November 2007
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Driving a tractor. Those were the days: driving in circles or stripes for hours at a time, smoking cigarettes, thinking about whatever I wanted to, having baloney and crackers and an RC for lunch, now and then enjoying a summer rain. Yes, it was usually hot and dusty, but my thoughts were my own. And…
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The following is a reasonably accurate transcript of an actual conversation that took place at my house recently: He: This silly management training thing we're doing at work…it tries to put people into one of four boxes based on a few questions. But of course it's not very accurate. I mean, some of the things…
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Inappropriate Use of the Word “Inappropriate” Sometime in the past month or two over on the Thursday Night Gumbo blog (see link in sidebar at right), in a thread that I’m too lazy to try to locate now, Francesca Murphy observed that people who use the word “inappropriate” are generally fascists, or at least control…
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Patty Griffin: Impossible Dream Patty Griffin can do everything. She has one of the best voices in popular music, going with apparent effortlessness from a fully sung whisper to a bluesy croon to a roof-lifting shout to a Dolly Parton warble. If she chose to specialize in blues or country or rock, she’d be in…
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No, not Russell—Rashaan Roland. I seem to be getting into the habit of posting a music video every weekend. One of my offspring sent me this one. As I said to him, I heard a little of Kirk’s music years ago, and I knew he was playing two horns, but it’s another thing to see…
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I first read Love in the Ruins around 1976 or 1977, and I think I was completely enchanted by the time I reached the second page, where the following paragraph appears. I’ve remembered it ever since as the first of many instances of Percy’s gift for portraying the deep South with a vivid and accurate…
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My son-in-law, Gabe Tynes, a very fine photographer, took this rather chilly-looking picture of a sunflower. You can click on the image for a bigger version at his Flickr site. I think it's a sort of deliberately lo-fi effect (to use an audio term) obtained by using a cheap camera. When I saw it I…
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Sounds like a suicide attack to me. They're testing our defenses. I've always known they couldn't be trusted. Pre-TypePad http://js-kit.com/for/lightondarkwater.com/comments.js
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The relationship of the human will to God’s is a puzzle upon which theologians have expended a great deal of labor. With all due respect for that labor, I’ve never felt very satisfied with the attempt to make it comprehensible to human reason. Among other things, it raises the problem of free will, which I…
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Fear of Beauty All the world like a woolen lover once did seem on Henry’s side. Then came a departure…. What he has to say now is a long wonder the world can bear & be. Once in a sycamore I was glad all at the top, and I sang. Hard on the land wears…
Light On Dark Water 