I devoted my entire morning reading time this morning to finishing Give Us the Ballot by Ari Berman and then typing up my reading notes. Often when I read a library book, I use stickies in place of my usual margin notations. I know that librarians say that the stickies are not very good for the books, but they’re better than writing in the book and less cumbersome than constantly keeping separate notes as I read.

Essentially Berman makes a pretty air tight case that Republicans do not want minorities, students and the elderly to vote. Besides dismantling our Republic in this way, I wonder how long they can keep this up. The white, male majority they are trying desperately to preserve is doomed. The only way they can preserve it in the long run as far as I can see is to continue to pass more and more restrictive voter laws or come up with other creative ways to stop Democrats from voting.

Today is the first Sunday of choir at church and I am feeling weirdly disconnected to Grace. I feel like the addition of new staff has left me a bit in the cold with my ideas about quality programming and thinking. Most of this shit, I just need to let go of like I did the local AGO chapter. The one exception is that I am gradually getting our copyright use more ethical and up to speed. I started reporting our usage this week and will continue to try to train Mary our secretary to do so in the future.

Otherwise I keep reminding myself it’s a part time gig. I’m only responsible for the execution of the music in the worship and I enjoy that immensely. Today should be fun musically. But I’m feeling more and more comfortable with being an atheist in christian context.

Singing in Early Childhood – National Association for Music Education (NAfME)

Yesterday at the farmers market I got a hug from a young woman who sang in my children’s choir at the Catholic church north of town. She was busking with a buddy and doing it with skill. Satisfying.

What’s Showing at the Toronto Film Festival? TV – The New York Times

Interesting idea to acknowledge that film is film no matter the intended venue.

Review: The JACK Quartet, With Instruments of Destruction – The New York Times

These kinds of experiments feel a bit dated but still interest me.

Review: ‘Nufonia Must Fall’ Shares the Heart of Kid Koala’s Robot Tale – The New

Not sure about the music, but this graphic novel interests me.

Alexis Tsipras Wields Charm to Appeal to Jaded Greek Voters – The New York Times

This election happens today in Greece. I’m curious how Tsipras will do.