Posts by Alex Miller

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Holiday Flashbacks

Holiday Rush got your knickers in a twist? Kick back with a mug of hot cocoa or mulled cider and enjoy this collection of Yule-themed articles from the AAA archives: everything you always wanted to know about (asteroids) Santa, Rudolf, Carol and Yule, but were afraid to ask!

Explore the astrological origins of the Santa Claus myth (oops! that’ll earn me some coal!), with “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Asteroid!”

And if you thought you had the skinny on Rudolph, think again, with “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Rock Chunk”.

Can’t get that Christmas Carol out of your head? “Here We Come a-Carol-ing” may help you understand why some resonate more than others.

And don’t forget A Visit From Santy Claws: my yuletide classic for feline lovers everywhere!

AAA Wishes You All the Happiest of Holiday Seasons, and a wondrous, joyous 2023!

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A Simple Yule

[Above, a slender crescent moon hangs like an ornament in a striated, pre-dawn solstice sky.]

Well, I suppose “simple” is in the eye of the beholder.  But after the exhaustion that was Halloween for me this year (three weeks to put it up, two weeks to take it down), I felt I needed a rest.  Late November to early December is always “hell month” for me, with so much de-decorating, redecorating and seasonal switch-ups going on; it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a break with a streamlined Yule.

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white xmas sheet music

Eighty Years of White Christmas

The most enduring of Christmas carols just might be Bing Crosby’s 1942 version of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”, celebrating its eightieth year this holiday season.  Even in this day of flash-in-the-pan one-hit-wonders, streaming and digital downloads, Crosby’s classic retains its lofty perch as the world’s best-selling single, with global sales exceeding fifty million.  But it’s not just Crosby – add in the sales figures of the hundreds of artists who have covered the tune, and total sales of “White Christmas” double to over 100 million!  Perhaps writer/composer Irving Berlin’s post-creation assessment of the tune for his secretary was correct:  “I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend.  Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote.”

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griner jail

Home for the Holidays: Brittney Griner’s Harrowing Russian Adventure

WNBA star Brittney Griner’s unexpected release from Russian custody on December 8th, after almost ten months in detention for a drug trafficking violation, sent waves of relief through family, friends and fandom.  Griner had been arrested February 17, 2022 on smuggling charges after customs authorities found vaporizer cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil in her luggage.  Griner had a prescription for medical marijuana use from the state of Arizona, but all forms of the drug are illegal in Russia.

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Trump’s Dilemma: The White House or the Big House?

Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former president facing multiple criminal investigations, chose the week after a disappointing finish for Republicans in the Midterm Elections to announce his candidacy for the presidency in 2024.  With criminal indictments against him already issued and more pending, the act may be more a bid for resuming the specious immunity conferred by the office of the presidency, than any true desire to pick up the tattered threads of his political career.

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Same-Sex Marriage in the US: From Defense to Respect

The US is poised to formally enshrine marriage equality in law, as opposed to allowing the practice via Supreme Court fiat.  Same sex marriage, first legalized in Massachusetts in 2003, was validated in all fifty states by the Obergefell v Hodges decision in 2015.  But recent events with the overturning of Roe v Wade and its abandonment of federally guaranteed reproductive freedoms have shown just how fragile governance by judicial rulings can be, and advocates have been pushing hard for legal codification of the right to same-sex unions.

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