Topic 209: Praying in Public

Carol:

Say a Little Prayer for Me

Texas Governor Rick Perry filled a Houston stadium with an “apolitical Christian prayer service” on August 6, a “day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our troubled nation” (qtd in NYTimes.com).  Have he and the other elected officials at the event blurred the lines between church and state which is a fundamental component of the United States Constitution? Conservative Christian evangelicals, or fundamentalists, are Governor Perry’s primary constituency. They wield inordinate power because of well-organized political strategies , giving the impression that their religious/political position is representative of the larger American point of view. But, is that true? I guess we will find out now that Mr. Perry has officially declared himself a Republican candidate for the next election.
 

 The conservative Christian movement does  not in fact represent a significant demographic either in the Nation or in the United States Congress.   A recent report by the Pew Research Center shows that  the 112th Congress isn’t all that different from the 111th Congress in terms of stated religious affiliations, nor does Congress vary significantly from the religious make-up of the public that elected their representatives. About half the group is Protestant (mostly Baptists and Methodists), one-quarter is Catholic and the rest a mix of smaller denominations such as Episcopalians, Jews, Presbyterians, Buddhists and Muslims. The only divergent statistic from the general population is the group who profess “no religious affiliation, “ with only 1% of Congress choosing that descriptor as opposed to the American public’s 16% (source: Pew Research Center)
 

That really isn’t very surprising. Having a visible religious identity is good politics, unless you’re a Muslim, of course. Consider the scrutiny President Obama has undergone—is he or isn’t he a Muslim, is he or isn’t he an American citizen, etc.? If there are no atheists in fox holes, there are no atheists or agnostics in politics. And, even the religious affiliation of Americans  seems much more “fluid” than we would expect. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 44% of American adults have switched religious affiliation at some point, whether from one Protestant denomination to another, conversion to another faith, or dropping/picking up religious connections.
 

The numbers of Christians in America have declined with barely 50% of the population identified in 2010 as being Protestant, 26% describing themselves as belonging to Evangelical churches. And the Pew Report notes that not only are Protestants on the decline, but “the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation.”  The group that has seen the most gains in recent years? The unaffiliated group, the largest percentage of which come from people between 18-29 years old.
 

Both religion and politics in America represent more diversity and regionalism than the well-orchestrated campaign speeches and rallies would have us believe. Governor Perry may be part of a religious majority in the South, which has the heaviest concentration of Evangelicals in the country, but  he may have a harder sell for “prayer and politics” in the West, which has the largest percentage of unaffiliates, agnostics and atheist.
 

Praying in public? Can we really say that any call for public prayer organized by a political figure, whatever his or her political or religious affiliation, is apolitical. I remember the slogan from the sixties, “the personal is political,” and what is more personal than our religious beliefs.
Source:
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.  Pew Research Center.
         

Megan:

My good friends Kelly and Chuck have arrived from California and are spending the week in Sedona. So, I'm skipping this topic today to hang out with them.

Topic 206: My Sleeves

Carol:

The Sleeve

 I started planning my daily theme essay in my head yesterday evening, taking mental inventory of the different kinds of sleeves in my wardrobe.  Suddenly, my memory did one of those unpredictable backward somersaults that took me to a name I learned 40 years,  La Manche. The Sleeve.
 

La Manche is the French name for the “arm” of the Atlantic Ocean most of us call the English Channel.  Known for being “country-prideful,” the French would never refer to The Channel as English.   Imagine La Manche as being shaped somewhat like a sleeve, in fact one of those mutton sleeves that women wore in the 19th century. The “buttons” on the wrist of the sleeve are Dover, England and Calais, France. The wristband is the Strait of Dover. The broad end of the sleeve is marked by Penzance at the tip of south-west England and Brest in northern France.
 

The Channel also gave its French name to an area of the Normandy Coast that includes the beautiful Mont St Michel. La Manche is technically a “department,” or civil administrative region. Mont St Michel is an island of sorts where the Couesnon River meets the waters of The Channel. At one time a natural bridge connected Mont St Michel to the main land, revealed at low tide. This little islet is one of numerous islands of varying size “decorating” The Sleeve, including the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands.  

The shorelines on both sides of the Channel have a rich history and strategic importance. But, today they constitute major ports and tourist locales with a combined population of over 3.5 million people (source: “English Channel”).

Le Havre beach

The friendly rivalry shown by Channel swimmers and boaters  goes back to the  1800’s.

No contending hostile shipping meet in the waters of La Manche, as our neighbours term what we call the English Channel. Far more glorious, far more agreeable… are the friendly contests of the friendly fleets of England and France in doings of mutual regard, esteem and friendship. We have indeed laid aside the sword for an olive branch, and long may this be held for the enjoyment, the benefit, and the gratification of the world, our countries and ourselves (“Naval Doings” 427)
 

Evacuation of Dunkirk

Eighty years later, the true test of that “mutual regard, esteem and friendship” came when the Battle of Dunkirk stranded hundreds of thousands of British, French and Belgian troops on the beaches of Normandy. On May 26, 1940 Winston Churchill addressed the House of Commons to garner support for a massive evacuation of the troops. During the ensuing nine days, a flotilla of boats ranging from navy ships to fishing trawls and lifeboats to family pleasure boats evacuated almost 340,00 soldiers across The Channel, including about 140,000 French soldiers (source: “Dunkirk Evacuation ”).
 

Today the quickest way to traverse the Channel is not by ship or boat but by car or train. Since 1993 “The Chunnel,” a 31 mile railway tunnel under the Strait of Dover, has been providing service to increasingly speedy trains. Tourists and business travelers can now journey from London to Paris in 2 hours and 15 minutes (source “Channel Tunnel”).
 

I haven’t crossed La Manche by Chunnel or Channel although I have flown across it several times. Speed may be great, but I prefer my Sleeve a beautiful deep ocean blue.

Sources:
“Channel Tunnel.” Wikipedia.
“Dunkirk Evacuation.” Wikipedia.
“English Channel.” Wikipedia.
Image of Le Havre beach and the Channel. Wikipedia.
“Naval Doings.” Nautical Magazine. Vol 34 1865, p. 427.
   

Megan:

We’ve had some silly topics before but I’m pretty sure this is the worst. Topics that would be better than this one (but still about clothes): My Shoes, My Buttons, My Pockets. I like the last one. I could write a whole essay about what I find in my pockets. Actually I couldn’t. I only ever find used Kleenex and movie tickets. Sometimes a dog treat.

What can I possibly say about my sleeves? Have you ever noticed that in most of the cartoons I am wearing a tank top? That is because in real life, most of my shirts and dresses are sleeveless. This is not due to any sort of bias against sleeves, although I do find that most long sleeve shirts are too long for my short arms. In 100+ degree heat, sleeveless is better than sleeved.

I suppose there is a fashion to sleeves – by which I mean, sleeve design changes with the fashion. I base this entirely on the part of Anne of Green Gables where Anne asked Marilla to make her a dress with puffed sleeves. That book had some influence on me and for probably the only time in my life, I had a preference about sleeves (aside from now, where my preference is none). When my grandmother made my First Communion dress (even though she was not Catholic), at my request she gave the dress puffed sleeves.

First Communion dresses, by the way and in case you didn’t know, look like mini-wedding dresses. They are miniature because they are worn by children, but also they don’t have trains. It is also tradition to wear a veil, or at least it was when I was a kid. I haven’t been a First Communion service since my brother had his (little boys wear suits and ties). I wonder what my grandmother thought about the Catholic ritual. I once asked her what was the difference between her religion, which was Methodist, and mine. She answered, “Methodists don’t worship the Pope.” Oooh, my mother was angry.

Anyway, I was really happy with my dress, and according to my mother, it’s packed away for me. I’m sort of sorry that we were the only Catholics in the family, because it would have been neat for one of my little cousins to wear a dress made by their great-grandmother. For a second just now I had a thought about finding the dress and giving it to one of the girls, but I don’t think that’s a good idea after all. The last time I saw the 3 year old wear her princess dress, she spilled an entire milkshake down the front. Of course, I was 8 when I had my First Communion, so she’s got about 5 years to grow before she’ll fit in it, and maybe that’s plenty of time for her to stop being so clumsy. OR, if I ever get married, she could be the flower girl and wear the dress then. That might be nice. I’ll have to time it pretty carefully though.

Topic 189: On Advising the Almighty

Carol:

Search Me

In the communications business, Google is as “almighty” as it gets.   Our Daily Theme website receives inadvertent visits from people using Google’s “key word” search process.  Most of those random visitors face disappointment when they don’t find out how to avoid paying a traffic ticket in Prescott, about the life cycle of shrews, or how Elizabeth Taylor’s children are handling her death, all of which brought up our website because of matched words or phrases rather than actual content. 
 

Early version of Google server

Popping up on the first page of a Google list is important, especially if you’re a for-profit site or include advertising on your webpage.  According to my daughter the librarian, most people never move beyond the first page of a Google search even though what they really want or need may be way down the list prioritized by the Google search engine itself.  So, designing online marketing sites or advertising materials requires expertise, the advice of computer wizards who come up with the exact page design and word combinations to make optimum impact on Google’s search technology, which is called PageRank (source: Google Fun Facts). 
 

So, who advises the almighty Google? The official advisors of Google are the Board of Directors and Executive Officers of the company which became a public corporation in 2004, in an online sale of stock that made many of Google’s employees instant millionaires. Central to the mission of the company and its leadership are founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who created Google in 1998 when they were Ph.D students at Stanford University.  Current Stanford President John L Hennessey has been a board member since 2004, Princeton University President Shirley Tighman since 2005. 
 

When the company went public, Page and Brin promised investors that they would retain the original philosophy of the company, which includes among its 10 core principles “You can make money without doing evil,” “Democracy on the Web Works” and “Focus on the user and all else will follow” (source: “Our Philosophy”) These are lofty purposes that generally are reflected in Google’s business practices.
 

Google Co-Founder Larry Page

But, what happens when these values conflict with each other? On an issue like censorship, for instance, with the definitely-not-Democratic Republic of China. The original licensing agreement included abiding by Chinese laws that “filtered” (i.e. censored access to) information.  In 2009, for eight days in June clustered around the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, Google blocked all key word searches under “Tiananmen Square” by sending an error message.  Once publicity got out about the censorship practices in China, the company faced international criticism. Somebody must have been advising the almighty Google because its officers decided to automatically send users of the censored Chinese Google site to the uncensored Hong Kong search engine. In negotiations for renewal of Google’s licensing contract, the company agreed to drop the automatic redirecting and require users to click on a link to get to the uncensored sight. (source: “China renews Google License..). 
 

One of the other tenets of Google’s philosophy is “Fast is better than slow.” Although they may be speed demons in the internet business wars, I’m sure they have been advised by their Board of Directors that fast doesn’t always work in the culture wars.
 

Sources
“China renews Google license, ending standoff.” CNNMoney.com 2010.
“Google Fun Facts.”
Image of Google’s First Production Server. Wikipedia. Author: Steve Jurvetson 

Image of Larry Page, Google Founder. Author Marcin Mycielski, European Parliament 

“Our Philosophy. Ten Things We Know to be True.” Google.com
      

Megan:

I’ve offered a lot of advice to God over the years. During the height of my religious devotion, in my early-mid teens, I carried on a near constant internal monologue of unstructured and informal prayer. My journals from that time shifted from Dear Diary to Dear God (– always in letter format. Even now, I write best with a specific audience in mind, and begin many of my entries with Dear…) Anyway, I was taught in school and church that God doesn’t take specific requests, and that I should pray for the strength to accept His will. That seemed pretty specific to me. Usually, I would just let Him know what I wanted, why it made sense that I should get it, and then end with something along the lines of “whatever You think is best.” This is not unlike how I ask things of my parents.

Even though God and I don’t talk like we used to, I’m never short of suggestions in a moment of panic. Generally the requests involve the quick return of Milo after he’d run off chasing a rabbit or the safe landing of an airplane. I realize that it is not really fair to make requests of Someone for whom I do nothing in return, but rational thoughts are hard to come by when you think you’re about to die.

Even though I’m not religious anymore, I still think there is value in that constant internal monologue. Instead of calling it prayer, I think of it as a form of meditation or even positive visualization. A few years ago I read and then watched the film version of Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret. If you are not familiar with it, the concept is basically that positive thinking and visualization can affect the outcome of events and inspire change in one’s life. This is the sort of thing that usually makes me roll my eyes and make sarcastic and cynical jokes. But in a weird mood, I gave it a try and (because I was broke at the time) I visualized money coming to me. Over the next two days, I received several hundred dollars in the mail –a refund after being unknowingly overcharged, as well as money I was owed but had forgotten about. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I was completely freaked out and stopped doing it.

Recently, I’ve started trying positive thinking and visualization again, this time as a way to keep myself motivated in the course of my experiment in healthy living. It feels less corrupt than just sitting around wishing for money (although sometimes I do imagine an anonymous benefactor stepping in to take over the burden currently being shouldered by my not-anonymous parents). I think the reason it feels better this time is I’m visualizing the action as well as the result. After all, God helps those who help themselves.

Topic 187: Laughter as a social asset

Carol:

Did you hear the one about the Priest who….

I really can’t think of any profession that doesn’t require a sense of humor. And that includes religious vocations. I haven’t seen a job description for minister, rabbis or priests, but people skills must be on the list, including not just compassion and patience but a sense of  “Humor In Uniform “

One of my favorite Mary Tyler Moore episodes revolves around inappropriate laughter. Chuckles the Clown, a rarely seen but often gossiped-about character on the show, dies under bizarre circumstances; prompting all kinds of jokes in the newsroom by Mary Richards’ colleagues. The always prim Mary is appalled at their poor taste and lack of respect for the dead. Later, Mary lapses into uncontrollable giggles during the minister’s eulogy at Chuckles’ funeral, then into loud guffaws as the rest of the attendees remain somber, even shocked at her behavior. The minister turns the situation around, encouraging Mary to “Laugh…Laugh for Chuckles,” at which Mary bursts into tears. This episode is ranked by TV Guide as #3 in list of televisions “100 Great Episodes of All Times” (source:  “Chuckes Bites the Dust.”)

A few months ago I went to a funeral for a judge who died in his early sixties after a  battle with brain cancer.  The church was packed with  colleagues, friends and family,  all of whom  admired and loved him as a special person of humanity and faith. Certainly there were tears and mourning, but the judge’s wife, son and large extended family chose to honor him with laughter and whimsy. Every participant in the service, every family member wore black trousers, white dress shirt and a large necktie from the judge’s own infamous collection of outrageous, gaudy, unique ties. Music provided by the folk choir his wife directed, and which he had belonged to for many years, included a recording with his voice.  How many people get to sing at their own funeral? His wife smiled, quipped and encouraged a spirit of gratitude for a life well-lived, if short, and for a dignity that was anything but stuffy.  The laughter followed us to the church basement after the service as we mingled with family over lunch, humor alleviating the awkwardness that often accompanies such social occasions.

In both funerals, the imaginary and the real, the tone of humor was encouraged by the “Pastor in Charge.” When I announce the music at our Saturday church service, I have learned to wait while ‘Father Woz” slips in a joke after the final blessing and before the last hymn. The congregation appreciates his humor, which often involves a story that sets up a pun or corny joke. Father Woz even self-published a collection of his favorite jokes to raise money for charitable projects. But, one of my favorite homilists is a big, tall, wide, loud convert from Wyoming who does a terrific job of poking fun at himself before he slides beautifully  into the gospel message.

I have no doubt that laughter is a social asset, but is it a spiritual one as well? I took me a while to wade through all the websites that popped up when I googled “Is laughter good for the soul?” but I found a website with Bible quotes. Proverbs 17.22 “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

So, in honor of  Father Woz, I’ll end my essay with a joke:

Sources:
 “Chuckles Bites the Dust.” Wikipedia.  

Megan:

Laughter is my only social asset

So, maybe you noticed, maybe you didn’t… but we forgot to write on Friday. Mom had an early morning appointment and I was busy doing very important things that I not going to share because I cannot remember them. I know I walked 3 miles in the morning and then 2 miles that evening, but I remember nothing of the hours between except that at one point, mom looked at me and said, “Hey… we forgot to write our essays.” And I said I was too tired to write (on account of the walking 5 miles) so we left it until today, both of us hoping that the extra days would give us a chance to come up with something funnier to say.

Let’s see… what else happened this weekend? On Saturday, my father and I climbed Thumb Butte with the dogs. It’s not a long or difficult hike unless you are me, and you haven’t climbed that mountain in more than 15 years. So, we went up the shallow side and came down the steep side, and if you’ve ever hiked with a really strong puppy who doesn’t know how to heel, you know there are benefits and draw backs. Bella pulled me up the mountain, but nearly killed me on the way back down. Dad and I switched dogs halfway down, and by the time we got to the bottom, Bella knew how to heel. Afterwards, Dad commented on how different he was treated by the people we passed while he walked Bella instead of Milo. People smiled and talked to him while he had the puppy, but avoided him when he had Milo (probably because Milo looks like a scary dog). I too, have noticed the puppy phenomenon in the past, but on this particular day I was focused on staying upright on legs made of jell-o.

The rest of Saturday was spent running errands, going to see Horrible Bosses (which was hilarious if you like really bad language, which I do) and then dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. I managed to stay vegan with the entrée, but blew it with the sopapilla for dessert. It was probably this lapse that caused me to cut Sunday’s walk short because I had what my nutrition instructor refers to as McDougall’s Revenge (McDougall being the name of the doctor who wrote the book on the particular type of vegan diet we are attempting to follow). 

After I recovered, my father and I went to a Native American Art Show that he got free tickets to in exchange for allowing the exhibitors to park in his building. That was pretty nice except for and handful of white artists who called themselves names like Felicity Honeycomb or Terrence Ladykiller, which I thought might be offensive, but I couldn’t really tell if it was, so I was just uncomfortable. Then I saw a statue I liked and turned into the jackass who says too loudly, “Hey, that would go really well with our living room sofa.”

When I got home, I made a vegan pizza (again, not according to McDougall’s plan, but still so delicious). Mom had some, and she did this thing she does with everything I make, where she tells me how good it is and then she completely changes it. “This is the best pizza I’ve ever hard, “she said, and then added olives and real cheese.  I don’t take it personally, but next time she’s making her own damn pizza.

Finally, I spent the rest of Sunday re-upholstering a chair my mother bought from a neighbor for $5. I streamed Bones from Netflix to watch while I worked on the chair, and the entire project took 8 episodes. I was really enjoying myself and started thinking maybe this could be a new career path for me, restoring old furniture, but when I finished, I couldn’t straighten my back and my fingers were bleeding from repeated pricks by this giant curved needle, and I changed my mind. The chair looks awesome though.

I tried to take a "before" picture, but I forgot to press the button.

Topic 165: On taking thought for the world

Carol:

Throw the Porcupine a Blanket

The film version of Ayn Rand’s 1957 Atlas Shrugged came through town a few weeks
ago. My husband went to see it on a dull day, and apparently the movie was dull, too. I
read the novel when I was in college, so I don’t remember much about its philosophy
other than the concepts of “rational self-interest”and individualism.

The title refers to the mythical Atlas, a powerful titan condemned by Zeus to carry
the heavenly sphere upon his shoulders. Over time, the celestial globe in the myth was
mistaken for the earth, which is why maps are named for Atlas. Rand uses Atlas to
symbolize the heavy “burden” placed on the shoulders of highly creative and productive
individuals by the weaker, parasitic majority. Her earlier work Anthem depicts a future
world in which individuality has been squelched and the pronoun “I” has disappeared
from the vocabulary. The main characters discover a “sacred” word: EGO.

I’m not interested in an “I” versus “we” debate in black and white, that people are
either self-centered egoists looking out for our own interests or service-valued altruists
who place higher value on others than ourselves. I prefer a “yes, but” or a “both/and”
approach.  One of the most frustrating conversations I ever had was with a college
friend who argued that human beings always act out of self-gratification at the most
primal level out of love, hate and fear, indulging in whatever makes them feel good.
What about someone who is self-destructive, I asked, like drug addicts? She replied
that they act out of instant reward to alleviate pain and didn’t know how to delay
gratification. What about people who sacrifice themselves for others, like soldiers
or religious martyrs? She said they act out of values that reward loyalty and self-
sacrifice, outweighing fear of war or death. Not one example I gave could move her
from the position that all people are innately selfish and will act out of ego even though
the action may appear selfless. She was smart, rational, eloquent, and for some reason
I felt sorry for her underneath my frustration.

Years later, I came across Lawrence Kohlberg, who examined moral behavior much
as Piaget looked at cognitive behavior . After analyzing responses of young boys
presented with moral dilemmas, Kohlberg proposed a model beginning with early
stages of action out of obedience to authority or self-interest and evolving to higher
levels of action out of a sense of universal justice greater than the “I.” Harvard
professor Carol Gilligan conducted her own studies, asserting that Kohlberg skewed
his system against values traditionally attributed to women that viewed relationships in
more complex ways than just rights and rules.

An example that sticks in my mind was a dilemma about a porcupine who asked some moles if he could share their cave in winter. He was so prickly that the moles asked him to leave, but he told them they could leave if they weren’t happy. How to resolve it?
A “justice” approach would say the porcupine should leave because the cave belonged
to the moles (some young boys proposing killing the porcupine). A “relationship
approach" would seek compromise rather than justice, wrap the porcupine in a blanket.

What about Atlas? Does his condition constitute a moral dilemma? He has been
sentenced to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders for eternity. Ayn Rand
suggests that with a shrug, he can relieve himself of that burden through “enlightened
self- interest.” Either Atlas continues to carry the load of the world, or he gives it up.
But, there is another option—hey, guys, give Atlas a little help. Maybe we could take
shifts, or a bunch of us hold the world up together.

That’s my thought for the world today.
 

Sources:
“Carol Gilligan.”  

Crain, W.C. “Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development.” Theories of Development. 118-136

Megan:

Thoughts on (the end of) the world

This topic could probably go a few ways: political, environmental, philosophical, apocalyptic… Hey did you hear the Rapture is coming up this weekend? According to the Internet (www.wecanknow.com), this Saturday, God will call His followers bodily into heaven, and then sometime in October the world is going to end completely.

 In high school, I saw a bumper sticker that said “WARNING: In case of Rapture this car will be unmanned.” The hubris of that driver made me furious. I wanted to ram her with my car. More recently,  I was checking a church website for directions so I could attend a wedding and noticed a note at the bottom of the page.  It said that visitors should not be alarmed if they find that the church empty because that just means that God has returned for his people. Maybe it was because I was older, but that didn’t bother me the same way the bumper sticker had. I respected the couple who were getting married enough to pause for a moment and wonder if they knew something I didn’t.

A few years ago, I spent an entire summer reading the Left Behind books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins– a 16 book religious fiction series about the End of Days. It was a compelling if not particularly well-written story following the post-Rapture events and conversion of a group of people who had been Left Behind. I checked in with the website to confirm the spelling of the authors’ names, and there is a notice advising readers that May 21st is not the correct date of the Rapture, citing the book of Matthew that no one will know the actual time.

I know people who believe that the world will end in 2012. I also know people who think it will just mark a change or leap in our evolution – that there will be some sort of paradigm shift. That’s pretty vague, but I can wrap my head around it. Sometimes I have day dreams about how the world will end or change, about technology failing or rebelling, about having to live off the land. Or maybe it will be contact with aliens, or a supernova. Or zombies. There are just too many possibilities to be scared all the time.

I have a friend who worries about the apocalypse. She worries about her daughter, and hopes it doesn’t happen until the baby is old enough to run and hide and keep quiet. My friend’s fear is too genuine to laugh at – no one wants children to be hurt.  I went and saw An Inconvenient Truth with my cousin, when her son was only a few months old. I told her that movie made me not want to have children and I could tell it had shaken her as well. 

Every time I don’t get a job, I console myself that this just means I’ll have more time to spend with my family before the world ends. My passport expires next summer, and maybe that’s another reason I moved back from England. If it hits the fan, I didn’t want to be 6,000 miles away.  Now I worry about Bella. I wonder if she will survive a natural or manmade disaster, if she will be my loyal companion or a desperate last meal.

Topic 143: Earth Bound

Carol:

Star Gazing

My favorite scenes of Huckleberry Finn are those where Huck and Jim left the high adventures of land for the river and the raft.  They hid on shore during daylight  while steamboats and smaller vessels carried passengers and freight along the Mississippi between the North and the South.
 

When dark began to fall and the river traffic subsided, Huck and Jim would set out again on their water journey. As midnight approached and the world nodded off to sleep, Jim and Huck relaxed their vigilance, looked upward at the infinity of stars, and began to philosophize:

We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened- Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many. (Ch. 19)

As the two runaways allowed the raft to drift quietly in the current, they must have come as close as one can get, while still earth-bound, to the sensation of floating through space.
 

This scene captures a moment when we look up at the night sky, wonder at the immensity of it all, and consider our tiny part in the pattern of the universe. Such moments often lead to “what if” discussions—what if there is life on those stars, what if they are looking back at us, what if we could travel to the back side of the moon?
 

The great astronomers of the Renaissance, Kepler and Copernicus, must have looked up to the skies in wonder long before they shifted from the philosophy of  “what if” to the science of “what, when and how.” Even before Galileo’s telescope brought the stars closer to earth, people were imagining what it would be like to leave behind the boundaries of earth and fly up to the heavens. In the early 17th century, probably around 1600, an English bishop named Francis Godwin wrote the earliest science fiction book in English, The Man in the Moone, published under the name “Domingo Gonsales.” (source: Wikipedia).
 

About two hundred years later, a young Jules Verne spent summers with his family in a house by the Loire River.  He would later attribute those idyllic summers to awakening in his imagination dreams of voyages to inner and outer worlds. Did he too lie awake at night, gazing up at the starry sky and write stories in his head, the seeds of 54 novels, including From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Around the Moon (1870) and Off on a Comet (1877)?
 

What about Mark Twain?  The man who liked to tell the world he was born in the year of Halley’s Comet made fun of his older brother Orion Clemens for reading the fantastical works of Verne.  Did Samuel Clemens lie awake on the river, gazing up at the stars and imagining far-away worlds and drifting silently  in space?
 

The science and imagination of the 20th century finally made space travel a reality, and the first men to walk on the moon were probably childhood star-gazers themselves. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong shared the reflections of his crew on their moon walk by beginning with a reference to Jules Verne.  Their historic mission completed, the men of Apollo 11 boarded their space raft and lay back in wonder as, earth bound, they saw above them the water-blue planet Earth hanging in the sky.  

From the Moon to the Earth

 

Sources: 
The Man in the Moone. Wikipedia. 

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  1885.              

Verne, Jules. Wikipedia.

Megan:

Bound to the Earth

Yesterday, I went to a presentation at the Prescott Public Library by Carolyn O’Bagy Davis, about her book Hopi Summer: Letters from Ethel to Maud, which is this year’s selection for the OneBookAZ project (every year in April, Arizonans are encouraged to read the same book and then talk about it with each other).  

The book is about a Depression-era Massachusetts family who took a 9-month road trip around the country.  In the course of their travels, they spent some time at Hopiland , which sparked a lengthy correspondence between the matriarch of the family and a Hopi potter. It is a true story and the author uses excerpts from a journal and photographs taken on the trip, as well as the letters themselves.  The book, which I have not yet finished, isn’t particularly uplifting, but it’s clear that both the author and her subject share a deep fascination with the Hopi culture.

In the book, Ms. Davis details some of the ceremonies and rituals undertaken by the traditional Hopi to appease the spirits, in particular the sacrifice of an Eagle who they believed acted as a messenger to the spirit world. The eagle would report that the Hopi were living in the proper way, and then the spirits would send rain for their crops. Ms. Davis assured the audience that although tourism and modern technology have altered much about the daily lives of the Hopi, there are still many who adhere to the traditional ways.

Ms. Davis’s presentation made me think about how a dependence on the earth and the weather for survival once led to polytheistic worship of these elements. I wonder if the shift to monotheistic religions which worship a deity “not of this world” has aided the divorce of  people from the land. It used to be that one appeased the gods by showing respect to the earth. I know there are people within the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths who consider stewardship of the Earth part of their responsibility to their god, but for the most part modern religion emphasize that life on earth is a temporary test of an individual, rather than a cyclical rhythm of a collective.

Setting aside religion, science and technology have also created a rift between humanity and the land. Now that we understand the science behind farming and cultivation, it seems that our humility and respect for the earth has been stripped away along with the mystery.

I’m really only musing about this idea and I’m not offering any real solutions. Sometimes I feel like it is too late – we (in the US, at least) are too accustomed to our artificial comforts to be able to return to the earth. And then I see evidence all around me, within my own family, of proof to the contrary. I’m no farmer, but maybe I could be.

Yesterday, when I was too busy to write, I asked Mom if we could delay because I was intrigued by the topic – mostly because it seemed ambiguous. Earth can mean the planet we live on, or the soil below our feet. Bound can mean tied or destined.  But after thinking about the Hopi and the “old ways”, I realize there is no difference between the planet we live on and the soil below, and bound, tied and destined all mean the same thing – inescapable dependence.

Topic 132: By-Products of Church Attendance

Carol:

Church: Not Just Good for the Soul     

  

I’m not   going to write about the obvious reasons people attend church (saving one’s soul, receiving spiritual nourishment, obedience to church rules, fellowship, etc.). And I’m not even going to write about the not-so-obvious reasons because somebody has already written a book on that. It’s called 52 (Good) Reasons to go to Church) Besides the Obvious Ones, a 2004 publication of  ACTA.
 

ACTA is a “religious” publishing house, that is you won’t find 52 Ways to Leave Your Lover on its catalogue list. You will find materials for “those attempting to live out the Christian faith in their daily lives, on their jobs, with their families, and in their communities” (source: ACTA website). Although there is a heavy emphasis on Catholic publications, ACTA has branched out to attract a more ecumenical audience . You may be wondering why I appear to be plugging ACTA and its book. I guess I’m interested for the one of the same reasons I like to go to church—curiosity about who people are, how they got there.

Okay, so I was hoping for a quick way out today…my overnight company left at 7 a.m. and my niece is dropping off a 3-year old kidlet for me to babysit in half an hour. My time is a little short today. What happened on the way to looking for a quick out? My usual curiosity that leads to quirky research trails.I got to the website because I googled our topic. The publisher’s blurb  describes 52 (Good)Reasons to go to Church as a “fun” book with “scientifically corroborated” benefits for attending church regularly. 
 

I couldn’t  read the book without ordering it. The price is right ($5.95) and it sounds interesting, but it didn’t meet the “I need it right now” part. I decided to find out more about the authors, of which there are four: Paul McFate, J. Daniel Dymski, Melvin L. Farrell, and Alaric Lewis. Clicking on the authors’ names gets a brief biography, which really hooked me. Alaric Lewis has published several books and seems to focus on grief counseling and music therapy. His bio says he lives and teaches in Rome. Not to give them short shrift, but Dymski is Father Daniel (diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania) and Farrell appears to be Father Melvin, both of whom have published books on the Catholic faith.  I imagine a “fun little book” about going to church is a light respite from their usual writing interests.
 

What about Paul McFate? If you want to know more about him, you can look at his Facebook page, or his Linkedin page, or subscribe to his Twitter, or you can visit his blog  “As McFate Would Have it.” This guy is a 21st century communicator. And his bio shows why. He is a communications specialist for the Latter Day Saints Foundation   in Provo, Utah.  Sounds like he provides the “ecumenical” breadth that ACTA refers to. A brief “nibble” at his website shows, for example, a breezy, funny side to having a root canal and just enough self-deprecation to make me consider buying their book.

In the meantime, what can I find out on my own about “scientific corroboration” before my babysitting duties commence? Regular church attendance (sorry, you Easter and Christmas drop-ins):
•    Reduces blood pressure (source: Gillum and Ingram)
•    Increases longevity (source: NPR)
•    Raises GPA of your children (source: Britt )
Well, I hear a sweet little voice downstairs and I need to finish this essay so that I can join the fun.  I don’t need to tell you about the by-products of hanging out with small children, do I?


Sources:
ACTA homepage. About Us.

Britt, Robert Roy. “Church Attendance Boosts Student GPA’s.” 2008 Livescience.com 

Gillum, R. Frank, and Deborah D. Ingram. “Frequency of Attendance at Religious Services…” 2006

McFate et al. 52 (Good) Reasons to Go to Church.
Paul McFate blog, “As McFate Would Have It” 

NPR. “Study Links Church Attendance and Longevity.” 12 July 2004)
        

Megan:

Although Mom was telling the truth when she said that SHE volunteered to babysit , I am still going to use the child as MY excuse not to write today.