My World of Religion, Politics, Entertainment and Social Issues

  Whenever I want to get away from the ugliness of today's politics, I retreat to my favorite endeavor, which is classical music. Both Brenda and I were trained musicians. She was a church organist for many years, and I played trumpet in several ensembles, in addition to studying piano, violin, viola, voice, and conducting. Most recently, Brenda and I have been spending many nights with Lenny. I am speaking of Leonard Bernstein. In my list of most respected persons of stature, Bernstein tops the list. We are fortunate to have a treasure trove of concerts he conducted, most with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. His concerts were recently remastered and are available for streaming on the Carnegie Hall+ channel. What I admired most about Leonard Bernstein was his conducting style and his ability to compose music of multi genres. He was admittedly frustrated during much of his long career, which was a consequence of his genius. Quite often, when he was on conducting tours, he...

  I am convinced there should be a time limit on State of the Union speeches. I didn't watch last night's speech. However, I tuned in for the local news at 11:00. Donald Trump had just completed his speech, and I couldn't help noticing that the chamber emptied very quickly. I have no doubt that after two hours, many members of Congress had to make a mad dash to the bathroom. Concerning a time limit for State of the Union Speeches, I don't think it is unreasonable for the House Speaker to impose a 45-minute time limit. When I was in college, I took a public speaking course. As part of my theological studies in graduate school, I took a preaching course. Both courses emphasized content over length. In the preaching course, the professor held up a stop watch after ten minutes. The rationale was that if you were unable to stress your important points in the allotted time, the sermon/homily was not worth delivering. The same rule should apply to presidents giving th...