First, let me apologize if you received a duplicate of last week’s Who Won the Week post today. I somehow screwed up. So ignore that and let’s start over. Ready?
It’s time for another Who Won the Week prompt. The idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.
The good news is that now there are two different COVID-19 vaccines being distributed around the nation, the one from Pfizer and the latest one from Moderna, which was approved by the FDA on Friday.
The not so good news is that it will take months, and maybe even until late 2021, before enough Americans receive the vaccinations to stem the tide on the surging virus.
The bad news is that there is still a large segment of Americans who believe that the pandemic is a hoax and that it’s some sort deep state social engineering conspiracy. There are those who still refuse to wear face masks and to maintain social distancing. There are those who are skeptical about getting the vaccinations, as well as the anti-vaxxers, who refuse to take any vaccines.
So who won the week this week? Well, I’m going with Garry Trudeau and his Doonsbury comicstrip for today. It seemed to me to be both funny and sad at the same time.
What about you? Who (or what) do you think won the week?
“It’s so damn humid,” Daniel complained. “I’m feeling so languid. I don’t mind the heat, but this mugginess is killing me. I’m literally doing nothing and yet I’m sweating like a pig. I’m more accustomed to dry heat.”
“Well, you’ll just have to export yourself back to Phoenix,” Jimmy said.
“Or import the dry air from Phoenix.”
(57 words)
Written for the Weekend Writing Prompt from Sammi Cox, where the word is “languid” in 57 Words.Also for the Saturday Mix – Opposing Forces from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, where the word pairs are humid and dry and import and export.
For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams is giving us a geometry test by asking us to use “circle,” “polygon,” “square,” or “triangle” as the theme. I had no doubt that, as soon as I saw this prompt, I was going to go with Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game.” Why? Because Joni Mitchell is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and “The Circle Game” is one of my favorite songs of hers.
“The Circle Game” was written by Mitchell in 1967, but was not recorded until it was included as a track on Joni Mitchell’s third studio album, Ladies of the Canyon, which was released in 1970. It was one of the Mitchell’s early signature songs and featured background vocals from David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young on the recording. “The Circle Game” was allegedly written as a response to Neil Young’s “Sugar Mountain,” which was about lost innocence. Young sings, “You can’t be 20 on Sugar Mountain.” Mitchell’s last verse responds with the 20-year-old facing diminished dreams but still with plenty of hope.
In this poetic song, Joni Mitchell tells the story of a child’s journey to adulthood using a carousel as a metaphor for the years that go by. She points out that we can look back, but we can’t return to our past. Although it was never a big hit, “The Circle Game” became one of Mitchell’s most popular songs. It’s also one of her most-covered songs, with over 200 artists recording it.
In the same year that Mitchell wrote “The Circle Game,” The Hollies had a hit with “On A Carousel,” which uses the same imagery to describe the stages of a romance. That song was co-written and sung by Graham Nash, who would become a big part of Mitchell’s life two years later when they moved in together, shacking up in a very, very, very fine house.
Here are the lyrics to “The Circle Game.”
Yesterday a child came out to wonder Caught a dragonfly inside a jar Fearful when the sky was full of thunder And tearful at the falling of a star And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We’re captive on the carousel of time We can’t return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons Skated over ten clear frozen streams Words like, when you’re older, must appease him And promises of someday make his dreams And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We’re captive on the carousel of time We can’t return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town And they tell him, Take your time, it won’t be long now Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We’re captive on the carousel of time We can’t return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true There’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty Before the last revolving year is through And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We’re captive on the carousel of time We can’t return, we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game
And go round and round and round In the circle game
Welcome to December 20, 2020 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 “virtuous.”
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. Please 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.