Katie Will Say Goodbye….

One of my all time favorite television personalities will be bidding farewell this Wednesday morning…

It’s time for Katie Couric to prepare for the day after Today.

During Wednesday’s show, Couric will say goodbye to Matt, Al, Ann and NBC’s morning audience for the last time. Then she’ll pack up her coffee mug and her smile for the long haul from Rockefeller Center over to West 57th Street, where she will become lead anchor of the CBS Evening News starting Sept. 5.

Everyone from Colin Powell and Bill Clinton to George Clooney and the American Idol crew have taped farewells for Couric (all available to watch on the Today show’s Website), and her last show tomorrow is sure to be chockablock with favorite memories, celeb-studded clips and tearful goodbyes. On a three-hour talkfest where you can be whipping up dessert with the Naked Chef one minute and then discussing allegations of torture at Guantanamo Bay the next, the variety of Couric’s greatest moments is sure to impress.

Couric’s favorite segment, as told to the Washington Post: Barbara Bush was giving her a tour of the White House when President George H.W. Bush walked in, and Couric turned her house tour into a live interview with the Commander in Chief.

After spending 15 years on the top-rated Today, her decision to leave couldn’t have been easy.

“It was an evolution, really,” Couric told the Los Angeles Times recently. “I always would say, ‘Would it kill me if somebody else was doing this instead of me?’ And when my contracts came up, I always thought, ‘I’m just not ready.’ But this last time I was? I do have mixed emotions because I’m going to miss everyone I work with so much. But no matter what happens, I feel really confident that I’ve made the right decision.”

Couric, 49, will be the first woman to officially head up a network evening newscast on her own and, at $15 million a year, will be the highest paid network anchor out there–of any gender.

Since she announced her decision in April, the buzz surrounding Couric’s departure has been on full blast. Everything from the newswoman’s liberal political leanings (“too much like Dan Rather”) to her cheery disposition (“she’s too perky”) has become fodder for critics who either believe that she can’t handle hard news or that her name alone won’t be enough to pull the CBS Evening News out of its perennial third-place position behind the NBC Nightly News and ABC World News Tonight.

But although naysayers have voiced concern over her ability to fill the chair once sat in by Rather and Walter Cronkite, the veteran anchorwoman has said that the trip from a.m. to p.m. will not be too much of a character stretch for her.

“I’ve always been a serious person, actually,” Couric told the Times. “I think it’s sort of a lemming-like reaction and not very informed, because I think if anybody watches the show, they’ll know we do plenty of serious things? To suggest you can’t have fun and you can’t talk about fashion and enjoy it and then do a serious story on welfare reform is just limited in your thinking.”

“I read things with a much more jaundiced eye than I used to because I, from personal experience, have been made aware of the panoply of inaccuracies that go unchecked and unchallenged every day.”

So there, Andy Rooney.

Couric joined Today in 1990 as a national correspondent and began co-anchoring the show (billed as “Katherine Couric”) alongside Bryant Gumbel in 1991 when she was 34. And, as she told the Times, she had no problem telling the news division that she wanted to cover just as many important stories as Gumbel did.

“Can you imagine?” she said. “The gall I had. I’m sure they were probably like, ‘Who is this person? Where does she come from?'”

That stiff upper lip served her unbelievably well when, in 1998, her husband Jay Monahan died of colon cancer. Couric became an advocate for cancer prevention and early detection, going so far as to have her own colonoscopy televised in 2000.

She has credited both her daughters, Elinor and Caroline, and her Today family, whose primary members are Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Ann Curry, with helping her through the hardest of times.

“When you wake up and you feel good and your children and people you love are healthy and you’re in a good situation in terms of a job and being able to care for your family, I think that a little gratitude is called for,” she told USA Today. “You sometimes forget how lucky you are.”

“She filled this role as well as anyone has ever filled this role,” Lauer told the Post. “This job requires a very versatile performer, a little bit like a variety show.”

The View’s Meredith Vieira will become Lauer’s sidekick in September. In turn, Rosie O’Donnell will fill Vieira’s empty seat over at ABC. Lauer signed a five-year, $13 million a year contract shortly after Couric announced she was leaving.

Brainstorming will be the name of the game for Couric this summer, as she starts lining up stories for CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes in July and will be attending production meetings from here on out.

“I’m not going to change who I am or how I relate to people or how I tell stories,” she told the Times. “Because I do some of the lighter stuff and have a sense of humor at times doesn’t mean that I?m not a really serious person, when necessary. So I think it will be a combination of everything that hopefully I have to offer.”

“If CBS had wanted a very classic, standard, straight-up newscast, they might not have come to me,” Couric told Newsday. “But if they want to play with [the format] or slightly retool or maybe slightly re-energize it, then I think I will bring who I am to that venue.”

Protecting The Flow

To understand how fear blocks creativity, take a moment to imagine yourself telling a story. First, imagine telling the story to someone you love and who loves you. You probably feel warmth and energy as you fill in the details of your tale to your friend’s delight. Now, imagine telling the same story to someone who, for whatever reason, makes you uncomfortable. The wonderful twists and turns, the fine points and colorful images that unfolded in your mind for your friend probably won’t present themselves. Instead of warmth, energy, and creativity, you will probably feel opposite sensations and a desire to close down. When we feel unsafe, whether we fear being judged, disliked, or misunderstood, our creative flow stops. Alternately, when we feel safe, our creativity unfolds like a beautiful flower, without conscious effort.

Knowing this, we can maximize our creative potential by creating the conditions that inspire our creativity. In order to really be in the flow, we need to feel safe and unrestricted. However, achieving this is not as simple as avoiding people who make us feel uncomfortable. Sometimes we can be alone in a room and still feel totally blocked. When this happens, we know we have come up against elements in our own psyches that are making us feel fearful. Perhaps we are afraid that in expressing ourselves we will discover something we don’t want to know, or unleash emotions or ideas that we don’t want to be responsible for. Or maybe we’re afraid we’ll fail to produce something worthy.

When you’re up against fear, internal or external, ritual can be a powerful-and creative-antidote. Before you sit down to be creative, try casting a circle of protection around yourself. Visualize yourself inside a ring of light, protective fire, or angels. Imagine that this protective energy emanates unconditional love for you and wants to hear, see, and feel everything you have to express. Take a moment to bathe in the warmth of this feeling and then fearlessly surrender yourself to the power that flows through you.

Good Bye, Seniors… Part II

Sadly, many of the students with whom I have worked many years, will be graduating this June. This week is my farewell lesson with quite a few and it is very difficult. I will miss these students, and wish them the very best. Most importantly, I am so grateful for having had the opporunity to work with such outstanding individuals who have touched my life greatly.

Good Bye, Seniors… Part I

Sadly, many of the students with whom I have worked many years, will be graduating this June. This week is my farewell lesson with quite a few and it is very difficult. I will miss these students, and wish them the very best. Most importantly, I am so grateful for having had the opporunity to work with such outstanding individuals who have touched my life greatly.

Good Bye, Seniors… Part III

Sadly, many of the students with whom I have worked many years, will be graduating this June. This week is my farewell lesson with quite a few and it is very difficult. I will miss these students, and wish them the very best. Most importantly, I am so grateful for having had the opporunity to work with such outstanding individuals who have touched my life greatly.

Thoughts Of Concern

If prayer is an intention that we announce to the universe in order to create a desired outcome, then our every thought is a prayer. This includes thoughts of worry as well as of hope. All thoughts are subtle creative energy. Some thoughts are more focused or repeated more often, gathering strength. Some are written down or spoken, giving them even greater power. Every thought we have is part of a process whereby we cocreate our experience and our reality with the universe. When we use our creative energy unconsciously, we create what is commonly known as self-fulfilling prophecy. In essence, when we worry, we are repeatedly praying and lending our energy to the creation of something we don’t want.

The good news is that we can retrain our minds and thoughts to focus our energy on what we do desire to bring into our lives. Since most worry is repetitive, it will take more than one positive thought to counteract the energy we’ve created. The simplest antidote to worry is affirmations. When we hold these positive thoughts, repeat them often, speak them and write them and refer to them throughout our day, we are using focused energy to create positive results.

We can start right away, together: I am a creative being, using my energy to cocreate a wonderful world. I know that I create my experience of life from within, and as I do so, I also create ripples of energy around me that echo into the world. My positive thoughts gather together with the thoughts and prayers of others, and together we create enough positive energy to heal not only our own lives but the world we share. I am grateful for the ability to cocreate good in my life and in the world.

A lot of times we have concerned loved ones that worry about us. When this happens they are also sending out a worry prayer to the world. A loving conversation letting them know what is happening is the easiest solution. Also, ask them to send you positive affirmations rather than worry about you. After all, worry doesn’t do them any good either. Explain to them that worry can actually be energetically harmful to you and that wishing good things for you is much more beneficial and much more fun too.

Man Falls Asleep In Coffin

CANTON, N.Y. – A man was charged with burglary and criminal mischief Thursday after he allegedly broke into a funeral home and fell asleep in a coffin.

ADVERTISEMENT

Joel Fish, 20, of Queensbury, was arrested after he was discovered at the O’Leary Funeral Home in Canton, 127 miles north of Syracuse.

Debra White, wife of the home’s funeral director Joe White, said she noticed a broken window and open door to the casket display room when she awoke at 6:30 a.m. Inside, she saw a boot and pair of pants on the floor and a pair of knees sticking out of a stainless steel coffin.

Fish, who police said was intoxicated, was treated at Canton-Potsdam hospital for cuts. He was arraigned and released to return to court at a later date.

The funeral home estimates the damage from the burglary, mostly to the coffin, at $4,000.

Choral Weekend

This weekend was the choral extravaganza at the high school.

Friday was the curricular choirs: Treble Choir, Concert Choir and Symphonic Chorale.

Saturday, May 20th, was the Fairmont Entertainment Company featuring the show choirs – Illusion and Mirage; the two award winning vocal jazz ensembles – Eleventh Hour and Fusion; and selected solos – featuring several of my students.

Sunday, May 21st was the awards ceremony for the choral department.

For more photos, please go to: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/my_photos

Increasing the Light

Everything in the universe is made of energy. What differentiates one form of energy from another is the speed at which it vibrates. For example, light vibrates at a very high frequency, and something like a rock vibrates at a lower frequency but a frequency nonetheless. Human beings also vibrate at different frequencies. Our thoughts and feelings can determine the frequency at which we vibrate, and our vibration goes out into the world and attracts to us energy moving at a similar frequency. This is one of the ways that we create our own reality, which is why we can cause a positive shift in our lives by raising our vibration.

We all know someone we think of as vibrant. Vibrant literally means “vibrating very rapidly.” The people who strike us as vibrant are vibrating at a high frequency, and they can inspire us as we work to raise our vibration. On the other hand, we all know people that are very negative or cynical. These people are vibrating at a lower frequency. They can also be an inspiration because they can show us where we don’t want to be vibrating and why. To discover where you are in terms of vibrancy, consider where you fall on a scale between the most pessimistic person you know and the most vibrant. This is not in order to pass judgment, but rather it is important to know where you are as you begin working to raise your frequency so that you can notice and appreciate your progress.

There are many ways to raise your vibration, from working with affirmations to visualizing enlightened entities during meditation. One of the most practical ways to raise your vibration is to consciously choose where you focus your attention. To understand how powerful this is, take five minutes to describe something you love unreservedly-a person, a movie, an experience. When your five minutes are up, you will noticeably feel more positive and even lighter. If you want to keep raising your vibration, you might want to commit to spending five minutes every day focusing on the good in your life. As you do this, you will train yourself to be more awake and alive. Over time, you will experience a permanent shift in your vibrancy.

Increasing the Light

Everything in the universe is made of energy. What differentiates one form of energy from another is the speed at which it vibrates. For example, light vibrates at a very high frequency, and something like a rock vibrates at a lower frequency but a frequency nonetheless. Human beings also vibrate at different frequencies. Our thoughts and feelings can determine the frequency at which we vibrate, and our vibration goes out into the world and attracts to us energy moving at a similar frequency. This is one of the ways that we create our own reality, which is why we can cause a positive shift in our lives by raising our vibration.

We all know someone we think of as vibrant. Vibrant literally means “vibrating very rapidly.” The people who strike us as vibrant are vibrating at a high frequency, and they can inspire us as we work to raise our vibration. On the other hand, we all know people that are very negative or cynical. These people are vibrating at a lower frequency. They can also be an inspiration because they can show us where we don’t want to be vibrating and why. To discover where you are in terms of vibrancy, consider where you fall on a scale between the most pessimistic person you know and the most vibrant. This is not in order to pass judgment, but rather it is important to know where you are as you begin working to raise your frequency so that you can notice and appreciate your progress.

There are many ways to raise your vibration, from working with affirmations to visualizing enlightened entities during meditation. One of the most practical ways to raise your vibration is to consciously choose where you focus your attention. To understand how powerful this is, take five minutes to describe something you love unreservedly-a person, a movie, an experience. When your five minutes are up, you will noticeably feel more positive and even lighter. If you want to keep raising your vibration, you might want to commit to spending five minutes every day focusing on the good in your life. As you do this, you will train yourself to be more awake and alive. Over time, you will experience a permanent shift in your vibrancy.

WILL & GRACE comes to an end

I can remember eagerly awaiting the premiere of the new sitcom, Will & Grace. I liked the show right off, but Jack and Karen were my least favorite characters. I figured they would be written out before long as they did not seem to fit to me. Karen seemed to serve no major purpose, and Jack was far too flamboyant for my taste.

Before long, Karen was my favorite. Grace, played by Debra Messing, also became a favorite as she reminded me so much of Lucille Ball – especially with her success in physical comedy. But Karen! Megan Mullaly, whom I had seen on Broadway in Grease and How To Succeed In Business Without Even Trying, had a slight character adjustment from the semi-practical rich lady to the alcohol/drug abusing hit. I had several friends from college say, “You know, your sense of humor is so much like Karen Walker’s on Will & Grace.” I do not think myself as rude as Karen, but perhaps the wit. My friend, Debbie and I always called ourselves Karen and Jack – however, I was probably more like Will, as Jack has always been way over the top.

I will certainly miss the laughs, but thanks to my sister, I have several seasons on DVD! And at 11:00am on the WB station, the reruns continue each week day morning!

Reviews form WILL & GRACES’s final episode

Where there’s a Will, there’s a Grace. Until Thursday night, anyway, when their platonic love affair comes to an end.

The award-winning NBC sitcom Will & Grace is throwing itself a two-hour going-away party this week after eight seasons of gaiety, which, while not always groundbreaking, were always loaded with racy double entendres and sharp zingers.

While the series was lauded by GLAAD and publications like The Advocate for prominently featuring not just one, but two, out-and-proud main characters and accurately representing the gay community, Will & Grace mainly stuck to the formula–make ’em laugh.

Because it was a comedy–a pretty raunchy one at that, and it got even more so as the years went by–the show didn’t tackle too many polarizing issues besides ones that apparently are socially acceptable to make jokes about, such as infidelity, single motherhood and death.

But it did also address gay parenting, homophobia and what it’s like to be a member of a minority (if you’ve got oodles of money or rich friends) and in doing that became a groundbreaker.

The poignancy of Will & Grace when it began in 1998 (although it slowly oozed out of the series as the guest stars and cheaper laughs started pouring in) was that the two main male characters who were gay were far more comfortable in their own skin than the straight female lead could ever hope to be.

Sure, it doesn’t seem that risque but the openness of Eric McCormack’s Will and his best friend, Jack (Sean Hayes), may have been surprising to some viewers in the show’s early days. A gay man not trying to hide his sexual preference from someone? What?!

“Eight years ago, a show with two gay guys would have seemed niche,” McCormack told the Associated Press. “The opposite’s happened. Kids watch it, old women watch it. Everyone wanted to know when Will was getting a boyfriend.” (Not quite everyone–after losing its Friends in 2004, the show lost more than 50 percent of its viewership, which topped 17 million a few years ago. Season eight averaged 7.8 million viewers a week.)

And there lies the show’s cultural significance that led GLAAD President Neil Giuliano to issue this statement upon the series’ demise:

“Will & Grace has given unprecedented visibility to gay, lesbian and bisexual people. This is a comedy that created an emotional connection between millions of viewers and its characters. Audiences laughed along with characters like Will and Jack, and a door opened for viewers to have a greater understanding of our lives. For many years to come, Will & Grace will continue to open hearts and minds as it lives on in syndication.”

Its further cultural significance, of course, was that the show won 12 Emmys, including one for Best Comedy and acting honors for McCormack, Debra Messing, Hayes and Megan Mullally.

Meanwhile, the series’ title may have been Will & Grace, but it was Hayes’ narcissistic struggling actor Jack McFarland and Mullally’s pill-popping socialite Karen Walker who sashayed and squeaked into viewers’ hearts.

Both supporting players won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and multiple SAG Awards for their roles as the voices of mad reason behind Will and Grace’s zany codependency.

A line from the series finale says it all:

Karen to Jack: “Do you find them exhausting?”

Jack: “I always have.”

After a one-hour retrospective at 8 p.m. Thursday, the season finale presumably will see that the characters are happy as they head into the annals of television.

“I can tell you that it’s funny and, as in the pilot, the episode is about the characters Will and Grace, with the characters of Jack and Karen there to support the Will and Grace story–which I think is the way to end the show,” Hayes said diplomatically, when Tribune Media Services asked him for hints about the show’s send-off. “Jack and Karen don’t need these incredible loose ends to be tied up, although we’ll give the fans some kind of closure for them as well.”

One can assume that the return of Harry Connick Jr. as Leo means Grace will tell her ex he’s the father of her baby and they’ll ride off into the sunset together. Will is about ready to set up house with boyfriend Vince (Bobby Cannavale, who won an Emmy for guest-acting on the show), so perhaps he’ll be able to stop acting mortally wounded whenever Grace experiences an instant of happiness. (Of course, the exact same thing can be said about her.)

As for Jack and Karen, well, put them anywhere with martinis in hand and people to make fun of and they’ll be just fine.

Mullally, 47, is set to host her own syndicated talk show in the fall, but the end of Will & Grace was enough to make even Karen shed a boozy tear.

“There were a lot of snotty, tearful faces all around the set,” Mullally told People recently. “When we got to the very, very last scene, everybody was just a mess. We started sobbing and hugging each other. That was it.”

McCormack, 43, who has starred in The Music Man on Broadway, is currently in New York rehearsing for his lead role in the dark-comedy play Some Girls, which opens June 8.

“My saddest moment was the last time I stood in Will’s kitchen,” he told People. “That was the most colorful position for me, standing there and stirring something. It was my pulpit, the place where I delivered my best jokes. Deb and Megan and Sean I can see again, but not my kitchen.”

Hayes, 35, has a few projects in the works at Hazy Mills Productions, the company he runs with business partner Tom Milliner.

“As sad as I am to leave, to not be able to see these people every day, I’m looking forward to other experiences in life that I haven’t had the opportunity to seek out yet,” Hayes said.

Messing may have gotten her fill of playing a pregnant woman this season, but she can’t wait to spend more time with her two-year-old son, Roman, now that she doesn’t have to say Grace every day. “Since the show wrapped, I’ve been able to just relax with him and go to Gymboree,” she told People.

In the end, no matter how many boundaries the show did or didn’t cross, there’s no arguing that Will, Grace, Jack and Karen were masters of both the one-liner and at taking care of each other.

“I think the humor of the program got people there and I think the relationship got people to stay,” the show’s cocreator, Max Mutchnik, told the AP. “In the case of Will & Grace it’s about friendship. Everybody wants that kind of relationship in their lives. Gay, straight, black or white–that’s second to it.”

…another review…

NEW YORK – It was a funny & satisfying conclusion for Will & Grace Thursday as the NBC sitcom ended its eight-season run by looking ahead more than 20 years.

“You know what’s funny? We haven’t changed a bit,” said a slightly grayer Will (Eric McCormack) to Grace (Debra Messing) and their pals Karen (Megan Mullally) and Jack (Sean Hayes), as they toasted themselves in a neighborhood Manhattan bar.

Go no further if you don’t want to know the details.

Bottom line: The gay guy and straight girl who were so much in love successfully navigated their incompatibilities, ending up bonded by marriage after all: Will’s son to Grace’s daughter.

At the start of the hour-long finale, Will (in the present) was making good on his pledge to care for pregnant Grace. He planned to help her raise the child.

But then Leo (Harry Connick, Jr.), Grace’s ex-husband, unexpectedly arrived from Rome to say he wanted her back — finding, much to his surprise, that she was pregnant with his child.

Flash forward two years: Grace and Leo and their little daughter, Lila, were together and happy.

Will and his partner, Vince (Bobby Cannavale), were together with Ben, their little boy.

But Will and Grace hadn’t spoken in two years. They were angry, feeling that somehow each had deserted the other.

Karen and Jack (as they shared a bubble bath and conversed on cell phones) fretted about this estrangement.

“Sometimes it seems like our sole purpose in life is just to serve Will and Grace,” Karen declared.

“Right,” Jack agreed indignantly. “It’s like all people see when they look at us are the supporting players on `The Will and Grace Show.'”

They plotted to bring the unsuspecting former best friends back together. The plan worked.

“I am so sorry I hurt you, Will,” Grace said. “But I’d be lying if I said I regret what happened. And I don’t think you do either.”

“God, you’re right,” said Will. “Grace, I don’t want to fight with you anymore.”

But despite their having made up, their lives — and respective families — took them on separate paths.

Then, some 18 years further into the future, college students Ben and Lila were moving into dorm rooms across the hall from one another. They met. Sparks flew. Their parents Will and Grace were reunited once more.

“I still can’t believe our kids are getting married,” Will told Grace as they chatted on the phone while they each watched TV, just as they did from the first episode of “Will & Grace” in 1998.

And what of Karen, the boozy, rich Manhattan diva, and Jack, her outrageously gay buddy?

We see them, also 20 years in the future, contentedly living together in luxury.

“Isn’t it funny how we’ve been with each other longer than we’ve been with any of our husbands or boyfriends?” chirped Karen. What’s more, Jack and Karen were caring for — and still trading barbs with — Rosario (Shelley Morrison), Karen’s wisecracking maid.

A sitcom about a gay man and a straight woman linked in every way but physically was a radical idea when Will & Grace premiered. But it quickly caught on and built into a hit, with nearly 200 episodes.

At its peak in the 2001-02 season the series drew an audience of more than 17 million, though its popularity tapered off in recent years (this season it has averaged 7.8 million viewers).

But even at the end, the characters were true to themselves, the affection between this Fab Four was palpable, and the banter remained razor-sharp.

On the phone, Will voiced his doubts about the dress Grace planned to wear to their kids’ nuptials.

“I’m not crazy about the trim,” he said.

“Will,” she shot back, “you never were.”

Thanks, Karen ~ for the memories…

and all the laughter…

What If…

1. Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, I think I’ll squeeze these dangly things here and drink whatever comes out?

2. Who was the first person to say, See that chicken there? I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it’s butt.

3. Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

4. Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

5. If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?

6. Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?

7. If the professor on Gilligan’s Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?

8. Why do people point to the wrist when asking for the time, but don’t point to their crotch when they ask where the bathroom is?

9. Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?

10. Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs!

11. If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner?

12. If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

13. If corn oil is made from corn and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

14. If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

15. Is Disney World the only people trap operated by a mouse?

16. Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

17. Stop singing and read on . . .

18. Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet soup?

19. Why do they call it an asteroid when it’s outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it’s in your butt?

20. Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride he sticks his head out the window?

THE WEST WING comes to an end…

Sometimes the month of May is sad as so many things come to an end. The next few weeks I will be bidding farewell to fourteen private students, twelve of which I have known for ten years or more. Tonight, one of my all time favorite television programs came to an end.

For seven years I have been glued to the television screen each week – even during the re-runs, wishing each episode ran longer than its customary sitxy minutes. Many times, I would watch the video the following day, as so many of the episodes were so captivating. For two presidential elections, I wished that Josiah Barlett (played by Martin Sheen) was really on the ballot! Tonight I watched CJ Craig (Dayton’s own Alison Janney), President & Mrs. Bartlett (Mrs. – Sotckard Channing), Josh, and the others I have known for seven years, depart the White House. In Decemeber, one of my favorite actors, John Spencer who portrayed Leo McGarry, the president’s chief of staff, died of a heart attack.

OK – finally – in the last episode, there were things that really bothered me. I have always been critical of movies or television programs with inaccurate White House layouts, but THE WEST WING was always on top of the game, having evolved out of AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT. Tonight, however, inauguration day, was heaped with things that would not have happened.

First of all, Mrs. Barlett and the President discuss the weather for inauguration day, and she asks, “Who determined the changing of power should occur in the cold winter?” President Bartlett said, “Jefferson, Adams, Franklin…” Ugh! The traditional date, beginning with John Adams, was March 4th. It remained this date until Franklin Roosevelt moved it to January 20th.
The traditional parade, which lasts for 3-4 hours following the swearing in ceremony was over WAY too soon and the new First Lady sends a reminder to President Santos that it is 6:00PM and they needed to prepare for the balls. Generally, the parade is still continuing until after 6:00PM, and the balls do not begin until after 9:00PM. Plus, the day was still very light. In January at 6:00PM?

As CJ Craig was leaving the White House, she strolled in front of the White House where people, mostly sight-seers were strolling casually along Pennsylvania Avenue. There was no reviewing stand for the parade (which ended way too soon!) and it is Washington, DC during the inauguration – there would have been no way you could move in the city due to the excessive crowds – and especially not in front of the White House.

Normally, I am more forgiving, but this show has always displayed such tremendous attention to detail, and tonight was such a let down. Very disappointing last episode.

Still, I must say this was still the only television show which has held me captive for seven years.

Here are a few write ups…

NEW YORK – It was an orderly transition Sunday night as President Jed Bartlet left office and “The West Wing” came to a graceful end.

After seven TV seasons (and two terms in his fictional White House), the heroic, quirky, often embattled chief executive played by Martin Sheen was succeeded by Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits). As the Bartlet administration came to its inevitable conclusion, so did the NBC drama.

“You did a lot of good, Jed, a lot of good,” the First Lady (Stockard Channing) told her husband as Inauguration Day dawned.

Bartlet’s mood at that moment must have matched many viewers’: relief, satisfaction, gratitude and sadness that it was about to be over.

And later on, Abbie Bartlet said proudly, “Jed, you made it. You’re still here” — after the assassination attempt, his battle with multiple sclerosis, and the punishing duties of his job.

Sentiment hung heavy through the hour, both for the characters and the audience. In particular, former chief of staff Leo McGarry, who had died suddenly on the campaign trail as Santos’ vice-presidential running mate, was repeatedly recalled (as was, implicitly, the late John Spencer, who played him until his death of a heart attack last December).

“I’m gonna take one final stroll around the joint, to make sure nobody’s making off with the cutlery,” Bartlet told his secretary (Lily Tomlin) after tending to one final presidential task: signing some pardons in the oval office.

Caution: Spoiler alert. Would he pardon Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff), a trusted senior adviser who had leaked classified information out of conscience, then confessed; been fired, tried and indicted; and now was facing prison?

Though still torn between feelings of betrayal and affection — well, of course, Bartlet pardoned Toby.

For the episode, a full-scale inauguration platform was erected, where the ceremony would soon begin as, back at the White House, Bartlet staffers watched coverage of it on their TVs and finished packing up.

Then, at 42 minutes into the hour, Santos took the oath of office. An era was over. So, remarkably, was the brief inauguration scene.

“Nice speech,” the former president told President Santos (viewers will never know).

“No JFK,” Santos replied.

“No,” smiled Bartlet. “But you’ve got time. Make me proud, Mr. President.”

“I’ll do my best, Mr. President,” Santos said.

And Bartlet was gone.

In the unseen Santos administration ahead, “West Wing” favorites Donna Moss and Josh Lyman (Janel Moloney and Bradley Whitford) will be part of the team — and presumably will remain an item, a recent development after having been partners for years in TV’s sexiest unconsummated, unacknowledged romance.

“The West Wing,” which premiered in fall 1999, was the vision of Aaron Sorkin, whose genius was reflected in the pilot episode, repeated Sunday night just before the finale aired. Sorkin not only created the series, but wrote all the episodes for several seasons before leaving it.

Although a popular hit as well as a critical smash, the series in recent seasons dropped precipitously from its former Top-10 status and was canceled by the network.

Even so, this season’s episodes have been strong, charting not only White House goings-on but also the campaign between Santos and his Republican challenger, Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda).

Viewers can be cheered that Sorkin will be back on TV: NBC has announced that his new series, “Studio 60 on Sunset Strip” will be on its fall lineup, with stars including “West Wing” alumni Whitford and Timothy Busfield.

And Sunday the final scene of “The West Wing” left the audience on a forward-looking note, too, even if expressed in a wistful tone.

“What are you thinking about?” Abbie Bartlet asked her husband as they flew back home to New Hampshire after the marvelous adventure they had shared with “West Wing” fans.

“Tomorrow,” he replied.

It’s the little things that doom a presidency: the Depression; Watergate; Aaron Buerge proposing to Helene Eksterowicz.

The West Wing leaves office Sunday night having survived 154 episodes, seven seasons, cast and crew departures and the death of a beloved costar, but never having recovered from The Bachelor.

Once a Top 10 hit, the Oval Office drama faltered four seasons ago, when it was up against ABC’s then-new, then-hot matrimonial-minded franchise. In one year, viewership fell 22 percent. And it never got back up. This season, the show was about as popular as such quickly forgotten series as The Book of Daniel and Threshold.

Sunday’s finale, airing at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on NBC, looks forward to a new administration that audiences will never see, barring a reunion movie or series sequel. Titled “Tomorrow,” the episode takes place on Inauguration Day–Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) is moving into the West Wing; President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) is moving out.

In real life, Sheen is moving onto Ireland and undergrad studies; among his costars, Bradley Whitford is moving onto West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin’s new Saturday Night Live-inspired series, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, starring Matthew Perry.

Borrowing from Will & Grace, The West Wing has loaded up on guest stars, or at least distinguished alumni, in its final days. Mary-Louise Parker, Marlee Matlin and Tim Matheson were among those who reprised their recurring roles in recent weeks. Rob Lowe, who left the show in 2003 after squabbling over his role and his paycheck, returns Sunday for a cameo as Sam Seaborn, Bartlet’s former spin doctor.

Like the real Washington, D.C., the fake Washington, D.C., of The West Wing relied on a large, revolving crew of steady pros, not flashy stars, to get its business done. Since things tend to run smoother if the president sticks around, Sheen stuck around for the full run, his character having staved off several international crises, not to mention a 2002 campaign challenge from Barbra Streisand’s better half.

Key West Wing staffers Whitford (as Josh Lyman), Janel Moloney (as Donna Moss), Allison Janney (as C.J. Cregg), Richard Schiff (as Toby Ziegler) and Dulé Hill (as Charlie Young) also remained loyal to the cause. Stockard Channing, as Bartlet’s wife Abigail and the nation’s first lady, appeared in more than 50 episodes from 1999 through Sunday.

John Spencer was a West Wing lifer, too, his battle-tested Leo McGarry, Bartlet’s confidante and former chief of staff, was a linchpin of the show and a key player in this past season’s election storyline (his character was Smits’ running mate). When he died last Dec. 16 from a heart attack, it seemed a final, fatal blow to a series already listing. NBC announced West Wing’s cancellation a month later, although the network said the pink slip was being written prior to the actor’s death.

As far as Bartlet and company were concerned, McGarry lived on until April, when he died (off screen) on election night–something that would be called a neat dramatic twist had it not been necessitated by a real-life tragedy.

Spencer’s death was the gravest of The West Wing off-screen dramas, which included the Lowe falling out, the 2001 salary holdouts of Janney, Schiff, Spencer and Whitford, the 2003 exits of Sorkin and director Thomas Schlamme, and most recently, the reputed pay demands of unnamed “key castmembers” over a planned retrospective special.

NBC defused the last one by pulling the plug on the retrospective, once slated to air before the finale. In its place, at 7 p.m. (ET/PM) Sunday, the network will rerun the show’s inaugural episode, originally broadcast Sept. 22, 1999.

Through it all, The West Wing won Emmys, lots of Emmys–24 for the series, including four for Outstanding Drama, four for Janney and one trophy each for Channing, Spencer and Whitford. Its haul puts it sixth on the all-time series wins list behind Frasier (37 Emmys), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (29), Cheers (28), Hill Street Blues (26) and The Carol Burnett Show (25). It’s possible it could claim even more glory at this coming fall’s Emmys–nominations are announced in July.

As a TV president, Sheen outlasted the likes of Geena Davis (of the one-and-done Commander in Chief), Patty Duke (of the one-and-done Hail to the Chief) and the marked chief executives of 24.

Perhaps if Aaron and Helene hadn’t looked so in love, The West Wing would still be flying high–and Sheen would be lobbying for an end run around term limits.

The Power Within

There is an undercurrent of energy thrumming through the Universe. Like the wind or a whisper, we can sometimes hear it and often feel it. Most of the time, we sense this energy unconsciously without any tangible proof it is really there. Thoughts, emotions, and the life force in all living things are forms of this kind of energy. So are creativity, growth, and change. The impressions, images, and vague premonitions we get about people and situations are other examples of formless energy. When you enter a space and feel an “intangible tension” in the air that gives you a sense of foreboding in your gut, what you are likely experiencing is energy.

Energy cannot be destroyed, but it can be transformed or transferred from one person, thing, or source to another. Though energy is formless, it does take form and shape in the way it flows and resides within all things: a grain of sand, a bird, a stone, and an ocean wave. Living things radiate complex vibrations while nonliving things’ vibrations are simpler. Energy is a magnifier that can attract like energies while repelling disparate ones. Many of our reactions to people and circumstances are based on unconscious reactions to their energies. We may even intuitively tune into the energy of a situation we are facing when making a decision about how to proceed. With careful practice and meditation, we can learn to sense the energy within other living things and ourselves. We can also become more attuned to how we are impacted by different kinds of energy. For instance, being around too many energies can leave one person feeling edgy or excited, while another person will feel tired and drained.

While some people feel that energy can be controlled, others see it is as the unknowable force that moves through all things. The combined energy in all things plays a hand in birth, death, growth, movement, and stillness. Practitioners of Aikido believe that all living beings share a common energy source that is our life force. Whatever your beliefs, it is worthwhile to explore the roles energy plays in your life so you can understand it more fully.

More about the musical CHESS

The Girl with the golden hair
Already during ABBA’s heydays Björn and Benny had been interested in stage musicals. As part of ABBA’s 1977 world tour they had written a mini-musical called ‘The girl with the golden hair’. Agnetha and Frida played two different sides of a girl who left her hometown searching for fame and success, the story describing her problems and loneliness when she finally succeeds. Songs featured are: ‘Thank you for the music’, ‘I wonder (departure)’, ‘I’m a marionette’ and ‘Get on the carrousel’. It can be heard in an adapted form on their album ‘ABBA – The Album’.
Also on their last album ‘The Visitors’ it is clear that Björn and Benny were heading in this direction. ‘I let the music speak’ is a fine example.

Chess

Meeting Tim Rice
In December 1981 Björn and Benny had their first meeting with Tim Rice about a possible collaboration. Björn and Benny were still working with ABBA but the New York theatre producer Richard Vos knew about their desire to write a musical. He is the one who brought the three together. Tim Rice, lyricist of musicals like ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Evita’, turned out to be the lyricist and dramatist Björn and Benny needed to realise their new musical challenge.
Tim Rice had several potential subjects for a musical, but Chess was the idea which most appealed to Björn and Benny. Inspired by a chess match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fisher which took place in Iceland in 1972, Tim had written a fictional love story about a Russian chess champion who fell in love with the female second (and lover) of the American player. This all with the underlying suspence of the East-West conflict typical of the cold war period.
Three Knights Ltd

In November 1982, when ABBA were in the UK to promote their album ‘The Singles’, a deal between the three was signed.

Hover over picture to see more…

A company ‘Three Knights Ltd’ was formed to handle the Chess project. One of the first things they did was to go on an excursion to Moscow in February 1983, to sample the atmosphere of the world’s Chess capital. Then the commuting between Stockholm and London started. The Chess project had to be fitted into a busy schedule connected to the ABBA commitments that Björn and Benny still had. They had long sessions with Tim Rice during which Tim’s synopsis was worked out in more detail. It was decided where the principal songs should occur and what emotions and plot development they were intended to convey.

Now Björn and Benny started to write the music following this pattern. Dummy lyrics were written by Björn in order to be able to emphasise the rhythmic patterns of the music. Sometimes Tim found them so good, that he decided to leave bits and pieces unchanged.

Album release and concert tour

After two years of hard work they had written all the music and lyrics for Chess. To be able have a grip on the whole project the idea of releasing an album before the show was followed. Unfamiliar with a musical project like Chess Björn and Benny wanted to hear it all first before it would end up on stage. As neither Benny or Björn can read or write notes the orchestration was done by Anders Eljas, with whom they had worked together already during their ABBA period. On October 31th 1983 they started the recordings of the Chess album in the Polar Music Studios in Stockholm. They took almost six months. Only the contribution of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers were recorded in London. Besides the English orchestra and choir a Swedish rock band and rock choir were used. The principal parts were sung by British artists Elaine Paige, Barbara Dickson, Murray Head and Denis Quilley. They were joined by the two Swedish top performers Björn Skifs and Tommy Körberg. The double album was released on October 26th 1984.

To support the album release Chess embarked on a concert tour calling at five European cities: starting in London on October 27th, then Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and ending in Stockholm. It featured the huge ensemble, London Symphony Orchestra and all, that appeared on the album. The part of Svetlana was sung by the Swedish singer Karin Glenmark, backing vocalist on the studio album, as Barbara Dickson had agreed on singing the part on the studio album only. The album generated two smash hit singles ‘One night in Bangkok’ and ‘I know him so well’. Both topped the charts in many different countries around the world. Later a compilation album called ‘Chess pieces’ was released.

Stage version
It was then Michael Bennett’s (the director) task to put it up on stage. Sets had to be assembled and cast auditions took place between August and October 1985. Right from the start they had to deal with various problems, especially with the technicalities of the computerised video wall, part of the set, consisting of 128 video monitors. They even had to look for a new director as Micheal Bennett had to withdraw due to health problems. Trevor Nunn took over in the beginning of February 1986 and on 3 March 1986 rehearsals began to put Chess up on stage in the Prince Edward theatre in London. Chess had it’s opening night performance on May 14th. It was received very well and ran for nearly four highly successful years in London’s West End.

Chess on Broadway
In 1988 Chess was staged on Broadway. The storyline was much adapted to the American taste. In addition two new songs were written by Björn and Benny especially for this Broadway production, namely ‘Someone else’s story’ and ‘Lullaby’. Even an original Broadway cast recording was made and released. But despite all the efforts of everyone and advanced ticket bookings of £ 2,000,000 the New York critics panned it. Within eight weeks after the opening night on April 28th 1988 the public lost interest and Chess on Broadway was forced to close. The original concept album is still very popular though and Chess has been staged in different versions throughout the U.S.A. since its run on Broadway. Apparently Tim Rice is planning to bring ‘Chess’ back to Broadway again in 2000/2001. He is partly rewriting the musical to come up with a new version that will replace the several versions that were available for staging in the U.S.A. Check the ‘Latest news’ section for up to date information.

Chess performances
From 1988 onward Chess has often been staged in concert format in Sweden. After Chess had closed in London in 1990, it embarked on a concert tour through the UK. For twelve months it played to sell-out audiences at numerous theatres throughout Britain. Since then similar tours of Chess have also taken place throughout Europe and the U.S.A. with great success, so the musical is still enjoyed by many people.

In August 1994 six Chess performances of ‘Chess in concert’ took place at a Göteborg venue in Sweden. During these concerts Benny himself was playing the grand piano and accordion. One of the performances resulted in the release of the ‘Chess in Concert’ album later that year.

For Doina Cornea
This was also a so called mini-musical, and was written by Björn and Benny for a special occassion. In 1989 a choir consisting of 120 young choristers from all over the world gathered on stage to raise their voices in the common purpose of ‘Global Unity and Future hope’ as sleeve notes of one of their singles read. On August 17th this choir had a concert in the Stockholm arena ‘Globen’. Alongside music of composer like Theodorakis and Schönberg, Björn and Benny’s ‘For Doina Cornea’ was presented. It was a 20 minute work featuring 3 pieces. Only one piece of this mini musical has ever been released officially. ‘The Conducator’ was released on both a live album of the concert in Globen, and Benny’s second solo CD called ‘November 1989’. The lead on this song is sung by Tommy Körberg who also played one of the leading parts in their musical Chess. ‘For Doina Cornea’ is about the Romanian dissident Doina Cornea who fought against the Ceausescu-regime. ‘The Conducator’ refers to the dictator Ceausescu.

Finding a story
After Chess Björn and Benny wanted to make another musical. They searched for a consice story, dramatic and full of strong emotions; the perfect story to turn into a musical. They both felt strongly for ‘Utvandrarna’ by the Swedish novellist Vilhelm Moberg, but with it’s little less than 2,000 pages it can hardly be called consice. Furthermore Vilhelm Moberg is an author who is highly respected in Sweden, so using his work as a starting-point was a risky business open to possible criticism.

Still, they decided to give it a try with ‘Utvandrarna’ or ‘The emigrants’ as it is called in English. The musical would be entirely in Swedish, as it was most suitable for this typically Swedish project and as they were able to express themselves best in their native language. The epic story revolves around a hard working and devoted couple Kristina and Karl-Oskar in the south of Sweden in the middle of the 19th century. Because of famine and oppression they are forced to try their luck in the so called ‘New World’, as the United States was referred to at the time. The story is multi-layered; dealing with the love between two people, faith, the search for freedom and a feeling of being rootless. Much of which still applies to refugees and asylum seekers of today.

Difficult start
With Vilhelm Moberg’s daughter, Eva Moberg, they discussed the copyrights. It was through Eva they met the dramatist Carl Johan Seth with whom they worked together for a few years. To narrow the 2,000 pages long epic down, it was soon decided to centre the musical around the powerful main female character Kristina. While working on the plot development they had small pieces of paper fixed on a wall in Benny’s studio ‘Tornet’, each paper representing scenes and emotions that the musical was going to contain. With this as a guideline Benny started to compose the music whereas Björn had the difficult task to transform Vilhelm Moberg’s sacred prose into musical lyrics and dialogue. In the meantime Benny had moved his offices and studio to Skeppsholmen. After one and a half years they reached a deadlock. They had a manuscript and some finished songs but they didn’t succeed in creating a unity out of the different scenes. At times they were close to throwing in the towel.

Inspiring co-operation
It was not before 1994 that director Lars Rudolfsson came into the picture. From this point on the co-operation between Lars, Benny and Björn would be one of constant interplay of inspiration. Things really started to take shape. Ideas, lyrics and music were exchanged between them. Benny worked closely together on the orchestration with Anders Eljas again. At the end of that year the cast auditions took place at which Lars, Björn and Benny as well as Anders Eljas were present. The principal parts went to fairly unknown Swedish talents: Helen Sjöholm was selected for the pivotal role of Kristina and Karl-Oskar was to be played by Anders Ekborg. The two other main parts went to Åsa Bergh and Peter Jöback. Rehearsals then started in the beginning of 1995.

Opening night
On October 7th the 3 hours and 20 minutes long musical Kristina från Duvemåla had its opening night in ‘Malmö Musikteater’ in Malmö. This theatre was the only theatre big enough in Sweden to stage such a large production, in which around 160 people are involved, both on and offstage. Besides that the theatre is subsidized and has its own orchestra and choir, which lowered the production costs trembendously. This enabled the producers to keep the tickets reasonably priced. Björn was so afraid of a scathing judgment by the critics that he took precautionary measures by booking a flight to Rome for the morning after the opening night. But he didn’t need to take refuge in Rome. The musical was received exceptionally well in Sweden, both by critics and audience. A more unanimous acclaim is seldomly seen. Then Kristina från Duvemåla moved to Göteborg on April 13th 1996, after which it alternately played in Göteborg and Malmö.

Kristina in America
To sound out the response of the American public to a musical like Kristina från Duvemåla, a concert version of the musical was performed in Minneapolis and Lindström in the state of Minnesota in October of that year. Many Swedish descendants still live in the state of Minnesota and this is also the state where Vilhelm Moberg, the author of the novel where the musical is based upon, pictured the characters of his books as immigrants. The concert version featured the Swedish principal players. Björn and Herbert Kretzmer, who wrote the English lyrics to ‘Les Miserables’, are reportedly in the process of translating the entire musical into English, after which they hope to eventually stage it in the U.S.A.

Album release
During the same month a triple album called ‘Kristina från Duvemåla, den kompletta utgåvan’, was released in Sweden. Five singles were released from the album, of which ‘Guldet blev till sand/Jag har förlikat mig till slut’ topped the Swedish charts for nine months. The music of Kristina från Duvemåla is best described as a mixture of classical and Swedish traditional music with a tiny flavour of pop music.

Kristina in Stockholm
With Kristina från Duvemåla playing alternately in Göteborg and Malmö, Björn and Benny also wanted to bring the musical to their hometown Stockholm. The only theatre more or less suitable for this large production was ‘Cirkus’, but first it needed to be rebuilt. They needed special permission as the theatre is on the list of national monuments and historic buildings. As soon as permission was given Björn and Benny started to invest their money in staging the musical in ‘Cirkus’. Kristina från Duvemåla had its opening night in the beautifully renovated Stockholm theatre on February 14th 1998. Critics said the show had matured and become better since the opening night in Malmö.

Future plans
After 1 million Swedes had gone to see the musical since its first performance in October 1995, the musical finally closed in Stockholm on June 19th 1999. There are rumours it will re-open in Malmö in the year 2001. There are also plans for having it staged by Lars Rudolfsson in London. Check the ‘Latest news’ section for up to date information.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Donna

Today, May 8, 1924, my grandmother, Donna Mae Clary-Barmes, was born in Boone Township of Madison County, Indiana.

Donna at age 6

Donna, senior picture, 1940

Donna with her mother, Mary Belle (Jones) Clary; her daughter, Diana (Barmes) Haas; and her eldest grandson, Darin (me), 1964.

Donna, age 64, 1990

Donna Mae Clary-Barmes

May 8, 1924 – June 27, 1992

Last TITANIC Survivor Dies

BOSTON – Lillian Gertrud Asplund, the last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has died, a funeral home said Sunday. She was 99.

Asplund, who was just 5 years old, lost her father and three brothers — including a fraternal twin — when the “practically unsinkable” ship went down in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg.

She died Saturday at her home in Shrewsbury, said Ronald E. Johnson, vice president of the Nordgren Memorial Chapel in Worcester, Mass.

“She went to sleep peacefully,” he said.

Asplund’s mother, Selma, and another brother, Felix, who was 3, also survived the Titanic sinking in the early morning of April 15, 1912.

Asplund was the last Titanic survivor with actual memories of the sinking, but she shunned publicity and rarely spoke about the events.

At least two other survivors are living, but they were too young to have memories of the disaster. Barbara Joyce West Dainton of Truro, England, was 10 months old and Elizabeth Gladys “Millvina” Dean of Southampton, England, was 2 months old.

The Asplund family had boarded the ship in Southampton, England, as third-class passengers on their way back to Worcester from their ancestral homeland, Sweden, where they had spent several years.

Asplund’s mother described the sinking in an interview with the Worcester Telegram & Gazette newspaper shortly after she and her two children arrived in the city.

Selma Asplund said the family went to the Titanic’s upper deck after the ship struck the iceberg.
“I could see the icebergs for a great distance around … It was cold and the little ones were cuddling close to one another and trying to keep from under the feet of the many excited people … My little girl, Lillie, accompanied me, and my husband said ‘Go ahead, we will get into one of the other boats.’ He smiled as he said it.”

Because they lost all of their possessions and money, the city of Worcester held a fundraiser and a benefit concert that together brought in about $2,000 for the surviving Asplunds.

Lillian Asplund never married and worked at secretarial jobs in the Worcester area most of her life. She retired early to care for her mother, who was described as having never gotten over the tragedy.

Selma Asplund died on the 52nd anniversary of the sinking in 1964 at age 91. Felix Asplund died on March 1, 1983, at age 73.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday, Johnson said.

A Weekend Of CHESS

This weekend I got to see one of my favorite musicals, CHESS, on Friday and Saturday. The show was produced by the Cincinnati Music Theatre, a good community theatre, but the production was lacking in certain areas. Still, it was by no means intolerable. I saw this show in NYC, Louisville, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and Wright State University. When Wright State performed CHESS, the director called up lyricist Timothy Rice to work with him on his personal concept of this show which had been drastically altered between the London and NYC productions.

CHESS is a musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, formerly of ABBA. The story involves a romantic triangle between two players in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other. Although the protagonists were not intended to represent any specific individuals, the characters personalities are loosely based on those of Victor Korchnoi and Bobby Fischer and the oddity of the Merano championship in the musical is based on the similar oddities which occurred during the 1978 World Championship between Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov.

Following the pattern of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, a concept album was recorded and released in 1984, before any stage production was underway. A single from the album, “One Night In Bangkok“, sung by Murray Head, was an unlikely top-40 hit, and the duet, “I Know Him So Well“, by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson, held the number one spot on the UK singles charts for 4 weeks in February 1985.

CHESS premiered in London‘s West End in 1986 and played for three years. A radically-rewritten Broadway version opened in 1988 to poor reviews and closed in just eight weeks. It is occasionally produced by regional theatrical companies, sometimes merging elements from both versions. CHESS-Baltimore, a version that opened on March 19, 2004, is based on the Broadway version.

A new version, in Swedish, premiered in Stockholm, Sweden in February 2002 and ran through June 2003.

CHESS, the British version

Act 1
The world chess championship is being held in the northern Italian town of Merano. The brash American champion relishes the crowd’s affection, while his Russian challenger and Molokov, his second (actually a KGB agent), watch with curiosity and disdain on TV. The opening ceremony features an arbiter insisting on holding the proceedings together, US and Soviet diplomats vowing their side will win, and marketers just looking to make a buck. The American storms out of a rules meeting, leaving his second, Florence, in an argument with the Arbiter and the Russians. She later scolds him, but he insists that she, a child emigre who escaped Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, should support him. Instead, she reflects that “nobody’s on nobody’s side”. The first game of the match goes badly, with dirty tricks nearly evolving into a brawl. A meeting to smooth things over goes badly and strands the Russian and Florence together, where they quickly develop feelings for one another. As the matches continue, the American flounders and blames Florence, who leaves him. The Russian wins the championship, then defects to the west. Answering reporters’ questions about his loyalties, his “Anthem” declares that “my land’s only borders/ lie around my heart.”

Act 2
A year later, the Russian is set to defend his championship in Bangkok, Thailand. The American is already there, chatting up locals about the nightlife. Florence and the Russian are now lovers, and worry about the situation. Molokov, meanwhile, has trained a new protege to challenge the Russian. The American interviews the Russian on TV and makes obvious attempts to rattle him, even declaring that the Russian’s wife is being allowed to leave the USSR to attend the match. She and Florence both reflect on their relationships with him. The American goes to the Russian with information about Florence’s long-lost father, claiming that instead of being a hero as she believed, he was instead a collaborator. The Russian, and later Florence, dismiss him, unwilling to hear what he has to say. He reflects on his life and his obsession with chess as a way to escape an unhappy childhood. In the deciding game of the match, The Russian manages an exceptional victory, and realizes that it may be the only success he can achieve – Svetlana castigates him for wallowing in the crowd’s empty praise. Both acknowledge they are doomed to care only for themselves. Later, he and Florence reflect on their story that seemed so promising, and how they “go on pretending/ stories like ours/ have happy endings.”

CHESS, the Broadway version

Act 1
The world chess championship is being held in Bangkok. At a press conference, the brash American challenger, Freddie Trumper, relishes the crowd’s affection, while the current Russian champion, Anatoly Sergievsky, and Molokov, his second, watch with curiosity and disdain. During the match Freddie accuses Anatoly of receiving outside help via the flavor of yogurt he is eating, and Freddie storms out, leaving his second, Florence, in an argument with the Arbiter and the Russians. She later scolds him, but he insists that she, a child emigre who escaped Hungary during the 1956 uprisings, should support him. A meeting to smooth things over goes badly and strands the Russian and Florence together, where they quickly develop feelings for one another. Freddie was supposed to attend, but got sidetracked by the night life, and arrived very late to see Anatoly and Florence holding hands. When he later accuses her of conspiring against him, she reflects that “nobody’s on nobody’s side”, and decides to leave him. As the matches continue, the American flounders, finishing Act 1 with 1 win and 5 losses; one more loss will cost him the tournament. Anatoly surprises everyone by his defection at the end of Act 1. Answering reporters’ questions about his loyalties, his “Anthem” declares that “my land’s only borders/lie around my heart.”

Act 2
Eight weeks later, everyone is in Budapest to witness the conclusion of the tournament. Florence is elated to be back in her hometown of Budapest, but dismayed that she remembers none of it, not even what happened to her Father, since he had to leave her in 1956. Molokov offers to help and starts ‘investigating’ Florence’s father’s fate. As Anatoly and Florence listen to a local Hungarian choir, he meets three friends from his hometown, which pleases Anatoly, but local CIA operatives are suspicious…why would the Soviets allow people to leave Russia just to see a friend? Even Svetlana, Anatoly’s wife, has been flown into Budapest to see her defecting husband. She wishes the best for Anatoly, and decides not to inform him that as a result of his defection, Svetlana lost their apartment, her brother was denied access to medical school, Anatoly’s own brother has also been forced to move to a smaller apartment, and back in Moscow Anatoly has been falsely accused of embezzling…all information Anatoly learns from Molokov. Molokov no longer has an ‘official’ role, and is officially in Budapest merely because of his love of chess. Unofficially, he badly wants Anatoly back and has no hesitation in exerting pressure or veiled threats. He also makes an ally in Freddie’s agent, Walter, for unknown reasons. These threats strain Anatoly’s relationship with Florence, and she shares her Anatoly-related woes with Svetlana. The threats also degrade Anatoly’s ability to play chess, so that Freddie starts winning games until they are tied 5-5…the next game will decide the match. Freddie reminisces about his childhood to a sexy female reporter, and eagerly anticipates winning the match, being totally oblivious to Anatoly’s troubles. Molokov then informs Florence that they have found her father and they can see him tonight! While she does not remember her father, and she does not recognize herself as the baby in the photo her father shows her, he still convinces her through a Hungarian lullaby. As the scene rises on the final game, Anatoly is missing, and no one sympathizes…there have been so many shenanigans in the tournament that no one wants to hear any more excuses. All are prepared to concede the match to Freddie when Anatoly wanders in and proceeds to play. He has not slept all night. During the game he realizes that despite all the family that he has brought harm to, by his defection, he cannot hurt his true love, Florence, by depriving her of her father. He chooses to recant his defection, and makes a tactical error. Freddie immediately takes advantage of the blunder and proceeds to win the game…and the tournament, becoming the new world champion. Anatoly returns to Moscow a broken man. Florence is waiting for her father so they can leave for America when she is approached by Walter. He confesses to her that the old man is not her father and her father is most likely dead. It seems that the Soviets struck a deal with Walter, a secret CIA agent, that if they managed to get Anatoly back, they would release a captured American spy. Their initial attempts at getting Anatoly back, by using Svetlana, and other family members had failed, and they had finally succeeded by using Florence. As the curtain closes, Florence has left Freddie, been lost by Anatoly, and lost the father she never had, and she realizes that her only borders lie around her heart.

For more information on this musical, please visit:
http://www.hahns.tv/Musicals/Chess/chess.htm

Fluid Like A River

The journey of water as it flows upon the earth can be a mirror of our own paths through life. Water begins its residence on earth as it falls from the sky or melts from ice and streams down a mountain into a tributary or stream. In the same way, we come into the world and begin our lives on earth. Like a river that flows within the confines of its banks, we are born with certain defining characteristics that govern our identity. We are born in a specific time and place, within a specific family, and with certain gifts and challenges. Within these parameters, we move through life, encountering many twists, turns, and obstacles along the way just as a river flows.

Water is a great teacher that shows us how to move through the world with grace, ease, determination, and humility. When a river breaks at a waterfall, it gains energy and moves on, as we encounter our own waterfalls, we may fall hard but we always keep moving on. Water can inspire us to not become rigid with fear or cling to what’s familiar. Water is brave and does not waste time clinging to its past, but flows onward without looking back. At the same time, when there is a hole to be filled, water does not run away from it in fear of the dark; instead, water humbly and bravely fills the empty space. In the same way, we can face the dark moments of our life rather than run away from them.

Eventually, a river will empty into the sea. Water does not hold back from joining with a larger body, nor does it fear a loss of identity or control. It gracefully and humbly tumbles into the vastness by contributing its energy and merging without resistance. Each time we move beyond our individual egos to become part of something bigger, we can try our best to follow the lead of the river.

The Gift Of Giving You

Yesterday I took Jose to the dentist, and just as they finished the second root canal – on a front tooth he had broken back in Oregon – the tooth came out all the way. He was in a good deal of pain, and the dentist decided to have a semi-permanant tooth made for the open hole… Jose spent the rest of the day on the couch in the basement, watching TV, coming up stairs to remind me he was still happy, and eating fruit slices all day.

To live harmoniously, we need to be supportive and helpful to all people, creatures, and plant life that share this earth with us. While “being of service” is part of being a good citizen of the world, it also feels good to help others. When we do something for others in service, without the expectation of anything in return, we are turning our actions into offerings.

There are many ways to be of service to our community. There are the obvious and much needed volunteer opportunities, such as serving Thanksgiving dinner at a shelter, mentoring our youth, or cleaning up a beach. Then, there is the kind of service that we may not even think of as being acts of service. Learning a new language (perhaps sign language) so that you can talk to more people is a way to reach out to others. Inviting someone who isn’t motivated enough to exercise on their own to join you on your daily walk is a way to give of yourself. Sharing flowers or vegetables from your garden, organizing a poetry reading, offering to babysit for a busy parent, or donating pet food to an animal shelter all are simple ways to offer your services to your community.

There are many ways that you can serve the world. Imagine the impact we would have on the environment if we picked up one piece of trash off the street everyday and chose not to drive our car once a week. Even gardening tactics such as throwing wildflower seeds onto a vacant lot can brighten the lives of others – including the lives of birds and insects. Everyday, you can do something to make this world a better place. During meditation, ask for guidance on what you can do to be of service. This can be a wonderful way to start your day. Smiling at a stranger who looks down in the dumps or teaching your neighborhood kids how to whistle will impact someone’s day or even their life. Giving of yourself is the best gift that you can give.

The Gift Of Giving You

Yesterday I took Jose to the dentist, and just as they finished the second root canal – on a front tooth he had broken back in Oregon – the tooth came out all the way. He was in a good deal of pain, and the dentist decided to have a semi-permanant tooth made for the open hole… Jose spent the rest of the day on the couch in the basement, watching TV, coming up stairs to remind me he was still happy, and eating fruit slices all day.

To live harmoniously, we need to be supportive and helpful to all people, creatures, and plant life that share this earth with us. While “being of service” is part of being a good citizen of the world, it also feels good to help others. When we do something for others in service, without the expectation of anything in return, we are turning our actions into offerings.

There are many ways to be of service to our community. There are the obvious and much needed volunteer opportunities, such as serving Thanksgiving dinner at a shelter, mentoring our youth, or cleaning up a beach. Then, there is the kind of service that we may not even think of as being acts of service. Learning a new language (perhaps sign language) so that you can talk to more people is a way to reach out to others. Inviting someone who isn’t motivated enough to exercise on their own to join you on your daily walk is a way to give of yourself. Sharing flowers or vegetables from your garden, organizing a poetry reading, offering to babysit for a busy parent, or donating pet food to an animal shelter all are simple ways to offer your services to your community.

There are many ways that you can serve the world. Imagine the impact we would have on the environment if we picked up one piece of trash off the street everyday and chose not to drive our car once a week. Even gardening tactics such as throwing wildflower seeds onto a vacant lot can brighten the lives of others – including the lives of birds and insects. Everyday, you can do something to make this world a better place. During meditation, ask for guidance on what you can do to be of service. This can be a wonderful way to start your day. Smiling at a stranger who looks down in the dumps or teaching your neighborhood kids how to whistle will impact someone’s day or even their life. Giving of yourself is the best gift that you can give.

Mystery Celebs announced

LOL! Many could get two of the four, especially the first two; however, most could not get the last two. So here they are:

The sweetheart next door… ERIN MORAN who played Joni from HAPPY DAYS

The neighborhood terror! JAY NORTH who played Dennis in DENNIS THE MENACE!

In a movie she got a “book on her backside”
ANGELA CARTWRIGHT who played Brigitta in THE SOUND OF MUSIC

She was always playing someone’s sweetheart, and appearing as the younger sister of the most popular motion picture character.
ANN RUTHERFORD who played Andy Hardy’s (Mickey Rooney) sweetheart, and the role of Careen O’Hara, the younger sister of Scarlett O’Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND

Another Tuesday…

I have been rather tired after this past weekend, but have managed to do a few chores around the house. I have a contractor coming to do some minor repair, fix-up things, as well as adding a ceiling/vent fan to the bathroom.

Tomorrow I take Jose to the dentist for two root canals. I will probably keep him home the remainder of the day. They are not as bad as pulling a tooth, but it is still something for which he should try to rest afterwards.

I had an Email from a former student in New York, basically asking, “What happens when you feel as though you are falling in love with someone and yet you don’t know how they feel?”

UGH! Is she asking the wrong person. That’s the story of my life! I tend to be the one who never utters a word, or shows any interest. Often times we go our own separate ways, and then I hear, a number of years later, “I had the biggest crush on you!” So, I could not provide any former mentor, or fatherly advice on that particular subject. I always tell myself that I will be brave, have courage to tell the other person how I feel, but then I am always afraid of getting shot down. I just lived through one of these particular events with someone who is also in theatre. We are both very similar in our desires to be private and somewhat reclusive, yet, I felt such a strong connection on so many levels. I always enjoyed being in this person’s presence, which for a while was almost daily, and now that we do not see one another as often, I am still slightly drawn in that direction. The right people who have come along before are always in another state, another country, or in a relationship…

The heart – or what ever it happens to be that rules these episodes in our lives – is so peculiar… I wish I could have answered my former student’s question – but I am still trying to figure out the answer for my self. And, then, your sons come to you with the same question – well, Matthew does. Jose, I am sure has no difficulty in this arena.

Maybe I should take advice from him!

Return To River City

I got to do something this weekend that few adults probably have an opportunity to do: I performed in a high school musical with my son and a number of my private voice students. My last time to appear on stage in a high school musical was 1982, and never dreamed that I would do so again after twenty-four years.

The events began unfolding around 2:15PM Thursday afternoon when one of my private students re-ported that the student playing “Mayor Shinn” in Fairmont’s production, The Music Man, was not at dress rehearsal, and would not be doing opening night due to extenu-ating circumstances. My student said that Mr. McDonald (my friend, Brody) had Plan B and Plan C ready to go. I knew that the student teacher would be the most likely candidate. I finished my first two students and as I was waiting my 3:45PM lesson to arrive, Brody called me. After a few minutes of chat, he asked if I would consider stepping into the role. Within ten minutes, the plan for opening night was in place.

I walked over to the school at 5:00PM with a few tux and suit pieces, and Dee Friesenborg, a former parent of Fairmont students who had returned to assist with costuming, assisted me with the remainder of the costume. Brody brought over his cut-away tux coat which set the Mayor’s costume perfectly. After getting fitted with my body mic, a sound check, make-up, a blocking walk-thru with Brody, I was finally ready to look over lines at 6:15PM with a 7:30PM curtain. Thankfully, Becca Childs, the assistant choir director at the high school, assisted me in getting pages containing my lines into plastic sleeves to place into a three-ring binder, and then ran lines with me. Since I had no time, whatsoever, to devote to building a character, the lines seemed to read similar to what I would hear from one of my favorite character actors, Parley Baer, well known for playing Mayor Stoner in The Andy Griffith Show. And it seemed to work very well.

Parley Baer, Mayor Stoner from The Andy Griffith Show

Opening night ran smoothly and I must say, it was somewhat enjoyable for one who does not enjoy performing on stage any more. During one of the opening numbers, I darted to through set pieces to the edge of the stage to see Matthew singing a solo – a solo I did not know he had in the show! Since I figured I would not be going on for Friday’s show, as well as the remainder of the weekend, I went with the artistic team and some parents to Tailgators for drinks and food – staying out much later than I normally would throughout the week (or weekend for that matter).

Friday afternoon, I chatted with Brody and agreed to do the remainder of the weekend’s performances: Friday, Saturday matinee and Saturday evening. By Friday I had 3/4 of the lines memorized, and by Saturday’s shows, I was delivering about 95% without the aide of the script. Whew. Mayor Shinn did not have a ton of lines, but a fair amount which were always funny. This was only my second support-ing, character role to attempt, and I hope it came off well enough that the students, directors and par-ents were satisfied.

There were several downfalls. The student cast for the role could not complete the production, and this is his senior year. And, my son, Matthew, one of the townspeople of River City, had been working two months on the production; I come in and was receiving comments after the show, at church, at lunch after church, at the grocery store, as well as Emails and telephone calls. I understand the nature of this particular beast in performing, but it is still frustrating when you are the parent. But as one friend indicated, “But who would have ever thought you would be in the same high school production with one of your own children?”

Paul Ford, Mayor Shinn – The Music Man – motion picture.

Am I glad I did it? Yes and No, but more Yes.

No = due to the above paragraph.

Yes = I was grateful I was afforded the talent and experience to assist in this last minute casting decision so that the students could carry on with their show. It also gave me an apparently to perform alongside some of my senior voice students who will be graduating. However, the best part was being with Brody, Mike Berning (conductor), Terence Kalba (choreographer) and Raymonde Rougier (accompanist), one more time. The five of us were together in 2003 for The Secret Garden, and it was perhaps, one of the most incredible high school productions with which I have ever been involved. All the stars were aligned for that show!

I am so appreciative of the fact that Brody, Mike and Terence trusted, believed in, and encouraged me to do this role. When friends/colleagues trust you with something such as this, stepping in three hours before a show, it is one of the most wonderful compliments one could be paid.

Mystery Celebrity Solved

Sue Branson was once again the winner of this week’s Mystery Celebrity…

Susan Ford, the daughter of President Gerald & Betty Ford. Susan’s high school prom was held in the East Room of the White House.

New Mystery Celebs…

OK…. I am going to make this a little harder… here are several child celebrities! Some are going back quite far!

The sweetheart next door…

The neighborhood terror!

In a movie she got a “book on her backside”

She was always playing someone’s sweetheart, and appearing as the younger sister of the most popular motion picture character.

Trivia for MY THREE SONS (1960-1972)

At Fred MacMurray’s insistence, all episodes were filmed out of sequence during the show’s entire run using a technique now known as the MacMurray method. MacMurray would do all of his scenes in 65 nonconsecutive days. The cast regulars got haircuts once a week in order to maintain continuity. Guest stars would have to return months later to complete an episode. All kitchen scenes would be done together, then all scenes in the upstairs hallway would be filmed together, etc. This fact was well concealed until Dawn Lyn joined the cast as Dodie. Her upper front teeth grew in irregularly during the entire 1969-70 season, from being barely visible in scenes with MacMurray to being plainly visible in scenes without him. William Fawley never felt comfortable with this method of filming, having grown accustomed to filming I Love Lucy in sequence during its entire run.

The dog’s name was Tramp.

With 369 episodes over 12 years, this is the second longest-running (live action) comedy in US TV history (as of February 2003), surpassed only by “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet” (1952).

One of the few shows to ever survive a change in networks. At the beginning of the 1965-1966 season, the show moved from ABC to CBS, where it ran for its final seven seasons.

Not only was the first episode of the 1965-1966 season the series’ CBS debut, it also was the first episode to be shot in color. Before taking the role of Katie, Tina Cole appeared on a couple of earlier episodes in various roles.

When Tim Considine left after the 1964-1965 season, his character of Mike was written out by having him marry his girlfriend Sally and moving to Arizona to accept a teaching position.

The name of the town where the Douglasses lived before moving to California was Bryant Park. However, the state the town was in was never named.

When William Frawley left the show due to declining health, his absence was explained by having Bub move to Ireland to live.

Although officially leaving after the show’s fifth season in 1964-1965, Tim Considine’s last appearance as Mike, the eldest son, was actually in the first episode of season 6 (the series’ first in color). The episode opened with a brief scene showing Mike and Sally’s (Meredith MacRae) wedding. The episode also “launched” Barry Livingston (“Ernie”) as the new son. The characters of Mike and Sally were mentioned in the next two episodes, which dealt with Ernie’s adoption, and in a subsequent episode when Charley and the boys thought Steve was getting married. Mike was referred to by name one last time in the first 1966-1967 episode, when the gang visited Steve’s hometown. After this they were never referred to by name again for the remainder of the series, although Mike was indirectly referred to as, “the first of you” by Steve a few years later.

The character ‘Steve Douglas’ was ranked #7 in TV Guide’s list of the “50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time” (20 June 2004 issue).

Uncle Charley served in the Merchant Marines before coming to live with Steve and the boys.

Charley was Bub’s brother.

When Don Grady left the show in the final season, his absence was explained by having Robbie get transferred to Peru by his job and have Katie join him there.

The show was originally going to be named The Fred MacMurray Show, but MacMurray didn’t like the idea.

June Haver, Fred MacMurray’s real-life wife, recommended Beverly Garland for the role of Barbara.

One of the original choices for the role of Steve Douglas was Eddie Albert.

Several years later it was revealed that there were different plans in the works for the character of Robbie when Don Grady left the show. One plan was for Robbie and Katie to divorce and another plan was to have Robbie killed off.

New Mystery Celebrity 4/28/2006

Sue Branson guessed correctly…

Clue: Born in 1945 and was a familiar personality as a teenager.
Celebrity: Lynda Bird Johnson-Robb. Linda is the daughter of President Lyndon & Lady Bird Johnson, and the wife of Virginia senator, Charles Robb. Today, Lynda is very active with the LBJ Library in Austin, and looking after her 93 year old mother, Lady (Claudia) Bird Johnson.

Today’s new mystery celebrity:

Was a fairly well-known teenager in the 1970’s whose prom location made headlines.

Permission Slips

Taking A Field Trip

When we were children, few words were more exciting to hear than the phrase “field trip.” Field trips were a break from schoolwork and an opportunity to go on an adventure with friends. Now that we are grown ups, taking a field trip can be just as fun and memorable – if only we were willing to sign our own permission slips so we could go on one.

Allowing yourself to get stuck in your routine can make life seem boring. Adding a touch of variety to your life in the form of a field trip can break up the monotony of your days and lead you to adventure. Unlike the jaunts that were regulated by teachers or monitored by parents, taking a field trip as an adult can lead you anywhere you want. You can go on a daylong retreat or spend just a few hours at your destination. A field trip can be an opportunity to explore a new landscape or discover something about yourself. Taking a day trip to another town or visiting an unfamiliar spot in your neighborhood can be educational and fun. There is also much to be said for finding a beautiful spot under a tree where you can read a book. You can even go to one of your favorite spots and allow yourself to experience it as if you were visiting there for the first time. Going on a field trip is as much a state of mind as it is a change in the scenery.

During a “grown up” field trip, schedules, clocks, and duties are put aside so you can focus wholeheartedly on mindfully enjoying yourself. Planning a field trip can be almost as fun as going on one. A field trip is an excursion to look forward to and an experience to be savored after the fact. Wherever you decide to go and whatever you decide to do, going on a field trip can add much pleasure and excitement to your life.

The Da Vinci Code

A few years back I read Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and thoroughly loved it. I also zoomed right through several of his other books, Deception Point and Angels & Demons. Dan Brown, like another favorite author of mine, Vince Flynn, knows how to keep me attached to a book. I am always eager to begin one of their books, but am always cautious as to when I read one because I become so absorbed for two or three days. Sometimes, my friend, Kay Hetzer, will be reading a Dan Brown book and we will debate it until we are finished.

In three weeks the movie, The Da Vinci Code, will be released and it is already causing a stir with The Church. Back in the 1980’s I can remember when the church was outraged over The Last Temptation of Christ. I was in college and can remember laughing at the petition from my home church. I attended the movie with the Lutheran pastor (and his wife) where I was music director. The three of us loved it and thought the uproar was ludicrous.

Several years back it was The Passion of the Christ which garnered a good deal of press. I attended the opening day, more so out of curiosity. I walked through a little barrage of protestors who stood out on the sidewalk singing “Amazing Grace” with their hands waving over their heads. Some other movie attendees stopped to share with them but continued on.

Inside, I was surprised to find the movie theatre practically full and it seemed most of the audience was filled with Pentecostal church groups. There seemed to be large blocks of people. I was even more eager to gauge the audience reaction. I was prepared for people getting up and walking out, or booing the screen – and I was sorely disappointed. People stayed. No one booed or hissed. In fact, this audience was caught up in the movie and reacted as though they were actually standing along the “Via Dolorosa” or at the foot of Golgatha. They were wailing and sniffling as loud as the actors on the screen during emotional moments. For a movie that attracted such criticism, I was observing something completely different than what I anticipated.

After the movie, I excused myself around women holding one another and crying bitterly as though CNN just broke the news of Jesus’ death. In the lobby there were even more crowds for the next viewing. Outside, the protestors had disbanded and the local news cameras were there to interview the audience.

For both movies, I found them to be nothing more than a product of the performing arts. They did not move me nearly as much as The Ten Commandments does every Spring when it dominates five hours of channel 22, but I still appreciated their value.

I am finding this uproar over The Da Vinci Code to be almost comical. I have read a ton of articles which are incredibly anti Dan Brown, and most of the authors have not even read his work. They are basing their rebuttals against something they have not even read. Last night, I stayed up until 2:00AM reading The Jesus Papers by Michael Baigent. I am not saying I buy into all he says, but I do appreciate his research and his thorough study of the topic.

I have always felt that if a piece of work, whether it be literary or dramatic, shakes one’s faith so greatly, perhaps their faith was not as strong as it could have been. Artists, musicians, dramatists and novelists have been creating works about The Bible, Christ and the other many individuals throughout Biblical history for centuries.

No one protests paintings of Christ with golden hair or fair skin… most nativity scenes are placed in an angular Bavarian structure rather than a cave… most nativity scenes have both shepherds and wise men present when the texts indicate other wise…

The Da Vinci Code presents a not so new approach to the continuity of Christ’s bloodline, marrying him to Mary Magdalene. Many Christians are slamming Dan Brown for creating such a story, yet this concept has been around for centuries. Dan Brown simply used this piece of history to tell a story much like I did the life of the Wright brothers to tell a story. I, too, used some artistic license, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that my characters are thoroughly documented in both print, oral and photography. Neither Dan Brown, nor The Church, can claim access to as much thorough, factual documentation as I can. Dan Brown’s work does not challenge “faith.” What it does do is bring together documented historical items, placing them in a mystery/suspense novel that makes for excellent reading.

Dan Brown has done nothing wrong. This verbal crucifixion of Dan Brown reminds me of the early days of the Christian church when bishops were executed (by the church and not the Romans) for adding their own interpretation. I have listened to many ministers throughout my life and I have never heard two who are exactly alike. No one throws stones at these particular authorities who will often slant things a little differently to get a point across.

The funny thing is that Dan Brown is still under fire when it is the movie being released. Why aren’t people taking Ron Howard or Tom Hanks to task? Now, it is their interpretation based on Dan Brown’s work. It does seem to me, however, that The Church is in a panic over the release of this movie. What is there to defend? Why is it so anxious? If all the Biblical facts are cemented in truth and thorough documentation, why not allow the movie to premiere in theatres and let it blow over like others have done? The funny thing to me is that The Church, when it protests such things, is a great marketing tool for the movies! The Church draws so much attention to the upcoming premiere that it makes people more curious and interested! Again I am reading articles by theologians and clergy with a “shoot to kill” attitude. It amazes me how the political police of the Catholic Church can fight someone like Dan Brown, tooth and nail, over historical items recorded over hundreds of years, yet, for many years, hid under the carpet the allegations from parishioners of the numerous priests sexually molesting alter boys or other members.

I would like to research the making of the motion picture, The Ten Commandments that evolved from a highly embellished script. I want to know if Cecil B. DeMille was criticized as much as Dan Brown.

I found this section of Dan Brown’s webpage to be of particular interest. You can find it at the following link, but I am also including the “Common Questions” and his response. http://www.danbrown.com/novels/davinci_code/faqs.html

HOW MUCH OF THIS NOVEL IS TRUE?
The Da Vinci Code is a novel and therefore a work of fiction. While the book’s characters and their actions are obviously not real, the artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals depicted in this novel all exist (for example, Leonardo Da Vinci’s paintings, the Gnostic Gospels, Hieros Gamos, etc.). These real elements are interpreted and debated by fictional characters. While it is my belief that some of the theories discussed by these characters may have merit, each individual reader must explore these characters’ viewpoints and come to his or her own interpretations. My hope in writing this novel was that the story would serve as a catalyst and a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion, and history.

BUT DOESN’T THE NOVEL’S “FACT” PAGE CLAIM THAT EVERY SINGLE WORD IN THIS NOVEL IS HISTORICAL FACT?
If you read the “FACT” page, you will see it clearly states that the documents, rituals, organization, artwork, and architecture in the novel all exist. The “FACT” page makes no statement whatsoever about any of the ancient theories discussed by fictional characters. Interpreting those ideas is left to the reader.

IS THIS BOOK ANTI-CHRISTIAN?
No. This book is not anti-anything. It’s a novel. I wrote this story in an effort to explore certain aspects of Christian history that interest me. The vast majority of devout Christians understand this fact and consider The Da Vinci Code an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate. Even so, a small but vocal group of individuals has proclaimed the story dangerous, heretical, and anti-Christian. While I regret having offended those individuals, I should mention that priests, nuns, and clergy contact me all the time to thank me for writing the novel. Many church officials are celebrating The Da Vinci Code because it has sparked renewed interest in important topics of faith and Christian history. It is important to remember that a reader does not have to agree with every word in the novel to use the book as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CLERICAL SCHOLARS ATTEMPTING TO “DISPROVE” THE DA VINCI CODE?
The dialogue is wonderful. These authors and I obviously disagree, but the debate that is being generated is a positive powerful force. The more vigorously we debate these topics, the better our understanding of our own spirituality. Controversy and dialogue are healthy for religion as a whole. Religion has only one true enemy–apathy–and passionate debate is a superb antidote.

PARTS OF THE DA VINCI CODE DESCRIBE THE ACTIVITIES OF THE RELIGIOUS GROUP OPUS DEI. HOW DOES OPUS DEI FEEL ABOUT YOUR NOVEL?
I worked very hard to create a fair and balanced depiction of Opus Dei. Even so, there may be those who are offended by the portrayal. While Opus Dei is a very positive force in the lives of many people, for others, affiliation with Opus Dei has been a profoundly negative experience. Their portrayal in the novel is based on numerous books written about Opus Dei as well as on my own personal interviews with current and former members.

SOME OF THE HISTORY IN THIS NOVEL CONTRADICTS WHAT I LEARNED IN SCHOOL. WHAT SHOULD I BELIEVE?
Since the beginning of recorded time, history has been written by the “winners” (those societies and belief systems that conquered and survived). Despite an obvious bias in this accounting method, we still measure the “historical accuracy” of a given concept by examining how well it concurs with our existing historical record. Many historians now believe (as do I) that in gauging the historical accuracy of a given concept, we should first ask ourselves a far deeper question: How historically accurate is history itself?

ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN?
Yes. Interestingly, if you ask three people what it means to be Christian, you will get three different answers. Some feel being baptized is sufficient. Others feel you must accept the Bible as absolute historical fact. Still others require a belief that all those who do not accept Christ as their personal savior are doomed to hell. Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify ethereal concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the point where we entirely miss the obvious–that is, that we are all trying to decipher life’s big mysteries, and we’re each following our own paths of enlightenment. I consider myself a student of many religions. The more I learn, the more questions I have. For me, the spiritual quest will be a life-long work in progress.

THE TOPIC OF THIS NOVEL MIGHT BE CONSIDERED CONTROVERSIAL. DO YOU FEAR REPERCUSSIONS?
I can’t imagine why. The ideas in this novel have been around for centuries; they are not my own. Admittedly, this may be the first time these ideas have been written about within the context of a popular thriller, but the information is anything but new. My hope for The Da Vinci Code was, in addition to entertaining people, that it might serve as an open door for readers to begin their own explorations and rekindle their interest in topics of faith.

HOW DO ALBINOS FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER SILAS?
Some readers with albinism have been troubled by this character. I am very sensitive to their concerns. It is important to remember that Silas’s skin color has nothing to do with his violent nature–he is driven to violence by others’ cruelty… not by anything inherent in his physiology. The vast majority of critics and readers (even some with albinism) find Silas to be the novel’s most sympathetic character. I truly believe the novel’s portrayal of Silas is a compassionate exploration of how difficult albinism can be–especially for young people–and how cruelly societies can ostracize those of us who look different.

HAS ANYONE IN ORGANIZED RELIGION COME OUT IN SUPPORT OF YOUR NOVEL?
Yes, many people in organized religion have come out in support of this novel, and, of course, many have come out in opposition as well. The opposition generally comes from the strictest Christian thinkers who feel the idea of a “married Jesus” serves to undermine His divinity. While I don’t agree with this interpretation, this is immaterial because the dialogue itself is a deeply empowering and positive force for everyone involved. Suddenly, enormous numbers of people are passionately debating important philosophical topics, and regardless of the personal conclusions that each of us draws, the debate can only help to strengthen our understanding of our own faith. Much of the positive response I get from within organized religion comes from nuns (who write to thank me for pointing out that they have sacrificed their entire lives to the Church and are still considered “unfit” to serve behind the altar). I have also heard from hundreds of enthusiastic priests. While many of them disagree with some of the ideas in the novel, they are thrilled that their parishioners are eager to discuss religion. Father John Sewell of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Memphis stated it particularly eloquently in the press recently, saying: “This [novel] is not a threat. This is an opportunity. We are called to creatively engage the culture and this is what I want to do. I think Dan Brown has done me a favor. He’s letting me talk about things that matter.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THE BOOK’S SUCCESS?
Stunned. I worked very hard on this novel, and I certainly expected people would enjoy it, but I never imagined so many people would be enjoying it this much. I wrote this book essentially as a group of fictional characters exploring ideas that I found personally intriguing. These same themes obviously resonate with a great many people.

THIS NOVEL IS VERY EMPOWERING TO WOMEN. CAN YOU COMMENT?
Two thousand years ago, we lived in a world of Gods and Goddesses. Today, we live in a world solely of Gods. Women in most cultures have been stripped of their spiritual power. The novel touches on questions of how and why this shift occurred and on what lessons we might learn from it regarding our future.

THE COVER OF YOUR BOOK MENTIONS “THE GREATEST CONSPIRACY OF THE PAST 2000 YEARS.” WHAT IS THIS CONSPIRACY?
Revealing that secret would rob readers of all the fun, but I will say that it relates to one of the most famous histories of all time a legend familiar to all of us. Rumors of this conspiracy have been whispered for centuries in countless languages, including the languages of art, music, and literature. Some of the most dramatic evidence can be found in the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci, which seem to overflow with mystifying symbolism, anomalies, and codes. Art historians agree that Da Vinci’s paintings contain hidden levels of meaning that go well beneath the surface of the paint. Many scholars believe his work intentionally provides clues to a powerful secret a secret that remains protected to this day by a clandestine brotherhood of which Da Vinci was a member.

WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR THE DA VINCI CODE?
This particular story kept knocking on my door until I answered. I first learned of the mysteries hidden in Da Vinci’s paintings while I was studying art history at the University of Seville in Spain. Years later, while researching Angels & Demons and the Vatican Secret Archives, I encountered the Da Vinci enigma yet again. I arranged a trip to the Louvre Museum where I was fortunate enough to view the originals of some of Da Vinci’s most famous works as well as discuss them with an art historian who helped me better understand the mystery behind their surprising anomalies. From then on, I was captivated. I spent a year doing research before writing The Da Vinci Code.

HOW DID YOU GET ALL THE INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THIS BOOK?
Most of the information is not as “inside” as it seems. The secret described in the novel has been chronicled for centuries, so there are thousands of sources to draw from. In addition, I was surprised how eager historians were to share their expertise with me. One academic told me her enthusiasm for The Da Vinci Code was based in part on her hope that “this ancient mystery would be unveiled to a wider audience.”

YOU SEEM TO HAVE A FASCINATION WITH SECRET SOCIETIES? CAN YOU COMMENT?
My interest in secret societies is the product of many experiences, some I can discuss, others I cannot. Certainly my research of organizations like NSA, the Vatican, NRO, and Opus Dei continues to fuel my intrigue. At a more fundamental level, though, my interest sparks from growing up in New England, surrounded by the clandestine clubs of Ivy League universities, the Masonic lodges of our Founding Fathers, and the hidden hallways of early government power. New England has a long tradition of elite private clubs, fraternities, and secrecy. On that theme, the next Robert Langdon novel (already in progress) is set deep within the oldest fraternity in history the enigmatic brotherhood of the Masons.

WOULD YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A CONSPIRACY THEORIST?
Hardly. In fact, I’m quite the opposite–more of a skeptic. I see no truth whatsoever in stories of extraterrestrial visitors, crop circles, the Bermuda Triangle, or many of the other “mysteries” that permeate pop culture. However, the secret behind The Da Vinci Code was too well documented and significant for me to dismiss.

CAN YOU SYNOPSIZE THE PLOT FOR US?
Sure. A renowned Harvard symbologist is summoned to the Louvre Museum to examine a series of cryptic symbols relating to Da Vinci’s artwork. In decrypting the code, he uncovers the key to one of the greatest mysteries of all time and he becomes a hunted man.

THE MUSIC MAN @ Fairmont HS

This weekend is Fairmont High School’s production of Meredith Wilson’s THE MUSIC MAN. The shows are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30PM, and Saturday at 2:00PM. Once again, Terence Kalba is back at the reins as choreographer and his work is always thrilling.

Here are some photos from the rehearsals:

For more photos of rehearsals, please visit:
http://profiles.yahoo.com/dljh_dayton

New Mystery Celebrity

Chris Stevens guessed last week’s Mystery Celebrity correct:
I am always curious to know what has happened to celebrities when they are no longer in the lime light.

Can anyone guess who this lady is?

Clue: she was born June 17, 1964.

ERIN MURPHY who played “Tabitha” on BEWITCHED.

This week’s mystery celebrity…

Born in 1945 and was a familiar personality as a teenager.

MANHUNT

I just read this great book! Highly recommended! Today is the last full day, 141 years ago, when John Wilkes Booth lived his last.

In his book, “Manhunt,” James L. Swanson recounts in detail how Union soldiers and detectives chased John Wilkes Booth.

Abraham Lincoln’s assassination set off one of the greatest manhunts in American history. For 12 days, Union soldiers and detectives chased John Wilkes Booth through the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia. In his book, “Manhunt,” James L. Swanson, uses rare archival materials, obscure trial transcripts, and Lincoln’s own blood relics, to give a gripping hour-by-hour account told through the eyes of the hunted and the hunters. Booth is at the center of this tale. A Confederate sympathizer and a member of a celebrated acting family, he threw away his fame and wealth for a chance to avenge the South’s defeat. Swanson was invited on “Today” to talk about his book.

Read an excerpt:

Chapter One”I Had This Strange Dream Again Last Night”

John Wilkes Booth awoke Good Friday morning, April 14, 1865, hungover and depressed. The Confederacy was dead. His cause was lost and his dreams of glory over. He did not know that this day, after enduring more than a week of bad news and bitter disappointments, he would enjoy a stunning reversal of fortune. No, all he knew this morning when he crawled out of bed in room 228 at the National Hotel, one of Washington’s finest and naturally his favorite, was that he could not stand another day of Union victory celebrations.

Booth assumed that April 14 would unfold as the latest in a blur of eleven bad days that began on April 3 when Richmond, the Confederacy’s citadel, fell to the Union. The very next day the tyrant, Abraham Lincoln, visited his captive prize and had the audacity to sit behind the desk occupied by the first and last president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis. Then, on April 9, at Appomattox Court House, Robert E. Lee and his glorious Army of Northern Virginia surrendered. Two days later Lincoln made a speech proposing to give blacks the right to vote, and last night, April 13, all of Washington celebrated with a grand illumination of the city. And today, in Charleston harbor, the Union planned to stage a gala celebration to mark the retaking of Fort Sumter, where the war began four years ago. These past eleven days had been the worst of Booth’s young life.

He was the son of the legendary actor and tragedian Junius Brutus Booth, and brother to Edwin Booth, one of the finest actors of his generation. Twenty-six years old, impossibly vain, preening, emotionally flamboyant, possessed of raw talent and splendid élan, and a star member of this celebrated theatrical family — the Barrymores of their day — John Wilkes Booth was willing to throw away fame, wealth, and promise for his cause. Handsome and charismatic, he was instantly recognizable to thousands of fans in both the North and the South. His physical beauty astonished all who beheld it. A fellow actor once described him: “Picture to yourself Adonis, with high forehead, sweeping black hair, a figure of perfect youthful proportions and the most wonderful black eyes in the world. Such was John Wilkes Booth. At all times his eyes were his striking features but when his emotions were aroused they were like living jewels.” Booth’s passions included fine clothing, delectable women, and the romance of lost causes.

Booth’s day began in the dining room of the National, where he was seen eating breakfast with Miss Carrie Bean. Nothing unusual about that — Booth, a voluptuous connoisseur of young women, never had trouble finding female company. Around noon he walked over to Ford’s Theatre on Tenth Street between E and F, a block above Pennsylvania Avenue, to pick up his mail. Accepting correspondence on behalf of itinerant actors was a customary privilege Ford’s offered to friends of the house. Earlier that morning Henry Clay Ford, one of the three brothers who ran the theatre, ate breakfast and then walked to the big marble post office at Seventh and F and picked up the mail. There was a letter for Booth.

That morning another letter arrived at the theatre. There had been no time to mail it, so its sender, Mary Lincoln, used the president’s messenger to bypass the post office and hand-deliver it. The Fords did not even have to read the note to know the good news it contained. The mere arrival of the White House messenger told them that the president was coming tonight! It was a coup against their chief rival, Grover’s Theatre, which was offering a more exciting entertainment: Aladdin! Or His Wonderful Lamp. Master Tad Lincoln and chaperone would represent the family there. The letter, once opened, announced even greater news. Yes, the president and Mrs. Lincoln would attend this evening’s performance of Tom Taylor’s popular if tired comedy Our American Cousin. But the big news was that General Ulysses S. Grant was coming with them. The Lincolns’ timing delighted the Fords. Good Friday was traditionally a slow night, and news that not only the president — after four years a familiar sight to Washingtonians — but also General Grant, a rare visitor to town and fresh from his victory at Appomattox, would attend, was sure to spur ticket sales. This would please Laura Keene, who was making her one thousandth performance in the play; tonight’s show was a customary “benefit,” awarding her a rich share of the proceeds. The Lincolns had given the Fords the courtesy of notification early enough in the day for the brothers to promote their appearance and to decorate and join together the two boxes — seven and eight — that, by removal of a simple partition, formed the president’s box.

By the time Booth arrived at Ford’s, the president’s messenger had come and gone. Sometime between noon and 12:30 p.m. as he sat outside on the top step in front of the main entrance to Ford’s reading his letter, Booth heard the galvanizing news. In just eight hours the subject of all of his brooding, hating, and plotting would stand on the very stone steps where he now sat. This was the catalyst Booth needed to prompt him to action. Here. Of all places, Lincoln was coming here. Booth knew the layout of Ford’s intimately: the exact spot on Tenth Street where Lincoln would step out of his carriage; the place the president sat every time he came to the theatre; the route through the theatre that Lincoln would walk and the staircase he would ascend to the box; the dark, subterranean passageway beneath the stage; the narrow hallway behind the stage that led to the back door that opened to Baptist Alley; and how the president’s box hung directly above the stage. Booth had played here before, most recently in a March 18 performance as Pescara in The Apostate.

Mystery Celebrity

I am always curious to know what has happened to celebrities when they are no longer in the lime light.

Can anyone guess who this lady is?

Clue: she was born June 17, 1964.

Create your own palette

When we enter a room or see an object for the first time, our minds register its color before any other detail. The colors our eyes can perceive are like words that form a subtle language of mood, energy, and insight. Color can exert a gentle effect on the mind and the body, influencing our dispositions and our physical health. Color has the ability to trigger our emotions, affect the way we think and act, and influence our attitudes. You unconsciously respond to the color of the walls in your home, your car, your clothing, and the food you eat based on your body’s natural reactions to certain colors and the psychological associations you have formed around them. The consequences of the decision to paint a room or wear a specific article of clothing therefore goes beyond aesthetics.

The colors you encounter throughout your day can make you feel happy or sad, invigorate you or drain your vitality, and even affect your work habits. Throughout history, cultures spread over many different parts of the globe have attributed varying meanings to different colors. In China, blue is associated with immortality, while people in the Middle East view blue as a color of protection. There is also evidence that human beings respond to color in a very visceral way. Red excites us and inflames our passions. Too much red, however, can make us feel overstimulated and irritated. Pink tends to make people feel loved and protected but also can cause feelings of lethargy. Yellow represents joy or optimism and can energize you and help you think more clearly. Bright orange reduces depression and sadness. Blue and green are known to inspire peaceful feelings, and people are often able to concentrate better and work in rooms painted in soft blues and greens. The darker tones of! both colors can make you feel serious and introspective.

There are ways to integrate color into your life that go beyond picking the hues of your décor and your wardrobe. You can meditate with color by concentrating on the colors that make you feel peaceful or using a progression of colors to symbolize a descent into a relaxed state. Color breathing involves visualizing certain colors as you in inhale and exhale. Choose to surround yourself with the colors that you are attracted to and make you feel good, and you can create an environment that makes you feel nurtured, peaceful, and uplifted.

Things That Never Die

This past weekend, the Ball State University Singers offered the most moving encore, a tender melody set to a Charles Dickens poem.

To hear the University Singers – click on or go to:
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/clickit/search?r_aid=6C27D43E89A24E4BA2995DB0931C98F0&r_eop=1&r_sacop=3&r_spf=0&r_cop=main-title&r_snpp=3&r_spp=0&qqn=FJh6LFV.&r_coid=372372&rawto=http://web.bsu.edu/jcarter2/things%20that%20never%20die.WAV

Things That Never Die
The pure, the bright, the beautiful
that stirred our hearts in youth,
The impulses to wordless prayer,
The streams of love and truth,
The longing after something lost,
The spirit’s longing cry,
The striving after better hopes–
These things can never die.

The timid hand stretched forth to aid
A brother in his need;
A kindly word in grief’s dark hour
That proves a friend indeed;
The plea for mercy softly breathed,
When justice threatens high,
The sorrow of a contrite heart–
These things shall never die.

Let nothing pass, for every hand
Must find some work to do,
Lose not a chance to waken love–
Be firm and just and true.
So shall a light that cannot fade
Beam on thee from on high,
And angel voices say to thee–
“These things shall never die.”

~ Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Spectacular 2006

Here are some photographs from the 42nd Ball State University Singers SPECTACULAR…<a

Spring Break 2006

Here are our photos from our Washington, DC portion of our Spring Break.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/my_photos Then go to Spring Break 2005-2006. You can put them on Slideshow and adjust the speed.

We left at midnight Thursday/Friday, and arrived at Arlington Cemetery at 8:30AM… and then we were off running!

FRIDAY
* Arlington Cemetery – ironically the favorite portion of the trip for the boys; saw changing of the guard and wreath laying ceremony; also saw graves of President Taft from Ohio and grave site of Robert Todd Lincoln and son, Abraham Lincoln II.

* The Awakening – a really neat statue; ate lunch here

* Mount Vernon – home of George & Martha Washington; in the garden is a bench where my Grandma Donna sat for a photograph during her 1940 senior class trip; since then, each time we visit Mt. Vernon, we sit on this bench for a photo.

SATURDAY
* The White House Garden Tour – if you ever have a chance to take this tour – do it! It was as good as going in the house (which I really wanted to do!). The Marine Band was playing on the South Portico (but not for me specifically) and they played a medley from my favorite musical, RAGTIME. You can see the the West Wing, Oval Office and The Rose Garden where Tricia Nixon was married in 1972. Towards the end you can see The Children’s Garden established by Lady Bird Johnson – featuring hand prints in brass molds of all the White House grandchildren since 1968.



* The Old Post Office – we ate lunch in the beautifully remodeled Old Post Office. In the tower we got a great view of all Washington.

* Ford’s Theatre/Peterson House – the box where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and the room/bed in which he died.


* The International Spy Museum – (no photos) Go see this when you visit Washington – I loved this place and could have spent an additional 2 hours! http://www.spymuseum.org/index.asp
* Monuments by Night – we took a great walking tour of all the monuments lit up at night. The new WWII Memorial is absolutely moving!

SUNDAY
* National Cathedral – we worshiped here at 9:00AM and it was gorgeous. We paid a visit to President Woodrow Wilson’s tomb near where we sat, and then looked a round following the service.


* The Mall – we again toured the Mall to see the monuments

* The Tidal Basin – what a great time to visit – the Cherry Blossom Festival! We walked around the entire Tidal Basin which was packed with others in for the festival. We ate lunch at the FDR Memorial, and then walked around to the Jefferson Memorial. While I was photographing the statue the boys came and grabbed me. Jose said, “Father! We found the other Washington Monument!” When you look through the photographs you will see what he meant. It was a riot!


* The Holocaust Museum – (no photos) Kind of a downer for such a beautiful day, but the boys seemed to appreciate it.
* Union Station – I have always wanted to visit Union Station and this was a treat for me.

MONDAY
* While riding the subway from Union Station to The Smithsonian complex, I accidentally pulled us off the train too early. We hopped back on the next train and Jose said, “Look in the next train! There’s Nick Budich!” Sure enough, there was one of my students, Nick and his family. Nick is in show choir and has been in the musicals at Fairmont. He has often watched our house/pets when we were away, and frequently use our bathroom going to and from school.
* The Smithsonian/American History – we saw the entire American History Museum which is always my favorite part. We spent a good deal of time in the new American War and American President exhibits on the third floor. In the basement is a great exhibit on transportation which I loved. Matthew and I had watched a DVD on the Smithsonian and it featured this exhibit. My two favorite portions were the first automobile trip across the continent and the portion of Route 66 – how cool.

* The Smithsonian/Natural History – we popped in and out of this as it is so huge – but the boys got to see the world’s largest diamond – the Hope Diamond.


* The National Archives – it was impossible to photograph the documents and get them to turn out; however, I did photograph the bathroom where, in the movie NATIONAL TREASURE, Nicholas Cage changed clothes and prepped to steal the Declaration of Independence. They now have a brand new wing called the Public Vaults which has so many interesting items – I could have spent a day here.

* Old Post Office – ate there again and went to the tower.
* The Smithsonian/Air & Space Museum – seeing the 1903 Wright Flyer always gives me chills. Now, instead of hanging in the main hall, it is in its own special exhibit – on the floor for a closer look. I have mixed feelings on this as I love walking into the main hall and seeing it hanging above. Still, the exhibit is fantastic. In another room there are some items from Glenn Curtiss – the aviator who challenged the Wright patent. Curtiss’ motorcycle and trophies are on display. After walking through the fantastic Apollo exhibit, we ate ice cream on the Mall and then returned to watch the 3-D Apollo film in the IMAX.

TUESDAY
* After wading through eleven miles of traffic, we arrived at Arlington Cemetery and took the subway to The Capitol Complex.
* Longworth Building – one of the congressional office buildings was named after Nicholas Longworth, a congressman from Cincinnati, who married Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter. We went to the 7th floor and met with the staff of our representative, Mike Turner, a former Dayton mayor (and a damned good one!).

* The Capitol Building – our intern was deplorable! He really did not know his facts, and it was a miserable tour for me. I did keep my mouth shut – though I was boiling beneath the service. He told our group of 8 that President Garfield was shot in the rotunda and died instantly – Garfield was shot in a Washington, DC train station on July 2 and died September 18. And that was only the beginning! Ugh!!! We went in to listen to a speech from a representative from Oregon, and as we were leaving the House Chambers, I heard, “Hey, Mr. Haas!” And there was Nick Budich and his family again.

We returned to Arlington Cemetery via the subway and took the George Washington Parkway out of the city for some great views. The boys both agreed that, though they loved Disney World and Orlando last year, they felt this was the best.

At 10:00PM, Tuesday, April 4th, we pulled into our driveway! The Lockharts, with whom Flyer stayed, was already back and eagerly awaiting us.

Whew! Catching up!

Man – I am finally feel as though I am catching up but the two loads of laundry in my bedroom tell me otherwise.

Last week was a true baptism into single-parenting and fatherhood as I dealth with being sick and Jose’s traumatic few days of broken collar bones and breaking teeth. There was a ton of data research at the Muse Machine and I felt as though all I did was type in numbers. I am still typing in numbers.

This weekend is Vandalia Butler High School’s production of Beauty & The Beast and my student, Nathaniel Stevens, has the lead of the Beast. I went to see him rehearse Monday and Tuesday evenings and he is doing a superb job – especially for his first round as a major lead. I am going to run up there again tomorrow to see it one last time before opening night, which is Friday. I will take Matthew on Friday so he can see his Sunday school classmate, and then Saturday, Jose will attend with me since Matthew will be singing with the Fairmont HS music department as they christen the new performing arts facility.

Next week Jose has a choral concert, and hopefully, we will be heading out of here to Washington, DC for Spring break. I am so far behind on the planning that I am beginning to get nervous – but it always comes together.

A Concrete Dream

Our desires act as fuel, propelling us toward new horizons. Without something to strive for, we stagnate and become stuck in ruts of our own making because we are unsure of what to do next. Goals are the dreams that we are willing to work for. When we set goals, we take responsibility for our lives and choose to wholeheartedly devote ourselves to our aspirations. Even if we only take the smallest steps toward achieving our ambitions, it is vital that we actively pursue our goals rather than just daydreaming about them. Having goals makes us feel good because it adds a sense of purpose and direction to our lives.

When you endeavor to achieve clear and quantifiable goals, your choices and actions take on new significance. Consciously creating your goals can help ensure that the success you seek is attainable and serves you. Your plan must be conceivable, tangible, and measurable. If you cannot visualize your goal in great detail or believe that you can realize them, you may find it difficult to commit to your goals and take the necessary steps to achieve them. Make sure that your goals have the potential to be emotionally satisfying. You may even want to write them down. Putting your goals into words can keep your intention fresh in your mind and remind you of your purpose. As you make progress toward realizing your goals, give yourself a reward each time you take a step forward so that you have the incentive to keep going. If you find yourself stuck in a rut, examine ways in which you can revise your strategy so that your plan can work.

In creating goals, you create your future by outlining your destiny. When you choose your goals using your head and heart, you take the first step in manifesting what you want. You grant your own wishes every time you achieve another goal.

A Separate Reality

We all experience periods where we feel separated from the loving ebb and flow of the universe. These times of feeling disconnected from the source may occur for many reasons, but self-sabotage is the most common cause for us choosing to cut ourselves off from the flow of the universe. We purposefully, though often unconsciously, cut ourselves off from this flow and from the embrace of humanity so we can avoid dealing with painful issues, shun the necessary steps for growth, or prevent the success that we are afraid of achieving from ever happening. When you choose to disconnect from the source, you block the flow of the universe’s energy from passing through you. You become like a sleepwalker who is not fully awake to life, and your hopes, plans, and dreams begin to appear as distant blurs on a faraway horizon. Universal support has never left you, but if you can remember that you became disconnected from source by choice, you can choose to reconnect.

Reconnecting with the universe grounds you and is as easy as you making a concerted effort to become interested in the activities you love or responding to what nurtures or stimulates you. You may also want to make a list of the activities and kinds of experiences that touch your soul. Try to pinpoint the times when you have felt fully engaged and aware and ask yourself what you were doing. But one of the easiest ways to reconnect is simply by stating the intention of doing so.

When you disconnect from the universe, your sense of purpose, creativity, and ability to be innovative are not as easy to access. You may also experience a deep and empty sense of longing or feel devoid of ideas or unworthy of love. It’s important, however, to recognize that being disconnected from the universe is never a permanent state, and it can be reversed any time you decide that you are ready to reconnect. When you are connected to the universe, all aspects of your being will feel alive as the flow of the universe pours through your being and into your life.

Beginnings And Endings

As we walk through the world, the people we encounter appear so different from one another. We see babies, old men, pregnant women, and teenaged boys. We know couples on the verge of marriage and lonely widows. We interact with toddlers and the terminally ill. As different as each person seems, they are all living the human experience. They are just at different places in the cycle that begins with birth and ends with death. Every phase of the cycle of life has its gifts and its challenges. Each stage is temporary and ultimately gives way to a new phase. This ephemeral quality makes each phase precious, because it will never last.

One of the wonderful qualities possessed by babies and young children is that they are unaware that a cycle of life even exists. They simply are present to wherever they happen to be right now, and they don’t give much thought to the past or future. Being around them reminds us of the joy that comes from living fully in the moment. On the opposite end of life’s cycle are our elderly role models. They are a reminder that each phase of life should be treasured. Time does pass, and we all change and grow older.

Being aware of the cycle of life and our place in it makes us wiser. As we develop a true appreciation for the phase we are in, we can savor it more. A new mother going through a difficult time with her infant can more easily embrace her challenges because she knows that her child will grow up, and she will long for this time again. Difficult and challenging periods are inevitable, but – like everything that is a part of the cycle of life – they are temporary. When we are fully engaged with life, we get to savor and grow from each phase, and we are ready for the next one when it arrives. Fully embracing wherever you are in the cycle of life is the very essence to happiness.

Jose’s Week

Poor Jose!

The third day of track, Jose was running and fell. His collar bone seemed to be in a great deal of pain and the doctor confirmed (with X-rays) that his collar bone was broken. They showed me how to get him into his clavicle brace – which I have to assist with in the mornings.

The following Thursday, he was at the dentist and his tooth broke in half during the drilling. Dr. Bob glued, screwed and capped it – but three hours of discomfort for Jose.

Of course, he is the type of individual whose glass is “half full” and he has been a cheerful little soldier throughout all this.

Naturally, all this happens when I am down with walking pneumonia – sitting in waiting rooms of ER’s and dentist for a combined eleven hours. Matt asked one evening, “Can I go ahead and go to the ER with you guys tonight so I can at least see you?”

Fortunately it was our one night NOT spent in a waiting room.

Choral Concerts

Last Wednesday evening was the Fairmont Entertainment Company (FEC) Winter Showcase. The showchoir did a medley from the musical, Rent, but the spotlight was on the vocal jazz ensembles, especially The Eleventh Hour which cleaned up in the state competition last month.

Please see FEC concert photos at:
href=”http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/album?.dir=71f8&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos”>http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/album?.dir=71f8&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Tonight was the Kettering Middle/High School choral concert. The 7th and 8th grade choirs from Ketteing Middle School and Van Buren Middle School each performed three songs, and then the high school Treble and Concert Choirs, and the Symphonic Chorale each performed their upcoming contest pieces.

Jose was slightly nervous as I tied his tie, but I kept reassuring him there was no need to be nervous. One of my students offered some encouragement. Jose was fine! He actually smiled this time and opened his mouth more. Matthew, as always, was engaging as he sang.

I am proud of both boys and their performance skills. Matthew is so natural and seemed quite experienced. Jose, once he understands how talented he is – especially with movement – will be dynamite. I have contacted Chris Ott, the superb vocal percussionist for Eleventh Hour. Chris is also a tremendous dancer and trombonist – really neat kid!

The Kettering Middle School just did not seem to have it together tonight. Vocally, they were OK, but behaviorally, especially on stage, they were embarassing. Several of the Black girls just could not care less about the concert and I wanted, so much, to drag them off stage. I would be content with just the Van Buren choirs – who are under the direction of Brody. Brody’s students behave like professionals, and it was so apparent tonight when his middle school students were on stage. Hands down – Brody’s middle school choirs have their acts together.

To see more photos of the choral concerts, please visit these two sites:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/album?.dir=/da28
and
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/album?.dir=71f8&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/my_photos

The Long, LOng, LONg, LONG Weekend…

Wowee! What a fantastic weekend. Tiring, but fantastic!

The entire week was filled with meetings, extra teaching and very little time to breathe.

Friday
I worked a little later at The Muse Machine until Jeff Carter arrived. Jeff was hired to be one of the ajudicators for the Kettering Fairmont High School Show Choir Invitational and he arrived on Friday afternoon. He received a brief tour of the Muse Machine office suite, and then we took a quick trip to Woodland Cemetery to see the Wright Family graves, and past Hawthorne Hill, the home of Orville Wright. Since the boys had to be at the high school for the invitational set-up at 5:00PM, Jeff and I took the boys to Panera Bread to eat, and then I gave Jeff a tour of the new performing arts facilities. We drove north to Monte & Chris’, and then went to the neatest restaurant. It was great. Afterwards we spent some time with Monte & Chris at their home, and then I showed Jeff to his hotel in Miamisburg. I returned home to work on the MC script for the show choir invitational and finished it at 1:30AM. At 4:00AM, I was wide awake and could not get back to sleep.

Saturday
We were up before 6:00AM – the boys headed over to the high school at 7:00AM. I got there at 8:00AM and met with the judges. I was dressed in my new black suit with a deep royal blue shirt, and my new yellow power tie with blue rectangles. I felt like the male version of Cinderella at the ball! Everyone kept telling me how handsome I looked. I didn’t want to take it off. I was the MC for the entire day – from 9:00AM until 6:00PM – on my feet. I ate lunch and supper with the judges and had some fun discussions. I sat with Jeff for the evening competition. After the competition, with Beavercreek High School as the winner (my former student’s choir came in second), the students cleaned the host rooms and stage and we left around 12:15AM. I drove a student home and returned to arguing sons. I know they were tired, but they had allowed little infractions move directly into full fledged bickering. So, I brought them to my study and allowed them to solve it. I worked on Email, changed into my bed clothes and finally, at 1:00AM, Jose offered the first hand shake of truce. I went to bed at 2:00AM.

Sunday
What a great day for music at church. We left church and headed immediately for Indiana for the celebration of my great-great-uncle’s birthday. Frank was married to my great-grandmother’s sister, Marie, who passed away several years ago. Uncle Frank & Aunt Marie had a daughter, Susan, who is my mother’s age. Susan and I were always close as she has a boisterous sense of humor and laughs harder than any one I know.Susan has two sons, Todd, now 38, and Scott, now 35. Scott has always been one of my favorite people in the world – we just always seemed to hit it off. When he was in high school at Indianapolis’ Perry Meridian, he wanted to try out for drum-major. Susan brought him over to Ball State a number of times for me to work with him, and I went to Indianapolis to work with him. For two years, Scott was a fantastic drum-major! Now, Scott is married with two children, and I was so thrilled to see him. It had been 15 years and seeing him Sunday literally made my day. We got to see a lot of family members, and Uncle Frank was moved to tears when he entered to see 80 some people there to honor him. We left around 4:00PM and returned to Dayton – grabbed some groceries from Wal-Mart and then grabbed some Chinese food before heading home where I collapsed in my bed at 9:15PM.

For more photographs of Uncle Frank’s birthday celebration, please visit the following link:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/album?.dir=ea5b&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Whew! And It’s Not Over Yet!

Wow! When I look back on the past week or so, I am breathless – and the coming week is just as bad.

To recap:

Most of February 6th through the 11th, I spent most of my extra time preparing the sermon I gave on President Lincoln’s spirituality on February 12th.

Friday, February 10
My friends, Brody (Fairmont choral director) and Mark Tangeman (former choral booster parent) and I went to Cadillac Jack’s for an “all-you-can-eat-fish-dinner” which was excellent. Afterwards, we headed back to Brody’s for pipes and cigars (I only smoke my pipe) and drinks. Brody had written to a pipe tobacco company asking for their opinion on samples and they sent him a huge bag of various pipe tobaccos. So, we each tried 4 or 5 different bags, and took home one or two – and Brody still had about 25 bags remaining.

Saturday, February 11
I spent some extra time on the sermon, and called my friend, Jeff Carter, to hear his opinion on a few items. He was a tremendous help by refocusing my question – “was Lincoln a Christian?” By the time Jeff finished, the question was, “was Lincoln Christian?” Bingo! That evening I hurried to Monte & Chris Stevens’ to take photos of Nathaniel, his date and their friends as they prepared to go to the “turnabout dance.” Monte, Chris and I then joined 30 some others at the Japanese Sake restaurant for a delicious meal. Afterwards, we drove back to the Stevens’ for mint chocolate chip ice cream and conversation until 11:00PM. Ugh! I had intended to leave at 9:00PM, but they kept regaling me with stories which had me rolling. Still, I was a poor guest by overstaying my welcome. I have learned there are just some people in this world you just enjoy so much that the time literally, and sadly, flies by quickly.

Sunday, February 12
I had gone to bed at 2:30AM and was up at 5:45AM to head over to Our Savior Lutheran Church to take photos of the Dayton Mission Trip as they prepared to head to Slidell, Louisiana, where they would assist with the Katrina clean-up. Even at 6:30AM, Monte and I were in rare form. While they were in Louisiana, they did get to enjoy some of the preliminary Mardes Gras celebrations.

For photos of the mission trip, please visit:
http://www.dcmt2006.blogspot.com/

As usual, the ride to church was coupled with my Sunday morning phone conversation with Mother. The sermon seemed to go well, and many were lined up following the service to thank me. Chris, Adam, my sons and I went to Wendy’s for lunch, and Chris and I – as usual – spent nearly two hours chatting away about anything and everything as the boys patiently amused themselves. Afterwards the boys and I ran errands, finally settling at home around 7:00PM. I got in a kick to clean and shampooed all the rugs and carpets, and tidied up a little more.

Monday through Thursday, February 13-16
Busy week at The Muse Machine offices. Each night I downloaded pictures from the Katrina ravaged area, sent by the mission gang. I then loaded these photos on to the blog site I was keeping for the team. Tuesday was my sister’s 33rd birthday and the boys and I sang “Happy Birthday” her over the telephone. Wednesday I began feeling very run-down and somewhat “yucky.” I ran by the doctor’s and he said it looked like I might be coming down with strep-throat. I canceled lessons so students wouldn’t come down with anything I might have. I took my medicine, slept for several hours and then hurried to Van Buren Middle School for a parent-teacher conference with Jose’s teachers. You can choose autumn or winter for these conferences, and I always choose both. The report on Jose was great, and the teachers seem to love having him in class. Thursday night, the boys and I sang to my nephew, Andrew, to congratulate him on his 7th birthday. Later, Chris Stevens called and we chatted away for – well, let’s say it was after 1:00AM when we finally hung up.

Friday, February 17
I woke to a sore throat, tired and not wanting to do anything. The boys had the day off from school, so I took them with me to The Muse Machine. I introduced them to the staff and then they walked over to the Montgomery County Library and spent a few hours there. They came back around 11:40AM and went to get Chinese, then joined all of us for lunch. We left after 1:00PM and I took a nap for an hour or so. Taught, and then hurried to Action Adoption to teach a pre-adoption course. Normally I stay for a while and talk to Pat Hill, the executive director, but I was pooped and hurried home.

Saturday, February 18
It was a slow morning. I worked around my study and finally we all showered and dressed and headed to Wal-Mart to get salad and soda to take to the Stevens’ for a pizza supper. I got caught in “Stupid-fest” in the self-checkout lane – ugh! What morons! We ate pizza with Chris, Nathaniel, Adam and Nathaniel’s girlfriend, Emily. Afterwards, we drove over to Northmont High School to see a production of my most favorite musical, Children of Eden by Stephen Schwartz. I love this show. The students did a good job despite the fact it is a very big show to produce. Eden is a rich, animated production as delicious as Eve’s proverbial apple. But this is not just the epic story of what happens once Eve bites into the forbidden fruit. Schwartz and Caird go one step further, examining ancient familial relationships, specifically between father and children. Like a church experience without the religious fervor, Eden casts a warm spotlight on the consequences of disobedience and the importance of holding faith in others.

After the show we chatted with Monte who had returned from the mission trip, and we got to hear a few of the stories before calling it a night.

Sunday, February 19
Another cold day in the Miami Valley. We went to church, and then to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch with the Stevens family. The boys and I drove to Sam’s Club so I could get new tires, but the store in Centerville had closed its auto department for remodeling. The boys and I ran a few errands, and while getting a new keyboard and mouse for my computer, I spied a $9.99 DVD of one of my favorite movies, The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne, Maureen O”Hara and the ever adorable, Barry Fitzgerald. The movie has some of the most gorgeous scenes of Ireland, and the music, beautifully orchestrated Irish tunes, just melts the heart. I could watch this – or listen to it over and over just to hear the music. One of my favorite melodies, “The Isle of Innesfree” is the main meldoy throughout the movie, and it has the most haunting, lovely sound.

And this coming week:
Monday – Muse & teachingTuesday – Muse, teaching, The Music Man parent meeting
Wednesday – Muse, teaching, Matthew’s show choir concert
Thursday – Muse, teaching
Friday – Muse, teaching, Jeff Carter comes to town for the show choir invitational, dinner with Monte, Chris, and JeffSaturday – Show choir invitational from 7:00AM until approximately midnight
Sunday – church, hurry to Indiana to celebrate my great-great-uncle’s 90th birthday
So – if my blogs are not present this week – you will know why!

Lincoln’s Spirituality

Well, this morning I gave my Lincoln sermon, and was somewhat pleased with its reception.

Here is the sermon:

The Spirituality of Abraham Lincoln

“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these things were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”

One hundred and forty-two years ago today, Abraham Lincoln wrote these words. So often, President Lincoln is referred to as our most “Christian president.” Although few today would equate Lincoln with Christ so explicitly, our casual ways of talking about the martyred president embody something of an old idea.

Consider – if you would – these images of Lincoln:
v the common man of uncommon wisdom,
v the man who saved a country and freed the slaves,
v the man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief,
v the man who could forgive a hostile, warring nation,
v the man who showed great compassion and love for all humanity
v the teller of simple stories dense with meaning.

The day after Abraham Lincoln’s death was Easter Sunday and it took almost no time at all for the pious and patriotic people to transform Lincoln into the American Christ. American preachers forgot their prepared Easter sermons and rhapsodized about the martyred president. Some compared him with Moses leading his oppressed people to freedom. But most likened him to Christ – the savior of the nation.

A couple of years ago I was driving through the square in Hodgenville, Kentucky, a little community near the site of Lincoln’s birthplace, and I noticed that this town had draped his statue with holly, ivy and Christmas greenery. Without thinking a thing of it, the good people of Hodgenville had merged one humble but redeeming birth into another.

For over a century now, there have been tons of comparisons between Lincoln and Christ:
· Both were born in humble origins
· Both of their fathers were carpenters
· Both worked as laborers before beginning their careers
· Both loved all walks of life – especially children
· Both had many enemies who wished them harm
· Both were great story tellers
· Both were considered radical
· Both men were capable of great love for mankind
· Christ entered Jerusalem a few days before his death to shouts of “Hosanna” and “Savior” and “Messiah.”
· Lincoln entered Richmond, Virginia a few days before his death, also to shouts of “Hosanna” and “Savior” and “Messiah.”
· Both men looked after their mothers until the day of their assassinations
· Christ and Lincoln were both executed on Good Friday
· Christ, moments away from death, asked that his enemies be forgiven with the words, “Father forgive them.”
· Lincoln, in his second inaugural address the month before his death, pleaded with Northern states to forgive the Southern Confederacy – “With malice toward none.”

Modern religious scoffers have been reluctant to recognize Abraham Lincoln’s deep spirituality, in spite of the fact that he was often known as “Father Abraham” and has been described as one of the most deeply religious presidents the country has ever seen. The key to Lincoln’s belief system was a rough-hewn version of predestination that he absorbed from the evangelical Baptist preachers who scoured the frontiers of Kentucky and Indiana.

Yet for all of his familiarity with the Bible, and his invocation of Providence and of the Almighty, he did not actively participate in a church or lend his name and authority to a denomination. Lincoln was not, as his wife, Mary Todd, later described, “a technical Christian.”

The religious aspect Lincoln’s spirituality was this: Lincoln believed some form of providence was at work in the universe, but was unable to believe in Jesus Christ as his savior. He was once quoted to say that he would join the church that had engraved above its altar: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength.” Although he was unable to believe fully in Christian doctrine, he was never comfort-able in his unbelief. But what is so difficult to comprehend is how, during the devastation of the Civil War, Lincoln’s self-made theology reshaped American history. And the question that is of-ten asked among my fellow Lincoln scholars:

Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian?

Sadness and suffering appear to be at the core of Lincoln’s spirituality. At the age of nine, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the woman Lincoln claimed as his be-loved angel mother, died in the woods of the family’s Indiana farm. A few years later he lost his sister Sarah who was his closest companion in the world.

In 1850, Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln lost their three year-old-son, Eddie. With Eddie’s death, Mary turned to religion by joining the Presbyterian Church, and Abraham turned to the Bible. His thorough investigation of the scriptures launched him on a steady course that permeated his soul and his future political writings.

In 1862, one year into the Civil War, the Lincoln’s lost their cherished eleven-year-old son, Willie. This particular family tragedy tilted the emotional balance for Mary who sought comfort from an era popularized with spiritualists and séances.
But for Lincoln, this personal tragedy, coupled with the grievous casualties of the war, ignited an even greater faith in God and his own belief of a purpose driven life.

Religion became a hot issue in 1846 when Lincoln ran for congress against a famous Illinois Methodist minister, Peter Cartright. The Cartwright camp spread talk of Lincoln as infidel. Lincoln attended one of Rev. Cartright’s campaign speeches and took a seat not too far from the speaker’s stand. The portly and boisterous Rev. Cartright spied his tall, lean opponent and took advantage of this surprise visit. Rev. Cartright worked his audience into an emotional, revival frenzy.

Finally he said, “If you love the Lord, stand up!”

The crowd rose with arms stretched towards the open sky, cheering for several min-utes. Lincoln remained seated.

“If you are a Christian, stand up!”

The crowd rose again with cheers and outstretched arms. Still, Lincoln remained seated.

“If you know you are going to heaven, stand up!”

This time, the response was thunderous. Spying Lincoln still seated, Rev. Cartright looked over at his congressional opponent and pointed a finger. “You, Mr. Lincoln! Where do you intend on going?”

Lincoln rose to his full height of six feet, four inches, looked around at the thousands gathered, turned to Rev. Cartright and said, “Well, I intend on going to congress.”

The crowd roared.

The next day Lincoln responded to Rev. Cartright’s claims of Lincoln’s disrespect for religion with what is probably his most revealing theological statement. Lincoln wrote: “That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true, but I have never uttered any disrespect toward religion in general or of any Christian group.”

Lincoln was elected to the United States Congress. It would be his last political vic-tory until the presidential election of 1860. Lincoln would have gained politically by joining a church, maintaining a religious-front and keeping doubts to himself. But that would have been out of character.

Was Lincoln a Christian?

Although Lincoln never joined a church nor ever made a clear profession of stan-dard Christian beliefs, it is obvious that Christianity exerted a profound influence on his life for Lincoln’s speeches and conversation revealed a spiritual perception far above the ordi-nary.

It is one of the great ironies of the history of Christianity in America that the most profoundly religious analysis of the nation’s deepest trauma came not from a clergyman or a theologian but from a politician who was self-taught in the ways of both God and humanity.

The source of Lincoln’s Christian perception will probably always remain a mystery, but of the unusual depth of that perception there is no doubt. Nowhere was that depth more visible than in his Second Inaugural Address of March 1865. This address has often been called the greatest state paper of the nineteenth century, but it is more than a state paper. It is a theological classic.

This occasion on March 4, 1865, gave Lincoln his best opportunity to state the Bibli-cal faith that formed the center of his conviction. He included:
v fourteen references to God
v many scriptural allusions and
v four direct quotations from the Bible.

It is difficult to think of another state paper so steeped in Scripture and so devoted to theological reflection.

Once during the Civil War, a Northern minister told the president, “I hope the Lord is on our side.”

Lincoln, with what I personally believe to be his most prolific statement said, “I don’t think it matters that God is on our side, but it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”

During the war, God became even more instrumental to Lincoln because he believed God had a magnificent work for America to perform, a work significant for the whole world. It seemed as though Lincoln began speaking not to his country alone but to aspirants for freedom in all countries around the world, and not to his own moment in history but to the centuries.

The proposition that all men are created equal was a truth for the ages, and if Amer-ica, under God, achieved a new birth of freedom, it would stand as an object lesson to all nations.

Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian?

Yesterday afternoon I called up my dear friend of mine in Muncie, Indiana, who is a music professor at Ball State University and an ordained minister. My friend redirected in my thinking by relating a question proposed by one of his religion professors.

The teacher said to his students, “Many ask, ‘do I have faith?’ But what is important to ask is, ‘Am I faithing?’”

The professor turned FAITH into a verb.

As we discussing the mystery of Lincoln’s spirituality I began forming a much more pointed question:

“We can ask ‘Was Lincoln a Christian?’

But we’ll never know the answer. What we should ask is, ‘Was Lincoln Christian?’”

Now this I believe we can justify -Lincoln was, without a doubt, very Christian. But then my friend stated something that seemed to sum up Lincoln’s spirituality. He said: “If anything, Lincoln’s faith was consistent.”

That began unraveling even more ideas and questions – not about Lincoln, but about myself, and my life.

Am I consistent enough?
Do I love others enough?
Do I serve enough?
Do I forgive enough?
Do I love God enough?

The tapestry of Lincoln’s life is masterful. From his suffering he drew compassion. From his weakness he drew strength. Although today we see President Lincoln in stone and on the pages of American his-tory, he was our most human president, and perhaps our most Christ-like who modeled a consistent practice of his faith.

Lincoln’s summary of faith, which I read at the start, is still vital today.

v Have we forgotten God?
v Do we imagine that all the blessings of our own lives are produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own?
v Have we become so intoxicated with unbroken success that we are too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace?
v Are we too proud to pray to the God that made us?

And I ask myself: Am I consistent in my own faith? Amen.

Saturday & Super Bowl Sunday

Friday evening, one of my voice students, Katie O’Neill, drove Jose up to the Stevens’ home so he could leave with Pastor Monte and three fellow confirmands for Camp Muwana, an hour or so north of Columbus.

Saturday morning, I woke at 8:30AM having been out with Chris Stevens until 1:15AM. I began balancing my check book, worked on my up coming sermon on Lincoln, cleaned my study, and completed my taxes. Chris called at some point and we talked for about an hour or so. She indicated Monte would be coming home early to avoid the approaching snow storm. At 6:00PM, Matthew and I went to a Chinese dinner and then headed downtown to see the musical, Hairspray. We had listened to the music often in the car, and we all loved the music. The show is fantastic, and definitely worth seeing.

Before leaving for the musical, I called Chris to see if Monte had made it back and she reported he was snowed in! LOL! Kristen would step in to preach again, and everything else seemed to be falling in place. I agreed to arrive early to shovel snow and salt the walks.

Today was a bitter cold that tore right through the coat. After shoveling and salting, I could not shake off the cold. Sunday school, as usual, was sheer delight. Kristen gave a great sermon, and the hymns were good. After church, Matthew and I went to eat and then headed home, thinking that Monte and the four kids would arrive later in the afternoon. At 1:15PM I laid down for my Sunday nap and Jose called to say they would be arriving around 2:00PM. I slept for 30 minutes and then hurried back up north to retrieve my joyful Hispanic son and returned home to continue the nap.

After the nap, Jason called, then Monte, then Jason, then Frank, and then Jason again. Brody left a message at some point to see if I wanted to walk the dogs and smoke the pipes.

Now it is evening. The boys are down in the basement watching television and I am finishing up items before settling down once again with notes I am making for the Lincoln sermon. Susan Pringle, the part-time executive director for the Muse Machine is returning to Dayton this week and we have a major marketing meeting on Wednesday. I have reviewed all the notes and made my own suggestions, for what they are worth.

Tuesday is a parent meeting on the high school musical, and Wednesday is a choir boosters’ meeting. Most of my extra time will be spent preparing the Lincoln sermon. Saturday Matt is taking the ACT next door at the high school. I am also working with several case workers on three different boys from Idaho, Washington and Texas. My sister is throwing a birthday party for my nephew, Andrew, and the Ball State Singers is having a formal dance to which alumni are invited. There is just no way I can make it to Indiana and back in Dayton to be fresh for Sunday. I will be up early Sunday to take photos of those leaving on the Katrina mission trip to Louisiana, and will return home to prep for church.

I hope to produce more blog entries as there are so many things floating around in the brain. I have been in a period of re-inventing myself, and I guess the Muse Machine position is a portion of that. The dieting is so-so, but I am at least making an effort. Finding time for the exercise is the toughest thing, and I hate taking power walks alone. Brody is terribly busy (and married), so that puts a cramp in his time to power walk. Jason works out at 6:00AM – no way. I guess I will just have to reinvent my physical shape at another time.

He Was A Friend Of Mine…

He was a friend of mine,
He was a friend of mine,
Everytime I think of him,
I just can’t keep from cryin’,
He was a friend of mine.

Lyrics & Music by Bob Dylan Performed by Willie Nelson

“It is better to have love and have lost than never having loved at all.”

Last night, after teaching class, Chris Stevens and I went to see Brokeback Mountain. I had really not heard anything about it until a week ago when Chris mentioned it, and was somewhat hesitant to see it. Ironically, within a few days, several friends reported seeing it and suggested, even insisted that I should see it. I really don’t know that I can do this particular blog entry justice as I am still somewhat numb from the experience. When the credits had finished rolling, Chris and I were still sitting there staring at the screen. Since Chris and I had dinner plans afterwards, I held a tight reign on my emotions throughout the movie, not wanting to give in to the sadness that would have surely dominated my mood the remainder of the evening.

How does one describe Brokeback Mountain?

Star-crossed lovers. They’ve filled book pages and film frames for as long as those things have existed. Tristan and Isolde. Romeo and Juliet. Scarlett and Rhett. Superman and Lois Lane. And now Ennis and Jack. Take everything you know about how love works (or doesn’t work) when two people who are crazy about each other find themselves doomed to a life of separation by time, distance or culture—and remove the woman from the equation. What’s left is Brokeback Mountain.

Wyoming, 1963. Two young drifters turn up at a remote office and get hired to spend the summer together, herding sheep high up on Brokeback Mountain. Suspicious, laconic, stunned by cold and hardship, they don’t seem a natural pair – until, drunk one night, enforced intimacy turns to sexual contact. It’s a contact that is just as unexpected and unacceptable to them as it remains to some today, especially in the rural American west. In a stunning reversal, though, the drifters fall emotionally and physically in love. Up on idyllic Brokeback Mountain, far from social approbation, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) luxuriate in a rough-and-tumble idyll as Edenic in spirit as it is in setting. The mountain seems to bless their union, but inexorably the air begins to chill, they come down off the mountain, and they part.

Ennis moves to Riverton, Wyoming – where my friends Rev. Mike & Joy Johnson moved this summer – marries Alma and has two girls. Jack heads down to Texas on the rodeo circuit, marries Lureen and has a boy. But the men can’t get over each other, despite the fact that Ennis insists it’s a “one-shot thing.”

Five years later, they meet again – now married with children. As Brokeback Mountain moves the men’s story forward through the decades, they escape from their wives and pursue each other in an effort at recapturing the rural bliss of their primal scene, the isolation of setting and frozen emotional boundaries of the love preclude any intrusion of more modern accepting attitudes. Jack wants to shack up and settle down with Ennis. Ennis is too worried about what the neighbors might think. (It is the 1960s and ’70s, after all.) So they continue their separate lives, punctuating their painful existence with giddy sexual flings the pair dubs “fishing trips.” What follows is a slow disintegration of not only their own lives, but the lives of everyone they touch.

Ennis is the cool-as-a-cucumber type who wouldn’t hurt a fly… until you push him too far. Then he’ll crush you. The most emotional moment, when he appears in just such a rage, is when Alma confronts him about his relationship with Jack. This comes a number of years after their marriage has ended and she has remarried. As Alma tells him of the note she tied to his fishing pole before he left to meet Jack on one of their many “fishing trips,” she would find the same note, untouched, year after year. Ennis raises his fist to her but does not strike her. Instead he races out of the house and pummels the first guy he sees. That guy is no pushover, though, and the result is an intense exchange of blows. Earlier in the movie, at a Fourth of July picnic, Ennis socks a guy for swearing in front of his kids. The most heart wrenching moment is after parting ways with Jack that first summer on Brokeback Mountain… Ennis, crumples in tears and begins hitting a wall in anger and frustration.

The only reason Ennis’ marriage ends in divorce, teaches the film, is because he never should have been married… to a woman. The only reason Jack treks down to Mexico to enlist the services of a gay prostitute is because he doesn’t get enough face time with his true love, Ennis. And the only reason he doesn’t get that time with Ennis is because society won’t let them be together. That’s a powerful message far too many people are accepting, as evidenced by the emotion I could feel swelling around me when the credits began to roll.

Peering down through the years at the power of that Brokeback Mountain summer on the lives of Ennis and Jack, the movie delivers a virtually forensic vision of desire, denial and emotional cost. The depth of Ennis and Jack’s attachment to one another gives their lives meaning and drains all other meaning out of them, rendering the men both enriched and destitute emotionally. If Brokeback Mountain never shies away from the sexual truth of that attachment, it doesn’t settle for the merely explicit either. It’s a great love story, pure and simple. And simultaneously the story of a great love that’s broken and warped in the torture chamber of a society’s intolerance and threats, an individual’s fear and repression.

No American film before has portrayed love between two men as something this pure and sacred. As such, it has the potential to change the national conversation and to challenge people’s ideas about the value and validity of same-sex relationships. It will be moving for anyone who is open to seeing the challenges and difficulties of what, at that time and even for many today, is the self-imposed and society-imposed necessity to live dishonestly. And, to be trivial for a moment, the scenery is sensational. But in the words of Ennis, “Ain’t no reins on this one.” Woven into his artistically masterful tapestry is the message that homosexual relationships don’t work because society won’t leave them alone long enough for them to mature.

Personally speaking, words cannot express the grief one feels about lost love. Then again, wise words, music, movies or theatre can heal wounds and help us reflect on the tragedy. When two people love each other, they love each other. And people should hold on to it as hard as they can, whether it’s homosexual or heterosexual. In the end, Brokeback Mountain is a grand romantic tragedy, joining the ranks of great literature as much as great cinema.

He was a friend of mine
He was a friend of mine
Every time I think about him now
Lord I just can’t keep from cryin’
‘Cause he was a friend of mine

He died on the road
He died on the road
He never had enough money
To pay his room or board
And he was a friend of mine

I stole away and cried
I stole away and cried
‘Cause I never had too much money
And I never been quite satisfied
And he was a friend of mine

He never done no wrong
He never done no wrong
A thousand miles from home
And he never harmed no one
And he was a friend of mine

He was a friend of mine
He was a friend of mine
Every time I think about him now
Lord I just can’t keep from cryin’
‘Cause he was a friend of mine

The Road To New Beginnings

Life is a collage of beginnings and endings that run together like still-wet paint. Yet before we can begin any new phase in life, we must sometimes first achieve closure to the current stage we are in. That’s because many of life’s experiences call for closure. Often, we cannot see the significance of an event or importance of a lesson until we have reached closure. Or, we may have completed a certain phase in life or path of learning and want to honor that ending. It is this sense of completion that frees us to open the door to new beginnings. Closure serves to tie up or sever loose ends, quiets the mind even when questions have been left unanswered, signifies the end of an experience, and acknowledges that a change has taken place.

The period of completion, rather than being just an act of finality, is also one of transition. When we seek closure, what we really want is an understanding of what has happened and an opportunity to derive what lessons we can from an experience. Without closure, there is no resolution and we are left to grieve, relive old memories to the point of frustration, or remain forever connected to people from our past. A sense of completion regarding a situation may also result when we accept that we have done our best. If you can’t officially achieve closure with someone, you can create completion by participating in a closure ritual. Write a farewell letter to that person and then burn your note during a ceremony. This ritual allows you to consciously honor and appreciate what has taken place between you and release the experience so you can move forward.

Closure can help you let go of feelings of anger or uncertainty regarding your past even as you honor your experience – whether good or bad – as a necessary step on your life’s path. Closure allows you to emotionally lay to rest issues and feelings that may be weighing down your spirit. When you create closure, you affirm that you have done what was needed, are wiser because of your experience, and are ready for whatever life wants to bring you next.

"Holy Shit!"

When I discovered President Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, fell on a Sunday, I began pestering Pastor Monte about a Lincoln sermon. For some reason, it never registered that he and a mission group of fifty some others would be leaving for Slidell, Louisiana to assist with the remaining devastation of Katrina on the morning of February 12. Earlier this week, in an Email, I pestered him about the Lincoln sermon. That evening I was on the telephone with his wife, Chris, and I was sliding through the Emails he had sent earlier regarding the confirmands heading to Camp Mowana this weekend. And there it was…

Darin: “Do you have your Lincoln sermon started?”

Pastor Monte: “Actually, I had thought of asking you to preach on Lincoln’s birthday. I don’t know how you feel about preaching. Still can or you can pass. I will be leaving for Slidell, LA that morning and not be in church.”

I read the first line to Chris while laughing hysterically. What a jokester! Then, I continued reading further… “Holy Shit!” I exclaimed. “Monte’s serious.” Chris turned to Monte to confirm his seriousness.

Without giving it much thought, I agreed.

That night, the table next to my bed was filled with my Lincoln books, a pad of paper and a pen. It felt so good to be in a creative mode again – something I have missed terribly since beginning my work at the Muse Machine. I decided to speak on the spirituality of Lincoln, which I find so intriguing… our most Christ-like president who was not a technical Christian.

After it is delivered, I will post it on here.

The photograph above I found on the internet – it is my favorite photograph of him, and it has been colorized. I love it!

The other photograph is of wax sculptures of the Lincoln family at the new Lincoln Presidential Library Center in Springfield, which I hope to see in the near future.

Nothing New

Nothing new to report… I get up early, do house work or laundry, shower and go to work, spend five to six hours putting out fires and staring at a computer, come home and squeeze in a few more items before teaching for four to five hours, supper with the boys, a little time with them, work at my desk for an hour or so, and then bed. I am trying to read The Grapes of Wrath, but I get a page or two completed and I am sound asleep.

There is no time to do any writing, and this is creating an emptiness. In the musical, Brigadoon, one of the most beautifully written shows, Tommy Albright, the young American who enters the enchanted village and falls in love with Fionna, asks at the end, “Why must we lose something only to realize just how much we loved it?”

Flyer is always excited to see me when I walk in the door, but now she is even more so. At night, both Logan and Flyer snuggle a little closer in bed, and Logan, who for the past eleven years, would reluctantly give me one kiss on the nose each night, now gives me three or four.

Jose leaves tomorrow for a weekend at camp with his confirmation class, and I got tickets for Matt and I to go see Hairspray at the Schuster Center downtown. I may try to do some writing during the day, Saturday, but I also need to do some other things….

Ahhh…. life….

How Do We Do It?

I hear two-parent families talk about their busy schedules, juggling the load of taking their children to and from various events, often invoking the assistance from grandparents or other family members. Tonight, one mother sat on the sofa across from me, as the next student had not arrived, and was going through her schedule for today and tomorrow. Her husband, a major in the air force, is TDY and she is responsible for getting her two children to their various places – their saxophone and piano lessons, their tutoring and then home for supper and homework. The mother, who does not work outside the home suddenly stopped, was embarrassed and then began apologizing and howling with laughter. “I am so sorry! Here you have two children, work during the day and then teach in the evenings – and there is only one of you!”

And how right she is.

I did not tell her that I was up at 6:00 AM to do a load of laundry, cleaned my study, pressed some clothes, showered and slightly shaved, ate a banana, folded my laundry, packed my lunch, got the boys up, fed the dog, walked the dog and was out the door by 7:30 AM, and sitting at my desk at 7:54 AM.

By 8:00 AM I was swamped – and discovered a ton of mistakes scheduled last summer that almost reeked more havoc than I probably could have handled. Without lunch, I fixed every problem thrown my way. Then I hurried to the garage (where I have valet parking – it is still very sweet!) at 1:00 PM, went to the money machine, got a haircut (after waiting on four ahead of me), ran into Aldi’s to get three gallons of milk, hurried through Sears Hardware to get a stronger tape for the radiator hose – listening to one older employee’s litany of how he got a trucker home on duct tape around his radiator hose, rushed home to straighten the house, repaired the hose, walked the dog around the block, folded more laundry, made some coffee, prepared the spaghetti sauce, did the boys’ point sheet, and welcomed my first at 3:00 PM.

This is the way my day generally goes now. I could do a ton more on the weekends, but I refuse to. That is my time with the boys (and my newest son, Adam Stevens-Haas – this is how he signs the attendance pew pad at church) and my time to unwind. I cannot write any more – but this will come, and my love for research has come to a screaching halt…

And it is all still very, very good!

Whirl Wind Weekend

Friday evening, Monte and a van full of teenagers trapsed into the house to pick up Matt for a weekend youth retreat. I was in between the Salchak lessons and Sue Branson, and I forgot to hand over Matt’s registration form. After a round of hugs and filling the van back up with the teenagers, they headed southeast towards the Roberts Center near Wilmington, Ohio.

At 6:30 PM I received a call from Monte – “Do you have Matt’s registration form?” Yes, it was still on my desk. We went through the options and finally, I felt, since it was my error, that I should drive it there rather than Monte doing all the leg work on his end. Before taking off, I repaired a nick in the radiator hose, swung through Wendy’s to feed the youngster, and we were soon on our way towards Wilmington. On I-71 I realized something was wrong, and then the Hot Engine light came on. I pulled over to the side and opened the hood. The hose had slid off. That fixed, we sat a few minutes waiting for the car to cool down. We started back up and within a few miles the needle began moving back to the right. Grrr…. The Hot Engine light came on, again. I realized that the fluids had all run out. So, I added more (which I always carry in the trunk during the winter) and added several bottles of water to the radiator. After turning over the paper – finally – Jose and I made sure there was more water in the radiator. It worked. At 10:00 PM we were heading 48 miles back to Dayton. Now, how butch is that?

On the way home, Jose slept and I chatted with Jeff Carter who was in an Indianapolis hotel the night before an ISSMA vocal competition he was judging. We seemed to focus on the theme of “reinventing” ourselves – career, family, etc. Jeff is assuming a new position at Ball State, and will still – THANK HEAVENS – be directing the Ball State Singers. He has been to China twice this past year, brought the Singers up to a level, musically, they have never been, and adopted a new son. I now have two sons, am in the process of getting one or two more, and am beginning an entirely new life in the arts/education with the Muse Machine. I feel like several new chapters are opening, or have already opened, and it will be interesting to see where this all shall lead.

Saturday morning we woke early to work with the ladies from ACTION Adoption at the Miami Valley Adoption Fair held each winter at Fairhaven Church. It is always a big turn out, and well worth it as the agency always tends to get several new families through this fair. Several other families showed up and I got to spend some time with them in between talking with those who were investigating adoption. Jose was great with the children who came with other ACTION families – what a cheerful little babysitter.

At 3:00 PM we swung by Chris & Monte’s to retrieve Adam for the night. Chris was excited that her sister, Brenda, was coming from Columbus to spend the night since all her menfolk were away. Chris and I were chatting and she asked how I met my friend, Rick, and when I said, “At drum-major camp…” she saluted me as only a fellow field-commander could, and whisked me away to the guest bedroom where she kept photo albums. We checked out drum-major and band photos, and then she showed me photos of their wedding and the boys. She kept apologizing, but I do love looking at photographs! I think my home and blog site are proof enough.

The boys and I went to see Cheaper By The Dozen 2, and it was so well done! Steve Martin is the ultimate screen dad. I use to think that title belonged to Fred MacMurray, but Steve Martin is one of a kind. It was a delightful movie – hilarious in place – but it was also a very tender production for parents. At the end, when Steve Martin cried, I cried. I urge everyone to go see this movie, and then buy it when it comes out on DVD.

We hit the mall so Jose could get a memory card for their Play Station 2. I purchased a travel camera kit – which I later discovered does not work with my camera – though I was assured by the young sales associate it would! We left the hustle and bustle of the mall and ate at Olive Garden – a slow evening on their end. Fortunately, Adam brought a little technical contraption, much like a Game Boy, which played movies – at least the boys were entertained.

En route home, we began playing the alphabet game that does not seem to get old with my sons. Since each of us were only around the letter “I” I drove down to an area near Dorothy Lane and Wilmington Pike so we could get more letters. Determined to finish the game, we ended up several miles south in the Centerville-Bellbrook area near Wal-mart. I accomplished the letter “Q” as I drove through the McDonald’s drive-thru – “Quart Pounder.” Of course, to a 12 and 14 year old, that is just not fair. Well I showed them what “that is not fair” is. I drove to the Game Stop store to get my letter “X” on XBox! Haha! Take that, you prepubescents!

At home the boys immediately headed downstairs to the play station arena, while I tidied up the study and went to bed at 11:30 PM.

The next morning, we arrived at church while I was still chatting with Mother on the phone – a Sunday morning ritual while driving to church. Adam, who normally arrived with his mother, was not use to the Jolliffe-Haas arrival time – early. “I have never been to church this early in my life!” chuckled Adam. However, in my defense, it was only 8:57 AM and Sunday school begins at 9:15 AM. My grandfather was notorious for always arriving early – everywhere. So often we got to head on other excursions due to the fact we were ahead of schedule. Well, life is no different with his eldest grandson who follows the philosophy, “To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late.” I can remember how often we entered church on Sundays to turn on the lights, or on Saturday morning men’s breakfasts we would be there freezing until the fellowship hall and kitchen warmed up. Ugh!

Sisters, Brenda & Chris

Sunday school, as always, was fun. Brenda came with Chris and the class seemed to carry on as usual – tons of laughter and great conversation.

Since Monte was with the youth, Kristen Zimmann, a parishioner, gave a wonderful message about “influence” and the entire service flowed just as smoothly as though Monte was there. For some ministers, this would be uncomfortable, but I firmly believe that it is a sign of great leadership when the church can function normally when the minister is away. Kudos!

I did something I have never done before – I slipped out of church early. I learned that the youth would be returning to Monte and Chris’ home around noon, and Jose had made a special request to eat at Golden Corral (ugh). So we hurried to a Golden Corral near by and enjoyed the “culture” surrounding us at near by tables while chuckling at the bitchiness of our waitress. We retrieved Matthew and headed home. I slept for two hours and woke at 4:00 PM to run some errands, rake the back yard, sweep the first floor, dust, fold my laundry, cut Matthew’s hair and complete some Emails – all before 6:30 PM. Zinnnnngggggg!

Now, it is 11:25 PM and I am feeling tired… Sleep for six hours and then up for another day at the Muse and teaching – and it all starts over!

Chris’ Birthday Dinner

Chris Hetzer
Last night we had dinner with the Hetzers – Bill & Kay, and their two sons, Joey and Chris, to celebrate Chris’ (and Bill’s birthday). As always, it was a wonderful time with one of my favorite families. Kay fixed baked chicken breasts with a delicious sauce, baked potatoes, green beans with chopped almonds on top (which I really like!), cranberry sauce and rolls. Wow! It doesn’t get much better than that.

After dinner, the boys went out to play basketball while the three adults chatted for an hour or so. Then we had home made birthday cake and more fun.
We always hope to get together more often, but it seems as though our schedules raising our sons always hampers us.

Still Got The Touch

Tuesday afternoon I learned that Pat Hill’s father had passed away. Pat is the executive director of ACTION Adoption where I adopted my sons. Pat had been very close to her father and I knew that she had spent a good deal of time with him since he entered Heartland of Kettering last fall. I asked about funeral arrangements and then asked if she had any one to play organ/keyboard for the funeral service, scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 1:00 PM.

Wednesday afternoon, Pat sent me a few songs requested by the family. One in particular I did not know, “If I Had My Way.” Apparently, it was a song they kept singing to their father the last month or so he was alive, but the family could only remember one verse, and did not know the title. Right after work at the Muse, I attempted a quick internet search but it yielded nothing. I sent out an APB to all my music friends. The first responses were empty – and when I received a reply from the music guru of Dayton, Raymonde Rougier, saying she had never heard of it, I figured this song was not to be included.

Around 7:00 PM I received an Email from my former organist at Faith In Christ Lutheran Church. Beth is also a library specialist and found two sites which included the recording – one by the Mills Brothers and one by Willie Nelson. By 10:00 PM Wednesday evening, I had responses from about 14 friends across the nation who had located the lyrics – but no sheet music. I also learned it had been recorded by Frank Sinatra.

I arrived at the funeral home at 12:30 PM and the first thing Pat asked was about the song. Before I knew it, Pat had acquired a computer with internet access in one of the mortuary offices, and I was sitting in front of it listening to the link I had sent her the previous evening. She asked, “Is there any way you could sing at least the first two verse?” I explained that I had not done this in years, and that this was really a lot of pressure to accomplish – as it was now 12:40 PM. Pat leaned forward, placed her hand on my arm and said, “Oh, Darin, I know if anyone can do it, you can.”

That faith was so blind. Pat and I have discussed my career a good deal over the past four years, but she has never seen any of my work. Pat left the little office, and I began listening to the music on the link. The melody was simple enough, as was the harmonic structure. Although I was growing terribly nervous, I remained calmed and utilized 35 years of music training… I figured that I should stick with C Major as it would cause me the least grief. The only thing that concerned me was the fact there were a few secondary dominants sandwiched with in the harmonic progressions, and I could not determine if I had an E7 or D7.

After playing an opener, then “Amazing Grace,” it was time for “If I Had My Way.” I braced myself, still trying to figure out the secondary dominant question. All I had was a copy of the lyrics – the rest was memory and musicianship. I began an introduction – of what I sort of remembered, and then suddenly, the nervousness ended. I remembered what I always tell my students. “Very few people will know if you mess up. Hardly ever does any one sit in the audience or congregation with a script or score.” Well, if the family could not remember the song, I figured I was capable of pulling something off.

It is funny how the brain works, and how old techniques never leave you. Getting back on a bicycle came to mind as “the old touch” seemed to return. All those years of lifting songs off of recordings or the radio for the Ball State Singers, Kings Island, show choirs, bands… it all came back. A skill I had not used in years was suddenly resounding through my system, carrying me with confidence. The melody and words became one:

If I had my way, Dear
Forever there’d be
A garden of roses
For you and for me
A thousand and one things
Dear, I would do
Just for you,
Just for you.

If I had my way
We would never grow old
And sunshine I’d bring every day
You would reign all alone
Like a queen on a throne
If I had my way.

I felt great for two reasons:
As I have grown older and adjusted the career, especially the merger into family life, I figured the former musician in me would simply slip away. It has not. I may not be the fit, trim young man who bounced across the stage as the Prince of Egypt, Jacob’s favored son, but I am still have what it takes. The other thing was that I felt wonderful that I could bring this moment to Pat’s family. Pat has helped me acquire two sons, and is in the process of working on one or two more at the moment. This was the least I could do for her.

To hear Willie Nelson’s version: http://gabbiash.nstemp.com/hadmyway.html And I know this will make my friend, Debbie Allen, happy! She is the world’s biggest fan of Willie Nelson – and I would have never guessed such a classy lady would appreciate Nelson’s music as she does!

Excitement At Home

Tuesday evening, I taught late and was too tired to cook. I took Jose to La Rosa’s Pizza and we enjoyed personal pan pizzas which were delicious. At the end of the meal, my cell phone rang and it was Matthew calling.

“Dad, the policeman wants to talk to you.”

“The policeman? What policeman?” I begged.

“He wants to talk to you about the fence,” Matthew said, nonchalantly.

“What about the fence? What is going on?” I cried.

“Some teenagers drove their van through the fence. It was only the high school fence – not ours.”

The other got on the telephone, standing on our back deck, asking where our property line started and ended. He assured me that the metal chain link fence was the only one disturbed, and that the students were uinjured.

Jose and I arrived home to see the destruction of the fence that borders our house. I am still amazed that there were no injuries or fatalities. Apparently, the driver lost control and rammed through the fence, turning it enough to keep from running right through my study! The van tore through the grassy area between our property and the high school fence which borders the parking lot, exited onto the sidewalk, continued across the street and came to rest at the curb where the tire broke from the axil. Wow!

Several students called to see if we were OK,and the neighbor lady was curious. Matt had been in the house and heard the commotion but thought we had come home and I was moving something in the kitchen. He said the driver was standing out on the grass holding his head in frustration, probably saying to himself, “My parents will be so pissed.” Jose grabbed his head, immitating the driver and said, “I should have gone with GEICO.”

And that’s the way it was!

The Power of Music

A parishioner from North Riverdale Lutheran read my blog entry on our adventures at First Lutheran feeding the hungry this past Saturday, and responded with some of his own memories of growing up at First Lutheran. A few more Emails passed between us discussing memories of church, especially where music was involved. As a music teacher and performer, I have always understood the power of music. Music can be so healing and fulfilling, but it can also wield a remarkable blow when it reminds us of certain moments of sadness or loss.

A few Sundays ago, the organist played a gorgeous prelude, a fine arrangement of “Holy, Holy, Holy” which happened to be my grandfather’s favorite song. For me, starting service was a slight struggle, emotionally. This past Sunday, the choir’s anthem was a medley of the wonderful old tunes that contained so many of the songs with which I grew up. However, one particular song, “May The Circle Be Unbroken” seemed to momentarily shatter the enjoyment of the choir’s anthem. It is such a beautiful song, but I can never hear it without recalling its agonizing strains at my uncle’s funeral.

Tonight, one of my dearest friends in the world, Bill Hetzer, came in to pick up his son, Chris, from his piano lesson. Today was Bill’s 56th birthday, and I could tell he was not in a celebratory mood – something just seemed a little off. We stood talking about family and other items, and then he mentioned his son, Andy, and the tears began. Andy was 16 years old when his life ended on Mother’s Day, 1998. That following summer, Bill and I sat in many restaurants at lunch, crying, discussing Andy, our own mortality and the desire to adopt. He and Kay were not finished being parents, and I was wanting to build my own family. A part of me was hesitant as I watched Bill and Kay struggle with the loss of their own child, but the need to be a father was far greater. Today, Bill was listening to music as he was cleaning some rugs and the lyrics brought back thoughts of Andy. I had been discussing Andy earlier today at the office, as there is a family, Muse Machine board members, who are interested in adopting and will be contacting me this Thursday. Another ironic thing occurred today when my student, Zach, pulled a song from the Methodist hymnal for his sight-reading piece. It was “Come, Christians, Join To Sing” which is a very family tune to Ohio State Buckeyes. Andy was destined to play football for OSU, and this song is a Hetzer family favorite since its melody doubles as “Carmen Ohio” and the lovely hymn. The hymn, sadly enough, was what I led the congregation in singing at Andy’s funeral.

Music has triggered a lot of emotions this week, either at church, in Email conversations, or songs my students have sung in lessons. Today, while Katie O’Neill was singing a lovely musical theatre piece, “Love Changes Everything” and I realized I was choking up. Powerful and moving!

I love the power of music. Once I heard someone say that music is the language of God, or the angels. As a conductor, composer, musical theatre director and teacher, I love utilizing the powerful range of music to reach the cast, crew and eventually, our audience.

In January, 1957, my great-grandmother, Thelma Daugherty Barmes, a splendid pianist and well known as an outstanding soprano, was killed in an automobile-train collision. When the train conductor found her lying in the field where the train had drug her several hundred yards, she was lying there singing “The Old Rugged Cross.” When this story was told to her daughter-in-law, my grandmother, the haunting melody with rich text soon became anathema to my grandmother. I can still remember as a man in my twenties, my grandmother gripping the back of the pew as it was sung in church. Grandpa and Grandma could not bring themselves to open the hymnal when it was sung, and would stare straight ahead as if trying to push out the painful memories that haunted them. Although I was born seven years after Grandma Thelma’s tragic death, “The Old Rugged Cross” is often a sad reminder in some ways. When my cousin Tanya died three years ago, it was sung at her funeral and I saw the effect it still had on my family 45 years later.

Another song that makes me swallow hard is “Anchors, Aweigh” the Navy’s signature song. When I began piano lessons, my Uncle Ron was in the Navy. He bought me the sheet music “Anchors, Aweigh” which I eagerly practiced before his next visit from Virginia. Since his death in 1987, “Anchors, Aweigh” has become a joyful reminder of the wonderful uncle I had, but also a sad one since he is no longer with us.

There are many, many songs which do not haunt, but send chills up my spine. Of course, those are usually from musical theatre repertoire, but I do have songs which delight and lift me. One of my favorites is “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Each time I portrayed ‘Joseph’ or directed the show, it was always the song that seemed to empower me. I might be shedding tears as I sang this brilliant finale piece, but they were always happy tears. Classical music seems to lift me as much as my favorite musical theatre selections, and even the very heavy Mozart Requiem is uplifting. Although some Christmas and holiday music can move me to a higher level, there is nothing like patriotic music around the Fourth of July. “The Stars & Stripes, Forever” or Carmen Dragon’s stirring arrangement of “America, the Beautiful” are moments that send chills over me. Of course, my friend, Brody McDonald, my sons’ choir director, introduced me to the world of men’s chorus, a terribly powerful genre of music. There is nothing any greater than hearing a men’s chorus! Women’s choruses are lovely, but they just cannot seem to manage that rich sonority that men can.

When I was writing every morning from home I always had music playing. I might not be listening to it, but it was always on. Now that I work in the mornings at the Muse Machine, there is no music. Life has become exceedingly dull in this area, and I sorely miss the music in my day.

Sunday Night

Not much here tonight…

Sunday is always a blast! I cannot believe that at age 41 I am like a little kid going to an amusement park. Chris Stevens leads the class and she has become one of my all-time favorite people in such a short time. The others in the class are quickly becoming the immediate relatives in my church family, and I am so excited to see them each week. But still, Chris is one of the reasons I enjoy the class as much as I do. This week was really grueling as I began my new position with the Muse Machine, and the minute Chris walked into the room I could feel the stress begin to disappear. She has such a calming effect, and I always leave her presence with tons more energy and tons more joy! Everyone should have a Chris Stevens in their life!

Chris Stevens
I hope none of my pre-teen Sunday school teachers never scour this blog as they will be disappointed to not see their photograph here.

This morning I rose a little earlier than usual to fix a recipe by Katharine Wright, the younger sister of Wilbur and Orville for a dinner after church. This has become a favorite recipe for get-to-gethers as the Wright’s ‘macaroni with cheese’ has a different taste than to what we are accustomed from Kraft.

Boil macaroni for 15 minutes in water,
Drain water,
Boil in milk until milk is absorbed (or burnt),
Add a layer of macaroni to the bottom of a buttered baking dish,
Add pepper, a little mustard and grated cheddar cheese,
Repeat until filled,
Add a layer of bread crust to the top,
Bake until crust is browned.

After the lunch at church, the congregation had its annual meeting with a semi-state of the union address.

Before heading to Kettering, I traveled through the neighborhood to which I moved in 1990 and took some photos, and then some photos of where I work, and the Wright gravesite at Woodland Cemetery. We arrived home and I immediately downloaded all the photos off my camera, took a two hour nap and then worked a little from the desk. The boys were engrossed in video games, and though the dad side of me wanted to be down there – even reading a book while they played games – the other side of me was reminded that I needed some down time.

Now, I am off to bed to read for 30 minutes. I checked out Grapes of Wrath from the library, as well as the 1939 DVD starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell. I also have a book to read, If Grace Be True, loaded to me from a lady in my Sunday school class. I should probably start with her book so that I can return it to her next week. The other novel looks like a long process!

To see more photos of today’s dinner and congregational meeting at church, please visit: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/album?.dir=e74b&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/my_photos

Feeding the Hungry

In the stage play & motion picture, the character ‘Ethel Thayer’ says, “Sometimes you have to look at a person and believe they are trying the very best they can.”

This was on my mind as I watched the hungry, the homeless eating meals at First Lutheran Church in downtown Dayton. This was truly an enjoyable and fulfilling day, but also a one of reflection. Aside from those on the streets in New York City, the only exposure I had personally had with those in dire need was the nameless person I saw going through my trash can when I lived just across the river in downtown Dayton. After this discovery, I began wrapping up food and setting it on top of the trash to keep it from the raccoon family that shared our neighborhood. As a single person, I can imagine it would be bad enough to be in complete want, but as a parent with children it would have to be horrendous! This afternoon, I was even more thankful that I can provide a decent life for my family in comforts that may not seem much to my sons at times, but is far more than what most of these folks have.

Jose’s confirmation class at North Riverdale Lutheran Church, and several other Lutheran churches in the Dayton area, were the groups brought together for this very worthwhile community service. We arrived at First Lutheran Church on First Street and the students received their assignments. The first step was to make up sandwiches to place in paper bags along with chips so there would be something to take with them for dinner or the next day’s meal. The confirmands got busy making the sandwiches and doing a variety of other tasks. They quickly finished preparing the paper bag meals and were invited to make a sandwich for themselves. After eating, they realized they had quite a bit of time on their hands so the host pastor took the students on a tour.

First Lutheran Church was built in 1906, seven years before the Great Dayton Flood that devastated area in 1913. The church is built rather high above the ground, yet the water still rose 3/4 up the pews in the sanctuary. The minister pointed out the pipe organ which is approximately 153 pipes… wow! Monte and I hit the alter/choir area where we each took a turn. The confirmands took off on their own exploration as Monte and I opened up the pipes. What a beautiful sound!

The church is HUGE! Sadly, they are in a near non-existent state, worshiping 30-50 per week, and hanging by a few threads. In my opinion, several of the downtown churches in decline should band together and merge into First Lutheran. I am sure it must be dreadful to close one’s church, especially if it has held several generations of one’s family like ours at Trinity United Methodist in Elwood, Indiana; however, these people could do so much more as one united congregation, possibly saving the very beautiful, historic First Lutheran building.

After wandering through the chapel, which was just as gorgeous as the main sanctuary, Monte and I headed up to the second floor where there was a tiny piano keyboard of not more than 20 keys, located at the bottom of the stairs leading to the bell tower. I played the keys – silence. Monte played the keys just as I located the switch… BONG! BONG! BONG! The deafening noise startled us both and I know we both looked like 14 year olds (41 reversed) who had just touched something we should not have.

With that loud mischief accomplished, we headed up the steep stairs to a room about 30 X 30 feet. The first thing I noticed was a narrow, wooden stairs that wound up around the 40 feet high walls, leading to the top portion of the bell tower. Ropes from the carillons hung freely, and the former operating levers of the carillons stood there before us, echoing the advancement of the keyboard technology Monte had demonstrated a few minutes before. To the confirmand kids who passed by them, I am sure they were merely something to grab hold of, lifting the levers roughly hoping to create sound… but to me they were a part of a musical past that somehow connected me to my favorite Daytonians, Wilbur, Orville and Katharine Wright (Wilbur & Orville’s sister). I imagined that Katharine Wright, a Latin-Greek teacher at Steele High School which once stood a few blocks away, must have heard these bells time and again as she passed by First Lutheran on her two mile walk to the Wright family home at 7 Hawthorne Street, two miles away. When the Wright Brothers had their one bicycle shop two blocks south, they too must have heard these bells. In June 1909, when the Wrights returned from their European adventures, hailed as ‘kings of the air,’ the city of Dayton held one of its greatest celebrations. At 9:00am, June 9, 1909, the festivities commenced with whistles blowing and bells ringing for two minutes throughout the city of Dayton… I am sure the bells that hung some 80 feet above me were a part of that moment. In 1912, when the church bells rang to honor the life of Wilbur Wright who died from typhoid fever, I knew these bells contributed to the mournful orchestration as people filed into First Baptist Street a block away. Those levers, standing against the wall to gather dust, slipping further into a fading world of brilliant technology from its own time, were to me, a warm connection to the past of carillon musicians, the Wright family and a day when church bells were a common sound in most communities.

Monte made it further up the steps than I did. When I reached the room’s height of approximately 40 feet, I stepped out on to the little deck that looked out on to other roofs of nearby buildings, but up to the tall towers that dominate the skyline of Dayton. Monte moved on up the even steeper set of steps to see the bells and offered to hold the camera, but as I looked down through the open rail I left the 14 year old mentality at the carillon keyboard and was startled back to age 41. The dizzying height, coupled with the open rail was a little too much. Give me a roller coaster any day, but this I could not handled.

Back down the steps, I watched the young boys grab hold of the ropes, tug them downward, and cheer as they were lifted off the floor by the clanging bells overheard. Oh, how I wanted to give those ropes a tug, but was fearful my weight would bring the bell crashing through the wooden floor forty feet above. We met a parishioner who was moving through the attic area, showing us the cat walks over the sanctuary lighting and other little items. He was skilled in wood working and was eager to show us the original altar, like the
ancient carillon levers, standing in semi-forgotten corner gathering layers of dust. The altar was beautiful and I captured a few shots of it with the top portion of the stained glass window as a gorgeous backdrop.

As we moved down the stairs to the second floor, I noticed graffiti on the walls of the stair well – but suddenly, one listing, staring at me directly ahead, read, “Jose Haas was here January 21, 2006.” I could not tell if the wave of nausea was left over from the steps leading to the bell tower or from seeing graffiti in my own son’s fresh handwriting! The guy who had led us through the attic assured me the children were always encouraged to sign their names on the stair well’s walls. Although I was assured, I was still slightly uncomfortable. One of those ‘pick your battle’ moments as a parent… ugh!

After wandering around the church some more, and speaking a few minutes with the host pastor in his study, Monte and I moved back to the basement where the feeding had begun. The pastors gathered in one corner, observing their young confirmands at work. I observed my own sons, uncertain as to how this moment of staring some of their own past in the face would affect them. Matthew was in top form as he served up hot food to each visitor, smiling and offering small talk; Jose, happy as ever, poured drinks as though he was at a middle school mixer (or happy hour ten years from now!). Both boys had experienced food lines and shelter houses in their past, yet it did not seem to haunt them in any visible way. I was proud of them mixing with the visitors the way they did. I also observed the young folks from the church in the very affluent Oakwood, wondering how they would react – of course, to the team of boys serving it was like a day at Disneyland to them as they made the most enjoyment out of the moment. Finally, the confirmands were herded into another chapel in the basement for a “debriefing” of what they had experienced. The leader of this mission program spoke, and although his heart was undoubtedly in the right place, his presentation for “you youngin’s” was tiresome and far too preachy. The mission leader and his wife did provide an activity where the “youngin’s” searched through bits of dirt and rock to find unpolished gems, illustrating the worth of each individual we meet… still, it was rather lengthy, and the ever dutiful Matthew, who seldom wavers in his pew manners, was becoming glassy-eyed. Jose? Well, let’s just say he was Jose, looking at the speaker but definitely engaged in some mental journey to Disney World.

Leaving the church, Monte and I took the boys to lunch at an eatery near the Fifth Third Baseball Field – the home of our very own, Dayton Dragons. After an entertaining and refreshing chat (while my sons ran up a tab on $2.50 rootbeers – knowing their limit per meals is one!), Monte and Adam escorted us to Mendelson’s Liquidation Outlet. I had seen the gigantic, towering, anciet warehouse before but had never ventured inside. Although I found something I needed for my desk at Muse Machine, the building itself was another cultural adventure.

A beautiful bell tower of the Catholic church next to Mendelson’s in downtown Dayton.

After downloading and fixing up photos of the youngin’s mission moment at First Lutheran, I took the boys to see a movie, recommended by Adam, who had not seen the movie. I pulled it up on the internet and saw that the actress who played “Marie” on Everybody Loves Raymond and Shirley Jones (Oklahoma!, The Music Man and The Partridge Family) were in this movie. Great! Once again, my parenting skills in this particular arena seemed to dip greatly. I handed over my ticket to see Grandma’s Boy to the attendant, and stepped into the hallway as several other audience members stood in front of Jose and Matthew. I heard the ticket attendant ask my sons, “May I see your ID please?” They immediately pointed me out and the guy let them pass. Once again, I had unknowlingly taken my sons to a rated R movie. How could Mrs. Partidge appear in anything but a G rating? It was the raunchiest movie I have ever seen! And once again, my sons handled themselves like gentlemen and not like giggling, immature teenagers… but afterall, they were sitting with their father!

To see more photographs of our day, please visit: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dljh_dayton/album?.dir=7bf0&.src=ph

Walk The Line

When I heard there was a movie to be released on the life of legendary country singer, Johnny Cash, I must admit a moaned a little. I just could not see why his life should be captured on film; however, I was ignorant about Mr. Cash’s life and was jumping to conclusions about the film’s success. At Christmas, one of my all time favorite people, my great aunt, Norma, said she and her son had gone to see the movie and told me just how wonderful it was. I knew that I should probably give the movie a chance. At some point, Monte mentioned he would like to see it, so we arranged to see it this evening. Monte’s son, Adam, was the only one of the four boys who was brave enough to see it. Jose called a friend and somehow got invited quickly to spend the night; Matthew politely begged off; and Nathaniel made other plans.

I am so glad I did not miss this movie! Wow! What a new-found respect I have for Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. I learned so much that Naturally, when I hopped on the Internet to research the Cashes. I became even more fascinated with June Carter Cash and what a loving individual she was. One daughter (Johnny’s from his previous marriage, but June refused to use the word ‘step’ with any of her children) said, “June was just as much herself with the person working the cash register at the local supermarket as she was with the President of the United States.”

Over and over, I read of her contributions as a devoted wife and mother, and how Johnny Cash never failed to publicly acknowledge his gratitude for his wife’s faith in him as a performer and as a husband. Everyone should have someone like June Carter Cash in their lives. I have truly come to admire this lady, and applaud her husband’s career.

Here is the article from June Carter Cash’s funeral in Hendersonville, Tennessee…

“How June Carter Cash’s faith in God impacted others was a common thread that ran through the funeral service in her honor at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn., May 18.

“A lot of great things will be said about June today, but the greatest thing that can be said about her and about anyone is that they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” said Glenn Weekley, pastor of First Baptist Hendersonville, where Cash was a member.

“I’m so thrilled to be able to stand here today, knowing that June had that personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I think she would make sure all of us know that she is in glory today not because of any deeds she did but because of the deed Jesus Christ did 2,000 years ago when He laid down His life on Calvary.”

Cash, a member of the legendary Carter Family and wife of Johnny Cash, died May 15 at age 73 following complications from heart surgery. Among the nearly 2,000 people gathered for her funeral were musicians, actors and others Cash had reached in her lifetime.

Actor Robert Duvall, who Cash worked with in “The Apostle,” was in attendance as were singers such as Ricky Skaggs, Trisha Yearwood and Hank Williams Jr. Larry Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers led the service, noting that Cash gave him his first chance at making it in the music industry. The Oak Ridge Boys sang “Loving God, Loving Each Other,” and Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow sang “Angel Band” and “On the Sea of Galilee” in tribute to Cash.
Rosanne Cash was a stepdaughter to June Carter Cash, but she said June banished the words “stepdaughter” and “stepmother” from her vocabulary and accepted all the children as her own.
In another testament of June’s character, Rosanne recalled how years ago she was sitting with June in the living room at home when the phone rang. June picked it up and started talking to someone, and after several minutes Rosanne wandered off to another room because it seemed she was deep in conversation. She went back 10 or 15 minutes later and June was still completely engrossed.

“I was sitting in the kitchen when she hung up a good 20 minutes later, and she had a big smile on her face, and she said, ‘I just had the nicest conversation,'” Rosanne said. “And she started telling me about this other woman’s life and her children and that she had just lost her father and where she lived and on and on. And I said, ‘Well, June, who was it?’ And she said, ‘Well, honey, it was a wrong number.’ That was June. In her eyes there were two kinds of people: those she knew and loved, and those she didn’t know and loved. She looked for the best in everyone. It was a way of life for her. … She was forever lifting people up.”

Rosanne Cash also said June’s great mission and passion in life were lifting up Johnny Cash. If being a wife were a corporation, she said, June would have been the CEO.

“It was her most treasured role. She began every day by saying, ‘What can I do for you, John?’ Her love filled up every room he was in, lit every path he walked, and her devotion created a sacred, exhilarating place for them to live out their married life,” Rosanne Cash said. “My dad has lost his dearest companion, his musical counterpart, his soul mate and his best friend.”
Weekley said that though the family and friends were captivated by such a great loss and overwhelmed by such great tragedy in June’s death, Christians need to be reminded of five specific truths. The first is God’s love.

“The Bible says nothing can separate us from the love of God,” Weekley said. “I want to remind Johnny and I want to remind this family God loves you today. And He loves June today in a very personal, face to face way. That’s something we can be thankful for and rejoice in today.”
The second truth is God’s grace, and those gathered could rejoice that God’s grace is sufficient to help them in their time of loss. They could also be assured of God’s presence and His promise throughout Scripture that He’ll comfort those in mourning.

Quoting Romans 8:28, Weekley reminded those gathered of God’s purpose. He said it doesn’t mean that everything in and of itself is good, but it means that if people love God, He’ll use circumstances like June’s death to bring about good. As examples, he said it could bind the Cash family closer together in love, and it could remind everyone that they’re going to die. For that, he said, everyone needs to be prepared.

“I don’t think there’s anything that would give June greater joy than to know that somebody, as a result of her leaving this world, took spiritual stock of their life and gave their heart to Christ,” Weekley said.

The fifth truth Weekley encouraged believers to hold on to is God’s promise of tomorrow. He said what excites him as a Christian is there’s another day coming, and he said for Johnny and the family there’s a great reunion day coming with June.

Courtney Wilson, former pastor of First Baptist Hendersonville, recalled how 36 years ago he met June and Johnny, and one Sunday while Johnny was recovering from a bout with drug abuse, June persuaded him to go to church with her. He didn’t want to get back into the public so soon, but she said they’d go late and sit in the back. They did, and Wilson preached a sermon about the Living Water of Christ. Johnny remembered that sermon and wrote about it in a book in later years, Wilson said.

Wilson summed up what he observed about June in one sentence: “June Carter Cash was a kind and thoughtful Christian lady who loved her God, loved her family and loved her friends.”
A representative brought a message from the prime minister of Jamaica, where June and Johnny spent some time in charitable work.

“A philanthropist extraordinaire, Mrs. Cash made Jamaica her second home and loved and cared deeply for the people of her adopted country,” the representative said. “A gifted and talented singer, she and her husband, Johnny Cash, used the very talents for the benefit of many charities in and around Montego Bay. … On behalf of all Jamaica and in particular the many individuals whose lives have been touched, I express condolences to her husband, family and friends.”
Actress Jane Seymour recalled her work with June on the television series “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.”

“I had the privilege of working with June as an actress, and she taught me so much about acting, about God, about giving and about love,” Seymour said. “I remember giggling with her so bad that we thought we could never act together again because we just had giggle fits whenever we saw each other.”

In closing, Gatlin led those gathered in an a cappella version of “The Far Side Banks of Jordan,” which June and Johnny wrote and recorded in the 1970s: “She’ll be waiting on the far side banks of Jordan. She’ll be sitting, drawing pictures in the sand. And when you go to meet her, she will rise up with a shout and come running through the shadow, reaching for your hand.”

Thursday – the second day

The morning schedule went much smoother! The only snafu occurred as I was walking out the door – the front door knob pulled right off – and the door was still closed! Ugh! I managed to get it open and then assigned mechanically-savvy Matthew to handle the repair job – which he did.

I opened my desk drawers – woa! It was more like two junk drawers! I went in early so I could specifically re-set the desk and fix it up a bit. I also set my favorite photo of my sons and I on my desk – which seemed to capture the attention of the ladies. I had already made up a photo sheet with family photos on it since others seemed to be doing that. My sons and nephews are a hit with the ladies at the Muse. I spent a good five hours of getting the basic things completed, working with tech support so I could retrieve E-mail, wading through tons of papers, and trying to figure out more of the system. Ugh! Still a long road ahead in this arena.

I do love the folks who work at the Muse – really nice ladies. Doug Merk, the student programs director, has been ill, so I am the only man in the office at the moment. I am sure that once we are ready for a second career, Doug and I could easily host our own radio talk show discussing women’s issues! Of course, the one second-career employee informed me that it won’t be as interesting given three are “already post-menopausal.” Go figure.

Tonight at the Chinese restaurant we were seated across from this elderly woman who was in her 80’s. She was darling. We knew several of the same folks from the Kettering School District, and she is a big supporter of the arts in Kettering. She had lost her husband last May, and is restructuring her life. Afterwards, Jose and I went to the church where his confirmation class was held and I took some photographs of a planning meeting for the Katrina Missions trip. What a neat group of people gathered for this effort. We finished up the evening by hitting Wal-Mart so I could purcahse some items for my desk at the Muse Machine… then on home for peach pie and a scoop of ice cream, some television and bed at 10:30pm!

At The Muse Machine

Tuesday was my last free day before re-entering the work force outside the home. Of course, teaching at Kettering Middle School did not seem like ‘the workforce’ but this is so different from the course of my life’s career the past four years. I quickly realized this afternoon when I returned home that life was definitely going to be different on my end.

Tuesday I spent the morning researching a special project on which I am working. After 12:00pm, Monte called to tell me he was in the neighborhood and he stopped by for a while. He had me help him set up a blog site for the church and for a mission trip he and several other area pastors will be taking in February to assist with the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It is amazing to me that while my life has continued with little interruption, thousands of others are still struggling with the devastation of last September.

The boys and I sat down to a late dinner and then watched a little of American Idol – ugh! What an incredibly horrible show! I would rather endure festering hemorrhoids than to watch another episode of that show!

This morning I woke and noticed a layer of snow on the back deck. I went out to sweep the snow off the car – which was even more deep than the deck. I ignored the television announcements of school cancellations as I got ready for my first morning at the Muse Machine. Just as I stepped into the shower, Matt returned home at 7:50am because Kettering school’s were on a two-hour delay. I believe that was the first time I have experienced a delay as a parent – good thing my sons are older. I left the house at 8:30am and easily made it to the First Street Parking Garage – with valet service – by 8:45am and was stepping into my little corner of the Muse world at 8:55am. I do have a window that looks down three flights out on to Main Street, and I cannot wait until the sunnier days.

The staff is absolutely wonderful – of course, I am sure they were on their best behavior since I am a newbie. I spent a good deal of time with Carolyn Wheeler and Betsy Clapp who described all the facets of the educational programs – which are far more extensive than what I realized. Later, Gail Whipple appeared on the scene so she could go over all she has done to update the systems, etc. It seems as though the biggest bulk of my work will entail bringing the format and office up to the 21st century with the technological advancements, as well as develop certain aspects of the various areas. There were times when I just wanted to allow my self to feel slightly overwhelmed due to the many things I discovered needing to be completed; however, this is the kind of stuff I like – organizing, building, creating, implementing and working with others.

I arrived home at 2:30pm (after retrieving my valet parked car) and Matt was already home since he was out at 1:00pm due to final semester exams. I called Mother to report on my first day, began teaching at 3:45pm and by 5:30pm I was yawning – no nap! Ugh! The battle scars are showing as I begin this new life – NO NAP!!!

I finished teaching at 7:15pm, ran errands with Jose – who loves these moments with Dad – although they are not the most fun things to be doing. I will do a few odds and ends this evening, and then hit the bed early tonight. I can see now that I should probably miss out on Letterman’s monologue so I can get up at 5:30am in order to get some writing accomplished. There will be no time in the evenings!

This is an adjustment, but a welcome adjustment. I was in an atmosphere surrounded by former teachers and principals, and artistic sorts popping in and out all day. What a perfect place to spend my time!

Making Music

“There are two ways to make music. One is to make it yourself, and the other is to create an environment that allows others to make it.”

~ Steve Smith ~

Five long days….

Well, the five long days of constant running and attending events has finally come to an end. It was so hectic and so busy – but so enjoyable in many ways. In five days, I was fortunate to spend time with: Mother; my sister Dena; my nephews, Jonathan & Andrew; friends Jeff, AJ, Joshua, the Ball State Singers; friends from high school Anne Morgan, Angie Knotts, Mark Morgan, Stephanie Grimes, Susan Fettig, Cathy Fettig, Jeff Hughes, Todd McGuire; family friends here in Dayton Adam, Cathy Leininger (student’s mother), the fun people in my Sunday school class and the darling people of North Riverdale Lutheran Church; former students; current students; fellow choral boosters and got to meet a number of new folks this weekend at church, at Ball State and at the show choir contest. It was also wonderful to see current students performing in Beauty & The Beast and at the Beavercreek Show Choir Invitational. I feel so fulfilled at the moment.

Friday morning I woke promptly at 6:00am and began cleaning, doing laundry and getting the house ready for company. I also got Saturday morning’s breakfast prepped so I would not need to get up so early. I finished teaching at 6:30pm and hurried into the shower. Dena and the boys arrived in downtown Dayton at 7:15pm and we went on to the Victoria Theatre where we saw an excellent production of Beauty & The Beast produced by the MUSE Machine. After greeting my students in the cast, as well as former students, we all went to Denny’s where more former students and current students poured in. Finally, at 1:30am we arrived home. Dena got her sons off to bed and then we settled down to relax with some of my weekly taped shows. Finally, the last time I remember seeing on the clock was 3:22am.

Saturday, I was up up at 6:00am and got breakfast going – my typical scrambled eggs, pancakes and potato casserole. Matthew hurried to get ready to leave with the show choir busses and Dena and I took Jose birthday shopping. We returned home around 2:15pm and Dena and the boys returned to Indiana while Jose and I headed east to Beavercreek to catch both of Fairmont’s show choirs in the day competition.Of course, I ran into a bunch of directors, parents, students, etc. and that is always fun. After I saw a former student’s show choir perform, Jose and I hurried to Friendly’s for a birthday dinner, and then back to the high school for the evening competition. Neither of the Fairmont choirs made it into the night finals, so I grabbed Matthew off the bus so he could join Jose and me in the auditorium. The contest ran behind and we arrived home by midnight. As we pulled into the driveway, three students, Dan Moore, Brittany and Thomas Ross were walking up to the driveway. They came in and chatted until 1:30am – and yes, I had them call their parents! At 3:45am, I finally finished some work at my desk and headed to bed.

Sunday morning I woke at 6:15am and by 7:30am I had the boys hustled through the showers and dressed for church. Sunday school, again, was an absolute blast. The people are fun, but I dearly love the great conversation on the topic in class. After church, we chatted with folks and then left with Adam Stevens in tow. He had signed his name on the pew pad as “Adam Haas,” and after church was heading back to Kettering with us to eat Chinese and then play with Jose until confirmation class at 5:00pm. The class was held at a Lutheran church in Oakwood, so en route, we stopped at Orville Wright’s home, Hawthorne Hill, and Smith Gardens. I worked on a special project while the group watched a really neat movie on miracles. Afterwards, I made supper and we had settled down for a few hours of quiet time. The remainder of the evening and early morning was spent catching up on some work.

Monday was another early morning, despite the fact there was no school. Jose and I left for the dentist at 9:15am. He was in the chair at 10:00am for his root canal. His dentist, Dr. Bob Muster, is the neatest guy and he was so good at putting Jose at ease. Jose was a trooper! After we left the dentist we got his prescriptions filled and then went to lunch. Jose was still numb and was always asking me if he had any food on the area of his mouth he could not feel! We got home and he immediately went to lay down for a few hours. I started teaching at 2:00pm and finished at 8:45pm. After making Jose some mac & cheese, I settled down to relax and write some on my blog.

I am exhausted, but what a wonderful weekend it was! Five days of constant running and filling mine and my family’s life with more wonderful people. It is now 10:55pm and I am finally off to bed after seventeen hours of sleep since Wednesday morning!

You can see more photos from this weekend on my Yahoo website: http://profiles.yahoo.com/dljh_dayton

Andy Rooney says…

I have always loved Andy Rooney and this transcription from a recent 60 Minutes episode seems to sum up some of my own thoughts on certain issues. I applaud CBS for allowing Mr. Rooney to speak so loudly, boldly and honestly…

Andy Rooney: “I don’t think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens…Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?!

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion. I have the right “NOT” to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling, it is the Law of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!

My father and grandfather didn’t die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can’t understand the word “freeze” or “stop” in English, see the above lines.

I don’t think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.

We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document and open to their interpretations.

I don’t hat e the rich. I don’t pity the poor. I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn’t stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that’s better, and put your name on the building.

It doesn’t take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say “NO!”

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don’t pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don’t want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

I am sick of “Political Correctness.” I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa; so how can they be “African-Americans”? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don’t go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.

And if you don’t like my point of view, tough!”

All In A Day

Photographs are fromt eh Ball State University Singers’ rehearsal, Thursday, January 10, 2006.

Friday morning, I was officially up at 5:45am – having gone to bed at 1:30am (with a few unscheduled wake-ups). Jose and I left for the dentist at 7:10am knowing we would be dealing with morning commuters – well, there seemed to be no one else out at that time of the morning. We arrived at the dentist by 7:25am for his 8:00am appointment. We drove around the National Cemetery at the Veteran’s Association – a miniature Arlington Cemetery, which was absolutely beautiful as the sun was rising. We were perched high on the upper west side of the valley and could see downtown Dayton and its suburbs waking.

We arrived at the dentist at 7:50am only to be told the dentist was ill. We rescheduled for Monday morning.

By 10:00am Jose and I were on the road to Indiana. Since I will give the boys a free day each semester, providing they have worked hard at school, this was Jose’s free day. We stopped by the library to get some DVD’s for him to watch to and from Indiana, and by 11:45am we had reached our destination of Elwood, Indiana. We first went to the high school to see Paula Simmons, my junior high and high school band and choral director. We agreed to meet at Dunnichay Funeral Home at 3:45pm. I also had a chance to catch up with one of my favorite secretaries at the high school, Kandie Courtney.

We picked Mother up from the police department and went to Wolff’s Restaurant for lunch. I had not been there in years. The neighbors directly behind us on Main Street were the owners of the restaurant, and although the establishment has changed hands a number of times, the food is still as I remember it – breaded tenderloins which hang off the side of the plate, the best roast beef Manhattan in the state (some how this has been documented). We drove Mother back to the police department and went to visit my sister, Dena, at the Chamber of Commerce. Before heading to Mother’s to change clothes we stopped by Edgewood Elementary School to visit my fourth grade teacher, Diana Lane, who has been a family friend for years.Mrs. Lane was, without a doubt, one of the key people who instilled in me a love for literature. I can remember her reading to us Old Yeller, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Mystery of Assateague and The Mystery of Chincoteague. I can still remember her vocal inflections as she read dialogue from the younger brother, Arliss, who adopted the mangy mongrul, Old Yeller. In 1999, when I took my three week adventure down the east coast, I made a special little jaunt to visit the island of Assateague. Mrs. Lane is still a wonderful lady with tons of energy and dedication to her work.

At 3:45pm, Jose and I arrived at Dunnichay Funeral Home and met up with Paula. In the door walked one of my best friends from high school, Anne Morgan, and her younger brother, Mark, who still lives in the area. Anne has not changed much at all, and her quick wit has not been lost. Another friend and neighbor from all my school years, Angie Knotts Phenis, was also there, and before leaving at 6:00pm, Stehpanie Grimes Hoel arrived. As we all stood there chatting with Paula, it amazed me how the years of 1977-1983 had really not been all that long ago. Although we had each embarked down a variety of wonderful paths, we all seemed to return to the core of what made us such good friends for many years. I had known Angie and her brother,Brad, since 1970, Stephanie since 1974, Susan and Cathy Fettig since 1977, and most of the others since junior high. Despite the fact we we there to be with Susan, whose son, Adam, died from leukemia a week shy of his 13th birthday, it was a very nice moment to reconnect with many old friends from my years as in Elwood.

Jose and I hurried to Ball State in time for the rehearsal, and had a blast. Jeff Carter introduced me to the cast, many of whom I had already met, as “one of our key alumni.” I guess I never considered myself in that role, but I am still quite dedicated to the ensemble which shaped me even more after my years in Elwood. I was so fortunate to have such a fantastic education, surrounded by some of the very best teachers any child could have!

I took a number of photographs of the rehearsal; met a colleague, Jim Helton (piano); chatted with some of the singers and staff; walked around the school of music (I have yet to visit the new building across the street); and then went to a late dinner at Applebees with Jeff, AJ, and the Singers’ accompanist, Josh Stierling. Again, we had a great time chatting and laughing until it was time to return to Dayton. We arrived in Kettering at midnight. Jose hurried off to bed and I downloaded all my photos, labeled them and arranged them so they are now ready for viewing.

Despite the trip to visit a former friend who had lost a son, the day was rich with friends, and remembering a ton of wonderful things that have shaped me into the person I am today.

I love this photo – Jeff’s son, AJ, in his dad’s rehearsal! Hmmm…

For more photographs of this rehearsal, please visit my Yahoo webpage and go to photos.

The end of the week…

This morning got off to a delightful start with my eldest having a meltdown because his laundry was still not completed – since Sunday. There had been daily reminders since last Friday to complete it since this coming weekend will be swamped. Finally, with one basket to be folded and put away, he had the option of finishing it before school this morning or not going on a field trip tomorrow.

Today was just a bundle of errands, finishing up and outline on a new writing project I am pursuing, cleaning, starting my laundry (finally) and getting some other business attended to. At 1:00pm, Brody called me to tell me the shelving finally arrived for the choir robe room and the show choir storage room – so I hurried over to the high school to check it out. One student volunteered her father for assembling the units. The band director, Mike Berning, and I chatted for a while – which is always fun! Mike and I share a similar wicked sense of humor, and Mike has a talent for saying things in the funniest way. I hurried home to start teaching at 2:15pm and lasting until 7:15pm. At 7:30pm I was back at the high school to meet with the dad assembling the storage units, snap a few photos of the show choir rehearsing and to attend a choral boosters meeting at 8:00pm. At 9:21pm, the boys and I were finally walking home after I met with a few parents and chatted with Brody.

I corralled the boys to set tomorrow morning’s schedule in place – Jose must be at the dentist tomorrow morning at 8:00am for three root canals – so, I will shower at 6:00am, get Jose up at 6:30am to get ready, and Matt at 7:00am. Jose and I will take off for the dentist and then return home to change clothes to return to Indiana. A friend from high school, Susan Fettig Abner, lost her son to leukemia – something that hit our own family with my beloved grandmother. My good friend from high school, Stephanie Grimes Hoel, wrote that several of our good friends, whom we have not seen since graduating in 1983, are flying in for the funeral. I am hoping to see them. Jose and I will travel together since Matthew has a show choir performance at 5:00pm for the retiring mayor of Kettering. We will probably swing in to say “hello” to Mother at the police department and Dena at the chamber of commerce, but will not stay for dinner since we will be seeing them this weekend. I am hoping we might be able to catch a Ball State Singer’s rehearsal or at least catch up with Jeff and AJ for a spell.

Friday:
I will do last minute things around the house, order Jose’s birthday cake and run a number of errands. Dena, Mother, Jonathan and Andrew will arrive in Dayton around 7:00pm or so, and we will go to the Victoria Theatre to see the MUSE Machine production of Beauty & The Beast, in which a number of my students are performing.

Saturday:
Jose’s 14th birthday. Matthew and the high school show choirs will compete at the nearby Beavercreek Show Choir Invitational – so I am not truly certain how we will celebrate Jose’s birthday and get to see the show choirs compete. We may try to see the afternoon competition since it is a night mare to get seats for the evening show.

Sunday:
Sunday school and church, and then return for lunch with the family, unless they join us for church services. At 3:00pm, I am running through a line of seniors who are going over last minute prep for a full week of college auditions (and semester finals, as well). Afterwards, I intend on a quiet dinner and a quiet evening to get the boys prepped for the long week of finals.

So, the remainder of this week, with a trip to Indiana, is already piled high. I am ready!

The MUSE Machine

This afternoon, I accepted a position with The MUSE Machine of the Miami Valley, working with the education department…

About the MUSE Machine

The Muse Machine was established on the belief that the arts can make a profound contribution to every aspect of human life. Founded in 1982 by Suzy Bassani with twenty-two charter teachers from twenty area schools, The Muse Machine now involves 160 schools in twelve counties, serving combined student audiences of more than 70,000 through professional performances and workshops. Approximately 650 teachers across many academic disciplines receive training in the performing and visual arts annually. Cited as a model arts in education program in The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts publication Community Arts: Partnerships in Education, we continue to set the standard for the best in arts education.

At its essence, The Muse Machine is a comprehensive performing and visual arts education delivery system for secondary students. But The Muse Machine is much more – it helps students express their creativity and get excited about learning; it inspires and rewards teachers; it builds enthusiastic and knowledgeable arts audiences for the future; and it helps build vibrant and cohesive communities. The “core” of The Muse Machine is three programs that, working together, create a vital link between the community’s arts organizations and educational system:

1) Teacher Training – Through challenging, hands-on arts workshops and seminars with professional artists, teachers in all disciplines acquire tools that help them motivate and connect with students in exciting new ways. The joy that the teachers receive through their professional development is immediately conveyed to the students in their classrooms. The Muse Machine recognizes that, for every teacher who understands the significance of the arts in our lives, hundreds of students will benefit from a more holistic education.

2) In-School Programs – The Muse Machine helps arts organizations and artists reach into the schools with high-quality arts programs tied directly to curriculum objectives. Early and frequent exposure to the arts helps students develop a lifelong interest in them, even as it makes learning and teaching in all subject areas more effective and fun.

3) Muse Machine Clubs – Teachers and students collaborate with arts organizations to market the arts in their schools. In-school box offices sell discounted tickets to mainstage performances and exhibits, giving students vastly increased contact with different art forms, while helping arts organizations build loyal future audiences. Muse Machine Clubs help young people develop leadership skills, make new friends, and excel through fun activities that enrich their lives.

The Muse Machine also undertakes special projects that involve teachers, students, parents, and communities directly in the arts. Playwriting competitions, professional quality musical theater productions, and juried arts exhibitions are just some of the special projects that have given The Muse Machine tremendous visibility in Dayton, and made it a treasured part of that community.
Most importantly, the flexibility of The Muse Machine’s model means it can be adapted to the needs of different communities. It can be operated by an arts center, arts council, arts fund, foundation, or as a separate non-profit organization.

The structure of the elementary school, and the number of arts-in-education programs offered nationally, allows elementary students the opportunity to experience and enjoy the performing and visual arts. As these students enter secondary school and develop more sophisticated intellectual capabilities, however, they have fewer opportunities for curricular and extracurricular exposure to performing and visual arts education. As a result, only a select few secondary students are served.

The Muse Machine targets secondary school students. The Muse Machine gives them frequent and rich experiences with the performing and visual arts through in-school programs and after-school activities, at a time when young people are developing attitudes and habits they will carry with them throughout their lives. The Muse Machine helps these students channel their emotions into fun, constructive activities and relationships that will reward them – and their communities – well into the future.

I first became acquainted with the MUSE Machine in 1991 when I accompanied the auditions of several students who were cast in the winter production which collected students from all over the Miami Valley. The following year, I received a telephone call from Scott Rogers, asking if I would please consider accompanying the four days of auditions, as well as the several days of call back auditions. I agreed, and for the next three years, had a great time.It was during the auditions for 1992’s production that I first met Susan Pringle, the stage manager who later worked her way up to executive director. I thoroughly enjoyed Susan’s personality and always looked forward to my time spent at the MUSE auditions. Of course, throughout the years, I have had a number of students appearing in the productions in lead roles, and I am always the “proud papa!”

Next Wednesday, I will drive up to downtown Dayton, about a four mile drive, to the building right next door to the Victoria Theatre and begin this new position – which is still under construction.One of the coolest things is that I will not have to battle finding a place to park and pay a typical $5 each day – I will have VALLET PARKING! Jed, Granny, Jethro and Ellie Mae – we be joinin’ Weezy and George and “We are movin’ on up!” Woo hoo! Vallet parking! I never even had that in New York when I was there for projects! Hot damn!

For more information on this outstanding organization, please visit:
http://www.musemachinedayton.com/ or http://www.musemachine.org/index2.htm

New Horizons…

Yesterday, the boys and I attended Sunday school for the first time at North Riverdale Lutheran Church, another step in the progress of settling in a home church. The boys were skeptical about Sunday school in two previous churches we shopped, and I did not immediately guide them into Sunday school at NRLC – even though I was certain by Thanksgiving the church search was completed. Friday at lunch, Pastor Monte told me he was currently teaching the youth class and when I shared this with the boys they were eager to spend even more time with Pastor Monte. To me, this spoke volumes – my children adore, respect and genuinely like our minister – another adult who is part of their village. My class was with Chris Stevens and the people in the class are wonderful. The class is studying Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, which I have read before at the suggestion of Mother. Warren’s work is good, despite the fact that is filled with pop-psychology rhetoric, but the people, especially Chris, make it worth getting up a few hours earlier to head ten miles north each Sunday morning.

Friday, Monte asked where I would like to “plug in” to the church, if it was to, indeed, become our home church. Without thinking, I replied, “Do with me what you wish. If you need something done, just tell me to do it and it will be done.”

I was not shocked by my own response – although others who know me, are surprised. However, if they knew how committed I was to Pastor Mike Johnson in Springfield, they would understand completely.

My favorite quote is something John Adams wrote in 1774 to his wife, Abigail, a tremendous lady and patriot of her time. When Adams was fighting desperately for the ratification of the document we now know as the Declaration of Independence, he shared his frustrations with his wife, ready to throw in the towel and return to Braintree, Massachusetts. Abigail, in a letter dated June 27, 1776, reminded of what he wrote two years earlier:

“Commitment. Commitment. There are only two creatures of any value on this earth. Those with a commitment, and those who require a commitment from others.”

I have always been the creature who required the commitment of others through my directing, my teaching, my church work, and my volunteer efforts. However, I have always been committed in striving for quality. Only once have I been one whose commitment was required by another – and that was when I worked with Pastor Johnson. Although we were certainly working in tandem, and for the most part on equal footing, it was still his ministry at Faith In Christ Lutheran Church. I believed in Mike Johnson as a leader, and in his vision.

I was born into a family that was heavily involved in church life – a family that was committed to family, church, community and career. My life is really not much different in that respect. I grew up with an understanding of church politics and business, due largely in part to my grandfather’s dedication to his church. Although I was an exceptionally good child I seemed to irritate several of my Sunday school teachers because I always challenged their thinking. These were tiresome individuals who could not readily answer:

1. if there were alternate routes for Moses and the Israelites to take at the Red Sea;
2. if Joseph’s coat was not many colors but actually long sleeved which meant he would do no physical labor (I actually insisted at age 8 the translation could have been incorrect); or
3. if Jesus had siblings (I had the answer – chapter/verse – with the names, handy because I was certain she would not know).

One teacher, Ron Howell, was the exception to the long line of apathetic Sunday school teachers who drilled us memorizing Bible verses and all sorts of other grunt work.

One Sunday morning, three weeks before we completed confirmation class, the entire congregation arrived for worship, rankled by a ridiculous segment on the Carol Burnett variety show the previous evening. Apparently, the same segment my grandparents and I watched with the character Eunice was quite offensive to a good portion of our congregation who believed she was poking fun at religion. This seemed to consume the pews up to the prelude. I can remember Mr. Tarvin, who generally sat in front of us, saying to my grandfather, “My family will never watch Carol Burnett again.”

I turned to my grandmother and asked, “Can we?”

Mr. Tarvin immediately turned and said, “You’d better not!”

Grandma leaned forward and quietly said, “Lee, what we watch in our home is our business and not yours.”

There had been a string of similar episodes at church in which the members of the congregation adopted a “holier-than-Thou” over the to which I had gained knowledge, and I had already begun to question whether or not I would be confirmed as a Methodist. That morning, I made a decision: I would never join a church. I always believed in the concept of church and the values it established, but I did not wish to be “one of them.” When it came time to go to confirmation class that evening, I said I did not want to continue with classes nor become a member of the church. My grandfather, who I believed would be aggravated by my decision, listened attentively to my reasons and supported my decision and after thinking a few seconds, said, “Honey, I don’t blame you. Sometimes I am disgusted myself and wish I had never become involved with the work of the church. But I am and I will continue to fight.” Then, he made me promise one thing, “Always walk with God, no matter what. If you choose to never join a church, just promise you will always believe in and trust God.” And, I have. Despite the fact that I am not a technical Christian, fully buying into Christian doctrine, I do apply the basic principles of Christ’s teaching: “Love God with all your mind, heart, soul and strength, and love my fellow man.” To me, that is the bottom line. Everything else falls into place.

Throughout junior high, high school and most of college, I attended a variety of different churches, exploring all the various religions and appreciating the people with whom I came in contact. I developed an understanding for the history of the different religions, their doctrine and a desire to learn more alternate theories and studies of the Christian religion. As I grew more politically aware, I became enamored with the comparison of how our federal and Christian leaders seemed to claim superiority over others. “We are right, others are wrong” seemed to be a familiar theme. I never understood, and often, still do not understand how some can make such claims. As an American citizen, I struggle to find comfort in the fact that our country’s leadership believes it should enter another country and completely turn around its government into a democracy. Why should our political beliefs be forced upon nations whose governments have existed long before ours? With our current efforts in Iraq – I do not support our administration’s reasons for invading and remaining in Iraq; however, I do support the men and women who have been sent there to fulfill their duty to our nation.

In college when I took on my assignment as a director of music for a Lutheran church, I seemed to amaze everyone with my knowledge and different perspective on the Bible and other religious topics. The minister invited me to co-teach, with him, the introductory classes for church membership, and I began teaching the 8th grade confirmation classes – one of my best experiences. Although I could not buy entirely into the Christian doctrine, it was never difficult to be a leader in this capacity. Like my grandfather, I was always careful never to insert my own views. I can remember Grandpa teaching youth church and he began with, “Now, if I say to do one thing or that I believe something is wrong, I am saying ‘it is wrong for me, Leroy, to do that’ – I am not saying it is wrong for you. You have choices to make in life and ultimately the decisions are yours and God’s, and not mine.” That made quite an impact on me as a young ten year old because – although he could often be critical, especially in his later years when health was quietly bringing him down, he could be decidedly non-judgmental in certain areas – especially with me, his eldest grandson. Later, when my first class of 8th grade confirmation students were juniors and seniors, they asked the minister to assign me to their high school class – which he did. What a wonderful experience it was to be with these students again – Tim Henriksen, John Millspaugh, Nathaniel Stahlke… what great kids! I was not the youth leader, but seemed to do more with these students than the actual youth director.

As an adult I have served as a director of music for three different parishes – two Lutheran and one Methodist. Although I was always associated myself as a Methodist, I fell in love with the Lutheran liturgy. With a United Brethren link since the 1850’s, my grandfather and great-grandfather had strongly supported the 1947 merger to the Evangelical United Brethren Church, and again in 1968 with the final merger into the United Methodist Church. Grandpa even attended a UB affiliated college in Huntington, Indiana. In some ways, after Grandpa died in 2004, I felt as though I had to carry on this legacy with my own sons, believing the traditional Lutheran service would be undesirable for them.

In many ways, I am my grandfather all over again when it comes to the various intricacies of church life. I think he did just about everything one could do in church life, and more. He could lead COM (Council On Ministries) one moment, preach a sermon in the absence of our ministers, plunge a toilet, cook breakfast for the United Methodist Men’s monthly breakfast, stay up all night with Castle Rich and David Bodenhorn roasting the hogs for the annual pig-roast/bazaar, or dedicate himself in leading a major missions program for nearly twenty years. Grandpa also had a deep respect for his ministers and whether he agreed with them or not, he stood by them. When Dr. Wayne Anderson was assigned to our church, the congregation was in an uproar because Wayne was divorced. Some fragments of the church were handling petitions and attempting to topple the bishop’s candidate, but Grandpa – who had divorced my grandma in 1969 only to remarry her in 1973 (another great blog story!) – stood firmly by the bishop and district superintendent’s selection. That first morning, as Dr. Anderson stood greeting the congregation as they entered the narthex, Grandpa stood right next to him. Grandma and I manned the sanctuary, prepared to put down any insurgents who entertained disrupting the “welcome celebration.” Grandpa had carefully coached us on how to respond to any comments, and we were armed and ready.

Wayne’s first sermon, like so many others to follow, was outstanding. He opened his Bible, stepped away from the pulpit and the words flowed effortlessly and beautifully – one of his many gifts. “Yes, it is true that I am divorced. I still honor and respect my ex-wife, and cherish the fact she is the mother of our son. I know some of you may not agree with my choice, but my wife and I made an adult decision. I know divorce has touched many of your own lives, and I know you understand the pain associated with such separations. Therefore, I hope you will support me, and pray for my ex-wife, my son and my self as we continue to live with this reality of life, of being human.”

At the end of his sermon, those who seemed most critical of Dr. Anderson, were the first on their feet to applaud him. That battle was over, and Grandpa was relieved.

Whether he personally liked a minister or not, or thought him great, was not an issue for Grandpa. One minister always seemed to founder in his sermons and his verbal communication, yet Grandpa was truly supportive, and ignored my critical comments from others; however, he never failed to chuckle at my bona fide impersonation of the preacher’s peculiar sermon delivery. Unlike my grandfather, I am less tolerant of most ministers. In fact, there have been very few ministers who have impressed me or won me over.

“There are just some ministers who are in the wrong profession, but for some reason, cannot figure it out. They just do not get it.” Mike Johnson, the former pastor of Faith In Christ Lutheran Church in Springfield, Ohio, use to say.My three years as Mike’s director of worship & music and the church’s administrative director, were certainly memorable and defining years. The remarkable part is that two very strong visionaries/leaders were so symbiotic – moving in effortless unison as the bows of a fine string section, yet maintaining recognizable individuality. The energy was incredible.

I truly believed in this man’s ministry. Mike left a lucrative position with Procter & Gamble to enter the ministry – quite a risk and sacrifice for one with three young children and a wife who was finishing up her undergraduate degree in elementary education. Although I did not buy completely into the doctrine that compelled him, I did buy into the man – his ambition and dedication to his parish, his desire to move beyond the tried & true, and his inner truth. I loved, and still do, discussing the mechanics of church business, and all the aspects of worship, and these were items that drove the two of us to bringing some of the most memorable moments to the folks at Faith In Christ . On top of Michael’s brilliance in managing the church, he was (is) a phenomenal speaker. His sermons were thought provoking, entertaining and creative – one Sunday the praise team sang, “Feeling Groovy” as an intro to his message. Mike was the first minister from whom I took communion – and the only one until this past November when I took communion from Monte Stevens. These two men are quite similar, and they are probably the only two individuals (not including family) who have truly impressed me to the point of believing in them enough that I would do almost anything to see them succeed or continue to succeed.

Normandy United Methodist Church was an experience in and of itself. The district had a history of placing the not-so-strong ministers into the parish that was considered “the loose cannon church” in the district. A few years before I arrived there was one brilliant minister who was really building an effective ministry until it was discovered she was Lesbian. Her replacement was a gentleman whose ministry had been salvaged (numerous affairs with female parishioners) several times by his older brothers who were district superintendents. His ineffective management and long, dull sermons drove the staff and congregation nuts. Then, there was the associate pastor who manipulated, lied and created social chasms within the church family and spent three years trying to undermine my music program which grew despite her sinister attempts. When I reported to Grandpa that I was considering taking the Normandy position, he asked, “Have you done your research?” He already knew of the church’s seeming erratic history, especially where the ministers were concerned. Once I provided him the information I had gathered, he gave the nod and insisted I proceed with determination, but with caution.

A few weeks after my arrival, I was working in the music office and the minister entered. It was actually my first meeting with him, and I already had him pretty well sized up. There were several in the church with whom I had established an immediate trusting rapport, and they confirmed my assessment. The minister said, “You know we have gone through five music directors in the past two years?” I nodded. He continued, “What can I do to make your stay here worthwhile?” I looked him straight in the eye and said, “Stay out of my way. Give me elbow room to do my job. If you let me do my job, you will have a music program of which you never believed possible in your own church. It might even polish some of the tarnish from your reputation.” I knew it was bold, and somewhat risky, but he knew I meant business. I was not like many of my spineless colleagues who preceded me. The senior pastor fully comprehended that his secrets of his shady behavior for which other staff-parish relations had dismissed him, were safe with me. I insisted that I was not intending to threaten him or hold his past over his head, but I was intent on doing my job – and he was not going to interfere. The senior minister never interfered – but his associate did.

When I arrived at Normandy in 1996, there were 22 in the chancel choir, a bell choir and a children’s choir of about a dozen bodies. When I left three years later, there were two chancel choirs (Voices of Normandy – a combined total of 68 members), a bell choir (Bells of Normandy – with a new director, new members and an extra octave and a half), a women’s chorus, a men’s chorus, a teen chorus, two children’s choirs (directed by the associate pastor), a youth orchestra and a special group of outstanding youth vocalists, the Normandy Classics – which sang much more difficult repertoire than the children’s choirs. Each ensemble was expected to sing at least once a month – except the Voices of Normandy which sang every service. This made each ensemble accountable for working towards a regular monthly goal. We re-developed the committees, formerly known as music and worship committees to Music Design Team and Worship Design Team, and I incorporated monthly meetings. Weekly attendance rose from an average of 160 to 280. On top of all this, we hosted three church choral festivals, developed a performing arts season, and delivered sell-out productions of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Godspell and The Sound Of Music, as well as two major Easter cantatas with full orchestras. Our productions attracted the finest performers in the Miami Valley, as well as a tremendous plethora of talent from Normandy. The von Trapp family was complimented with 50 singing nuns – a fun-loving group of women who were far more entertaining back-stage than on-stage. At one point I threatened to take away their weekend nun’s passes to the Friar’s club! It was a thrilling experience to bring so many individual talents together each week for worship or for major productions. And so many have remained devoted and cherished friends.

Unfortunately, the senior pastor would not harness his associate minister. She had his number and he had hers, and it was the Cold War revisited. Each brought with them a shady past which, had the information surfaced with this particular congregation, would have led to immediate grounds of dismissal for both. I documented 78 individual pages of harassment from the associate pastor over three years, but seemed to get no where with the first Staff Parish leadership. In fact, it was even implied that I was imaging everything – and the 49 witnesses too, who had signed their signatures on the pages vouching these episodes had occurred. The summer of 1999, Grandpa wrote me: “Stay at Normandy and fight for what is right! Never let a small group or one person be the reason you leave.” The congregation, however, had tired of what they were witnessing with the surface perfidy of their pastors and were becoming restless. The new Staff parish president, a manager with Reynolds & Reynolds, was ready to go to battle. The early fall of 1999, secret staff parish meetings were held to plan the termination of the associate pastor – but they continued to run into various snags along the way. By October, while I was finishing up directing the 40th anniversary production of The Sound Of Music – which Normandy was proud to produce – the battle lines were clearly being drawn. The associate pastor and her small army moved into place, ready to conquer staff parish and 95% of the congregation – with me as their chosen staff leader.

Before Christmas, there were some major, but pretty lame attempts to uproot my leadership, but I stood firm, gaining even more support from the congregation and staff parish. Against the advice of my grandfather, I went to my attorney. Had it been sexual harassment or threats of physical harm, I would have had a case. I discussed the scenario with my grandfather and admitted that their most recent attempts had been exhausting and unnerving. Grandpa encouraged me to go to the minister one last time. I did. I expressed to the senior pastor, who was nearing retirement and all its benefits, that if he did not step to the plate and fix the problem with the associate pastor, my resignation would invariably bring his ministry crashing down around him. He understood, but still deemed himself powerless with all the crud she knew from his past. I even pledged to support him and stand by him if she should reveal any of his past – but, he shook his head, said nothing, and refused to act.

I contacted Grandpa and told him I was resigning. He set down a time line of what to expect:

1. I would resign
2. staff parish would ask for an extension to work things out
3. if I continued with the resignation, the associate pastor would be fired within a week
4. and then bishop would terminate the senior pastor the following week.

Grandpa’s schedule was impeccable. Staff parish asked for a seven day extension, and when they missed their deadline, I stood firm on my resignation. That was Wednesday. The following Thursday, the associate pastor was terminated. The following week, the bishop arrived with an entourage to terminate the senior pastor. For the next six months, I worked behind the scenes, unbeknownst to most, healing, rebuilding and restructuring the battle weary church. At least the congregation was back on tract – they no longer had dysfunctional pastors, and they had regained control of their church once again. Unfortunately, after an interim period, they were rewarded with less controversial, but still, ineffective pastors.

That summer of 2000, I had healed enough to visit other churches. Some good friends invited me to a particular church which strongly accepted all kinds of people; however, I was just not comfortable with the social aspects of the church which, in my opinion, was much like a market for singles.

I spent the next few years visiting a variety of churches – a full spectrum of faiths and doctrines. Matthew arrived and I felt a desperate need to settle on one church, but nothing seemed to suit our family needs. I desperately missed Faith In Christ, but the drive was just too long to commit to regular attendance. In October 2003, I was a guest organist for a Methodist church on the other side of Dayton. It felt good to be back home in my Methodist roots, despite the fact the church was quite elderly and offered little in the way of youth ministry. Still, we continued worshiping until this past Spring when I realized the church leadership, while trying desperately to establish roots in a number of community programs, had lost its focus. Some friends invited us to their church and the three of us were quite comfortable there. In fact, we had no intention of looking any further. The church was only a mile or so away from home, had a great choir, a good size congregation and youth program, and the sermons were decent. I knew that my extra-curricular participation would be minimal at best, but as long as we had a church home, I could be satisfied. Why I did not continue searching for the “right” church, in hindsight, is somewhat baffling – especially to me. I have never settled for second best, yet, I knew deep down I was not entirely satisfied.

That summer, Mike Johnson, after fifteen years of a remarkable ministry, bid farewell to Faith In Christ, leaving for a parish in Wyoming. He invited me to sing at this farewell worship service, and I truly dreaded the day. I took, what I considered to be my last communion until a time when I hoped to visit Mike & Joy in Wyoming, and shared in the tearful farewell of a beloved pastor. I had visited FIC the previous March for the baptism of a family friend’s child, and had returned occasionally over the years since I left in 1993. I truly loved the people at Faith In Christ, and if not for the distance, we would be there every Sunday. Those are people I want to be in the village to help me raise my sons. In stead, we attended regular worship at the church in our community.

So, now, for reasons known and unknown to myself, I have pledged my self to the ministry of another. I have always believed that everything in life happens for a reason. Sometimes, we know the reason right away, and sometimes it takes years to learn why some things happen the way they do. I am not apprehensive, by any means, and look forward to this new venture. Naturally, it will not possess the exact components as my experiences with Mike Johnson, but I do anticipate a fantastic experience. For whatever reason, and there seem to be a good number of them at the moment, North Riverdale Lutheran Church, has become our family’s church. Our dear friend, Valerie Lockhart, a friend of Chris Stevens, was hopeful, and even somewhat persistent in maneuvering the crossing of paths – and she succeeded. Ironically, I met Valerie through her sister, a friend/member from Faith In Christ in Springfield.

And for what ever reason, I committed my self, for the second time in my life, to another individual’s ministry. God just had to set me straight when I believed there were no other ministers like Mike Johnson – and for my sake, and for the sake of my sons, I am so glad I was mistaken. The spiritual path and church experience from childhood through today has been a delightful rollercoaster ride of events – fun, scarey, thrilling, uncertain, quite certain, educational, and always blessed – even during those darker moments. And what is more, the ride seems to be at the top of another hill, ready to plunge forward into excitement and even more growth as we establish ourselves in the life of a wonderful church full of many wonderful people.