The Gravesite

Geometry Rap

They call me the professor. I guess that’s because I’ve always been interested in education. Some time ago I was chatting with a local math teacher, and she was telling me about how difficult it is now is to teach math to her current crop of geometry students. “They just don’t seem to get the concepts,” she lamented, “like point, ray, line, plane, and so forth.”Then it hit me! What with all the multi-tasking and multi-media and multi every thing else – that surround our young people these days - why not surround the lesson with the kind of environment these kids understand? Let’s start with a really groovy drum beat. Then let’s add a driving bass, and finally, wrap it around some wild and exciting hip hop dancing!
I call it the GEOMETRY RAP! (read entire entry)

Messages, Media and Mediocrity

What a time to live in! Computer games pit us against unthinkable monsters. Feature films, with their larger-than-life visuals and sounds, create whole new universes to enchant us, amaze us, or scare us to death. With e-mail and the internet we can access an incredible wired world of information and images. Synthesizers can fabricate sounds and rhythms no instrument, or multiples of instruments, could begin to duplicate. With Spellcheck some of our academic deficiencies are instantly corrected (even if an occasional "bare" might get into our trash). Faster. Louder. Dazzling. Shocking. Pretty nifty, huh? Or, in the common vernacular, cool? (Oddly enough, "cool" was a really "hip" expression of approval in the bebop era of the forties.) Isn't this a textbook example of progress?
(read entire entry)

The Geezer Rap

(Editor's Note) John surprized and amazed his audience during the "Empty Bench" cabaret performance by doing a rap with his can as a prop. It was absoututely hilarious, and perhaps we will have the video clip for you to watch in the future. For now, however, you may read the transcript of a new "Geezer Rap"featured during his book signings and here on John's blog. (read entire entry)

John Graves Roast & Toast Thank You

One hears so many uses these days of the term “awesome.” Maybe it’s a new bubble gum flavor, a skateboard maneuver, or a weird-looking running shoe. But this last Saturday, I was able to experience the true and full meaning of the word.

My “Roast and Toast” was probably the most rewarding, emotional, and humbling evening in my life. My friends who flew in from New York and Chicago, who go to many such events, said it was the most meaningful and impressive of any they’ve attended. Great food, beautiful decorations, and terrific talent...plus insightful personal gibes and tributes. (Although, it would appear that many Pagosans tend to be a trifle weak in the area of invective.)

The aspect of this wonderful event that most affected me emotionally was the realization of all the time and energy that was sacrificed on my behalf. Planning, parody lyrics, rehearsals, secretive phone calls, artwork, publicity, programs, hauling, setting up and taking down, cooking, and serving...all involved precious time taken out of busy lives.

I’ve often heard it said that ”The gift of one’s self is the greatest gift.” For me, it will no longer be just a saying. It will always remind me of an evening where my relationship of love with an incredible community was returned in a way I can only call... awesome!

Patriotic Night Opening Speech.

This evening, through songs and tributes, we have honored our beloved country and those citizens who have loved it enough to sacrifice even their own lives in its service.
Patriotic Americans come in all shapes, sizes, and colors - expressing their dedication and love of country in many different areas of service.

So let us also pay tribute to the Peace Corps volunteers, Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross workers, educators, ministers, missionaries, and all those who have devoted, and often risked, their lives to demonstrate to the world that Americans care and want to help. And, who, by so doing, spread the word about our precious freedom and the American Dream.
Many of these patriots have paid dearly for their dedication. Some have been kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, or have contracted a deadly disease while giving life-saving medical care in some third world country.

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream – that a peaceful America would one day be free of racial prejudice – with liberty and justice truly for all. His American Dream cost him his life.

Today our freedom is subject to attack – not only from enemies abroad - but also from forces within our borders. Motivated by greed, or a desire for political power, these forces would diminish, or even take away, many of the protections given to us in our unique Constitution and Bill of Rights.

We’ve all heard “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” More than ever, we need to find out what’s really going on. We need to look for ways that we can come together, and find areas of agreement in the difficult issues that we face. And, oh yes – don’t forget to vote.
Let’s make sure we keep America the land of the free – as well as the home of the brave.