Still Discovering

I posted to my blog (here) soon after my favourite singer, Melanie, died. I am slowly adjusting to enjoyment of her music, but with her gone. There were many plans in the works for new releases prior to her death and that didn’t stop. Her manager updates the fans on Facebook regularly about that. There are many new collections available in various formats.

Older collections of songs and concerts continue to be shared by fans. Sadly, I never got to see Melanie perform live, but I recently enjoyed a collection of live concert recordings via YouTube that I hadn’t heard before. I have never been able to name my top favourite Melanie song when asked — how can there only be one? I could easily name my top five though. But since listening to this live concert from 1973, there is one song that stood out for me and it has been on a frequent repeat loop. It just may be my top favourite! I am not certain what her message was in the lyrics, but I have taken to it. The song has many vocal and guitar strumming variations and the lyrics seem to represent some deep soul searching and a reflection on preserving oneself. It reminded me of when I have to work through difficult times in order to find “me” again.

Here it is! A great live recording of It’s Me Again:

I hope others might find it meaningful as well.

Letting Go

I remember liking this description about what “letting go” is about and I came across it again recently. Unfortunately though, the original post indicated, “Author unknown”. Maybe one day I will discover who wrote these good words. In the meantime, I thought I should post it to this blog.

Letting Go…

To let go isn’t to forget, not to think about, or ignore.

It doesn’t leave feelings of anger, jealousy, or regret.

Letting go isn’t winning, and it isn’t losing. It’s not about pride, and it’s not about how you appear, and it’s not obsessing or dwelling on the past.

Letting go isn’t blocking memories or thinking sad thoughts, and doesn’t leave emptiness, hurt, or sadness. It’s not giving in or giving up.

Letting go isn’t about loss and it’s not defeat.

To let go is to cherish memories, and overcome and move on. It’s having an open mind and confidence in the future.

Letting go is accepting. It’s learning and experiencing and growing.

To let go is to be thankful for the experiences that made you laugh, made you cry, and made you grow. It’s about all that you have, all that you had, and all that you will soon again.

Letting go is having the courage to accept change, and the strength to keep moving.

Letting go is growing up. It’s realizing that the heart can sometimes be the most potent remedy.

To let go is to open a door, and to clear a path, and to set you free…

These Days

I do enjoy “covers” of many songs, but it bothers me when the original artist doesn’t get the deserved credit. Sometimes it is just an oversight, or sometimes a song just gets associated with a different musician when others hear it for the first time.

I recently discovered some songs by Rumer and a number of them were covers. I was listening to this one on YouTube and knew that it wasn’t the original, but there was no other credit given on that particular video.

Eventually it came to me… Hall & Oates:

I think Rumer’s version has grown on me.

The title of this blog post actually refers to another song. I have always associated These Days with a Jackson Browne song. That may have stuck with me as I knew he wrote it at the age of 16! I do enjoy a cover of it by Lucy Rose as well. Miley Cyrus also covered it. Then I heard it on a TV show with a credit to Nico. I recognized the song as soon as the music started, but then — a different voice. With further investigation, I learned something new. It is explained well in this video by Jackson Browne himself. He did write it, but Nico recorded it first. He tells a good story about his involvement in the song before Nico’s version starts to play.

I still prefer Jackson Browne singing it:

I suppose the lyrics written by a wise 16 year old appeal to many others:

Well, I’ve been out walking
I don’t do that much talking these days
These days

These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do for you
And all the times I had the chance to

And I had a lover
But it’s so hard to risk another, these days
These days

Now, if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
Well, it’s just that I’ve been losin’ for so long

Well, I’ll keep on movin’, movin’ on
Things are bound to be improving these days
One of these days

These days I’ll sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend
Don’t confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them

My Musical Lifeline

I often worried about how sad I would be when Melanie died, and now I know. That’s not to say I didn’t wonder if she would outlive me, as one never knows! She addressed her fans as “Dear Ones” and now I am one of the many dear ones who are impacted by her death on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. There was no preparing for the message that her family posted to Facebook on January 24th. She was gone. She would have been 77 next week. (February 3rd).

It took a few days to see Canadian news sites mentioning her death. And as expected, she was noted for one of her top hits, Brand New Key. But that song cannot capture the breadth and depth of her musical talent and recordings.

I have lived 6 decades and the last 5 of them as a big Melanie fan. And she was still active in her musical career — performing online and in person. She just recently hired a new manager and was working on a new album. Two days after her death, one of the new recordings was posted to her official YouTube account. (**see post update below) It is a cover of Hurt. Most people might recall Johnny Cash’s cover of it. But like so many of Melanie’s cover songs, she made it her own. I think it served as a great comfort to her family and fans.

I have written a number of posts on this blog related to Melanie and what she meant to me. A number of my favourite songs of hers are contained within these posts here.

I thought this memoriam posted to YouTube captured how those who have met and loved Melanie feel right now. He emotionally struggles to get through it, but he suggests the albums that hooked me on Melanie for life.

And as my dear friend, Nancy, reminded me, “You will always have her music”. 

**post update: Her manager confirmed that it was her last recording.

Is it the right place?

I don’t focus much attention on new education initiatives anymore, so maybe I am late in hearing about this instructional program. I happened to catch an interview with a teacher on CBC radio about the use of “Classroom Economy” in an elementary classroom in Ontario. I found the associated article, but it doesn’t include the audio of the interview:

Inside a St. Thomas classroom, lessons about math and economics

This class was a Grade 3/4 split. Some students were also interviewed and they sounded positive about the experience. I am sure there are variations to the approaches used in “classroom economy” depending on the grade level and each school context. I was both curious and concerned with the idea of it, so I did some more reading:

What is a Classroom Economy, and Why Use One?

While I can recognize the value of the learning concepts and links to “real life”, I still struggled with the idea and some of the intent of it. For example:

• Students had to decide if they wanted to use their “income” to rent or buy their desk.
• Students had to apply for what classroom job they wanted. It would be their source of income.
• There was a classroom store (run by the students who got the job of running it).
• The teacher of the Gr. 3/4 class gave out “fines” for inattentiveness, etc. to help classroom management.

The second article I posted about the program offered me some reassurance:

• Students use their income to pay bills, such as rent for their desk. This creates a sense of ownership for classroom space and allows students to practice budgeting in a safe environment. It’s important to emphasize that if a student doesn’t have enough to pay their bills- that is okay!
• You also have the option to include fines, however if they don’t speak to you, no need to use them!

As for purpose of the classroom store,

“Students learn to budget, set goals, and can use their savings to purchase rewards from the classroom store. I like to include “experiences” in my classroom store instead of tangible items. My favorites are brain break choice, tell a joke to the class, and have lunch with the teacher. These are all free for me, and fun for the class. You can also set group goals and rewards, like a classroom PJ day or party. Students love working together to save up.”

The “Why Use it” claim in the article states two reasons: Classroom Management and Financial Literacy.

It reminded me a bit of “Class DOJO” and also the debate about that a number of years ago in some education conversations regarding rewards and incentives in classrooms.

I recognize that the times and students have changed. It has been decades since I taught in elementary classrooms, but I don’t think an economy approach would have “spoken to me” then.

As a parent of now grown children, I am uncertain if I would have been comfortable with my children being in an “economy classroom” at the elementary level. I trust that there are many other effective ways and programs to teach financial literacy in classrooms.

Feedback is welcome.

Adult Conversations

NU #032 – 12 Compelling Reasons to Protect Kids From “Adult” Conversations.

I have already shared this blog post to social media sites, but I wanted to link it to my blog as well. I was really happy to see that someone wrote such a thoughtful list of considerations and strategies for parents. I might not have come across it if I hadn’t checked out Doug Peterson’s weekly feature of Ontario educators’ blog posts.

I would have been most grateful for this writing on the topic when my children were younger and in school. As a parent, I believe I made a consistent effort to consider a number of areas that the author of the post touched on, for example: Protecting emotional well-being, maintaining a sense of innocence, family values and beliefs, information overload, and teaching privacy and boundaries.

The insights shared in the post would have helped me out with many conversations with other parents, family members, and teachers as I set about establishing boundaries for family discussions with my children present. The blog post is offered for parental guidance, but I think a number of the considerations would also be useful for school staff for the discussions that spill into school settings about harsh or controversial community and world events. These two considerations in the post resonated for me in that regard as well:

Maintaining a Sense of Innocence: Childhood is a time of innocence, and parents often want to preserve this innocence as long as possible. Discussions on certain topics, such as some of the harsh realities of the world, can erode this innocence prematurely. This could lead to raising skeptic or cynical kids later on.

Information Overload: In today’s digital age, there’s an abundance of information available 24/7, and not all of it is suitable for children. Limiting helps prevent information overload about a certain topic and ensures that kids are receiving “just enough” information to satisfy their questions & curiosity.

I agree with Doug’s take, “This post is a keeper”.

Loveliest Rhyme

Being a member of a Melanie fans’ group on Facebook always ensures I revisit my beloved tunes from the past. I find it quite something when lyrics that appealed to 12 year old me can now appeal to me in a whole new way, if not even more so. Melanie’s lyrics are often melancholy and poetic at the same time, in my opinion. I have personally declared her as a poet in a previous post. Even her sad songs can cheer me out of a bad mood.

Recently, it was a song that I do have on a vinyl album in the house, but I haven’t spun it in some time. But apart from the lyrics, there is the loveliest guitar intro! Well again, in my opinion. But then I thought to myself: Even if a person isn’t interested in Melanie’s music or voice (or I post of mine about Melanie 🙂 ), they might still enjoy the chord progressions at the beginning, but might not ever take a chance to give it a try 🙂

So if readers are interested… enjoy the loveliest guitar intro or just enjoy reading the loveliest lyrics of Love in My Mind provided below:

“Love In My Mind”

When I get so lonely
That tears start to fall
I just sing it all in this little rhyme
That changes the time
From the pain of the world
To the love in my mind…

In the middle of the night
I thought I was sleepin’
I heard someone weepin’ so bitterly
“Well I knew it was me”…
So I hugged on my pillow
And I think it hugged me…

World world go away
Come again another day
When I can see I’m a pretty me
A pretty she
And I was made for the world
And the world was made for me…

Think I’ll get a moonbeam
That’s silver and shines
And that vows to be mine
For the rest of my time
In the loveliest rhyme
Change the pain of the world
For the love in my mind…

In the loveliest rhyme
Change the pain of the world
For the love in my mind…

In the loveliest rhyme.

Still a good repository

I know I am not alone in feeling frustrated with the recent changes in the Twitter social media platform and experience. I have noticed some connections that may be gone forever because of it. I still do value the content and information that I can access in different ways on Twitter, so I consider it a good online repository.

This isn’t the only example, but it is a recent one that did confirm a continued benefit of sticking with a Twitter account: I found photos taken in the 1930s of my uncle and grandfather. A few of my family members were trying to find more information about a ship that my grandfather sailed and may have owned at some point. We all have bits of information, photos, and stories shared amongst our remaining generation. I didn’t really expect to find anything when I searched a few terms and hashtags on Twitter, so I was really surprised by what came up in some tweets from 2014 and 2015! And the person who posted them is in my same province!

The links to the two tweets are here and here.

My relatives are on the right in both photos, and yes, they are on the good ship Severn. AND… there are more photos! “BeachKnot” and I are now connected. He messaged back to me that he had hoped that the family would find these posts. I am so grateful that both he and I did not delete our Twitter accounts! He will be in touch soon with more photos!

Dear readers: Have you deleted your Twitter account? If not, do you now use your Twitter account for different purposes than you used to? Do you have a story of a successful search for something using Twitter or another social media platform?

Old Fashioned Love Songs

As the calendar turns to February I am usually “meh” at first about another Valentine’s Day. Our family celebrates it in a much quieter way now but we welcome it as an excuse to enjoy some treats and/or share some small gifts. As winter drags on, mid-February seems like the perfect time for some chocolate and visits to cheer us up. Also, how could I dismiss a day that is so much about love and kindness? And with all the love songs that start to circulate, it’s a perfect time to add a few more to playlists for listening at any time of the year. It’s like everything old is new again, as I get reminded of some older tunes — some I recall and some are new to me.

The recent and renewed attention to Linda Ronstadt’s, Long, Long Time, was also timely. I haven’t watched the HBO series that featured it in an episode, but it had me pulling out an old LP album by her that I still have: Mad Love. I love her cover of Neil Young’s Look Out for My Love on it.

I have written a post about Sandy Denny’s music before. Through recently discovering her music, I became hooked on her acoustic version of Learning the Game. I didn’t realize it was a Buddy Holly song until later, which is great too. Oh, the pain of unrequited love!

My husband recently revisited music by Joy Division and this one has been heard in our home a lot lately:

Unfortunately, sad young deaths and loss of talent associated with those last 3 mentions.

Another add to the playlist, of course, is An Old-Fashioned Love Song. I recalled it as a Three Dog Night song, but my return to it led me to listen to the Paul Williams original. I will link both:

It would be remiss of me not mention one by Melanie. Once again, a cover, but I love her version of Arrow (by Cheryl Wheeler):

Have you been listening to something old again, or new to you, during this “love month”?

Wouldn’t You Be… ?

I recently started following the work and writing of Dr. Naomi Fisher, a clinical psychologist. She offers support, workshops and information for parents and their children through various platforms.

I no longer have children in the school system, but I was surprised how much this Facebook post of hers still impacted me after many years since:

Stress comes from many directions and a lot rests on parents to navigate and offset it, as well as support what each of their children need. I related to what Dr. Fisher heard from some parents, both through my own past experiences and listening to other parents who were advocating for their children in various education contexts. I find it truly sad if moms, in particular, get the brunt of blame, judgement, and dismissal. It was also sad to read the author’s reference about a similar dismissal of “anxious” children as well.

I appreciated her blunt ending to the post:

Of course “Mum is anxious”. Her child is distressed & no one can help. She feels scrutinised & getting support is a full time job. She has no idea what the future will bring. She knows it will be her picking up the pieces at the end of it all.

Tell me, wouldn’t you be anxious?

I hope there are examples of supporting families better out there, as well as some kindness and compassion. As we dust ourselves off from the impacts of a pandemic, who wouldn’t be experiencing some anxiousness?