Sheron Long's Blog, page 35
November 25, 2013
Crossing Cultures: Happy Thanksgivukkah!
What happens when you cross a menorah and a turkey?
© Carly Hennigan/Thinkstock
Thanksgiving Meets Hanukkah
Once in a lifetime
The very words—once in a lifetime— stir the creative spirit.
An exceptional comet. The first moon landing. A rare transit of Venus across the face of the sun. A new millenium.
We are inspired to celebrate these rare moments and to capture them in some special way.
This year, this week, for the first time in recorded history since President Lincoln established Thanksgiving in 1863—and for the only time until around 77,000 years from now—Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same day. Crossing cultures in the best possible way.
Gobble tov. Happy Thanksgivukkah. Mazel turk.
Asher Weintraub celebrates two of his favorite holidays.
© The Menurkey Team
The Mind of an Inventor
This rare merging of the Gregorian and Hebrew lunar...
November 24, 2013
Culture Smart: The Musical Scale Across Cultures
Learning to play different styles of music
Tonal Patterns and Changing Intervals
When you first learn to play an instrument, the first series of notes taught is called a scale. A scale is a series of ascending pitches, usually ending on the octave, the same note, at a higher pitch. Music from different cultures uses different intervals between the notes of an octave.
If you’ve seen The Sound of Music, you know the Western music major scale: do, re, mi, fa, so la, ti, do. It consists of 7 unique notes, with the 8th note being the octave. Listen to a C Major Scale:
In the Middle East, the scale is also 7 unique pitches plus the octave, but it differs by several notes from the Western scale. A common song using the Middle Eastern scale is Hava Nagila. Listen to a C Middle Eastern scale:
Unlike the other two, the Chinese scale has only 5 pitches. Most Chinese folk tunes can be...
November 23, 2013
Aha Moment Maker: Julia Child Flubs the Flip
BOSTON, 1963—On an episode of “The French Chef,” Julia Child spoke to the fact that flipping food items in a pan requires courage in one’s convictions. She set the stage perfectly for what would happen next.
That day, she was demonstrating a lesson in how to make potato pancakes. Just as she was deftly performing the outward-and-back motion necessary to flip a pancake, clumps of the potato mixture missed the pan and plopped onto the counter.
Unfazed, Julia acknowledged, “Oh, that didn’t go very well” and calmly scooped the wayward bits back into the pan. Then she pointed out to her viewing audience that they cook alone in their kitchens and nobody would be the wiser if something like this occurred.
And so it was that some of her potato pancake famously flipped out, but the real lesson demonstrated that day may be that Julia Child herself did not.
...
November 21, 2013
C is for Cyclops, S is for Sicily
Cyclops on board! Sicily’s Greek heritage stares you in the face from a boat in Aci Trezza.
© Robert Long
Stories Speak of Cultural Heritage
Under the watchful eye of my high school English teacher, I learned about the 10-year voyage of Odysseus (aka Ulysses) and his encounter with the cyclops, never imagining that I would one day see evidence of their fight.
Yet, here I am on the Cyclops Riviera where the encounter occurred. Before my eyes, stories—old and new—engage me in the cultural heritage of Sicily.
A Story of Old: Odysseus Meets the Cyclops
In the Odyssey, the great epic poem often attributed to the blind poet Homer, Odysseus sails home after his clever idea for the Trojan Horse won Greece a victory over Troy.
Along the way, Odysseus stops at an island where one-eyed giants known as cyclops tend their sheep. He and his crew, laden with gifts of...
November 20, 2013
Secrets to Life #110: Get in Touch with Your Feelings
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If you need a little help getting a grip, you can pick up some valuable life lessons from this unlikely source.
What other Secrets to Life have been revealed?
Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here .
Image © iStockphoto
November 18, 2013
The Harmony of Hope: Tsunami Violins
Muneyuki Nakazawa’s tsunami violins,
each with a solitary pine tree painted on its back.
Image courtesy of Classic for Japan Foundation
Healing with Cross-Cultural Contributions
If music is healing, then it follows that violins can also bring healing.
Master luthier Muneyuki Nakazawa has constructed two violins with the goal of bringing harmony and healing to a devastated Japanese community.
Moving from Disaster
After the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March of 2011, Nakazawa felt that he needed to do something for his community.
He visited the ruined shores of the city of Rikuzentakata, Japan, strewn with broken trees that had been ripped from the ground.
Nakazawa (right) at Rikuzentakata, with piles of wood broken by the tsunami.
Image courtesy of Classic for Japan Foundation
He couldn’t help but notice that a single miracle pine...
November 16, 2013
Aha Moment Maker: Inspired by a Wooly Gift
TEMUCO, CHILE, 1913—A young Pablo Neruda was playing in his backyard when a small boy’s hand suddenly poked through a hole in the wooden fence and deposited a well-worn toy sheep. Neruda was instantly moved, and reciprocated the gesture with his treasured pine cone. He never saw the boy, or even the boy’s hand again, but cherished the toy lamb until it was lost in a fire.
When the famous Chilean poet and activist later recounted the incident in numerous interviews, he credited the mysterious exchange with inspiring his world view of unity and connectedness, and also stated that it was responsible for “giving my poetry light.”
Inspired by his gifts to the world, fans of Neruda have turned the fence at his adult home in Isla Negra, Chile, into a message board and memorial. Every July 12, on his birth date, people tack personal messages to Neruda on the fence and...
November 14, 2013
The Cat Café: A Purrfect Paris Place to Pause
The Cat Café: A place to have a pet of your own for an afternoon (Meet Marguerite)
Living a Happier Life . . . with Furry Friends
If you build it, they will come.
If the “they” are cat lovers—and the “it” is a cozy place to hang out with 12 lovable cats—the truth is they will come . . . in droves.
Meet Le Café des Chats in Paris, the new hottest ticket in town. Yes, Paris is known for trendy gourmet destinations. But, here, in this furs-rate stone-walled restaurant, it’s not so much about the food. (Although the organic salads and homemade quiches and desserts are great.)
Here, it’s about the ambiance—Djenko, Khaleessi, Pattenrond, Rosa, Berlioz, Saha, Lovely, Pepite, Idylle, Oreo, Habby, and Marguerite—and the ability of visitors to feel at home in the company of these friendly felines (and vice versa).
Pattenrond and...
November 13, 2013
Secrets to Life #109: Just Be Yourself
All the other options are taken.
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What other Secrets to Life have been revealed?
Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here .
Image © Brand X Pictures
November 11, 2013
20 Cultural Do’s and Taboos: Manners Around the Word
Having culturally-appropriate manners can make all the difference!
© Thinkstock
A Guide to Social Graces
Around the world, different cultures have different ideas about how to act in public. Here are 20 things to know to avoid embarrassing “Oh, I see” moments.
In China and Japan, gesture “come here,” with all of your fingers pointing down. Beckoning someone with a bent finger is considered impolite.
In Vietnam, point with your whole hand, not just one finger.
In South Korea, stay quiet on public transportation. Noisiness is considered very rude.
In India, you are expected to refuse your host’s first offer of a drink or snack. You will be asked again!
In Germany, use utensils, not your fingers, to eat—even with foods like pizza and fries. The one exception is bread. It can be eaten with your fingers.
In Afghanistan and...
