PLEASURE, FACTS OF PHYSICS FROM 3 EARS OF CORN

It is amazing how much enjoyment and education one can get from simple things such as, in this case, three ears of corn; that is, if you have time and inclination to enjoy the purchase, the purpose of the purchase, the result and the little pieces of information you glean along the way until nothing but the cobs are left.

When the first smoky haze of Indian Summer spread over the landscape last fall, I went, with much purpose, to the orchard house to get the corn. This is Indian colored corn I'm talking about, done up in hanks, sprays or arrangements (I don't know what to call it. Cluster?) of three, the shucks turned upward and tied at the base so they'll stay that way. Such corn is a symbol of welcome and friendship to be hung at or near doorways when harvest days are upon us.

There was a big deep bin full of these symbols. I began to search through them thoroughly, trying to find the prettiest collection of three. I inspected and discarded again and again. Soon I felt that a number of eyes were upon me, although the lookers-on were unaware that I had become aware. I decided to put on a little drama of Corn Selection. I continued to take spray after spray of the corn from the bin, turn it round and round, slowly as if I might be counting the kernels so as to get full measure. I held them up to the light of the window where the autumn sun struck the ears, ran fingers down rows of grain as if feeling for warts or other skin defects. I inspected the upturned shucks meticulously as if expecting to find a field mouse stashed away.

A self-produced ham drama that lasts too long loses its effectiveness. Eventually I made my choice, a collection of one ear with multi-colored dark red kernels, one mostly cream colored with a dark gray or yellow grain here and there, and an almost pink one with pearly grains scattered through it.

Then I looked around at those who had been watching. Was there a collective sigh of relief? Relief that I had found just what I wanted or relief because I was through and they wanted to look? One person seemed to nod ever so slightly as if in approval of my choice. An eyelid dropped ever so little too.

I greeted those gathered around and commented, "It has been a good corn year, hasn't it? " they agreed, smilingly, and seemed reluctant to move on so we all, strangers I suppose, talked a while about the crops and who in the area raised colored corn and however did it become a friendship symbol. It was such a little cameo of pleasure in an otherwise mundane day.

Back home I hung my corn on the front door. The first one to come remarked that she used to put feathers in amongst the shucks to give them an additional frill. As soon as she was gone I hastened to my supply of feathers. Supply of feathers? Yes, I have even that. One year I worked with some children, making Indian headdresses, the kind with many feathers. For weeks we combed the park, fields, and byways for molted bird feathers. Our best supply came from the chicken display barn after the District Fair. Beautiful feathers. Colored feathers.

I dressed up my corn shucks until I thought the whole affair looked something like what I've seen depicted as a voodoo charm used in mysterious rituals, but then what did I know about Voodooism?

On a handy day thereafter I went to the library and requested information on Voodooism and medicine men. Research librarians do not raise an eyebrow or flick a lash at any request. In a mere flash of time they can tell you who the third governor of Florida was or how many mules there are in Montana at the present time.

It may seem that I'm straying from my subject but I did mention "the little pieces of information you glean along the way." I learned a lot about Voodooism. It is not what is usually depicted in Hollywood films. It's a religion that had its beginnings in Africa, although it does have to do with sorcery, fetishes, magic and rituals.

Perusing in the written word about magic, I learned, from the works of a Ph.D. in theoretical physics about the observer effect which is "the sudden change in a physical property of matter particularly at the atomic and subatomic level when that property is observed. This is measured by the change in the probability of observing that property. When it occurs, something that was possible suddenly jumps and become actual. It is ascribed to the actions of consciousness upon material objects." Hey, man, what you can pick up tangentially from three ears of corn. It's magic!

When it was time to put up the Christmas wreath I took the corn from the door and laid it in the "hallway" of my two-sectioned bird feeder. The bluejays and cardinals fly in to pick off a grain at a time. I had to keep pushing the corn an inch or two out of the "hallway" for the birds do not like to enter there. There is no quick get-away for them.

The squirrels love the "hallway." They are out of the rain or snow should that be the case. They have to wind up their tails a little tighter to fit. Perhaps that is a small thing compared to the colorful feast before them.

Eventually there was nothing left but the cobs and shucks. I wondered could I make a charm out of them which to some observer on the atomic and subatomic level jumps out at them and becomes real? Naw, I'd have to go study "inherent probability-vibrational patterns."

REJOICE!