Jason has not seen his sister since he was two. She is still in Korea. Please visit his post and share on your blogs and other social media to see if we can help get the message to her.
Blog – Top of JC’s Mind
disaster preparedness and the radio
Four years ago, my hometown was among those affected by record flooding caused by the remnants of tropical storm Lee adding ten inches of rain to ground already saturated by Irene a few days prior. We were grateful that no one in our area was killed by the flood, largely due to the fact that people followed evacuation orders. However, there was a lot of damage with some homes and businesses lost permanently.
Since then, emergency preparedness has gotten more attention from government and the media, especially in September which is designated as disaster preparedness month.
One of the most important things to maintain during a crisis is effective communication. This is an area, though, where sometimes lower tech is more vital than high-tech.
Although our home did not flood, we were without electrical service for four days, which also meant no telephone or internet service. We would listen to the radio for information and it was very frustrating to get only very limited information on-air with the directive to go to their website for complete information. Those of us who most needed that information did not have internet available. I can hear some people saying that we should just use our cell phones, but a) the majority of people in our area don’t have cell phones with internet access, b) with no electricity, it’s difficult to keep cell phones charged, and c) during emergencies, cell networks often fail due to increased traffic.
Battery-operated, hand-cranked, or car radios are a better tool than the internet for reaching people who are affected by floods, ice storms, and other emergencies that result in loss of electrical service. Disaster preparedness plans should reflect this.
Share this:
One-Liner Wednesday: theory and practice
“In theory, there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is.”
– Attributed to Yogi Berra, but probably not by him
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/berra/practicetheory.asp#CHAyqP6utPsWQgoM.99
This quote is part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays. Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/09/09/one-liner-wednesday-the-first-lesson-in-relationships/comment-page-1/#comment-58719
Share this:
Labor Day
Today, the United States and a number of other countries celebrate Labor Day. Most of the media say that it is a day to celebrate workers, which it is, but this masks the actual history of the observance which grew out of the organized labor movement.
Organized labor, such as unions, in the US has fallen on hard times, with the lowest percentage of workers represented by a union in decades.
Many Republican politicians are especially hostile to organized labor. The most infamous example among the current crop of presidential nomination contenders is Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who spearheaded and signed legislation limiting collective bargaining rights for public sector unions and now touts it on the campaign trail.
On the other end of the spectrum is independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is pursuing the nomination of the Democratic party. Bernie is actually a democratic socialist and a big backer of labor rights. He recently joined a picket line in Iowa, something he has done many times during his career in public office, going all the way back to when he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont in the 1980s.
To honor Labor Day today, I wore my Bernie Sanders for President T-shirt. His campaign has made remarkable progress and, even if he is not an eventual nominee, he has done a lot to move the conversation in the country toward issues that matter in the lives of the everyday folks, not just corporations and political insiders who usually command all the attention.
Share this:
Morning hymn
On my way to 7:30 mass this morning, I was listening to public radio. Early Sunday morning is reserved for organ and church music.
The drive is not terribly long but I did hear one piece in its entirety, an organ/choral setting of the hymn, “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty!” [Tune: Nicaea], which was one of the first hymns I ever sang as a young child after Vatican II. The organist was Gerre Hancock and the recording was from late in his career when he was in Texas.
When I was an undergrad at Smith, I had a friend who was pursuing his Master’s in Sacred Music from Yale and who studied organ with Gerre Hancock. It was a great privilege to attend one of my friend’s lessons, held at St. Thomas Episcopal in New York City, and a rehearsal of the choristers there. St. Thomas was the place where he spent most of his career and established himself as one of the finest organists and choir directors of his generation.
Mr. Hancock, while prodigiously talented as a musician and teacher, was a kind, generous, and polite gentleman. I remember that he addressed me as Miss Corey, which was a surprise to me as a college student coming, as it did, from the one of the best church musicians in the country.
The recording I heard this morning was magnificent. It opened with an extended organ introduction and included an artful modulatory interlude. (The modulation reminded me of talking with my daughter T last weekend, who recalled her favorite description of modulation, as voiced by someone at our church, as “that thing you do on the organ and then everybody sings louder.”) While I know that Mr. Hancock was fully capable of improvising these, I expect that for the purposes of making a recording, he had actually composed them in advance.
When mass began this morning, our entrance hymn was “Holy! Holy! Holy!”
Share this:
Share a Post with OM
OM has a thread open for bloggers to promote themselves, their book, their project, etc. Come one, come all!
Share this:
SoCS: “Between the Dark and the Daylight”
One of my volunteer gigs is facilitating for a spirituality study group at my church. We meet on Wednesday mornings to read and discuss a book on a spiritual topic. After a summer break, we met for the first time this part week to begin reading Between the Dark and the Daylight by Joan Chittister.
The subtitle of the the book is Embracing the Contradictions of Life. We all feel that we need help with this!
Sister Joan begins by explaining that life is full of paradoxes and then illustrates the point through a series of relatively short chapters, with titles like “The Poverty of Plenty” and “The Sanity of Irrationality” and “The Certitude of Doubt”. Not that I have read the whole book yet. I like to keep a bit ahead of the group so that I am prepared to lead discussion, but I don’t like to be so far ahead that I am throwing in concepts from later chapters before we get to them.
It is a bit odd that I am facilitating the group because I am its junior member. OK – in most contexts I am not considered a “junior” but, at 54, I am the youngest. Many of the women – and we are all women, even though, theoretically, a man could choose to attend – have children in my age cohort.
I wound up doing it because the IHM sister who began the group decades ago needed to move on to some other duties and asked me to take it on. Do you know how difficult it is to say no to a sister when she asks you to do something for the parish? So I said yes, even though I didn’t feel qualified. Part of what makes it work is that I facilitate discussion rather than try to teach. The wisdom of the authors of the books we read plus the wisdom of the group carries us through.
It’s enlightening.
*****
This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. The prompt this week was “light.” Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2015/09/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-515/
Share this:
August Garden 八月的花園
I love flower photos and this blog is an extravaganza! Enjoy!
August Garden 八月的花園
Cheddar Pink (Dianthus ‘Firewitch’) 多年生石竹
Mina lobata (Ipomea lobata) 金魚花/魚花蔦蘿
Double Annual Poppy (Papaver somniferum ‘Black Beauty’) 黑美人重瓣虞美人
Canna Lily (Canna indica )美人蕉
Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica) 含羞草
Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) 大波斯菊
Red Double Blanket Flower (Gaillardia ‘Red Plume’) 大紅重瓣球型天人菊
Tricolor Viola(Viola tricolor) 堇菜
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia fulgens ‘Elmfeuer’) 紅花山梗菜
Bulbous Bergonia (Bergonia) 球根海棠
Bachelor’s Button (Centaurea Montana) 多年生矢車菊
Godetia Azalea Flowered Mixed (Clarkia amoena) 古代稀
Firecracker Flower (Crossandra infundibuliformis) 鳥尾花
American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) 花旗蔘
Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum) 韭菜
Hall’s Honeysuckle(Lonicera japonica)忍冬或叫金銀花
Clematis (Clematis) 鐵線蓮
Clematis ‘Sweet Autumn’ (Clematis ‘Sweet Autumn’) 甜秋鐵線蓮
Anise-hyssop (Agastache rugosa)藿香
Calla Lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica) 海芋
European Bellflower(Campanula rapunculoides) 歐洲風鈴草
Blue-eyed grasses (Sisyrinchium bermudianum)庭菖蒲
Tree mallow (Lavatera) 錦葵
Double Balloon Flower (Platycodon grandiflorus double blue selection) 重瓣桔梗
Self-heal（Prunella grandiflora ‘Freelander’）大花夏枯草
Honeysuckle Fuchsia (Fuchsia ‘Koralle’) 鞭炮吊鐘花
Common Soapwort/Bouncing Bet (Saponaria officinalis) 高性肥皂花/石鹼草
Double Lily (Lilium) 重瓣百合
Obedient Plants (Physostegia virginiana) 隨意草
Carpathian…
View original post 192 more words
Share this:
public vs private
Given that I am on a breaking news theme today, I am re-blogging my post about US marriage rights and separation of church and state. The clerk I allude to in this post has just been jailed for continuing to fail to provide marriage licenses to legally eligible couples, despite being ordered to do so by the federal courts.
I heard a radio story today about a Kentucky county clerk who is in court for failing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing a religious exemption because her personal religious belief is that same-sex marriage is prohibited.
Her belief is protected by the US Constitution. The recent Supreme Court decision made abundantly clear that no religion or religious officiants would ever be required to preside over a wedding which violated their religious beliefs.
However, in the public sphere, marriage between two consenting adults, regardless of gender, is legal. So, in dealing with the public, the law is the determining factor. The religious belief of a clerk, justice of the peace, or judge should not be allowed to interfere with a lawful action by a member of the public. If it does, it violates the establishment clause which says that the state is not allowed to establish an official…
View original post 177 more words
Share this:
Olive’s Vision of God | National Catholic Reporter
Source: Olive’s Vision of God | National Catholic Reporter
I loved this article about Olive and images of God. I’ve been dealing with issues of gendered language in the church for decades and caught flack for setting a text in which God, portrayed as Wisdom, is feminine, even though the text was biblical.
Here, wisdom comes from the mouths – and crayons – of babes.
Joanne Corey 