dagblog - Comments for "Facing the Music"

Joni came first, of course.

Barth — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:48:59 +0000

In reply to Yegads, Barth; it may have

Joni came first, of course. Then there was Regina. I would be bereft without both of them.

Yegads, Barth; it may have

we are stardust — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 23:55:34 +0000

In reply to Love it and will definitely

Yegads, Barth; it may have been Regina you meant all along! I remember her name now...whether from you or someone else, though, I can't say. Great beat; and she loves dancing to it, too! ;o)

Love it and will definitely

Barth — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 23:41:00 +0000

In reply to Oops; I forgot to mention the

Love it and will definitely check out the Letterman version. In return I send you this, from the woman who has succeeded Joni Mitchell as my muse (and, here, too, there is a Jimmy Kimmel version of this that should be seen). Though I do not endorse the "quirky" comment someone has added to it, this video was directed by Adria Petty, daughter of Tom. Good pedigree...

Sonny Rollins? Now yer

SleepinJeezus — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 03:41:27 +0000

In reply to I so love your posting name.

Sonny Rollins? Now yer talking! And Cohen's "Who By Fire?" YeeGads, Man! Trying to stir a fight here with all this introspection?

Public education is an incredibly important keystone to our democracy, and it pains me greatly to see it treated so cavalierly by those who have a political agenda at odds with democracy itself.

The heroics that are being performed every day in inner-city schools are inspiring if we would only seek these stories out. Instead, the media is content to promote the stories of abuse and despair and defeat that are there as well in situations where staffs are virtually abandoned by us to fend for themselves. Far better to segregate the poorest of the poor districts and carve out charter schools that can be privatized for fun and profit. It's the new American Way.

Want better schools for ALL students? Well, then, commit to the hard work of investing in better schools for ALL students. It really should be a priority for everyone concerned about the future of the Republic. But, alas, it is far easier to simply grab what's mine and let the rest fend for themselves. That's Free Market Libertarianism. That's the New American Way. And it all fits quite nicely, actually, in the overall plan to separate this economy into winners and losers.

And the beat goes on.

Oops; I forgot to mention the

we are stardust — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 03:02:59 +0000

In reply to I also bow down to Joni, and

Oops; I forgot to mention the music. Cohen: I love the Hallelujah, and the Sisters of Mercy.

But for you, this piece by a group new to me.The best new music, IMO, in a decade. Love Michael Franti, his music, his message of inclusive hope. But his, musically, simply thrills me.

On youtube, the Letterman version of 'boy' lets you see their incredible musical ability, including the bass player's astounding picking of the strings. (Sorry, I can't get rid of the double post of the video; the second doesn't show up in Edit or Preview.)

I also bow down to Joni, and

we are stardust — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 02:22:48 +0000

In reply to I so love your posting name.

I also bow down to Joni, and am thrilled beyond words that she finally met and now loves in person, the child she gave up for adoption in her youth. You likely know the story, and are agog about it as I. I also love Joni's mature voice, much as mine, redolent with tobacco and whiskey. ;o)

I will embarrass myself here, Barth, but it's okay as no one else is listening (grin), when I say that my spiritual godparents growing up were old Jews who had fled Czecoslovakia in the day when it was wise to leave. Annie Udin became a book-buyer for Higbee's in Cleveland, and shaped my reading habits for decades, sometimes even when I listened to the 'adult conversations' while hidden in the dark on the stairs.

So I grew up with Jewish authors dominating my thinking, and felt a kinship with the reverence and care of my limited understanding of Jewish law, and like many subteens, who either revere horses or religion, I went with religion, eschewing Chritianity because of the hypocrisy I met daily. Comical, I'm sure, but so many of the laws about performing mitzvahs, and permission to tell a lie to save a life, etc., seemed so emminently practical. And the celebration of Succah, and Yom Kippur seemed so soulfully real. We light a mennorah still, and I stumble through the prayers, as I do with Kwanzaa. ;o)

When I hear talk of charter schools I also remember Charlie telling the Prez how he favored them and why; I get that, but to go that route wholesale is to give up on public education, which I've championed my whole life, and at great cost, in the end. You give Arne more credit than I can; I think he is simply clueless, and shouldn't be in that job.

I have a friend in Deecee whose kids went to the Friends school, too, and I get it. Sadly. But as Sam said on West Wing: schools should be palaces, and people should have to fight to become teachers. Sigh....

Thanks, Barth. You made my day. And ain't it grand to know that we ARE stardust? Watch for the Nothern Lights; the solar flares are gargantuan for the next three years, and near the equinoxes, auroras are more likely seen in the continental US. Wow.

Shoot; I'm too pooped now to check for typos; I need a hot bath. Happy New Year.

I so love your posting name.

Barth — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 02:02:00 +0000

In reply to I utterly agree about

I so love your posting name. If you have read any of the other crap I throw up here, you might know that the woman who composed that phrase is one of the two whose music and lyrics have accompanied me since the idea of having my own thoughts seemed reasonable.

I think Gates means well and I assume Duncan does, too. They buy into noise the same way so many of us do. I work with a bright woman who got sucked into the charter school thing for her children and, frankly, given the state of public schools where she lives, she probably had very little choice. It all makes me think of the episode of The West Wing where the mayor of Washington D.C. has to explain to the President (ah, fiction----) that actual realities facing those in a city with poor schools often runs against what is best in the long term, but people need to deal with what they have been dealt. The real President has sent his chikdren to private schools in D.C. in partial recognition of all that, and he can hardly be faulted for doing so.

I am probably not the best source to discuss sefer ha'chaim, the book of life from Rosh Ha-shanah and Yom Kippur, the two holiest of days in the Jewish calendar, which begin---sort of---the Jewish year. But my best understanding of what is at issue is found in a prayer which Reform Jews say on Rosh (maybe the others do, too. I don't know). It is called the Un’taneh Tokef and can make any young Jew first venturing into all of this wonder whether this is a great way to spend the day. It includes this lovely little ditty:

On Rosh Hashanah it is written; on Yom Kippur it is sealed:
Who shall live and who shall die. Who by fire and who by water.
Who shall be humbled and who shall be exalted.

So getting drunk and telling everyone you love them while listening to old songs seems just a bit more festive.

The absolute best thing I ever heard about the un'taneh tokef was this 2006 sermon from a rabbi who is as pitch perfect as they come: http://www.centralsynagogue.org/index.php/worship/sermons/236/

Leonard Cohen and Sonny Rollins tried to bring the whole thing into today's time and it ticked off a few thousand people, but not me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2T274bXIxU

and well, to be a Jew means talking about stuff forever, so here's something that belongs ina place such as this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&add...

You are where Krugman brought

Barth — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:21:00 +0000

In reply to A lot of truths in a lot of

You are where Krugman brought me. These guys have been fighting the New Deal since well before there was a New Deal and they have waited us out to win. I went to Hyde Park the day President Obama was elected, and you get the feeling that he needs to be brought back to life. If we could do that, I fear, what he would see would kill him.

The part about them winning, and rolling back the clock to the mid 19th century, makes me angrier than almost anything else.

I utterly agree about

we are stardust — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 23:29:54 +0000

In reply to Facing the Music

I utterly agree about education, Barth, and I haven't much liked what Bill Gates has been saying on the subject, either. Arne Duncan, IMO, is a failure, and wants more and more charter schools with private donations, which of course won't last in perpetuity, leaving the nation's kids worse off than before.

But I would love to hear more about Jewish New Year and 'the little "book of Life contest"'. That intrigues me. ;o)

A lot of truths in a lot of

Richard Day — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:01:07 +0000

In reply to Facing the Music

A lot of truths in a lot of blogs lately, this post included.

Underneath all of this is a republican hate of pensions; private pensions, public pensions, SS. So they label these entitlements.

Not the golden parachutes for the rich, not the special corporate funds set up for those who wond the lottery of life; but the pensions for the masses. This all goes back to the days of Bismark.

The plutocracy craves more production from the masses for less pay. That is how they judge success. That is economic success for them.

And outsourcing reduces public pensions. I think their real ideal lies in these outsourced prisons. I mean you can pay a guy ten cents an hour to work on a road in chains and bill him out at eight bucks an hour.

What better metaphor for capitalism?