Thursday, June 30, 2005

Time to lighten up

I am getting too intense. I am frustrated with the whole politics thing. Republicans vs Democrats, Liberals, vs Conservatives. So today I am just going to post the words to an old Scottish folk song that my girlfriend, Jeannie, loves. Here it is:


Dumbarton's Drums
Traditional
Dumbarton's drums they sound sae bonnie
When they remind me of my Jeannie
Such fond delight can steal upon me
When Jeannie kneels and sings tae me

Across the hills o' burning heather
Dumbarton tolls the hour of pleasure
A song of love that has no measure
When Jeannie kneels and sings tae me

Dumbarton's drums they sound sae bonnie
When they remind me of my Jeannie
Such fond delight can steal upon me
When Jeannie kneels and sings tae me

It's she alone who can delight me
As gracefully she doth invite me
And when her tender arms enfold me
The blackest night can turn and flee

Dumbarton's drums they sound sae bonnie
When they remind me of my Jeannie
Such fond delight can steal upon me
When Jeannie kneels and sings tae me

Dumbarton's drums they sound sae bonnie
When they remind me of my Jeannie
Such fond delight can steal upon me
When Jeannie kneels and kisses me

In addition to that, my son, John, who is 16 years of age is a skateboarder, and a pretty good one, too. Some time back, before I had any readers on this thing, I allowed him to post an essay on my blog.

There is, for those of you who don't know, a professional skateboarder named Bam Margera, who has a television series on MTV. In it, he plays Jackass style pranks on his parents and others. The teenage skateboarder generation think he is God. My son, ever the rebellious, free thinker type, has his own opinion. Here is his essay reprinted here:

"I hate Bam Margera, usually I am okay with money-hungry jerks and the other 5% of the entertainment industry (after all, it's only their job), but Bam Margera does kinda bother me... Like some parents said, he promotes a negative image of skateboarding to kids and to the adults who chase skateboarders out of the spots. He is saying it's okay to cause trouble and to be a moron.
Have you seen the latest video games? The commercials promote stealing and vandalism and all sorts of immature, elementary habits. Why would anyone be grateful to a person who tarnishes their sport like that? He is a horrible role model and only a half-decent skateboarder.
Tony Hawk was ok. He was a revolutionary vert skateboarder and a great role model for kids. He promoted a good image and made the skateboarding industry way more money then Bam Margera ever will...but now he's seen slashing tires in the Tony Hawk's Underground video game commercial. Skateboarders in the limelight have sunk to an all time low, trying to attract kids by luring them in with disrespect. The skateboarding industry is becoming what all of those store shop keepers and men in suits always thought it was...some cheap hobby for kids who think they're punks"

not too bad for a 15 year old kid eh?

14 comments:

Erudite Redneck said...

That's an excellent piece yer boy wrote. He points out what happens when the "leaders" -- perceived or real -- of any group of people live up to people's lowest expectations.

Mark said...

Thank you, ER, I am rather proud of the kid.

Anonymous said...

You certainly raised him right,a mind of his own is rare indeed in the younger generation. Perhaps he should post a time or two more? ;-)
p.s. I sympathize with the tiredness of political discussions....I am a bit overwhelmed as of late with all of the malarky of recent weeks and have been trying to steer clear of all imflammatory discussions(not to mention all news outlets as I think my blood pressure is too high after too much CNN!) ;-)

Anonymous said...

Oops, I must not have been signed in as the previous comment was mine. Sorry bout' that.

rich bachelor said...

Yeah, Bam's a fool, and it's too bad that everyone keeps on disregarding that first rule of child psychology: don't reward bad behavior.

tugboatcapn said...

Your kid is a chip off the old block, Mark. You should be very proud.
By the way, I'm not dead, and I haven't stopped thinking, and the terrorists have not won, I have picked up a computer virus, A homepage hijacker that won't let me post any new blog entries. It will only let me enter comments.
I'm on the trail of it however, and should have a new post within a couple of days. Keep checking...

Mark said...

Doesn't anybody like the song?

Mark said...

Etchen, He didn't actually post that essay on my blog. He posted it on a skateboarders forum website but he saved the piece in my documents file, and I put it in here, with his permission.

Rosemary Welch said...

Wow! What a great son! You must be very proud.

BTW, thank you for the note about the history of the Continental Congress. I love history! Well, I like parts of it.

I cannot sit down and read a history book. They put me to sleep.

My brother, however, knows all these neat things! I love to listen to him tell me about them. I guess it's all in the delivery. eh? lol.

Love America First. In case you forgot where you left your comment. I do that a lot! :-)

Anonymous said...

Oops, I was mistaken, I thought he had posted it on your blog awhile back. Pretty bright kid there. Oh and yes, I like the lyrics to the song!

Daffy76 said...

Where did you find that song? I don't think I've ever heard it before, but it reminds me of poetry by Robert Burns. (At least I think that was his name. I studied him in Freshman Lit--AGES AGO!)

Mark said...

Daffy, that is a traditional song recorded by a scottish folk band known as the corries. You can find it by googling for scottish song lyrics

Daffy76 said...

I knew it was Scottish. Thanks.

Mark said...

Daffy, Robert Burns wrote a poem once inspired by a time he was sitting in church and noticed a louse crawling around on the bonnet of the woman sitting in front of him. The poem is called "ode to a louse" and contains the famous line, "O wad some pow'r the giftie gie us, tae see oursel's as others see us. It wod frae mony a blunder free us, an' foolish notion."