Happy New Year to one and all from The Portly Politico!
2025 is a big year for yours portly. I turn forty—gasp!—in two days. My sister-in-law turns forty in December; my niece turns ten in August; and my Dad turns seventy in the same month. My maternal grandfather turns ninety—whoa! Lots of decades this year.
Trump will be back in office in nineteen days—praise the Lord!
It’s a good time to be alive.
Eat your black-eye peas and collard greens and have a wonderful New Year!
—TPP
Merry Christmas, everyone, from The Portly Politico!
Here’s wishing everyone a day of Christmas cheer and merriment with family and friends.
While opening those gifts, don’t forget the reason for the season: the Birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christ Is King!
Merry Christmas!
—TPP
It’s Thanksgiving, which means yours portly is adding another layer of quasi-Talmudic commentary to his classic “It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle” post from 2017. My life is any many ways the same as it was a year ago, but some things have radically changed for the better.
My schedule at work is much more manageable. I’m no longer teaching nonstop most days, and my number of private lessons are down, which makes them much more manageable. Sure, I’d love the extra cash, and I am looking to increase the number of lessons I’m teaching each week, but I’m also appreciating the extra time.
I’ve released nine albums and/or EPs this year, with a tenth (hopefully!) coming out tomorrow, Leftovers III. It’s been pretty cool composing and releasing so much music this year.
Most significantly, I am dating a wonderful doctor. She is currently in her residency, so she is working very hard, but we see each other frequently. She and I connect at a fundamental level, and share the same core values: we’re devout Christians; we’re vehemently pro-life; we’re MAGA Republicans. It’s great. I’d sworn off “conservative” “Christian” women this summer, which just goes to show how much God Has a sense of Humor. I know it will sound like I am a love-besotted fool, but for many reasons, she and I both believe—and know—that our relationship is the work of the Holy Spirit. We did not arrive at the conclusion lightly.
So, yours portly is thankful for a great deal this Thanksgiving. I am excited to see what the future holds. Trump will be back in office soon, and it feels like we’re entering a golden age.
With that, here is 23 November 2023’s “TBT^65,536: It’s a Thanksgiving Miracle!“:
Yours portly is enjoying one of the benefits of working in modern education: ludicrous amounts off time off from work. As such, here I am indulging in Thanksgiving Break, a time-honored tradition that now lasts an entire week.
Thanksgiving Week is an opportunity to catch up on all of the little errands of life. On Wednesday I’ll get an oil change, a haircut, and an eye exam. A properly lubricated car, a properly cut head of hair, and a properly examined set of peepers—what a day! My doctor is apparently out on a much-deserved sabbatical, so he and I won’t see each other until 2 January 2025—the even of my fortieth birthday!
I’m currently spending time with my personal physician, my sweet girlfriend. Doctor Girlfriend and I enjoyed an early Thanksgiving dinner last night, and the girls—Murphy and her pup—enjoyed cans of turkey-flavored dog slop.
I’ll leave Doctor Girlfriend’s house tomorrow morning, leaving chunky old Murph in her capable hands. My parents have a full house of people coming in for the big day, as well as two young kittens, so out of concern that Murphy might maul the kittens (she hates cats) and generally stink up the joint (she’s a smelly dog, what can I say?), Dr. G has graciously agreed to take in the succulent chunk until I can get back this weekend.
Thanksgiving Break is something of the calm before the storm of the end of the semester. When I get back on 2 December 2024, we’ll have two busy weeks: the school play is Friday, 6 December 2024, and my students’ big concert is during the school day on Friday, 13 December 2024 (what luck!). There’s also quite a bit of Town Council-related business to resolve before the end of the year, and I’m unclear what impact that will have my increasingly tight schedule.
But then all the busyness and pressure lifts for about three weeks. Exam week is easy-peasy for a grizzled pedagogical grognard like yours portly. Followed by two weeks of Christmas Break, and I’m barely working for the next month.
Of course, isn’t that the promise of America? I distinctly remembered friends’ parents who didn’t work the month of December. Granted, they worked for the Savannah River Site, the massive Cold War-era tritium processing facility, so they were essentially federal employees. Naturally, the feds believe it’s a basic human right to get five months paid vacation each year. They’re practically Germans!
But I digress. I’m thankful for what I do, and for time to spend with family and loved ones. Doctor Girlfriend has a real job, so she’ll be working on Thanksgiving Day (and Christmas!). For the rest of us societal freeloaders, let the relaxation begin!
With that, here is 21 November 2022’s “Memorable Monday^2: Thanksgiving Week!“:
After weeks of indeterminate weather, shifting from wintry frostiness to high summer heat and humidity, it seems that autumn has finally, noncommittally arrived. It’s “noncommittal” because we’re still experiencing these weird snaps of rainy humidity that, rather than lowering the temperature, somehow increase it, and the insufferable mugginess along with it.
This muggy November weather gives me a case of the horribles, but today the low is 38 degrees Fahrenheit, with a high of 57. Glorious! That’s the kind of weather for which this South Carolinian lives.
Longtime readers will know that I love the fall. The heat and humidity break, and I can finally wear nicer clothes without the fear of roasting alive. Most of my career I have basted in dress shirts and sports coats, so it’s refreshing when I can wear those—and even a professorial sweater vest!—and not break a doughy, obese sweat.
Obviously, Halloween is a major highlight of autumn. Another major one is Thanksgiving, that celebratory gateway to Christmas. It is a season for celebrating the year’s achievements—and for settling into cozy hibernation mode.
So I say, bring on the long, cold nights! Bring on the late afternoon cup of decaf! Bring on the quiet mornings with LEGOs and God’s Word.
In short, bring on the hygge.
With that, here is 28 September 2023’s “TBT^16: The Joy of Autumn“:
The dust has settled and Halloween 2024 is in the books. Now we’ve arrived at the holiday that Halloween—All Hallows’ Eve—is actually about: All Saints’ Day.
Growing up Pentecostal, we did not really celebrate or observe these major feast days (frankly, I’m surprised we celebrated Halloween growing up, but I think that’s because of my Stephen King-loving mother). We missed out on a great deal of the beauty of the high church liturgical calendar as a result.
All Saints’ Day and its close companion, All Souls’ Day (observed on 2 November) are two beautiful solemnities worth observing for all Christians. While I believe that all saved Christians count among God’s “saints,” and I don’t think the Roman Catholic Church holds a monopoly on canonization (or that canonization is even a legitimate spiritual designation), I do appreciate the celebration of the lives of the saints. They were inspiring Christians, often because they were such fallen sinners themselves before receiving Christ’s Grace.
I do believe they performed miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe such miracles are still possible. Sure, there’s probably some literary license taken with some of the saints, but I can’t deny the possibility of miracles; Scripture is full of them!
As a doughy American Evangelical Protestant I realize I am out of my depth here among the Anglicans and Catholics that read this blog, but I hope it is clear that I appreciate the richness of your traditions. All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days are worthy of celebration; all Christians should honor these days with prayer and feasting.
Maybe it’s the feasting that I like. Let’s see how I do with the days that call for prayer and fasting. Gulp!
One final coda: my recent release, Spooky Season III, ends with a piece called “Eleventh Hour and All Saints’ Day“; it’s two pieces in one. The hymn-like chorale “All Saints’ Day” kicks in around 4:30:
I wanted to capture the transition from the quiet solitude of a post-trick-or-treating Halloween night into the glorious morning of All Saints’ Day. I hope this humble piece did the trick.
Happy All Saints’ Day!
—TPP
Pickup my newest release: Spooky Season III! Use promo code spooky to take an additional 20% off all purchases on Bandcamp! Code expires at 11:59 PM UTC on Thursday, 31 October 2024—TONIGHT!
At long last, it’s here—Halloween! Regular readers know that I love Halloween (perhaps a bit too much). The season always seems to fly by, though, no matter how hard I try to cling to every pumpkin-spiced moment.
Yours portly was disgracefully late with putting up my decorations this year, but I’ll likely be disgracefully late taking them down, too; it’s not unheard of for me to be heading into Thanksgiving Week with a rotting Jack O’Lantern still festooning my slug-infested porch.
Speaking of, here’s a look at the Jack O’Lantern while still fresh; I did a very thorough job of scraping and scooping the little guy of his gooey innards, so he’s holding up a bit better this year:
If that dubious knife play doesn’t get you excited for Halloween, perhaps these classic Halloween posts will.
With that, here is 2 November 2024’s “TBT^4: Happy Halloween!“:
I have two neighbors named Jerry. I identify them as “Next Door Jerry” (NDJ) and “Across the Field Jerry” (AtFJ). NDJ is a temperamental alcoholic who shouts incomprehensible frontier gibberish while hosting his drinking buddies for a Tuesday box social.
AtFJ is an upstanding citizen and modern-day Renaissance Man with the physique and demeanor of Gimli the dwarf. He and his son walk Murphy for me while I’m working, and AtFJ even mows my lawn (NDJ did the same until his health and riding mower deteriorated too much, so I’ve somehow managed to dupe two Jerries into engaging in lawn care on my behalf).
That background information isn’t necessarily germane to today’s post, but I thought it would add a bit of “local color” to the proceedings. If you just came for the list of Halloween flicks, well, you’re almost there!
Monday evening AtFJ texted me with excitement for the imminent arrival of Halloween. He sent along a list of films to watch each night of the month, although his list runs to thirty-two flicks in total. We discussed some other possible additions, but here is Across the Field Jerry’s Halloween Movie Recommendations (in no particular order):
In time-honored TPP tradition, I take Memorial Day off from writing movie reviews. Memorial Day marks the last day off from work until summer break, which literally starts in about three days for yours portly. It makes the day off somewhat superfluous, but, really, the next two or three days of work will be largely superfluous, too. We’ll finalize grades for our classes by department, and by the time you’re reading this brief post, I should be done with report card comments).
He Is Risen!
I hope everyone is enjoying a restful, worshipful day. Easter is here! Christ Is Resurrected!
Enjoy time with family, celebrating Christ’s Resurrection—and the promise of His Return.
Happy Easter, everyone!
—TPP
The Portly Politico 