How far shall I tread upon the road to Alpine Path
As rigid as the road to Delphi days and nights
Across a wilderness of delights decayed in weary wrath,
To reach the peaks splendid in secret triumphs?
Tag: writer
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My Alpine Path
from google -
Rational Optimist
Paul was still struggling to repel a hangover from last night’s spirited social with the town’s business committee chaired by Kohn Elephant at his elegant mansion. It was a nice occasion to meet with other men of his age who owned means of business either solely or jointly in the town. Besides, such evening social could provide Paul a chance to get away from Pula’s tittle-tattling about drudgery of household management, such as a need to have a leaking sink pipe fixed, writing checks for their monthly dues, setting up a weekly sales agenda for their Bonjour Cake Shop. Paula may be an excellent housewife dedicated to the wellbeing of her family with frugality, she seemed to be out of touch with sweet malibriety that had delighted Paul before their daughter Laura was born. That was what Paul was missing from Paula. That was what kept himself away from Paula.
“I will have a slice of Pecan Pie and a cup of cafe au lait.” Paul ordered his staple morning diet at La Boum and then started reading the newest issue of the Times. He scanned the front page to see if there was anything interesting except articles regarding sports, entertainment, and politics – yes, politics, which Aristotle once said that anyone not interested in politics should be either a divine being or a beast. Paul was unsure of which of the kinds he would belong to, depending upon his mood of a day, but it wasn’t simply his cup of tea because it’s all a reality show. Of course, Paul being a good citizen casts his vote in gubernatorial, mayoral, general, not to mention, presidential elections. But the idea of politics as a subject looks too grim and pompopus and prepertorial. Paul’s vision of the world is of a Rational Optimist equipped with bookish knowledge and abstract ideas about humanity balanced with his sharp intelligence.However, Paul loves to read about those farcical world leaders whose scurrilous remarks on their political nemesis done in equally outrageous gestures or facial expressions all in captured in the eye of camera. At the moment, Paul’s prime interest was fixated on Jong-Un Kim, the puffed up man in anachronistic Mao suit tyrannizing the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. That fat man sure had guts to defy the international rules and regulations to respect human rights in all defiant manners. Paul thought to himself while reading an article about Kim’s turning surly over the joint military drills executed by U.S. and S. Korea last week. You gotta be kidding, Paul could not believe that this so-called a leader of a nation could possible act like a spoiled kid. And Paul would love to discipline him by every possible civil means of chastisement. For what else can work for such a short-fused, ruthless despot running his country as it were a huge concentration camp – a bigger, more surreal version of Far Eastern Auschwitz camp? Paul was also going to follow up on whether or not the US – North Korea summit meeting on disband N. Korea’s nuclear programs would be indeed held on June 11th in Singapore, a rich city-state in Far East because he would love to know if Kim would show up in a Mao suit again at such a historic meeting. He would bet $50.00 for Kim’s materialization in the ugly communist uniform.
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Caligula: A Life From Beginning to End by Hourly History
Caligula: A Life From Beginning to End by Hourly HistoryMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
For nearly two thousand years, Ancient Rome was a great arena of fearless political gladiators whose ambitious instincts to rule the world coincided with epochal shifts in demography and geopolitics in the regions it had conquered. No wonder the history of Ancient Rome is fraught with memorable figures whose names are immortalized in a variety of literary forms: Plays, Poems, Paintings, and Films depict the deeds and actions of these men of exceptional characters, one of whom is unforgettable Caligula as elegantly narrated in Caligula by Hourly History.
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was born in 12 A.D. The nickname “caligula” derived from caliga, meaning “little military boot” was attached to him as a term of endearment as Caligula accompanied his father Germanicus on the military campaign to Germania at the age of two attired in a full soldier’s uniform. In fact, Germanicus was a renowned Roman general whose valor was second to none and very popular among soldiers and citizenry. Perhaps it was this great popularity that caused his demise and the tragic end of his beloved family under the rule of Tiberius, the second emperor, the successor of the first emperor Caesar Augustus (which also indicates that Caligula was a distant nephew of Julius Caesar.) It was believed that Piso was responsible for the assassination of Germanicus out of jealousy and imprisonment of the family except Caligula who had managed to escape the arrest by fleeing to Tiberius in Capri when his mother Agrippina the Elder and his two elder brothers were horribly mistreated in prison and beaten to death. And it was this Tiberius who named the only living son of the popular Germanicus to be his successor – the third emperor.
Thus Caligula’s rise to the throne of the emperor was the sine qua non of the tumulus aftermath as a result of his father’s death that rekindled the ember of political intrigues of the Senate and the Praetorian Guard. What’s more, the first six months of Caligula’s reign was regarded as quite innovative and auspicious. With a huge sum of money in the Roman Treasury, Caligula’s achievements included the following: 1) to reinstate the popular vote allowing all citizens to speak in the government process; (2) to make the ledgers of the use of treasury funds public; (3) to raise the salaries and provide bonuses to every branch of military; and (4) to recall all those who had been exiled under Tiberius.
According to a popular theory, Caligula was struck with a serious mental illness eight months after his enthronement. Some say that Caligula suffered from a lifelong epilepsy as evidenced by his having never learnt to swim, whereas swimming was a popular form of exercise at the time. It was also this time when Gemellus, the young grandson of Tiberius who had supposed to co-rule with Caligula was executed under his order along with Caligula’s father-in-law and brother-in-law with his younger sisters being sent into exile. However, curiously enough, he saved his uncle Claudius, who had been afflicted with a serious illness that left him with a severe limp and partial deafness.
Caligula’s stupendousness of eccentricity continued in building two large ships for personal use, one of which was a floating palace and erecting many monuments commemorating himself as well as theaters, temples, and entertainment complexes for his personal use at the expense of the treasury funds. Furthermore, by 40 AD Caligula proclaimed himself to be a god in attempt to dictate religious aspects into political policies by beginning to refer to himself as “Jupiter” in public documentation while still alive.
However, the reign of Caligula’s pseudo-theocracy met its end when Cassius Chaerea, a member of the Praetorian Guard, and his accomplices faced Caligula during a public event held in honor of Augustus and stabbed the emperor until he fell to the ground and breathed no more. It was only three years and ten months that Caligula ruled the young empire and it was how it was ended.
Caligula by Hourly History is a comparatively light read, written in plain English from insightful views on the notorious emperor Caligula based upon factual analysis and historical backgrounds that help the reader understand the cohesiveness of how Caligula rose to power in the turbulent time of political intricacies, which might have caused the young and impetuous emperor to be agitated and anxious evermore as his ambition to emulate the ruling style of Augustus and the popularity of his beloved father clashed with a harsh reality. Caligula’s acting upon instincts or “guts” did not work out for him because of his trauma as a result of the tragedy of his once beloved family in combination with his impulsive temperament that needed a wise guardian to tame it. If you have heard about Caligula but do not know much about him other than you have seen him in movies, which have a tendency to portray him as a downright madman indulging in every form of debauchery you can possibly imagine, this is the read you can enjoy in your spare time at one sitting.
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Elephant Effect
The Elephants are a new family joining an illustrious body of residents of Avonlea. They are from Cape Town,, South Africa, where English is the official language, which makes them easily acculturated to the new environment. The Elephants are shown here they landed at Montgomery Airport named after the founder of Avonlea, “Lucy Maud Montgomery,” located 3 miles away from Avonlea.
This is Mr. John Elephant, the patriarch of the family. Born in September 26th, 1959 to a wealthy family of Old Money (his father was the 5th Earl of Greensleeves Castle in Yorkshire who moved to South Africa upon marrying a beautiful but impecunious American journalist named Judy Shue), John was educated as best as his wealthy father could afford him ) in England by graduating from Oxford University with a B.A. in English in aspiration of becoming a journalist as his American mother used to. However, his innate filial duty that appeared only too well incumbent upon him after his father told him to take care of their assets in the family’s trust fund that had been kept intact for three centuries since their ancestor Earl Richard Elephant set it up following a windfall of great successes in The East India Company in the 17th Century. With such enterprising blood running in the veins, John has become a successful real estate developer since the 90s and wants to expand his business territory by coming to Avonlea under the privilege of dual citizenship permitted by the South African government.
This is Mrs. Rachel Elephant, the efficient secretary of the home office of the family. She is also an excellent homemaker who manages all the affairs concerning the logistics of the household and attends to the care of each family member with Charity, Faith, and Hope, the capital Christian Values ornamented by her high intelligence fabulously brilliant all the more by her unassuming witty character. Rachel worked her way through college by working at Delano’s Italian Bakery, where she learned how to make the best cannolis and Amaretto cookies, which she sometimes seels at local charity events. She is also an avid reader of nonfiction books, such as essays by the 19th Century writers, history books on the Ancient Near East, the Classical Greece and Greek, and books on supernatural phenomena.
Eli Elephant is the first-born child of John and Rachel, so naturally, she basks in their all attentions and expectations. Any child in that environment will often express his stress from such parental yearnings and revolts against the parents even at the early stage of life. But Not Elie, whose filiality is inherited from her father and whose intelligence mixed with a good heart passed down from her mother. She is also something of a social worker, for anyone she sees so pitiful that the sight of the person is registered in her mind, is in her good care. Elie goes out of her way by asking her father to help the person in distress or in a dire need, such as not raising a monthly rent fee for senior citizens subsisting solely and only on their Social Security Benefits and Supplemental Income Aid.
So our Joe Elephant is the youngest but the most adventurous of Elephant Clan. Like his grandfather who used to appear on the east of the Sun one one day, and the west thereof on the other day, Joe likes to venture all things worthy of winning his recognition as well as interest by himself. So it is a family norm to accept Joe’s spirit of adventure as a brilliant legacy of the Elephant Family as aforesaid in the case of Earl Richard Elephant and his Great East Indian Expedition in the 17th Century. In addition thereto, Joe is adroita at making friends with anyone anywhere without a shade of prejudice based upon a creed, status, or appearance because that is how his parents have taught so far. As the say, “A tree is known by its fruits,” a child is a mirror of what his parents are and what they want to be. It’s not his peers, or teachers at schools, or actors/actresses on screen that influence a child’s learning and modus operandi of dealing with the everyday life. In this respect, both John and Rachel have been doing great in inculcating the moral and ethical values in their son as well as daughter.
Now that the Elephants have made Avonlea their new home sweet home. they will continue to live according to their moral principles based upon Christian Values and the family legacy spanning over 400 years. John does not forget to remind himself of the family mottos of “Quand Je Puis,” meaning in French “As much as I can. and “Have patience with all things, but first with yourself,” which is actually a famous quotation from St. Francis de Sales. And with these in mind, John looks to the future with Hope and Faith and is ready to hit a new road again -with his dear family, as a;ways – as ever.
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Spring! Spring! Spring!
from google The Light of the Sun
Lifts Cloaks of Heaven.
Earth Sings a New Season. -
Afternoon at the Museum
from google Herewith an ancient Grecian urn,
An ancient spirit of an unknown poet
Pines for the Divine Mania to inurn
The Great Four Madnesses as yet.Against a Circle of Time ever more,
His pursuit of the Great Mania restless
And undead forever haunting thereafter
Circles an epicycle orb in orb timeless.The Religious Madness from Dionysius – He knows no believing.
The Poetic Madness from the Muses – He looks to elsewhere.
The Madness of Love from Aphrodite – He experiences no feeling.
The Pythia’s Inspiration from Apollo – He turns to elsewhere.Wherefore the poet runs after the Great Mania,
The delusion of Perfection still orbits the urn
In a room of Ancient Gallery of misty panorama
Of the incessant enthusiasm for the Great to yearn.
Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh 
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