Nice piece. That's how you tie it all together. I especially love the close.
There's so much to talk about in here, as there always seems to be with what you write, but the one thing that I find morbidly interesting is the lack of realization that "woke" is a religion. As much as with any other religion, the conclusions drawn among the "woke" can't be born out by science. They cannot be empirically proven. We're supposed to simply go on faith, but it's insulting to remind them that it is all faith, which is true of any fundamentalist sect. For example, one might philosophically argue that gender is a societal construct. But what one can never prove is that that construct is arbitrary enough that beings with XY chromosomes, with all the strength and size that confers, are no different than beings with XX chromosomes with a little cosmetic surgery and medication. That requires faith, and yet we're meant to accept it as scientific fact, which is to say as gospel.
I have not been a religious person for a long, long time, and I suppose that helps me step back. But I do think people *need* religion. Most of us are programmed so we cannot survive without it, and if it is not imposed upon us, we will create it. We will make "gods" and "commandments" to separate the "chosen" from the "damned." What is happening became much more understandable when I grasp that fact. We need to make more people understand that, just like Marxism and Leninism was for the Russians and Maoism was for the Chinese, "woke" is a religion here, and an equally destructive one. (If you want to laugh, bitterly, find Bill Maher's "New Rule" from Friday about "woke." He's part of the problem, but if you're looking for a little hope that we might get a handle on this, his takedown is worthwhile--even if I suspect it might be a little too late.)
Two other small notes: a couple of the best string performers I ever saw at our local theater were two young black men who put their own twist on classical music. I think what happens more often is mediocre people hide behind the victim card to cover their mediocrity, and we get this "classical music is racist" crap.
And how long were you in Europe? I notice you use a lot of British spelling.
The only reason I had asked if it had shown up in your mailbox is because when I checked w/ my sister, it had not arrived in hers, and that was almost a full day later! I had to send her a link to it.
"I have not been a religious person for a long, long time, and I suppose that helps me step back. But I do think people *need* religion. Most of us are programmed so we cannot survive without it, and if it is not imposed upon us, we will create it."
Neither have I – I DO agree with the need for religion (for want of a better word). I think most folks who are averse to what they recognize as religion, replace with faith, or hope, or, "the universe," karma, but it is religion, or God, though by a different name. True religion as defined by scripture (James 1:27) does not exist in this world, and tragically, is not made manifest in the holy catholic church, anywhere.
When I was on Facebook, and my feed was predominantly excessively biased "conservative" "news" outlets, the clips that would feature Maher often angered me. Having left Fb, and largely disconnecting from the daily news cycle, I have since sought out commentary on current event (more often than not, writers on Substack like Glen Loury, John McWhorter, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, et al.) as I KNOW what the corporate legacy media will be spewing, and I'm pretty sure I can guess what I'll read on Breitbart, and/or The Blaze, and I can think critically for myself. What I can't get from any given "news" outlet is a more objective, dispassionate perspective with which I may or may not agree, but I'll be intellectually challenged, regardless.
I've since come to grudgingly respect Maher as among those I would call, honest liberals. He's not afraid to take on the lunatic fringe of his ideological home that has been overrun by the ultra radical leftist, woke zealots. There is much I hated about WHAT HE SAID, but I never wanted him silenced just because he pointed out uncomfortable facts about the policies championed by those on what used to be my side of the aisle. Harry Shearer is another honest liberal I have come to respect - even if I don't agree with his comments – at the very least, his criticism is reasoned.
"...mediocre people hide behind the victim card to cover their mediocrity, and we get this 'classical music is racist' crap."
THIS – so very much this – does not that black trombonist, and those black opera singers realize that they are defeating their own argument? THEY are in those positions because they are the most accomplished of all who auditioned.
I spent the summer between my junior and senior years in high school touring a lot of Western Europe as part of a concert orchestra constituted of other students approximately the same age. We performed in France, Switzerland, Austria, West Germany, Denmark, Holland, Lichtenstein, and England. My use of the British spelling in lieu of the American is purely a matter of choice – my feeling is that Americans have so badly bastardized the language, I prefer its predecessor!
Wow, what a cool experience, to travel Europe like that.
There are basically two kinds of "honest liberals," as you so eloquently put it. (And you'll find correlations on the right, though less so, but that might change.). One kind of "honest liberal" is like Taibbi, Greenwald, Jimmy Dore, etc. For them, the Democrat Party is as much an enemy, or more so, than the Republican Party, because it is supposed to be the liberal party. Then you have your Mahers and your Bari Weisses, who are still Democrats at heart long before they are liberals, though I think Maher might be breaking. But they never put the blame where it lies when talking about "wokeness," for example, and that is at the feet of the party leaders who cater to these factions and then are surprised when all this gets turned on them.
On another note, I found a humorous "MAGA" substacker you might want to check out. It's called Your Daily Don Surber. He writes Monday to Saturday, and you don't have to subscribe to read, but I've caught a few columns and he makes me smile. My favorite so far was one about the wit and wisdom of John Kennedy (the senator from Louisiana). If you're looking for someone more consistent than Sasha Stone (though I love her column as well) to replace the hypocrite with TDS, you might give him a try: https://substack.com/inbox/post/100932162.
"For them, the Democrat Party is as much an enemy, or more so, than the Republican Party, because it is supposed to be the liberal party."
THAT'S why I believe I identify more with them, than the others – in the same way they view their party has having lost its soul, so I view the Republican Party to have done the same. The Republican Party was once the party of small, limited government – its mistake, perhaps, was that the governed would remain moral, self-reliant, and ever-vigilant against abridgements of their liberty (see Jefferson's words on the suitability and utility of the constitution as ratified).
Regardless, I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the party leadership and its failure to reign in that opportunistic tyrant from Illnois.
"There's so much to talk about in here, as there always seems to be with what you write"
Is there ever...
I thought maybe I'd move on and jump on the new lament - good stuff again, NFT! - and just get back in the game but now I need to think plenty. I will respond some today.
PS: I'm not far in yet but the "classical music" in the title reminded me of the summary I heard on the radio of the Grammy Awards: I don't know a single song by Lizzo or Harry Stiles and don't know anything of Bey Bey and T Swift's new songs. I heard Bonnie Raitt won and I didn't even know she was up for an award (I'm a blues man).
So I listened to a few this morning. What. The. Hell?
I'm chronologically an 80s guy and did like a lot of that then but am more of a 70s guys musically. Or was. I've evolved a lot and might say I'm a blues guy about five more years of listening to bluegrass before I can really play my banjo. That's all so new.
I digress but I like "The Musical Evolution of a Guy from Minnesoda or someplace near The People's Republic of Canuckistan who really dug Orchestra. And Why It Matters."
The Pi Musical Bio: Fourth Grade, parents said "Play the flute" and was like, "No - that's gay!" (or the c. 1975 ten year-old equivalent) and we compromised on the clarinet. I found the Tenor Sax.
I picked up the sax during my senior year when a friend was putting a jazz combo together - started on the alto, then moved to the tenor. Mostly because I thought chicks tended to throw themselves at sax players...I was wrong...or, at least, that didn't prove to be true, for me...
OK, since I'm just doing the jumping in thing (I can't properly reply until I read the whole thing since you like how it's all tied together *deep breath*) and - surprise, surprise - I have to say that, if I saw Lil's TED Talk on Big Deity, I suspect it would pretty much me just nodding and muttering, "Yeah. Me, too."
You and unTex both hit on something like this: "But I do think people *need* religion." I didn't think so but I do wonder about that more now that I'm older. I'd say I'm a Recovering Catholic and Happily Agnostic - but sometimes, as you see children grow, parents pass on, children have their own children, friends/people you know/famous people from "your era" pass on and, well, I wish maybe sometimes one of them gawds would grant me the gift of faith because it does seem one could look toward the Apres Vous with a little bit of confidence or ... at-restedness that I don't have. That I don't think I can ever have at 58 and in fair to good health overall.
I know that's not what you people meant by "people need religion." I just wanted to share.
That said, I might summarize my view of religion with the sentence: "And Man made The Gods in His Own Image - Unless a Snarling Nine-Armed Dragon Monster would bring in more $/Power/Chicks; Then, hell yeah, The Dragon Thing."
I have a meeting in an hour I need to prepare for (for which I need to prepare) so let me get back to you fine people. And you, too, NFT.
"That said, I might summarize my view of religion with the sentence: 'And Man made The Gods in His Own Image - Unless a Snarling Nine-Armed Dragon Monster would bring in more $/Power/Chicks; Then, hell yeah, The Dragon Thing.'"
"I know that's not what you people meant by 'people need religion.' I just wanted to share."
I don't know that it's not...I'll just say that my faith journey has brought me into a relationship with my Lord in which salvation is through faith by grace. That's it. That's about as much as I'll offer when I feel it appropriate – I've not much tolerance for zealots lacking wisdom.
To piggyback on Lill's comment, regardless of one's experience, I think almost everyone senses innately that there is something – a force, a power, some kind of entity – that is larger than themselves, however they recognize it.
That's pretty much exactly what I mean, though most people don't have the wisdom to realize what they're looking for. And to be honest, I look for it too; I just don't think I'll find it in a church or a philosophy or especially condemnation of other people to make myself feel more "holy."
*waves back* I can't speak for NFT, but I miss the discussions as well. Hope the meeting went well.
OK, jumping in here. It's been a crazy few days 'round Casa de Pi and at the office - home today for the furnace guy. They got the part a day earlier. Woot. We have propane everything so we could run our fireplace (mostly too hot) and a LP heater in the Music Room (some people call it The Basement *shrug*) But I really really wanted to digest this and respond. Here's my $0.010023 (inflation).
I'll drop a few replies in because this is wide and deep and I like it very much.
"…it emphasized the horror and suffering of Japanese civilians at the hands of American aggression. The bombs killed 210,000 Japanese. They also argued that the tone of the script suggested that the United States should not have dropped the bombs in August, 1945, a situation that many veterans and historians said was unfair."
When I was in high school (I think we're all within a few years of one another), I recall vividly Mr. Luers' 10th grade US History discussing Truman's decision to drop the bomb. A bunch of high-on-hormone 15 year-olds debating the merits and horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Back then, we were apparently permitted - encouraged**, I'd even say - to express and consider and even *fainting couch* _argue_ our positions. There were sides.
Sure, there was plenty of moral preening but a few students always took up the mantle on both sides and Mr. Luers deftly both instigated and corralled the conversation until we were forced to arrive at a staggering conclusion: The man who would make the call to drop the bomb had gigantic balls of stone. Talk about _ownership_.
And I know that's your point (or, as I've read on, just an early premise; that was more the point of your previous post... roll this out, dude) but it struck a chord with me. I still remember the poster he had on the wall - we'd call it a meme now, or maybe a (de)motivator - but it was just a picture of Harry S signing something with a sign on his desk that said, simply, "The buck stops here." THIS was an education. And it was nominally free. I don't think Gen ZIARX+ kids are exposed to this sort of moral dilemma. I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers that _lesson_, in the truest sense of the word.
** A few years later I ended up coaching Mr. Luer's daughter at the local gymnastics club. Turns out he was a Republican and maybe, more properly, a conservative, and I think that was made him so effective as a teacher. I'm a math nerd and didn't always appreciate those Mushy Liberal Arts People. He made a big impact. She was a good gymnast and eventually graduated from the Naval Academy.
"...home today for the furnace guy. They got the part a day earlier. Woot. We have propane everything so we could run our fireplace (mostly too hot) and a LP heater in the Music Room (some people call it The Basement *shrug*)"
In the immortal words of Sailor Ripley, "Rockin' good news!"
"The man who would make the call to drop the bomb had gigantic balls of stone. Talk about _ownership_."
No lie!! Truman was that rare Democrat that had the welfare of the nation as his administration's first priority.
"...we'd call it a meme now, or maybe a (de)motivator - but it was just a picture of Harry S signing something with a sign on his desk that said, simply, 'The buck stops here.' THIS was an education."
Other than Reagan, I think President Truman was probably the last POTUS for whom that was an ethic.
Everyone Else: "Oh, gawd, no - there's more?" Pi: *shrug*
"All this time, I was labouring under the impression that only the most accomplished musicians – instrumentalists (especially pianists), singers, other performers like ballet dancers made the cut with the top orchestras, opera companies, and dance troupes. It never occurred to me that it could be racial."
I've been looking forward to this part just to ask: Why does racism only ever work one way? I literally just heard the guy on the radio make a comment about why no one seems to care that there are hardly any women working as masons. That women are so underrepresented on oil rigs. That there are so few short white guys in the NBA. This is that: If you want to play Classical Music, play Classical Music.
Nice piece. That's how you tie it all together. I especially love the close.
There's so much to talk about in here, as there always seems to be with what you write, but the one thing that I find morbidly interesting is the lack of realization that "woke" is a religion. As much as with any other religion, the conclusions drawn among the "woke" can't be born out by science. They cannot be empirically proven. We're supposed to simply go on faith, but it's insulting to remind them that it is all faith, which is true of any fundamentalist sect. For example, one might philosophically argue that gender is a societal construct. But what one can never prove is that that construct is arbitrary enough that beings with XY chromosomes, with all the strength and size that confers, are no different than beings with XX chromosomes with a little cosmetic surgery and medication. That requires faith, and yet we're meant to accept it as scientific fact, which is to say as gospel.
I have not been a religious person for a long, long time, and I suppose that helps me step back. But I do think people *need* religion. Most of us are programmed so we cannot survive without it, and if it is not imposed upon us, we will create it. We will make "gods" and "commandments" to separate the "chosen" from the "damned." What is happening became much more understandable when I grasp that fact. We need to make more people understand that, just like Marxism and Leninism was for the Russians and Maoism was for the Chinese, "woke" is a religion here, and an equally destructive one. (If you want to laugh, bitterly, find Bill Maher's "New Rule" from Friday about "woke." He's part of the problem, but if you're looking for a little hope that we might get a handle on this, his takedown is worthwhile--even if I suspect it might be a little too late.)
Two other small notes: a couple of the best string performers I ever saw at our local theater were two young black men who put their own twist on classical music. I think what happens more often is mediocre people hide behind the victim card to cover their mediocrity, and we get this "classical music is racist" crap.
And how long were you in Europe? I notice you use a lot of British spelling.
Thank you, so much, for your feedback!
The only reason I had asked if it had shown up in your mailbox is because when I checked w/ my sister, it had not arrived in hers, and that was almost a full day later! I had to send her a link to it.
"I have not been a religious person for a long, long time, and I suppose that helps me step back. But I do think people *need* religion. Most of us are programmed so we cannot survive without it, and if it is not imposed upon us, we will create it."
Neither have I – I DO agree with the need for religion (for want of a better word). I think most folks who are averse to what they recognize as religion, replace with faith, or hope, or, "the universe," karma, but it is religion, or God, though by a different name. True religion as defined by scripture (James 1:27) does not exist in this world, and tragically, is not made manifest in the holy catholic church, anywhere.
When I was on Facebook, and my feed was predominantly excessively biased "conservative" "news" outlets, the clips that would feature Maher often angered me. Having left Fb, and largely disconnecting from the daily news cycle, I have since sought out commentary on current event (more often than not, writers on Substack like Glen Loury, John McWhorter, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, et al.) as I KNOW what the corporate legacy media will be spewing, and I'm pretty sure I can guess what I'll read on Breitbart, and/or The Blaze, and I can think critically for myself. What I can't get from any given "news" outlet is a more objective, dispassionate perspective with which I may or may not agree, but I'll be intellectually challenged, regardless.
I've since come to grudgingly respect Maher as among those I would call, honest liberals. He's not afraid to take on the lunatic fringe of his ideological home that has been overrun by the ultra radical leftist, woke zealots. There is much I hated about WHAT HE SAID, but I never wanted him silenced just because he pointed out uncomfortable facts about the policies championed by those on what used to be my side of the aisle. Harry Shearer is another honest liberal I have come to respect - even if I don't agree with his comments – at the very least, his criticism is reasoned.
"...mediocre people hide behind the victim card to cover their mediocrity, and we get this 'classical music is racist' crap."
THIS – so very much this – does not that black trombonist, and those black opera singers realize that they are defeating their own argument? THEY are in those positions because they are the most accomplished of all who auditioned.
I spent the summer between my junior and senior years in high school touring a lot of Western Europe as part of a concert orchestra constituted of other students approximately the same age. We performed in France, Switzerland, Austria, West Germany, Denmark, Holland, Lichtenstein, and England. My use of the British spelling in lieu of the American is purely a matter of choice – my feeling is that Americans have so badly bastardized the language, I prefer its predecessor!
Wow, what a cool experience, to travel Europe like that.
There are basically two kinds of "honest liberals," as you so eloquently put it. (And you'll find correlations on the right, though less so, but that might change.). One kind of "honest liberal" is like Taibbi, Greenwald, Jimmy Dore, etc. For them, the Democrat Party is as much an enemy, or more so, than the Republican Party, because it is supposed to be the liberal party. Then you have your Mahers and your Bari Weisses, who are still Democrats at heart long before they are liberals, though I think Maher might be breaking. But they never put the blame where it lies when talking about "wokeness," for example, and that is at the feet of the party leaders who cater to these factions and then are surprised when all this gets turned on them.
On another note, I found a humorous "MAGA" substacker you might want to check out. It's called Your Daily Don Surber. He writes Monday to Saturday, and you don't have to subscribe to read, but I've caught a few columns and he makes me smile. My favorite so far was one about the wit and wisdom of John Kennedy (the senator from Louisiana). If you're looking for someone more consistent than Sasha Stone (though I love her column as well) to replace the hypocrite with TDS, you might give him a try: https://substack.com/inbox/post/100932162.
"For them, the Democrat Party is as much an enemy, or more so, than the Republican Party, because it is supposed to be the liberal party."
THAT'S why I believe I identify more with them, than the others – in the same way they view their party has having lost its soul, so I view the Republican Party to have done the same. The Republican Party was once the party of small, limited government – its mistake, perhaps, was that the governed would remain moral, self-reliant, and ever-vigilant against abridgements of their liberty (see Jefferson's words on the suitability and utility of the constitution as ratified).
Regardless, I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the party leadership and its failure to reign in that opportunistic tyrant from Illnois.
"There's so much to talk about in here, as there always seems to be with what you write"
Is there ever...
I thought maybe I'd move on and jump on the new lament - good stuff again, NFT! - and just get back in the game but now I need to think plenty. I will respond some today.
PS: I'm not far in yet but the "classical music" in the title reminded me of the summary I heard on the radio of the Grammy Awards: I don't know a single song by Lizzo or Harry Stiles and don't know anything of Bey Bey and T Swift's new songs. I heard Bonnie Raitt won and I didn't even know she was up for an award (I'm a blues man).
So I listened to a few this morning. What. The. Hell?
I do not recognize today's "music" as such.
I suppose that makes me the old get-off-my-lawn guy who didn't recognize the music of the 80s, as music...the difference is that I'm right!
I need to write some stuff up but...
I'm chronologically an 80s guy and did like a lot of that then but am more of a 70s guys musically. Or was. I've evolved a lot and might say I'm a blues guy about five more years of listening to bluegrass before I can really play my banjo. That's all so new.
I digress but I like "The Musical Evolution of a Guy from Minnesoda or someplace near The People's Republic of Canuckistan who really dug Orchestra. And Why It Matters."
The Pi Musical Bio: Fourth Grade, parents said "Play the flute" and was like, "No - that's gay!" (or the c. 1975 ten year-old equivalent) and we compromised on the clarinet. I found the Tenor Sax.
NFT:Orchestra::Pi:Jazz Band
Gotta run!
I picked up the sax during my senior year when a friend was putting a jazz combo together - started on the alto, then moved to the tenor. Mostly because I thought chicks tended to throw themselves at sax players...I was wrong...or, at least, that didn't prove to be true, for me...
Drummers. Chicks dig drummers.
My uncle's a drummer. Like, still a drummer in two bands playing out 3 or 5 times a month at 70... 73 maybe? He's played all his adult life.
OK, since I'm just doing the jumping in thing (I can't properly reply until I read the whole thing since you like how it's all tied together *deep breath*) and - surprise, surprise - I have to say that, if I saw Lil's TED Talk on Big Deity, I suspect it would pretty much me just nodding and muttering, "Yeah. Me, too."
You and unTex both hit on something like this: "But I do think people *need* religion." I didn't think so but I do wonder about that more now that I'm older. I'd say I'm a Recovering Catholic and Happily Agnostic - but sometimes, as you see children grow, parents pass on, children have their own children, friends/people you know/famous people from "your era" pass on and, well, I wish maybe sometimes one of them gawds would grant me the gift of faith because it does seem one could look toward the Apres Vous with a little bit of confidence or ... at-restedness that I don't have. That I don't think I can ever have at 58 and in fair to good health overall.
I know that's not what you people meant by "people need religion." I just wanted to share.
That said, I might summarize my view of religion with the sentence: "And Man made The Gods in His Own Image - Unless a Snarling Nine-Armed Dragon Monster would bring in more $/Power/Chicks; Then, hell yeah, The Dragon Thing."
I have a meeting in an hour I need to prepare for (for which I need to prepare) so let me get back to you fine people. And you, too, NFT.
*waves* Hi, Lil.
"That said, I might summarize my view of religion with the sentence: 'And Man made The Gods in His Own Image - Unless a Snarling Nine-Armed Dragon Monster would bring in more $/Power/Chicks; Then, hell yeah, The Dragon Thing.'"
THAT made me laugh out loud!! Thank you!
"I know that's not what you people meant by 'people need religion.' I just wanted to share."
I don't know that it's not...I'll just say that my faith journey has brought me into a relationship with my Lord in which salvation is through faith by grace. That's it. That's about as much as I'll offer when I feel it appropriate – I've not much tolerance for zealots lacking wisdom.
To piggyback on Lill's comment, regardless of one's experience, I think almost everyone senses innately that there is something – a force, a power, some kind of entity – that is larger than themselves, however they recognize it.
" innately that there is something – a force, a power, some kind of entity – that is larger than themselves"
I don't know, but I have extreme hope because if humanity is the pinnacle of intelligence and design on the universe, I'm very, very, very depressed.
That's pretty much exactly what I mean, though most people don't have the wisdom to realize what they're looking for. And to be honest, I look for it too; I just don't think I'll find it in a church or a philosophy or especially condemnation of other people to make myself feel more "holy."
*waves back* I can't speak for NFT, but I miss the discussions as well. Hope the meeting went well.
"...especially condemnation of other people to make myself feel more 'holy.'"
This...so very much this.
As Johnny Cammareri said to Loretta, in the film, Moonstruck, "Only God can point the finger, Loretta."
Far too many think that they are personally called to deliver messages of condemnation.
Dag. I've missed you guys.
"to separate the "chosen" from the "damned." "
https://twitter.com/PotterWorldUK/status/1487103928625811463
Something something character of their content...
OK, jumping in here. It's been a crazy few days 'round Casa de Pi and at the office - home today for the furnace guy. They got the part a day earlier. Woot. We have propane everything so we could run our fireplace (mostly too hot) and a LP heater in the Music Room (some people call it The Basement *shrug*) But I really really wanted to digest this and respond. Here's my $0.010023 (inflation).
I'll drop a few replies in because this is wide and deep and I like it very much.
"…it emphasized the horror and suffering of Japanese civilians at the hands of American aggression. The bombs killed 210,000 Japanese. They also argued that the tone of the script suggested that the United States should not have dropped the bombs in August, 1945, a situation that many veterans and historians said was unfair."
When I was in high school (I think we're all within a few years of one another), I recall vividly Mr. Luers' 10th grade US History discussing Truman's decision to drop the bomb. A bunch of high-on-hormone 15 year-olds debating the merits and horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Back then, we were apparently permitted - encouraged**, I'd even say - to express and consider and even *fainting couch* _argue_ our positions. There were sides.
Sure, there was plenty of moral preening but a few students always took up the mantle on both sides and Mr. Luers deftly both instigated and corralled the conversation until we were forced to arrive at a staggering conclusion: The man who would make the call to drop the bomb had gigantic balls of stone. Talk about _ownership_.
And I know that's your point (or, as I've read on, just an early premise; that was more the point of your previous post... roll this out, dude) but it struck a chord with me. I still remember the poster he had on the wall - we'd call it a meme now, or maybe a (de)motivator - but it was just a picture of Harry S signing something with a sign on his desk that said, simply, "The buck stops here." THIS was an education. And it was nominally free. I don't think Gen ZIARX+ kids are exposed to this sort of moral dilemma. I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers that _lesson_, in the truest sense of the word.
** A few years later I ended up coaching Mr. Luer's daughter at the local gymnastics club. Turns out he was a Republican and maybe, more properly, a conservative, and I think that was made him so effective as a teacher. I'm a math nerd and didn't always appreciate those Mushy Liberal Arts People. He made a big impact. She was a good gymnast and eventually graduated from the Naval Academy.
"...home today for the furnace guy. They got the part a day earlier. Woot. We have propane everything so we could run our fireplace (mostly too hot) and a LP heater in the Music Room (some people call it The Basement *shrug*)"
In the immortal words of Sailor Ripley, "Rockin' good news!"
"The man who would make the call to drop the bomb had gigantic balls of stone. Talk about _ownership_."
No lie!! Truman was that rare Democrat that had the welfare of the nation as his administration's first priority.
"...we'd call it a meme now, or maybe a (de)motivator - but it was just a picture of Harry S signing something with a sign on his desk that said, simply, 'The buck stops here.' THIS was an education."
Other than Reagan, I think President Truman was probably the last POTUS for whom that was an ethic.
Everyone Else: "Oh, gawd, no - there's more?" Pi: *shrug*
"All this time, I was labouring under the impression that only the most accomplished musicians – instrumentalists (especially pianists), singers, other performers like ballet dancers made the cut with the top orchestras, opera companies, and dance troupes. It never occurred to me that it could be racial."
I've been looking forward to this part just to ask: Why does racism only ever work one way? I literally just heard the guy on the radio make a comment about why no one seems to care that there are hardly any women working as masons. That women are so underrepresented on oil rigs. That there are so few short white guys in the NBA. This is that: If you want to play Classical Music, play Classical Music.