[photo: April 2014, Hawai'i]
When I was in ninth and tenth grade I was a part of Herndon High School’s Junior Varsity debate team as a partner with Steve Rogers representing the Negative side. It was an invigorating and exciting experience, and the research for points and quotes gave me a sense of power: We could develop a plan that routed the opposition, undercut the Affirmative’s suppositions, and won for Herndon. We were undefeated for two years!
...
So what gives something value? Is it worth what it’s worth even if that’s not recognized or appreciated or acknowledged?
As a musician I frequently experience a vast range of responses from listeners, particularly noticeably in an informal setting such as a signing event in front of a bookstore that carries my CDs: some people are in rapt joy, and some are mildly interested, while others seem to intently ignore my presence or even smirk in pitying amusement!
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[New Mexico wilderness, 1971]
I’m a mild claustrophobe.
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Once again on the calendar and in people's comments everywhere, it seems, today is called the "first day of summer" --- but... why??
Summer is a climatic event that is different every year and different at every location in the world --- isn't it? Today as Ro and I kayaked across the mighty James River (about a mile and a half over to the bluffs of Surry County, then back to Jamestown Beach --- hooray!), the weather was pleasantly warm and breezy and not too humid, more of a spring day than a summer one. We've had a number of muggy, summery days already, even though it's been quite a cool springtime. So why in the world should we say today is the day summer begins?
...Don't believe your calendar! This is not the "first day of spring."
Alright, I'm just making a soapbox speech here --- but it bugs me that people call this day what it isn't.
Today is the Vernal Equinox, or the Spring Equinox: the sun is at a particular midpoint in its ecliptic in relation to the equator, and the sunrise and sunset are exactly twelve hours apart. "Equinox" literally means "equal night" in Latin.
Spring is a climatic season that varies every year and at every location; it's not a specific calendar time!
I have no idea who thought he or she had the authority to pronounce that today is the first day of spring, and I don't know why calendar publishers do what they do, but let's face the facts and question that unidentified "authority"!
Let's rightly call it the Spring Equinox!
There.
Are you a kindred spirit?
Do you sense an "inconsolable longing" (as C.S. Lewis put it) that speaks in your heart of a transcendent world that is intended to be our real home?
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