Friday, September 7, 2012

Speeches


I Hear America Singing 
~ Walt Whitman


I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
  
***
 
I know there's a lot of hoopla associated with the Democratic National Convention but by golly the speeches are great. 

Thanks to PBS online I've been able to watch the major speeches live on my desktop. 

Michelle Obama slayed me.  (I'm using my arm weights this weekend!)

Bubba had me transfixed and sometimes dumbfounded for 48 minutes (I want to nominate a man cool on the outside but who burns for America on the inside. ... and by the way, after last night, I want a man who had the good sense to marry Michelle Obama.)

... and today's the big one with BO himself. 

I've already lamented the sorry state of debate in the Australian Parliament notably, in Question Time, compared to Brit's talent for  rhetoric (or perhaps it's just the accents?), but these ol' yankees take it to a whole new level.  

In other news, namely my own world of celebrity and image-making, I can report that the camera purchase is still proving to be elusive.  I've been watching the reviews of new releases out now most of which won't be in the shops until a month or so.  I don't know whether to take the plunge and go DLSR/interchangeable lens, or get a top notch compact/point and shoot.  I'm inclined to go with the latter.  But will I regret it in terms of picture quality? I'm kidding myself if I think I'm going to work off RAW files and crop images.   A bit like speeches on the hill, my images will be straight-up with no gloss.   

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