For Jessica

Debra Ross in this week’s KOA newsletter for Rochester ended her newsletter with the following, and this is what she wrote:

"Recently, the New Yorker had a front-page piece about a study that purported to show that having children does not, on average, increase happiness. There has been a lot of debate about this since that article was published. Last night, I came across this true gem of a blog post from a writer named Jennifer Lawler. Here's part of what she has to say:

Only an academic would undertake a study like this, defining happiness as something along the lines of “satisfaction with life” and “feeling rewarded by your work.” If there’s an occupation more likely to make you feel incompetent and unrewarded than being a parent, I have never heard of it...If you weren’t an academic, you might define happiness as the experience of being fully alive. To know grace, and despair, and the kind of hardness you have to learn to stand against; to watch your family fail you when you need them the most, and have your ex-husband look around, shrug his shoulders, and hold out his hand to help you up again.

The essay is simply beautiful, and made me look at the entire question a new way."

Debra is right. This essay on a blog drew over 240 responses the last time I checked. It’s certainly worth reading. Thank you, Debra Ross, for sharing. The connection is below...

http://jenniferlawler.com/wordpress/?p=747

A Pile of Books

Wish I wrote it...

Books to the Ceiling

By Arnold Lobel

Books to the ceiling,
books to the sky.
My pile of books are a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard
by the time I read them.

What Is A Book?

A Book

By Lora Daunt

A book is pages, pictures and words
A book is animals, people and birds
A book is stories of queens and kings
Poems and songs - so many things!
Curled in a corner where I can hide
With a book I can journey far and wide
Though it's only paper from end to end
A book is a very special friend.

If the Rocker Fits, Then Rock On!

From the Internet and in my mailbox today... NOW WE’RE THE OLD FOLKS! By Annie Must          Another year has passed  And we're all a little older.  Last summer felt hotter    And  winter seems much colder.       I  rack my brain for happy thoughts,      To  put down on my  pad,    But  lots of things,    That  come to mind    Just  make me kind of  sad.       There was a time not long ago      When life was quite a blast.        Now, I fully understand    About "Living in the Past".       We used to go to friends homes,      Football games and lunches.      Now we go to therapy, to hospitals,       And after-funeral brunches.        We used to have hangovers,       From parties that were gay.      Now we suffer body aches     And sleep the night away.      We used to go out dining,    And  couldn't get our fill.      Now, we ask for doggie bags,      Come home and take a pill.        We used to often travel    To places near and  far.    Now, we get backaches    From riding in the car.      We used to go out shopping    For new clothing at the Mall        But, now we never bother...      All the sizes are too small.          That, my friend is how life is,     And now my tale is told.    So, enjoy each day and live it up...      Before you're too darn old!!         You  pass this way only once so enjoy it while you can, Live Laugh and  Love!

Take Me Out to the BALLGAME!

Okay, here are some baseball quotes that I like, and tonight I am going to a Red Wing game...What does the writing say next to the baseball? "The harder I work, the luckier I get." That's a good one, and there are plenty more...  

You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.  ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970


If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.  ~Dave Barry


People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball.  I'll tell you what I do.  I stare out the window and wait for spring.  ~Rogers Hornsby


Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.  ~Ted Williams


I'm convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile.  ~Tom Clark


A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz.  ~Humphrey Bogart


You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.  ~Roy Campanella


No game in the world is as tidy and dramatically neat as baseball, with cause and effect, crime and punishment, motive and result, so cleanly defined.  ~Paul Gallico


There are three things in my life which I really love:  God, my family, and baseball.  The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit.  ~Al Gallagher, 1971


A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.  ~Earl Wilson


Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up.  ~Bob Lemon


What is both surprising and delightful is that spectators are allowed, and even expected, to join in the vocal part of the game.... There is no reason why the field should not try to put the batsman off his stroke at the critical moment by neatly timed disparagements of his wife's fidelity and his mother's respectability.  ~George Bernard Shaw


I see great things in baseball.  It's our game - the American game.  It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism.  Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set.  Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.  ~Walt Whitman


Baseball is a fun game.  It beats working for a living.  ~Phil Linz


When they start the game, they don't yell, "Work ball."  They say, "Play ball."  ~Willie Stargell, 1981

Will the Real Joe Sottile Please Stand Up?

I love this photo, and if had started reading at his age, maybe my whole life would have been different. As it was, my life is more complicated than I ever thought it would be. That is, because I wear many hats in my so-called "retirement." 

We all wear different hats in life, especially as we get older. My hats include those of a husband, father, grandparent, uncle, friend, teacher, essayist, instructor, tutor, performer, golfer, biker, children’s poet, and an adult poet.

Over the past three decades I have written many children’s poems.  During that time, I sometimes have played this recording in my head, “Someday I am going to get more serious about writing adult poetry and join an official writing group.”  Now I feel old enough, and I have taken the plunge. I am more than willing to share my poetry for adults and chase around for publishers.

I feel passionately about poetry, whether it’s written for children or adults. Exactly how passionately? Well, I have strong beliefs about the value of poetry. I am working on a poetry handbook for homeschoolers, and what follows is an excerpt from the introduction:

“Poetry can help you understand the world better and yourself better. Poetry can provide an avenue for you to untangle mixed-up feelings. Poetry can make you laugh and encourage you to take problems in stride. Poetry can give you words of courage to remember in times of stress.

Poetry can be a friend that goes wherever you go. Poems can be tucked into your book bag or your brain matter, and taken with you on any journey, short or long. In other words, poetry can play an important part in your life as a road map to courage, compassion, laughter, fun, success, and self-knowledge. This will become clearer as you read on.

Getting involved in poetry can make you a better listener, observer, reader and writer. Most kids will admire your brain power, and adults will clap wildly as you enter the room. (Okay, am exaggerating about the loud applauds, but you can do that in poetry—exaggerate, and you tickle someone’s funny-bone. You have the power to make others laugh or to take your words  seriously.) Poetry is great stuff, and best of all: you’re the boss of your words. You can do whatever you set out to achieve, if you are determined.”

I am determined to share what I have learned and what others have learned about the world through poetry. I have a popular website for kids, parents, and teachers at www.joe-sottile.com , which features a monthly poetry contest for kids in grades 1-12 and photos of where “Silly” Sottile was last seen usually doing poetry.

You can help me to blog more often about what I believe in as a poet and person who wears many hats, if you become one of my “followers” at http://poetryinsider.blogspot.com My main goal is to blog about stuff that is meaningful to writers and change the world on poem at a time.

Earthquake! And the Earth Moved, and the Heart Moved!

On June 23, around 1:00 P. M. I was sitting in my recliner and I thought the windows in my house popped up about three inches, and I said to myself, "I must be going crazy!" Then I heard a large noise rumble by like a flock of turkeys landing on my roof. So, I raced to the nearby window, and I saw nothing unusual. Then I raced to the living room, and I saw a delivery truck outside. And I said to myself, "It couldn't have been that truck, but I better get the delivery."

The delivery man jumped out of the truck and said to me, "I just heard on the radio we had a earthquake. Did you feel anything?"

I said, "Yes, I did." And I told him what I saw and heard.

Okay, the earthquake was in Ottawa, Canada, more than 112 miles away, but we did feel some tremors in Rochester.

That same evening my grandson, Ricky, graduated from Gates Chili High School. It was a heartfelt moment. As a young youth, he struggled with liver disease for a number of years, and then when he was really ill, he received a liver transplant. Before and after his transplant, he kept his grades up and he didn't lose focus as to how important his education is. After the transplant procedure, it was never easy sailing. The family had 33 visits to Cincinnati Hospital the first year post-operation. There are less visits now, and getting a good educations is still important to him. So, we are very proud that he graduated. I caught his "I've-really-done-it-smile" on the big screen at Rochester Institute of Technology...

It was a heart moving moment!