Month / January 2012

by crmayes

Martin Luther King Jr Day

DRUM MAJOR FOR A DREAM 23
Now that he is safely dead 
Let us praise him 
Build monuments to his glory 
Sing hosannas to his name
Dead men make 
Such convenient heroes. 
They cannot rise
To challenge the images
We wouldfashion from their lives 
And besides,
It is easier to build monuments 
Than to make a better world. 
So, now that he is safely dead
We, with eased consciences 
Will teach our children 
That he was a great man … knowing 
That the cause for which he lived
Is still a cause
And the dream for which he died Is still a dream,
A dead man’s dream.
– CARL WENDELL HIMES JR.
by crmayes

Top Nine Albums of 2011

In no particular order…

9. A. A. Bondy – Believers

8. The Antlers – Burst Apart

7. Frank Fairfield – Frank Fairfield

6. Monster Rally – Coral

5. Delta Spirit – History From Below

4. Scott and Charlene’s Wedding – Para Vista Social Club

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=1653859896/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

3. Tom Waits – Bad As Me 

2. Low – C’mon

1. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

Notable exclusions due to conflicts of interest…

The Atlas Mountains – A Splendid Diagnosis 

http://noisetrade.com/service/sharewidget/?id=9c283a5d-7ac8-4734-84d8-c0962cbf7b73

Plastic Palace Alice – Like A Light

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=2603030190/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

Oh and…

The Wild Frontier – Friends as Lovers

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=1196187972/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

by crmayes

Bonhoeffer on Wasted Years

Yesterday I heard someone say he felt the last years have been completely wasted as far as he was concerned. I have never felt like that, not even for a moment. Nor have I ever regretted my decision in the summer of 1939,* and strange as it may seem, I am convinced that my life has followed a straight and even course, at any rate so far as its outward circumstances are concerned. It has been an uninterrupted enrichment of my experience, for which I can only be thankful. If I should end my days here like this, that would have a meaning I could understand. On the other hand my time here may be a thorough preparation for a fresh start, for a new job of work when peace comes again… 

 From Letters and Papers From Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, April 11th 1944.
*Bonhoeffer’s decision to return from the US to Germany.