Notes from Steve

Jordan Weber and I were talking about overhead music.  As I tell everyone at orientation - the reason behind the music is all about paying attention to it as opposed to the conversations in the hallways.  Diversion strategy.  The music is always a bone of contention though - people are never satisfied with what’s being played.  I told Jordan about when we used to bring in CDs to play as background music, before Pandora (our vendor). I played “Piano and Guitar” music. I was physically threatened by the nursing station with violence if I played it again*.  Music is a very personal thing …

Speaking of music, I’ve been playing a lot of Dolly Parton since she passed.  She was pretty amazing.  I’m on Threads (like Twitter and Facebook) and wrote last week: “You know, maybe Dolly’s passing came at a time when humanity needed to see an example of what it means to be a good person. To live with love, grace, and giving without expectations. We need to change our outlook - collectively as a society - now, to that which Dolly personified.”

Dolly was just a good person.  She rose above comments about how she looked, she donated a ton of money to great causes, she never took a side, and refused to participate in divisive discussions.  She liked to have fun and live a full life.  Nothing wrong with any of that.

*Nothing is safe either - I thought James Taylor was a safe choice.  Nice elevator calm music.  Nope - really bad words in one of his songs.  If you saw me running down the hall in 2003 at full speed, it was to take that one out of the rotation.  Yeesh.  (If you hear inappropriate songs now - let us know; sometimes songs that shouldn’t be played in a healthcare setting sneak in without our knowledge.)