On a lighter note (or five)…

THE TREE THAT OWNS ITSELF

May 5, 2023: The handsome town of Athens in the American state of Georgia is adorned with antebellum architecture and buzzes with bright university students. There’s also a tree that owns itself. It’s a white oak with generous branches spread wide enough that one might sit beneath its outstretched foliage and ponder the world. Though the tree owns that land too — indeed a 2.4-metre circumference. The story dates back to some time around 1825, when Colonel William Henry Jackson, the son of the governor of Georgia, was just a kid who loved it. In adulthood, he deeded the oak to itself so that it may be protected for centuries to come. The deed read that “in consideration of the great affection which he bears said tree, and his great desire to see it protected has conveyed”, Jackson was granting the oak tree the “entire possession of itself”.

The deed has been long lost, and legal pedants might sniff that a recipient has to have the legal capacity to receive a deed. But these are mere footnotes in the folklore. By 1942, the oak was considered to be one of the most famous trees in the US, standing some 30 metres tall. But it was in poor health after a nasty storm some years back, and one day the tree crumbled to the ground. The town was dismayed until one person suggested they replant its “son” — several locals had planted the tree’s acorns — so a smaller descendant was transplanted to the spot and inherited the deed. Thus the proper name for the tree today is actually the son of the tree that owns itself. It was designated a historic landmark on February 2, 1988, and many folks travel to see the tree that was protected by a little boy’s love.

Hoping you find time for some contemplation today.

HOP, SKIP, JUMP

May 10, 2023: A little old lady in a small provincial French village was pottering around when she heard a smart rap at the door. Colette Ferry, 92, was met by two police officers, as The Guardian tells it, who informed her that they were there about a noise complaint. It wasn’t the result of late-night raving on the part of Ferry, or even a repetitive enjoyment of Taylor Swift’s hot new album, Speak Now. No, this noise complaint was about frogs. Three frogs, in fact, who had taken up residence in Ferry’s garden pond. A tetchy neighbour couldn’t bear it for another night longer. Ze cannot sleep! Ze cannot think! All ze can hear is zat infernal croaking! An amused Ferry told a local radio station the frogs were just squatters who turned up one day to liven things up for everyone. And they did! “They’re in and out of the water playing with my fish. It’s my entertainment!” the nonagenarian joked. Until a man turned up at her door, raving about needing to get some shut-eye for his très important job. “But I did not expect the gendarmes,” Ferry said. “Especially not for frogs!”

It’s not clear whether the man was a newcomer, but it’s an ongoing spat in rural France. Parisian city-slickers pour into the countryside for some rest and relaxation but are met with clanging church bells, groaning cows, clucky chickens and rowdy frogs. It got so bad that a judge had to rule that Maurice the rooster was permitted to crow in 2019, and in 2021 French politicians passed an actual law to protect the noises and smells of the countryside. Ferry doesn’t care for a legal battle. Remove the frogs, if you please. In fact, she’s looking forward to watching the police officers try. “That’ll be fun … they jump,” she said with glee.

Hoping you can laugh at frogs today too, whatever that looks like for you.

COMFORT FOOD

May 12, 2023: Melbourne woman Rebecca Millar was dutifully preparing her daughter’s lunch at the end of 2022 when the little girl asked if she could have more in her lunchbox. It turned out Millar’s daughter had noticed other kids in her class sitting idle as the others chowed down at lunchtime, so she had been sharing her food around — even though it left her pretty hungry at the end of the school day. Millar knew she had to do something for these kids. She lives with a disability — rheumatoid arthritis — and said she knows firsthand how a smidge of help feels enormous to someone in need. So she started sending her daughter to school with an extra lunchbox of food — just “bits and pieces so they had more to share around with those kids who weren’t able to bring lunch”, Millar told SBS.

When a breakfast club at the school finished up in 2023, Millar realised some of these kids were going the entire day without eating a thing. “This was when everything escalated,” she said. So she launched a “no questions asked” food box, filled with corn chips, popcorn, Easy Mac, seaweed snacks, fruit, pizza crusts, fava beans, cheese, the works. There are even lovingly prepared batch-cooked homemade meals in there. Now about seven kids pop by her house to pick up the food for their friends and families. Millar also keeps a box of period supplies in her bathroom, free for whichever kid dares to dart in there. But it’s getting harder — Millar said her grocery bill had jumped $120 a week in the past three months amid soaring inflation. If you want to donate to help stock her “no questions asked” food box, please click here.

Wishing you some of the kindness of Rebecca Millar.

Editor’s note: after this Lighter Note, Millar received enough support from Worm readers to pay for an entire school term and a half’s worth of boxes.

MY SHOUT

March 3, 2023: On a normal day, Kiwi brewers Larry Culleton​ and Scott Taylor are sworn enemies, spending their days working on a singular goal: to outsell each other and their competitors by creating, refining and marketing the perfect beer to Auckland and beyond. But after Cyclone Gabrielle tore through New Zealand’s North Island — a once-in-a-century event — it wasn’t a normal day. A despondent Culleton walked the halls of his Hawke’s Bay Brewing Co lost for words about what to do. The storm had cost some 120,000 litres of beer, and it would take as long as three months before there’d be one more. Some rivals would’ve been clicking their heels in glee. “It’s extremely competitive to get a tap in Auckland,” Culleton said. “We’re fighting each other for 30% of the market.” But Taylor, who runs nearby Deep Creek Brewing, just wasn’t that guy.

So Taylor offered Culleton a “gentleman’s agreement”. “I said: ‘We have a fresh batch of lager. How’s about I match your pricing and I fill your taps for you until you’re back on your feet?’ ” as Taylor tells it. It would mean anyone seeking a pint of Hawke’s Bay Brewery beer would be told the story and offered a pint of Deep Creek instead, rather than risking the pubs just binning the Hawke’s tap altogether. Taylor added that Culleton, who had no power yet, could invoice his customers through their system too, if he wanted. Culleton was floored. “People don’t do that kind of stuff in this industry,” he told Stuff. “They could have stepped back and watched us fall away … They are really, really good people.” Taylor was like, he was doing it tough, and it’s so hard to get taps in this cut-throat industry. It was the “right thing to do”.

Hoping you spot an opportunity for a good deed today.

OLD FAITHFUL

July 4, 2023: In 1923, a renowned agricultural professor named Hidesaburo Ueno asked a student if he knew where he could get an Atika puppy. Atikas are one of Japan’s oldest and most popular breeds known for their calm, intelligent, brave and obedient nature. A small pup born that year turned up at his home shortly afterwards, but Ueno and his wife, Yae, feared he might not survive the journey. They tenderly cared for the little pup –, which they named Hachi (eight in Japanese) and ko (an honorific his students suggested) — for six months until he was right as rain. As Ueno would ready himself to walk to the train station in the mornings, Hachiko would mill about, until the pair, with Ueno’s other two dogs, would stroll together through the streets of Tokyo to the station. As the train carriage doors opened after a long day’s work, Hachiko would be sitting there in the evening light, waiting to walk his Ueno home.

But in May 1925, Ueno suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and closed his eyes for the last time. He was 53. At his wake, Hachiko crawled under his master’s coffin and refused to budge, although eventually he was rehomed with Ueno’s gardener. Even so, every morning Hachiko would pitter-patter out the door, down the street and sit stoically at the train station, as if escorting Ueno’s ghost to work. In the evening, Hachiko would make the trip a second time — rain, hail or shine — to sit at that ticket gate, peering “at each passenger as if he were looking for someone”, says Professor Mayumi Itoh. Hachiko was regarded as a nuisance until a local newspaper wrote about his trips — suddenly food donations poured in, poetry was written, and a statue was erected in the loyal pooch’s honour. His death in 1935 made the front pages of many newspapers in Japan, and his statue still stands outside Shibuya station today, waiting patiently for Ueno to return forever. Happy 100th birthday, Hachiko.

Hoping something moves you today.