Sunday, March 31, 2019
Weakness
"I'm the best cook." "No one can beat my golfing record." "My child is an honor student." Each of these are strengths we proudly boast to one another. It is absurd to think about taking pride in our weaknesses. We are uncomfortable with weaknesses because recognizing them means we are not enough. Yet this attitude welcomes Christ into our lives so He can perfect our weakness and He can receive glory. What is one of your weaknesses? Invite Christ to have the power to work in you. Share your weakness with others and watch to see the power of Christ.
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Friday, March 29, 2019
Progress, Hopefully
As I said at the first of the week, I’ve started a diet of sorts. I’m watching what I eat and counting my calories. So far I’ve been keeping below my suggested calorie count each day. That has to be a good sign. I haven’t weighed myself, but I’ve been using portion control and lower calorie foods. By eating lower calorie foods, I can actually be full and feel like I’ve eaten a good meal. The last time I lost a great deal of weight, I counted calories, so I hope this will work this time too.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Sleep
I went to write my post for today and promptly fell asleep with my iPad in my hand. I’ll just hold what I was going to talk about until tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
How to Do It
How to Do It: Sex Education and the “Sex Life”
By Joseph Gamble • March 19, 2019
By Joseph Gamble • March 19, 2019
In 1696, in Somerset county in southwest England, a schoolboy named John Cannon and his friends took their lunchtime break on the banks of a river near their schoolhouse. Unlike other uneventful riverside lunches, though, this day was memorable enough for Cannon to record in his memoirs. An older boy who was “about 17” years old, Cannon writes,
took an occasion to show the rest, what he would do if he had a female in place, and withal took his privy member in his hand, rubbing it up & down until it was erected & in short followed emission. The same was he said in copulation & withal advised more of the boys to do the same, telling them that although the first act would be attended with pain yet by frequent use they would find a deal of pleasure, on which several attempted and found it as he said. Indeed, courteous friend, I cannot excuse myself for being one of his pupills at the same time.1
A group of teenage boys standing in a circle by a river, learning to masturbate during their school lunch break: this might well have been a scene in Laurie Nunn’s new Netflix show, Sex Education. Sex Education follows the lives of a group of students at Moredale Secondary School, a fictional high school (as we would say in the United States) set somewhere in the countryside of England. The show’s protagonist, Otis (played by Asa Butterfield), is the sexually-anxious son of a sex therapist, Jean (Gillian Anderson).
Despite his own sexual hang-ups, Otis has soaked up enough of his mother’s thoughtfulness about the complexity of sex to be able to help his peers work through their own sexual difficulties, a skill that his friend Maeve (Emma Mackey) turns into a business. In their clandestine sex advice clinic, Maeve collects the clients, and Otis talks through their sexual problems with them. There are, as it turns out, lots of clients with lots of problems.
Sex “Education”
Given its emphasis on the relationship between Otis and his clients, the show might well have been called Sex Therapy, rather than Sex Education. Indeed, at least in the public education system in the United States, “sex education” generally entails little more than a discussion of various sexually transmitted infections.
In many states, sex ed courses are perfunctory, and sometimes even taught by community volunteers who are not trained educators. “Education” is a generous word for what goes on in those classrooms. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 37 states “require that information on abstinence be provided,” with 27 of those states — including my current state of Michigan — requiring that “abstinence be stressed.”
Typed page. Heading: "High Schools and Sex Education." Stamp of the Treasury Department at the bottom of the page.
As you’d expect, a 1922 edition of recommendations for sex education in high schools… from the US Treasury Department. (Archive.org)
My home state of Alabama is one of 7 states that stipulate that homosexuality cannot be discussed positively in sex education courses. Alabama Title 16. Education § 16-40A-2 (c) (8) mandates that sex ed courses include “an emphasis, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state.” Never mind the fact that the US Supreme Court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision declared unconstitutional the sodomy law referenced in the statute, and never mind that the damage — both emotionally and physically — this statute does to queer youth clearly runs counter to the “public health perspective” it claims to support.
As you’d expect, a 1922 edition of recommendations for sex education in high schools… from the US Treasury Department. (Archive.org)
My home state of Alabama is one of 7 states that stipulate that homosexuality cannot be discussed positively in sex education courses. Alabama Title 16. Education § 16-40A-2 (c) (8) mandates that sex ed courses include “an emphasis, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state.” Never mind the fact that the US Supreme Court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision declared unconstitutional the sodomy law referenced in the statute, and never mind that the damage — both emotionally and physically — this statute does to queer youth clearly runs counter to the “public health perspective” it claims to support.
Similar homophobic statutes (so-called “no promo homo” laws) exist in Texas, Arizona, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Such “education” seems like the furthest thing from the honest and open communication about the emotional and physical difficulties of sex that Sex Education stresses.
The show does give us, though, a small glimpse of this sterile form of clinical education in the first episode when Otis and Maeve are tasked with labeling the various parts of the vulva and placing a condom on a dildo. But what makes Sex Education so brilliant, in my opinion, is that it portrays this clinical sex ed as not enough. The students of Moredale can label diagrams of the vulva all day long; they still need someone to talk through with them how to give blowjobs, how to listen to their partners, and how to figure out what it is they find pleasurable.
In a mere eight episodes, Sex Education manages to carefully cover a huge range of sexual issues that might not normally fall under the guise of “sex ed”: desire, including queer desire; performance anxiety; unwanted pregnancy; abortion; gender expression, and the dangers faced by transfeminine/gender nonconforming people; communication in relationships; anxieties about being a virgin; sexual reputation and rumor; divorce; adultery; parenting; (cyber)bullying; immigration; and addiction.
Cartoon of a woman's reproductive system... but really a disembodied uterus, fallopian tube, and vagina.
A still from a (wholly inadequate) 1960s American “sex ed” video. (Archive.org)
What the show understands is that people have sex lives — sex lives that aren’t just accumulations of scientific knowledge about reproduction or quantifications of how much sex one is or isn’t having, but complex and ever-changing relations to sex. And it understands that the sexual knowledge that undergirds those sex lives is not primarily transmitted from teacher to pupil, but from peer to peer. After all, John Cannon — the man from my opening anecdote — didn’t learn to masturbate from his school teacher, but from a boy in the class above him.
A still from a (wholly inadequate) 1960s American “sex ed” video. (Archive.org)
What the show understands is that people have sex lives — sex lives that aren’t just accumulations of scientific knowledge about reproduction or quantifications of how much sex one is or isn’t having, but complex and ever-changing relations to sex. And it understands that the sexual knowledge that undergirds those sex lives is not primarily transmitted from teacher to pupil, but from peer to peer. After all, John Cannon — the man from my opening anecdote — didn’t learn to masturbate from his school teacher, but from a boy in the class above him.
Sex is a Tragicomedy
As a historian of sexuality, I was so struck by Sex Education because it, like Cannon’s anecdote, treats sex as a learned skill. In my scholarly work, which examines how English women and men learned how to have sex in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, I approach sex in much the same way as the show does: not only as a learned skill, but as a learned skill that is both logistical (how do you figure out how to make your body fit with, on, or in someone else’s body?) and emotional (how do you figure out what you feel, and why you feel it, and how other people feel about you, and why?).
The social organization of sexuality has changed drastically over the past 400 years — to give just one example: sexual identity categories like “straight” and “gay” and “bisexual” simply didn’t exist in the seventeenth century. But the daily work of crafting a sex life — the anxieties and the pleasures, the anticipation and the rumination, the fumbling and the stumbling and even, as the show dramatizes in the second episode, the vomiting — has largely remained the same.
Taking up both the logistical and the emotional challenges posed by sex, Sex Education deftly captures the fact that sex is a tragicomedy. The show is so sympathetic to its characters that it allows us to see the comedy of sex and to feel how very serious the anxieties surrounding sex can be. We are supposed to laugh when one of the school’s gay boys, Anwar (Chaneil Kular), confesses to Otis that he is “freaked out by bumholes” and when another boy worries that he might be “addicted to wanking.”
We are supposed to laugh, but we aren’t supposed to laugh at. Lily’s (Tanya Reynolds) alien-laden sexual fantasies, for instance, are funny not because the show makes fun of her, but because sex is weird and funny and, well, kind of alien! (While the ensemble cast of the show is wonderful across the board — I mean, come on, it’s Gillian Anderson! — Reynolds’s performance stands out as truly spectacular).
The show even manages to create sympathy for Adam (Connor Swindells), the headmaster’s son and school bully. In the first episode, bothered by his recent inability to ejaculate, Adam takes three pills of Viagra and becomes distressingly erect. The show wants us to laugh — “it’s like a third leg!” Maeve quips — but then immediately shifts from the comic to the tragic.
When Maeve reveals that she knows about Adam’s sexual problems with his girlfriend, the music stops, and the camera rests close to Adam’s downtrodden face as he takes a beat. “Too much pressure,” he says. “I just can’t stop thinking about stuff when I’m shagging: what if I’m not good at this? Maybe I’m doing it wrong? Maybe she knows I’m doing it wrong!” These aren’t the sorts of questions that are answered by the school-sanctioned worksheets and condom demonstrations.
Among the many brilliant choices this show makes is the extension of its narrative arc past the obligatory school dance episode. Where less thoughtful writers might well have ended the show with the high drama of the dance, Sex Education understands that sex has emotional afterlives — that it can continue to reverberate after any particular act, and that understanding sex holistically requires resting in both the pleasure and the discomfort that remain when the traditional narrative climax has passed.
As a viewer, you feel like the show takes care of you, even in its smallest details. It’s no accident, for instance, that the play the students are discussing in their English class is Shakespeare’s As You Like It — a play in which a woman pretends to be a man in order to teach the man she loves how to woo women. As You Like It is, in many ways, Shakespeare’s “sex ed” play.
There are, in fact, many early modern precedents for the holistic approach to sex that Sex Education takes. In addition to John Cannon and Shakespeare, consider just one final example: a mid-seventeenth century text called The School of Venus. This text is composed of fictional dialogues between a young, soon-to-be married woman named Katy and her older, married friend Frank. Katy, a virgin, comes to Frank to air her anxieties about her impending first sexual encounter, and to ask her advice about what she should do. “Pray tell me what your Husband doth to you when he lyes with you,” she asks Frank, “for I would not willingly altogether appear a Novice, when I shall arrive to that great happiness.”2
Katy says, in effect, “it’s my first time and I’m nervous”: a sentiment as readily legible in the seventeenth century as it is today. It’s not hard to imagine Otis sitting in the stall next to Katy, taking a breath and replying: “Ok, before we get to the ins-and-outs, tell me a little bit about your relationship ….”
Notes
- Cannon, John, The Chronicles of John Cannon, Excise Officer and Writing Master, Part I: 1684-1733 (Somerset, Oxfordshire, Berkshire), ed. John Money (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 26.
- Mudge, Bradford K., ed. When Flesh Becomes Word: An Anthology of Early Eighteenth-Century Libertine Literature (Oxford University Press, 2004), 17.
About the Author
Joseph Gamble
@jmgmbl
Joseph Gamble (@jmgmbl) is a PhD candidate in Women’s Studies & English at the University of Michigan, where they are soon to defend a dissertation on sexual pedagogy in early modern England. In August 2019 they will take up a position as an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Toledo.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
My Son Wants to Know Who His Biological Father Is
My Son Wants to Know Who His Biological Father Is
by Blas Falconer
by Blas Falconer
My son wants to know
his name. What does he look like? What does
he like? My son swims
four days a week. When my son swims
underwater, he glides
between strokes. When he glides underwater, he is
an arrow aimed
at a wall. Four days a week, his coach says,
Count—1…2…—before
coming up for air.
My father had blue eyes, blonde hair,
though mine are brown.
My father could not speak
Spanish and wondered, How can you love
another man? We rarely touched.
When my son
is counting, I count
with him. I say, I am
your father, too. 1…2…
his name. What does he look like? What does
he like? My son swims
four days a week. When my son swims
underwater, he glides
between strokes. When he glides underwater, he is
an arrow aimed
at a wall. Four days a week, his coach says,
Count—1…2…—before
coming up for air.
My father had blue eyes, blonde hair,
though mine are brown.
My father could not speak
Spanish and wondered, How can you love
another man? We rarely touched.
When my son
is counting, I count
with him. I say, I am
your father, too. 1…2…
About this Poem
“One day I was listening to my son’s swim coach and her feedback on his breaststroke, how he couldn’t muscle his way across the pool, how stillness and patience were important components of good technique. To encourage this, she had him count while his head was under the water, and it seemed like good advice for a lot of things, bearing what troubles you, for example, or writing a poem that is particularly challenging.”
—Blas Falconer
—Blas Falconer
Monday, March 25, 2019
Ready, Set, Go!
Yesterday started what I hope to be a new day in my life. I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app to help me lose weight. It’s largely an app that keeps up a calorie count and calculates what calories you need to eat each day to lose weight. It also tracks exercise. I went over my calorie count yesterday, but I’m going to try to do better today. I’ve been improving my eating habits of late by incorporating breakfast into my diet everyday. While I haven’t weighed myself to see if I’ve lost weight, I know I’ve lost some because I’ve had to go up a notch in my belt. Time will tell how this will go.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Unfading Beauty
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. (KJV) ( 1 Peter 3:4 )
We spend a lot of time focusing on our outward appearance such as perfecting our hairstyle, improving our physique, selecting the right clothes. In all, a lot of thought goes into creating just the right look. Do we spend the same amount of time cultivating our inner beauty? We know what inner beauty looks like...patience, generosity, peace-loving, fearless, and filled with a silent strength. Are we spending more time worrying about the color of our teeth instead of the kind of words that come out of our mouth? Ultimately our words are a reflection of our heart.
We spend a lot of time focusing on our outward appearance such as perfecting our hairstyle, improving our physique, selecting the right clothes. In all, a lot of thought goes into creating just the right look. Do we spend the same amount of time cultivating our inner beauty? We know what inner beauty looks like...patience, generosity, peace-loving, fearless, and filled with a silent strength. Are we spending more time worrying about the color of our teeth instead of the kind of words that come out of our mouth? Ultimately our words are a reflection of our heart.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Friday, March 22, 2019
Reality TV
I’m usually not big into reality television, but there are four shows right now that I can’t let myself miss. Number one on the list is RuPaul’s Drag Race. The other three are tied for importance: The Voice, Project Runway, and Project Runway All Stars. I have to admit, I haven’t seen all the seasons of any of these shows. I saw the early seasons of RuPaul and Project Runway but got out of the habit of watching them. Now I’m back to watching them and hate I missed even a single season. Project Runway All Stars is relatively new to me, and I choose which seasons of The Voice to watch based on who the coaches are.
RuPaul is number one for a reason. It’s the best all LGBT show on right now. And let’s face it, drag queens are fun. Yes, there are some annoying ones each season. This season, it’s hands down Silky Nutmeg Ganache. She’s over the top and annoying as fuck because she’s a camera hog. She always wants to be at the center of attention. However, there are some good ones too: Brooke Lynn Hytes, Scarlet Envy, Shuga Cain, and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. None stand out as the front runner yet, but time will tell.
I like the judges this season on The Voice, and it’s not up against Dancing with the Stars, which is its usual competition and what I usually choose to watch. So far this season seems to have some outstanding talent. There are three from Alabama, and I like them all for their country sound. I usually don’t root for someone on Adam Levine’s team because I don’t think he’s a very good coach even though he’s been on there since the beginning. However, that being said, I am head over heels for Andrew Jannakos of Flowery Branch, Georgia. He’s a very sexy country artist with a deep voice. His voice is as beautiful as he is. I try not to get too attached this early because you never know what’s going to happen in the battle rounds, but I’m hoping Andrew gets stolen and goes all the way to the end. My other top choice is Jackson Marlow of Rogersville, Alabama. He’s on Kelly Clarkson’s team and is also very sexy. Now we wait and see how the battle rounds go.
Project Runway All Stars comes to a close next week, but it’s been an exciting series. Sadly my favorite lost last week. I love Texas designer Anthony Ryan. To me he's sexy, and I almost always liked what he designed. We are now down to four designers. Who will win is anyone’s guess.
That brings us to Project Runway which years ago moved from Bravo to Lifetime and is not back at Bravo. With the exception of Nina Garcia, everyone else jumped ship. There is no Tim Gunn or Heidi Klum. Without them, can the show even be Project Runway? Bravo seems to think so. Christian Siriano (winner of Season 4) is the new mentor replacing Tim Gunn. Karlie Kloss replaces Heidi. I was skeptical of this one. I love Tim Gunn, but the first episode wasn’t too bad. It’s early, so no designer has jumped out at me, I’m still learning their style aesthetic. So for me, the verdict is still out. Can Bravo bring it home with the newness of the show? I sure hope so.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Sex Education
One of the great things about a show being on Netflix is that you can binge the show all at once. Just sit and watch until you’ve seen the whole season. The worst thing about a show being on Netflix is that if you binge on a good show, then it’s over way too soon. The other weekend, I binged on the British comedy Sex Education. Once I got started watching it, it was hard to stop. In the show,
Description
socially awkward high school student Otis may not have much experience in the lovemaking department, but he gets good guidance on the topic in his personal sex ed course -- living with mom Jean, who is a sex therapist. Being surrounded by manuals, videos and tediously open conversations about sex, Otis has become a reluctant expert on the subject. When his classmates learn about his home life, Otis decides to use his insider knowledge to improve his status at school, so he teams with whip-smart bad girl Maeve to set up an underground sex therapy clinic to deal with their classmates' problems. But through his analysis of teenage sexuality, Otis realizes that he may need some therapy of his own.The show is deceptively addictive. Asa Butterfield is so cute as shy and awkward Otis. He’s just adorable and you can’t help but love him. Add to that, his best friend on the show is gay. Another character has a massive penis. And then there is Gillian Anderson as Otis’s mom. To me she is barely recognizable. Not only is it her natural British accent, but her hair is so different from her character on the X-Files. If you have Netflix, this is a must watch series.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
The Orville
Monday, I talked about Star Trek: Discovery. Today, I want to discuss the show giving it a run for its money, except you can watch The Orville for free on Fox. The Orville is not the Star Trek spoof Fox originally advertised it to be. It’s much more. While the different Star Trek series did not contain a great deal of humor, many of the original Star Trek movies did. The Orville, created by and starring Seth McFarlane, has all the wonder of alien races and science fiction that Star Trek is known for, but also has the humor that was present in the movies. When The Orville premiered last year, many critics feared it would be Family Guy in space. That, it was not. Yes, some of the humor is a bit sophomoric, but the science fiction is first rate.
The Orville has the comedy and drama of the original Star Trek movies. While it does have the comedy, it also has true drama. When a same sex couple from a planet of all males has a daughter, there is serious issues to be considered. Then there was the ship of religious fanatics or a planet ruled by social media. These are issues that may not directly connect to the world today but the lessons in the episodes are real. The original Star Trek series dealt with real life issues head on as well. It broke down race barriers and even had a Russian on the bridge. In many ways, The Orville is what Star Trek tried to be, with a little humor added in.
So as excited as I am about Star Trek: Discovery, I am just as crazy about The Orville. If you’re a Star Trek fan, you don’t have to compare the two, though there are good comparisons in my opinion. The Orville is a show that can be enjoyed by science fiction fans in general. It’s a good show and if you’re aren’t watching it, you probably should be.
Vernal Equinox
Technically speaking, the Equinox occurs when the sun is directly in line with the equator. This will happen at 5:58pm Eastern Daylight Time.
The above picture is of a beautiful card a friend sent me for Spring and Easter. I wanted to share it with all of you.
The above picture is of a beautiful card a friend sent me for Spring and Easter. I wanted to share it with all of you.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
To Television
To Television
by Robert Pinsky
by Robert Pinsky
Not a "window on the world"
But as we call you,
A box a tube
But as we call you,
A box a tube
Terrarium of dreams and wonders.
Coffer of shades, ordained
Cotillion of phosphors
Or liquid crystal
Coffer of shades, ordained
Cotillion of phosphors
Or liquid crystal
Homey miracle, tub
Of acquiescence, vein of defiance.
Your patron in the pantheon would be Hermes
Of acquiescence, vein of defiance.
Your patron in the pantheon would be Hermes
Raster dance,
Quick one, little thief, escort
Of the dying and comfort of the sick,
Quick one, little thief, escort
Of the dying and comfort of the sick,
In a blue glow my father and little sister sat
Snuggled in one chair watching you
Their wife and mother was sick in the head
I scorned you and them as I scorned so much
Snuggled in one chair watching you
Their wife and mother was sick in the head
I scorned you and them as I scorned so much
Now I like you best in a hotel room,
Maybe minutes
Before I have to face an audience: behind
The doors of the armoire, box
Within a box--Tom & Jerry, or also brilliant
And reassuring, Oprah Winfrey.
Maybe minutes
Before I have to face an audience: behind
The doors of the armoire, box
Within a box--Tom & Jerry, or also brilliant
And reassuring, Oprah Winfrey.
Thank you, for I watched, I watched
Sid Caesar speaking French and Japanese not
Through knowledge but imagination,
His quickness, and Thank You, I watched live
Jackie Robinson stealing
Sid Caesar speaking French and Japanese not
Through knowledge but imagination,
His quickness, and Thank You, I watched live
Jackie Robinson stealing
Home, the image--O strung shell--enduring
Fleeter than light like these words we
Remember in, they too winged
At the helmet and ankles.
Fleeter than light like these words we
Remember in, they too winged
At the helmet and ankles.
Monday, March 18, 2019
Star Trek: Discovery
Let me first say, if you aren’t watching Star Trek: Discovery, your missing one of the best shows out there. I know not everyone can get Discovery. You either have to subscribe to CBS All Access in the United States or Netflix outside the US. It’s totally worth it though. While Fox has The Orville, which has the fun of the Star Trek movies, it’s not Star Trek. Some would say that Discovery’s darkness is not Star Trek either, I disagree. My favorite Star Trek series was Deep Space Nine, which was a bit dark in its storyline. Prior to Discovery, DS9 was the only Star Trek to fully cover the intricacies of war. DS9 brought us the Dominion War, whereas Discovery brought us the Klingon War. Also, Discovery has brought us in Season 2 back to the very origins of the Star Trek franchise with Captain Pike, Number One (though briefly), and Spock. It’s mind-blowingly good.
Now let’s look at the cast. Michael Burnham is played by Sonequa Martin-Green, who is by far one of the most intriguing characters ever created by Star Trek. Season 2 also brought in Captain Pike played by Anson Mount, and Spock played by Ethan Peck. Let me add here that Ethan Peck, Gregory Peck’s grandson, is the sexiest Spock ever. Saru played by Doug Jones is a fascinating character that continues to grow. Let’s not forget the remarkable Michelle Yeoh playing Philippa Georgiou. There are many characters that they are just fleshing out, especially on the bridge crew. Two of the most intriguing characters are Dr. Hugh Culber and Paul Stamets, Star Trek’s first ever gay couple, played by real life gay actors Wilson Cruz and Anthony Rapp.
The show is just remarkable. It’s unlike any Star Trek ever, and yet it is quintessentially Star Trek at the same time. The show is so exciting to watch that I have an adrenaline rush during each episode, and I can’t wait to watch the next episode. If you aren’t watching it, you can’t imagine what you’re missing.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
What Becomes of the Broken-hearted
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. - Psalm 34:18-19
All of us at one time or another have been broken-hearted. It’s a time that seems to crush your soul. However, we know that God is with us. He saves the crushed in spirit. The righteous do have many afflictions, but God will deliver us from those afflictions. Faith is the driving force. Faith in the Lord is with us; it’s what we need to bring us out of those times when our hearts are broken. In the song “What Becomes of the Broken-hearted,” a man searches for his broken dreams. Had he looked toward God, he’d have seen the love and compassion that gets us through our times of heart break. I’m going to leave you with the lyrics to “What Becomes of the Broken-hearted:”
As I walk this land with broken dreams
I have visions of many things
But happiness is just an illusion
Filled with sadness and confusion
What becomes of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Maybe
I have visions of many things
But happiness is just an illusion
Filled with sadness and confusion
What becomes of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Maybe
The roots of love grow all around
But for me they come a-tumblin' down
Every day heartaches grow a little stronger
I can't stand this pain much longer
I walk in shadowsm searching for light
Cold and alone, no comfort in sight
Hoping and praying for someone to care
Always moving and goin' nowhere
What becomes of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Help me
But for me they come a-tumblin' down
Every day heartaches grow a little stronger
I can't stand this pain much longer
I walk in shadowsm searching for light
Cold and alone, no comfort in sight
Hoping and praying for someone to care
Always moving and goin' nowhere
What becomes of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Help me
I'm searching, though I don't succeed
But someone look, there's a growing need
Oh, he is lost, there's no place for beginning
All that's left is an unhappy ending
Now, becomes of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
But someone look, there's a growing need
Oh, he is lost, there's no place for beginning
All that's left is an unhappy ending
Now, becomes of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
I'll be searching everywhere
Just to find someone to care
I'll be looking everyday, I know I'm gonna find a way
Nothing's gonna stop me now
I'll find a way somehow
And I'll be searching everywhere
I know I gotta find a way
I'll be looking
Just to find someone to care
I'll be looking everyday, I know I'm gonna find a way
Nothing's gonna stop me now
I'll find a way somehow
And I'll be searching everywhere
I know I gotta find a way
I'll be looking
Saturday, March 16, 2019
Friday, March 15, 2019
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Pretty Picture
I don’t have much to say today, so I’m giving you a pretty picture. Doesn’t he have a cute smile?
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
March Evening
March Evening
by Amy Lowell, 1874 - 1925
Blue through the window burns the twilight;
Heavy, through trees, blows the warm south wind.
Glistening, against the chill, gray sky light,
Wet, black branches are barred and entwined.
Sodden and spongy, the scarce-green grass plot
Dents into pools where a foot has been.
Puddles lie spilt in the road a mass, not
Of water, but steel, with its cold, hard sheen.
Faint fades the fire on the hearth, its embers
Scattering wide at a stronger gust.
Above, the old weathercock groans, but remembers
Creaking, to turn, in its centuried rust.
Dying, forlorn, in dreary sorrow,
Wrapping the mists round her withering form,
Day sinks down; and in darkness to-morrow
Travails to birth in the womb of the storm.
Monday, March 11, 2019
Spring Break
I’m going to try sleeping in a bit today. I haven’t been able to sleep in in weeks, but today is our one day off for spring break. Faculty and students get the week off; staff gets one day off. I don’t have much planned today. If it’s not snowing, I will do a load of laundry this morning. Otherwise, all I have to do today is physical therapy. These copays for physical therapy are adding up, but at least she’s done wonders for my neck and hopefully will continue to improve my tennis elbow. Then tomorrow is back to the grind.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Before Daybreak
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. (KJV) ( Mark 1:35 )
Are you feeling disconnected from God? Do you feel a void in your life? Maybe it's time you take some time out intentionally to spend time with God. Eliminate yourself from any interruptions and seek God in prayer. We should have private time with God even if we aren't feeling separated from Him in order to focus on God.
Are you feeling disconnected from God? Do you feel a void in your life? Maybe it's time you take some time out intentionally to spend time with God. Eliminate yourself from any interruptions and seek God in prayer. We should have private time with God even if we aren't feeling separated from Him in order to focus on God.
