Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, known as the Tallis Fantasia, a/k/a the Tallis Fantasia, is one of the most beautiful, peaceful, gorgeous, (other good words...), piece of music I have ever heard. Notice, I said "one of". This morning, before I came to work, I heard it on the radio program "Performance Today". If you have 18 minutes to kill, listen to the above rendition. This was composed by Ralph Vaughn Williams, an English composer who, had he lived, would have been 101 years old. He composed it in 1910 and it was one of his first successes. The work takes its name from the original composer of the melody, Thomas Tallis, who lived from 1540 to 1623. Go ahead and listen to it while you read the paper or do something else online. Better yet, turn your computer speakers up a bit and just relax.

If you have another 8 minutes or so, you can hear the tune that Tallis wrote that inspired the Fantasia. Tallis wrote it for the first Archbishop of Cantebury for voices. It was written in in 1567. The words: "Why fum'th in fight the Gentiles spite, in fury raging stout?
Why tak'th in hand the people fond, vain things to bring about?The Kings arise, the Lords devise, in counsels met thereto,against the Lord with false accord, against His Christ they go." It is from the second Psalm.

One English composer who deserves to better known is Thomas Tallis who in his lifetime was a reknowned composer of sacred choral music. Tallis remained a Catholic at time of considerable religious upheaval in the British Isles, and the fact that he was able to continue to write for both the Catholic and Anglican churches illustrates the esteem in which he was held. Aside from his association with Vaughan Williams across time, Tallis is probably best known today as the composer of Spem In Alium, an astonishingly beautiful motet for 40 voices. But that is for another post. Here is the theme that inspired Ralph Vaughn Williams:

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read. ~G.K. Chesterton

When I was just an eeeedy beeedy boy, I watched this Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meredith. Little did I know that I would become this man. Years ago, Kathleen and I and Maureen and Claire saw this on television and they all stared at me -- and said, "That's you!"

I had not seen any reference to this episode until recently:

My Last Word on Miss South Carolina

This is not an exaggeration:

Nor is this:

Why I Hate Television News

Miss South Carolina, (above), points to the notion of how ill-prepared our society is to play well with others. You see, Miss South Carolina, as smart as she is about hair, make-up, and what dress to wear for what portion of the pageant, she is equally and alarmingly ignorant of history, geography, current events and discourse. She does deserve this criticism, because she entered a contest that in some fashion purports to allow her a one minute public affairs question and answer. In plain English, she is stupid on subjects where it used to count. Though many of our fellow citizens are good at acquiring things they are negligent, at best, at acquiring knowledge -- unless that knowledge can be converted to currency.

If Miss South Carolina resided in my house, I would take her electronics away from her, tell her that she spends too much time trying to look pretty, and too little time studying and preparing to be a productive friend, family member and citizen.

So, when Miss South Carolina's publicist booked her on the Today Show one would have expected some type of chastisement at the hands of Matt Lauer. But Matt Lauer is an idiot himself. Touted as a "news person" he is really a "news personality". No longer can we expect the William Shirer/Edward Murrow/Walter Cronkite news person. We are left with Matt Lauer and his types, both conservative and liberal, who elevate the celebrity to something newsworthy. Thus, it comes as no surprise that he actually sympathetically laments for Miss South Carolina. Note in the following "news" interview how he hardly lets Miss South Carolina answer. Knowing a kindred spirit, he answers the questions for her. Thus, stupidity is elevated to a sympathetic condition rather than misplaced values or laziness. Watch:

Our Fourth Estate has gone from William Shrier/Ed Morrow/Walter Cronkite to Katie Couric/Matt Lauer and you name him or her. Shrier would have laughed at her, Morrow would have lectured her and Cronkite would not have wasted his time.

Now, That's Funny!

Merry Christmas!!

"I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved."

The above quote is by novelist Barbara Kingsolver, but as Ms. Kingsolver was not at Maureen's graduation on Sunday December 7, 2008, we all threw our arms around Maureen instead.

Maureen is now the proud recipient of a Masters of Science Degree from SUNY Albany in Library Science from the College of Computing and Information. Simply put, that means that she is brilliant and sick and tired of school.

Kathleen can be seen awarding the Graduate the Nichols Family Pomegranate Award. Maureen's persistence has been remarkable, as have been her marks and her attitude throughout the program. Her achievement was hard fought and well deserved. It is a remarkable achievement when you think of the number of years of discipline and patience and hard work it took to achieve. If it sounds that I am proud, well... WHAT'S NOT TO BE PROUD OF!

Maureen's tremendous accomplishment of being the first of the Sauvageau/Nichols grandchildren to earn a Master's Degree is something that we can all take pride in and strive toward.