JUMPING FOR JOY!

Lift Every Voice and Sing

 

Lift Every Voice and Sing

James Weldon Johnson, 1871 - 1938

 

Lift every voice and sing,

Till earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the list’ning 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 chast’ning 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 the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

 

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by Thy might,

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

 

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True to our God,

True to our native land.

Bearded Men in Kilts - The Joy of OUTLANDER

Good morning, happy Wednesday. 

We have discovered OUTLANDER.

Bearded men in kilts.

How did I miss this show for this long? 

That's really all I have for today. 

What more is there to say? 

 

 

See also: 

Brittany Runs a Marathon 

Another Life 

The Farewell 

Here's a Tip to Make Your Holidays A Breeze

Good morning, Happy Tuesday and, well, welcome to the holiday season. I know, crazy, right? 

But rather than fight it, I've embraced it. I have zoomed right past pumpkin spice everything and zeroed my thinking to the end of December. Yes, I know you won't believe me, but I already bought a Christmas present for my partner where it will sit in an unknown location (to him) for the next 114 days. 

I once saw a TV show once (I think it was EIGHT IS ENOUGH) where the mother of the family had purchased presents in the summer before her demise. As a kid, I thought it was kind of cool. And, in my 20s, after one harrowing holiday season where I was living in San Francisco and spent my lunch hour at Pier 39 franticly buying for my family and then having to ship it all back home at great cost, I thought, 'never again'.

How many times is it suddenly mid December and you're like "holy cow, I have to start shopping!" and then you can't find anything you want at the usual places and you don't have the time to hunt for it? Do in September. 

It's a bit more challenging to hide things in a New York apartment, but not impossible. Being an event planner where logistics are literally what I spend every day doing does help in coordinating these things. 

Try it. Sure, I know. There is a bit of a 'rush' in waiting til the last minute, but when you've bought, stored, wrapped and are done by the time everyone else is trying to figure out a Halloween costume, you get to December and realize that all that time you spent freaking out can now be spent tra la laing having cocktails with friends, co-workers, etc. I promise that you will LITERALLY DO IT THIS WAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. 

The downside is that your present receiver may decide between now and then to simply buy it for themselves not realizing that it's already sitting in a nearby undisclosed location (hint: keep the receipts). but this is part of the fun that re-introduces the element of 'risk' to the whole thing.

And, you can overspend. It doesn't seem like so much when you buy now and then see something else in a couple months. Because it's out of sight/out of mind, you can kind of forget it's there.

And, of course when you buy a few things in September, you do also run the risk of forgetting where you put it. It's harder to do in the small space of a NY apartment, but I've managed to do it. 

Anyway, try this and see how it goes. Would love to hear from anyone who has done this or currently does this. 

Above, please enjoy a holiday MEMO I made a couple years ago, it's one of my favorites!  

 

 

 

MEMO 66 #maine #memo #theater #audition #angie

We'll Always Have Paris. Errr. No, We Won't

Last week it was reported that New York landmark, The Paris, had closed its doors. Long live The Paris, The Paris is dead. 

 

In the spirit of this blog, let me pay tribute to how marvelous it was, rather than to add to the lament that yet another piece of the real New York has been extinguished.

 

For those of you who don't know, The Paris was a single screen movie theater that played art/indie films. Some of them subtitled, some not. It was located in midtown Manhattan next doorish to The Plaza and Central Park. Not everything I saw there was fabulous, but it was a place to go to be exposed to films that aimed higher in their aspirations, and I did, indeed see some pretty fabulous films there.  

 

There are other art house film places in town, but there aren't that many places left anywhere that are single screen.  The economics haven't really worked in the favor of such businesses for decades. I have always admired whomever owned it as I'm sure it was kept open not because it was a huge moneymaker (how could it be with New York rents as they are?) but more probably by some subtle private funding out of a love of film and providing New Yorkers with became a unique experience. 

 

And even though we were usually the youngest people in the room, the concession stand was always popular. I have often remarked to friends that The Paris had The Best popcorn in all of Manhattan (with the possible exception of a dive bar up by our apartment on the UWS; let's call it a tie).

 

I would lament that the era of single screen theaters will never return, but history has proven that at some point, the novelty of buying your books (for example) from Amazon wears off. People have already started to realize the joy of handling a book and hunting through shelves for something that they didn't know they would like (rather than having a bot decide for them). Perhaps someday. Maybe it's unlikely, but I do have hope for some things.  

 

As a side note, on our trip last week, we decided to see WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, BERNADETTE at a local cineplex. Admittedly it was late on a Sunday night of a non-holiday weekend the day the kids in that town were going back to school, but we were the only people in the theater. At one point, I whispered something to the Mister and he reminded me in a normal voice that we were the only ones there. I laughed. My conditioning of how to act in public is deeply engrained. But I have to say, in all the years that I went to movies at The Paris, I was never the only person in the room, not once. That should mean something. 

 

I guess what people like myself complain about when we talk about our favorite things vanishing is this: I moved to New York, in part, aspiring to find the things to do that I liked that were not available elsewhere. At some point, if all of those things vanish and are replaced by things that I can literally find anywhere else in the world (you know, like a Target), why would I want to live here? What makes the price of rent worthwhile? Conversely, if other places offer even a smattering of the things that used to be here, wouldn't I want to go there to continue to find them? 

 

Just some stuff to think about. 

 

(photo credit: this was taken from an internet search and I do not own this picture)

The Quacktastic Four

Good morning - did you know that it's been ten years since Disney acquired Marvel? 

Frankly, at the time, I lamented that there would be more crass cross promotion and less creative output, or that the once champion of social issues might become less textured and more family friendly .... and thankfully, I was wrong. I think Disney has successfully managed their Marvel properties in such a way that shows great restraint and conscience. 

Earlier this year, Disney closed on a deal to acquire Fox and, in the deal, got XMen and The Fantastic Four. I suspect the next wave for Marvel will be spotlighting these characters now that Captain America and Iron Man have left the cinematic universe stage (well, sort of, in that way that comic book characters never really leave, they just have the baton passed to them). 

In the next wave of movies,  I would like Marvel to consider replacing Sue Storm (in the Fantastic Four) with Daisy Duck.  I don't know why, but the idea of it made me so happy that I created a graphic illustrating what this would look like. Note to Disney: please don't sue me. :)

Just a little nonsense for a Saturday morning. Hope your holiday weekend is off to a great start! 

 

I Know, girl, I KNOW

A few years ago, when I first made the leap from nightlife to corporate, a friend of mine reached out to ask if I was available to marry a couple of his friends who were coming up to New York from Atlanta. I, of course, said yes. 

This friend wanted to get me the deposit as quickly as possible so he offered to stop by my job. I didn't really think anything of it until he showed up and I saw myself through his eyes - he was used to seeing me in jeans, a t shirt, maybe in tennis shoes or Doc Martens, but I stepped into the reception in my office drag - button down shirt, khakis, nice shoes and wearing glasses. He burst out laughing, and I immediately knew why and I started laughing too. I whispered a wry,  "I know, girl, I KNOW!" and he giggled all the way out the door. (there aren't many people I will do "girl" with, and he was one of them). 

For some reason, I think of this scene often and, in particular, was remembering it this week when I have been thinking of where I am in my life. I had a good giggle and thought that I should reach out to him and see what he was up to as it had been a couple years since we last spoke.

Unfortunately, Friday morning I found out that this friend passed away in an auto accident in Florida on Thursday.

I am heartbroken.

He was a sweet, funny, man who had delighted me with his sparkling personality every time I would encounter he and his boyfriend while I would be out and about. It was hard not to find him charming and so many people did; he had many close friends scattered here and there and was much loved and appreciated. 

Knowing that I will never see him again has brought me to tears. 

When someone leaves us that we haven't seen in awhile, we vow to see everyone we know because we don't want that to happen...and yet, that's unrealistic.

But, I think that we can make more of an effort, certainly, to see more of our old friends than we do.

And most importantly, we must remember those moments when someone has touched us in ways that they may never fully know. They may "just" be someone you knew that brought some joy to your life....  and when they are gone, they leave a bit of a hole. 

Peace, my pal, you made a lot of people smile, including me. 

Tis Friday

.... and we're back just in time for a long holiday weekend. We had a lovely time, ate too much, and, as always, a good time was had by all. There was lush countryside that reminded me of where I grew up and we saw family. 

One of the highlights was hitting up a craft beer festival which brought two revelations -

...one, it's nice to try some new beers, but I definitely do not want the Venn diagram of beer and Jolly Rancher flavors to have any overlap. No mango beer. No orange beer. Just. Say. No. I think my friend Steve from Houston would have loved this, however. 

The other revelation had to do with expectations - we stayed at a guest house and the owner told us to expect it to be packed since it was sold out. I feared the worst. Visions of New York street festivals and Southern Decadence filled my head. But, as we were downing another 3 oz sample, we realized that 'this' was as crowded as it was going to get and ... it wasn't that crowded. Someone near us said to his buddies that next year they should go to (a neighboring town) because "it's half the crowds"... and I had to giggle. This is a crowd? 

Enjoy the upcoming weekend whereever it will take you - drop a note to let me know what you've been up to - you can leave it in the comments or shoot me an email (the link is up above on the left); always happy to hear the latest of what's going on in YOUR life! :)

Gone Fishin'

It's nearly the end of the summer and we're taking a little trip out of town to rest, relax and otherwise not be here.

Will be posting again starting next weekend. Or maybe before. or after. I don't know. I need a little 'gone fishin' time.

Not that we're actually going fishing but.. well, you know. 

Enjoy this summer sunset pic taken earlier this week in midtown Manhattan by yours truly. 

In the meantime, drop a note to say hello or leave a comment below. 

Quote of the Day #josephpapp