Saturday on Substack - 18.XI.2023
The waning light of late November
My eighth grade teacher had taken missionary posts that took him to various places around the globe, and besides having lived for years in Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi, he had also lived for some time in Hawaii. To a bunch of Midwestern kids, everything that had been taught us about Hawaii compared it to paradise. Therefore, it was surprising that when this teacher was asked about the weather in Hawaii, he said that he didn’t particularly care for it. “There’s no variety!” he’d explain. “All year round, 80F in the daytime, 70F at night. It’s the forecast for tomorrow, for next week, and for three months in the future.” Most people wouldn’t think that this was a terrible thing, but my teacher was from Minnesota, and I guess he learned to love the unpredictable weather early!
We’ve got a bit of “unpredictable” weather here; no, not a snowstorm - it’s actually been unseasonably nice. On one hand, that’s great, on the other, it’s quite hard to fathom that Thanksgiving is in a few days and Christmas is close behind. I feel like I finally understand a little of what my eighth grade teacher meant.
Writing
Last year, I did a “Songs of the Season” post from November 15 until sometime in January. It was a lot of fun, so I’m going to see about doing that this year as well. I don’t plan on posting every one separately to Substack, but I’ll post the list here. FYI, I didn’t get started until the 17th, so I’ve only got two songs for now. If I have the time, I’ll work on getting the Youtube playlist together.
Songs of the Season 2023
Reading
Watching
This would be comedy if it weren’t so sad. Non-binary, Indigenous Person With Anxiety & Generational Trauma Gets Arrested For DUI . The cop has the patience of a saint.
107 Year Old Irish Farmer Reflects on Change, 1965
7 Difficult American Accents You'll NEVER Guess
I wish the Croces had released their version of “Song for a Winter’s Night” as the clip here is gorgeous.
Music
I missed this from a week or two ago - I can’t say that I agree with the sentiment completely because I think that’s a dangerous path to tread. However, purely as a feeling - man, it hits the mark. Julie Atherton - There’s a Fine, Fine Line (Avenue Q)
Angry White Boy Polka - Weird Al
Folk Implosion - Natural One
Musical Imagery - Loren DiGiorgi
Laugh
Midwest Meets East Coast
Starbucks vs Dunkin (Bill Doucette) as a heads up, there may be strong language here
Is there a doctor on board?
What’s with all the waivers?
Dinosaurs. In German. Because everybody loves dinosaurs, right?
Learn
Did you know that some states allow special characters and numerals in baby names? US Naming Laws by State - US Birth Certificate
Liane Berkowitz - Wikipedia
Oakland County (MI) Child Killer Case - Wikipedia
Saint Phanourius - Orthodox Church in America | Amazing story!
Project Drive Safer: Rules of four-way stop right-of-way - WTMJ Milwaukee
Lucifer | Fallen Angel, Morning Star, Lightbringer | Britannica
It was a crazy-busy week. What’d I miss?
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
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