L'Chaim

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

                                   ~ Emily Dickinson (314)

Liar, Liar

I am not resigned

Today I went to the second funeral in as many weeks - and have been to 4 funerals this spring.  Though I do believe in Heaven, death certainly remains an enemy.  Along with Edna St. Vincent Millay in her poem Dirge Without Music, I do not approve, and I am not resigned.

*********************************************************************************

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.

So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:

Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely.  Crowned

With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.

Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.

A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,

A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—

They are gone.  They are gone to feed the roses.  Elegant and curled

Is the blossom.  Fragrant is the blossom.  I know.  But I do not approve.

More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;

Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.

I know.  But I do not approve.  And I am not resigned.

Rejoice!

There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.

~John Calvin (1509-1564) 

Relationships

Even when the
words are civil
and polite
things
may not
seem right.

Distance can be felt,
hangs not like
a bridge suspended
by ropes but
like the ropes
themselves.

It is as if the knots
that held them
have slipped
and all that once
seemed solid
is left dangling.

~ Ed Bearden

in more than soil more than sky

With Good Grace

"Learn to... be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not."

                                                                                                                                           ~Henri-Frédéric Amiel

A Soldier's Thoughts: Before Breakfast

You weren't the first,
God knows you weren't the last

Of all the others,
Your mark stays with me

It was the shot,
I never should've taken

And every morning since,
It's your eyes I see

The death of you,
Had become the life of me.

                                               ~Sean Barnett

in more than soil more than sky

This poem was written by a former (math) student of mine.  I knew when I taught him that he had served our country, but I didn't know until later that he was a poet.  I first came across this poem years ago, and it blew me away - still does every time I read it.  I recently shared this poem with a friend, and when she responded with, "Wow, that's gripping," I replied, "Isn't it?!  It knocks me off my feet every time I come across it, and it reminds me what a privilege it is to teach.  He sat and learned math from me, but he knows so much that I do not and that I never will  .  .  ."

Pi Day is Coming!

PI DAY OPPORTUNITIES

Hello MJC math colleagues!  Would you be willing to help out with pi-related activities at the upcoming Pi Day event?  MJC has been hosting Pi Day since 2015.  It's been very well attended, as you can see below:

And, of course, pizza pie and dessert pi are available!  Food is a big draw - especially for college students!

ACTIVITIES

Pi Chain

Buffon's Needle

 

Digits of Pi Memorization Contest

(The winner - below - made it to 202 digits!)

We also have activities for "discovering" pi (by measuring circumferences and diameters of circular objects) and seeing amazing pi-related surprises!

 

It's also a great excuse to wear your cool math tee-shirts!

Penrose Connections

Two years ago I was granted a sabbatical to study the history of mathematics in northern Europe from the Renaissance to the present, and I kept a blog at this link about that trip.  Two months ago opportunity came up to revisit one of the locations I had spent time in on sabbatical, the amazing city of Edinburgh.

Even though I was there "just for fun" this time, I couldn't help but look into some of the things related to math that I had missed initially.  One mathematician I'm quite interested in is Roger Penrose whose "impossible shapes" made it into the movie Inception.

Penrose's mathematical work takes inspiration from many places, including the world of art.  He collaborated with artist M. C. Escher, and he had an uncle who was an artist and a collector of surrealist art.  This uncle was Roland Penrose, and his collection is housed at "Modern Two" in Edinburgh.  The rest of this blog consists of photographs I took in the Roland Penrose Gallery of "Modern Two."  They may give a sense of one influence in the life of mathematician Roger Penrose.

Maternity by Miro

Never Again by Tanguy

Magritte

The Black Flag by Magritte

Untitled by Roland Penrose

The Joy of Living by Ernst

Hat in Hand, Hat on Head by Ernst

By Roland Penrose