...:: Idumea ::...

petebutta!!

2010-10-09T14:39:00.002-04:00

From Centredaily.com: (my nephew this is)

If DJ Pete Butta’s Saturday night appearances at the Lion’s Den are the main course, his mix tapes are a tasty appetizer — and there’s a variety of flavors in both

Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2010/10/08/v-print/2259282/dj-pete-butta-smooths-over-the.html#ixzz11t9H7zIB

DJ Pete Butta, born Pete Brockman, says a DJ’s fame now is found through parties, festivals and radio instead of mix tapes.

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Twenty-three-year-old Pete Brockman, aka DJ Pete Butta, moved to State College when he was in high school. Like most high school kids, he liked to play video games, but after hearing Tribe Called Quest’s “Award Tour” on his Playstation game, he realized what his calling was.

Shortly after the transformation from grunge kid to hip-hop head, Butta got into DJing and got his first stint at Camp Woodward as an in-house DJ. Despite his affinity for rap music, his repertoire features a diverse set of genres based largely on the crowd he’s spinning for.

“I look at the people on the dance floor and try to think about what they like and cater to the crowd,” he said. “I like to read their minds so they can have a good time. I look at what they’re wearing, how they’re dancing ... like if there’s a bachelorette party, they usually want to hear Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies.’ ”

But there’s more to Butta’s resume than downtown bars and receptions. He has taken his tables all over the state. His goal is to take his show to bigger markets such as New York City and Las Vegas.

He credits DJs on New York’s famed radio station Hot 97 for inspiring him to start scratching the vinyl. After purchasing his first turntable, he began networking with other local DJs and began his journey toward DJ stardom.

“There’s something to be said for taking a city’s music into your hand and being the selector of what records are popular,” he said.

Butta has taken on all aspects of the DJ craft, from the live experience to the radio. In 2006, he took top prize at the “Battle of the Beats” DJ competition held at Player’s Night Club, now Indigo, in State College. His last victory was a DJ competition in Penn State’s HUB-Robeson Center, which awarded him an opportunity to open for Hot 97’s DJ Sights and Sounds.

Butta is tackling an industry that has rapidly changed in his lifetime from trading mix tapes on the street to downloading tunes on the Internet. It’s a challenge that puts greater emphasis on the live show and the ability to put together something memorable for people on the dance floor.

“It’s changed phenomenally, straight up 180 degrees,” he said. “It used to be how many CDs you could get into so many stores. It was a chance to get introduced to many artists and people would notice. Now you get noticed through parties, festivals and shows ... through the radio and other means.”

After releasing mix CDs featuring house and techno music, he recently released “Rollin’ ” a compilation of head-bobbing hip-hop along with Butta’s trademark scratches and mixes.

“I am focused on the live show and the experience people have when I play in the club,” Butta said. And when they leave, “I want to leave them hungry for more.”

DJ Pete Butta spins at 10 p.m. Saturdays at Lion’s Den, 118 S. Garner St., State College. Visit http://petebutta.com for more information.

library in Shepardstown, West. VA

2010-09-30T08:59:00.005-04:00

great salmon salad recipe:

2010-09-30T08:45:00.000-04:00

12 oz. salmon
2 Tbls. lime juice
2 tsp. dijon mustard
1/8 tsp. basil
2 T wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic
1/4 cup feta cheese
2 T olive oil
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/8 tsp. oregano
fresh veggies and greens

Simmer the salmon in water to cover in a skillet with lemon and onion slices, bay leaf and black peppercorns.
Drain, cool and break into large chunks.
Make a dressing by combining olive oil, lime juice, wine vinegar, soy sauce, mustard, garlic, oregano and
basil. Toss the salmon with the dressing and serve with tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese all on lettuce and
spinach.

Recent faves

2010-09-30T08:42:00.008-04:00

Three great movies:
I am Love with Tilda Swinton
Temple Grandin with amazing performance by Claire Danes.
Watch Temple Gradin on TED talks and hear her interviewed on Terry Gross, NPR.
Get Low with Robert Duvall and Bill Murray
books:
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Alice Tear Copeland

2010-08-30T07:59:00.004-04:00

Still There is Love

When human hands cannot afford relief
To hopeless ills and pain beyond belief,
When human hearts are stunned and dumb with grief,
Still there is love.

There was a face we knew, a hand, a form,
where lived a spirit brave and true and warm,
Surely that spirit cannot come to harm,
While there is love.

Its symbols tenderly are laid away,
The face, the hand, the form, we cannot stay.
The spirit still is with us day by day,
And there is love.

We cannot see beyond this Earth's near rim,
but did we know at birth the world we're in?
Then we can trust our future life to him,
For God is love.

poem by Edith Newlin Chase

street art and beauty: Montpelier

2010-08-29T07:03:00.007-04:00

kid's art

2010-08-29T06:56:00.005-04:00

Bread and Puppet 2010

2010-08-28T20:27:00.001-04:00

Not Ready Pageant

every Sunday 11 July - 29 August

at the Bread & Puppet Farm

Show starts at 2:30 pm

rain or shine

The Decapitalization Circus demonstrates in 18 or 19 deathdefying stunts they phantastic effects of the capitalization of life in the U.S. and citizens’ courageous efforts of decapitalization. The performers represent the whole scale of the social spectrum from benign billionarism to despicable homeless anti-soacial-elementarianism. All the acts are FDA and FBI certified displays of patriotic correctness and defy all imaginable forms of terrorism. The Possibilitarians, a multi-instrumental variety ensemble provide the appropriate-innappropriate sounds for the circus.

The Nothing-is-Not-Ready Pageant which directly follows the circus is a greek-tragedy based typical American soap opera featuring several major current events and catastrophies and highlighting the chief actors and motivators of these events, exclusive their virtuous principles, moral assesments and speeches.

brainy books

2010-08-28T20:21:00.010-04:00

Books on the brain:

The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doige

Mindsight by Dan Siegel

A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis

The Neurobiology of "We" by Dan Siegel

Buddha's Brain by Rick Hanson

Cew Gardens

2010-08-28T20:15:00.003-04:00

recent faves

2010-08-28T19:57:00.006-04:00

best radio shows to get podcasts of:
Radiolab, especially the show on Memory and the one on Numbers, This is Your Brain on Love
Speaking of Faith: shows with Wendell Berry, Jon Kabat Zinn, Rachel Naomi Remen and others
Moth Radio: true stories told live

books:
Purge by Sofia Oksanen
Let the Great World Spin by Colin Mccan
What I Talk About When I Talk about Running Murakami
Invisible by Paul Oster
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

books on audio (both great readers):
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Steig Laarson
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows

cayaking in the meadows

2010-08-08T13:02:00.007-04:00

Pioneer Valley shape note singing in Leyden, MA

2009-09-04T20:38:00.003-04:00

Aidan's song

2009-09-04T17:52:00.003-04:00

Oh the Sun Rises
sung by my 6 and 7's at Pinewoods Family Week

puppets in paradise

2009-09-04T17:38:00.006-04:00

Festival tomorrow in Westminster West 10-4 p.m. Here are photos from last spring.

Cheyenne Wyoming

2009-08-24T11:41:00.002-04:00

Stayed at the Hitching Post with this out front at our Orff workshop this weekend with 30 great music teachers. Ate at the Luxury Diner, highly recommended.

my friend

2009-08-24T11:37:00.002-04:00

Marian and I have a ball.

Family Week 2009

2009-08-23T22:17:00.003-04:00

parade day at Family Week at Pinewoods Camp in Plymouth Mass.

Village Harmony

2009-08-21T16:43:00.005-04:00

We just finished leading a ten day adult Village Harmony camp with Stefan and Luke Hofffman as our fellow instructors. It was held in the beautiful northeast kingdom of Vermont and our concerts were held in St. Johnsbury and Randolph. Wonderful campers, great American gospel and shape note songs, my own original composition debut and lots of fun dancing each day. Swam in the pond and walked the roads. A lovely retreat for rehearsing:

Rick and Chloe's wedding

2009-08-21T16:36:00.005-04:00

Peter officiated at the wedding of Rick Mohr and Chloe Maher in Philadelphia this summer. I led a shape note song Turman and there was much singing, dancing and a processional with fiddles and accordions. Morris dancing, swing, contra and a beautiful quilt adorned the day.

Bread and Puppet 2009

2009-08-21T13:36:00.008-04:00

Back to our old stomping grounds where we once lived for a season and participated in the shows. Had missed going for a few years and absolutely loved it. Go Peter Shumann!!! This year it was called Dirt Cheap Money with circus and pagent and side shows, in the paper mache cathedral.

The awesome Stefan Amidon

2009-08-21T13:32:00.004-04:00

Sweetback Sisters drummer extraordinaire!

june greenery and the view from our backyard

2009-06-09T12:08:00.008-04:00

Thanks to landscaping by our neighbor David Manning who has a business there we get a great view and have a peony in our garden with all the greenery too. Also here the lovely garden of our friend in Westminster (last photo) and the view from our hotel room in PA

Vt. Welcome Center

2009-06-09T11:43:00.004-04:00

Loved seeing our friend and painter Susan Bull Riley's show at the VT Welcome Center just south of Brattleboro on Rte. 91.

Beatiful writing and the stars

2009-06-09T11:25:00.003-04:00

1.When I read the NY Times editorial page and come to writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg I know it by reading the first sentence that its his writing. Here's a quote from the most recent one, but check him out (you can find about 500 of them on NYTimes/org) and enjoy him.
He's talking here about the "geography of familiarity" and one night coming home from a restaurant getting lost:

"And as I drove, I admired not only the beauty of the night but also the pleasurable sense of being comfortably lost. At last I came to an unfamiliar intersection and made a right. The moment I did so, I knew exactly where I was, and I could feel my sense of being displaced in the night slip away. It was like looking into an unknown sky and seeing the stars suddenly whirl about until they formed the age-old, long-familiar constellations of my childhood. The surprise wasn’t just being reoriented so abruptly. It was also discovering that an unfamiliar world lay a few dozen yards off a road I drive all the time. In a way, the unfamiliarity of that world has been eroded now by driving through it once.

....home is ultimately a portable concept, something we’ve nearly all discovered for ourselves in our mobile lives. The trick, of course — and it is a hard one to master — is to think of home not as a place we go to or come from, not as something inherent in the world itself, but as a place we carry inside ourselves, a place where we welcome the unfamiliar because we know that as time passes it will become the very bedrock of our being." VERLYN KLINKENBORG

(from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/opinion/03weds4.html?adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1244561376-KCOp/iFmurQK0dIO3QD2Cg)

2. thanks to Pete Sutherland for recommending this graduation speech by environmental activist Paul Hawken in Portland
http://www.charityfocus.org/blog/view.php?id=2077

So I have two questions for you all: First, can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. You can feel it. It is called life. This is who you are. Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. Our innate nature is to create the conditions that are conducive to life. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television.

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn't stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn't ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

Shadows on the Hudson

2009-06-09T10:54:00.008-04:00

Took these at a wonderful dinner with our friends at Shadows on the Hudson, a fun restaurant with this view; plans for the longest pedestrian bridge over a walkway are happening for the fall opening just in view of this place which parallels the Mid Hudson bridge.

Chicken Curry, my newest fave

2009-06-09T10:52:00.002-04:00

Thanks to my friend Eric Gidseg for making this. I've made it a few times now even leaving out some of the ingredients (fish sauce, coconut milk and cilantro and it still great)
Vietnam: Chicken Curry

"This is one of my all-time favorites. It’s real Vietnamese comfort food, mildly spiced, perfumed and rib-sticking at the same time." (Eric's friend)

4 lb. chicken, skin removed, cut into 10 pieces
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 large shallot, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 Tbs. curry powder, either Vietnamese or Madras
1 large carrot, peeled, sliced into coins
1 sweet bell pepper, seeded and diced medium
2 cups peeled, cubed potatoes
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
14 oz. can coconut milk
2 Tbs. fish sauce
2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
Juice of one lime
1 small bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1 small bunch of mint, roughly chopped
4 scallions, sliced into rounds

1. In a heavy casserole, sauté the chicken in the oil until golden, then remove and reserve.

2. Add the onions, crushed pepper, shallots, garlic, carrot, bell pepper and curry powder. Sauté, stirring, until everything is wilted and coated with curry. Add the potatoes and toss to coat.

3. Add all remaining ingredients except the herbs. Bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook covered for 35-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve in bowls, garnished with cilantro, mint, and scallions.

Sweetback Sisters cd released!

2009-05-25T13:50:00.001-04:00

Get their new cd on Signature Sounds and check them out!!
The Sweetback Sisters will be traveling up the country from West Virginia to Vermont (via Philly, NYC, and western MA). It's gonna be a big ol' time. I hope we see you at one of the shows!!!
June 10-- The Purple Fiddle, Thomas, WV
June 11-- M-Room, Philadelphia, PA
June 12-- Jalopy, Brooklyn, NY
June 13-- Roots on the River, Bellows Falls, MA
June 14-- Country Music Day, Ashfield, MA

And we'll be back on the road in July and August, too, at places like:
July 17-18: The Green River Fest, Greenfield, MA
August 2: One Longfellow Square, Portland, ME

Oh it is the month of May

2009-05-06T21:41:00.005-04:00

Morris dancers in the streets of our neighbors Andy Davis (on accordion) and son Arthur (the youth in the dance)

Gordon Hayward's garden in Westminster

2009-05-06T21:19:00.007-04:00

My friend Mary Lea and I went to a wonderful marionette show by the Bluebird Theater in Westminster last Sunday and was captivated by the sights of Gordon Hayward's magical gardens.

Tony Barrand singing the Nutting Girl

2009-05-04T10:52:00.002-04:00

"Truth" the musical ends, Hallowell book out

2009-04-18T09:59:00.006-04:00

The companion book to go with the cd of our hospice singing group is now out. Cover art by Terry Sylvester. (available on our website www.amidonmusic.com and Hallowell website.)

Easter was the last day of the New England Youth Theater performance of the original musical by Steven Stearns and Peter Amidon called "Truth", a wonderful tour de force by high school students.

Wangari Matthai in Brattleboro

2009-04-18T09:34:00.005-04:00

So honored for our church choir to sing my setting of Great Trees for Wangari Matthai, Nobel Peace Prize winner (see earlier blog post) for her work. Artist Terry Sylvester presented her with the lyrics of Wendell Berry's beautiful poem on birchbark which she held and sang with while we sang to her, read from it during her speaking. A regal, brave and intelligent woman she is. See the movie about her by Alan Dater and Lisa Merton called Taking Root the Vision of Wahgari Maathai, "How the simple act of a woman planting trees changed a nation".

Suzannah and Nathan

2009-04-18T09:20:00.004-04:00

"Nathan, Will you cause her pain?" "Yes"
" Is that your intent?" "No"
"Suzannah, Will you cause him pain? "Yes
"Is that your intent?" "No "
*To Both*
"Will you share each other's pain and seek to ease it?"
"Yes"

question:
"Suzannah, will you share his laughter?" " Yes"
"Nathan, will you share her laughter?" "Yes"
*To Both*
"Will both of you look for the playfulness and gleeful exuberance in life and the joy and fun in each other?" "Yes"

What a lovely rewedding celebration by Suzannah Armstrong Park and Nathan Morrison in Bratteboro; in order to be with their northern friends they had a second saying of their vows at the River Garden with wonderful music and love all around. They vowed to share their dreams, to "take the heat of anger and use it to temper the strength of their union, to seek to never give cause to break their pledged respect, to hear what is truly said and own what they speak, to
create, protect and celebrate the space for new life and new love to be always present in their union, to nurture each others hearts, bodies and spirits; fully loving, living and listening and always growing together, becoming a blessing to the world and this community in which they dwell."

"A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other's lives."
Quoting
Wendell Berry's words they asked us to hold and guide this pair with our sturdiest legs and softest hands and we said YES! Congratulations.

Gratitude practice

2009-04-18T09:11:00.005-04:00

I loved this response to a friend's query on Facebook asking for suggestions to help her to stop brooding about the past and fretting over the future. Sean Keilen gave me permission to quote him:

I have a few suggestions. Doughnuts. Risotto. Wines from Alto Adige. Shakespeare's Sonnets. Yellow socks. Wit. The TLS. Hanami. Old photos. Arts and Crafts houses. 30 Rock. Lost. Wisteria and lilac. Lemons and limoncello. Coffee. Arrested Development. Impersonations. Public parks. Movies. Northern California. Latin. Southern California. Fountain pens. Bird's nests. A soft bed. Morning light. Moonshine. Also: Django Reinhardt. Cy Twombly. Andrew Goldsworthy. Rachel Whiteread. Jenny Holzer. The Master of the Embroidered Foliage. Blossom Dearie. Italo Calvino. W.H. Auden. Rachel Podger. Sophie Mutter. Tennis. Showmanship. Phaleristics.

MJ Ryan speaking on gratitude practice suggests looking at whats right with one's self and the world by noticing three good things (blessings) about the world and self and everyday asking yourself "What three good things happened to me in my life today? What was my part in it?". In doing so we connect to our inner and outer resources and there fore more satisfied with our lives. Joy broadens our attention and cognitive capacity.
breathing out is generosity
breathing in is fullness

spring Seder supper/holy week

2009-04-18T08:40:00.007-04:00

Our church had its annual Seder supper before our Maundy Thursday service. Ecumenical service on Good Friday at Center Church and then Easter morning back at Guilford Community Church, Guilford, VT. Easter dinner at home with friends.

Harper's Ferry

2009-03-18T20:31:00.006-04:00

Tonight I saw wild geese flying north and daffodils, green grass and blooming bushes here in Virginia. We enjoyed a great visit to Harper's Ferry, West VA to my cousin Joan's. Besides John Brown's raid, Lewis and Clark were here and Jefferson stood on this rock and said this spot was worth a trip across the Atlantic. The Potomac and Shenendoah rivers flow through here and its stunning.

Stefan and Zara on tour

2009-03-15T19:46:00.000-04:00

Sam on tour

2009-03-15T18:30:00.002-04:00

click on the photo for the full effect; singing the wind and the rain with Nico and Thomas

Oh the winter soon be over children, oh yes, oh yes

2009-03-05T12:06:00.005-05:00

recent faves

2009-03-05T11:33:00.010-05:00

Movies:
Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Rachel Getting Married, Doubt, Benjamin Button, The Reader (soundtrack by Nico Muhly), Frozen River (guitar played by Sam's colleague Shazhad Ismaily), Miss Pettigrew.
Also we are watching the series Madmen on Netflix.
books:
The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (fun to listen to in the car, read by the author) how famous people (Bill Gates, the Beatles, etc.) rise to success in part because of the circumstances and timing of their age, culture, family and confluence of factors including the incredible number of hours put in leading to their competency.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin (incredible story and interesting to see Greg speaking on Youtube). He got lost in a failed attempt to climb K2 and ended up in a village in the Baltistan and decided to do everything in his power to build a school and did; has built around 60 schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and about one third of all the students are attended by girls. The Taliban has been destroying many of them but Greg perserveres as he believes this is the way to make real change.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Anne Shaffer and Annie Burrows : a correspondence on the island of Guernsey post WWII; light and a fun read.

best quote: At Rowe Conference center in Rowe, MA, Bread and Puppet Theater is leading a worskhop March 6-8 called The First World Insurrection: The institute for Subversive Paper Mache
"You can learn 1. How to launch precision attacks on war and capitalist megalomania
2. How to get the quickest, cheapest response to horrifically expensive dilemmas
3.How to make cardboard politicians, picture stories, hand puppets, giants and noisy garbage for rallies, parades and the like"

best bumper sticker: Buy Wool: Support the No Sheep Left Behind Act

Apron Fantasy

2009-03-02T20:12:00.005-05:00

The original woven fragments
piece by fiber artist Sue Jones
My cousin Sue Jones in Oberlin OH made this beautiful design for the Textile Art Alliance guild show in Cleveland; each artist chose a modern or historical textile from
the Cleveland Museum of Art's Education Art Collection. These
textiles, used whole or fragmented, were either incorporated into the new work
or provided the spark of inspiration for an entirely new piece;
sales will benefit the museum's acquisition fund. She writes:

"Re-Production: Apron Fantasy" (20" x 20") incorporates 19c. woven
apron fragments from Romania that caught my fancy (technically,
tapestry weave with supplementary weft). I was intrigued by its
irregular placement of color accents, which I'm imagining as some kind
of code, along with the intricacy of its linear designs. The repeated
diamond shapes, called lozenges, are considered a powerful fertility
symbol, so I took my theme from that.

" Aprons in Romania were always worn with a
tucked-in white blouse, which I'm suggesting at the top using a Roman
numeral design. Notice the DNA test patterns, negative and a positive
pregnancy test strips, and what my friend Carol calls the 'sperm
skirt' at the bottom, inspired by very short Paleolithic string skirts
(~20,000 BC) discovered in eastern Europe, thought to have been worn
as a kind of mating girdle. I've also covered the gold background with my own secret code"

Susan Copeland and Jennie Mynard

2009-03-02T17:38:00.003-05:00

Here's my sister in the new sweater I made her. Cool yarn Malabrigo (Merino wool from Uraguay) and the pattern is a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern (I love them).

Head and Shoulders Baby 1,2,3!

2009-02-27T16:04:00.004-05:00

At our assembly, over 600 k-6 students in Lititz, PA dance up a storm (used by permission).

Tropical Dance Vacation in St. Croix

2009-02-12T12:07:00.010-05:00

For our 30th anniversary and to celebrate Peter's 60th, we went to St. Croix to Sugar Beech for a week, first time ever to the Virgin Islands. It was a perfect vacation to the land of sun, breezes, cloud formations and moonlit nights, geckos and crabs galore. We took a ride on a shipping vessel called the Roseway, took hikes to Annaly Bay to swim in the tide pools, lunch at a place called Cheeseburgers and Paradise, Jack and Isaacs for amazing snorkling, the glass beach where the waters were deep blue green, and some great hikes. Yoga for a hour every morning and dancing each night. Our friend Keith Murphy and Becky Tracy, our godson Aidan Murphy and friend Corey Di Mario took us around on adventures each breathtaking day. We celebrated Peter's 60th birthday there and musician Jon Jensen wrote a song for the occasion which we sang the last dance party:

O a year has flown swiftly, four seasons in turn,
It brings us again to the day,
When your parents smiled down on a traveler so small
Who bravely set out on his way.

CHORUS:
Here’s a toast to your birthday, my friend.
Many thoughts and good wishes I send.
Fill your glass, light the candles and be of good cheer,
And God grant you another good year.

O the lives that you’ve touched and the friends that you’ve made
Are a legacy time can’t erase,
And how festive and grand would this gathering be
If they all could be here in this place. CHORUS

Though each year of your life brings its measure of joy,
There are trials to face on the way.
And the storms you have weathered have helped you become
The man that we honor today. (The person we honor today) CHORUS

Let us cherish the gift of each day that we live,
Whether many or few be the sum.
And we’ll drink to our friendship and to your good health
And the pleasures of days yet to come. CHORUS

BMC chorus concert

2009-01-22T19:52:00.003-05:00

Peter and I got to sing the Gretchaninoff All Night Vigil last weekend with the Brattleboro Music Center Concert Choir, a real treat.

BUHS band in the parade!!

2009-01-21T17:04:00.002-05:00

from the Brattleboro Reformer, January 21, 2009
"When the story is written of the election of America's first black president, the BUHS marching band will forever have its place in that tale, appearing just after 6 p.m. on Jan. 20, in the inauguration parade of President Barack Obama."

"It was an amazing moment," Rice said in a telephone interview later that night. "We were listening to Obama take the oath and everyone cheered when he finished. Then, when he was giving the speech, no one on the bus said a word, and we were looking at all those people on the mall and we went right by the Lincoln Memorial. I can't overstate the effect it had on everybody."

a new beginning

2009-01-21T15:54:00.005-05:00

"And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.

With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around.. when yellow will be mellow...when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen."

from Reverend Lowery's inaugural benediction

Sam in Italy amongst his publicity

2009-01-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

check out Sam's myspace for his tour schedule. Its awesome.

family times: olders and youngers

2009-01-11T14:21:00.007-05:00

Tara, Susan, Jenny
Stefan and Aidan
Ned and me

going down to Tampa settle down

2009-01-11T13:25:00.007-05:00

What a life!

Left snow and ice to present at a music ed conference FMEA in Tampa for three days. Went to historic Ybor city and saw gentleman rolling cigars, swam in the outdoor pool on the fifth floor of our hotel, rode the trolley, bought Peter an Panama hat and saw 8 elephants there for the Barnum and Bailey Ringling Bros. circus! Got a standing ovation in our last of three worskshops, a great send off. Back to another beautiful snowstorm. I'm off to ski.

comforts of home

2009-01-11T12:30:00.002-05:00

My sister Annie's elegant lively room and her canned jams and pickles brought to my kitchen; this cherry coffee table from my parents now adorns my living room.

text messaging: some new suggestions

2009-01-05T09:26:00.004-05:00

Here's from an article in Visual Thesaurus on Text Messaging I thought was funny: some new lingo

NLE2M: Not laughing, even to myself.
URSAGAM: Your spelling and grammar appall me.
TWDOWWRAANC: Texting while driving — oops, wasn't watching road and am now crashing.
URD2M: You're dead to me.
ISOURG: I spit on your grave.
OLRUS: Our lives are unpardonably shallow.
TUMFTI: Thought you might find this interesting (particularly useful when forwarding an e-clipping about a newly discovered health risk).
CTNTF: Can't text now; thumbs fatigued.
TRE: Technology ruins everything.
IBMM: I blame Marshall McLuhan.
23S!: 23 skidoo!
WIWURAWDHTM: When I was your age, we didn't have text messaging.
ISRN2U: I'm standing right next to you.
HWBNIICSM: Hit wrong button; now inexplicably in clock-setting menu.
HSORAID2PLSM: Heard song on radio and instantly downloaded to phone! Life still meaningless.
NPM@TT: No personal message at this time.

The EE Menu of Text Expressions (each entry conveniently fewer than 160 characters), for those forced to thumb-type on the go who nonetheless mourn the loss of grandiloquent public expression. NJOY!

:\|	I'm neutral.
:}	I seem to have grown a handlebar mustache.
:{>	Now I have a van dyke.
:^#	My new braces are uncomfortable.
:&	People often tell me my mouth resembles an ampersand. (Alternately: Eating a pretzel.)

By Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner from the Visual Thesaurus

Sam's music books

2008-12-26T13:18:00.003-05:00

Zara's sweater, voila!

2008-12-26T10:43:00.003-05:00

Here's her last year's Christmas gift I made from Simply Shetland patterns. Eureka!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T22:30:00.004-05:00

Here's a rehearsal of some youth who will sing Peter's arrangement of Brightest and Best on Christmas Eve at our midnight service. Merry Christmas!

winter scenes

2008-12-22T13:18:00.004-05:00

Views while skiing on Mt. Wanstiquet,Brattleboro, Vt and hiking on the Appalachian Trail in Mass.

My new hat

2008-12-22T13:10:00.005-05:00

thanks, Sue!

snowhill on Willow St.

2008-12-22T13:06:00.002-05:00

My neighbor Bob Henry does this every year in his backyard:

icy fetters

2008-12-19T07:34:00.006-05:00

Our friend Chip Greenberg discribed this very aptly:

The countryside was gorgeous all weekend after a night of freezing rain and then a cold morning. All the branches and twigs of the trees, and every stalk of grass, was encapsulated by a tube of ice. In the mornings, the low sun glimmered and sparkled off everything. As the sun rose and the ice began to melt off the trees, tinkling breakage was everywhere and the ground littered with half-tubes of “glass” of many diameters. The gound crunched wherever you walked adding sound to the beauty.

His hoary frost, his fleecy snow, Descend and clothe the ground,

The liquid streams forbear to flow, In icy fetters bound.

("Winter", from the Sacred Harp)

Our weekend in the Berskshires was a wonderland.

Louise Lindsay Read

2008-12-07T20:56:00.006-05:00

We celebrated the life and mourned the death and wept for the love for our dear Louise yesterday in Warren, CT in a packed church. Sam sang All is Well; Colin Lindsay played concertina (Fredric Paris tune) and Hallowell was sung by Colin and Rachel, Mary and Julia. The website Caringbridge.com kept hundreds of people informed and able to write in letters of love and concern; four readers read excerpts from the letters. And Wordsworth's poem about daffodils (which folks have planted for Louise) was read. The photos of the lakes are taken by my sister Annie just by Wordsworth's cottage in the Lake District.

"Daffodils" (1804)

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Sam in Copenhagen

2008-12-07T20:54:00.004-05:00

Rlke's Book of Hours

2008-12-02T21:37:00.003-05:00

I live my life in growing rings
which move out over the things around me.
Perhaps I'll never complete the last,
but that's what I mean to try.

I'm circling around God, around the ancient tower,
and I've been circling thousands years;
and I still don't know: am I a falcon, a storm
or a great song.

Praying

2008-12-02T21:35:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my neighbors for this gift of a poem for my "space":

thanksgiving

2008-12-02T21:32:00.004-05:00

(pilgrims feasting made by students at Beekman Elementary School)
We had a beautiful day in Monterey, (Mass.) with the Amidon clan and phone calls from Sam in London and Stefan in Paris.

my birthday/salutations

2008-11-16T22:23:00.004-05:00

I hiked up Mt. Wantastiquet (solo) in one hour and enjoyed this view, went for a message (ahhh), had breakfast, dinner and drinks with friends, lunch with my husband of 30 years, went to Bratttleboro Museum and Art Center and was joyful. Salutation to the Dawn seems appropos.
LISTEN to the exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day! For it is Life, The very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the Varieties And Realities of your Existence;
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived
Makes every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every To-morrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn.

Ooooooooklahoma!

2008-10-31T16:15:00.008-04:00

We performed school shows for three days in six schools in Stillwater, Oklahoma thanks to our friend and music teacher, Trish Ranson who as she puts it, does best "when her hair is on fire".
(she has great hair and you can imagine this). Saw the Capitol Steps at the University, very funny, and ate some great Mexican food. The license plates all say Native America on them and we heard a Native show on Oklahoma public radio. Thanks, Trish!

gospel singing weekend

2008-10-30T08:31:00.004-04:00

Last weekend was an incredible gospel singing weekend with our idol, Kathy Bullock of Berea, KY and John Harrison of Plainfield, Vt and 80 singers in Ashfield, MA. We sang as part of the church service and had everyone up clapping. It was held at the church in Ashfield, MA and we got to stay in the big colorful home of the cheese queen Ricki.
www.cheesemaking.com/

O Connor's pub in Worcester, MA

2008-10-30T08:23:00.003-04:00

Two days in Peter's birthplace, "Worsta" we found a great pub for dinner. We worked in an amazing publice school, Worcester Arts Magnet School which has a theater teacher, music, art, dance teacher and a choral and composition teacher. Yes!

Childsplay in Brattleboro

2008-10-29T21:50:00.004-04:00

At the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro, a beautiful concert of fiddlers with fiddles made by Bob Childs. They are making a new cd this week. Full of singing by Aoife O'Donovan and others, dancing by Pierre Chartrand and Molly Gawler. The program opened with a new tune by Keith Murphy called Samsamamidon: smashing!

great book, great cd

2008-10-29T19:00:00.000-04:00

I got to hear a solo concert of the Irish fiddler Martin Hayes recently and am loving his new cd; its stunningly beautiful.
Also just started this incredible book about the dust bowl called the Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. Seems appropriate since we are spending the week in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

more autumnal bliss

2008-10-29T16:00:00.000-04:00

I finished it! Sam's new sweater!

2008-10-23T11:55:00.001-04:00

the wool is called Cloud Nine, 50 percent angora and 50 percent wool, so soft.

Barack Obama, please

2008-10-21T19:31:00.007-04:00

(a house in West Brattleboro; this was for the primaries, hence the date, but its still up on the house)

Ralph Stanley tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_obama_ad_in_south_stars_bl.php>
Endorsements by Chicago Tribune and the Anchorage Daily News!

movie reco

2008-10-21T19:29:00.002-04:00

The Winslow Boy, great movie by Terrence Ratigan based on a true story, with actress Rebecca Pigeon who is the wife of David Mamet who directed the film.

Long Island sound, ferry from Port Jefferson, NY

2008-10-21T19:20:00.007-04:00

Sunday night's sunset

cool stuff

2008-10-21T19:02:00.007-04:00

Zen Habits a blog about organization, goal setting, time management, etc. and can deliver to your email. Thanks to the Heatons for this one!
www.ted.com/.../speakers/benjamin_zander.html
The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander, conductor and inspiring speaker, can be heard lecturing on TED talks which is full of great speakers. Positivity and musicality abounds here.

Younger Next Year Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy till your 80 and Beyond by Chris Crowley and Dr. Harry Lodge is very inspiring. Our bodies are geared to hunter/gatherer modalities and not to modern day tv watching; keeping active signals to our brians that it is spring, not winter and therefore anti decay. Excercise every day (two days a week strength training, and four days aerobics) for the rest of your life!

KenKen, Will Shortz presents a new puzzle like Sodoku created by Tetsuya Miyamoto

Autumnal Bliss

2008-10-18T20:19:00.005-04:00

Barnard School

2008-10-18T20:06:00.006-04:00

We had a lovely two days of singing and dancing at the school in Barnard, Vt. with 70 kids, K-6.
Here's the place and the guidelines on the wall outside one classroom:

good reads

2008-10-13T22:43:00.008-04:00

loved all of these!!!!

Rise and Shine, by Anna Quindlen
The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak
Bridge of Sighs, Richard Russ
Still Here, Ram Dass

here's what Marcus Zusak says about writing the Book Thief, set in Nazi Germany, winner of many awards:

At that point, I started writing and I didn’t stop. In the end, The Book Thief took me three years to write. If nothing else, I know it’s a far different book from anything I’ve done before, which is what made it so challenging. I was also finally satisfied that there was a good sense of imagination in it. In three years, I must have failed over a thousand times, but each failure brought me closer to what I needed to write, and for that, I’m grateful.

News flash

2008-10-13T22:31:00.004-04:00

Flash: Sam is now on the You Tube "Featured Video's" (one of three) and as of tonight there have been over 70,000 views of a puppet movie of his rendition of "Wedding Dress" by an Icelandic director, Sigga Sunna Reynisdóttir.
Also, someone posted him on Wikipedia and lists him as brother of the "great" Stefan Amidon. (Peter and I are in there too). Fun.
Also Sam is included on the two cd set Awake my Soul, music from the dvd on Shape Note music which includes a compilation cd of young new renditions of shape note songs. Hear his version of Kedron on their site.

On Success

2008-10-13T22:26:00.003-04:00

I saw this quote outside a music room door; it was attributed to Emerson but I read now that he may not have written it after all. still, its a good'n:

To laugh often and much
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children:
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social
condition.
To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived
This is to have succeeded.

Scotsmen, thanks

2008-10-13T22:22:00.005-04:00

Thanks to our our Scots tour guide at the Edinburgh castle

Thanks to singer and dancer Alistair Brown for all his great recommendations for our time in Edinburgh. Here he is chef extraordinaire at Pinewoods Family Week parade.

Goldsworthy sculptures

2008-09-22T20:03:00.006-04:00

My sister Annie I had a wonderful vacation in the Lake District in England and then a few days in Edinburgh. We saw these Andy Goldsworthy sculptures in the Royal Botannical Garden.

Had a bus tour one day and my favorite was this view down into a valley where Beatrix Potter had a house built at Troutbeck which later was given to the British National Trust.

my father

2008-09-22T16:33:00.007-04:00

I Am Standing Upon The Seashore
By Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore.

A ship at my side spreads her white
sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come
to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says;
"There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight. That is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull
and spar as she was when she
left my sideand she is just as able to bear her
load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone
at my side says, "There, she is gone!"
There are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout;
"Here she comes!"
And that is dying.
*****************************
John Wilson Copeland, longtime resident of Madison, died Sept. 9, 2008 at Garden Terrace Nursing Home in Chatham, NJ. Born to Samuel Bruce Copeland and Margaret Wilson Copeland on Sept. 13, 1922 in New Castle, PA, John attended Linsly Institute in Wheeling, Muskingum College, and Oberlin College. He served three years in the US Navy Reserve from 1943-1946, returning to Oberlin to finish his bachelors degree in 1947. There he met Alice Tear of Youngstown whom he married in 1949 and who survives. John received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University in 1953. He taught philosophy at Boston University (1951-55) and at the University of Pittsburgh (1955-65) before joining the faculty at Drew University where he taught until his retirement in 1990.
John was passionate about photography. An avid photographer himself, he advised the Drew Photography Club for many years, and served as the Director of the Drew University Photography Gallery from 1974 to 1996, bringing exceptional exhibitions to Drew by photographers such as Philippe Halsman, Imogen Cunningham, Berenice Abbot, Edward Weston, Bruce Davidson and Arnold Newman. He took courses in New York at the International Center of Photography (ICP) and elsewhere, and enjoyed colleagues he met through photography. He was deeply committed to the spirit of Drew University where he continued his affiliation as emeritus professor after his retirement.

Recent Good Reads/ Farmer's Market

2008-09-01T16:34:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Roger Katz for these photos of Saturday's Brattleboro Farmer's Market music making with Mary Cay Brass.

Stefan told me about a great website called Good Reads where you can post the books you've read and share lists. Here are some of my recent faves:
Snow Flower and Secret Fan by Lisa See
Wonderful book telling the story of a woman in Confucian China in the eighteenth century where foot binding and women's secret writing called nu shu were carried on; where women were secluded in rooms as early as the age of 6 years old after being betrothed by a matchmaker.
The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller (author of The Good Mother). Reveals the dark side of disloyalty and choices made (for better or for worse) in marriage and separation. Trust and need.
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.
Wow. Intense little vignette of a wedding night gone awry. Powerful writing, both in its hilarity and sadness. Brilliant sense of storytelling in its timing and unfolding.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-08-31T14:14:00.009-04:00

Guilford, Vt. at the meetinghouse where we met today and heard Gibran On Work:

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.

Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret.
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Work is love made visible.

Kahlil Gibran

Wedding anniversary in Chatham NJ

2008-08-27T23:11:00.004-04:00

Mom and Dad's 59 years today!!!

amazing clouds

2008-08-25T16:23:00.004-04:00

Took this in Jersey City outside CIGNA office building waiting for Susan and then out for cosmopolitans and mohitos! lovely....

Fame

2008-08-25T16:03:00.007-04:00

Here's me with Stefonius Monk at camp. And Stefonius with Greg and Jere Canote, wonderful folk and musicians. They are twins, creators of the Spinoplians and have now been telling us about "The Protocol" which is where they are super polite and positive with each other on jobs to create a good atmosphere instead of the ususal moaning and groaning. Nice.
Fame:
1. So on our flight from Lady of the Lake camp in Idaho the flight attendant came up to me and asked if I was Terry Gross since someone on the flight thought I was. Who would I rather be?
2. Daniel Zwerdling from NPR has called our hospice singing leader Kathy Leo to do a spot on our group Hallowell. Will let y'all know when the interview happens and airs.
3. On our flight out to camp we met a guy who's father is in the band "The Association". At first I couldn't believe it was the same band I knew from my childhood until he said, "You know the songs 'Cherish', 'Along Comes Mary' and 'Windy'?" Wow. His father had died so he was filling in with three other of the original guys in the band. They still play in casinos and resorts.
4. Bill Frissell and Sam may get to play music together
5. Norah Jones came to Sam's concert in NY with Doveman.

the MFA

2008-08-25T15:58:00.004-04:00

OK, back from Sam's fantastic concert at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston where the Boston Globe gave a great review; Sam on tour with Nico and Doveman just back from sold out shows in San Francisco and NYC (300!) among others and onto Montreal and Toronto. Very fun and interesting mix of stuff with all three playing for and inbetween each others musical amazements.

August already

2008-08-15T16:56:00.002-04:00

Where has the time gone? Two CDSS Family weeks (Pinewoods in Plymouth, MA and Ogontz in NH) and some recording in the studio, two trips to my parents in NJ and two to Monterey, MA to Peter's parents. Here we are at the parade at family week; we fly early tomorrow to Idaho to Lady of the Lake family week where Stefan will be on staff. I joined Facebook so that has taken me away from some blog time, but will catch up in a while. Hope all are having good end of the summers. Saw my first tree with leaves turning color today, goldenrod and berries all round.

Rock River Artists

2008-07-20T14:38:00.008-04:00

Wonderful time at the Rock River Artists tour yesterday. Check out friends and artists, Dierdre Scherer http://www.rockriverartists.com/ds/dscherer.htm
and Chris Trieberts work http://www.rockriverartists.com/ct/ctriebert.htm

Lovely studios to see in Williamsville/South Newfane, Vt and the amazing house of Roger Sandes http://www.rockriverartists.com/rs/rsandes.htm
and Mary Welsh http://www.rockriverartists.com/mw/mwelsh.htm

Our Happy 30th!

2008-07-20T14:28:00.003-04:00

Our 30th wedding anniversary is this Tuesday July 22. Roses and champagne from my dear sisters Annie and Susan to celebrate this joyous year. I guess we are half way, God willing (like my parents who's 60th is next year). Could not be happier.

Pema Chodron

2008-07-20T13:49:00.005-04:00

Don't Bite the Hook is a three cd set I've been listening to by meditation teacher Pema Chodron who wrote a book When Things Fall Apart. Good advice for dealing with difficult moments and seeing them as teachers, excercises in practicing patience.

Role Models

2008-07-20T13:30:00.000-04:00

"The Main Thing is that the Main Thing is the Main Thing"
a quote from one of our music teachers in our course, Judy who is a rock star. She's had two major back surgeries, has a steel rod in in vetebrae, has had Crohn's disease for 14 years AND just last fall had a brain hemorrhage and lived to tell the tale. Danced every dance and always with her sparkling eyes and great smile.
Here also is Walden Witham, a musician, storyteller and teacher who took our course; he dances with his students and they are lucky to have him.

On tour soon

2008-07-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

Sam's tour dates with Nico and Doveman are on his myspace includes Boston Museum of Fine Arts which we are going to August 24. See you there?
NYC (also Seattle, Portland, etc.)

summer movies and good reads

2008-07-17T21:22:00.008-04:00

Ken Follet, World Without End, sequel to Pillars of the Earth; a 1,000 page tome and a cast of characters but immerses you in the 1300's in England, plague and all.
Get Smart: good summer fun, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin and many laughs
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead: wicked, shocking and intense
Losing Grace: poignant movie about a woman soldier killed in Iraq war and how the husband deals

glorious summer

2008-07-13T21:49:00.001-04:00

E.B. White wrote, "Just to live in the country is a full-time job. You don't have to do anything. The idle pursuit of making a living is pushed to one side, where it belongs, in favor of living itself, a task of such immediacy, variety, beauty, and excitement that one is powerless to resist its wild embrace."

Sam's birthday card

2008-07-05T22:09:00.003-04:00

"Sometimes singing at the top of your lungs feels so good.

I think when I was young my parents wished they hadn't taught me all those sailor songs."