Take care of the sense

By Amy Baranski

Take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves, says the Duchess in Alice in Wonderland, and John Hollander as his final point in the introduction to Committed to Memory.

My copy arrived today.

Hollander is a poet, a critic, an editor, and wears a beard in his dust jacket picture.

I can't tell you precisely why I felt annoyed when I first opened the book, it had a stiff air, but Hollander's introduction won me over. His blatant disdain for oratory foibles of today's newscasters was the clincher.

I have always loved reading aloud. Since I was a little girl. I don't know why. It's just how I prefer to read, from line to line, page to page, cover to cover. The silence of the page is nice too. I read silently now too, as I've grown into my ornery adult suit, and am prone to headaches more easily. Says Hollander:

"...to hear a poem read aloud by someone who understands it, and who wishes to share that understanding with someone else, can be a crucial experience, instructing the silently reading eye ever thereafter to hear what it is seeing. Better yet is reading aloud that way oneself."

Such joy!

More Mushrooms Musings

posted by Melissa


This past Thursday night's PSMS mushroom ID class focused on what the teacher called "Tonight's Tough Topic: Toxic Toadstools."  That title may clue you into the atmosphere of the class, yes, there was quite a bit of humor involved.  And while I was not in the mood for laughter when I got to class, it only took a few quips to bring a smile to my face.  I think my favorite one of the night was this quote about what happens if you eat a poisonous mushroom.

"The bad news is, you need a new liver.  The good new is, you jump the line."

I know, it doesn't seem as funny to me right now either, but with his delivery and the class response, it really worked in that mushroom people crowd.

Amanita muscaria (I did not find this one.)

The teacher was Daniel Winkler.  He has a business, Mushroaming, taking tour groups to Tibet, looking for mushrooms.  I can't wait for Good Luck with That to be able to take trips to Tibet during mushroom month!  Maybe someday.

*off daydreaming*

*ok, I'm back*

He started off our class, like any mushroom class should, with a beautiful picture of the Amanita muscaria.  Everyone is familiar with the look of this red and white, Alice in Wonderland, looking mushroom.

Maybe it's because of its flashy colors, maybe it's the book deal it got with Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgeson) in 1865, but something sure is alluring about this mushroom.  Upon further research into the subject, I found a picture here from the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, illustration by John Tenniel.  As you can see, this mushroom is not the fancy red capped with white spots like we often associate with the story.  Any readers have an idea what magical mushroom Tenniel was intending to illustrate for Alice to nibble?

Back to the pertinent poison posting.

The Amanita muscaria, or fly agaric as it is sometimes known, is considered poisonous and psychedelic due to the ibotinic acid and muscinol content.  Our teacher said that you could parboil (is that the same as boiling?) it twice for ten minutes, each time dumping out the water, and then eat it safely.  I can't say I will try that, or bring it to my next potluck.

Another mushroom in the same genus is also well known, but mostly only in the mushroom community.  Or at least that is my take, given the fact that I didn't know much about it before this class.  It is Amanita phalloides, also known as Deathcap.  Now there's a good band name that I have no idea why someone hasn't used yet.

Amanita phalloides, from Wikipedia

The scary thing about this mushroom (besides the fact that it will kill you) is that the symptoms can take up to 10 hours to show up.  The poisonous constituent are the amatoxins, which account for 50% of all mushroom poisoning, and 95% of all mushroom fatalities.

It can be mistaken for other mushrooms, but one way to be sure is to wait a day after picking it before eating.  While most mushrooms that it can be mistaken for have gills that turn colors (most likely brown), this mushroom always keeps white gills.  It will also always have at the very least remnant of its universal veil, the ring you see near the top of the stem in the picture to the right.

In Europe, some cases have been given injections of silymarin, from the plant milk thistle, with good results.  Although, as our teacher pointed out, there aren't many volunteers for a study of this kind to be peer-reviewed and published.