From steve@starport.COM Sun Aug 4 22:20:32 1996 Newsgroups: alt.kalbo Path: starport!steve From: steve@starport.COM (Stephen R. Savitzky) Subject: Petrified Forest--Amy at six. Sender: usenet@starport.com (news) Lines: 44 Organization: Grand Central Starport Originator: steve@central.starport.com Message-ID: Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 04:10:51 GMT A traveler sits down by the campfire; he is wearing a t-shirt, black pants, and sandals under his worn green cloak, and seems to have been walking for some time. Pinned to his cloak is a broach of amethysts, held in the shape of a rose by a filligree of silver. The thorns are made of obsidian, sharp as memory. At his back a petrified forest fades into gathering twilight. In another part of the net he's been known for years as the Mandelbear, but he is not feeling much like a four-dimensional fractal tonight. ``On the whole, things are going well,'' he says. ``Work is more fascinating than ever--I can say no more for now. My kids are growing up: Katy's starting middle school this year, and Emmy at four is as bright and energetic as ever...'' His voice trails off, and the silence around him deepens. A bird calls outside the window where he is typing; the house across the driveway has acquired a new coat of paint in the passing year. He reviews a year-old file, and one from 1990. ``...sorry; I'm feeling a trifle more mortal than usual tonight. An old friend--my age--is in the hospital recovering from a heart attack and a stroke, and I'm sitting here remembering Amethyst Rose. She'd be starting first grade in the fall, if she had lived.'' A cold breeze blows sparks and smoke from the campfire in his direction; the sparks drift like fireflies among the stone trees at his back, now nearly invisible in the gloom. To those who can see such things they seem taller, whole perhaps, but still to be made of stone. A child's face peers out from behind a bush where a single rose is blooming. It is hard to see in the darkness; night falls swiftly here in the desert, and colors fade to black. The blossom might have been the color of amethyst; the child is gone once more, if indeed she had ever been. Stars come out in the black night; their pale light reveals the stumps of trees that died, smothered in volcanic ash, a million years ago. Sand swirls at their roots. A meteor pierces the stars' veil, fading so fast one hardly has time to greet it before it, too, passes away into memory. Memory, sharp as a carved obsidian thorn on a purple rose. A morbid habit, perhaps? Call it a tradition. He sits staring into the fire the rest of the long, cold night; what he sees in the dark red coals perhaps even he himself will never know. In another world, he shrugs and puts his file away; it's hard to be morbid when your four-year-old daughter has come in and smiled at you, then dashed off to play again. He shakes his head, and sends a post into the waiting darkness of the Net. -- / Steve Savitzky \ Cyberspace: an alternate universe where magic works /__ / h:steve@starport.com \ http://www.starport.com/people/steve/ /___ \ w:steve@crc.ricoh.com/ http://www.crc.ricoh.com/people/steve/ \___ \____ Kids' page: ___/__ http://www.crc.ricoh.com/people/steve/kids.html __\__ From gawne@rosserv.gsfc.nasa.gov Tue Aug 6 07:06:09 1996 Path: starport!hustle.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!bug.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!samba.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!news.PBI.net!decwrl!pa.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!leggy.zk3.dec.com!orb!not-for-mail From: gawne@rosserv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Bill Gawne) Newsgroups: alt.kalbo Subject: Re: Petrified Forest--Amy at six. Date: 5 Aug 1996 20:27:18 -0000 Organization: Duchy of Wabesylvan Obspauk Lines: 28 Sender: news@Orb.Nashua.NH.US Message-ID: <199608051922.PAA19700@rosserv.gsfc.nasa.gov> In-Reply-To: from "Stephen R. Savitzky" at Aug 5, 96 04:10:51 am X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > A morbid habit, perhaps? Call it a tradition. He sits staring into the > fire the rest of the long, cold night; what he sees in the dark red > coals perhaps even he himself will never know. Bill looks at Steve through the darkness, then solemnly offers a bottle of cheap whiskey. "Sometimes it helps, when you *want* to remember, because it can make remembering tolerable. And it looks to me as if remembering is something you want to do along about this time each year." > In another world, he > shrugs and puts his file away; it's hard to be morbid when your > four-year-old daughter has come in and smiled at you, then dashed off to > play again. *smile* true. > He shakes his head, and sends a post into the waiting > darkness of the Net. And out of the darkness, it has spawned another. (copy to Steve) Bill Gawne, in the nomads' camp as in real life. On the Web: http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/SOF/bios/bgawne.html Senior Spacecraft Analyst, RXTE | Disclaimer: Nothing I post in Science Operations Facility; and retired | alt.kalbo represents an official Master Sergeant, US Marine Corps Reserve.| position of any organization. From mmbt@andrew.cmu.edu Tue Aug 6 07:07:03 1996 Path: starport!hustle.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!samba.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!news.walltech.com!news.his.com!news2.cais.net!news.cais.net!hunter.premier.net!netnews.worldnet.att.net!newsxfer2.itd.umich.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu!yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon From: Mary Mark Newsgroups: alt.kalbo Subject: Re: Petrified Forest--Amy at six. Date: 5 Aug 1996 17:15:15 -0400 Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway Lines: 34 Sender: daemon@cs.yale.edu Message-ID: <19960805171510.aaaa000O4@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: babyblue.cs.yale.edu Steve Savitsky writes: >I'm sitting here remembering Amethyst Rose. >A morbid habit, perhaps? Call it a tradition. He sits staring into the >fire the rest of the long, cold night; Merrigold hugs her knees under the stars. "I know I was thinking when Johanna wrote, too, about mourning and how it isn't something that is neatly defined in a particular context, and over and done with within a particular time period. "My father died in 1985. Every year, on his birthday, I've tended to make a toast. At first it was because I missed him so much, and noticed it so much on that day. Over time, it became important more because it means I *do* remember him, a transition >from not being able to forget my loss to remembering what he was. "I'm not Jewish, but I think there's a concept in Jewish tradition for remembrance of the dead - is it kaddish? Does anyone remember? There can be a kind of comfort in remembrance, as well as sadness; my impression is that the Jewish tradition recognizes both experiences and makes a place for them. " - mary/merrigold -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mary Mark (aka Mary Mark Ockerbloom) work phone: (412) 268-3409 153 BOMD Computer Science work fax: (412) 268-2844 Carnegie Mellon University "JOY (le`): [Chinese Character] Pittsburgh,PA 15213 Also means music. The ancient symbol email: mmbt+@andrew.cmu.edu pictured drums and a bell on a stand." http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mmbt/www/MaryHome.html From jmpierce@medea.gp.usm.edu Sat Aug 10 08:33:40 1996 Path: starport!hustle.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!samba.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!bug.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!in-news.erinet.com!News1.mcs.net!nntp04.primenet.com!news.shkoo.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.texas.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.erols.net!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!thorn.cc.usm.edu!medea.gp.usm.edu!not-for-mail From: jmpierce@medea.gp.usm.edu (Jim M. Pierce) Newsgroups: alt.kalbo Subject: Re: Petrified Forest--Amy at six. Date: 9 Aug 1996 13:21:18 GMT Organization: University of Southern Mississippi Lines: 37 Message-ID: <4ufe0e$7bu@thorn.cc.usm.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: medea.gp.usm.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950515BETA PL0] Stephen R. Savitzky wrote: [] play again. He shakes his head, and sends a post into the waiting [] darkness of the Net. Heyo Mandlebear, It isn't dark out here ! The stars are bright at night in the desert. The moon glows from time to time. I have a new job, and I am learning alot of things about computers. I have come to know Win95 at first hand, and now I have 'more real' reasons to loathe it... But I'm learning more Unix than I did before. My one concern is living in Maryland, which has few friendly folks, and lots of folks who run red lights and stop for green ones. I'll be living thru my first snowy winter in some decades this year. I'll be 50 next year, but it hasn't affected my response to rutabagas. My first story submission was turned down because there was too much detail in my characters, amongst other reasons. And I worried they would think I didn't have enough detail. Someday I'll be getting married, but then I have been saying this for 20 years. Its always Spring somewhere. The corollary is that its always Winter somewhere else. Eternal Summer is not for me. Time moves on. And so should I. Later you all, DJ. -- Dreamy Jim aka Jim Pierce Bach. of Sc. Disclaimer:Standard. Video: Grace Jones 'Slave to the Rhythm' From jennyk@escher.demon.co.uk Sun Aug 11 07:44:16 1996 Path: starport!hustle.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!ccnet.com!news.cerf.net!newsserver.sdsc.edu!newshub.csu.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!news1.best.com!nntp04.primenet.com!news.shkoo.com!nntp.primenet.com!News1.mcs.net!news.abs.net!news2.cais.net!news.cais.net!hunter.premier.net!netnews.worldnet.att.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.net.uk!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!escher.demon.co.uk!jennyk From: Jenny K Newsgroups: alt.kalbo Subject: Re: Petrified Forest--Amy at six. Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 09:02:14 +0100 Organization: home Lines: 38 Distribution: world Message-ID: References: <19960805171510.aaaa000O4@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: escher.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: escher.demon.co.uk MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Newsreader: Turnpike Version 1.12 >Steve Savitsky writes: >>I'm sitting here remembering Amethyst Rose. >>A morbid habit, perhaps? Call it a tradition. He sits staring into the >>fire the rest of the long, cold night; > >Merrigold hugs her knees under the stars. "I know I was >thinking when Johanna wrote, too, about mourning and how >it isn't something that is neatly defined in a particular >context, and over and done with within a particular time period. Jenny, sitting quietly at the entrance to her tent, nods. >"My father died in 1985. Every year, on his birthday, I've >tended to make a toast. At first it was because I missed him >so much, and noticed it so much on that day. Over time, it became >important more because it means I *do* remember him, a transition >from not being able to forget my loss to remembering what he was. "Mine died in 1993. I don't commemorate the exact date in any special way, but I do find that around the anniversary I think of him more than at other times, and in a different way ... more aware of my sense of loss, and of him as a whole person, not just remembering some particular incident, or some characteristic of his." "His death was my first great loss as an adult. I'm particularly aware of it at the moment ... on Friday, I said goodbye to someone very dear to me, in his own way as important in my life as my father was, who has advanced cancer. I don't expect to see him again, and the pain of that is very great, but the memory of how the pain of my father's death gradually mellowed and the sense of loss ... of emptiness ... became less overwhelming, yet without forgetting, is comforting." -- Jenny K http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/3968/ From aahz@baygate.bayarea.net Sun Aug 11 07:44:54 1996 Path: starport!hustle.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!ccnet.com!news.cerf.net!newsserver.sdsc.edu!newshub.csu.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!news1.best.com!nntp04.primenet.com!news.shkoo.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.cais.net!hunter.premier.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!pier2.bayarea.net!baygate.bayarea.net!aahz From: aahz@baygate.bayarea.net (Mean Green Dancing Machine) Newsgroups: alt.kalbo Subject: Re: Petrified Forest--Amy at six. Date: 6 Aug 1996 15:01:37 GMT Organization: The Cat & Dragon Lines: 74 Message-ID: <4u7moh$t1p@pier2.bayarea.net> References: <19960805171510.aaaa000O4@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> Reply-To: aahz@netcom.com NNTP-Posting-Host: baygate.bayarea.net In article <19960805171510.aaaa000O4@babyblue.cs.yale.edu>, Mary Mark wrote: > >"I'm not Jewish, but I think there's a concept in Jewish tradition >for remembrance of the dead - is it kaddish? Does anyone remember? >There can be a kind of comfort in remembrance, as well as sadness; >my impression is that the Jewish tradition recognizes both experiences >and makes a place for them. " The remembrance is called 'Yahrzeit' (I think that's actually a Yiddish term), and the prayer is called 'Kaddish'. Note that the Kaddish actually says nothing about death or mourning. I posted a transliteration of the Kaddish once when someone from alt.callahans died; here it is again: Yitgadal v'yitkadash shmei rabah. B'almah dee vrah cherutei. V'yamlich malchutei b'chayeichon uvyomeichon uvchaiyei d'chol beit yisro-el ba-agalah uvizman kariv v'imru: amen. Y'hei shmei rabah m'vorach l'olam ulalmei almaiyah. Yitbarach v'yishtabach v'yitpa-ar v'yitroman v'yitnaseh v'yithadar v'yithalleh v'yithallal sh'mei d'kudeshah: brich hu. L'eilah min kol birchatah v'shirata tushbechata v'nechemata da-amiran b'almah v'imru: amen. Y'hei shlamah raban min shamaiyah v'chaiyim aleinu v'al kol yisro-el v'imru: amen. Oseh shalom bimromav hu ya-aseh shalom aleinu v'al kol yisro-el v'imru: amen. Magnified and sanctified be the Name of God throughout the world which He hath created according to His will. May we behold His kingdom established on Earth speedily and in our day, so that God may rule over us all. Amen. May His great Name be blessed forever and ever. Amen. Exalted and honored be the Name of the Holy One, blessed be he, whose glory transcends, yea, is beyond all praises, hymns, and blessings that man can render unto Him. And say ye, Amen. May peace abundant descend from heaven, with life for us, for Israel and all people; and say ye, Amen. May He who maketh peace in the high places, make peace for Israel and for all mankind, and say ye, Amen. Notes on pronounciation: -- a consonant followed by an apostrophe uses a very short "eh" as its vowel; e.g. "v'" == "veh" -- "ch" is the gutteral German one -- "a" == short "ah" -- "e" == "eh" -- "i" == cross between "hit" and "bean" -- "o" == short "oh" -- "u" == short "oo" -- "ai" == long "i" (as in "hi") -- "ei" == long "a" (as in "weigh") -- --- Aahz (@netcom.com) Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 Androgynous poly kinky vanilla queer het From mmbt@andrew.cmu.edu Mon Aug 19 18:55:41 1996 Path: starport!hustle.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!bug.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!in-news.erinet.com!ddsw1!news.mcs.net!nntp04.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!mr.net!news.mid.net!newsfeeder.gi.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu!yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon From: Mary Mark Newsgroups: alt.kalbo Subject: Re: Petrified Forest--Amy at six Date: 19 Aug 1996 10:31:36 -0400 Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway Lines: 39 Sender: daemon@cs.yale.edu Message-ID: <19960819103132.aaaa0019L@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: babyblue.cs.yale.edu >Jenny, sitting quietly at the entrance to her tent, nods. [My father's] >"death was my first great loss as an adult. I'm particularly aware >of it at the moment ... on Friday, I said goodbye to someone very dear >to me, in his own way as important in my life as my father was, who has >advanced cancer. I don't expect to see him again, and the pain of that >is very great, but the memory of how the pain of my father's death >gradually mellowed and the sense of loss ... of emptiness ... became >less overwhelming, yet without forgetting, is comforting." Merrigold offers a hug. "Yes, the pain's there, but one knows one can survive it, deal with it, because somehow one has before... Are there things you can do to express your love for this cancer person, even if you aren't going to be seeing them again? Or is their death expected to be that soon, that there's no time left? A Mean Green Dancing Machine posts: >The remembrance is called 'Yahrzeit' (I think that's actually a Yiddish >term), and the prayer is called 'Kaddish'. Note that the Kaddish >actually says nothing about death or mourning. [Transliteration] Thank you for posting this, Aahz! I found it very interesting, with its emphasis on praising and honouring God, and its hope for 'peace abundant' for all people. I can see it being a very comforting and centering prayer in Yahrzeit or other remembrances. It was different from what I anticipated, but I rather like it. Thanks again, with hugs :-) Mary / Merrigold -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mary Mark (aka Mary Mark Ockerbloom) work phone: (412) 268-3409 153 BOMD Computer Science work fax: (412) 268-2844 Carnegie Mellon University "JOY (le`): [Chinese Character] Pittsburgh,PA 15213 Also means music. The ancient symbol email: mmbt+@andrew.cmu.edu pictured drums and a bell on a stand." http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mmbt/www/MaryHome.html