Around 50 minutes in, Peterson starts referencing John Taylor Gatto. It’s exciting to witness a lifelong academic see the failings of modern schooling and evolve his thinking to reflect this new knowledge.
Another Virtual Event
No, thanks.
There’s too much life happening out here for me to sit with a screen for long.
I don’t have to watch the news to feel the effects of the fear machine on people. Fewer people will comply this time. Fewer people will believe the lies. More will go about their business. More will see through the narrative manipulation.
The bad guys have overplayed their hand. More of us are meeting without a care for the official guidance. We will continue without their permission and we will grow in numbers.
Silly Beach
We goofed off today.
These friends are becoming family.
Be a Pain
This is why we fight at the mere suggestion that we should be put on a list and treated differently for our personal medical decisions.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/12/france-mandates-covid-health-pass-for-restaurants-and-cafes
From Sobriety to Self Love
I got sober to get laid.
She had divorced an alcoholic and her stories of a neglectful husband and father of her children touched a fearful place in my heart.
I didn’t look into that place. I looked at an opportunity to aleviate the terrible loneliness of widowhood. I stopped drinking out of fear of harming myself, my children, and this rare chance at love.
Before our relationship became sexual, it was marital. We were mistaken as a family constantly and reveled in our roles. We thought we were in control, but I was driven by loneliness and lust. She craved the father figure and partner I was so good at portraying.
Sobriety did lead to love making. The dangerous kind that digs deeper and demands vulnerability and truth. The facades were exposed and our assumptions about our future together crumbled.
I started to face my patterns around alcohol. It was a confounding time. I needed to work on myself, yet I was pouring energy into a relationship that would dissolve, quite literally, overnight.
Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Now I had to face two big fears. Was I forever an alcoholic? Would that trap me alone in confusion?
I picked up a book I had been carrying with me for twenty years, Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life. Sitting on my kitchen floor in the early hours before my boys woke up, reading her affirmations and discovering my perilous lack of self love turned my life around. Addiction, loneliness, parenting, and all my fears were finally put up against an immutable power: Love.
Hay doesn’t use Christian language, but her words helped me accept the eternal river of love flowing from God. I got a glimpse of that source in my wife’s last moments on Earth. Mary showed me what was possible and it took me more than a year of hurt before I allowed it into my heart.
I bridged the cavity between believing and worthiness. Until you feel worthy of God’s love, you cannot fully receive it.
It turned out that my first chance at love after loss was not rare. I stopped looking at love as a scarce resource and began discovering it in all its forms and in all sorts of places.
Midsummer Mix Tape at Rockwood
We made it to Delaware Shakespeare‘s Midsummer Mix Tape performance this evening. It was a delightful selection of songs and scenes from past and future DelShakes productions.
It was a joy to once again picnic at Rockwood Park and experience the Bard live on stage.
We are most looking forward to the upcoming productions of Twelfth Night (my older son’s first experience with DelShakes in his first months of life) and The Tempest.
But before that, I urge you to visit Delshakes.org and get tickets for one, or more, of their summer productions.
Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Close Calls and Little Wins
Westen, my older son, stole the iPad from my room last night and stayed up with videos and games.
This morning he missed jiu-jitsu because of his late night. I missed out on yoga because I was trying to get him up and didn’t yet know about his deception. Neither of us had a top morning.
A friend needed a favor, so I was blessed with the chance to put some space between me and my son. I don’t handle these situations well and needed the productive cool-off time.
By the time I returned, I was ready to ignore the fiasco as long as it would buy me a quiet house. Our plan was to attend a Delaware Shakespeare performance this evening and that offered enough complications on its own.
My younger son, Isaac, hasn’t been game for getting out of the house as of late. None of my plans seem to please him until the car door opens at our destination, then, maybe, he’ll be the happy little kid I know.
He never used to put up a fight about Shakespeare, but I was expecting one today. With my patience thinned out before noon, I was not optimistic about my plans.
I ordered pizza from Claymont Steak Shop for a picnic before the outdoor show and crossed my fingers. Isaac put up no fight and we got out the door on time. Things seemed to be turning in my direction.
As we got to the park, I looked for the email with our tickets. What I found was a cancellation notice due to inclement weather. I thought, “Here we go. Questions about why I didn’t check sooner and ‘Was this a trick?’ were sure to come.”
But they didn’t come. We discussed where to find cover to eat and got ourselves set up. I often carry a camp table and it came in handy with the other picnic preparations.
We filled our bellies, played a little in the rain, and calmly discussed which movie to watch before bed.
The whole day teetered at the edge of disaster, but cool heads and reluctant forgiveness kept us together.
Disclosure:
In small, strange ways, the items linked below kept our day moving in a positive manner. They are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange (Music From the Soundtrack)
I Choose This
We all have doubt when we start home educating and, unfortunately, that doubt returns in many forms again and again. It is not an easy endeavor, but you are not alone.
My first advice is to change “I have to do it” to “I am choosing to do this.” It is a huge responsibility, but you will find an amazing freedom in owning it.
The War on Small Business – Carol Roth with Michael Malice
The War on Small Business – Episode #163
“Why is it okay to go to the liquor store and not okay to go to the treadmill?”
-Michael Malice
I don’t think there’s a simpler way to ask about the madness and destruction of the Lockdowns.
Disclosure: The links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Dave Smith On Cuba
I hope Dave Smith goes through with his plan to run for president. We need to hear a new way of dealing with conflicts in other countries.
Disclosure: The link below is an affiliate link, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.