Trying to gather my thoughts...

It has been a very sad few days after the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT on Friday.  I plan to write a post inspired by this senseless event, but I am finding that I need a few days to compose my thoughts.

I am thinking of all the school-aged children and youth I know today, and their teachers, principals, and others who work in the schools.  May they have the wisdom and strength to get through this day, together.

Life is so fragile, and so precious.  Let us love one another.  For now, that is all I want to write.

Rest in Peace, Ravi Shankar

Through my adolescent love of obsession with the Beatles, I discovered Ravi Shankar, and through him the wonderful world of Indian classical music -- some of my favorite music on earth.  Thanks for the music, Pandit-ji.  Rest in peace.

Here he is teaching George Harrison to play sitar:


Here he is on the Dick Cavett show:

Lyrics in Haiku

I tweet as @RevLara (you can see my tweets here).  I have a disclaimer on this blog that the views expressed are my own, not necessarily those of the congregation -- and that goes double for Twitter!

Lately, just for fun, I've been tweeting lyrics to songs that get stuck in my head -- but in haiku form.  Some of them come out better than others, of course.  Here they are, so far:

Jose Feliciano lyrical Haiku of the day: "Feliz Navidad / from the bottom of my heart / Prospero Año"

Joni Mitchell lyrical Haiku of the night: "We love our lovin' / not like we love our freedom / help me, I'm falling"

 

Antonio Carlos Jobim lyrical Haiku of the evening: "Tall, tan, young, lovely / the girl from Ipanema / when she passes, aaaah"

 

Bob Marley lyrical Haiku of the evening: "Stand up for your rights / sick an' tired of your game / don't give up the fight" 

Led Zeppelin lyrical Haiku of the evening: "All that glitters, gold / buy a stairway to heaven / it makes me wonder"

   

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts lyrical Haiku of the evening: "I love rock 'n' roll / put a dime in the juke box / time to dance with me"

 

Seasonal lyrical Haiku of the night: "Frosty the snowman / was a jolly, happy soul / look at Frosty go"

 

Lady Gaga lyrical Haiku of the evening: "Gaga ooh la la / no, I don't wanna be friends / want your bad romance" 

Beatles lyrical Haiku of the afternoon: "Realise: life flows on / within you and without you / love we all could share" 

 

Van Morrison lyrical Haiku of the afternoon: "Whatever happened / cast my memory back there / you, my brown eyed girl"

The Mamas and The Papas lyrical Haiku of the morning: "Oh Monday, Monday / every other day is fine / but can't trust Monday" 

TV theme song lyrical Haiku of the night: "Sunny day, come play / can you tell me how to get / to Sesame Street?" 

 

R.E.M. lyrical Haiku of the night: "I am Superman / and I can do anything / I'll track you down, girl" 

 

Tracy Chapman lyrical Haiku of the night: "You got a fast car / we won't have to drive too far / got nothing to lose" 

 

Duran Duran lyrical Haiku of the night: "Dark in the city / on the hunt I'm after you / hungry like the wolf" 

 

The Beatles lyrical Haiku of the evening: "Life is very short / and there's no time for fighting / we can work it out" 

 

The Smiths lyrical Haiku of the evening: "The pleasure is mine / if a double-decker bus / crashes into us" 

 

Maroon 5 Haiku of the evening: "Just shoot for the stars / I've got the moves like Jagger / So get in the car" 

 

Seasonal song Haiku of the day: "Dashing through the snow / in a one horse open sleigh / laughing all the way" 

 

Lou Reed lyric Haiku of the evening: "Just a perfect day / Drink sangria in the park / Reap just what you sow"

Free movie night, "HEIST: Who Stole the American Dream?"

Join us at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover this Friday, November 30 at 7 p.m. for a (free) screening of Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?

We will provide popcorn. Please feel free to bring a portable chair (e.g., a lawnchair) with you for more comfortable seating.

From the website http://www.heist-themovie.com/ the movie is summarized:

"HEIST: Who Stole the American Dream? is stunning audiences across the globe as it traces the worldwide economic collapse to a 1971 secret memo entitled 'Attack on American Free Enterprise System'. Written over 40 years ago by the future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, at the behest of the US Chamber of Commerce, the 6-page memo, a free-market utopian treatise, called for a money fueled big business makeover of government through corporate control of the media, academia, the pulpit, arts and sciences and destruction of organized labor and consumer protection groups.

"But Powell’s real 'end game' was business control of law and politics. HEIST’s step by step detail exposes the systemic implementation of Powell’s memo by BOTH U.S. political parties culminating in the deregulation of industry, outsourcing of jobs and regressive taxation. All of which led us to the global financial crisis of 2008 and the continued dismantling of the American middle class. Today, politics is the playground of the rich and powerful, with no thought given to the hopes and dreams of ordinary Americans. No other film goes as deeply as HEIST in explaining the greatest wealth transfer of our time. Moving beyond the white noise of today’s polarizing media, HEIST provides viewers with a clear, concise and fact- based explanation of how we got into this mess, and what we need to do to restore our representative democracy."

Please join us for this highly provocative and fascinating film, which will be followed by a discussion.  Directions at link.