Category Archives: Memoir

Jargon is power.

When I was a dance critic, in the ’70s and ’80s, my job was to translate jargon so that non-dancers would understand.

When I was a freelance reporter, during the same time period, I had to use jargon to convince big city editors to believe I knew what I was doing.

When I was a business writer, 1986 to 2006 plus, my job was to translate all kinds of business topics so that non-MBAs would understand.

It’s all about keeping it simple, says John Lanchester in an article in the current New Yorker, entitled Money Talks: Learning the language of finance.

Lessons:

Adopt the jargon of the field you want to enter. Like a patois, you are believable when — to an editor — the first thing you ask is “are you on deadline?”

Don’t accept the jargon of the field you don’t know about. If you see it, the author is lazy.

Full disclosure: Many an editor has blue penciled my own less-than-clear copy.

Moravian Roots

Faith and Social Justice, Memoir, ,

prague hus

Statue of Jan Hus in Prague

On this Sunday, Moravians observe the martyrdom of John Hus, burned at the stake on July 6, 1415.

In 1965 my husband and I were founding members of Redeemer Moravian Church,  and it is dear to our hearts. I still use the Moravian Daily Text as a spiritual guide.

I knew Hus was a hero — and he was among the first rebel in the Reformation, predating Martin Luther by a century. He promoted the teachings of Wycliffe, objected to indulgences, and thought of the Lord’s Supper as consubstantiation rether than transubstantiation.

I just learned, reading Fox’s Book of Martyrs that Hus was a popular hero — acclaimed by commoners, nobles, and the clergy of Bohemia, now Czechoslovakia. And a colorful one. When stripped by the church court, forced to wear a paper dunce cap with devils on it, he reportedly said “My Lord Jesus Christ, for my sake, did wear a crown of thorns; why should not I then, for His sake, again wear this light crown, be it ever so ignominious? Truly I will do it, and that willingly.”

When the chain was put about him at the stake, he said, with a smiling countenance, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?”
When the fagots were piled up to his very neck, the duke of Bavaria was so officious as to desire him to abjure. “No, (said Huss;) I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.” He then said to the executioner, “You are now going to burn a goose, (Huss signifying goose in the Bohemian language:) but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.” If he were prophetic, he must have meant Martin Luther, who shone about a hundred years after, and who had a swan for his arms.

The flames were now applied to the fagots, when our martyr sung a hymn with so loud and cheerful a voice that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, and the noise of the multitude.

Read the Wikipedia version of his life for a more historical account, complete with political intrigues involving King Wenceslaus, of Christmas carol renown.

In 1457 the followers of John Hus founded Unitas Fratrum, now known as the Moravian Church. Moravians are known for colorful spiritual practices, including their “Daily Text” selections, their early efforts in missionary work, their Easter celebrations (they are the ‘Easter people’), their Love Feasts — and their four-part harmonies. Moravians really known how to sing.

 

A tribute: Ann’s garden

Memoir

collage Ann.kneeling - welcome

Laura and Maggie created thisfor the memorial service to Ann Yasuhara, set for Saturday, July 5, at 2 p.m. at Princeton Friends Meeting. Here is a glimpse of this spirit-filled tribute.

collage best full so far

If you are going to attend the memorial service, and you are not familiar with the Meeting House, it’s on Princeton Pike at the intersection of Quaker Road.

Here are some zoom-in images.

collage clouds and window collage House Front collage left side collage butterfly - music college leafcollage Bartram Quote <a

Ann Yasuhara

Around Town, Faith and Social Justice, Memoir, , ,

 

Yasuhara June 1 2014

Ann Harris Yasuhara, 82, died at her home in Princeton, New Jersey, on Wednesday, June 11. A logician and computer scientist, she was known for combining her Quaker faith with action focused on peace, social justice, racial equality, and the environment. Her life balanced her love for the sacredness of all life, the compassionate concerns of a Quaker activist for the world and the local community, her delight in music, gardening, and art, and her generosity to friends and family.

Born on March 8, 1932 in Madison, Wisconsin, her parents were Julian Earle Harris (a French language educator at the University of Wisconsin who received the Legion of Honor) and Elizabeth Marshall Harris, a sculptor. She studied cooking and fashion design in Paris, attended Swarthmore College. and earned bachelors, masters, and PhD degrees in mathematics from the University of Illinois.

In 1970 she and her husband, Mitsuru, settled in a cozy little house and garden in Princeton and pursued their vibrant interests in mathematics, music, and art. Ever adventurous, they traveled widely, including regular trips to visit his family in Japan. Perhaps her favorite place was her garden.

In 1972 she joined the new department of computer science at Rutgers University, where she was an associate professor; she supervised the PhD theses of Frank Hawrusik, Venkataraman Natarajan, and Elaine Weyuker. Ileana Streinu, now the Charles N. Clark Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Smith College, remembers Ann’s classes on Recursive Function Theory and Logic and her textbook. “It was an exquisite topic, beautiful mathematics that Ann was conveying to generations of graduate students. In a department with only a few women on the faculty, she was a model to look up to. With grace and generosity, she touched my life and the lives of many students like me.”

Ann Yasuhara belonged to the living tradition of Quaker spirit-led peace and justice activists. Unflagging in her resistance to war and violence, she studied the philosophy and  methods of non-violent resolution of conflict with George Lakey, the noted Quaker peace activist. In turn, she led many training groups and action activities.

Within the Society of Friends (Quakers) she served terms at Princeton Friends Meeting as Clerk of the Meeting and clerk of the committee on peace and social concerns. She also served on committees in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, an association of 103 Quaker meetings.

Most recently she enthusiastically supported — and went on protests with — the nonviolent direct action group, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), which works to end mountaintop removal coal mining.  On her 79th birthday she protested on a strenuous mountain climb in West Virginia mining country. In January, just before she was diagnosed with cancer, the Philadelphia-based group honored her as one of its outstanding “wise elders.”

“Ann was a leader in the Quaker faith and an inspiration to all of us. She set the bar very high and gave us confidence to fight for a better world,” says Janet Gardner, a documentary film maker with the Gardner Group and a member of Princeton Friends Meeting .

Within the Princeton community, she helped found Silent Prayers for Peace, which keeps silent vigil every Wednesday in Palmer Square. She was a founding member of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF) . As a founding member of Princeton’s Not in Our Town (NIOT), an interracial, interfaith social action group committed to racial justice, she was instrumental in creating programs that honor and support youth of diverse backgrounds. She also teamed with the Princeton Public Library to develop, through NIOT, thought-provoking community discussions on race, white privilege, bullying, and the environment. Her work withstudents was notable. She was a volunteer tutor, supported Committed Princetonians (a mentoring group), and served on the Minority Education Board of Princeton Regional Schools.

In 2010 Ann was featured in a U.S. 1 article about retirees who are making a difference.

She is survived by Mitsuru Yasuhara, her husband of 49 years; her godchildren Josue Rivera-Olds, Grecia N. Rivera, and Julio R. Rivera; cousins including ​Sarah Rogers Pyle Sener (Pikesville, Maryland), Jan Marshall Fox, J. Laird Marshall, Nancy Marshall  Bauer (Madison, Wisconsin), Jane Marshall (Birmingham, Alabama), Richard H. Marshall (Toronto, Canada), James R. Marshall (Gardnerville, Nevada), and Barbara Figge Fox (Princeton, New Jersey) and their families.

Interment was at Forest Hills cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 5, at 2 p.m. at Princeton Friends Meeting. Donations in her memory may be made to any of the many charities she supported and/or to Princeton Friends Meeting, 470 Quaker Road, Princeton NJ 08540. For a list of the charities she supported, click here.

(This post is based on the obituary that appears at Kimble Funeral Home. Also it is on the Town Topics website. Photo by John Kelly was taken on June 1, 2014).

 

 

 

psrcGoing through the stacked up mail, I glanced at the “Mature Princeton” newsletter from the Princeton Senior Resource Center and found three fab tips on facing pages.

1. The number for the do not call center. Been losing my patience on this. It is 888-382-1222 or go to the website http://www.donotcall.gov. Just did that and bingo, done.

2. A list of places that deliver food, most I knew about, one was new. Mom’s Meals solves a lot of problems; it packs its meals so they last in the fridge and they cost just $5.99 (a dollar more to get the snack). I have no idea if they are any good, but I have some friends who could use this as a temporary solution to a long term need.

3. The Document Retention chart or how long you keep paper work. I didn’t realize you are supposed to keep the opening statement of bank accounts as long as you open the account.  Here is the link to that chart.

I’m a bad example for most of this. Canceled check retention is supposedly seven years. My stash is at least 47 years old. Sometime, I promise myself, I’ll take a trip down memory lane and look at the names.

What I really need is to find the newsletter issue that talks about hoarding!

 

2013-12-5 St Johanis church

Christmas in Germany: On Friday, December 6 (it is St. Nikolaus Day) the Princeton German Teacher’s association and infi cafe’ offer an Adventssingen (Christmas caroling) session, with carols in French and Spanish as well as English and German.

If you’d like to recreate some old-world Christmas spirit, RSVP. Come at 6 p.m. and bring a plate of German Platzhen (any kind of cookies, nuts, or clementines) and a bottle of red wine to make Gluhwein (German mulled wine). Bratwurst and Brezeln will be available for purchase, and other drinks besides. But please RSVP to PrincetonGermanTeacher@gmail.com (609-356-2438).

Two years ago my husband and I returned to Nurnberg, where we had lived in the ’60s, and connected with our friends, Elise and Wilhelm. They took us to a village church, St. Johanis, for a carol service (pictured above). It warms my heart to think of it.

‘Happy Chuckle’ – – Tears to My Eyes

Memoir, ,

fhjf

When emotions get in the way of getting things done, sometimes you just have to let the work go. On Tuesday a copy of my father’s obituary, printed in the University of Maryland Medical School alumni magazine exactly 40 years ago, landed in my email box. I could think about nothing else all day.

How it happened: My daughter, Susannah Fox, spoke on Tuesday at the University of Maryland Health Sciences and Human Services Library on Embracing M Health: Mobilizing Healthcare, a main focus for her at the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Susannah’s grandfather, my father, Frank Henry John Figge, died when she was three, but he looms large in family memories. He taught at the medical school for 44 years, and my mother, Rosalie Yerkes Figge, worked alongside him, helping in his research, all that time.  As a prelude to her talk, Susannah ad-libbed a tribute to them, and the librarian — being a librarian — thoughtfully responded by ferreting out the obituary record to give her.

In these excerpts, the bolded phrases mark characteristics I knew about but had not seen put into words. I am sure I read these kind words when they were printed, but I had not looked at them for 40 years. Hence, the tears.

. . .Dr. Figge was a close associate of another famous
Maryland anatomist, Dr. Eduard Uhlenhuth,  with a relationship of almost father and son.  While both were excellent anatomists and master  teachers, their methods and approaches were far distant, with Figge becoming a “friend” and confidante to many of his students, particularly the top ones and the ones in trouble. He directed the studies of a number of graduate students in anatomy and other subjects, many of whom will be leading teachers in their time. His relationship to the students was close, warm and  concerned. This was apparent in personal teaching, interviews, advisory sessions and private conversations….

. . .On the occasion of the passing of Dr. Figge it is no exaggeration to state that the University of Maryland, its faculty, students and friends have suffered a great loss. Comment has been made on the uniqueness of this great man. His eternal youthful appearance even with the passing years was a source of wonder. One can still see the genuine smile and hear the happy chuckle that characterized his greetings. His philosophy of relationship with others of all walks of life was that of the truly concerned and friendly Christian which smoothed over many situations which could have otherwise been very difficult. His scientific foresight and scanning of the horizon marked him as a true research brain and helped him lead the budding university of his youth into investigative fields. His influence and personal touch will be sorely missed at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine and in his many other interests and walks of life by a multitude who are privileged to be called his friends.

Today, October 25, is the day he died 40 years ago, but it is also a day of rejoicing, because seven years ago today my eighth and last grandchild was born.

What does all this mean? Now I know that words of tribute are even more important than I’d realized. We lost a good friend recently, and it is tempting to just send a sympathy card to his teenage children and go on with the day. Now I know that’s not enough. Someone took the time to capture my father’s spirit in words that enliven my memory 40 years later. I need to do the same for their father.

P.S., If you wrote this, or know who wrote it, please tell me!

Scratching the Itch

Memoir

If I were in business, instead of retired, I would eagerly pursue strategies for
“growing” my blog.  If someone wanted to ‘do it” i.e. market it for me and split the profits,  maybe I’d be willing to pay more attention to the blog. Could this work as a business model?

Right now Princeton Comment is just a public service, a way to capture a moment (a speaker, a thought) for posterity. And when something comes up that I have written about before, it is a way to scratch that itch. There needs to be a 12 step program for retired journalists.

Ears See It in a New Way: William Klenz

Dance and the other arts, Memoir, , , , ,

In 1959, Dr. William Klenz required his undergraduate music history students at Duke University to unlock the secrets of baroque music by studying original texts for what led up to it — social dances of the Renaissance, as taught by dance master Thoinot Arbeau  in his Orchesographie.

Tapping dance sources is now a small but recognized niche (NYT, 9-4-13).

I believe Klenz — who never wore a watch because he didn’t want to be the slave of time, and insisted that all of his students sing “A” upon arising in the morning so that they would be in tune with the world — was an unrecognized genius.

 

War Stories at WIBA

Business, Faith and Social Justice, Memoir, , , , , ,

“Coveting Not the Corner Office, but Time at Home,” a July 7 article in the New York times, resonated with me, as I am sure it did with thousands of women. It begins:

Sara Uttech has not spent much of her career so far worrying about “leaning in.” Instead, she has mostly been hanging on, trying to find ways to get her career to accommodate her family life, rather than the other way around.

I’d been pondering the balance between career and family as I prepared my speech for the WIBA “Women of Achievement” breakfast last month.

Along with three other women (Denise Taylor, Danielle Gletow, and Barbara Hillier) I was “honored to be honored” at this event. Richard K. Rein, my ex-boss at U.S. 1, wrote an “outsider” column about it, outsider because he was a man at a predominently female gathering. Rich comments that Hillier was the one who put the career balance thing in context. She used the familiar Ginger Rogers metaphor (does everything that Fred Astaire does, but backwards and in high heels) but it is oh so true.

In the ’60s, ’70s, and even ’80s, women did not have so many choices as we do now. But living with limited horizons can be easier. Each of us must find her own way.

Marion Reinson — whom I know from the chamber program committee and the former Einstein Alley Entrepreneur’s Group — wrote a sweetly complimentary account of the WIBA awards breakfast. I posted it on my personal blog for my grandchildren to read someday.

It’s more difficult than you’d think to be praised in public, but it was a truly wonderful event, planned to be specially nice from the table decorations to the engraved Simon Pearce glass bowl that the honorees received.

So here is the ultimate thank you to everyone on the committee, printing all the names: Elizabeth Hampton (chairperson), Brenda Ross-Dulan (emcee), Lorraine Holcombe (chamber liasion), plus Mary Betz, Dale Blair, Donna Bouchard, Jodi Brigman, Carol Einhorn, Michelle Everman, Robin Fogel, Danielle Gletow, Meg Helms, Judy Hutton, Heather Kumor, Nicole Lyons, Jane Mahon, Eileen Martinson, Susan Mullin, Helen Okajima, and Lucia Stegaru. You did a great job!

And while I’m at it, the sponsors were Wells Fargo, jasna Polana, WithumSmith+Brown, PNC, MacLean Agency, Fox rothschild, Lindt Chocolates, and Monday Morning Flower & Balloon Co. Thank you all again.