The Struggles of a Midwest Spring-Summer

Posted on by Josepha

In my area, we don’t really get a clear spring season. There is about a week between what your body knows as “impossibly cold” and “impossibly hot” that sometimes has pleasantly cool, yet somehow sunny days.

The thing that confirms that Spring actually is trying to happen are the very windy days. Windy as in Wizard of Oz, sweep away your house, constantly blow your skirt over your head windy. Spring-Summer (my affectionate term for our “spring”) is also confirmed by temperatures that go from a cool 68F in the morning to a blazing 91F by midday.

But don’t let my natural Sauce Pot tone of vocie fool you. I really love this weather. Here are a few of my favorite parts:

  • The birds that return to sharing their morning songs
  • Grilled pineapple and salmon skewers
  • Sparkling water with a key lime squeezed into it
  • Dogs that sit in the pooling sunlight and turn their noses to the interesting winds
  • The smell of sunscreen
  • Walking through the local rose gardens (and the orchid house)
  • Green wine on restaurant patios — bonus for having some friends along

Excuses abound for gathering people in Spring-Summer, too.

  • Concerts
  • Beer fests
  • BBQ fests
  • Bacon fests
  • Hanging Out in My Friend’s Backyard fests*

So welcome, Spring-Summer, and please don’t rain down tornados and torrential rain this year.

~ Much love, Josepha

* That is made up, technically, but you also know just what I mean.

Enclothed Cognition

Posted on by Josepha

I work in a company that is fully remote, and one of the things most commonly touted as a perk is the ability to work in an environment of your own choosing. You can work from the sofa or from a desk. You can work with music playing or in complete silence. You can work surrounded by people or you can work 8 hours solo.

But one of the things that comes up most often as a perk, is freedom to dress as you choose. Being free from the judgmental eyes of your differently-dressed colleagues, and therefore free to dress however you choose, can be a liberating prospect.

I tried briefly to dress casually but, having mostly worked in corporate spaces before, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t really preparing myself for work.

Turns out, this wasn’t in my mind. It’s independently observable enough, that it even has a name: enclothed cognition.

As a bonus, the very act of getting ready every day adds to your daily routine which has proven benefits for your mental health, productivity, and probably lots more. 🙂

On Poetry: Light the World

Posted on by Josepha

Light the World by Ingrid Stölzel is a piece commissioned in honor of Te Deum‘s 10th season. The world premier was November 11, 2017 and, in case you missed it, here is a recording.

The text is by Robert Bode, and I have been finding it truly fascinating in its complexity.

May the Mother in us comfort us
And the Father in us protect us;
May the Daughter in us bring us Hope
And the Son within us bring us Joy.

May the Dancer in us move us
And the Poet inspire our Song.
May the Explorer embolden us
And the Artist honor the Beauty that holds us.

May we all be Creators and Priests and Nurses and Heroes,
And may our Song lift beyond these walls
To light the world.

On the face of it, this poem is about honoring the various parts of who we are and letting those parts inspire us to greatness (or change, or wholeness). But then this:

May we all be Creators and Priests and Nurses and Heroes,
And my our Song lift beyond these walls
To light the world.

The final couplet puts creative and healing roles into the same breath, which is a wonderful reminder that heroes are around us every day. That heroes are not always caped and masked and covered in spandex. It then reminds us that however we affect the world with our Song, however we help to create and heal in this world, we should hope that it radiates out into the world like light.

I remind myself daily that I should always strive to “shed light, not heat”. Knowledge (and joy and love and inspiration) only increases the more we share it with others. I know that it’s not my role in life to hold selfishly to my light and let others simply feel the heat of it. It is my role to share it and in doing so increase what I have through others.

If you haven’t listened to the piece yet, you should. If you already listened to it once, maybe listen to it again!

On Poetry: i thank you God for most this amazing

Posted on by Josepha

When I’m not busy making the world a better place through technology, I sometimes have disjointed thoughts about poetry. Its construction, its meaning, and the general overlay. Here’s a little e.e. cummings to round out your week.

i thank you God for most this amazing

If you’re not familiar with this poem, I’ll suggest a few things first:

  1. Visit the link above and read it.
  2. Listen to this recording of e.e. cummings himself reading it.
  3. Keep the poem open in a new tab so it’s easy to get to.

For starters, I think from the colon through the second stanza is one massive parenthetical phrase about the indescribable amazement that is the world we’re in.

And that the first line relates directly to the third stanza (though would be hollow without the second). Still, though, that third stanza also has all those parentheticals in it.

So its skeleton is “how should any human being doubt You”.

how should [tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing] any [—lifted from the no
of all nothing—] human (merely) being
doubt [unimaginable] You?

And that final couplet is how, when you consider the amazingness of the planet, your eyes and ears can’t help but be opened to the reality of God.

Thus ends an abridged look at the really dense reading that is an e.e. cummings poem.

St John Passion BWV 245

Posted on by Josepha

This afternoon I have the good fortune of joining some incredibly talented musicians to sing Bach’s Johannespassion. We’re singing it in English instead of the original German, which brings a different sort of drama to the whole thing, and has been an interesting expressive journey.

If you care to watch via the livestream, I highly recommend it.

If amazing singing isn’t your thing (the choir will be joined by Kyle Stegall and Charles Wesley Evans… so if singing isn’t your thing now it might be afterward), then you might join for the historically informed orchestra and their instruments. For our instrumental enthusiasts out there, I’ll tell you that we have a viol de gamba and an oboe de caccia joining us which is as delightful as you might imagine.

If none of this caught your eye, then I still encourage you to watch the concert if for no other reason than because I would love your support. ☺️