Absorbed am I to such extent
That mundane items hold no cache.
Extremes to which I'm so hell-bent
Possess no limit; have no match.
By diversity and like curtains rent,
From my former self I'm now detached.
My aim is not quite so grandiose,
Lacking better terms, I call it Chromatose.
(from https://www.history.com/news/6-surprising-facts-about-st-valentine)
1. The St. Valentine who inspired the holiday may have been two different men.
Officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, St. Valentine is known to be a real person who died around A.D. 270. However, his true identity was questioned as early as A.D. 496 by Pope Gelasius I. . . One account from the 1400s describes Valentine as a temple priest who was beheaded near Rome by the emperor Claudius II for helping Christian couples wed. A different account claims Valentine was the Bishop of Terni, also martyred by Claudius II on the outskirts of Rome.
2. In all, there are about a dozen St. Valentines, plus a pope. . .
The official Roman Catholic roster of saints shows about a dozen who were named Valentine or some variation thereof.
3. Valentine is the patron saint of beekeepers and epilepsy, among many other things.
4. You can find Valentine’s skull in Rome.
5. English poet Geoffrey Chaucer may have invented Valentine’s Day. . .
No record exists of romantic celebrations on Valentine’s Day prior to a poem Chaucer wrote around 1375. In his work “Parliament of Foules,” he links a tradition of courtly love with the celebration of St. Valentine’s feast day–an association that didn’t exist until after his poem received widespread attention.
6. You can celebrate Valentine’s Day several times a year. . .
you might decide to celebrate St. Valentine of Viterbo on November 3. Or . . . St. Valentine of Raetia on January 7. . . (or) the only female St. Valentine (Valentina), a virgin martyred in Palestine on July 25, A.D. 308. The Eastern Orthodox Church officially celebrates St. Valentine twice, once as an elder of the church on July 6 and once as a martyr on July 30.
Other Ray Jozwiak Offerings
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
Not only do we have to cultivate the seed of ideas and form the words and musical context in which to frame them, we have to either 1. be able to present (perform) the product (composition) or 2. secure the talents of a performer to adequately get the point of the effort across. Then, we must amass the resources and/or master the skills necessary, and invest the time to capture the performance in a medium in order to be able to present the product easily to members of the public (audience, consumers). After that, we must market, post/upload/distribute either physically or digitally the performance product to potential distribution entities and the general music-purchasing public (if we can find them). And this, all, must be done simultaneously and continually in order to remain vital. I'm not complaining, mind you, but this 'passion' with all of its joy, fulfillment, satisfaction, fun and amusement does involve a substantial amount of 'work'.
The church of music
Holds no ham and oyster suppers
We're all just deacons
With our boots upon the ground
Marching into mystery
In command but
Still can't quite see
The church of music
Won't require your weekly presence
You'll find it stays with you
No matter where you are
No dogmatic postulates
No demands on
Your fidelity
It can end the darkest night
Carry you through the hours
Know not if it’s wrong or right
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
There are no fiery demons
In what I believe
It’s not for me to say
Who’s what and where they go
All things flowing naturally
No controlling
Power over you or me
Stricly spiritual
No trace of any politics
Lurking in the mix or in the fabric
Only what is good
No room for hate and no deceit
Honesty
Sincerity will move you
And me
This church won’t interfere
With what you think or do
Your body and your mind are
Yours and yours alone
No one tells you what to say
No one criticizes
What you feel inside
It can heal the deepest wound
Shine a light in the darkness
Warm a chill in any room
Make no mistake
It’s divine
This church of mine
". . . In the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised to eliminate the deficit (and all existing U.S. debt) in eight years. Instead, the budget deficit is two-thirds larger than the deficit he inherited, and his latest spending plan expects the shortfall to linger into 2035. And that’s only because the budget is built on a mountain of falsity — from an expectation that the economy will grow by 3% (which it hasn’t in the Trump era) and that Democratically held U.S. House of Representatives will accept a slew of damaging social safety net reductions, including cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, while substantially increasing spending on the military and a border wall. . . "
". . . One of the biggest themes of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address — and one of the biggest themes of his reelection campaign — is that he inherited a weak economy from President Barack Obama and turned it into a strong economy by implementing his own policies. . . "The years of economic decay are over," he told the joint session of Congress on Feb. 4, 2020. "The days of our country being used, taken advantage of, and even scorned by other nations are long behind us. Gone, too, are the broken promises, jobless recoveries, tired platitudes and constant excuses for the depletion of American wealth, power and prestige.". . . Trump added, "If we hadn’t reversed the failed economic policies of the previous administration, the world would not now be witnessing this great economic success.". . . When we reached out to the Trump campaign, they offered several statistics showing Trump has notched greater gains than Obama did, such as manufacturing job creation, the unemployment rate, and economic growth. We found those statistics, and other specific facts Trump cited during the State of the Union, were accurate, or largely so. . .However, unlike Obama, who inherited the Great Recession, Trump inherited an economy that was already getting back on its feet. Overall, we found a continuation of the favorable trend lines Trump inherited from Obama. . . "
Other Ray Jozwiak Offerings
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
Should every man yield to the yearning unashamed
Without hypocrisy and wastefulness
Squander the strength he’s been endowed with
Feign superiority as tunnel vision’s all he sees
I’m trying to develop a superman
Dionysus evolving into perfect humanity
Gadding about helping each other get along
Won’t make us build the kind of man I see
Inferiors are weak copies of betters
Printed on bad paper from old and worn-out plates now gone
Selection, survivors mastering
Bettering the species irrespective of
Everything you’ve ever learned
About what’s right or wrong
You hear the word, you’re quoting scripture that you learned
Originating from a deity
But should that motivate your actions?
Such self-serving rewarding scheme
Yours or mine, that’s what both seem
