Page 6 - Boca ViewPointe - March '21
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Page 6, Viewpointe March 2021
Book Review
Survival Is A Style I ever called you that.”) There is no lack of symbolism and
ambiguity “To eat the awful while you starve your awe/to
James Cook. In Her Room: How Music Helped me Connect weasel misery like a suck of egg.”
with my Autistic Daughter. London: Lagom, 2020 Raised in rural West Texas and transitioning to
Christian Wiman. Survival is a Style: Poems. New York: “cucumber” Connecticut, he reflects as a Christian poet on
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020. his life:
“In matter of great importance, style..is the vital thing.” We were five souls crammed into one life,
Oscar Wilde and so incorrigibly poor—or was that fear?—
“Disappointments abound in the raising of children.” We all [five] slept in one room
Proverbs and shared one great big closet drawers. . .
“Music has the Charm to make the Bad Good.” A Distillation amongst the Convert, the Skeptic, the
Shakespeare Apophatic, the End of Prayer, Dementia.
He is one “for whom God is not entirely gone.” He recalls
By Dr. Ronald J. Meyers his early thoughts on death:
How fun when young you feel your death
The raising of children, When his Emily was born, he got down on his knees in browsing around you like a little goat.
while surely one of the most the hospital to thank God, but from this ordeal, he is not sure And then the trauma of falling under the diagnosis of
pleasing tasks enjoined about the permanence of his faith. cancer:
to humanity, is fraught Poetry, like music, typically draws on emotion that When the doctor said I’d likely die I thought of my father
with constraints. And compresses pain and suffering into art. Christian Witman, telling me he’d learned to read a cancer look.
amplified when the parents a successful editor, translator and Professor of Religion Drawing inspiration from Master Eckhart, Simone
encounter immeasurable and Literature at the Yale Divinity School, creates poetry Weil, Emily Dickinson, he echoes Rabbi Abraham Joshua
frustration and challenging with insight and poignancy about his triumphs and Heschel’s intolerance toward non-believers.
discouragements. On a disappointments through the landscape of America. He writes People ask if I believe in God and the verb is tedious to
vacation in Sardinia with of the abundance of life, universal and particular topics and me.
his German girlfriend, James Cook falls in love and declares themes: friendships, his old bitch dog Rosie, McDonalds Not wrong, nor offensive, nor obtrusive, nor embarrassing.
his intentions; and they agree to settle in London where he in Middle America, Thursday afternoon faculty meetings, Tedious
is pursuing a musical career as performer and writer and she his moderating faith and the Biblical “there is nothing These two books together teach that Style in the end can
is a teacher. They soon enjoy the blessing of their daughter new under the sun.” He brings his considerable powers of enhance the best of our lives and mitigate the worst.
Emily. But James and Anita are soon mired by the discovery observation, a caustic eye, informed intelligence. Respect for Next Month: Tarot and Jewish Mysticism
that Emily is colic, cries incessantly, and proves to be quite his father’s work ethic but not a strong connection: recalling
slow in her cognitive and mobility development. father chasing rats with a broomstick on the “so incorrigibly Dr. Ronald J. Meyers, a resident of La Paz, is an Emeritus
Those among us who have been privileged to have dirty floor” yet “I felt nothing when you died, Father (As if Professor of English. rmeyers@esu.edu.
experienced normal child rearing are indeed fortunate,
spared the trauma of dealing with the dangers fraught by the
unknown. Cook, who was pursuing a career as a composer
and performer in London when his daughter was born,
assumes the mission of discovering and annotating the
issues related to her stunted growth. Particularly moving
are the loving parents’ continuous efforts to seek help to
mitigate their daughter’s condition. And this is the journey
of uncovering the truth about Emily to which he sacrifices
his own freedom.
What constrains children from their normal development,
we learn, is related to the emergence of their cognitive
processes. Principally our brains are the engines even at birth
that instruct our capacities to cry when hungry, smile and
laugh when happy, then of course to crawl, stand and walk.
Emily’s retarded development in all of these functions leads
to an exploration of the information available as to why she
is not developing normally. An array of different doctors and
specialists are brought in to explain Emily’s predicament. We
learn that deprival of oxygen at birth can seriously impede
the normal progression and this phenomenon is determined
through tests. The genetic incompatibility of the parents
(consanguinity as between sibling and even cousins) is Want Results Now?
another factor that must weighed. And even the possibility
of a genetic mutation. After discounting the previous
possibilities, the doctors conclude that autism is the likely • Drug Free • Surgery Free • Pain Free
prescription. James grounds himself in the notable literature
of Autism that has been generated over the course of the last
century. Cold laseR TheRapy
In the meantime, the stress inflicted upon the parents leads
to a rupture in their relationship. Anita convinces James that
the child would be better served if they moved to Germany Experience this non-surgical
where her parents can help. James agrees to the move in the drug free treatment option
hope that he can gain a foothold and reestablish his career as
an English songwriter; though the plan does not materialize. Receive A FREE Gift
And so Anita and James agree to separate; James returns to
London with frequent return visits to Frankfurt. with first appointment
The beauty of the book is rendered in the tender bonding
between James and Emily over their common joy in music. Medicare, auto, workMan’s coMp and Most Major insurance accepted
Even while she was in the crib, James serenaded her with
lullabies and with his broad musical tastes as they evolved AdvAnced PhysicAl TherAPy AssociATes
from Pink Floyd and the Beatles to Nick Drake, David Bowie,
Kate Bush. Apparently music draws upon a different kind of
cognition and itself evolved earlier than language. The joyous
bond between father and daughter is the sublime take away
from the book as well as struggle for survival in the face of
adversity.
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