One of the primary tools against global warming, whatever the cause, is the planting of trees. Several countries have initiated tree planting programs as a buffer against climate change — while the world watches the burning of the Amazon rain forest. The hypocrisy and stupidity around the issue can drive you crazy. What can one […]
Tag Archives: music
“Some students who don’t excel academically, they’re more engaged, because it gives them a different way to learn,” ~ Tiffany Thompson In Junior high, the school counselor asked us to think about what kind of future work we expected for ourselves. We had taken some proficiency tests to help inform our thinking and my test […]
“In forty years of medical practice … I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical ‘therapy’ to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and gardens.” ~ Dr. Oliver Sacks in Jones We deal with stress and the hardships of everyday living in different ways. Some take a long walk in […]
“Once upon a time … there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated …” ~ Terry Tempest Williams One cold mid-winter night outside of Fairbanks, […]
On the road again Goin’ places that I’ve never been Seein’ things that I may never see again And I can’t wait to get on the road again On the road again … ~ “On the Road Again” by Willie Nelson We pulled into the familiar place, road weary and hungry, to be greeted by […]
“We cannot step outside life’s songs. This music made us; it is our nature.” ~ David Haskell quoted by Maria Popova In the opening scene of the movie, “Taps,” Gregory Hines, deep in the silence of night in a prison cell, hears drops of water on metal. The rhythmic plops make a beat that ultimately moves […]
I talk to the trees, but they don’t listen to me. I talk to the stars, but they never hear me. The breeze hasn’t time to stop and hear what I say I talk to them all in vain. ~ Pardner (Clint Eastwood) in Paint Your Wagon She was crooning to her Wandering Jew, […]
My grandmother taught ‘voice’ in a small town in Texas. As I understand it, ‘voice’ was how you controlled your singing, which probably meant taking the Texas out of the singer’s voice. When we visited her, we had to stay outside when she was giving lessons, and not be disruptive. Someone, usually some teenage girl […]