Ten words meme. I begged Dave Schwartz to let me play and he gave me ‘B.’ If you comment on this post, I’ll give you a letter and you repeat the process.

Beer – I like all kinds, but prefer English ales like Newcastle and Bass and cheap American lagers like Old Style, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Miller High Life. In case you’re buying.

Bacchae – Euripides play is the best Greek tragedy has to offer, beating Oedipus Rex by a nose although Aristotle would disagree. The Bacchae are the priestesses of the god Bacchus, aka Dionysus. The play contrasts the rational world of civilized society, law, and morality with the unbridled force of chaotic nature and raw human emotion; and does so rather well. Young Pentheus attempts to control nature but only ends up compressing it; pressure builds and you know it’s going to explode with tragic consequence. As with a lot of ancient literature, just as powerful and meaningful today as it was a few thousand years ago especially with alarming concerns about the environment.

Back country – Camping to some people means pulling their car into a stall and lugging eighty pounds of crap twenty yards in three trips, stacking it on the picnic table next to the fire ring. This kind of outdoors experience has its place, but it pales in comparison with back country camping. I prefer the back country—the more remote the better and you’ve got nothing but your wits and whatever you carry on your back to get you through the day. All things being equal, I’ll take back country camping over car camping ten times out of ten and twice on Sundays.

Basil – A wonderful ingredient, “the king of herbs” in fact. The primary ingredient in pesto (yum!) and without it, a caprese salad would just be boring tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.

Bibliography – Something I frequently fret about, but I trust that if I have patience, love, and put in a lot of sweat, I can cultivate it and it will grow.

Bloodshed – Violence in real life sucks. Really it does. But it makes for a damn fine read. My favorite book of all time is The Iliad. It features some bloodshed. Okay, okay, it features a lot of bloodshed. In fact, there’s so much bloodshed as a result of Achilles grief-and-vengeance-driven assault on the Trojans that the hero nearly chokes the river Xanthus with the bodies of the dead. Perhaps my favorite chapter of any book of all time. Icelandic Sagas are pretty bloody too. Got your sheep grazing in the wrong field? Expect a hatchet in the brain. That’s the way things worked in medieval Iceland. And I don’t love “Conan the Barbarian” for Arnie’s acting range or the clever dialogue, either.

Buddhism – The only religion I could see myself practicing. At the core of Buddhism is the sublimation and eradication of the ego, which I find extraordinarily appealing. Buddhism is an anti-dominance religion as opposed to the monotheistic traditions, which are all about domination—domination of the earth, domination of non-believers. Whereas the monotheistic traditions teach that we’re divine while the world is corrupted and will some day be destroyed, Buddhism teaches that individual existence is an illusion and we’re all part of an endless flowing cycle, so it’s bad practice to shit where you eat, so to speak. There’s an annoying habit of romanticizing Eastern religions that I’m not trying promulgate here and I know that Buddhism has its warts as well, but in terms of theology and world view, I identify with Buddhism far more than with the big three monotheistic traditions.

Balder – For me, Balder is critical to understanding Norse mythology and the mindset that produced it. The lay person often finds Norse mythology to be a depressing drag because all the gods die in the end. I’d argue it’s a bit more complicated than that, as death is not really the end. There’s an old saying “Cattle die, kinsmen die, one day you die yourself; all that’s left of a man is his reputation.” Balder dies thanks to some treachery. It’s not fair and it’s not fun but it’s what happens. Yet Balder is forever remembered as being the best and the brightest of the gods. Fate decreed that he’d go in sudden, violent death and there’s no escaping that. Should fate take you tomorrow, what memory will you leave behind?

Ballast – I had a German teaching assistant who wanted us to write down German words we liked. I think he did a little psychoanalysis based on the results, but that stuck with me. Folks who know me well know that there are words I love and words I can’t stand. It has nothing to do with the meaning and everything to do with the way it comes off your lips. The word “ballast” is like that. It should mean something cooler, but what it does mean is heavy stuff you stick in the bottom of a boat to add stability. Fun to say, though.

Bears – I have an affinity for two animals in particular: wolves and bears (wolves moreso but I didn’t get “w” to work on, now did I?) I’ve said this elsewhere, but bears just seem to know what’s up. They’re kind of loners, they mostly want to be left alone, they’re resourceful (have you ever seen footage of bears getting food bags at Yosemite?) and you’d like to stay on their good side if at all possible. My first fiction sale was a sentimental story about a bear and a boy—sentimental but not at all gentle, which kind of sums up my feelings on them. We’d all love to pick up bear cub and cuddle it, right up to the moment it claws your face off.

There you have it—10 b-words and what they mean to me. Comment if you want to play.

Current Mood – Good |
Currently Listening To – The Clash – “Super Black Market Clash”