Wendy Isaac Bergin's Blog: Podcast: Altitude Adjustment with Leon Davis, Jr., page 5

The Worldwide Web

If I threw my computer out the window (making sure to disconnect it first), I would still be connected to the Worldwide Web, thanks to that maniacal species called Arachnids, specifically spiders. Their aerial, complex, and omnipresent creations are the true prototype of the internet. The net created by spiders stretches from sea to shining sea, and beyond, I’m sure. There are probably some trans-oceanic webs we haven’t discovered yet. Yes, there are marine spiders.

I do not suffer from Arachnophobia, but I have a bad case of Arachno-bumfuzzlement. How do they do it? I have used every weapon imaginable, barring nuclear bombs, to clear away their webs inside my house, to no avail; they keep coming back. I have used vacuum cleaners, brooms, high-powered water guns, incantations, and every curse word known to man. The ceiling corners are pristine for five days, and then, lo and behold, the webs have returned.

I imagine those spiders in the dead of night, threading their way outward through the coiled,dark labyrinth of the vacuum cleaner hose, crawling under the closet door, and then ascending the nearest wall, chuckling all the way. Then they walk across the ceiling, hop onto the rotating blades of the overhead fan, and launch themselves out from there in all directions, spinning their silver cords from wall to wall.

They are simply remarkable, and science does not know everything about them. Just look up at the sky on a starry, summer night. Have you ever seen the Milky Way, that dim, glowing, diffuse net spread across the sky? Well, now you know: This terrestrial ball wasn’t big enough to hold them; there are Space Spiders, too.

KPVU 91.3 FM Radio Interview: Author Wendy Isaac Bergin with Amparo Navarrete

Below is a link to my radio interview on the program "Latinos on the Hill," hosted by Amparo Navarrete, which we recorded in the spring of 2013, just after The Piper's Story was published. We discuss how the novel came to be. Amparo is a native of Columbia, South America and works in the recruitment office of the College of Arts & Sciences at PVAMU.

http://www.trioxtwo.com/index.php/boo...

Urgent Message to the Scientific Community or Plucking Up Courage

I love chickens; I let my chickens free range. I like to watch them pecking and scratching, chasing after grasshoppers, taking dust baths, and eating the petunias. Everybody loves chickens—they are quite popular with raccoons, coyotes, dogs, snakes, and children with BB guns. This is why it is safer not to name chickens. They are here today and gone tomorrow.

Pondering the ephemeral nature of these lovely birds has given me an idea for the scientific community, as I am sure they love chickens, too. We need to develop a new breed—The Warrior Chicken. The Warrior Chicken will have fangs. The Warrior Chicken will have six-inch poisonous spurs. The Warrior Chicken will be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The Warrior Chicken will be able to run at 35 miles per hour, soar into the air and top off at 30,000 feet. The Warrior Chicken will eat raccoons for lunch. Coyotes will tremble before it. Snakes will flee, and BB-gun children will hide under their beds.

The time for this idea has come. Scientists, get to work; the world is waiting for The Warrior Chicken!

Summer Music Festival - Lake Charles

Just finished the Summer Music Festival, 27th season, at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Charles, a concert every Tuesday in June. Many thanks to the performers: harpist Elizabeth Brownlee, who performed a recital with me, the ROCO Brass Quintet with George Chase, Jason Adams, Gavin Reed, Thomas Hulten, and Ilan Morgenstern, the Dancewicz/Doucet Duo (still think they should call themselves the Double D Duo), and the Victory Belles, a vocal trio similar to the Andrews Sisters, from the WWII Museum in New Orleans. It was a terrific season, and the last concert was practically SRO!

Many thanks to Virginia Webb who handled all the publicity, the programs, the volunteers, and practically everything else, and thanks to Fred Sahlmann, organist who met all the performers and helped with chairs, stands, as well as piano tuning. Already looking forward to next year.

Summer Solstice Concert and Book Signing

We had a very fine Summer Solstice concert on June 22 at St. Thomas' Episcopal in College Station, with Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music for strings, paaltery, harps, recorders, organ, and harpsichord, with choir and vocal soloists. I sold and signed many copies of my book at the reception.

Many thanks to Rev. Rhoda Montgomery and Bonnie Harris-Reynolds for help with the book signing, and kudos to Bonnie for organizing and conducting the concert in addition to performing on harpsichord and organ.

Two Book Signings @ St. Thomas Episcopal College Station

There will actually be two book signings on Sunday, June 22, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in College Station. The first signing will be at 12:00, during the coffee hour immediately after the 10:30 a.m. service.

St. Thomas Episcopal Church
906 George Bush Dr, College Station, TX 77840
(979) 696-1726


I am also playing recorder in a concert the same evening:

St. Cecilia Consort: Celebrating the Summer Solstice — 7:30pm. Featuring Medieval, Renaissance & Baroque music from Spain & Italy.

The second signing will be at the reception immediately following the concert. Come out and enjoy!

Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera in the Heights

I just finished seven performances of Lucia with Opera in the Heights. The opera is known for the Mad Scene in Act III, and its famous cadenza for Lucia (the soprano) and the flute. It is a thrilling moment because it is not conducted, and the cadenza with all its rubato and capriciousness is tricky to coordinate. I had the great pleasure of working with two excellent sopranos, Jessica E. Jones and Amanda Kingston, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of the time we were right together!

Aside from the Mad Scene, the opera is loaded with sublime melodies, and the famous Act II sextet was gorgeous. Congratulations to all the singers (I don't know how they do it), and especially to the two marvelous sopranos, Jessica and Amanda!

Nothing Is Random

Creation is really marvelous. There is an intricate and splendid design in the world, down to the last dust mote. The bee makes a good example; its design is pervaded by the number 3.

The egg of a queen bee takes three days to hatch. The queen is fed for nine days, which is 3 x 3. She matures in fifteen days, 5 x 3. The worker bees mature in twenty-one days; the drones mature in twenty-four, all multiples of three.

In addition,the bodies of bees have three sections, a head and two stomachs. Their eyes are compound, made of about three thousand small, six-sided eyes, all multiples of three. They have six legs. The foot is made of three triangular sections, and triangles, as we know, are three-sided. Each antenna has nine sections, and the stinger has nine barbs on each side.

Another example comes from music. The frequencies of notes in the musical scale are all multiples of 11, with A-440 being an easy example. Even the differences in the notes, for example between A-440 and B-495 (55) are multiples of 11. Take a look at the others: C-264 (24 x 11), D-297 (27 x 11), E-330 (30 x 11),F-352 (32 x 11), G-396 (36 x 11).

In a world where all is order and design, it becomes apparent that, as it has been written, even the hairs of our heads are numbered.

I highly recommend E. W. Bullinger's Number in Scripture; Its Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance.

Houston Symphony League Bay Area

My harpist friend Betsy Brownlee and I played a recital for the Houston Symphony League-Bay Area in Clear Lake today. We played a 45-minute concert in the chapel of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, where they have their monthly meetings. The Chapel is a great place to play, beautiful visually and acoustically very pleasing. Betsy and I played some lovely flute and harp music by Hovhaness, Nielsen, Rossini, Charles Rochester Young,Joseph Lauber, and a short piece by Catherine McMichael. There were about 70 members there, and the concert was very well-received. The Houston Symphony League members were so warm and complimentary; Betsy and I had a great time!

One interesting fact I discovered is that composer Alan Hovhaness got his first big break when Leopold Stokowski and the Houston Symphony premiered his 2nd Symphony in 1955. That performance helped launch his career.

Mary Voigt, who invited us to play, also allowed me to sell some of my books. Thank you, Mary!

Louisiana Jam Review

Here's a link to the review:

http://issuu.com/louisianajam/docs/ja...

My cousin loved The Piper's Story, and he sent in a review to the Louisiana Jam, a Lake Charles area entertainment magazine, and they featured it! He's an attorney--the good kind.