Blog Entries from Louanne Learning

  1. My Review of Things Fall Apart

    “We’re the ones who fuckin’ gave all y’all the freedom that you got!” ~ A white woman yelling at a group of African American protesters after the police shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri. I’m sorry to begin my review with such an ugly quote, but that’s where we’re at now. Chinua Achebe’s masterful and hard-hitting novel, Things Fall Apart, takes us back to an earlier chapter, to life in the nine self-governing villages of Umuofia, Nigeria, before the arrival of the...
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  2. If a flamingo gets in your yard

    If a flamingo gets in your yard If a flamingo gets in your yard, don’t shoo it away. There’s no need to fear. Cautiously approach, and take some time to really notice it. Pink is a comforting colour, after all. There’s an elegance in their long necks and long legs. Appreciate how it is formed. If there are two flamingos, even better. When the two of them get together, beak to beak, and breast and breast, they make a heart, and we all know what that means. If a flamingo gets in your yard,...
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  3. Things that you can’t have just one of…

    Things that you can’t have just one of… Top of everyone’s list is chips (crisps in the UK). That intoxicating mixture of fats and carbs gets me every time. I’m a kettle-chip lover, salt and vinegar. Not everyone likes the vinegar chips, but they are my favourite. And of course chocolate. I got a good supply of Lindt Lindor chocolates for Christmas. Can’t eat just one. Maybe some people can, but I bet it takes will power. Cups of coffee. Gotta have three or four every morning. Recent...
  4. Perfect Bananas

    Perfect Bananas Can you imagine them? Without blemish or bruise or speckle, a uniform yellow colour, maybe a hint of green at the corners and stems. Perfect bananas are rare. Not surprising, considering the long journey they make from where they grew to where they will meet their fate. But I can really appreciate a perfect banana. It’s a thing of surreal beauty. Look at it, resplendent in its excellence. Slightly curved, like a knowing grin. Really something to look at. Kinda showing off....
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  5. Concepts

    Concepts A concept is whatever my mind can conjure. A mental picture. I have a concept of a cat. It is a four-legged, furry creature, purrs, smaller than a dog. I base that concept on observation. I have a concept of freedom. This requires a lot more input. Freedom is the absence of outside restraints. Freedom is the realization of who my most authentic self is. Freedom releases me. Freedom is valued. Concepts are formed in different ways. The more abstract the concept, the more thinking...
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  6. Random Thoughts on Intentions

    Random Thoughts on Intentions Intentions are abstract things. The idea before execution. The starting point. Intentions are the necessary precursor to action. There can be no movement without first intention. Intentions alone have no movement. They sit. Intentions do not count if they collapse in on themselves. Intentions are always stated in the future tense. “I will…” or “I’m going to…” Intentions are an investment in the future. Intentions require vision. You have to see something...
  7. Awakening

    Awakening I don’t know where I came from, and I don’t know where I’m going when I die. But for this brief interlude, I am here. My body is my home. I have a sense of home in myself. Each day brings new learning. I awaken to being wrong, I awaken to being right, I awaken to dawning truths I had never considered. In sleep, there are limits. Blind spots in our perception. How can you answer the question – What if? – if your senses are not on alert, if you are not fully awake? Did you even...
  8. Figuring Out My Relationship with God

    Figuring Out My Relationship with God Don’t know what’s got into me but I want to go back to church. I used to go to mass every Sunday with my mother and it felt like going home sitting beside her in the pew in the same church in which I was baptized, confirmed and got married. But then Covid hit and we stopped going. And then we entered the worst part of my husband’s battle with MS which ended with his death in September of 2021, and my faith was shook up bad. There was no God in what...
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  9. In Praise of Imperfection

    In Praise of Imperfection Years ago, I read that, in some cultures, a vase that has been cracked and repaired is considered more beautiful than a perfect specimen. The imperfection tells a story of triumph. “I have suffered, but I have survived.” Battle scars are to be worn proudly. It’s the imperfection that adds depth to the piece. Imperfection is a lot more interesting than perfection. Otherwise, what would we gossip about? But seriously, what is perfectionism but an attempt to...
  10. Questions and Statements

    We are born asking questions. My mother likes to tell the story of newborn me being placed in her arms for the very first time. The memory is engraved in her heart and in her mind, such a strong impression it made. The little bundle I was looked her right in the eye, asking, “Well, you’ve got me now. What are you going to do with me?” And ever since, I have been asking, “What does this mean?” Where do questions come from? A need to know and understand. Curiosity, surely. Riddle me this,...
  11. Wishes

    Wishes When I was about ten years old, I was stopped in the school hallway by a classmate. She asked me to make a wish and share it with her. I didn’t play along. I supplied no wish. “I know it won’t come true,” I said. The first wish that had come to my mind was that a much-loved uncle who had recently died, very suddenly, had not died at all. But even at that age, I understood, that wishes had no power over what already was. The past cannot be re-written. Don’t waste your wishes there....
  12. Wild Woman – A message to women

    Wild Woman – A message to women You know her. She lives inside of you. She is your instinct and intuition. She is the experiences and lessons of your ancestors encoded in your DNA. If you trust her, and let her live, you can be your authentic self. Hell with dogma. If you let her come to the surface, you will realize all your original gifts. Folklore is rich in the psychology of women. For this reason, I encourage you to get a copy of and read Women Who Run With the Wolves, by Clarissa...
  13. Symmetry

    Symmetry Our psychology seeks symmetry. Pattern and balance feel right. We want our forces to complement one another. Excesses and deficiencies make us lopsided. Irregularity and unpredictability get us off our game. Sight brings us butterflies, flowers and snowflakes, and lovely human faces, all ordered and proportionate. The symmetry we see is appealing. As symmetrical beings, we fit well in a symmetrical world. The familiarity is comforting. I can feel symmetry when I am moving,...
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  14. The Truth

    The difficulty with fiction is that it must be written as if it were true. This means the story must be believable when put up against what we already know. We create an imagined reality that must present as real. Some parts are easier to make real than others. Plot, check. Setting, check. For me, the hardest thing to make real are the characters. People are so darn complicated! Reality lies in consistency. I can’t have an ambitious Aries suddenly become a serene Taurus suddenly become an...
  15. Random Thoughts on Want and Need

    Human motivation is created by wants and needs. Want and need both signal a deficit, but want is beyond need. Need is core, bones and meat. Want is extra, frills and lace. Frustrated wants bring on disappointment. Frustrated needs can harm body, mind and soul. You can live without what you want, but not without what you need. Wants and needs can feel the same in your body, a yearning that stretches to the limbs. What we want does not always equal what we need, although either can be...
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