Up, Up, and Away!

The happy little fellow at the right --- a fountain in the forecourt of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe --- welcomes you with open arms (wings, actually) to my blog. Known as "St. Francis Dancing on Water," he epitomizes the spirit of the Southwest that I found so appealing during a recent visit.



It was also during that visit that my daughter and traveling companion suggested that I write a blog where I could publish some of my personal essays and where, moreover, I could let loose with a rant or two to the world at large.



This, mind you, was just after Election Day, and I had been keening about the ever-increasing use of automated phone solicitations by political candidates which, in essence, turned my answering machine into a bully pulpit. And, I fumed, don't get me started on the "not-for-profit" telethons that mainly profit the telemarketing companies that conduct them. What part of " Do Not Call" does the FCC not understand?



"Blog," said Stacey.



So I'm blogging.



A word (or so) about the title:

I can't find the term "screeder" in any of my dictionaries, so I arbitrarily define it as one who screeds, a person who creates or composes a screed. That would be me.

All clear so far?

"Screed," on the other hand, has several different meanings:

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary gives its derivation as from the Old English screade and Middle English screde meaning "fragment." Webster further defines "screed" as "1a. A lengthy discourse; 1b. An informal piece of writing. 2. A strip (as of plaster of the thickness planned for the coat) laid on as a guide. 3. A leveling device drawn over freshly poured concrete." (Imagine that---I've seen masons screeding sidewalks for years and never knew what to call their activity!)

The Encarta World English Dictionary, not to be outdone, says "screed" is a 14th century variant of "shred" and gives three of its four usages as pertinent to the building trades, as above. Its first definition, however, is "lengthy piece of writing: a long and often tedious piece of writing or speech." God, I sincerely hope not!

Finally, the redoubtable Josepha Heifetz Byrne, compiler of Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words, opines that "screed" is both noun and verb, and as such, it may refer variously to: "1. A torn-off fragment. 2. A tirade or diatribe. 3. A drinking bout. 4. A tearing or scraping sound. 5. A tool drawn across fresh concrete to smooth it off." As a verb transitive, it may mean "1. Rip. 2. Say glibly, especially with 'away' or 'off.' 3. Smooth off."
As a verb intransitive it may mean "To make a sound like ripping cloth; to rip."

Somewhere among those many meanings is what I intend to do; indeed, my intent may switch from one to the other from week to week. Let 'er rip, say I, and stay tuned!