Well, Mr Keillor, you have me hooked on the daily reading of this new Substack essay. June 4th’s entry is a gem! Thank you for your words (and continued good wit). Saved(?), but just as unsure in Michigan.
I've been lovin you so long, i can't stop now!! You make sense of the non-sensical, i love your sense of humor and irony!! You are a blessing for which i give thanks every.single.night! God bless you .. and long may you wave.
well actually that ancient tribe discovered a petulant and jealous mountain god who demanded obedience or else (yaweh or no way) the compassionate god didn't come till later when they had settled down a little and weren't wandering around wondering why nobody liked them / i am the apostate son of a baptist preacher who never played golf so he's probably up there now looking down wondering what the heck happened to his son / i'm sure he loves me - god and my father / love the impoverished the oppressed and the blind - i can do that / the demon-possessed i'm having trouble with
John, thanks for filling in the blanks. I didn't know my dad at all except for a couple weeks we spent, the two of us, on a trip to New York when I was 11. I think of him whenever I walk through Grand Central or ride the Staten Island ferry. I used to sit in the public library on 42nd and work and then for lunch go to the Oyster Bar and remember Dad holding my hand as we walked through the grandeur.
Oh beautiful, beautiful, what a wondrous way to begin the day. Thank you for that! My brain may not work like most people's but at least I don't believe that, "... the government is controlled by Satanists who kidnap children and drink their blood ..." 15%???? That's too frightening to contemplate, so I think I'll go listen to the good people sing some more.
I can't remember the last time I sang Oh Beautiful For Spacious Skies out loud before this morning. Thanks for the reminder and opportunity. It felt great.
Your elders believed in a fiery Hell. For some reason known only to God, when I asked him for a group of people to be with in retirement, he connected me with immigrant Pentecostal Ukrainians. Although I had had Russian in college, it took me a while to begin understanding the spoken language. Beyond that, Ukrainian, as a language, is significantly different.
That was my situation when a visitor from the First Ukrainian Pentecostal Church came to tell us about his "Near Death Experience" on the operating table. Under anesthetic, he had been transported to the shore of a dark lake. He looked out over the water, and saw Elijah and Moses, all in light, across on the other shore. He felt ready to go to them, but then he felt the message: Your time has not come yet." So there he was, visiting our church and giving his Witness to his visit to the other side.
It happened to be that our minister's daughters had invited me to go out with them in their car to have lunch with the preacher's family. "Wow! That was some sermon!" I enthused as we drove along. They had some idea of my comprehension abilities, so they asked me to tell them what I had heard. When I finished, they could hardly believe it! "But you don't know Russian all that well, and your ability with Ukrainian ins non-existent.! "
I agreed, logically. But sometimes, for some reason, it seems as if we can pick up almost as much meaning from body language, tone, enthusiasm and such, as from the verbal input itself. The speaker had held out his hands, for instance, to point at Elijah and Moses in the light. Their names guided the vision.
Actually, I think some of this happens even when we think we're speaking the same language. For example, when Fred Newman "mimes" action, he can be more literal than the most precise words! I can recall a skit: "Man the Hunter" in which Fred is in a Jeep, chasing gazelle (or antelope?) across the plains. Our host asks him" What do you have to bring it down with?" and he mimes taking the antenna off the Jeep and using it, Don Quixote-like, as a lance!" With action like that, the words become part of the entire rhythm. I imagine some APHC audience members whose linguistic abilities are limited, can "Get It" a lot of the time, just the same!
Well, Mr Keillor, you have me hooked on the daily reading of this new Substack essay. June 4th’s entry is a gem! Thank you for your words (and continued good wit). Saved(?), but just as unsure in Michigan.
Well, I am fond of your Fodor's Travel Guides and whenever we get back to traveling, I'll look up the UK one.
I've been lovin you so long, i can't stop now!! You make sense of the non-sensical, i love your sense of humor and irony!! You are a blessing for which i give thanks every.single.night! God bless you .. and long may you wave.
well actually that ancient tribe discovered a petulant and jealous mountain god who demanded obedience or else (yaweh or no way) the compassionate god didn't come till later when they had settled down a little and weren't wandering around wondering why nobody liked them / i am the apostate son of a baptist preacher who never played golf so he's probably up there now looking down wondering what the heck happened to his son / i'm sure he loves me - god and my father / love the impoverished the oppressed and the blind - i can do that / the demon-possessed i'm having trouble with
John, thanks for filling in the blanks. I didn't know my dad at all except for a couple weeks we spent, the two of us, on a trip to New York when I was 11. I think of him whenever I walk through Grand Central or ride the Staten Island ferry. I used to sit in the public library on 42nd and work and then for lunch go to the Oyster Bar and remember Dad holding my hand as we walked through the grandeur.
Oh beautiful, beautiful, what a wondrous way to begin the day. Thank you for that! My brain may not work like most people's but at least I don't believe that, "... the government is controlled by Satanists who kidnap children and drink their blood ..." 15%???? That's too frightening to contemplate, so I think I'll go listen to the good people sing some more.
I can't remember the last time I sang Oh Beautiful For Spacious Skies out loud before this morning. Thanks for the reminder and opportunity. It felt great.
“No lamps, don't make a sound
Don't let him here
The brick in your voice
Hand let go off him
With these and grace and let him
Blade under your name”
I love so many things about this piece. But my favorite is "Let Joe Biden worry about it. That’s what we elected him to do"! Amen
Your elders believed in a fiery Hell. For some reason known only to God, when I asked him for a group of people to be with in retirement, he connected me with immigrant Pentecostal Ukrainians. Although I had had Russian in college, it took me a while to begin understanding the spoken language. Beyond that, Ukrainian, as a language, is significantly different.
That was my situation when a visitor from the First Ukrainian Pentecostal Church came to tell us about his "Near Death Experience" on the operating table. Under anesthetic, he had been transported to the shore of a dark lake. He looked out over the water, and saw Elijah and Moses, all in light, across on the other shore. He felt ready to go to them, but then he felt the message: Your time has not come yet." So there he was, visiting our church and giving his Witness to his visit to the other side.
It happened to be that our minister's daughters had invited me to go out with them in their car to have lunch with the preacher's family. "Wow! That was some sermon!" I enthused as we drove along. They had some idea of my comprehension abilities, so they asked me to tell them what I had heard. When I finished, they could hardly believe it! "But you don't know Russian all that well, and your ability with Ukrainian ins non-existent.! "
I agreed, logically. But sometimes, for some reason, it seems as if we can pick up almost as much meaning from body language, tone, enthusiasm and such, as from the verbal input itself. The speaker had held out his hands, for instance, to point at Elijah and Moses in the light. Their names guided the vision.
Actually, I think some of this happens even when we think we're speaking the same language. For example, when Fred Newman "mimes" action, he can be more literal than the most precise words! I can recall a skit: "Man the Hunter" in which Fred is in a Jeep, chasing gazelle (or antelope?) across the plains. Our host asks him" What do you have to bring it down with?" and he mimes taking the antenna off the Jeep and using it, Don Quixote-like, as a lance!" With action like that, the words become part of the entire rhythm. I imagine some APHC audience members whose linguistic abilities are limited, can "Get It" a lot of the time, just the same!
Prairie Home Companion Forever!