Playing with Scott Houston

One of the happiest , most fulfilling things personally that I do, is play the piano. I had taken piano lessons some over the years, but couldn't play, until I studied Scott Houston's course, Play Piano in a Flash. In his course, Scott teaches that most all popular piano players have a "dirty little secret", they simply read and play a one note melody with the right hand, and accompany this by playing chords with the left hand. Furthermore, 90% of all melodies can be accompanied by playing three cords. Sound simple? It is! Of course once you get into playing, you"ll probably want to learn more chords and embellishments, but you don't have to, in order to sit and play those songs in your heart. Scott is on the web and has published a number of books, including several "fake books" showing the easy way to play popular songs. He also has a show on PBS, though I can't get this. The important thing is, if you're one of those people who took piano lessons but didn't learn to play anything, there really is another way, the way that most people that actually play, use, but didn't want you to know about. Now you know...the rest of the story is yours.

An American President

So many of us out here now are just Americans. Oh, our ancestors came from somewhere, maybe a lot of different places, a long time ago. So why is it necessary to identify Barack as an African-American president? Oh, I know that he leveraged his background into a huge outpouring of black loyalty, and far more spectacularly, white noblesse oblige, but now we can only hope that his election will allow a coming together to let us all be Americans... surely being Americans is enough.

Philosophy Trivialized

Two years ago I began to pursue a master's degree in philosophy. I have always loved philosophy and felt that I would like to teach it. I have always considered philosophy by its classical definition, the study of wisdom, but I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with what is apparently the need of academic philosophers, to analyze trivial ideas, and to formalize these ideas in a quasi-logico-mathematical jargon. I accept that scientific fields necessitate the use of specialized language forms, but firmly believe philosophy is not, and should not be a science. Further, I would suggest that the purpose of philosophy should not be to demonstrate the philosopher's fine and subtle mind. Rather philosophy should, as simply as possible, point the way to the truth.

Mandatory retirement

It is remarkable that in less than three years the U.S. Airways hero pilot will be too old to work in his job anymore. Maybe this brilliant job of piloting will serve as an impetus to change the law requiring mandatory age 60 retirement for airline pilots.

African American Readers

As a frequent visitor of bookstores for many years, one of the heartening occurences I've noticed in the past five years, and especially in the past two years, is the increasing frequenting of bookstores by African Americans. At first their focus seemed to be on black subjects, but in the past two years they seem to be open to all genres. This is heartening, and large credit must surely go to Oprah.

Richard John Neuhaus

I was sorrowed to hear of the death of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus three days ago. Fr. Neuhaus' writing was thoughtful and erudite. Althought I did not agree with a some of his fundamentalist religious stances I always admired is e expressions of his point of view. Especially poignant was the reception of the last copy of First Things, of which he was Editor -in-Chief, where he told of his latest cancer diagnosis, with the uncertainty and fear involved, yet his certainty that his Redeemer lived.

A start at least

This is my first blog entry. I've been reading what others wrote all my life and it's time I spent some time writing what I think on a number of subjects.