from Salvaged Poems of Theodore Roethke as cited at woods lot.
And everything comes to One,
As we dance on, dance on, dance on.
And then there was Elvis Presley. How do I get from Roethke to Presley? Ah, such is the magic of the blog linking, which takes me from Tom Shugart to woods lot.
What came before Presley? Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, I guess.
For me, nothing comes before Roethke.
Shugart’s older piece on tying in the rock and rollin’ explosion of 1955 with the four Kent State shots heard round the world fifteen years later is worth re-reading.
I was there too (at the movies), 15 and frustrated with my family’s small life and ready to Rock around the Clock. At the moment of Kent State, I was hanging around the edges of a conference in the Rockies on changing the face of higher education. Yes, both happenings were life-changing for me too, Tom.
And we dance on.
Or at least we try, despite what Betsy Devine reports: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 486,000 jobs have disappeared since January, 44,000 of those disappeared during July.
We’ve just got to give Dumbya that real and final “pink slip.” (image from Code Pink)
Burningbird thinks we need to get angry:
If you’ve read Burningbird for any length of time, you’ll remember that I’ve talked about learned helplessness before, but it wasn’t until I read this at Maria’s that I indentified what I’ve been seeing among the people of this country. With learned helplessness, even if truth marches up and spits in your face, you’ve lost the ability to ‘see’ it.
How do you fight learned helplessness? I’ve talked about this here also; you fight learned helplessness with anger. Not everyone will agree with me, but if you can anger the American voters enough, I have a feeling they’ll start seeing the reality, the truth behind today’s patriotism. I hope. I wish.
I agree. Anger is what has danced me out of every bad situation in which I ever found myself. You take the energy of anger and, instead of turning it in on yourself and feeling helpless and depressed, you propel it outward into constructive action. We need to get mad at the diseased MadCowboy.
Let’s do the democracy dance.
Dance on.

Got the following in an email from a woman friend. I don’t know if Andy Rooney really said it, since I couldn’t find the citation thru a search, and it seems as though Andy Rooney is being miscredited with saying a lot of other stuff lately. But if he didn’t say it, he should have:
Andy Rooney says…. “As I grow in age, I value women who are over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:
An over 40 woman will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, “What are you thinking?” She doesn’t care what you think.
If an over 40 woman doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And it’s usually something more interesting.
An over 40 woman knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants, and from whom. Few women past the age of 40 give a darn what you might think about her or what she’s doing.
An over 40 woman usually has had her fill of “meaningful relationships” and commitment.” The last thing she wants in her life is another dopey, clingy, whiny, dependent lover.
Over 40 women are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.
Over 40 women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it’s like to be unappreciated.
An over 40 woman has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn’t trust the guy with other women. A woman over
40 woman couldn’t care less if you’re attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won’t betray her.
Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to an over 40 woman. They always know.
An over 40 woman looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women.
Over 40 women are forthright and honest. They’ll tell you right off you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don’t ever have to wonder where you stand with her.
Yes, we praise over 40 women for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it’s not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of 40+, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress.
Ladies, I apologize. Andy Rooney
And when we get to be over 60, we’re even smarter and sassier. Oh Yeah!

myrln’s not a blogger. he emails, like this:
Given the Pope’s stand re same sex unions, I have a few thoughts for pondering:
1. The Pope lives in the Vatican with a bunch of guys.
2. In monasteries, a bunch of guys live together.
3. In seminaries, a bunch of guys live together.
4. In nunneries, a bunch of women live together.
5. Since nuns are married to Christ, the junior godhead has about a zillion wives, which I guess makes polygamy okay. The Mormons will be glad to hear that.
6. Priests, we have learned, are often fond of children, which the Church (and Pope?) knew about but did nothing about.
7. Will Dumbya try to codify those “one way or the other?”
Heh.