Day 6 - 153 -- Visionaries

Most items on that infamous list have been completed. <smile> While doing some of the hand sewing and mending, I was listening to a biographical documentary from PBS American Experience about the work of Rachel Carson. It was very well done clearly showing the social and political nature of the 1950s and 1960s along with her writing about the oceans leading up to Silent Spring. Her writing fell into the genre of science communication. Rather than purely research writing, she wrote for the general public. Her works helped people to understand the integrated aspects of nature. She then moved to a discussion of the dangers of human hubris in controlling nature through chemicals and technology. This was a time when side effects of technological inventions on humans was not part of any conversation. If it didn't kill a person outright, it was deemed safe. Her book, Silent Spring, pushed a paradigm shift, where proof of safety became the main concern -- a very dramatic change in regulation of science and technology. She died at 56 -- never seeing the change in mindset resulting from her work. 

Later in the evening, I watched Jersey Boys again. The story parallels the careers of many musical acts of the time. From the outside, it may have appeared to be a charmed life, when it held many pitfalls and pain along the way. I will admit that hearing Jersey accents for a couple of hours made me smile. It is a unique sound. The music made me smile more, though. From the early to the later sounds, I found it all fun to hear again. 

From this day of biography, I was left with two songs continually playing in my head. Interestingly, they both deal with vision -- much like the two biographies did figuratively and literally. So -- its a two-for kind of day here. <smile> While each has been covered and charted many times by various artists, I'm sticking with the originals for sharing today. Enjoy! 

My Eyes Adored You -- Frankie Valli 

Can't Take My Eyes Off of You -- Frankie Valli