From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2012 #1051 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe:mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website:http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Tuesday, August 7 2012 Volume 2012 : Number 1051 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: The Tea Leaf Prophecy [Lieve Reckers ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2012 10:01:14 +0100 (BST) From: Lieve Reckers Subject: Re: The Tea Leaf Prophecy Mark, I don't think that any info in Mr Anderson's obit is any reason to ignore your beautifully written post! It does not matter if a particular theory may not be valid, the thought behind it is much more broad and remains valid. And it just reminded me of my favourite theory: everything is chaos and random good or bad luck, without much sense or justice, and still throughout this mess we should have our own imperative to "do the right thing" (i.e. to only do to others as we would wish to be done to us). So yes, we can probably all find terrible things like war or accidents which have set off good coincidences and meetings which may have led to the birth of a genius. But in the same way good intentions may have led to the birth of mass killers. There is just no justice... And still we should never stop trying to do the right thing... Just my quick personal reaction, maybe not in the direction you had in mind, but thanks for prompting a reaction at all, I feel like I am waking up! Big hug, Lieve >________________________________ > From: Mark >To: joni >Sent: Tuesday, 7 August 2012, 5:43 >Subject: Fw: The Tea Leaf Prophecy > >I looked at Mr. Anderson's obit again. Just ignore this email. > >-----Original Message----- From: Mark >Sent: Monday, August 06, 2012 9:10 PM >To: joni >Subject: The Tea Leaf Prophecy > >Like Lieve, I was beginning to wonder if I had anything left to contribute >to the JMDL. And every time anybody mentions Facebook here, I feel a slight >pang of guilt. > >Actually I've been in a funk about writing anything for awhile. I'm hoping >the fog in my brain is at least thinning enough to let a few things emerge. >I don't think I want it to completely burn off. The stark, unclouded vision >of what's in there might be too much for me. I sometimes fear that I live >too much in my own thoughts and I should come out more often before I forget >how. > >I finished another book on my bus to work this morning and, once again, it >triggered a Joni Mitchell ear worm without my even realizing it. The book >is 'Atonement' by Ian McEwan. There was a very good movie made out of it a >few years ago. Keira Knightly got some positive buzz out of it. Enough >time has gone by since I saw the movie to make the story seem fresh and the >book is very well written. The novel is set in England and begins just >before WWII. Of course, the war, the evacuation from Dunkirk in particular, >becomes a large factor in the plot. I had some recollection of the twist >that comes at the end of the story but it is revealed in a different manner >in the book and I was totally absorbed by it. I re-read the last few pages >on the bus home and it started my brain off in all kinds of different >directions. But underneath it all was the line, set to Joni's melody, >'study war no more, lay down your arms' and just like in 'The Tea Leaf >Prophecy' it repeated itself over and over. > >This has probably been discussed before and if I've written basically the >same thing before, all I can say is if I've written basically the same thing >before, all I can say is if I've written basically the same thing before.... > >The needle gets stuck in a groove sometimes, I guess. > >The line about Hiroshima in the final verse of the song is a strong >statement about the ultimate evil inherent in war. But if you think about >it, if it hadn't been for the war, there might not have been a 'young flight >sergeant on two weeks leave'. The man in question might not have been in >the military at all, let alone on two weeks leave. > >So Bill and Myrtle might never have met had there not been a WWII. > >It makes me wonder if 'study war no more' has a wee tinge of irony in it as >it repeats itself throughout the song. I am in no way implying that there >is a pro-war message there. Joni has made her feelings on that subject >clearly known almost from the start of her career. But I think the thought >must have crossed her mind at some point that she might not exist if that >huge historical event had not sent its waves of circumstance all the way to >Regina Saskatchewan back in 1943 and brought a man and a woman together . > >Mark in Seattle ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2012 #1051 ****************************** ------- To post messages to the list, sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------