This week on Texting, Tomek and I consider the common sunflower as both botanical specimen and inspiration for texts by such diverse artists as William Blake, Allen Ginsberg, Vincent Van Gogh, and The Beach Boys. Tomek explains why he considers Helianthus annuus to be the workingman’s flower and/or the flower of the underdog, while I sheepishly confess that I find the sunflower less appealing than the carnation and speculate that this mild aversion may be due to my lunar (lunatic?) essence. I also discuss at rather uncomfortable length the Taiwan Sunflower Movement (a topic on which I am certainly no expert) and timidly suggest that it might have been better for the American taxpayer to send Volodymyr Zelensky a stockpile of sunflowers—since the sunflower is, after all, the Ukrainian national flower—rather than an endless supply of weapons and cash.
Special thanks to friend of the pod Maria S. for clarifying that sunflower seeds come from the head or disk of the sunflower and that they are arranged in spirals which follow the Fibonacci sequence. Here is a pic of the sunflowers in her garden:
Next week’s text, chosen by me, will be the classic gangster film Scarface. Stay tuned!
MW
P.S. We’re still taking requests! Let us know if there’s a text you’d like us to explore in an upcoming episode!
"Ah! Sun-flower"