THE BOOK SHOP

HARMONY

 A series of essays....

~ A MALE AND FEMALE CARDINAL ~
HARMONY IN NATURE

....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Harmony is the balance we all require to make life, with all of its intriguing parts, sing with notes of joy and togetherness. It is a reverberation requiring years of practice and skill that bounces the animated tones of the sweetest bird songs from tree to tree in the fresh, morning breeze. We slow our heartbeats down in order to listen to their early calls while they pluck an early worm to take back to their little ones for breakfast, mouths wide open in the comfort of their cozy nest. Harmony is found in the music of nature; a natural counterbalance to conflict and discord. Listen. Listen. Listen for the high-pitch note of the cicadas on a hot summer afternoon, the chirp of the nocturnal cricket, their mating call, used to navigate the nighttime dating scene, and the cacophony of tree frog barks as they emerge at dusk to feed on crickets and earthworms after hiding from the heat of the day. 

THE CLOSED COSMOGONY OF UTOPIA
THOMAS MORE'S WILDLY INFLUENTIAL BOOK THAT
WAS PUBLISHED 500 YEARS AGO

Courtesy of Frieze.com

The musical balance we find within the harmonious structure of nature contributes to an orderly and pleasing combination of elements in a whole; the order and harmony of the universe. Nature’s color palette is studied and adapted by great artists while designers breathe life into man-made surroundings by using nature’s harmonious plans of color, arrangement, and textures. What is pleasing to the eye can, in turn, be pleasing to the heart and soul. In matters of the heart, our own relationships characterized by lack of conflict or strife is a harmonious balance worth striving for, but often too complicated to wholly achieve. Given the possibility in which various components could exist together without destroying one another, and a sense of well-being could be reached by the harmonious coexistence between all of mankind, humans would be living in a utopian ideology, brilliantly captured within the imaginations of authors such as Sir Thomas More, Utopia and Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World. 

A ZEN MOMENT BY
ARTIST AND SCULPTOR: NADINE FOURRE
FROM: EYGALIERES, PROVENCE-ALPILLES, FRANCE

Harmony is the flow of life, a feeling of happiness, acceptance, completeness, and peace, with peace being the highest form of happiness. If we are in harmony with ourselves, we will easily be able to welcome it into our lives while accepting its gifts of balance of mind, body, and soul... Those who sing in harmony are in tune with one another. Like nature’s own song, music can be the natural stabilizer between discord and a true sense of peace. Music consists of three main elements: melody, rhythm, and harmony. It is the third element, harmony, that can elevate a piece from common and predictable to challenging and sophisticated. The harmony of a cappella vocals rises to the occasion in clear and natural tones and, just like the bird songs, amaze and delight our senses with their creative blends of pitches and sounds that mimic everything from musical instruments to nature itself. For purposes of euphony, the pleasant sounds of a favorite poem can evoke a melody that moves our bodies and, as we sway to the rhythm of its tone and arrangement, our mood is elevated to a state of happiness and well-being.

Harmony reaches out to all of us in many ways, touching our life with its dignity and encouraging us to discover personal peace and long-lasting happiness within our very souls, spreading this joy among nature, poetry, music, and all of the lives we touch in one lifetime. If and when we, finally, recognize the importance of harmony, we will know what it’s like to live in an atmosphere of social comity and respect; a lesson those in Washington D.C. must aspire to in the weeks, months, and years to follow...

"Utopia is intentionally flawed. it is an irritant that makes a pearl. It makes you think."    ....Carol Mavor

Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES CAN BECOME LIFE LESSONS

 

A series of essays....

ALL GRANDPARENTS PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE LIVES OF CHILDREN ~
FAMILY DYNAMICS SHOULD NOT POSE A THREAT TO THIS BOND

Courtesy of Getty Images

....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Fuhgeddaboudit!!!, offers up iconic New York/New Jersey, Italian Mafia slang. Often heard in The Sopranos and famously spelled out by Johnny Depp in the 1997 crime drama Donnie Brasco, Fuhgeddaboudit is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (Yes, Fuhgeddaboudit” snags a spot in the Oxford English Dictionary!) as: In representations of regional speech, especially associated with New York and New Jersey, ‘forget about it’ is used to indicate that a suggested scenario is unlikely or undesirable. But, as Johnny Depp’s character in the movie explained, “Sometimes it just means to forget about it.” Plain. Simple.

When it comes to missing out on an opportunity to right a wrong, enhance our monetary holdings, or travel to and greet a new destination...is forgetting about it really enough? And, if we try to second guess our original motives for saying no or automatically dismiss an opportunity by not recognizing its potential within our life, that golden chance was not ours for the taking this particular time around. We must and do learn from our mistakes, even though, as humans, we tend to repeat them over and over again!

DON'T WORRY IF THAT TRIP TO PARIS
SLIPPED THROUGH YOUR FINGERS THIS TIME AROUND 

It seems we have determined any given New Year’s Day to be our ‘new chance’ gauge; a few moments into the first day of a 365-day time frame when resolutions of change, for better or worse, are meant to be exercised and adhered to for as long as possible.  Or, “I’ll begin my diet on Monday,” becomes a preferred mantra, knowing that we have, at least, 52 Mondays in the year to generously cling to.

When missed opportunities become so personal, so gut wrenching, and absolutely beyond one’s control...our lives can be changed forever! When everything we deem as normal, complete, and loving is taken away from us due to another’s pride, lack of compromise, and unwillingness to communicate, it becomes exceedingly difficult to make any form of change happen. And, in many cases, this stubbornness always hurts the innocent among us...in most cases it is the young children who suffer because the adults in the room are caught-up in the slippery realm of power and dominance.

We see examples of missed opportunities towards making difficult circumstances better when looking over the course of many custody cases where, unfortunately, good people deliberately batter and bruise the emotions of their ex-spouse by pitting the children against them. Using the children as pawns, some bitter parents attempt to legally withhold visitation rights from their ex-spouse. This is commonly referred to as parental alienation syndrome or PAS. 

There are numerous cases of grandparents being denied the right to see or be with their own grandchildren. It is a fact that families can become estranged for many reasons, including basic conflicts and misunderstandings. In many cases, research shows that the adult child, for whatever reason, decides that having such control over their own parents is more satisfying than the act of loving one another itself. The term grandparent alienation syndrome or GAS has been adopted to describe the result of this estrangement. The most prominent group using the term GAS is Alienated Grandparents Anonymous, or AGA, based in Florida but has outreach operations in many states, and who conclude that blocking grandparents’ access to grandchildren is the result of one or more persons actively working to turn a grandchild against a grandparent.

"Grandparent rights, in reality, are about a child's right to maintain an ongoing relationship with loving grandparents with whom they have formed an attachment. Grandparents play a significant role in the lives of children, it is a unique and separate relationship, therefore family dynamics should not pose a threat to the bond that has developed," points out author, Susan Hoffman. She has written the book, Grand Wishes: Advocating to Preserve the Grandparent-Grandchild Bond.

Denying innocent children the right to grow-up knowing their own parent or grandparent is a major missed opportunity. The children can be denied the right to learn about their personal heritage, family traditions, and being able to judge for themselves how comfortable they feel around a parent or grandparent. Especially in the case of an estranged grandparent, missing out on all of the time and love an older generation family member has to offer them is time lost forever. No matter how many other grandparents (or lovingly adopted grandparents) they have, a personal relationship with their parent’s parents is something any child should never have to miss out on...for any reason.

To just ‘fuhgeddaboudit’ will never be an option for missed opportunities for most of us. Life is too short and precious to allow the mind and heart to, simply, forget about it. ‘Golden Chances’ can slip through our fingers on a daily basis. We alone must determine what importance they may or may not have had in our life. If it is determined that their loss creates a life-changing impact, we must strive to either permanently throw them away to protect our ego or attempt to recapture these opportunities in order to better our life in the future.

Even if that trip to Paris slipped through your fingers this time around, it would be even more consciously imprudent to ignore another opportunity to right a grievous wrong when given another chance to do so. As human beings, it’s nice to know that we always have a second chance (often a third or fourth, if we’re lucky) to make things better, make things right, for everyone!

BEAUTY ~ LOVE ~ HARMONY

Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

A series of essays....

THERE IS PLEASURE THAT COMES FROM TAKING
SOMETHING APART TO SEE EXACTLY HOW IT TICKS!

                      Courtesy of: TODDMCLELLAN.COM



....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

DECONSTRUCTION

is a term used frequently and in many different facets of life in order to break something down or dismantle it into all of its original components in such a way as to be able to examine it thoroughly or expose its underlying make up, bit by bit. Our world continues to move swiftly and often we are connected to, or more familiar with, the end product rather than the means by which it was produced in the first place. With a consumer’s unquestioned acceptance of what is, we throw away the possibility of what was and how we might improve upon or repair it. The more curious among us embrace the deconstruction process as a challenge worth pursuing with positive reasons and ultimate benefits guiding the way.

However, deconstruction in itself is not a new concept and can be applied to many ideas such as human nature, historical fact finding, and even the foods we consume on a daily basis. The research applied to this act of dismantling can charge the senses and rejuvenate the weary soul just as much as creating something from an original conception and building upon it until it is perceived to be a complete and functioning entity. The process of deconstruction is challenging in the respect that the act of ‘trial and error’ has been diminished; the essential properties of a given subject must be accurately examined and scientifically researched until each component is identified, quantified, and labeled. 

With the explosion of cheap plastic products after World War II, life was more convenient and affordable, and who would have thought to exist without their Tupperware, the puffed-up  polymer DuPont later trademarked as Styrofoam, Formica counter, Saran Wrap, vinyl siding, squeeze bottles, Barbie dolls, Wiffle balls, the colorful world of artificial flowers, and countless more items. Plastics promised a material paradise available to all income brackets. Our naivete, marked by consumer bliss following ‘war deprivation’ and sacrifice, exposed a lack of wisdom, good judgment, and concealed  the long-term consequences of these products. It would be a fool’s goal to deconstruct the polymers and acetates associated with the materials we used to rearrange nature in such imaginative and mass produced ways. What we must do is deconstruct the harm that was done to our environment after so many years of usage and eliminate the disposable world that is choking the breath from every living organism.

Who didn’t want to know the ingredients of McDonald’s ‘special sauce’ since fast food entered the marketplace around the same time as worldwide plastic consumption? The advertising market told us that we did. Life moved fast and furious following WWII. Today, we enjoy the art of deconstructing a fabulous recipe consumed during a fine dining experience and attempt to reproduce it within the luxury of our own home in homage to the chef. Culinary students are trained to taste certain food combinations and then deconstruct them by naming each ingredient within its composition. Deconstructing our food allows us the opportunity to rearrange ingredients to serve our lifestyle with a positive approach in order to make healthier choices along the way.

 The counselor, especially a licensed professional, who treats people with emotional and behavioral problems, may advise and encourage their patients to deconstruct their life in order to allow them to recall and better understand all of the major reasons that led them to the problematic world they exist in currently with the hope of making subtle changes toward improvement. The key to unlocking the past is rediscovering it...little by little.

Many of us attempt to comprehend the general dynamics of this current political administration that influences life and death situations, economic patterns, and interactions with other countries including their people, customs, and laws. Step by step we must see the presidency through the eyes of the man himself, which may be difficult for many of us to do. If we peel back the layers, deconstruct his life back to the circumstances that preceded his official capacity as president, we find a person easily manipulated by virtue of wanting to fit in, desiring to be a part of the whole and never quite achieving this goal for himself. We see a pathetic man from the past who has never had a single clue as to how to govern his own life let alone the people of the United States; always driven by his agenda of hate for Barack Obama, our first black president.  

Agreeing that deconstruction is a way of understanding how something was created in the first place, it is interesting to note that, thanks to the Internet, our topics may be easier to deconstruct than they used to be. Our entire world unfolds before us as we type away on a keyboard waiting for the options to appear on a screen to be analyzed and interpreted. Having such vast knowledge at our fingertips allows us to peel back the layers of time, fill in the missing spaces in history, and better understand or deny the ideas behind the stories we have come to believe as truths. 

Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

WHAT SANTA REALLY THINKS ABOUT AT THE NEW YEAR!

A series of essays....

SANTA AND MRS. CLAUS WELCOMING IN 2020

....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

The remaining cookie crumbs are being cleaned from the counter that the lovingly chipped, Santa cookie jar has graced for the past several weeks. Small hands that decapitated him each time they desired to reach into his tummy for a sweet treat have left him alone for a little while to play with their new Apple products, board games, and participate in the wonderful adventures that enfold within the  pages of books delightfully opened on Christmas morning! 

The crystal snowflakes arrived about a week late but  continue to cover the ground with a fluffy coating of frozen wonderment that I, personally, could live without. Not because of any Scrooge-like tendencies but, it’s something that I thought I would miss twenty-three years ago but learned to ignore and forget about with the exception of our frequent visits up to Michigan from Florida to be with our adult children and young grandchildren in wintertime. Snow can be so overrated, don’t you think?

Our houseguest of several days, Dan’s youngest brother, Chris, made it back home to Georgia safe and sound, if not a bit late after, finally, leaving Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Snowstorm related, don’t you know...! His micro-visits with family and friends in the Kalamazoo area proved highly successful and we learn, once again, how important personal contact is over exclusive social media usage. 

Chris plucked his smartphone (camera) from his back pocket the other day as four adult, female deer meandered into our backyard at dusk and calmly stood looking at the penned-up humans staring out at them while taking their picture from the kitchen window. We must have looked like the proverbial ‘deer in the headlights’ to them! Not desiring the frosty Rhododendron leaves as much as they thought they would, they moved slowly along and followed one another into our neighbor’s yard and deep into the dark, shadowy spaces beyond. 

We kept up with the daily news throughout the holidays, of course, and were slightly relieved by not having the time to glue ourselves to the various television broadcasts as we normally do in less busy times. It was totally insane knowing that the ‘evil person of corruption’ with ties to unsavory leaders such as Putin, President of Russia, Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey, was playing a round or two of golf when a rocket attack killed an American contractor in Iraq, American airstrikes hit an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, and Iraqis’ anger turned back on the United States, culminating with a break-in at its embassy compound in Baghdad on New Year’s Eve day. Could Trump be more smug and arrogant as his display of personal gratification implies? As Rachel Maddow often proclaims, “Stick a pin in it.”

                                             

                                                              Contemplative Monk

Things break....we all know this. However, I am learning that the same things can be repaired. We began watching a very calming show on Netflix called The Repair Shop where the mission is to change our attitude of living in a disposable world. A handful of artisans work to repair or repurpose broken items people bring into the shop to be fixed and  rejuvenated. With painstaking precision and attention to detail, heirloom clocks, toys, porcelain pieces, paintings, and wooden furniture are given a new lease on life. How wonderful it would be to combine this way of thinking to broken hearts, lost souls, negative attitudes, and lack of self-confidence; where love is the basis for all things worthwhile saving and can spread out in a multitude of directions touching lives and making them as close to whole as possible. 

With a few luxurious moments to sit and reflect on life after all of the hoopla of Christmas Eve, Santa makes time to brush away cookie crumbs, speculate on the relevance of snow accumulation, wonder about the doldrums associated with air travel by plane instead of sleigh, and enjoy the absolute happiness of being in the company of wildlife within our own, small, fragile existence. Santa knows a lot about this subject. 

Most importantly, Santa knows that when something becomes broken, misused, or aged and withered away by time, there is hope to be found in the changing of the guard, the onset of time renewed and rejuvenated. The brand new year that hovers right around the corner from Christmas can set the tone for the next fifty-one weeks ahead; sharpen the senses and turn a disposable world into one that is savored and cared for like a family heirloom. The sprinkling of time mixed with a dash of common sense, hope, and love has, already, raised doubts about and impeached the character of Donald J. Trump. 

Relish our renewed faith in the power of good, remain strong, and always, with hope channeling our every move, correct what is evil and make life better for us all. Let us proceed with patience and a vision this New Year, remembering to cooperate with others to make it happen. Stick a pin in it....!

WELCOME IN THE BEAUTY OF 2020

Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

AMERICA'S ELEGY?, PART II

A series of essays (and poems)....

THIS LONG AND DEMANDING DAY,
DECEMBER 18, 2019,
REMINDS ME OF THE SKY PLANT:
A DELIGHT OF COLOR, A BIT ROUGH, BUT RICH WITH HISTORY!

....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

For: The Administration of Donald John Trump and this historic vote of impeachment. 

THE SCREAM

This is where the underlying sound builds into

a familiar cadence, grows slowly, gently pulsing,

and millions sway in union, in dignity and truth,

to celebrate a death, a new life, or both along their path.

This is where we hear the subtle sound vibrating in our ears

as the sunset bursts with shades of orange and red

and the air has turned to blood pulsing, pulsing,

indicative of a roiling wave of light that changes colors.

This is where the haunting beat picks up the pace

and the people begin to march to a different drummer.

This is where the skies return to a distinct shade of blue,

hearts shift their heavy loads and become softer, lighter.

This is where the people decide to honor life once again,

bring in hope and sunlight instead of fear and hate

and say ‘rest in peace’ to a situation meant to harm us—

living the way our forefathers called on us to understand life.

Jacqueline E Hughes —— November of 2018

Author's Note: Because of the overwhelming voter's response during the election of 2018, this scream can still be heard across the nation and this poem remains as relevant today as it was back then! 

I am sitting in my favorite corner of the leather couch listening to and watching Donald J. Trump who is speaking live just down the road, I-94 to be exact, in Battle Creek. He's just as cocky and nasty as always. In a split screen, Article 1 of Impeachment of Donald John Trump is being voted on by electronic device. The fireplace dances with its golden flames lighting up the living room with warmth and joy as I witness one of the worst days of Donald J. Trump’s life; or, at least it should be. What an interesting juxtaposition of the visual images, emotions, flavors, and snippets of things yet to come....

RESULTS OF IMPEACHMENT VOTING:
ARTICLE 1, ABUSE OF POWER, HAS PASSED
ARTICLE 2, OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS, HAS PASSED

“Is it ‘Happy Impeachment’ or ‘Merry Impeachment?’ I don’t want to offend anyone.” —— Author Unknown

Copyright © 2019 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

YOU DO THE MATH

A series of essays....

MASSIVE NUMBERS : DEALING WITH LIFE ON A GRAND SCALE

  

....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

I’m not a numbers kind of person by any means and I would never proclaim to prefer any math related class over, let’s say, an English Literature or French Language class. However, I realize how important math is in my daily life whether I’m sewing precisely sized, handmade draperies for a formal living room or spacing Christmas stockings the exact distance apart under the fireplace mantel. Math lives with us all on a daily basis whether we want to believe it or not.

Scrolling through social media this week, I’ve come across several articles related to what I would call ‘massive numbers’ and how they do and will affect all of our lives within a positive and negative degree. 

Allow me to begin on a positive note. 

In an article written by Zee Krstic for Martha Stewart~Life and published on September 5, 2019, Ireland will plant 22 million trees every year in order to combat climate change. Government officials have announced a plan to grow 440 million trees on this already beautiful and magical island nation simply because research has proven that it isn’t lush enough to offset its own carbon emissions and someone is willing to do something about it before it’s too late.

The tree seedlings to be planted will be around seventy percent conifers and thirty percent broad-leaf trees, depending on the location, and will create nearly twenty thousand acres of new forestry across the island nation, annually. And, Ireland isn’t the only place that is relying on trees to supercharge ecological efforts. Scotland has already planted more than 22 million trees in 2018 and Ethiopia planted, according to CNN, nearly 350 million trees in just a single day!!

Published this past July in the journal entitled Science, researchers found that planting more than 500 billion trees (massive numbers, my friends!) across the world could offset much of the carbon in our atmosphere. It’s just one highly attractive approach to addressing global warming and air pollution that many scientists and environmentalists totally agree upon. As simple as it may seem, planting young saplings could be the most effective solution to our massive climate problems. 

And, the irony is that the precious trees of the lush Amazon jungle or moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome continue to suffer greatly from deforestation daily. Threatened by this practice which has been introduced by the greed of large companies and world leaders for profit, is the world’s richest and most varied biological reservoir containing several million species of insects, birds, wildlife, plants, and other forms of life...many still unrecorded by science. The splendid vegetation includes a wide variety of trees such as laurel, palm, rosewood, Brazil nut, and rubber trees. But, most importantly, the Amazon Rainforest is home to some of the world’s last remaining indigenous groups who have lived and thrived there for multiple generations.

Is this the trade-off between mankind’s health and well-being and the money-laden pockets of a few? Why do we still believe that selling our souls for the almighty dollar is more acceptable than preserving all of God’s magnificent creations on behalf of a natural order and to the benefit of all living things? Sadly, the luxurious expanse of the Amazon Rainforest has been suffering from this human induced blight for many years now with the depletion of its intricate purpose looming on the horizon. 

Let’s talk a little bit about the relationship between timing and our government in Washington D.C. in terms of understanding ‘massive numbers.’ As of today, the national deficit has reached the astounding figure of (drumroll please) $1.1 trillion! The 2019 deficit, according to USA Today, is more than double what it was in 2015 and up from $160 billion in 2007, before the Great Recession, bearing in mind that the term ‘national deficit’ refers to the Federal Government’s budget balance from year to year, not the cumulative amount of debt. A deficit year only increases the debt we already have.

Earlier I mentioned the word ‘timing’ to which I will add ‘agenda,’ as well. Running on a platform of debt reduction, the Republican Party assured us that their plan was to cut the nearly $20 trillion government debt by cutting or eliminating programs that they deemed unnecessary such as food stamps, the Affordable Care Act (health insurance), Medicare and Medicaid, Clean Air and Water Acts, Climate Change research, and, eventually, Social Security, and so on. But, that wasn’t enough. As of January 2019, the Treasury Department has asked for, the second year in a row, an additional $1 trillion to support the 2017 tax cuts package proposed by a Trump administration and passed by a Republican Congress and will balloon the deficit by another $2 trillion since he took office in January of 2017. 

The U.S. government's public debt is now more than $22 trillion....the highest it has ever been, even with programs designed and paid for in order to build-up and strengthen our people and the economy now being torn out of the system instead of nurtured and improved upon. Think of how $2 trillion put into place to modernize our infrastructure would be to our advantage as a nation rather than lining the pockets of the rich. 

Did I forget to mention millions of tax payer’s dollars spent on weekly golf excursions, ramped up Secret Service debt, private jets misused by appointed Cabinet Secretaries?....and, this list can go on and on.

As the rich continue to get richer, the poor are suffering. A Trumpian Sh*t Show seems to have convinced some of the poor and suffering that he is their savior and the Kool-Aid is sipped among them like holy water blessed by the egomaniacal god they choose to worship. The irony, deceit, and stupidity here is unbearable. 

‘Massive numbers’ is a game mankind plays with on a daily basis; sometimes with optimum results, but often leaving us mind blown and vulnerable. In terms of quantity, thousands of ‘anything’ can be a staggering amount to me! In terms of millions, billions, and trillions, this begins to encompass the stars in the night sky or the individual snowflakes sifting down from above and landing softly on the landscape; infinite and incalculable.

“You do the math,” is a familiar saying these days, with its background including the systematic treatment of magnitude, relationships between figures and forms, and relations between quantities expressed symbolically. Many thanks to the Free Dictionary for their definition of mathematics. 

Perhaps it is because I admit to a more romantic mindset that trillions of dollars in debt frightens me and 500 billion new trees planted does not. It’s not so much the quantity of money that surprises, but rather the true reasons behind creating and handling such large sums in the first place. We must all decide if these actions are for the betterment of everyone involved or just a few tactless and blatantly greedy people who feel they alone should control the world via enormous bank accounts and self-proclaimed dominance.

Copyright © 2019 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved