An Argument for Whisting (or 'A Wrinkle in Whistles')

To My Youngers,

You'll be happy to hear that I am currently [finally] reading A Wrinkle in Time. And though I do like many sci-fi books and many British (or in this case British-style) children's books, the reason I am [finally] reading this one is solely based on the fact that both of you love it so. I'm not quite finished yet, but it didn't take me long to [finally] realize why you've each read it so many times and treasured it so much!

In big and obvious ways the novel is about the constant struggle between light and dark, the importance of family, and complex notions of time travel (which I easily understand thanks to many years of watching Quantum Leap), but it is also quietly about very small and normal things...

Last night, lying in bed, snuggled under my covers and reading by candlelight (for which there was no 'real' reason other than making me feel old fashioned) one particular line jumped out at me:

Charles Wallace, she was quite sure, was not trying to be rude or funny; it was his way of whistling in the dark.

Now I may have only noticed the reference to whisteling because of our choice for the title of this blog, but I think that the theme of the whistleing reference is also strikingly similar. In both this line and our epomymus High Fidelity quote whistling is put forth as a way to hold onto the wonderment of life. Charles Wallace whistles in the face of overwhelming darkness, a way to sweetly but firmly stand up to impending doom. In a much less melodramatic, though equally important way, Rob puts forth "something left to whistle" as a symbol of something we leave behind, something intangible yet important.

I have always loved whistling, particularly for the feeling it gives (sad, angry, or melancholia whistling is virtually impossible)! We whistle when we're happy, we whistle when we're nervous, we whistle to cheer ourselves up, we whistle to cheer up others. By its very nature whistling reminds us of the intangible, it's magic born of of the sound that air makes.

Whistling transforms songs, making them seem innocent and magical. Whistling outside of songs reminds us that life is innocence and magic.
And who doesn't need reminding of that?

-E

To continue with this emerging theme of whistleing I thought I would share some Whisteling Wonderment in the form of a youtube video playlist - though I can't take credit for assmebling the list (unfortunately I don't remember who did) or for finding it (Thanks Estela!!!) it's still pretty friggin' magical...

Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

So this is a blog (that I'm hoping you have already figured out...). "A blog about what?" you may ask (which would be a pretty good question, seeing as how the title doesn't give too much away). "Well I'll tell you!" (says I,  since you're doing us the favour of reading it I suppose I owe you at least that much...).

It comes from a few places:

Recently having moved back to my home province, I now find myself in much closer proximity to my family. To some this would be a horrible thing to be avoided at all costs, but I have found it pleasantly excellent- a chance to have more visits, more conversations, just more time together, and ironically a chance to miss them almost more than before since I am more often reminded of how awesome they are!

This past weekend marked yet another visitation and greatly contributed to the blog you are presently [hopefully] enjoying! Just before heading off home for a few days I had re-read High Fidelity and was filled with a longing to discuss things (music, movies, ideas....) and maybe even to make a few top five lists along the way. Normally this isn't difficult; these conversations happen naturally when we are together, but when returning to our three respective cities it presents much more of a challenge....

So the other night, after having watched  a slightly untoward number of vlogbrothers videos, I was inspired to follow in their entertaining footsteps and set us three a challenge: to communicate through the internets on a weekly basis, to respond to each other, to get to know each other better, and to share our sum knowledge of silly, entertaining, and sometimes stupid factoids, thoughts, and ideas in a way that can be looked back on fondly (or with embarrassment) in the coming weeks-months-years.

It only took some mild convincing, but I got A and K on board. All that was left was to come up with a title... This last read of High Fidelity I took to circling paragraphs and underlining quotes, and this one jumped out as particularly appropriate:

"[Things happen,] it's just that none of us had the wit or talent to make them into songs. We made them into life, which much messier, and more time consuming, and leaves nothing for anybody to whistle."


I hope this experience will leave us with something to whistle.
Get ready A and K, for the journey begins....

-E