Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.
Hey, Mom! The Explanation.
Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #677 - Mother's Day 2017
Hi Mom,
Happy Mother's Day. This is our second Mother's Day without you, Mom.
When putting this blog together, I actually went looking for both 2016 entries and 2015 entries. This is how time obfuscates memory. I caught my error quickly enough. You died on July 4th, 2015 at 10:10 a.m., and so there would not be a 2015 entry. I actually spent time with you while you were still alive on Mother's Day 2015. You weren't even actively dying yet, but you were declining.
I have been wanting to write about how I have moved on in regards to grief, Mom. Sure, I am still grieving, but it's not constant and it's not crippling. I am concerned that readers will think that by continuing my HEY MOM series that I am holding on, clinging, obsessed, looking for sympathy.
Not the case.
My loss, losing you, Mom, is not more unique than all the others who have lost parents, loved ones, and far less tragic than losses of young children.
But loss is loss, and measuring one loss against another seems like splitting hairs. It may serve a good purpose in validating someone's loss -- say of a young adult after his first semester at college as a friend of mine experienced late last year -- but not really useful in other ways. Because loss is loss, and we must all learn to live with it because we will lose people. It's inevitable.
I thought I had something more prosaic and heart-felt for Mother's Day last year, but apparently I went with short comments on some photos in a trilogy of posts and then a follow-up Throwback Thursday.
Here's the links to those. I would rather present them this way than my usual re-publishing of the content.
Instead of prosaic and sentimental ruminations here, beyond what I have already written, I will instead add to the very first entry with an update about moving on.
I am still sad sometimes.
I grieve, Mom.
But I am living life and enjoying life and that's what you would want me to do.
And I know that because I hear you tell me with that voice in my head in a thousand ways throughout the year.
Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1705.14 - 10:10 (my time)
NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1705.13 - 10:10
NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.
Ashlyn Shawver (left) and Joe Dely (Right)
in What A Do Theatre's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, May 2017
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #675 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Hi Mom,
Sort of a new feature here. A review, but one without a link to the Battle Creek Enquirer as this one is being published by the newspaper. I am publishing this review here with the generous support of What A Do Theatre.
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” a production of What A Do Theatre Attended Date: May 11, 2017 reviewed by Christopher Tower
“Do not go gentle into that good night...rage, rage against the dying of the light,” wrote Welsh poet Dylan Thomas [1] to his dying father. Tennessee Williams excerpted and added lines from the poem in the 1974 edition of his classic play Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, his personal favorite. The What A Do Theatre (WAD) of Springfield, Michigan does not go gentle into that good night either with this scintillating production of a classic of the American Theatre, for which Williams won a Pulitzer Prize (his second) in 1955.
Joe Dely (left) and Dave Stubbs (right)
in What A Do Theatre's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, May 2017
Dealing with themes of facing death, Big Daddy, the dying patriarch of the great Pollitt family – who presides over its Mississippi Delta estate – chooses to climb to the roof of his manse and survey the “28,000 acres of the richest land this side of the valley” upon learning he’s dying of cancer. Williams added a footnote to this final action and the play itself “which says only one affirmative thing about 'Man's Fate': ‘that he has it still in his power not to squeal like a pig but to keep a tight mouth about it’”[2].
On the day Big Daddy and his family learn his cancer is in its final stages of malignancy, fireworks explode over the Mississippi plantation in celebration of his 65th birthday amid a sky full of stars. Likewise, star performers explode all over the stage in this taut, urgent, breath-taking production closing the Springfield theatre’s 2017 season. Stars explode because the professional theatrical company has assembled most of its best company members for what will surely rank among the top of five shows in its eight year history.
Chief among these professionals is Ashlyn Nicole Shawver – who has chased her star to Los Angeles and Houston in pursuit of her career – and has returned here for the first time since 2013 for the role of Maggie the Cat, played by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1958 Richard Brooks film co-starring Paul Newman.
Though the film was immensely popular and well known, Williams was disappointed with the way the Hays Code forced it to down-play his themes of homophobia and sexism. The playwright’s revised 1974 edition of the show better targets his intended themes and is the one most often produced in revivals; it’s just as relevant today despite the strides that have been made for gay marriage and against homophobia since the 1950s. Tennessee Williams has been called the American Shakespeare, and if this is true, it’s a truth made plain by this masterpiece, which unfolds the saga of a southern family in crisis with the epic proportions of King Lear. The wealthy Pollitt family has gathered for Big Daddy’s (Dave Stubbs) birthday, and an after dinner celebration must take place in an upstairs bedroom shared by Big Daddy’s youngest son Brick (Joe Dely) and his wife Margaret, or Maggie, the cat (Ashlyn Nicole Shawver) because Brick has broken his ankle in a drunken attempt at recaptuing his lost athletic prowess.
Ashlyn Shawver (left) and Joe Dely (Right)
in What A Do Theatre's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, May 2017
Though Maggie’s long first act soliloquy, the first conflict introduced to the audience is the one between Brick and Maggie that has kept them childless while the eldest Pollitt boy, Gooper (Carlen Kernish) and his wife Sister Mama, or Mae (Teri (Christ) Noaeill), have produced four offspring with a fifth on the way, children Maggie finds loathsome and calls “no-neck monsters.”
Brick and Maggie have no children because they have not slept together in a very long time, a situation about which Big Mama (Stacy (Little) Vest) confronts Maggie in the first act: “when a marriage goes on the rocks, the rocks are right here,” she says, patting the bed, and daring Maggie to explain the couple’s inability to start their family. The problem is the reason Brick is drinking himself into oblivion: his friend Skipper. Both Maggie and Big Daddy confront Brick about Skipper, who died of alcohol poisoning after Brick refused to acknowledge, return, or even discuss Skipper’s feelings of love for the All-American track star and football hero so immersed in his own homophobia that he cannot even begin to figure out his bond with his closest male friend. Brick’s denial of his relationship with Skipper and his disgust with his wife and his own terrible guilt also colors Big Daddy’s relationship with his own wife (or so he says), and the patriarch tries to help his son move past his emotional turmoil and clean up his act so that he can leave him the plantation. Both characters confront the mendacity of those around them. Big Daddy is being lied to about his health, mostly by his other son and wife who want to inherit the estate, and his wife who he accuses of trying to “take over,” and Brick is lying to himself until he joins Maggie in her final lie – she’s pregnant – which secures Brick’s inheritance, as Big Daddy goes off to die peacefully after initially raging against the dying of his light. This complex and psychologically-dense narrative is masterfully performed with brilliant direction (Randy Wolfe) and gorgeous sets.
The set designed by Samantha Snow uses scrim walls to emphasize the lack of privacy that all the characters experience in the mansion of open verandas and unlocked doors. Mood lighting and special effects produce fireworks, thunderstorms, and the deep purple night ruled by the all-seeing eye of its full moon. Period-specific jazz and blues music plays between and during scenes creating the sweltering atmosphere of bourbon-soaked, southern high society. All these technical marvels are interwoven by director Randy Wolfe, who may have composed the most perfect top to bottom, large-cast production in WAD’s history, even drawing forth excellent performances from a quartet of shrill and shrieking children who torment Maggie the Cat. Wolfe won a Wilde Award for best show in 2016 for Streetcar Named Desire, and he should win again for this powerful piece of theatre. Though technically stunning, the performers seal the deal in this soon to be award-winning production.
Ashlyn Nicole Shawver alone is worth the price of admission for her performance as Maggie the Cat. Shawver has already proven her substantial talents to West Michigan audiences with WAD shows like Next To Normal and Sweeney Todd, but she gives a whiskey shot straight to the heart as the sex-starved cat dancing frantically to keep her paws from being burned by the hot tin roof. Shawver has range and depth for the role, and her physical presence rivals that of Elizabeth Taylor, as photo comparisons make plain. Joe Dely has often proven to be the number one asset of the WAD company, and his performance as Brick shows once again why he is the theatre’s top star. Like a long jazz line of sustained, quiet intensity, Dely rises and falls from crescendo to dénouement flawlessly and with tight erudition. Cast against the usual type (think plus-plus sized), I was dubious about Dave Stubbs in the role of Big Daddy. And though the actor lacks the usual girth, he makes up for it with stage presence and line delivery. He is brash, loud, and full of spit. He is wild and funny and at times soft and loving, especially to his beloved son. Better than Frost/Nixon or A Few Good Men, this is Stubbs’ finest role to date. Stacy (Little) Vest always impresses, but in the role of Big Mama she shows just how “little” (heh) we have seen of her immense range. Often actors have the same base qualities in all their roles but not Vest. Here we see her slip into the skin of the matriarch of the plantation in ways that almost make her seem like a different person entirely. The rest of the cast bite with sharp teeth. The children (Nadalie Pratt, Sofia Casey, Annika Yoder, and Jessica Perez) are delightfully obnoxious. James King II has good moments as Reverend Tooker. Gooper (Carlen Kernish) is slimy, greedy, and only out-matched in ickiness by his cloying, sycophantic, and braying wife Mae (Teri (Christ) Noaeill). After playing Stella in last year’s A Streetcar Named Desire, a character we loved in Noaeill’s capable hands, we see her ability as an actor here in a character we love to hate. With a lobby decorated as if for a lavish and formal Kentucky Derby gala, What A Do Theatre is decked out to the nines for its production of Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and delivers an inestimable experience for theatre fans and newbies alike with this authentic and evocative rendition of a great literary classic. It is not to be missed and runs through May 21st.
L-R: Teri (Christ) Noaeill, Rachel Markillie, Franklin Chenman, Carlen Kernish, and James King II in What A Do Theatre'sCat on a Hot Tin Roof, May 2017
PERSONAL NOTE: This is the first theatre review I have written that was not for newspaper publication since starting this occupation in 1987 at the Western Herald. I have written and published theatre reviews in the Battle Creek Enquirer since 1993. Given budget cuts, the Enquirer chose not to review this show. I wish to thank the What A Do Theatre for the opportunity to attend and review this show for my albeit small audience. If this is your first time on my blog, please investigate my main feature using the link at the top of the main page to Hey Mom #1. Thank you for reading.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Marlais Thomas, born October 27, 1914, in South Wales, was the archetypal Romantic poet of the popular American imagination—he was flamboyantly theatrical, a heavy drinker, engaged in roaring disputes in public, and read his work aloud with tremendous depth of feeling and a singing Welsh lilt.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1705.11 - 10:10
NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #673 - More Anne-Marie - NOT Musical Monday 1705.10
Hi Mom,
I have to drive to Chicago today to pick up Liesel at the airport, so how about a soundtrack.
This is a quickie to get back on track, I am just a day behind, but still, I need to be caught up to be able to post a review tomorrow, so I have to get two done today (Thursday), starting with this one one day late.
You Tube told me to post this, in a sense, because Anne Marie posted her jam with Ed Sheeran yesterday via a link from Billboard.
This was not actually a playlist for my drive because I am listening to an audio book of Cory Doctorow's Walkaway, which is AMAZING - SHOP LINK.
Anyway, here's some links. First, the link to my previous post about Anne Marie, a Musical Monday devoted entirely to her music, and then the playlist on You Tube for this blog post plus all the songs from Hey Mom #615 for a 20 song Anne Marie uber-fest.
This stuff is too poppy for some (like my wife), but I love it, especially "Do It Right," which is the song that got me hooked, obsessed (I had it literally on repeat for hours), and devoted as a fan to this nice woman from Somerset, England.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1705.10 - 10:10
NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #672 - Blade Runner 2049 is coming in October
Hi Mom,
The day before what would have been your 81st birthday, 10-06-17, the sequel to my favorite film debuts.
Blade Runner: this is a film that has stuck with me the most; it has clung to my bones, and it has stuffed in between the neurons in my brain with its gooey, rich filling. I have listened to the music for this film more than any other film or other music. This is the film I have seen most often, own the most copies of, and have thought about the most. This is the movie whose visuals and sensibilities have influenced me the most, the movie for which I have pondered more articles, designs, storyboards and concepts than any other. This is the film I own more than one script for and have poured over the most. I read the novel, taught the novel, and taught comparisons between the novel and the movie.
And now, another movie.
Blade Runner 2049 debuts on October 6th 2017.
A new preview has been released (see below).
The preview should inspire fans of the genre to want to see it, but long time fans of Blade Runnerwill be tweaked by one intriguing exchange of dialogue. Officer K (Ryan Gosling) finds Deckard (Harrison Ford) in an old and abandoned hotel much like the one (the same one?) featured in the film Blade Runner (The Bradbury?). Deckard asks "What do you want?" and Officer K says "I want to ask you some questions."
And fans will squeal with glee.
Questions probably (maybe, might) mean the Voight Kampff machine, the classic test that Blade Runners give to humanoids to test to see if the individual is an actual human or a replicant.
The big deal with that reveal that Officer K has questions pertains to a long-standing debate in fandom: is Deckard a replicant?
Apparently the debate exists beyond fandom: the film creators -- writers, producers, director -- argue this point as well.
I have always believed that the film version of the Deckard character is NOT a replicant because of the explanation of how replicants "develop emotional responses" and have imprinted memories and yet often lack empathy. Deckard seems to be fully human with none of the "tells" of replicants, and yet that's the very heart of the Philip K. Dick mind fuck because maybe there's no way to verify this science for certain and true; there is no apodictic hardline to our identities.
In the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Deckard proves to be human, though there is quite a bit of reality-bending trickery (a sham police station run entirely by androids and headed by a ruthless human). Unlike many humans (most? all?) Deckard has empathy for androids, which is the strongest argument for his humanity. He also spends most of Blade Runner scared shitless and running for his life, which are very human qualities and actions.
My belief is that he is human, but I have a gut feeling that the movie will reveal that Deckard is a replicant, maybe a special one-off model, or at least the preview seems to hint at this outcome, which will also explore the nature of Officer K's character.
Depending on the explanations and how it all plays out, I may be disappointed, but such cautionary feelings do not tamper with my excitement for this film and its arresting visuals.
Really, these days, a film is not going to be competitive without arresting visuals, but even more than many others, the artful atmosphere and aesthetics of this film are incredible.
So here's the preview.
Also, I have many bits of the original Blade Runner soundtrack plus other offshoots of music, some slowed down for greater ambient effect, which is a delightful and amazing thing.
Also, yet again, my original post from my T-shirts blog, reprinted here for the second time because I had forgotten I had already shared and now don't feel like removing it.
T-shirt #61: Replicant: "You Blade Runner!"
Those who know me know that Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies of all time, and those who have spent any time with me know that the Vangelis soundtrack ranks as my number one favorite music, too. These people are probably sick to death of listening to the music of Blade Runner as I play it a lot.
So, when this "Replicant" shirt came through the Previews catalogue out of which I order my comic books and assorted merchandise through the great and awesome Fanfare Sports and Entertainment, I ordered one. A "replicant" is the movie name for the beings called androids in the book on which the film is based (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick). The replicants/androids serve only on off-world colonies as slave labor. Many escape to earth to find their creator and a solution to the fixed four-year lifespan. "Blade Runner" is also a term used (again only in the movie) to refer to the bounty hunters that track these androids who have illegally emigrated to earth. I will not repeat the entire plot here. If you don't know the plot, you should watch the movie and read the recaps posted online.
There were many great films from my formative years that would appear on my list of favorites. Over the years, I have seen and loved so many films that I resist making just one list of favorites. I would prefer to make several lists, one for each genre, as I think it's unfair to match great comedies like The Big Chill and When Harry Met Sally against serious dramas, such as Citizen Kane or There Will Be Blood. Certainly, a fantastic film for its time period, like Imitation of Life, must be measured on a different scale from a science fiction genre piece, like The Abyss, or a superhero genre piece, like The Dark Knight. All these films should be rated using separate lists.
But if I was forced to make one list of my top ten favorite films, I would have to put Blade Runner on that list. In fact, I am not sure I can think of a single film that has had a greater effect on me as a writer, a story teller, than Blade Runner. When I calculate the impact of the music on my emotional state and individuality through the years, how many times I have listened to that music, let alone the number of times I have watched the film, read the script, studied the images, read the original book, thought about all of it, Blade Runner has had a greater impact on me as a creative person than any other media product.
I cannot claim that it is the film I have watched more times than any other film. One reason is that I have spent much of my life using films as a teaching tool, especially in media studies classes. Thus, I have seen Fatal Attraction and Pretty Woman as many times as Blade Runner (unfortunately). Also, as a teenager, I binged on visits to the theatre to see Star Wars, which I saw 36 times in its original run and at least a dozen times (and probably more) since then. When Blade Runner came out in 1982, I was in college and very preoccupied, and yet I still managed to see it a half dozen times in the theatre. You have to remember that 1982 was still prior to the truly accessible age of video tape rental or purchase, and so paying admission to see a film in the theatre was really the only way to see it until about 1983-84 when videos began to be sold or rented in small shops, and even so, I didn't own my own VCR until 1986.
I did have the pleasure of teaching Blade Runner along with the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep in several classes in the early years of my teaching career. But eventually, I moved on to films and books that lent themselves better to the course objectives and less to my own personal oeuvre. But I had a lot of fun with the subject matter as a teacher. Back when Blade Runner first came out, I studied all related materials. There were books of art work, a partial book, and both books and magazines devoted to describing and explaining the special effects. I also bought a copy of the shooting script from a script service in California, which was how one obtained unpublished scripts before the Internet existed. I studied all these materials with a great passion.
The film's aesthetics carried greater weight and impact (at least one me) than the film's story and certainly more so than the performances in it. The film combined the talents of concept artist Syd Mead with special effects by Douglas Trumbull and Richard Yuricich. Director Ridley Scott also added many elements both to the visualizations and the film's story and dialogue elements that enhanced the film's overall tone and atmosphere. Scott has referred to the film's landscape as "Hong Kong on a very bad day" and has cited source material, such as Edward Hopper's Nighthawks painting, art work by Europeans such as Moebius from the magazine Métal Hurlant ( known in America as "Heavy Metal"), as well as Fritz Lang's Metropolis film ("Blade Runner," Wikipedia, 2013).
According to the Wikipedia page for Blade Runner, Philip K. Dick ultimately approved of the David People's rewrite of the original script by David Fancher and the 20 minutes of SFX he was shown prior to his death. Dick said,
"I saw a segment of Douglas Trumbull's special effects for Blade Runner on the KNBC-TV news. I recognized it immediately. It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly." Dick also approved of the film's script, and of it, he said, "After I finished reading the screenplay, I got the novel out and looked through it. The two reinforce each other, so that someone who started with the novel would enjoy the movie and someone who started with the movie would enjoy the novel."[41] The motion picture was dedicated to Dick ("Blade Runner," Wikipedia, 2013).
There are some great resources on the web dedicated to Blade Runner. One such resource was the 2019: Offworld site, which has gone into retirement (pun intended by the site's author; BR fans will get it). But I made the link work because there's still a page that archives a lot of Blade Runner content. From that site: "For people looking for extensive, organized Blade Runner sites, I recommend BRmovie.com and BladeZone. They are two of my favorites and are full of information and links. (And I always recommend checking out Wikipedia for entries, including theirs on Blade Runner.)"
Blade Runner continues to have impact on me today, after over 30 years. I could write volumes about my thoughts on this film. But I want to keep this blog post relatively short. But before closing, a couple more things.
Recently, I read a great book called Ready Player One, which had references to Blade Runner among many other references to favorite '80s media. This was a GREAT book, and if you love 1980s geeky media as much as I do (and even if you do not), you must read it. (Basically, everyone should read it.)
The music. I am crazy for the Blade Runner music. Though there are cuts I like more than others, and I listen to those in sorted, special playlists rather than the soundtrack and its arrangement. As a huge fan of the music, I had a difficult time waiting for it. The actual Vangelis music from the film was not released for over a decade. The first music released was a weird interpretation of the score by the New American Orchestra. Yes, I owned it. Yes, I listened to it MANY TIMES. The first authentic Vangelis release of the music came out in 1994 with a trilogy of CDs with the comprehensive music and soundtrack in 2007. I have listened repeatedly and religiously ever since.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1705.09 - 10:10
NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.
Because this mix seemed right. I made this mix quite a while ago (two years ago?), and it's on my iPod, which is a distinction from my iTunes because when iTunes upgraded a couple years ago it trashed my library, and I had to rebuild it. As a result, I say no to most iTunes upgrades, and I back up my library more often.
Anyway, during Penguicon, I hit on this mix and typed it in planning it as the mix for 1705.01 but that proved too much to do so I pushed it back a week. All but two songs exist in the You Tube universe, though I used live versions for some, which are different than my iPod mix. The two songs that I do not have access to, one -- "He's Heading Back Into Town" - Don's Mobile Barbers -- is on "open" Spotfiy, and the other is not, at least that I can find, and so I have an alternate song by the same band.
Still, I think this is a good mix even without those songs.
It's a Monday mix, hence "Rainy Days and Mondays" - The Carpenters, but it's also a mix when I am still reeling from the announcement of the GOP's "healthcare" bill, in which sexual assault is a pre-existing condition to allow companies to deny coverage to people. In fact, the list of pre-existing conditions is ridiculous, stupid, and dangerous.
How about we make being a white, privileged, Trump-brain-washed, old asshole a pre-existing condition?
As you can see I have some anger about this subject, and then this jerk off in Idaho has the temerity to claim that people don't die because they don't have access to health care?
I don't know what planet or alternate time line that jerk wad lives in but it's not ours.
And that's not even mentioning all the other nonsense, like the gutting of National Parks protections or the removal of climate data from government sites.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1705.08 - 10:10
NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.
