Painting “Splitting Space and Time”: Dwight L. Roth
Today at d’Verse, Laura asked us to look at the use of repetition in our poetry. Epiphora, from the Greek means ‘to turn about/upon’… and is used to drive in a point through poetic repetition. I am using the word time in my poem to show how we flow and change in time itself.
The painting is an abstract that I did a number of years ago. I thought it fit well with my theme!
I got lost in my search for truth this week. I trace my Alice in Wonderland experience back to two different sources. The first topple was when I looked up “civet” on Google and was taken to the www.britannica site…
Civet, also called civet cat, any of a number of long-bodied, short-legged carnivores of the family Viverridae. There are about 15 to 20 species, placed in 10 to 12 genera. Civets are found in Africa, southern Europe, and Asia. Rather catlike in appearance, they have a thickly furred tail, small ears, and a pointed snout. The coloration varies widely among the species but commonly is buff or grayish with a pattern of black spots or stripes or both. Length ranges from about 40 to 85 cm (16 to 34 inches), with the tail accounting for another 13 to 66 cm (5 to 26 inches), and weight ranges from 1.5 to 11 kg (3.3 to 24 pounds).
African palm civet (Nandinia binotata). Robert C. Hermes from the National Audubon Society Collection/Photo Researchers
Civets are usually solitary and live in tree hollows, among rocks, and in similar places, coming out to forage at night. Except for the arboreal palm civets, such as Paradoxurus (also known as toddy cat because of its fondness for palm juice, or “toddy”) and Nandinia, civets are mainly terrestrial. The Sunda otter civet (Cynogale bennetti), the African civet (Civettictis civetta), and the rare Congo water civet (Genetta piscivora) are semiaquatic. Civets feed on small animals and on vegetable matter. Their litters usually consist of two or three young.
The anal glands of civets open under the tail into a large pouch in which a greasy, musklike secretion accumulates. This secretion, known as civet, is used by the animals in marking territories. The secretion of the small Indian civet, or rasse (Viverricula indica), and of the Oriental civets (Viverra) is employed commercially in the manufacture of perfume. In addition, coffee beans fermented within and excreted from the digestive tracts of civets in the Philippines and Indonesia are sometimes used to enhance the taste of coffee.
This article was most recently revised and updated by John P. Rafferty, Editor. Encyclopaedia Britannica’s editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree….
Already off-center after reading how civet excretion adds pleasure to our lives, I began surreptitiously reading in Colin Wilson’s Alien Dawn–surreptitiously so as not to model questionable behavior for my children. On page 233 I came across a description of Ebe, the extraterrestrial biological entity. “They have been visiting Earth for 25,000 years…They have been manipulating DNA, and aiding human evolution. It was also stated that Jesus was an extraterrestrial, created by the aliens, placed on earth to teach men about love and nonviolence.”
I had quit believing in UFOs after Trump said they were real… But I reckon we need all the help we can get, especially now…
Remember in Home Alone 2, when the family lands in Miami and they are passing everyones luggage down the line – “Give this to Kevin” – only to find out that, “Kevin’s not here”? And then Catherine O’Hara finds out and is like, “Kevin’s not here lolz” before screaming, “KEVIN!” and faints?
Remember that hullabaloo?
Well, take the essence of that scene, apply it to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and congratulations! You’re now fully caught up on the last six playoff exits, dating back to 2013.
It’s the slow realizaton that you don’t actually have what you thought you did, and you’re about to boomerang yourself back into a horrible situation.
Now then, let’s get the official police statement – if you will – out of the way before I go any further.
Ahem.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were leading their first round playoff series, 3-1, against the Montreal…
One of my favorite authors is Malcolm Gladwell, a Canadian born to a Jamaican mother and English father. In an interview, he responded to a question about his ability to look from afar at issues close at hand. He noted his bizarre appearance made him an obvious outsider, so he crafted an outside looking in perspective.
One of his books is called “David and Goliath” about how underdogs sometimes are not whom they first appear to be. In one of his examples, he noted the Nazi’s bombing of London during World War II was actually counterproductive. Why?
People did perish and were injured. And, buildings were destroyed. But, the lion’s share of Londoners were not impacted other than being frightened. They were also galvanized with a defiant “I am still here.”
We should not set aside that galvanizing affect as it is crucial to the British resolve. Outside of tacit support from America before December 7, 1941, the British bore the heavy load to fight the Nazis and Italian fascists in the Europe/ Africa campaign. I am still here was a big part of their perseverance, especially after near catastrophe at Dunkirk which may have cost them severe loss of soldiers had it not been for a make-shift volunteer navy.
Standing up against tyrants and bullies requires that kind of perseverance. It is said the tenacious Winston Churchill was the ideal man to lead Great Britain during these times. He saw Adolph Hitler for exactly who he was – a psychopathic tyrant. Churchill’s predecessor tried to appease Hitler, which seems ludicrous in hindsight. You don’t stroke a bully.
The only way to stand up to a bully is with resolve. Please remember that when bullies, name callers and liars try to denigrate and gaslight you. The truth is your ally. So, is your conviction. I am still here. And, I know who and what you are.
It seemed kind of strange to me back in 10/23/2004 when Rense.com posted the story that “Bush Signs Global ‘Anti-Semitism’ Law.” Don’t get me wrong–I’ve laid flowers at Auschwitz–but why pick one area of human rights violations and not others? In fact, his state department had opposed the legislation, saying it was unnecessary as the department already includes such information in its annual reports on human rights and religious freedom.
“Today I signed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004. This law commits the government to keep a record of anti-Semitic acts throughout the world, and also a record of responses to those acts,” Bush said.
Then it occurred to me–even in 2004, when I clipped the article– that the state department should cite the US on such a list, and then wondered how racism is categorized, and if our acts against people of color are being lawfully recorded along with responses to those acts.
Hatred of evil affects the one who hates. It makes him or her a hateful person, a person who also has absented his self or her self from the light. If you strike without compassion against the darkness, you yourself enter the darkness. (Sorry, I’ll try and find the source).
Sometimes it’s helpful to remember that there’s a big difference between non-assertiveness, assertiveness, and aggression, as I recall from Your Perfect Right…
Theunis Bates, in The Week’s Editor’s Letter (5-14-21) writes that…The stuff of science fiction is once again becoming the stuff of reality. In a breakthrough study, researchers in the U.S. and China have created for the first time embryos that contain both human and monkey cells….Scientists hope that these mixed species “chimeras”–named for the fire-breathing creature of Greek mythology that’s part lion, part goat, and part snake–will help them find new ways to grow human organs for transplant and provide better subjects in which to test drugs and study disease. “Our goal is not to generate any new organisms, any monster,” study co-author Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte told NPR.org. The embryos were destroyed after 20 days, but bioethicists worry that someone will push this work further and try to produce a chimeric baby. Human cells might end up a part of the resulting creature’s brain, raising questions about whether the hybrid would be classed as human, animal, or something else entirely.
“I don’t think we’re on the edge of Planet of the Apes,” said Stanford University bioethicist Hank Greely. But it’s “time for us to start thinking about. Should we ever let these go beyond a petri dish?”
History suggests that these clusters of cells won’t remain in the dish for long. In the early days of artificial intelligence, researchers insisted that thinking machines would be used only for good and that the killer robots of The Terminator were dystopian nonsense. Yet Russia, China and the U.S. are all developing AI weapons that can identify and “engage”–that is, kill–human targets….The chimeras are coming, because whatever science can do, it inevitably will do.
Nan says: Dare I point out that no human embryos should be taken from people of color? From our recent vision of the underbelly of much of humankind, I’d vote for giving up on the dream of a Nobel Prize in exchange for empathy and avoidance of even more evil in the world. And I for one would donate any betterment of my health or longevity in order not to cause harm. Impossible to envision Russia, China and the U.S. agreeing to anything, much less limiting it to only good. The Week’s news story is on their page 21.
An adjacent thought: Are we building our robots with any ethics? If so, whose ethics? And how do you think that will turn out?
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