For John: I Turn Around - 1978

Blue-eyed days' domain
brilliantly, defiantly directing
heat from a distance
very close.
You drive away
into the city,
I reflect upon
the kindest eyes
I have ever looked into,
the warmest brown.

I believe lapis blue skies color
comes second
after all these years
to the color of your eyes
and all I can see is you.

I have azure sunshine,
hot pearl days,
storms with thunder,
friends laughter,
dogs to dance my smiles,
music to embrace my spirit,
and the essence of summer.

Yet, I turn around
and all I want to see is you.

White Bird, by It's a Beautiful Day

White Bird
In a golden cage
On a winter's day
In the rain
White bird
In a golden cage
Alone
The leaves blow
Cross the long black road
To the darkened skies
In its rageBut the white bird
Just sits in her cage
Unknown.
White bird must fly
Or she will die
White bird
Dreams of the aspen tree
With their dying leaves
Turning goldBut the white bird
Just sits in her cage
Growing old.
White bird must fly
Or she will die
White bird must fly
Or she will die
The sunsets come
The sunsets go
The clouds Float by
And The Earth
Turns slow
And the Young Birds Eyes
Do always Glow
And She must fly
She must fly
She must fly
White bird
In a golden cage
On a winter's day
In the rainWhite bird
In a golden cage
Alone
White bird must fly
Or she will die
White bird must fly
Or she will die
White bird must fly
Or she will die
White bird must fly

It's A Beautiful Day was a band formed on a beautiful day in San Francisco in 1967, and was the brainchild of violinist and vocalist David LaFlamme. The debut album, the self-titled It's A Beautiful Day, was released in 1969. The band was a latecomer in the psychedelic scene, often considered to be one of the "second wave" bands that emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area.

The band's first album featured tracks like "White Bird" (which quickly became a hit song), "Hot Summer Day" and "Time Is". The vocals and violin playing of David LaFlamme plus Pattie Santos' singing drew a huge following in the Bay Area.

March 6, 1975

I am thinking of Richmond, Ky., and being there today with spring just days away. The warmth of the sun reminding me of the days there with David, on Woodland Avenue. We made trips to Boonesboro Beach, trips into fantasies, and trips into ourselves. I miss David today, and I think of him often.

David Carter, you steal my control, my rationality. You are so damn beautiful to me. I'll never know why I left you, and why I waited so long, too long, to come back.

I went to David's house today - Colleen was at the door when it opened. "Hello, I'm Sarah," I said. "I used to go with David, I just wondered how he is doing?"

"Your Sarah Goodwin?", she asked, knowing of me.

"Yes."

"He's fine - he'll graduate in June."

"Oh, well tell him hello for me."

If she only knew how I feel when I see David, she would not have been so polite.

I will try to find him still...

My Daughter 2006

My Son 2006

Conrad is on the right!

Reflecting on 1964

My blog earlier today using Barry Goldwater's quote, and reflecting that he was a conservative candidate in 1964, made me think back to that year. I was in 9th grade at the beginning of that year at Morton Junior High School in Lexington, Kentucky, and pretty much saw politics through my parents' lens. He may have seemed radical to some then, but he represented a separation of government from other areas like religion and personal choice which liberals have always promoted.

But back to Spring 1964: After school my friends and I used to walk down to Chevy Chase to a dive that served grilled buttered french toast and we would douse this crispy bread with spicy mustard. We would sing Leslie Gore's "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" and shimmied in unison along Tates Creek Road. My first boyfriend was Johnny Johnson and we sat next to each other in typing class - "Johnny Angel" was a popular song at the same time, so I would sing along to the 45 on my record player.

A lot happended in this school year, like John F. Kennedy's assasination in Fall 1963. I was sitting in the library at school when an announcement came over the loudspeaker: "the President of the United States has been shot."

My sister Deedie was navigating her first college experiences and had an apartment in Chevy Chase - a studio - and she would let me come down and visit her - I think it was during this time, but might have been slightly later. My Mom and Dad - Sue and Rodger - were putting a lot of time into Kentucky Ornamental Iron to build the business they had bought just a couple of years earlier. We always had dinner together, and my Dad would work again at night and my Mom and I would watch Peyton Place on TV.

This is about the time I started following the Lexington band the Magnificent Seven, a white guys' blues and rock band. Larry Orr was the lead singer, and I was totally crazy for him when he sang "Try a Little Tenderness." For the next three years through high school I was the band's biggest groupie.

I liked the Beatles that year, but a group called the Rolling Stones was capturing my attention with "Time Is on My Side." And Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" was making me think. And the Animals "House of the Rising Sun" was making me feel. With the Viet Nam war going stronger, civil rights starting to heat up, and a hint of the women's movement in the air, I was on the verge of starting my life-long pursuit of justice, politics, philosophy and art - I just didn't realize it yet.

Here you go: Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness":

oh she may be weary
them young girls they do get wearied
wearing that same old miniskirt dress
but when she gets weary
you try a little tenderness
oh man that
un hun
hi know shes waiting
just anticipating
the thing that youl never never possess
no no nobut while she there waiting
try just a little bit of tenderness
thats all you got to do
now it might be a little bit sentimental no
but she has her greavs and care
but the soft words they are spoke so gentle
yeah yeah yeahand it makes it easier to bear
oh she wont regret it
no nothem young girls they dont forget it
love is their whole happiness
yeah yeha yeahbut its all so easy
all you got to do is trytry a little tenderness
yeah
damn that hart (hard?)
all you got to do is know how to love her
you've got tohold her
squeeze hernever leave her
now get to her
got got got to try a little tenderness
yeah yeahlord have mercy now
all you got to do is take my advice
you've got to hold her
don't squeeze her
never leave her
you've got to hold her
and never
so you got to try a little tenderness
a little tendernessa little tenderness
a little tenderness
you've got togot to got to
you've gotta hold her
don't squeeze her
never leaver heryou got
got got got tonow now now
got got got to
try a little tenderness

More later.

Goldwater on religion and political pressure

In the book by Richard Dawkins called "The God Delusion" he uses a quote from Barry Goldwater in 1981 [past presidential candidate, and when I was in 9th grade I supported him for the presidency]:

"There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religous beliefs. There is not more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their positions 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are?And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convications to all Americans in the name of conservatism."
Dawkins says in his new book published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2006, "The religious views of the Founding Fathers are of great interest to propagandists of today's American right, anxious to push their version of history. Contrary to their view, the fact that the United States was not founded as a Christian nation was clearly stated in the terms of a treaty with Tripoli, drafted in 1796 under George Washington and signed by John Adams in 1797."