1. |
Aging Gracefully
02:54
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Growing older is a privilege denied to many.
We all have issues. Sooner or later, we all must recognize what is no longer possible and find alternatives.
Maybe the secret to successful aging is to recognize our issues and adapt accordingly. Maybe we need to stop talking about our aches, pains and ailments, since it doesn’t provide relief. Maybe we should say something flattering or cheerful to a stranger every day. Maybe we should live each day as if it is our last.
Growing awareness of our own mortality may help us appreciate our lives more, instead of comparing our circumstances to others and striving for more material things.
"The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes."
- Frank Lloyd Wright
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2. |
LEGACY
02:39
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I attend more funerals these days. The fallen friends, lovers, spouses, mentors and famous people are often around my age. I am always doing the math. In doing so, I am trying to inject urgency into the meaning of the days of my life that I have remaining.
I write these words, I write this music. My purpose is to say my truth and leave that as a legacy.
"Your legacy is every life you've touched.
Make a mark on the world that can’t be erased.” - Maya Angelou
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3. |
DON'T BE FOOLED AGAIN
02:23
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We can choose not to be fooled by the rhetoric, the politicization and the spin. Incompetent leadership has done more to change the face of our world than perhaps in any other time in history. Blind faith in our rulers is more than foolish--it can be downright dangerous.
The world has grown more complicated and more volatile, and making intelligent decisions about the people in charge has never been more crucial. We need to become better informed and more demanding followers. We know that politicians promise too much and deliver too little.
DON'T BE FOOLED AGAIN
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4. |
SOCIAL MEDIA IS EVIL
03:33
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What’s more popular than religion, more trustworthy than politicians and more addictive than cocaine?
SOCIAL MEDIA . . .
and it IS EVIL.
We use it to boost our egos. How do you feel when you post something online? IMPATIENT in the beginning, even disturbed, before the first few likes. EXITED when you get a few thumbs up and a few comments. FULFILLED, when you reach a good number of shares and approval from your friends. We do all of the above to feel important.
Social media is insidious because it is advertised and accepted as something free. But there are costs involved that are not so obvious. Our attention span decreases when we use social media. They earn money by bombarding us with well-targeted ads.
Social media has become a digitized high school from which no one can graduate. People can herald it as this great, liberating thing that can connect the world, but it boils down to nothing more than those awkward teenage years that most people could not wait to leave behind.
The U.S. Federal Election Commissioner has argued that Facebook “has no idea how seriously it is hurting democracy”.
Thanks, Mark.
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5. |
CONTROL OF CONGRESS
02:55
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After the upcoming midterm elections, Americans may wake up to find their statehouses and congressional seats packed with Republicans who deny the outcome of the 2020 election, participated in the January 6 insurrection and hold extremist views on abortion.
Let's make sure this does not happen. VOTE!
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6. |
NO RED WAVE
02:54
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"Definitely not a Republican wave, that's for darn sure," said Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.
Republicans appeared to be far short of the sweeping "red wave" victory they had sought, as Democrats were avoiding the kind of heavy midterms defeat that often plagues sitting presidents. Voters seem to be punishing Biden for presiding over an economy hit by steep inflation, while also lashing out against Republican efforts to ban abortion.
The promised red wave was nowhere to be found.
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7. |
Republicans In Ruin?
03:05
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There is every logical reason for Republicans to move on from Trump.
Multiple Trump-backed candidates for governor, secretary of state, The Senate and The House - flamed out. Swearing loyalty to Trump and his election fraud myth has proved to be a disastrous campaign strategy for many candidates.
The New York Post, one of Trump’s favorite newspapers, summed up his Mar-a-Lago speech with the front-page headline: “Florida Man Makes Announcement.” The brutal Post coverage comes amid reports that the newspaper’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, has told Trump that his outlets will not support his 2024 campaign.
Though many Republican donors and media outlets may be ready to dump Trump, the voters who will actually determine the 2024 nominee are much more hesitant to do so. Unless DeSantis or another challenger can shake Trump’s solid foundation of support, America could be heading toward a 2020 rematch.
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8. |
EARTH ANTHEM
02:53
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Our planet is in pretty bad shape. The EARTH needs our help. We need to think globally and act locally. Humanity must take significant steps to avert a huge climate catastrophe.
What is hot today will become hotter tomorrow, extreme floods will become more frequent, wildfires more dangerous and deadly droughts more widespread. People across the world are losing their lives and livelihoods.
Our seemingly insatiable human tendency to consume is changing our planet and the life on it. Unless, we offer a different vision rooted in reduction of consumption, the flames of our own materialism might consume both us and our EARTH.
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9. |
MOVE THE MONEY
02:57
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We are the ones that did this. We are the ones that have been adding to the pollution of our planet. My generation created climate change.
People over 60 have 70% of the wealth in this country, and a lot of that is tied up in our retirement funds. The nation’s biggest banks are some of the top funders of the oil and gas industry, which contributes greatly to climate change. We can move our retirement money out of fossil fuel funding organizations and companies.
We are the ones that did this.
Move the money.
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10. |
DAYS OF AWE
04:15
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The “Days of Awe” are 10 days of repentance and renewal that begin with Rosh Hashanah and close with Yom Kippur, the solemn Day of Atonement.
This is a time for serious introspection, a time to consider the mistakes of the previous year. We seek reconciliation with people that we have wronged.
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11. |
Atonement
04:13
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Words by Jim Culleny
Music by Steve Shapiro
To find the means to a mend
To try a new take to forsake a mistake
To unfold the past and straighten its bend
To un-muddy a pool and make it clear
To lift the flat rock of my self and let the sun do its work
To yank the inside out and give it some air
To make a whole man of the stuff of a jerk
To morph a long fall into a hairpin turn
To lance a boil and do what’s best for us
To kindle the badly done and watch it burn
To unbury the past and make its corpse a Lazarus
To sew a split in one cloth now two
To impossibly do what the humble do
To end a grudge and make us whole again,
at onement then
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12. |
Water Water Everywhere
02:46
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"Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink" said Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".
Water is all around us but is often not clean or safe enough to drink. The lack of clean or safe water is a global problem, which will lead to an unsustainable future as the global population increases from 7.5 billion today to a predicted 9 billion by 2050.
Over one billion people lack access to water and 2.7 billion experience water scarcity at least one month a year. By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may be facing water shortages. When waters run dry, people cannot get enough to drink, wash, or feed crops.
The water crisis is also a health crisis. Nearly 1 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene-related diseases. Every 2 minutes a child dies from a water-related disease.
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13. |
Extreme Heat
02:45
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There is hot, and then there is hot!
Extreme heat is a period of high heat and humidity with temperatures above 90 degrees for at least two to three days. In extreme heat your body works extra hard to maintain a normal temperature, which can lead to death. Extreme heat is responsible for the highest number of annual deaths among all weather-related hazards.
The intensity of individual heat waves can be attributed to global warming. And with further warming, heatwaves are set to become more frequent.
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14. |
FACT? or FICTION?
05:31
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"The lies of an authoritarian were designed not to persuade people, but to organize them into a mass movement. Followers would believe everything and nothing and think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. The ideal subject for such a dictator was not those who were committed to an ideology, but rather people for whom the distinction between FACT and FICTION no longer exist."
Hannah Arendt "The Origins of Totalitarianism" 1951
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15. |
IMPLICIT BIAS
05:47
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We all have biases — unsupported assumptions we make about people or groups. IMPLICIT BIAS refers to the various social stereotypes and judgments that we unknowingly assign to others based on age, socioeconomic status, weight, gender, race, or sexual orientation.
IMPLICIT BIAS does not make you racist or sexist. It means your brain is noticing patterns and making generalizations. But the same thought processes that make people smart can also make them biased. This tendency for stereotype-confirming thoughts to pass spontaneously through our minds is what psychologists call IMPLICIT BIAS.
It sets people up to overgeneralize - leading to discrimination even when people feel they are being fair. We are more biased than we realize. And that is an important cause of injustice—whether we know it or not.
“It's a little embarrassing that after 45 years of research and study, the best advice I can give people is to be a little kinder to each other."
― Aldous Huxley, 1963
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16. |
I'M YOU
02:51
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"I'm You" was a band I was in 50 years ago in New Jersey!
Boy was that fun!
This track is dedicated to those great times and people!
Taj Mahal, the great bluesman captured the spirit of those times:
“It’s never been about ‘Watch me.’ The audience is part of the performance. It’s not like I’m up here on stage and they’re all down there. I’m just one man trying to make a global connection that anyone can plug in to.”
“There are 7 billion people on this planet and what’s considered commercially viable doesn’t interest the majority of them. So why would I limit myself to what record executives think will sell?”
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Steve Shapiro Oakland, California
Steve Shapiro has composed music for hundreds of radio and TV commercials, documentary films, infomercials and other TV programs. He was the music director at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, which produced hundreds of award-winning educational films and recordings. He has a BA in Music from Brown University and an MA in Music from the Manhattan School of Music. ... more
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