Banjo, not sugar, helps the medicine go down

Differential diagnosis work plus @SteveMartinToGo bluegrass. DSM-IV-TR plus sweet banjo for the win!—
Carla Hufstedler (@carlamagpie) April 16, 2011

the Old South

I had no idea that there was so much controversy about the song “Dixie”. Fights over who wrote it, claims that it’s racist, and that singing it is akin to being pro-slavery and pro-Old South:

“Today, “Dixie” is sometimes considered offensive, and its critics link the act of singing it to sympathy for the concept of slavery in the American South. Its supporters, on the other hand, view it as a legitimate aspect of Southern culture and heritage.”

Some people are still fighting the War Between the States, I swanee.

Look, it’s all in the intent. If you dance the walkaround in blackface, whilst singing “Dixie Land” in the most offensive, stereotypical imitation of African-American vernacular you can possiblly concoct…that’s racist. If you sing it whilst wearing KKK insignia, that’s racist, and probably slavery-sympathetic to boot. Otherwise…it’s a song from a period of American history. It’s what you do with it, as with the Confederate flag, as with anything. Don’t use it to be hurtful, don’t insist on assigning it hurtful labels, and then it just is what it is: history.

hobbit groove

links to mp3 of Billy Boyd’s singing Britney Spears’ “Baby Hit Me One More Time”:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/undone27/612441.html

Enjoy.

sacred love

Sting:

Relationships tend to be a microcosm of what’s happening in the world. The way we deal with each other is reflected largely in the bigger macropicture of the world. In that sense, we need more love, we need more understanding, we need more compassion. You multiply that by a couple of billion times and you have a world situation that desperately needs to be changed, that desperately needs more affection more kindness, more charity. So, that may sound a little naive, but I actually believe it. (link)

See, that’s why I adore his work.