Day: July 17, 2019

Barbershop Harmony Gone Awry

Fandango11 Comments

C7853B58-CA47-4A44-AEE3-EE9307C6C634My buddies and I decided to go to a karaoke bar, have a few drinks, and show off our singing prowess. After all, the four of us regular performed as a barbershop quartet at various local carnivals. So why not strut our stuff in front of the karaoke crowd?

We arrived fairly early, maybe an hour or so before the singing was scheduled to start. So naturally we started out with tequila shooters and beer chasers. By the time bar got crowded and the karaoke performances were ready to commence, my buddies and I were all three sheets to the wind.

We had signed up to sing the Crosby Stills & Nash song, “Wooden Ships,” a great song for a group of four a cappella guys to beautifully harmonize. At least that was the plan.

When we got up to sing, each of us was drunk as a skunk, and rather than a beautiful harmony, our singing was rather more of a discordant cacophony. We were unused to being confronted by boos and very tactless jeers from our audiences. And quite frankly we were shocked. We decided that the best thing to do was to stop singing, to sit down, and to shut up.

As we left the stage, the audience members started applauding our departure, displaying a mean, sarcastic gratitude for our leaving the stage. “Another round of tequila shooters and beer chasers,” one of my buddies yelled to the server when we got back to our table.

I woke up the next morning with one of the worst hangovers I’ve ever had. I walked to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and was shocked to see that I had a black eye and a cut and swollen upper lip. I had no recollection of getting into a fight or falling the night before. But I did come to the conclusion that excessive tequila shooters with beer chasers are not good for one’s health.

Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (karaoke), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (cacophony), Your Daily Word Prompt (tactless), Ragtag Daily Prompt (gratitude), and The Daily Spur (health).

America, Love It or Leave It

Fandango19 Comments

50B0A60A-30FA-442A-9576-A901646F6F48“America, love it or leave it” was a popular bumper sticker back in the late 60s and early 70s. It was allegedly directed toward “angry, left-wing radicals” who claimed that America was wrong to be fighting in Vietnam.

I did not consider myself to be an “angry, left-wing radical,” as I was relatively conservative at the time. But I did strenuously oppose America’s involvement in the Vietnam war, which I thought was wrong, unjust, and was tearing the country I loved apart. So I did participate in a lot of anti-war protests and often heard “America, love it or leave it” shouted at me by those counter protesters who supported Richard Nixon and the war.

The thing is, I did love America and I didn’t want to leave it. But I also felt that those who were shouting “America, love it or leave it” at me were condemning me for being critical of some of my country’s policies. And part of what makes America great and the country I love, is that you are free to voice your criticism without fear of being arrested and incarcerated. I hated to hear anyone tell me, “America, love it or leave it.”

Eventually, after the Vietnam war ended, our country started to heal, to come together. And that phrase, “America, love it or leave it” faded away, like bell-bottom jeans and rose-colored granny glasses.

But thanks to Donald Trump, that same phrase that was often shouted at those of us who protested against the Vietnam war, seems to have resurfaced in a 2019 version of that 60s/70s phrase.

Trump tweeted this past weekend that four minority Congresswomen should go back to the countries from which they came. Then, defending his tweet, he said,

“If you hate our country, if you’re not happy here, you can leave.”

In other words, “America, love it or leave it.” So much for healing and coming together, right?

It’s one thing to have a bunch of crew-cut rednecks shout “America love it or leave it” at young, long-haired hippies (like I was) at anti-war protests. But to have the President of the United States telling four U.S. Congresswomen, three of whom were born in the U.S. and one of whom became a naturalized citizen as a child, to go back to where they came from, is unconscionable.

I love America. I have no intention of leaving it. But I will not be silenced when I see migrant men, women, and children seeking asylum in our country being held captive in literal concentration camps at our southern border.

I will not say nothing when the current administration is rolling back environmental protections designed to keep our water and air clean and is giving tax breaks to the fossil fuel polluters.

I will not remain quiet when women, blacks, Hispanics, and non-Christians are being marginalized and discriminated against, when gun violence and mass shootings are everyday occurrences that barely make the news anymore, when the Republicans want to take away healthcare from millions of Americans, and when autocrats and dictators serve as role models for our moron-in-chief, who is also a pathological liar.

None of us should be told that being critical of our government equates to hating our country and that we should just keep our mouths shut or leave. Especially by the same man who, when he was running for President, based his campaign on criticizing almost everything aspect of the country, referring to the American carnage, and claiming that he, alone, could fix it.

And remember to not be confused about what racism is.31736ABA-9657-4D22-89B2-BE24C280C95A

 

One-Liner Wednesday — Time To Do Nothing

Fandango5 Comments

ED91EDEC-BE0C-41AE-A8B6-4D04F3AADBC6

“There’s never enough time to do all the nothing that you want.”

Retired cartoonist and Calvin and Hobbes creator,
Bill Watterson

Even though I, too, am retired, I can relate to Bill Watterson’s quote. I somehow manage to often find myself too busy to just relax and do nothing.

Written for this week’s One-Liner Wednesday promo from Linda G. Hill.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #32

Fandango18 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration. By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

For this week’s provocative question, I am going to do something I haven’t before done in my provocative question prompt. I’m going to post something a fellow blogger wrote. In this case, the blogger is Judy Dykstra-Brown, and in one of her recent posts she wrote,

“I do believe that more evil has been done in this world by those absolutely sure of the rightness of their faith and their beliefs.”

So my question is this: do you agree with what Judy wrote? Why or why not?

If you want to read Judy’s full post in which this quote appeared in order to gain context, click here.

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

FOWC with Fandango — Cacophony

Fandango32 Comments

FOWCWelcome to July 17, 2019 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “cacophony.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.