Music fans, we need to have a talk. Perhaps I should have said 'pop music'. More specifically, those people who consider themselves fans of a certain music legend named Garth Brooks. I've heard one thing these many years: "Man, I love Garth, but the Chris Gaines album was horrible." To which I can only reply: YOU'RE ALL INSANE! Honestly, it's one of the best recordings I've ever heard. The story that came along is irrelevant; it was a movie project collaboration with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds that fell through. (You can hear a testimony to Babyface's pervasive influence on the second track, "Lost in You." Vintage.) I took Brooks' advice: I just listened to the album, willing myself to imagine a new artist that I'd not heard. If that were the case, every music fan in America would say, "Wow, pretty good for a first time." And it was a first time, because it's a pop album. Admit it, the Chris Gaines record is better than the copy of Jennifer Lopez' On the 6 you bought, still hoping your friends will never find.
Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...
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