“Optimists and pessimists die the exact same death, but they live very different lives.” 

  –Shimon Peres

If you have a big monitor and some patience, this is actually a bunch of still photographs.  If you’re of a certain age, spend some time seeing The New York We’ve Lost.

Not the deer, they’re for real, four beautiful white-tailed does, and the picture was taken on Monday evening right outside the front door of Vermont Mornings corporate headquarters.  But…they’re far healthier than normal for late February, and that’s because they’ve basically had access to food all winter long.  As of the 20th of February, we’re still waiting for our first full-fledged snowstorm of the winter.  The nature of things around here is that whatever small amounts of snow we get will linger because of the cold temperatures.  So it LOOKS for all intents and purposes like winter, but normally at this time of year, we have six-foot tall snowbanks and a bad case of cabin fever.  What we have this season is mostly open ground, few if any snowmobilers (critical to our tourism-based economy) and a bunch of seniors (80+) who swear they’ve never seen a winter such as this.  I don’t know what you would call it…I just call it WEIRD.

But…the skiing at Burke Mountain, our local favorite, is fabulous.  C’mon up.

OR…you can listen to the live broadcast Tuesday from 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM EST and call in to show your support.  Go to www.magic977.com to listen.

‘Seasons Of My Soul,’ the debut album by Rumer.  Her real name is Sarah Joyce, she’s a Brit (although born in Pakistan) and she sounds a bit like one of the great voices of all time, Karen Carpenter.  She’s huge throughout Europe and is appearing at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on the 9th of February.  Go see her. OOPS.  Too late, the show is sold out.

‘Old Ideas,’ the brand new CD from Leonard Cohen.  He’s touring and recording because a trusted agent embezzled millions from him, so you kinda get the sense that he’s purely in it for the money.  But hey, he’s Leonard Cohen.  He can do whatever he wants.  Amazing that he’s not well known in the States.

Seal‘s latest, ‘Soul 2.’  Faithful arrangements of some of the best soul songs of all time, including “Let’s Stay Together,” “What’s Going On,” “Backstabbers” and “Love Won’t Let Me Wait,” which was a huge 1975 hit for Major Harris.  The ’75 version was perhaps the first hit  song to have that much moaning in it.

You Don’t Have To Be Jewish and two other comedy albums from the 60′s.  For The Tribe.

Also:  More comedy from Steve Allen (the FIRST host of  The Tonight Show), and an amazing album called ‘Voices Of The Dead‘ that features the earliest known recordings…dating back to the 1860′s!

Plenty more, but it’s time for the Super Bowl, gotta run.  Giants/Patriots??  Win win!!

Maybe there are no more heroes left in the world, but there’s no question that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one.  Few have done more to create positive change in this country, during any era.

There’s also no question that racism and bigotry remain embedded in these United States.  It may not be nearly as overt as it was a half-century prior, but megalomaniacs like Newt Gingrich are intelligent enough to couch their brand of racism in code.  That’s the true legacy of how they have spun political correctness:  Coded, shaded communication that hides the true agenda of those whose fear of change manifests itself in the most despicable ways possible.

BUT…there are a few hard-working angels out there and Julie Hansen, the Head of School at The Stevens School in Lyndon Center (on the Lyndon Institute campus) is one of them.  A true First Amendment School, in past years, their annual candlelight vigil to honour Dr. King was held an hour south, at Dartmouth College.  But this year, they decided to host their own, partly in response to the tremendous LACK of response to anti-Semitic graffiti discovered nearly a year ago.  Swastikas and the words “Die Jew” appeared on a building at a public park in early Spring and stayed there through the summer.  A young lady (the daughter of a dear friend) brought it our attention, we brought it to the attention of Amy Ash Nixon, a writer for the Caledonian Record (and another angel.)  There was a written response from several evangelical Christian pastors, not a peep from those who are resp0nsible for the running of the park, blather from the municipal administrator and grumbling from a chief of police who apparently had better things to do than investigate what even he acknowledged was a hate crime. Shame on all of them.

But kudos to the 100+ people, young and old, who showed up on a chilly January night to watch Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, share their thoughts and sing.

Yes, we’ve made great strides.  But there’s still…so much…to accomplish.  Don’t. Ever. Stop.