Lammastide Greetings!

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the JSMT:

Next Thursday, August 7^th, at 9:07 AM (CDT), marks the halfway point between the Midsummer Solstice (on June 21^st) and the Midautumn Equinox (on September 22^nd). For our agrarian ancestors, this date (known as Lammas Day among the Keltik peoples of NW Europe) was one of the four “cross-quarter days” that marked the transitions between the four seasons of the traditional agricultural “wheel of the year.” The harvest season is about to begin in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and school is already in session for many students across the United States. So let’s take a look at a few poems about the end of summertime, the changing seasons, and the beginning of the harvest.

“The Summer Sun Shone Round Me”

By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

The summer sun shone round me,

The folded valley lay

In a stream of sun and odor,

That sultry summer day.

The tall trees stood in the sunlight

As still as still could be,

But the deep grass sighed and rustled

And bowed and beckoned me.

The deep grass moved and whispered

And bowed and brushed my face.

It whispered in the sunshine:

“The winter comes apace.”

“A Calendar of Sonnets: August”

By Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

Silence again. The glorious symphony

Hath need of pause and interval of peace.

Some subtle signal bids all sweet sounds cease,

Save hum of insects’ aimless industry.

Pathetic summer seeks by blazonry

Of color to conceal her swift decrease.

Weak subterfuge! Each mocking day doth fleece

A blossom, and lay bare her poverty.

Poor middle-aged summer! Vain this show!

Whole fields of Golden-Rod cannot offset

One meadow with a single violet;

And well the singing thrush and lily know,

Spite of all artifice which her regret

Can deck in splendid guise, their time to go!

“A Song of Suns and Seasons”

By George MacDonald (1824-1905)

Excerpted from At the Back of the North Wind (Chapter 37)

The Sun is gone down,

And the Moon’s in the sky;

But the Sun will come up,

And the Moon be laid by.

The flower is asleep

But it is not dead;

When the morning shines,

It will lift its head.

When winter comes,

It will die – no, no;

It will only hide

From the frost and the snow.

Sure is the summer,

Sure is the Sun;

The night and the winter

Are shadows that run.

Happy Lammastide –

Rob :)

An Out-of-This-World Anniversary

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the JSMT:

This weekend marks the 45^th anniversary of the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo 11 lunar module on the surface of the Moon. In honor of this historic occasion, here are some poems about the Moon, plus the inscription from the Apollo 11 commemorative plaque that Armstrong & Aldrin left behind on the lunar surface.

“Eldorado”

By Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Gaily bedight,

A gallant knight,

In sunshine and in shadow,  

Had journeyed long,  

Singing a song,

In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old—

This knight so bold—  

And o’er his heart a shadow—  

Fell as he found

No spot of ground

That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength  

Failed him at length,

He met a pilgrim shadow—  

‘Shadow,’ said he,  

‘Where can it be—

This land of Eldorado?’

‘Over the Mountains

Of the Moon,

Down the Valley of the Shadow,  

Ride, boldly ride,’

The shade replied,—

‘If you seek for Eldorado!’

“The Moon Was but a Chin of Gold”

By Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

The Moon was but a chin of gold

A night or two ago,

And now she turns her perfect face

Upon the world below.  

Her forehead is of amplest blond;

Her cheek like beryl stone;

Her eye unto the summer dew

The likest I have known.

 

Her lips of amber never part;

But what must be the smile

Upon her friend she could bestow

Were such her silver will!

And what a privilege to be

But the remotest star!

For certainly her way might pass

Beside your twinkling door.

Her bonnet is the firmament,

The Universe her shoe,

The stars the trinkets at her belt,

Her dimities of blue.

“The Moon” (From A Child’s Garden of Verses, 1885)

By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

The Moon has a face like the clock in the hall;

She shines on thieves on the garden wall,

On streets and fields and harbor quays,

And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,

The howling dog by the door of the house,

The bat that lies in bed at noon,

All love to be out by the light of the Moon.

But all of the things that belong to the day

Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;

And flowers and children close their eyes

Till up in the morning the Sun shall arise.

Apollo 11 Plaque Inscription

HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON JULY 1969, A.D.

WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND.

(Signatures: Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin, Nixon)

Until next time – keep looking up! :)

Rob

Independence Day Weekend

Dear Members, Alumni, & Friends of the JSMT:

With the arrival of the Independence Day weekend, I’d like to share with you two famous poems that have been turned into soul-stirring anthems.

The Star-Spangled Banner (1814)

By Francis Scott Key (1779-1843)

[Our national anthem was composed 200 years ago this coming September, to commemorate the American defense of Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, against a British naval bombardment during the War of 1812. It officially became our national anthem in March 1931.]

1. O say can you see by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

2. On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

3. And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,

A home and a country, should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

4. O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war’s desolation.

Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Lift Every Voice and Sing (1900)

By James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)

[This poem, which has come to be known as the African-American national anthem, was originally composed for a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in 1900. It is included here to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary (Golden Jubilee) of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2^nd, 1964.]

1. Lift every voice and sing

Till earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun

Let us march on till victory is won.

2. Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

3. God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand.

True to our God,

True to our native land.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND!

Let freedom ring! :)

Rob

July 2014 Leadership Reflection

Developing Leadership Skills Through Hobbies

I like to encourage the students in the ACES James Scholar Honors Program to have hobbies and interests beyond the classroom and laboratory. Why? Not only because outside interests help us to expand our horizons, nurture our minds, and introduce us to new people – but also because hobbies can empowers us to learn to exercise our leadership skills in the company of family members and friends who share our interests in the “real world” that lies just beyond the “Ivory Tower” in the Grove of Academe.

My first (and still favorite) hobby is astronomy. As far back as I can remember, I’ve been enamored with the night sky, and I started to have an early interest in observing the Moon during my preschool days. With binoculars, I was able to explore the night sky in greater detail, and I learned to watch for the visible planets and spot the brightest stars as they trekked across the sky from one season to the next. Starting in third grade, I began to read “grown-up” books about astronomy and spaceflight, and during my middle school years, I took astronomy classes at the St. Louis Science Center on Saturday mornings. I was also an enthusiastic charter member of the astronomy club at my high school. Sharing my hobby with others through taking classes and attending “star parties” with the astronomy club introduced me to a wider circle of friends and whetted my appetite for more knowledge and insights about humankind’s place in the cosmos, thus broadening the perspective from which I exercised leadership in other clubs and activities, both at school and beyond.

My first hobby is still with me today. Even though I never became a professional astronomer or a NASA astronaut, my interest in the Universe has never waned. I enjoy leading field trips to the Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College for members of the ACES James Scholar Media Team and reading articles on all the latest discoveries about our amazing cosmos. Astronomy has indeed expanded my horizons, provided fertile ground for nourishing my imagination, and introduced me to myths and legends from around the world about the stars and planets, thus providing a doorway for me to discover the similarities and appreciate the differences among worldwide cultures.

What is your hobby? Do you have outside interests beyond the four walls of your home and/or office? If not, I encourage you to seek out a hobby that will help you connect with new people, edutain your brain, and broaden your perspective on the human condition – all of which will enable you to enhance the leadership skills that you can use in the everyday world.

Photo of Yours Truly and ACES James Scholar alumna Kathleen Li (Co-President Emerita of the James Scholar Media Team): We are standing in front of Billy Morrow Jackson’s famous mural at the Staerkel Planetarium, showing the great scientists who paved the way for our exploration of the cosmos. (Photo Credit: Kendall Annetti, ACES James Scholar alumna & JSMT Co-President Emerita.)

In conclusion, I’d like to share one of my favorite poems about the sky – a classic verse that I first encountered during my childhood days, which I rediscovered a few years ago. It reminds me of another leadership-related reward that hobbies can give us: They can help us to keep alive that childlike sense of wonder at the world around us, ensuring that we remain young at heart and eager to embrace new ideas and new people for as long as we live. :)

“Escape at Bedtime”

By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

Excerpted from A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)

The lights from the parlor and kitchen shone out

Through the blinds and the windows and bars;

And high overhead and all moving about,

There were thousands of millions of stars.

There ne’er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,

Nor of people in church or the Park,

As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,

And that glittered and winked in the dark.

The Dog, and the Plow, and the Hunter, and all,

And the star of the sailor, and Mars,

These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall

Would be half full of water and stars.

They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,

And they soon had me packed into bed;

But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,

And the stars going round in my head.