Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 83

350-year-old land-use pattern, still flourishing

Yesterday afternoon this dramatic sky was up above the Aquavitae portion of what's known as the Great Meadow of Hadley, Massachusetts.



I had always wanted to go down Aqua Vitae road--I remember when last the Connecticut River rose and flooded it. Some of the houses down there are on stilts (wise move).

While I was there, I noticed the narrow fields. You can see them clearly in this satellite shot, courtesy of Google maps:



The whole Great Meadow is laid out that way--a style of farming known as...

things I'm reading/have just finished

I have a good collection of things on the go/just finished.

Just Finished
The Boston Girl, by Anita Diamant. It's a novel in the form of reminiscences of an 85-year-old Jewish grandmother, Addy, talking to her granddaughter, Ada, in 1985. It was delightful. The voice reminded me so much of my own grandmother's voice, even though my grandmother was Italian, not Jewish. The picture of immigrant life in Boston in the 1910s and 1920s felt absolutely genuine to me because my grandmother has said sim...

Detectorists

The 2014 British series detectorists, about a pair of middle-aged men who search the countryside for ancient treasures, is idiosyncratic and wonderful. wakanomori and I finished watching it a few weeks ago (it only has about 13 episodes), and I've been thinking about it ever since. It's low-key in every aspect, but indelible.

It's cinematographically beautiful: as the credits roll, close-ups of meadow flowers and insects haloed in sunlight alternate with long views of the English countryside,...

What is taller, higher, softer, smaller?

Anaïs Mitchell's version of "Riddles Wisely Expounded" has these questions:

“What is greener than the grass?
And what is smoother than the glass?”
“What is louder than a horn?
And what is sharper than a thorn?”
“What is deeper than the sea?
And what is longer than the way?”

And these answers:

“Envy’s greener than the grass
Flattery’s smoother than the glass”
“Rumor’s louder than a horn
Slander’s sharper than a thorn”
“Regret is deeper than the sea
But love is longer than the way”

So here is a twofol...

call it an organization

In a very-unlikely-for-me dream scenario, I was overhearing an insurance agent trying to tell a city baseball team manager one last thing when the latter had already turned to go.

"He says you're probably going to want to raise the team's insurance," I said, since I was near the manager. The manager winced.

"Call it an organization, not a team," he said. I conveyed this information back to the insurance agent, who then queried the manager about the "organization's" founding and structure.

"Well,...

portales

The high school volunteering I do isn't actually in a high school, it's at a special program for kids who have to amass a fair number of credits in a short period of time in order to graduate, and it's on the third floor of a downtown building. It shares space with a program for adults who never got their high school diploma, who are catching up on education and passing a high school equivalency test.

The program director had these little scenes hanging on her wall. She told me they're portal...

Electoral defeat for Irom Sharmila

Irom Sharmila got just 90 votes in the election. When interviewed by K Sarojkumar Sharma of the Times of India, she said

"I knew it would be a very difficult task for me to fight a three-time chief minister in this election. I got 90 votes which I consider very precious ... Though I have been defeated, I'll continue to fight against the draconian [Armed Forces Special Powers] Act." (Source)

However, she won't be doing it through politics. "I will fight as a social activist," she said. (Source)

G...

fairy path

Missy went walking
On the fairy path one day
And this alone remains
After she was spirited away

"Stargazing," by Leticia Rossi

Remember when I reported about the Five College Student Film Festival, and there was one film I really liked but that wasn't available online? I sent an email to the creator, and she sent me a link. (3.22 minutes) I really love the simple images and her thoughts ...

Then, looking up at night can make us feel connected, not only with each other, but with everything that exists ... Maybe we like stargazing because it makes us reflect on our places in the universe, and suddenly our mundane prob...

Irom Sharmila's new life

For 16 years Irom Sharmila tried to use the moral suasion of a hunger strike to gain the repeal of a law that granted the military impunity in her state of Manipur, India. It didn't work: she was reduced to the role of icon and symbol, going through the same motions year after year, without accomplishing her goal, while meanwhile her life slipped away.

Then last year, she did a remarkable thing: she ended her fast and declared she was going to enter politics to try to accomplish her goal that...