Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1) That Is My Dream!: A picture book of Langston Hughes’s “Dream Variation” by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Daniel Miyares
I love the poetry of Langston Hughes. Some poets leave me grasping for meaning or sense in their words. Hughes leaves me grasping onto the deep sense and meaning he has just beautifully captured with simple words arranged artfully. He writes the blues in poetry. He writes protest in poetry. He writes beauty and dignity in poetry. And he writes hope in poetry. And when that is packaged with wonderful illustrations it is a nearly perfect children’s book. Kids reserve better than “Llama llama red pajama” (and so do parents); they deserve art and wisdom and beauty. Hughes and Miyares give them what they deserve.
2) God’s Gonna Cut You Down by Johnny Cash
I love Johnny Cash’s music. And I especially love the American Recordings–the albums he recorded later in life produced by Rick Rubin. He sings like the wizened old man he was, a man who had wandered and found truth. He sings with a bit of wavering gravel in his voice, giving it a grandfatherly and prophetic tone. And this is one you might call a song for our times.
3) Lonesome Valley by the Fairfield Four
If you have heard this song, it was likely on the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou. But the Fairfield Four have been a gospel group that has existed for over 100. years, starting right here in Nashville, Tennessee. They sing a version of gospel that feels like history and lament and soul, and they are awesome.
