• Aboot:

Epiphabets

~ My.Daily.Distraction

Epiphabets

Category Archives: Society

My.Daily Distraction ~ Post 177: “SouthPaw”

12 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Behaviour, habits, Society

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

learned behaviour, School, Southpaw, Writing

image

I was in kindergarten when I first started printing the letters of the alphabet.

By grade one I could print sentences.

It was while I was doing my homework one evening that my Father noticed me holding the pencil in my left hand.

From that day forward, I was only allowed to hold a pencil in my right hand.

My Father explained that when he was a young boy in school, his teacher would separate the left handed students from the right handed students. Further, the left handed students were labelled as having poorer mental faculties.

There was no point in arguing. He was adamant that I write with my right hand.

My first attempts at writing with my right hand were awkward. With time however, I eventually got use to writing with my right hand.

However, every other activity, I continued to do with my left hand. This included throwing a ball, frisbee, even sewing.

When I grew into an adult, I finally felt comfortable enough to keep using my left arm even when my Father objected.

Then I wondered, what it was about my Father that made him so adamantly against me using my left hand.

The only answer I can come up with is ‘learned behaviour.’

He was taught to believe that it was unnatural for anyone to use their left hand.

I believe that racism, homophobia, and sexism is also learned behaviour.

So, as it happens I’ve been having a little problem with my left shoulder lately.

It’s getting harder and more painful to use, especially when I’m working.

And do you know what?

I think that this might be a good time for me to start using my right arm.

Maybe.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 151: Lucky Stars

22 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Astronomy, Childhood, Fiction, literature, Money, Music, Poetry, saving, Science, Society, songs

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

allowance, astronomy, binoculars, fathers, ice cream, money, Music, piggy bank, Science, Songs, stars, Toronto, universe

I am one of the lucky ones.

This is because when I was seven years old my Father saw to it that I had my own pair of binoculars.

First, he planted the seed that lit the spark.

He always talked about stars, and the moon and the sun. I was barely four years old when my Father would take me for evening walks down Dufferin street, in a popular Toronto suburb. As we walked, he would point to the moon and the stars and tell me how far away they were and how glorious and mysterious this universe was.

He even taught me a little German children’s song called “Weiss Du Wie Viel Sternlein Stehen.”

We would sing it together as we walked the circumference of our apartment building while out for our evening walks.

The melody was lovely, and the sentiment equally so.

Try to imagine me as a four year old child, stumbling through the following German verse:

Weißt du, wieviel Sternlein stehen
An dem blauen Himmelszelt?
Weißt du, wieviel Wolken gehen
Weithin über alle Welt?
Gott der Herr hat, sie gezählet,
Dass ihm auch nicht eines fehlet
An der ganzen großen Zahl,
An der ganzen großen Zahl.

Which in English translates into:

Do you know how many little stars there are
In the wide blue sky?
Do you know how many clouds
There are over the whole wide world?
The Lord God counted them so well,
That none are missing
From the whole big lot of them,
From the whole big lot of them.

My imagination had been sparked.

Then, I started receiving an allowance of ten cents a week when I was five years old.

My father had procured a ceramic piggy bank into which each week we would both ceremoniously insert a dime. This allowance was earned by making my bed, brushing my teeth, and generally for being a good girl.

From time to time, family and friends would give me small monetary gifts, a quarter here, a nickel there. Once, I received a dollar from a Grandparent in a birthday card.

“This is for ice cream,” read my Grandmother’s all too familiar handwriting script.

However, I knew better. Dad’s rules were that should I ever receive any money, half had to be saved. Happily, that still left me enough money for an ice cream cone at the local Dairy Queen.

By the time I was seven old I had saved six dollars. Not long after that, my Father saw a newspaper flyer advertising binoculars on sale at Canadian Tire. He told me that the magnification was very powerful, but I had no idea what that meant.

The price was $14.

Dad and I had an agreement that as long as I kept saving for a pair of binoculars he would help pay for half.

Luckily Dad was so excited about these new binoculars he was willing to throw in the last two dollars that I needed.

I remember the first time that I held those binoculars. They were heavy, shiny, black, and well made. That was a time before everything was made of plastic.

Those binoculars lasted almost fifty years.

An unfortunate fall from a high closet smashed it into two.

I was heartbroken, and kept a small piece of the leather strap as a memento.

It wasn’t until 20 years ago I read Antoine De Saint Exupery’s book, THE LITTLE PRINCE, for the first time.

He swept me away with his simple yet eloquent writer’s voice.

It was in his quiet narrative that I realized that I was indeed one of the lucky ones.

At the beginning of the book the main character explains how he once made a simple drawing.

This picture to everyone else looked like a plain ordinary fedora style hat.

But it was not a hat.

What he had actually drawn was a snake who had just eaten an elephant.

Then he writes:

I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my drawing number one, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: that is a hat. Then I would nevertalk to him about Boa constrictors, or primeval forest, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

This passage was an epoch in my life.

For years, I felt myself strange that I could sit in a circle of women at work who were endlessly discussing their searches for store coupons, pretty window dressings, the latest gossip, and feel completely alone. They became silent when I voiced my passion for social justice, reading, writing, and science.

In time, I began to eat alone.

That’s when I began to seek out like minded people, who In St. Exupery’s words I could about talk about…

Boa constrictors, or primeval forest, or stars…

I found them, or rather, we found each other.

Yes, I am one of the lucky ones…

I have been since I was four years old when my Father taught me a song about stars during an evening walk that lit the spark that led to a love of astronomy, primevil forests, children’s songs, and Antoine De Saint Exupery.

Thank you Father.

Thank you Friends.

X

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 143: John Lennon Was Right

14 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Entertainment, History, Music, Society

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

1970's, Beatles, Double Fantasy, Entertainment, John Lennon, Kent State, media, Middle East, Music, Paper Lace, pop music, Rolling Stone, Terry Jacks, Vietnam War

image

In the days that followed John Lennon’s death on December 8 1980, the television and radio airwaves were filled with John Lennon sound bytes, stories, analogies, quotes and of course, John Lennon music.

The sound byte that I remember best is one that I heard over the radio. It was recorded in a series of promotional interviews for DOUBLE FANTASY, his new record album which was released only three weeks before he was murdered.

John Lennon’s exact words were:

“Weren’t the 1970’s a drag?”

At the time, I assumed he was referring to the music of that decade.

Having lived my teenage years in the 1970’s I was dismayed to hear him say this. Mind you it was only 1980, I was 21 years old and still rather fresh out of the decade.

What did I know?

Having now lived through several more decades I see that John Lennon was right after all.

Looking back, the only songs that ever make me cringe are the ones that came out out of the 1970’s pop scene, like AFTERNOON DELIGHT and SEASONS IN THE SUN.

I remember a grade twelve school chum telling me he was visiting his buddy and playing cards while listening to the radio. Everything was fine until the music station played what music history would call some the worst songs ever recorded, all three in a row. That was when his buddy got up from the table, unplugged the radio and smashed it against the wall.

The songs the radio station played were: THE NIGHT CHICAGO DIED by Paper Lace, BILLY DON’T BE A HERO also by Paper Lace and Captain and Tenille’s LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER.

Who can blame the poor guy?

If I remember correctly the 1980’s ushered in The Cars, The Knack, Van Halen, OMD, just to name a few. Followed by a new generation in the 1990’s.

I loved it all and have the hundreds of records and CDs to prove it.

In our home, John Lennon’s videos and music are still regularly played. We regard it as genius and ahead of it’s time.

So that leaves me asking the question:

Why didn’t I just believe John Lennon in the first place?

The same John Lennon who according to Wikipedia, Rolling Stone magazine ranked as the 5th greatest singer of all time, and who along with with Paul McCartney formed the most celebrated song writing partnerships of the twentieth century.

Recently, it occurred to me that John Lennon could also have been referring to the events of the 1970’s such as the Vietnam war, Kent state, Middle East crisis just to name a few heartbreaking stories that never seemed to end.

If that was true, he would be right again.

Yes, the 1970’s were a drag and I see it now.

I regret ever doubting the great John Lennon.

Whatever was I thinking?

~ . ~ . ~ .

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 138: Beware Of Backwards Thinking

09 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Books, Culture, Feminism, Reading, Society, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Books, Culture, Entertainment, Feminism, IBM, Marabel Morgan, Reading, Society, stepford wives, The Total Woman, Virginia, women

image

As International Women’s Day drew to close yesterday my thoughts were drawn to an unfortunate encounter I had with a book in the mid-seventies.

I was seventeen.

To read it now, one would think that this book was written centuries ago during the dark ages.

For the most part, the 1970s were about social change, the sexual revolution and freedom of expression.

However there was one major catastrophic blip that entered my radar.

It happened during one of my visits to Virginia. I often travelled there to spend some time with my Mother and her husband Jim.

While I was there, we went to visit one of Jim’s IBM coworkers.

Our hosts lived in the Shenandoah mountains high atop a ravine in a beautiful wooden house. They were obviously comfortably affluent.

The lady of the house was dressed in an appropriately 1970s stylishly long dress and her lovely blonde hair was done up in a bun. She wore an apron and when she was not preparing dinner she was knitting in her rocking chair.

Our conversation eventually revolved around to books and what we were reading. She told me that her favorite book was THE TOTAL WOMAN by Marabel Morgan.

I told her that I was unfamiliar with this book.

It was then that she excused herself and got up from her rocking chair and left the room. A few minutes later she reemerged carrying a paperback in her hands.

She handed it to me.

“Here,” she said to me.

“You can keep it.”

It was the book she had just mentioned.

On the cover was the lovely Marabel Morgan with her hair perfectly coiffed wearing a pink dress suit. It was uber 1970’s feminine fashion and of course, Marabel herself was beaming back at me from where she sat on the front cover.

image

As our hostess began to explain the premise of the book, I could feel Mother begin to bristle. She said nothing, but even from across the room I could keenly sense a low growl.

Mother’s beaming countenance still had the demeanour of a graceful and happy visiting houseguest.

But I knew better.

Mother, no doubt had heard of this book before.

Upon closer examination, each chapter of this book pertained to how to have a happy marriage.

And how do you have a happy marriage?

According to the book THE TOTAL WOMAN a wife must be 100% totally submissive to their husband, and have his dinner and martini ready for him when he gets home. Further, a wife must never ask their husband for anything and thus be a nag.

Yup, just when you think the dark ages are a think of the past, some yahoo comes along and resurrects backward thinking.

Go figure.

After several appearances on the Phil Donahue show, Marabel Morgan was unceremoniously crowned as queen of the anti-feminists.

Perhaps there are some of you who think that such backwards thinking is at long last a thing of the past.

Think again.

One recent movie release, is a clever variation on this very same theme. It promotes male superiority and female submission in no uncertain terms.

I’m grateful that Mother gave me that warning shot across the bow which immediately made me wary of the backwards thinking that fills Marabel Morgan’s book, THE TOTAL WOMAN.

It’s easy to get swept up in what is thought to be popular, trendy and right.

But in the end I hope you will agree as I differ with another one of today’s popular trends:

It’s not about the bass…

It’s about the R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

~.~.~.~.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 80: One Is Not The Loneliest Number

10 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Life, marriage, Society

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Housing, independence, love, pundits, single, Society

Not long ago, I listened to comedian and political pundit Bill Maher talk about living alone.

I liked what he had to say.

He did not understand the stigma attached with those that lived alone.

All to often, people make judgements about people who live alone as unsociable, friendless, spinsterly, and destined to a life of loneliness.

He reminded his audience that at one time, living alone was a sign of affluence and independence.

And he’s right.

There is nothing to be ashamed of when one does not need to monetarily rely on another.

As my two daughters were growing up, I impressed upon them that it is a good thing to be an independent adult and not to rely on others for sustenance and shelter.

In my workplace there are many people who are unattached and I can’t help but cringe when people teasingly imposing love matches on them.

It’s so high school.

Thanks Bill Maher, for addressing this subject which continues to unnecessarily haunt people who are doing their best to get by in this world and for getting this message out there.

And so in closing…

No matter who you are…
Or where you are…

Be well for where you are…
And for who you are.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 50: My Thoughts on Joan, Carol And Aretha

08 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in divas, Entertainment, gender, Music, music industry, recording industry, Society, women's rights

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

aretha franklin, carol king, divas, Equality, exploitation, gender, joan baez, Music, music indusrty, pop, pop music, records, Respect

On my Sunday night drive in to work I was listening to my usual radio station: CBC 99.1.

On Sunday night, their usual fare has prominent Canadian music artists featured in “My Play List” where they play the songs that were most influential to them both before and after they entered the music industry.

Sylvia Tyson was the featured host.

At one point during the hour she surprised me by confessing to the airwaves that during the 1960’s she did not care much for the sound of Joan Baez’s singing voice. However, she stated that she wholeheartedly admired her for how Joan blazed a path for other women to enter the folk music industry.

It was at that point that I remembered back to when I first heard Joan Baez sing.

It was 1970, and living in Virginia. The song was Amazing Grace. Agreed, her voice struck me as unusual, but it was lovely nevertheless.

In the summer of 1971, my Mother purchased her first Joan Baez album, ‘David’s Album’ which was dedicated to her new husband which had been imprisoned in the early days of their marriage because he failed to respond to the draft notice which called upon him to fight in the Vietnam war.

That was my introduction into political cause and effect for the common person.

As a twelve year old girl, I was saddened by this story. However, I learned that there are those who will stand up for what they think is right even if it sends them to prison.

That summer I was also introduced to the music Carol King when my Mother purchased her album ‘Tapestry’.

Allow me to add one more name:

Aretha Franklin.

These three female singers had a strong voice which I believe left a positive lasting impression that their success did not include being beholden to any man.

First of all, they did not aspire to wonton love songs, nor did they want anyone to “Be My Baby”.

They told stories of life, of heartache and of unchaste love and the determination to be seen as equals.

Unlike the popular girl band songs of the 1950’s and 1960’s, these songs did not necessarily end with ‘happily ever afters’ or comply with ‘my one true love’ scenarios.

Thank you Joan, Carol and Aretha.

Your brave messages gave me the heads up that what popular media was trying to sell me, was in no uncertain terms…

Hazardous to my mental well being…

and that…

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

… Is a very important asset in the life of a woman who can think for herself.

Now tell me…

Of the upper echelon of current female pop divas, name one who can hold her own in the same way as the three I referred to above without using a sheer body suit, elaborate makeup and sexual references?

Not possible.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 42: Satan Get Behind Me

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Business, Capitalism, Ecology, Economics, Economy, Life, Poems, Poetry, Religion, Socialism, Society

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Baggage, Business, Capitalism, Crime, Ecology, Economy, heart, life, Lord, Mailbox, Mission, Poems, Poetry, Pollution, Religion, Satan, Socialism, Walmart, World

Don’t like small minded people
And the baggage that they bear
Whiney little voices
Whiney little cares
They’ve got their small agendas
Piggly and wrong
Wish they’d pack up their bags
Move it out
Moved it on…

Don’t have no time to listen
Got so much to do
The world is up in arms
The economy is screwed
My heart is on a mission
My mind is on a plan
So if you will excuse me
Going to do what I can…

Oh Lord
Give me the words to say
To turn these people
From their evil ways…

Satan get behind me

Know a little woman
She wears them size zero jeans
Flirts with all the guys
Gets them horny and mean
When she’s the center of attention
She thinks her life’s a blast
Believe me when I tell you
She’s a pain in the ass…

Just cleaned out my mailbox and let me tell you it’s full
With criminals like Walmart
What a bunch of bull
They outsource all the workers
They send their business south
That crap always gives me a bad taste in my mouth…

Oh Lord
Give me words to say
To turn these vipers
From their wicked ways…

Satan get behind me

The world is full of money grabbers
They’re all on the take
Screwing the workers
Polluting the lakes
Don’t need their petty bullshit about beating the Jones
It’s time you get a life
It’s time you get gone…

Oh Lord
Show us the way
To turn this world
From it’s evil ways

Satan get behind me
Satan get behind me
Satan get behind me

Amen.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 28: No Casinos In Gettysburg

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Casinos, Culture, Gambling, Gettysburg, History, Pennsylvania, Society

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Casinos, Gambling, Gettysburg, History, Mississippi, Niagara Falls, Pennsylvania, Vicksburg

About 25 years ago, I had the great pleasure of visiting Vicksburg, Mississippi. I remember the rolling green mounds of the battlefield there, the statues marking it’s history and how beautiful it all was. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

Now, it is not so much the battlefield that catches your eye but rather the ever expansive casinos that have taken root there.

I saw the same thing happen in Niagara Falls. During my childhood it was a place of wonder and awe.
Unfortunately, that too, is no longer the case.

It is difficult to see the falls through all the high rises that surround it now. The thick fumes and engine roar from the buses are inescapable , and you can no longer park your car within walking distance of the Falls. That’s what the shuttles are for. Those shuttles are really a damper when you want to take visiting family out for a simple drive to see Niagara Falls.

And so, I have not seen the Falls in twenty years.

Now comes the news that the battle for Gettysburg Casinos still rages on, even after it has been beaten to death by public outcry and the ruling letter of the law.

I’ve been in a casino twice in London Ontario. Both times was with a carload of friends after attending a seminar looking to kill a few hours after dinner.

The only pleasant memory I have about it was as I stood at a singular spot in the centre of that huge room, the sounds of all the bells and chimes was almost symphonic.

I love Gettysburg. So much so, that I could easily describe to you all the landmarks and sites that you will encounter as you drive in from the outskirts of the town to the battlefields themselves.

The people you see walking the streets are tourists with cameras in one hand and the hand of a loved one in the other. The are the people who are there for the sole reason of honoring the role that Gettysburg played during the turning point of the American Civil War.

It is horrifying to me to think how it will look after the casinos take hold of it and remake Gettysburg in their own image.

Gambling begets crime.

With the onslaught of casinos the majority of people there will be those in search of satisfying the hungers of avarice They will drown and cast out the present tourism industry .

The thousands of soldiers who are buried there will eventually be rendered insignificant.

To me, this is only further proof that the love of money truly is the root of all evil.

My.Daily. Distraction ~ Post 19: When Love Came To Town

16 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Leisure, Life, Philanthropy, Society, World Events

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Building, Charities, Communities, Community, Construction, Habitat For Humanity, Helping Others, Jimmy Carter, Poverty, Society

Once upon a time on a busy street not so far away from here, there stood an ominous purple building strangely out of place among the shops, houses, churches and schools of our community.

Consisting of two stories, the bottom floor of this building had no windows. However, through one of the dirty second floor windows there was a sign advertising…

ROOMS FOR RENT

BY THE

WEEK – DAY – HOUR

The ground outside the heavy front door was continually littered with empty bottles and cigarette butts.

Little children walking by this building on their way to school would ask their Mothers why the men loitering in the doorway were staring at them. These children were summarily silenced and urged to quicken their pace while Mother kept her eyes to the ground lest they look up and see the unwavering eyes boldly following them.

From time to time, this building would change colour. In ten years, it had gone from brown to pink, to orange, then to purple.

And then all of a sudden, one day the building was gone. All that remained was a small heap of grey concrete rubble.

Within a few days, a sign was put up on the empty lot stating that Habitat For Humanity was about to begin work on a new home.

In only two weeks time, the frame was up and after a month, the house was completed. Within a week, there were curtains hanging in the front window, and beneath this same window a bed of flowers quickly appeared.

The transformation of the above described business establishment into a new family abode was nothing short of magical with a great deal of work, cooperation, goodwill, and donations all made possible by Habitat For Humanity.

And on a final note, no longer are there empty bottles and cigarette butts littered around the front door…

…only small bicycles and children’s toys.

Thank you Habitat for Humanity.

Our city is grateful.

My.Daily.Diversion Post 4: My Colourful 1st Life Lesson

04 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Childhood, Children, Education, Society

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Candy, Color, Colour, Doctors, Education, Green, Learning, Lollipop, School, Society

My first memories of colours, candy, and candy colours were the lollipops that were dispensed by my doctor after every visit.

I was a very young four years old when my doctor would always ask after each visit:

“And what colour of lollipop would you like?”

I was so young at that time I had not yet learned about colours and their different names.

Getting no answer, the doctor then assuming that I had no preference always went to the default colour…

…green.

Obviously, everyone went for the red and the purple ones.

Hence, there was always an over abundance of green lollipops in his lollipop bowl.

Little did he know that I didn’t care for green lollipops.

I had absolutely had my fill of them.

All I ever got was green lollipops.

And finally one day at nursery school I finally began to understand what the word “colour” was all about.

I even learned the name of a color and save this epiphany for my next trip to the doctor.

At long last game the day when once again took me for a visit to the doctor.

I eagerly waited for the moment he would ask me what color of lollipop I would like to have.

When he finally held the bowl out to me he asked what color lollipop I would like,

I looked into his eyes and said…

“Green.”

It’s hard to describe how utterly heartbroken I was when I was handed yet another green lollipop.

“And what do you say for the lollipop?”

Mother asked me as I took the ugly green lollipop from the doctor…

“Thank you,” I said trying to muster a smile.

1st life lesson learned by me in 1963 as my Mother drove me home while I enjoyed my green lollipop:

What’s the big deal about adults and colour?

… Because even green lollipops can taste wonderful.

Tweet

Archives

  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • June 2019 (7)
  • May 2019 (4)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (4)
  • January 2018 (6)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (6)
  • June 2016 (1)
  • August 2015 (4)
  • July 2015 (10)
  • June 2015 (5)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (14)
  • March 2015 (31)
  • February 2015 (28)
  • January 2015 (30)
  • December 2014 (29)
  • November 2014 (44)
  • October 2014 (24)
  • September 2014 (23)
  • August 2014 (31)
  • July 2014 (33)
  • June 2014 (28)
  • February 2014 (1)
  • November 2013 (9)
  • October 2013 (3)

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel