I went from a sweet grape to a bitter grape…
Finally, I became a sour grape. I scowled so much that my face got all squishy.
                                             from The Sour Grape
                                              written by Jory John
                                         illustrated by Pete Oswald
                                    HarperCollins Publishers, 2022
                                   accessed on YouTube 4/23/23

    When my sister was in high school, she took a course in shorthand. The top of her homework book was spiral-bound. and the cardboard cover flipped up and over to uncover neatly arranged squiggles on all the pages. A secret language, a code I thought. I taught myself some of the simpler words, and used them when I took notes in my own classes, even when I went to college. I made up some symbols of my own, too. Saying a lot in a little bit of space was not only practical, it was fun. Like poetry, kinda. At least it was for me.
    I love words, but a picture really is worth a thousand of them. Maybe that’s why I love emoji (the plural s is optional). The different tilts of an eyebrow suggest confusion, anger, or surprise. A smile can be just a hint or a wild guffaw shown by those laughing tears flowing from a tilted head. They are all easy-to-read shortcuts to communicate everything from our emotions, to our travel plans. 
    Remember the smiley face? It was designed by Harvey Ball to boost employee morale of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company. Harvey said he dashed out a “…a circle with a smile for a mouth on yellow paper, because it was sunshiny and bright.” In 1963, the company paid him $45.00. They distributed thousands of buttons and signs. 
    Mr. Ball’s simple design became ubiquitous. By the 1970s, his slogan “Have a happy day” had evolved into “Have a nice day” which has also become ubiquitous.
    A French journalist, Franklin Loufrani, also claims to have designed the Smiley face. In 1971, he launched the Smiley Company, which in 2017, earned $419.9 million. After surviving for over 50 years, the Smiley is here to stay. You can find Smiley faces on everything from tea cups to T-shirts.
    It’s a short leap from a Smiley to an emoticon like ;-) or <3 or even (^_^). And another short leap to emoji. The word emoji comes from the Japanese and combines two words, picture and character. 
    It is said that the modern emoji was invented by Shigetaka Kurita in 1999. Their popularity grew, especially with the invention and mushrooming growth of smartphones. While emoticons can be “written” with any keyboard, or even dashed out by hand emoji are embedded in smartphones and available with the tap of a finger. Even some laptops have an emoji bank.
    According to Paul D. Hunt who writes a blog for Adobe here, empathy is the most important aspect of communication. And the results of a survey of 7,000 people from all around the world show that [using] emoji compels them to feel more empathy towards others.
    Emoji live and are managed by a nonprofit called Unicode. Begun in 1988, Unicode characters allow all devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets, cloud computers) to share or exchange text written in any language or with symbols. Even though emoji are what most people know about Unicode, they make up only a small part of what it provides. 
    Digital Information World has tallied up emoji usage across the globe. They tell us that the “laughing face with crying tears is the most commonly seen in at least 75 nations.” ​
    Emoji have really transformed the way we express ourselves on the internet and according to Emojipedia.com, new emojis will be released to major platforms throughout 2023. 
    Bark is an app that monitors texts, email, YouTube, and over 30 apps and social media platforms for issues like cyberbullying, adult content, sexual predators, profanity, suicidal ideation, threats of violence, and more. In addition, they provide a dictionary, updated frequently, of emoji slang used by teens, mostly. It’s a list of what you would expect kids  are “talking” about when they don’t want their parents to know, but can be used as a bullying tactic. Here's the link.
    If you love emoji as much as I do, you might want one of your own. You can adopt a character that describes you or your company or even give one as a gift. On Unicode's website, select your sponsorship level, select your character and make your donation. You can adopt as many characters as you want for $100.00 each. Donations help the Unicode Consortium reach its goal to support all the world’s languages.
    World emoji day is July 17 each year. That is the day that the founder of Emojipedia created the calendar emoji in 2014. 

I really enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Knopf/Doubleday, 2022). The book is necessary. It’s a lesson in what happens when a society that suppresses half its population begins to realize its own potential. It’s feminism at its best: a lesson in self-awareness, equanimity, and positive role models. And it’s laugh-out-loud funny.
                              -—be curious! (and express yourself)

    On a sticky and sunny Sunday in the summer of 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland did something rivers should never do.
                                   KABOOM!
    No one was surprised, surprisingly. It’s burned before, people said. It’ll burn again.
    Which was true. Since 1886, it happened thirteen times. In 1912, five people lost their lives. And the 1952 fire caused over a million dollars in damage.
                              from The Day the River Caught Fire
                                       written by Barry Wittenstein
                                       illustrated by Jessie Haartland
                          Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster Books
                                            for Young Readers, 2023

    According to my interpretation of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, who kind of said we’ll need a little magic to make the world right, I disagree. We don’t. We need information. We need encouragement. And we need determination. That combination makes magic.
    When William Shakespeare was born (April 23, 1564) the Thames River was so polluted that you could smell its stink for miles. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River was so polluted that it caught fire and became the impetus for a movement. The 1969 fire was not the Cuyahoga’s first fire. It was not even the worst one. (See quote above)    
    After the 1969 fire was put out, people went back to work or home or school, but the times, they were a-changin’. A movement had begun. On April 22, 1970, under the leadership of Congressman Gaylord Nelson and Denis Hayes, his aide and an environmental activist, we celebrated the first Earth Day.
    In December, 1970, the Cuyahoga River fire was highlighted in a cover story in National Geographic titled “Our Ecological Crisis.” Time Magazine published an article about the fire in March, 1970. Congress established the Environmental Protection Agency in January 1970, to strengthen the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, to pass the Clean Water Act of 1972.
    The Clean Water Act has been amended several times since then. Through tighter restrictions, our water (and air) have become cleaner. 
    In 2019, fish caught in the Cuyahoga River were deemed “fit to eat,” but after rollbacks in the previous administration, on August 25, 2020, the river caught fire again. Storm drains allowed sewage, toxins, and fertilizer to flow into the river during heavy rains. The 2020 fire started when a fuel tanker spilled its flaming contents into the river after a traffic accident. 
    We need our governmental leaders to make and enforce laws to protect us and the environment.
    And, we need our environmental scientists, our climatologists, and our geneticists. They ask questions they think they know answers to, just to discover if they actually could be wrong. After all, it’s really effective to learn from our mistakes. Scientists have shown us that we continue to make many, and many dangerous mistakes. They show us that we human beings have had a profound affect on our environment, especially in the days and years since the Industrial Revolution.
    So why is it so hard to convince people of that profound affect? 
    Something called denial. The concept of denial is well-understood, well-documented, and much written about. We can be in denial about our own mortality or that of a loved one. We can be in denial about how the hot-fudge sundae we ate last night really affects our weight-control efforts. We can be in denial about a drinking or drug habit. According to psychological research, the enormity of the problem does not allow our brains to process its reality. 
    Now imagine that the earth will suffocate/drown/blow away or burn up if we don’t acknowledge climate change and start working diligently toward solutions.
    The fact of climate change is easy to deny. It is just too big to wrap our heads around and millions of people are climate change deniers.
    So what is the solution? Just like any huge problem or project, we must break it into smaller, more achievable goals. We need to tell our government officials that we are concerned about the problem. We need to make collective decisions that will benefit all of humanity and all of our shared earth. We all need to be involved on whatever level we can be.
    Mother Nature is nothing if not fair. She responds harshly to abuse, but is abundantly forgiving when treated with love and generosity.
    Let’s promise her we’ll be more cautious, more care-full, and more grateful for her gifts.

I just started reading Lessons in Chemistry (I’m only 14% in) by Bonnie Garmus. It’s historical fiction! (1960s) about “a gifted research chemist…who becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show.” (Washington Post) and “the Catch-22 of early feminism.” (Steven King, via Twitter) I’ll give you my take next week.
                           
                         Be curious! (and celebrate Mother Earth)

    When we got to the edge of the garden where the zinnias are planted, there was Great-great-aunt Florentine, flat out on the ground next to a basket of crowder peas, with her garden dress poofed around her like a big, soft cloud and her head resting on a mound of marigolds.
                                    from Each Little Bird That Sings 
                                             written by Deborah Wiles
                                                   Clarion Books, 2006

    To be sure, Great-great-aunt Florentine was dead. She was not buried in her beloved garden, but she could have been.
    I’ve been considering a blog post on Green Burials for a long time, but I hesitated. Death is an uncomfortable topic for many of us. What happens afterward is a great mystery we who are alive cannot solve. We can imagine. We can believe. We can avoid the subject altogether, but it really is a mystery. 
    Lest anyone jumps to a wrong conclusion, I am not harboring a secret, unthinkable, frightening diagnosis. I also don’t know anyone who is. And I am not harboring a death-wish. To be clear, the topic is timely, practical, and more and more people are considering all their options while they are still above-ground to do so. 
    Some people are happy-go-lucky. They roll with life’s punches, perils, and predicaments taking good news, bad news, even no news in stride. Not necessarily averse to planning, some people just don’t do it. Others of us plan everything from breakfast to dinner and each moment between. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle of all that.
    Pre-planning your own funeral, though, is not for everyone. I get that. So if you’re one who prefers to stop reading now, I understand.

    Before the Civil War (1861 - 1865) it was uncommon to embalm bodies for burial. Great advances during that War allowed the unrefrigerated bodies of tens of thousands of soldiers to be returned to their families for burial. The same process was used to preserve the body of Abraham Lincoln as he was viewed by thousands of grief-stricken Americans on the famous train ride that took him almost 1,700 miles from Washington DC to Springfield, Illinois, his final resting place. After Lincoln’s funeral, embalming became more fashionable. 
    Even though only five percent of burials are natural, 74% of funeral homes reported an increased interest. One main reason is the prohibitive cost of a traditional burial; $8,000 is average in Ohio right now and the trend is upward.
    Natural burial is also known as Green Burial. A body is allowed to decompose naturally in the ground. No embalming (with its toxic chemicals) is necessary. A biodegradable casket or a natural-fiber shroud assures nothing interferes with the process. Both will reduce the final cost.
    Another obvious advantage to a Green Burial is being able to work hand-in-hand with Mother Nature. All the body’s minerals are absorbed into the earth, making a grave the perfect place for a shade-giving tree, a comfortable rock to serve as a backrest, or a patch of daffodils. 
    Along with providing positive ecological aspects, negative aspects of a traditional burial can be avoided. 
    Almost five and a half million gallons of embalming fluid is used by funeral homes in the United States each year. Embalming fluid contains formaldehyde, harmful to the people preparing the body and toxic to the ground once it begins to biodegrade into the soil.
    Over one and a half million tons of reinforced concrete, one to two tons per vault, are used each year. 
    Made into coffins, US cemeteries bury over 30 million board feet of hardwoods and softwoods each year. Some are pine, some are oak, and some are made from exotic woods from rainforests in South America.
    The Green Burial Council provides a list of negative consequences to the earth caused by traditional burial on its website. Their site also provides a comprehensive FAQ page. It’s a great place to start looking for more info.
    The physical advantages of Green Burial speak for themselves. But humans are emotional beings. Like Elizabeth Berg’s lovable character, Arthur Truluv, who took his lunch to the cemetery every day to visit his wife, we all want to know we can visit our loved ones even when they can no longer walk next to us or share our lunch. 
    Most cemeteries and burial sites that provide natural burial allow some type of marker, whether it be an engraved field stone set flush to the earth, a patch of perennials, or a tree or shrub. The GPS coordinates of a  gravesite are usually provided to the family, so even if the spot is not marked, it’s still accessible.
    A particular place provides an important feeling of connection that ties us to our past, to the DNA that we share with family members, close and distant. 
    We like a remembrance, too, a token, something tangible to remind us of our loved ones. Call it a memento, but these solid objects are so much more. I have my grandmother’s rocking chair. It’s old, but I wouldn’t call it an antique. It has no value to anyone but me. I like to sit in the kitchen and imagine I’m sitting in her lap, even though she was mostly not that kind of grandma.
    While Green Burial is legal in every state, some communities, and some cemeteries may have a policy prohibiting the practice so it’s important to check.
    Lots of people are making the decision for Green Burial, mostly for ecological reasons, but financial, too. I’m sure no one is surprised to find out it’s a decision I’ve been considering for a long time. After I’m finished with the body I’ve used and misused, I like to think I could nourish a tree or a bush. Something flowering would be nice. Maybe a Rose of Sharon?

    Deborah Wiles’ book Each Little Bird That Sings (Clarion Books, 2006) tells the story of Comfort Snowberger whose family owns the only funeral home in town. After the back to back deaths of both her uncle and her great-great aunt, tragedy strikes. Comfort’s naïveté combines with her optimism. She concludes that “it’s not how you die that makes the important impression, it’s how you live.” Try this one for a quick read that goes right to the mind and heart of a smart eleven-year-old. 
                                     -—be curious! (and celebrate life)

    Eric opened his eyes. “It’s no use,” he said. “I’ll never have a memory like yours.”
    “You have to keep practicing,” Cam told him. “Now try me.”
    Cam looked straight ahead. She said, “Click,” and then closed her eyes. Cam always said “Click,” when she wanted to remember something. She said it was the sound her mental camera made when it took a picture.
     from Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds
                                                                (Book I)
                                             written by David A. Adler
                                          illustrated by Susanna Natti
                                   Viking Press/Puffin/Penguin, 1980

    I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, on the banks of Lake Erie. Besides memorizing spelling words, arithmetic facts, and song lyrics, we learned the names of all the Great Lakes. I can name them now with a memory aide, a mnemonic device. When put together, the first letter of each lake spells the word HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. 
    Mnemonics help me a lot when I want to remember the items on my grocery list, the ages of my grandkids, and the correct spellings for difficult words. Here’s an example you probably know: A rat in the house might eat the ice cream spells arithmetic if you use the initial letter of each word. 
    In musical notation, name the notes on the treble staff by using the initial letters in the sentence Every good boy does fine for the lines. The spaces spell the word FACE.  
    Songs can also be memory aids. I can name (sing) the first 22 Presidents of the US by singing their names to “Rock a Bye Baby.” Use the number of syllables in the number of terms they served to correspond to their names. (George Washington gets only Wash-y and John Adams gets Ad. Thomas Jefferson gets Jeff-y and so on.) 
    My granddaughter can list the first 100 digits of pi by singing the pi song. It goes to the tune of “Hall of the Mountain King” by Edvard Greig. It’s on YouTube. Search “Hall of the Mountain King pi” (Can I ever get past pi!?)
    Like Cam Jansen in today’s quote, associating one word or idea with another is sometimes a good way to remember a thought. The other day, I was talking to a friend about music. He mentioned the word tonic in relation to chords. I asked him “like gin and tonic?” The answer was no, but a qualified yes. I remembered the word long enough to look it up and found out while it has nothing to do with alcohol, the word is spelled the same way. It refers to the first notes of a musical selection and is the basis for the rest of the melody and harmonies.
    Here’s a mnemonic spelling rhyme you probably know: I before E except after C and when sounded like A as in neighbor and weigh.
    Mnemosyne, (pronounce n’ MAH sah nee) the Greek goddess of memory, is associated with creativity, knowledge, history, and art. Her symbol is a fountain. Her name translates in English to memory. While the ability to remember is one of her gifts to us humans, she also gave birth to the muses, her creative spirit-children that allow us to create beautiful songs, art, and humor/amusement.
    In the days when ancient Greeks worshipped Mnemosyne, before writing was wide-spread, the whole society depended on her. Laws needed to be consistent over time. Passing judgement based on those rules needed to be fair. History was passed from generation to generation by storytellers. They all depended on memory. 
    Memory research began in 1957, when Brenda Milner described a patient, known as H. M., to have suffered profound amnesia after brain surgery to alleviate symptoms of epilepsy. Medical science quickly learned about the various structures of our brains. The surgery was refined and perfected. Specialized images pinpointed the lesions involved in a particular patient’s epilepsy, allowing doctors to greatly minimize poor outcomes and maximize beneficial results. Some peoples’ memories have even improved because they are no longer impaired by their seizures.
    Most scientists describe several types of memory. Our experiences and actions may begin with a sensory image, say pulling out a musty-smelling box of wooden blocks. Unless there is reason to remember the image, it will be forgotten. Since I associated the musty smell with the fun I had playing and the love lavished on me by my grandparents, the memory was important. It still influences my feelings about musty smells, the importance of childhood play, and even how much I like to play with blocks with my own grandchildren.  
    Short-term memory helps me grocery-shop without a list. I can hold about seven items until I pick each off the shelf. I arrange the items in one of several ways, alphabetically, according to the geography of the store, or by categories. All those mnemonics are helpful in the short term. Don’t ask me for last week’s list, or even yesterday’s!
    Working memory serves us a little differently. When we pay attention, say to a particular birdcall on a walk, we’ll be able to identify that same call later, even if we don’t see the bird. We can add numbers in our heads. We can make a familiar dish for dinner without a written recipe.
    Long-term memories can be called back at will from hours or even years ago. But memory is tricky. Even if several people share an experience, each one will remember it slightly (or profoundly) differently. 
    And memories can change over time. A horribly embarrassing event can become raucously funny and harsh memories can soften. 
    The Mayo Clinic lists some ways we can improve our memory functions.
        Be physically active. Blood flow helps our hearts and our brains.
        Stay mentally active. Play word games. Read. Learn a new skill.
        Spend time with others. Exchange ideas. Make plans. Laugh together.
        Stay organized. Designate places for things. Keep a calendar. Limit distractions.
        Sleep well. Most adults need between seven and nine hours.
        Eat a healthy diet. Limit alcohol.
     
     Some people say it’s the power of Mnemosyne’s gifts, memory and creativity, that distinguish us from other animals. I’m not so sure. Spider webs, birdsong, and communication-dances of bees all seem inspired to me.

I’m reading Tracy Kidder’s new book Rough Sleepers (Random House, 2023) about Dr. Jim O’Connell’s urgent mission to bring healing to homeless people in Boston. It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming, current and timeless.
                                       -—stay curious! (and creative)