A poem for a snow day..

A poem by Billy Collins that I feel traps the feeling of a serene snow day..

Snow

I cannot help noticing how this slow Monk solo
seems to go somehow
with teh snow
that is coming down this morning,

how the notes and the spaces accompany
its easy falling
on the geometry of the ground
on the flagstone path,
on the slanted roof,
and the angles of the split-rail fence

as if he had imagined a winter scene
as he sat at the piano
late one night at the Five Spot
playing "Ruby, My Dear,"

Then again, its the kind of song
that would go easily with rain
or a tumult of leaves,

and for that matter it's a snow
that could attend
an adagio for strings,
the best of the Ronettes,
or George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

It falls so indifferently
into the spacious white parlor of the world,
if I were sitting here reading
in silence,
reading the morning paper
or reading Being and Nothingness,
not even letting the spoon
touch inside of the cup,
I have a feeling
the snow would even go perfectly with that.

A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s by Stephanie Cootz

Well, I have taken a several month break from my blog and several people have questioned if I had given it up entirely. Truth be told, I have been somewhat lazy and very busy. However, this weekend I had a wonderful, multiple-book weekend which was food for this introvert's soul. One of the books that made up my weekend was this wonderful, englightinng and somewhat disturbing non-fiction work. With this book, Cootz combined a brief history lesson of the challenges women experienced in the decades after World War II and before the mainstream women's liberation movement of the 70's with a review of a cutting edge book written in 1963 by Betty Friedien. Cootz confirms and dispels some of the common thoughts about the groundbreaking book The Feminine Mystique. I read parts of this book while in undergrad and agree with reviews it is somewhat dated and repetitive by today's standards. However for that time, it was very groundbreaking and gave a name to the "the nameless problem" experienced by many middle class women. Having had the fortune to be born into a family where my career and educational opportunities were strongly encouraged, it was an honest look at how we career women of the 21st century only have our opportunities due to the legacy and courage of these women who dared to speak out. Since reading this book, I will definitely talk more to the matriarchs of my family about their feelings and experiences during this time. From this book, I was given the gift of looking into the past to appreciate the lives of women who have went before me. I recommend this to any woman, it truly speaks to the struggles of women both then and now.