[In other news, here’s this start of a poem]
Peace on Earth
All this time I thought it was me
When it was them
Now I’m inclined to think it was me again
So smug and slow and so wrong
When nothing changes or it takes too long
The anger rages inside
So it’s hard to believe Peace on Earth can ever be here
Though you are holding onto it so tightly
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So, are we all agreed that to mutter towards the Prime Minister, a phrase such as “Stupid Woman” or, before too long, such as “Stupid people” is now to be considered beyond the pale and illegal?
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A lovely account of this great star’s life, aspects of which sound like a fairy tale – grim but ending happily.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bqqhkw/imagine-2018-becoming-cary-grant
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When you really care about people
You want to know they’ll be alright without you
So, knowing they do well enough without you
You never see them, while
Time begins to lie heavy on you
What to do?
Get on with your life
Make new friends
Hope the tide drifts you
Toward the shores of those you miss
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She says she loves me
And she’s not lying
In this moment she’s not lying
But moments do not last
And in that moment my cruel heart
Can only ask,
She loves me and she’s not lying
But will she lie with me
So this precious moment will last a little longer?
No, moments do not last
But some rewire the brain permanently
And my sad, cruel heart has yet to learn
To pass that precious moment on
Before it burns, and burns its brightness out.
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Thanks for sharing this reminder of the true importance of poetry, Graham Henderson Presents: “The Real Percy Bysshe Shelley”, especially at a time when literature continues to be pushed to the sidelines of the latest education and exam syllabus.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichelle_Nichols
We boldly went
Where no people had gone before
And I am proud to be considered
The first African American woman
To be accepted into the regular cast
Of a populist TV show
Transported from the mid twentieth century place of my birth
To the hopeful future we dared to imagine then,
Reaching out with our hearts, minds and hopes
Using our sciences to expand into the universe
Explore those new worlds.
Communications Officer, I was in that crew
And that is a serious, hard learned skill;
I wasn’t there just to answer the phone
Show a bit of leg and defer,
I had my journey, my mission,
See my current position in the Star Fleet
Dream, work hard, aspire and follow me.
[This poem was written as a result of attending a talk by Pearl John, Public Engagement Leader for the Department of Physics and Astronomy, at the John Hansard Gallery, in which she bemoaned the low level of engagement of women with the sciences. Nichols herself, as the linked Wikipedia article explains, did much to encourage women’s involvement in space exploration.]
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| Tue 31 Jul 1Tue 31 Jul 18 11:40 Harmony Lane 1935 Musical. Director: Joseph Santley. Stars Douglass Montgomery, Evelyn Venable & Adrienne Ames. The life and loves of composer Stephen Foster who was the influence for the early Minstrel shows.8 |
This short film gives a vivid account of the life of Stephen Foster, composer of dozens of songs that will always repay reinterpretation, as, for example, James Taylor proves in his version of .
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Dr Pamela Cox does a fine job of introducing this history of people we see every day – those who have worked in shops, department stores, supermarkets, boutiques etc. I suppose most of us have done time as one of this ‘nation of shopkeepers’, with many a fond or not so fond memory.
As a customer, however, this account, with plenty of archive, reminds us all that those who serve us, with a minimum of fuss, preferably, and without pretending to be particular friends (unless, heaven help them, their customer wants them to be, or the management does) deserve our respect.
There is a twist in this tale, however, as Dr Cox concludes her otherwise faultless account by citing Margaret Thatcher as ‘the most famous shopgirl ever’.
Ah well, I shall continue to check my change and spurn unctuous displays of friendliness, quoting Biba’s founder’s principle, “Any assistant who addresses a customer with ‘Can I help you?’ gets the sack.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0485k0s
