23 posts tagged “what do you have to say?”

Show us a brand to which you're loyal.

Here's a link that explains why.  I especially like the Walnut-Plum variety

 

Show us what inspires you to create.

 The idea that perhaps just a small part of me will impact someone after my passing.  I don't need to be Achilles.  I'd settle for having heirloom status bestowed on something I created.

Show us a musical genius.

A man who managed to show genius in the face of suppression; so clever that he could spit at the dragon while appearing to bow to it. 

Here are a couple of clips which show what he wrote for the fellow Russian giants of his day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a section of a symphony for which Stalin personally denounced him:

 

Here he is spitting in the dragon's eye:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there are the quartets:

 

And the piano concerti:

 

And so on.

No modern composer has spoken more to my heart than he.

Show us a musical genius.

A man who managed to show genius in the face of suppression; so clever that he could spit at the dragon while appearing to bow to it. 

Here are a couple of clips which show what he wrote for the fellow Russian giants of his day:

 

 

 

 

 

Show us a musical genius.

A man who managed to show genius in the face of suppression; so clever that he could spit at the dragon while appearing to bow to it. 

Here are a couple of clips which show what he wrote for the fellow Russian giants of his day:

 

 

 

 

 

Show us a musical genius.

A man who managed to show genius in the face of suppression; so clever that he could spit at the dragon while appearing to bow to it. 

Here are a couple of clips which show what he wrote for the fellow Russian giants of his day:

 

 

 

 

 

Show us a photograph that makes you remember.

This is the Nauvoo House.  It is, as the name implies, in the town of Nauvoo, Illinois.  If you are Mormon, or a member of the so-called Community of Christ, or if you have studied American religious history, that name will ring a bell.  Nauvoo was a community of Latter Day Saints, located on the banks of the Mississippi River in Western Illinois, for a period starting in the 1830s and ending in the 1840s.  The Nauvoo House is now a boarding house for groups, the building of which was begun at the direction of Joseph Smith, Jr., the first prophet of the Latter Day Saints.

From the time I was nine years old, I wanted to be an archaeologist.  I went to University for that, and one day, my friend Wendy Bacon asked me if I wanted to dig the upcoming summer in Nauvoo.  Now, my mother's side of the family is largely Mormon.  I even have one of the original New York members in my family tree.  So I was excited by the prospect of going to Nauvoo to dig. 

I ended up spending three consecutive summers boarding in the Nauvoo House, involved in digs in and around the Joseph Smith properties.  There are so many memories, and stories to tell associated with that place.  I am sure that I will write about bits and pieces from time to time.  One small story in homage to that wonderful Voxer, Patricia Volonakis Davis:

For everyone who doesn't know the history, Nauvoo was, at one time, the largest city in Illinois, with over 40,000 inhabitants.  This didn't make the non-LDS locals too happy.  Ultimately, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob in Hannibal Missouri.  The LDS split into 17 different sects, the largest and most successful of which we now know as the Mormons.  Joseph's wife Emma, and her son Joseph III, did not go to Utah with Brigham Young.  Rather, she stayed in Nauvoo, and remarried a Colonel Bidamon.  Joseph became the first prophet in a church he claimed to be the true LDS church; that church now exists as the Community of Christ.

Emma spent the last years of her life residing in the Nauvoo House, and died there in 1879.

The first summer I was doing archaeology in Nauvoo, the chief archaeologist Paul's wife Rina was putting their third daughter Tehana, who was then a baby, down to sleep.  They were in a bedroom on the second floor of the Nauvoo House.  We were all out at the dig, so she had no expectation of anyone coming into the house.  All of a sudden, she heard someone walking up the stair from the first floor.  She and Tehana were on the bed, about fifteen feet from the bedroom door.  The door was ajar, and an elderly woman dressed in antique clothing looked in.  Rina, who is Tahitian, believed it was a ghost, and, frightened, said nothing.  The woman then withdrew her head, and Rina heard nothing else.

When we all came back, Rina shared her experience with us.  She was not the type of person who ever lied, or even embellished, so we were all shocked.  A local potter, who was also the head of the local Chamber of Commerce, had a book of old photographs of Nauvoo.  He opened the book, and showed Rina this photograph:

  Marvin asked Rina:  "Is that who you saw?"  "Yes, it is", replied Rina.  "Well", Marvin said, "that's a photograph of Emma Smith."

Show us your favorite photograph.

Photograph taken on the first moon landing.  The astronauts aren't sure who took the picture.

Show us your guilty pleasure.

 Naked Chocolate Cafe.  If you are ever in Philadelphia, you must go here.

 

 

Show us a celebrity you admire.

Oscar winner, Emmy winner, Nobel Peace Prize winner.  He's not running for office.  That makes him a celebrity.

Al freakin' Gore.

Nobel Peace Prize:

Current TV.

Civil Liberty:

 

Iraq.

Innovator.  Prophet.  Hero.