quiltersmuse.com Blog

For centuries, man has looked at the moon and has had fantasies that it is made of green cheese. There have been mentions of the moon in song and in verse. In the 1950s, I used to hear the song, “Fly Me to the Moon” -(I want to live among the stars…”) That was written by Bart Howard in 1954.
Growing up, I also watched the “Jackie Gleason Show,” on television, not because I wanted to, but because it was a show my parents watched. Whenever Jackie had a disagreement with “Alice,” his wife, he would say, “Do you want to go to the moon?” He’d repeat the question. The inference was that he would hit her so hard, she would land on the moon. (That was in an age before activism against domestic violence.)

A more pleasant reference to the moon is the song, “Moon River,” a collaborative effort of Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini. This was a song of the early 1960s that a certain family member really enjoyed.

Trucking forward a few years, Cat Stevens wrote one of his greatest hits, the song, “Moonshadow.” “I’m being followed by a moonshadow.”

Somehow, the moon is magical, if not a bit demystified by man having landed on it. During the “full moon,” lunatics are supposedly a little more “looney.” There is the Harvest Moon, always a time for celebration for having gathered the last of the vegetable and fruit crops for the winter. The words, “Harvest Moon Festival” are sometimes strung together.

If you are a Star Trek fan, then you will remember the saying, oft repeated by one of the characters, “Beam Me Up, Scotty!” The rest of the saying, added later, I believe, is “There is no intelligent life down here.”

We are always reaching to transcend our own fate of being mere, earth-bound, humans. The greater universe provides us with a sense that there is more to life than we know, or even could ever fathom.

Not long ago, for example, I learned about the “Black Hole.” Scientists feel that the edge of the universe has so much power, it could potentially suck us all into its grasp. That is a very non-scientific explanation!

In a very strange mood, on September 8, 2000, I wrote a poem that mentions the Black Hole.

“The Old Woman”

There was an old woman
who could not tie her shoes.
She’d had so many children
She didn’t know what to do…
and could not find her own shoes,
half the time.

She was convinced that her children
had stolen them
or that maybe they had been
sucked into the Black Hole of the universe
along with her missing children.
She knew she’d never see them again.

The first part of another poem, that I wrote, goes like this:

“The Space Ship”

Someday, I’ll take a space ship
and journey far and wide
and try to find a comfy spot
where feelings needn’t hide.

I know this place exists – nowhere-
only in the mind,
of one who seeks and says the Truth -
even when it burns.

The theme of wanting to escape this earthly travail by traveling into the skies, is not a new one. One of the tenets of Christianity is that Christ himself was resurrected from the dead and “rose into Heaven.” This scene has been depicted in art, for centuries.

Moon imagery is even present in songs for children. “Wynken and Blynken and Nod one night sailed off in a wooden shoe”…to the moon! There is a verse for children, “I see the moon and the moon sees me…,” that has been set to music, and even stitched onto pillows for sale commercially.

Then, there’s the song sung by Bill Staines, “Rooty, Toot, Toot for the Moon.”

Whether you enjoy seeing the moon, in all of its phases, or if you simply enjoy songs about the moon, that great round orb in the sky, you know that the moon is something you can count on. It controls the tides, it lights the night sky, with regularity, and it has been a great inspiration for lovers and dreamers, since time immemorial.

Patricia

I want to see flowers growing in my yard again.

I want to walk barefoot in the hot sand at the beach.

I want to look out to sea, and wonder who else in their lifetime, stood in the same spot and did the same.

I want to eat a big bowl of ice cream. No, make that a Banana Split, with fudge sauce, pineapple sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry.

I want to sing in the shower…any shower. (We only have an old-fashioned, claw foot, antique tub.)

I want to take my grandson to the zoo, when he is older, provided we can EVER find the Roger Williams Zoo in Rhode Island.

I want to make a red, white, and green quilt that is appliquéd and spectacular and that I put on my bed, only on Christmas.

I want to go swimming and hiking in some interesting place.

I want peace in the world, and peace for those who are suffering.

I want to see Butterflies again, and I want to ponder their historic symbolic meaning in various cultures.

I want enough time to read every book I’ve ever bought, from cover to cover.

What do you want?

Patricia

At the present time, the Iraq problem is demanding the attention and resources of the American people and leaders. I prefer to call it a “problem,” rather than a war. Most certainly, it is the most unconventional war I have ever seen.

After September 11, 2001, the American people, still mourning the loss of many of its own citizens, were more than willing to support entry into Afghanistan to wipe out the camps that were training Jihadist terrorists. Dubbed “evil-doers,” these extremists reportedly had vowed to erase from the earth anyone who does not share their beliefs. They call us, you and I, and anyone who is not of their religious persuasion, “infidels.”

Citizens of the U.S., still feeling in danger, and threatened because of the recent heavy loss of human life, agreed, for the most part, that an invasion into Afghanistan was necessary, as was the later trek into Iraq. The allegation that weapons of mass destruction were stored in Iraq turned out to be untrue. The American public thought that the invasion seemed justified, at the time it had occurred.

While we were there, why not topple the despotic leader, Saddam Hussein? After all, he has given orders for mass killings of his fellow countrymen. We succeeded in removing him from power. He was found, cowering in an underground hole, and was tried in a court of law, and hanged.

Since that time, the picture has changed considerably. Images on the nightly news show combat troops poking their guns through holes in brick walls, and running around the streets of Baghdad. This is URBAN guerrilla warfare. It is no wonder so many of our brave soldiers are being wiped off the map. With fighting done in the streets, there are more casualties to civilian populations and soldiers alike. The occupation of “suicide bomber” seems to be a recently invented one.

Our presence in Iraq seems to have worsened sectarian violence. We seem to be making little headway in improving diplomatic relations with Iran, a key player in being able to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the war. We should pay more attention to history. Our threats to Iran have not worked in the past. Why should we expect them to succeed now? The role of “Enforcer” does facilitate long term solutions.

Our military is courageous, in the face of adversity, and soldiers are holding up their end of the bargain. However, about a dozen soldiers appeared on television recently, out of uniform, to state that they didn’t sign up for this kind of jeopardy. They are disillusioned with the mission and its unclear goals.

When I wrote to my Senator a few weeks ago, I suggested that LOGIC should be used to end the war. My letter was met with silence. It has taken years to bring troops, guns, tanks, Humvees, and supplies there, so it would be illogical to think we could pull out quickly. However, we should be scaling back, not escalating, and we should be making plans for a major withdrawal of troops, as soon as possible.

I call this “Bush’s war,” not out of a lack of respect for the man, or for the office he presently holds. Right now, he does not seem to be listening to the polls, or to the will of Americans who have stated, in no uncertain terms, that we want an end to the INSANITY that is this war.

That stance does not qualify one as being unpatriotic. It is being self-protective of our troops, who are, after all, our fellow Americans. If they see no meaning in the mission, except the risk of their own lives, this situation is just unacceptable.

The most frightening statistic (ratio) that I have heard since the war began is that for sixteen soldiers who are severely maimed or injured, there is one soldier who is killed. Back home, the wounded are facing what seem to be insurmountable problems concerning their survival and quality of life.

Peaceful solutions must be reached soon. The writing is on the wall. I just hope that politicians are smart enough to read the message.

Patricia

If you took the time to click on the link that I provided you in the last blog post, you would have read a mainstream media article by Joel Thurtell in the Detroit Free Press, online, that takes a very fanciful approach by providing the reader a three-question “quiz” at the beginning of the article.

The query serves to illustrate the point that if you were an escaping slave, you would not have looked at fences with quilts hanging on them to tell you where to go, etc.

Somehow, ever since 1999, and even preceding that time, (due to a children’s book), the idea of a secret quilt code has taken wings and flown to greater heights. The more outlandish and far-fetched it has become, and the more stretched it has become, even beyond what is stated in the book, Hidden in Plain View, seemingly the more willing the general public has been to embrace what historian and author, Fergus M. Bordewich, calls “false history.” He is the author of a book titled, Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America.

According to the Thurtell article, Yale historian David Blight has also joined the ranks of those of us who oppose the secret quilt code because it has no basis in history: in either American history, the history of the Underground Railroad, or quilt history.

Why do museums continue to give lip-service (and displays) to notions that have been discounted by so many professionals?

The answer is simple. Providing a quilt to view, and assigning a meaning to certain quilt blocks is “easy.”

For example, it is much easier than reminding people that escaping slaves had their ears cut off and were sometimes castrated, or both, to make an example of them. Showing a quilt is easier than talking about the sexual predation that went on between “master” and a pretty slave girl. It is easier than discussing the fact that President Jefferson reportedly fathered children as a result of inter-racial relations. It is easier than talking about the coarse cloth that negroes, as they were called, were supposed to wear. The cloth was milled in the north and specifically called, “negro cloth.”

Yes, the real history is tough, mean, and hateful. Most of us don’t want to think about it.

One thing we also do is to exaggerate the past. Harriet Tubman has been reported to have conducted 300 slaves to freedom. Historians now say that the number was more like 70. The correct number detracts nothing from Tubman’s bravery. I highly recommend Kate Clifford Larson’s biography of Tubman entitled, Bound for the Promised Land. Her site is well worth visiting: www.harriettubmanbiography.com

Catherine Clinton has also wrote a biography of Harriet Tubman, in 2005. The book’s title is Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. I enjoyed reading both books.

Ever since the publication of Hidden in Plain View, a few other people have suddenly decided to tell their own family slave story related to quilt blocks. One, in particular, falls flat in the details. I was so disgusted by the book, I will not even give the name a mention.

Everybody and their aunt Nellie is coming out of the woodwork to “present” the story of the secret quilt code. Why? For something green, of course! There are enough people around, who ARE “green,” when it comes to the code, these presenters rely on folks not having heard of it before, or the controversy surrounding it.

Lest this blog post become a total rant, I shall have to say that this month, I have been encouraged by the number of creditable news sources, unrelated to quilting venues, that have come out with articles about this subject. Responsible newspaper entities are rising to the cause.

The American public has been duped long enough. We are having the new “curriculum” of the secret quilt code shoved down the throats of our unsuspecting youngsters. Enough is enough!

The code was even due to be engraved at the base of a monument to honor Frederick Douglass in Central Park. Surely, such a man would not be honored by the perpetuation of a fantasy, in this way.

I am sorry. I am sorry for the suffering of ALL minority groups, including formerly enslaved Blacks. I am sorry that there is no substantiation whatsoever for the secret quilt code. I am sorry for those who have been taken in under its spell. I am sorry for those who have been led astray by false media publications, from how-to quilt books, to a pseudo-scholastic book, to a bogus magazine article.

I don’t make history, and I can’t change it, or re-write it. I can only interpret it. I hate the role of naysayer, yet, that role keeps finding me, in regard to this issue that has become like a thorn in the side of every well-informed quilt historian.

Sometimes, life is not as pretty as quilt blocks; not as soothing, nor as heart-warming, nor as inspiring, as beautiful quilts, made with love. Make a gorgeous quilt and have fun doing it! Just do me one favor? Please, don’t call it an Underground Railroad, “secret quilt code” quilt!

Patricia

The Detroit Free Press is featuring an article, online, written by Joel Thurtell in which Joel discusses the secret quilt code and the remarks of prominent historians. You won’t want to miss it!

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702180395

Patricia