Orange You Glad?

I love orange juice! I always have. When I was kid I would go through several gallons a week. I love everything about it and it turns out it provides you with essential vitamin C. Yum and Yum. As I got older I had to slow down on my orange juice intake. The delightful taste and the vitamin benefits did not outweigh the unbelievable amount of sugar that each ounce holds. Diabetes runs rampant in my family therefore the less gratuitous sugar intake the better for the eventual demise of my pancreas.

Recently my biochemistry has changed significantly and therefore, for the next glorious nine months I will gladly indulge in the greatest of the lord's juices, the sweet nectar of Florida, the orange. The only thing is now it takes a Masters degree in Citrus (which my undergraduate school still offers) to select the orange juice. There are a million flipping types of orange juice. There has always been the choice of pulp or no pulp. I prefer the pulp-less but if that was the only decision to make I would be okay. I would say no problem! But normally I find myself in the produce department starring at the orange juice refrigerator for 20 minutes thinking Vitamin D is good it's in that one...but wait that has some pulp, not lots of pulp like this one...but wait, this one has Calcium and no pulp, won't that be the best? This one is for a healthy heart....this one has antioxidants (those are important right?)....that one is the healthy kids one...definitely a good thing. Low sugar? Low acid? Ahhhhh! Tropicana has made a mountain out of an orange!

It may be easier to hop on a pick up truck, get the oranges myself and bring them back to fresh squeeze the morning treat. It would take at least the same amount of time. Sigh. I grabbed what I perceive to be the original orange juice. No frills. No pulp. Just tasty.

Going to Church...sort of.

On Saturday night, me and my girls went to see our girls, the Indigo Girls that is. I have seen them in concert about 30 times. Every time I have seen them it is like going to a spiritual revival. We all know all of the words to all of the songs. We know their faces. We know their appreciative smiles to their faithful audience. We know that with every "Thanks ya'll" that these two individuals have managed to transform us.

The House of Blues was packed. It's a great concert venue because even though it's general admission there is no bad seat in the house. Every where you look there is some cool bit of artwork on the wall, a little folky but I like that sort of thing.

For years I heard guys tell me that they appreciate the musicianship of the Indigo Girls but they just don't relate to to them. For years I accepted this as well they are women, who are lesbians which very well may not connect with a guy's point of view. But on Saturday as I listened to their set list go from titles on a page to music I no longer believe them. Simply they aren't listening.

Opening song: Galileo A critique on the inequity of the Catholic church. The current generation pays for the mistakes made by others in other lifetimes. It takes lifetime after lifetime for humanity to socially evolve. We as individuals are in the process of evolving and searching for our personal enlightenment, we can only hope to have a few more lifetimes to make it. Shame on You addresses the problem of immigration. Become You talks about the South and Slavery. Least Complicated talks about the adolescent struggle of love and becoming who you regardless of sexual orientation.

Through the years, I have seen them fight for Native Americans, against unethical treatment of animals, and for EVERYONE's equal rights. Recently, their most recent support is for batter women in conjunction with the Fight the Fear Campaign. They give back to their local communities through benefit concerts. They aren't saints but they are certainly individuals with a sense of global and local responsibility.

The Indigo Girls fill my soul with hope. They fill my heart with joy. Every time. Listen.