Alone on a Limb

College Friends, 1969

2009-07-08T00:10:00.001-04:00

If I had managed to make the reunion (see the last post) the pic below could have been an update of this one. (l-r) Terrell, Janie, Mike.

My Asbury Reunion

2009-07-01T08:35:00.012-04:00

Here is Janie and me. I spent most of the reunion visiting with Janie. I haven't seen her in 35 years. She drove to Asbury from New Jersey with her husband, Charlie. I enjoyed visiting with them both. Charlie seems like a great guy. Janie has three children, the youngest is 30 years old, all married. She has a number of grandchildren. She home schooled all of her kids through high school. She teaches English in an inner city Middle School. (In my book, that qualifies her for sainthood.) Janie says her Mom is doing well, that she still lives in Elmer in the same house and is 94 years old. Janie lives only 7 miles away from her Mom.

Sunday morning was a concert of a reunion of alumni of the Asbury Men's Glee Club. The director said that over 700 former glee club members were invited, about 65 or so showed up and did a great job. I'm going to order the CD. I was particularly moved by their rendition of "I'm On My Journey Home." I wish I had taken my movie camera to you-tube the last number -- "I'm Gonna Ride In The Chariot In The Morning, Lord." I was surprised when one of the soloists turned out to be Ben: "Are you ready, my brother, are you ready for the journey?" I hadn't noticed him until his solo part and then it took me a second to place him. What a great voice. I caught up with him afterward, outside of Hughes. (This reunion included a nice tent -- seen in the background.)

These two twin brothers (not identical), three year olds, are from Kenya and were adopted by Asbury missionaries who are working with orphans in that country. Their adopted parents received a special award from Asbury which included a gift of $1000. When I found out that their names are Soloman and Gifta, I had to take their picture. I asked which was Soloman and was told the one, of course, with the bigger head (on the left in the picture). They were running about and when I asked if I could take their picture, their parents spoke to them in Swahili and then they started to hug each other. I missed seeing some of the grandchildren of our Kenya college friend, Soloman. Some of Soloman's children and grandchildren, I was told, had been at Asbury the previous day.

I went with Skip and Darlene to Asbury's equine center. Very impressive. First time I've seen it. Asbury now owns over 60 horses, all donated, and over 70 Asbury students are involved in the program. Asbury offers a major in this field. I was surprised to learn that all but a few of the students in the program are girls. Students can now sign up for horse classes to fulfill one of their PE credits. One aspect of the program is to train horses for use by policeman. Students may now bring their horse to Asbury and board the horse at the equine center, and this opportunity is helping recruit some students to Asbury.

We also went to High Bridge where there in now a pavilion and museum. I didn't realize that High Bridge has such a rich history -- the site of many speeches, rallies and religious revivals. William Jennings Bryan spoke there as did Billy Sunday and Rutherford B Hayes. It became a resort area where many people came holiday excursions by train and boat. At one time 272 steps led to the river itself -- but were destroyed accidentally by fire in 1948. This pavilion tries to recreate the building that was there at the time and is now available for use by groups. It was used by the Asbury reunion group earlier in the week before I arrived on Saturday.

I was very impressed that Asbury is building a $ 14 million facility for use in teaching TV and film production and that each year Asbury sponsors a film festival. A ground breaking ceremony was held on Saturday. Wouldn't it be great to be a student to benefit from such a facility and program? The old library is now the student center -- very first class -- and at that center on Saturday some of the winning films from the film festival were shown. Free popcorn. These films featured Asbury students and directors. Very impressive.

I didn't get my camera out in time to get a lot of other pictures I should have taken. There will be a group picture of the Knight class that eventually will be printed -- we were all melting in the sun waiting for the photographer. It was nice to go back. Asbury has made a lot of progress since our graduation. I'm glad to see it doing so well. There are now about 1500 students at Asbury (including those in the new adult program).

I was impressed that a very large group showed up from the class of 1939 -- their 70th reunion! -- they all seemed so sweet and well preserved. Our 70th will be in 2039, so start planning now. There was only a small number from the Knight class, 1969, this year -- maybe 35. And Dr. Kinlaw didn't show up to any of the events I attended. I would liked to have said "Hello." I'm thinking I will send him a note.

Happy 4th of July! Thanks for the invite -- some day I will make it.

Sunday Concert: Do You Love Me?

2009-06-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

As I have written before, one of my favorite experiences on stage was my time as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Today I post my favorite moment from that play. It's a little duet. Very short. Not very demanding vocally or theatrically. But one of the tenderest moments in musical theatre. What a fun scene!

Here is that scene from the movie.
Topol, now 73, is doing a "farewell" tour as Tevye this year -- I'd love to see it. Norma Crane, the wonderful Actor's-Studio trained actress who played Golde died only a couple of years after the film's release, at 44, of cancer.

Encore: Becoming Tevye

2009-06-26T22:34:00.004-04:00

First Posted in June of 2007 as a Sunday Concert --

If I Were a Rich Man: Topol

One of my very favorite roles as a musical theater enthusiast came in 2000 when I became for a few weeks Tevye. I had played several other major roles in college and community theater but only one -- Charlie Anderson in Shenandoah -- that required the kind of concentration and dedication and, well, total immersion that this role required. As Charlie I had been cast in October for a play that opened the last week of February. What luxury to have such a long period of time to create a character. For the role of Tevye, in Rome Little Theater's production of Fiddler On the Roof, I had a much shorter prep time, and was now teaching fulltime -- I had been self-employed during my time as Charlie and had a more flexible, if just as stressful, schedule.

All of that to help you understand that I was terribly stressed and uncertain on opening night. Sure enough, my nerves got to me and I had my most miserable moment on stage. I went blank. I commited the unforgivable stage sin of actually repeating a section of dialogue, I was so lost!

I wanted to take a dive into the orchestra pit. It was opening night, there would be another opportunity to bomb the next night and the next. I was miserable.

Then epiphany.

23 hours later, still miserable, I stood center stage in the Desoto Theater, nose to the dark side of the curtain as the overture played, waiting for the curtains to part for my first monologue and the big opening number, "Tradition". And it struck me.

Here I am doing the thing that excites me more than any other. The thing I profess to love. Playing a role I have coveted more than any other save Jean Valjean. How wasteful of a grand moment to be so self centered and timid. This is an opportunity to grab. A moment to treasure. An experience to live. An unrecoverable time to harvest and possess.

As the "fiddler" played on the roof and the curtain opened I resolved to pluck the moment - Carpe Deim! Or as Tevye might shout: L'chai-im.

I would possess that stage. I would live that role. I would have fun. I would laugh and love, grieve and rage. I might fall on my face. I might lose a line. I might royally screw up. But my screw-ups would be as Tevye. They would be grand screw-ups not timid ones. I WAS where I wanted to be. I WOULD be fully there. L'chai-im!

That performance is seared in my memory as the most fun I could ever have on stage. What a joyful, loving, painful, redeeming night!

A lot of folks revere Zero Mostel as the quintessential Tevye, but I love the twinkle in the eye of Topol. To me his Tevye is flesh and blood... and as a father and husband I understand the depth of his love and anger and fear. So, though I like to think I found my own Tevye, there was a little of Topol's in mine.

Here, for your Sunday entertainment, is Topol with his interpretation of "If I Were a Rich Man":

Tell Me It Is Not Summer

2009-06-25T17:22:00.005-04:00

My favorite bush is my snowball hydrangea. And when it blooms, it means summer is here. Too soon. Too soon.

You turn around and 40 years have slipped by. I’m going to attend at least part of the Asbury reunion this weekend. I’m wondering if I’ll have a chance to greet our college president, Dr. Dennis Kinlaw. In 1969 when Terry Shaw and I graduated, proud Knights, Dr. Kinlaw was 46 years old. How is that possible? I discover that I am now 15 years older than Dr. Kinlaw was when we graduated. Wow. We were his first graduating class. Anyway, if I see Dr. Kinlaw, I’ll be able to tell him that I’ve read his latest book, “Let’s Start With Jesus” and that I’ve written a response, copied below.

I want to make it to Rome this summer.

When We Reject The Gods Of Our Childish Imaginations, What Remains?

I wrote here that this weekend is my 40th college reunion at Asbury College. My college president, Dr. Dennis Kinlaw, is now 86 years old and is still writing books. As a 17 year old, when I first met Dr. Kinlaw, I was impressed by the generosity of his spirit, by his demeanor, by his good humor. He is an extraordinary man who has inspired and helped the spiritual growth of many individuals. I love the fact that he is still among the living. I have read his latest book, “Let’s Start With Jesus” with great care, mostly at Lakeside. I wanted to write this article before the reunion, so I’m barely under the wire. What follows is not so much a review, more of a response and reaction.

It seems strange to believe that occasionally the universe, karma, God, gives us great favors. But I’ve come to believe that such is true. Science keeps discovering how everything is intrinsically intertwined with everything else, and how reality in its essence is astonishingly weird. I like the phrase used by St. Paul, that now we “see through a glass darkly,” and his promise that someday we will know as we are known. It is interesting to suppose that someday humans will come to understand the universe and even understand humans.

I like the image provided by Isaac Newton, that he felt like a child on a seashore, noticing now and then some beautiful pebble of understanding, “whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

What is it that we call God? Dennis Kinlaw in his book, “Let’s Start With Jesus,” relates the notion that students who embrace atheism, often do so as an effort to reject gods thoughtful Christians also reject. When we reject all of those gods of our childish imagination, what remains? The rise of religious fundamentalism and fanaticism makes it pretty important that people who value rationality have some thoughts about this overall subject.

For myself, I find it increasingly difficult to believe in a God that is supernatural -- outside of nature. Certainly, when humanity arrives at a more perfect understanding, and sees reality, in Paul’s words, “as face to face,” we will have a very different view of consciousness, personhood, karma, God, and nature itself. I’m inclined to believe that some day, spiritual truths will be understood in scientific terms. There are many more dimensions of understanding than what have been codified and if the human race survives the next 200 years, it is likely that there will be transformative change in our basic understandings of many matters, some of which are now considered spiritual, or religious.

Deepak Chopra’s idea in his recent book,"The Third Jesus," is that the first Jesus is the historical Jesus, the second Jesus is the Son of God, the Jesus of theology, and the third Jesus, is the cosmic Jesus. One reviewer says, "The cosmic Jesus is the spiritual guide whose teaching embraces all humanity, not just the church built in his name. The third Jesus invites us to join him on a higher spiritual plane, invites us to achieve enlightenment."

According to Chopra, the historical Jesus was a gifted teacher, an enlightened being, whose mission was to bring individuals into a realization of their spiritual potential. This view of Chopra’s is not so contradictory of scripture that speaks of being “conformed into the image of Christ.” Paul says we are to “grow to the measure of the full stature of Christ,” and that we should be “transformed by the renewing of our minds,” that "the Mind that was in Christ should also be in you.” Chopra is using different terminology, but he seems to be talking about the same reality as New Testament writers whose thinking and spirit were transformed by the risen Christ. It is this risen Christ who transformed St. Paul's life and thinking. It is this risen Christ Chopra refers to as the "cosmic Christ."

Dr. Kinlaw has written and spoken about this new life in Christ in his sermons and in previous books. In fact, I just googled, "mind of Christ" and according to my search, there are 21,700,000 responses and Dr. Kinlaw's book, "The Mind Of Christ" is number one on the list. But his newest book, “Let’s Start With Jesus” seems centered on Chopra’s second Jesus, the Son of God of theology. In this book, Kinlaw’s writes about the trinity. He speaks of the formation of this concept of God -- one, in three persons -- as a breathtaking intellectual accomplishment, a watershed of thought, that reveals astounding truths about ourselves -- ourselves as persons.

Dr. Kinlaw says that Jesus was the “prototypical” human, that even as Jesus understood himself as part of a fellowship, the trinity, part of a family, so do we understand ourselves in terms of community and connections. Kinlaw says that we should not attempt to understand God simply in juridical terms -- the law, grace, vicarious sacrifice -- but should seek to understand God as revealed in the trinity, in familial and in nuptial terms. The idea is that Christ is wedded to his believers, has union with them. I find this an interesting avenue of thought. Kinlaw explains that our salvation is not simply to escape physical death and God’s certain judgment, but it is to enter into a transforming relationship. The implication is that we are to be God’s sons and God’s daughters.

But Dr. Kinlaw, in this book, it seems to me, spends too much space in rehashing St. Paul’s theology. What is sin, what is salvation, what was the meaning of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? St. Paul was a towering intellectual of his day, a powerful writer, and he worked out a way of thinking about these questions. I’ m inclined to believe that if, as the book title recommends, we start with Jesus, then we should set much of what Paul wrote aside. Paul emphasized a view of Adam and Eve, that said, as the first humans, their sin and disobedience infected the entire human race, “without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin,” and, that Jesus was the vicarious sacrifice for us all. Paul outlined interesting theological theories, but what Paul failed to do was to show much curiosity about the historical Jesus. He was a contemporary of Jesus and Jesus' disciples, he had the opportunity to learn everything possible from these first hand witnesses, but, he showed little interest in writing much about the actual life, teaching and ministry of Jesus. Paul seems not so much interested in Jesus, but he was absorbed into the the reality of the risen Christ, the power of his resurrection.

Dr. Kinlaw in the preface to his book indicates that he believes progress is possible in Christian theology, and that this realization of progress was a breakthrough in his own thinking. I’m thinking that the hope of humanity lies in progressing beyond Paul’s theology into a more direct understanding of Jesus. I like the scripture, “We would see Jesus.” I’m inclined to believe that our theology obstructs our view. When we see Jesus, we may begin to understand how we too may be resurrected to become a new being. I wrote a contemplation, “How Did Einstein Become Einstein?” that reflected on Einstein’s flat out rejection of the notion that humans have free will. I wrote, “Einsteins don’t just pop up. It seems to me that it is likely that Einstein grew into Einstein not through the forces of causality, but, through humility, through deliberate awareness, through a commitment to truth, and, through a conscious willingness to suffer for the sake of truth. And, is that not the path to growth that is available to everyone?”

In my view, Einstein was not inevitable and neither was Jesus. It seems a rare happening that anyone grows into their potential.

A supernatural view of God sees the birth of Jesus as a miraculous event -- God breaking through nature, via a virgin birth, choirs of angels. A supernatural view sees the return of Christ, also, as God breaking though nature in a miraculous event -- the rapture -- Jesus appearing in the sky, believers taken up. A zillion dollars has been made on the Left Behind books that develop this supernatural theme. But it seems to me a dangerous view. It promulgates a belief that however badly humanity screws up -- polluting the earth with hate, injustice, hunger, war, industrial waste -- God, in the end, will perform a supernatural miracle and save true believers. This is an irrational view that thinks it is faith to pray, “Oh God, please don’t make two plus two equal four.” A faith that sees God as breaking through history and through nature to save us from our own man-made disaster, to me, seems an immature faith and, more than that, it is a faith that has a real potential of bringing humanity to disaster.

I am wondering if the hope for humanity lies in spiritual renewal, in spiritual awakening. I am wondering if this is the meaning of the Christian hope that Christ will return. Such an awakening may be humanity’s best and only hope. The hope for such awakening, it seems to me, is found in the title of my college president’s latest book, “Let’s Start With Jesus.”

My Kind of President

2009-06-21T09:39:00.001-04:00

I wrote this a month ago. Just noticed it was never posted. Here goes.

-------

I just listened to the President being interviewed on C-Span. Once again I am reminded of the blessing it is to have this man as our President. I am sure I will sometimes disagree with him. I am sure he will make mistakes. But even then I will be thankful that we have a President who:

• is reflective. He actually thinks about the issues, considers options, considers his critics' arguments, evaluates his own successes and failures.

• is a constitutional expert. He is grounded in the Constitution, the theories that underly it, the arguments of its authors, its history, the great decisions about it in the Supreme Court, the men and women who have interpreted it.

• is pragmatic rather than doctrinaire. He can change his mind. He can compromise.

• is intellectually relaxed, open, honest, and self-confident without arrogance.

• walks with an easy relaxed gait into any gathering without self-concious swagger.

• listens to questions and just answers them in simple English without bluster or nervous tight-pursed lips.

Whatever cards history deals him, I believe he will play them about as well as anyone could, and, if they are the right cards, he may go down as one of the greats.

Some Feed Lone Wolves

2009-06-12T08:06:00.003-04:00

"...lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent right-wing extremist ideology are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States."

- Homeland Security department

It is from a report of the Homeland Security department that the likes of Sean, Rush, and Glenn used to blast the Obama administration for supposedly trying to smear merely obnoxious right-wingers as potential terrorists. The fact is, the sentence above is true. Anyone who does not agree with this statement has not been paying attention. The Tim McVieghs, Eric Rudolphs, James von Brunns, Joseph Paul Grahams of America are the most dangerous domestic terrorists.

Violent right-wing extremists are the abortion-crazed zealots who see murder of those who help incest and rape victims get abortions as justified, Neo-Nazis who openly call for killing all Jewish people, Klan idiots who burn crosses on lawns of "misbehaving" black people, Second Amendment "defenders" who would blow up federal buildings and their day-care centers to emphasize in blood their righteous indignation.

I defend the right of these crazies to say what they will. But I also expect a responsible government to keep an eye on them, to take seriously their threats, and to guard against them acting on their crazed beliefs.

All of that has NOTHING to do with peaceful right-wingers who can use their self-evident liberty to petition, argue, sue, persuade, protest, holler, complain, whine, call the President socialist, call a Supreme Court nominee racist, etc., etc., etc. ad infinitum. And I reserve the right to point out the idiocy of blow-hards like Sean, Rush, Lou D., Glenn, Newt, Michael S., Bill O., etc. etc. ad infinitum who feed the Lone Wolves raw meat every day on TV and radio.

Eugene Robinson said it better than I have.

Homegrown Terrorism

2009-06-10T21:58:00.003-04:00

A right wing terrorist struck again today.
Another murdered a medical doctor less than two weeks ago.

And some of our ordinary-run-of-the-mill-non-violent-right-wing-nuts have been screaming bloody murder because the Homeland Security Department warned of the growth of right-wing extremists.
Had these folks forgotten Tim McVeigh?
Will they continue to say we should ignore extremists on the right?

Just because they want to keep an eye out for extremists like the neo-Nazis and Klan and Violent Abortion "holocaust" screamers doesn't mean Homeland Security is monitoring Scalia's every move, or even idiots like O'Reilly and Limbaugh.

Sheesh.

I suppose there are left wing extremists in America. As someone has pointed out: the extremists on the left hug trees or pour fake blood on furs; extremists on the right blow up federal buildings (a a few hundred men, women, and children), murder doctors, and attack museums with deadly weapons.

Barr is right, twice.

2009-06-08T23:15:00.004-04:00

I have no special love for my former Congressman, Bob Barr. He defeated my friend, and a good Congressman, Buddy Darden. He led the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton for boorish personal behavior -- Clinton deserved it, the nation didn't.

But since he has been freed from any real political power or influence, doggone if Barr ain't occasionally sensible. He writes "The Barr Code" for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In today's article he rightly praises President Obama's refurbishing of America's Middle East policies.

If the Obama administration follows through on the president’s vision presented last week in the centuries-old mosque, then American influence in that troubled part of the world, which has fallen dramatically in recent years, is certain to increase.
- former Republican Congressman Bob Barr

Recently he took congressional Democrats and Republicans to task for their nonsensical refusal to support the President on closing the Guantanamo prison.

The manner in which grown men and women in the United States Congress are fretting over the possibility that some of the Guantanamo detainees may wind up being incarcerated in federal civilian and military prisons on the mainland, illustrates yet again how tight a grip FEAR has on public policy in post-911 America...

...The president has made a policy decision to close the detention facility at Guantanamo. Members of Congress ought to have the backbone to vote for or against the president’s plan based on its merits, not hide behind irrational fear that somehow a super-human terrorist will be able to scale the walls of the Supermax prison and wreak havoc on a community in their district.
- former Republican Congressman Bob Barr

I personally will support the President if he decides to place terrorists at the Atlanta pen. I'll have no more fear of them than I have of the other violent men at that facility.

Assalamu alaykum

2009-06-06T20:02:00.004-04:00

Our new President is a masterful diplomat. Because of his unique personal history -- Kansas, Kenya, Africa, America, Indonesia, Hawaii, skeptical parents, Christian grandparents, Muslim grandparents, father of descendants of slaves -- he has a unique authority when he speaks of non-violence and peace and coming together. His basic moderate temperament and cautiously progressive philosophy, his ability to bring together disparate viewpoints, his respect for honest disagreement, his reaching out to the opposition, all are wonderful changes. His presidency is young and there will be more difficult times. He will make mistakes. There are those who will continue to bitterly oppose him. There will be more terror strikes. The economy is a long way from being righted. Our President's approval ratings will fluctuate and probably be considerably lower come November of 2012. But we are witnessing a transformative Presidency.

I suspect we just might be witnessing greatness.

Here's an evaluation I happened upon by Jonathan Freedland, an Australian writer:

IN AN ancient city, America's still-new President aimed to heal a rift that has endured for decades, if not centuries. Barack Obama stood before a crowd of 3000 in the great hall of Cairo University on Thursday to deliver a speech that demonstrated not only his trademark eloquence, but also the sheer ambition of his purpose — nothing less than bridging the divide between Islam and the West.

"No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust," Obama began, mindful of the expectations that preceded this event. Still, as he has proved, a major address can have a major impact, and there will be few more masterful speeches than this one.
(Read more here.)

If you didn't hear the Cairo speech, read it here.

And read his wonderful D-Day speech here. Listen to an excerpt here.

Sunday Concert: Memorial

2009-05-28T09:17:00.001-04:00

On this Memorial Day I pause to honor the Americans who have risked their lives or even lost them for their country since the early 1770s.

The angry protestors at Boston,
the young farmers at Lexington and Concord,
my ancestor, shot by Tories in front of his wife and baby,
the weary, cold crossers of the Delaware,
the jubilant victors at Yorktown,

the stalwart defenders of Fort McHenry,
the backwoods boys of Andy Jackson at New Orleans -- who didn't know the treaty had already been signed,

the valient, hopeless, occupants of the Alamo,

the heroes of Buena Vista and Vera Cruz,

the boys in blue and the boys in gray -- both convinced they were risking their lives for freedom my ancestors Lt. William Baird of the 53rd Georgia Infantry shot through the shoulder as he crossed a fence along a plank road at the Wilderness, and teenaged Private Nathan Wood riding far from home with the First Georgia Cavalry.

the doughboys of 1918 in muddy trenches,

the GIs of the fourties clawing their way up the boot of Italy,
sloshing ashore at Iwo Jima or Normandy under unyeiding fire,
marching at bayonet point before Japanese captors,
my father walking the beaches of the Ulithi atoll among dead Japanese, wondering if he'd be called upon to invade Japan,

the freezing American soldiers conducting the police action on the Korean peninsula,

Galen Foster and Butch Moreland and John Kerry and John McCain and all those other contemporaries of mine who found themselves in a jungle half a world away fighting for their lives while I and most of their fellow citizens went to class or work pretty much unaffected by the blood in Vietnam,

Obama Says That Under Bush We Forgot Who We Are

2009-05-21T13:30:00.003-04:00

President Obama in his speech this morning reminded Americans that America, prior to Bush, did not torture. Obama said that America was the country that opposed torture and that closed down torture camps and established a rule of law. “That is who we are,” he said.

“That is who we are.” We are a nation that does not torture. That seems a good starting point. How could we forget something so important? Obama says that under Bush we were guided by emotion, “fear,” rather than guided by good judgment, “foresight.”

The Flora and Fauna of Nature's Classroom

2009-05-10T10:28:00.000-04:00

Here are couple of dozen pics of the Flora and Fauna of Nature's Classroom near Mentone, Alabama on Lookout Mountain. I snapped these last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during our annual fourth-grade trip. As one critic has noted I am a little skimpy on Fauna, the bashful beasts.

On the Nature Trail Today...

2009-04-21T18:59:00.001-04:00

We took to the nature trail today to notice pollination, seed dispersal, interdependence, decomposers, and... serendipity.

Sometimes, God Gives Us Great Favors

2009-04-21T00:35:00.016-04:00

As they are happening, some days you know you will never forget. My brother-in-law, Jimmy Dunaway, passed away today (April 20). We all knew his time was short, but kept hoping that maybe his passing could be yet delayed.

His three sons, David, Dan, and Matt, were at his bedside and two of their wives. I, and my brother and his wife were there. And Carole, his wife of 50 years, my sister, was there. Patty, our long time friend, and Steven, both Methodist ministers, were there, and, together, we read scripture and sang gospel songs. One big theme in Jimmy's ministry has been the power and reality of unconditional love. I was on the verge of suggesting we read to Jim the great thoughts in Corinthians about love, and was awe-struck when Patty began to read Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" At one point the Psalm says, "I am poured out like water, and all of my bones are out of joint ... my strength is dried up ... But be not far from me, O Lord, hasten to help me."

The last to arrive was Danny, Jimmy’s middle son, and it seemed after Danny got there, Jimmy acknowledged him and became more relaxed. Carole later said Jim was waiting for Dan. Jimmy’s breathing grew ever weaker and he passed away while we were singing, “What A Friend We Have In Jesus.” He left us quietly, reverently. He was at rest. We were all in tears. I think we all had a profound sense of gratitude that it should all end in such a way. It was a feeling that, on the day Jimmy went home, God had granted us all a great favor by allowing things to come together as they had.

Jimmy was a Methodist minister for over 50 years. He started preaching when he was still a student at Asbury College. For the last two and one half years he has been battling cancer that started in his prostate. In the last month he contracted pneumonia and he was at a rehab center trying to regain some strength. But, instead, he seemed to get steadily weaker. He very much wanted to go home and April 20th was the day scheduled for him to go home from the rehab center. Hospice was set to give him care at his and Carole's home.

It had been a rainy day, but eventually the sun began to peek through. We got back to Carole’s house in south Dayton in the early afternoon, and Becky, David’s wife, returned to Columbus. Becky telephoned several hours later and said that over their house in Columbus was a beautiful complete rainbow. She said it was like Papa was smiling at them. And we went outside and sure enough in Dayton there was also a beautiful rainbow. We were all amazed.

I stole the rainbow pictures off the internet -- but the one in Dayton today was very spectacular. My niece, who lives in Lexington, knew nothing about the rainbows in Dayton and Columbus. But she later sent a text message and said that in Lexington there had been a beautiful rainbow. It was like Jimmy was smiling at her, she said.

Jimmy is smiling. His is a life well lived. He fought a good fight, he finished the course, he kept the faith.

In June, 2008, I wrote Thoughts Occasioned By the Death of Tim Russert. I know it was Jimmy I was thinking about. Jimmy has been a big part of my life for the last 50 years. He is a great friend, and I am going to miss him very very much.

Please make a donation.

2009-04-18T22:28:00.002-04:00

Sheila and I will walk in the Music City Half-Marathon in Nashville one week from today. We will be walking with many family and friends all wearing purple t-shirts. Here's the back of one:

And here is the reason:
This beautiful little girl, my great niece Lily, is in a fight with childhood cancer. She was seven when she was diagnosed last December first with leukemia. Now eight, she is waging a fierce battle. I have enlisted in her army, but we need help. Research to find treatments and cures for childhood cancer is hampered by insufficient funding. That's hard to believe but true.

If you would like to help you can go to this safe site to make an electronic contribution. Any amount will help. It is easy, painless, and ALL the proceeds go to fight childhood cancer.

The learn more about Lily and her cause go to www.lilysgarden.org.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Sunday Concert - Cry Me A River

2009-04-17T07:52:00.005-04:00

(from the AP and Washinton Post)

I have been intending to post the beautiful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables sung by Susan Boyle. She is the woman who shocked the "judges" and world audience on Britain's Got Talent the British equivalent of American Idol. This morning, thanks to Facebook friend Tracy Lawler I found this recording of Susan's "Cry Me a River".

Gorgeous.
Click the pic at the top for a Jeane McManus take on Susan in this morning's Washington Post.
Here are both songs (Click a pic) for your listening pleasure:

I Went To The Tea-Bagger Rally

2009-04-16T15:13:00.007-04:00

I attended Dayton’s big Tea-Bag Rally yesterday. Big crowd. The rally was held at Courthouse Square, where, 150 years ago Abraham Lincoln once spoke. It was great that 8000 people cared enough to take the trouble to come down town on a chilly afternoon to express themselves politically. I kept looking around wondering, “Who are these people, what are they thinking, what is motivating them?"

I wrote a blog that asked, “After rousing speeches, what, really do the Tea-Baggers have in mind doing? Throwing tantrums? Marching in the streets? What if they find that 70% of Americans simply reject their point of view? Can they accept the verdict of democracy?”

Making democracy work has been the theme of a lot of my posts over the last couple of years. Just last month at our South of Dayton Democratic Club (I’m the VP), the guest speaker was Mark Owens, Chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Party. During the question period, I asked Mark to explain to the group the Party's policy of primary endorsement. I made a post the next day with the headline: Mark Owens Says Most Montgomery Dems Approve The Party’s Suppression Of Primary Participation

My gripe is that the Montgomery County Democratic Party is controlled by a small clique of well meaning individuals who feel that the Party is best advanced via antidemocratic practices, such as suppressing primary participation. This clique puts Party over democracy. The ends (electing Democrats), in their view, justifies the means (antidemocratic processes). The result is that a lot of Democrats sent to congress are lackluster -- lacking in ideas, vision, and capacity or inclination for authentic leadership. Loyal Party workers, who have a source of campaign funding, are the candidates the Party endorses. We fiddle while our democracy burns. The point is, our system of democracy is failing us -- at every level. We are failing to find the best and the wisest among us to take the responsibility of governance, and we are paying the price.

I don’t suppose the Tea-Baggers really want democracy to work. Tea-Baggers take hard positions that have enthusiastic support, but these positions are far from representing a majority view. If our democracy works, the positions advocated by Tea-baggers don't stand a chance -- but Tea-Baggers want their positions to prevail, regardless.

I concluded my post, “At the Tea-Bagger rally I heard the cheer: USA. USA. USA. The USA the Tea-Baggers want is a USA with small government, few regulations, low taxes, free market. I’m wondering if these grassroots activists, who cared enough to show up at a downtown rally, could begin to buy into a different view of the USA? Could they begin to see something more important than low taxes? How about democracy? Isn't democracy more important than low taxes? The ascendant view of the USA, I believe, I hope, that more and more people will want to support is a view that sees the USA as a place where “the people” work together to build democracy, build community, build dialogue, build the Common Good, a USA in which everyone can lead a secure and prosperous life — not a USA where a 30% minority somehow manages to impose its will on the majority.”

My first post for DaytonOS, Sept, 2007, was, The Ascending Issue In Our Democracy Is Democracy Itself. My conclusion to that article said, “The idea of democracy, itself, I believe, will increasingly drive our politics, and increasingly the idea of democracy will be the benchmark used for evaluating the actions and the merit of political parties.”

That, at the time, was my argument to Mark Owens and subsequently to the Executive Committee when I urged they change their primary endorsement policy. I lost the argument, but it’s nice that next May, 2010, a whole new Montgomery County Central Committee will be elected. The new Central Committee will then have the authority to completely reorganize the County Party -- starting with the election of a new Chairperson. In 2006, at the last reorganization meeting only 105 Central Committee members showed up out of 200 or so elected. If every precinct were represented, 548 Central Committee members would be in attendance. We have a system of democracy already in place. We simply need to use it.

I think it might be fun to imagine a speech I might give at a Tea-Bagger rally -- using these ideas in this post.

My flowers are blooming.

The Real Tea Party

2009-04-15T09:35:00.002-04:00

The Fox News viewers around the country are all het up to tea-bag our waterways in protest of the fact that their taxes just went down! Well, I doubt you'll find many rich folks besides Sean Hannity tea-bagging today. He and his ilk are the guys who are not getting tax breaks under the Obama administration.

My friend Mike Bock has posted a good article from Vic Harris contrasting these modern "tea baggers" with the Boston tea partiers:

The modern day “Tea-baggers” are not protesting their lack of representation. They are protesting taxes in general. Tax protest is always “red-meat” for conservatives, but, the fact is, President Obama and the Democrats have just passed the largest middle-class tax-cut in history. Let me write that again: the largest middle-class tax-cut in history. Most Tea-Baggers, I imagine, have incomes of less than $250,000 a year, so most Tea-baggers, therefore, are protesting high taxes even though President Obama and the Democrats just cut their taxes. For the rich conservatives who will watch the protests at home on the “Fair and Balanced” Fox “News,” a network that has been shamelessly promoting the events, their taxes will go up in 2010, but will still be 10 percentage points lower than they were under their Patron Saint Ronald Reagan.

Extremists in the Wings

2009-04-14T23:06:00.005-04:00

The abortion bomber at the '96 olympics missed me by only 24 hours. Can anyone deny that there ARE dangerous right-wing extremists in the US? That doesn't reflect on responsible anti-abortion conservatives any more than the existence of the Simbianese Liberation Army should stain my reputation or that of any other thoughtful Democrat.

Violent groups and individuals like the Klan, neo-Nazis, doctor-shooting abortion extremists, the Oklahoma City bombers, etc. are out there. That's just fact. Our government should, within the strictures of the Bill of Rights, be on the watch out for them -- and left-wing extremists, of whom there are also examples.... That does not mean our government should be monitoring you or me -- unless there is enough evidence to convince a judge to issue a warrant.

A well-known conservative commentator (near and dear to me) has taken great umbrage that our Homeland Security department has published a ten-page report on the potential dangers posed by right-wing extremist groups.

I personally am glad that HS is not overlooking the Oklahoma-City-Right-Wing-Bomber-types and Olympic-Right-Wing-Bomber-types while they concentrate on protecting us from the Middle-Eastern-Right-Wing-bomber-types. If you don't mind, I'd even like to be protected from Left-Wing-Bomber-types and those Wild-Eyed-Moderate-Bomber-types.

But yes, dear conservatives, complain. Those sqeaky wheels help to keep the whole constitutional system oiled. Just don't fuss at the noise the ACLU and I make when a Republican President is at the throttle and decides to spy on Americans without warrants.

We should be eternally vigilant to protect everyone's civil rights.

Whitmore's Bluff: In Progress

2009-03-30T23:32:00.004-04:00

I tagged along with the real botanists on Sunday for what I thought would be a two hour climb along the bluffs of the Oosatanuala just north of Rome off Bell's Ferry Road. It turned out to last over twice that long, and I was pretty hungry by the time I got home. But as you can see from the pics, we are blessed to live in an area with an amazing variety of plant life.
Location: Whitmore's Bluff, on the Oosatanaula north of Rome GA

About ten of us gathered at Richard Ware's house to carpool to the site.

When the "let's go" signal was given I stupidly took it seriously and got in the Jeep. My three fellow passengers were waylayed by some little forb eking out an existence in Richard's drive.

Three carloads dismounted along Bell's Ferry Road and started our hike.

After a steady uphill scramble around multiple downed trees along an old jeep trail we reached the breezy summit where the slope in front of us was covered with these purple wonders.

We turned up the ridge and soon encountered this Squaw Root pushing through the leaf litter. It was very breezy and unseasonably cold.

The view off the bluff is magnificent, but the botanists are more interested in the little white flowers they can't reach, that are gowing on the rock ledges below. They are inches from the abyss.

Across the Oostanaula valley is my own Lavender Mountain.

On the rock ledge at my feet are the flat discs that are the seeds of a slippery elm...

...that grows from the slope below the rocky face of the bluff to present its greenery to us above.

We find more patches of the little white sprays of flowers in more accessible spots and ascertain its genus and species after some discussion.

This picture gives a good idea of the terrain - very steep, when not actually vertical.

Looking up the cliff more columbine, sedum, ferns, and moss.

The botanists spend a good deal of time examining and discussing the phacelia found here. It has smaller fowers and variegated foliage, which convinces some of the guys that it is a less common species.

Now I pass some slightly more accessable columbine, one of my favorites, putting up its bright little flames here and there.

Finally I find one burning right in my face as I round its rock.

As we near the river a colony of these diminuative trillium cause a stir among the botanists. Some had not seen it in the wild before.

And then the pachysandra that Richard had been hoping would be in bloom, formed a carpet.

One of my favorites deserves a more picturesque name, chickweed.

The Armuchee ridges are known for their caves. Here is the opening to one of several caves in the bluffs.

One final excitement came when one of the guys spotted several tiny Adder's Tongues -- actually a fern.

If you want to see more pictures from the walk visit my Facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017433&id=1454346212

Compulsion

2009-03-24T22:44:00.017-04:00

I just can't help myself.

Pulling out of the school drive Tuesday afternoon I notice the Bradford Pear blooming in our school woods. On impulse I pull onto Scenic Road, park on the shoulder. Grab my camera. Beep the doorlocks. And start pushing through the brush toward the invader.

But of course I can't stop here. This is the end of the campus where I haven't tried to extend our trail yet. I really should stop. But the hepatica and rue anenome that are past their prime on the upper trail, still bloom luxuriantly here.
The stream is a little bigger and still lovely down here.

I look at the flat area near the stream here. It might be a good place for a few picnic tables some day. The little white butterflies rarely pause in their search for nectar long enough for me to snap them. See the male with the yellow-tipped wings flying away as the female drinks at a toothwort.

Anthocharis midea - Falcate Orangetip Butterflies (male and female)

Back at the car, it is pointed uphill so I drive up to turn around in the entrance being used right now by the lumber trucks as Berry College harvests trees in this area. I've been curious to explore here. So, why not. I park on the gravel. Beep. And follow the dry streambed away from the parking area. It's bound to merge into our little stream eventually, I figure. So I'll check it out. Down through a fairly steep ravine. Down. Down till, oh well, it curves back under Scenic Road through a culvert. Back on the road I climb a hill that seems much steeper on foot than in the car.

I notice the pink plactic tape I've been seeing about has writing so I climb back up the bank to investigate. I am relieved to see there are boundaries to the lumber harvest. Maybe they won't mess up the woods that neighbor our stream and trail.

Back at the car I look again at the roads that diverge there. I had already taken the one less traveled by. If I kept the other for another day, I might never come back! Sheila is at work. Its 4:30. Why not spend another thirty minutes in the woods? Off I go.

This path is definely more frequently trodden. I round the first bend when a small truck with Ohio tags bounces down off the mountain past me. The air is the perfect spring temperature. There is a light breeze. I have sick friends and relatives to worry about. I have testing coming up next week. It's been a long day at school. What better way to wind down, let my mind calm itself, meditate, collect my thoughts, lift mine eyes unto Lavender Mountain, send a few prayers heavenward.

The little mountain road starts climbing and doesn't stop. And neither do I. I keep intending to turn around, but each curve demands I peek around it. The woods are lovely, a little dark and definitely deeper and deeper as I climb. Leafless hardwoods allow a full view of the lay of the steep as the ravines plunge toward Armuchee. In the distance I catch glimpses of the airport and the big Baptist church next to the new Armuchee ball fields where now someone switches on the lights.

Twice the road falls away for a city block or so, but mostly it relentlessly climbs. My cell phone display declares it to be five o'clock. I make a deal with myself to walk till five-thirty, then turn and retrace my steps. Ever the optimist, I figure I might even make it to the House of Dreams. Occasionally the still wintery-looking woods display a tree with tiny yellow-green leaves, or gold ones,

or the greenish-white immature "flowers" of the dogwood,

or deep pink/purple spray of redbud,

a primordial spread of moss,

or the brilliant flames of red maple samaras. If you get a close-up view of the red maple the clusters of samaras look like those double charged fireworks that have produced one big blast and now bunches of secondary blasts.

I find the dogwoods farther up the mountain in better bloom.

After another brief procrastination, and facing a downhill section that I would have to climb on the return if I continued, I turn around at 5:37. At 6:11 I am back at the car.

I wonder how far I have walked. Four miles. Maybe five?

Shoot why not see. Hoping I won't be arrested by campus rangers, I set the trip meter to zero and drive the Rav 4 up the trail. How could the landmarks from my walk pass so quickly? 1.6 miles! Only a little over three miles round trip! I certainly haven't set any land speed records have I? I know I stop to take a lot of pictures. I had tried to sneak up on three separate butterflies. I had climbed the bank to capture
some special bark,

a blooming apple?

a little white pine standing out so clearly with its darker foiliage and stairstep limb system,

a small ~~hemlock~~, [whoops! Brain freeze!! Thanks Teresa. Make that...] hawthorn, with fresh green leaves.

Oh well, I was uphill! And the hill is the tallest in the county.

The Pre-walk Walk

2009-03-20T14:34:00.005-04:00

Audacious man that I am, I will lead a walk along the Armuchee Elementary School Nature Trail as part of the Spring Pilgrimage of the Georgia Botanical Society. This morning, in an effort to calm me, my friend Richard Ware accompanied me along the trail in preparation for the real thing on April 3. And as usual, when you are with Richard, you find something botanically interesting.

I will have three hours to show off the trail for the Botsoccers, so I wanted to know how ambitious I should try to be. This morning we started at the main entrance behind the school and headed upstream. Much of the hepatica is no longer blooming, but the streambanks are resplendant with Rue Anemone... ... And the leaf litter is decorated with thousands of little toothworts. We saw some Sweet Betsy (or toadstool trillium) getting ready to bloom. A few bluets. A Buttercup. Richard pointed out nice examples of White Oak, Southern Red Oak, Shagbark Hickory, American Beech, and other trees. He especially noticed a nice pairing of the smooth muscular bark of the American Hornbeam right next to the frayed stringy bark of the Eastern Hophornbeam.

We did not find two trees I've been hoping to find in our woods. Less than a mile down the road in a low area is the rare Nutmeg Hickory, and our mountain is known for its remnant forest of Yellow (longleaf) Pine. I'd love to find these two interesting trees at our school. No luck so far.

When we reached the end of our trail we decided to press on to the nearby old railroad bed and CCC Camp pond...

There Richard investigated the elms...... If they are native he thinks they are American Elms. But they may be imports planted there by the CCC I suppose.

We tramped around the edge of the pond to investigate the tiny stream that feeds it. I've meant to do that and was glad for the excuse. I followed Richard as he sought firm footing around the marshy margin of the pond. We heard rushing water and found a tiny (one foot by one foot) waterfall at one feeder stream. An old Red Maple in bloom leaned out...

...over the water plants that Richard wanted to investigate. He took a sample plant to identify.

Then we followed the crystal clear running water upstream. Watercress.
Lizard's Tail. Look at this rocky seep! With a manmade wall, brick enclosed...
...and ceramic pipe enclosed springs. And something interesting. Richard suspects it is Chelone glabra -- Turtlehead...
...it won't bloom till summer.

We will definely return to this spot as the spring and summer advance, to see what other wonders this special little habitat houses.

And maybe I'll offer my April 3 guests an extension of the planned walk.

Eighth Grade Exam

2009-03-18T11:37:00.003-04:00

This came in an e-mail from my astute brother-in-law Gil. I assume it has traversed the globe many times, but I'll share it none-the-less. No multiple choice here, huh? These kids had to think. Of course, one had to have some aptitude to get to eighth grade in 1895.

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina , KS - 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and 'run.'
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Ban k Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.'
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, f ain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

The exam took 5 hours to complete.

"He had only an 8 grade education," you say? I tip my hat to him.
I'll put my score up against my current readers, but not against those eighth graders. What would your score be?

From my in-laws' yard...

2009-03-15T14:20:00.006-04:00

Playing with Nora and Derek's new puppy.

Eating barbecue and Suzie's Butter Roll.

Enjoying the giant azaleas.

Some lowgrowing flower -- a blackberry?

And watching a hungry, hungry caterpillar.

Eating more barbecue and butter roll.

Helping one of our favorite pains in the.... well, helping Jimmy... celebrate his retirement!