Story Night 2014

Seven local storytellers will regale us with short tales at Story Night. One will be Bill Barker. Or will it be Sequoyah?

I have listened to Mike Burton's stories for 52 years! He was older brother to a great friend and later a dear friend in his own right. He has been my Sunday School teacher and my director in several films (1971-2014). He has whipped me at chess and picked gallons of blackberries by my side. We have cultivated gardens, dug wells, hauled treasures from a dump, and sung folk songs together (though singing is not his forte). He has videoed my storytelling for me, but Thursday will only be the second time we've shared a storytelling stage.

Have you missed hearing "MIss Jane" stories for a while? Me too! Come hear Rome's dean of storytellers, "Miss Jane" Cunningham, and six other tellers, this Thursday at Schroeder's…

Y'all come hear Ken spin a yarn!

Gary Greene is one of my closest Storytelling cohorts. We have told at the same events a number of times (sometimes with our wonderful late friend Debbie Brown) and are both scheduled to tell at the Peach State Storytelling Festival in Atlanta in 2015. If you haven't heard his song "Cherokee Names" you need to google it and check it out! 

 

Y'all come hear Bob Harris and other local storytellers, Thursday July 31, 7 p.m., Schroeder's New Deli, Broad Street in Rome GA. This version has one less typo. Ugh!

I'm still working on similar promos for two more great storytellers: Michael J. Burton and Gary Greene. In the meantime, I'll go ahead and put up my own bit of propaganda...

Gleaning Facebook: Story Night at Schroeders

Y'all come for ten-minute stories from each of seven local tellers, including:

Sequoyah (Bill Barker)

Mountain Man Mike Michael J. Burton

Miss Jane Owen Cunningham

The Right Reverend Ken Freshour

Songwriter/Storyteller Gary Greene

Sword-totin' Bob Harris

and ME! Terrell Shaw

7 p.m., Next Thursday,

July 31, 2014

in the Courtyard at

Schroeder's New Deli

406 Broad Street

Rome, Georgia

Spread the word!

Sponsored ny The Rome Area Council for the Arts

and Ridge & Valley™ Tellers

 

Gleaning Facebook: Michelle Nunn

To my fellow progressives:

Please get on board and help elect Michelle Nunn. No she is not progressive in a national sense, but she is a progressive compared to Tea Party darlings Jack Kingston and David Purdue. She will be someone who will work with anyone willing to deal honestly. She won't be a liberal firebrand, but neither will she be wasting our federal funds and national energy on cheap political stunts like baseless impeachment crusades, government shutdowns, political "investigations" of the Benghazi-Dead-Horse-Beatings variety, etc. She seems to be from the stable, common-sense, moderate mold of her father, who, granted, sometimes irritated us with his foot-dragging on progressive legislation, but who did work for compromise and who could actually work across the aisle.

Maybe having a moderate in the Senate could help it to actually function again. We certainly don't need another mindless obstructionist like Kingston or Purdue.

And besides: Although we Georgians were the first in the nation to have a female US Senator, that senator was appointed and served only 24 hours. Rebecca Latimer Felton's brief tenure in the Senate was little consolations for her and other women's suffrage leaders who had watched their home state be the first to vote against the 19th Amendment and one of the minority of states to refuse women the vote in 1920.

I believe Michelle Nunn will fulfill the pledge Felton made to the Senate on her one day in that body:

"When the women of the country come in and sit with you, though there may be but very few in the next few years, I pledge you that you will get ability, you will get integrity of purpose, you will get exalted patriotism, and you will get unstinted usefulness." – Senator Rebecca Latimer Felton, Address to the Senate, November 21, 1922

A sad but very necessary note: one should never quote this eloquent defender of woman's rights, without also noting her evil, violent, and baffling racism. Felton is an example of the ability of humans to compartmentalize their consciences. Her attitude toward black people was no better than that of Nazis toward Jews. In that respect Michelle Nunn is no follower of Felton!

(I got carried away again!)

Howard Smith
If she becomes half the senator her father was she will be well more than twice as good as her soon to be nominated opponent could ever hope to be.

Jamie Fergerson I worked for Michelle (as an AmeriCorps VISTA) at Hands on Atlanta when I first moved here. I have never met a person who was more respectful of differences or more invested in the lives of people she was serving. My personal politics are a bit to the left of her campaign politics, but I absolutely trust her judgement, collaborative process, and heart. Besides, no where to go in GA but up from where we've been . . .
Howard Smith I, too, am to the left of her but I am confident she will be a true and faithful servant of the people of Georgia.

Gleaning Facebook: Peaches

An Avenue A angel hung a bag on our front door knob. Here are its contents. There may be a peach cobbler in my future. What big beautiful peaches! Thanks, Joan & Terry

----------

Cindy Gomez
Jealous of the peaches & definitely the cobbler I don't know how to make.

Cathy Nichols
And I know someone that may have the time now to cook one Sheila Matthews Shaw

Sunny Shropshire Knauss
We got some of those same peaches from said angel!

Sheila Matthews Shaw
Yum. I may make a peach cobbler....

Joan Ledbetter
The Shaw's make the best peach cobbler I've ever eaten!!

Sunny Shropshire Knauss
Eugenia makes a pretty good pie...maybe time for a peach party!

Sharon York
Look yummy

 

Gleaning Facebook: Vote!

"… cynicism is a self-fulfilling prophesy. If you succumb to it, the regressives who want to take this nation back to the 19th century win it all." - Robert Reich.

Next Tuesday is a day for voting. Likely a very small percentage of those who read these words will vote. They will cynically accept the reasoning that voting doesn't matter. On the very day when their individual vote is the most powerful (a primary run-off election generally provokes the least voter participation) most of you will surrender your blood-earned franchise to the political junkies like me.

Go vote. Even if you are a Tea Party regressive or a rabid all-out socialist, prove me wrong. Go vote. If you are gonna get misty-eyed in a few weeks when you stand with your ball cap over your heart while the high-school band plays the "Star Spangled Banner" at Barron Stadium, then for Heaven's sake put your sorry carcass where your tears are. If you are going to stand and devoutly recite your allegiance to a republic, be a small-r republican. Go vote.

No waiting in line (but do take ID). Walk right in.

7 a.m-7 p.m., Tuesday, July 22, at a precinct near you.

------------

Melanie Collette Babb
Who would you recommend: Kingston or Perdue?

Terrell Shaw
Melanie, I don't like either one. Each is trying to out-Tea-Party the other. But if I were choosing a GOP ballot, I guess I'd take Purdue as a little less repugnant. At least I haven't heard him talking up impeachment of the president, like Kingston has.
I will vote for Michelle Nunn in the General Election.

Melanie Collette Babb

Thanks, Terrell. I will definitely be voting for Nunn in the general election. 

Gleaning Facebook: High Crimes? Where?

 If you are one of the majority ---- yes, polls say a MAJORITY --- of Republican voters who believe the president should be impeached --- IMPEACHED, it has come to the point that the Tea Party types think disagreement with them is an impeachable offense ---- put up, or shut up. If the GOP, in a 20 year span, impeaches two presidents on weak to non-existent grounds I believe they will finally be finished as a major national party.

Young folks, are you paying attention? Vote the crazy right out in November.

If you vote in the Republican primary (sheesh!) please put a political end to the likes of Jack Kingston.

Impeachment? What nonsense.

-------------

David Marlin Rains "Impeaches two presidents" should be corrected to "impeaches the last two democratically-elected Democratic Presidents." Repubs do not believe in "democracy as the will of the People" nor in "elections have consequences." Perhaps they will hold their breath and roll on the floor until they get what they want.
Sam Burnham You and I are mostly going to agree on this one. Impeachment is a nuclear option that should only be used in extreme cases of obvious criminal activity. It wasn't right with Clinton and I don't support it now. I don't agree with Obama on policy and I do believe he has shown a disregard for the Constitution but that is why we have separation of powers. Impeachment is one tool in checks and balances. And it is a severe one with unfathomable repercussions. It is not to be carried out flippantly. Besides, from a conservative viewpoint, why in the world would you do that? There is a progression to it and we sometimes forget the roles involved. I can't think of any conservative that would impeach Obama to willingly and knowingly inaugurate Joe Biden.
David Marlin Rains Sam, I love the last line
David Marlin Rains http://carlspackler.com/sounds/072.mp3
Donald Murdock No impeachable offenses have been committed, nor have any been brought before the people or the legislature or judiciary or the media by anyone with any real credibility. Thus far, though a bit heavy handed at times, the President has operated well within the bounds of Constitutional law and, for the most part, in the best interest of moving the nation and all of it's citizenry past the status quo of contemplating our collective navel while Rome burns. When bold, and sometimes unpopular, measures are taken, those who are fearful of any kind of change are gonna be quick to become reactive rather than think about the long-term consequences of willful ignorance and pretense. Not trying to make anyone wrong, but sometimes it's not a bad thing to rattle the cage a bit. Over simplifying issues is easy, but denies the rational approach to a hugely complicated process. At least this President hasn't tripped over his pecker. Yet. Meanwhile, the KKK is actively soliciting new membership by leafleting Atlanta neighborhoods. Wish I had a mini-gun in the closet. (There's always another side to the other side...my dark passenger sneaks out now and again.)
Terrell Shaw And I firmly believe that for every push of the boundaries (rattling of the cage?) by this president, a more extreme GOP example can be found from W or Ron.

Sam Burnham I think my response would be that we don't need to enter impeachment flippantly, regardless of who is president.
Laurie Craw The rest of us can impeach the Supreme Court 5 and all those House Republicans who tried to renege on their Constitutional duty to pay the nation's debts! Let's make it a clean sweep!

Gleaning Facebook: Climate

Ugh. In Northwest Georgia we are enjoying a respite from the heat today… hope it continues.

The hottest 3 months ever recorded. 2014 is on track to break a lot of records, in a bad way.

Comments

Sam Burnham

Just goes to show you can manipulate global weather pattern data to make it fit your chosen agenda.

Terrell Shaw

How so?

Sam Burnham

Well, we're having a respite from the heat here. During part of the "hottest three month period ever" there was still substantial ice coverage on the Great Lakes and the Antarctic winter ice growth was 26 days ahead of schedule. And while Mr. Gore was leveraging the tragic storm in More, OK as evidence for his agenda's advancement, the truth is, the US is about to wrap up its 4th consecutive below average tornado season. Our current season is on track to finish with 25% fewer storms than normal. The hurricane data is pretty supportive of this trend as well. 

There are other countless reports that suggest cooler than normal temperatures from various parts of the world. 

So, if you collect data that benefits warming, you can make a study. Then compare the available records (usually 100-200 years depending on the part of the world you're measuring - just barely enough time to get an accurate measurement of climate, by definition).

Judging a climate by 3 months would be like judging The Count of a Monte Cristo by reading the third sentence of the second paragraph of chapter five.

Tersi Bendiburg

It's not too bad here in Tucker either, Terrell.

George Barton
Tornados and hurricanes change heat into kinetic energy, with a natural cooling effect. Those tidal surges take a lot of energy to form, and it all comes from heat. We need these storms right now. People will just have to move inland.

Terrell Shaw
Absolutely, Sam, but the overall picture is of a warmer planet, and one warmed in part by 200 years burning fossil fuels and polluting the atmosphere and destroying large areas of forests. Take a peek at overall figures for the whole planet.
http://climate.nasa.gov/key_indicators/

CLIMATE.NASA.GOV

Sam Burnham
There's a lot of interesting data on that link. And here's my feeling about this. I'm not a denier. I'm a skeptic. Maybe the Earth is warming, maybe it's cooling, maybe in the long run it's doing neither. If we dig out some of our geology, there's proof that just a few thousand years ago polar ice may have been as far south as we are. Where did it go? What caused it to melt?
We've seen the effects of fluctuating solar activity, volcanic activity, and who knows what all else causing change to weather patterns, which over a century or two could indicate a change in climate. But once the cycle ends it all goes back to "normal" or even swings the other way entirely.
If in fact the Earth is warming, and we put all our eggs in the carbon basket only to find out our solution was a knee-jerk reaction to sunspots the we've wrecked the global economy for nothing.
When temperature data is collected, there can be no deviation in location, time of day, or even the weather for a particular day. And our weather over the last year has shown that data just down the road might reflect something very different than weather here. Move 100 miles away and the variation grows immensely.
Maybe it's just skepticism but I just have trouble with collecting data for the whole globe or claiming the sea rose by a millimeter and expecting to take such measurements on face value.

Marsha Pledger
So sick of the heat

Terrell Shaw
Granted the following is anecdotal but: if the southeast is cooling the Lord's been grossly unfair to my immediate environs. Triple-digit days used to be much rarer in my coming of age and days in the single-digits more common as I remember them. 

Vivienne

Vivienne with her Mom.