Merle Haggard was the real deal. Grew up in a boxcar that his father converted to a house shortly before Merle's dad died. Had a troubled youth, rode the rails, spent most of the 50's in and out of jail. He did hard time in San Quentin for armed robbery. He was there on New Years Day 1959 when Johnny Cash had one of his early prison concerts, which inspired Merle to start playing in the band at San Quentin.
He released his first record in 1965, and had tons of hits in the 60's & 70's, with 38 #1 Hits. He had an amazing voice, and his songwriting is brutally authentic.
My personal favorite of his is Sing Me Back Home. It's about a prisoner on the way to the death chamber, asking a fellow prisoner to sing him a song that reminds him of his home and his family, before he is put to death. And it's based entirely on a situation Merle experienced first-hand.
Ironically, despite several of his singles lambasting hippies, and the anti-war movement (Okie From Muskogee & Fightin' Side of Me), he was very influential and respected by countercultural figures. The Byrds covered his song Life in Prison, a deep cut off his third album. Mama Tried & Sing Me Back Home were staples of the Grateful Dead's live setlist.
Bob Dylan said this about him: “Merle Haggard has always been as deep as deep gets. Totally himself. Herculean. Even too big for Mount Rushmore. No superficiality about him whatsoever. He definitely transcends the country genre. If Merle had been around Sun Studio in Memphis in the Fifties, Sam Phillips would have turned him into a rock & roll star, one of the best.”
I rarely see much talk about him nowadays, but in my book, he's one of the greatest country musicians of all time. Anyone else really appreciate his music?
AMA Invitation for January 2021
Hi. I’m Merle Bombardieri, the author of The Baby Decision, which many of you have read and recommended to each other. Thanks!
As a licensed clinical social worker, I have led workshops and done coaching and psychotherapy on this topic for 40 years. I did my first AMA here in the spring of 2020.
I am rolling up my sleeves to answer your questions in this brand-new AMA.
Did you make a New Year’s resolution to decide once and for all this year?
Feel free to bring up questions about the decision, feeling stuck, the biological time clock, couple disagreement, pressures from would-be grandparents, fear of regret and anything else. Fear/ disgust regarding pregnancy and concerns about the environment, current and future pandemics appear regularly on fencesitter, but we didn’t talk about them in the first AMA. Now is the time!
Please be patient. I had over a hundred questions last time. It took me over a month to answer them all. I will try to answer urgent questions first such as unplanned pregnancies and decisions related to possibly preserving your fertility before agreeing to a recommended medical regime or surgical procedure.
If you are in a crisis, such as wanting to hurt yourself or someone else, or have a partner who is hurting or threatening you, please call your local emergency service (911 in the U.S), and/or go to a hospital or call a domestic abuse line. And, of course, post your concern here on r/fencesitter for amazing support.
Although I am the mother of two daughters (one childfree, one who is one and done), I have been a childfree advocate since 1979. I believe both choices are valid and will never try to sell you on either.
Now let’s get started with your new questions for a New Year.
I have just added a new blogpost, which will also be going up on my website. Because so many questions below and on fencesitter in general have been on this topic, I pasted it here so I can refer you here if your questions in the AMA relate to this.
Making It Fair
Negotiating Equity in Shared Parenting
By Merle Bombardieri, MSW, LICSW
In The Decision Café, my private Facebook group for parenthood-decision-making (co-hosted with Katie Wilson), one woman posted, “I would definitely choose to parent if I could just be a dad.” Many other Café members echoed this sentiment. What do they mean? They mean that they can imagine that parenting itself would be pleasurable, but only if they could take a father’s r
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Think about it, Merle Ambrose only allows human wizards to attend his school, but based on the fact that there are many non-human professors some of whom seem to have graduated from the school it's clear that at some point in the past possibly before Merle Ambrose became headmaster non-humans were allowed to attend. Based on this knowledge it's clear that Merle Ambrose has implemented a human only acceptance policy to his school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl3YLVejEi8
Merle & Aria from Buzzfeed discuss how rare their relationship is. Aria talks about how it's rare to see a man in a relationship shorter than the woman. And even rarer than that, an Asian guy in a relationship shorter than a white girl.
One interesting dynamic is Aria's not actually that short, I think he's around 5'8. Merle is above average in height. They've discussed this aspect in other videos, and how it was actually Merle that was more worried about this - whether Aria would be okay dating a girl taller than him.
I ordered a sticker earlier and was wondering if there was any way to get it signed by him once it arrives, does he have a P.O. box or anything?
Anyone else absolutely hate how they didn’t show any of how Merle managed to escape the many, many walkers blocking his only way off the roof? I’m rewatching the show and it’s making me mad.
I'm quite curious on this. Because Shane Walsh was my favourite Character by far in The Walking Dead, followed by Abraham then Sasha and then Rick (I wondered what would happen if Shane and Sasha met in the second Half or and/or the first Half of Season 3 and Season 4 and then met up again in Season 5). I do quite like Laura, the quite loyal Savior to an extent as well.
Man I wish he stayed around longer and didn't get killed off in such a stupid way. His character was developing and he was changing a lot. It would've been nice to see a total transformation like morgan.
Couple budget records to dig through. Some pretty good stuff scattered in there as well.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FjjksGlQ7p3Ax1ZOSgsUqUmCyJT0aES5mTRlq5Yto3k/edit?usp=sharing
$5 ship for the first 4 records. +.50/ea after that. I am packing and shipping this weekend. Everything will leave on Mon/Tue. US shipping only.
Buy 5 records, pick anything $3 and under for free!!
IMPORTANT: To purchase, please send me a chat with what you'd like. I'll confirm the total w/shipping and send you payment instructions. Please do your best to pay ASAP. Records will be taken down as payment is received.
https://forms.gle/CkFnksijCdamH3Rx5
I'm getting a new FEMALE puppy and have narrowed my choices to 6 options. Would love to have your opinion.
Thanks in advance!
