We’ve been having a family reunion for the last month or so. These retirees drifted through here and pitched in on some fencing and brake breeding in between their card games and jigsaw puzzles. Best of all though, was the music.

Here I am, a fan of a broad range of genres and after all these years of knowing these people, I’m still shocked at the beauty that seems to flow effortlessly out of my in-laws. The gospel music has deep specific meaning yet can be interpreted in such a way to fit most peoples’ view of life.

As I’ve said in my movie review columns, I went to college with a goal of being a film director but went undiscovered and also lacked the same qualities as Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski, so I merely worked at what kept me fed and warm. I was recruited as cinematographer/director in documenting these beauteous moments. I did it without a director’s chair or a megaphone. I’m versatile.

Julys have turned into sessions like this so they can land on Dawn’s Facebook page. She created this page when the nursing homes did the opposite of New York’s Governor Cuomo so they could limit contact with covid-19 carriers from outside. She had been doing gigs at nursing homes two or three times a week and this was a way to still connect with the friends we had who were locked up. Since April of 2020 she’s been doing this almost every day. I didn’t realize there were that many songs to be sung.

Anyway,when I first began meeting my potential in-laws I thought, “Wow, these people are dull.” On further investigation they have been a perfect match for a guy who never fit in in California. A lack of criminal records and substance abuse adds up to more time spent contributing to the betterment of mankind. That constructive use of time defines the good side of people.

Phrases like, “You need to sing out more!” and “Let’s switch places.” are common in this group. I’ll take that any day over what you might find in a non-dull group.

I took a detour from this civil society to go borrow some ice. We headed over to a neighbor’s place and found them watching CNN. Hahaha. Now I have some idea what we are up against. On TV there were these people who obviously wouldn’t know how to pick sweet corn, much less exchange labor for an honest living, crowded around a microphone talking about the January 6th “insurrection.”

Like September 11 and the Kennedy assassination, the government won’t release all the evidence, in this case video, pertaining to the event. Yet these characters looked like their highfalutin outrage was as serious as if the devil was in their church. To add insult to injury they pass a bill to expand the Capital Police to California and Florida. The limited amount of footage we have been allowed to see would indicate the Capital Police should be fired and convicted of murder, not expanded.

But these clowns are still able to rule over people like my in-laws. CNN is the scariest horror movie I’ve ever seen.