“You draw to you the people and events which resonate with the energy that you are radiating—you attract what you are…” ~ Lynda Fields,
Early in the morning, factory whistle blows
Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes
Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light
It's the working, the working, just the working life
Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain
I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain
Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life
Insightful sentiments about life and music: 🎶
Music has had a profound effect in my life since childhood. I was raised on Annie Lennox and Macy Gray, Sinéad O’Connor and Prince, The Cranberries and Uncle Kracker, US and Sade. “Why” by Annie Lennox places teenage me in the passenger seat of my dad’s old red Jaguar convertible, cruising along the coastline, laughing at our discordant pitches. “Why” continues to make me feel free and uninhibited, released from the restraining insecurity which accompanies coming-of-age.
Music which once eased my sadness continues to do so today. As a little girl, going to preschool each day entailed a tantrum and an unrelenting grip on my mom until she would wrap little me in her arms and sing “You Are My Sunshine.” As I’ve grown up and moved much farther from home than the preschool building, I’ve turned on Jasmine Thompson’s cover, feeling the comfort of my mom’s embrace and crying away the sadness, fear and pain of parting.
Music has taught me to sing wholeheartedly in the moment. When Uncle Kracker’s “Drift Away” comes on, I’m five years old, sitting in the backseat of a black Mercedes C-Class, watching my sister’s sweet brown eyes catch the light, her squishable olive cheeks moving rhythmically through the lyrics:
“I don’t understand the things I do
The world outside looks so unkind
And I’m countin’ on you
You can carry me through…“
Oh, how I want to reach out and warn her of the plights of the world soon coming her way, exposing the truth to the lyrics she so innocently sings. But I can’t. I cannot change the past and I cannot brace myself or others for the future. All I can do is sit in the presence of the moment and sing along.
The images transported moi to auntie Zofka’s family memories of Reims
Aroma of sparkling grapes 🍇 lingering around with hints of aroma of barbeque sausages to be served, netball players’ hearty laughter as they accept that the Sydneysiders bring clear skies for the sunset after very wet afternoon …
Music is like a photo album of life, much like each photo tells a story, a song also tells a story. Every song captures a memory of our lives, memories that will be forever held in our hearts, whether they are bad, good, absurd or humorous …
Music will bring a group of friends together like no other as well as bring a tear to your eye in a second. With every new song there is a new memory to go with it and I for one cannot wait to hear what the future holds. . .
‘Exceptional’: Intense Rainfall Has Transformed The Sahara Desert. I’m sure this is awful for some reason, though the Sahara has been wet before.
Historian and scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder has a new book out called On Freedom (Bookshop.org), a companion to his 2017 bestseller On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.
Freedom is the great American commitment, but as Snyder argues, we have lost sight of what it means — and this is leading us into crisis. Too many of us look at freedom as the absence of state power: We think we’re free if we can do and say as we please, and protect ourselves from government overreach. But true freedom isn’t so much freedom from as freedom to — the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible.
If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, you’ll know that I am in favor of the type of freedom Snyder describes. This one is going on the list.
Mediterranean Diet to Prevent Stroke
SEEMS LIKE ALL THE OZEMPIC NEWS IS GOOD: Alzheimer’s Breakthrough: Popular Diabetes Drug Ozempic Linked to Much Lower Risk