You Get A Star! A conversation with Teacher Angela BBA from VIPKid

Hope you enjoy this relaxed conversation. It's funny, but it wasn't until after two takes that I realized we should be doing this with a direct in-line (and not the microphone amp) on the couch, in the living room, where we normally talk. I realized I am better off foregoing Thanksgiving get-togethers with others, most particularly inside ones, and letting go of that expectation for me to try to make others happy that way might be a relief. Also, the cats, especially T'Challa, kept wanting into the room with us, simply because he loves the 'plant room' and hey, we're both in there, which hasn't happened much recently, are banging the door, and on top of that, I needed to get this loaded up, just to be sure we did this in time before the podcast space for the month rolled over. I changed where I was on all that, and then, we could do something less formal, and share with you the tone of our classes. What's it like, getting up early in the AM, or instructing students on a Friday or Saturday night? Whether you've had a student learning remotely, or ever been interested in online instruction- or if you just want to get your mind off things, or hey, if you're bored- I think there's a good chance you enjoy!

It's Time to Breathe (Antifa shout) [demo] Lue Lyron

"There's more of us than them."

It's like a suite around the theme of political street level confrontation is being written right before my own eyes. I didn't know "Civil Warriors" would inspire me to write this. Be Chill, Cease ill

Civil Warriors (broodings of a militia man)

Hell, yes, they are mad, right now.
Angry America's brooding zeitgeist, in the shadows of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Not like anything you ever heard from me. A character study, rambling up from a post-election morning (after listening to the latest from Flux Oersted).

https://creatingmarvels.podbean.com/e/civil-warriors-a-song-of-the-restless-militia-men-1604856292/ "One hundred percent behind our guy."

My 1st listen to this slightly-haunting "New Day (In Plain Sight) from Robby (Flux Oersted) Garner was incomplete, https://soundcloud.com/robitron/new-day-in-plain-sight and I cut off at a point in the lyrics where the singer's making an effort to say something to someone with which he disagrees. I couldn't finish listening at that moment, but I felt a stong need to make no-excuses and go sit down with my wife's acoustic guitar, "Pretty Baby," and start a song from no idea- only a mood. And my voice at its most no-frills, least-eager-to-please. I want people who agree with it in part to wonder why I think that part goes with the rest of it. Marjorie Taylor Greene. 'Fuck Antifa.' Whether you imagine it as a threatening voice, or just more talk coming from a non-threatening person you never see doing more than talk, it does say some things about a society building up inside the larger terrain. I may have no idea how powerful its sentiments are, for a gun can amplify the power of those feeling powerless. Some of these things, people say, but it's not that central to their concerns, though sometimes related. This isn't a real person, and it's not crafted by a QAnon believer to incorporate its greatest hits.
Or, it will just be ignored and go away. But it will preserve a picture of my times. It's probably a failure as a result, but it meant something to me to use Art to give light to the monsters I sense in my hometown's shadows. I'm not part of any community in any ongoing physical-world sense, just a nice fellow who pops up on cashiers with a gratitude to share even a fleeting interaction. I have started waving to neighbors in my apartment complex, though.
So: I took off from the dark shades of the flourescent tone of Robitron's song, and gathered voices of terrorists. You migh think it's a great satire of them, or even a shoddy off-handed effort at satire. I wouldn't disagree vehemently. It was just me coming to grips with the chilling concept I can relate any way to these guys, and have some common ground where I can at least hear them.. I was like, "these lyrics gather the starkest point of view in America I can imagine" by a singer who would probably hate me, too. I would not want to provoke anyone who sees the world in a way that makes this relatable, but I do wonder and relate to why they might feel this way about the changes happening in society. It might also be a complete joke of a song. But it says some things said in many homes and work places in my region of Georgia. It's the collective wounded beast at bay, drunk in words. That's an actual cause for concern, if not alarm. Taking nothing away from the natural beauty and its lovely people, this is a spectrum across which can be found many common people. I guess Integr8d Soul i- my creatives not only about attempting to reflect my own occasionally integrated state, and as an artist, I had to continue the journey of depicting thoughts beyond my chosen understanding. But it would be fucked up to meet the people who would find it, unironically, a great song, for what it plainly says. I think if anyone found it worth replying, some people would distance themselves from parts of it, while embracing others. It's someone who broods that he is spoiling for a fight he daydreams for often, because he wants the meaning it would give his life and death. With others of like-mind, he can be not-alone- reinforced. Right when the world's gone wrong. Someone would think it a genuine article from a hatemonger (with shabby one-take talents). It might be as well if it never goes anywhere in the world it could be adapted to more effect. "Civil Warror" is an unexpected part of some work I've put off doing, to put disagreeable words down to see. For years now, the story of a monster who embodies the slogans and frank talk of heart-hardened people eluded me, because while I could identify that voice, I didn't want to spend time with such an ill spirit. Easier to plot from a safe distance, than to let those words through my fingers. Imagine if that was the only way I really felt. What would happen within me to all the things I loved? This song, and "Trash Talk"- my short story- are all I have been able to commit, beyond notes. I hope I can contextualize things I do not endorse, for I have seen much more innocent things co-opted by people who seem to have a real problem.



The next day, I've written this song, which seems to knit together a melodrama.