fun to do, not to hear....

[dondlion]

When I was fifteen, I got a temporary job over my Christmas holiday operating a jackhammer for my biology teacher, Mr Crisman. I had never done it, but loved, loved loved it. It was exhausting, but nothing beats destroying for a fifteen year old boy. I always grin when I think of that week. I earned enough money to buy my mother a nice

Comments

[radegunda]

I have no siblings, so that's not an issue I would ever have to deal with.

My husband didn't go to his sister's wedding, largely because our marriage was 'secret', none of his family came, so we were snubbed in return. Which, frankly, is fair enough. And we didn't want to go, anyway.

[dondlion]

Why didn't you want to go? Why wereyou snubbed in return?

Why was your marriage secret? This is interesting.

[radegunda]

a. Because, for reasons too complicated to go into, the marriage is thought unlikely to succeed. The couple have only known each other for 6 months, he's been married twice before, and Louise (Allister's sister) was seeing at least one other person when they met...

b. Because Louise is the type to bear grudges. Big time.

c. Because Allister didn't want his mother fussing and trying to find a convenient time when everyone could come, given that his parents are divorced and live at opposite ends of the country. It seemed simpler to keep it, well, simple...His mother, however, has never forgiven him for depriving her of a mother-of-the-bride experience...

[dondlion]

That would be considered unusual here. If I eloped or something, I'd call my parents and invite them to meet me wherever. They'd just be happy for me. When my sister got married, it was a lot of fun. I only wish she'd have omitted me from the ceremony. But I had to live up to four in-law siblings.

Louise sounds intriguing. I once went to a wedding, unexpectedly, in which my friend's aunt, 38, was marrying for the eighth time. Everyone was happy but didn't take it too seriously. I still remember the bride's parents, after fifty years of marriage, still deeply in love (I had it on good authority) despite the mother's having lost her speech through a stroke. It was all inspiring.

For a hot day.

[atheenah]

I don't have any siblings so I can't really answer that question.

This is just to say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

-William Carlos Williams

Re: For a hot day.

[dondlion]

Thanks. I like that one. It's one of those poems that we use to remove some fear from our students. What kind of poetry do you read to Emily?

Re: For a hot day.

[atheenah]

I like to read her FRost or ee cummings.

Sometimes pieces of Langston Hughes.

I also like to read her some Sherman Alexie.

Re: For a hot day.

[dondlion]

Great. She'll be armed and dangerous with all of those words.

[feloniusmonk]

Stride, huh...

Well, that opens up a huge musical can of worms.

First, have you read They All Played Ragtime? If not, you certainly should, as its just about the bible when it comes to Rag/Stride piano.

Second, I'll assume that you've heard Willie "the Lion" Smith. Ask your friend to play "finger buster" some time. If you haven't heard anything else of his, you've probably heard "echoes of spring". I think he also has an autobiography, but I've never read it.

Anyway, I'd never miss one of my brother's weddings. Heck, I hated my dad's new wife for a good 5 years, and still made it to his, and I have a much better relationship with my brothers. But, there are a lot of people out there that don't have that kind of relationship, so its not really a set rule. If you can't be pleasant, why go?

If they don't, they should have a music history class at your school, or at least a week where the American History kids have to learn a thing or two about their musical heritage. I think you'd be damn fine at teaching it.

[dondlion]

I haven't read that book, though I have heard of it.

Yeah, my friend Brad was the first ever to play "Fingerbuster" for me. When we request these things he always says, "You people are trying to kill me!" His real hero is James P. Johnson. He also plays rags now and then. (By the way, I'm intrigued by a Brazilian called Ernesto Nazareth. Do you know him?)

I don't think the State has room in their official curriculum for music history, though there is an Art History AP class available at our school. What I do is play music all the time, and I have pictures and posters of, among many, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Bird, the Skatalites, and lots of others I love and want them to know. Most kids are actually open-minded.

I hate weddings, but they make people happy, so I go and enjoy them as best I can. I also like to support my family, no matter how badly they screw up.

[feloniusmonk]

Well, from what I've heard of Nazareth, he seems like he put out some very good older Brazilian music with a definate Chopin feel to a lot of it. Can definately tell the pre-samba notes in there, and some of his lines end up sounding like a sort of... classical montuno, I guess.

If you haven't heard any Hermeto Pasqual, you should definately find some. From all accounts I've heard of the man, he's supposed to be this century's mozart, a true compositional genius if ever there was one.

If I get into Cornish, I'll be studying Brazilian music from one of his students, also phenomenal, by the name of Jovino Santos-Neto.

[dondlion]

Sounds great. I don't know much about old Brazilian music,but I have some old stuff on CD's. I'll try to look into Pasqual. Sounds like you are getting a great education. Where do you think it will take you?

[coollibrarian]

Unless your future brother-in-law is a serious physical or emotional threat to your sister, go.

[dondlion]

My sister has been happily married for seven years. I am thinking here of my friend whose brother got married again yesterday. He cheated on first wife and dumped her, even though she was a good one by all accounts. His family hasn't really forgiven him. I think they all went.

[coollibrarian]

Ah that's a tricky situation then. I didn't think you would skip your sister's wedding.

[dondlion]

No, we all get along pretty well. Her in-laws, well, that's a different story. All I can say is that Harvard and domestic abuse are not mutually exclusive.