Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

So, as some of you in my circles may remember: Back in July of 2011, I wanted to write an entry for Plato's Nightmare / Aesop's Dream about an "Aesop's fable" my mother told me repeatedly from the time I was very small. But I couldn't find out any background on the 'Net, because (it turns out) it was a fable she herself made up, by splicing two different Aesop's fables into a single story, and then, she misremembered the origin, being convinced she read it somewhere (The entry is here: The Lame Man, the Blind Man, and the Donkey: a fable on the birth of a fable)

So: as of just a little while ago, I've decided that I will, in fact, write something for B.A.D.D., and that it will be about that Disability version of the Bechdel test I came up with... And I thought I'd start out with what I remember as the earliest "favorite quote" my mother had: one that she would recite to me almost every time she finished reading some particularly interesting something. Now, I could swear she had told me the quote came from Gloria Steinem:

When we read, we don't learn, we recognize.

And that struck me as a nearly perfect place to start my argument for why representing the less privileged people in our stories is so important. But I wanted to make sure I had the wording right... So I tried looking up the quote (or a paraphrase of the quote) on Google... And have come up with zilch... zip. Nothing -- either attributed to Steinem, or anyone else. Putting those keywords into the search box only gets me scholarly, and quasi-scholarly, articles on how to teach children to read (and to links of articles about how baboons can apparently learn to read words...

Does the quote ring any bells, or flick on any lights, for my circle folk? Or is this another case of my mother not recognizing herself as the source?

This video is unlisted, so only those people who find a posted link can see it, because, basically, it's a W.I.P.; when I have a finished version, I'll make that public.

Here's the link: http://youtu.be/DHYYnwKnxVQ -- I figure it's the easiest way for most people to hear what the tune sounds like. I'll print out, scan, and post the score later, for those who can read music, but can't run videos...

Anyway, here's what I wrote in the info section, and the reason I'm posting it at all: my muse and I need help ... so... Help?

(Quote)
Usually, when I get the idea for a song, the subject, idea and lyrics come FIRST. But this time, the tune came first, and I don't even know if it's a happy tune or a sad one. So I'm going to ask you to join me in a game I used to play in grade school:

Give me a topic, and I'll write about it -- in this case, I'll try to write lyrics about that topic that fit this tune. And once I have some lyrics, or at least an idea for a theme, then I can illustrate it for real, instead of sticking you with abstract MicroSoft Paint art

Deal?
(unquote)

Two biological facts about me:

1) Ever since I was about 8 or 9, it has been usual for the "parting shot" of a bout with the Common Cold Virus (after the sniffling, sneezing, sore throat, etc. is out of my system) to be a flare up of cold sores on the insides of my lips and cheeks. It's just been the usual way for the virus to work its way through me.

2) My asthma, which I've kept mostly symptom-free for these last six years or so, with a daily dose of Benedryl-clone, is triggered by mold, dust, smoke and ...stress.

---

Last night, I had a flare up of asthma symptoms, even after my usual daily dose. And this morning, even though I had no outward signs of a cold, I woke with a cold sore.

I've also had intense, bordering-on-nightmare dreams, these last two nights, which I can't remember well enough to describe, except that they involved punching and fighting.

... I think, perhaps, this last week of waiting through Irene, knowing that I had no easy way to evacuate (and no way to hide in the closet or bathtub during the storm, as experts all say you should), has taken a temporary toll on my immune system.

This whole week, I've felt like I'm fighting jet lag.

So: tell me a happy thing? Please?

Object of discussion: Shirt (or mug, or mousepad, or whatever) with a picture of an alligator, and the words "Shameless Alligator," in fat hand-lettering.

Question -- Should I also add the word "Agitator"?

Either as:

A) "Shameless Alligator Agitator," or
B) with "Alligator" struck out, as if fixing a typo, or
C) Not include "Agitator" at all?

I've got everything drawn and inked, except "Agitator." and I need to make a decision before I scan it.

Thanks, in advance, for answering.

[Edited to add: I both Version B ("Shameless Proofread") and Version C ("Shameless In-Joke"); the in-joke one takes up less space (natch), so it's better for small items, like refrigerator magnets and trucker hats. I've got a trucker hat ready for posting for sale, but I'm stumped as to what to do for a description. So I'll post it tomorrow, after sleep.]

Folklore: Queen Bertha Broadfoot: M. Goose?

For my blog: Plato's Nightmare / Aesop's Dream (Discovering images of disability in folklore and classics of literature), I'm considering writing an entry on the image of the disabled story-teller as a recurring motif in stories, themselves -- stories about storytelling.

I have seen mention in several places that the "original Mother Goose" was Bertha Broadfoot, or, in Latin: Regina pede aucae (The Queen with the Goose-foot), the Eighth Century Queen of the Franks.

I find this excruciatingly tantalizing, because of my emerging theory about the role of "monsters" as living omens, and how "monsters" were originally those born with deformed or missing limbs (and also as creatures who were "mixes" of different animals in one). The problem is, all the references I can find lead back to the same Wikipedia article, which is both a stub, and lacking in references.

So I was hoping someone here on Mudcat could point me to more fleshed-out legends of the queen, and how she became linked to "Mother Goose."

Whether or not there is any historical basis for the legend, or whether the figure of fairy tale and nursery rhyme could ever be attached to a living woman is unimportant to me. What I'm after is the role she's played in the imaginations of people through the centuries.

Help?

I decided just to play around with sounds in my mouth, to see what tickled my fancy, and came up with "Quadiquafflump." 'Quadi-" is for 'four' (the number of different creatures from whom it gets its parts), and "quafflump" is for the sound it probably makes, as it moves through its native habitat -- mixed wetland forests.

Here's a link to the card in my store (tell me what you think of the copy I wrote about it? Thanks!):