Mardi Gras 2023
photo collage by Reina Lopez
Posted in A&I
Language Fun: Irony
by Connie Kent
Irony is when something happens that is the opposite of what was expected. It is one of the most misunderstood figures of speech in common English—many people think that the definition of irony has to do with coincidence or bad luck. Many people think irony is sarcasm. Sarcasm is a type of irony.
Irony is really when our expectations are overturned or disrupted. There are three types of irony in literature:
- Verbal irony: Verbal irony is when a character says something that is different from what they really mean or how they really feel. If the intent of the irony is to mock, it is known as sarcasm. Socratic irony is a type of verbal irony, where a person feigns ignorance in order to entice someone else to make claims that can then be argued with.
- Situational irony: Situational irony occurs when there is a difference between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. For example, a fire station burning down is a case of situational irony.
- Dramatic irony: Dramatic irony is when the audience knows more than the characters. The characters’ actions have a different meaning for them than they do for the audience, which creates tension and suspense. When used in tragedies, dramatic irony is referred to as “tragic irony.” For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows that the lovers are each alive. Each drinks their poison without knowing what the audience knows.
Here’s an example of irony:
Hyphenated
Non-hyphenated
Book Review: Taxi From Another Planet
by Anne Newins
subtitled “Conversations with Drivers about Life in the Universe,” by Charles S. Cockell, Harvard University Press, 2022.
Hurrah! At last, a science-based book written about the possibility of life outside Earth has been written that a layperson can understand. Charles S. Cockell is Professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh. He has been a NASA and British Antarctic Survey scientist, is a member of New York’s Explorer’s Club, and leads the Life Beyond prisoner education project in Scotland.
Along the way, Cockell has learned to talk with ordinary people, while traveling in many places around the world, including a large number of taxi drivers. Taxi drivers are good conversationalists and like to pose stimulating questions and opinions while the author is planted, often for long periods, in the back seat.
For example, the first chapter addresses the question “are there alien taxi drivers?’ Cockell lucidly explains the evolutionary processes required on earth that eventually led to the existence of taxi drivers, some of which might be needed on other planets. One amusing hypothesis is that the first taxi drivers might have emerged about 3200 BCE, after the invention of the wheel. After all, people soon would want to take rides and early chariot drivers would be inclined to charge them for it.
Other chapters consider whether alien contact would change us or should we solve problems on earth before exploring space. The chapter titled “Will space be full of tyrannies or free societies?” predicts that space colonies will lean to authoritarian rule because individualism would be too dangerous. There will be no room for errors when a simple air leak could kill everyone.
Special attention is given to Star Trek fans in a chapter exploring the possibility that the universe may be devoid of aliens. Cockell regrets that the crew of the Enterprise “never beamed down to the surface of a planet, collected some microbes, and spent the rest of the episode examining them under microscopes while engaged in long discussions of microbial ecology,” since he posits that the odds of finding microbial life might be higher than finding intelligent aliens.
The final chapter asks “Are we exceptional?” Cockell would like to know “how many paths there are to life, and from there to intelligence?” Are life forms required to follow the same evolutionary paths as on earth or could there be many other possibilities? In earlier chapters, Cockell states no matter where a planet is located in the universe, it will need to follow basic principles of physics for life to emerge.
Residents recently enjoyed Matt Heverly’s presentation about Mars exploration and will be looking forward the upcoming one scheduled for April 18 by Ashwin Vasavada about the Curioslty Rover. This book would be an excellent addition to the lectures.
Readers wanting to learn more about Cockell can find many references on line, including brief YouTube videos, research citations, as well as his University of Edinburgh postings. Those readers wishing carbon-based technology can find a copy of this informative and entertaining book at the RVM and Jackson County libraries.
Events & Opportunities: March 2023 – May 2023
RVM February 2023 – May 2023
ENTERTAINMENT & EVENTS
Manor Auditorium 7-8 p.m.
Programs will NOT be broadcast on Channel 900
Programming subject to change
Notice No programs have been scheduled after June 1, pending auditorium renovations.
2023
Thursday 03/09 Coco Bender: piano recital
Thursday 03/16 Hutton Wind Quintet
Thursday 03/23 Iryna Kudielina: piano recital
Thursday 03/30 Flute Quartet
Thursday 04/06 Brian Hall and friends: piano
Thursday 04/13 Geri Shimabukuro: all Chopin recital
TUESDAY 04/18 Aswin Vasavada: What we have learned from the Curiosity Mars Rover
Thursday 04/20 Special program honoring RVM Volunteers
Thursday 04/27 Hula O Nuku Aina: Hawai’an dancing
Thursday 05/04 Duo Flamenco: Ruiz/Longshore
Thursday 05/11 YSSO: Chamber groups
Thursday 05/18 SORS OutReach Singers
Thursday 05/25 Miller/James: “When America Comes of Age”
Thursday 06/01 The Grapefruits: piano/horn
Happy Valentine’s Day!
photo collage by Reina Lopez
March in the Library: Inquiring Minds Are on the Case
by Ann Newins
Mystery fans are excited to hear that Lenora Clark, a well known OLLI instructor, will be offering a three session series about mystery novels beginning March 14 as part of the Inquiring Minds program. It is sure to be a popular offering. The class sessions will include discussions about Golden Age women mystery writers and police procedurals.
Golden Age Detective Fiction was a style of writing published mainly in the 1920’s and 1930’s. They often were “whodunits.” Many of the best authors remain in print today and continue to be read by Manor residents. Some of these books might be considered “cosy” writing, but it could be argued that the writing quality, especially of those still in print, is clever, engaging, and colorful. Many were turned into British television productions. Some of the books available on campus were written by:
Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple series
Dorothy Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey series
Ngaio Marsh: Inspector Alleyn series
Georges Simenon: Chief Inspector Maigret series
A copy of Josephine Tey’s classic The Daughter of Time and a collection of Raymond Chandler stories are on display.
Leonora Clark may choose to discuss detective novels that take a disciplined approach to police procedures. But, as any detective story fan knows, authors often allow their law enforcement characters to veer far and wide from regulations. In fact, many of the heroes revel in their rule breaking. One characteristic that they share in common with the Golden Agers is a penchant for a main character who is supported by various sub characters who may or may not be competent or heroic.
For example, John Sanford’s best selling “Prey” novels feature Lucas Davenport, who gradually moves from the Minneapolis Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to become a roving U.S. Marshal. He frequently corrals Agent Virgil Flowers, a sort of minion. Flowers is so likable and funny that he has his own series. He occasionally solves cases in small Minnesota towns, including one about a murderous school board and another whose mayor’s campaign slogan is “I’ll do what I can.”
Police procedurals often take place in locations that are vividly described. In fact, sometimes the settings are more riveting than the plot. A few authors with interesting plot locations include Martha Grimes (Richard Jury of Scotland Yard), Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti of Venice), Steven Havill’s Posada County series (New Mexico), and Dana Stabenow (Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin and Kate Shugak).
The Manor library houses many mysteries in varying genres. Please come investigate.
Book Review: The Antidote
Book Review:
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, by Oliver Burkeman
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2012)
By Anne Newins and Bob Buddemeier
As soon as we saw this title, we knew we had to read it. Anne has despised motivational and self-help literature and posters for decades. In fact, she used to share demotivational post cards with colleagues. Some samples are shown. To acquire your own, go to despair.com. Bob’s Life Guideline has for many decades been “Pessimists are seldom unpleasantly surprised.”
But, back to the matter at hand. Oliver Burkeman (oliverburkeman.com) is a British author and journalist and a long-time columnist for the Guardian newspaper. He also publishes a bimonthly email, The Imperfectionist, about “productivity, mortality, the power of limits, and building a meaningful life in an age of bewilderment.” The book follows these topics, pointing out that meaning and productivity are optional, and depend on one’s ability to deal constructively with the mandatory aspects of life – mortality and limits.
In The Antidote, Burkeman leads the reader through a winding path of ancient and modern philosophers, business leaders, psychologists, and others who have diverse ways of considering the meaning and purpose of life, which doesn’t necessarily mean being happy in a conventional sense. There are chapters about Stoicism, Buddhism, rational-emotive thinking, “the self,” and inevitably, death. He scoffs at the importance placed by many people on pursuing fixed, clearly defined goals. Burkeman blends research, interviews, and experience (including self-experimentation) with humor and integrative analysis to create a readable and informative argument.
One favorite quote is by psychologist Albert Ellis, who said, “If you accept that the universe is uncontrollable, you are going to be a lot less anxious.” Or as Stoic philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius claimed, “Things do not touch the soul. Our perturbations come only from the opinion that is within.” An equally pithy man-in-the street quote is attributed to a fellow attendee at a Get Motivated! seminar, who said at the end, “OK, I’m motivated now — is it time for some beer?”
An engaging chapter describes the Museum of Failures, an institution in Ann Arbor, Michigan that houses an enormous number of products that failed. The institution’s primary purpose is for manufacturers, whose representatives come and browse what has failed (for example, Fortune Snookies, fortune cookies for dogs, were flops). Who could have thought Clairol’s Touch of Yoghurt Shampoo, caffeinated beer, or TV dinners branded with Colgate’s toothpaste logos would have succeeded? Probably only someone imbued with the mindless optimism and singleness of purpose fostered by the peddlers of relentless positivism.
The latter portion of that chapter takes a more serious approach to the value of embracing failure and letting go of perfectionism. Burkeman notes that “There is an openness and honesty in failure, a down to earth confrontation with reality that is lacking at the higher altitudes of success.”
This book is more than a send-up of self-help books and the ilk of happiness gurus like Robert Schuller; it is a serious and useful guide to more self-acceptance, realism, contentment, and yes, even happiness. “The optimism-focused, goal-fixated, positive-thinking approach to happiness is exactly the kind of things the ego loves… Schemes and plans for making things better fuel our dissatisfaction with the only place where happiness can ever be found – the present.”
Copies of The Antidote may be found in the “Red Dot” uncatalogued section of the RVM library, the Jackson County library, or for reasonable prices online.
February in the Library
by Anne Newins
Library Volunteer Debbie Adler, a fan of women of fortitude and perseverance, created February’s book display topic which features both fictional and nonfictional women. Volunteers Liz Caldwell and Bonny Turner also made suggestions. The books include many undaunted women, including pilots, detectives, explorers, anthropologists, scientists, librarians, public figures, code breakers as well as ordinary women thrust into difficult circumstances.
*The Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear
*The Number One Detective Agency, featuring Precious Ramwotse, series by Alexander McCall Smith
*Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See, introduces the fierce female divers of Jeju Island, South Korea.
*The Four Winds, by Kristin Hannah, set in California and Texas, is a portrait of an indomitable woman who will do anything to keep her family together during the Great Depression.
*The Diamond Eye, by Kate Quinn, tells of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest sniper during World War II. It is based on a true story. Debbie recommended another Kate Quinn novel, The Huntress, which also is World War II saga. The heroine is part of an all-female bomber regiment.
*Miss Benson’s Beetle, by Rachel Joyce, is a quirky book taking place in New Caledonia during the 1950’s. Miss Benson decides to leave her dead-end job to help search for a beetle that may or may not exist.
The non-fiction books portray the lives of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Beryl Markham, Sonia Purnell, Cheryl Strayed, Michelle Obama, Gertrude Bell, and many others.
We would like to highlight a RVM resident, Maria-Cristina Page, a woman who also forged ahead. Her many accomplishments began early in life. A native of Cochabamba, Bolivia, Maria-Cristina decided to become one of the few women to study architecture at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellin, Colombia during the 1960’s. Getting there began with a four day bus ride in torrential rain. When the buses could go no further, she rode to Lima, Peru on the back of a truck, finally reaching Medellin by air. She was the only woman riding the buses and truck, as well as the youngest.
Graduating with only five other women, Maria-Cristina was the first woman architect in Cochabamba, as well as the first female Professor of Architecture at Cochabamba’s Universidad de San Simon. She is pictured below.
Language Fun: Time
by Connie Kent
We spend time. We save it (to spend later?) We need more. We take time (without permission?) We make time. Some people do time.
We fill time. We squander it. We use our time. We pass the time. We’re ahead of time. We’re behind time. We don’t have enough time. We run out of time.
🎵 Time goes by so slowly, and time can do so much. 🎵
The time has come. Time passes. Time flies. Time slows down. Time drags.
Time runs out. Time is up. The time is past. The time is upon us. Time stops. The time is now.
NIT WIT NEWZ — February 2023
(Nit Wit Newz is an unauthorized, often unreliable, on-line news source designed to keep Manor residents abreast of the inconsequential, trifling, and superficial events that dramatically shape and inform our everyday lives here at Rogue Valley Manor.)
NIT WIT NEWZ’ LAUNCH OF SWIMSUIT ISSUE AXED
Negotiations for joint promotion with Manor water volleyball team collapse, reports NWN’s Water Sports journalist, Phil dePoole. The widely anticipated April issue of Nit Wit Newz was to feature latest 2023 senior men and women’s stylish, swimwear fashions modeled by volleyball team members.
Revelation of “meager” NWN modeling fees rankle aquatic squad. Team backs out of promotional effort. Alternative plan developed. New promotional plan excludes Nit Wit Newz (Editorial Board irked).
Swim team producing a 2023 “Co-ed Swim Suit Calendar.” Different team member to be featured each month in latest swimwear styles. Competition intense among team members for twelve monthly photo slots since team membership totals over two dozen players. Bruised feelings likely. Independent judging sought. RVM residents, administration, and staff demur from hyper-sensitive task of selecting twelve finalists. Off-campus search for impartial (and impervious) judges proceeding apace.
Water sport members expect calendar sales to generate substantial revenue. Proceeds to underwrite installation of bleachers in Manor aquatic center. Seating needed to accommodate burgeoning fan interest in exciting water volleyball matches. Admission fees promised to be modest. Net Wit Newz charges aquatic group with “Crass monetizing of sport.” Members shrug off criticism as “disgruntled grousing.”
Campus Manor Mart store to be sole retailer of swimsuit calendar. RVM retailer currently accepting pre-publication orders for this coveted “collector’s item.”
As water volleyball fever sweeps campus, anticipation that calendar sales may go viral swells. Forward thinking Manor Mart retailer ordering “RVM WATER V-BALL TEAM” imprinted merchandise on caps, t-shirts, and hoodies.
Don’t be left out, pre-order your V-ball gear with your calendar, today.
—A. Looney