and honestly, I don’t remember the last time I laughed so often and so hard at anything, much less at a subject that has hit Kelly and I personally so very, very hard. And the economy has definitely hit Kelly and I quite hard in the past few years.
Thank you, Stephen Colbert.
Honestly, I wish I knew why some people have such a problem with anyone different than them. American culture is one of the most heterogenous imaginable. And yet there are still so many people afraid of “them”, whether it be gays, foreigners, or in this case, Muslims.
A U.S. Army veteran, who served in Iraq and is still in the Army Reserve, was apparently attacked by his fare last week. And the guy was screaming about terrorists and the Boston bombing and whatnot.
You know, from a certain point of view, the group that has created the overwhelming majority of the problems I have had in my life is angry, bigoted white meathead rednecks. Does that mean we should start profiling white rednecks? Or start reporting “suspicious” white rednecks to the police? Does that mean all white rednecks are the same? No, they aren’t. It’s absurd. And so is blaming all 1 billion plus Muslims for the acts of a small minority. It’s not like Christians have been free of committing horrific violence in the name of their religious views. So get over yourselves, people. Try learning a little, opening your mind, maybe cracking open a book or two. And for God’s sake, turn off the TV and the talk radio. It’s only making things worse.
-Geoff
HRC summarizes reasonably well what we’re waiting for when Godot The Supreme Court comes down with their ruling on Prop 8 and on DOMA. Check it out and share it (below the cut). Everyone needs to understand that this is about Civil Rights, not The Homosexual Agenda.
How today’s announcement by NBA player Jason Collins will affect the general atmosphere around the ruling is unclear. He came out and admitted that he is gay. He’s the first pro sports player in one of the four major sports (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) to do this while still playing.
Continue reading “Marriage Equality- Waiting for Godot The Supremes”
At least for now.
We’re 48 hours out from the bombings and things are… different. It isn’t just the obvious police presence or the national guard people in uniform everywhere. Things are different. Yesterday everything was eerily calm, almost like the afternoon of 9/11 when all flights were grounded and nobody knew what was going on, except that yesterday there were helicopters in the air overhead and we were all waiting.
Waiting for news of who else was going to die. Waiting to hear from that last person or two that we hadn’t yet heard from. Waiting for news from the police, the feds, the various hospitals. Waiting. It was like life in suspended animation.
We were going to work and going through the motions, but everyone was asking the same thing, “Should we be doing this?” “Is this appropriate?” “What is the right thing to do now?”
Nobody has an answer for that. There is no single answer when there is a 15 block long scar in the middle of your city that was carved out by a coward with bombs, a bone to pick with humanity, a need to see his human fears and frailty writ large on the TV, and not enough guts or intelligence to make the change he wants to see from within the system.
I wish I’d received this information before I sent out my email blast and did my prior post. But, I didn’t . I got it today. So I’m posting it now so you can all see the details I didn’t have before. Enjoy. And please come, this will be a really good concert.
~Kelly
The Seraphim Singers invites you to the final concert of our 16th season:
Persecution, Transformation, and Triumph
Music that Transcends and Redeems
A celebration of the resilience of the human spirit through the centuries, in music by Messiaen, Shostakovich, Poulenc, Penderecki, Tippett, and more.
Sunday, April 21, 3pm
Mission Church
1545 Tremont St.
Mission Hill, Boston
With Eliko Akahori (piano), Lilit Hartunian (violin), Rafael Popper-Keizer (cello), Amy Avocat (clarinet)
Tickets: $20 general admission / $15 for students and seniors available at the door)
Sunday, April 28, 3pm
First Parish (UU)
75 The Great Road, Bedford
With Lilut Hartunian (violin), Elizabeth Connors (clarinet), Bradford Conner (piano)
Suggested donation: $20 / $15 students & seniors (a portion of proceeds will benefit UUSC-UUA Haiti Relief Fund)
Music composed in times of oppression and persecution often possesses a singular resilience that inspires and gives witness to the courageous dimension of the human spirit. In this concert The Seraphim Singers presents choral and instrumental works composed under conditions of religious persecution in Renaissance England, slavery in 18th and 19th century America, the Holocaust during World War II, and totalitarianism in the Soviet era.
Visit our website: www.seraphimsingers.org
Then you’d better make sure you’re registered to vote. The last day to do that is TODAY for the April 30th primary.
Continue reading “Live in MA? Want to vote for our new Senator?”
I have had an interest in astronomy for much of my life, and for much of the past 15 years or so that interest has focused on comets and asteroids. I even own a fragment of a meteorite that I keep on a shelf with my science books (along with my jar of ash from Mt. St. Helens – that’s another story). Years ago I wrote a paper on the Impact Theory as the cause of the dinosaur extinction and have been fascinated by the subject ever since, even going as far as to visit several impact crater sites in the Southeastern United States: Wetumpka; Flynn Creek; and Wells Creek. And I even managed to have an e-mail discussion with the Dr. Walter Alvarez that I was able to incorporate into my paper. I dare say that was one of the most memorable and meaningful experiences of my life.
This week, two distinctive events have brought the subject of cosmic impacts on the Earth back to the forefront of my mind: the spectacularly close passing of Asteroid 2012 DA14 tonight; and the equally spectacular destruction of a slightly smaller meteorite (about 1/3 the size of 2012 DA14) over the Ural Mountains that actually caused damage to buildings and injuries to bystanders.
This is our 500th post here at KellyandGeoff.com. Geoff and I were wondering what to write. Perhaps we should observe the occasion with something special?
Then we came across these links and realized that we had to share them with the world. Sometimes, you just have to go with what finds you. Thank you, internet.
Continue reading “Sometimes the posts just write themselves”
I already knew that the current President is a lot more science-friendly than his predecessor, but it turns out that there are some outright geeks who work for President Obama. Someone created a petition asking the government to build a Death Star, and managed to get enough signatures to warrant a response. In return, the White House response may have just won the Internet.
-Geoff
Most of us think of the sound of poverty, or of being poor, as the voice of the homeless guy who sings out his need for spare change near the subway station or the bark of the homeless dog seeking scraps for supper. For many of us this noise fades into the background of every day life.
For American the fear of poverty inches closer every day with some of the impending financial decisions our government has to make in the next few days to stave off some serious cuts that will destroy the lives of many of the poorest and many of the middle class in the country. But that’s an American problem.
Then there’s the rest of the world.
The Books are Taking Over... 