Category Living

Monday, July 19, 2021

“Live Every Voice,” commonly known as the Black National Anthem.
James Weldon Johnson (words), J. Rosamund Johnson (music)

Lift every voice and sing   
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.   
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;   
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through ...

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Sunday, July 18, 2021

No better reading today than this entry in the series by


July 17, 2021
Heather Cox RichardsonJul 18
A year ago tonight, Georgia Representative John Lewis passed away from pancreatic cancer at 80 years old. As a young adult, Lewis was a “troublemaker,” breaking the laws of his state: the laws upholding racial segregation. He organized voting registration drives and in 1960 was one of the thirteen original Freedom Riders, white and Black students traveling together from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans to challenge segregation. “It was very violent. I thought I was going to die. I was left lying at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery unconscious,” Lewis later recalled.
An adherent of the philosophy of nonviolence, Lewis was beaten by mobs and arrested 24 times...
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Thursday, July 8, 2021

Hurricane Elsa seems to have taken it easy on folks in Florida, and hopefully the same in NC. Beach forecasts are for lots of rain; here in Raleigh we expect more than 3″, which is a ton, of course.

Have been reading a Master’s Thesis in prep for a defense tomorrow (zoom). It’s centered on Kendrick Lamar’s Damn, and focusing more on the musical elements, rather than the text/lyrics. This is a good document, albeit in need of some editing, and I’ve quite enjoyed this particular student’s approach which, to be honest, is one of the best thesis documents I’ve read at ECU. This student, Shawn, seems to “get” the idea of such a study; research, absorb, synthesize, and suggest conclusions. And, as a good paper should, his conclusions are both logical and interesting! Lots of years of r...

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Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Hurricane season is upon us, and Elsa is headed our way after ravaging the Caribbean and the west coast of Florida. So I drove down/back to Surf City yesterday to bring the furniture in from the deck, away from any potential wind damage. It’s about 30 minutes further from here than it was from Greenville, but the round trip was uneventful.

Back here in Raleigh, continually amazed at the progress being made on the buildings in this development. The pix below represent four days’ work:

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Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Now about 80% settled into this new place, which feels good. But certainly getting that final 20% settled involves lots of work yet. Most rooms are livable, if not completely as we want them. There’s at least one thing to do in every space though–finishing the spackle/paint around the medicine cabinet in the master bath; unpacking a few boxes in the master bed; dealing with furniture arrangement in living room, etc. The laundry space, the hall bath, the guest bedroom and bath, and just about everything related to Pattie’s mom’s space are set, though. Six ceiling fans installed, lots of handyman work, which I enjoy.

Pattie’s sewing room still isn’t finished–painting, some shelving–and it was part of what we’ve already paid for, to have been done before our move in on June 9...

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Sunday, June 20, 2021

The pace of the building of this development is really something to observe. I feel like a kid watching the crews work each day, and noting the progress. The builders are aiming to begin/complete a building (4-6 townhomes in each building) every 4 weeks. And they may just meet that aim.

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Wednesday, June 2, 2021

A particularly potent “Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American” this morning:

Today, more than 100 scholars who study democracy issued a letter warning that “our entire democracy is now at risk.” The letter explains that the new election laws in Republican-led states, passed with the justification that they will make elections safer, in fact are turning “several states into political systems that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections.”

If we permit the breakdown of democracy, it will be a very long time before we can reverse the damage...
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