September 29, 1017 US AND THEM

Bucket list. We all have one. Mine is SOOOO long it would be impossible to check the whole thing off--but I hit one the other night. So I'm what you would call a VERY serious PINK FLOYD fan--REALLY.  Pink Floyd and I have a special relationship. Their songs have helped me get through every race  I've run over the past 20 years.  Because the BAND is no longer together--I did the next best thing. I bit the bullet--bought 2 ridiculously expensive tickets to see Roger Waters. Sounds crazy but--I HAD NO CHOICE--times a ticking. Waters is now 73 and I was worried--bucket list and all. I've had the tickets since last December--and have been PATIENTLY waiting. So-- Flew home from work Thursday--grabbed  my 23 year old--fellow PINK FLOYD FAN SON--and sped off to TD Garden for the show. WHAT A SHOW--OOOMMMGGG. Worth every penny. It was wonderful spending time with my son--knowing he LOVES PINK FLOYD as much as I do. There were people of ALL ages--the next generation--LOVING IT TOO. IS POT LEGAL IN BOSTON?? Felt like I was back in high school the air was THAT THICK!!  Roger Waters is a wonderful performer--a voice that is still FLAWLESS--And a show THAT'S CRAZY-- a spectacle for all the senses.  His tour -- US & THEM--is so relevant too.  It's NOOOO Us and Them--IT'S ALL OF US--THE WHOLE. That's his message. GREAT SHOW--GREAT PEOPLE--GREAT COMPANY. A once in a lifetime treat. The themes in Waters music are timeless as are the issues in Edwin Abbott Abbott's satirical novella of 1884 Flatlands. 

I originally read this book several years ago for a college class and loved it. Abbott was concerned about the rigid divisions in Victorian society and criticized it in his fictional two dimensional world called Flatlands. In Flatlands, the world is occupied by geometric figures. The narrator of the story is Square who is writing this memoir for future generations as a warning to see beyond their two-dimensional existence. The society in Flatlands is a caste system based on lines. Women are at the bottom of the caste as they are only line segments. Men are polygons whose status is determined by their number of sides. As a square, the narrator is a member of the gentlemen and professionals. Square gets himself into trouble though because he is a free thinker who believes there are other dimensions that need to be explored. He is imprisoned for heresy and suppressed in order to keep the caste system healthy. IGNORANCE IS BLISS.  SOUND FAMILIAR. This is a really clever book  that is STILL relevant 140 years after it was originally published. It's a commentary on class systems--the have and have nots--and how the hierarchy perpetuates itself. Find out what happens to Square when you read this short story of only 96 pages. It's a 3 mile run that really packs a punch!