. The gassy tail is what we can see as a comet travels through space.
    An asteroid is a chunk of rock that orbits around the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Occasionally one of these chunks is thrown out of its orbit and heads toward Earth. Most of these burn up as they reach Earth’s atmosphere, too.
    If you’re lucky enough to live in an area without a lot of light pollution, you know that meteors or shooting stars, are really not that uncommon. 
    I was grown up before I knew the meteor shower I witnessed at Girl Scout camp that summer of long ago was probably the annual skyshow, The Perseid Meteor Shower. 
    Like comets, recurring meteor showers are also named. Perseus, a hero of Greek mythology, was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. Perseus succeeded in an impossible task. He defeated the dangerous Gorgon, Medussa, and brought back her head. Perseus was rewarded with a constellation named for him. It is from this constellation that the Perseid meteors originate.
    One August several years ago, my daughter and I woke ourselves up around 2 a.m. and went out to the backyard to watch the meteor show. We couldn’t see a thing. I suspect light pollution, but it might have been impatience. 
    Although its peak occurred about midnight couple of days ago, you can see the show until August 24, 2023, if you’re lucky, patient, and don’t mind losing a little sleep to quench your curiosity. 
    City lights and cloudy skies encourage me to wait till next year. 

I just picked up a new book from the library. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (Crown Publishing, 2021) discusses “why our ability to pay attention is collapsing” (from the blurb) and suggests ways to fight back against the external causes. Should be interesting. I’ll let you know.
                                           -—Be curious! (and patient)    

So if you ever take a swim
And dare stick your head way in
You just might hear a distant song,
A whale who hopes you’ll sing along.
MORAL: If you listen carefully to nature, you’ll hear conversations all around you.
                                                 from Wild Symphony
                                               written by Dan Brown
                                          illustrated by Susan Batori
                                                     Rodale Kids, 2020 
                                       accessed on YouTube 8/7/23
                                      Wild Symphony link to YouTube

    When I was six and said I wanted to learn to play the piano, it only took a nano-second for Grandma and Grandpa to have a new spinet set up in our living room. And I found out that Grandma could play, really well. She could sing, too. 
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called music the universal language of mankind. A recent study at Harvard supports that. The authors wondered if music is common to every culture and which musical qualities overlap. Their project grew to include data scientists, psychologists, linguists, and political scientists. According to The Harvard Gazette, the researchers “looked at every society for which there was ethnographic information in a large online database, 315 in all, and found mention of music in all of them.” 
    They found that by examining the qualities a song, regardless of its cultural origins, people all over the world understand its meaning. Generally, a love song “sounds” different from a lullaby or a dance tune.
    The authors conclude that “[music] exists in every society…varies more within than between societies, regularly supports certain types of behavior, and has acoustic features that are systematically related to the goals and responses of singers and listeners.”
    But music is not the only universal language.
    Dance is communication through physical movement. A basic class in Art Appreciation brought “marble statues” to life as I watched dancers use their bodies to evoke joy. Dance usually incorporates music and facial expressions to help performers tell a story with their bodies. Hula dancing kept Hawaiian culture alive especially before their written language was developed in the early 19th century. 
    Humans have other ways to communicate, too. Painting, sculpting, weaving, and architecture, communicate the emotions, ideals, and aspirations of the artists. They visually express their cultures’ norms, maybe through satiric cartoons or buildings that reach to the heavens. A culture’s goals may be expressed with a graceful bridge or sculpted bronze. 
    The Expressionist artists, whose movement spanned the very early 20th century, wanted to re-create how the world felt more than how it looked. Splashes of paint mimicked trees and boats and people. Bright shapes crash into each other in sharp angles or gentle overlaps. Colors clash in anger or swirled peacefully around their canvas.
    But what is the purpose of communication? Britannica Kids lists five major reasons to communicate:

• to inform 
• to express feelings 
• to imagine
• to influence
• to meet social expectations

    This list is pretty self-explanatory. We combine elements to create literature or make our communication more effective and memorable. Mom nuanced the first purpose. Among her other duties, she managed the “front desk” at the music school where my brother, sister, and I took our weekly lessons. She made sure we all got where we were supposed to go on time. She let students know if a teacher was running late. And she answered questions. “Can I borrow a pencil?” was answered with “Probably” or “I’m sure you can.” But the required pencil didn’t appear until the student replaced can with may. Mom was a stickler for using language correctly. 
    But, if the main purpose of language is to communicate, “correctness” must take second fiddle. If the main purpose of communication is to connect us with each other, the difference between can and may doesn’t matter very much. Mona Lisa continues to evoke our emotions when we see her. So does Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is memorable, but so are “Rhapsody in Blue” and “The Bohemian Rhapsody.” 
    It’s when words, images, melodies speak to our emotions, that magic happens. We understand each other. And when we understand each other on an emotional level, we can begin to feel empathy. 
    More than written and spoken language, communication needs transmitters and receivers. When we acknowledge our understanding with frowns, grins, and tears or a beautiful vase or scary movie or evocative dance, we connect with each other.   
    My piano sat in my parents’ living room waiting for me. When I moved out, my piano came with me from house to house to house. It’s tuned now, and I occasionally pull out my old practice books and plunk around a bit. 
    Part of growing up for me was learning that I would always be a better listener than player. I put my playing aside to make room for different creative endeavors. 

To balance the rest of my reading, I picked up The $64 Tomato by William Alexander (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006). His memoir describes finding the perfect house, making the perfect repairs, preparing his perfect garden, and fighting perfectly confounding critters, all with tongue-in-cheek humor. I alternate between nodding in sympathy and laughing out loud. Recommended. (As it was recommended to me. Thanks, Samie!) 
                       —-Be curious! (And keep a song in your heart)

Trees make the woods.
They make everything beautiful.

                                                from A Tree is Nice
                                        written by Janice May Udry
                                           pictures by Marc Simont
                                                         Harper, 1956
                                     Accessed on YouTube 7/14/23

    Anyone driving or walking by could tell the tree had breathed its last. A big storm passed through my neighborhood July 3rd and ripped off a large limb of one of my neighbor’s big, old maple trees. It’s extremely sad when a tree dies, but it is the way of our world. 
    Although much of the tree still bravely stood, its insides had rotted. The arborists came last weekend to remove the tree. It took most of the day. They fed limbs, branches, and leaves into the shredder, turned it to mulch, and hauled it away. I’m sure the mulch will nurture many gardens and help them winter over. That is also the way of the world.
    We have a symbiotic relationship with trees. We breathe the oxygen they produce during photosynthesis and expel carbon dioxide. Trees use carbon dioxide to make the carbon-based sugars it needs to for wood growth and other necessary functions. Trees store carbon in their leaves, branches, trucks, and roots. They naturally release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as they decompose after they die. They also release carbon if they catch on fire or become infested with insects or disease. 
    When it’s in balance, the amount of carbon stored in forests generally equals the amount released into the atmosphere. 
    Wildfires and insect infestations upset that balance. So does excessive logging. So does turning forests into grazing lands or other agricultural purposes. When we burn fossil fuels, which were formed over millions of years, we release carbon into the atmosphere. Since we cannot re-capture as much carbon as we are releasing, the earth is out of balance. Less carbon stored in trees, means more carbon is in the air, an ingredient in the recipe for a warmer planet. 
    Oceans absorb some carbon dioxide. So do trees. Actually all vegetation stores carbon, but trees are especially important. Their large size allows them to store lots of carbon. Their long lives allow them to store lots of carbon for a long time. 
    Enter Akiro Miyawaki (1928 - 2021) a Japanese botanist and ecologist. In 1958, he was invited to study in Germany where he learned that “native vegetation … has the ability to support … [a given area] that existed before human intervention.” This was during a time in Japan of massive building with little regard for environmental disturbances and consequences.
    Dr. Miyawaki returned to Japan in 1960 and put his knowledge to work. Since most native plants had been removed, he used the protected forests around Shinto shrines to begin a catalogue of native species. These surveys caught the attention of the Japanese business world. Staying true to what he learned in Germany, Dr. Miyawaki was not interested in quick fixes, covering up the pollution companies caused with their destruction with “a little greenery.” 
    “I would,” he said at a lecture before the Ministry of the Environment, “be very happy to cooperate in creating a real, native forest based on the potential natural vegetation of the area.” 
    Many Japanese companies have a global reach and Miyawaki’s idea of Microforests grew to a worldwide movement. 
    Microforests are small, dense, biodiverse forests that grow fast in both urban and rural areas. A variety of native species is densely planted in an area that can cover as little as under 4 acres. Flowers, shrubs, and trees grow quickly because they compete for nutrients and sunlight. Generally they are cared for (weeded and watered) for about 3 years. Within just a few years, they reach their optimum height and density. Regular forests can take up to 20 or even 50 years to mature. 
    ADKN is an organization that works mainly in African and Asian countries “to help communities and individuals become self-reliant.” Here are some photos of the microforests they have planted enlisting the help of local people, mostly women.
    In the US, Miyawaki forests are also catching on. You can find tiny forests from Cambridge, MA, to Los Angeles, CA. According to earth.org,  “[c]reating accessible ways to store carbon and increase biodiversity can help slow down climate change.” Conveniently, microforests are becoming most popular where they are most needed, urban areas. And because they are planted in “layers,” many kinds of plants (including trees), birds, animals, insects, and fungi thrive together. Each layer helps the others become healthier. 
    Just like us with our glands, organs, and systems, our planet needs a vast variety and number of living organisms working together to stay healthy. This is biodiversity.
    Miyawaki planted over 40 million trees in thousands of tiny forests during his lifetime, adding to the biodiversity mainly in cities. But microforests will never be able to replace the 5 million hectares (over 12 million acres) of forest every year lost to local agriculture and consumers worldwide demanding more and more goods. 
    Maybe my neighbor will replant the tree she lost. Maybe I’ll find room to plant one, too. Since trees communicate through their root systems with the help of pheromones and fungi, they are more likely to thrive if a couple of the same species live near each other. 
                  
    While a little dry for my taste, Lies My Teacher Taught Me (James W. Loewen.The New Press, 2018) is an important recognition of our society’s denial of racism and reliance on whitewashing our history. Thoroughly researched and told in a no-nonsense voice, it’s anything but didactic. The combination of sociology and history gives the author a firm footing for his comparison of High School History Textbooks and how they (and our teachers) have influenced us. Recommended, but allow plenty of time! 
                    -—Be curious! (and hug, better yet, plant a tree)