Whither Candles?

When I first came to Austin, I was responsible for the very first time for buying all of my food for myself.  I had applied to the University of Texas too late to get into the dorms, so I didn't have a cafeteria or a meal plan.  Up until that point, I had survived on meals made by my mother or me at home (from foodstuffs in the house) or on fast food.  Luckily, there was a big supermarket within walking distance of my apartments, & visit there I did all the time those first two years I lived in apartments south of the river in the area known as the "Riverside Student Ghetto."

(I just tried to find the place on Google Maps, but the area is so developed now - it's been over twenty-five years, man - that there are shops in front of the supermarket, instead of the giant parking lot I knew.  The street in front, too, has been widened.)

I had of course been in supermarkets before, so it wasn't like this was a new experience, but in general, the grocery stores I'd visited in Garland were much smaller, & didn't have things like housewares or more than two aisles of frozen foods.  One of the aisles I came to enjoy, for no apparent reason, was the aisle that had the religious candles.  They were solid, sturdy things, with lots of colors, & weird things written on them that I hadn't encountered so far in my life, being surrounded mainly by protestants.  I mean, look at this assortment from the Wikipedia:

Astonishing, right?  I bought a couple, sheepishly, but didn't really light them.  I wouldn't have known what they were for.  In a way, my fascination was filled with mockery; but I can't deny that they held an attraction for me: the lovely, unfamiliar images (Jesus with his heart glowing out of his chest!) & the prayers on the back (concentrate on your petition!) were just outside my world enough to make me feel I was being somehow transgressive - even though I was never really a Christian.

I gave one of the candles to a friend in the early 1990s, & he did what I could never do - he wrote a song about it.  I will play that song tomorrow.

I've decided to have a look around to see if I can find these candles in Lexington, & if so, I'm going to buy them & keep them somewhere around the house.  They were, in a way, the inspiration for this show.

& it's happening tomorrow!  Seven to nine a.m. (7-9am) on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington, online at the same time at the WRFL web site.  & later, of course, before the candles burn at, at Self Help Radio's new secure location.