“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill One thing that my favorite quotes have in common is the sense of immediacy that comes along with them. They’re not just quotes said for a particular time in history and that only fit in that time. They transcend moments and eras, and they speak … Continue reading Friday Top 5: Quotes
When I was a kid there was a huge billboard in downtown Philadelphia with the Marlboro Man on it. You remember him, the rugged everyman who apparently smoked a pack of reds every day before lunch, and he somehow maintained his brilliant physique and eyes that could pierce steel. And out on I-95 there was another billboard dedicated to a caricature of a camel, also smoking a cigarette. In very small print on both signs was a warning from the U.S. Surgeon General saying something about smoking being harmful to your health. I, of course, saw neither one of these signs, but I knew what they looked like because they were everywhere.
We rode the subway to church most Saturdays, and in the underground world of the subway there were huge billboards lined up on both sides of the tracks. It was funny sometimes when a train was on the opposite track and I could see just a partial billboard through the gap in the train cars. When I first saw a Marlboro Man sign I was waiting for the El at 30th Street Station and there were two posters of him flanking a billboard for the film CB4, which also seemed to celebrate smoking as a lifestyle choice. And I wasn’t interested. It had nothing to do with the Surgeon General’s warning, and everything to do with how I was raised, to think my body was the temple of God, and to avoid anything that would ruin that temple.
So, why did I start smoking three years later? Easy. I wanted to fit in. Continue reading “Where There’s Smoke…”
When I upgraded to my 160GB iPod Classic, I gave my old 120GB one to my wife, who is decidedly not as up on recent music as I am. She gave me a list of artists, albums, and songs that she wanted uploaded to her new device, and the list was relatively short. I was astounded, because there was so much more music her iPod would hold, and I felt it was my duty to help her out. So, in addition to the entire Beatles catalog, Sting and the Police, Taylor Swift, Madonna, Maroon 5, and Sade, I uploaded a few more artists I thought she might like, thinking she would thank me. Well, I was a little bit wrong.
It turns out she liked having only certain artists, and unlike me she wasn’t really up for listening and evaluating something new. So, after I un-synched the additional 30 artists I had placed on her iPod, I began to realize that it was okay. I don’t have to always be the great decider of what music gets played and when. There didn’t have to be some amazing revolution of new songs on my wife’s iPod. What made her happy were the songs and artists she already knew and loved. That was okay for her, and that would have to be alright for me too. I made my peace with it. Then I grabbed my iPod, plugged in my headphones, and put it on shuffle:
1. On the Outside – Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow has some really good b-sides, and this is one of them. “Standing on the outside, looking in…”
2. Animal Instinct (Live in Stockholm) – The Cranberries
Many people think The Cranberries stopped recording music after “Zombie” but that is entirely untrue. Animal Instinct comes from their fourth album, Bury the Hatchet, which is a great album in its own right. On their Greatest Hits compilation, they included this live version of the song.
3. Gold Rush – Snoop Dogg
This was back when G-funk ruled the west coast, and when Snoop was still calling himself a Dogg instead of a Lion.
4. Wildflower – Sheryl Crow
You know, there are some times when I honesty think that shuffle isn’t a true shuffle at all, like when two songs by the same artist show up back to back, or when someone like Sheryl Crow shows up more than once on a small section of the shuffle list, like in this case. This song is even better than the first, though, slow like a ballad. Continue reading “Thursday Shuffle”
“People who live next to Disney hardly ever go there.”
I lived the first twenty-one years of my life in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, the birthplace of the U.S. Constitution, and the home of the famed Liberty Bell. And after I ventured out into the world and met more people from other places, I finally realized just how interesting the place of my birth was. The history packed into the place could fill several books, and yet it was something I took for granted being able to walk into Independence Hall anytime I wanted, or passing by Betsy Ross’s house on my way to South Street on Thursday evenings in July. Moving away, though, gave me a perspective I never would have had otherwise.
When I won a trip for a week at Disney World, to stay on the park property, I was ecstatic. I was going to the most magical place on earth, to spend a week with several other groups of kids from all over the U.S., and it was going to be amazing. Among the group of kids who all congregated there for the week were teenagers from California, from Texas, and from Atlanta. There was also a group from Orlando, and I was so excited to meet them. I mean, they lived right down the block from a place I would kill to live near, and I wanted to know how amazing that was for them. But when I asked the question, one of the girls laughed at me and said, “People who live next to Disney hardly ever go there.” She explained that it didn’t mean the park wasn’t amazing. What it meant was that you can get used to anything. You can take anything for granted. Continue reading “Living Next to Disney”
The bridge is out Submerged in water Ropes visible above Attached to heavy posts Drunk with the weight Of the river wide On its tiptoes Tilting the world Hazy and forbidden Even in summer When the rains come That slow buildup The quick switch Dropping the hammer Swift and solid A wall of water Sanguinely … Continue reading Deluge
I stare at the grandfather clock because it is the only other thing in the room, transfixed as I am by its grandeur as much as I am by its mere presence. You see, I haven’t seen many objects lately, except for the clothes on my own back and the knick-knacks peppering the walls of … Continue reading Brave New World
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Just a small town girl who writes about Christian stuff.
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