Nostalgia’s Thread Ten Poems on Norman Rockwell Paintings

a compacted punch,

 of literary power 

We yearn for a return to Eden; we yearn to return to commune with the untarnished world, a world that lacks pain, ugliness, and evil.  Nostalgia's Thread by Randall R. Freisinger takes another look at the perfect world illustrated in Norman Rockwell's paintings. Freisinger constructs words that eloquently juxtapose the imperfect world we live in to the perfect 1950's portrayed by Norman Rockwell. 

 He speaks to the desire to be 

"young again, and clean

of conscience, returned to the embrace

of a loving family that never truly existed

and which you mostly now visit

only in fading photos or rote prayers

at church when the liturgy's script

cues you in time for the dying to remember

the dead. You want to recall the vanished home

of childhood without the collateral damage of wrath

and uneasy laughter." (Page 24-25)

Freisinger's thoughtful poems are an invitation to remember our childhood dreams of a more perfect place. We once thought that life could be endemic. We are now older and have hung up those childhood dreams in our walk in closets; and yearn for prelapsarian dreams. Freisinger is a master of creating images by selecting pertinent words: "postman's pouch heavy with grief." Freisinger's book is small, but is a compacted punch, of literary power that knocks the reader out. 


 A definite Cluck, Cluck, Cluck.

  Nastalgia's Thread: Ten Poems on Norman Rockwell's Paintings

Randall R. Freisinger

Holartbooks.com

U.S. $12.95

ISBN: 9781936102037

Genre: Poetry (Secular)

Note from Human Resources, one should update their Read Across the United States Map:  Randall R. Freisinger is from Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  One should color in the upper peninsula of Michigan as soon as possible.    

 

Off the Grid

Off the Grid is a heartfelt film about a bunch of bumbles living in New Mexico, in the middle of the desert. The film shows the lives of people who live Off the Grid; 

Off the Grid is defined by Urban Dictionary as - 


 1) Living without using the services of public or private utility companies (grids) such as electric, gas, or water, by generating and providing for one's needs such as by using solar power, etc. 

2) One who disdains all recordable common forms of commerce, such as eschewing any form of credit extension, banking services or reportable payroll activities, using only cash so as to avoid any traceable transactions, e.g., living completely 'underground.'))  


It is easy to overlook or gossip about people who live in an alien community: 

"Look at what they are doing!"

"They can't do that!"

"You can't live there!"

"Look at those Dharma Bums!"

But what is needed to live freely is defined in different ways; some people want absolute freedom, to live like they want to live, and do what they want to do; these people find life is best lived "Off the Grid".  Some people need the solitude only a place off the grid can offer. Some people live off the grid because they enjoy shooting guns. Some find Off the Grid the safest place to protect themselves from their former dangerous lives.  Some live off the grid because they fear society will brain wash their kids.
There is danger in living off the grid. Drugs are common here. And the law is the law of the people, vigilante old west style.
But without a full portrait, we are left arrogant. Jeremy and Randy Stulberg do a fine job of presenting these people objectively.  The people of the mesa are given a fair space to share their free formed lives.  

8 turnips out of a possible 10

Christmas in Florida

Yard Snow has been ordered and laid onto your green yard. Snow has not fallen from the sky in thirteen years, although Floridians have been hoping for a White Christmas since 1996.
The weather has not changed much since September, it still is 85 degrees. But there are Convertible Sun Beams, decorated with fir wreaths in their front grills.
There are a collection of classic cars resting in front of the Baptist Church.
Lights. Lights. Lots of pretty, sparkly incandescent light.
"Parades! What would Christmas Season be without them?", says Bartow, Lakeland, Winter Haven members of the Chamber of Commerce.* Florida's decorative spirit is in high swing.

* (My wife is responsible for her school's float, appearing the Bartow Parade tonight.)

Curmudgeon Bookstore Cedar Key Florida

It's 12:01 pm. It's a dreary day full of gray clouds and damp palms, a day to be reading a favorite book, a day that is not often felt around these parts.

Housed on the corner of Main Street in Cedar Key Florida, next to the pizza shop, and across from the Heron Fish-House, lies the Curmudgeon Bookstore. The owner, Dick Martens is a pure curmudgeon. A curmudgeon defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, is an ill-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions.
Dick Martens is a conservative and has a point of view; loaded, and ready to be fired.
There will be pleasantries shared as long as you don't speak off the cuff and try to weasel in some liberal remarks. Then by duty called, he must debate with you, and you may leave offended. But don't get your feathers up, for he is well read, and even if you are liberally viewed, he will sharpen your wits. He loves sharing his favorite books with customers on little yellow sticky-notes. When Customers buy a book from Mr Martens, they know that the book is worth their time in reading.
Also check out his blog Curmudgeonalia.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate the positive commentary, but my preferred definition of a curmudgeon is that offered by Jon Winoker:
CURMUDGEON: (noun)
one who abhors disingenuity and hypocrisy, and has the temerity to say so, often recasting unpleasant facts in a droll manner.
Dick Martens
Curmudgeon in residence
Curmudgeonalia(book store,Cedar Key)

---

I'LL be there! Will You?

Roller Derby is back in the Tampa Area check them out on October 10th. You probably will dig it good; Really good.

Chick Fil A

Laughter is the best medicine ... enjoy!

Bad Day at Black Rock Review

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955, MGM/UA, B&W Not rated)

John Sturges captures the stranger Spencer Tracey in an unfriendly town. Spencer Tracey has that charm like grace that makes me want to watch more and more of him as I root for his blundering humanness. Bad Day at Black Rock shows what happens when small communities lock themselves up from them the outside world: A Darkened Heart!

Country Bear Jamboree

Henry (The Host of the Country Bear Jamboree):
Howdy Folks! Welcome to the one and only, original Country Bear Jamboree, featuring a bit of America - our musical heritage of the past.... that's what I use to say, before they turned out the lights September 9, 2001. That was right after the release of our motion picture.
We did not see it coming that a clueless little yellow bellied, lover of honey would be the devil himself. It hurts. Management at Disney told me that Winnie drew in more of the little tots than my band of jug playing crackers. Between you and me, brother Wendell and I still sing, "Mamma don't whip little Bufford" on the back porch of our trailer.

(from Wikipedia article on Mineral King Ski Resort and Country Bear Jamboree)

Walt Disney Ski Resort

Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort was a project developed by Walt Disney and Company in the late 1950s and 1960s. Disney had become interested in skiing around this time, and decided to build a ski resort in Mineral King Valley. At the time, many skiers believed this to be the largest potential resort in all of California. Disney's bid won out over those of other developers, with plans made to build 27 ski lifts, serving an expected 2 million annual visitors, by 1973.

The ski resort was never built though, due to environmental concerns raised by a coalition of preservationists, led by the Sierra Club^[6]. After years of legal battles between pro-development and preservationist groups, the Mineral King Valley was annexed into Sequoia National Park in 1978 by an act of Congress. That legislation effectively stopped the plan to ever develop the area into a ski resort.

Country Bear Jamboree Originally to be at Mineral King Ski Resort...

The Country Bear Jamboree was originally intended by Walt to be placed at Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort which he was trying to build in the mid 1960s. Walt knew he wanted some sort of show to provide entertainment to the guests at the resort, and he knew he wanted the show to feature some sort of bear band. The project was assigned to imagineer Marc Davis.