To thine own self be true

He had not bothered to examine himself, to ask or know. He lived separate from all and practised mammon and thrift to the exclusion of all else. This wasn’t a matter of soul and had you asked if he had one, he would have laughed. All he believed in were the old lies and easy orthodoxy, following paths others made before him. In numbers, there were safety and the sureness of no humiliation or embarrassment. He would never stand out, have a real crisis or know angst. His life was measured in calendars, clocks, bank accounts and appearances. He seldom risked and always limited himself and others repeatedly, always did the socially correct thing. As he aged, he felt some missing pieces, but never questioned purpose–was without one, in fact. As he lay in his last room, he came to the conclusion that there was none and nothing else of consequence in his life, that the world he knew would certainly end with his passing.
(FWIW/. I believe the female Socrates felt much the same.)

A significant black American prof who concisely and accurately/exactly sums up the current fear and racial hate as an epidemic and “the undertow” of the fear and racial hate politics and behaviours he refers to as “the continuum”, particularly in American history, politics, and culture. That which Trump has stoked, fostered, and evoked through his language and comments for the past 2 1/2 years.

Quaint reference to Trump’s America.

A salt-of-the-earth character working at the bottle depot I frequent regularly. Samir is typical of the working-class people I still run into and become acquainted quickly and easily with. He is A Real Person, writ large, supporting his come-to-Canada family, but as I learned today, even more decent than he has appeared thus far. Today he told me of his elderly parents, for whom he has been setting aside $500-600 every month for the past 20 years. This is how he has continued to respect, love, and support them quite apart from his own family support here.

BTW/Samir is not untypical of many nationalities who have come to Canada and who send back large sums of money to parents and family back home. He and they have and know a higher purpose beyond the stereotypical Western self-focused ego. They perform charity with a family inflection and do for others selflessly. I am always impressed by these honorable people who are such a contrast, for instance, to those money-grubbing Westerners who just want to make a pile, obsessively, Scroogily, penny-pinch, and never part with their money with an eye to helping others. Likewise, I am impressed by the rich Bill Gates types who appreciate their luck and wealth, but who take the less miserly, charitable route in stark contrast to the greedy Trump types who, by and large, prevail numbers- and behavior-wise among the very wealthy.

Reading and Literature = Ideas, Consciousness, Serious Literacy, Perspective, The Educated Imagination, Richness, and Depth

But back in the ’50s and ’60s glory days of Hollywood movies, composers were like gods (Ernest Gold, Elmer Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith) whose music and themes could help make films great. To wit, Miklos Rozsa, who is best known for the Ben-Hur soundtrack. Wonderfully, the above 2 CD boxset was released in 1996 and it contains all 88 ! pieces of the film’s amazing music. If you appreciate truly fantastic soundtrack music, this set will take you way-way beyond John Williams who is commonly cited as the best soundtrack writer since 1975’s Jaws. Ah, the glory days of movie-making and soundtrack-writing!

This a typical ‘cool’ movie book, which one could buy in stores in the ’50s and ’60s. They were done to promote big/important movies. They contained many color photos, interviews, and notes on the plot, actors, sets, and making of the film. Today these features are often found in box sets of the same olde classics.

with stiffer thumbs and fingers: a hand-squeeze jar/bottle top opener. Saves injuries and strain. A nice and easy one with different size openers is the one pictured here from Avon.

About time some Canadian province took the first step. Kids today don’t need unnecessary distractions in class. I await the day that educators wake up to the price of having devices in classes at the exclusion of books, literature, and print reading. A day when kids will become more mentally active and be challenged to think on their own critically as in the olde daze. Toys and games have their limits, and they certainly have robbed kids of much of their autonomy and independence. Schools have sold out too easily and become slaves of technology and what we used to call The Machine. The technological haze in schools is a rabid epidemic. Lots o’ zombies and faux learning masked as ‘cool’ and ‘with it’.

The great session drummer who played behind Sinatra, Presley, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, and The Monkees.