Collective Effervescence, Awe, and Wonder

Picture from the WEB

Now that May is here during my morning Qigong, a pair of swallows often swoop past my window, sometimes diverting my attention and energy. Recently, as the pair dipped and dived, a childhood memory surfaced. I returned to my childhood on an early May day when hundreds of barn swallows whirled near the gabled roof barn of our family farm. The swallows returned for another season to raise their young either in last year's nests (now lined with new material) or new ones molded from mud and spit, and located high up under the eves of the barn. I watched in awe as these graceful birds danced in the air, eventually landing to enter their sturdy mud homes. This one is feeding its young.

Nests were close to each other forming a harmonious colony that spanned the eves of the barn. No bird staked out and defended a territory. Neighbors got along and seemed to talk with each other. The chatter was constant. Perhaps the colony experienced collective effervescence, a concept that I learned about during a recent Chalice meeting. Chalice is a small group of fellow First Unitarian members that meets twice a month during the church year and once a month during the summer.

'Collective effervescence" is one of eight portals to awe spelled out in Dacher Keltner's book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, published in January 2023. The book reports 15 years of research in 26 countries and populations as diverse as doctors, combat veterans, athletes, prisoners, writers, environmentalists, poets, and Indigenous scholars. Collective effervescence includes a deep sense of belonging to humanity, the shared sense of being interconnected and a sense of unity transcending self. This sense of "we" rather than "I" or "them" can happen from sharing music and/or movement with others or during rituals and ceremonies like weddings, graduations, sports celebrations, funerals, and family reunions. Walking with others in nature and pilgrimages are other catalysts for collective effervescence.

1994 Cabin 

My life has included a fair amount of collective effervescence. Memorable ones happened within this cabin located near Florence, Wisconsin. The main structure is made of logs and built in the late 19th century. The porch is a later addition. The cabin is surrounded by pine trees. Seidel Lake borders the property and is an easy walk from the cabin. 

Kay's family has owned the cabin and surrounding property for many years. Kay and her husband Don, both long time friends, lived in the cabin for 20 years, after they took early retirement in 1995. They moved from Milwaukee and remodeled the cabin. A complete new bathroom was one addition. The outdoor privy used for years now was only a perch for  the whippoorwill's evening callings. Eventually the privy was removed. The call of the whippoorwill still could be heard but more in the distance and not as loud.  

In 2015 Kay and Don moved to Kingsford, Michigan. An era ended. Don died on December 5, 2020.  I often think of him as I wear his wide brim hat during summer days.

For many years friends, sometimes up to a dozen, gathered at the cabin. My first visit was in the late 1960s. During those days, opening day of trout season on the Brule River, across the road from the cabin, was always a special event.

Jenny, part of this group, wrote the following poem in 1991 for her Freshman high school English class, capturing the collective effervescence of one evening. 

A Banjo and a Ukulele

 

The meal is done

And everyone has finished eating.

We move to the porch,

Just to talk for a while.

The conversation revolves around 

Movies and politics.

We settle down and get comfortable,

A man that was sitting quietly in the corner

Now picks up a banjo.

He then offers a ukulele to

A girl sitting on the floor.

She eagerly accepts,

And he teaches her how to play four chords.

Then they start to play.

One by one the people in the room

Stop talking and listen.

On the banjo he picks out a lively tune.

Then, as if in a choir,

The people in the room carry the tune

With their voices.

To the trained ear the chorus was off key and dull,

But to friends it was a silver melody

That floated through the Northern night.

Jokes were told, and magic tricks preformed.

And all the while the two of them sat 

In the corner and played.

Every few minutes he taught his student something new.

They played their tunes,

And strummed their instruments,

And their fingers never grew sore.

They played that banjo and ukulele for everyone.

They played well into the night.

Now in 2023, I still experience collective effervescence. It was in the air during the May 6th and May 20th Prospect Gardens work sessions. 

Here's Gregory's selfie of the May 6th team. He is the one with the stocking cap. To his left is Joyce and to his right is Nick. I'm in the back holding the cookie and Ann, my wife, is at my side. Laura, another volunteered arrived shortly after the picture was snapped.  We are enjoying a break from weeding. Thank you all for your generosity and adding to my feeling of effervescence.  

By May 20th the weeds were abundant, a testimony to their tenacity and spring turning into summer. Twelve kind hearted individuals joined Ann and I on a day made for gardening; blue skies, sunshine, and mild temperatures. Thank you to all of you.

Here's some of the May 20th crew. I forgot to take a group picture. On the bottom row (left to right) are West High Leo club members Rajeev, Frosya, and Nurlybek. Top row (left to right) are Alexis(daughter Tilly not pictured here), Melissa, and Gregory.  

Others not pictured, besides Ann and me, are Sandy P., Connie and her daughter Olivia, Laura, Jim, Ann N. and Alice. A special thank you to Jim for the 16 strawberry plants, replacing the original patch that disappeared several years ago. I also appreciate you joining us while being from a nearby neighborhood.  

Caring for Prospect Gardens provides opportunities for socializing and making new connections while catching up with what's happening in the lives of regular volunteers. Welcome back Ann N.  That bleeding heart you donated several years ago is thriving. Thanks for offering columbines which we will transplant in the fall.

Here's Tilly (on the left) and Olivia on a well earned break. These two five year-olds and their mothers removed catchweed bedstraw. The four worked as a team. Alexis and Connie pulled out handfuls of the sticky bedstraw and handed it to Tilly and Olivia. They in turn put the weeds into the wheelbarrow.  

Tilly asked a lot of questions about plants. I showed her how jewel weed's liquid helps reduces the itch on skin once exposed to stinging nettles. 

Stinging nettles don't deserve the bad rap suggested by their name. A few years ago I learned from a young man collecting stinging nettles at Prospect Gardens, that the immature plants are excellent in salads and that mature leaves make a flavorful but strong tea. He also puts them in lasagna. 

Thank you Tilly and Olivia for being with us. Your presence added so much to our collective effervescence. You and your moms are welcomed back anytime.

Here's industrious Frosya, Vice-President of the Leo Club at West High School, removing weeds from a rocky slope. Frosya has mastered maintaining balance while weeding on a slope. She has volunteered at Prospect Gardens for several seasons. Thank you. 

Frosya is a graduating West High senior and will be attending Princeton. Well done.

Here's Rajeev. He's a sophomore and will be the Leo Club president next year.  I mention his presidency, in hopes that the Leo Club will continue lending a helping hand during his term and into the future. Having members of the current generation with us adds so much to my sense of collective effervescence.   

Thank you Gregory for coming again. Maybe a millennial generation member ? I  appreciate you spending a Saturday morning caring for Prospect Gardens which means you biking from the Tenney Park area.  

Our weeding efforts reminded me of a Carl Sandburg poem about weeds. Even though we are not a vegetable garden, his message about the need for vigilance applies to Prospect Gardens. 

Weeds

From the time of the early radishes

To the time of the standing corn

Sleepy Henry Hackerman hoes.

There are laws in the village against weeds.

The law says a weed is wrong and shall be killed.

The weeds say life is a white and lovely thing

And the weeds come on and on in irresistible regiments. 

Sleepy Henry Hackerman hoes; and the village law uttering a ban on

weeds is unchangeable law.

Here's a picture illustrating another benefit of prairie gardens, followed by a Robert Frost poem about the importance of human connections.  Prospect Gardens is just one of several prairie gardens along the Southwest Path with the last one located around the pedestrian bridge over the beltline. These are all maintained by volunteers.

David and his daughter are sitting besides the small prairie that David installed and now tends at the corner of Commonwealth and the Path. A perfect place for father and daughter to be under an umbrella on a sunny day. I passed by on my daily walk. I stopped, we exchanged greetings. I learned that David is faced with aggressive black-eyed susan spreading rapidly throughout the prairie. He will be taking remedial action. Thanks David for taking care of that small prairie. 

Likewise during the May 20th work session, two neighbors stopped for a chat. Another rode by on her bike and shouted a greeting. 

A Time to Talk

When a friend calls to me from the road

And slows his horse to a meaning walk,

I don’t stand still and look around

On all the hills I haven’t hoed,

And shout from where I am, What is it?

No, not as there is a time to talk.

I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,

Blade-end up and five feet tall,

And plod: I go up to the stone wall

For a friendly visit.

Prospect Gardens over the years has provided many opportunities "for a friendly visit."  There is always time to talk during Prospect Garden work sessions. Come join us if you live in Madison.  You too may experience collective effervescence while having a friendly visit. 

Susan Herndon Photo

This spring has also been a season of wonder and awe. Early in May, on a walk on the path along the northern shores of Lake Wingra (Monroe Street Arboretum) I witnessed a pair of adult cranes and two chicks.  I watched with wonder and awe as the two colts(another name for the chicks) tumbled along after their parents. 

I told a neighbor Susan about the chicks. She and her husband, Rick, observed the crane family walking along the path. Susan and Rick were so close to one of the adults that she could have reached out and touched it. Susan resisted the urge.

On a walk with Ann, we watched how the two parents scratched the dirt with their beaks and how the chicks scampered over and ate what was revealed.  (After Ann googled, we learned the chicks are called "colts" because of their long legs.)

More occasions for wonder and awe were watching a pair of Canadian geese, as the female hatched a brood of five goslings. The adults appear to be same ones that have returned to the storm water pond along Monroe Street for several years. 

While the female sat on the nest, the gander stood by, seeming to be on guard. He joined the female after the five were hatched and often took the lead as they swam across the pond. The family stayed for several weeks during which Ann and I visited several times. Geese often move their brood from the hatching site to a larger body of water which in this case would be nearby Lake Wingra. 

Vilas Park, also on the shores of Lake Wingra, has several families of geese; eating, resting, or leisurely swimming on the lagoon. I spotted a brood that to my great surprise was at least 16 goslings. I lost count at 16. I watched with awe as the adults waddled into the lagoon and the large brood followed. The last one scrambled more quickly than the others. Perhaps thinking "Don't forget me." 

Spring at Prospect Gardens always provides opportunities for awe and wonder. This spring it was the injured cherry tree with the deep scar on its trunk. A few years ago I decided against removing the tree. A wise decision because this season the tree had more blossoms than ever.  Now the tree is filled with small green cherries, promising an abundance of ripe cherries for humans and birds. 

Official summer will arrive in a month.  Meanwhile, more opportunities to experience collective effervescence, awe, and wonder await us.  Be well.