Sometimes life gives you a two-fer, and you had best jump on it in full appreciation for its gift of grace. The two-fer I’ve been offered and am now sharing with you is the happy accident of looking for a song on You Tube earlier this week, title now lost to the ether, when off to the side, there flickered a surprise blurb for John Gorka., one of my favorite singer-songwriters, singing a cover of another of my favorites—another John with the last name of Stewart, and his treasure of a song, “July, You’re a Woman.” Stewart first recorded “July,…
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It’s only 23 lines, fitting tidily into no more than one-third of a page in a recent edition of the “The New Yorker” magazine, and it sports a one-word title: “God.” In it, the poet Campbell McGrath almost playfully takes it upon himself to explore….well, it’s hard to lasso it exactly, partly because the three letters in that word remain so elusive, so much the giant projection screen upon which so much depends, from which everything is wanted, and about which nothing is truly known. Is it the Creator, the Source, the Foundation, the Big Ultimate Proper Noun of Person,…
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My friend David Moriah, an organizational consultant, outdoor educator, lifelong baseball fan and longtime contributor to this blog’s Comments section below, died last month after a heroic, wise, often joyful, always resolute stand against prostate cancer. It was a journey he chronicled for his wide and devoted circle(s) of friends on the Caring Bridge website under the banner of “Adventures in ChemoLand” throughout the 15 months he battled the disease. (Yes, David was quick with humor…) Ten years ago today, I posted “A Liberal’s July 4 Love Letter to America” in this space, and David was the first to jump…