Former Member

Welcome @lEAFMOLD! Tricky of you to reverse the convention of capitalization. I agree that some of the other authors go overboard with the descriptions of sex. ;–)

Why do I get the impression that their dad would give Glenn permission to get a license before he’d let Woody get one – he'll probably make Glenda wait too. ;–)

I would have been happier if two people had lost their jobs because of this controversy – and it was amazingly close! ;–) And I’m very mainstream in my city, I’m not on the fringe.

In the past, it was predicted that we’d all have more leisure time. But that isn’t what has happened in the US. The gap between the wealthy and the rest of us is approaching Robber Baron era levels. This cannot be unrelated to the decrease in life expectancy in the US.

In France, they are experimenting with a shorter work week. Full-time pay for working (I believe) 32 hours a week. The idea is to incentivize employers to add more employees to the payroll. There are places that limit the compensation given to CEO to a maximum multiple of a company’s lowest-paid employee. While CEOs might believe they are worth scores or hundreds of thousand times as much as an entry-level employee, it’s immoral and unconscionable. Most of these CEOs also get gigantic Golden Parachutes even if they prove to be failures who run their companies into bankruptcy! Other employees do not get bonuses for failing. Wall Street puts too much emphasis on short-term trends and not enough on the long-term strength and growth of companies.

In the past, we always thought that employees would work fewer hours because of increased efficiency – just as it had since the industrial revolution began. Instead, at least in the US, employees are expected to work increased hours due to an invention called the cellphone. In the past only a very tiny percentage of employees were on-call 24/7: doctors, ministers, emergency personnel, etc. But these days, most white collar workers are expected to respond to phone calls anywhere they are, whatever they are doing. Productivity is up because workers aren’t being compensated for the additional hours. Manufacturing jobs have been slashed compared with the middle of the last century. In some cases, it’s because manufacturers have gone chasing after the lowest cost workers in third-world countries (as with clothing). Other jobs have been lost to robots and increased mechanization (as with the auto industry). Similarly, agricultural jobs have decreased as farms, orchards, and ranches have grown to industrial sizes. Of course, there are still many manual labor jobs harvesting crops, but they are low-paying and extremely tedious, uncomfortable, and back-breaking. Few Americans are willing to suffer the conditions for the low wages offered. Historically, these jobs were filled by recent immigrants, but our immigration policy emphasizes the highly educated (and relatives of those who already reside here). Many farmers have had trouble finding sufficient legal workers and in some cases, have not been able to harvest their entire crop.

Actually, I noticed that when I was reading the chapter, but forgot to mention it in my Comments earlier. After I checked my other Notifications this morning, I realized I hadn’t posted that fact yet. I’ve had my wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night moments, but not this time. ;–)

@Zenobia et al Susan Alexander-Max performs Zipoli's sonatas magnificently on the world's oldest surviving piano (the second one ever built!). I can't tell you how much I love the tone of this instrument. No wonder Cristofori, the inventor, changed the musical landscape of Europe over night; who wouldn't want to hear such an instrument in use. This is one of my favorite recordings. I hope you all give it a listen.

Alex knew Brandon has a brother – Brandon and his brother were the ones who hid the car keys so the chauffeur was late picking up their father!

This is a beautiful recording, Thorn. Thanks for posting. As for sleep, there is a legend that Bach wrote the Goldberg Variations for an insomniac! Can you imagine staying up all night, every night playing that piece... lol

Rubinstein was my mother's favorite pianist, although for me, I preferred the madness of Horowitz (quote-un-quote Horrible Horowitz, as my dear friend @J.HunterDunnonce called him ). As for Chopin, I can't recall a piece that I've ever felt moved my heart or engaged my intellect, so I guess that means I'm not a fan either. Although, I do recall the selfsame Horowitz saying he always advised his young students to "Play Mozart like you play Chopin, and Chopin like Mozart" to get it right. Thanks for posting this. As I say, I always like for people to share personal connections (or lack thereof, lol) with the music they post.

The benedictus is always an interesting part of the mass when set to music. It's fun to wait for it, particularly in Haydn's many masses, and his always explore the most interesting harmonic and rhythmical overlays. But this being a requiem, it immediately makes me think of Paisiello's great missa defunctorum of less than two years previous to Mozart's. The prayer calls for the hearer to remember that it is always right to praise the Lord, and thus it's usually set as a soulful and peaceful moment of musical reflection. Not so with Paisiello - in a minor key and jagged rhythms, he has the soloists basically demand that the hearer respect God's decision to take the life he has. It's a hair-raising and utterly brilliant moment.

And, yes Woody, you are about to make one of the biggest mistakes of your life!

My parents made it clear that getting my license did not mean I’d get a car. None of us did until we after we graduated from high school, were working, and paying for our own gas. And until then, we only rarely had use of a car. We never got to drive to school!

This is a great entry. Thank you, Zenobia. I always like it when this thread becomes personal and we find out how and why a particular piece of music (or performance) moves a person. The video is great, and reminds me I have something you'll like tucked in my back pocket

I say I’m young at heart, but everybody else insists that I’m just immature! ;–) I’ll hold you to that! It’ll be interesting to see how you integrate that into the story! Contrary to popular belief, there were plenty of things that happened in my lifetime (besides Star Wars and Star Trek). ;–)

When I was still in elementary school, Day Camp was the morning activity away from the parents. There was some religious content, but was mostly things like crafts. Afternoons were free for things like swimming in the pool. ;–) As we got older, the religious content increased, but afternoons were still free. Throughout the whole period, evenings had a religious service with everyone except college-aged kids who were in a separate, neighboring camp. No exciting stories… ;–)

I feel positively ancient! ;–)

I feel sooooo old! ;–) Accepting the money from Brandon, even if Alex plans to pay him back, is a huge mistake! It does seem like Jeremy remembered Alex even though Alex hadn’t remembered him. I wonder if he recognized Alex right away. He would have known about Alex living in town and that might have been a factor in the choice of bakery location. ;–)

Here is a worthy rendering of the agnus dei from K. 195. I find Hendricks to be a sensitive interpreter, and the development sections here (starting min. 1:54) is very moving. Hope you listen

Brandon is bad news even if Alex isn’t trying to scam him for the money. Someone who thinks getting ‘the Help’ in trouble is amusing isn’t someone you want to be around. Entitled rich people just don’t understand reality.

Arthur was smart not to look at Jack’s face. In all the retail jobs I had the back doors automatically locked. Retailers are always paranoid about theft and security. But people tend to be less security-conscious in small towns. ;–) I think people should get huge fines for feeding seagulls, Canadian Geese, and pigeons! Idiots who feed these birds should be forced to clean up their droppings! They should be shamed for their bad behavior. ;–)

And Jeremy got the last word! ;–)

The only camps I ever attended were religious-based. I sometimes wonder if the close friends I made were also Gay. I always lost track of them eventually, even one whose family were friends of my parents. ;–)

...yeah. my errors baffle everyone, including me... 🙄