Thanks for clearing up the “Hoagy” question. I once tried the Betty Crocker version of corn pone. Probably because we were out of eggs which one needs for corn bread?
Anyway, I recently sang How Little We Know,” HC’s song from To Have & Have Not. I hadn’t watched the film before, in which HC accompanies Lauren Bacall. He appears to have been quite an engaging fellow.
I've been making cornpone for over 40 years and I'm not from the South. I follow the recipe in that classic of late 70s crunchiness, Laurel's Kitchen. That cornpone has a base layer of kidney beans topped by something like corn bread, but softer and with more butter and buttermilk.
The only song lyric I have ever remembered (and that, incorrectly) is Hoagy Carmichaels' Hong Kong Blues.
I mistook the word 'Colored' for 'Kind of'
Also, being a teenager, living at a time before the drugs culture took hold, I thought that 'Kicking Buddha's Gong' was literal, and that 20 years in prison was pretty harsh...
I remember that song, too. I am clueless about Buddha’s gong. Thanks for enlightening me. “I want someone to love me, I want someone to car…ry me back to San Francisco…"
I liked your sonnet, especially the line about how many poems can I write before death. The hit home! Also, got a kick out of the cleaning myths, etc. When we got our bathroom remodeled, the materials used in the shower are so delicate to harsh cleaning solutions like vinegar, I have to use only Soft Scrub or some such thing. Gone are the days of tiles, porcelain, and linoleum. Tough stuff. But now that all the carpets are replaced with hardwood, my most hated job, vacuuming, is gone. Hooray! It's amazing how very little cleaning there is to do now. Spray, wipe, and call it good.
Like, I haven’t known about anyone cleaning walls. But we used to do that when I was a kid. We remodeled my bathroom so I could move home. Walk-in shower with tiles on the floor and the walls and two shower heads, one fixed and one with a hose. It is lovely.
I totally agree. The walk-in shower with the fixed and hose shower heads is heaven. When we remodeled out master, we placed the new shower where the tub was and now have plenty of room. It was quite a saga, though. Maybe I'll share that experience someday.
Hoagy made me think of hoagie, one of several regional U.S. terms for a long sandwich.
I grew up saying sub, short for submarine. I've also lived in the land of the hero and the grinder. During a visit to New Orleans I found out about po'boys. When I lived in Philadelphia I ate hoagies. Now I am back among subs. But the restaurant where my son works sells hoagies. I should ask the owners whether they have a connection to the City of Brotherly Love, or whether they just like the word. It's definitely more fun to say and write than sub.
Missed seeing you at the rally today . . . I had a very ordinary, routine start to an extraordinary day, at about 8:00AM.
I had a departure time of 10:45 AM so I didn’t spend my usual time reading emails, though I did read a fascinating account of the beginning of the Revolutionary War by Heather Cox Richardson in her daily blog, Letter from and American. And I had not yet made my sign for the 50501-protest rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, though I had had an idea for the sign just before I got out of bed.
I had finished my toast and coffee, checked the weather, my bank account and scanned my emails. Then I went to Google and typed in “The earth photographed from space.” Up popped the iconic first photograph from an early moon launch, I think in 1969, with the moon in the foreground and the blue, cloud covered, earth in the black void of space—the photograph, if I’m not mistaken, that was at least part of the impetus for the very first Earth Day.
I downloaded it and printed it out on my Epson 8500.
It remained, all these years later, stunningly beautiful.
I had thought to use the back side of the cardboard carton I had used for my first sign for the April 5th rally. So, I trimmed it down with my utility knife, found a piece of 1x1 cedar and trimmed it to the same length as my previous sign, stapled the cardboard to the cedar stick, laid the trimmed photograph on the top center of the cardboard. Then I went to my MacBook Pro and typed in the text that had occurred to me while I was still in bed—"A Gift—we must care for her!” I printed out the first two words and the dash in 300pt type, trimmed and glued them. I discovered that I would have to make the other words smaller, to fit on the allotted space, so I tried 200 point and that worked. I printed out the remaining words, trimmed and glued them, then I glued everything on to the cardboard and voila!
Inline image
At about 8:40 I left our home and walked over to Holgate and Cesar Chavez to catch the #17 TriMet bus which would take us right to the Courthouse Square. At the first stop the bus made after I had gotten on, I was greeted by my neighbors, Fran, who rents Jeremy and Laura’s old house, diagonally across Liebe Street from our corner and Alan and Gertie who live diagonally across Liebe from her, two housed down from our corner. Fran’s husband Ed stayed home with a bad cold.
So, Fran and I hung out the whole time.
When we were walking down Jefferson Street toward the river, we were stopped by a young woman who had noticed my sign and wanted to interview us. I have forgotten her name already but she said she worked for the program, Here and Now, at WBUR in Boston and she was in town visiting her sister. She said she had been surprised by the rally, having been unaware that it was happening. We chatted for several minutes. One question she asked stuck with me: “What gives you hope?”, she asked. Of course, I can’t recall exactly what I said but I do remember talking about the conversations I had had with folks who felt that the 50501 group was not cooperating with other groups enough and that having a rally. so soon after April 5th was maybe too much. I told her that I was given hope by seeing how many people had come out today and that we need to grow our resistance and that we never know the effect we will have when we attend a rally, whom we may touch or whom we may inspire, that will help grow our movement, like, yourself, I said. Had I not come, we would have never been able to have this conversation.
I have no way of estimating the size of the crowd but it felt at least as big as the first rally in which we marched across the Hawthorn bridge and back and I think that one was in the thousands, at least several thousand.
So, I am encouraged and I will continue to be in the streets as long as I have breath, making connections, and speaking up and speaking out as a citizen in order to make our democracy—a government of the people, by the people and for the people—work!
I got downtown early, before 11, and there was no one around. I hung around for a bit, then took the bus home. Unlike April 5, there were no clusters of passengers waiting at the bus stops to go downtown. I saw only a few individuals walking with signs. So I didn’t get a feeling for much action. There was a crowd, I just missed it.
Did you go to Courthouse Square? It was pretty packed when we arrived on the #17 bus a bit before 11:30. I am no estimator of crowd size but I think, as I said, it was at least as large as the one I attended back in March that walked across the Hawthorne bridge and back . . . certainly in the thousands, though, obviously, smaller than the April 5th.
I love when you write about words. I was reminded of David Whyte's Consolations books. love them. thanks. fran for a most enjoyable post.
Thank you Fran.
Thanks for clearing up the “Hoagy” question. I once tried the Betty Crocker version of corn pone. Probably because we were out of eggs which one needs for corn bread?
Anyway, I recently sang How Little We Know,” HC’s song from To Have & Have Not. I hadn’t watched the film before, in which HC accompanies Lauren Bacall. He appears to have been quite an engaging fellow.
I recommend the movie, although it doesn’t seem to be streaming for free anywhere just now.
What memorable writing - especially that sonnet. It's going to stay with me for a long time. Thank you Fran!
I really appreciate feedback about the poetry. Thank you!
I've been making cornpone for over 40 years and I'm not from the South. I follow the recipe in that classic of late 70s crunchiness, Laurel's Kitchen. That cornpone has a base layer of kidney beans topped by something like corn bread, but softer and with more butter and buttermilk.
I remember Laurel’s Kitchen! The author had a column in The Oregonian’s FoodDay section. Crunchiness indeed.
Hoagy Carmichael, “To Have and Have Not” and “Stardust”—a perfect trio.
The only song lyric I have ever remembered (and that, incorrectly) is Hoagy Carmichaels' Hong Kong Blues.
I mistook the word 'Colored' for 'Kind of'
Also, being a teenager, living at a time before the drugs culture took hold, I thought that 'Kicking Buddha's Gong' was literal, and that 20 years in prison was pretty harsh...
I remember that song, too. I am clueless about Buddha’s gong. Thanks for enlightening me. “I want someone to love me, I want someone to car…ry me back to San Francisco…"
Forgot to mention, Buddha's gong referred to heroin x
That’s the one. It was on a 78. The B Side was. ‘The old music master’
I liked your sonnet, especially the line about how many poems can I write before death. The hit home! Also, got a kick out of the cleaning myths, etc. When we got our bathroom remodeled, the materials used in the shower are so delicate to harsh cleaning solutions like vinegar, I have to use only Soft Scrub or some such thing. Gone are the days of tiles, porcelain, and linoleum. Tough stuff. But now that all the carpets are replaced with hardwood, my most hated job, vacuuming, is gone. Hooray! It's amazing how very little cleaning there is to do now. Spray, wipe, and call it good.
Like, I haven’t known about anyone cleaning walls. But we used to do that when I was a kid. We remodeled my bathroom so I could move home. Walk-in shower with tiles on the floor and the walls and two shower heads, one fixed and one with a hose. It is lovely.
I totally agree. The walk-in shower with the fixed and hose shower heads is heaven. When we remodeled out master, we placed the new shower where the tub was and now have plenty of room. It was quite a saga, though. Maybe I'll share that experience someday.
Hoagy made me think of hoagie, one of several regional U.S. terms for a long sandwich.
I grew up saying sub, short for submarine. I've also lived in the land of the hero and the grinder. During a visit to New Orleans I found out about po'boys. When I lived in Philadelphia I ate hoagies. Now I am back among subs. But the restaurant where my son works sells hoagies. I should ask the owners whether they have a connection to the City of Brotherly Love, or whether they just like the word. It's definitely more fun to say and write than sub.
Wow, Amy, I wish I had thought of that. It’s just the way I think, one thing leading to another. I’m partial to “hero."
Missed seeing you at the rally today . . . I had a very ordinary, routine start to an extraordinary day, at about 8:00AM.
I had a departure time of 10:45 AM so I didn’t spend my usual time reading emails, though I did read a fascinating account of the beginning of the Revolutionary War by Heather Cox Richardson in her daily blog, Letter from and American. And I had not yet made my sign for the 50501-protest rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, though I had had an idea for the sign just before I got out of bed.
I had finished my toast and coffee, checked the weather, my bank account and scanned my emails. Then I went to Google and typed in “The earth photographed from space.” Up popped the iconic first photograph from an early moon launch, I think in 1969, with the moon in the foreground and the blue, cloud covered, earth in the black void of space—the photograph, if I’m not mistaken, that was at least part of the impetus for the very first Earth Day.
I downloaded it and printed it out on my Epson 8500.
It remained, all these years later, stunningly beautiful.
I had thought to use the back side of the cardboard carton I had used for my first sign for the April 5th rally. So, I trimmed it down with my utility knife, found a piece of 1x1 cedar and trimmed it to the same length as my previous sign, stapled the cardboard to the cedar stick, laid the trimmed photograph on the top center of the cardboard. Then I went to my MacBook Pro and typed in the text that had occurred to me while I was still in bed—"A Gift—we must care for her!” I printed out the first two words and the dash in 300pt type, trimmed and glued them. I discovered that I would have to make the other words smaller, to fit on the allotted space, so I tried 200 point and that worked. I printed out the remaining words, trimmed and glued them, then I glued everything on to the cardboard and voila!
Inline image
At about 8:40 I left our home and walked over to Holgate and Cesar Chavez to catch the #17 TriMet bus which would take us right to the Courthouse Square. At the first stop the bus made after I had gotten on, I was greeted by my neighbors, Fran, who rents Jeremy and Laura’s old house, diagonally across Liebe Street from our corner and Alan and Gertie who live diagonally across Liebe from her, two housed down from our corner. Fran’s husband Ed stayed home with a bad cold.
So, Fran and I hung out the whole time.
When we were walking down Jefferson Street toward the river, we were stopped by a young woman who had noticed my sign and wanted to interview us. I have forgotten her name already but she said she worked for the program, Here and Now, at WBUR in Boston and she was in town visiting her sister. She said she had been surprised by the rally, having been unaware that it was happening. We chatted for several minutes. One question she asked stuck with me: “What gives you hope?”, she asked. Of course, I can’t recall exactly what I said but I do remember talking about the conversations I had had with folks who felt that the 50501 group was not cooperating with other groups enough and that having a rally. so soon after April 5th was maybe too much. I told her that I was given hope by seeing how many people had come out today and that we need to grow our resistance and that we never know the effect we will have when we attend a rally, whom we may touch or whom we may inspire, that will help grow our movement, like, yourself, I said. Had I not come, we would have never been able to have this conversation.
I have no way of estimating the size of the crowd but it felt at least as big as the first rally in which we marched across the Hawthorn bridge and back and I think that one was in the thousands, at least several thousand.
So, I am encouraged and I will continue to be in the streets as long as I have breath, making connections, and speaking up and speaking out as a citizen in order to make our democracy—a government of the people, by the people and for the people—work!
Bill
I got downtown early, before 11, and there was no one around. I hung around for a bit, then took the bus home. Unlike April 5, there were no clusters of passengers waiting at the bus stops to go downtown. I saw only a few individuals walking with signs. So I didn’t get a feeling for much action. There was a crowd, I just missed it.
Did you go to Courthouse Square? It was pretty packed when we arrived on the #17 bus a bit before 11:30. I am no estimator of crowd size but I think, as I said, it was at least as large as the one I attended back in March that walked across the Hawthorne bridge and back . . . certainly in the thousands, though, obviously, smaller than the April 5th.
At 10:30, Pioneer courthouse Square was completely empty. I think I left around 1045, and they’re still weren’t any people.