I love teaching. It is a calling, and it is one of the few things in this world that I believe I am very good at it. But I think high school, for most kids today, is a huge waste of time. When I was in high school we were required by the state to take one year of math and one year of science, but we were advised by our guidance counselors to take three or four years of each. I ignored my guidance counselors, took my one year of math and science, and filled my schedule with things I loved and cared about. Second semester of my senior year I took three choir classes (Varsity, Show, and Cardinal), Symphonic Band, and Advanced Creative Writing. That one semester was the only time in high school that my schedule reflected who I was and what I cared about. The rest of the time I was struggling, toughing it out, and feeling guilty for not caring about what so-called responsible adults were telling me to care about. Today, with the benefit of hindsight, I am glad I ignored them and worked hard to create the life I wanted for myself. Unfortunately, the state is making it harder and harder for a kid to ignore the guidance counselors if they wish to graduate. And of course the only academic reason for most kids to go to high school in the first place is so that they can graduate and go on to education that they truly want and need and will prepare them for life.
On Break
Hello dear readers. Just a quick note that The Fallen Cleric is on break this week. I won’t be posting at all, and will return with a new post on Monday, January 2. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas this year. It was one of the best ever for my family and me. Thanks for the privilege of investing in your life in 2011, and I look forward to more great posts, on great topics, with great conversations with you, in 2012.
Cheers!
Help me help you!
The most important part of blog writing is great content. But if the content is there, getting the word out is critical. I see signs month by month that the word is getting out about this blog, and I need to do whatever I can to give it a push. But rather than simply ask you to remember to Like my posts on Facebook, or Tweet them on Twitter (shameless plug!), I want to do something that can potentially give back to you and/or your family and friends.
So I am looking for suggestions for posts. If you or a friend or family member are struggling with a psychological or spiritual or other personal issue, would you consider sending it to me so I can write a post on it that might be helpful not only to you but to a lot of other people as well? My hope is that this could be a way that I could give you a reason to want to forward my work on to people you care about. My daily readership is already high enough that if most of my readers sent a few of my posts to a couple of other people it could make a dramatic difference.
After writing great content the most important part of blogging is building a platform. I am asking my readers to help me build my platform, but I want to do it in a way that is helpful to you or to other people you care about.
Leave suggestions in the comments box below, or email them to me at counseling at thefallencleric dot com
Warm Strangers
Several years ago I purchased an album by a piano player singer-songwriter named Vienna Teng. I’m just now listening to it seriously, and it is renewing my faith in music. There is still stunning beauty out there — music that can make me feel something — new things to do with melody and arrangements.
Warning: this is musical music. It won’t make your booty shake. It doesn’t have a “good” beat (by which people nearly always mean that it makes their booty shake). It’s not the musical equivalent of crack that you hear on the radio that grabs you by the throat, gives you a quick high, and is gone as quick as it came. Quite the opposite. It’s the kind of music you have to invest in, like a relationship. You have to give it room to become something to you. But if you give it that space, you probably won’t be disappointed.
If this has piqued your curiosity, check out her album Warm Strangers.
Daniel Amos Tour 2011
I had the pleasure on Father’s Day of road-tripping with my three daughters to Akron, OH where we picked up my brother, grabbed dinner, and caught Daniel Amos in concert. I have seen DA many times over the past twenty years, and they have never sounded finer. Terry Taylor, band leader and lead singer/songwriter, is a genius. He has been my hero for almost 30 years. Below, for whoever might find this interesting, is their entire concert on this tour. This is from their show in Wilmington, Ohio.
