We watched Ken Burns documentary on Mark Twain last night. I highly recommend it. It is beautifully done, and transmits Twain's love and appreciation of life. It also shows the other side of him. He was a passionate man, and so, he held and celebrated the depths and the heights. He also took responsibility for others, in a way that a therapist today would probably give him some ease around, though it is hard to visualize Twain or Clemons in therapy. His heart is in his books.
The beauty in this show is amazing. It is worth it for the sunsets. The photography is transcendent, and the scenes uplifting and sobering.
I do feel myself in need of a visit to the Mississippi River and his home in Connecticut.
I gained an even greater awareness around the hymn that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is. I guess I had not realized how important this book was for bringing the southern and black voice into literature. I was transfixed for the whole 228 minutes, and am still vibrating to the rhythm of it. I think we forget how tough life was in those times, how many people died in a person's life. It seems to me, we are more sheltered that way, or maybe it is just my experience. Certainly, it is a beautiful love story between Samuel Clemens and his wife.
At the fund-raiser for Spirit Rock, we were each given a lovely little packet of ritual cards. The one that strikes me today is titled Visual. It says:
"Build a stone circle in your garden. View it as a place of creating wholeness and balance in your life."
I love that, and see circles in my mind all over my yard. Now, I am trying to decide where to put one or two, and I need to gather some stones.
