Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh

Tag: inspiration

  • Through a Dog’s Eyes by Jennifer Arnold

    Through a Dog's EyesThrough a Dog’s Eyes by Jennifer Arnold

    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    If you are a dog person, reading this book will make you become better understanding of your dog or just any dog in sight – in his perspective. This book is written with knowledge and heart by Jennifer Arnold, the Executive Director of Canine Assistants, a school for educating dogs to help people with disabilities, including epilepsy, paralysis of broken spinal cords, and others that prevent them from functioning their ordinary tasks of daily lives . The author specifically emphasizes on the word “education” of her dogs, not “training” because the student dogs are taught to respond to foreseeable/unforeseeable situations that require their immediate problem-solving skills for the safety of their human partners based upon the author’s belief on ethology, the scientific and objective study of animal behavior, by incorporating Operant Conditioning method to modify a behavior by reinforcement and
    punishment.

    What Ms. Arnold avers in the book actually corroborates what I have always believed to be true: (1) that dogs do have feelings without filtering them through the intellect, which can be found in the cerebral cortex of human. But because of this absence, dogs are artless in expressing their emotions toward us; (2) that dogs’ characteristics of being loyal and empathetic indicates that consciousness, the state of being awake and aware, enables them to do what’s in the best interest of others; (3) that in no way, is a concept of “alpha dog” in a human-canine relationship useful or even sensical; and; (4) that operant conditioning with positive reinforcement (rewarding with a treat)  and negative punishment (not giving it) works the best to reinforce intended behaviors.

    You will find a kindred spirit in this book filled with laughters by the wonder dogs at the Canine Assistants, tears by the pains of those who were and are in need of their canine assistants, heartaches by those fallen dogs because of misunderstanding on our human parts, but most of all, joy by understanding our fido friends in their own paws.

  • You Learn by Living by Eleanor Roosevelt

    You Learn by LivingYou Learn by Living by Eleanor Roosevelt

    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    This book is not a feminist manifesto as most women would like it to be. The subject matter is not exclusive to women only. Rather than polarizing the class/gender stratifications, Mrs. Roosevelt speaks to all of her readers who feel less about themselves based upon their falsely limited views on representations of the reality. She was a Mother Figure to all Americans in  her time and still speaks to us through this book of the importance of human dignity and positive attitudinal values to appreciate what we already possess in us regardless of things that we cannot change beyond our control as by telling us “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Of all the towering glittering famous women, it’s the mind of Mrs. Roosevelt that scintillates with brilliance because of her compassion toward humanity combined with her intelligence, which has become a rarity in our time.

  • Sister Wendy’s Book of Muses by Wendy Beckett

    Sister Wendy's Book of MusesSister Wendy’s Book of Muses by Wendy Beckett

    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    If you are a lover of Greek mythology and also a fan of sister Wendy’s delightful world of art appreciation, the content of this book will endear it to you: each of the Nine Muses is shown in a beautiful ceramic figurine with a description of the accordant muse. These Nine Muses are: Kalliope (Calliope), epic poetry; Kleio (Clio), history; Ourania (Urania), astronomy; Thaleia (Thalia), comedy; Melpomene, tragedy; Polymnia (Polyhymnia), religious hymns; Erato, erotic poetry; Euterpe, lyric poetry; and Terpsikhore (Terpsichore), choral song and dance. Through the Nine Muses, we seek inspiration from outside to invoke our artistic spheres from within. The gem of this book of Muses is sister Wendy’s insightful narrative of the names and attributes of the Muses in the context of regarding the realm of human intellect and arts. This is a very lovely book filled with beautiful photos of the Muses and the author’s personal reflections on human nature and creativity.

  • My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen

    My Life in Dog YearsMy Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen

    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    Reading this book is like listening to Mr. Paulsen’s tale of wondrous dogs he has encountered in his life: His colloquial English writing style is all the more realistic and straightforwardly addressed to readers’ hearts, leaving strong imprints in their minds without elaborate metaphor. Mr. Paulsen introduces his readers to the dogs that have provided his life with compassion, loyalty, faithfulness, and joy, the virtues which only humans are thought to be endowed with. Take Ike, the black Lab who appeared out of the blue to console the author’s lonely heart and become a good friend; and Josh, an incredibly smart and remarkably faithful Border Collie, who was not only a good herding dog but also a loyal friend. I would dare say that these wonder dogs were his saving grace that helped him to find his calling as a fine American writer.

  • My offbeat review of Thunder Dog

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    Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson is a book of manifold genre: part memoir of a brave man who has risen above the obstacles, part an educational guide for the role of a Seeing Eye dog for the blind in our society, and part a great adventure story about two parters in action. The story of Mr. Hingson and his faithful dog Roselle is at once undeniably heartwarming  in describing how they stuck together in times of great distress and heart wrenching in unfolding prejudice that Mr. Hingson and Roselle  faced as a blind person and a service dog.

    michael hingstonMr. Hingson is truly someone I can look up to because despite his blindness, he did not escape from reality but always tried to do whatever he could to the extent possible among. Of course, there was a great family support who always treated him as if  he had been a sighted person. But still the author had to do all things by himself outside the safety of home, such as bicycling around  his town as a kid against the biased complaints from the neighbors who were afraid of any damages that the blind kid would cause on a bike. But Mr. Hingson did not yield to such unfair glances and kept on going. This is just one of many episodes that manifested Mr. Hingson’s resilient and brave spirit. Eventually, he graduated from university with a summa cum laude distinction and went on to become a regional manager of a company.

    hingson-roselle-6Roselle was  the author’s guide dog that stayed with Mr. Hingson at the time of 9/11 tragedy in the World Trade Center. The author narrated that Rosell was not alarmed but behaved normally even while they were evacuating from the building after it had been hit by the hijacked airplane. (The only thing that made Roselle agitated was thunder because according to the author, thunder ionized the air with the formation of ozone, which produced a distinctive smell of the weather condition unpleasant to her. ) In fact, Roselle was more of a partner to  Mr. Hingson in tackling challenges that both of them encounter ed in daily life.

    hingson-roselle-5-small

    For instance, when Mr. Hingson went to a restaurant with his company, waiters/waitresses ignored his presence and instead took the orders from other people with him. As for Roselle, many stores denied her access to the premises even though she was a working service dog. Nevertheless, the duo soldiered on in fulfilling the demands placed on their daily tasks to keep their lives moving on.

    Now Roselle is not here with us in this world any longer, and Mr. Hingson has a new guide dog named “Africa”. But the legacy of the brave duo as battle buddies in life still lingers in my heart. Since reading this book, I have learned that (1) there are no huge differences between the sighted and the blind in performing ordinary daily functions; (2) the blind should be treated just like our ordinary neighbors without condescending manners and biases; (3) the usual life span of a service dog is 10 years because of stress accumulated by years of sacrifice that it makes for the protection of its owner; and (4) when a handler/owner walks, he should keep his left foot by the front right paw of his dog.  Thunder Dog is a wonderful book about this incredible duo in their voyage of life together.