Salty accommodations
Although we've had links on our website to a unique all-salt hotel in Boliva for some time, the National Geographic has published a great photo (above). Enjoy.
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Although we've had links on our website to a unique all-salt hotel in Boliva for some time, the National Geographic has published a great photo (above). Enjoy.
Nearly six years after the trauma and devastation of the terrorist attack that destroyed New York City's two largest office skyscrapers, the shape of the $30 billion redevelopment of the area is becoming clear and exciting.
Is there a "salt" angle to this? Yes.
Visit Manhattan by 2011 and see the uplifting photos of the new Lower Manhattan. But LISTEN to the uplifting theme music for the photo presentation. It is the Simone Lo Porto song "Fiume di Sale", winner of the recent "In The Name of Salt" competition sponsored by NYC artist Bettina Werner, "The Salt Queen."
We can think of no more uplifting theme. Congratulations to New York City's resolute leaders, to Simone Lo Porto and to "The Salt Queen."
It's not just that the author approvingly recommended the Salt Institute website as "particularly interesting" in his blog post today, but Richard Bentall in "For such a time as this" has just run three successive days of blogs on our favorite subject -- salt.
Some highlights:
On Tuesday, "Salt from the Bible" Bentall observes:
To offer salt is to treat with honour. It is a gesture of respect. Even of love. To offer the salt is to not hold back.
Yesterday, an informative treatise on the "Covenant of Salt" where he explains that
according to Smith's Bible Dictionary, there was something called a "covenant of salt." Such a covenant betokened "an indissoluble alliance between friends." This phrase, covenant of salt, turns up in 2 Chronicles 13:5, which says, "Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?" Indissoluble. Get it? A bond of friendship that cannot be broken. These are some of the connotations, that surrounded the word salt for people in Palestine in Biblical times.In Colossians 4:6. "Let your words be always full of grace, seasoned with salt." Remember that in this passage Paul is speaking to church members about their relationships to those on the outside. Your words to them, he is saying, ought to carry with them the offer of friendship very much like God's to David. This is grace, and it is abounding grace. It has been poured out for us, so that we may abound in it toward others. Offering peace, this is what the covenant of salt is about, and that is what our words should savor of when we speak to outsiders. So that "thanksgiving may overflow, to the glory of God." (2 Cor. 4:15b)
And this morning's treat, "If it 'taint salty, then 'taint salt," he continues this instruction, noting:
The offer of salt, the instruction to season all our interactions with others with the salt of hospitality, of graciousness, is a seriously high standard. ... One way to do this is to compare our behavior with the standard that Jesus laid out in the beatitudes, which is where the Saviour spells out what it means to be "the salt of the earth." Why is all this so important? Jesus answers, "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other." (Mark 9:50) And Peter, for his part, adds: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect . . . ." (1 Peter 3:15)Lord, let me be salt today. Let there be the savor of salt in all my conversation. Let graciousness, gentleness, and respect be the marks of my faith today...
Salt has enormous and enduring cultural significance. Thanks to Richard Bentall for this illuminating reminder.
American poet Kate Greenstreet has been described as "quirky" and "genuinely interested in furthering the cause of words." Whatever. We applaud her source material. One reviewer explained the poet's technique in her book case sensitive which contains extensive notes of her sources which, surprising to us, include "the Salt Institute's website, and loads of other stuff."
The book has five sections including one on science, about which Publishers Weekly says of Greenstreet's poem "Salt:"
[SALT]" treats its titular mineral's properties (e.g., "[on icy streets makes winter travel safe]") as jumping-off points for questions about human nature: "Can you shut the eye with something in it and continue?
Yes, salt's historic thread in culture continues today.
http://www.saltinstitute.org/rss/tidbits/2007/07/thirsty_for_some_salty_culture.html
A wave of salt-inspired culture is forming. The Big Apple is already home to sculptress Bettina Werner, self-styled "Salt Queen." Now, before Labor Day, an off-Broadway -- actually 145 6th Avenue (between Spring and Broome) -- ballet choreographed by Vicky Virgin and directed by Umit Celebi exploring "salt in its myriad forms." It's on our calendar; is it on yours? Here's the playbill:
Salt becomes a metaphor for desire in Vicky Virgin's new dance theater piece, Salt Lake, a New Ballet in 3 Acts. Story ballet converges with performance art providing the framework for the emergence of Fleur de Sel, an odd character with an irrational craving for salt. Three salt nymphs join her as she negotiates that dangerous landscape of passion: the desire, bliss and despair. Elements include video on a screen of falling salt and a Shakespeare sonnet. Salt in its myriad forms are fully explored. In the end, you will be left with nothing less than pure unadulterated thirst.