Garfunkel was two years ahead of me at Columbia,
but I never met him, let alone got to know him. But
I just watched and listened to Simon and Garfunkel's
1981 CONCERT IN THE PARK on YouTube for almost
the one-hundredth time. Both had to be geniuses. You
can't be as good as both of them were without being
geniuses. I think Simon was the greatest lyricist of the
20th Century. I think Garfunkel's rendition of BRIDGE
OVER TROUBLED WATER will go down as the SONG
OF THE 20th CENTURY. Garfunkel's voice was
unmatched, as were Simon's extraordinary lyrics.
The tragedy was that Simon and Garfunkel, as SIMON
AND GARFUNKEL, performed professionally only
three years. Think of that. Only three years....
What if Brando and Streep had acted only three years...?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I think I may be the only man
who enjoyed lying in bed re-reading
THE COLLEGE GUIDE TO GRAMMAR
that every Andover student had to buy
while my girlfriend and her nine-year-old
son were in the living room memorizing
lines from OVER THE RAINBOW on TV.
I also enjoyed reading Webster's entire
3rd Edition Dictionary. It was Dr. Gillingham,
an Andover English teacher who had gotten
his PhD from Oxford, who introduced me
to the HARBRACE VOCABULARY WORKSHOP,
an incredible tool with which to study etymology,
a lifelong hobby of mine. Essentially, one learned
the prefixes, roots, and suffixes of the Anglo-Saxon,
Latin, and Greek languages and thereby was often
able to take an English word, it's meaning as yet un-
known, break it into its parts, and begin to understand
the meaning of the English word. I found this exciting.
The goal was not to become pedantic, but as a poet,
to be able to choose the "precise" word needed to convey
as well as possible the meaning of the entire poem.

What fun!

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I have listened to hundreds
of beautiful female voices,
but the best I've ever heard
is that of Karen Carpenter.
Karen's voice is simply celes-
tial. Never having had vocal
lessons, loving to play the
drums from the start, how
could this be? It happened
when she opened her mouth
once and sang a few lines.
What followed was a decade
of worldwide stardom, only
to die at the premature age
of 32 from anorexia. This
tragedy will remain with all
of us as we shall never stop
listening to her glorious gift
to mankind.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Do not cross me,
because if you do,
I'm out of here.
I'm not perfect,
but I always try
to do what's right.
Treat all others
with respect. Prejudice
is the ugliest disrespect.
If you think and act that
you're better than any
other, forget me. If you're
racist, you're morally blind,
and I'm out of here forever.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

There are lots of vacant lots.
Ask the person you hate most
to go with you to the vacant lot
your friends have chosen for this
coming Saturday. Tell this person
you'd like to pick him/her up.
Tell him/her you'd like to introduce
him/her to your friends. There are
many vacant lots, so you don't need
a temple or a mosque or a synagogue
or a church or a cathedral or the Vatican.
Then all of you will stand in silence
for a time. Tell your new friend thanks
for coming, that his/her coming has
blessed your day.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Live how you love.
Love how you live.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Every life is precious, every life is good.
Yours, mine, her, his. Yellow, brown, black,
brown. Eyes slanted, eyes round. Tall, short.
slim, rotund. Healthy, sick, disabled. LBGTQ.
Living or dying. Rich, poor, anywhere in between.
Educated, illiterate, brilliant or dim-witted.
All need food, housing, healthcare. All need
clean water and air. All have a heart. And all
need love. Everyone needs love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS