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Tag: music
Sing Her a Lullaby
My three-year-old niece Vichara would sometimes demand that my mother sing her a lullaby for her afternoon nap. Vichara’s older siblings and cousin all grew up with their grandmother’s lullabies.
I recall reading an article about how millennial parents are less likely to sing lullabies to their children than those over the age of 45. None of my Gen X friends sing nursery rhymes or lullabies. A handful could recall a tune or two. My siblings and their spouses can barely hum. It’s unfortunate because lullabies are a source of comfort and a soothing emotional connection between a parent and child. Lullabies and nursery rhymes have also been clinically demonstrated to help children develop their linguistic and cognitive skills.
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Quote of the Day: Son of a Son of a Sailor
Jimmy Buffett passed away on September 1 from an aggressive form of skin cancer. I was not a huge fan; I only knew his big hits. But at the time of his passing, I decided I owed the man a deep dive into his life and music. I think The Guardian captured his obituary well.
Jimmy Buffett, who has died aged 76, was an American singer-songwriter whose country-tinged soft rock celebrated the laid-back culture of the Florida Keys on the Caribbean coast of the US. Sometimes known as the “tropical troubadour”, his songs often featured the voices of characters who appreciated the aimless pleasures of beach life: smoking weed, drinking rum and eating boiled shrimps, messing around in boats and generally watching the world go by.
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Nation Is Transfixed As Intransigent Transgenders Seek To Transmogrify Everything
“Trans Visibility Day.” “March for Queer and Trans Youth Autonomy.” “Trans Day of Vengeance.” “Trans rights, or else.” Trans in your schools, trans in your government, trans in the corporations, trans in the military, trans in sports, trans in commercials, trans in the church, trans in the streets, trans taking over state capitols, trans in your face. Trans, trans, trans!
Had enough?
This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard talk with Rachel Silber Devlin about her memoir, Snapshots of My Father, John Silber, which captures the wide-ranging and remarkable life of the late philosopher, teacher, and president of Boston University. Devlin discusses how her father became known as a vigorous proponent of a traditional liberal arts education, improved the prestige and endowment at B.U., and became a national leader in K-12 education reform. She offers listeners a unique, personal look at a man and an educational leader who had a deep commitment to academic quality, music, and the arts, and capped his career by authoring books on the absurdity of modern architectural fads and the ethics of Immanuel Kant.
Stories of the Week
An Angel in the Shape of My Mom
Christmas will be very different this year. My mother passed away at the beginning of this month. She struggled for almost 20 years with various forms of cancer, neurodegenerative nerve disease, complications from her cancer treatments, and an increasing host of health difficulties that by themselves would be considered challenging for a patient and family. As her oncologist frequently noted, the cancer had difficulty with my mom. She was a force to reckoned with to anyone at any time.
Even when she became severely ill, she did not go gently into the night. Mom was a being of passion for others. She fought everyone and everything if she felt it needed to happen. With no regard of how it would destroy herself, she constantly stood up for what she felt was right. It took many, many years to teach her to have even an ounce of reluctance to speak her mind. At the end, she was more circumspect, but no less full of fire.
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Halloween Recommendations II: Music Edition
Since my last list was such a hit, it’s only right it get a sequel. This time we’ll focus on those auditory oddities to darken your day, those musical maladies to frighten your friends (or should we say fiends?). Listen up, we’ve got a slew of tunes that will make you the death of the party.
Corb Lund – “Dig Gravedigger Dig”
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Alo-ha!
Yes, Southwest Airlines may have pursued this adventure of giving their passengers free ukuleles and the instrument covers for the publicity it would garner. Guitar Center provided the ukuleles and a free lesson, too. And yes, there were people annoyed with the disturbance of their precious time on the jet.
But in a world where people take themselves far too seriously and have lost their ability to be playful, I think it was just the right strategy.