Life Perspective: Reviews & More

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of ’The Andy Griffith Show’ - Nashville Gospel Music & Entertainment Examiner On an October night in 1960, a memorable whistled theme song was heard on the black and white television sets across America as " The Andy Griffith Show " was aired for the first time. Now fans of "The Andy Griffith Show" are celebrating the show's 50th anniversary with visits to Mayberry Days in Mt. Airy, NC , or watching TVLand's 50 Days of Andy" or perhaps buying a book of Mayberry Poetry or other memorabelia.

"There is no God," he claimed, and all creation disagreed. Thunder shouted His name, wind whispered of His every deed. But he could only hear the void between ears left and right. He couldn't read what the stars wrote; he saw only the night. "Perhaps God has removed Himself," he said as God stood near. The stones cried out to greet Him, but the man refused to hear. The hills sang while the trees danced, worshipping in green array. God opened wide His arms; the man closed his eyes, turned away. "Perhaps God died eons ago," he smirked as angels sighed. "Perhaps the whole myth ended on the day that Jesus died." The birds ignored him as they raised their songs of praises high; The flowers waved, the grasses bowed, the Living God passed by. Psalm 14:1-3 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

Mayberry was that small Southern town where everybody knew their neighbors and Sheriff Andy Taylor was everyone's father figure in a simpler time and place. Imagine what a Mayberry Thanksgiving might have been like! Thanksgiving in Mayberry T  hanksgiving in Mayberry -- H  elen and Ope home from school, A  ndy closes the Courthouse; N  ow Aunt Bee sets the rules, K  eeping everything just so, S  ets the table, cooks the food, G  iving each guest big helpings I  n the day's festive mood. V  ery soon all are seated I  n the Taylor's residence N   ow it's time for grace,  says Andy, G  ives thanks for God's providence. Previously published in  The Mayberry Poem - A Tribute to Mayberry. More Mayberry Articles More About Mayberry

It's Christmas in Mayberry, the mountains are white Opie and his friends are all filled with delight. The town is lit up, wreaths are on every door Andy whistles the carols he's whistled before. Opie skips along Main Street to hear the Mayberry band, Leon lopes close behind him; what's that in his hand? No, it isn't a sandwich's sticky remains, It's Christmas and he clutches a new candy cane! They arrive at the band shell where they join Aunt Bee - She has a basket of goodies for the picnic, you see. An old man greets Bee; he's delighted to see her; The former town grump - our good friend Ben Weaver. Soon Floyd shows up, joined by Howard, Mike, Sam. Goober stops to say "Hey;" Gomer joins the band. The band strikes up some carols, then Barn starts to sing, But they unplugged his microphone so the harmonies ring. Aunt Bee spreads a blanket on the rather cold lawn, Folks are bundled up snug with their winter coats...

I am pleased to announce the publication of Christian Poets Pen , a new blog and zine right here on Blogger for poets who write Christian poetry or poetry from a Christian perspective. Christian Poets Pen began as a bi-monthly newsletter in the early 1990s, continued as a page on ChristianActivities.com , and now at last is a poetry blog & zine on the web! If you write Christian poetry, use the comments section at Christian Poets Pen to post a poem. If you have a tip or news of interest to Christian poets, you can also use the comments to post information. Visit Christian Poets Pen for details!

I just received a letter from one of the submitting poets asking if he could get a discount since three of his poems were published in the the Mayberry poetry book (actually, only two were published; we declined one). Don't get me wrong -- usually I am the person negotiating for a discount! However, I have had people raise eyebrows at the cost of the books before. I think shoppers are used to buying trade paperbacks with lots of pages for $7.99. They look at a book which is larger but with fewer pages and think the $12.99 price tag is high. To put things in perspective, I sent him the following note. Actually, more poems = more formatting and more pages printed = more cost to print, so the more poems I run from one person, the more they have increased my costs. That's one reason many publications charge a "reading fee" or "submission fee" for each poem submitted. The $12.95 covers the cost of compiling, editing, formatting, layout, binding, trimming, print...