I was sitting with my fellow singers in our church choir, listening to our director rehearse his TEDx talk he would be delivering soon at the University of Arizona. He is a professor of music there. He and another person do a podcast called Lifetimes of Listening. He’s a musician. Music is a huge part […]
My wife and I went on a short cruise many years ago. We thought then we would do another one soon, but for a few reasons it didn’t happen. This year, we made the choice to combine our resources for a vacation on the ocean. It turned out to be like doing it for the […]
The primary focus of this post is going to be musical harmony, which I must admit is a specific aspect of a larger whole. Harmony in relationships large and small, complex and simple, covers a lot of ground. That is not being ignored or forgotten, but this is an ode to the harmony in music […]
I am not a stranger to conspiracy theories. I’ve entertained a few in my life and I’ve been captivated by a few more. Although I don’t consider myself a conspiracy theorist, I don’t rule out all of them. Besides, some of them have been proven to be true. Governments are the target of most conspiracy […]
Many of us have a running commentary in our heads about what we’re doing or what’s happening to us. There usually aren’t full sentences, but rather fragments or expletives or moans or groans or cheers. At times we’ll be muttering our complaints about how we’ve been treated or how we could have done better in […]
In my last post, I covered the satisfaction deep conversation gives us. I broke it down and ended with a few wonderful quotes on the subject, but I had some residual attention on the famous people who have excelled as conversationalists. In this article, I want to shine a light on the best ever and […]
Do you remember the first time you had a conversation that went beyond surface chat? If so, how old were you? What was the subject? We don’t necessarily recall details of many conversations in our lives, but isn’t this an incident that should be special enough to warrant lucid recall? As children, we may ponder […]
If you’re on a career path outside the arena of the arts, but you sense a gnawing from the subconscious you should be creating through the medium of aesthetics, you may think that ship has sailed. You may have trained for a practical, stable occupation and think there’s no room for distractions that take you […]
In Part One, I related how the education system of the United States rose to prominence in the 20th century…and how it has fallen in world rankings over the last 50 years. I covered some of the reasons for its diminishing effectiveness. In this post, I’ll lay out some of the ways the system can […]
The United States was once ranked at or near the top for its effective public education system. Now that system is in a slide that sees its standing deteriorating more and more with each passing decade. Our children are not reaping the benefit of an education that will prepare them for adulthood and a satisfying […]