What Did We Learn From PowerPoint?

I've been teaching since 1999, and sometimes I like to pretend it's still 1999. That would mean a chalkboard, or perhaps a whiteboard, and maybe a technology station you'd roll in. And that would mean I'd be careful not to have my back turned to students while writing too much on the board. Most importantly, my focus would be on engaging students, posing questions, probing, encouraging civil conversation, answering questions, etc. The conditions for a good learning environment were on my side: no phones, no wired classrooms. Soon, though, things changed, and phones started to show up, and technology changed. I certainly didn't mind the demise of blackboards because I didn't like chalk all over me. I was happy with a whiteboard, a drop-down projection screen, and the ability to show videos in an efficient way. I also liked when YouTube came along, because short videos were a good option. When PowerPoint emerged, I was a skeptic, because it was a presentation program, and I think of teaching as something different than a presentation. The slides became the thing, with bulleted information, and gimmicks, and it seemed to me the focus was on the content and not how students engaged with the content. It gave too much power to technology, in my opinion. At some point I read a piece that pointed out that students can pay attention to the slides, or the professor, but not both, and that stuck with me. I always say this: I've seen great PowerPoint presentations, especially from my students. A nice, easy on the eyes PowerPoint (or Canva) can be a treat, and effective for delivering information and facilitating conversation. To be clear, talented instructors and students use presentation software in effective ways, and power to them. Overall, though, I don't know how much was gained by PowerPoint becoming a pedagogical norm. 

So much time on screens, with today's smartphones, ubiquitous Internet, and of course, our favorite villain, social media. Let's not try too hard here: 99% of us spend too much time on screens. The suggestion to "touch grass" is a good one. I don't miss newspapers in the same way I don't miss chalk. I don't miss ink on my hands. So, I'm not saying we should return to physical newspapers and chalkboards and leave out newer technologies. I'm saying we give too much over to technology, and that our eyes don't need to be on screens so much of every day. We can talk, debate, argue, and a lot of that can occur without technological aid. I'm not a dinosaur or scared of technology. I taught an online course called Sociology of TikTok. I guess I'm a hybrid, mix in the old with the new. 

Perhaps you see where I'm going. I think the AI skeptics have good reason to be skeptical. Of course AI can do good things and good professors and students will unleash a lot of positives in using it. But I think we should be careful and cautious and somehow focus on how to stay human in the age of AI. 

Conclusion: Too much technology, bro! 

"Get a Real Job" (Youth Sports Edition)

My kids are 17 and 14. They've played soccer, baseball, football, basketball, and more. I thought I'd heard it all. But yelling "GET A REAL JOB!" to an umpire was a new one to me. It was so absurd my friend and I found it comical. The umpire didn't take the bait. This was over balls and strikes, I think. Who knows. This was a very low-stakes baseball game, I really couldn't find any meaning in it. Basically kids getting reps on a nice October day. Kick off your high-heeled sneakers, it's party time. That's a Steely Dan reference. Seriously, though, I'm there to chill. When you live in Western New York and your kid is playing baseball in October, life is good. My buddy was in town and we were taking in the game when a parent from the other team started getting into the ump and hollered at him to get a real job. So confused. These umps take way too much abuse. Of course they get calls wrong. They're human. Keep the human element in the game, you know? As mentioned, the umpire didn't escalate the situation, to his credit. And life went on. My buddy doesn't have kids so he isn't familiar with the youth sports scene. Here he got a glimpse of what it looks like at times. 

Soon after this happened, I went to my kid's football game. I'm always early. I saw the referees chatting up each other in the parking lot before the game. I approached them and told them the story about the baseball umpire, and told them I appreciate what they do. One of the refs summed it up pretty good: "They yell at us to not blow the whistle and to let the kids play. And they yell at us when we don't make a call." These officials can't win. 

I'm in Generation X. Remember when we used to say "take a chill pill"? Never a bad piece of advice. Take a chill pill. 

TikTok Brain Rot?

As I gear up to teach a summer course on the Sociology of TikTok, I'm thinking about questions to ask students to characterize TikTok and describe how and why they use it. I'm reminded of something a student said in a different course when we talked about TikTok and social media use. The student, Luke, looked up during the conversation and said: "Brain rot." It stuck with me. 

Fun fact: Brain rot was the Oxford word of the year in 2024, defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging”. 

An article on Yahoo notes: "The term comes from the idea that the internet is “rotting” the brains of frequent users who are “extremely online” or “chronically online,” leading them to reference memes and slang terms that aren’t typically used offline — and they're doing it a lot."

Interesting. I don't know if my brain is rotting, or if it already rotted from many decades of watching television. As a Gen X person who uses TikTok, maybe I'm a couch potato with brain rot. I will admit that my hand hurts from holding my phone too much. I check too many things too much of the time: email, social media, the news. The phone makes it so easy. Earlier this morning I did yoga. I go to the gym 2-3 times a week. I go on 45-minute walks with my wife. I have a job. But I still have many hours in the day to look at things on my phone. I look at recipes. I watch sports highlights. I see videos of people playing Van Halen guitar riffs. Recently footage of 70-year-old David Lee Roth in tight pants kind of singing Van Halen songs made it onto my feed. It's fine. I like short form videos as part of my information and entertainment mix. TikTok knows I like baseball, so I see MLB highlights. Once in a while the song from This Week in Baseball shows up for me (it makes me happy). I like to keep up with things...I learn Gen Z slang from my Gen Z kids but also from TikTok. When I began hearing the name Mel Robbins I was easily able to find out who that is from TikTok. It's byte size information, pretty easily digestible. I also consume some of my news on TikTok and watch videos about politics. And TikTok knows I'm interested in a variety of social issues, so I'm presented with informative videos like this one about gender, politics, and marriage and this one with data points about life satisfaction and age. If I want my students to think about child labor laws in the present, then TikTok is a pretty good place to start. If I want students to consider arguments in favor of banning TikTok, then TikTok offers one way to do so. Ultimately, I'm pro TikTok. I appreciate its availability for a range of serious, semi-serious, and unserious purposes. Not the first such platform, and not the last. 

One more thought: I think last year I read more books than in any other year of my adulthood. Is reading books a countervailing force to social media brain rot? 

What Time of the Day Do You Prefer to Teach?

When do you like to teach? Are you a morning person? Do you like weekly seminars? Are you living the online asynchronous life? How much choice do you have in the matter?

In my 25 years of teaching, I've taught many different schedules. Back in the day as an adjunct it was a once a week 3-hour class after filing TPS reports in an iron cage. Not sure I have the stamina for that now. Once I became full-time I settled into customary M/W/F or T/TH offerings. For a long time, I'd teach a class, have a break, teach another class, and then one more. Or teach two classes, take a break, and have one more. I should note we used to be on 4/4 at the beginning of my career but for most of my career it's been a 3/3 which I still experience today. 

The problem for me as an overthinker is that if I had a break in between classes I might think too much about how class went and overcorrect for the next session. My energy would also drop and I'd find it hard to get the energy back up for a class later in the day. I've always had colleagues who teach their classes consecutively, no breaks. Do it all and be done. I avoided that for years, thinking I'd get too tired by the third class. It turns out that's the schedule that works for me. For a few years in a row I've taught my classes consecutively, both the 55-minute M/W/F classes and the 80-minute T/TH classes. Not gonna lie, doing the 80-minute classes back to back to back is tough but I can do it and then do office hours before or after class. No schedule is perfect for it works for me. I'm a true morning person so I prefer to get classes started each semester at 9:00 a.m. 

As I mentioned, I'm an overthinker, and teaching all my classes in a row prevents overthinking. There's no time to wallow in the mire, it might be said. I just keep swimming and do the best I can. Sometimes it leads me to be loose and free...okay, I think to myself with just a few minutes between classes, let's try something different with the next group. Don't rinse and repeat. I'm also more forgiving when I'm not having a great day. If I'm in a teaching sl*mp (a word I don't like to use in baseball or teaching) then it helps not to have time in between classes. Or to have too long in the day before classes begin (that's why I like to start early). I always strive to go 3 for 3 in terms of what I deem to be "good classes" but I've learned to be satisfied when I go 2 for 3. 1 for 3 is bad day, 0 for 3 is really bad day. But I try to process those bad days during my commute home and get back in the swing of things the next time through. I should also note that in any given semester I teach two sections of one course and one section of a different course. 

What's your preference for when you teach and what do you find works for you?

it just stresses me out so much less

it just stresses me out so much less to make dinner at 12:46.

for years i tried to time it out and have everything ready at official dinner time.

plated with preferences accommodated.

now with the kids being older and on the run it makes sense to make meals ahead of time with less pressure to eat together as a family unit.

i wasn't present when the kids would be in the kitchen talking to me asking questions as i was trying to cook while listening.

we still eat together a lot but not all the time which is fine.

i'm more present and a better listener when food is ready for them.

food and nourishment is love at anytime.

i watch people on tiktok meal prep effortlessly or so it appears.

"here's all my lunches for the week" looking pretty without breaking a sweat.

that ain't me.

i do the best i can the best i can.

chicken parm 

a family favorite

ft. cheater sauce

How to Give Unsolicited Advice

Part of our front yard doesn't look great right now. We had drainage installed last week. I've been working to make it look better. One of my favorite neighbors was walking his dog this morning as I finished putting some work in. Over the years he's seen me play catch with one of my kids and he's complimented my son on how he throws and catches. I've always liked his positive small talk with me. He's told me his kids are older and occasionally he's nostalgic about when his kids were younger. 

Today, I pointed to the mess on our lawn and told him I've been working on it. He paused. "I'm an advice seeker," he said. Another pause. "But if I could give one piece of advice...when you put down grass seed I'd put some peat moss over it. I speak from experience." He went on to briefly explain that a little peat moss will keep the moisture in and help the grass grow faster. That was it. About 15 seconds. I sincerely thanked him for good advice. Honestly, he could've said just about anything after opening with "I'm an advice seeker." I might borrow this. Brilliant. I believe him when he implies he's not one to be in the business of giving advice. 

I generally don't care for unsolicited advice, mostly because of how people tend to introduce their advice. "Why don't you....." is an opening phrase that's always irritated me. It's often accompanied by a condescending manner. But in a case like this, the person carefully and thoughtfully offered a few words of advice based on similar experience. That works for me. I appreciate help. I'm not too proud to take advice. It's all in how you give it.

(Not) Instilling Confidence

A recent observation at a baseball game of 13 and 14 year old players. Late in the game, close score. The team that's losing is batting. Soundtrack would be Billy Joel "Pressure" if it were the 1980s. Point is, kid at the plate is already feeling the pressure of the situation. Kid is way down in their lineup, so apparently not one of their stronger hitters. He swings and misses. Coach (positioned at third base) hollers "You're not gonna hit anything looking at me!" A way of saying he pulled his head and wasn't in a good hitting position. Fair point BUT that struck me as a very unhelpful thing to say. As a not super strong hitter in a pressure situation, making him feel like he did something wrong isn't likely to boost his confidence.

I sound judgy, I acknowledge that. I'm certain I've said many unhelpful and unproductive things while coaching kids for the past 5 years. Just recently I saw a video of someone suggesting coaches avoid saying "You're due!" to a kid who's been struggling at the plate. It sounds supportive...suppose a player is in a mini slump and hasn't been hitting. You say "You're due" which might sound encouraging BUT the person in the video points out saying "You're due" reminds the kid he hasn't been hitting!!! I know I've used this phrase before and almost used it *this week* until I caught myself. 

I like when coaches keep it simple and stick to phrases like "You got this." A guy I coached with for a long time made a great change to his approach last year when a kid would be at the plate down in the count with 2 strikes. Usually coaches say things like "shorten up" when a kid has 2 strikes. It's not an aggressive mentality. Last year the coach changed his chatter in those situations to instead say "Stay aggressive" or "Attack" and I love that. I've since borrowed that and holler that when a kid is in that tough situation. "Stay on the attack" is a waaay different message than saying something that will make a kid feel like he's doing something wrong. Kids are already their own harshest critics. This is a reminder to myself and fellow coaches and parents to not make them feel worse about their performance. 

Playing the Mini Crossword Together

I'm in a group text with four buddies I've known since the mid 1990s. We've always been competitive. When we get together for reunions we've competed in Bocce, Pickleball, Wiffle ball, and the art/sport of Talking Shit. We've mellowed out in middle-age. Currently we post our scores on the New York Times mini crossword to our chat. We've competed every day in May. For fun I've started keeping track of the daily winner. It's a fun way to stay in touch. Robert Putnam wrote about the decline of social capital in Bowling Alone. I like how texting and sharing crossword times is a form of social capital in our peer group. We celebrate the accomplishments of our kids and post pics when we travel. It's easily a group of guys I could've lost touch with years ago, but texting and new ways of having fun have helped us stay together. 

Sociological Song - Love Canal

Having been born and raised in Niagara Falls, NY, I've always been interested in Love Canal. Fortunately I lived in neighborhoods not impacted by the Love Canal disaster caused by chemicals dumped by Hooker Chemical Corporation. It wasn't until this year, at the age of 51, that I learned there's a song called Love Canal, by Flipper. 

Last month, PBS aired "Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal." 

Here are some articles and another video if you're not familiar with Love Canal...

From homemaker to hell-raiser in Love Canal 

Residents say Love Canal chemicals continue to make them sick (PBS News Hour story from 2018) 

Lois Gibbs Love Canal Papers

Extraordinary Lives - Lois Gibbs (11 minutes video) 

Keeping Score

As a baseball obsessed person, one of my favorite things to do is keep score during games my kid plays. I've helped coach his teams since he was 8. He's now 13 and I'm still around helping a bit. One way I contribute is keeping score, the old school way. It's funny, a few kids this year on his school team looked at my scorebook and asked "What's that?" They had no idea. They had only seen GameChanger which is the new school way of keeping score using a phone. I need a physical book on which I can see everything all at once. GameChanger is cool and a great new tool. I just prefer the tried and true way of keeping score. The only problem with the classic book is that rain will present a major challenge of maintaining a dry book. Pencil and paper hates rain, you dig. Other than that, it's a joy for me to sit on a bucket and score all aspects of the game and instantly be able to answer questions like "What's the score? What inning is it? Where are they [batter on the other team] in the lineup? What did he [batter on the other team] do last time?" I'm not always on point, occasionally I miss something, and sometimes I'm not sure whether I should score something an error or hit. But whether something is an error is a judgment call that has nothing to do with the way one keeps score. For the school baseball team, there's another dad using GameChanger and so we help each other out and in a way it provides a form of inter-rater reliability! It's a good mix of old school scorekeeping (relatively non-McDonaldized) and new school (relatively McDonaldized). 

On Hitting (and Missing)

What's the difference between being a hot hitter and being in a slump? Sometimes it seems small and a matter of luck. When you're going good teammates and coaches say "stay hot" and your confidence builds. The ball finds open space. A player loses their footing or makes an error. You just keep getting on base and feel like you can do no wrong.

It's kinda like teaching. I say this after a "mid" year in the classroom. I was okay. Fine. Sometimes pretty good. Other times I just couldn't find it. In batting terms I probably hit around .250. I've made up this rule that a good day of teaching is when 2/3 of my classes go well. 3/3 is a great day. I can live with 1/3. 0 for 3 is a horrible day and stays with me for a while. The semester average was probably that I got a hit once every four classes. I didn't always strike out the other times. Maybe I grounded out or a kid made a good play on me. There's a lot of factors in performance be it in a classroom or between the lines of a playing field.

I'm helping out the coach of a school baseball team this season. Some of the kids are going great at the plate, a lot of them are not. It makes sense. They haven't had a lot of reps. They spend all offseason inside doing tee work and hitting off machines. You can't replicate the ball coming off a kid's hand or how a pitcher effectively moves the ball around the plate and switches up speeds and pitches. You have to stand in the batter's box, be judicious with pitch selection, get your timing right, swing hard, connect, and even with good pitch selection, good balance, good timing and a sweet swing the ball might still find a kid's glove. 

In hitting, as with teaching, sometimes only a minor correction is required. In batting your timing might be slightly off. Your head movement might be off. Your pitch selection might need improvement. Confidence usually requires a boost. Be careful not to overcorrect. Same as in teaching. After a bad class (or classes), confidence needs a boost. You need a good class. Participation helps. Good content helps. As with hitting, be careful not to overcorrect. Expect the ups and downs. Keep your head up when you're in a slump. Keep grinding. It'll come your way soon. 

He Much Prefers the Mundane: hubs.life on TikTok

I'm relatively new to TikTok. One of the creators that comes across my feed is hubs.life (https://www.tiktok.com/@hubs.life), currently close to 500k followers. He's an interesting fella. He highlights his chill life as a daytime office worker. He doesn't complain about work. He's not doing Office Space material. He's actually promoting the pros of working for the man. Slowly he slides his laptop into his bag, and the lean man in nice fitting clothes drives to work in a nice car to a seemingly quiet work environment. Locked in, he does his thing until his one hour lunchtime. Sometimes he goes home for lunch to let his dog out and microwave his lunch. Then he heads back, locks in for a second time, and finishes his work day.

This dude presents as a happy man. He puts in a honest day's work, returns home, sits poolside, drinks a cold one, hangs with his dog, and spends time with family. A lot of the videos I've seen is him, alone, but it's not man against the world, it's not a view of life as nasty, brutish and short. Instead, it's the ordinary benefits or making money as a white-collar worker, and spending post-work hours exercising and enjoying one's castle. 

His easy breezy existence calls to mind a lyric from Courtney Barnett's perfect song Avant Gardener. After a too eventful not ideal day including a trip to the hospital in an ambulance, Barnett reflects "Should've stayed in bed today, I much prefer the mundane." Our friend hubs.life doesn't mind being out in the world. In fact, he embraces it, at least as we see it. He thrives in everyday life, soaking up the pleasures of a mundane existence. 

Skills for Healthy Romantic Relationships

Here's a 16 minute video your students in Psychology, Sociology, and related fields might like. The speaker is Dr. Joanne Davila, Professor of Psychology and the Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University (my alma mater). 

I showed this in my Sexuality & Gender course and it led to a good discussion. Dr. Davila mentions features of a healthy relationship (security, respect, good communication, feeling of being valued) and explains three skills that form the basis of what she calls "romantic competence": (1) Insight, (2) Mutuality and (3) Emotion Regulation. 

One of my favorite things that Dr. Davila says is “Mind reading is a terrible idea. It never works.” Don't expect your partner to know what you're thinking. Communicate! Mutuality is about communicating needs to each other and supporting each other. 

Dr. Davila also mentions features of unhealthy relationships: fighting so much that you can’t work things out, not being able to go to your partner for support, and contempt, criticism, hostility, violence.

John Sterling Retires

I'm a lifelong Yankees fan. I grew up watching Yankee games on WPIX, loving the banter between Phil Rizzuto and Bill White. I didn't listen to radio broadcasts until adulthood. I found radio broadcasts very comforting during my grad school years at Stony Brook University. There I was, an hour from Yankee Stadium, usually relegated to the library or my apartment studying and writing papers as a grad student in the Sociology Ph.D. program. It was then that I became familiar with the voice of John Sterling, who at that time was paired with Michael Kay. I loved their chemistry and was bummed when Kay switched to the television broadcast. But I continued to listen to the radio because Sterling was so good, and of course I enjoyed his home run calls and how he would call the end of a victory: "Thhhhhheeeeee Yankees Win!" I started listening to Sterling in my 20s and here I am in my 50s, still a huge fan. I went from listening alone to listening with my wife and kids during road trips. I'll miss his enthusiastic calls but just as much I'll miss his humor, his interactions with Suzyn Waldman, and his observations about the game. How do you explain an untimely error or a sudden slump? "That's baseball," as he liked to say. Totally agree. Sometimes you don't need a lofty or elaborate explanation. Sometimes you just express wonder about the game and appreciate what you are seeing. Sterling always conveyed his love and amazement for the game. Thank you, John. 

“We’re giving the whole Italian show”

Tom DeVito understands the NFL marketing machine. I wonder if "My son gaining sudden fame and our Italian heritage being a phenomenon" was on his 2023 bingo card. His son, Tommy DeVito, has been thrust into the starting quarterback position for the NY Giants, and is having quite a moment. His popularity shot up as soon as it became known he still lives at home with his parents. He got tagged with the amazing nickname "Danny Cutlets." It's fun to see Tommy having a moment, and he was even named NFC Offensive Player of the Week.

But getting back to Dad. Mr. DeVito is totally in on the marketing game and keeping his son's profile up for as long as possible. Speaking about the tailgate situation before a recent game against the Green Bay Packers, Mr. DeVito gave us this gem: “We’re giving the whole Italian show. It’s gonna be craziness. We’re gonna give 'em the Italian theater they’ve been asking for. Three hundred chicken cutlets, got Italian sandwiches, baked ziti, sausage and peppers, rice balls — everything Italian. I’m gonna have my guys setting up sandwiches with Italian headbands on. We got an Italian flag with Tommy’s picture on it. They’ve been begging for it. We’re gonna give it to ’em.”

Mr. DeVito sounds like he's all in for however long this lasts. Perhaps he knows the Nirvana maxim: "Here we are now, entertain us." And he's quite likely familiar with the Rocky franchise. We all like an underdog, right? Since "The Italian Stallion" was already taken, "Danny Cutlets" is pretty solid. 

I'm available if anyone needs further takes. I'm a football fan (of the Buffalo Bills, known as the only NFL team with a stadium in New York State). I'm also Italian-American, though not 100%. One German grandparent gives me my last name. The other three have something to do with my love of sauce (my family doesn't gall it gravy) and meatballs. And, yes, we like our chicken cutlets.

David Byrne on The Self, and How We're Social Animals

A few answers from the always interesting David Byrne in an interview with The New York Times.

On the self:

"Lots of other people, scientists and philosophers, think about this more than I have: Where is the difference between yourself here and here and here? Is there any continuous self? You could say you’ve retained memories from various parts of your life, but memories are very malleable. We reshape them every time we remember them. They’re not fixed. Every self you go through, you dredge something up and make it apply to whoever you are at that moment. It’s a hard thing for us to intuitively accept the idea of “self is an illusion.” It’s very Buddhist, but it’s also increasingly more scientific. It’s not just a spiritual concept. It’s also a kind of neural concept."

And our socialness:

"Well, in our culture there’s a lot of emphasis on the individual: I have a right to do this, I have a right to do that. There’s a sense that you’re making these decisions about your life or what you want to do or say and that they’re all coming from you. But they’re not! Who you are at any given moment is defined by the social context. We’re not quite ants, but we’re social animals. To pull one ant away and say, That ant decided to do that! No. We do things because we’re part of a larger community. I feel like the pendulum in our culture here has swung maybe a little too far into the individual zone — away from a sense of community. It’s all about me, me, me. That’s what you think, but everything you’re saying is coming from people around you or the internet. You’re not making this up yourself. We do some things as individuals, but a lot of things we do are socially determined. Way more than we would like to admit. I mean, we tend to look down on arranged marriages, for example, but then you look at who people connect with and you go, I could have arranged that. You think that you’ve had this freedom of choice but, well, your parents might have picked the same person for you."

Note to (Presentation of) Self

I'll be teaching about Goffman's presentation of self to students soon. I love the material, and enjoy talking with students about different examples of front stage and back stage behaviors. My go to example of impressions is a hundred years ago I went to a job interview not wearing a tie. I could see the interviewer's notes on the table. He wrote "NO TIE!!" We are always making impressions, regardless of whether we mean to. First impressions, of course. But second impressions too. Impressions always. 

Anyway...sometimes I get lost in talking about impression management and performances. This time around, I want to say more about what happens when emotions take over. When we are reacting emotionally, are we less concerned with managing impressions? In such instances, are we less deliberate about our behavior? Like when we're mad! For example, what's going on with the couple constantly arguing with each other in the neighborhood? Do they think about the possibility that their fighting shapes people's impression of them as an unhappy couple? Do they care? Whatever the case, they keep forming impressions. Or suppose a dad is jawing at another dad at a youth sports event. Something angers a parent who then speaks aggressively to the other parent. Awkward! This would be front stage bickering between two dads. In such an exchange, emotions rule the interaction. There seems to be less calculation in these kinds of interactions. So this is just a note to myself (with a few examples to consider) to talk with students about how to analyze interactions when raw emotions are a key feature, and how emotional interactions influence the impressions of audience members. 

Three Indie Rock Love Songs

Just a quick appreciation post for contemporary indie rock love songs. What are some of your favorite love songs in various genres? Here are three of my favorite indie rock love songs. 

The song "Lilacs" by Waxahatchee received a lot of play on Sirius XMU a few years ago. I love hearing it whenever it shows up in their rotation. It was on the station yesterday when I caught it. I then listened to it a few more times on YouTube. I'm a sucker for a good lyric, and this line knocks me out: "I won't end up anywhere good without you."

Another song I hear often on XMU is "True Love" by Hovvdy. The simplicity of the lyrics work for me..."You comfort me, Rosy"... and the imagery works for me too...

"Show off your new dress

Spin around for me

Like a blue sky I get up so high

You sure shine in the color

In that shade of pink"

To end with a perfect song... "Geometry" by Rubblebucket

"When you talk to me

I start to believe

I can believe in myself

When you're far out to sea in your personal hill

Draw a line to me

And I'll draw a line to you

Let's make geometry"

I just love the everyday life stuff in this song:

"I woke up thinking the same thing

What you want to do today?

I guess I'd go for a walk again

But Alex said it might be raining"

It's all so good: 

"I like you

You like me too

That's why I'm callin' on you"

These songs will be in my head all day 😍

Anti-Aging Services (Picture)

Took this picture yesterday at a stoplight in Orchard Park, NY

The True Declaration of Love

"The practice of mindfulness will help you to love properly, in such a way that harmony, freedom, and joy are possible. The true declaration of love is, "Dear one, I am here for you," because the most precious gift you can give to your loved one is your true presence, with body and mind united in solidity and freedom...

In order to love, we must be here, and then our presence will embrace the presence of the other person. Only then will they have the feeling of being loved. So you must recognize the presence of the other person with the energy of mindfulness, with the genuine presence of your body in mind in oneness." 

Excerpts from You Are Here, Thich Nhat Hanh, p. 91 and p. 93