The message forum is an ongoing dialogue between classmates. There are no items, topics, subtopics, etc.

Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful! Click the "Post Message" button to add your entry to the forum.

David Mitchell

Can I buy a vowel?

Mark Schweickart

Mike -- I doubt many would share your insightful intuition and be able to figure out the meaning of "empyrean" sole based on the context of how it is used in this sentence. I had no idea what the hell he was saying, and therefore had to go look up the word. So for me, I feel the writer was indeed showing off a bit. 
It sort of reminds me of being annoyed by a writer who used the word "prelapsarian," (which I obviously didn't know) but which refers to the state of man before Adam and Eve ate of the apple and were therefore banished from Eden. I still scratch my head over this word. "Prelapsarian," really? Who made up that word? I am definitely getting to be too old. Here I am playing my grumpy-old-man card. Sorry about that. 

Michael McLeod

yeah mark it's something every writer needs to watch out for: are you doing your job or are you just showing off? I've definitely been guilty of the latter.

I heard from a couple of former buddies from my orlando sentinel days who were really disgusted by that piece when I posted it. 

ego is a dangerous thing.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

I listened to this speech by Laura Aboli in which she discusses the plan for AI & transhumanism. I am curious as to what you all think of her message. This link explains who she is:  

https://www.westco.coop/markets/stocks.php?article=getnews-2024-3-18-laura-aboli-selected-as-top-global-freedom-fighter-and-advocate-of-the-year-by-iaotp

Her speech:

https://youtu.be/FCh6auCKYS0?si=SL9ZN46D2HylrFYJ

Michael McLeod

I have a birth bath that's just beyond the pool in my back yard. It - meaning the bird bath -- is frequented by blue jays, cardinals, and lots of other small birds I don't know enough about to name. Today, a huge black bird -- whatever it is, it's about four times the size of any crow I remember from my Ohio days -- flew into my back yard with half a loaf of bread in its claws. By that I mean one of those long skinny loafs of bakery bread that you can get at the grocery store that's about a foot long and about as big around as a teenager's wrist. For all I know the damn thing was gangsta enough to roll a little old lady for that bread loaf. It was sure big enough.

Anyway the crow, or whatever it was, put the loaf of bread in the bird bath and pecked away at it. Smart, right? Softened up the bread, made it easier to pick away at it. I may have to use that trick some day if my teeth give up on me.

 Anyway: Right off the bat, several of the smaller birds, my regulars, started dive bombing the big-black-crow-or whatever-it-was. The crow flew away! Victory! One for the little guys! But no. Big Bird kept returning to peck away at the now-submerged loaf of bread. Peck peck, battle battle. Peck beck, battle battle. 

And that's about how exciting my life is right now, apart from some mild but troubling memory lapses I am seeing a specialist - a neuro-something -- about.

Pay attention to your doctors, folks. And if you're having trouble eating your dinner just find a bird bath and let it soften that sucker up a bit.  

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike, 

Possibly a raven, which are much bigger than crows. We have them all over our Rockrimmon neighborhood here in Colorado. 

Jim

Michael McLeod

(smacks forehead) Yeah I should have figured as much, Jim, re: my encounter with a "crow."

Love the fawn photo.

Back to my feathered gate-crasher, did a little research:

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike,

As EAP wrote, "Quoth the raven, Nevermore".

Jim

Michael McLeod

Jim: I tried to be a courageous, hard-core journalist but in all my years as a reporter I never quoted a raven. I'd be scared to.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Nesting and Resting

Sorry, but I just can't pass up these (under our window) photo-ops during fawn season!

If only we were that flexible!

Jim

Michael McLeod

This is long but just skip it if the subject doesn't appeal to you. I just won an award from a florida journalist association for it. The fellow I wrote it about had become a friend. And the place is a wonder you should take in if you are ever down this way. I like the museum and the man so much I may have posted this before so if i did I apologize.

https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=795556&p=42&view=issueViewer

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

What a fitting tribute to your friend, Mike. I believe you may have shared about him once before, but perhaps not the magazine article. Congratulations on the award, it was certainly well deserved. As you may remember, IC has some of the most beautiful stained glass in Columbus. In fact, in celebration for the parish's 100 year celebration in 2016, a committee was formed to put together a picture booklet of the stained glass windows, accompanied by a history and an explanation of the meaning of each window. Since the early centuries of Catholicism, stained glass windows have been used to not only beautify the churches, but to also tell the story of Christ's life and of the mysteries of the Catholic faith. This was particularly useful in early Christianity because through them the people, many who were illiterate, could learn the faith.  . 

Picture is copied from the book...unfortunately, it can not capture the equisite beauty of the real thing.  

Michael McLeod

thanks mm. Being a journalist has been such a privilege -- it gave me a ringside seat on the world around us, featuring people and places both good and bad. Larry and the Tiffany museum are right up there at the top of the "good" category. Louis Comfort Tiffany devoted himself to a cause that might seem corny these days: a devotion to beauty. I don't think it was corny. We should all be so lucky. 

It occurs to me that, by chance, jim posted about something beautiful in his world, and I posted something beautiful in mine.

maybe we could introduce that as an occasional theme and open the floor up, as the spirit strikes you, for everybody who reads this forum, not just the regular loudmouths like me.

MM has already done so, reflexively, with her note about IC's stained glass.

Now: what If i asked you to write briefly about a thing,a place, a person, a dream you once had, a book you read, a chance encounter or any event in your life that brings the word "beautiful" to mind, what would it be? 

don't be shy, folks, and don't feel obligated to write an epic from the mountaintop. small things are beautiful, too. For example I have a tie that I really love. It is quirky as hell: It's got winnie the pooh on it in various poses, and as silly as that sounds the tie is gorgeous and classy and understated in its material and its rendering of pooh. If you saw me coming from a distance you'd think "high end classy tie" and then once you got close enough to see the detail you'd laugh. There's a lot of green in it so it looks kind of like a holiday tie with christmas trees in it at first. Then people see Pooh.

I wouldn't wear it to a funeral and maybe not even a mass, high or low. But you get the point. And the point is Pooh. 

ok, class dismissed - now go do your homework

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike,

Sharing beauty - that's a great idea!

Certainly your writings are a form of art and beauty as are the stained glass windows of IC Church that MM submitted.

I think we know that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and that it is all around us. I remember the street art that Mark posted a year or more    (tempus fugit!) ago that was fascinating. Bob's Northern Light photos were stunning. Donna's garden photos from Barcelona were exquisite. These are just a few examples of beautiful sites, writings or objects that many of us are unlikely to personally experience. 

I know that wherever you are there is beauty. Please share it! Consider it like postcards (remember those things!) sent to family and friends.

As a class we are widely spread over states and countries. Help us to experience that beauty that you see! 

Jim

Michael McLeod

I can't resist it: Given the latest headline, one way or another, no matter who wins,  in a few months we're going to have a president who either has a criminal record himself or is closely related to somebody who does. Is this the news hour we're watching or The Sopranos? 

"Hunter Biden Found Guilty on Charges Related to Gun Purchase" 

Mark Schweickart

I don't know if this will count as sharing something beautiful, since it is a bit unnerving, but it is certainly an extraordinary magic trick. This guy gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "sleight of hand." I saw this on America's Got Talent a while ago, and luckily then found it on YouTube so I could share it.

Michael McLeod

Yeah Mark, it counts.

Of course I consider you a slow learner in this area, so I'm, um, cutting you a lot of slack.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

For me something beautiful means something that moves me.  This photo of our little friend Andrii at age 3 in St Juan de Dios Hospital while in treatment for leukemia is very moving.  Even more beautiful is to know that now at age 6 he is cured.

Mark, your magician is amazing and his fingers are definitely moving!

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

I love all of the recent Message Forum shares.  Here is one from our Alma Mater:

WE ARE THE LITTLE THEATRE 
@BishopWattersonHighSchool was Nominated for Best Musical Production in this season’s  @CAPAMarqueeAwards which earned us a spot to perform in THE BIG HOUSE Thursday.  Here’s a glimpse of our cast - bringing tears to the audiences eyes and joy to their ears❤️🇫🇷🎭 Thank you Amy Handra for making Ohio Theatre dreams come true!!!! @TheJimmyAwards @CAPA -Columbus Association for the Performing Arts. 

.https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Rv4gdoyzCmaD51jV/?mibextid=WC7FNe

https://fb.watch/sGV7fq1jZm/?mibextid=v7YzmG

Michael McLeod

yay for our old school -- and...

wow! donna!

winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!

what an incredible photograph. 

the expression on that child's face. The absorbed, adult-bespeaking pose he's in. The look in his eyes!

David Mitchell

Mary Margaret,

Thanks for posting two of my favorite songs from the best musical ever - Les Miserables. 

It has long since become a family treasure that I share with my two daughters. I think between us we have seen it on live stage maybe 12 times, not to mention a dozen times on PBS  Televison specials.

I took the girls and my mom and dad to see it at the Ohio Theater in Columbus maybe 35 years ago. I wanted the girls to hear something different from Madonna and Cindy Lauper. They were reluctant at first, but by the end, we were all completely choked up with emotion. (the girls were about 10 and 13 at the time)

I have noticed the many changes in the cast over the years. There is a great version of this featuring the 4 most famous "leads", from Colm Wilkinson to Alfie Boe (I forget the other two) as part of a reunion cast.   

Here is the wondeful Lea Solonga singing another of the many great tunes in the play - I Dreamed a Dream

David Mitchell

M/M,

Can you clarify for us - are these videos from Watterson's "Little Theater'?

Or is it a cast of Watterson students at the Ohio Theater? 

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Dave, the video was taken during the spring performance in the newly renovated Little Theater.

Michael McLeod

Re: the beautiful contribution below:
 

Nothing like greeting the day with a nose to blow and tears to wipe away. 

What an incredible voice. What a fabulous song.

As for her interpretation: No one else comes close. Call me snooty -- or in this case snotty -- but I've see that song ruined more than once -- and not by amateurs.

David Mitchell

Thanks M/M. I wanted to know before I pass them on to my 2 daughters and a daugher in law - all Watterson alumni.

And Mike et al, There are so many great songs in that play, we could go on for days playing them. 

Okay, so I couldn't resist some more from that play. It's two young guys who played junior parts in earlier productions and then sort of "graduated" to playing the leads in later productions. And have become famous since then.

Here are Ramin Kamriloo and Hadley Fraser, with a medly of their appearances - including three from Les Mis.