The Intellectual Devotional; Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently with the Cultured Class.

If you are anything like me, and I hope you are, you have often said to yourself, ‘self, I wish there were a way to study all things brainy the way that most people study religion’. Well, your scholarly prayers have been answered. David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim have put together a volume of daily lessons from seven fields of knowledge that follow a weekly regiment. Monday is History, Tuesday is Literature, Wednesday is Visual Arts, Thursday is Science, Friday is Music, Saturday is Philosophy, and Sunday is, of course, Religion. It is, in essence, a quick course in things your really ought to know like the education and reign of Alexander The Great.

David S. Kidder is an entrepreneur that has founded many cutting edge companies in the information age and served as Vice-President of THINK New Ideas. Oppenheim has a well-established career as a journalist in print and television and is currently the senior producer of NBC’s Today show.

The layout and construction of this book is such that it allows the reader to take in these facts as well as take time to let them sink in. For example, when you read about melody and the structure of music Friday morning, you have the whole day to think about it and at a single page per day it doesn’t bog you down with too much to remember, then the information will be well absorbed into the gray matter until it is needed at a cocktail party where you can wow the bosses wife or bore the obnoxious guy from sales. This makes for a wonderful experience in learning that will take even the most tired of minds and revive them with the power of ammonium carbonate. In addition to the body of the daily essay there are footnotes that are sometimes humorous and always supportive of the main idea. If my high-school English teacher judged it, an A+ would be emblazoned on the cover.

The Intellectual Devotional is perfect for everyone. You don’t have to be a Ph. D. to want to read this book; you just have to like learning.
David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim biographical information courtesy of www.intellectualdevotional.com

Public Service Announcement

"That which does not kill us only makes us stronger."

To Whom It May Concern:

While you were sitting at your desk questioning my work ethic I was:

Taking care of a puppy.
Taking care of a dog.
Taking care of a house.
Taking care of my spouse.
Taking care of business.
Taking in 180 reps of heavy weights.
Taking out my frustrations on a heavy bag.

Thanks for the motivation.

Drivers Diaries

Martha Stansky stands in the living room of her studio apartment above the liquor store watching T.V. Her left arm is folded across her gentle breasts, bracing her right arm at a ninety-degree angle. A cigarette is perched between the thin fingers of her right hand just inches from her mouth. She stands to watch T.V. in her silk housecoat and curlers because if she sits down something might not get done. If she sits down she might think about things that won’t happen. She will think about the holidays that she won’t celebrate with friends and family that she doesn’t have. She will think about the presents she won’t get for the children she never had. She will think about the life that she never lived. She will wonder how she became a middle-aged short order waitress instead of a powerful lawyer or saintly doctor. Martha Stansky just stands in the one room of her one room apartment above the liquor store smoking and watching T.V.

Unveiling

OK, so I admit that I was trying to be very anonymous with this blog and create a name that was pretty pat, but as the fates would have it I began writing for a site called "blogcritics" (see link on my right sidebar) and they used my real name and linked it to this site, so, there we are.

I have been pleased with the comfort of writing this blog has given me and I am hoping to continue in that vein now that I am outed.

There are some features that I have added to the site that help maintain it and I want to point them out so that you, if you were so inclined, might click the links and help further the cause. (The cause being this site). The first I have already mentioned, blogcritics. It is described as a "sinister cabal of writers and critics". I think that menacing is better than sinister, but who am I to correct. Once there you will find an assortment of entries by writers such as myself. I have posted the review of Tom Waits latest CD there, albeit a longer one than you will find here. Good group of writers. Check them out and support them.

The second feature is the Google search bar at the bottom of this page. If you are looking for something, why not search for it from this site (it helps). Also there are several links surrounding the search bar menu. These are ad links and, again, help maintain this site.

Thank you all again for your support and comments. I look forward to continuing this site for some time.

Ben

Drivers Diaries

Parson’s Grove.

The wheels roll along the seams of Michigan roads. Headlights rise and fall over the hills and everyone must watch for reflective green eyes along the side of the highway. I've just left a little town set amongst the back woods like some treasure that is seen only by those who know its there and is preserved in perfect antiquity, just like Disney's body. Parson's Grove boasts the oldest tavern in Michigan. This is a point of pride that the residents celebrate every night it seems. In fairness to them, it’s the only things to do in town after 6:00 p.m. other than buy groceries.

A gas station use to sit on the corner of Borden road, but that didn’t prosper so they made it a Celtic gift store. I’ve seen the children of Parson’s Grove jumping from the bridge into the town lake in the summer and playing baseball nearly every night possible, but now that the weather has turned cold they have all disappeared. Lights now decorate every house in town. They line every street and shimmer off the unfrozen lake. People here take the birth of Jesus very serious. The lights are a way for them to let you know they’re serious about the celebration too. I can imagine that there will still be handmade toys under some of the trees in Parson’s Grove.

I am glad to be leaving that little town. I am glad every time. I don’t belong there. I belong out among the mutants of the post-capitalist fallout.

Monday Morning

Hello all. I see from my counter that you have been visiting. I thank you most sincerely. I wanted to point out one of the nifty features of the site. Below my blog entry you will see a section that says "comment". If you click on the link beside it you will be directed to an area where you can, in fact, leave a comment. I encourage you to do this as it makes the site just that much more interesting. I do not moderate comments so anything you say will be posted. (I believe in free debate). I also have opened the site up for anyone that wants to comment. In other words, you don't have to become a member to do so. This makes for a wonderful opportunity for you to say what you like, or dislike, about the site. Tell me about your day. Or just blab. I look forward to hearing from each and every one of you.

Sincerely,

Poet