Golden Chairs

You know I've always had a hard time with ministry and spending big money on ourselves.  Local columnist, Beth Kassab wrote yesterday about our "Holy Land Experience."  This is a truly gaudy religious theme park that, though they deny it, appears to be in financial trouble.

They are selling off lots of over-the-top stuff so if you're interested in buying some gold chairs, or life size golden horses and chariots, come on down.

And, speaking of golden throne-like chairs, Donald Trump, when he was on 60 Minutes a couple of weeks ago, sat in one of his own gold chairs while his interviewer, Leslie Stahl, sat in another.  She's so tiny it looked like a throne.

And all of us here in Central Florida are aware of David and Jackie (the Queen of Versailles) Siegel's big gold chair.

Maybe Mr. Trump and Mr Siegel, to show what nice guys they are, could have their dining room sets melted down and pay off the our nation debt.





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How Then Shall We Live?

My friend, Art, is going to lead a discussion on the great book, How Then Shall We Live? on Sunday morning in Forum. I'm excited.

In the meantime Dave and I spent three hours this afternoon in a seminar discussing the book and current movement  Being Mortal - Medicine and What Matters in the End.  Some folks found it sad and depressing.  I found it exciting.  We saw the PBS documentary based on the book and discussed it.

Following are a few of the many concepts we discussed:

- Both doctors and patients need to learn that they can't fix aging and dying.  

- There is beauty in the cycle of life.  Every living thing experiences it, including us. 

- As we come close to the end there is a paradox in that our lives become smaller and larger at the same time. 


- We need to make decisions now in order to stay in control as long as possible.  If we don't make decisions about end of life issues, somebody else will make them for us. 

- The most compassionate thing is to be honest. 

- Pain is just mean.  It serves no purpose.

- DNR (Do Not Resuscitate.)  If I stop breathing don't give me CPR because you think I might die.  I've stopped breathing so I'm already dead.  

On Sunday Art will have us discuss "How then shall I live knowing I will die?"  It's an excellent question because we're all gonna die.

So let's talk about it.


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The Power of Poems

"Richard Cory" is one of the most popular poems ever written - and it, more than any other poem, influenced my style of writing poetry.  There is power in poetry.  But some of them are also puzzles.  "Richard Cory"  is a remarkably straightforward poem with a punch at the end.   It's held up well over the years and we can all still learn a lesson from it.

Richard Cory

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

written in 1897  

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:

He was a gentlemen from sole to crown,

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

OK, pretty clear.  We like his looks - but we are so jealous.  

And he was always quietly arrayed.

And he was always human when he talked,

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

"Good morning," and he glittered when he walked.

I'm thinking he was easy to talk to but it was kind of like making small talk with George Clooney.  "Glittered" is my favorite word in this poem.

And he was rich-yes, richer than a king-

And admirably schooled in every grace:

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place. 

Again, great looking, well mannered, slim - and rich.  How could we not hate him?

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head. 

Wow!  First time I read this poem (in high school) I did not see that coming.

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Don't Give Up

Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll the king cut them off ... and threw them in the fire pot.   Jeremiah 36

Last Sunday, we heard some cool old testament stories about Elijah... about how that original Jezebel was so mean to him that he wanted to throw in the towel - but God helped him through and he went on to fight the good fight again - and again - and again.

In these old testament stories there are some pretty fantastic, supernatural scenarios so some folks don't take them seriously.  Did Elijah's coat really part a river?  Here's my answer:

I don't know and I don't care.

The point, to me, is how these grumpy, depressed old prophets hung in there and did what they had to do despite the mysery that was brought to bare.

One of my favorite stories is about the prophet Jeremiah who tried everything to get the king to listen to the word from God.  Including having his scribe, Baruch, write it all down on a scroll.  Page after page after page after page.

Since Jeremiah couldn't get an appointment with the king he sent Baruch who, in turn gave it to Jehudi to read to the king.  Think about how difficult it was in ancient times to write anything down - much less a huge document, about the size of the Pentagon Papers.

Only to have the king take each page as it was being read and throw it in the fire.

What did Jeremiah say when Baruch reported this news?  Something like this:  Get together some quills for your pens and dry out some skins for making scrolls - because we're gonna write it all again.

And they did.  And that's what I want to do.


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Hunt For The Wilderpeople

Last Friday afternoon we went to our little gem of an art theater, the Enzian, to see Hunt For The Wilderpeople.  I wasn't excited about seeing this film but it's received fantastic reviews- and Dave wanted to see it - so we did.

I loved every bit of it.

Set in the New Zealand bush country, it stars Sam Neill (whom I did not know was from New Zealand) playing Hec and a really chubby 13 year old kid, Julian Dennison, playing Ricky Baker.

Ricky's welfare worker thinks he's a "bad egg."  One of his crimes is he spits.  Ricky enjoys his image.  He calls himself "a menace to society."  His dog's name is Tupac.  But he really is a smart, sweet, funny, extraordinarily adaptable kid who writes haiku.  This guy is entertaining every minute he's on screen.

At it's heart Hunt For The Winderpeople is a buddy/road trip movie, with the five month "road trip" spent in the bush, being hunted down by lawmen and the dreaded welfare worker.

Toward the end, their capture will remind you of Thelma and Louise.  But it has a satisfying ending and I think everybody - from preteens on up - would love this film.


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An American Icon Returns

 There's a box of Twinkies in that grocery store. Not just any box of Twinkies, the last box of Twinkies that anyone will enjoy in the whole universe. Believe it or not, Twinkies have an expiration date. Some day very soon, Life's little Twinkie gauge is gonna go... empty.  - Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) in the 2009 film "Zombieland."

A boatload of tragedies are happening in our country right now.  Let's talk about something else.  Something fun but - like a number of fun things that make us feel better momentarily - a little bit bad for us.  Of course, I'm talking about Twinkies.

A while back Hostess Brands was kaput!  But now they are back with a vengeance.  And their most famous snack cake is leading the way.  Which Hostess product do you like the best?   CupCakes, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs or Twinkies?  If you're like most Americans, it's Twinkies, hands down.  Following are a few fun facts about the little blond cakes and how they helped shape our country (and some of us:)

 - Hostess was founded in 1919 but its first true hit was the Twinkie, first baked in 1930.

 - Twinkies, at two-for-a-nickel, were immensely popular during the Great Depression. 

 - Originally the creme filling was banana flavored but during World War II, when bananas were rationed, they were swapped for vanilla. 

"Twinkie, you haven't changed a bit.
What's your secret?"

 - In the 1950s Twinkies became uberfamous as one of the sponsors of The Howdy Doody Show. 

 - In 1999, President Bill Clinton selected Twinkies as one of the keepsakes in the millennium time capsule.  

 - Twinkies have always been teased about having an undetermined shelf  life.  In fact, I shared this New Yorker cartoon with you a while back.  But, in reality, the current new shelf life is about 65 days. 

 - And recently Twinkies again became uberfamous staring in Zombieland as Woody Harrelson's favorite snack.  

But here is my confession, while I once loved the Hostess CupCake, I've never tried a Twinkie.  Thank goodness for second chances.


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Book Club Vacation

 Even though it does not represent my book group in any way,  I like this cartoon from our latest copy of The New Yorker Magazine.  Why?  Because it's saying to me that being part of a book group changes you.

But why does it matter if you read books on your own or read with a group?  First, in book club, many times, I read books that I would never read on my own.  Second, we discuss the book and I get insights I would never have otherwise.

But my book club is on vacation right now so I'm reading British mysteries for fun this summer.  Here are a couple I've really liked.

• Ice Blue by Emma Jameson.  First of a four book series featuring Lord and Lady Hetheridge.  These books are fun and relationship driven as well as about catching bad guys and gals. 
• Eeny Meeny by M. J. Arlidge.   Warning:  This is an edgy Helen Grace physiological thriller.  

But when book club cranks up again in the fall we will discuss:

• The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

The title sounds like a summer read but it's not.  It's about a young Jewish girl in California in 1940 who falls in love with the gardener's son.  Then, Pearl Harbour!  

I didn't love the book and would never have read the book without my book club telling me to but I can assure you we will have an excellent discussion and I will be a little bit better person for the experience.  

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When We Were Clueless

I have a big old book of cartoons titled The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975.  Here's my take on what the cartoons, from 1925 through the depression, are saying:

Rich white men in that time had no idea that the world operating in order to give them every advantage was wrong.  They took their privilege totally for granted.  For instance a cartoon depicts two wealthy southern landowners sitting on the porch watching their black field workers pick cotton.  One says to the other, "Know what I miss?  I miss that soft, sweet singing.  That's what I miss."

Young women as seen as slim and stupid, yet conniving.  Older women are seen as fat and stupid.  All minorities are clearly seen as inferior.

There was a clear European class structure. Looking through the book this morning actually made me feel better about our situation today.  We've come a long way.



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Am I Overreacting or is This PTSD?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - A mental condition that's triggered by a terrifying event.

The summer rains have come to Florida.  People in other places, when they see the Florida weather forecast, think it rains all summer here.  It does, but only in the late afternoons for an hour or so.  It's really no big deal.

Except when, occasionally, the power goes out, the way it did two nights ago.  When that happens I tend to freak out.  The other evening, a while after the big thunder clap that shut us down, Dave laid down and listened to NPR on the (battery operated) radio.  He asked me to lay down beside him.  I said, "I have some other things to do."  But I was thinking "Are you crazy?  I have to plan our escape - before I have the heart attack I feel coming on."

In 2004 Central Florida had three major hurricanes in a row.  The central part of the state rarely feels the full force of the storms and this area had not had a real hurricane in over 30 years.  It would be hard to explain how traumatizing these three storms in a row were.  The worst part, in general, was the many days without power after each storm.

The worst part personally was that my husband, Ken, died here at home during the storms.

You would think, after 12 years, I would have recovered.  But the other night I was on high alert and thoroughly stressed during the four hours the power was out.   There was no logic to it.  We were fine.  We could have gone to the mall or to a movie and not even been aware of it.

But I was hovered over a scented Yankee Candle in the kitchen like it was the End Times trying to thaw out bread slices over the flame so we could have peanut butter sandwiches.  Possibly our last meal.


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