St. Peter, Paul, and Mary

In other words the Public Broadcasting System is having its Christmas-season fund-raiser. This means that the Public TV programming changes, becomes more popular. In turn I learn what popular means. It means André Rieu, Celtic Dancing, Jazz, lectures on Diet-Health-and-Self-esteem, lectures on Wealth-Management-Wills-and-Heirs, Pop, Rock & Soul, and … Peter, Paul, and Mary. Alas, Mary Travers is now only alive on film; she passed in 2009. At least two decades and probably longer, fundraising time brings these people whom—was it the teens of our own children? Probably—we somehow missed. We checked out of “folk” when Pete Seeger waned and haven’t kept up with later Woody Guthrie wanna-bes. But we loved Pete. The PBS slogan is Be more. But when they are soliciting for funds—which is what “public” means in the United States, richest-country-in-the-world-etc., my temporary slogan is, Be less. Be less and wait until As Time Goes By resurfaces again; no matter how often we see those episodes, the pleasure remains entirely undiluted.