wildaspie

In this season of remembrance and thanksgiving, a common but seldom noted tradition is the Dumb Feast.

A Dumb Feast is a way to show that those separate from the family due to distance, duty, or death are not forgotten.  Most often, their continued presence in the hearts and thoughts of those celebrating is shown by setting an extra place at the gathering’s table, just as if the missing party will arrive and partake of the meal with hir loved ones.

In some cultures, food is even portioned to the extra setting; this has old roots in sacrifice gestures, when, despite scarcity of food, it is still shared with the memory – spirit – of those who cannot attend in the flesh.  It also happens sometimes that at the end of the meal, the offering is burned, with the thought that the smoke will carry the thoughts of love and well-wishes to the absent, wherever they may be.

Haiku is a Japanese poetry form utilizing a strict meter, consisting of a first line of five syllables, a second of seven syllables, and a final line of five syllables.

For example:

It’s five-seven-five

Meter, with or without rhyme

Often about stuff.

Twitter is a popular Internet social connection service, where users can send “tweets” (messages of no more than 140 characters) to their network, or “followers.” Part of Twitter’s popularity is that these messages can be sent from mobile devices like cellular phones, making up-to-the-minute updates possible. And, best of all, it’s free.

As a Twitter user, I see a lot of brief “this is what I’m doing” messages from my network. It’s dry stuff, really. So one morning I decided I’d arrange my update in haiku. And I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s a little bit of something different that can bring a smile.

And I’d like to invite everyone to join in for a day. On Sunday, November 16, 2008, it would be a blast to see what happens when Twitter goes haiku.

The “new” scam we’re being alerted about is the “Door-to-Door” sales/charity scam.

The perpetrator will claim to be selling books, magazines, or other items from a catalog, often with a story about earning college tuition, benefiting a charity, or other benevolent or educational goals.

They ask for cash, and can be very insistent about getting orders. They will often lie about living in the area, as people tend to be less suspicious of supposed neighbors than utter strangers.

However, these crafty thieves are only lining their own pockets, and there is no fundraiser or tuition.

Fortunately, there is a simple way to stop these con-artists cold, as well as helping out legitimate earners. Most communities require solicitors to register before they start going door-to-door. It’s a simple process usually completed in five minutes at the local police station, and all one needs is a photo ID to register.

If some one, of any age, knocks at your door with a sales catalog, ask to see their copy of the registration. If they don’t have one, let them know they need one. If they are just out to rip people off, they will leave. In that case, help your community by calling the non-emergency line of your police department, and give a description of the perpetrator. You could end up protecting a neighbor whose heart is in the right place but couldn’t recognize a scam when it came calling.