Loose Leaf Notes

1. My poem “Losing Poetry” was just published in POETiCA REVieW. See HERE. 

2. I Want You to Do Me a Favor, Though.  Aka: Now That’s What I Call a Punchline below.

3. In Colonial language necessaries translates to “the bathroom.”

4. In Old Colonial Williamsburg last weekend, there was a long line of tourists waiting to get in to the Olde Colonial Bakery. It felt like we were at Disney World waiting in line for a bakery ride.

5. Ear plugs or ear pods?

6. Points of Agreement, an ensemble poetry program for the Society of Virginia’s First Saturday Series, a Christmas reading at the Ford Colony Country Club in Colonial Williamsburg. The poets participating in the collective performance were Jack Callan and Judith Stevens (Little River Poetry Festival founders), Dave Lego (above video), Colleen Redman (me) and Lisa Kendrick. Each poet’s voice grew in their own right with every poem they read, and each added to the whole. Hard-edged truth-telling poems were balanced with emotionally personal ones. Many were highlighted with the musical accompaniment of Jim Best on hang drum and Brian McGill on clarinet and a Javanese instrument that resembled a large xylophone. – More from Joe Thinks We Should Take This Show on the Road HERE.

7. Have You Heard of The Herdmans? They were unruly kids that lied, stole, fought and cursed but somehow brought the true meaning of Christmas to a church congregation in the play adapted from a novel, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, one of the best Christmas stories ever. HERE are the Herdmans and other Sunday School kids, are singing Silent Night.

8. A Methodist church in Claremont recently unveiled a Nativity scene depicting Jesus, Mary and Joseph as refugees in cages, likening one of the most well-known images of the Christmas season to photos that have become synonymous with criticism of the Trump administration’s border separation policies. “We see this as, in some ways, the Holy Family standing in for the nameless families,” said the Rev. Karen Clark Ristine, the lead pastor at Claremont United Methodist Church. “We’ve heard of their plight; we’ve seen how these asylum seekers have been greeted and treated. We wanted the Holy Family to stand in for those nameless people because they also were refugees.” “We don’t see it as political; we see it as theological. See HERE.

9. Increasingly a Necessity: A 15-Point Guide to Surviving Authoritarianism –  Here’s just three, excerpted from a list made by someone who has experienced it: Through convoluted laws and threats they will try to control mainstream media and limit press freedom. They will distort the language, coin new terms and labels, repeat shocking phrases until you accept them as normal and subconsciously associate them. They will create chaos, maintain a constant sense of conflict and danger. – More HERE.

10. The funeral parlor limousine driver was the father of another big Catholic family we grew up with in Hull Village.  We used to see him and his family at church, back in the days when our family could fill up a pew, and before our church, St. Mary’s of the Bay, became a private residence with plastic lawn chairs out front. My mother and I helped dress Danny the morning of Jim’s funeral, as the limousine waited out front.  Dan had missed Jim’s wake the day before because he was too sick to attend.  Sitting next to me in the back seat of the limo on the way the cemetery to bury Jim, Dan said to the driver, “You were like the father of The Village, always trying to keep us in line.”  Then he apologized for any trouble he may have caused and added, “We were only trying to grow up…” More from my book, The Jim and Dan Stories Chapter 7 HERE.

11. In Old Colonial Williamsburg, we met a department store Santa, Old St. Nick, Father Christmas and motorcycle Santa all in one day. See HERE.

12.  We didn’t walk in mile in George’s shoes, but we did do a lot of walking.

13. Check out THIS bucket list sleigh ride with Santa.

______Thirteen Thursday