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mattneher
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Name: Matt
Country: United States
State: Kentucky
Metro: Lexington
Gender: Male
Interests: music, books, movies, things that look and sound old (not in a falling apart sort of way but in an antique fashion), traveling, being outside, being in the water, lying in bed with my wife and baby Finley, coffee, and finally quiche, oh and of course bacon-thick rashers of crispy bacon
Expertise: all things bacon related
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  neherdargys
Member Since:
4/19/2006
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| It's About TimeI am going to write on this blog at least once a week until I don't.
I need a writing outlet that does not relate at all to school or anything having to do with the library. So topically the blog will be about anything but law school.
However I will mostly be reviewing 80's movies. Stay tuned for my scathing critique of the break down of the American family as seen through the lens of John Candy's "Uncle Buck". | | |
| We Call Him EdwardWe call him Edward. He comes into the restaurant where I work almost everyday with a bag in his hand. In his bag is usually a steak that he gives to our chef to cook. He will walk right into the kitchen and hand our chef the steak. Everyone in our restaurant adores Mr. Edward. He is the most unassuming, gently heroic man that most of we young people have ever known or likely ever will know. Over the last few months I have begun to know who this man is. Years ago when I worked here he would come in with his wife who at the time was barely holding on to her life. I didn't really know him then. I was more of an observer. He would wheel her to their table in her wheel chair and they would share a meal together. They were one of those couples that soaked each other up. They were it for one another. So when I returned to Joseph-Beth three years later I was sad to see that Mr. Edward was coming alone to lunch. While I was away his beloved wife had passed away. When I asked my friends at work about Ed's wife's passing they said that they felt like one of their family members had died. Upon my reintroduction to Ed I sensed a depth and purity of spirit that I have only witnessed in a few other people. So now when he comes in I make a point to sit with him and glean whatever I can from this eighty-one year old man. I have learned that he is a retired Professor of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky so he is really Dr. Ed. He is the father of four children. He lost his oldest child who know rests in the same cemetery as his wife does. I have witnessed parents mourn the death of their child. It is an unbearable grief. I have known men who have lost their one true love after sixty years of marriage. These men have died of a broken heart. Ed is definitely carrying around a broken heart but it has not killed him yet. He has transformed a large portion of his grief into compassion. Five days a week he either visits hospice and tries to comfort people who are dying or he visits Alzheimer patients and as he says "just holds their hands". Among all this he finds time to volunteer in the bookstore where I work reading books to little children. Recently he was named a Living Legend among ten other people in Lexington who live extraordinary lives. The man is an elderly saint full of miracles. He is a tall, pale, thin angel. He is an eighty-year old picture of Jesus. I am privileged to learn from him about what it means to be human and alive. | | |
| You Will Never Be the SameBuy don't copy Sufjan Stevens' albums Michigan and Illinois. This is the best music I have heard in years. Julie and I can't get enough of it. Finley even loves it. Alanson, Crooked River on Michigan soothes him. If he is crying and we play it for him he stops crying. If you are happy this music will make you sad (the good kind of sad). If you are sad this music will make you happy. If you are despondent this music will make you hopeful. It is beautiful, haunting and downright amazing. It makes you want to live. | | |
| Why Now is a Terrible Time to Be YoungThis debuted in February. I pray that this book and its author get the publicity and attention they deserve. This is a timely treatise on the economic issues affecting my generation. If you are young you should definitely read this. If you do not consider yourself young anymore you should still read this. Kamenetz illustrates why now is a terrible time to be young: the soaring federal deficit; credit card debt; the lack of entry level jobs and the shrinking job market; rising health care costs; the financial burden placed on society by the baby-boomers' retirement; the shift from federal grants to private loans and federal loans for higher education funding which has increased debt loads for students; and among other issues corporations redefining what it means to be a full-time employee so they can cut pensions, health care coverage, and retirement plans. These issues are more than concerning and should be at the forefront of public policy. Please read this book. | | |
| An Empty NestMy family has been in Texas for a week. It has been nothing short of awful. My wife is my best person and my son is my best human under two feet so my loneliness has been palpable. The duplex is too quiet. I think someone is living in the crawl space above our hallway. There might be a troll in the shower. Tumbleweeds keep rolling through the living room. Seventeen and a half hours until I get my family back. | | |
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