Party Convergence

Tonight we went to the Fox Theatre to watch and hear Emily participate in a special production put on by the Fox Associates. This one was the second annual. The schools get together with a couple of big corporate sponsors and put on a big show which includes all the music programs from all the city schools. It was really, really good. Just the challenge of getting all these different groups on and off the different stages seemed awesome. And let me tell you, anyone who thinks you can't bring religion into the public schools hasn't been to many musical presentations. I've been to lots of them and many times, tonight included, there are sacred pieces presented and no one from the ACLU jumped out of hallways to stop it. Many times at these events I choke back tears. Why? I'm not sure. I know that it reminds me of some very pleasant memories of childhood. From seventh grade on through high-school I performed in school bands. I loved every minute of it. One of the bands tonight play "Theme from Shaft." In my day, everyone played that song and when I heard it tonight, well...it was great. While reflecting on all of this tonight, I was reminded of a story. A couple of years ago, we were at a party somewhere, I think for my sister's birthday. I got to talking to a guy and we soon realized there was some kind of strange convergence happening here. He was a high-school music director but had always wanted to be a Chef. I was a Chef who had always wanted to be a school music director. And, both his wife and mine owned their own secretarial service doing mostly medical transcription. Weird. But as we talked more, he started telling me about the horrors of being a music director. The parents, the school board, the politics etc. He had learned to hate it and was taking an early retirement. What he'd wished he'd done was become a Chef! Ah, there's a job he could enjoy. Oh yeah? "Let me tell you about being a Chef," I said. The long hours, the losers you work with all the time, the owners, the petty politics etc. He said to me finally, "Yeah, but it is exciting, I'll bet." I answered, "Yes it is." I said to him, "But you know you've changed and enriched young people's lives." He said, "Yeah, I did."

Popular posts from this blog

A warm spring night

Back on the veranda, I sit. Contemplating a June without Science Camp. That's right, Science Camp will be officially called off tomorrow due to lack of attendees. In retrospect, I should have seen it coming. The first few years, we were blessed by two significant factors. One was
Read more

You see, it's like this...

My sister asked me after a recent blog entry, "What's up with you Christians and Evolution anyway? What, God can't do Evolution if he wants to?" (I paraphrased) I don't know. I have talked to all kinds of Christians about this and there are many, many different viewpoints. I'd have to say that most folks that I know are not "bothered" by evolution. That means they don't think about it much or it doesn't collide with their faith or something along those lines. However, I do tend to hang with a few fundamentalists here and there and run across my fair share of Darwin as the Devil stuff. As I stated in an earlier blog entry, I think that I've been prepared to talk to people about this subject. So many times I don't actually offer an opinion of my own. During a discussion one night, a friend was becoming agitated at my line of reasoning and Annette jumped in to say, "He's just playing devil's advocate." The friend respon
Read more

More on the Beatles

I've been thinking a lot about the Beatles lately. They've been in the news of course because of the anniversary of the Ed Sullivan Show. I got out a copy of the movie Help! This afternoon and fast-forwarded to Hey! You've Got to Hide Your Love Away. I was practically in tears. I almost instinctively focused on John's mouth as he's singing as I imitated every inflection of every phrase. I still think he was one of the great Rock N Roll voices ever. But the biggest thing that hits you is the 40 years! 40 years! Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson. And if you really want perspective think about 40 years before that! Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, Roosevelt, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding and Wilson. Of course, real perspective comes when ever I think that there's only two of the Beatles left alive. I guess that means I'm getting old too. I'll be 45 in a couple of weeks. As I mentioned earlier, I'm buying a Stratocaster. I've
Read more