Celebrating Sesame Street’s 50th birthday

There is Lombard Street and Wall Street.
There is Hollywood and Vine.
There’s 5th Avenue and Broadway.
There’s your favorite. There is mine.

Mine is where Big Bird is roosting.
Where a grouch lives in a can.
It’s where Bert and Ernie squabble.
One likes oatmeal. One likes bran.

It’s where monsters thrive on cookies
and Count Dracula loves math.
It’s a street where rubber duckies
help a puppet take a bath.

It’s a street that leads to memories
back to when my kids were small.
Sesame Street and all its muppets
outrank Lombard Street and Wall.

And this year this Street turns fifty.
What Jim Henson dreamed survives.
It’s a road that leads to learning
entertaining fours and fives.

Happy birthday, Mr. Hooper!
Snuffy, Elmo, Kermit, too.
Thanks for all you have accomplished
and for what you still will do.

How would the rabbi from Nazareth relate to Ellen DeGeneres?

Would Jesus sit with Ellen
at a Dallas Cowboys game?
I think the one I worship surely would.
He criticized his critics
who had judged his caring heart
while clarifying reasons why we should.

The Jesus in the Gospels
was a friend to everyone
except those hypocrites who loved to hate.
He risked his reputation
hanging with the rich and poor
(and likely with the closet gay and straight).

To be a friend does not demand
you compromise your truth.
It means that you embrace another’s worth.
It’s taking time to understand
what others hold as true
while humbly sharing values you assert.

How Amber Guyger was alerted to God’s grace

She didn’t throw the book at her.
The judge showed grace instead.
She gave Amber her Bible with a prayer
that she would make a brand new start
while grounded in God’s Word
discovering in prison that God cares.

The victim’s brother didn’t glare.
He offered grace instead.
He hugged the guilty cop with words of love.
That courtroom was a sacred place.
Forgiveness was displayed.
The hand of justice wore a velvet glove.

Against the backdrop of this crime,
God’s grace took center stage.
A judge and grieving brother stunned the crowd.
Acknowledging the loss of life,
both wept devoid of hate
and silenced those outside protesting loud.

Vaping and pot are taking a toll

Kids are vaping.
There’s no escaping.
Nicotine won’t let them go.
Flavors lure them.
Tastes of childhood.
It’s a killer.
But they don’t know.

Pot is legal.
But the jury
still is out on if that’s right.
CBD is
deemed the answer
by those higher
than a kite.

Vapor pods
and pot shop owners
are the rage.
Folks love to toke.
But there’s real danger.
We’re in trouble.
Sanity’s gone up
in smoke.

Celebrating Ken Burns Series on Country Music

Three simple chords make country songs.
But that’s not all. There’s truth!
The pain of loss. The joy of love.
And truckstops in Duluth.

Ken Burns now helps us trace our roots
to Nashville royalty.
There’s Johnny, June, Loretta, Hank.
And don’t forget Doll-y.

It’s more than twang and nasal sounds.
We’re owin’ lots to Buck,
to Merle and Willie, Flat and Scruggs
plus little Tanya Tuck.

The Ryman Auditorium.
The Grand Ole Opry, too.
These sacred places became church
to folks like me and you.

Dad burn it, Ken. You brought respect
to what some love to hate.
But Country Western, Bluegrass, too,
helped make our nation great.