Big Sole Blog (BSB)

NBA offers clever ad with "Carol of the Bells" for basketball. You can do the same thing with Jingle Bells and people recognize it.

Last night, I watched the first two installments of HBO's mini-series John Adams, starring the exceptionally talented Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams. Although I am sure that some moments are romanticized, the series is still much closer to the reality of America's struggle for independence from Great Britain than the fairy tales many of us were fed as children, and

The Associated Press and other news sources report that the pleasant memories of Christmas 2012 have been marred for residents of Grapevine, Texas. For the first time in more than 18 months, someone committed murder in the small town. A man dressed in a Santa suit shot to death six people ages 18 to 60 on Christmas morning while the family opened presents, and then the gunman killed himself,

Here is a clip from NBC's A Sing-Off Christmas featuring Committed and Howard University's a cappella group Afro-Blue. It's not a traditional Christmas song, but its lyrics certainly hit the spot this Christmas when so many Americans are struggling financially.

The list of Oprah's Favorite Things, 2011, is posted on her website now. The list is worth a look, but nothing--certainly not a printed list with still shots--can top the video of people falling over themselves, screaming, and crying on her Ultimate Favorite Things show last year. I did, however, think I may order the Seeds of Life Baby Magnolia Tree you see pictured here. New Orleans could use

Where is he now!I can't remember this model's name. It started with a T. I keep thinking, Thunder. I don't know why.

I had to post this Digital Story of the Nativity, especially since my final pedagogy project for a rhetoric and composition class was on social media and composition in the digital age. It begins with Mary hearing from Gabriel, the arch angel, on her iPhone. I hope readers enjoy it.

I'm with my dad and my adult children today. Helped a bit with cooking, but my daughter and son have the ball. I want to enjoy the day and not worry about tomorrow. I want to live and breathe gratitude, and that requires living in the moment.

Some people find seeing how Oprah's audience goes crazy when she gives things away to be incredibly sad, demoralizing even, an illustration of America's decadence and zombie-like consumerism. While I think we need to not be so materialistic, I also say, "Lighten up. It's festival season." And so, I find these clips of her crowd going wild to be hilarious. She had medics standing by in case

I love this song. It's not your standard 4th of July song, but "On the 4th of July" by James Taylor is a lovely song that takes the listener on a journey. I go back to a place sweet and peaceful.

Happy Father's Day. I also published a post about the day at the Urban Mother's Book of Prayers and included a link to an old poem about my father written in 2005. The picture of him in this post is the one I used with the poem, and it was taken in 1990 when my son was born and my dad came to Georgia to help us. My former husband, our daughter, and I had just moved into a new house, which is why