Words & Music

by Mike Power

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  • Wishes

    One of the first questions a child is asked at this time of year is “what do you want for Christmas?” Wishing is as natural as breathing. We have all wished for things we did not or could not get. Some of us have been lucky enough to have at least one of our wishes… Read more

  • Peace on Earth

    There was a time in human history when torture and even murder were offered up as forms of popular entertainment. As hard as it might be to believe, with so many violent acts being amplified by media attention, we are living is an age that is more peaceful than any in human history. The belief… Read more

  • Saturday with Shakespeare

    I think it was Shakespeare who first transcribed the immortal question: You want a beer? Or maybe the question was only implied by the imploring eyes of his portrait. As if, on cracking open a cold bottle of beer and taking a healthful gulp, he thinks: Is this the last one? And, if so, the… Read more

  • Silent Night

    I love Christmas music. Not that there aren’t plenty of reprehensible Christmas songs, and terrible versions of wonderful songs, but music has the power to transcend time and Christmas is the only time that some of us get to hear Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Joseph Mohr, and Franz Gruber. If you haven’t heard of… Read more

  • Winter Wonderland

    There is something a little Lawrence Welk-ish about Pentatonix. Even when they’re not singing holiday songs. The question is never if they’re doing drugs, it’s which ones. Caffeine, definitely. Probably some booze, at least one of them has to be a boozebag. I would hope, for their sake, that there are some less proper distractions… Read more

  • The Yawning

    The one action that irked him most, above all the many and multiplying ones in his irksome life: he is talking with her and she yawns. He, with just enough vanity to believe he is fascinating. It is not always out of boredom, it could be the crushing weariness of her life. Then he yawns… Read more