Brilliant Thoughts by Ashleigh Brilliant Born London, 1933. Mother Canadian. Father a British civil servant. World War II childhood spent mostly in Toronto and Washington, D.C. Berkeley PhD. in American History, 1964. Living in Santa Barbara since 1973. No children. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots”, now a series of 10,000. Email ashleigh@west.net or visit www.ashleighbrilliant.com
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ou’ve probably heard Ogden Nash’s immortal observation on the relative merits of two different methods of seduction: Candy is dandy, But liquor is quicker. Unfortunately, he omitted a third well-known amatory aid, which I now offer you as a suggested last line: And FLOWERS HAVE POWERS. I myself have never been particularly susceptible to those powers – but it is only too obvious how many people are. Remarkably, flowers are apparently appropriate for practically any occasion, from welcomes and weddings to farewells and funerals. How did flowers become such a strong draw? So much so that today State Parks officials have had to set roadblocks to keep Instagrammers in quarantine away from the Super Bloom? The slogan “Say it with flowers” goes back to a Boston advertising professional named Major Patrick O’Keefe, and was his very apt response, in 1917, to a request for help by the publicity chairman of the Society of American Florists. Before long, it had been adopted by the “Florists Telegraph Delivery Association,” soon to be known by its initials as the “FTD.” But the idea of saying it with flowers had a much longer history. You may remember Ophelia’s flowery delirium in the fourth act of Hamlet, which includes her musings that Rosemary is “for remembrance,” and Pansies are “for thoughts.” By the nineteenth century such notions had crystallized into a pseudo-science called “Floriography,” whereby elaborate messages might be sent back and forth based on a choice of flower combinations, a form of sensory semaphore. One might expect flowers to have been widely celebrated in poems – but there is only one that has achieved the status of a classic – the 1802 piece by Wordsworth which begins, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” and is about his coming unexpectedly upon a dazzling array of daffodils. Flowers have however been associated with all kinds of cults and movements, such as Oscar Wilde’s Aestheticism, which Gilbert and 30 April – 7 May 2020
Sullivan satirized in their comic opera Patience: Though the Philistines may jostle, you will rank as an apostle in the high aesthetic band, If you walk down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily in your Medieval hand. Much later, of course, we had the hippie “Flower Children” of the 1960s, and their naïve belief (as they stuck flowers into soldiers’ rifles) that “Flower Power” could stop the Vietnam War. But half a century earlier, at the time of World War I, some darker imagery had emerged, and that conflict will always be associated with poppies, because of a poem by John McCrea which begins: In Flanders fields, the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place. (Flanders was a part of Belgium in which much of the fighting took place. McCrea, a doctor with the Canadian troops, died in France in 1918, the last year of the war.) As a result of that poem, the poppy has ever since been recognized in much of the world as the official flower of wartime remembrance – even after a second and much longer World War. I myself, as a teenager in London in the late 1940s, can remember serving as one of hundreds of volunteers standing on the street on November 11 (“Armistice Day” as it was then still known) selling red artificial poppies (made by wounded veterans, and sold for their benefit) to passers-by, who then wore them for the rest of the day. But poppies come in a wide variety of colors, and here in California they are mainly, and appropriately “golden.” And we must not overlook one widely-publicized use of poppyseeds, as a source of various narcotics. (You may remember that drug-laced Yul Brynner film, The Poppy is Also a Flower.) But what is it about flowers that gives them so much appeal to so many people? Is it the colors? The variety? The fragrance? Their simple innocence? One thing you can be sure of: it is not all for our benefit. In fact, it has nothing to do with us at all. It is
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California will be the first state to pay restaurants to feed seniors. he pandemic has been devastating for the service industry, causing restaurants to close their doors and lay off workers. In an attempt to get restaurants rehiring workers right away, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a new aid program in which California will team up with the federal government to pay restaurants to provide three meals a day to seniors. The partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state, and local governments will provide eligible seniors with 21 meals a week, Newsom said. FEMA will cover 75 percent of the costs of the meals. The state will cover most of the remaining costs, and restaurants would be reimbursed at rates of $16 for breakfasts, $17 for lunches, and up to $28 for dinners. According to Newsom, the program is a first of its kind in the nation, tackling three key problems: skyrocketing unemployment, municipal budget shortfalls, and protecting seniors.
“Restaurants Deliver: Home Meals for Older Californians” is a first of its kind program tackling three key problems: skyrocketing unemployment, municipal budget shortfalls, and protecting seniors.
Governor Newsom said there will be eligibility requirements for seniors, based in part on their income but also based on their risk of exposure to COVID-19 – if they have a compromised immune system or if they have been directly impacted or exposed to the coronavirus – a distinction that will be determined by local authorities. Newsom also noted that the costs of meals will generate tax revenue for local governments. The program is called “Restaurants Deliver: Home Meals for Older Californians,” and you can find more information about it at covid19.ca.gov. A six-year-old is running a joke stand to keep his neighbors laughing. In Canada, a six-year-old by the name of Callaghan McLaughlin has taken to heart the old wisdom that laughter is the best medicine. For the past week, the youngster has been running a joke stand at the end of his driveway, offering free laughs to his neighbors and passersby. Through his joke stand, Callaghan has been able to regain the joy of interacting with neighbors – something his mother says he was sorely missing. Callaghan opens his stand at 10 am and manages about an hour of wisecracks before taking a “12-minute” lunch break (his mom says it’s closer to 90 minutes). Then Callaghan comes back for a second round of yucks in the afternoon, telling one-liner jokes he memorized from a kid-friendly joke book. Here’s a joke out of Callaghan’s catalog: “What’s a pirate’s favorite letter?” Wait for it. “Arghhh.” Although Callaghan has been working his joke stand seven days a week, the little man thought it was important to offer his service for free. “I want people to save their money for other things,” he said. “Some people need money for groceries now instead of jokes.” •MJ just one of Nature’s numerous enticements for reproduction. As for innocence, I must conclude by telling you about my own favorite flower, a beautiful life-form which has the odd capacity of being able to catch, eat, and digest flies. In other words, it is carnivorous. It is called the Venus Fly-trap – and although its lifestyle may sound as strange and
• The Voice of the Village •
exotic as Dracula’s, this flowering plant is actually native to North and South Carolina. It is also a remarkably intelligent trapper, being able to distinguish between a fly and a raindrop. Ogden Nash may have opted for sugar and alcohol, but those seeking to arouse the most genuinely passionate responses would surely favor the power of the flower. •MJ MONTECITO JOURNAL
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