Good Deeds. Anecdotes. Music. One Dad Joke: “Why shouldn’t you tell the Liberty Bell jokes? Because it’ll crack up.” 25 Music 2026

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Dad Joke: “Why shouldn’t you tell the Liberty Bell jokes? Because it’ll crack up.”

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THE LOCAL GIRLS PRESENT FOUR YEAR HEAVEN: The Songs Of Ohio University
“Stand Up, Ohio Men”
https://youtu.be/DAize6MIu2s
“Round on the End, Hi in the Middle”
https://youtu.be/3Ma2nLPg1IA
“Four-Year Heaven”
https://youtu.be/gtkrqW80Ciw

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Bruce Dalzell: “Samba De Suzannah”
https://youtu.be/VaeC2H2Ueu0
Bruce Dalzell: “Grady’s Rag”
https://youtu.be/L9ePgHbc2Ro
Bruce Dalzell: “Out of Reach”
https://youtu.be/GWO0BzEPAIE
J.D. Hutchison: “When Worlds Collide”
https://youtu.be/_xnJWrC95ic
Bruce Dalzell: “The Visit”
https://youtu.be/5sZmCsK6SJQ
Bruce Dalzell: “The County Fair”
https://youtu.be/M4JFgEgAmpU

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GOOD DEEDS

Good and Bad White People

Resisting segregation and racism is a good deed; simply being non-racist is good. Ralph Ellison, African-American author of Invisible Man, grew up in the era of Jim Crow and segregation. The black children knew about racism. When he was a child attending Frederick Douglass School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the black children skipped rope and sang, “These white folk think / They are so fine / But their raggedy drawers / Stink just like mine!” His mother, Ida, wanted her children to know how affluent white people lived, and so she took them for walks in well-off white people’s neighborhoods. Young Ralph decided that he wanted to live in a “world in which you wore your Sunday clothes” everyday. Ida even took her children to a whites-only zoo, entering at the tail end of a group of white people. No one seemed to mind until at closing time, when an angry guard confronted Ida, who said that she paid taxes and therefore she and her children had a right to visit the zoo. Roscoe Dunjee, editor and publisher of the Black Dispatch, criticized segregation and racism. Blacks were not allowed to use the Oklahoma City Carnegie Library, so Mr. Dunjee threatened to sue the city, which opened up the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Branch Library for black people. The books weren’t new, but young Ralph read many of them. Unfortunately, the adult Mr. Ellison also encountered racism. When he went to New York City and ordered a meal at a restaurant, the waiter salted his food so heavily that it was inedible. But some white people also helped him. He took a photo of white author and translator Francis Steenmuller that was used on the cover of one of Mr. Steenmuller’s books, and Mr. Steenmuller allowed him to use a quiet office in a wholesale jeweler’s suite he owned. The suite was on Fifth Avenue, and none of the white people in the upscale neighborhood questioned his being there, and all of the white people were courteous to him. The Steenmullers also let Mr. Ellison use their Vermont vacation cabin, where he wrote the first chapter of Invisible Man, which in 1953 won the National Book Award’s gold medal for fiction and is now a modern USAmerican—and world-class—classic.

The Generous Patiño Sisters

When African-American author Langston Hughes’ father died in Mexico, Langston went to Mexico, where he discovered that his father’s ranch and much of his property had been sold so that his medical debts could be paid. His father had willed the reminder of his estate to the Patiño sisters, managers of his Mexico City property. The Patiño sisters were very generous. They gave Langston one-quarter of the estate, and they invited him to stay in their home.

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ANECDOTES

War

• Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother, believed in sharing the pain and keeping a stiff upper lip when necessary. During World War II, she did not send her daughters — Elizabeth and Margaret — to the relative safety of the English countryside or to another country. Instead, she kept them in London even while the Nazis were dropping bombs frequently on the city and killing civilians. In addition, due to shortages the members of the royal family bathed in only four inches of water during the worst parts of the war. The Queen Mother even used tape on the bathtub to let her daughters know to what height they could fill the bathtub.

• The grandfather of Meg Cabot, author of the best-selling Princess Diaries books, fought during World War II. He was a young soldier who was shot quickly after arriving in France. This sounds like bad news, but the result turned out to be good for him. Soon after he was shot, the other soldiers in his platoon raided the wine cellar of an abandoned farmhouse. Unfortunately, German soldiers had poisoned all of the bottles of wine, and so all the soldiers in the platoon died. According to Meg’s grandfather, “Even being shot in the butt can have a silver lining.” Meg’s grandfather is the model for Princess Mia’s grandfather on her father’s side.

Weddings

• Rabbi Aryeh Levine understood the feelings of other people. He once attended a wedding at which a hard-working but impoverished Jew of good character was asked to be a witness. The hard-working Jew gratefully agreed to be a witness, then a wealthy but proud Jew was asked to be a witness. The proud Jew was insulted at being asked to be a witness alongside another Jew of lesser wealth and status, so he declined the honor. This embarrassed the hard-working Jew. Rabbi Aryeh noticed that the hard-working Jew was embarrassed, so he immediately volunteered to be the other witness. Having such a renowned scholar as the second witness made both the hard-working Jew and the marrying couple very happy.

• At a Jewish wedding, the groom smashes a glass with his foot. Why? It’s a reminder that when the married couple argues — as all married couples do — they don’t need to break each other’s heart. Instead, they can break a glass. This is something that Rabbi Joseph H. Gelberman teaches each couple at weddings he performs. He once met a couple 10 years after he had married them, and he asked them how everything was. The husband replied, “Beautiful. We have three children, and everything is wonderful.” Then he smiled and added, “But we have no glasses left.”

• Before modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan went to Russia, she visited a fortune teller, who told her that she would get married — something that Ms. Duncan, who was philosophically opposed to marriage, scoffed at. However, she met a handsome Russian poet and soon was shocking her elderly language tutor by saying to her, “You’d better teach me what I ought to say to a beautiful man when I want to kiss him.” And yes, she and the handsome poet were married.

• Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer once officiated at a wedding of elderly people. The 76-year-old groom, whose best man was his grandson, was hard of hearing, and in the middle of the ceremony he thought the blessing was over so he gave his 69-year-old bride a passionate kiss. The grandson whispered to Rabbi Kertzer that to people as old as the groom and bride, time was precious.

• At weddings of the hasidim, friends of the bridegroom used to steal the bridegroom’s tallit (prayer shawl). To get it back, the bridegroom would have to pay a ransom of drinks for everybody. On one occasion, however, the bridegroom’s tallit was given to a poor woman, and to get it back, the bridegroom, who could afford it, gave the poor woman a large sum of money.

• Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer takes seriously his pre-marriage counseling of hopefully soon-to-be-wedded couples. One would-be groom, a medical student, thought little of his fiancé’s plain looks, but spoke enthusiastically of how her family’s money would help him establish a medical practice. Rabbi Kertzer would not marry him, suggesting instead that he find another rabbi to do the honors.

• In 1925, Chicago Bears football player Duke Hanny wanted to skip a game so he could get married; unfortunately, his coach, George Halas, declined to let him skip the game. Big problem. Mr. Hanny showed up for the kickoff, started a fight with an opposing player just after the kickoff, was thrown out of the game, and went to his wedding. Problem solved.

• Jascha Heifetz was a very popular violinist. When Josef Gingold (another excellent violinist) got married, the wedding guests disappeared quickly after the wedding ceremony. Why? That night, Heifetz was playing on the radio!

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FREE eBooks: THE KINDEST PEOPLE WHO DO GOOD DEEDS (Volumes 1 through 7)
https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/3649
This Is the Sidewinders (FREE Download) (Cool Jazz, Including “Moanin’”)
https://sidewinders.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-the-sidewinders
The Corbin Marsh Band EP (FREE Download) (Blues)
https://corbinmarshband.bandcamp.com/album/the-corbin-marsh-band-ep
Girls Rock Camp Brasil 2018 (FREE Download) (Pop)
https://girlsrockcampbrasil.bandcamp.com/album/girls-rock-camp-brasil-2018
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Jennifer Mazzuckelli (Mazz-uh-kelly] for Ohio Representative (District 2, includes Athens)
https://www.jen4oh2.com
https://www.tiktok.com/@jen4oh2
https://www.facebook.com/share/1Apxp6yxSZ/
Jerrad Christian for Ohio Representative (District 12, includes Zanesville)
https://www.christianforohio.com
https://www.christianforohio.com/issues
Dr. Amy Acton for Ohio Governor
https://actonforgovernor.com
Sherrod Brown for Ohio Senator
https://www.sherrodbrown.com
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Protest Songs Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeHlrfgcPiDv67mWmznt_kPz
The Local Girls YouTube Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycZYhLt3FHM&list=PL8u1qlROcOeEFuBgHsU--T82oOCZqrxhi
Bruce Dalzell Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeHbddeKP0A79Q7x-Z4j-7lk
J.D. Hutchison Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeGjDJ2xP-uOAG_7vMSU2XqV
Steve Zarate Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeHy0QDc6Ykf45qOiC0p-5Av
Frank and Nancy Sinatra Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeEsVkPmfu4R1yyG6LRkMqBQ
Jesse Welles Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeENGp_3fbIlXAHBrDN76N8y
Liz Woolley Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeHWAtRaMhmswBEb7gxtG6W9
Caitlin Kraus Playlist (Tom Riggs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ3RPsbM7Xw&list=PL3X4xRPh97Z8MumRDsULNE6IyYbfmjXN9
Albert Rouzie on Bandcamp
https://albertrouzie.bandcamp.com
Caitlin Kraus on Bandcamp
https://caitlinkrausmusic.bandcamp.com
Caitlin Kraus on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/caitlinkrausmusic/?hl=en
Megan Bee on Bandcamp
https://meganbeemusic.bandcamp.com
Megan Bee Official Website
https://meganbeemusic.com
The Local Girls Official Website
https://www.thelocalgirls.net
Bruce Dalzell Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeHbddeKP0A79Q7x-Z4j-7lk
Bruce Dalzell on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDciWlmMAm5FnsP6nMRpTkg
J.D. Hutchison Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8u1qlROcOeGjDJ2xP-uOAG_7vMSU2XqV
J.D. Hutchison Official Website
https://www.jdhutchison.com/realbilly-jive.html
Corbin Marsh Band (YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/@CorbinMarshMusic/featured
Steve Zarate Official Website
https://stevezarate.com