The Coming Tempest

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments, love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

-- Wm. Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

Until 1968 -- 1968!! -- when a new one was adopted, Section 24 of the Constitution of Florida prohibited "forever" --

All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation... .

Now, the knuckle-draggers want to do it all over again to some other people. What is it, exactly, that turns some folk so nasty when they see someone who has found love in this life?

Early Mardi Gras in Pensacola

Good grief! Mardi Gras comes early this year. Chicago's suburban Daily Herald already is promoting Pensacola area parades and other celebratory activities.

Time was, folk complained about Christmas decorations going up before Labor Day. Now, it's Mardi Gras promotions before Christmas!

Want to mark your calendar? Here's a nearly impenetrable explanation of how to do it, courtesy of Mardi Gras New Orleans:

You'll find the big day can fall on any Tuesday between February 3 and March 9. Carnival celebration starts on January 6, the Twelfth Night (feast of Epiphany); and picks up speed until Midnight on Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday.

How will you know which Tuesday it will be? Ash Wednesday is always 40 days before Easter (not including Sundays) and Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday. Easter can fall on any Sunday from March 23 to April 25 with the exact date to coincide with the first Sunday after the full moon following a Spring Equinox! There you have it!

Got that? Pop quiz before the end of class.