Contributions for the reading
Jonathan T
At the Aug 5 meeting, I was asked to curate the reading. The reading is a small but important part of our production, and I invite everyone who wants to to submit their choices. You have the world's English language literature to choose from, but here are some guidelines -- I know of no official Sunday Assembly guidelines, but they make sense to me.
1. The text to be read may be a poem, prose or an extract of a speech, but it must be capable of standing alone. It should relate in some way to the theme of the service, which on August 25 is "Helping more", I believe.
2. The text should be meaningful to the reader, otherwise it won't be meaningful to the audience. It should be read more slowly than normal reading speed to make it easier for the audience to grasp and relate to, and for the same reason it should be read expressively with attention to phrasing. If the reader can memorize the piece, so much the better.
3. The language should be simple but vivid. Pablo Neruda may have won a Nobel Prize, but you have to read his poems five times to figure out what he's trying to say – no good for our purposes.
4. There is a useful principle for helping an audience to get it: tell'em what you're going to tell'em, tell'em, then tell'em what you told'em. So the reading should first be introduced, then read, and possibly a few parting words can be added by the reader at the end.
5. The whole thing should take no more than 5 min.
Because many of you said you liked the poem I read last time, I'm posting it here together with the introduction.
I recognize that some people are not comfortable on stage. If you would like to choose the reading for someone else to read, that's fine too.
Please submit your choices by August 17. Thanks.
GodisaGUI
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sunday Assembly New York" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sunday-assembly-ne...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
<Building With Its Face Blown Off.docx>
Jonathan T
Joe Dixon
Still I Rise
by Maya AngelouYou may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.
--
Erik Campano
GodisaGUI
Sunday Assembly
Jonathan T
Around
Us by Marvin Bell
We need some pines to assuage the darkness
when it blankets the mind,
we need a silvery stream that banks as smoothly
as a plane's wing, and a worn bed of
needles to pad the rumble that fills the mind,
and a blur or two of a wild thing
that sees and is not seen. We need these things
between appointments, after work,
and, if we keep them, then someone someday,
lying down after a walk
and supper, with the fire hole wet down,
the whole night sky set at a particular
time, without numbers or hours, will cause
a little sound of thanks--a zipper or a snap--
to close round the moment and the thought
of whatever good we did.
Scott E. Weiner, Ph.D.
Justina Walford
On Thursday, August 8, 2013 7:38:41 PM UTC-4, Jonathan T wrote:
Jonathan T
Michael Dorian
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sunday Assembly New York" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sunday-assembly-ne...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
Jonathan Tobert
A regular physicist might well be fine as long as s/he can talk about some aspect of the Universe. Alternatively I know an astrophysicist in San Francisco who likely has colleagues in NYC he could recommend.
From: Michael Dorian [mailto:mdo...@bestweb.net]
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 2:00 PM
To: Jonathan T
Cc: sunday-assem...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Contributions for the reading
Great idea, but do we know any astrophysicists? I don't hang out with many of them, although I do know a regular physicist who might be able to do this...
Justina Walford
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Justina Walford
People used to tell me that I had beautiful hands.