Harold the Unready

Okay. So Harold the Unready was this guy. Like he was long ago. So long ago they didn’t know his last name and just named him after his state of mind. They didn’t mind much at the time, but Harold kind of let it get under his skin that his brother Bob had a last name “All Right All Ready”. I mean, where do you go with that? Of course, you Act Up. Only back then it wasn’t a “Movement”… it just meant you did the teenage thing… ‘cuz, well… with wars, disease and other sorts of entertainment they had before television… you didn’t live much beyond twenty-something anyway. So everybody was unready for whatever, and Harold most of all.

But that’s not saying Harold was all that happy with this. He was thinking he probably wasn’t that kind of guy… just one of the folks. No, Harold wanted to be a somebody… something special. Skipped the school part… ‘cuz, well they didnt have much in the way of school back then… and he skipped the shoes part… ‘cuz sandals and barefeet were what you wore then. No… Harold wanted to be somebody who wasn’t unready like everyone else.. he kind of thought he wanted to be Super Ready… whatever that meant.

And since he didn’t know, Harold hired an agent, wiseman, or wise guy as they called them at the time. Agent Al said, “Harold, what you need is a new schtick. No it’s not a razor… so don’t get hyped ’bout the beard yet… but change, man… that’s your program. Fact is… we’re gonna make you a Change Agent.” Harold had seen all those illuminated manuscript programs – the PowerPoints of the day – and he knew. “Al’s on to something.”

So Harold listened. Then Al brought out the new idea: “Trumpets.” At least it wasn’t one of those stringy things with the hairy stick that sounded like… well we won’t go there. “And you’re gonna wear your hair in a bowl cut… and be in all-boy four piece band.” Weird thought Harold, but let’s see where he’s going with this. “And we’re gonna hang flags from the necks of these real long skinny trumpets.” Cool. Harold liked flags. Reminded him of Naschariot.

So Harold and the Boys started puckering… a skill they enjoyed practicing with their girl groupies in a slightly different venue… but one they nevertheless managed to perfect quite happily. And they pushed air through these puckerings like a congressman… and before you know it, when boofer hit brass… there was a blast heard round the world. And Harold and the Boys were the rock stars of the Recorder era – an era none of us seem to miss somehow. And their fame spread so far and wide that before anyone could spell Nebacannotnaysirorwhatever, their band was memorialized throughout the world in cartoons. And so Harold the Unready became “The Herald”… and some even Harken to this day..  but that’s a story to sail into another time.

For now, let us just Herald a new day… a new generation… and the passing of much that has ailed this great nation since the 1960’s. Those were great times, they were sad times, and they were divisive times too dismissive and too long ago. They are now gone perhaps at last. And as the nation moves on, perhaps we will see a new generation take up and address much that has long passed as irresolvable, irreconcilable and irrelevant. Maybe a generation that hasn’t fought each other and its forebears from the git-go can do what we could not. This would be my hope for my children and those yet to come.  And while there may be much that goes against my grain, there may equally be much that I know needs doing and these folks will do their best. I will remember that I am but one grain of sand and try not to grind in the works.  I am resolved to say “Goodmorning” rather than  let these things become an irritant to one or all when the time comes… but it may not prove easy as these indeed are tough times.. but have at it, my dear friends. Work your best. And may  God speed.

Well… I’ll Be Bloggone

Well… I’ll be bloggone… as in doggone. Thinkin’ ’bout makin’ the blog gone entirely and giving up the ghost as time seems to run shy more and more these days. But news of my blog’s demise, welcome as it may be… is likely premature. But the wonders of a byline and all the big bucks for the movie rights aside, an activity of this nature seems less and less clear as to what it’s about.

If it’s entertainment… well, maybe… but for whom? If it’s enlightenment… then this sure isn’t going to be much help. If it’s a record… then it ought to sing. As a Beatles fan… a guy who still appreciates John Lennon’s ethic of short, tight, crisply presented and generally upbeat, uptempo music…. I guess I find it fits… but it’s hard to manage. I’m no rock star….

No… in my case, this seems more a journal as it started, and remains. And as long as I’ve still got to work something out, I’ll keep at it. But as they say, “Life is very short my friend” and that seems more in mind than it used to be.

My wife says I work things out with my mouth… which… okay… I guess translates to going public with unfinished thoughts that in many cases are less “statements” than something more like ideas. It’s a habit from the sort of collaborative style of work I do… and it helps avoid sinking time into dead-ends and committing oneself to something before it gets “tested”… but I’m not sure a blog really serves this funciton all that well. But that’s sort of where it is…

But in all truth… I mean… if anyone ever wants to go collaborative, and approach I’ve seen fail here more often than work…. and I know I’m not the top of the list, but you could put me down as more interested in the roundhouse than the monologue. As for now, it’s a toss up whether to continue or “go native”.

When You Get to HotLanta… Say Hey to the High

Few weeks back… went to Atlanta for parents weekend. When number one daughter had to hit the books, we hi-tailed it down to the High Museum of Art. The Museum’s fancy people were having a music exposition out front to celebrate an anniversary of some sort, but we slipped in and managed our expensive way (entry sets you back $18) to see the materials on loan from the Louvre.

My mom was in tow and a bit disoriented by the mixing up of the materials… but I kind of liked the way the curator had approached things and forced you to actually visit parts of the museum and types of art you really didn’t intend to see. Kind of an accidental art tourist thing. So on the way to what I wanted to see… I saw some nifty nostalgic art deco appliances and some waste-of-time-you-call-this-art modern material which was enjoyable for its brevity if nothing else.  FWIW…I think my favorite modern art tends to have a sense of humor.

But the cool part for me… and why I mention it here… was the Byzantine statue of the Theotokos. I kid you not: an ivory statue of the Theotokos. Register that again: “A Byzantine statue of the Theotokos”. No, it was not Roman Catholic… Eastern Catholic, Uniate or whatever. It was Orthodox. And I’m none of the above either – though chrismated Orthodox, nor do I particularly have a thing for the three-D religious art – preferring icons now after getting over my former denom’s inhibitions. It’s just a stunning display of the contrast between what we as converts assume as norms and the actual diversity that’s out there somewhere… a manifestation if you will of the difference between Disneyland and the Real Thing… so of course Atlanta… the home of the Real Thing… is the place to see this.

Also on display are a number of ivory psalter book covers… the sort my Yugoslavian Byzantine iconography prof would have assured us served as the artisan’s source for the transition to the three-dimensional rep stuff. And of interest to me was the ivory bucket used for the asperges at the beginning of the liturgy. Carved from one ivory tusk and about as round, this Ottonian piece includes several Passion scenes and is worth a close look… again to see the Byzantine influence. As the West recovered from six centuries of poverty after the sack of Rome… renewed wealth brought desires to emulate the East… and naturally the dough to do so. If you’re not familiar with this material, it’s a refreshing insight to the consistency of images in the Church before the schism. Worth your time. Yes, you may be saddened to see these objects in a museum and discussed as artifacts rather than used in worship, or to read the museum’s own drivel about “the faithful” as if we were aborigines in some deep dark forgotten part of the world… but at least they aren’t lost to us… (even if we’re lost to the curators!).

Ant then the art from the Louvre… it is of course amazing and worth a visit in itself, pretty much self-explanatory… and you’ll love it. My only complaint was that I didn’t have enough time to take it all in and had to end with one of those skateboard run-throughs they say you have to use at the Louvre itself when you visit Paris. So if you’re nearby and have the time, go and enjoy.