Cloister Commentary, Day 5: New Normals

Even though I’d had peanut butter toast five days in a row, I missed it.

My daily project yesterday was cleaning out three drawers I hadn’t really LOOKED at in earnest for several years. Discoveries: an MRE a 7th hour student gave me probably 15 years ago (Who was it? He’s on the tip of my mind and it is jambalaya, so he had to be cool!) (Yes, I thought about opening it!); Louis’ old chew rope; the Crocs Nicole had been looking for all last decade; a static gun; about 50 headphone adapters; a bumper sticker reading “Evil men you will know because they will be honored by statues” (or something like that) and attributed to “YOUR BROTHER”; Tyler Keith‘s mysterious and wonderful Apostles cassette EP (I have #29 of 60 made) that is lovingly protected in a cloth case (see photo below–I’m playing it again today) with a still relevant message; a little flashlight with the power to stun; and a CD of some orchestra playing U2’s greatest hits that Kit Webster and Ryan Wood bought me to annoy me even more than their presence in my classroom was already doing. Need something to keep you busy and provide surprises? I recommend this task.

My friend John Schooley is frequently the source of amusement on Facebook. His witticisms are bereft of coats of candy, and the other day he jokingly withdrew his recommendation of Studs Terkel’s truly great HARD TIMESand replaced it with an admiring Business Times story about a band that went on tour in a Mercedes Benz. However, his mere mention of Terkel’s book sent my mind down on economic rabbit hole that I only found my way out of after calling my dad, who was born in the midst of The Great Depression.

These days are full of triggers.

Streaming for Shut-Ins: Remember Cornershop? I knew you would. Well, they have a really nice new album that I would like to link in toto but cannot, but here’s a highlight: