|
From humble gourd to king of Autumn in America, the orange winter squash has become synonymous with Halloween. The humble gourd is transformed into a warrior that keeps the supernatural at bay. We owe so much to the pumpkin!
We really owe it to the Irish immigrants who began travelling across the sea to the new world, that the pumpkin began to become a Halloween staple. The gourd, native to North America, was conveniently ready for harvest in autumn, and was far more plentiful than turnips. Yes, turnips and other vegetables, not pumpkins, were carved with faces to scare off spirits. In fact, the Celts who began the holiday had likely not seen a pumpkin before. It seems only fitting that this humble gourd would be immortalized in poetry by the great Carl Sandburg.
Pumpkins, Poetry and The Human Experience
It has been said that poetry is one of the most important forms of expression there is. As part of our heritage for centuries, it is an important part of our cultural identity. Poetry can teach us history that connects us to our ancestors, and our community. It can help us understand and empathize with the experiences of others. By reading and writing poetry, we can connect with our past, present, and future selves and with the world around us.
Do you have a poem that has special meaning for you? Do you love or hate the pumpkin? Let me know in the comments!
0 Comments
 The Susan Mast ALS Foundation is everything I wish my family had when we were struggling to understand what was to come. They give ALS patients and their families much needed support, guidance and resources that they so desperately need in one of the darkest times in their lives. There is currently no cure for ALS, but there is help! The Susan Mast ALS Foundation is there for patients and families when they need it most. They provide Support Groups, Respite, Meals, Caregiver Training and so much more. I won't bore you with the growing mountain of statistics that come along with the subject of ALS. I'll leave the numbers to the numbers people. I'd rather tell you a story of my favorite person in the world, my big brother Joe.
I've come up with a few designs and have begun to put them up for sale on sites like Zazzle and ArtsAdd. I'm selling under the name JavaTee.
JavaTee, originally was supposed to be a tee-shirt shop all about the coffee and nothing but the coffee, so help me god. But as with so many other things in life, it just isn't that simple. As much as I love coffee, there are other things about me and in my life that I consider equally important.
“Until we had a flag, the symbol for our movement was the pink triangle, which was put on us by Hitler and the Nazis.”
I have been fortunate to have benefited from the blood, sweat and tears, folks like Gilbert Baker and Harvey Milk and countless others that have laid down their lives so generations following could enjoy Equal Rights promised to every person in the Unites States Constitution.
Making these designs probably won't change the world, and hell, I probably won't make much money from selling them, but for now I feel like I'm contributing to my community in a small way.
In my never ending search for quality stuff to include on my website, Stock Photos have always been a challenge. Often times they are too expensive or you have to buy a subscription to a website in order to get access to there "free stock photos".
That's a big waste of money when you only need one or two pictures. Check out this quality set of resources where you can download 100% free images for your Website. Each of these websites hosts hundreds, sometimes thousands of royalty free Images which you can download and use on your website for Free. In the South East section of Grand Rapids, Michigan is a groovy little place called Eastown; A.k.a. "the center of the Universe". The later is more a rumor than a provable fact. I've lived in Grand Rapids since the early 1990s, but for the past 3 years I've been able proudly say I live in Eastown. Which is really awesome, because it puts me within walking distance to many my favorite places. Small, locally owned businesses. Many of which are Owner-operator. Small businesses are my favorite places to shop and dine, meet with friends and even make new friends.   The holidays are hovering just weeks away—and Small Business Saturday (November 28, 2015) will be here in a flash. I love small businesses! The service is better and most of the time you get to deal directly with the owner.
I was surprised to find that a recent poll stated 57% of small-business owners haven’t heard of this shopping day. And even more concerning to me, 69% of small-business owners said they would not be supporting other small businesses this holiday season. Here are just three reasons to shop small: |
