Open Thread: Aaron Copland, The Promise of Living

Several weeks ago, reader Jacqueline sent me this gorgeous YouTube creation: it's Aaron Copland's haunting piece, The Promise of Living, set to a montage of old 8mm and 16mm films of human beings doing what we do best: living and loving. I wonder if you can make it all the way through without tearing up. I certainly couldn't.

I'd also like to share this gem, by tripsadelica, from the comment section beneath the video:

Snippets of light captured upon powdered silver, of a time long ago. Gone, but somehow not gone...preserved forever as if light was the essence of life itself. Most all of these people have left this earth but here they are, walking, dancing, playing...living. You know the expression, "they live on in our hearts"...they live on here in light; light captured with fine silver powder. Luminous argent.

Here in Florida, it's sparkling and sunny outside for the first time in a long while.  Spring is almost here--hooray!--the boys will be on break next week, and I have visions of sugar cones and sandy shores dancing in my head.  Carpe diem!  I say, as I will say next Monday morning when I wake the boys and haul them off to Fort DeSoto for some much-needed vitamin D and fresh air.  What will you be doing when it warms up?

Comments

[Blue Gal]

Lovely!!! and yeah, I have birds nesting outside my front door. Spring is here.

[jacqueline klein]

hi dear litbrit....

next week, i hope to go to some favorite spots in the nearby high desert, out here in california. the first wildflowers should be blooming. the skies are magically blue, and the land is nestled next to the caihuilla reservation. boulders, views, silence, thickets for mule deer and coyote....and then, the descent into anza borrego...a desert surrounded by a ring of purple hills and mountains. it is a hidden jewel, filled with ocotillo, teddy bear cactus, creosote, oleandor and palm...where time stops.
and then, in the other direction, the mountains are covered with snow.
i hope to go there, as well. and walk in the pine forests that are covered with snow.
crunching around and build a little snowman, for old time's sake....
want to join me:-)

[kathy a.]

love this video! getting springlike here, too -- blossoms exploding all over the place.

we're leaving to visit daughter in japan next week! i have a lot to do before then....

[minstrel hussain boy]

i too, make my way to that exact same place jacqueline. the extra wet of this winter makes the promise of a color and scent explosion in borrego.

i also anticipate the re-emergence of some of my favorite outdoor gigs. humphrey's by the bay being one of my absolute very favorite venues.

there are also some perfectly lovely little side canyons off the west end of palm springs. (driving down into the springs from the back route is a glorious thing to do this time of year).

[oddjob]

I walked in town this morning and saw a silver maple blooming: the first I have seen this year. In another week or so I will see the wave of migrating robins as it passes through.

[oddjob]

Oh, and one of the bigger rose bushes on the property (it's almost a climber, as it would be if it had a trellis to grow on) is pushing its first buds open.

[Toast]

I'll be doing more of what I've started doing already: cycling and running. Oh, and hiking.

It's almost 50 outside and I just got back from a two-mile run. I feel fantastic. I mean, this must be what a tree feels like when it starts to bud.

[oddjob]

Oops! I posted this on last week's thread, not realizing this was an open thread!

Anti-abortion Rep. Stupak (D-MI) may be getting a primary challenge on his left.

[oddjob]

LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!

Priceless! :)

[litbrit]

Oh DEAR, oddjob, that's pretty dark (and funny) (and true).

It reminds me of that hilarious faux commercial for Armegeddon, with the White House exploding and things being engulfed in tidal surges, etc. as Palin takes office.

I don't think, at this point, the Republican party will allow that woman anywhere near the levers of power. But they'll sure use her to gin up opposition to anything and everything President Obama does. I sure wish at least one part of the Alaska government would do its job and hold her and her husband and cronies accountable in criminal court, but the thing is, their abuses of power and thieving seem relatively mild compared to what's gone on in larger, more populous states (like Florida). I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that a crime was a crime, despite its lesser magnitude relative to a crime committed by different crook. In other words, a bank robber caught stealing two million dollars is still, you know, guilty of robbing a bank, even if other bank robberies that year involved amounts in excess of ten million.

[kathy a.]

sarah who? tina fey did a great national service, impersonating palin and skewering her with her own words. i don't care what either one of them has to say about that, now.

[Eric Wilde]

The sakura in our back yard is sprouting pink blossoms. It will soon explode. Soon thereafter the local fair begins (1.5 blocks away from home). The girls loved the rides last year and one of them kept wanting to get on rides too big for her. Maybe this year they can step up a bit and get on a more exciting ride than the baby train.

Thanks for sharing.

[Krubozumo Nyankoye]

Litbrit et alia,

There is no spring here, but we are at the end of the high rainy season. By next month things will dry out completely and we will have not much rain until September. It is almost midnight now and the outside temp is 84 degrees.

Markers of seasonal change here are different. In November for example the tarantulas are in breeding mode, so they appear everywhere. By December they have gone back to their burrows. Many migratory birds pass through here on their way to breeding grounds or winter sanctuaries, but they are hard to see in the dense foliage. For the most part all you can do is hear them.

There are human sides to the cycle of seasons as well.
At the end of the dry season there will be a lot of burning. It happens every year. Most of it is burning off cut bush to allow a few years cultivation, the rest is burning off the razor grass so the cattle can feed on it.

When will we learn?

[litbrit]

Krubozumo, where are you, exactly?! (Forgive my ignorance.) Since you've mentioned such wildly-varying locales in comments past, I'm not even going to try to guess!

[oddjob]

I suppose I could post this on the Women & Wealth thread, but I think it fits better here:

SEIU is pulling out the big - blunt - guns on at least one recalcitrant House Dem. (the one who replaced the GOP wife abuser from Staten Island).

Hopefully big labor will do the same to others, including Michael Capuano.

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

That is good news. It's time for the bullshit to end and the bill to be passed.

[oddjob]

PAST TIME.

[kathy a.]

since this is the open thread, how 'bout that texas board of education? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/10/national/a000529S94.DTL&tsp=1

i have no idea at all why the most hateful of texans should set textbook standards for everyone, and hope that other states decline to invest in the madness.

[oddjob]

AND THE IDIOT IN CHARGE IS NOTHING BUT A FUCKING, RIGHT WING FUNDAMENTALIST DENTIST!

AT LEAST IN LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS THE DENTIST'S SICKNESS IS FUNNY.

[kathy a.]

speaking of dentists and horror shows, orly taitz is apparently trying to become california's secretary of state. http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/the-hilarious-haters/orly-taitzs-claims-about-damon/

[oddjob]

Does the Secretary of State have to be an attorney (one would hope)? If so, can you imagine the debacle of having her elected only to subsequently be disbarred? :)

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

I doubt that you have to be an attorney to be California Secretary of State. Hell, you probably don't even have to be one to be the Attorney General.

[kathy a.]

i should look this up, but i don't think secretary of state needs to be a bar member. although bar discipline would surely shorten ms. dr. taitz's odds, which are kinda short anyway. being a nutjob and all.

[oddjob]

Wow.

Wouldn't you (presumably) want the Sec. of State to actually be, like, you know, competent to interpret the laws relevant to the position and shit?

(Oy.........)

[oddjob]

(Granted, passing the bar doesn't by any means indicate you're actually a good candidate for any particular position as far as being a human being goes, but it does - or ought to - presumably indicate some sort of baseline familiarity with & competence for conducting legal research when necessary, as well as some sort of baseline familiarity with state law in the state where you've passed the bar, no?)

[oddjob]

(Oh, and my caps lock + all bolds above? That wasn't wine. That shit fucking pisses me off!!!!!)

[Sir Charles]

Yeah, well the idea of a crazy assed dentist essentially dictating text book selection throughout America is both CAPS LOCK and bold worthy.

[oddjob]

WORD!!