RelentlesslyOptimistic

American Clown: Athletic Dance for Men or Boys

One of those tasks that I've been meaning to get to for awhile now is to add Bibliodyssey to my Blogroll. PK, the creator of the blog, posts images from old manuscripts from libraries around the world, which sounds far less fascinating than it actually is.

I couldn't resist this image out of the July 26th entry, which is from the1916 American Clown booklet of the title, part of a series of "Illustrated Athletic Dances for Boys and Girls" by the Athletic Dance Press of Milwaukee. The American Clown Dance is written for men and boys, so if girls take part the booklet instructs that "the leap frog and roll may be eliminated" and offers a substitute step appropriate for girls.

The Athletic Dance Press also published "Alabama Scare Crow: Eccentric Novelty Dance for Boys or Girls," "Amazon Triumph: A Spectacular Group Dance for Older Girls," and "American Farmer: A Character Dance for Boys or Girls" among many others (that list of titles is from Booknear.com). The American Clown booklet has an order form for those and additional dance booklets on page 11.

Other Bibliodyssey posts include images from old medical journals (the one below is from an Oxford University folio showing the veins, "produced in the late 13th century in England"), astrology, and much more. It's one of those sites you can get lost in for hours, even without following the links to other fascinating sites.

A four-letter word beginning with N

A friends' sister clued me in to this recent offering at Barnes and Noble: My First Puzzles: Fun with Words. What's wrong with this picture?

See if this helps

One of the clues leads to the word "goose." I'd be really bothered if another resulted in "step." The swastikas are actually reversed from the Nazi symbol, and I don't think it's really teaching children anything, but is this in any way a good idea?

I reversed the Hitler pic, which I got from the German Propaganda Archive, for effect.

The Holy Now

The Holy Now
There were no formerly heroic times, and there was no formerly pure generation. There is no one here but us chickens, and so it has always been: a people busy and powerful, knowledgeable, ambivalent, important, fearful and self-aware; a people who scheme, promote, deceive and conquer; who pray for their loved ones, and long to flee misery and skip death. It is a weakening and discoloring idea that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time -- or even knew selflessness or courage or literature -- but that it is too late for us. In fact, the absolute is available to everyone in every age. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less.[emph. added - MC]

There is no less holiness at this time -- as you are reading this -- than there was the day the Red Sea parted, or that day in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as Ezekiel was a captive by the river Chebar, when the heavens opened and he saw visions of God. There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha's bo tree. There is no whit less might in heaven or on earth than there was the day Jesus said "Maid, arise" to the centurion's daughter, or the day Peter walked on water, or the night Mohammed flew to heaven on a horse. In any instant the sacred may wipe you with its finger. In any instant the bush may flare, your feet may rise, or you may see a bunch of souls in a tree. In any instant you may avail yourself of the power to love your enemies; to accept failure, slander, or the grief of loss; or to endure torture.

Purity's time is always now. Purity is no social phenomenon, a cultural thing whose time we have missed, whose generations are dead, so we can only buy Shaker furniture. "Each and every day the Divine Voice issues from Sinai," says the Talmud. Of eternal fulfillment, Tillich said, "If it is not seen in the present, it cannot be seen at all."

--Annie Dillard, For the Time Being

From  Free Will Astrology Via What's In Rebecca's Pocket?

Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President

Rubicon: Curious about George.
"Today, we know who he is—and, by inference, who we are. We, too, are susceptible to bloodlust, and he is our ringleader..."

"...his alcoholism—fed by anxieties and nourished by codependencies—and the unreflective way he stopped drinking, which fixed in place an alcoholic's coping mechanisms, such as denying responsibility and placing blame on others"

The Revealer: Gilead and Housekeeping

Link: The Revealer: A Melvillean Note.
"[U]nless you are a believing Christian with strong fundamentalist leanings," writes Lee Siegel in New York, "you cannot truly understand Gilead," the second novel by Marilynne Robinson, author of Housekeeping, one of the great novels of the 20th century.

Was Abe Lincoln Gay?

Link: LA Weekly: News: Was Abe Lincoln Gay?.

Was Abe Lincoln Gay? The blockbuster book that will change America’s history by Doug Ireland

If the loving heart of the Great Emancipator found its natural amorous passions overwhelmingly directed toward those of his own sex, it would certainly be a stunning rebuke to the Republican Party’s scapegoating of same-sex love for electoral purposes. And a forthcoming book by the late Dr. C.A. Tripp — The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, to be published in the new year by Free Press — makes a powerful case that Lincoln was a lover of men.