:: Thursday, September 11, 2003 ::
Country music used to represent horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separatism, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak, love, mother, and God.
The Man in Black, Johnny Cash, died this morning at age 71 from complications from diabetes.
Johnny Cash, the man whose trademark muffled rhythm guitar licks became the quintessential rockabilly sound, the born-again Christian who flipped the bird to the world and sang about prison and cocaine and love and heartache, the most beautiful, world-weary baritone the world has ever heard -- Johnny Cash is silent today. I miss him already.
Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.
I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.
Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.
I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.
And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.
Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.
Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.
"Man in Black," by Johnny Cash
:: Andrew 07:20 + ::
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:: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 ::
May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May Your love bring us love
Bruce Springsteen
"Into the Fire"
In remembrance. May we never forget.
:: Andrew 07:40 + ::
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Cool. I get a free sweatshirt.
Thanks, Google, for gobbling Blogger.
:: Andrew 16:22 + ::
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Comments are working again
So, please comment on the past week's worth of posts. You guys know I hate to see those big ol' goose-eggs. And there's plenty here to comment on: journalism, Warren Zevon, Tim's questions, the B team, etc. Your cooperation is appreciated.
:: Andrew 15:52 + ::
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"Amateur" journalists?
To my way of thinking, the phrase "Amateur journalist" is redundant. Since when did journalism become a profession?
Nevertheless, this Columbia Journalism Review article about bloggers' influence on the "journalismsphere" -- "The New Amateur Journalists Weigh In," by Matt Welch of Reason magazine -- contains some keen insights not only on blog journalism, but also on the state of the so-called alternative press, or "dull pieties of official progressivism."
Link via Introverting.
Update: In the original post, I meant to say that journalism is a craft, not a profession. Professions are guided by codes of ethics, and journalism cannot function properly if bound by a code of ethics.
:: Andrew 08:04 + ::
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:: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 ::
So many questions...
Overwhelming! Good luck finding the answers, Tim. But if I know you like I think I do (at least, like I think I know your blogosphere representation of self), you'll end up with ten times as many questions once you start finding an answer or two.
:: Andrew 07:57 + ::
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"I'll sleep when I'm dead," he sang
And so it was that, on Sept. 7, Warren Zevon -- the macabre, dead-on funny singer/songwriter of "Werewolves of London" fame -- died. He sleeps at last.
Zevon had a wickedly dark sense of humor. He wasn't afraid to face death, and many of his songs were about the subject. From this AP article: "I always like to have violent lyrics and violent music," Zevon told The Associated Press in 1990. "The knowledge of death and fear of death informs my existence. It's a safe, kind of cheerful way of dealing with that issue."
Perhaps that's why I liked his stuff so much. I'll have to break out of my punk funk tonight, dig out the only Zevon CD I own, Excitable Boy, and play it in Zevon's honor and memory tonight.
Postscript: Last October, "Werewolves" was ranked at No. 10 in my list of top Halloween songs.
:: Andrew 15:34 + ::
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Three cheers for the B team!
As a lifelong B-teamer (or at least since the days of seventh grade, when I warmed the bench for our junior high school's basketball "B" team), I'm gratified to read this USA Today article giving us our due.
When employers aren't busy weeding out the bottom 10% of their workforce, they've been trying to steal the A players from the competition in a battle to lure the best. But some of those employers are coming around to the realization that failure and success might not lie among the weakest and strongest links, but in the solid middle, the B players like Joel, the 75% of workers who have been all but ignored.
Companies have been trying to capture what organizational intelligence consultant Adrian Savage calls the "unicorns," but the focus is starting to shift to the horses, the B players.
"Ignore them at your peril," says Thomas DeLong, a Harvard management professor who co-authored with organizational strategy consultant Vineeta Vijayaraghavan of Katzenbach Partners an article in the June issue of Harvard Business Review called "Let's Hear It for B Players."
I used to strive to make the "A" list -- in journalism, in writing, in ministry, etc. -- but I'm finding myself growing more comfortable in my role as part of the "solid middle."
:: Andrew 07:40 + ::
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Simon Dawes, 
