Most of our country has been in some form of quarantine or social distancing for about three and a half months. I was sent home from work on March 5 because I had a sneeze. Fear was already high in the Philadelphia area. Those first eight days, I had some freedom – I still went to teach at religious school the following Sunday and Wednesday in New Jersey. I had no idea that a few days later, my entire office would be sent home, and our state would put in place a stay-at-home order.
Continue readingMusic
Song of the Day: Transported to a pastoral world of wide open fields
I discovered the music of Jeffrey Foucault a few years ago and I’ve been a big fan of his ever since. Jeffrey is an American songwriter from Wisconsin that writes beautiful, poetic lyrics and combines it with music that’s a little bit country, blues, and folk. He’s the type of small-town troubadour songwriter I love, in the style of Townes Van Zandt.
Continue readingSong of the Day: A tough father’s blue-collar advice to his son
I love music, though I don’t have much experience writing about it. I wanted to pick some “songs of the day” to dig deeper into the history of the music I love, and share it with others on the blog. For today’s song, I picked one I’ve been obsessed with for the past year or so.
Continue readingSong of the Day: A hypnotic, slow-burn of weird ambient music
I’ve been listening to more movie soundtracks lately while I’m writing and researching my podcast/novel project. I came across one song from the soundtrack to a science fiction/horror film that I absolutely love.
Continue readingOn the benefits of having a mental illness (and the power of music)
Most of the time, I focus on the parts of my mental illness that are bad. The mood swings, the depressions, the vigilance I need to keep to guard against mania and hypomania. But it’s not all negative.
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