Overheard at Booth 5: Coming Out

Fernando: I don't know, man.




Billy: Look, you're gonna have to tell your parents about us at some point.




Fernando: I was gonna wait until my birthday.




Billy: That's in January!  I was hoping we could spend Christmas together.




Fernando: I'll be 18 then and they wouldn't be able to say anything.




Billy: Well they're gonna say something no matter what age you are, especially considering I'm 40.




Fernando: [silent]




Billy: That's what's bugging you, isn't it?   It's OK. You can tell me.  I get it.  The age difference.




Fernando: Billy, they don't even know I'm GAY.  Then, to also tell them I'm in love with someone almost my dad's age.




Billy: I think your dad'll understand.   I mean, he and I have got a lot in common.  We both voted for
Obama ... TWICE!!

Overheard at Table 2: Bump Stock Review by the NRA

Heard on NPR this morning as I was moving cars at 5:15am, pundits discussing possible gun reviews in government.  They were saying that NRA was on board with a review of the bump stock.  The pundits were blithely saying that congress was trying to decide if the review would be sufficient for the NRA, as was the White House.

 

I wanted to scream at these pundits that the NRA shouldn’t get to choose.   They shouldn’t even have a say.

 

Here’s the deal: a government, when working properly, exists to protect the citizens.

The NRA does not exist to protect the citizens.  The NRA exists to protect guns.  Period.

When it comes to protecting the citizens and guns, if those two come into conflict, then government is required to side with the citizens and the NRA can side with guns.   Government, being the stronger entity (again: when working properly), should have the final say and determine the best path forward to protect the citizens.

 

Since the government cannot make a coherent, rational decision, without sticking out its tongue and wagging like a dog begging at the master’s table, it is time to remove government and install one that will protect the citizens.   We will do this by making our voices heard and by voting wisely.

 

To accomplish this: We must call each of our federal representatives, daily.

Second: we must educate ourselves on candidates, every one.  We must vote in every election.  We must encourage others to vote in every election, at every level, and for others to be educated on every candidate, every topic.

 

Yes this may sound inconvenient, but remember, the next concert you go to, or that your children go to, it could be your brain that’s blown out by a madman’s bullet.  Or your teenage daughter’s.   Her skull could be smashed to pieces so badly that you would only be able to identify her by the shape of her jaw or the birthmark on her shoulder.   And, knowing that you could have spoken up, knowing that you could have said something, done something, but didn’t, then, at that time, you can accept some measure of culpability.

Poem: Mandalay

Mandalay

Even as I lie with you

side by side,
here, in this bed,
there are shots being fired,
thousands of rounds of ammunition,
from a 32^nd story window in Las Vegas,
into a crowd of tourists attending
a country music festival,
but we do not hear the rounds,
we do not hear the cries,
we do not hear the sirens.

We are asleep.

But we will awake to the news
in the light of day,
and then we will have a choice to make.








MR
2017-1002

Bernhoft "Fly Away"

They say it's a place called Lydverket, but it's really one of the two interior stages at the Zen & Tao Acoustic Café!


Enjoy! ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQd4go1ESvM

Overheard at Table 3: Tales of Harvey: Song of Roland

Mack: People should sing songs about you, dude!

Roland: I wouldn't go THAT far.

Mack: Seriously, you got out in your boat and you were rescuing people.

Roland: So was everyone who had a boat.

Mack: Kris and I are really proud of you.  You are a hero.  A true hero.

Roland: Everyone was out there.  It's just a good thing so many people around here have boats.

Overread at Table 2: from "Leaves of Autumn"

Leaves of Autumn

These were the days after the hurricane.

Summer left, limping, with a broken wing.

We swept what was left of the water from the concrete porch

into the grass, to wend its way through the smooth stones

into the French drain,

                and disappear eventually, to the front of the house.

Every night, around dusk,

                we walk together, barefoot, toward the mailbox

                halfway down the block.

Hand in hand (most days), we

walk in silence,

                breathing in the late afternoon;

it is as if, those days, we measure the movement of the

summer heat.  Our lungs are the daily barometer, the heaviness of

                the humid Houston air.

With the advent of September, and the eventual creeping earlier

                of dusk, the sun leaves us a few seconds, earlier each day,

                we pull the mail from the box:  

                People en Español, Cinco Hill Review, the assorted

                varieties of medical bills,

we are what was left when August no longer was.

MR

2017-0906

Overheard at Table One: Tales of Harvey

The pastor tells the story of the man he met at the Cinco Hill High School, a 60-plus year old man, who had just had open heart surgery five weeks before.  House flooded.  Now he's on a cot in the high school auditorium, along with other people, and other families.

The Pastor:  "I asked him if he wanted us to arrange a host family for him, and he said that the school had already said that they had a lead on something, and anyway, he was all right where he was.  I went back the next day, and saw him still there.  He smiled super-wide and said 'I got adopted!'

"Just then I saw this little Latino walk in, with a son about 7 or 8 years old.   They brought her over.  She was the host family.  During the conversation, she said, 'He doesn't have any grandparents here.'

"Even in the middle of this tragedy, there ARE beautiful things that come out of the storm.   Families and friendships being formed that would never have been formed before.  And THAT is the working of God for good in the world."