Arcadia Jane Berger

 This is the only "a Priest, a Minister and a Rabbi..." story I actually enjoy telling, because it turns on actual aspects of Catholicism, Protestantism and Judaism, and because it provides me with opportunities to add in accent and dialect. A Catholic Priest, an Evangelical Minister and an Orthodox Rabbi were taking a break from a multifaith conference, refreshing themselves in a nearby forest. "It was in a forest much like this one," the Priest said, a trace of an Irish accent in his voice, "when I startled a very fierce bear who reared up taller than myself by about as much as my arm can reach, and raised his monstrous paws, with his claws extended quite terrifyingly. I knew at once I was beyond any Earthly hope, and only Divine aid could save me, so I fished out the vial of holy water I always carry around my neck and dashed it in his hairy face and cried, ' In nomine Pater, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti! ', and I give you my word as a man of the clo...

 Not that I am (alas), but if I were, what would I go as? Someone on Twitter asked for costume ideas for a swingers' Halloween party, and this was my suggestion: At a second-hand store, buy three or four fedoras and a toy pistol with holster. On a belt, hang the holster and the hats, decorating the hats with washable blood stains and tiny circles of black cloth to represent bullet holes (making sure that the decorations can be removed without leaving traces, so you can clean the hats and donate them after Halloween). Go as a Nice Guy Slayer. I figured that costume would be popular with women, if not with men.

 I've always been fond of this old German song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCKzYmZG2ow Fierce yet also playful, no wonder the Nazis hated it so much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j54HIGk_AEI I liked Pete Seeger's translation, which was the first version of it I heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwQXVcbkU0 I thought it would be better if it had a version which was entirely in English. My mind can run free My thoughts freely flower I think as I please My thoughts give me power No scholar can map them No jailer can trap them Though chained I may be My thoughts are still free I think as I please And this gives me pleasure My conscience decrees This right I must treasure My soul will not cater To duke or dictator Though chained I may be My heart is still free And should tyrants take me And throw me in prison My thoughts will burst free Like blossoms in season Foundations will crumble And thick walls will tumble No chains will we see For we all shall be free. Maybe I...

I decided to start a new blog. Hi, folks.    // Les bergers d'Arcadie by Nicolas Poussin - Arcadian shepherds find a tomb inscribed with the incomplete phrase ET IN ARCADIA EGO, " And In Arcadia I ", which evidently means either, "And it was in Arcadia that I who am buried here died", or "And even in lovely Arcadia I, Death, am present". It was long suspected that the phrase was an anagram, but no-one was able to unscramble it. I suspect personally that it was an acronym for which the words beginning in E, T, I, N, &c., have been forever lost.