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Friday, March 27, 2009

Go Now!!!

If you haven't already, pick up a copy of the latest Sangamon Star, or check it out on their website. It features a Shorty by yours truly.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Way Of The Andy - Episode One

As most of you know I have been co-hosting a podcast under various names for close to five years. It's an enjoyable hobby, and I can't see myself stopping anytime soon. In fact, I enjoy it so much I have decided to take on hosting my own "solo" podcast. I use the quotation marks because I will have a variety of co-hosts joining me on each episode so I guess it's not technically a solo effort.

The format for the new show (I haven't settled on a name) is going to be a little bit different from The Ironic Divide. First, I plan on keeping this one relatively short - somewhere in the five to ten minute range. Second, there will only be one subject per show. Angie joins me to discuss recent comments made by Pope Benedict for this one.

Feedback, suggestions, and constructive criticism are always welcome.

Download the episode or subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Grave Memorial



Today I took advantage of the nice weather to do something I haven't done in almost ten years. I went to Oak Ridge Cemetery to visit my friend, Michael, who passed away in 1998 after being struck by a car.

As I stood by his gravestone I noticed how well kept it appeared in comparison to the others nearby. I know Mike has several siblings and both his parents are still alive to maintain his resting place. I guess whoever survived these others have either passed themselves, or moved away or just moved on.

This was when I noticed the other graves seemed to be closer together than I remembered. Does Oak Ridge exhume its residents and move them into ossuaries or catacombs? Do all cemeteries do this? Did this mean I was actually standing over empty ground, and not my friend's remains? If so, than it's more important than I realized to maintain your loved one's headstones. I'd always thought of them as a kind of place marker, and taking care of them a form of therapy for the grieving, but when you understand they can be the last tangible link to a loved one they invoke much more pain and significance. A life reduced to remembrance in the form of an engraved stone, and as I saw with some of Mike's neglected neighbors the world moves on and eventually forgets.

Gorgeous day today.

And now, because I like to keep things light, please enjoy this: