Diamonds and Rust

DIAMONDS AND RUST
(Words and Music by Joan Baez)
Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall
As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the midwest
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust
Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half-shell
Would keep you unharmed
Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there
Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
Because I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

© 1975 Chandos Music (ASCAP)

Gabby and my dad

This is my darling Gabby, a white German Shepherd, at age 7 weeks, in my apartment when I lived in Lexington, Kentucky. My dad was old and almost deaf and lived alone in a cabin in the country with a huge fenced yard in North Carolina. I raised Gabby to age 6 months, trained her perfectly, but she was so smart she was an easy train. The first night i had her, I closed her in the kitchen, the only room not carpeted, but I couldn't stand her whimpers. I took my quilt and pillow and went and slept on the kitchen floor with her. She held it all night and went to the bath room the next morning as soon as I set her on the grass. From that day on she slept in my bed with me. She never had an accident in the house. When she was ready I gave her as a gift to my dad although it broke my heart. She lived with him 12 years. They bonded so closely. She never forgot me or stopped loving me. When I went to visit, she was all over me. Dad said she could hear my car and recognized its sound several minutes before I reached his driveway.

What a pair they were, taking long walks together, doing everything together. She was his ears, letting him know whenever anyone came to see him, letting him know when his opossum traps snapped shut and caught a 'possum. She was afraid of thunderstorms and Dad lost a girlfriend because of this. If it began to thunder while he was on a date, he would excuse himself and go home to comfort and be with Gabby through the storm. She adored him. She came back to stay with me for a while once and spent every day looking out the window she had seen him drive away from. I took her home as soon as possible. They were joyous at being reunited.

When she died, he went into a deep depression, had to be hospitalized, and was released to assisted living. He was so devastated that, when he had her cremated, he couldn't bear to bring her ashes in from the car. I has the ashes of my beloved Bo and Duke, so told Dad that Gabby could come and stay with them and if he ever wanted her back, I'd bring her to him. She's still on my bedroom dresser with the other two.

Dad really couldn't get along with people, never talked baby talk to me, but God how he loved this dog. I truly believe there was an angel living inside her. Now Dad is gone too and though it hurt, I am so glad I gave him his 12 wonderful years with his best friend.

Willie Nelson at 80 captures something special in American music

The gorgeous musicians Norah Jones and Sheryl Crow surround the 80-year-old unique Willie Nelse on the eve (almost) of his new album

Willie Nelson, who turned 80 in the spring, releases "To All the Girls" with 18 duets with top female performers from Mavis Staples to Sheryl Crow to Norah Jones to Loretta Lynn and more more more. Rolling Stone magazine especially likes "From Here to the Moon and Back" with Dolly Parton, writing that, "on this simple, gorgeous version, her softly soaring vocals pair perfectly with Nelson's delicate croak amidst sighing strings and steel guitar."  It is sweet. I'm not a fan of country music unless it's special and reflects the music of the people or "folk music," and not slickly produced Nashville packaged dreck. But everyone on this album is a one-of-a-kind and very special reflection of who we are and what American music IS and how it became this wonderful thing that it is. This is part of of who America is.

To All the Girls, special CD to be released September 24, songs by the special women of country music
Link:  To All the Girls

Schoep passes away

Schoep has passed away right after his 20th birthday.

My heart is breaking for his human, John Unger. The two were blessed to find each other.

Old RWNJ friends: Not Now.

Right wingers and nut jobs,
Now is not the time to approach me, to try to argue with me, to gloat, to defame Trayvon Martin, the victim, or the glories of our justice system.

I know I have right wing friends, like you, Frank Corum, a constant source of stress for me. But friends, please, I ask you to stay away from me now. I will permanently block all racists and that will be goodbye. No one who is glad that Trayvon is dead will be my friend if i know about it. That is sick.

My heart is broken. I love my country, "when right to keep her right, when wrong to set her right," and things are terribly wrong right now. Your hateful and blood thirsty, vengeful remarks show it.

No matter what you say, an unarmed teenager was walking to his dad's and Zimmerman who had already called about 46 "suspicious looking" black men found this young black man also suspicious looking . He followed him tracked him down pulled his gun on him and murdered him. When he made the decision to leave his car with that loaded gun that had no safety and was ready to be fired, he showed premeditation. He should have gotten a First Degree conviction and a death sentence but God is in charge and he will face his maker, he a little man made big by his great equalizer the steel penis for those who lack one of their own. This creepy little man will face an all powerful, just God who will handle him. My job is to protect future young black men.

I have pledged never to argue again with one whose mind's cavities have been filled by Right Wing radio, Fox News, and the hateful Right wing Blogosphere or twitter scape. Leave me alone, I am done fighting the Civil War.

Right wingers and RWNJs, please give me space to grieve.

How bad are the words "honky" and "cracker"?

You may have noticed or remember that during the presentation of the Zimmerman case, someone on Zimmerman's side mad a bid deal about Trayvon's having used the word "cracker." It was treated seriously in the court room and I assume the record that this word as just as bad as the n-word and that Trayvon was just as bad as a white n-word user. It is also sometime argued that the use of the work that begins with "honk" is also just as bad as the n-word. (I am avoid saying any of the words involved because a friend of mine seems to have be censored by Facebook and had his comment on this subject deleted.)

This is ignorant, wrong, and absurd.

The n-word has layers of meaning, history, usage, semantics, and a thousand other differences from the Nabisco and horn-tooting words for white people. I am a professional linguist with Ph.D. in the field, and I know what I am talking about.

The H-word comes from a Wolof (a West African language that was the language of thousands and thousands of slaves) a Wolof word that sounds like "honkie" and is translated as "pink people." English speakers who overheard the speakers assumed they were calling white people that word because of the similarity in sound. They never dreamed the Africans had full, rich, beautiful languages of their own which they brought with them when they were forced into the Middle Passage. The earliest users were just speaking their own language.

And the Cookie word, well that's used in scholarship, drawing a distinction between the Scots-Irish Southern culture and the Northern British "Yankee" culture. See historian Grady McWhiney's scholarly study in book available from Amazon and most other bookstores called "Cracker Culture." It's not flattering, but it does not designate lynchees.

 The censors are uneducated idiots throwing their weight around and flaunting their power.

In order to have freedom and democracy, it is necessary that there be enough people who are well-educated and well-informed to pull against the weight of the ignorant citizens. We've got to know our history, man, or we will lose our future.

Cracker Culture  by Grady McWhiney

origin of "honky"

Yesterday I had a senior moment and gave Forest McDonald as the author of the book Cracker Culture. This is incorrect. The book's author is actually Grady McWhiney. I hope I have corrected this in the text above and I offer you my sincere apologies. It is still correct that it is a fascinating book!

Narcissistic blindness

My former friend had a publishing coup that brought him great fulfillment and delight this summer. I saw it on Facebook. One old friend had congratulated him and he had remarked that he had KNOWN that she would be as happy as he was for him.

Everything is about him.

Were he not blinded by narcissistic, exhibitionist ego, he would have known the joy I felt for him, despite our negative status, when I read the column that had been published. But I'm sure it never crossed his mind enough to be rejected. It just didn't cross his mind. I am dead to him now.

But I do not hate, I hurt. And I felt such joy at reading that article and was so happy for him and he'll neither know nor care.

If I could hate the people who have stomped on my neck, I would not have depression today.