Sunday Potpourri No. 40

The Mountaintop

One of the great joys of my career teaching speech was helping my students truly understand the power of rhetoric by exposing them to some of the greatest speeches of American history.

On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, delivering what would come to be known as the
"I Have a Dream" speech, widely regarded as the greatest political speech of the 20th century.

Yup...

Feast Day

Saint Augustine (1650), by Philippe de Champaigne

Today we celebrate the feast day
of St. Augustine of Hippo, son of
St. Monica (whose feast day we celebrated yesterday), and one of the most important theologians and philosophers in the history of the Christian faith.

Augustine's writings, especially
City of God and Confessions, remain among the most influential works in church history. In 1298 Augustine was named Doctor of the Church by Pope Boniface VIII, one of the first four men so honored.

Augustine is the patron of printers and brewers.

Getting Off the Schneid

Alex Smith scrambles for 17 yards and a key first down

My beloved Kansas City Chiefs won their first game of the pre-season yesterday, dominating the Chicago Bears 23-7 in an afternoon game at Soldier Field.

My best friend Skip thinks it is silly to place any importance on exhibition games, and he may be right, but it is still nice to see the Chiefs win one easily, after two straight 1-point defeats.

"Say, didn't your other favorite team have a game yesterday too?"

I don't want to talk about it...

Back-to-School Problems 2016

From the wry comic strip FoxTrot, by Bill Amend, which you should read every Sunday, as I do.

Until Next Time...

Before Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous speech, the popular folk music trio Peter, Paul, and Mary performed for the assembled crowd. They sang the folk music staple "If I Had a Hammer," then performed their biggest hit, a cover of Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' in the Wind."

Original 1963 45 rpm single

Released as a single earlier in the summer, by mid-July the song had peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with sales of over a million copies.

The recording propelled the trio's album In the Wind to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart,
and earned two Grammy Awards.






Today's send-off is the trio performing the song live on a BBC broadcast in 1965. Enjoy...