Dreamways

‘The Song of Deborah and Barak’ from the Old Testament is re-told by Mark Twain in his 1869 best-selling book, The Innocents Abroad, a travelogue Twain penned describing his journey to Europe and The Holy Land with a group of religiously minded American tourists as part of the first-ever luxury cruise. “Somewhere in this part of the country – I do not know exactly where – Israel fought another bloody battle a hundred hears later. Deborah, the prophetess, told Barak to take ten thousand men and sally forth against another king Jabin who had been doing something.  read more »

“In the Face of Royalty” reads the headline above the color photo showing a man and a woman. To the left of the picture, we see a middle-aged fellow wearing a suit, white shirt, and striped necktie. His hair is dark and short. He has a VanDyke beard. There is nothing unusual about his appearance. However, he has contorted his face, eyes crossed, nose flattened out and his mouth drawn up into a silly pucker of a grimace. With both hands he is holding onto a large, black leather horse collar that sits atop his head and around his shoulders.  read more »

“Vilnius is a city of dreams.” This compelling assertion appears in an article about the capital city of Lithuania (“Vilnius: Dreaming with Eyes Wide Open,” Baltic Outlook, October/November 2007). Indeed, both Lithuania and its capital have had a number of major dreams come true, with significant goals realized and long-held ideals made manifest.  read more »

"The instructions are simple: 'Read the Prayer … / Drink the Water … / Believe in God! / Believe in Yourself!‘ Spiritual Water, the faith-inspired venture of two Sunrise, Fla., businessmen, offers its drinkers clearer focus, positive thinking and connection to a higher power.“ This fascinating waking dream is desribed by Audra D.S. Burch in her article "Sip your way to salvations with Spiritual Water?“ (The Denver Post, 06 May 08).
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"The practice of equanimity is particularly helpful for nightmares. Of all the practices you could apply, it is most helpful and comforting, after you have awakened, to generate a sense of equanimity – the similarity of aim – between yourself and the dream-monster.“ Jeffrey Hopkins offers a Buddhist, meditative perspective on interacting with sleep nightmares ("Dealing with Nightmares,“ Snow Lion newspaper & catalog, Spring 2008).
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"If you can’t tell which futures are better than others, it’s hard to find happiness. The truth is, bad things don’t affect us as profoundly as we expect them to. That’s true of good things, too.  read more »

"Antonia Shapovalova, ‘a commissar in the pro-Kremlin movement Nashi’, has designed lingerie with a view to persuading the young ladies of Russia to have more babies.” This sounds like quite the titillating daydream in post-Soviet Russia. What does the lingerie look like? How does it work? Of all things, the dainties address (hoping to undress?) and appeal of solidarity to Russia’s political Big Boss Man, Vladimir Putin (whose nickname is Vova.) "Vova, I'm with you," is printed (stitched? branded?) across the front of the tiny briefs. Imagine  read more »

The post-waking-nightmare dream was grandiose. "In March 2007, city officials finally unveiled their plan to redevelop New Orleans and begin the move out of the post-hurricane morass. It was billed as the plan to end all plans, with Paris-like streetscape renderings and promises of parks, playgrounds and 'cranes on the skyline' within months." However, more than a year later, it seems that the dream has not gained much waking-life traction, as reported by Adam Nossiter in  read more »

"You cannot hear the name Martin Luther King Jr. and not think of death. For as famous as he may have been in life, it is death that ultimately defined him.“ So begins an essay written by Michael Eric Dyson on the 40th anniversary of King’s death in April 4, 1968 ("The Burdens of Martyrdom: Death distorted the true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. – Why the turbulence of his life is what matters today“, Time Magazine, 07 Apr 08). The author connects a figure who is famous for having a Dream is inextricably to Death.

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"Finding guilt-free food for our menus – food that’s clean, green and humane – is about as easy as securing a housing loan. And we’re suddenly paying more - 75 percent more in the last six years – to stock our pantries. Around the world, from Cairo to Port-au-Prince, increases in food prices have governments facing riots born of shortage and hunger.“ This is the waking nightmare recounted by Dan Barber in his article "Change We Can Stomach“ (The New York Times, 11 May 08).

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