Language gravitates and exerts a gravitational pull[i]
Poetry is the experience of being, an experience of disclosure in which being is unveiled.
Uncompromising adherence to the harsh truth of humanity, self responsibility and the difficulty encountered when one seeks to express this in poetry, are major themes throughout Geoffrey Hill’s poetic. What the reader comes to know through the poetry is a call for a responsibility to the self, which does not seek defence through history, faith or nationhood.
Willingness to participate within the place of difficulty shows itself in connections with landscape, with history and with those figures who exemplify aspects of Hill’s poetic thrust. Hill is a late romantic poet and is best read through French and German writers. With this framework his work can be read without recourse to external references (even if the poem might seem to lend itself to a literal history of certain figures from the past). His poetry creates from figures of history and from myth a means through which ‘a discovery of oneself’[ii] can occur as Novalis considers:
The sense for poetry has much in common with the sense for mysticism. It is the sense for the particular, personal, unknown, mysterious, for that which is to be revealed, what necessarily happens by chance. It represents that which cannot be represented. It sees what cannot be seen, feels what cannot be felt etc…The sense for poetry is closely related to the sense of prophecy and the religious, the seer’s sense itself. The poet orders, combines, chooses, invents—and even to himself it is incomprehensible why it is just so and not otherwise.[iii]
Hill’s notes provide sources to the reader, acknowledging a process undertaken in the act of poetic creation, not as a means of providing clues to possible meaning. The notes are not the poem, as August Wilhelm Schlegel tells us in the Philosophical Fragments, ‘Notes to a poem are like anatomical lectures on a piece of roast beef…’[iv]. The notes to a poem may make their contribution as Derek Attridge states ‘Further information…may all feed into the singularity I both create and undergo when I next read it’[v]. Hill’s poetic is a search for origins that go beyond representation. The origin of his thought (the references he makes use of, the myths he alludes to, the real or imagined characters) as expressed in his poetry, contains another origin that has no origin - a longing or search for beginnings expressed in opposition to ‘common speech’ and ‘everyday language’. The poetry is a search navigating the original idea of humanity through the density and impossibility of language. Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe writes in The Subject of Philosophy:
Poetry thus occupies, if we may say so, that zero space or this nonlocus (but which constitutes perhaps all of space, that is the whole 'internal' spacing of language) which is the dividing line 'itself' between the external and the internal, outside and inside, manifestation and thought. It is a plastic (fictioned) use of language (hence its strength and liveliness, its animating power), but this figuration (this fictioning) is essentially already turned towards the inside, and affecting ultimately (that is, also, at the limit of the concept itself) the ‘signified’ alone.[vi]
The poems of Canaan[vii] seem to address the charge of difficulty, encouraging and directing us to allow the power of the poetry to communicate itself through itself. David Gervais writes concerning accusations of ‘difficulty’:
One understands what makes a new reader use the word - Hill's range of reference is formidable - but the notion itself is in many ways a red herring that serves only to make the poetry less approachable. Poetry is difficult because living justly is difficult. Our priority is to hear the poetry's music clearly, not just to explicate it.’[viii]
Words can surprise by their position in a poem, and by their dislocation from the sense one gathers as one reads; this possibility is created both from the position and from the meaning of the word. It is here that difficulty is situated; it is in this occurrence that one struggles to apprehend the experience of language that is taking place and at this juncture the reader calls upon the power of language as a capability, leading towards a possession of meaning as it is perceived to have been written. Together with this moment there exists a possibility which is also an impossibility, containing or participating within, a willingness to be open to the darkness, to that which is not manifest to the mind, to that which is remote, to obscurity. In this one can meet with language as ‘non-power’ which Maurice Blanchot refers to as an ‘entirely other experience’,[ix] an experience that:
allows no mediation, the absence of separation that is absence of relation as well as infinite separation because this separation does not reserve for us the distance and the future we need in order to be able to relate ourselves to it, to come about in it.’[x]
An element of time exists within this experience of language; there is a suspension whereby a gathering occurs which is immediate. In this suspension of time and space, both enfold and leap beyond the apprehension of the work. Consciousness escapes the concept of time’s linearity, becoming in a continuum which becomes in the reader, opening an ‘inner sense of time’ rather than an extrinsic and mechanical entity measured outside of the self. [xi] A sense of the future as ‘open’ occurs as one reads, and through this encounter with the obscurity in poetic language an experience beyond understanding is accomplished. This accomplishment is not an attainable entity which can be placed there but is an achievement of poetic language.
For Hill, the figure of gravity, as the epigraph to this essay reflects, is important in the context of the poet and language. Hill knows the gravity of language cannot be overcome, but the hope of the poem is that it seems to have been ‘I take no cynical view of those rare moments in which the inertia of language, which is also the coercive force of language, seems to have been overcome’[xii]. This is not an act of combat or struggle, but a willingness, an openness, to be acted upon under language’s gravitational pull, to create poetic language stretched to the limits.
In his essay, ‘Our Word is Our Bond’ Hill writes on the weight of poetic language and the words used within it:
…there is something ‘mysterious’, some ‘dark and disputed matter’ implicated in the nature of language itself. But the mystery is nothing more nor less than ‘ordinary circumstances’, ‘habitudes and institutions’, ‘cultivated opinion’, ‘traditional pieties and naïve beliefs’, what Locke termed ‘the audible discourse of the company’ and Austin designated as ‘the conducts of meetings and business’. ‘Our word is our bond’ (shackle, arbitrary constraint, closure of possibility) is correlative to ‘our word is our bond’ (reciprocity, covenant, fiduciary symbol). ‘Mastery’ is as much is as not servitude.[xiii]
Words have the capacity for closure and for a promise and agreement. This ‘closure’ is not one in which an end comes to the possibility of meaning, the ‘closure’ is in the decision taken to place a word, to choose a word and place it in use. The weight of words and their import contain this double responsibility of which Hill remains acutely aware; there remains a control, a power and an authority in the use of language that contains within itself a dependence for language which cannot be evaded. There remains a ‘play’ in words and poetic language which evades closure whilst still being accountable. The ‘everyday’ of language contains within it the possibility of another mysterious quality.
The mysterious quality of language might be related to the field of quantum physics. Nils Bohr famously commented, ‘We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry’.[xiv] Objects in the universe attract other objects. Masses move toward each other, achieved through the pull of gravity, though there is no known scientific explanation for gravitational attraction. Quantum physicists hypothesise that gravity’s force is transmitted by the graviton. The graviton can’t be seen in the act of observation, but shows itself in what is left over. The energy that comes from the creation and annihilation of matter and anti-matter, appears to disappear, moving to a place beyond our reality, to an unseen extra dimension. What is left over is what is known, but, interestingly, in the measurement of the energy left over, the sum of this energy is greater than the addition of both. The experience of poetry is the power, force and energy discerned beyond the meaning of words and what they might refer to, not goal or intent, but rather, an essence that is sensed in another dimension. Poetic language is the hopeful expression of existence, an intuition that there is a possibility of expressing what it means to exist.
Canaan begins with a long epigraph consisting of three quotations from the Geneva Bible of 1560. These, together with the title of the collection, inform the reading and draw attention to Hill’s recurring consideration of Christian faith and doctrine.
The quotations refer to the wrath of God upon the exiled children of Israel because they have turned their back upon him to worship ‘idols of Canaan’. The epigraph highlights the ambiguous nature of religion and the influences which were brought to bear on the Israelites by their conquering of Canaan. Canaanite religion was deeply influenced by magic, ‘In Canaanite religion the Israelites encountered forms of ritual and mythology that had wide currency throughout the ancient East.’[xv] It was agriculturally based with a deep connection with the land and its replenishment. Fertility gods, Baals and the cult of Ashtoreth (referred to in the epigraph) were intrinsic to the religion. From the point of view of Hill’s themes of landscape, religion, myths of belief and his poetry’s influence by and connection through history, the title and epigraph of Canaan are not surprising, but are nonetheless intriguing. The conflict which the epigraph alludes to is a conflict between a religion founded on deep connections with the land, magic, myth and ritual and a religion of monotheism with ‘one jealous God’[xvi] provides a challenging opening to the poetry, deepening and expanding upon themes from Hill’s poetic oeuvre. The idea of exile, oppression and sacrifice and the relationships between the people these actions affect is also inherent in the quotation, with conflicts of supremacy and various forms of belief being bound up in this.
Hill’s use of sequence in this collection is interesting. Where some poems have been collected in chronological order within a collection, ‘An Apology for the Survival of Christian Architecture in England’ or ‘Lachrimae’ for example, or as a complete collection such as, Mercian Hymns or The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy, Canaan contains sequences of poems that bear the same title. The poems ‘To the High Court of Parliament’ begin the collection and end it, with another in the body of the text. Another set of five poems entitled ‘Mysticism and Democracy’ are dispersed through the collection. Poems address figures from England’s past ‘In Absentia’ for example and three are entitled ‘Dark Land’. These sequences are sequences within sequences, relating to each other and creating a sense of wholeness, reaching an endpoint where two sequences are completed in completion of the collection. The dispersal of the poems in each sequence highlights and guides our reading, they take account of the collection’s title and the substantial quotations which open it. Each poem reads as a gathering force from the poems that come before and after, creating contexts for each. In a more stated and overt way (by using the same title for several poems) the poems of this collection offer the possibility of relation within each other bound by parameters created by Hill.
Understanding is possible and can be advanced by remaining within the focus of the textual creation of the poems in their contexts. There is a different form of development in the creation of these poems which goes further than previous Hill sequences. Understanding is accommodated through a complex weaving of possibilities. This accommodation is a harmonization of gathering strength through the poems in growing development of meaningful expression. It is not a compromising move in order to evade the slippery and elusive qualities of language (the knowledge of which is important to Hill and any reading of his work). Accommodation is not a peril for Hill, but rather he eludes any act of compromise in the language of his poetry. He refuses approximation. The poems follow the path where words open together in their inter-connective force, to open up a space where the possibilities for intuitive understanding, the experience of the poem, can be heightened.
The poems of Canaan have a different appearance from the earlier work. Some adhere to a less formal stanzaic and line structure with a substantial use of the hyphen in line endings. The hyphen is not used as a conjunction of words, as Christopher Ricks discusses ‘To join two words by a hyphen effects a union, a closeness, to which the two may happily agree or from which the two may strain to break free.’[xvii]. In the poems of Canaan the hyphen is present as a more stated breaking free, in order to create a break and a silence, effecting a pause for reflection and reinforcement. This is also present in the line breaks and the word’s presence upon the page. The punctuation serves to heighten the impact of the words and make the eyes work harder, reinforcing the notion of the difficulty of language and words, working through and with this difficulty, producing the familiar tensions and ambiguities the reader expects from Hill.
The poems entitled ‘To the High Court of Parliament’ question and address an idea of England and its power as a nation in impatient and disillusioned terms. Reading this in relation to the land of Canaan, a warning of retribution and loss is expressed. The justice and integrity of those in authority is shown to be to the detriment of a nation. The leadership of those in parliament is depicted as one gained from an act of plunder and whose capitalisation ‘privatize to the dead’ has been a theft from the nation. In the first of these poems the lines read as if the words are jarred on the page, reinforcing the idea of an injured nation slowly disappearing ‘like quicklime’ into ‘oblivion’. The integrity of lordship and the desire for such is considered with the lines, ‘the slither-frisk/to a lordship of a kind’. The combination of the letters in the words slither and frisk, and with the words hyphenated, makes articulation extremely difficult. The snake-like allusion of ‘slither’ incongruously joined with ‘frisk’ evokes a bitter disregard for the desire for lordship, one which is defined as ‘of a kind’. Both rulers and peers are included in this, with the ‘as rats to a bird-table’ depicting an inappropriate, unjust system of scavenging. The second poem of the same title has an epigraph from the Old Testament which reflects retribution ‘Amos 3:8-11’. This develops the theme of nationhood and its ruling class with the final three stanzas characterising, but with greater detail, the rulers of the nation. The final poem of the collection and of this sequence reflects back upon the names of those who have contributed to the English heritage in the time of the English Renaissance and compares this to ‘You: as by custom unillumined/masters of servile counsel’ who practice ‘sovereign/equity, over against us’. This more explicit call to social justice and the overt sense of dissatisfaction is a new departure for Hill. These poems contain the familiar allusions to Christian faith and history but place a question mark on the future. The learned knowledge from history and the past which informs Hill’s poetry has been transformed and directed outwards in formal address to a present situation. From these three poems the character of the late twentieth century has been mapped, serving as an opening and closure to the collection. The poems that come between them may be regarded as broad reflections which enlarge their considerations. But perhaps more revealingly they engage with aspects of selfhood in a more stated way than in previous poems. The language retains the element of difficulty already apprehended in Hill’s poetic, but the reader can discern more clearly the creative moment of the poem in the poem.
This point is exemplified in the poem ‘That Man As A Rational Animal Desires The Knowledge Which is His Perfection’. Once again the poem’s irregular form and line breaks serve as reinforcement to the sense in which each word has been dragged to its finest point of communication. The ‘I’ of the poem creates as the poem is created, with the words opening up towards the final two lines, ‘and know/innocence of first inscription’. The work of words and poetry are shown to be ‘reason and desire on the same loop’ with the imagination striving towards the possibility ‘of sensuous intelligence/entering into the work’. The desire of this poem is the return to the sense of purity which comes from awakening to knowledge informed through and from the senses. The knowledge which is man’s perfection is not that which is contained within the rational or factual areas of knowledge but comes from the imaginative capability of ‘getting it right’ in the created word. This poem expresses poetry’s capability to make sensuous possibilities from knowledge and create an approach towards this. The expression of the ‘spontaneous happiness as it was once’ is also that with which the reader engages in the immediate experience of the poem. The experiential moment when ‘our sleeping nature’ is awakened is the mutual event of the poet the poem and the reader. A reading which is open to this is one which can finely balance the ‘desire and reason’ of poetic utterance and reception, a capability which is possible in the immediacy of the work at the moment of apprehension.
The notion of self-hood is explored in the poem ‘Whether the Virtues are Emotions’. The ambiguous relation between virtue and emotion expand the considerations of the rational, and the spiritual aspects of being human in ‘That Man As A Rational Animal Desires The Knowledge Which is His Perfection’. An awakening towards ‘mystic equity’ is possible through the ‘inmost/self made outcast’. In this an awareness of Being, where the ‘carnal’ is in disuse and is sacrificed, brings another union, ‘the new bride brought forth’. In forsaking and out-casting the ‘common’ elements of the divine and of love, awakening to the singular and deeply spiritual aspects, another approach can be made towards ‘the Tree of Heaven’, a tree which alludes to the tree of knowledge and to the crucifixion. The sacrifice of self is contained within this bringing forth, knowledge of death and knowledge of good and evil. A virtue is shown to be possible beyond rationalisation and comes from a suspension and sacrifice of self. The expression of this poem echoes through Hill’s poetry, but it is expressed without recourse to figures in history. The words and their form in the poetry have become simultaneously opened out, expressing deeply felt emotions in a more abstract way. In ‘Whether the Moral Virtue Comes By Habituation’ the consideration of virtue is deepened, moving towards the question of the possibility of its being sustained whilst retaining its pure essence, not becoming the ‘common numen’. This is also a consideration for the expression of virtue as the lines ‘…self/expression - you could argue - the first to go -/immolated/selfhood the last’ show. The consideration of love, desire and sacrifice (a consideration close to the heart of Hill’s poetic) has developed, but still retains an ambiguous sense with the words ‘you could argue’. There is no answer to the doubt of the title since this is what creates the poem’s thrust, it is a hopeful meditation upon the possibility of being able to lose oneself for the other. The self opens to the alterity of the other in ‘a rise’ towards ‘deprivation therefore/ dereliction even’ connected with and joining with the natural forces of the earth. These poems open out towards the possibility of a giving which is also related to the act of poetic creation. The giving is a movement towards and a responsibility for the other, there is a sacrifice and loss of self in this movement, a death to life creating the possibility of communicative poetic language. In this volume, what has been evident as a force in much of Hill’s poetry is given a possibility for expression, cutting through to the act of creating and to the aspects of being human in a more manifest expression of his concerns.
In ‘Song of Degrees’ Adonai, the ancient Jewish god is addressed. The possibility of the word and that which lies hidden is considered (a theme which finds a close relation with the word of Hill). There is a more stated relation, with implications for the title of the collection:
It is said Adonai your hidden word
even from security
through energies dispersed
fallen upon stasis
brought by strangers to interpretation,
aspirant to the common plight.
The word, even when obscure, has the capability to ‘declare’ itself. This possibility comes from ‘dispersed energies’ and ‘stasis’ which is a gathering and connection of what might appear to be mutually exclusive and ambiguous terms. The double capability of dispersal and equilibrium are the forces present within words and language and are the hidden essence of poetic creation of which the reader is aware. This awareness is poetry’s power of expression which alerts the reader towards another mode of being, one which can become covered over in the everyday of existence. The ability to awaken towards Being which poetry offers is its secret. The ‘strangers’ who interpret are the readers whom the poets never know but to whom every poem is addressed.
The second stanza moves from the word to a consideration of the ancient people who worshipped the god. They are both ‘unholy’ and ‘prodigal’ which is from the perspective of the Old Testament, but still the words express their foolish recklessness in a way which the reader perceives is one of affection. With the passage of time the habitual betrayal and misfortune of the Jewish nation is linked to their worship and the suffering and exile which comes as a result. The dispersal of the word is also the dispersal of the people, a faith which is searching for equilibrium in the face of habitual misfortune, alluding to the fate of the Jews in the Second World War.
The ambiguity of faith and the ambiguity of the word are brought together in a creative flow, exploring the question of justice, history and sacrifice. This poem has less tangible qualities with which the reader can engage. Without an apparently overt use of figures from history or other texts, it encourages a reading which doesn’t look for the possibility of understanding from sources beyond the poem, the word speaks through the poem and the context it creates.
The poems entitled ‘Mysticism and Democracy’ show a close link with the poems considered so far, considering the political and the spiritual, the inner life and the outer life of humanity, the singular and the communal. The first of these has an epigraph from the bible which concerns righteousness and a call for the possibility of attaining this. Democracy, which is the belief in freedom and equality between people, is linked with mysticism, bringing together once again the contemplation of the rational with the spiritual. The land and territory are connected here in a metaphor of political supremacy, with the mobilisation of people in ‘night marches’, linking with the Canaan of the title. But there is also the sense of meditation where the mind engages in ‘a retreat’ to ‘that furthest point where lines of vanishing converge’ where ‘obscurities’ in the name of democracy can be understood as:
…the Veil of the Nations, the Final
The politics of democracy and nations can be seen as a fiction, as expressed in Hill’s The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy (Hill, 1983). The theatrical connection with the idea of ominous prophesy and vision is introduced as a call towards seeing more clearly the truths behind political mobilisation from the ‘intolerable elect’.
The next poem under the title ‘Mysticism and Democracy’ develops the theme of the first. There is a consideration of the misuse of power and a call for justice, which the third section of the poem responds to:
Is it then default that we do not
stoop to their honours? It is not wholly true
that what the world commands is a lesser thing.
Who shall restore the way, reclaim lost footage,
achieve too late prescient telegraphy,
take to themselves otherness of common woe,
devotion brought from abeyance,
fortitude to be held
at the mercy of door-chimes?
The rebelliousness of this call for justice is more stated and more assured with the ‘retreat’ to mysticism of the first poem reinforced with the words ‘reclaim lost footage/achieve too late prescient telegraphy’. The responsibility of individualism and the ethical call towards the ‘common woe’ is a rendering of the justice and human responsibility frequently encountered in Hill’s work, but here, not stated through figures in history or alluding to past historical events.
The epigraph to the third poem in this sequence introduces a more personal voice with its reference to birth and ‘Father and Mother’. There is also a more stated sense of place with reference to the ‘Dark-land’ (a title for three poems in this collection) and a connection which takes the generalised call for social justice in the previous poems of this title towards a sense of personal responsibility. The sense in which Hill expresses a deep connection with the land as an empowering force in humanity reveals itself most fully in Canaan and is developed most fully in these three poems. Once again nature is introduced as a return to the cyclical and regenerative forces which industrialised civilisation has forgotten or left behind in the name of advancement and economic accumulation. Virtue here is ‘difficult to follow’ and one which as ‘English’ is ‘peculiar’. There is a tone of apathy and weariness in the final lines, in which the poet wonders ‘what song has befallen those who were laggard/pilgrims, or none’. The final words, ‘I would not/trouble greatly to proclaim this./But shelve it under Mercies.’ expresses a hope that what has been written will find its place in the future. With ‘Mercies’ the poem calls towards a sense of compassion, pity, charity and benevolence towards England, with her mixture of ancient mysticism and sense of democracy and justice.
With the fourth poem in the sequence there is engagement with the act of writing, expressed as ‘heart’s rhetoric’. The two terms of mysticism and democracy become more interconnected as ‘mystical democracy’, shown to be ‘ill-gotten, ill-bestowed’. The self-reflexivity of the poem shows the hope for the possibility of the two terms being connected and shows that this has failed. The possibility of creating this has been ‘ill-conceived, ill-ordained’, a repetition developing from the words describing the creation of the ‘heart’s rhetoric’. The bitter truth of ‘righteous masters’ is that the cost of democracy has been a lost spiritual freedom. This is not to be attributed to the ‘native’ sense of ‘obdurate credulities’, but democracy as doctrine has the capability of existing beyond those who create it. It exists as a set of rules to which the community adheres ‘as votive depositions’ where its official author which has been elected cannot undo the structure from which it emerges. The restrictive nature of this is echoed in its having been written in the poem in densely compacted words which create in themselves a restrictive quality. The final poem of the sequence, as a consequence of the considerations of the previous poem in the sequence, expresses a felt loss for the neglected spiritual aspects of being human, with ‘Great gifts foreclosed on’ and ‘Piety is less enduring though it endures much’. The grace and humility which comes from a sense of the spiritual is mourned. The lack of comfort and the loss which comes from ignorance is expressed through reference to a time when people would know that ‘Ebenezer means stone of help’. The guiding forces of democratic society are created in a structure which is informed by a self-propagating and ultimately de-spiritualised world. At the expense of belief in the mysteries of life, humanity has become ruled by a rational structure which it has created and from which it cannot escape. The cost has been a ‘vacancy’, a mythless society which for George Bataille is the ‘suppression of particularity’ going on to state, in comments close to the heart of this sequence:
…what is of a sacred nature founds the social bond in an authentic society, but with an aggregate that is no longer founded on social bonding but in personal interest it tends, on the contrary, towards its destruction. [xviii]
Canaan engages with ideas of poetry and identity in a way which diverges from the poetry in earlier collections. Robert Macfarlane views Canaan as the beginning of Hill’s ‘epoch of grace’, ending a ‘twelve-year poetic silence’.[xix] The sense of history, landscape and myth continue to be deeply felt, but are expressed in figures of mood in a more engaged way. The transformational qualities in the power of poetry are held up for investigation with a more stated sense of human responsibility. The poems engage with familiar themes but their poetic voice seeks to go further, to go beyond the point of reference. In this they cut through the familiar devices in a scope that is broad, more overtly denying the necessity for cross referencing. The experience of poetry is where one engages with the words and remains faithful to their import by recognising their relation to each other in the lines. Through this act a more deeply personal evocation is perceived, allowing the reader to participate in their full communication. This ‘communication’ is an opening, it is more than comprehension, which isn’t ‘to say that the poetic works seeks out obscurity’[xx] but is:
…a violent rupture: the passage, that is, from the world where everything has more or less meaning, where there is obscurity and clarity, into a space where, properly speaking, nothing has meaning yet, toward which nevertheless everything which does have meaning returns as towards its origin.[xxi]
As Novalis tells us, poetry seeks to divulge and communicate the most inscrutable ‘revelation of the spirit’[xxii] and the mystery of existence through a shared moment of clarity within the indefinite universe of language.
‘Concerning Inheritance’ exemplifies the complex relations made possible by poetry. The poem considers inheritance in all its possibilities, monetary, literary and traditional inheritance which stands guard and preserves as a ‘…divine shield/over the city’. The words create a paradox of meaning which offer a cynical view but which nevertheless do not deny the importance of cultural inheritance. What is created is a sense of participation and belonging, accommodating a wide and diverse body of people. This accommodation can be reflected under the title and opening epigraph concerning Canaan. A legacy of faith and matters involving the community create a paradox of consequences and an openness for both ‘professors of strict canon’ and ‘enthusiasts of sublime emptiness’. The view is not entirely positive since inheritance can, ‘grant inequity from afar to be in equity’s covenant,/its paradigm drawn on the fudicial stars’, alluding to favouritism and preference bought with ‘half-crowns’ being transformed as being fair and impartial in a system which accommodates such inequality. As the restrictive and dominant faith of monotheism is to be adhered to, there is also a cost involving the accommodation of all views within tradition, especially when it becomes part of capitalist economy. Inequity becomes equity in a society where money is valued and there is no sense of transgressing traditional authority.
The poetry in Canaan traverses the sense in which communities are responsible for their history and traditions. The poems take as their point of departure, rather than overtly alluding to and engaging with moments, events and characters from the past (although these are not completely excluded) an exploration of the essence that might capture what it is to be human, both as an individual and as a participating member of society and of humans as creators of society. A sense of loss is conveyed, coming from a movement towards power that is not ultimately held accountable to a higher being, and a sense of nostalgia for a world which was once in closer connection with the spiritual and mystical elements of existence. Engagement with the rational has encouraged a loss of spiritual belief systems and has been at the expense of the human capacity of justice, grace and charity. In some ways this poetry marks a conclusion for the volumes of poetry that have come before. As an invocation of its time, the poetry remains true to Hill’s desire to engage with the place of difficulty, and with the slippery nature of language by searching though the impossible to define, and hidden aspects which make up human nature and the nature of human communities. The engagement with the past has not been suspended but the engagement has been made to illuminate the transient qualities of contemporary human existence. As Peter Walton writes:
[Hill] is different: partly through the quality of his diction; partly because of the way he fuses past and present. For him the past is not dead. It lives and suffers on.[xxiii]
[i] Geoffrey Hill, The Lords of Limit: Essays on Literature and Ideas (London: André Deutsch, 1984) 87.
[ii] Novalis, Philosophical Writings, trans. and ed. Margaret Mahoney Stoljar (New York: State University Of New York Press, 1997) 26.
[iii] Novalis, Philosophical Writings, 162.
[iv] Friedrich Schlegel, Philosophical Fragments, trans. Peter Firchow, foreword Rodolphe Gasché (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991) 23.
[v] Derek Attridge, The Singularity of Language (London: Routledge, 2004) 70.
[vi] Phillipe Lacoue-Labarthe, The Subject of Philosophy, ed. and foreword Thomas Trezise, trans. Thomas Trezise, Hugh J. Silverman, Gary M. Cole, Timothy D. Bent, Karen McPherson and Claudette Sartiliot (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993) 148.
[vii] Geoffrey Hill, Canaan (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1996).
[viii] David Gervais, ‘The Late Flowering of Geoffrey Hill’, PN Review, v.35.1 (Autumn 2008) 32.
[ix] Maurice Blanchot, The Infinite Conversation, trans. and foreword Susan Hanson (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1993) 44.
[x] Maurice Blanchot, The Infinite Conversation, 45.
[xi] Paul Davies, About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1995) 276.
[xii] Geoffrey Hill, The Lords of Limit, 2.
[xiii] Geoffrey Hill, The Lords of Limit,151.
[xiv] Steve Giles, Theorizing Modernism : Essays in Critical Theory ( London: Routledge, 1993) 28.
[xv] Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind (Glasgow: Fontana, 1971) 348.
[xvi] Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind, 348.
[xvii] Christopher Ricks, The Force of Poetry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995) 336.
[xviii] George Bataille, The Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism, trans. and introd. Michael Richardson (London: Verso, 1994) 81.
[xix] Robert Macfarlane, ‘Gravity and Grace in Geoffrey Hill’, Essays in Criticism, v.58.3 (2008) 239.
[xx] Maurice Blanchot, The Space of Literature, trans. and intro. Ann Smock (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982)195.
[xxi] Maurice Blanchot, The Space of Literature, 196.
[xxii] Novalis, Philosophical Writings, 81.
[xxiii] Peter Walton, ‘Towards Stasis: A Reading in the Poetry of Geoffrey Hill’, Agenda, v. 34.2 (1996) 68.


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03 Nov Meet #Chelmsford Libraries’ newest member, who lives 10,000 miles away
Posted at 10:53h in Local News
Chelmsford Libraries latest member is unlikely to visit very often – she lives more than 10,000 miles away.
Six-year-old Scarlett Goody from Woongarrah, in Australia, visited the county as part of a holiday to see family in the UK, including a trip to meet her auntie who works at Chelmsford Library.
Keen to make her visit as special as possible, staff invited Scarlett to join the library’s Rhymetime Session, and become an honorary member, so she could borrow books throughout her stay in the UK.
Jo Woolven, Essex Libraries Area Manager, said: “It was fantastic to welcome Scarlett and her family to the library.
“She had a great time meeting some of the other children who take part in our Rhymetime sessions and, as a gift, donated a number of traditional Australian storybooks with the hope that children in Chelmsford will enjoy finding out more about Australia through reading the stories.”
The books donated include ‘ The Echidna and the Shade Tree’, ‘Wombat Stew’ and ‘Malu Kangaroo’ and are all now available at the library.
Scarlett’s aunty Julia Waters, a Senior Customer Services Assistant at the library, added: “I am often telling Scarlett about the library, so she really loved her visit and especially the Rhymetime group and all of the interaction involved.
“She loves reading, so having somewhere to come and get books during her visit to the UK was really important, and we hope she will be telling her own library back in Woongarrah about what we do in Chelmsford.”


The Grove Library
October 12, 2010 § 1 Comment
A classical winter concert series will be starting in early June at the Grove. Stay tuned to http://www.cappuccino-concerts.com.au/ for updates!
This new public library is really worth a look, even if you don’t live locally.
In an age where user pays rules, its so great to have a public space where you can browse the web, use free wifi, listen to music and read the paper. There’s even talk of a cafe!
Oh and they also have books! 🙂 Could this be the future of all public libraries? http://thegrovelibrary.net/


- This event has passed.
Bible Study – Short Stories by Jesus
November 20 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Short Stories By Jesus, by Amy-Jill Levine. To purchase, click link.
In this wise, entertaining, and educational book, Amy-Jill Levine offers a fresh, timely reinterpretation of Jesus’ narratives. In Short Stories by Jesus, she analyzes these “problems with parables,” taking readers back in time to understand how their original Jewish audience understood them. Levine reveals the parables’ connections to first-century economic and agricultural life, social customs and morality, Jewish scriptures and Roman culture. With this revitalized understanding, she interprets these moving stories for the contemporary reader, showing how the parables are not just about Jesus, but are also about us—and when read rightly, still challenge and provoke us two thousand years later.


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is a scheduled service to run a Postman Collection, reporting results based on tests embedded in the collection, and reported in the user’s Postman dashboard.
an API collection can be done via a Run In Postman button, embedded within the publisher’s site, and downloading a Postman Collection directly into the developer’s Postman instance.


Journal paper publishing is the process of publishing years of research as a paper in International Journals such as Scopus, Elsevier, SCI, IEEE, Springer, web of science, Taylor, and Francis, and more. It has always been a benefit for researchers across the globe to do their research papers published in world-class journals. So, getting help from a publication support provider makes the research process easier than before.
It is abroadly accepted fact that academic publishing is a rigorous and daunting process. For many PhD scholars, especially first-timers, the publishing process can be a daunting task. Non-adherence to journal guidelines and publishing protocols results in outright rejections. Hence, the crude reality of academic publishing is that there are more manuscript rejections than acceptances, let alone successful publications.
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Hobby Explorer Kits
COMING SOON TO LANGDON COMMUNITY LIBRARY!!!!
Hobby Explorer Kits are only available at Langdon Community Library.
What is a Hobby Explorer Kit?
Hobby Explorer kits provide everything you need to learn a new hobby without having to run out and purchase everything you might need.
How long can a kit be borrowed for?
Because kits are limited, we are only allowing a single one month checkout for each kit. This will allow you enough time to work through the materials and resources in the kit and see if the hobby is right for you.
Can I keep any of the materials?
In each kit, there is a list of contents, indicating what needs to be returned. In most of the kits, there are materials you are free to use and not expected to return. Please read the included information in the kit to understand how to take care of the materials so they can continue to be used in the kits.
There are a number of materials that we have created specifically for these kits and they will be available for free download once the kits are released.
What kits are available?
We currently have 11 kits planned:
- Bird Watching
- Manga Drawing
- Modern Calligraphy
- Rock Tumbling
- Tarot Cards & Palm Reading
- Watercolour Painting


Book Magic – exciting fun show for pre-school and Key stage one. Dynamic, interactive, creative storytelling, amazing magic and enchanting puppets open up the wonderful world of books. The 45 minute performance encourages children to visit libraries to find good books to read. Book Magic is a fun packed performance introducing children to a quite remarkable puppet character.
Sid the Kid is a big part of the show, which isn’t surprising as he loves story books. His favourite is Jack and Jill. He always wants me to read to him, even in the middle of a show!
Billy the Bird can’t be left out of this show, no matter how hard I’ve tried! He insists on reciting his favourite poem that results in complete mayhem!
This popular show really does what it says on the tin and delivers a magical experience surrounded by books.
Sitting down with a good book to read is truly a wonderful experience. The Book Magic show encourages young children to pick up a book and enjoy those relaxing and absorbing reading moments.


Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebeyou should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent essay.
Okonkwo is a respected and influential leader within the Igbo community of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria. He first earns personal fame and distinction, and brings honor to his village, when he defeats Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest.
Okonkwo determines to gain titles for himself and become a powerful and wealthy man in spite of his father's weaknesses. Okonkwo's father, Unoka, was a lazy and wasteful man. He often borrowed money and then squandered it on palm-wine and merrymaking with friends.
Consequently, his wife and children often went hungry. Within the community, Unoka was considered a failure and a laughingstock. He was referred to as agbala, one who resembles the weakness of a woman and has no property.
Unoka died a shameful death and left numerous debts. Okonkwo despises and resents his father's gentle and idle ways. He resolves to overcome the shame that he feels as a result of his father's weaknesses by being what he considers to be "manly"; therefore, he dominates his wives and children by being insensitive and controlling.
Because Okonkwo is a leader of his community, he is asked to care for a young boy named Ikemefuna, who is given to the village as a peace offering by neighboring Mbaino to avoid war with Umuofia.
Ikemefuna befriends Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, and Okonkwo becomes inwardly fond of the boy. Over the years, Okonkwo becomes an extremely volatile man; he is apt to explode at the slightest provocation. He violates the Week of Peace when he beats his youngest wife, Ojiugo, because she went to braid her hair at a friend's house and forgot to prepare the afternoon meal and feed her children.
Later, he severely beats and shoots a gun at his second wife, Ekwefi, because she took leaves from his banana plant to wrap food for the Feast of the New Yam.
After the coming of the locusts, Ogbuefi Ezeuder, the oldest man in the village, relays to Okonkwo a message from the Oracle. The Oracle says that Ikemefuna must be killed as part of the retribution for the Umuofian woman killed three years earlier in Mbaino.
He tells Okonkwo not to partake in the murder, but Okonkwo doesn't listen. He feels that not participating would be a sign of weakness. Consequently, Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna with his machete.
Nwoye realizes that his father has murdered Ikemefuna and begins to distance himself from his father and the clansmen. Okonkwo becomes depressed after killing Ikemefuna, so he visits his best friend, Obierika, who disapproves of his role in Ikemefuna's killing.
Obierika says that Okonkwo's act will upset the Earth and the earth goddess will seek revenge.A summary of Symbols in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of Things Fall Apart and what it means.
Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Things Fall Apart essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
Things Fall Apart by: Chinua Achebe Things Here's where you'll find analysis about the book as a whole, from the major themes and ideas to analysis of style, tone, point of view, and more.
Get ready to write your paper on Things Fall Apart with our suggested essay topics, sample essays, and more. How to Write Literary Analysis.
Things Fall Apart, published in , is Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe’s first novel. Simultaneously portraying the traditions and beliefs of Nigerian Ibo culture and engaging with the narrative of European colonialism in Africa, Things Fall Apart uses one man’s story to speak for many.
Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe Essay - Polygamy was another vital part of the Igbo culture. The people understood the necessity of having many people to tend to the crops.
The key phrase of the poems reads, "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold." Underlying the aforementioned cultural themes is a theme of fate, or destiny.
This theme is also played at the individual and societal levels.


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Dona Mae (Hopper) Maze
October 13, 1922 ~ August 30, 2022 (age 99) 99 Years Old
7 Trees, Flowers, or Condolences have been shared with support of Dona's family - View on Tribute Wall
Dona Mae (Hopper) Maze, 99 of Wakarusa, Indiana and formerly of Argos, Indiana passed away on August 30, 2022 at 10:15 a.m. at Miller's Merry Manor, Wakarusa, Indiana. On
October 13, 1922 in Van Wert, Ohio she was born to Marion Hopper and Zula (Bice) Hopper. She moved to the Argos community in 1954 and lived there until 2017 when she moved to the Nursing Home in Wakarusa, Indiana.
On August 7, 1943 in Westfield, Indiana she married Joe R. Maze. He was in the United States Army Air Corp., so she stayed in Mishawaka until he returned in 1945. Together the would share 64 years until he passed away on September 11, 2007.
Dona was a Housewife/Homemaker.
Dona is survived by her Sons – Terry Maze and wife Jennifer of Sun Lakes, Arizona; and Jerry Maze of Florida
Grandchildren – Michael Maze of Colorado; William Maze and wife Nichole of Arizona; Angela Sullivan and husband Ryan of California; and Travis Maze and wife Robin of Wisconsin
5 Great Grandchildren
She is preceded in death by her: Parents; Husband; Sister – Marjorie Robinson; Special Niece - Debbie McQueen
Friends may visit with the family on Friday September 2, 2022 from 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the Earl-Grossman Funeral Home, 208 N. Michigan St., Argos, Indiana.
Funeral Services will follow at 12:00 p.m. at the funeral home with family friend Dennis Bailey. Burial will follow at Maple Grove Cemetery, Argos, Indiana.
Memorial Contributions may be made to: Argos Library, 142 N. Michigan St., Argos, Indiana or the Church of Choice
Arrangements have been entrusted with the Earl-Grossman Funeral Home, Argos, Indiana


The subject of China-Africa relations presents a possibility to rethink the territorial parameters of African research. Specifically, it might assist shift consideration away from the Atlantic world because the dominant focus of connections between Africa and the broader world.
The issue is that present scholarship and public opinion have typically drifted into previous frameworks and colonial motifs.
To take one instance, China’s ambitions have continuously been construed as a part of a brand new ‘Scramble for Africa’ with African international locations falling sufferer as soon as extra to an outdoor international energy. One other instance is the uncritical use of the Orientalist stereotype of ‘dragon’ to symbolise China and its perceived aggressiveness.
I discover these problems with framing, narration and evaluation in a current article. I argue that these approaches have created problematic misrepresentations which have resulted in several components of the continent’s lengthy historical past with China being ignored.
Extra particularly, the Chilly Battle was a strong interval of Afro-Asian networking and solidarity towards Western neo-colonialism. Older nonetheless are native histories of Chinese language immigrant communities on the continent in international locations like South Africa. These experiences should be higher built-in into our understandings of China-Africa relations within the current.
The makes use of of historical past
Historical past generally is a helpful reference for understanding what is occurring at present. However merely rehashing imperial narratives as a guiding framework can obscure native views and different histories.
Within the case of China-Africa relations, the repackaging of previous paradigms can conceal a extra layered set of foundations and archives.
One instance of this extra advanced historical past is that of the Chilly Battle. Throughout this era China grew to become a supporter and ally of African liberation actions and postcolonial states. Diplomatic conferences just like the 1955 Asian-African Convention in Bandung, Indonesia, set the stage for these relationships. The convention triggered an extended historical past of transnational interactions throughout the latter half of the 20 th century, reaching excessive factors with Premier Zhou Enlai’s tour of ten African international locations in 1963 and 1964.
The perfect recognized instance of China’s affect throughout this era was the recognition of Maoism, which gained traction as a revolutionary and improvement ideology. With its emphasis on the peasantry as a vanguard for political and financial change, Maoism resonated with African activists and intellectuals. They noticed themselves as confronting the same set of circumstances throughout the continent. Julius Nyerere’s Maoist-influenced Tanzanian state and ujamaa program demonstrated how Chinese language approaches to improvement might encourage African financial tasks.
But additionally it is necessary to recognise the long-standing presence of Chinese language communities on the continent. Chinese language immigration to southern and jap Africa started over a century in the past. South African journalist Ufrieda Ho has addressed this historical past in her memoir, Paper Sons and Daughters. Her multi-generational account describes her household’s expertise in South Africa earlier than, throughout and after apartheid, capturing each the presence and marginality of Chinese language South Africans, who’ve been ignored of mainstream historic narratives. These social histories have additionally largely been absent from discussions of China-Africa relations.
A brand new strategy
The invisibility of those native histories is partly on account of prevailing tutorial definitions of ‘African’ identification. This identification stays deeply racialised with ‘Africanness’ and ‘Blackness’ seen as synonymous.
Nevertheless, the issue with any such race-territory correspondence turns into clear when ‘European’ identification, for instance, is at all times assumed to be ‘white’. Certainly, this logic betrays a lingering colonial worldview and taxonomy that fastened race and place collectively.
A extra expansive, decolonized understanding of ‘African’ identification might treatment these engrained habits of notion. Quite a few communities which have deep histories on the continent, whether or not Chinese language South Africans, Indian communities in East and southern Africa, or Lebanese communities in West Africa, level to different racial and cultural methods of being ‘African’.
Particular to China and Africa at present, this rethinking of ‘Africanness’ can present a manner of repositioning China-African relations past the diplomatic rhetoric of commerce and improvement to emphasise as an alternative native histories of African-Chinese language communities that lengthy precede our international current.
Returning to the Chilly Battle, the concept of ‘Afro-Asianism’, which first surfaced throughout the mid-Nineteen Fifties because of the Bandung convention, gives one other usable previous that may contribute to this new orientation.
Afro-Asianism was sustained in several methods by the Afro-Asian Folks’s Solidarity Organisation based in Cairo in 1957, the Afro-Asian Writers Affiliation established in Tashkent in 1958, and the Non-Aligned Motion that began in Belgrade in 1961. As an ideology, it promoted self-determination and the ethical beliefs of liberation struggles, together with racial and gender equality, human rights, and financial justice.
Reviving this concept might open the door to a brand new type solidarity towards the exploitation and abuses witnessed on each side of the ‘China-Africa’ equation. These issues will be seen in land agreements by African governments that don’t profit pre-existing residents. It will also be seen in anti-Black racism in China.
A refurbished ethos of Afro-Asianism might present an antidote to such issues and foster new types of group and internationalism. Moreover, redefining African identification to incorporate the historic presence of Chinese language communities might encourage and maintain extra significant understandings of transnational connections over an extended time period.
To rethink how we have a look at Africa’s relationship with China requires that we transfer past historic cliches, with African international locations at all times falling sufferer to exterior powers. Thankfully, there are a number of histories of substantive networking and cosmopolitan conviviality between Africa and China to make this risk occur.
Christopher J. Lee doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that may profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their tutorial appointment.


This episode of One More Time talks about band buildings, what makes them unique, and the people behind them. Scott Schwartz (Director of the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music) shares some of the unique places the Sousa band performed. Dr. Michael Weiss-Holmes of the Chicago College of the Performing Arts provides a two-minute technique. Our main story looks at several of the band buildings around the country and what makes them special. A special thank you to Prof. Dave Woodley of Indiana University, Prof. Randall Coleman of the University of Alabama, Prof. Barry L. Houser of the University of Illinois, and Dr. Timothy T. Anderson of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for sharing their stories.
This episode of One More Time talks about the audition process and how different people approach it. Scott Schwartz (Director of the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music) shares how Sousa often recruited members for his band. Dr. DaLaine Chapman of Florida Atlantic University provides a two-minute rehearsal technique. Then we talk to several students auditioning for the Marching Illini and their experience of preparing and completing that audition.
This episode of One More Time talks about moving on from a band program, both as a director and as a student. Scott Schwartz (Director of the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music) shares how Sousa fostered fraternity in the band. Dr. Bruce Moss provides a two-minute rehearsal technique. Then we talking to students who have aged out from various organizations, including drum corps, high school, and college marching band. We end this segment by talking with Fred Allen, former Director of Bands from Stephen F. Austin State University who talks about his transition into retirement. The episode wraps up with Tyler S. Grant discussing his piece “Paceline” for advanced trombone and young band in the final Source Material segment.
This episode of One More Time takes us on the road. Scott Schwartz (Director of the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music) shares the story of the Sousa Band’s 1903 trip to Ireland. Dr. Tim Lautenheiser provides a two-minute rehearsal technique. After our trip with Sousa, we hop on the road with the Illinois Wind Symphony to their New York City performance, followed by the Marching Illini’s eighth tour to the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The episode wraps up with Dr. Dominick DiOrio discussing his piece “Gathering” in the Source Material segment.
This episode of One More Time is all about stories. Scott Schwartz (Director of the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music) shares a few Sousa stories. Craig Kirchoff provides a two-minute rehearsal technique. There are multiple stories during the episode from Robert Boudreau, Frank Battisti, Tyler S. Grant, and Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser. The episode wraps up with Dr. Benjamin Dean Taylor discussing his piece "Maze of 1000 Mirrors" in the Source Material segment.
In this episode of One More Time, we explore military bands from Sousa to today. Scott Schwartz (Director of the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music) tells us about Sousa serving with the Great Lakes Navy Band during World War I. Col. Michael Colburn (Former Director of "The President's Own" Marine Band, retired) provides a two-minute rehearsal technique. We talk with Colonel Jason K. Fettig (Director of "The President's Own" Marine Band) and Lieutenant Kelly Cartwright (Navy Pacific Fleet Band Bandmaster) about their experiences in the military bands. The episode wraps up with Viet Cuong discussing his piece "Diamond Tide" in the Source Material segment.
"One More Time" explores banding in Australia. We are joined on this episode by Joanne Heaton (doctoral candidate, Sydney Conservatorium of Music and music teacher at Our Lady of Sion College), Bruce Herriman (Principal, Instrumental Music School Services at Department of Education and Training, Western Australia), Rob McWilliams (Educational Outreach Clincian, Yamaha Australia), Monte Mumford (retired band director and Advisor and Lead Educator for the Melbourne Youth Orchestra Teacher Professional Development Programme), and John Lynch (Associate Professor, Sydney Conservatorium of Music). Scott Schwartz (Director of the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music) provides a story of Sousa's trip to Australia with his band, and the Source Material segment is about "Into the Sun" by Australian composer, Jodie Blackshaw.
Pictures of the refurbishing of Grainger's door
The title of this episode is taken from Ben Franklin's famous quote, and is used as the basis for our story. The episode explores the relationship between Sousa and his manager David Blakely from Scott Schwartz (Director of the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music), a two-minute rehearsal technique by Dr. Stephen Peterson (Director of Bands, University of Illinois). The Source Material segment features Michael Markowski and "The Cave You Fear." Derek Jenkins discusses the Iowa Band Tax, Matthew Maslanka talks about his father's passing, and several Marching Illini members discuss the death of a recent member.
This month we offer a timely episode of "One More Time" focusing on females in the band world. The episode explores Sousa's "women in white" (told by Carol Berthold, volunteer at the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music), offers interviews with Dr. Courtney Snyder, Dr. Andrea Brown, Prof. Paula Crider, and Dr. Emily Threinen. The Source Material segment features Alex Shapiro and "Paper Cut" and the Two-Minute Rehearsal Technique is given by Lt. Kelly Cartwright of the USN Pacific Fleet Band, who is a Illinois graduate.
League of American Orchestras website: http://www.americanorchestras.org/learning-leadership-development/diversity-resource-center/the-league-s-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-strategy.html
Alex Shapiro's Programming Resources page, which lists many ways to discover pieces by female composers
“Peaches and Cream” – Sousa, performed by the USMB
“Thieving at 3” – Zia, soundcloud.com/ziaudio
“podcast mood” – Zia, soundcloud.com/ziaudio
This MiniBand features a full episode of Andrew Hitz's "The Entrepreneurial Musician" podcast, which consists of an interview with David Cutler. During the episode, they discuss ten tips for savvy musicians in 2017.
Click here to see more of "The Entrepreneurial Musician"
This Valentine's Day episode of "One More Time" focuses on the relationships developed through and influenced by bands. The episode explores Sousa falling in love (told by Scott Schwartz, Director of the Sousa Archive and Center for American Music), recounts the Drs. Peterson history together from Northwest to the University of Illinois, Dr. John Lynch of the Sydney Conservatorium discusses how sexual orientation has played into his career, and we look at a recent engagement of two Iowa band members. Jon Noworyta (Doctoral Candidate, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music) provides a two-minute rehearsal technique, and Frank Ticheli provides some information on "Blue Shades."
This MiniBand features a full episode of Mark Connor's "Everything Band" podcast. During the episode, he interviews middle school band director Tiffany Hitz. Mark was featured on our previous episode, and he recently released an episode featuring Sean Smith, Executive Producer of "One More Time" and Assistant Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Illinois.
The American Wind Symphony Orchestra and their conductor Robert Boudreau are the focus of this month's episode. There are several guests throughout our episode within the segments, including Scott Schwartz (Director, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music), Chip DeStefano (Director, McCracken Middle School), Mark Connor (Everything Band podcast), and Dr. David Biedenbender (Assistant Professor of Composition, Michigan State University), and a rehearsal peek with Dr. Andrew Boysen, Jr. (Professor of Music, University of New Hampshire) leading the All-Illinois Junior Band.
Cyclotron page from David Biedenbender's website, which includes a full recording and perusal score.
This episode takes the listener through a game day with the Marching Illini. We will be visited by several guests, including Scott Schwartz (Director, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music), H. Robert Reynolds (retired Director of Bands, University of Michigan), Dr. J. Ashley Jarrell (Director of Instrumental Music, University of North Georgia), and Dr. Eli Fieldsteel (Assistant Professor of Composition-Theory and Director of the Experimental Music Studio, University of Illinois).
New to this episode is a segment called "Source Material." Composers are invited to talk about one piece of music they have composed and give us their analysis of the work.
This episode focuses on the relationship between bands and athletic activities. We will be visited by several guests, including Scott Schwartz (Director, Sousa Archives and Center for American Music), Prof. Bernhard Scully (Professor of Horn, University of Illinois and Member of the Canadian Brass), Prof. Betsy McCann (Director of Athletic Bands, University of Minnesota), Prof. Barry Houser (Director of Athletic Bands, University of Illinois), Quinten Breach (Member, Marching Illini), and Josh Whitman (Director of Athletics, University of Illinois).
From "From the Archives" with Scott Schwartz
Three Strikes Two-Step by A.W. Bauer
“Fig Leaf Times Two" (that's the song I took)
“National Game March” by the United States Marine Band
In between our monthly installments, we hope to release what we will call "Minibands." These will be full interviews and unused materials from our episodes, and on occasion new stuff. Minibands will be a little less polished than our regular episodes, so items will generally be introduced at the beginning and roll into each other from there.
Our first miniband contains the full interviews from our first episode, which were cut due to time. there is a ton of information in these interviews.
In this episode we explore several important firsts for the wind band, including the first band, the first marching band, and the first Marine Band concert. We are joined by special guests: Dr. Elizabeth Peterson (Associate Director of Bands, University of Illinois), Scott Schwartz (Director, Sousa Archive and Center for American Music), Larry Dwyer (Assistant Director of Bands, University of Notre Dame), Barry Houser (Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands, University of Illinois), John Pasquale (Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands, University of Michigan), Gary Smith (President, American Bandmasters Association), and Gunnery Sgt. Kira Wharton (Historian, "The President's Own" United States Marine Band).
Sources and Credits
Canzon per sonar primi toni a 8, Ch. 170, James Howard Young
Funeral March of a Marionette, Eastern Wind Symphony
La Gracieuse – 2. Minuet I, Jennifer Paull
Orient et Occident, Op 25, United States Marine Band
Sheridan’s Ride, United States Marine Band
“Oskee Wow-Wow” and “Pride of the Illini” provided by the Illinois Bands
“Podcast mood” composed by Ziarrah Fox
“Victors” provided by Dr. John Paquale, Director of Michigan Marching and Athletic Bands


THERE'S ROOM AT THE INN
Book your room at the Southampton Inn, located steps away from Main Street and a stone's throw from the shore. Its Hamptons "club casual" atmosphere combines a family-friendly getaway in a serene setting. Tip: Request one of the "designer" rooms. There's the Nicole Miller room, the Paloma Picasso room and the Chris Madden room; each one decorated by the designer. Chances are you will meet the innkeeper, Dede in the cozy library chatting with guests near the fireplace. Dede and her family have been fixtures in Southampton since the early sixties. Her warm hospitality, sharp wit and infectious humor draws you in. She will proudly show you works by Michael Sherman, a local artist adorning the hallways of the on-site conference center and offer to show you the south lawn and organic gardens where the Inn's restaurant Oso, gathers produce for sustainable "farm to table" recipes.
Our room was quiet and tastefully appointed with a king sized bed and comfy couch. We enjoyed a relaxed nights' sleep on the tempurpedic mattress and awoke to a crystal clear fall morning. Dressed warmly in layers, we headed downstairs for Oso's scrumptious buffet breakfast. The yummy spread featured farm fresh scrambled eggs, fresh fruit salad, baked muffins, apple smoked bacon and savory sausage. Delish! After two cups of fresh brewed coffee, it was time for sightseeing and a brisk walk into town.
Room rates: $179 off season vs. $489 high season!
Conference Center with 4 Meeting Rooms
South Lawn for Receptions
Separate Kids' Playroom
A "LANDMARK" DINNER
The Southampton Publick House has operated in the same location since the 1800s. During prohibition, a speakeasy in the basement served luminaries like Clark Gable and Babe Ruth. In 1996, the restaurant added an award-winning craft brewery and sells bottles from its beer cellar. Today, the Publick House's lively bar and local flavor make it a happening hang out and the place was packed. Grooving on Aretha, we sipped Keller Pils, an unfiltered, gently carbonated house brew that paired perfectly with NY sirloin and Atlantic salmon. The DJ spins great hits by Michael, Marvin and the Bee Gees so you can opt to stay after dinner and dance the night away.
Featuring the art and artists of Long Island's East End, the Parrish Art Museum displays works by Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein and Jackson Pollock, as well as artists currently working in the area. The stunning new building, with skylights facing towards the north, lays in an extensive meadow of indigenous grasses that refers to the natural landscape of Long Island. With 80% funding and ongoing efforts to secure the dollars still needed, the museum hopes to open its doors in the summer of 2012. The Southampton Historical Museums and Research Center, housed in an 1843 home originally inhabited by a sea captain, offers changing exhibits on the region's history. The winter calendar features poetry readings, dances and jewelry shows. The living history museum has a one-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith's shop and a barn with displays of farm tools, and whaling industry artifacts. You'll find the country's first department store here on Main Street and landmarks everywhere you turn. For a serious tour of the town, consider organizing a group tour hosted by the dapper Bruce Michael. When not in Manhattan, Bruce lives on the island and has the "behind the scene scoop" on Southampton; both past and present. ....


…And SAIL through some books!! I have a question…
Question: How much did the pirate pay for a bushel of corn?
Answer: A Bookaneer!
This week is BOOK FAIR WEEK, with a special
FAMILY NIGHT Thursday, September 29th from 4-6:30!
I have another great story…
A pirate and a sailor were exchanging stories. The sailor pointed to the pirate’s peg leg and asked, “How did you get that?”
The pirate said, “Aye, I wrestled a shark and lost me leg.”
The sailor pointed to the pirate’s hook and asked, “How did you get that?”
The pirate said: “Aye, I fought Red Beard’s crew and lost me hand.”
The sailor pointed to the pirate’s eye patch and asked, “How did you get that?”
The pirate said, “Aye, a bird came by and left droppings in me eye.”
The sailor said, “That’s not as impressive as the other two. …”
“Aye,” the pirate answered. “It was me first day with the hook!”
And a few more…..
Ahmed: What’s the difference between a pirate and a cranberry farmer?
Muhsin: I don’t know. What?
Ahmed: A pirate buries his treasure, but a cranberry farmer treasures his berries!
Hajar: Why couldn’t the pirate crew play cards?
Jamila: Beats me.
Hajar: Because the captain was standing on the deck!
A book never written: “Pirate’s Gold” by Barry D. Treasure.
How I Became a Pirate Read Aloud


The Best Mom Ever
1 day off from school
1 vehicle, big enough to fit you and your children
$5 (plus money to pay overdue fees at the library, if needed)
What to do:
1. Start by
2. Drive to the library, allowing them the rare treat of watching a DVD in the vehicle, if possible. This piece of the recipe can take as little as a few minutes, or up to an hour or more, depending on the time available and how involved your children become in searching and playing.
3. Check out any selected materials at the library, paying fees as necessary. If applicable, allow your children to now watch a DVD they selected at the library for the rest of the trip.
4. This is the key step--pay close attention! Despite the several meals' worth of leftovers you may have at home, drive directly to Little Caesar's Pizza (you know you don't feel like the going through the effort of figuring out who wants which leftovers and heating them up and all that hassle), and get a Hot & Ready Pizza for FIVE DOLLARS. Yep, 5 bucks can buy you and your children lunch! Who knew?!
5. Drive home (still watching the library movie), serve up some pizza, and wait to hear your children say, "YES! You are the BEST. MOMMY. EVER!!!!"
That's it, friends! Just those 5 simple steps will take you from being plain old Mom to "BEST MOMMY EVER!" (AND your kids' rooms are clean!) I don't know about you, but I feel like I have wasted so much time and money. I had no idea it was THIS EASY. Try it out for yourself, and don't forget to tell your friends!


Star Trek Poetry
Fidelity (PG-13) - She's got to get better. Right?
If There Were (PG-13) - If there were a way to track Spock's feelings for Chapel over the series/movies, this might be it. (TOS)
Searching for Meaning (PG-13) - What did his words mean? (TOS)
Why Can't We (PG) - Running away appeals. (SNW)
Requiem (G) - A poem for the dead.
Boys Are Mean (PG-13) - What he says. What he feels.


My husband and I recently started a new business. While our optimism is high, the days have been long, and the learning curve has been brutal. We’re still a ways away from the business being the well-oiled machine we’d like it to be,
A nasty storm had blown through. Lots of thunder and lightning. Buckets of wetness. The Twitter feed from our local fire department alerted us to the dangers of high winds and encouraged the community to hunker down at home until the storm passed.
When I was growing up, ours was on the door frame between the kitchen and the hall with the red carpet. A vertical trail of penciled dashes and dates that marked the growth of my siblings and I – that eventually got painted over.
Sir Isaac Newton wrote a book that was published in 1687 called The Principia: Mathematical Principle of Natural Philosophy. In this book, Newton unpacks research that redefined the way the world looks at science and physics.


Czech Music Information Center’s (MIC) five decades of activities established unique archive of scores and recordings of
Czech classical music composed since 1945. This remarkable collection of published as well as unpublished works is accessible
through our electronic database MUSICBASE, along with other useful information (instrumentation, composers’ biography etc.).
Database also contains entries with no counterparts in our collections.
These scores are available in Czech Radio Hire Library or in MIC archive. Continuous digitization process allows database users to access sheet music and recordings but also ensures the entire archive preservation for future generations.
The purpose of database is to present contemporary classical music composers of Czech cultural area in accessible online form. Database is updated regularly and we appreciate any corrections and/or comments.
Our archive is supported by these organisations:
Foundation of Czech Music Fund
Ministry of Culture, Czech Republic


Black inventions have made a major impact on the world and the way live. Every year during Black History Month, I like to feature the countless Black inventions that made an impact on the world. Below are a few of those inventions. Getty Images PAPER The word "paper" is derived from the Greek word for the Cyperus Papyrus Plant. Papyrus is
Black inventions have made a major impact on the world and the way live. Every year during Black History Month, I like to feature the countless Black inventions that made an impact on the world. Below are a few of those inventions.
To create paper, the Egyptians used the interior part of the Papyrus plant and cut the leaves into thin ribbon-like strips. Then they laid them out side-by-side to make a sheet and placed a second layer on top. To make the paper strong they pounded the two layers together to make one sheet. For ages, this method of paper was notably used in scrolls. There was a downside because the surface of this paper was uneven and do to repeated rolling and unrolling of scrolls, the strips started to come apart. Cai Lun was able to improve the design.
Before William D. Davis created the riding saddle, I would think travel by horse wasn't a comfortable experience. It had to be painful and I imagine holding on was difficult as well. William Davis was a Buffalo Soldier and no one knew better than he uncomfortable horseback riding could be, because they were known for taking very long tours. These soldiers were extremely skilled horsemen, spending most of their service guarding the vast borders of the Western frontier in the last quarter of the nineteenth century under the leadership of General Pershing. They endured months of grueling terrain and weather journeys along the vast borders in the Western frontier. The Buffalo Soldiers were stationed in Montana and operated out of forts throughout the state including Fort Missoula, Fort Keogh and Fort Assinniboine.
The famous African American soldiers were 5,000 strong and served in the all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry and 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments between 1866 and1851. It was during this time that Davis invented the saddle. When his troops got orders to go after the Creek Indians and flush them out of their territory, they had to travel a 600-miles to get the job done. This, as you can imagine, was a grueling journey for the men and horses as well. Trotting was especially tough on the soldier's backsides, so Davis came up with an idea to make their journey easier to bear by creating the Riding Saddle.
Although never standard army issue, Davis filed a patent on his improvement to the saddle in 1896. His idea added springs beneath the seat and at the tops of the stirrups. He didn't invent the use of springs on saddles, the type of springs, its longevity, and where they were placed were his idea. The Davis saddle provided a smoother ride for cavalry, cowboys, and gentlemen riders.
Oscar E. Brownfrom Buffalo, NY. received a patent for the Horseshoe creation on August 23, 1892. Brown invention was the double or compound horseshoe, which consisted of an upper shoe secured to the hoof and a lower shoe that could be easily removed and replaced. The main part of this invention was a reliable lock mechanism, that helped secure the lower shoe.
As a dentist, he specialized in treating patients with congenital cleft palates and even created a prosthetic device to help with normal speech. Dr. Grant was also an inventor and his most famous creation was his improvement on the rubber and metal Percy Ellis' "Perfectum" tee in 1899. He invented the first American wooden golf tee, which consisted of a wooden peg that had a rubber tube and cup on the top to hold the ball. His designed change golf forever, because it was more stable at the bottom and less rigid at the top.
Incredibly, Dr. Grant never promoted or tried to sell his tee so the fact that he designed it went unnoticed for decades. He didn't get any recognition until 1991 when the USGA officially credited him as the original inventor of the wooden golf tee.
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Mark your calendars!
Evan DeCarlo reads from his second novel – Join Us!
Saturday, 10 January
All ages welcome – books will be available!
Evan DeCarlo, (former student of M & M), 20, native of Branford and screenwriting major in NYC, announces that his second novel, The City of The Star Gods is published and available on Amazon and Kindle.
Evan will give his first public reading at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, January 10, 2015 at the Connecticut Experiential Learning Center (CELC) Middle School in Branford. CELC is located at 28 School Street in Stony Creek.
This second novel by Evan DeCarlo, The City of The Star Gods, is Part II of the Children of The Noah trilogy. In this second installment, a ragtag crew of teens pilots a malfunctioning time machine on an impossible mission. Their goal? To save the planet from an almost certain apocalypse. Join Franklin, Joey, Hess, and Ellie as they leave behind the barren earth of the future and travel into the distant past to seek out the fabled Eternal City, home of the star gods, a magic sword, a troubled queen, fearless knights, and even a monster or two. But Franklin’s faced monsters before. Now, he’s got something much more frightening to worry about: girls.
DeCarlo said he is excited about reading at CELC. Students there followed his first book, and the leaders of the school are former teachers of his at Wightwood School. “It’s gratifying to talk about my books with such a great audience,” he said. “Melinda and Maria have encouraged me every step of the way, and I am grateful.”
To learn more about the author and plans for upcoming sequels, check out www.evandecarlo.com.
Contact [email protected] or call 203.433.4658
for more information.