Jackson Community Church

Summit, Spirit, Sky: connect to community and creation!

10th Annual Plant Sale

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Calendar, Home

Annual Fundraising Plant Sale @ Jackson Community Church: rain or shine!
Saturday, May 18th
9am-12

Remember the Missions’ team PLANT SALE this Sat, May 18 from 9am-Noon.

Donations of plants gratefully accepted throughout this week: please leave them under the outside stairwell by the church. We will water them. If you drop off plants, please label them with the popsicle sticks provided.

On Saturday, come find a treasure for your yard, garden, or indoor living space! Cuttings, seedlings, mature plants … all kinds of special greens from flowers to greenery to vegetables!Great event for folks looking to add something to yard, garden, or home are welcome to come find a wonderful array of cuttings, seedlings, and mature plants. Come early for best selection!

All proceeds from the plant sale support international relief efforts this year, under the guidance of JCC’s Missions team

For questions call / text Gloria Hutchings.

Events with JCC and around town: Mon, May 13 – Sun, May 19

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Calendar, Home

MON, May 13

  • Community Event: FAMILY STORIES at the WHITNEY
    6:30-8:30pm • Whitney Community Center

    • The Program is FREE and unlimited, so feel free to invite others you know who might be interested in attending.
    • Family Stories: How and Why to Tell Them
      • Telling personal and family stories is fun – and much more. Storytelling connects strangers and strengthens links between generations with vivid descriptions of ideas, beliefs, personal experiences, and life-lessons. In this active and interactive program learn foolproof ways to develop and tell meaningful stories.
      • This program is funded by NH Humanities and taught by Jo Radner, a storyteller (who will be telling one of her favorite stories), oral historian, and author, is FREE and runs Monday, May 13 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Whitney Community Center.
      • Not required, but to help us better plan Click Here to sign up.
      • NOTE: If there is enough interest the Whitney Community Center will be planning Quarterly Storytelling Gatherings; think “The Moth”.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
    2-8pm • Bartlett Library

TUE, May 14

  • WAY STATION Bd of Dir MTG
    8-10am • Zoom

    • Bd of Directors and staff meet via zoom monthly.
    • Rev Gail and congregation members serving as officers of this nonprofit attend.
  • FITNESS with Laurie McAleer
    9:30am • Jackson Community Church Parish Hall

    • Chair fitness, ideal for beginners or advanced people, with stretching, resistance, and some minor weight lifting work
    • Can be customized to your needs and abilities
    • Free program available on Tuesday and Friday mornings at JCC
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • CLERGY of the EASTERN SLOPE
    12:30pm • Zoom

    • Local clergy gather for peer support, collaborative event planning and conversation
    • Rev Gail attends
    • This week we meet in person at Memorial Hospital to meet the president of the hospital.
  • DEACONS Meeting
    7pm • Zoom

    • Deacons meet to discuss worship, programming, and community care & prayer concerns
  • Community Event: WORLD of HOME EXCHANGE
    7pm • Jackson Public Library

    • Edith Houlihan will share her experiences in the world of Home Exchange. The Home Exchange network is a contemporary version of the barter system. It’s a system based on trust for those seeking to slow down travel and live like a local, and for those with a passion for learning, teaching, and sharing what they have with others from around the world. Home exchanging opens up a whole new globe of travel options. Edith will share her experiences and tips that have allowed her and her family and friends to engage in over 200 exchanges around the world and “live their life somewhere else.”
  • Community Event: BOOK DISCUSSION of The Other Side and Back by Sylvia Brown
    7pm • Bartlett Public Library

    • In preparation for our special program featuring Sara Moore of Enlightened Horizons (5/28 at 7 pm) we will be reading The Other Side and Back: A Psychic’s Guide to our World and Beyond by Sylvia Browne.  Sylvia is a world-famous psychic and New York Times bestselling author, in this book she takes readers on “an unprecedented and comprehensive “tour” of the afterlife—a world-changing revelation that has helped millions live for today, tomorrow, and forever…”.  Copies of the book are available in the library, please join us for what promises to be an other worldly discussion!
  • Community Event: CHAD’s COFFEE HOUSE (spring Recital for Mountain Top Music)
    5:30pm • Majestic Cafe

    • Cordially invited to share the end-of-term performances of the talented Mountain Top Music students. From electric guitar to classical piano, students of all ages will showcase the results of this spring’s study. Refreshments provided after each event.
    • No tickets needed!
  • Community MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT around town:
    • Wildcat Tavern: Hoot Night with Jonathan Sarty  • 7-9pm
    • Ledge Brewery: Ledge Trivia Night • 6:30pm

WED, May 15

  • YOGA with Anjali Rose
    9am • Jackson (check with Anjali Rose re location)

  • CHILD LOSS GRIEF GROUP
    1pm • Old Red Library, Jackson

    • Free, and open to the community. Rev. Gail Doktor, trained as a hospice chaplain, will facilitate. Pass along this info to anyone whom you know, who might need such a support network.
    • Questions should be directed by text or voicemail to Rev Gail’s cell: 9078.273.0308. — Rev Gail Doktor, gaildoktor@mac.com, cell: 978.273.0308
  • Community Event: CANASTA GAMES
    4-6pm • Old Red Library
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT around town:
    • Wildcat Tavern: Trivia • 6:30pm • $5 cover
    • Red Parka: Giving Wednesdays with Raffle • Project Graduation (evening)

THURS, May 16

  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Eveny: THURSDAY MORNING BIRDING in JACKSON
    7:30am –  9:30am •  Meet at Valley Cross parking lot

    • Because one day of birding just isn’t enough, we are birding in Jackson on Thursday mornings. Join birders of all levels on this weekly bird walk. Bring binoculars (or borrow ours) and dress for the weather. Be sure to drive via Black Mountain Rd, as you cannot access the parking lot via Carter Notch.
    • Reservations requested, but walk-ins welcome; click to register online.
  • Community Event: STORYTIME
    11am • Jackson Public Library

    • Join Petunia, Marigold, and Meredith for Storytime at 11am! There will be stories, songs, action rhymes, and plenty of fun. This program is open to the public is best suited for children ages 0-5 and their caregivers.
  • Community Event: GUIDE to BUILDING COMMUNITY & BRIDGING DIVIDES
    7-8:30 pm • Jackson Public Library.

    • Good civic health means a community in which people engage with each other, where they participate in the shared life of the community and where public institutions are responsive to the needs of the people in that community.
    • The presentation and discussion will be led by Michele Holt-Shannon of the University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy.
    • This program is part of the Digging into democracy series, a joint collaboration between the Jackson Public Library and the Whitney Community Center.  All are welcome to attend this free program.
  • Community Event: KNITTING in KNOTS
    4pm • Jackson Public Library

    • Bring your knitting or any portable needling project you may have to the library.  All levels are welcome.
  • Community Event: THURSDAY NIGHT JAZZ: Heather Pierson & The Potboilers
    7pm • Majestic Cafe

    • oors at 6 pm; music  at 7pm.
    • Come in early and grab a panini before the music starts
    • Info and tickets:: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/cafe
    • An intimate nearly 50 seat venue in the storefront next to the Majestic Theatre, the Majestic Cafe serves wine, beer, craft cocktails, non-alcoholic drinks and paninis with a close-up view on music from the region’s most creative performers.
    • Walk-ins are welcome, but space is limited; reservations are available to guarantee your seat and to indicate a seating choice.  The Friday Night jazz series typically has a $10 per person cover charge.  Thursdays and Saturdays at times have a cover charge but others do not; for the latter no cost reservations are accepted. Doors at 6 pm; come in early and grab a panini before the music starts.  Music starts generally at 7pm unless otherwise indicated.
    • Email boxoffice@mountaintopmusic.org with questions or other inquiries.
  • Community MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT around town:
    • Wildcat Tavern: Jonathan Sarty • 7-9pm – $5 cover
    • Red Parka: Generations • 8-11pm
    • Shannon Door: Dan Parkhurst • 6-9pm
    • Ledge Brewing: Food for Bears • 6-8pm

FRI, May 17

  • Community Event: ZUMBA with Dottie
    8:15am • Whitney Community Center, Jackson

    • $5/pp
  • FITNESS CLASS  with Laurie McAleer 
    9:30am • Jackson Community Church

    • Free to all participants.
    • Gentle, chair-based stretch and fitness for all levels of ability
  • Community Event: LINE DANCING with Dottie
    9:15ma • Whitney Cmmunity Center, Jackson

    • $5/pp
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
    2-5pm • Jackson Library (more info: https://jacksonlibrary.org/)
  • C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION
    5pm • Zoom

    • Bring your favorite beverage and meet for a virtual discussion of this week’s scripture followed by tour of art inspired by the sacred text.
    • Meet via zoom.
    • ZOOM LINK available from JCC
  • Community Event: YOUTH SPRING RECITAL for Mountain Top Music
    2pm • Majestic Cafe

    • No tickets needed!
  • Community MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT around town:
    • Wildcat Tavern: Al Shafner • 7-9pm – $5 cover
    • Red Parka: Shark Martin • 8-11pm
    • Shannon Door: Mike & Becca • 6-9pm
    • Ledge Brewing: Thomas Clukey  • 6-8pm
  • Community Event: MAJESTIC CAFE FRIDAY: JAMES FERNANDO
    7pm • Majestic Cafe, Conway

    • Walk-ins are always welcome, but space is limited; reservations are available to guarantee your seat and to indicate a seating choice.
    • The Friday Night jazz series has a $10 per person cover charge.
    • Doors at 6 pm; music  at 7pm.
    • Come in early and grab a panini before the music starts
    • Info and tickets:: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/cafe

SAT,  May 18

  • Mission Team’s PLANT SALE (rain or shine)
    9am-Noon • JCC Parking Lot  or Parish Hall if weather is inclement

    • The 9th annual Mission Plant Sale will be 9am – noon.
    • This is a perfect time to pick up some plants to beautify your garden, yard or indoor selections.
    • We have a wealth of experienced gardeners busily dividing up their perennial plants, starting seedlings, sharing houseplants, etc.
    • Ways to help:
      • If you have extra plants to donate please do share with us.
        • You may drop them off under the outdoor stairwell from Mon, May 13 – Fri, May 17
        • We are also happy to come pick items up if needed.
        • You’ll find extra plant containers under the outdoor stairway at the Jackson church if you need them.
        • Please identify any plants you leave at the church. Popsicle sticks are available to put into your containers and label with plant names.
      • Also, if you have extra 6-8“ plastic containers you are willing to donate,
        please leave them under the outdoor stairway.
      • Come and check out the selection to add to your garden and get growing tips and info as well!
      • Every penny raised goes to international relief efforts this year.
  • Community Event: BIRDING in BROWNFIELD BOG
    7-10am • Meet at S-Mart in Brownfield

    • Join birders of all levels on this weekly bird walk through the Brownfield Bog and view the rich diversity of bird life that makes its way north to rest or nest. Bring binoculars (or borrow ours), rubber boots, and a snack.
      • $15/person or $25/household for non-members; members are free. Reservations required; call 447-6991 or click to register online.
  • Community Event: ANNUAL MTG & FIELD DAY with Tin Mountain
    Morning • Tin Mountain Nature Learning Center

    • Join us for morning field trips, our annual awards, and lunch in the pavilion followed by this year’s keynote speaker, Sam Evans-Brown, Executive Director of Clean Energy NH.
    • 7am Birding in the Bog
    • 7:45am Hike to Glacial Waterfall
    • 9:30am Spring Exploration on the Accessible Nature Trail
    • 11:30am Business Meeting and Awards
    • 12pm Lunch
    • 1pm Keynote: State of Clean Energy in New Hampshire
    • Click HERE to register. We hope to see you there!
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Event: MASTER CLASS with James Fernando
    10am • Majestic Theater

    • Attend this event for insights on practice and performance from master educator and musician James Fernando. Pianist are particularly encouraged to attend and play, but all instruments are welcome.
    • Attendees at last year’s master class had a ball. This is a Saturday morning well spent!
    • Tickets and info: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/
    • Observers also welcome. Mountain Top youth students 18 and under attend free; $10 for everyone else.
    • Note that James Fernando will be the featured performer at the Majestic Cafe on Friday, May 17 at 7 PM.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Event: YOUTH SPRING RECITAL for Mountain Top Music
    2 & 4pm • Majestic Theater
  • Community Event: SATURDAY NIGHT JAZZ: Billie Thibodeau Trio with Billie (vocals, piano), Mike McGuigan (drums), Laurin McGee (sax)
    • Doors at 6 pm; music  at 7pm.
    • Come in early and grab a panini before the music starts
    • Info and tickets:: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/cafe
    • An intimate nearly 50 seat venue in the storefront next to the Majestic Theatre, the Majestic Cafe serves wine, beer, craft cocktails, non-alcoholic drinks and paninis with a close-up view on music from the region’s most creative performers.
    • Walk-ins are welcome, but space is limited; reservations are available to guarantee your seat and to indicate a seating choice.  The Friday Night jazz series typically has a $10 per person cover charge.  Thursdays and Saturdays at times have a cover charge but others do not; for the latter no cost reservations are accepted. Doors at 6 pm; come in early and grab a panini before the music starts.  Music starts generally at 7pm unless otherwise indicated.
    • Email boxoffice@mountaintopmusic.org with questions or other inquiries.
  • Community Event: OPEN HOURS @ Jackson Historical Society
    1-3pm • Jackson Historical Society

  • Community MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT around town:
    • Wildcat Tavern: Randy Messineo • 7-9pm – $5 cover
    • Shannon Door: Dan Aldrich • 7-10pm
    • Ledge Brewing: Rek’lis • 6-8pm

SUN, May 19

  • INTERFAITH SERVICE
    8am • Old Red Library (or outside if weather permits)

    • Come for poetry, conversation, and prayer
  • WORSHIP: PENTECOST
    10:30am   • Jackson Community Church & Livestream to Facebook & jxncc.org – which also appears on jxncc.orgwebsite).Worship through zoom is discontinued, watching livestream is now the way to connect.

    • Music by Sharon Novak
    • Message by Rev Gail Doktor
    • Wear red!
  • HOSPITALITY following church
    11:30am • Parish Hall
  • Community Event: OPEN HOURS @ Jackson Historical Society
    1-3pm • Jackson Historical Society (Also open by appointment.)

  • Community MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT around town:
    • Shannon Door: Mike & Becca • 6-9pm
    • Red Parla: Packmann Dave • 4-7pm

Mother’s Day Reflection

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Home, Weekly MeditationsTagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Motherhood has powerfully reinforced for me the significance of the fact that when God was most vulnerable – in the womb, nursing at the breast, as a child, at death – God was wholly entrusted to the care of women. I find that frighteningly profound. — Rachel Held Evans

We are born of love. Love is our mother. – Rumi

Songs about and for Mothers:

Songs by, about, and for Women:

Blessing the Mothers — Jan Richardson

Blessing the Mothers
Who are our
first sanctuary.

Who fashion
a space of blessing
with their own being:

with the belly
the bone and
the blood

or,
if not with these,
then with the
durable heart
that offers itself
to break
and grow wide,
to gather itself
around another
as refuge,
as home.

Who lean into
the wonder and terror
of loving what
they can hold
but cannot contain.

Who remain
in some part of themselves
always awake,
a corner of consciousness
keeping perpetual vigil.

Who know
that the story
is what endures
is what binds us
is what runs deeper
even than blood

and so they spin them
in celebration
of what abides
and benediction
on what remains:

a simple gladness
that latches onto us
and graces us
on our way.

Remember — Joy Harjo

Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn,
that is the strongest point of time.
Remember sundown and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth,
how your mother struggled to give you form and breath.
You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father.
He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too.
Talk to them,
listen to them.
They are alive poems.
Remember the wind.
Remember her voice.
She knows the origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.

To a Child — Sophie Jewett
The leaves talked in the twilight, dear;
   Hearken the tale they told:
How in some far-off place and year,
   Before the world grew old,
I was a dreaming forest tree,
   You were a wild, sweet bird
Who sheltered at the heart of me
   Because the north wind stirred;
How, when the chiding gale was still,
   When peace fell soft on fear,
You stayed one golden hour to fill
   My dream with singing, dear.
To-night the self-same songs are sung
   The first green forest heard;
My heart and the gray world grow young—
   To shelter you, my bird.
Prayer for those getting through mother’s day 
— Maren Tirabassi
Spirit of gentleness,
wrap all your holy loving
non-binary compassion 
around all of those 
just hoping to get through a holiday 
that washes them in tears –
because their mothers are dead
or their children are dead,
because they wanted children
but did not have them,
or their children don’t want them
right now in their lives,
or their parents don’t love
a gender identity so dearly chosen,
because their childhood family
or their present one
is marked by abuse,
because there is great distance
of miles or minds
of border wall or prison wall
between them
and someone they love,
because of a miscarriage,
a failed search for a biological parent,
a lonely foster care bedroom,
a desperate attempt
to be a perfect stepparent
or no attempt made at all, 
or just because this holiday
holds up a magnifying glass
to the heart.

On this Mother’s Day, I celebrate and give thanks for my own mother … and all the mothers who have been able to provide this tremendous gift. And I offer prayers for those women who, owing to the gaps and fissures in their own landscape, have left pain and emptiness in the space where a mother should have been. For those who choose to enter into the empty, motherless places—the “othermothers” who come in the form of teachers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, neighbors, friends—bless you and thank you for your mothering hearts. For all the mothers—mothers by blood, mothers by heart—a blessing to you on this Mother’s Day. — Jan Richardson

Essay about Mother’s Day — Anne Lamott
I did not raise my son, Sam, to celebrate Mother’s Day. … Mother’s Day celebrates a huge lie about the value of women: that mothers are superior beings, that they have done more with their lives and chosen a more difficult path. Ha! Every woman’s path is difficult, and many mothers were as equipped to raise children as wire monkey mothers. I say that without judgment: It is, sadly, true. An unhealthy mother’s love is withering.
The illusion is that mothers are automatically happier, more fulfilled and complete. But the craziest, grimmest people this Sunday will be the mothers themselves, stuck herding their own mothers and weeping children and husbands’ mothers into seats at restaurants. These mothers do not want a box of chocolate. These mothers are on a diet.
…. the holiday makes all non-mothers, and the daughters of dead mothers, and the mothers of dead or severely damaged children, feel the deepest kind of grief and failure. The non-mothers must sit in their churches, temples, mosques, recovery rooms and pretend to feel good about the day while they are excluded from a holiday that benefits no one but Hallmark and See’s. There is no refuge — not at the horse races, movies, malls, museums. … You could always hide in a nice seedy bar, I suppose. Or an ER.
… Don’t get me wrong: There were times I could have literally died of love for my son, and I’ve felt stoned on his rich, desperate love for me. But I bristle at the whispered lie that you can know this level of love and self-sacrifice only if you are a parent. …
But my main gripe about Mother’s Day is that it feels incomplete and imprecise. The main thing that ever helped mothers was other people mothering them; a chain of mothering that keeps the whole shebang afloat. I am the woman I grew to be partly in spite of my mother, and partly because of the extraordinary love of her best friends, and my own best friends’ mothers, and from surrogates, many of whom were not women at all …
No one is more sentimentalized in America than mothers on Mother’s Day, but no one is more often blamed for the culture’s bad people and behavior. You want to give me chocolate and flowers? Great. I love them both. I just don’t want them out of guilt, and I don’t want them if you’re not going to give them to all the people who helped mother our children. But if you are going to include everyone, then make mine something like M&M’s, and maybe flowers you picked yourself, even from my own garden, the cut stems wrapped in wet paper towels, then tin foil and a waxed-paper bag from my kitchen drawers. I don’t want something special. I want something beautifully plain. Like everything else, it can fill me only if it is ordinary and available to all.
There was something so valuable about what happened when one became a mother. For me it was the most liberating thing that ever happened to me. . . . Liberating because the demands that children make are not the demands of a normal ‘other.’ The children’s demands on me were things that nobody ever asked me to do. To be a good manager. To have a sense of humor. To deliver something that somebody could use. And they were not interested in all the things that other people were interested in, like what I was wearing or if I were sensual. . . . Somehow all of the baggage that I had accumulated as a person about what was valuable just fell away. I could not only be me — whatever that was — but somebody actually needed me to be that. . . . If you listen to [your children], somehow you are able to free yourself from baggage and vanity and all sorts of things, and deliver a better self, one that you like. The person that was in me that I liked best was the one my children seemed to want. — Toni Morrison
What I Learned From My Mother
— Julia Kasdorf
I learned from my mother how to love
the living, to have plenty of vases on hand
in case you have to rush to the hospital
with peonies cut from the lawn, black ants
still stuck to the buds. I learned to save jars
large enough to hold fruit salad for a whole
grieving household, to cube home-canned pears
and peaches, to slice through maroon grape skins
and flick out the sexual seeds with a knife point.
I learned to attend viewings even if I didn’t know
the deceased, to press the moist hands
of the living, to look in their eyes and offer
sympathy, as though I understood loss even then.
I learned that whatever we say means nothing,
what anyone will remember is that we came.
I learned to believe I had the power to ease
awful pains materially like an angel.
Like a doctor, I learned to create
from another’s suffering my own usefulness, and once
you know how to do this, you can never refuse.
To every house you enter, you must offer
healing: a chocolate cake you baked yourself,
the blessing of your voice, your chaste touch.
Your Clothes — Judith Kroll
Of course they are empty shells, without hope of animation.
Of course they are artifacts.
Even if my sister and I should wear some,
or if we give others away,
they will always be your clothes without you,
as we will always be your daughters without you.
Mother’s Day at Doña Rodríguez
— Sandra Maria Esteves (for Aya)
We never met, but I knew her.
By that ray of life that passed into her son,
brilliant as sky through cane fields,
casting pastel shadows on a jíbaro’s balcón,
abundant fruit and flower scented
from an ancient caribbean, full of spirit
y la vida india.
I never heard her cry, but I was there,
at the birth, when the hurricane growled,
fierce and terrible, screaming,
as she listened to its thunder within herself,
her womb stretching,
pushing out the manchild she offered the world,
not in regret, but full
of remembrances, of land-plowing farmers,
plátano covered rainforests,
asphalt paths carved in slavery
through migrant jungles and concrete mountains.
I never saw the high curve of her taíno face
with its delicate brown cheek,
or felt the caress of her motherly hands. But I knew her,
recognized in emanating points of vision
from a craftmaker’s fingertips,
in precision woven tapestries, like gifts from ancestors,
marking borderlines where families become whole.
We never spoke, or shared a conversation,
but I can still hear the music
composed in the black latino brew of her kitchen.
Smells and leftover renditions of creole beans and salsa,
of mamá-cooking ladles tapping three/two clave
from sinks to pots to laundry machines
in survival ritual symphonies.
We never exchanged a word,
yet she whispered to my soul,
the way mother teachers son to love his child,
the way father shares with daughter the meaning of abuela,
the way bonds are secured,
like a sunday afternoon banquet at the table of Orisha
where all food is nourished,
love-seasoned.
I never knew her, yet she reached out,
as sister, woman, teacher,
as mother, a gentle wind,
touching me. Becoming mine.
Lunchbox Love Note
— Kenn Nesbitt
Inside my lunch
to my surprise
a perfect heart-shaped
love note lies.
The outside says,
“Will you be mine?”
and, “Will you be
my valentine?”
I take it out
and wonder who
would want to tell me
“I love you.”
Perhaps a girl
who’s much too shy
to hand it to me
eye to eye.
Or maybe it
was sweetly penned
in private by
a secret friend
Who found my lunchbox
sitting by
and slid the note in
on the sly.
Oh, I’d be thrilled
if it were Jo,
the cute one in
the second row.
Or could it be
from Jennifer?
Has she found out
I’m sweet on her?
My mind’s abuzz,
my shoulders tense.
I need no more
of this suspense.
My stomach lurching
in my throat,
I open up
my little note.
Then wham! as if
it were a bomb,
inside it reads,
“I love you—Mom.”
Mother’s Day at Crystal Banquet, Now Closed
— Bryan Byrdlong
I dance with my mother beneath the fake crystal
chandelier. A group of us swaying kompa in circles,
with our mothers, in honor of our mothers, despite
our mothers. We radiate out like the plastic floral
arrangements adorning each table, our endless
fractal orbit, Creole as sonic centerfold. I don’t
understand what infects me, only know it does,
the iridescence of immortal flowers, the kompa band’s
baritone, the blue as the karabela dresses river
down a makeshift runway. We have come to
pay respect to our mothers, our mother tongue
which heals, speaks for itself, is here in our collective
magnetic spin, our slew of aphorisms, our revolutionary
lilt, honed. All our mothers are here with us,
our bodies & so their bodies raised mitochondrial.
& we have gathered to eat bread and chicken penne,
for Tante Raymonde to take my arm & lead me
to dance, for my cousin Michael to chase me,
this too a dance. He catches me, tickles my sides.
I am 8, sideways, a small infinity. My laughter is
in Creole. I laugh like no one is after me.
A Practical Mom — Amy Uyematsu
can go to Bible study every Sunday
and swear she’s still not convinced,
but she likes to be around people who are.
We have the same conversation
every few years—I’ll ask her if she stops
to admire the perfect leaves
of the Japanese maple
she waters in her backyard,
or tell her how I can gaze for hours
at a desert sky and know this
as divine. Nature, she says,
doesn’t hold her interest. Not nearly
as much as the greens, pinks, and grays
of a Diebenkorn abstract, or the antique
Tiffany lamp she finds in San Francisco.
She spends hours with her vegetables,
tasting the tomatoes she’s picked that morning
or checking to see which radishes are big enough to pull.
Lately everything she touches bears fruit,
from new-green string beans to winning
golf strokes, glamorous hats she designs and sews,
soaring stocks with their multiplying shares.
These are the things she can count in her hands,
the tangibles to feed and pass on to daughters
and grandchildren who can’t keep up with all
the risky numbers she depends on, the blood-sugar counts
and daily insulin injections, the monthly tests
of precancerous cells in her liver and lungs.
She’s a mathematical wonder with so many calculations
kept alive in her head, adding and subtracting
when everyone else is asleep.

Mother’s Day — Dorianne Laux
I passed through the narrow hills

of my mother’s hips one cold morning

and never looked back, until now, clipping

her tough toenails, sitting on the bed’s edge

combing out the tuft of hair at the crown

where it ratted up while she slept, her thumbs

locked into her fists, a gesture as old

as she is, her blanched knees fallen together

beneath a blue nightgown. The stroke

 

took whole pages of words, random years

torn from the calendar, the names of roses

leaning over her driveway: Cadenza,

Great Western, American Beauty. She can’t

think, can’t drink her morning tea, do her

crossword puzzle in ink. She’s afraid

of everything, the sound of the front door

opening, light falling through the blinds—

pulls her legs up so the bright bars

won’t touch her feet. I help her

with the buttons on her sweater. She looks

hard at me and says the word sleeve.

Exactly, I tell her and her face relaxes

for the first time in days. I lie down

 

next to her on the flowered sheets and tell her

a story about the day she was born, head

first into a hard world: the Great Depression,

shanties, Hoovervilles, railroads and unions.

I tell her about Amelia Earhart and she asks

 

Air? and points to the ceiling. Asks Heart?

and points to her chest. Yes, I say. I sing

Cole Porter songs. Brother, Can You Spare

a Dime? When I recite lines from Gone

with the Wind she sits up and says Potatoes!

and I say, Right again. I read her Sandburg,

some Frost, and she closes her eyes. I say yes,

yes, and tuck her in. It’s summer. She’s tired.

No one knows where she’s been.

Events on Mothers Day Weekend at JCC and around town: Fri, May 10 – Tue, May 14

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Calendar, HomeTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FRI, May 10

  • C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION (resumes May 17) – 5pm by zoom when meeting
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
    • 2-5pm • Jackson Library
      Contact the library for additional help: 603.383.9731 or by email: staff@jacksonlibrary.org
  • Community Event: JGS PLAYGROUND BUILD
  • Community Event: OPEN STUDIO ART SALE
    10am-5pm • Jackson Art Studio

    • Open Studio Show Hours: (at Jackson Art)
      Addtiional hours: Saturday, May 11: 10am-6pmSunday, May 12: 10am-4pm
      (complimentary muffins and mimosas for Mother’s Day for 21+)
    • 0ver 500+ pieces of original ART from our studios!
    • Sketches, demos, and orphaned paintings sale
    • We’re cleaning out our studios and offering you discounted prices!
    • More info: Jackson Art Studio & Gallery | 603-387-3463 | melanie@jacksonartnh.com  www.jacksonartnh.com
  • Community Event: TGI Friday Bookshare
    3pm @ Jackson Public Library:

    • What have you read lately?  Something fantastic?  Something not so fantastic?  Come share with us during our Friday afternoon book share.  All are welcome to come and share what books you are reading, what’s on your TBR (to be read) pile, and what you are looking forward to reading.  This is a great time to learn about new titles, authors, and genres that other JPL readers are reading.
  • Community Events: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Wildcat Tavern: Al Shafner • 7-9pm – $5 cover
    • Shannon Door: Sheehan & Holden • 6-9pm
    • Red Parka: Rek’lis • 8-11pm
    • Ledge Brewing: Mitch Alden Deo • 6pm
  • Community Event: MAJESTIC CAFE FRIDAY: Ellen Rowe and Mike Sakash
    7pm • Majestic Cafe, Conway

    • Walk-ins are always welcome, but space is limited; reservations are available to guarantee your seat and to indicate a seating choice.
    • The Friday Night jazz series has a $10 per person cover charge.
    • Doors at 6 pm; music  at 7pm.
    • Come in early and grab a panini before the music starts
    • Info and tickets:: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/cafe

SAT,  May 11

  • Community Event: JGS PLAYGROUND BUILD
  • Community Event: OPEN STUDIO ART SALE
    10am-6pm • Jackson Art Studio

    • Open Studio Show Hours: (at Jackson Art)
      Addtiional hours: Sunday, May 12: 10am-4pm
      (complimentary muffins and mimosas for Mother’s Day for 21+)
    • 0ver 500+ pieces of original ART from our studios!
    • Sketches, demos, and orphaned paintings sale
    • We’re cleaning out our studios and offering you discounted prices!
    • More info: Jackson Art Studio & Gallery | 603-387-3463 | melanie@jacksonartnh.com  www.jacksonartnh.com
  • Community Event: BIRDING in BROWNFIELD BOG
    7-10am • SMart in Brownfield

    •  Meet at S-Mart in Brownfield
    • Join birders of all levels on this weekly bird walk through the Brownfield Bog and view the rich diversity of bird life that makes its way north to rest or nest. Bring binoculars (or borrow ours), rubber boots, and a snack.
    • $15/person or $25/household for non-members; members are free.
    • Reservations required; call 447-6991 or click to register online
  • Community Event: WEEKEND WALK with TMC
    10am • Tin Mountain Conservation Center, Albany

    • May is a fun time to explore the woods and witness, firsthand, the miraculous daily changes. See ephemeral blooms, year-round and  seasonal birds nesting, renewed activity in Chase Pond and all types insects and amphibians – these harbingers of spring are always a welcome sight.
    • Join Outreach Coordinator, Heather McKendry, for a slow-paced walk that explores the Tin Mountain Conservation trails in Albany, NH. Outdoor highlights include an 1800’s quarry, beaver pond and diverse forests, while inside the Nature Learning Center you will find animal mounts and a gem & mineral collection.
    • Non-member tour:  $15/pp or $25/household
    • Members are FREE, so consider becoming a member!
    • Click here to register or call 603-447-6991. Walk ins welcome.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Event: OPEN HOURS @ Jackson Historical Society
    1-3pm • Jackson Historical Society

    • Also open by appointment.
    • More info: https://www.jacksonhistory.org/
    • White Mountain Art Sale
      • The Jackson Historical Society is holding its 21st annual White Mountain Art Sale. There are currently over 50 items from private collectors, primarily 19thcentury paintings. To see the online catalog, go to https://www.jacksonhistory.org/catalog.html. Items are available to purchase as they arrive, so check the catalog frequently to see new additions.
      • The Society is open Saturdays and Sundays 1-3pm.  If you are interested in a painting, the Society can open by appointment. Contact info@jacksonhistory.org.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Events: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Wildcat Tavern: Denny Breau • 7-9pm – $5 cover
    • Shannon Door: Al Shafner • 7-10pm
    • Red Parka: Rek’lis • 8-11pm
    • Ledge Brewing: Blue Grit • 6-8pm

SUN, May 12: MOTHERS DAY

  • INTERFAITH SERVICE – resumes on Sun, May 19th
  • WORSHIP with MOTHERS DAY OBSERVANCE
    10:30am   • Jackson Community Church & Livestream to Facebook & jxncc.org (adding Youtube post-sabbatical) – which also appears on jxncc.org website).Worship through zoom is discontinued, watching livestream is now the way to connect.

  • HOSPITALITY following church
    11:30am • Parish Hall
  • Community Event: MT WASHINGTON CHORAL SOCIETY: The Creation
    3pm • Majestic Theater

    • The Mt. Washington Choral Society performs THE CREATION, by Franz Josef Haydn.
    • Conducted by George Wiese, featuring guest soloists and orchestra utilizing period instruments. Learn more about this musical masterpiece here.
    • Reserved seating by donation – $15-$35. Link for tickets/seats by donation: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/
    • Doors and the Majestic Cafe, serving wine, beer, craft cocktails, bottled water and soft drinks, open at 2 PM.
  • Community Event: MOTHERS DAY FLOWER ARRANGEMENT WORKSHOP
    2pm • Ledge Brewing

    • Flower arranging workshop hosted by Ruthie’s Flower Shop.
    • Please reserve tickets HERE
  • Community Event: OPEN STUDIO ART SALE
    10am-4pm • Jackson Art Studio

    • Complimentary muffins and mimosas for Mother’s Day for 21+
    • 0ver 500+ pieces of original ART from our studios!
    • Sketches, demos, and orphaned paintings sale
    • We’re cleaning out our studios and offering you discounted prices!
    • More info: Jackson Art Studio & Gallery | 603-387-3463 | melanie@jacksonartnh.com  www.jacksonartnh.com
  • Community Event: OPEN HOURS @ Jackson Historical Society
    1-3pm • Jackson Historical Society (Also open by appointment.)

    • More info: https://www.jacksonhistory.org/
    • White Mountain Art Sale
      • The Jackson Historical Society is holding its 21st annual White Mountain Art Sale. There are currently over 50 items from private collectors, primarily 19thcentury paintings. To see the online catalog, go to https://www.jacksonhistory.org/catalog.html. Items are available to purchase as they arrive, so check the catalog frequently to see new additions.
      • The Society is open Saturdays and Sundays 1-3pm  If you are interested in a painting, the Society can open by appointment. Contact info@jacksonhistory.org
  • Community Event: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Shannon Door: Jeremy Dean • 6-9pm
    • Red Parka: Blues Sunday with Blues Pirates • 5-8pm

MONDAY, May 13

  • Community Event: FAMILY STORIES PROGRAM
    6:30-8:30pm • Whitney Community Center

    • The Program is FREE and unlimited, so feel free to invite others you know who might be interested in attending.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
    2-8pm • Bartlett Library

TUESDAY, May 14

  • FITNESS with Laurie McAleer
    9:30am • Jackson Community Church Parish Hall

    • Chair fitness, ideal for beginners or advanced people, with stretching, resistance, and some minor weight lifting work
    • Can be customized to your needs and abilities
    • Free program available on Tuesday and Friday mornings at JCC
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Deacons Meeting
    7pm • Zoom

  • Community Event: WORLD of HOME EXCHANGE
    7pm • Jackson Public Library

    • Edith Houlihan will share her experiences in the world of Home Exchange. The Home Exchange network is a contemporary version of the barter system. It’s a system based on trust for those seeking to slow down travel and live like a local, and for those with a passion for learning, teaching, and sharing what they have with others from around the world. Home exchanging opens up a whole new globe of travel options. Edith will share her experiences and tips that have allowed her and her family and friends to engage in over 200 exchanges around the world and “live their life somewhere else.”
  • Community Event: BOOK DISCUSSION of The Other Side and Back by Sylvia Brown
    7pm • Bartlett Public Library

    • In preparation for our special program featuring Sara Moore of Enlightened Horizons (5/28 at 7 pm) we will be reading The Other Side and Back: A Psychic’s Guide to our World and Beyond by Sylvia Browne.  Sylvia is a world-famous psychic and New York Times bestselling author, in this book she takes readers on “an unprecedented and comprehensive “tour” of the afterlife—a world-changing revelation that has helped millions live for today, tomorrow, and forever…”.  Copies of the book are available in the library, please join us for what promises to be an other worldly discussion!
  • Community Events: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Wildcat Tavern: Hoot Night with Jonathan Sarty  • 7-9pm
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