This came in my inbox this morning. Pretty good stuff!
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
-Dr. Seuss
Month: December 2004 (page 3 of 3)
OK, sue me…one of my favorite CDs is Yanni’s Live at the Acropolis. The opening track “Santorini” definitely is on my “at-bat soundtrack!”
Now, I understand that Yanni’s not really all that great a pianist – he’s self-taught. I understand his music is kind of syrupy and shallow and all that. I understand that his other big claim to fame is that his significant other is Linda Evans. But I found this article this morning that talks about the lessons in innovation we can learn from a Yanni performance…
What happens when a Greek pianist tours with a Japanese violinist, a Venezuelan flautist who also plays the ancient Armenian duduk, an Australian digeridoo master, a Chinese keyboardist, a high-octane Puerto Rican percussionist, a street-performing hammer dulcimer player from Tennessee and twenty other solo-quality musicians from various parts of the planet and musical world?
…
When a diverse group is also passionate about the challenge, energy rises exponentially sucking resources into its vortex and blowing away obstacles. I am now going to refer to this as high-intensity diversity � the weaving together of diversity and passion.
…
Other lessons from Yanni:
1. Share the spotlight � the Yanni concert seemed like a dozen concerts in one as one star performer after another soloed. Not only did they solo during the concert but the Yanni website features each of the performers with their individual websites and contact information. Democracy in action.
2. Engage multiple senses � the lighting, camera work and giant screen videos that accompanied the music created an abundance of stimulation, drama and energy. Video clips from tours across the world helped transport the audience to a different space.
3. Find talent anywhere � Yanni, a self-taught pianist, found Dan Lundrum, the hammer dulcimer player, performing on the street in Tennessee.
4. Be generous � the Yanni website offers Yanni radio, a continuous offering of his music. He gives it away and the world wants more � I wound up buying a Yanni CD that I had missed as well as CDs from two of his star performers (David Hudson, the digeridoo guy, was truly incredible � but then most of them were).
This writer over at Boundless gets it…
I love almost all Christmas movies: Miracle on 34th Street talks about �believing�; It�s a Wonderful Life teaches us the value of life; A Christmas Story warns us not to stick our tongues onto frozen flagpoles and Ernest Saves Christmas � well, I did say almost. But none of them can match Charlie Brown. He just gets it � the good, the bad and the ugly of Christmas.
This from a real live campus minister…
I don’t think I had ever considered God’s trust of us. What a wonderful picture of the grace and mercy of God for those he loves – he trusted us with Jesus. And he still does. As Jesus is incarnate in each of our lives God trusts us to live that same grace and mercy as we go about our daily activities. We are to literally be the hands, feet, voice, eyes, bodies and minds of Jesus in all we do. We are to allow God to indwell us, and as a result, indwell the world and touch the lives of those we meet each day.
Wow!
Saw this article in today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution…
A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has published a scholarly paper deconstructing and deciphering the word “dude,” contending it is much more than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters, slackers and teenagers.
An admitted dude-user during his college years, Scott Kiesling said the four-letter word has many uses: in greetings (“What’s up, dude?”); as an exclamation (“Whoa, Dude!”); commiseration (“Dude, I’m so sorry.”); to one-up someone (“That’s so lame, dude.”); as well as agreement, surprise and disgust (“Dude.”).
Kiesling says in the fall edition of American Speech that the word derives its power from something he calls cool solidarity � an effortless kinship that’s not too intimate.
Cool solidarity is especially important to young men who are under social pressure to be close with other young men, but not enough to be suspected as gay.
In other words: Close, dude, but not that close.
“It’s like man or buddy, there is often this male-male addressed term that says, ‘I’m your friend but not much more than your friend,'” said Kiesling, whose research focuses on language and masculinity.
Ok, it’s been one of those days. Maybe one of those weeks. Months? Anyway, I’ve had a long drive time to think today (funeral service on one side of Atlanta, burial on the opposite side). Here’s today’s list – in no particular order – of some things I just don’t “get.”
Why God plays favorites. And how He decides.
Why a deeper commitment to prayer leads to more “stuff” happening.
College-student angst.
Tattoos. (It was the great philosopher, Ted Allen, before he was the food guy on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, who wrote: “As you contemplate tattooing yourself or piercing body parts, try to remember a single T-shirt you bought at a rock concert five years ago that you still wear” and “The only good tattoo is a very, very small tattoo placed where no one can see it – which is to say, why get one?”)
How trying to help always seems to hurt. And how trying to fix it hurts more.
Screaming.
How nails seem to find your front left tire, when you’ve already got the spare on the right front, and the right rear has a leak and a bent rim.
How it’s always my fault.
How students think “this should be the greatest time of my life.” While neglecting to study. Or go to class.
Relatively attractive women with cigarettes. Who spit out of their car window.
Gifted, creative and multi-talented people who can seemingly do it all.
Gifted, creative and multi-talented people who can seemingly do it all, but who waste every opportunity. How to break that cycle.
Pessimistic church finance folks.
Denominational politics.
Not exactly deep and profound thoughts. But they are mine today. Of course, your mileage may vary…
