tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post3658950137991499835..comments2024-03-29T06:40:17.919-04:00Comments on Jungle Red Writers: Susan Cerulean's Single BirdJungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-36154594417384284142020-08-04T00:13:42.364-04:002020-08-04T00:13:42.364-04:00Those kindnesses ripple out and help so many more....Those kindnesses ripple out and help so many more. When my mom was sick, my students rallied with books, cards, prayers, and kindness. When I said thank you, one said, "Remember last year when I needed help and you gave it? Well, now it's your turn." The comparison of caring for a loved one and caring for our (should be beloved) earth is spot on.Storyteller Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03807705866873141004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-55738191182497660462020-08-03T00:02:05.652-04:002020-08-03T00:02:05.652-04:00Thank youThank youBibliophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07764234701385787238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-91255154854385924472020-08-02T23:47:41.356-04:002020-08-02T23:47:41.356-04:00OH, yes, so perfect.OH, yes, so perfect.Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17420701704169428286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-19604940421887269932020-08-02T23:46:05.409-04:002020-08-02T23:46:05.409-04:00Oh, thank you. I am so touched. Truly. Thank you. ...Oh, thank you. I am so touched. Truly. Thank you. And Jonathan is so grateful. This is..wonderful. And the book is astonishing.Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17420701704169428286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-5553281504995969032020-08-02T21:47:09.934-04:002020-08-02T21:47:09.934-04:00What an extraordinary person.What an extraordinary person.Kaithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07758348842858993203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-87173293477162621202020-08-02T20:59:16.815-04:002020-08-02T20:59:16.815-04:00Julia, that's a sobering thought, and indeed a...Julia, that's a sobering thought, and indeed a challenging time for your family. I bet it's especially hard for your dad, feeling so vulnerable and alone. I am holding him and all of you in my heart.Susan Ceruleanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14895347568193665247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-30734416692945753142020-08-02T20:57:43.145-04:002020-08-02T20:57:43.145-04:00Thank you so much, Diana! You are a powerhouse of...Thank you so much, Diana! You are a powerhouse of awesome writers and readers, that's for sure!<br />Susan Ceruleanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14895347568193665247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-80306063801592060682020-08-02T20:56:51.874-04:002020-08-02T20:56:51.874-04:00That's so true, Kathy, especially in these tim...That's so true, Kathy, especially in these times..the wellbeing of all we love concerns us.Susan Ceruleanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14895347568193665247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-24583400559937879132020-08-02T15:09:05.808-04:002020-08-02T15:09:05.808-04:00She sounds like a wonderful person. Brought tears...She sounds like a wonderful person. Brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing!Bibliophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07764234701385787238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-60764932416856405132020-08-02T15:06:49.650-04:002020-08-02T15:06:49.650-04:00Lucy, you do look like twins! My grandmother had ...Lucy, you do look like twins! My grandmother had an "Irish twin" - she was born in September and her brother was born in July!<br /><br />Susan, welcome to Jungle Reds and congratulations on your new book! I am definitely adding your book to my reading list!<br /><br />Happy Sunday!<br /><br />DianaBibliophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07764234701385787238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-78487992646943306442020-08-02T15:05:11.759-04:002020-08-02T15:05:11.759-04:00Susan, your writing is so lovely, and a very timel...Susan, your writing is so lovely, and a very timely read for me. My family is undergoing a difficult time as we wait to see if our dad, who has Parkinsons, will be able to go home after a short-term stint in rehab, or will need the kind of help he can't get at home. It's stressful, and made more so since no one can visit him. Your excerpt is a reminder that sooner or later, we're all dependent on the kindness of strangers - so it behooves us to practice kindness whenever we can.Juliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09553268569509053159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-80449757380079675412020-08-02T14:31:23.593-04:002020-08-02T14:31:23.593-04:00Congratulations on your new book, Susan. Reading ...Congratulations on your new book, Susan. Reading your beautiful piece here assures me that your book is a beautiful work, too. I think having someone do a kindness for someone I love, especially for my children or grandchildren, means the most to me. Really, they’re doing a kindness for me, too, because the well-being of those we love is usually what worries us most. Kathy Reelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17004247271452356577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-19167454269425015732020-08-02T13:45:04.259-04:002020-08-02T13:45:04.259-04:00I don't think that's incongruous at all, R...I don't think that's incongruous at all, Rhys...we are all connected....xoSusan Ceruleanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14895347568193665247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-6858916303327852372020-08-02T13:32:27.684-04:002020-08-02T13:32:27.684-04:00What a beautiful little vignette, Susan
I remembe...What a beautiful little vignette, Susan <br />I remember after my father’s funeral coming out and seeing a duck wsy up in a tree. Somehow this was do incongruous that i saw it as a metaphor of hopeAuthorrhysbowen@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11844065473614874365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-7406539600194335042020-08-02T12:46:55.971-04:002020-08-02T12:46:55.971-04:00Deborah....you Reds are women after my own heart. ...Deborah....you Reds are women after my own heart. Birders, and daughters. And doesn't it make all the difference in the world, when you have the kind of heart-filled, skillful Hospice people at the hardest time of all. You will relate to the hospice experience in my book--not just my Dad, but also coming upon a bird "hospice" situation... Thank you for your reflections Deb<br />Susan Ceruleanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14895347568193665247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-65266632279279689312020-08-02T12:44:32.405-04:002020-08-02T12:44:32.405-04:00Really, she was so interesting and wonderful. than...Really, she was so interesting and wonderful. thanks for sharing that sue!Lucy Burdette aka Roberta Isleibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04660402177299546055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-55831652372094776832020-08-02T12:15:56.458-04:002020-08-02T12:15:56.458-04:00P.S. Susan, I meant to say, I love your title, and...P.S. Susan, I meant to say, I love your title, and it makes perfect sense to me.Deborah Crombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16988750789088153601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-31432886640469246902020-08-02T12:14:02.625-04:002020-08-02T12:14:02.625-04:00Hank, what an amazing woman she was!Hank, what an amazing woman she was!Deborah Crombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16988750789088153601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-62106845648135068882020-08-02T12:13:11.944-04:002020-08-02T12:13:11.944-04:00Susan, congratulations on your beautiful book! And...Susan, congratulations on your beautiful book! And thank you for today's essay--you've provided my Sunday morning "moment of grace." I, too, have been a birder since my teens. My undergrad degree is in biology and my plan was to become an ornithologist. Obviously, life had other ideas, but birds are part of my daily joy. <br /><br />Both of my parents had dementia, so at first I wasn't sure that I could read your book, but having read your essay, I think it is a must for me. My parents caregivers were unfailingly kind, but what immediately sprang to my mind were the hospice nurses who cared for my mom the last few nights of her life. They were Nigerian, one had been a biologist there, the other a chemist. They were so kind as they supported my mom--and me--through to the end.<br /><br />And now I'm going to look up your book!Deborah Crombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16988750789088153601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-56522227225875520222020-08-02T12:06:53.775-04:002020-08-02T12:06:53.775-04:00Susan, you are incredible. This is the most touchi...Susan, you are incredible. This is the most touching and generous thing I have ever seen. Thank you. So honored that you would look for the book. Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07630366214207785339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-73030009010396881352020-08-02T10:32:01.200-04:002020-08-02T10:32:01.200-04:00Hank, I just looked her up. Talk about a kindred ...Hank, I just looked her up. Talk about a kindred spirit...I think we should celebrate Barbara Milman today, too....here's her obituary.<br /><br />Barbara Milman<br />1941-2019<br /><br />It was just a year before her death on July 24 that the artist Barbara Milman published "The Memory Palace", her illustrated novella "interweaving fantasy, the natural world," in the words of a reviewer, "and the reflections of a narrator who is facing death – her own and that of the planet—with courage, humor and outrage." She was 78.<br />The book capped Milman's double career, the first as a lawyer, beginning with civil rights work in the Mississippi of the 1960s; private practice with her first husband, Jonathan Shapiro, and others in Boston; as counsel to a Massachusetts Commission investigating corruption in the state's public housing program, and ending as chief counsel to the California Fair Political Practices Commission and its Assembly Rules Committee in 1993.<br />In 1994, she made a complete switch, quitting the bar to devote full time to the art that she said was always her great love, particularly printmaking and handmade artist's books, much of it created in her studio in El Cerrito, CA. Later she told an interviewer that her legal career was "a 25-year detour."<br />Over time, she produced more than 36 artist books in small editions. They are notable for their mix of printmaking, collage, and digital techniques, often in counterpoint with short but powerful texts and striking page designs. They're now in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Museum of Women in the Arts and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and figure in the Special Collections of over 35 university libraries. Perhaps her most important work was the artist's book "Light in the Shadows", later issued as an illustrated volume with the same name by Jonathan David Publishers.<br />She had scores of solo exhibitions, was artist in residence at institutions both in this country and in Europe, taught printmaking and won numerous awards.<br />"My printmaking," she wrote, "is based on traditional relief, especially linocuts, which I mix with other printmaking techniques, including digitally based methods. My artist's books combine hand printmaking with digital and photographic elements. I transfer images between the prints and the artist books. The works in the two media complement and reinforce each other."<br />But the art, like much of the legal work, was always infused with social passion, the Holocaust, prisoners' rights, and particularly, in recent years, the environment and the extinction of species. The ironic theme of "The Memory Palace" is a museum devoted to extinct birds and the stories they tell about their own extinction. Not coincidentally, perhaps, her second husband, Daniel Rancour-Laferriere, a writer and Russian scholar, whom she married in 1979, is a birder.<br />Barbara Milman was born on June 2, 1941, in Great Neck, N.Y., the daughter of Howard and Charlotte (Cohen) Milman. She is a graduate cum laude of Harvard in 1963 and of the Columbia University Law School, in 1966. She leaves her husband, two children, Paul Shapiro of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Lara Shapiro of Marina del Rey, CA., two grandchildren, a sister, Dorothy Mermin, of Ithaca, N.Y., and a brother, Andrew Milman of Melbourne, Fla.<br />Susan Ceruleanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14895347568193665247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-26299939014424410922020-08-02T10:29:08.040-04:002020-08-02T10:29:08.040-04:00What a story of a miracle. That's beautiful F...What a story of a miracle. That's beautiful Flora. Thank you for your support....Susan Ceruleanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14895347568193665247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-77480206522595701232020-08-02T10:28:09.168-04:002020-08-02T10:28:09.168-04:00Hank, I will order that tomorrow from my indie boo...Hank, I will order that tomorrow from my indie bookstore! Wow. Sounds amazing. All of these connections are so affirming. Thank you all so much for having me on your site. Susan Ceruleanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14895347568193665247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-11753064979347814642020-08-02T10:25:23.154-04:002020-08-02T10:25:23.154-04:00Susan, I am looking forward to reading your book a...Susan, I am looking forward to reading your book and sharing your journey through the pages. We have been extremely fortunate as a family--dementia has so far not affected our elders. During a difficult time near the end of our mother's life, a minister took the appearance of a rainbow as a blessing. He was able to give my mom the peace she was seeking. Shortly thereafter, my father was dying and wanted to come home from the hospital. The staff did not feel that he should be allowed to leave. It was hard to know what was best. A social worker spoke with us,and she was very sympathetic. A few minutes after she left us, she called on her cell phone. "Look out the window!" There was a rainbow, of course, covering the hospital. Her kindness has never been forgotten--she had heard the story of the first rainbow and thought seeing this one might be a sign to listen to what our hearts were telling us. And yes, we brought him home where he wanted to be. Flora Churchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13289148096894506235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-57448404583331365432020-08-02T10:02:19.199-04:002020-08-02T10:02:19.199-04:00Oh, your essay is so surprisingly peaceful, thank ...Oh, your essay is so surprisingly peaceful, thank you. I wish you could have met my husband‘s first wife – – I know that sounds strange but there you have it. She was lovely, A lawyer, who gave up practicing law to turn to her print making. She died a year ago, and before she did, she wrote a book called THE MEMORY PALACE, which is not only a chronicle of her understanding of her fatal disease, but about a woman who takes a job as a writer/historian at the museum of extinct birds. Please look up Barbara Milman’s book— I think she would have been another kindred spirit to you. And look, especially, at the cover. One of her prints, of a single bird. <br />So wonderful of you to be here today – – it is always a treat.Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07630366214207785339noreply@blogger.com