Sheron Long's Blog, page 4
August 31, 2020
Name That Finger: Digit-al Wordplay
A pentadactyl adventure
© Meredith Mullins
The Cultural Traditions of Finger Names Around the World
The finger has a long history. No, not THAT finger—that one that always seems to come to mind first.
The finger in the broader, pentadactyl sense. The five fingers of the hand.
We humans aren’t the only folks in the world with fingers. Many in the animal kingdom have five-fingered limbs, from monkeys and apes to rats and bats to pandas and birds.
We humans are not alone in our pentadactyl digits.
© iStock/Kilted Arab
But we humans have given our fingers names to distinguish them from one another. And the uses of our fingers have evolved according to cultural traditions and lifestyle. That makes us unique.
So . . . let’s have some wordplay adventures by getting to know the fingers in all their cultural glory.
Timeless beauty: The power of our fingers.
© Meredith Mullins
...
August 24, 2020
Blue Spaces Cure the Blues
Celebrating Earth’s water can inspire us to find the flow in life.
© Rayna Bevando
Personal & Cultural Beliefs About Water
In this high-heat, high-stress summer, how are people finding relief? Emails from friends around the world offer a common response.
“. . .the great thing about the island is that you’re almost always in sight of the sea.” —Waiheke, New Zealand
“ . . .it’s cold getting in, but your body soon adjusts, and you feel your mood lifting with the waves.”—Cork, Ireland
“ . . .in the evenings, we stroll, following the flow of the Arno and stopping at bridges to admire the reflected city.”—Florence, Italy
As we look out on blue spaces, we reflect inwardly, too.
© Joyce McGreevy
Our cultural beliefs about water may differ, but our need for blue spaces is both universal and deeply personal. Obviously, water is essential to our survival and...
August 17, 2020
Cultural Encounters: Ice Cream Around the World
A global favorite
© Minsun Lee
The Inside Scoop on a Global Favorite
I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream.
Have you belted out those lyrics . . . or do you remember, in your childhood, having a Pavlovian response to the seductive call of an ice cream truck bell or jingle?
My ice cream truck tune still occasionally pops up from my subconscious childhood playlist and reminds me of the truck getting closer and closer to our house.
This was my first lesson in the science of sound waves, as we learned to judge exactly how long we had to gather up our coins and get to the corner. It was the highlight of those lazy summer afternoons.
The seductive call of the ice cream truck
© iStock/phaustov
Ice cream is a global treasure. It has been a favorite dessert for centuries—even long before refrigeration. And our cultural encounters with ice cream around the world offer a deeper...
August 12, 2020
60-Something Digital Nomad Tells All!
On a plane, a train, a bus? Who knows? But I was giddy with wanderlust.
© Joyce McGreevy
10 Lessons I Learned from Travel
A tabloid headline floats over a deer-in-the-headlights photo of a 60-something woman. She’s been caught in the act of . . . traveling solo! As a digital nomad! This is what I picture whenever people express shock that I once sold my condo, donated most of my possessions, packed a small suitcase, and began traveling full time—while continuing to work.
Becoming a digital nomad is not unusual. But doing so as an older woman tends to flabbergast those around you.
People reacting to women’s life choices with shock is nothing new, of course. But there comes a time when anything a woman does that’s slightly outside of the norm prompts the response, “At your age?” A survey of female friends reveals that this happens from ages 2 to 102. Before and...
July 28, 2020
Let a Tune Transport You!
“Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?” Hearing zydeco takes me right back.
© Joyce McGreevy
Travel Memories Inspired by Music
Imagine a melody with the power to recreate worlds. The cocoa-butter scented breeze of a beach in Maui in 1979—when it’s 2020 and you’re in Montréal. The soaring elegance of a train station in Leipzig—as you drift off to sleep in Lincoln City.
That’s what happens when a tune, any tune, becomes travel music. Oh, I see: When it comes to modes of travel, nothing transports us like music.
The influence of music on our memories has long been established by science. Music lights up the visual cortex like a rainbow-colored disco ball, spinning emotions into motion. One moment you’re pushing a shopping cart down a grocery aisle, the next moment you hear that song—and suddenly travel memories inspired by music come dancing out,...
July 20, 2020
Crossing Cultures in an Urban Garden
A cultural exchange via the sweet potato
© Meredith Mullins
A Tribute to Satsuma-imo: The Mighty Japanese Sweet Potato
“In Japan, in autumn, it is customary to collect fallen leaves, put sweet potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil in the leaves, and light the fallen leaves to bake them,” remembers Chiharu. “When I was a child I did this at my grandparents’ home. It was a special time of cooking and eating together.”
“Instead of ice cream trucks circling the neighborhoods to offer treats, we had stone-roasted sweet potato trucks,” says Midori of her childhood in Japan.
Stone roasted sweet potatoes
© iStock/kendoNice
Manami remembers planting sweet potatoes in elementary school and being excited when it was time to harvest the tiny schoolroom crop. And Hisako looked forward to sweet potatoes at snack time. “They warmed my body and my spirit,” she recalls.
Memories of the...
July 13, 2020
An Audible Feast for the Global Community
Lend an ear to the world of sounds at your fingertips!
Have You Heard? World Listening Day Honors the “Hear” and Now.
Listen…do you hear that? It’s the sound of your world. From a cat’s purr to an elevator’s hum to human voices, sound is an important element of our natural and cultural environment. Shh…do you hear this? It’s the sound of people across six continents inviting you to World Listening Day, an annual event that will unite the global community this Saturday, July 18.
World Listening Day? What’s that?
I’m glad you asked. Listen closely and I’ll tell you.
The soundscape emerges when we still the noise within.
© Joyce McGreevy
It started—quietly enough—in the 1970s with a Canadian composer named Raymond Murray Schafer. His World Soundscape Project developed the fundamentals of acoustic ecology, the study of the relationship in sound between...
July 6, 2020
A Tribute to Dogs—In Language and Life
The Dog Days of Summer
© Chalabala/iStock
Tail-Wagging Wisdom in Dog Sayings From Around the World
Let’s face it. Things have been a little ruff in the world lately. But anything is paw-sible when you add some humor to the mix.
Embracing the essence (and humor) of a human’s best friend
© William Wegman (Courtesy of the Artist)
Let’s rise to the challenge and see how dogs enter our life and our language—with dog sayings from around the world.
Rising to the Challenge Like Sirius, The Dog Star
The Dog Days of Summer are upon us (at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere). These are languid summer days of sultry heat, where we conjure images of dogs lying in cool shade, panting heavily, and wishing they didn’t have quite so much fur.
Staying cool in the Dog Days of Summer
© Meredith Mullins
In fact, the phrase “Dog Days of Summer” is based historically in...
June 29, 2020
Wanderlust in Waiting
Have you had to walk back your travel plans?
Above: Piazza Trento e Triste, Ferrara, Italy.
© Joyce McGreevy
Plan a Trip to Italy (& Other “Delayed Gratification” Destinations)
You can take the girl out of the travel, but you can’t take the travel out of the girl. Like many people today, I’ve put international travel plans on pause, but that hasn’t changed my love of journeys. My wanderlust for Italy is simply waiting in the wings.
Make that on the wings, whether those of a spacious Dreamliner or a petite Britten Norman Islander, a plane so small you basically wear it.
Perhaps you, too, have postponed overseas travel for a year. Or two. However long it takes for a vaccine to be developed and your dream destination to re-open its borders. If so, consider planning a “delayed gratification” vacation.
Why plan now for a trip that may be far off in the future?...
June 22, 2020
Cultural Encounters: The Art of Selling in Southeast Asia
The art of selling
© Meredith Mullins
A Card Made from Elephant Dung, A Rum Cigar, Cobra Whiskey . . . Why Not?
“Mary! Mary! Hello, Mary!”
The cry seemed to leap from the dark beach as our boat got closer to shore. I was being welcomed home at the end of a stunning sunset cruise.
But, wait a minute, I was in Myanmar . . . and I didn’t know a soul. No one except Sandar, that is.
Sunset on the Ayeyarwady River in Bagan, Myanmar
© Meredith Mullins
Persistence Pays
Sandar was the Burmese girl who had been following me most of the day to sell me jewelry.
Full disclosure. My name is not really “Mary.” That name popped out of my mouth when I first met Sandar at an early morning ox-cart ride.
All was quiet and deserted . . . and then Sandar appeared.
© Meredith Mullins
“Hello, what is your name,” Sandar had said in careful English. She seemed quite practiced.
“Hello,...
