Boston Mid-November 2020
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Yesterday, The Beatles, John Lennon
I watched the movie "Yesterday" on TV last week. It's about a world-wide power outage resulting in deletion of some of our cultural touchstones - including Coca-Cola and The Beatles. Almost everyone post-outage lives as if Coke and The Beatles never existed. There's not even references to them in Google. But there are a few people who do remember, especially the main character who happens to be a musician. A good one in fact, he can sing and play the piano and the guitar. He decides to play their music and becomes a major star. It was so nice to hear the tunes. Late in the movie he meets a seventy-eight year old John Lennon, who is living a quiet, unassuming life. The musician is so excited to meet Lennon he asks him for a hug. When he hugs Lennon it felt like he was representing all of us who so appreciated Lennon's work and who wish he was still with us. What a great artist John Lennon was.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Sunday, September 2, 2012
A Lesson from my Dog
I don't walk my Golden Retriever enough. I put him off till "later," or think that a walk needs to last a half-hour or more. So I put him outside to let him roam the yard and vow to take him walking when I get my time under control. But, I know my dog and realize he's damn happy for any distance or time; for a quick visit across the street, a junket to a tree or bush, to any place he can sniff or lift a leg or just be with me. I often put things off till later because I can't do them well right now, or I'm too tired, or I have to do something else first. Sometimes I make the thing out to be so overwhelming that I lack the energy to even think it through. I remember reading that Triathlete champion Dave Scott finds time to work out every day, even if it's for "ten minutes." We can do anything for ten minutes. In one hour, we can get six things done. Doing small is still doing. And getting something done begets gratitude and well-being and happiness. Just ask my golden.
Posted with BlogsySunday, July 1, 2012
Obamacare
I'm grateful the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. Rather than spending precious time fighting to repeal it, our leaders should fight to make it better and more efficient. Flaws found in the Act will, over time, be resolved. Imperfect though it may be, if it gets repealed, 30 million Americans will continue living without adequate health care. That would be the biggest flaw of all.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Great Fiction
I have a hard time with fiction. I can't see spending time reading about characters that are made up or a story that is imagined. So I usually choose non-fiction: biographies, history, essays, and the like. I remember, however, as an adolescent, being entranced by novels - drawn in by a great narrative, caring deeply for well-drawn characters. I recently rediscovered these feelings as I read Stephen King's new book "11/22/63." It's a time traveling yarn and a story of love. The characters are clear, the research of 60's life and mores so well done, that one senses being right there with Jake, the protagonist, as he travels across time and through story. When he falls in love with Sadie, the school librarian, so do we. This book made me travel back in time - to the 60s, and to those emotions I remembered having upon reading a great work of fiction.