Who can forget the horrible imagine of New Orleans seven years ago today? I know I never will. I spent the entire night up flipping between news channels as Katrina advanced upon the city. Anderson Cooper, bless him, stood inside the storm longer than the other anchors as I recall, nearly being blown over at times to keep everyone informed. And at the end of it we all breathed a sigh of relief. The eye of Katrina had not hit the city as everyone had feared and it was not the Category 4 or 5 that some had feared it would be....and then...
The city's levee systems failed and we all watched in a sickened sort of horror as the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas were engulfed in water. And no one came. For days the people left in the city were abandoned, dying of dehydration and drowning, and everybody talked...but no...one...came.
The problems began before the storm hit. There were many people in the city who stayed because they did not have the money or the transportation to get out. There was an offer to bring in trains to get people out and the mayor of the city said no. Without consulting the people, without asking anyone, Nagen said no. That is what makes me so angry about those who have said in the last seven years that the people were stupid for not leaving. How do you leave when you have no way to go? That was the first way that the people were failed but god knows it was not the last. I could focus this entire post on the crap that took place in the days that followed, the way that Bush flew over the city and saw the people on the bridge begging for help and waited two more days to send in supplies, the way that FEMA fucked everyone, the way that people were shot dead for trying to take food and water for themselves and their families...
Watch that. It's a youtube video, a documentary, made by people who stayed behind with people who stayed behind. There are other documentaries like this and that is what I advise you to watch. Not what the media puts out but things done by those who were there, those who have nothing to cover up. I am only twenty-five but in my life this is the biggest atrocity I have seen in America. Not just the storm, not just the flooding, but the complete lack of give-a-damn that was shown toward the people of New Orleans. They say 1,500 people died. I don't believe that. I think the number was much higher. There are still people who never found the remains of their loved ones. How could they get a death toll on something like that?
Seven years later the city is still not whole again. Seven months before Katrina we were one of the first nations to respond to the Tsunami that hit Asia but this is the way we treated our own people right here in the United States of America? The truth was so distorted in so many ways in the media. You had reporters like Anderson Cooper and the man on Fox News (I believe it was Fox) trying to tell the world what was happening and no one would let them speak. No one would give them answers either. The truth is, no one in office gave a damn. Most of the people, American citizens, that died did not die because of the storm. They died because of the heat and the lack of water. But yet we can do drops to foreign nations immediately. I can't forgive that. And I wasn't even there.
So why do I care so much? Well besides the fact that I cannot stand injustice and human suffering, New Orleans is the hometown of my soul. I belong there. I have felt that way for most of my life. I should be there. Not in Ohio. But life dealt me hands I did not anticipate. I haven't given up my dream. I will get there. Yes, I know that during Katrina New Orleans wasn't the only place that suffered. But no where else was like New Orleans. My heart still goes out to EVERYONE...but it wasn't like New Orleans.
As I sat last night watching Isaac's progress on CNN I had the most terrible feeling of deja vu. Even though we knew it wouldn't be as big or bad as Katrina, knowing that seven years before I had been sitting around doing the same thing, watching the same channel, as Katrina came in was almost overwhelming. Today I awoke to the news that the Parishes outside of the city had been flooded and I was happy to see that people were responding quickly to get folks to safety but I was pissed off by the way that the reporters kept talking about the people underestimating the storm...only one Louisiana city was told to evacuate. The rest were told to hunker down. Again, it seems like the people will be blamed for any damage that is done, any suffering they endure. And in that way history will repeat itself.
Pray for the people who were lost seven years ago. Pray for the people suffering tonight, displaced from their homes again by the force of Mother Nature, and never forget what happened in the Gulf during those terrible days of Katrina. But be grateful that Isaac was not as bad.
I think the headlines of the past week or so have been enough to make anyone's head spin. The whole stink made over Akin's comments, the information about the bill that Paul Ryan sponsored with Akin which I (and a few others) view as a rapist's bill of rights, the hurricane headed toward Florida that has changed direction and is now headed toward my beloved New Orleans just in time for the seventh anniversary of Katrina (Yes, for anyone who doesn't know...I am obsessed with that city. It's like the city of my soul...the place I have always felt I belonged, but I've never laid eyes on it.), and today the comments from the ignorant GOP candidate in Pennsylvania that compared becoming pregnant because of rape to having a child out of wedlock....It's enough to make a person scream....or to make them fight. I am someone who likes the fighting approach even if my actions actually produce little in the way of results just so I feel as if I am doing something to stop the madness. My facebook page this past week has been very active. I re-post everything that I think is important, all of the bullshit that is said against human rights, women's rights, etc. by candidates and by those already in office. Sometimes I piss people off. I don't care. I have facebook friends of many different walks of life, many different religious and political views, friends from all over the world. When they post things that I don't agree with, I scroll past it. Why? Because I don't like to argue with people over issues. I would rather argue with politicians, for instance, over political issues or stupid things they've said than argue with a person I like because we have different views on these issues. I am one of few with that philosophy apparently. However, that won't make me stop posting. My body is a piece of crap that just doesn't work as I wish it would. It's far weaker than my spirit. As a result of that, I often end up missing things like protests. So my facebook posts, while largely overlooked I am sure, are my way of having a voice in all of this. And I won't silence it to pacify facebook friends or anyone else. Like I said, although I doubt anyone pays attention to it, it's really all I have to make me feel as if I am doing something instead of laying down and letting the GOP walk all over me. Having said that...here's my opinion on some of the stuff that's happened this past week: The Akin "scandal" If you missed it, Rep. Todd Akin proceeded to "enlighten" the world about how a woman can't get pregnant in cases of "legitimate" rape because her body just "shuts the whole thing down". What he said is wrong and completely ignorant. But I don't get why everyone took notice considering the fact that this is the kind of crap that's been said over and over again since the beginning of 2011 by members of the GOP. We had one politican compare a woman being forced to carry and give birth to a still born baby long after it had died in her womb because of abortion restrictions to a cow giving birth to a dead calf, we have 31 states that allow a rapist to sue for parental rights....hell, all the way back to 1990 we had jack asses like Clayton Williams telling women to lay back and enjoy rape. This bullshit isn't new, this is NOT an isolated case. This is one of many many attacks on women, on abortion, on birth control that we've seen from this party. Which leads me straight to.... Paul Ryan co-sponsoring a bill with Akin This bill would ban ALL abortions, all contraceptives, and even invetro-fertilization by granting an egg personhood rights (one of the dumbest concepts I have ever heard in my life!) It also gives rapists a boat load of rights to the children they conceive during rape. And this is coming from Mitt Romney's VP. No, there's no war on women at all, folks. No connection between Romney and Akin either. None at all.
Aren't they chummy? By the way, the name of that bill is the Right to Life bill in case you want to check it out on your own sometime. Tom Smith, a GOP candidate from Pennsylvania, decided to spend his Monday enlightening the world on how a child conceived in rape is much like a child conceived out of wedlock. When asked how he would approach the situation if his daughter were raped, how he would tell her she had to keep the baby, he said he went through a similar situation and his daughter chose the right thing, to have the baby. When asked how the situation was similar, he answered that she was pregnant and not married.... In case you missed it (and I am sure you did because I really haven't heard much about it in the mainstream today) here's the story: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/08/27/751971/pennsylvania-gop-senate-candidate-getting-pregnant-from-rape-is-similar-to-having-a-baby-out-of-wedlock/?mobile=nc At the bottom there is a sound clip and you can actually listen to him say all of this. And you can hear him try to backtrack like a motherfucker when he was pressed harder on the comparison.
Now this was President Obama's reaction to Akin's comments:
Why would I EVER vote for Romney and Ryan? As a 25 year old poor woman who is very sick and has no health care, as someone who would fight for a woman's freedom, for the freedom of others as well, no matter what...why the hell would I vote for men who PROMISE to take away all of the things our foremothers and forefathers fought so damned hard for? I would have to be a fool. Speaking of fools... Get this. In the state of Arizona a woman is now legally pregnant two weeks before she actually conceives. And this completely retarded piece of horse shit? Signed into law by a woman. Yep, god bless America. :) http://www.examiner.com/article/arizona-law-pregnancy-starts-2-weeks-before-conception
And all of this...every one of the above headlines...has all occurred since my last blog post. Akin is one of many. Let's put everyone's dirty laundry from the GOP out there as Akin's was put out. Let's tell the truth on ALL of it. Isolated incident my ass. Men trying to destroy a woman's freedom, men trying to redefine rape, even on politician who made the remark that women don't even know what rape is....this wasn't an isolated incident. It's the agenda, the platform, of the entire GOP party. Oh, and in addition to all that, did you guys happen to catch Romney's comments on financial aid? You can have the amount of schooling you can pay for. Why does he feel this way? Because women and poor people need to stay in their place and the GOP is hell bent on taking away any option we have to do anything to advance beyond poverty and the kitchen. And yet so many women, so many poor people, continue to defend them like slaves defending Jefferson Davis just...because...they are not Obama. Make sense to you because it sure as hell doesn't make a bit of sense to me!
Now, on a completely different note....Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to become Hurricane Isaac in no time, is most likely going to hit New Orleans either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Wednesday is the 7th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina which also began as a tropical storm headed for Florida that changed course and became a hurricane before touching down in New Orleans so I, and many others I am sure, am experiencing a very unpleasant deja vu sensation right now. I plan to do a post Wednesday about that terrible event so I won't say too much about New Orleans and that storm now. What I will say is that regardless of who you pray to please pray for New Orleans, that the people get out safe, and that the damage, if it hits, will be very little. The people there have suffered enough, they've lost enough, and that wound is still so fresh. The city itself has lost enough. It is too precious, too beautiful, to be lost or to endure anymore. There is no other city in this country like Nawlins, baby. Whether people realize it or not, we need its Southern charm. So pray that it's safe, that the people and the pets are safe.
Woodstock 1969 has successfully held its own for the past forty-three years as one of the most, if not the most, iconic moment in rock history. It started out like many of the festivals of the time. Three days of music with 200,000 tickets up for grabs making that the maximum amount of people that would show up. There was some trouble getting the bands lined up and, more importantly, finding a place to have it but by August 14th everything was in order for the show. By the time the first band took the stage the next day it was apparent that there were far more people there than those who had purchased tickets and eventually, when the flow of the crowd could not be stopped, the concert became a free show that was witnessed by a crowd of anywhere from 400,000 to 500,000 people. In a field in a small town in New York half a million people sat through rain, lack of food and water at times, a scare with brown acid (It wasn't poison though...Wavy Gravy assured everyone of that...and of course it could be tried but perhaps one should only take half a tab), and less than great conditions with the "portable outhouses" to see some of the greatest bands of the time take the stage and to experience something that could never be recreated (no matter how many times MTV tried). Why was it so big? I mean, it wasn't the only show of its kind as far as the length and the bands went. It ended up being free, yes, but it didn't start out that way. The set up was much the same as Monterey two years before it. Was it because so many people were there to witness it, people who eventually had children and then grandchildren that got to hear the stories of those magical three and a half days in Bethel, New York? Maybe. Was it because it was perhaps the last beautiful moment of the '60's and the hippie era in many respects? Could be. But I, for one, don't watch the film or read the stories or look at the pictures and wonder why it was so beautiful, so amazing. I just accept that it was. For one weekend a half a million kids stoned on drugs of all types had themselves a great fucking time and they hurt no one. Half a million people shared a field and instead of battling when things got tough they stuck together. To me, that and the amazing music is all that matters. I wasn't at the show...at least not in this life. But in a way it changed my life. You see the title of this blog? The 'hippie' might have never been a part of it, and of me, if I hadn't been flipping through channels in June of 1999 and paused for just a moment on a woman singing in such a way that I hit record immediately to capture whatever it was that was on. The woman, of course, was Janis Joplin and the show that was on was the last forty minutes of Woodstock the Director's Cut. That day, in that moment, two important things happened to me. I fell in love with Janis and I decide that hippies, those strange people I had heard about all of my life but had never watched before, were MY kind of people. The clothes, the music, the fact that all of them were fucking crazy enough to go sleep in a field to hear bands they loved...to my twelve year old mind they were the coolest group of people I had ever laid eyes on. And I wanted more. In time I would find many bands of that time that I love. I would get everything Janis Joplin ever put out. I would fall in love with Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. And I would write a book about that time and about the fall of its ideals, a book I am still trying to get published and will, I think, one day (hopefully soon). And when I do, any success I ever have from it will all be traced back to that one day when I was looking for something to watch and I found a moment in time that has touched the lives of more than the half a million people who were there.
I had planned on posting the links to the version of Woodstock, The Director's Cut that I had found on youtube but unfortunately it's been removed. However, if you don't mind watching it very small, I did find a link for a blog post that has the show embedded in its entirety. So, if you are interested, the link is http://youandianddominoes.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/woodstock-the-directors-cut-documental-online/
If you don't want to see the whole show, I will post some videos of what, to me, where the greatest bands that played starting with Canned Heat's Going Up the Country:
I saved the best for last. ;) Yep, thirteen years later and I am still quite partial to that performance. What can I say? Normal people with normal lives never forget the moment they met their first love. I will take to my grave the first time I saw Janis Joplin sing Work Me Lord at Woodstock with every bit as much fondness and love. haha Eventually everyone at the show went home and reality came to the whole scene in many ways. Altamont, the deaths of the three of the biggest names in the music scene, the deaths of many more to drugs, the war, and dreams that couldn't be maintained for long, and the truth that until the whole world hopped on the bus there was no way to make a moment like Woodstock last beyond that weekend. BUT for three days there was true magic, music, peace, and a fucking rocking good time. So no matter what people might think of it all now, it was not wasted and it will never be forgotten. :)
This is going to be a rant. If you are not interested in hearing me rant I completely understand and I hope that next week I will have a lighter topic for you all. But this happy hippie witch has had it up to her pointed hat with hypocrites. Hypocrites in the government (local, state, and federal), hypocrites in the many many factions that have formed in this country...hypocrites all over the damned place. I have...had...it! What started this? Well, many things actually. Seeing the hypocritical bullshit over and over again, particularly in the past two years, but today, specifically, it was this (taken fromhttp://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/09/662851/missouri-right-to-pray-amendment-will-allow-creationists-to-refuse-to-study-evolution/?mobile=nc
Earlier this week, Missouri’s Amendment 2 ballot measure — dubbed the “right to pray” amendment — passed the state legislature with 83 percent of the vote. The amendment’s backers claim it puts important protections in place for Missouri’s Christians, who they say are often “public targets” despite the fact that Christians currently represent 80 percent of the state’s population.
The ballot language said the amendment will ensure religious liberty by allowing Missouri school children to express their beliefs openly in school and permitting state-funded schools to publicly display the Bill of Rights, both expressions that are already protected. In advance of the vote, the American Civil Liberties Union called the summary on the ballot “misleading because all people in Missouri currently enjoy very robust protections of their religious liberties” under both the state constitution and the U.S. Constitution.
Amendment 2 isn’t simply a superfluous reinforcement of existing protections, however. Although the ballot summary did not explicitly mention the section of the amendment that far oversteps the precedent of the separation between church and state, the “right to pray” amendment will also allow students to refuse to participate in any school assignments they believe violate their religious beliefs.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that advocacy and legal groups are already gearing up to fight against the new amendment:
“This was misleading in its presentation and possibly unconstitutional in its application, so now we’re headed for the courts,” said Karen Aroesty of the Anti-Defamation League of Missouri and Southern Illinois. “We’ll let the next branch of the democratic process do its part, and I suspect a case will be on file pretty soon.”
Critics have warned the amendment will indeed open the door to taxpayer-funded lawsuits.
“This is going to be a nightmare for school districts, which will end up getting sued by individuals on both sides of church-state debate,” said Alex Luchenitser, associate legal director for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. “This is the most far-out constitutional amendment we’ve seen in the church-state area.”
The ACLU warns that giving students the power to reject any part of their academic assignments represents a “truly profound change in educational law” that will “adversely affect the quality of education in Missouri.” However, it is filing suit over yet another problematic aspect of the far-reaching law: while the amendment strengthens religious protections for students in state-funded schools and legislators on government property, it actually lessens the religious freedom of the state’s inmates, stripping prisoners of their state constitutional protections for religious expression.
States like Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, and Missouri have also moved toward allowing students to pursue religiously-based education in public schools, such as creationism or intelligent design in science classes. Louisiana’s Department of Education is currently under fire for funneling state funds into religious schools with Bible-based curricula.
So what does this have to do with hypocrites? Great question. Most of the fuckers pushing for the removal of science from SCIENCE classes in PUBLIC schools are the same fuckers who want to throw the constitution in every body's faces when they imagine up a new gun control law that hasn't even be actually...ya know...mentioned by lawmakers. Ok...correct me if I am wrong but our constitution was set up to protect American citizens from their nation being ruled by ANY religion, correct? That whole separation of church and state thing? Also, if I am not mistaken, if you want your children to be taught religion instead of science are there not options like home schooling and private Christian schools? I thought so. Now, I do not own a gun. I do not like guns. I will never ever own one because for me, personally, they are a risk I do not want to take. However, I completely support the right of others in this nation to keep their guns. (With the exception of semi-automatic weapons. There is no reason to have those for personal use ever.) There are many reasons why I support this including the fact that the reason why this was so important to our forefathers was because they had lived under English rule and they knew that when only the government and people associated with the government had guns, the balance of power was tipped in the favor of government and they never wanted that. And...oh yes...I am NOT a hypocrite who only takes out what I like from the constitution while denying or stripping away rights disregarding the parts that do not interest me.
Now, let's look at this bullshit in Missouri from a practical stand point. If the children in the state hope to go to college, do you know how hard that will be when they are attempting to do college biology ( a required course) without any knowledge of evolution and high school biology? And if they decide to be psych majors like yours truly, after they finish their standard biology class they can then look forward to two bio-psychology classes and a class in evolutionary psychology. And that is just to get your bachelor's. If they want to be medical doctors? Good luck with that. The concept of taking out real scientific knowledge for religion, anybody's religion, turns my stomach. If I walked into my child's science class and I heard the teacher telling my kid how the Goddess danced around and created the cosmos, I would have my kid out of there before you can say 'Blessed be'. Because even if that is part of the general creation myth for Wiccans, it has no business in a classroom. Neither do Bible teachings. Hell, science can back up magic. Yes, yes it can. Physics tells us that there are billions of particles of energy floating around in the universe that has no purpose and if you find a way to direct it, you can use it. So, find a way to direct it and...Viola! You have a spell. No shit. But that doesn't mean that I want my high-school kid taught physics in that way. Because that is a personal choice I expect any kid I raise to make on their own when they become old enough. Not only that, in an academic setting such knowledge cannot be applied in the future. Therefore, it has no purpose in a PUBLIC school. In addition to all of this, even if they have no plans to allow an option where the creation myth is taught in place of evolution in a public school, even if it is just that the kids can opt out of the class....do you think colleges are going to allow them such an option when they try to work on degrees? Hell no. So by allowing, encouraging, or demanding that your child not learn about evolution, a very important part of biology which is a science they will need in higher education settings, you are doing harm to your kid's future. And by a state allowing this they have crossed the line between church and state...a line that is very clearly drawn in a document that apparently those who shout about it the loudest don't actually give a fuck about, and to the detriment of the kids attempting to get an education.
I am not "moral" in the traditional sense. I do not give a damn what a person does with his or her sex life so long as no one is getting hurt and it doesn't directly affect me. I am not bothered by who a person loves. I think cussing is the second language I was born to be fluent in, I don't stay in my place, and you will never see me at church every Sunday. I have but one thing that guides me morally. That whatever you do in this life is your business as long as you don't intentionally hurt someone. And I stand by that with everything I am. I do not break it. And I will not stand by and watch as it is broken by someone else, even if the bending or breaking of that rule would somehow be to my advantage. (Say, for instance, that it was suddenly decided that writers would control everything in the nation the way fat cat bankers currently do...that some people would starve, others would die from lack of insurance, because they were not writers. I would not participate in nor would I stand back and watch that even though this new rule would put me on top) I don't expect that the entire world think like me. That would be fucking scary. Nor do I expect everyone to stick to their guns one hundred percent of the time. My sense of justice (right and wrong) is very strong. I can't help it. However, when you are constantly being a fucking hypocrite, when you don't even believe the bullshit you are saying or supporting, but you are doing it because it goes along with someone else's agenda? I have no more patience left for that shit. That thinking is literally destroying fifty years worth of progress that was gained through blood, sweat, and tears because somehow somewhere along the way people got it in their heads that hate should become the force that drives them. Why?
People like me? We don't want to take away your rights. We just want our own rights upheld as they are supposed to be. The major backtracking slowly into the beginning of the 20th century now that we've done in two short years is disgusting. We are back to women having to fight to be equal, we are still watching homosexuals fight like hell to be treated like every other homosapien, and now we are back to 1930 trying to justify why science should be taught in a science class? Of course...why not destroy science altogether? That would be even better for the narrow minded, wouldn't it? It is the link that proves we are, as humans, the same more or less (at least in DNA...though there are slight variances of course), it taught us the scientific answers for the superstitions that controlled people once, and it single-handedly provided proof for things like evolution while the theory of religion alone has presented the same lack of proof throughout the centuries. But for me, that's ok. I have my scientific knowledge and my religious soul. I can have both. Millions of others in America pull it off too. If you cannot, perhaps you should start questioning your faith in God instead of trying to destroy what a child needs to know to succeed in life. Because the reason I can have both is that I am very firm in my religious beliefs. To me, anyone secure with their path would not feel this damned threatened by facts. So work your own shit out. And lay off education. Because it is through education as a whole that lives are changed for the better.
Have a beautiful week, blogger people. And again, I hope to have something lighter for next week's chat. :)
I think this song is highly appropriate for this topic. Not the imagery. That was Manson getting attention from the people who, at that time, were standing outside his shows telling everyone coming in that they were going to hell. No...for the chorus that seems to so perfectly sum up the current mood. :) 'Do you love your guns, god, and government...fuck yeah!'
It's officially August, folks. In the last week I was nearly unable to start my new class, my jump drive broke with my final on it, my cousin nearly died, and I have contracted a sinus infection in the middle of summer. Do I see this as a sign that the bad juju of August started early? You betcha! lol But I'm still holding out hope...hope that the blue moon coming at the end of this month will somehow spread good vibes into these days typically not known (in my world anyway) for having luck of the good variety. Miracles happen once in a blue moon, right? Well, I am hoping that turns out to be more than a mere expression. Today in the northern hemisphere Wiccans (most Pagans actually...as far as I know) are celebrating both the first full moon of the month and Lammas/Lughnasadh. Technically speaking, this is the half way point between summer and fall. This is the first of three harvest festivals (Lughnasadh, Mabon, and Samhain) and in the days of old it was the festival of Lugh, the Celtic God of the sun. Christians eventually adopted the day and renamed it Lammas. Here is a little more information about the day coming fromhttp://wicca.com/celtic/akasha/lammas.htm: At Lammas, sometimes called Lughnasadh, it's time to celebrate the first harvest of the year, and recognize that the hot summer days will soon come to an end. The plants of spring wither and drop seeds to ensure future crops. Grains are ready to be harvested and the fruits are ripe for picking. We can give thanks for the food on our tables. Lughnasadh means the funeral games of Lugh (pronounced Loo), referring to Lugh, the sun god. However, the funeral is not his own, but the funeral games he hosts in honor of his foster-mother Tailte. For that reason, the traditional Tailtean craft fairs and Tailtean marriages (which last for a year and a day) are also celebrated at this time.
As autumn begins, the Celtic Sun God enters his old age, but is not yet dead. The God symbolically loses some of his strength as the Sun rises farther in the South each day and the nights grow longer.
The Christian religion adopted this theme and called it 'Lammas ', meaning 'loaf-mass ', a time when newly baked loaves of bread are placed on the altar. An alternative date around August 5 (Old Lammas), when the sun reaches 15 degrees Leo, is sometimes employed by Covens.
Traditional Foods:Apples, Grains, Breads and Berries.
Special Activities:As summer passes, many Pagans celebrate this time to remember its warmth and bounty in a celebrated feast shared with family or Coven members. Save and plant the seeds from the fruits consumed during the feast or ritual. If they sprout, grow the plant or tree with love and as a symbol of your connection with the Lord and Lady. Walk through the fields and orchards or spend time along springs, creeks, rivers, ponds and lakes reflecting on the bounty and love of the Lord and Lady.
So dance, feast, and be merry today. Be grateful for the gifts of the first harvest, whatever form it may take in your life, and look forward to the beautiful season of autumn. If August is usually a bad month for you as it is for me and other people I know, try to smile anyway. Who knows, maybe this year it will surprise us. Have a beautiful week everyone!
The Rigs O'Barley By Robert Burns:
It was upon a Lammas night, When corn rigs are bonnie, Beneath the moon's unclouded light, I held away to Annie: The time flew by wi' tentless heed Till 'tween the late and early, Wi' sma' persuasion, she agreed To see me thro' the barley. Corn rigs, an' barley rigs, An' corn rigs are bonnie: I'll ne'er forget that happy night, Amang the rigs wi' Annie.
The sky was blue, the wind was still, The moon was shining clearly: I set her down, wi' right good will, Amang the rigs o' barley: I ken't her heart was a' my ain: I lov'd her most sincerely; I kiss'd her owre and owre again, Amang the rigs o' barley. Corn rigs an' barley rigs,
An' corn rigs are bonnie:
I'll ne'er forget that happy night,
Amang the rigs wi' Annie.
I lock'd her in my fond embrace; Her heart was beating rarely: My blessings on that happy place, Amang the rigs o' barley! But by the moon and stars so bright, That shone that hour so clearly! She aye shall bless that happy night, Amang the rigs o' barley. Corn rigs an' barley rigs,
An' corn rigs are bonnie:
I'll ne'er forget that happy night,
Amang the rigs wi' Annie.
I ha'e been blythe wi' comrades dear; I ha'e been merry drinkin'; I ha'e been joyfu' gatherin' gear; I ha'e been happy thinkin': But a' the pleasures e'er I saw, Tho' three times doubled fairly, That happy night was worth then a', Amang the rigs o' barley. Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,
