It's A Boy Sub!!!

 This is my 5th school year being a substitute teacher.  I started about 4 years ago near the beginning of the 2nd semester of the 2018-2019 school year.  In the school district I work in there, are 3 types of substitute teaching jobs.  Substitute Teacher, Long Term Sub, and Building Sub.  A substitute teacher is exactly what you think it is.  You come into a school and replace the teacher that is gone that day.  A long-term sub replaces a teacher when they are gone for 4 weeks or longer.  This is often due to maternity or paternity leave but these are not the only reasons.  A building sub is assigned to a particular school and is the first line of defense when teachers call in sick the day of school or perhaps leave during the course of school.  I spent my first 2 years as a regular sub, I have been working primarily as a long-term Sub since February of 2021 and last month started my new adventure as a building sub.

One advantage of being a long-term sub or a building sub over a regular sub is that the base pay is better.  An advantage to being a building sub over a long-term sub is that often times a long-term sub has additional duties like grading students and preparing lessons that a building sub does not have.  I really enjoy being a building sub because I get to know all of the kids in the school and my day to activities are extremely varied. The best part of my current position is that I work with my wife.  She is a School Psychologist in the district and I work at her school.  Most days we drive in together which is not only a great way to spend time together but also a great way to save money.

Most days I don't get my assignment for the day until I'm on my way to school.   Some days I'm subbing for multiple teachers due to meetings or trainings, others I'm in for just one teacher.  The latter occurred earlier this week.  I went into the classroom and was sitting at the teacher's desk reviewing the plans that had been laid out for me.  I heard a commotion brewing in the hallway.  On this day the teacher had come to school, realized she was too sick to teach, and left before the school day started.  She was not able to leave the building before being spotted by some of her students.  The commotion I heard brewing was the students discussing the prospect of who their sub would be.

The kids are supposed to sit by their cubbies until the teacher lets them in their room at a certain time.  Buoyed by their excitement at the prospect of a sub they kept popping up and looking through the glass window in the door to see who their sub was.  One by one I heard the delighted shrieks of "It's A Boy Sub!".  At that moment I knew what my next blog entry would be titled.

This is my 5th week at the school and most of the students know who I am by now.  So when the comments switched from it's a boy sub, to it's Mr. Roller, I met them at the door and let them in a few minutes early.  

While there are certainly more female teachers than male ones in my district, there are still quite a few men teachers.  What there aren't a lot of are male subs.  I've only encountered a few in the time I've been subbing. Even so, I didn't really expect that kind of reaction from my students that day.  I think that one of the reasons I like being an educator, especially a building sub,  is that most every day I experience the unexpected. 

Love, 

Dave

Januarying

 January 2023 is in the books, more proof that the calendar plays for keeps.  My wife thinks that this January would never end and was glad to see the back of it (Sorry, she had Downton Abbey on , and I couldn't help myself.). For me, January ended too quickly, I hadn't finished all my Januarying. 

I've always been  a little bit uncertain when it comes to  what I think about New Year's resolutions.  On one hand, I think that they are a colossal waste of time because we should always be trying to improve ourselves and we  don't need December 31st telling us what to do.  On the other hand, there are definitely things I like to try to accomplish every year and January 1st seems like a good time to start accomplishing those things.

Some of these goals (I do like goals better than resolutions) vary from year to year and many of them don't get accomplished.  I do spend quite a bit of time each January planning to accomplish them, which is why I call making a game plan for the goals, Januarying. 

One goal I have every year is to average 10,000 steps a day for the year.  2022 is the only year so far I have met that goal.  I had come close in 2021 averaging around 9,200 steps a day.  It really was a tale of two halves where I averaged just 7,000 steps from January to June and then averaged close to 11,500 to close out the year.  I made my goal for 2022 to be averaging at least 10,000 steps for the entire year (In 2005 White Sox parlance we call that going wire to wire). To that end I walked 26,122 steps on Jauary 1st.  We had a small party at out house on New Years Eve  and after our guests left, I walked our neighborhood for a little while.  Most of the steps came later that day when I got the job of patrolling the movie theatre where I work which means walking up and down 12 theatres every 20 or 30 minutes to make sure  the equipment and audience members are behaving appropriately.  

This year I decided to approach repeating my accomplishment differently. I made a calendar in my mind and decided in advance how many steps I wanted to get on the given month.  At the end of the year, If I make all my goals I will have again averaged  over 10,000 steps for the year.  In January, I set my goal for far lower than 10,000 but still beat the average I set for myself by more than 1,000 steps a day.  

Some of my other Januarying goals have to do with or are chronicled on my blog.  I will be posting more soon about my goals of watching 12 new movies (to me) and reviewing them here, and my reading goal for the year.  So. Ill just table such discussion for now, except to say that I have spent quite a bit of Januarying plotting out some of the books and films I want to consume this year and going about consuming them.  Each December and January I spend time redesigning my blog. I have especially enjoyed  linking some new blogs to mine in a space called Blog Try Outs. One such blog is called Laws of Gravity The caretaker of Laws of Gravity is a substitute teacher like myself.

At my advanced age of 58 years, 4 months, 1 week, 4 days and 12 hours (It's actually 11 hours, but I still have to edit this post.) , I am beginning to hear more and more about finishing well.  I feel like I might be a tad young for that, but Januarying has been instrumental in helping me start well.  

January Stats

 In January of 2023 I posted 8 times.  This was five posts more than I had in November and December 2022 combined.  I  really limped tot he finish line of 2022 blog wise. 2022 wasn't a wholly unsuccessful year in that regards.  I had 102 posts in 2022 just 15 less than I had in 2021.  The problem was that 86 of those posts were from January to June and only 21 were in the 2nd half of the year.  I consider that a missed opportunity.

The 8 posts this past January put me on  pace to have 96 by years end.  Hopefully this will not be a February flop but will be even more successful than how the year began.  

Thanks to my lovely editor/proofreader/wife who keeps me on track bloggingwise and in so many areas of my life.  

Love,

Dave

Random Videos

Over the years I have taken so many videos for my blogs.  Here are some random ones I'd like to share today.

This "kid" just got engaged.  11 years ago He was in robotics with my son.

LJ Smooth FKA Wolflina FKA Puppy

Her first HI

Bob Bennett playing at my church after taping an album locally.

 

Dave Out Loud loses and finds his Wallet @roldaver

Top 100 Films: A Preparation

 

Five years, or so ago, I decided that I needed to make a listing of my 100 favorite movies. I was working in an office at a time and even had 2 of my coworkers make their own lists.  I worked on it painstakingly for several months and when I completed it, I promptly lost the list.  #ADHDLIFE.  

Sometime during Co-vid, my wife found a small notebook of mine that had 100 favorite movies scratched on it.  It unfortunately did not have the completed list , but it did have the names of over 150 movies and some rankings and notations.  I always intended to revisit the list every 5 years or so, but this feels more like starting over than revisiting.  

For the past few weeks, I have been laying out a groundwork for determining my top 100.  This process will include watching many of them again to see if they still resonate with me,  sorting movies into different groups, and ranking them by group while continuing to develop a philosophy for establishing the final ranking.

An important decision I'll have to navigate  is how exactly  I'll be  evaluating the movies.  Am I basing their  rank on their current importance, their historical importance, or simply  the quality of the film, or some hybrid form? I know this isn't going to be a  best film list, but I do  tend to base a film's quality with how much I enjoy watching it. 

Fortunately, I already have the top 15 worked out and can easily carve out the top 25 without much difficulty.  The tricky part, I expect, will be ranking from 26 to100 and  thus deciding what films don't make the cut. 

I decided  that it might help out thing considerably to pick what I think the 100th movie will be early in the process.  This way I can have a yard stick of sorts as if to to say "okay, I like this film better than 100 so it must be in the top 100." or "This film is not as good as 100, so it must not be in the top 100." Of course this is just a starting point and the film I pick as the place holder, may end up being ranked significantly higher or lower.

I think at this time that the film I would rate as 100th would be the 1996 film, The Spitfire Grill. The Spitfire grill did not make my top 100 movie list, the last time around.  The more I think about it, the more I think it should have.

Spitfire was release by Castle Rock and has a very Castle Rock feel to it.  In some ways it is an odd film, and does not always go where I want it to.  There are even certain parts of the movie, I don't like to watch on repeat viewing. These may be among the reasons why Spitfire did not make the cut on my original list.

Here are some reasons I have thought about revising my assessment.

The Cast: Marcia Gay Harden and Will Patton while secondary to the plot, anchor an excellent cast. Ellyn Burstyn does an excellent job as the irascible owner of the grill, and every time I watch this film, I am surprised that Allison Elliott did not become a Hollywood legend because she is a force to be reckoned with here.

The Cinematography: This like A River Runs Through It, Brave Heart, and Secret of Roan Inish, is a spectacle for the eyes.  The Atlantic North East is majestically shown in this film.

.

The Story:  The plot in many ways is predictable but that does not diminish how rewarding it is to watch. Like I said earlier, the movie does not always do what I want it to do; but, what it does, it does skillfully and memorably. While the movie doesn't have the redemption arc I want for it, it portrays redemption in a broader more wholistic way.

In short, it is  a flawed film with a high rewatchability level.  It will be interesting to see where it lands on the eventual list.

I expect the process of making a new list to take me at least a year.  I hope to use this blog as a way of talking about some of these films and then eventually presenting the list here in one way or another,

Love,

Dave

23 23 Mariska Hargitay

As you know this is the year 2023.  My father and I were each born on the 23rd day of our birth month.  I decided that this year on the blog each month on the 23rdI would feature someone famous or otherwise who was born that day.  I am writing this on February 23rd and postdating it on January 23rd as I clean forgot about doing this for January.  

Mariska Hargitay was born on January 23rd, 1964.  I was born on September 23rd, 1964.  She and I have the 23rd and 1964 in common.  She is now 59 and I have 8 months (or so) to have that in common with her as well.  

 

                                                        This is the go-to pose of her SVU character

Hargitay's mother was actress Jayne Mansfield who died when Hargitay was 3 years old.  Hargitay is best known for her role as Olivia Benson on the Law & Order spinoff series, Law & Order SVU.  

On January 23rd, 1964 the # 1 single in the United Kingdom was Glad All Over by The Dave Clark 5.

Jim Kaat Full Baseball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech and Jim Kaat on Dick Allen

Amy gave me some White Sox Ticket vouchers as a Christmas gift and while I am excited for the future of the White Sox, I still love the past of the White Sox. Here are some videos featuring HOF pitcher Jim Kaat, The former White SOx hurler. The first is his induction speech at the Hall if Fame last summer.

 

The second is an interview he did on the MLB network after the passing of Dick Allen.

 

I was very glad to see Kaat finally make it to Cooperstown. It's too bad Allen did not make it in his lifetime, I hope that He will make it soon. Love, Crazy Uncle Dave

Snow Kidding!

These "kids" are now 17 to 23

 

The Music of Poetry - The Pain That plagues Creation

Hello, Poetry Fridayers.

On the Poetry Friday that took place on June 30th, 2022.  I shared the inaugural Poetry of Music post and stated I wanted to share songs that were more like poems set to music about once a month or so.  6 months later, here I am sharing the next installment. I landed a lot closer to the or so part of my prognostication than the once a month part.  

Today's song comes from the  late Mark Heard, producer, singer, songwriter, and poet all wrapped into one.  Mark Heard died in the Summer of 1992 a few weeks after having a heart attack while performing at the Cornerstone Music Festival in Bushnell, Illinois.

My last post contained a bit of a lament on some of  the present difficulties associated with my life at this  time.  The Pain That Plagues Creation is a haunting  reminder that while  life is  fraught with difficulty it also equally fraught with hope.. 

The Pain That Plagues Creation

By Mark Heard

As this planet falls around the sun

Trapping us in the orbit

Creation groans in unison

Like a race of frightened orphans

The darkness of this raging storm 

Is covering up our portals

But a yearning for the light is born

In the heart of every mortal

And day to day we ache

With the pain that plagues creation

Night to night we lie awake

And await its restoration

Heaven knows our lonely ways

Heaven knows our sorrows

Heaven knows the things that we don't know

And the joy of eternal tomorrows

But through this glass we dimly see

This world as it was made

And the good we know must surely flow

From the heart of a kind creator

And day to day we ache

With the pain that plagues creation

Night to night we lie awake

And await its restoration

So hold on in this restless age

And do not fear your shadow

Your alternating tears and praise

Are prayers that surely will matter

And day to day we ache

With the pain that plagues creation

Night to night we lie awake

And await its restoration

 The Pain that Plagues Creation appears on the Mark Heard album, Eye of the Storm.  You can find the lyrics by clicking here.

Thanks for Catherine Flynn for hosting this weeks Poetry Friday at Reading To The Core.  

Thanks also to my wife Amy for listening to me read the lyrics to her even though we had already said good night.  

Love, Dave

Spiritual Thursdays: One Little Word .

 

I am trying to get into the New Year blogging.  So I have decided to participate in Spiritual Journey Thursdays.  It's a first Thursday blog hop that is being hosted this month  by Margaret at Reflections on the Teche. Margaret is part of the Poetry Friday community.  Her theme this month is One Little Word.  

Given the theme I immediately went into full Martin Luther mode and started belting out the third verse of A Mighty Fortress is Our God.  For future reference 10:45 on a weeknight is not the best time for belting out reformation hymns.  At least that's what my wife tells me.  Click here to have it belted out for you by the good folks at Hymnary.

1 A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

2 Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God's own choosing.
You ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same;
and he must win the battle.

3 And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo! his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

4 That Word above all earthly powers
no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours
through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever!

Psalter Hymnal, (Gray), 1987

There is an excellent article from Desiringgod.org entitled 'What "One Little Word" will fell Satan?'  In it, the author speculates what Luther may have meant by what word is being referred to at the end of verse 3.  He states that Luther wrote that the word he meant was "liar." Or at least the German word for liar.  

I can tell you that this makes perfect sense to me.  

Many times in the course of my life I have told myself and believed lies.  The past few months have been a particularly difficult season in what has been a very difficult series of years for me and my family.  

These past months as I alluded to in my Last Poetry Friday submission have been some of my most challenging in my work life.  They have also been extremely taxing in almost every aspect of my life.  

In September my family left a church we had been at for 10 years that never really felt like our home.  We have spent the fall and early winter looking for a new church which has brought both comforts and challenges to us.  

In September on my wife's birthday, I went to visit my Dad in the hospital and was told that day that his leg needed to be amputated. His foot was amputated on that very day.  On my birthday a few weeks later my Mom and I had a phone appointment with a neuropsychologist who diagnosed her  of having some type of dementia, perhaps Alzheimer's.  We cancelled birthdays for a while after that.

Somewhere in that time a part of me snapped.  I didn't notice it at first, but my wife did. I still did all the things you do to get from one day to the other.  I'd been in full on crisis mode before but this was different.  I tell you that even right now I can hardly function  at work or anywhere.  

But I think I am beginning to figure it out.  I've been believing lies.  I've been believing that I am powerless in the train wreck season I've been going through and in reality I've tied myself to the track with those lies.  I have two daughters who both have mental health issues.  My wife and I continually tell them to stop believing lies and tell themselves the truth,  As Tom Hanks's character Jimmy Dugan (sp?) said in A League of Their Own. "That's good advice! 

 John 8:31 through 8:36 says (in the NIV), 

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘ You will become free’?” 34Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35“The slave does not remain in the house forever; . the son does remain forever. 36“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 

 The truth is that God has been with me every step of this journey. Today I received what I perceived to be a body blow but when I told that perception to my wife, she told me the truth and I decided to believe that truth, then act upon that truth, and pray that truth. This evening what can usually be a very stress filled event was pleasant. When I got home instead of being in a zombie like stupor I was ready for the next thing. I know I'm still many miles away from a new normal but I'm closer than I even imagined I could be on New Years Eve. 

 Love, Dave

For more SJT click HERE

Closing the book on Barbara Walters, Pope Benedict, and Pele and opening a book on Heaven

 In the last 3 days of 2022 3 cultural icons, game changers in their respected fields of sports, newscasting, and theology had their lives come to an earthly end.  To put it simply there was really no one like either Pele, Barbara Walters or Pope Benedict XVI.  Each of their lives were characterized  by a passion for their calling that transitioned into being a revered elder statesperson as their journeys continued.  

                                                                            Pele 1940 - 2022

Barbara Walters 1929 -2022

Pope Benedict XVI

While people were shuffling off this mortal coil left and right at years end, I was spending some time preparing for the new year.  Putting things away in proper places, working on the design and content of my blog, I even spent some time putting together books I'd like to read this year. One such book was a small 60 page pamphlet called Heaven by Randy Alcorn.   I collected the booklet somewhere in my travels, it is a book of answers to questions about Heaven.  The questions and answers were culled from a bigger book by Alcorn, also called Heaven.  

I'm not really trying to tie in the recent deaths of international icons with a book I'm preparing to read.  When my Grandfather died in late 1997 I had just proposed to Amy.  At the wake, I felt like discussing my engagement would be taking away from the celebration of my Grandpa's life.  I remember my Dad encouraging me to talk about it.  He said that people needed to be reminded that life goes on even in the midst of death.  In the same way, I think making plans for the future and reading up on my future home are good ways for life to go on.

I hope all of you are enjoying a woinderful beginning to your new year.  

 Love,

Dave.

 

 

A Poetic Ending to a Semester of Subbing

 

The 2022-2023 school year is my 5th school year as a substitute teacher.  Since the Spring of 2021, I have been mostly working as a long term sub. A long term sub usually replaces a teacher on a leave or fills in a vacancy caused by a teacher's departure.  I have done both.   This means I'm filling in for the same position every day until that teacher returns from their absence  or the vacancy I'm filling in for is staffed.  This year I have been subbing for a special needs classroom since the beginning of the school year.  I have had 2 classes (1 group of 6th graders) and 1 group of 7th graders in one class room.  In addition to teaching 4 subjects on 2 grade levels, I have been preparing lessons, grading papers, , making report cards and basically everything else a "regular" teacher does.  It has been some of the most challenging and most fulfilling work I have ever done.  

The length of most long term sub positions are known in advance.  Generally you know how long, give or  take someone personal, sick or maternity leave is going to be in advance.  Filling an unfilled spot does not usually come with a knowable end date.  My principals were pretty sure they were going to have me for the full school year as in the first 4 months the job was posted a total of zero people applied for it.

When I came back from Thanksgiving break, I was greeted with the news that a teacher had indeed applied and been hired for the position.  It was bittersweet, my students all have various degrees of difficulty adapting to change.  Many of them did not take to the idea well.  I on the other hand, was very glad that a SPED certified teacher would be taking over at the beginning of the next semester at the same time as being saddened that such a wonderful experience was coming to an end.  

In the last 3 weeks of school I worked hard with the students that we would finish well.

In our English Language Arts class I wanted to teach the students some poetry so I found this lesson on Acrostic Poems  from  Youtube  utilizing Brain Pop which is one of my students favorite educational websites. 

 

After the video, I went to our board and "we" created this poem using SCHOOL as our acrostic.

                                                Students and Teachers

                                                Classes and Chaos

                                                How much is 7 times 3?

                                                Old friends and new ones

                                                Open their minds up

                                                Learning begins with me.

The semester is over.  I have said goodbye to my students and just need to go back next week, log in their final grades and do a few other thing to transition the classroom for the next teacher.  As for me, I was able to get a long term position for the next semester as a building sub.  I'll be going to the school my wife works at but will be most likely in a different classroom each day.  It is what I had hoped to do at the beginning of the school year but I am so glad to have spent August to December where I was.  

Thanks to for Patricia J Franz  

for hosting

the last Poetry Friday of the year.  

My advice is  

check it out 

just by clicking here.

Breaking News Pele has died - Pele -Top 10 Impossible Goals Ever

Keith Roller Played With a Full Deck and the Cards He was Dealt.

 My brother Keith was born on this day in 1970.  He passed away in April of 2013 at the age of 38 from a heart attack while in a nursing home in Elgin.  He died a few weeks  before he was scheduled to return home to his wife and kids. 

Today, he would have turned 52.  There is really very little significance to a 52nd birthday, but a few years ago I manufactured a little significance by referring to it as the full deck birthday.  This is because a card deck traditionally has 52 cards.  Today would have been Keith's full deck birthday.

My brother had social, emotional, physical, and mental health challenges on his brief time here,  One could say that the deck was stacked against him.  To judge him for his challenges, as many did,  would be not only unfair but would rob you of knowing one of the kindest, smartest, funniest people you would ever encounter.

In his short life, he graduated college, fell in love, married and fathered 2 children who he showered love on.  While it seems cruel that they hardly remember him, his legacy of kindness, passion, and creativity continues in them. 

I was an older brother to Keith, I was also his youth group leader when he was in high school.  I guess I was something of a model and an example to him.  In many ways he was an example and even a teacher  to me and although his life on earth is over the memories and the lessons continue. 

 

Earlier this year,  I started 2 sonnets with the same line: The time were given is quite brief.  It started as just an exercise,  It became much more than that when the 2nd poem became about Keith.  As today is not only Keith's birthday but also Poetry Friday.  I thought I would share it again here.  

Death of a Brother

14 lines after 13 years

The time we're given  is quite brief

For some, it's much too short

One April morn I got the report

I'd lost my brother Keith

Such news was so beyond belief

That I had no retort

Of snappy comebacks, I'd fallen short

So anguished by my grief

My brother died in a nursing home

At the age of thirty-eight

While he was watching M*A*S*H

13 years later as I write this poem

Though my grief is not as great

My heart still bears the gash

Buffy Silverman is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday.

A song about Middle School

My Friend Allen Levi is one of the most prolific music artists that no one has ever heard. He performs one song called You'll be famous when your dead" I'm not sure that he wants to be or ever will be famous. But if he ever does catch on, his 16 albums on Spotify will keep the public saturated for a while. I had been listening to one song from each of his albums on Spotify for the past 15 days now, so today when I was grading papers after work, I put the only one on Spotify that I hadn't heard a song from yet and listened to it in it's entirety. The album called People in my Town is a kind of a concept album. Levi interviews people in his town (thus the title), writes a song based on the interview and then plays them back to back on the album. Here is the title track from the album that introduces the concept ...

 . In about the middle Allen interviews a middle school teacher who had been deeply effected by his teachers when he was in middle school. Levi then performs a touching song about the dedicated teachers who love on students. When I first heard this album, I kind of glossed over this song as I was not a professional teacher at the time. The song resonates much more with me now as I am a long term substitute in a middle school setting. But I think this song should resonate with anyone who has worked with young people either as a parent, an educator, or any type of yout leader. If these songs or interviews have resonated with you in anyway consider going tot he bandcamp platform and purchasing these songs or perhaps the full album or maybe sample some more of Allen's music.  WHo knows? You might make him famous before he's dead.

17 Years ago today ...

Keith Green and Rich Mullins celebrate another posthumous birthday.

In the world of Contemporary Music their are few bigger names than Keith Green and Rich Mullins. Admittedly, there are literally  bigger names as the aforementioned take up only 5 combined syllables and fit comfortably  on the 1/3 of the first line of this text.  Their actual names may be small but their impact on the lives of believers has been great indeed,

Keith Green share many of the same attributes including the same birthday, today, October 21st (Keith in 1953, and Rich in 1955). They were both gifted musicians and lyricists.  They both were outspoken in their faith and counter cultural in their approach to ministry.  They also died very young in vehicular accidents.  

Due to a plane crash in 1982, Keith Green did not live to see his 30th birthday and Mullins who covered a Green song on the 1992 tribute album No Compromise died in a car crash in 1997, just over a month before his 42nd birthday.  

  

Green before his conversion to Christianity was headed to a career as a rock and roll teen sensation.  The below footage is from a guest appearance on the panel show I've got a Secret when he was 11 years old.  After revealing his secret The youngster performs one of the songs he composed.  

     

It is no secret that the music, the vulnerability, and the passion of both Green and Mullins has informed my own journey.  It is fitting that they shared the same birthday , the same passion for Christ and the same method of expressing that passion.  They also share a place in my heart for how their music and ministry still inspires me to this day.

On this date 1968

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 11: The Mighty Thor: Thunder in her veins

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 11: The Mighty Thor: Thunder in her veins:  Title: The Mighty Thor: Thunder in Her Veins Author: Title: The Mighty Thor: Thunder in Her Veins Author: Jason Aaron Have I read this book...

27 years ago today ... Lance Johnson Triples Three Times in Six-Hit Game

Today is my birthday and a few months ago I noticed that one of my White Sox heroes, Lance Johnson, had a 6 hit 3 triple game against the Minnesota Twins on my birthday back in 1995. Here's the footage ...

Top Soccer Shootout Ever With Scott Sterling (Original)

Poetry Friday 8/19/2022 Finding Castles Among Ordinary Things

 I am hosting Poetry Friday today for my very first time. I originally said I would wait until Midnight Eastern time (11 P.m. where I live) so that it would truly be Poetry Friday. I have caved and am posting this on Thursday at 11:09 Eastern time as I worked at 2 of my jobs from 6 am to 9 pm (my time)  counting travel time and don't want to stay up any longer than I have to asI am also working the same shifts tomorrow.  Here's what I have for you ...

 Back on June 17th, Rose Cappelli of Imagine the Possibilities shared her amazing poem, Music Lessons for Poetry Friday.

I was not familiar with the form, an etheree, and decided to experiment with it.  An Etheree is a 10-line poem that works it way incrementally from one syllable to 10 syllables adding a beat with every line. At One aspect that I enjoy about creating poetry is the freedom to see the world a little differently than everyone else.  An ability to make a connection, and then see where that connection takes me.   

As I was reading Music Lessons, at Rose's blog, I noticed that right under her poem there was a section embedded in her post stating sponsored content replete with the usual clickbait about insurance rates, medical treatments, and other sundry time wasters.   Among the annoyance, I had a flash of inspiration.  Why not write an etheree about internet ads.  This was the result ...

Sponsored Content

I

Really

Don't care where

Educated

Singles in Elgin

Meet, Nor do I need to

Know the seven worst mistakes

I can make with my retirement.

There is a search bar for a reason,

I am content to find my own content.

6/18/2022

My wife and I have had one car between us for several months now.  We were hopeful that we would be working at the same school this year and only found out a few days before the school year started that there would not be a position for me.  Fortunately my long term substitute skills  are highly sought after and I received an offer to work at a middle school in my wife's district.  While we begin to look for a second vehicle, I have been bicycling nine miles down our bike path (each way) to my new school.

When I bike to work these pictures give you an idea of the view ahead of me.

Granted it's gorgeous but it's also fairly common place. Don't get me wrong I love my commute.  Most days I see at least 2 deer and some pretty good views of the Fox River but for the most part it's just tree after tree with a couple of towns thrown in for good measure.

But there is also this ...

Yes 2 miles from downtown Elgin there is this castle structure that I believe was brought over from England.  Most days I bike right past it often not even seeing it.  

Over the past few years I have found myself in a bit of Poetry Renaissance.  To me poetry has been my way of finding castles among ordinary things and even making ordinary things stick out like castles.  

That's what I have for this week.  Let's see what you can add and find out where the adventure takes us. 

 

As you read through what I'm sure re going to be excellent selections this week. I hope you experience your own Poetry Renaissance.  Next Weeks Poetry Friday will be hosted by Tanita S. Davis  at Fiction Instead of Lies.

Poetry Friday: Hosting Next Week ,Way Back Machine This Week

Greetings Friday Poetry People.  I just came back from a month volunteering at a camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with my family.  It was an amazing time.   One minor drawback was there was very little access to Wi-Fi and such things and I did not get to read many blogposts let alone participate on any Friday Poetry events.

I did get to perform some of my poetry at a crew talent show so that was good. I didn't write any poetry while I was there and am saving the one I was working on before I left for next week so today I am going back to the archives.  

Here is one from 3-11-1993  

Untitled

John Doe rests uneasily

Albeit eternally in the county morgue

Found outside a supermarket

Slumped against the cart return rack

On a different cart now

The contents as generic

Doe, John

Motionless on the table

A poem prepared for publication

The venomous white space atop the page

Leaves the editor no choice

But to mark the work: Untitled

An unnamed man

Alone in a dimly lit parking lot

Breathes his last amid

Unread circulars and candy  wrappers

Leaving behind no glimpse of history

No hint of next of kin to alert

Height and weight can be measured

Eye and hair color observed

Blood type determined

Age only guessed at

The death certificate

Marks the cause:

Natural

Margaret  is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday event at Reflections on the Teche. You can check it out by clicking here.  Today is Margaret's Birthday so you may want to congratulate her on that as well.

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #10: The Stranger in the Woods

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #10: The Stranger in the Woods:   

Poetry Friday: The Problem of Good.

 It's Thursday night so we all know that mean's it's time for Poetry Friday.  This week's festival of free verse, carnival of couplets, and symposium of sonnets is being held at Bookseed Studio.

I went through about 1.3 million drafts or so of this poem before I got this far. I was driving my family crazy with all the revisions.  Here is what I came up with ...

The Problem of Good.

I tried feeling good

       But ...

Feeling good fades.

I tried being good

       But ...

Being good is impossible

I tried doing good

Doing good is filling a leaky bucket

One exhausting drop at a time

Then I remembered

God is good.

I can ...

Feel His Goodness

Be His Goodness

Do His Goodness

And...

That's not bad. 

For more Poetry Friday click here.

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 9: Between Heaven & Hell (Plus Next Ten)

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 9: Between Heaven & Hell:   

This was not only my 9th book of my Summer Reading Program but the 35th book I read this year.  This puts me on pace to read 69.39 books by years end.

Next Ten

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Knowing God - J.I. Packer

Immanuel: Reflections on the life of Christ- Michael Card

Inside the Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Devin Brown

Writing Poetry from tje Inside Out - Sanford Lynne

What to Do on Thursday - Jay Adams

Dorothy L Sayers - A Biography: Death, Dante, and Lord Peter - Colin Duriez

Dreyer's English - Benjamin Dreyer

Great Short Poems - Paul Negri - Editor

The Light of His Presence - Anne Graham Lotz

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 8:Thor VS. Hulk

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 8:Thor VS. Hulk: 

The Poetry of Music: How Can They Live Without Jesus

 I have really enjoyed my short time as part of the Poetry Friday community.  Up until a month ago or so, I would just occasionally see links to it on some of the blogs I follow.  It wasn't until 4 weeks ago that I started posting there.

I love music, and I have a very eclectic taste in music.  There are many things I enjoy about music, but I think overall I am drawn to the lyrics.  Today's "Poem" is actually lyrics from a song that I think would make excellent poetry.  I think once a month or so, I will share some of these songs here and post them as well to Poetry Friday, which by the way is being hosted this week by Janice at Salt City Verse.

Today's Poem/Song is How Can They Live Without Jesus by the late Keith  Green. 

Before I reveal the lyrics, a few quick comments about them and the writer.  Keith Green was a contemporary Christian musician (CCM)  from the mid-'70s to the late '80s who died in a plane crash in 1982. He was a gifted pianist, singer, and songwriter. 

This song has a very strong and clear Christian message. It is a message that many may take umbrage with.  I don't share it here to be divisive or evangelical.  While I agree with the tone and the message of the song, I share it here because I think it's great poetry. I find it thought-provoking, and at the same time, it is enjoyable.  

How Can They Live Without Jesus 

How can they live without Jesus? 

How can they live without Gods love?

How can they feel so at home down here,

When there's so much more up above?

Throwing away the things that matter,

They hold on to things that don't.

The world has gone crazy, 

But soon maybe,

A lot more are gonna know.

For maybe they don't understand it

Or maybe they just haven't heard

Or maybe we're not doing all we can

Living up to His Holy Word.

'Cause phonies have come 

And wrongs been done

Even killing in Jesus' name

And if you've been burned,

Here's what I've learned:

The Lord's not the one to blame.

For He's just not religion

With steeples and bells 

Or a salesman who will sell you

The things you just want to hear

For His love was such

That he suffered so much

To cause some of us

Just to follow, follow

So many laughing at Jesus

While the funnies thing That He's done

Is love this old stubborn rebellious world

While their hate for him just goes on

And love just like that

Will bring Him back

for the few, He can call his friends

The ones He's found true

Who've made it through

Enduring until the end

The ones He's found true

Who've made it through

Enduring until the end

If you are interested in hearing the song, here is a rendition by the CCM vocal group, Glad.

How can they live without Jesus appears on the Kieth Green album, No Compromise.  

I wrote a poem this week which will have to keep until next Poetry Friday.  For more of this week's, festivities click here.