Little Boxes
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It’s always a great honor to post something from one of our BuFoon Priests. (Hint, hint.)
Today we’re proud to offer this writing from BuFoon John Joseph, written for his writing class. BuFoon John is always learning and always teaching. The rest of us are grateful.
LITTLE BOXES
John Joseph
January 17, 2010
Boxes. Just how do you start to write about little boxes? First I thought perhaps I could do a poem or some kind of description, but had a mental block. So next go to cyberspace and see what I can find.
While I was putting this together a young Eagle came to partake in the feast of steelhead fish carcass I had put over the bank behind the garden. That is after I had filleted the meat off the bones for the family use. Some of the fillets were put into the smoke house to be preserved in the old way for later use and some were sealed up in containers and put in the freezer.
The old stories of the fish, birds and the brother of the forest giving themselves to man flashed through my mind like a quick slide show of old photos sometimes long forgotten. Are they “Little Boxes?”
The Old ways of taking the fish, birds and animals of the forest is not without some ceremony and gratitude. Part of which is the parts of the carcasses not used by man are put out for the brothers of the sky and forest, thus returning to mother earth and to the cousins to sustain their lives for awhile. This time of year it’s difficult for them to find enough food. This stash of fish will hold them for several weeks to come and hold my family for the rest of winter and spring until the fish return to the rivers. Is this life cycle “Little Boxes?” Putting the carcasses out for the brothers of the sky and forest is as old as the ancestors and has been repeated over the millennia some thousands of time. Does the act of repetition put us into Little Boxes? Does repeated ceremony do the same?
Malvina Reynolds wrote the song “Little Boxes” in 1962. It was sung by many of the Folk Singers. “The Womenfolk,” an American Folk group who were active from 1962 to 1966, sang the song ‘Little Boxes’ and it was their only hit single. It peaked at 83 in April of 1964. At exactly one minute long, it is the shortest record ever to make the Billboard Hot 100.” One of the other folk groups who were protesting the war in Vietnam and the “Big Boxes,” the Senate, Legislator, and the White House, was “The Weavers,” lead by Pete Seeger. He, more than anyone, made the song famous, that is along with Peter, Paul, and Mary. Did the song cause the Weavers to be Blacklisted during the McCarthy Era? That time when many of the famous, and infamous, were put into “Little Boxes” and labeled communist? They had to go before sub-committees and defend their beliefs about not only politics, but all other parts of their belief systems. Some were released, some went to jail or prison, and some are still secretly watched today. Perhaps it was McCarthy who was stuck in a “Little Box” and not the folks who were Blacklisted.
Then there is Daly, California, a town in San Mateo, California. The population in 2000 was 103,621. Looking at a map of the town, it appears all the houses are in tracts all laid out in a uniform manner and pretty much looking all the same. (Got this information from Wikipedia, in cyberspace. Thanks Wikipedia!) By the looks of them, however, it doesn’t appear they were made of Ticky-Tacky and I bet if you wanted to buy one today the price would suggest they were made of gold. However, that part of Daly is called “Little Boxes.”
Ticky-Tacky: A colloquial term usually referring to tar paper or a very cheaply build shack with plenty of tar paper siding. It is often used to denote cheapness in any form. This wonderful term became popular during the 60’s. Coined from the song “Little Boxes,” the term Ticky-Tacky is still with us today. Another big thank you to Malvina Reynolds.
I think most of us fit into some kind of “Little Box,” although I think the wrappings change from time to time. We are born into our parents “Little Boxes.” Like my father and my uncles, I joined the Navy after high school. Putting myself into the male “Little Box” of our family. During my college years, in 1973, I met Helen, fell in love and married, putting us into a new “Little Box” and creating a great friendship and partnership based on love and trust, each being its own “Little Box.”
My parents didn’t complete high school and didn’t think college was very important. I broke out of their box and was the first in my family to go and graduate from college. Did college put me into another “Little Box,” the college grad? Instead of putting myself into another “Little Box” of being a registered nurse working in a hospital, I put myself into a different kind of “Little Box.” I became one of the first Nurse Practitioners in the Sate of Washington. License number 138. I was among the first 200 Practitioners licensed in 1978. I was in a new “Little Box.” Now, in the year 2010, there are over 2500 Nurse Practitioners in the State. I would say it’s a pretty good size box. I started my private practice in 1979 when I bought a clinic and practice from a doctor in a small town. It put me into another “Little Box.” I set a precedent of being the first Nurse Practitioner to own and operate their own independent clinic.
I could go on with this list of changing the “Little Boxes,” but it has turned into a Me, Me, Me paper and that is not what I am trying to say. I think We are all in our own “Little Boxes,” either by heredity, self made, divine intervention, or chance. Not all the “Little Boxes” are Ticky-Tacky, but have the potential to be. It’s up to you and me to change the “Little Boxes” so we don’t become Ticky-Tacky; so the Mother Earth doesn’t become Ticky-Tacky and our children don’t become Ticky-Tacky.
So, Malvina Reynolds, Thank You for your Poem/Song and Thank You to all those who made it so we could hear and learn from it.
To those who will hear it in the future, pay attention: it’s about you.
Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds
1. Little Boxes on the Hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, Little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same
2. And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
Little boxes, all the same
And there’s doctors and there’s lawyers
And business executives
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.
3. And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.
4. And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put into boxes,
Little boxes, all the same
There’s a green one and a pink one
And blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look the same.
Thank You, BuFoon John,
BuFoon Steve
