Loose Leaf Notes

1. Last week’s most posted photo among Floydian Facebookers, which caused one friend to respond “I should get to town more often,” is HERE.

2. Virginia Governor elect Terry McAuliffe says he’d veto any bill to allow uranium mining: “I don’t support uranium mining,” he said. “First and foremost as governor, my job is to make sure that our communities and our citizenry are safe. I’m not comfortable with the science to the point that I can say that with uranium mining, we would be safe. I’m afraid it would get into the drinking water.” Moreover, McAuliffe said, he sees no point in developing regulations for mining: “Why would we be wasting our time and resources drafting regulations if we’re not going to lift the moratorium?”  – The Virginian-Pilot

3. “There are no sacred and unsacred places. There are only sacred places and desecrated places.” Wendell Berry (who will be speaking in Floyd on November 22).

4. A new take on glass ceilings HERE.

5. My kind of exciting week: Not only did I cover local events from NASCAR to horse plowing, but I discovered the art of Dale Chihuly and the poetry of Delmore Shwartz, who strongly influence Lou Reed. I listened to an interview with Carl Jung, watched Bill Moyer interviewing Wendell Berry (who Moyers aptly described as a Poet and Prophet) and helped Joe save our chickens from a hungry raccoon.

6. “Lou and I played music together, became best friends and then soul mates, traveled, listened to and criticized each other’s work, studied things together (butterfly hunting, meditation, kayaking). We made up ridiculous jokes; stopped smoking 20 times; fought; learned to hold our breath underwater; went to Africa; sang opera in elevators; made friends with unlikely people; followed each other on tour when we could; got a sweet piano-playing dog; shared a house that was separate from our own places; protected and loved each other.” ~ Lou Reed’s wife Laurie Anderson’s Rolling Stone tribute to Lou. More HERE.

7. During a guest visit to the local high school a student asked me ‘what was your most interesting interview?’ The moonshine sipping potter and the tree climbing teacher who had gear all ready for me to climb came to mind. But I forgot to mention the humanitarian clown who said, “A red nose will get you anywhere,” or how much fun it was to cover the Primland Resort and Spa, last year’s Mardi Gras Ball, or the Obama for President Rally at the Sun Music Hall. I also didn’t mention to the students the possibility that I might cover their graduation next year for our local newspaper and that each blog entry posted is a published document that you should be able to stand behind. More HERE.

8. My blog is the driving force behind my writing. It’s the place where everything starts, the day to day marriage between my love of the written word and my love of record keeping. If my published writing was a theater film, my blog would be the DVD with special features, links to follow, and posted outtakes.

9. I am in the minority.  As a rational thinker (INTJ) on the Myers Briggs Personality Type, I am greatly outnumbered by idealists, artists and especially the guardians, which make up 16, 27 and 46 percent of the population, compared to my measly 10%. But I’m in good company because most Jung analysts believe that Carl Jung was an INTJ.

10. I think books are like dreams.   Many are entertaining and informative, but there are only a handful of big ones that come in a lifetime and actually provide life changing insight.

11. I’m reading one of my BIG books now. It’s Balancing Heaven and Earth, the memoir of Robert Johnson, the Jungian analyst that received personal dream analysis from Carl Jung.  Here’s an excerpt: There is a constant pull back to the sense of unity from which we came, and in Jungian psychology that is called the mother complex. There is a regressive pull in each of us to quit this business of winning independence, to escape the painful human process of becoming a distinct, separate personality. Physical suicide is the ultimate expression of the mother complex, but it takes many other forms, such as the use of drugs and alcohol or mindless consumption of food or material goods … Many of the spiritual communities, monasteries and spiritual practices in this country are nothing more than institutional mother complexes.

12. So many of my well intended blog posts (that I don’t have time to write) turn into one or two sentences (like #10) and end up on this list.

13. Term seen on Facebook in response to the weather related tragedies:  pray attention.

 _____________Thirteen Thursday