The Ruth Project: Part 1


 

Seeds: From Another Garden

   i think this project actually began last November. Eva Etzioni-Halevy's novels in our local library may have been its genesis.

   Actually it was the not-Ruth novel, The Song of Hannah, that i read first. It upended all i had been taught about Hannah, Elkanah's the barren wife.  Wasn't she the first, older wife? And Peninnah the sharp-tongued, the second, younger wife, mother of Elkanah's children?

   Well, yes, to some of the assumptions. Peninnah has the children, she makes Hannah's life miserable (but maybe Hannah would've been miserable without Peninnah's needling? i can totally see Peninnah's "needling" as an attempt to say Hannah had the better lot in life.)

   Etzioni-Halevy's novel turns the situation on its head. She depicts Hannah, at her best friend Pninah's wedding, determining to also marry the attractive groom.

   The The Garden of Ruth had a similarly unsuspected premise: 

Now all is said & done. . . .

  Yeah right.  Anyway, the election is over.
  It's been weird in lots of ways.  Congratualations to the hard work of volunteers to get people to the polls.  Which led to another weirdness:  as i was struggling to get ready & out the door, a volunteer called me to remind me to vote.
  Seems like most everyone i voted for lost.  Not surprising, considering my fondness for 3rd parties, and things in general.
  i was mainly sad that the candidate whom i perceived as slinging the most mud - first - won his race.
  But i've never really had a major candidate i supported win.  There were lots whom i thought would, in office, be the ruin of us all.  And everyone was better than i expected.
  May it be so this time also.

Election Day

  Lots of us disagree about a lot of things.  We may not disagree about as much as the media has fanned us to think we do.
  Even if you can't decide which candidate might be "the lesser of two evils," get out there & vote. 
 There's lots of other offices to fill, and some of us have issues, judges, or school boards to vote for or against.
  Make sure you count.