I was very surprised to notice that I only have about twenty pages left until I will have read Finnegans Wake.

It’s hard not to feel like an anachronism these days. Much of the stuff that interests me, other people are not only not interested in, they are not very aware of it. This includes Joyce, but also any music that is not popular music.

It’s encouraging (if a bit overwhelming at this point) to be involved with 13 or so high school students preparing for Solo and Ensemble this Saturday. Their level of interest varies but I have to admire the Band Director at Holland High (Mr. White) for trying to light a fire under these kids for music.

Choir attendance was sparse last night. It took huge amounts of energy to keep the rehearsal positive and productive. i think I did that, but boy am I tired today.

I had a good meeting with my boss. She and I agreed that I probably need a new laptop to replace my ailing one. I think the church is going to buy me one. That will probably happen soon. We haven’t heard anything for a while from the organ builder we have hired to build us an organ, Martin Pasi. Jen emailed him yesterday. I messaged him this morning on Facebooger. I hope he responds in time for us to update the congregation at the annual meeting Sunday.

It is a pleasure to have Elizabeth, Jeremy and Alex visiting. Yesterday while I was at work, they drove to Whitehall for a visit  with the Hatch side of the fam. That seems to have been successful. All of us, I think, are showing signs of wear from the visit. I do appreciate  the time and trouble Elizabeth and Jeremy are taking to keep their extended families connected. This is no mean trick when we are scattered all over the world.

I drafted an article on Psalmody for the Church Bulletin yesterday and emailed to Jen.

I put quite a bit of work into it. I will probably put it up here after Jen okays it. The purpose of this article is to educate the community about why we sing the psalms, the theology of worship around singing and the Anglican identity of using Anglican chant to sing the psalms.

The next few days will require energy from me.

I have rehearsals today and tomorrow. Then the whole day Saturday in Kentwood playing the actual Solo and Ensemble Festival. Then Sunday business as usual. I am playing a Bach Fantasia (in B minor, BWV 563) for the postlude Sunday. It’s not a terribly hard one but I have been practicing it. I wonder if I will have time and energy to do so Saturday. We’ll see.

I fell for one of those subscription offers from the New Yorker: Six issues for six dollars. So far I have received three issues. I have told myself that if I can’t find some interesting articles or funny cartoons them I will take steps to NOT have it automatically sign me up for more subscription the way their email warned me they would.

On the Road with Trump and Cruz – The New Yorker

This is the article I read in the latest issue. I think it’s pretty good. I have decided that Trump and Cruz are mirrors of who we are in the United States right now: uneducated, narrow, preoccupied with style over substance, entertainment over thinking. fear over courage. We did not suddenly get here. We have been edging this way for decades. And I firmly believe we all have a measure of responsibility for it.

How “Making a Murderer” Went Wrong – The New Yorker

This is the other article I found helpful and interesting a one of the three issues of The New Yorker I have received so far. This article raised questions that have occurred to me about this TV series. Such as clarity over the crime and bias of the presentation of the story. Jes’ sayin’