Each Monday morning, my former colleague Eric Nelson up the road at Georgia Southern University posts a poem on the departmental listserv. I love today’s. It feels a little “The Road Not Taken”-ish but with a twist of its own.
What If This Road
— by Sheenagh Pugh
What if this road, that has held no surprises
these many years, decided not to go
home after all; what if it could turn
left or right with no more ado
than a kite-tail? What if its tarry skin
were like a long, supple bolt of cloth,
that is shaken and rolled out, and takes
a new shape from the contours beneath?
And if it chose to lay itself down
in a new way; around a blind corner,
across hills you must climb without knowing
what’s on the other side; who would not hanker
to be going, at all risks? Who wants to know
a story’s end, or where a road will go?
— from What If This Roadand Other Poems (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2003)
Here’s a post from back in 2014 about the power of a simple smile.
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The students in my English 123 (Freshman Composition) classes at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) are doing what I call Visual Essays in this, their next-to-the-last week of Fall Quarter 2014. We read two books this term, Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and Tal Ben-Shahar’s Happier, both relating to our course theme of “Happiness and the Exploration of Joy.” The Visual Essay project invites the students to MAKE, rather than write, their papers. Traditional essay requirements are still required: a focus and thesis, structure, detail and support, etc. But this essay morphs into a drawing or painting, a sculpture, a collage, a video, a food, etc. Basically this project is a visual representation of one topic narrowed into a clear thesis/perspective/idea. The challenge: how to “show” their thesis.
Debora Jacob (from Brazil) went to Forsyth Park here in Savannah last Saturday. Here’s her Visual Essay titled “Happiness Shared” on the topic of the smile and its significance.
Here’s an old post from my blog back in 2014, when I was semi-retired, teaching as an adjunct at Savannah College of Art and Design. I recently looked at it as 2022 made its way into our lives. May these questions be an encouragement to you.
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This past fall term at SCAD (the Savannah College of Art and Design), where I teach composition to international students, my course topic was Happiness Studies.
Each week, I introduced a new question, which I told the students had the potential to make them happier–IF they took the time to ask and then answer the question.
Here are the ten questions. I challenge you to ask them to yourself whenever you need a dose of joy.
Dr. Saye’s Top Ten Happiness Questions
1. Just how important is it?
2. Do I realize that I can choose to think a thought that feels better?
3. Why do I sometimes try to control other people? That’s really not my job.
4. What do I see RIGHT NOW that is beautiful?
5. Who has helped me recently?
6. What is a good holiday memory?
7. What do I really, really love?
8. Do I realize that I can take three deep breaths right now and center myself? My breath is my life.
9. Who can I be a blessing to in the next hour or so? How can I do that?
10. Am I paying attention to NOW (and not wasting time regretting the past or worrying about the future)?
I encourage you to print these questions, put them up some place where you can easily see them, and start asking.
Robert and I were walking down Peachtree Street in Atlanta the other day, heading to Dunkin’ Donuts to get my coffee. (Remind me sometime to tell you about perhaps the biggest disagreement between the two of us—I like, no LOVE, DD coffee, while he’s a Starbucks fan.)
Inside the heavenly aromatic wonderland, I saw this little sign:
Such GREAT ADVICE. And it SHOULD be on a t-shirt, don’t you think?
1. Robert’s hasselback potatoes the other night. Yum!
2. Always having enough water. And being aware of always having enough water.
3. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s holiday concert, Christmas with the ASO last night.
The orchestra warming up. I had no idea at this moment about our big surprise honor just ahead.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Choir, the incredible Morehouse Glee Club and the Gwinnett Young Singers joined the Orchestra to get us all in the holiday mood. Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky mixing it up with contemporary composers. And “Hallelujah!” special thanks to Handel.
But that’s not all, Blog Fans, I have some Very Exciting News to share with you about last night. News which, if I know you like I think I know you, will make you even prouder of me than you already are. Are you ready? Maybe you should sit down.
Robert and I were SPECIFICALLY INVITED to sing “The First Nowell” (their spelling, not mine) and to be backed up by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra! Seriously. Little us from Savannah. Can you imagine how thrilled I was the moment I realized that Robert and I were being asked to sing?!
[I’ll pause and give you a couple of minutes to try.]
I’ve always thought I had a terrible, adequate, good, stellar voice, but I was just so very humbled yet honored to be asked. I am so glad I wore a sports coat and put a little Suave Professionals Styling Gel in my hair. I tell you my my knees were shaking when we stood up to walk up to the stage and sing. And the performance was, in my unbiased view, nothing short of festively spectacular.
P. S. Robert is insisting that I include this minor and inconsequential (if you ask me) “fact” (according to his definition) from the above concert program …
Well, “we” did get an invitation.
4. Visiting Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta. The Gothic-Tudor style mansion was built by Coca-Cola president/zillionaire Charles Howard Candler in the 1920’s as a private home. Each Christmas they have a neat beautifully decorated Christmas extravaganza.
Do you see what I saw on the holiday garland to the left of Robert? Pine cones (HUGE) from my favorite tree, the Longleaf Pine!
Each December, Robert and I LOVE watching the old animated holiday classics, reminiscing of yesteryear. Last night we pulled out The Muppet Christmas Carol.
My capital “F” Favorite song in the movie is “Bless Us All,” sung by poor, sickly little Robin/Tiny Tim and the rest of the Cratchit crew. It always gets me choked up (until I realize that, as a “grown man,” I am crying over an anthropomorphic, singing, cloth-born frog puppet).
“Bless Us All” is actually a beautiful, prayerful meditation, expressing both gratitude for all we have (the sun, family, each other, etc) as well as supplication for greater good outside of our individual little worlds.
I invite you to take a couple of minutes out of your Saturday for a quick listen …
Muppet Truths …
“No place on earth compares with home.” (Of course, “home” can have various definitions for us.)
“We have so much that we can share with those in need we see around us everywhere.”
“Let us hear the voice of reason singing in the night.” (Oh my goodness, yes.)
