Have you had your Berry today?

by | Feb 16, 2022 | Deep Thoughts, Writing | 1 comment

Here, let me serve it up for you:

I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love.

WENDELL BERRY
Photograph by Guy Mendes

Good ol’ Wendell. He’s just a Kentucky farmer who loves the land… and the people on it. Because the land and the people are like peas in a pod… or should be.

Seems like a lot of folks these days are trying to rule the world with greed, venom, hatred. That ain’t gonna work. Love wins. Always.

Speaking of love, the Wendell Berry quote above came from the Gratefulness.org “Word for the Day” email. I love getting a new inspirational quote in my inbox every day. You will too. You can sign up here.

One Man’s Trash… is My Treasure

by | Feb 13, 2022 | Music | 0 comments

I’ve gotten into vinyl albums of late, and have done a lot of crate digging at the local thrift stores and flea markets trying to add to my collection without spending an arm and a leg.

Most times it’s a waste of time… a lot of sifting through the oeuvre of Andy Williams, Engelbert Humperdinck, “Sing along with Mitch” and the Ray Conniff Singers.

Me? Not so much in love with this…

The selection certainly fits the age bracket of the folks whose closets are being cleaned out by their offspring after they pass away.

Occasionally I’ll find a decent album or three as I mine the stacks. But today I struck gold. Check out this mother lode:

I’m most excited about the two Elvis Costello albums, the Clash’s London Calling (a two-LP set), Joe Jackson (an oft-overlooked gem) and Born to Run. But the Pete Townshend solo ones are pretty cool too… I’ve always like The Call….can’t go wrong with The Byrds… you get the idea.

Not bad for a whopping $4.63. (Albums were half-priced today.)

Kinda makes all that time starting at Andy Williams albums worthwhile. Almost.

Looks like I won free tickets to the gun show…

Super United

by | Feb 5, 2022 | Cincinnati, Sports | 0 comments

I’ve never been a fan of the two week gap between the NFL’s conference championship games and the Super Bowl. It was two long weeks of seeing and hearing every sports journalist lionize Tom Brady (he’s the G.O.A.T., not a lion!)… and seeing Patrick Mahomes ad infinitum (a Latin term meaninng “an endless number of State Farm commercials).

Sneaker-selling season started earlier this year…

But this year, the Cincinnati Bengals are in the Super Bowl. (Spell-check just underlined the last sentence… even computers can’t believe it happened.) And I’m really digging the two-week gap. It’s an extra week for the citizens of this city to bask in the warm orange glow of a long-awaited Super Bowl appearance.

Photo credit: Personal work of Jeffrey Dean.

An extra week to hope, to dream… to believe.

An extra week to rally around a common cause, rather than dwelling on the differences that seem to divide us. There’s no red vs. blue… just orange and black. Instead of yelling at strangers on the internet, we yell “Who Dey!” together.

Of course the phrase came from beer… would you expect anything less from us?

We have more in common than we think… but sometimes it takes a sports team to help us realize that.