Parashat Noach 5783, A short short Still emerging from song, and transportation

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Stories are meant to transport us to other times and other places.  The audience for some of my more wacky story ideas, like this one, might need us to have a much more fully inclusive society for all of us.  I need someone to tolerate my short short trials!  🙂   Thank you for putting up with this one, if you read on…

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I’ve had a song I grew up with circling in my head for days now, and also a story that I wrote, of which I posted a bit back a few years ago, as I pondered rewriting my first practice novel around this idea. What if some of the folks who didn’t get on Noah’s Ark stood outside the Ark as a way of protesting the injustice of destroying the entire world? I’m going to try this in 2nd person, to see how it reads: what do you think, Dear Reader?

The clear waters are lapping at her breasts. You can see the goose bumps on her flesh. The woman is shivering, looking right at you. She lifts her head, drawing a deep breath from her belly, and bellows these words out with her diaphragm:

“Soon and very soon,we are going to see the King!”

You’ve heard this song before, in a church, a long time ago. Now, the others join in, linking arms and responding to her call:

“Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.”

The waters have reached the woman’s neck. You wonder what are they doing singing at a time like this. Then it hits you. Tears sting your face as you cry out to Shem, Japeth, and Ham:

“Get them in here! Now! Drag them by their idiotic hair if you have to, but get them in this boat! Right now! They …”

Your words are drowned out by the woman´s next call,

“No more crying!”

The others, lifting their voices above the waves, respond:

“No more crying there, we are going to see the king.”

You lung at the side, one foot already hooked over the edge, but your sons catch you by each arm, the third clutching your waist, dragging you back inside as Noach closes the door. The last thing you see is the writing on a plank of wood held high; demanding an audience with the One who sent this Flood. Demanding land for everyone, and justice for all.

The writing looked like blood.

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So, it turns out that this short short, which I wrote in March of 2019, still comes to my mind fairly frequently (I suppose I should post it during Parashat Noah…).

Painters of Sultan Murad III [Public domain]
Painters of Sultan Murad III [Public domain]  

last year’s Parashat Noach 5782 / פרשת נֹחַ

was Read in the Diaspora on 9 October 2021 (3 Cheshvan 5782).

Parashat Noach is the 2nd weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading.

I still wonder if the idea of protesting the Great Flood could have happened, somewhere back in the mists of time.

Last week was Parashat Bereshit, 5783, and Language Learning for Novels and Torture Prevention? …

Action Items:

1.) Share two different sources related to the Holocene Epoch and to the Holocene Calendar, as compared to the Hebrew calendar.

2.)  Share your thoughts on how knowing about different calendars might help, or hinder, inclusive thinking,

3.) Write a book, blog post or tweet that uses an alternate calendar, and once published, please consider donating to your local public library.

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple , on-going education and empathy-building, to , ,  & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?

Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure  & for CCOVID-19:
1. ,
2. legal aid and Education,
3. , and
4. good

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About ShiraDestProjectDoBetter

D. Antonia ("Nia") Jones is founder of #ProjectDoBetter, a long term plan proposal for community building, and a published poet, academic author, and advocate for improving our #PublicDomainInfrastructure. Her other book, Stayed on Freedom's Call, on Black-Jewish Cooperation in DC, is freely available via the Internet Archive. She has organized community events such as film discussions, multi-ethnic song events, and cooperative presentations, and is a native of Washington, DC. She promotes peaceful planning, NVC and the Holocene Calendar, and is also a writer. More information at https://shiradest.wordpress.com/

11 thoughts on “Parashat Noach 5783, A short short Still emerging from song, and transportation”

  1. Pingback: Parashat Noach 5783, A short short Still emerging from song, and transportation | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  2. On the ark story content , I would emphasize more interaction with the animals. As for the writing style, you have many passive verbs like have and were that could be changed to more active verbs to,me. As for different calendars, one becomes more sensitive to different cultures by observing calendar distinctions, Take India and all their holiday distinctions for example as a calendar modification to make them all possible.

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    1. Agreed that this story still needs much work: I am not sure that using 2nd person works, for me. Very good point regarding the calendar. I especially find meaning in the celebration of Gandhi’s Birthday, since it happens to fall on the same day as the massacre of students at the UNAM in MX, in 1968. (“El 2 de octubre no se olvida…”)

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        1. Well, it’s a very different point of view than what I am used to, and also I worry about how the reader will take it, and then of course there is the famous advice against writing in 2nd person.

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  3. Pingback: Parashat Lech Lecha 5783, And Why We Must Vote | Inspiring Critical Thinking and Community via Books, Lessons, and Story

  4. I wonder what the ancient Hebrews who rewrote the already retold global flood myth were trying to say about why some lived and others died. My scientific-historical bent tells me that the flood myths around the world are echoes of the rising oceans at the end of the last Ice Age. Mythology being what it is, there is always another layer of meaning, though.

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    1. I also wonder. The redactors and editors who codified this turned it into a morality story to give it meaning, but I agree with you that these myths are certainly echos of the changing world, and ways that human beings adapted to it as big agriculture became prevalent.

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  5. In my writing world, I try to avoid talking about myself as much as possible for privacy
    Reasons and as a way to use my imagination more. 3rd person often works best especially with action verbs

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  6. Pingback: repost of A short short Story, merging Bible and Song | Context, Critical Thinking, Continuous Learning: Project Do Better

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