books
Advice for Future Corpses* Sallie Tisdale (a Portland author!). offers a “practical perspective on death and dying.” No one wants to deal with it, everybody needs to deal with it. Much of the book focuses on how the living can support others in the final phase(s) of life. Tisdale writes in a way that nurtures the reader toward living a fuller life while intentionally moving toward death. Thanks to Marsha for the gift.
It’s becoming easier for me to see that my body is not a reflection of my worth. It is easier, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. I am a little less flexible about all this change than I would like. Advice, page 53.
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim. This was intense. A multi-racial family in multi-layered crisis told from the perspective of a college age daughter (she happens to be a twin). The story reveals deep family secrets and the painful process of the truth becoming known and accepted. I am glad to see it is showing up on some “Best of 2023” lists.
A Book of Uncommon Prayer by Brian Doyle. I have long struggled with prayer, finding it frustrating, confusing, perfunctory, boring, and at times down right phony. Doyle brings a fresh sense of prayer that makes it human and, maybe, possible. And he lived much of his life in Portland.
There are many forms of prayer as there have ever been hearts to speak of longing and mercy and celebration and pleading… Everything alive is prayer. Your next breath is prayer. Uncommon Prayer, page 16
Repeat recommendation - Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann is a great book (I read it a few years back)! I hope the movie does it justice (have not seen it yet). The horrifying, nearly forgotten history behind Killers of the Flower Moon by Vox writer Aja Ramano provides a deeper understanding into this national tragedy.
music
You're the One Rhiannon Giddens. I thought I had this on the list last month. New style for her, great music for us!
We saw the The Milk Carton Kids in Seattle. They may be my favorites for on stage banter. Always an evening well spent. And, thankfully our friend April was driving.
Some Mississippi Sunday Morning Parchman Prison Prayer. Music from the soul of those at Parchman Farm, possibly the most notorious prison in America, will chill you to the bone. This article, 'It’s a charged place’: Parchman Farm, the Mississippi prison with a remarkable musical history from The Guardian helps bring the story and music to life.
Parchman’s… history is the basis for the prison farms… in the movies “Cool Hand Luke” and “O Brother Where Art Thou?”, it’s referred to as “destination doom” in… Faulkner’s… “The Mansion,” and it is… a haunted setting in Jesmyn Ward’s National Book Award-winning 2017 novel “Sing, Unburied, Sing. Inside Mississippi’s notorious Parchman prison PBS Newshour
viewing
1946 The Mistranslation that shifted a society. Powerful documentary explores Bible translation focusing on the use and choice of the word “homosexual” in the 1946 Revised Standard Version (RSV). Surprised to see that friends Teresa and Todd Silver were Executive Producers and, also, were briefly in the film.
The Saint of Second Chances I knew some of the story of Bill Veeck, I knew nothing of his son Mike. Baseball, outsiders, family, life, hope and determination.
Our Flag Means Death Because it’s pirates! I loved reading pirate history in books and encyclopedias (ask your grandparents) in elementary school. The connections to historical figures, including my favorite Blackbeard, adds to it all. And then they mix modern day cultural sensibilities in the historical setting bringing humor and opportunities for reflection. Enjoy!
pods
Doctors, Guns and Money Revisionist History hosted by Malcom Gladwell. Americas love affair with guns and the real life implications. Please do not think you’re already heard it all.
Sin is the failure to bother to care. Revisionist History, Guns, episode 6
The Salem Witch Trials From American History Tellers brings a grim, historical, seasonal, reality check with a bit of a warning for our current cultural disfunction.
Judging Sam Against the Rules with Michael Lewis: the Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. Ugh, what a mess of hubris, greed, immaturity and a culture that feeds it all. And it is all wrapped in crypto currency and (phony) effective altruism.
random (f)acts
Why is baseball magic? Here is one reason (spoiler alert, another Portland connection). Remembering the magical time of the Portland Mavericks as they enter Oregon Sports Hall of Fame
The Pac 12. It is crushing to see The conference of Champions, the conference I have followed my entire life… vanish.
school pics
A bit of my life in school. Upper left, first grade (1960), Lynch View Elementary, Portland. Upper right (1972) graduation, Centennial High, Gresham, Oregon. Lower left, first year teaching (76-77), Santiam Schools, Mill City, Oregon. Lower right, current (23-24) with Nooksack Valley Schools.
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