partsofspeaking

This would be good for group studies,like adult Life Group (Sunday School).

The Pope The President Both show lack of integrity. How important that trait is!

People often say deaths come in threes, an odd comment, but they tend to mean deaths close to them or deaths of famous people. In the last 24 hours Senator John McCain passed away, as expected (although perhaps sooner), and Neil Simon.  Either another is coming, or Aretha Franklin is in that mythical three. Meghan McCain's tweet/tribute to her dad is heart-wrenching. Donald Trump is disgraced this weekend, rightly so, for his shameful dismissal of Senator McCain. Maybe the Republican party will regain its integrity after contemplating the difference between the two. I sort of hope they all turn on Trump once Brett Cavanaugh gets confirmed, since the only justification for Trump I can see is getting two non-liberal SCOTUS judges. Until then, I'm not calling myself a Republican. Neil Simon wrote a lot of comedies that were good, some that were corny. My main thought about him is that his plays were really expensive to put on in colleges (due to royalties) and he would polic

The third edition of Exploring Public Speaking , the free and very good college basic public speaking textbook, is international. We are on every continent except Antarctica. I received an email this morning from a professor in Palestine who is using it! I have taught public speaking for 40 years, and my colleagues who contributed also have great experience.  Here is the link:  https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/communication-textbooks/1/

The "Right that Loves Trump" (as opposed to the Right that Holds him in Skepticism") has coined the term "Trump Derangement Syndrome" about the left and media who are obsessed with reporting on Trump 24/7 and see evil in every step he takes, every bite of food he puts in his mouth, every word that he utters.  I agree. However, the "Right that Loves Trump" also has a Trump Obsession Syndrome. They find a way to defend everything he does, every step he takes, every word he utters.  It's only slightly more disturbing (and I mean slightly). I have chosen to stop calling myself a Republican.  The party has lost its soul by not standing up to Trump and his bullying.   I would have a really hard time voting for Democrats, though, and I'll still vote in the Republican primary so I can vote.  But I'm not happy about it.  

Last night when I should have been finishing a manuscript, I saw that The Big Chill was on TV.  I wanted to see if it held up after 35 years. It kind of does, although the music is one of its saving graces, and seeing Kevin Kline as a young man (I like him). In 1983 it was the kind of movie even some fundamentalist young people in their late twenties could relate to because of the nostalgia inherent in meeting up with college friends. Of course, the activities of these friends is pretty hedonistic.  One wants a male friend to make her pregnant, but her first choices of the four don't pan out so a female friend offers her husband. (I realized last night that this was not "altruistic," but to justify her own infidelity with the character who has committed suicide and brought them together for the funeral.) One wants to cheat with another.  One just wants to "get laid," and another just wants to do drugs. The hedonism doesn't hold up, but the nostalgia d

1.  Attention. 2.  Treats (I could list them five times for my dog) 3.  Riding in the car. 4.  Sleeping 5.  Excercise (especially where they can sniff things)

I should know better than to even tweet, but I asked the question of what it means when songs say God's love is reckless.  I understand poetry, folks, but poetry in hymns doesn't get to say things about God that aren't true, at least not without being questioned. Someone sent me a link to a video of a preacher at a church I know, saying the answer was in the sermon.  Then he dm'ed me about it.  Well, I don't need a sermon to convince me of something I know is not true. God's love is not reckless.  Every reasonable definition or synonym of reckless does not fit (or honor) God to describe  His love. There are lots of other good adjectives; this one just doesn't work. Even my synonym function in Word will give me irresponsible careless wild (this is probably the idea they are getting at, calling up C.S. Lewis' image of Aslan who is good but not safe.  Therefore, use wild or untamed, meaning we have no control over God's love; reckless means God

https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/communication-textbooks/1/    My colleagues and I wrote the book based on grants for the University System of Georgia.  Ancillaries available. 

I like this article:  https://medium.com/swlh/deliberate-practice-makes-perfect-how-to-become-an-expert-in-anything-ec30e0c1314e I often tell my students "practice makes permanent, not perfect." It has to be the right kind of practice. I apply this to my writing primarily, but I can see how it would work with music skills (which I would really like to develop). This is basically Vygotsky's "zone of proximal development" repackaged. He doesn't give credit because he probably isn't aware of Vygotsky.  Practice must be stretching and goal-oriented, not just rote of the same things.

All summer I teased and cajoled my husband about wanting to take a real vacation from July 20 to the end of the month, the only real time I had off.  (I never really have time off in my position, but this was as close as it gets.) Finally, in mid-July, we got serious and planned the ultimate road trip:  3700 miles of American roads, 11 states, and 3 BIG national monuments (and a couple smaller ones). Some of the photos are already posted below.  I have a lot more but didn't want to clog up the blog with them.  Our first day we got a late start because of getting a rental car, etc., and only made it about 270 miles to Paducah, KY.  The next day we drove to Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska.  I was able to say I entered my 41st state, Nebraska, although I think we only really drove through it for about a mile.  That night I visited a Walmart in Council Bluffs and got just as depressed as I do at the Walmarts in North Georgia.  Cracker Barrels are consistent in a wonderful way; W

A few years back I learned about the Didache, which few Christians know about.  https://carm.org/didache It is not inspired, but a compilation of teachings of the apostles and Lord Jesus, designed as a rule for the church.  It takes what the apostles and Lord says seriously, and leads me to believe that those who read it (or more likely heard it read) took it seriously, too.  It enjoins generosity, humility, teachability, holy living in terms of money and sex, fasting, prayer, and even how to baptize.