Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
That's the extent of my musical talent!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
....later, still Saturday 26 December 09
I've been wondering why I've emphasized the dates of this blog so often. Well, the only thing I can target is that my own personal time line is moving more quickly toward its latter period. (I dare not say that I'm moving toward the "end", lest someone think I'm trying to give off some strange kind of message about the "end". I'm not going any where any time soon, at least not in MY version for how my own time line is supposed to unfold....)
Tomorrow is my 60th birthday, a momentous occasion, and I suppose that I might receive some calls from family or friends. And that would be nice.
As individuals in a social world, we do not exis as singular entities--we co-exist in environments with other people, therefore, what I do, often has some kind of intersubjectively defined meaning for those other persons with whom I share space.
What then happens when the "other" persons don't want to behave in ways that the rest of us in that space seem to understand as having "meaning", or the same kinds of meaning?
Can a prson reasonably reject the "norms" of one's environment without becoming alienated from it--OR--can that person reject what others accept as the "norm" and remain a part of the social environment as a participating normal member?
Moving on....
Lila
Tomorrow is my 60th birthday, a momentous occasion, and I suppose that I might receive some calls from family or friends. And that would be nice.
As individuals in a social world, we do not exis as singular entities--we co-exist in environments with other people, therefore, what I do, often has some kind of intersubjectively defined meaning for those other persons with whom I share space.
What then happens when the "other" persons don't want to behave in ways that the rest of us in that space seem to understand as having "meaning", or the same kinds of meaning?
Can a prson reasonably reject the "norms" of one's environment without becoming alienated from it--OR--can that person reject what others accept as the "norm" and remain a part of the social environment as a participating normal member?
Moving on....
Lila
PCT: Post Christmas Trauma--2009
Greetings Everyone!
I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a very Happy New Year.
Now that Christmas is over, it's only 364 days or so until next Christmas. More important, for me at least, is that tomorrow is my 60th Birthday. So, Happy Birthday to me.
Next subject: Yesterday I saw a wonderful sight--There were dozens and dozens and dozens of robins perching in the trees in my back yard and in the trees next door belong ing to my neighbor.
I've seen Robins late in the year before, yet, I've never seen so many, nor have I seen so many of them in one place. Normally I see the in the trees in my front yard eating the seeds from the Dogwood tree, and the seeds/fruit from the ornamental pear. And never before in such numbers.
Now what? What to write about? Don't know yet.
Certainly in the spirit of PCT, I should be downstairs working on cleaning up the mess left over from yesterday. I think I'm going to take the tree down early this year. It's just in the way.
Last night we watched the movie Julia and Julie
. It was pretty good, even if it was a bit long. It made me hungry to watch all of the dishes that both characters made. Maybe next year I'll try making some things too. I couldn't possibly use all the butter that they used, even though I too love butter. It's just too much--the fat, and therefore the threat to my arteries.
Not that I've sworn off butter permanently, just that I'd like to live a bit longer and m willing to make a concession to health matters so will gladly search for better things to use than butter, if/when possible. I personally like olive oil, so it's no hardship for me to use olive oil based fats for cooking and other stuff.
Olive oil for a cake? Well, I tried it once or twice. And even though it wasn't too horrible, I missed the butter that I would otherwise have used.
I'm still attempting to write somethings. I want to start on the ideas that I have for some children's books, although I have no idea about how to market them.
My small ideas are for small books, for small children. I actually have a few good memories that serve as suitable starting points for stories. I want my daughter to illustrate. I can NOT draw. Wish I could, but it's not likely to happen in my lifetime.
Back to work!
I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a very Happy New Year.
Now that Christmas is over, it's only 364 days or so until next Christmas. More important, for me at least, is that tomorrow is my 60th Birthday. So, Happy Birthday to me.
Next subject: Yesterday I saw a wonderful sight--There were dozens and dozens and dozens of robins perching in the trees in my back yard and in the trees next door belong ing to my neighbor.
I've seen Robins late in the year before, yet, I've never seen so many, nor have I seen so many of them in one place. Normally I see the in the trees in my front yard eating the seeds from the Dogwood tree, and the seeds/fruit from the ornamental pear. And never before in such numbers.
Now what? What to write about? Don't know yet.
Certainly in the spirit of PCT, I should be downstairs working on cleaning up the mess left over from yesterday. I think I'm going to take the tree down early this year. It's just in the way.
Last night we watched the movie Julia and Julie
. It was pretty good, even if it was a bit long. It made me hungry to watch all of the dishes that both characters made. Maybe next year I'll try making some things too. I couldn't possibly use all the butter that they used, even though I too love butter. It's just too much--the fat, and therefore the threat to my arteries.
Not that I've sworn off butter permanently, just that I'd like to live a bit longer and m willing to make a concession to health matters so will gladly search for better things to use than butter, if/when possible. I personally like olive oil, so it's no hardship for me to use olive oil based fats for cooking and other stuff.
Olive oil for a cake? Well, I tried it once or twice. And even though it wasn't too horrible, I missed the butter that I would otherwise have used.
I'm still attempting to write somethings. I want to start on the ideas that I have for some children's books, although I have no idea about how to market them.
My small ideas are for small books, for small children. I actually have a few good memories that serve as suitable starting points for stories. I want my daughter to illustrate. I can NOT draw. Wish I could, but it's not likely to happen in my lifetime.
Back to work!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday 23 August 09--Peter Paul and Mary
For those of us who grew up hearing songs like "Blowing in the Wind", and others that marked the era of folk music, protest music, and other things, you will certainly be familiar with the music of Peter Paul and Mary.
Last night, I was fortunate enough to see a concert given by Peter, and Paul, without Mary, who is/was very ill, and unable to perform. She was at her home in Connecticut--I believe that she has Leukemia, and Peter said that she was suffering from the effects of (something to do with a recent bone marrow transplant).
While the concert was a lot of fun, it was easy to see that the primary performers, Peter, Paul, and their back up bass fiddle, and guitar players, were all getting old too. The Bass Fiddle player was nearly unable to walk onto the stage, and Peter, and Paul, helped to support him to his place on stage where he played the large bass, all the while hooked up to his oxygen tank. The other guitar/mandolin/banjo player, sat through the show performing without expression on his face.
It's possible that I missed some of the finer nuances of expression and feeling shown by all of the performers--I was, after all, in what a friend of my has described as the "nose-bleed section", and even with my binoculars, I couldn't see everything as clearly as I would have liked.
Yet, Peter's voice, was clear, Paul's was clearer, and it sounded wonderful to hear them singing some songs I hadn't known, and others that were very familiar. Tom Paxton joined them on stage toward the end, it was also nice to see him, and he too has advanced into his older years while retaining his clear voice.
I'm glad I went. I wish I'd taken advantage of the proximity of the summer schedule of performances at Wolftrap in earlier years, still, no regrets. Next year I'll try to go.
Lila
Last night, I was fortunate enough to see a concert given by Peter, and Paul, without Mary, who is/was very ill, and unable to perform. She was at her home in Connecticut--I believe that she has Leukemia, and Peter said that she was suffering from the effects of (something to do with a recent bone marrow transplant).
While the concert was a lot of fun, it was easy to see that the primary performers, Peter, Paul, and their back up bass fiddle, and guitar players, were all getting old too. The Bass Fiddle player was nearly unable to walk onto the stage, and Peter, and Paul, helped to support him to his place on stage where he played the large bass, all the while hooked up to his oxygen tank. The other guitar/mandolin/banjo player, sat through the show performing without expression on his face.
It's possible that I missed some of the finer nuances of expression and feeling shown by all of the performers--I was, after all, in what a friend of my has described as the "nose-bleed section", and even with my binoculars, I couldn't see everything as clearly as I would have liked.
Yet, Peter's voice, was clear, Paul's was clearer, and it sounded wonderful to hear them singing some songs I hadn't known, and others that were very familiar. Tom Paxton joined them on stage toward the end, it was also nice to see him, and he too has advanced into his older years while retaining his clear voice.
I'm glad I went. I wish I'd taken advantage of the proximity of the summer schedule of performances at Wolftrap in earlier years, still, no regrets. Next year I'll try to go.
Lila
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Woodstock: Again....Sunday 16 August 09
...with all of the media about Woodstock of 40 years ago, I started to think about the "40 years ago" part of it--what was it 40 years ago that made Woodstock so unique, at that time, and in the memory of those whose lives were touched by it?
Today I think I figured out part of the answer--JOY--Woodstock was a moment of JOY in the timeline of the era--a major blip in the timeline that expressed a moment of pure Joy that permeated throughout the crowd, the world, and stayed with them--and had an impact on everything else that came later in their lives. And the JOY spread beyond the immediate environment of the concert into the world, and endured through time....
Self-standing JOY. JOY--just because.
The JOY of the moment was joy that had nothing to do with the politics of the era, the struggles of the peoples of the world, the differences among people, the similarities that they hoped to achieve, the unity of the moment among the thousands of people who were there....It was JOY....shared JOY that remains in the memories of those who were touched by the events of one set of unique few days at a concert that is forever known as Woodstock.
Today I think I figured out part of the answer--JOY--Woodstock was a moment of JOY in the timeline of the era--a major blip in the timeline that expressed a moment of pure Joy that permeated throughout the crowd, the world, and stayed with them--and had an impact on everything else that came later in their lives. And the JOY spread beyond the immediate environment of the concert into the world, and endured through time....
Self-standing JOY. JOY--just because.
The JOY of the moment was joy that had nothing to do with the politics of the era, the struggles of the peoples of the world, the differences among people, the similarities that they hoped to achieve, the unity of the moment among the thousands of people who were there....It was JOY....shared JOY that remains in the memories of those who were touched by the events of one set of unique few days at a concert that is forever known as Woodstock.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Woodstock memories: Saturday 15 August 09
...like I said, I wasn't there, would like to have gone, yet the fact remains, I didn't get there, but, I did see the traffic jams that it generated south of it. And the rain...
I saw more pictures of the crowd on the news last night; pictures on the news showing the field, today, green, and beautiful.....
So, "Woodstock" has become a cultural item--something of great significance--an icon--one of those things that everybody seems to know about--a major event in the history of our country. Efforts to re-create the spirit of the concert never quite succeeded--in that way, Woodstock was unique--nothing else even compared.
There's been a lot of talk about the fact that the crowds were largely peaceful, that there was almost no violence, despite shortages of water, food, shelter.
As a social scientist, I analyze such images as the scenes from Woodstock, and sometimes I see some interesting things that are beyond the "obvious". I'm going to look at the new documentary soon, at least I believe it's an update, improvement, of the original movie made from the time of the concert. It should be interesting to find out what I see, or think I see....
Lila
I saw more pictures of the crowd on the news last night; pictures on the news showing the field, today, green, and beautiful.....
So, "Woodstock" has become a cultural item--something of great significance--an icon--one of those things that everybody seems to know about--a major event in the history of our country. Efforts to re-create the spirit of the concert never quite succeeded--in that way, Woodstock was unique--nothing else even compared.
There's been a lot of talk about the fact that the crowds were largely peaceful, that there was almost no violence, despite shortages of water, food, shelter.
As a social scientist, I analyze such images as the scenes from Woodstock, and sometimes I see some interesting things that are beyond the "obvious". I'm going to look at the new documentary soon, at least I believe it's an update, improvement, of the original movie made from the time of the concert. It should be interesting to find out what I see, or think I see....
Lila
Friday, August 14, 2009
Woodstock: 40 years later. Today is 14 August 2009
No, I wasn't there. I'm not sure how that got started, I wasn't there.
Not that I wasn't there in spirit; I had to go to work on Monday morning--I was between sophomore and junior year of college, and I had to work during the summer.
So, let me back up a bit. I WAS in northern New Jersey; I didn't have a car, also had no money. I did have a (boy)friend who said he wanted to go, and I wound up going to our family's summer house in northern NJ for the weekend.
Traffic was horrible. I'd never, then, or since, seen such traffic in northern NJ. The roads were packed. It was gridlock--everywhere--and also on the way back on Sunday evening.
And everyone was "watching", "listening" for news about the concert at Woodstock. You could feel the tension in the air....At least from my perspective, and also among my lake friends, that weekend.
I took the train/bus to work on Monday morning. I bought a copy of the New York Times, which was ten cents at the time, and read the Times article about the concert, and all that was happening.
I remember doing that. I wished I'd been able to get there, but it wasn't going to happen, being that I was also being monitored/supervised by my parents who took extra note about my whereabouts that weekend, maybe to insure that I didn't slip away and try to get a ride to the concert. That wasn't going to happen either, so I just endured the weekend, and went to work on Monday morning.
The news: I seem to remember a rush for the TV talk shows and news shows during those few days of the concert, and the days afterward (probably the Late Show with Johnny Carson, since I was at work during the day), getting people to talk about "what had happened" at the concert that was now being referred to as "Woodstock". I remember seeing Crosby, Stills, and Nash on one of these shows, as they excitedly talked about their experiences--every other performer who I saw here and there, was also equally animated--"something" had happened, something that made "it" different from what had gone before.
Time would now be reckoned as being BEFORE, and AFTER Woodstock. Sure, the DURING Woodstock time had happened, and it had been filmed, and would become analyzed, and pondered over, yet "that", was a part of the AFTER time, and would happen later.
I wonder sometimes what would life be like, for ME, had I gone to Woodstock.
Probably not much different, then again, if I take a turn in my imagination, I can see some other possibilities that might have been reasonable. I'm still the same person I was back then, albeit a whole lot more knowledgeable about many other things that I had no knowledge of then, that didn't exist "then", and I wonder if those things would have happened too....I'll never know. Then too, I don't believe in spending too much time mourning things past--the future is so much more promising, and interesting.....and that's the direction I'm going.
Lila
Not that I wasn't there in spirit; I had to go to work on Monday morning--I was between sophomore and junior year of college, and I had to work during the summer.
So, let me back up a bit. I WAS in northern New Jersey; I didn't have a car, also had no money. I did have a (boy)friend who said he wanted to go, and I wound up going to our family's summer house in northern NJ for the weekend.
Traffic was horrible. I'd never, then, or since, seen such traffic in northern NJ. The roads were packed. It was gridlock--everywhere--and also on the way back on Sunday evening.
And everyone was "watching", "listening" for news about the concert at Woodstock. You could feel the tension in the air....At least from my perspective, and also among my lake friends, that weekend.
I took the train/bus to work on Monday morning. I bought a copy of the New York Times, which was ten cents at the time, and read the Times article about the concert, and all that was happening.
I remember doing that. I wished I'd been able to get there, but it wasn't going to happen, being that I was also being monitored/supervised by my parents who took extra note about my whereabouts that weekend, maybe to insure that I didn't slip away and try to get a ride to the concert. That wasn't going to happen either, so I just endured the weekend, and went to work on Monday morning.
The news: I seem to remember a rush for the TV talk shows and news shows during those few days of the concert, and the days afterward (probably the Late Show with Johnny Carson, since I was at work during the day), getting people to talk about "what had happened" at the concert that was now being referred to as "Woodstock". I remember seeing Crosby, Stills, and Nash on one of these shows, as they excitedly talked about their experiences--every other performer who I saw here and there, was also equally animated--"something" had happened, something that made "it" different from what had gone before.
Time would now be reckoned as being BEFORE, and AFTER Woodstock. Sure, the DURING Woodstock time had happened, and it had been filmed, and would become analyzed, and pondered over, yet "that", was a part of the AFTER time, and would happen later.
I wonder sometimes what would life be like, for ME, had I gone to Woodstock.
Probably not much different, then again, if I take a turn in my imagination, I can see some other possibilities that might have been reasonable. I'm still the same person I was back then, albeit a whole lot more knowledgeable about many other things that I had no knowledge of then, that didn't exist "then", and I wonder if those things would have happened too....I'll never know. Then too, I don't believe in spending too much time mourning things past--the future is so much more promising, and interesting.....and that's the direction I'm going.
Lila
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