1. Back to Is a River Alive?
The writer Robert Macfarlane's international explorations of rivers moved in Part II to the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Macfarlane meets up with Yuvan Aves, a naturalist, natural world advocate, and fellow writer with whom he's been in correspondence for several years.
From their opening conversation and with the help of a dictionary, I learned that a daemon is an attendant spirit, an inspiring force.
Right away, upon meeting, Macfarlane asked Yuvan Aves this question: "What is your daemon, the creature with whom you feel the most affinity?"
Aves pondered this question and said three living beings come to mind.
His first daemon fascinated me.
It is the millipede. I'll quote Aves: "The millipede is a recaster of meaning and matter, you know. It turns the shit of life into something valuable; takes it in, absorbs its harm, transforms it. Turns death into life, waste into compost, endings into beginnings."
The millipede is a detritivore -- so are red ghost crabs, cockroaches, maggots, and dung beetles.
Aves calls these under-appreciated, much-despised group of species "cleaner-uppers".
Aves is inspired by the millipede and the other detritivore to do all he can to convert suffering or adversity into something positive.
Macfarlane goes on to detail that Yuvan Aves embodies this detritivore ethic. As a boy and early teen, until he ran away, Aves suffered regular beatings and other cruelty from his stepfather and, having escaped, and got miraculously enrolled in a residential high school. Over time as a teenager, he converted his trauma into becoming a compassionate and gracious young man. His story astonishes and moves me. He grew into a deeply caring young adult, quick to be of service to other people, rivers and other bodies of water, and to animals, snakes, insects, and other living beings.
2. I didn't know it, but maybe you do! A kimbap is a Korean seaweed roll, very similar to sushi.
A few months ago I saw a package of kimbap among the frozen foods at Trader Joe's and tonight I prepared and ate them. Trader Joe's calls these morsels Korean tofu and vegetable seaweed rice rolls.
I enjoyed them.
I also think I could have done a better job heating them up on the stovetop. If I purchase Trader Joe's kimbap again, I'll try to remember what I bungled slightly today and do better next time.
3. I picked up pills for Christy today that will sedate her for her rescheduled MRI that will happen first thing Thursday morning. Once she and her doctor and PTs know the results of the MRI, they'll be better able to tailor her physical therapy to the specific nature of her injury -- and the MRI results will also reveal whether she is, in fact, suffering from a rectus femoris tear. It's what her doctor thinks is causing Christy's pain and limited mobility.
No comments:
Post a Comment