Memorial Day 2010

Good News (?)

By Thomas Merton

The greatest temptation that assails Christians is that in effect, for most of us, the Gospel has ceased to be news. And if it is not news it is not Gospel: for the Gospel is the proclamation of something absolutely new, everlastingly new, not a message that was once new but is now two thousand years old…. The message of the Gospel when it was first preached was profoundly disturbing to those who wanted to cling to well-established religious patterns, the ancient and accepted ways, the ways that were not dangerous and which contained no surprises.

Source: Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

God's Wheel

Surfing around I came across the poems of the incomparable Shel Silverstein. This one jumped off the screen...

GOD says to me with a kind
of smile, "Hey how would you like
to be God awhile And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.

Where do I set?
How much do I get?
What time is lunch?
When can I quit?"

"Gimme back that wheel," says GOD.
"I don't think you're quite ready YET."
-- by Shel Silverstein

Totally Not Serious

People enjoying two of their favorite pastimes- ice cream and roller coasters.

Yep.

Whitewater Birds

It was a day for the birds the other week on my walk through Whitewater State Park near Elba, MN.



It is always fun to try to get these kind of pictures.

Birds in motion, the wonder of flight, the moment of wonder.

Or the bird just sitting there waiting.

And the ever present Red-winged Blackbird.

Less Than 50 Years

Last night was my first one volunteering at the RACE: Are We So Different? exhibit at the library here in Rochester. I have been looking forward to this opportunity since, as I have said before, this is one of those major issues that I feel is fundamental to who we are as Americans.

Watching the people go through the exhibit I was humbled to be a part of such a venture. Between 20 and 30 people went through during the evening. I watched a father and his early teen-aged son walk around talking about the things they were watching. A mother said that she was there because her son had been there with a school group and told her she had to see it. There was a pair of Asian women and an African man sitting and watching one of the videos.

There are several places around the exhibit where people are invited to leave their comments or personal stories. That got me thinking about my own journey. And I was suddenly surprised. I had always considered myself German and Russian Jewish based on my parents. But I also knew that a great-grandmother may have been Native American according to some family oral tradition. Then I did a little more looking and realized that in that great=grandparents' generation was one of Scottish descent.

Suddenly my genealogy became:

• 50% Russian Jewish
• 25% German
• 12.5% Native American
• 12.5% Scottish.

Whoa! That begins to change my self-perception. Back in 1944 when my parents were married it was a mixed marriage of epic proportions, potentially fraught with much prejudice in a small north-central Pennsylvania town.

It wasn't illegal for my parents to get married. But at that same time in many states it was illegal for whites and blacks to be married. The first such laws (and the first mention of the word "white" in a racial sense) was in Virginia in 1691. In 1924 the Virginia "Racial Integrity Act" was passed. It

required that a racial description of every person be recorded at birth and divided society into only two classifications: white and colored (all other, essentially, which included numerous American Indians). It defined race by the "one-drop rule", defining as colored, persons with any African or Indian ancestry. It [classified] marriage between a white person and a non-white person as a felony. In 1967 the law was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in its ruling on Loving v. Virginia.
-Wikipedia

In other words, it is only within my lifetime, and the lifetime of all Baby Boomers, that such laws were overturned. Some, though unenforced since 1967, stayed on the books until as late as 2000!

That is humbling and makes it quite clear that we are still in the relatively young stages of overcoming racial issues. It has been only 43 out of almost 400 years. And that is why I am glad that we are having this exhibit. We have come a long way and I pray that we continue on the path.

(I will be blogging on this on a regular basis over the next few months as I reflect on what I hear and see.)

Links:
Local Rochester, MN, Information
Rochester, MN, Community Events

RACE- Are We So Different?

Science Museum of Minnesota RACE website

Race: The Power of an Illusion

Race: The Power of an Illusion transcripts

I Didn't Know He Was Still Around

Art Linkletter was a TV classic, a legend in the 50s and 60s. He was famous for interviewing children and them responding with "the darndest things." He died today at age 97. He was a natural and a fun entertainer on daytime TV.

Here is a video of Linkletter and some kids.

Serving Without Vision

A tough quote found on Revitalize Your Church yesterday:

It is easier to serve God without a vision, easier to work for God without a call, because then you are not bothered by what God requires; common sense is your guide, veneered over with Christian sentiment.

You will be more prosperous and successful, more leisure-hearted, if you never realize the call of God.

But if once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God wants will always come like a goad; you will no longer be able to work for Him on the common-sense basis.

-- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Is The Spirit Still Here?

By Hildegard of Bingen
It is the day after Pentecost. is the Holy Spirit still available? Do you feel the Spirit's presence in you and around you? Let the Word grow.

Holy Spirit,
giving life to all life,
moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart
from its ancient sleep.

Source: translated by Stephen Mitchell

Resurrection, Ascension, or Just the One That Got Away

Last Sunday at church was the celebration of the groundbreaking for a new education and fellowship addition to our church. Our Pastor (my wife) put together a fun service of joy and hope. We had some helium balloons to use to add color and fun.

But there's always one that gets away.

As I stared at this picture I realized that there's a lot of symbolism in it.

• For us as Moravians it is the cemetery. That is where we go to celebrate the Resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. We sing and play our trumpets and trombones and remind ourselves that death has lost its sting. the disciples stood among the dead- and they were told they wouldn't find Jesus there. He was among the living.

• It is also the Ascension. Again the disciples stood around looking into the air- blank, thin air. Again they were asked why they were just standing around staring into the heavens. He has gone. Now wait for the Spirit.

For many of us it may be the lost balloon, a treasure to the young child, or a lost dream, or just The One That Got Away. Like so much of life. But while we are looking at where our balloon or life or dream is going, all we need to do is turn around and there, waiting for us, behind us, are more balloons, dreams, life.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the church. Turn around. Look around. Go another direction. We do not look ahead to a glorious past or an enriching history. We must look to where the Spirit is leading. For you, your church, your family, your friends, your extended faith community- look. Listen. Be ready.

A 30-Year Memory: Gobbling Away

May 22 – Pac-Man (the best-selling arcade game of all time) is released.

The Power of the Earth

A mesmerizing time-lapse of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

(HT to Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish.)

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Think About It

By William Stafford

It’s heavy to drag, this big sack of what
you should have done. And finally
you can’t lift it any more.
Someone says, “Come on,” and you
just look at them. Trees are waiting,
mountains. You never intended
that it should come to this.

But Now has arrived and is looking
straight at you, the way a lion does
when thinking it over, and anything
can happen. It’s time for the cavalry
or maybe the Lone Ranger. But they
won’t come. Maybe the music will
spill over and start it all again.
Maybe.

Source: The Way It Is, New & Selected Poems

Reversing Genesis?

...or back to the Garden?

Headline this morning on Yahoo! News from the AP:

Man tells cops God told him to stroll in the nude

Police in Thibodaux, LA, arrested the gentleman and charged him with obscenity. He told them God had instructed him to do so to save his soul.

I wonder what the snake told him to do?

Challenge and Tragedy

The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis continues to be one of the premier theaters in the country. Last weekend we went to see their latest presentation on the Wuertle Thrust Stage- M Butterfly the Tony-winning play by David Hwang. It was beyond incredible. Randy Reyes is nothing short of remarkable as Song Liling, performer in the Chinese Opera. Andrew Long is mesmerizing as French diplomat Rene Gallimard. The staging is powerful.

M Butterfly: From his prison cell, former French diplomat Rene Gallimard recalls the story of how he came to be loved by Song Liling, a performer in the Peking opera. Assigned to Beijing in the 1960s, Gallimard encounters Song in a performance of Madame Butterfly. Dazzled by her beauty, he believes he has found "the perfect woman," and uses his Western influence to ensnare this exotic butterfly. Their relationship develops into a passionate love affair that lasts more than two decades, yet when Song's identity is revealed - as a man and a spy for the Chinese government - Gallimard discovers far more than the submissive leading lady he wanted, and his personal and political realities dissolve before his eyes.

It is a challenging tragedy equal to anything ever produced. It brings us to an awareness of all kinds of prejudice, even the ones within us. How do I respond to the nudity? How do I feel about the portrayal of Asian women? What about the stereotype of the French? What about the presentation of homosexuality? it is not a fun and easy play. It is classic.

My reaction was simple and deep- I would see this again.

Here is one portion of it with Song Liling (Reyes) challenging western thinking....




M Butterfly at the Guthrie

A Midweek Blessing

may our words become your flesh
may we linger with intent to care
may we breach the peace with justice
and pay you more than lip-service
but serve you with our whole lives.
so be it

(From Roddy Hamilton and his incredible wee community.
and a HT to Mike Todd.)

A 30-Year Memory: A Different Volcano

May 18, 1980 - 8:32 am
Mt. St. Helens Eruption

The eruption was preceded by a two-month series of earthquakes and steam-venting episodes, caused by an injection of magma at shallow depth below the volcano that created a huge bulge and a fracture system on Mount St. Helens' north slope. An earthquake at 8:32:17 a.m. on Sunday, May 18, 1980, caused the entire weakened north face to slide away, suddenly exposing the partly molten, gas- and steam-rich rock in the volcano to lower pressure. The rock responded by exploding a hot mix of lava and pulverized older rock toward Spirit Lake so quickly that it overtook the avalanching north face.

--Wikipedia

In Memoriam: Hank Jones

The remarkable jazz pianist Hank Jones died at the age of 91. He is one half of the duo that recorded one of my all-time favorite jazz albums, Steal Away by Jones and legendary bassist Charlie Haden. Last year he won the Pianist of the Year and was scheduled to be playing next week (yes, next week!) at the Birdland Jazz Club in New York.

What a remarkable career.

The Exhibit Opens Today

Our inability to recognize the extent to which racism exists is truly amazing.
--Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin

Rochester Public Library and Mayo Clinic have partnered to bring the national touring exhibit “RACE: Are We So Different?” to Rochester, MN. The exhibit is now on display from May 17 - Sept 4, 2010 on the second floor of the library.

As the final part of my volunteer training for the exhibit I got to see it yesterday.

It is magnificent, thorough, excellent, and a must see. It covers the science that has shown that "race" is not genetic and that we are one species- the human race. It gives a devastating history of race as a historical development in the United States. It brings us to the contemporary questions, answers and concerns that we face today.

Rochester is the smallest community that has hosted the exhibit since it began at the Science Museum of Minnesota in 2007. From here it will go to Boston and then the Smithsonian. It is also the first time it will be a free exhibit. We are fortunate. If you are near Rochester between now and Labor Day, think about seeing it.

This has been the top issue on my personal social radar for 50 years. It is, I feel, an underlying issue that will continue to undermine who we are as a nation until we can truly come to grips with it. Yes, I know we have come a long way in the past 50 years. But we have a long way still to go.

Therefore I will be blogging from time to time over the summer about the issues the exhibit raises from my perspective. Here are some links that you might find helpful:

Local Rochester, MN, Information
Rochester, MN, Community Events

RACE- Are We So Different?

Science Museum of Minnesota RACE website

Race: The Power of an Illusion

Race: The Power of an Illusion transcripts

Bombers Bombed in the Bronx

And It's About Time!!!!

With an 8th inning grand slam off the god of relief pitchers, Mariano Rivera, Jason Kubel and the Twins broke their 0-10 losing streak with New York

Twins 6
Yankees 3

To Be Idealistic

If you believe in people just as they are, you condemn them. If you are idealistic and aim higher, you will help them become what they are made to be. So says the legendary psychiatrist Viktor Frankl in a clip recently added to TED:Best of the Web.

Isn't that what Jesus tells us- Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.Or this one on this week before Pentecost:

May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Talk about aiming high. Talk about meaning and purpose. Talk about making humans what they were meant to be- the image of God.

A 40-Year Memory: It Felt Very Scary (Part 2)

Thursday/Friday May 14–15, 1970, at Jackson State College (now Jackson State University) in Jackson, Mississippi. A group of student protesters were confronted by city and state police. The police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve. This happened 10 days after National Guardsmen killed four students in similar protests at Kent State University in Ohio, which first captured national attention.

--Wikipedia

Two Headlines

Earlier today I noticed two consecutive headlines on Yahoo! News:

• Using the Internet makes us happier, study finds (Time.com)
• U.S. rights group sues to protect right to swear (Reuters)

For some reason or another these two seemed like appropriate together. I'm probably stretching things past the breaking point, but perhaps happiness does come from freedom and, historically, the Internet has been about freedom, especially freedom of expression. I'm not sure how the happiness happens, but it seems to.

Meanwhile, police are giving tickets somewhere or another for breaking a law about swearing in public.

Freedom is strange.

Make No Sense

All right, my mind is not making any sense. That means it's time for a bunch of quotes that have caught my attention. Comedian Steven Wright is the perfect way to start:

• Last year I went fishing with Salvador Dali. He was using a dotted line. He caught every other fish.

Our congressional leaders are known for making nonsense out of sense. Actually the late Senator Everett Dirksen made sense out of nonsense. But I have a hunch inflation may play havoc with his numbers.

• A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.

Groucho Marx was an American original. He knew how to make non-sense fun.

• Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Dave Barry knows how to make us laugh. He also knows how to put it all into perspective.

• You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.

And finally, ending where we began, back to Steven Wright.

• I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

Reflections from Target Field

Target Field- a wonderful place for baseball. Photogenic and downright fun.

Statues of some of the greats, like Kirby Puckett...

















And the orginal

And music...

And there's more where these came from. This was only the first of at least five games on my calendar this season.

For a Rainy, Cloudy, Cool May Day

It's not supposed to get sunny till the end of the week. So this is to cheer me up. Enjoy.

A 50-Year Memory: Captured

May 11 – In Buenos Aires, 4 Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who was using the alias "Ricardo Klement". Announced 12 days later by Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion

For the first time I learned of The Holocaust. Just a shade under 12 with a Jewish mother and her whole family. Here came this shivering news of something that had only been whispered about for fear perhaps that to say it out loud would unleash it all again.

Now, with all this time behind us, I fear we may forget. May that not happen.

Maybe He Isn't Just "All Right"

Several months ago Mike, at Waving or Drowning had this quote:

How do I evade Jesus’ teachings?

How is it that after two thousand years of meditation on Jesus, we’ve managed so effectively to avoid most of what he taught so unequivocally? This is true of all the churches. The most we could usually do is emphasize one or the other part of his teaching, and still call ourselves orthodox or “Bible based”.

• All of us, for example, have evaded most of the Sermon on the Mount.
• All of us have evaded the unmistakable teaching of Jesus on a simple life-style, non-status-seeking, non-greed.
• All of us have evaded Jesus’ teaching on non-violence (except for the Amish, the Quakers, and the Mennonites).
• All of us have evaded his straightforward teaching on loving our enemy.

Jesus is just too much for all of us!

Richard Rohr, Adapted from Simplicity, pp. 161 - 162

No, Jesus isn't just all right. He's far too much for us as Fr. Rohr says above. "All right" is dull, boring, meeting our basic needs, never challenging us. If He is "just all right" we can evade his teachings when they don't make us feel "all right." When we, the comfortable are afflicted, Jesus will never be "just all right."

And He should never be.

(Guess where I was today.)

A 40-Year Memory: Protests

May 9 – In Washington, D.C., 100,000 people demonstrate against the Vietnam War.

A 50-Year Memory: Fewer Weddings

May 9 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announces that it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making it the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill.

I once asked an organist after a wedding about playing the Wedding March so much in all her years as an organist. She smiled and said, "Less now since the Pill."

A 40-Year Memory: A Final Time

May 8 – The Beatles release their 12th and final album, Let It Be.

Maybe The Vikings' Starting Quarterback Will Do the Same Thing?

From MLB.Com:

Jamie Moyer threw a two-hit shutout Friday night [for the Philadelphia Phillies] in a 7-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park.

Moyer threw a seven-inning complete game in 2007, but he had not thrown a nine-inning complete game since June 20, 2006, ...

He became the oldest pitcher in big league history to throw a shutout. Phil Niekro threw one in 1985, at age 46 years, 188 days. Moyer is almost a full year older (47-170).

Amazing. I wonder if Geritol is a performance enhancing substance?

Actually, anytime "older" people do amazing things like this I am thrilled. We do not have to give up on life when we begin to get older. While most of us will never be a Brett Favre or Jamie Moyer, we can sure live up to our own potentials long after we think we are over the hill.

And don't miss 88-year old Betty White hosting SNL tonight.

The Weather Is Never What We Want

Will someone please tell someone that this is not the way to celebrate the time before Mother's Day:

Tonight: Snow. Low around 36. Breezy, with a northwest wind between 15 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Yes it will be in the 50s during the day Saturday, but then:

Saturday Night: Widespread frost,... partly cloudy, with a low around 30.

Finally, Mother's Day itself, back to "normal" with a high in the low 60s. It will be a good day for a ballgame at Target Field.

Overheard in Recovery: As Much Sense as O'Doul's

I caught the beginning of The Chappelle Show on Comedy Central the other night. They had a fake ad for O'Dweeds, the marijuana without the THC. You got all the taste without the drug. Therefore it's legal and fun for the whole family.

The point was clear to me, at least. What is the point of beer without alcohol? About the same as marijuana without THC.

It's just that simple.

No, I won't argue with you. And I am probably not talking to the non-addict/non-alcoholic in the audience. You wouldn't understand that the alcoholic does not drink beer because it tastes good or is less filling. Those may only be side benefits.

No more than the stoner would smoke fake weed because they liked the smell. The smell without the THC is, well, just smell.

Thanks Chappelle for pointing out the simple facts of substances. If it didn't have the drug it wouldn't be fun.

In recovery to continue to play with the smell or the taste and think you are safe is foolish. You are only maintaining an illusion of abstinence because the brain is hyper-vigilant when it tastes or smells that which used to give it so much pleasure. It will only enhance the craving cycle instead of reducing it.

O'Doul's or O'Dweeds. Pretty much the same idea.

Spring Pulpits, Trilling Trillium, and Tolling Bells

Last Sunday was another great hiking day since, again, the wind was way too much for biking in the open. So I headed to Carly State Park near Plainview, MN, and was not disappointed.

The Jack-in-the-pulpit was preaching away....

and  the Trillium was beautiful...

and the bees were hearing the silent tolling of the bluebells.

And a few blossoms were around for good measure....



Southeastern Minnesota is a springtime playground of color and wonder!!

Mexico Vacation 2010: Leftover Thoughts

In February my wife and I took a week-long vacation to the Riviera Maya- the Caribbean Coast of Mexico. We stayed at the Bahia Principe Akumal Resort about an hour south of Cancun. Through this past couple weeks I have been blogging about the trip and our experiences.
---------------------------------------------------

So here I am, three months post-vacation. My trusty Moleskine journal is still by my side, filled with more stuff, but still part of the memory of the Riviera Maya.

“Travel writing isn’t really an exploration of where you’ve been, so much as an explanation of where you’ve come from. All journeys end up at the same address. Back home. Travelers don’t write for the people they visit, but for the people they’ve left behind.”

–A.A. Gill, AA Gill is Away (2002)

--HT Rolf Potts Vagablogging

At the top of my memories is the New 7 Wonder- Chichén Itzá.


Well, more to the point - the collapse of Chichén Itzá. There is an awe-full beauty to the place that can easily become awful. It is a place that inspires a sense of amazement. It also has many, many picture opportunities- lines, colors, people, trees, sky. Then I stop and remember that people lived here. Lots of people lived here. Today we walk through what's left of their streets, glance at their artwork, and admire who they were. We do this 800 years later. 800 years. All that's left of them is their mysteries, our guesses, and a lot of uncertainty.

We have been able to reconstruct some of what was there, but there is much we don't know. Their calendar, for example. I wondered who would have been playing the great ball game in 2012 if they were still around?

Then I wondered who will be roaming around some parts of our nation in 800 years wondering who we were?

Which is not as far out of the realms of possibility as they would have felt in Chichén Itzá  900 years ago. Many think that the collapse of this great culture was at least to some degree their own fault. There is reason to believe that the society became "top heavy," too much aristocracy, too many people at the top to be able to support by the greater community. They used a primitive "slash and burn" technique that had to be expanded and expanded to support more people. The result.... the collapse of the society from ecological disaster. The world of the Yucatán was unable to provide what they needed.


And as the stones bear a mute witness to what was...

... murals in resorts give us some feeling of the depth of the lost culture...

and statues of Kukulcan become the centerpiece of neo-Maya buildings.

Such is the great sweep of time.

It is humbling and scary since I wonder

if we ever learn?

On a more prosaic note, though was the ironic silliness of the trip....
a classic example of tourism at its craziest.
It would appear that tourists who have just visited one of the New 7 Wonders of the World need to be entertained on the way home. As we left Valladolid on the way back from Chichén Itzá they showed a movie on the bus. The guide told us three times on the way there and at least three more times on the way back that this was the only movie available and that it was what was given him by the office in Cancun.

And what movie do they show to keep us entertained after a visit to an educational and culturally significant place?

Unbelievable.

Anyway, moving on to other personal reflections....

• If this doesn't motivate me to do something about my physical shape- nothing ever will. The scuba diving and snorkeling exhaustion was a real eye-opener. As a result, I am sure, I have continued my 5 day/week workouts ever since. I have worked out Monday - Friday in one way or another ever since. My first bike ride the other week was better than almost any last year... easier, especially for a first ride. I have been hiking, probably 3 miles or so last weekend. Not a lot, but with a lot more stamina. It feels good. Very good.

• I mentioned the barbecue that the people of Apple Vacations held for us. Well, part of the evening was the entertainment where people were called up/volunteered to be part of skits. It struck me that this was a lot like what we used to do at campfires at church camp. Only the double entendres and sexual undertones become more like overtones. People must have a built in desire to get up and make fools of themselves in front of others.

• Then there was my Pine Creek hat. You can't see it all that well in the picture but it is a Rastafarian-type guy riding a bicycle. It was from my 60 miles for 60 years ride two years ago. I brought it because it was light colored and had a fun look to it. Well, when we were waiting for our luggage prior to customs on arrival in Cancun, a guy in line laughed thinking it was Goofy from Disnew World. It was at that point I realized that it was Jamaican-Rasta colors. Hmmm. I had a moment of panic. Oh, no. I'm going to get pull aside by the officers. Glad no one noticed that.

Actually the hat did lead to one interesting conversation - 

one of the scuba instructors liked mountain biking.

• When thinking back on the scuba, I realized that while I was down 40 feet, where it was twice the pressure of sea-level atmosphere, it was only three yards or so beyond a first down on an American football field. Amazingly shallow. A four story building. (I know I wouldn't think it was shallow if I jumped off a four-story building.) But in such a short distance it was a completely different world.

I also did not take my computer- and didn't miss it other than to download the pictures each evening and play with them. But if I had done that I wouldn't have been sitting at La Casita enjoying the evening warmth and the Latin music coming from the sound system. No, computers may be neat and fun but it was nice being completely unplugged.

Then reality hits and one returns to the daily life in Minnesota in February.

On return from a trip where one's soul has been shaken unexpectedly (but who expects to have their soul shaken?) one comes face to face with what has always been there- oneself. The old line is as true for vacations as it is for anything. Wherever you go, there you are. Except hopefully you come back more aware of self and soul and the possibilities that exist under one's own roof.

You don't have to backpack and stay in seedy hotels to have a pilgrimage. An all-inclusive resort can bring one face to face with the way life can be lived. I enjoyed it- I was shaken by it- and I am a different person for it. Whether it is the ancient Mayan ruins, the waiter's assistant, the coral and fish at 40 feet, or the three local recovering people who made me welcome, it was a pilgrimage and a slight peek behind the scenes of my life and theirs.

“The practice of soulful travel is to discover the overlapping point between history and everyday life, the way to find the essence of every place, every day: in the markets, small chapels, out-of-the-way parks, craft shops. Curiosity about the extraordinary in the ordinary moves the heart of the traveler intent on seeing behind the veil of tourism.”
–Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgrimage (1998)

--HT Rolf Potts Vagablogging

• See all of the pictures used in this series as well as others at my Mexico 2010 Flickr page.....
• LINK to the Mexico Photos on Flickr

How Do You Spell Sweep?

Monday, May 3
Detroit Tigers 4
Minnesota Twins 10

Tuesday, May 4
Detroit Tigers 3
Minnesota Twins 4

Wednesday, May 5
Detroit Tigers 4
Minnesota Twins 5

After a Way Above Average April

From the National Weather Service:

Tuesday Afternoon Weather
Fair and Windy
83 °F
(28 °C)

Friday Evening Forecast
Chance Rain/Snow
Lo 36 °F

That's May in Minnesota

A 40-Year Memory: It Felt Very Scary

May 4, 1970- 

National Guard troops opened fire on protesters at Kent State in Ohio.

The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.

There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of four million students, and the event further affected the public opinion – at an already socially contentious time – over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War.

--Wikipedia

The Power of Words

I first discovered the power of words in books in 8th grade. I read Beau Geste. As the story unfolded the descriptions and feelings were amazing. I could feel what the author was trying to convey. Simply by the way he put the words together could change everything.

Next came A Tale of Two Cities and I was hooked. I became a reading junkie, hooked on words on the printed page. Not all books are of that cosmic level, but when you get the great ones to read you are transformed. Cold Mountain, Peace Like a River, Kavalier and Clay, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao are some of the recent books that have done that for me.

But I have just finished one that is in the upper reaches of that incredible ability to make the world stop and have me explain as each chapter ended:

Oh.
My.
God.
Amazing!

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann was the 2009 National Book Award winner. As Wikipedia describes it:

The plot of the book revolves around two central events. The first central event, which is laid out clearly in the book's opening pages, is the sensational real-life feat of the Twin Towers tightrope walk of Philippe Petit 110 stories up, performed in 1974. This...lays the groundwork for the author's description of the human ability to find meaning, even in the greatest of tragedies, for which the Twin Towers serve as a sort of an allegory. The second central event, which is only revealed halfway through the book, is the fictional courtroom trial of a New York City prostitute. This second central event serves as a sort of point of balance, bringing the book back down to its more earthly, and therefore more real basic story lines.


Throughout the book the author weaves the stories of each of his protagonists through both of the two central events, exploring the personal impact that each of these two events had on the lives of each of the various protagonists. Additionally, some other issues which are unique to certain of the various protagonists are touched upon, such as the loss of a child, or the personal struggles that a member of a Catholic religious order must contend with. (This religious protagonist named "Corrigan" happens to be loosely based on the real life Catholic priest, Daniel Berrigan.)

The book is eclectic in style. The NYT called it rough and edgy like the city itself. I was entranced from the start. Corrigan, the Catholic Religious is the glue of the story. His humanity, struggles, and love reach out from the pages even when he is nowhere to be seen. There are at least 10 or 11 protagonists weaving in and out like a jazz riff on life in a world that is long gone- the burning Bronx of the 1970s, the immediate aftermath of the Vietnam War, pimps and hustlers strolling.

It is a life affirming novel that pulls the heart and soul into places I don't like to spend time- issues of mortality and hope, despair and wonder. I found myself sitting in church yesterday with Corrigan running through my heart. What an incredible gift.

Post # 3,500

Yep, the words just keep on coming. This is post # 3,500 in the ongoing ramblings of a postModern pilgrim. Thanks for listening.

If You Aint Got It You Can't Give It

That's what the pastor said this morning. You can't give what you don't have.

She was talking about love. She was talking about where we learn about love. She talked about our families, but she went beyond that. None of us is perfect enough to love in all ways always when it is needed. None of us is able to live and be The Ideal.

Jesus told us about love:

• Love one another.
• As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
• By this all... will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

That's why I am keeping this simple so people like me don't make it too difficult or complex. I am keeping it simple so people like me don't try to theologize it all away. You know how we do it:

Jesus didn't mean "everyone" just believers.
Jesus didn't want us to let bad people off the hook.
How can you love someone who does that.

Then, as if an exclamation point to the sermon I turned on the radio and Garrison had some people singing an old Tom Lehrer song:

Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks.
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule.

But during national brotherhood week, national brotherhood week,
Lena Horne and Sheriff Clarke are dancing cheek to cheek.
It's fun to eulogize
The people you despise,
As long as you don't let 'em in your school.

Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
All of my folks hate all of your folks,
It's American as apple pie.

But during national brotherhood week, national brotherhood week,
New yorkers love the Puerto Ricans 'cause it's very chic.
Step up and shake the hand
Of someone you can't stand.
You can tolerate him if you try.

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Muslims,
And everybody hates the Jews.

But during national brotherhood week, national brotherhood week,
It's national everyone-smile-at-one-another-hood week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It's only for a week, so have no fear.
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!

I guess Jesus really means it.


PS: Here's an old video of Lehrer performing the song:

I Believe It

Actually, I do more than believe it- I have lived and experienced it. In fact this is what I spent this afternoon doing....

Just 5 minutes doing something in a park, in the woods or even in your backyard can boost mental health, a new study finds.

Many studies have shown that spending active time in the great outdoors is good for the mind. Humans have a deep-seated need for contact with nature, which researchers theorize provides relaxing down time for a brain that is otherwise overtaxed by modern pressures.
-LiveScience

For No Particular Reason.....

Other than I can't think of anything else....

Through hard experience I know how tough it is to be - or to live with - an introvert in an extroverted society. If you know of an introvert- love them today....

Personality is personality and there is nothing wrong with it. THIS is good advice.

Thanks to The Best Article Every Day