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HollyinNNV

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About HollyinNNV

  • Birthday 06/15/1970

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  • Gender
    Female

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  • Location
    Northern Nevada
  • Interests
    I play violin and viola. I like to read.
  • Occupation
    My degree is in music education and viola performance.
  1. Don't be shy! Share your thoughts, questions, reflections........ Prometheus TITAN! to whose immortal eyes The sufferings of mortality, Seen in their sad reality, Were not as things that gods despise; What was thy pity’s recompense? A silent suffering, and intense; The rock, the vulture, and the chain, All that the proud can feel of pain, The agony they do not show, The suffocating sense of woe, Which speaks but in its loneliness, And then is jealous lest the sky Should have a listener, nor will sigh Until its voice is echoless. Titan! to thee the strife was given Between the suffering and the will, Which torture where they cannot kill; And the inexorable Heaven, And the deaf tyranny of Fate, The ruling principle of Hate, Which for its pleasure doth create The things it may annihilate, Refus’d thee even the boon to die: The wretched gift Eternity Was thine–and thou hast borne it well. All that the Thunderer wrung from thee Was but the menace which flung back On him the torments of thy rack; The fate thou didst so well foresee, But would not to appease him tell; And in thy Silence was his Sentence, And in his Soul a vain repentance, And evil dread so ill dissembled, That in his hand the lightnings trembled. Thy Godlike crime was to be kind, To render with thy precepts less The sum of human wretchedness, And strengthen Man with his own mind; But baffled as thou wert from high, Still in thy patient energy, In the endurance, and repulse Of thine impenetrable Spirit, Which Earth and Heaven could not convulse, A mighty lesson we inherit: Thou art a symbol and a sign To Mortals of their fate and force; Like thee, Man is in part divine, A troubled stream from a pure source; And Man in portions can foresee His own funereal destiny; His wretchedness, and his resistance, And his sad unallied existence: To which his Spirit may oppose Itself–and equal to all woes, And a firm will, and a deep sense, Which even in torture can descry Its own concenter’d recompense, Triumphant where it dares defy, And making Death a Victory. by: George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788-1824)
  2. Wow! My dad used to play Jimmie Crack Corn on his banjo, but I never knew the lyrics. Here they are from Wikipedia: ********************** When I was young I us'd to wait On the boss and hand him his plate; And Pass down the bottle when he got dry, And brush away the blue tail fly. refrain (repeated each verse): Jimmy crack corn and I don't care, Jimmy crack corn and I don't care, Jimmy crack corn and I don't care, My master's gone away. In the two verses that follow, the singer is told to protect his master's horse from the bite of the blue-tail fly: An' when he ride in de afternoon, I foiler wid a hickory broom; De poney being berry shy, When bitten by de blue tail fly. One day he rode aroun' de farm, De flies so numerous dey did swarm; One chanced to bite 'im on the thigh. De debble take dat blue tail fly. The horse bucks and the master is killed. The slave then escapes culpability: De pony run, he jump an' pitch, An' tumble massa in de ditch; He died, an' de jury wonder'd why; De verdic was de blue tail fly. The references to a "jury" and a "verdic[t]" imply that the slave was criminally charged: Some sources indicate this may have referred to a coroner's inquest or police investigation, but these "slang" terms were not used outside the context of a court proceeding at the time. They buried him 'neath the sycamore tree His epitaph there for to see "Beneath this stone I'm forced to lie The victim of a blue-tailed Fly." In the 1930's (exact dates unavailable) radio series Pinto Pete in Arizona, the following verse is added. Ol' massa's gone and I'll let him rest, They say all things are for the best, But I'll never forget 'til the day I die, Ol' massa and that blue-tailed fly. Jim crack corn, I don't care (x3) Ol' massa's gone away The modern chorus is as follows:
  3. Hi Lisa. Haven't been posting as much on the high school board. Mostly lurking as I am graduating out my first and my second still has another year before high school. Kind of relaxing in the gap, especially now that dd is done auditioning. Thanks for missing my posts :) I am glad you mentioned the dashes! I really didn't know that much about the em dash, so I looked it up on wikipedia and here is what I found: "The em dash, m dash, m-rule, or "mutton" (—) often demarcates a break of thought or some similar interpolation stronger than the interpolation demarcated by parentheses, such as the following from Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine: At that age I once stabbed my best friend, Fred, with a pair of pinking shears in the base of the neck, enraged because he had been given the comprehensive sixty-four-crayon Crayola box—including the gold and silver crayons—and would not let me look closely at the box to see how Crayola had stabilized the built-in crayon sharpener under the tiers of crayons. It is also used to indicate that a sentence is unfinished because the speaker has been interrupted. For example, the em dash is used in the following way in Joseph Heller's Catch-22: He was Cain, Ulysses, the Flying Dutchman; he was Lot in Sodom, Deirdre of the Sorrows, Sweeney in the nightingales among trees. He was the miracle ingredient Z-147. He was— "Crazy!" Clevinger interrupted, shrieking. "That's what you are! Crazy!" "—immense. I'm a real, slam-bang, honest-to-goodness, three-fisted humdinger. I'm a bona fide supraman." Similarly, it can be used instead of an ellipsis to indicate aposiopesis, the rhetorical device by which a sentence is stopped short not because of interruption but because the speaker is too emotional to continue, such as Darth Vader's line "I sense something; a presence I've not felt since—" in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.[23]" *************************************** I am the most interested in the last way the dash can be used, to indicate aposiopesis. I had never heard of this. But, it is interesting to read the poem again with this in mind!
  4. Ooooh! I like everything you said. You definitely picked out all of the sounds that the poem emphasizes. I wonder if Emily Dickinson knew about the blue bottle flies? I mean it seems just perfect that they lie eggs in dead carcasses. It is interesting that Emily describes the fly as uncertain and stumbling. Is that a comparison between the body/mind getting close to death, uncertain and stumbling? If so, is she comparing us to flies? Do we somehow reproduce in others' deaths? I do not get the feeling that Emily thought death would be peaceful or a "final release." I agree that she seems rather morbid. I expect an entire book of her poetry might prove depressing.
  5. An interesting concise webpage that describes a little of Emily's own experience of death begins with this paragraph: "THE SUBJECT OF DEATH, including her own death, occurs throughout Emily Dickinson’s poems and letters. Although some find the preoccupation morbid, hers was not an unusual mindset for a time and place where religious attention focused on being prepared to die and where people died of illness and accident more readily than they do today. Nor was it an unusual concern for a sensitive young woman who lived fifteen years of her youth next door to the town cemetery." http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/death
  6. My comments are between the stars: I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air – Between the Heaves of Storm – ************************************ I notice that the word "stillness" is duplicated. The idea of stillness in the air between heaves of the storm reminds me of the eye of a hurricane. "Heaves" reminds me of throwing up or crying. Not sure if that would have been the case in Emily's day. ************************************ The Eyes around – had wrung them dry – And Breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset – when the King Be witnessed – in the Room – ************************************* So are we talking about the people that are in attendance at her death, here? Why were the eyes wrung dry? Does this mean that the person has been sick and everyone has already done their grieving? Why is the "King" going to be witnessed in the room? Does this just refer to the deceased going to heaven? ************************************** I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away What portions of me be Assignable – and then it was There interposed a Fly – ************************************** This seems like the clearest of the stanzas to me. She is giving away her possessions. ************************************* With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz – Between the light – and me – And then the Windows failed – and then I could not see to see – *********************************** What does "Blue" refer to? Why does the fly get between the light (eternity?) and the dying person? Why is the last thing she sees a fly? Does "see" mean anything more than just the aspect of sight?
  7. (Someone's been on thesaurus.com today!) I was wondering if anyone out there would like to discuss poetry with me? I have always found poetry challenging to understand. When I am able to find meaning, I wonder if I have found everything or if I am missing some essential element. I enjoy the discussions on this board so much, and I would love to hear various opinions on works of poetry. So....who might be interested? I was thinking we might try one poem a week. Does that sound good or should we start a poem on Sunday and another on Thursday (two a week)? I chose an Emily Dickinson to start. Hope to hear thoughts on the discussion ideas and the Dickinson. I heard a Fly buzz (465) by Emily Dickinson I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air – Between the Heaves of Storm – The Eyes around – had wrung them dry – And Breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset – when the King Be witnessed – in the Room – I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away What portions of me be Assignable – and then it was There interposed a Fly – With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz – Between the light – and me – And then the Windows failed – and then I could not see to see –
  8. My daughter is going to two harp summer camps. Both require auditions the first time you go, but she has been to both camps before. First she is going to Young Artists Harp Seminar in Georgia. This will be her 6th or 7th year. I've lost count. She will be a counselor assistant, which includes a nice scholarship. Next, she heads to Saratoga Springs, NY to attend the Saratoga Harp Colony. This will be her second year attending. Right after Saratoga, she heads directly to college-wah!!!
  9. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Wonderful book!!
  10. Currently reading John Dies at the End by David Wong. 22. Candide by Voltaire- I enjoyed Candide because it was humorous (one great character is a woman with only one buttcheek), slightly challenging (rather than overwhelming) and short. The length seemed to be that of a novella. Candide is the story of a young man who has a series of misadventures that lead him to travel to several locations including Germany, Italy, South America, England and France. Throughout the story, Voltaire uses the story to engage in social commentary. Much of the commentary is immediately understandable, but some flew over my head. Voltaire uses the story to poke fun at some contemporary writers. I was not familiar with those authors. A longer study of the work would be interesting. While I was reading, I often felt the story had much in common with Gullivers Travels, The Princess Bride and (gasp) Monty Python. While I recommend Candide, I'd mention that there are a few adult themes. 21. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand*****- I wrote a little about The Fountainhead last week. I was enjoying it. Well, I can state that I absolutely loved the book! It was thought-provoking on so many different levels. The characters were used to bring together the themes of the book, but this did not prove to make the characters any less interesting. Rand did use the characters to verbalize her philosophy. However, this did not bother me so much because I felt like I was less apt to misunderstand what Rand wanted to tell me. After finishing The Fountainhead, I know that I am definitely going to read Atlas Shrugged soon. 20. Spillover by Quammen 19. Lilith's Brood by Butler***** 18. Microbe Hunters by de Kruif 17. Cobra Event by Preston 16. The Demon in the Freezer by Preston 15. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Simonson 14. Moonseed by Baxter 13. Ark by Baxter 12. The Cassandra Project by McDevitt 11.The Passage by Cronin 10. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Skloot***** 9. The Wool Omnibus by Howey 8. The Companions by Tepper 7. Flame of Sevenwaters by Marillier 6. Zoe's Tale by Scalzi 5.One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Kesey 4. Pandora's Star by Hamilton 3. The Naked God by Hamilton 2. Grass by Tepper 1. The Neutronium Alchemist by Hamilton If I *****starred a book, I highly recommend it If I don't star it, I thought it was pretty good. If I give it a sad face, I don't like it at all.
  11. I'll keep that in mind. I'm going to start it after John Dies at the End, which is laugh out loud funny! Holly
  12. Thanks for the book recommendation! I just downloaded the book. It sounds like a light fun read and boy, do I need something like that right now!
  13. I was asked what I wished to see. I am saying what I wish to see, not what is currently in existence.
  14. Logically, feeling aside, here is what I think. If I go to another country, I would not suggest that this other country validate the laws of my home country. For example, I'm sure there are many elements of Sharia law which I would find objectionable as a woman used to US laws. Therefore, I choose not to travel to those countries.I don't want to abide by their laws. I don't suggest that those countries change their laws for my benefit. Their people have decided and that is that. I look at states rights in a similar way. Travel to the state, abide by their laws. How would this really work? I don't have a crystal ball. I'm sure A former president is wishing he had one when he signed DOMA into law.
  15. I guess I am trying to keep my discussion related to laws and not my feelings. This is not because I don't clearly see this is a strongly felt issue. It is because I hope I can see the logical merits of each argument and I know that my feelings aren't helpful in that regard. That is just my POV.
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