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I watched a biography on Johnny Cash last night. A series of frames showed Cash before a large outdoor crowd with his guitar crammed up into his right armpit. He played with the crowd.
“I thank GOD for all the freedoms we’ve got in this country. I cherish them. Even the rights to burn the flag…”
At this point the crowd grows nervous. There are some loud boo’s, but mostly silence… [Read more →]
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art credit: caroline levis www.levisart.com, click image to veiw portfolio
According to rabbinic tradition and Acts 7, Moses tended sheep in the wilderness for forty years. His first forty years were spent in a king’s palace. His final forty years were spent leading a liberated, yet still grumpy people toward the Promised Land. It’s the middle forty, the desert years, that seem pointless. He got married, had some kids, and inhaled the smoke of a burning paote bush that led him to believe I AM WHO I AM was telling him to lead his people out of Egypt. Forty years is a long time to listen to sheep. It is a long time to believe the words of a flaming bush.
What’s more is that God tells him the job he is preparing him to do will fail. Exodus 4 paraphrased says, “You’re going to do all these miraculous things, but I’m going to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he won’t listen to you. It’s not going to work. It’s not you; it’s me.” Encouragement like that probably made the octogenarian long to hear the bleating of sheep. [Read more →]
Mantua, Ohio is not known for it’s peace marches; so when one comes to town, you take notice. This morning 6 Burmese nationals made their way North on OH 44 on their way to completing a 900 mile journey from Fort Wayne, IN to NYC. Their mission: to raise awareness for human rights violations in Burma.
Well over a year ago, a cyclone landed Burma in American news headlines. Scrutiny followed, as the world learned its relief efforts had been held up by the Burmese government. [Read more →]
→ No CommentsTags: aung san suu kyi·burma·human rights·mantua ohio·oppression
Occasionally I point my readers to another blog for some info or humor. My friend Hollywood Pastor, AKA: JR Mahon, wrote the most gripping story about his kids. “Kids?” you ask. Well, they’re not just any kids. The Mahon’s adopted 3 kids a few years back. One time we were eating at a Middle Eastern joint, and one of their kids walked into the kitchen and demanded, “Hey, I want some pancakes.” As kids go; theirs are RAD. He retells their family story.
“I rarely write about my kids. It’s not intentional, it’s just living with the joys and horrors that come with foster-care adoption can be overwhelmingly stifling. Day to day survival usually trumps the ability to look back and wonder aloud.
Today I wonder aloud.
It’s been 2 plus years since Diane and I blindly let three kids into our lives. Beyond the residual effects of multiple forms of abuse and Di and I having no idea what we’re gonna do with three little kids, it’s going well.
Adoption in any form forces relationship. It will cause you to lose your sense of self in lieu of letting others live. You don’t count on that… it’s just what happens.
Mia, Angel and Z had the crap kicked out of ‘em early and built a myriad of survival tactics that kept them relatively sane while protecting them from more abuse where ever possible.”
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Remember the olden days, when your friend got that sweet dual cassette player that offered high-speed dubbing?
That device meant you could grab all of your buddies’ music and copy it onto 90 minute blank cassettes with noise reduction technology. You and your friends stole music like nobody’s business. No one cared.
FFWD a couple years to a time when Napster became the dual-cassette deck of the world [Read more →]
→ 5 CommentsTags: daunte stallworth·gloria estefan·jammie thomas rasset·journey·justice·kazaa
The first track, a haunting saxophone, notifies listeners that what follows will be a tribute to the late LeRoi Moore. The twelve remaining tracks leave you feeling as if you’ve just attended a wake in New Orleans on Mardi Gras. How does that feel? Well, happy, reflective, sad and weird; throw in some disappointment and some raucous dancing and you have Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.
The opinions of early reviewers have been scattered. Some have mandated this album be added to the “Big 3.” Others have thought it a continuation of DMB’s recording mediocrity [Read more →]
→ 2 CommentsTags: big whiskey and the groogrux king·dave matthews band·dmb·music review
Tomorrow: Ream reviews the latest DMB album.
A political lesson from Arizona. Listen up, Iran. It’s easy.
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The road was busy, and I had been tailgated for seven miles. I know this because I had been counting. There was a line of cars in front of me. We weren’t in a hurry; it was Saturday and the to-do list was mostly done. That’s when it all began. Tailgator crossed the double yellow into oncoming traffic in order to get one car ahead of me in the line up. I slammed on the brakes and moved as far as I could to the right so that the poor fellow in the opposite lane could live to see Sunday.
this is not a photo from actual events described in this blog post.
What an idiot. Then she does it again. Double yellow, motor cycle in the oncoming lane and she pulls out right in front of him and passes one car in order to be next in line. [Read more →]
Last night I attended my eldest son’s band camp concert. The night before that both of my boys had baseball games. In an hour I’ll be leaving to go to yet another baseball game. Next weekend the daughter has a ballet recital. Being a dad (or a mom) takes a lot of time.
I am told that in a year or two, my eldest son will resent me for no good reason. In 5 years, he’ll put up with me in an effort to get to the car keys. [Read more →]
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