Three Female Grandchildren

All three were born in 1974. One in France in June. The next was born in Ontario in July. The last one came along in October in Tennessee. They grew up. One became a mother. One liked to sew. One liked to play guitar. I don't know if they communicate much being cousins and all. You would probably have to ask them.

Liberal as Conservative

"Times of sweeping change are difficult for religious institutions, since religions, even the most liberal, are conservative at heart, eager to find and hold on to valued patterns. Unitarian Universalism was no exception." David E. Bumbaugh wrote these words in his book *Unitarian Universalism: A Narrative History* concerning the turbulent late 1960s and 1970s.

If liberals are for change, they become more conservative when any of their dreams come true.

The Press

How shall I speak thee or thy power address Thou God of our idolatry, the Press....Like Eden's dread probationary tree, knowledge of good and evil is from thee. [William Cowper in Progress of Error]

I saw this quote on a trade publication front cover in the late 1970s.

721DIDEROT798

 

As,If--Cannibals: If you don't like how my friends taste, try the mashed potatoes with Gravy

Southern Baptist Last Rites some oyster crackers and non alky grape juice. Even for Hunter S Thompson Chardonnay on Day of the Dead. Richard Holbrooke is gone, as is William Coblentz who noshed with Donald Rumsfeld and the Jefferson Airplane. Who of four ith the mudder of Mitzi Edourson's two chillen. Late fifties became a mommy in southern india on Memorable day to honor fallen soldiers. Previous sons all dead needed male hair. And I be dat age once and rowed canoe indy rain next to small wankers big digs built more french broads. Free world wide egg sperm donation plantation with local greyhound taxed patdown. Abortions wong Jesus and Mahomo don we now our gay apparel tra la la la la la la la la. walking in a winter wonderland seven maids a milking seamen drinking in your local small box refurbisher. Free Gore Vidal Mim Tick Veigh almost Bojangles Chicken and Biscuits. Foggy luna eclipsed. *It's ten p.m. do you know where your sperm is?* Two couples one condom guessing bout the three men dey admired the most taking southwest airlines to the coast if Rudy Valee rose from the gravy. He's coming again bringing the tarter sauce for 153 fish on Omaha Beached in Saint John's Godspell.

http://www.theparisreview.org/


Seven final lines Paris Review 195 p. 131 Albert Goldbarth///her special focus is minnows,darters,sturgeon./They're noisy, it turns out,when you have/the proper equipment....thundering booms/ and drawn-out kiss-squeak figure prominently/in these fierce displays of territoriality/and sexual welcome underneath/the still and quiet surface.

Thank you for coming to the RiverLink Labyrinth dedication. Hope you are well.We have to talk soon. How are the kids doing. Jerry has a girlfriend that has a four year old daughter and Agnes and husband divorced. I was so shocked I broke out in shingles. Have ulserative colitus of the colon and just heard yesterday that Sharon has high blood pressure and colestral. What else can go wrong. *And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior Luke one verses 46,47. May your spirit rejoice in all the blessings of this beautiful season; and I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight, Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night* Drink Clausthaler non alcoholic beer if you hafta. Feinsliebchen, my love, Du hast ja Ehr' und Treue noch, with truer love I've never met. (Three Folk Songs, Brahms, International Music Company New York) Hard to stay warm here-heard it was cold in Kentucky too. I'll have to move to Edmonton in January.

Andy says guaranteed not to be regifted. Knock on Wood.

Lauretta Grenier Guest Book: sign their guest book, share your condolences, or read their obituary at Ottawa Citizen

Lauretta Grenier Guest Book: sign her guest book, share your condolences, or read their obituary at Ottawa Citizen

Knew some hospitable Good Samaritan type GRENIERs in Ottawa in 1974. They is good people as some would say. Lauretta passed on the first anniversary of my nephew Daniel Pasquale's death.

M

Abstaining From the Eucharist

In recent months I have thought of attending an overtly Christian church in contrast to my regular practice of attending services of churches affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association. I have been a Unitarian Universalist since 1992.

This morning I attended a church affiliated with the United Church of Christ. When it was time to arise and proceed to the center aisle to partake of the Eucharist, I remained seated. The facial expression of the only other person sitting in my pew indicated that she personally was welcoming me to proceed ahead of her to the center aisle. (During Children's Story time, we sang "all are welcome at God's table.")

I have considered myself a Christian since about 1959. This morning was the first time I felt I should abstain from the Eucharist. I have felt that remarks that those who believe in abortion rights should abstain or be forbidden the Eucharist has weakened the sacrament. First Corinthians 11:27-29 is largely about self examination for worthiness to participate in the Eucharist. Now perhaps one should examine the worthiness of those institutions and individuals who conduct the Eucharist and decide whether or not one should participate at all. Hats off to the late Ted Kennedy who chose not to receive the sacraments at the Papal Mass in April 2008. I am fairly certain he had a female sibling with different views of abortion than his own.

The abortion issue is a real nasty can of worms and I do not feel qualified to offer any remarks on it at the present time.

An Evening With Dallas Willard

I only attended Tennessee Temple College one year before making the decision to become a Children of God Jesus Freak in August 1971.

My oldest sister handed me a brochure about Dallas Willard in the spring of 2006. He had earned a degree at Tennessee Temple in the 1950s.

I attended one of the speaking engagements featuring Willard in 2006 on the campus of Tennessee Temple. In his extemporaneous, sonorous speech he juxtaposed the phrase "the good" with the phrase "the right perfume." I later offered written commentary of his speech to a Tennessee Temple professor who had heard his speech that spring evening. I pointed out that the phrases "God saw that it was good" and "God saw that it was very good" were both mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis. On the subject of perfume I mentioned the story of Esther preparing herself--did she use perfume?--for an appointment with a king who would eventually help the Hebrew people as a result of his time with Esther. In my commentary to the professor I also mentioned the company Arcade Encapsulated Products, which manufactures fragrance sampling product to help women chose "the right perfume." The company is located on Main Street in Chattanooga, not far from the campus of Tennessee Temple. I also cited two examples of "the good" for 2006. The professor's home state won the Miss America pageant that year and my daughter's alma mater beat UCLA to win the men's division of the NCAA Basketball tournament.

At the lecture I purchased a copy of Willard's book THE DIVINE CONSPIRACY, which I believe was recognized as CHRISTIANITY TODAY'S book of the year, perhaps for 1999. I was delighted to find the word good in the book. Willard used the phrase "the good homosexual."

I am fairly certain Willard was one of the signers of the Evangelical Manifesto a few years back.

Willard's speech on the good also reminded me of Robert Persig's notions on quality as expressed in his books ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE and LILA.

Eventually I hope to investigate Willard's ideas about the late Edmund Husserl.

If I live long enough to do so that is. It is on my bucket list. :-)

Cinco de Mayo Death

To kill a living creature of any specie can be a cause of anguish. The last day of eleventh grade I killed a baby fawn with a Willys Jeep not far from my childhood home. It was lying in my path in a meadow I was driving in. I saw it too late to swerve. This morning I was in a half awake half asleep state on the floor in my attic loft bedroom when a large cockroach decided to bother me. That really got my goat and I attempted to kill him/her but he/she scurried along the floor near the dresser and hid behind a small waste basket. I turned on the light and quickly made an end of him with the fingers of my right hand. My brother in law was puzzled to see me come downstairs and wash my hands.

Apparently some feel that cockroaches are able to commit suicide. The late Pedro Pietri wrote a poem enitled A SUICIDE NOTE FROM A COCKROACH. I am fairly certain there has been a play written and produced of the same name. I think it is about an immigrant who eventually becomes a cockroach.

Generally I usually do not feel empathy for cockroaches, but today I wonder about their overall intelligence. Why bother someone much bigger than you when they are trying to sleep? Hopefully there is a heaven for cockroaches where they are treated like first class citizens. When googling suicidal cockroaches I got an ad for a pest control company. Can't let the creatures take over.

George Orwell, Social Nudity, and Facebook

"Creepier still are the Orwellian implications which apparently riddle both the origin and the structure of Facebook." (THIS LUDDITE IS A FACEBOOK-PHOBE, Calgary Herald , May 6, 2008, Kevin Brooker

"While I am an advocate for, and a believer in a more public, open, and transparent web, I am concerned at the Orwellian overtones in Facebook." FACEBOOK CHANGES SOCIAL CONTRACT, YET AGAIN, Stowe Boyd, on his website, March 28, 2010

"Zuckerberg decided to open up to the new privacy settings by completely sharing 290 photos of himself and other information, in effect saying to users, 'If I can be socially nude so can you-come on everyone is doing it.'" FACEBOOK'S PRIVACY MOVE VIOLATES CONTRACT WITH USERS, ReadWriteWeb, December 15, 2009, Kayla Hamlin

Kayla included a quote by Jason Calacanis in her article: "Facebook's reckless behavior is . . . simultaneously making users distrust the Internet and bringing the attention of regulators."

I do not plan on joining Facebook anytime soon. Would it not be something like getting the Mark of the Beast spoken of in the book of Revelation? Maybe I will purchase THE PHENOMENON OF THE FACEBOOK STATUS and find out what I am missing.

Facebook exists to please its customers, the advertisers. The rest of us are sheep to be brought to the shearing and the slaughter house.

Slaying the Firstborn Using a Lightsaber?

A couple of Passovers ago someone posted some displeasure at the idea of slaying the firstborn as part of the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage. What could I reply? War is peace?

I once saw an image at my job as floral shop driver/helper in which rain falling on a pile of corrugated cardboard had transferred a newsprint image of what appeared to be the Death Angel standing at the victim's door ready to do the deed of murder with a lightsaber from Star Wars. (Having a fairly severe hearing loss, my ability to enjoy or even grok Star Wars is fairly limited. Too peripheral of an experience, George Lucas' intentions to the contrary.)

Having partially mastered the art of offset printing, I cut the cardboard image out and then photocopied it, adding Exodus 12:12 to the sheet of yellow paper: For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgement: I am the Lord. (King James Version)

Maybe Dennis Kucinich and Walter Conkrite can lead us into the Promised Land. We can hope, can't we? I will leave it to others to draw comparisons between the work of George Lucas and Jewish folklore. I lack the expertise.

Sitting Sideways on a Broom

I dreamed I gave Betsy a fly-through-the-air ride on a broom. Now I am not a witch if you have to ask. It was a first for her and took place after dark at McCallie and Holtclaw in Chattanooga. A little closure for her abrupt death twenty seven days ago. I wonder what it was like for her piloting a Cessna. She seemed to enjoy being a passenger on my broom.

Notes and Seasons

Her luck completely bautumned out in Hot Springs--

No one even to write a suicide note to for.

Next winter summer the carrion birds will have

Written their thank you notes--

Moved on.

Sunset in Maine, Sunrise in Birmingham

This week was a sad week for the gay and lesbian community in Maine. There is some silver lining in the clouds, this time in Birmingham Alabama. Tomorrow Metro Church of God will be hosting the final conference of "Love Won Out," Focus on the Family/Exodus International's Road Show to help gays go straight, something not really recommended by the American Psychiatric Association.

Here is the description of one of the breakout sessions, "Answering Pro-Gay Theology:"
This session takes a look at the growing acceptance of homosexuality in the [get this] evangelical community and offers a clear biblical response to a revisionist theology that says homosexual behavior is not sinful.

Conference goers are encouraged to not seek sexual contacts and must wear wristbands at all times. This is in some contrast to a single parent function Focus on the Family sponsored in 1997 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I was present and was seated where I would have a good chance of meeting a woman who lived right up the road. She had the same name as my dog and was just as shy around strangers as my lovely Leesha was.

Now if I can just unlearn some of my ingrained heterosexual habits. Oh well, I learned them along the way; surely I couldn't have been born straight just as no one was ever born gay.

Just think, pretty soon there will be no James Dobson to kick around. And it is not polite to talk about Ann Coulter's love life. It is probably not polite to remark that she is lanky either.

Single Fifty Six Doubled

Fifty six years ago today my sister Ruth Elaine was born. Country singer Deborah Allen was also born that day. September 30th 1953 was the fifty sixth anniversary of the death of Saint Therese of Lisieux, patron saint of aviators, florists, AIDS victims, also of illness(es) and missions. Ruth died in 1991 of breast cancer, the same disease that claimed the life of Azelie, Saint Therese's mom. Ruth made it clear to me that she was somewhat haunted by the proverb "whoso curses his father and mother his lamp shall be put out." She was the mother of five sons, who spent a good deal of their childhood in the Children of God organization. Her son Jonathan has a current affiliation with that organization, which has had to overcome its own shadowy past of childhood sexual abuse and unlawful child custody.

Truman Capote was born in 1924 on September 30th. James Dean died on September 30th 1955 in an automobile accident. In 1993 a 6.4 earthquake rocked Southern India and claimed approximately 10,000 lives.

Here is a prayer of Saint Therese I like: "I implore Thee dear Jesus to send me humiliation whensoever I try to set myself above others." Amen.

An average pregnancy lasts about nine months. Being the last day of the ninth month of the year, September 30th is a good day to be born.

Metaphor for Rapture

I made a comment at deeptruths dot com that nine eleven could be seen as the fulfillment of the Hebrew prophecy "for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us." I have a brother who turned forty two on nine eleven, so tomorrow he reaches the half century mark. Forty two is interesting if nothing else. Don Kistler said it stood for the second coming of Jesus Christ, citing forty two months from the book of Daniel and the forty two generations in the gospel of Matthew.

There will continue to be metaphors for the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that others besides the late David Brandt Berg consider America to be the Babylon of the Book of Revelation. "Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" intones an ultimate reality for the number forty two.

The half century mark? It could be the year of jubilee is just ending or just beginning. Take your pick.

Carat on a Stick

Eighty three years ago today Rudolph Valentino died. He had brought a single red rose to Ditra Flame when she was deathly sick in the hospital as a child with the request that she return the favor on the anniversary of his death.

Did he give her a carrot on a stick? Maybe so. But surely she experienced some joy as the mysterious lady in black who made annual visits to his crypt.

I guess we can all hope to endear ourselves to at least one person who will remember us after we are gone, either on our birthday, our wedding day, the day we died or some other meaningful date on the calender.

Rest in peace, Rudolph Guglielmi Valentino!

On George Tiller

"He has killed more babies than he has saved," Mr Gietzen said of Mr Roeder. "I don't care how much fan mail he is getting."

(David Barston in "An Abortion Battle to the Death" in today's New York Times.)

Unfortunately The Sanctity of Life is trumped by the sanctity of the family unit and the sanctity of marriage. Acts of passion between married partners should be their business and acts of teenagers need to be looked at as sometimes tragic and reversible by the act of abortion.

I think it is one thing Bill Clinton had right. Abortion should be legal but rare. And adoption should be encouraged.

The Artist as a Young Man

The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.

(James Joyce--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)

Every Fury On Earth

Every fury on earth has been absorbed in time, as art, or as religion, or as authority in one form of another. The deadliest blow the enemy of the soul can strike is to do fury honor. Swift, Blake, Beethoven, Christ, Joyce, Kafka, name me one who has not been thus castrated. Official acceptance is the one unmistakable symptom that salvation is beaten again.

(Let Us Now Praise Famous Men--James Agee)