LITTLE DYINGS

Little Dyings

Thinking today of the
Hundreds of little dyings
In my long life.

Little dyings, little risings
So the path winds the
Way to the end,

The end that is a new
Beginning with no more
Dyings, large or small.

(June Butler - May 2013)

JINDAL'S TENURE LAW DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL - ON TO THE LOUISIANA SUPREME COURT

One of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature laws that makes it harder for teachers to earn and retain a form of job protection, called tenure, was declared unconstitutional Monday.

State District Judge R. Michael Caldwell, of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, who in December upheld the tenure part of a sweeping education law, reversed himself after hearing new arguments from both sides.

The ruling was a victory for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. The LFT filed the lawsuit and said that the 2012 measure would essentially end teacher tenure in Louisiana.

The decision also could throw a wrench into sweeping new teacher evaluations, which are under way in public schools for the first time.

Of course, Jindal will file an appeal, so we'll wait to see how the Louisiana Supreme Court rules.  I'm not against educational reform, but I don't want reform in the hands of Jindal and the present legislature. Apparently, they do not do not overly concern themselves with following laws already in the Louisiana Constitution when they write new legislation, and the experiment with vouchers to private schools is not going well.  Who advises the governor and the legislators on constitutional issues and apparently tells them what they want to hear, rather than what will pass the constitutional test?  I assume Jimmy Faircloth, the lawyer for the state who will lead the appeal, is one of the advisers.  Perhaps, if the advisers stepped into the real world and left behind the Republican fantasy world, they'd give wiser advice about legislation.  Ah, but then they might be dismissed from their positions by the governor, who brooks little or no dissent within his inner circle.

State Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite and an opponent of the tenure law, said Monday that, during House debate on the measure, he and other opponents warned that it was legally flawed but that Jindal and his legislative allies “ramrodded it through.”

Jindal is good at ramrodding legislation through.  His policy: Pass the legislation quickly before too many people have a chance to examine it closely and find the flaws.  

LARYNGOSPASMS - "ANOTHER CASE YOU WANT TO DO"

Out(sic) latest video will resonate with anyone who has ever worked in an operating room. It's well into the night, you've already done a boatload of cases and you just want to get done and go home. And then the surgeon tells you he's found another one...

Doctor, doctor, say it's not true
You've gotta, 'nother case you wanna do
Already worked halfway through the night
You've gotta, 'nother case you wanna do

Never have I worked in an operating room, but I have been a patient in the operating room. For more reasons than one, I guess it's a good thing we patients are mostly knocked out during the procedures. :-)

INTEGRITY USA MAPS & LISTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH DIOCESAN POLICIES ON SAME-SEX BLESSINGS

 

Integrity USA posted a map of dioceses in the Episcopal Church with their policies on same-sex blessings.  The link below takes you to the map and the list.  Scroll down below the map to see the list.

Map of Diocesan Blessings Policies Released!

The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana offers same-sex blessings.  The Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana does not.

R.I.P. ANDREW GREELEY

Fr. Andrew Greeley, an eminent sociologist of religion who also happened to be probably the best-selling priest-novelist of all time andthe Catholic church's most prominent in-house critic, died Wednesday inChicago. He was 85.

Over the course of a career that generated a staggering 72 nonfiction books and 66 novels, Greeley became the voice of the liberal American Catholicism of his generation -- critical, but deeply loyal. Greeley could be too Catholic for both some on the secular left and the most embittered of the church's dissidents, as well as too outspokenly liberal for the Catholic establishment, but he was always a compelling and commercially successful player on the American stage.

I read several of Greeley's racy novels, starting with The Cardinal Sins, his first best seller.  Greeley insists the mildly erotic passages in his fiction sprang from his imagination, for he asserts that he never broke his vow of celibacy.  I believe him.

"At the most basic level, people learn from the novels that sex is good," Greeley said. "Then they get the notion that sexual love is a sacrament of God's love, that sexual love tells us something about God. They also understand that God's love tells us something about sex."

The idea that sex is good, a gift from God, which many Roman Catholics had already discovered without the help of the celibate authorities in the church, was affirmed publicly for the first time by a prominent member of the RC clergy for many - um - practicing Roman Catholics, whose consciences had been disturbed generation after generation by the intrusions of Roman Catholic clergy into their bedrooms.

Not everyone in the church approved of Greeley's fiction.

The National Catholic Register, for example, opined that Greeley had "the dirtiest mind ever ordained."

Oh, I doubt that very much.  Whoever wrote the words in the article, ordained or not, probably had a dirtier mind than Greeley, because he had to have read a lot of dirt to know that Greeley's mind was the dirtiest.

The progressive Catholic values of the 1960s informed Greeley's approach, both to secular politics and to the church. Over the years, he supported ordaining married men and women as priests, attacked what he saw as the inflated power of the Vatican, and railed against what he termed the "original sin" of clerical culture: envy. He was no less a lefty in secular terms; his last nonfiction book was titled A Stupid, Unjust and Criminal War: Iraq 2001-2007.

"The progressive values of the 1960s" were right and true.  That the RCC backed away from the values was a sad mistake.

From time to time, I read and enjoyed Greeley's columns in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Andrew.  Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.  Amen.

FURTHER ON THE FILM VERSION OF "THE GREAT GATSBY"

In an earlier post, I said that I would probably go with my granddaughter to the the latest film version of The Great Gatsby, even though I did not particularly wish to see the movie.  When I've enjoyed a book as much as I did Gatsby, I hesitate to see the movie version unless the reviews are very good.  The critics' opinions were evenly divided between positive and negative, but audience reviews were and still are positive in the ratings.

Last week, we went to the theater, and, after we bought the tickets and were in line to buy high-priced concessions, GD told me, "My friends decided to see the movie, and I'm going back with them this weekend."

"You tell me now?" says I.

"I want to see it twice," says she.

Oh well.  In we went to our seats and, after a series of trailers, the movie began.  For the first half hour or so, I found myself noting the period details of the clothes, cars, and home decor of the 1920s, which usually means the film is going slowly.  Still, I sometimes enjoy long, slow movies with lots of period details, so I was not unhappy.  Then, the pace quickened, and I became completely absorbed in the film.  I found that the more I forgot the movie was about Fitzgerald's novel, the more I enjoyed the film for itself.

We did not see the 3-D version, which I think was a good thing.  Aside from the fact that I'm not a great fan of 3-D, I think all the popping out would have been a distraction for me.  GD saw the 3-D version on the weekend, and she expressed a slight preference for the 2-D version.

Leonardo DiCaprio was splendid in the role of Jay Gatsby, and Carey Mulligan was very good as Daisy Buchanan, as (I read somewhere, now forgotten) the young woman whom two men want to possess, though she doesn't yet own herself.  To me, Tobey Maguire was miscast as narrator Nick Carraway, as he seemed dazed throughout the film.  Of course, in the film, he wrote the Gatsby story from a rehabilitation center for alcoholics, so perhaps his befuddled state was as intended.  Although Fitzgerald himself was an alcoholic, Nick in rehab was not in the novel.  Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan was appropriately repulsive.

When I completely suspend disbelief, and become part of a movie, though in the role of a spectator, I consider the the film a success, thus I fall on the side of movie audiences who give the film an 84% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, rather than on the side of the divided critics.     

CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS - "I AM A COUNTRY GIRL"

Ive become quite fond of the music of the Carolina Chocolate Drops since I bought their album "Leaving Eden". In the video, I especially like the recovery from the false start, which I'm pleased was not edited out.

FAREWELL, NYADA. WE WILL MISS YOU.

Nyada Dué deGravelles, on Wednesday, May 23, 2013, entered into eternal rest at the age of 88.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the visitation from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and from 10 a.m. until funeral time Wednesday at St. John's Episcopal Church on Jackson St. in Thibodaux. A Mass of Christian burial will be at noon Wednesday at the church, with burial in the church cemetery.

She is survived by her son, J.P. deGravelles and wife, Bridgette; daughters, Pamela deGravelles and Trudy deGravelles Bourgeois and husband, Kenneth; brother, Paul H. Dué; 10 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Norbert "Nobby" deGravelles; and parents, Paul Dué and Elva Nase.

Nyada was a native of Covington. and lived in Thibodaux for 67 years.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in her name may be made to St. John's Episcopal Church-UTO fund.

Landry's Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Published in Houma Today & The Daily Comet.

Nyada was a lovely woman who lived the Gospel of love and service to the fullest, and despite "the changes and chances of this mortal life," of which she had her share, she nearly always had a smile on her face like the smile in the picture.  Today family and friends bade farewell to Nyada at St John's, the church community that she loved and served so well over many years, where she will be greatly missed.

Into thy hands, O merciful Savior, we commend thy servant Nyada. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech thee, a sheep of thine own fold, a lamb of thine own flock, a sinner of thine own redeeming. Receive her into the arms of thy mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.  Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

STORY OF THE DAY - SINGLE MIND

If I love you with all my heart, she said, what will 
you give me? & then she stopped & said I didn't have 
to answer that because she was going to do it anyway.

From StoryPeople.

SOLUTION

So. With help from an internet search, we have a better solution for our sometimes incontinent 16 year old Diana and wet doggie beds. We wash the covers of her beds in the washing machine, but the mattresses must be washed by hand and hung out to dry, which becomes a problem in rainy weather.

I searched online for a waterproof cover for Diana's mattresses for her three beds, but I could not find the right size, except for one item which received rather poor reviews. An online source suggested large size trash bags as a temporary solution, but I don't see why the trash bag solution should be only temporary. Since Diana's beds are large, the 39 gallon size bags fit perfectly with just a bit of overlap, enough to seal with mailing tape. Aside from frequent washing of the covers, providing a clean bed for Diana has become much easier.

Diana loves her beds. The three are alike, and she luxuriates in them. Before we found this style, she tore to pieces every bed we bought.

"TEARS OF UNKNOWINGNESS"

As the sun set that first night, turning the rocks and cliffs and plateaus red and pink, the moon rose over the altar. Yes. Literally. The people sang. Dare to forgive. God will be with you. Let those who are thirsty, come.

And I wept. Tears of joy. Tears of amazement. Pent up tears. Tears I couldn't name because I didn't know their source. Tears of unknowingness. Tears that carved away a Bad Lands in my heart, exposed strong soul cliffs and washed away the unnecessary earth.

And I was not alone in weeping. And it was good.

Beautiful, powerful, prayerful, eloquent. Read it all.

Bless you, dear margaret.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO REDUX

Abbott and Costello predicted it would come to this.

SILENT DEVOTED COMPANIONSHIP

True. I'll never forget what a comfort our first dog, Ginger, was to me in difficult times. I'd sit on the back steps with her near me, until I felt comforted.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY - LOUISIANA

          SNAKES FOUND IN STATE CAPITOL

From the Baton Rouge Advocate. 

“We’re talking about real snakes; not the two-legged kind?” state Rep. Terry Landry, D-New Iberia, asked Thursday. 

State Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Napoleonville, had a similar reaction. 

“Are we talking about snakes that slither or the kind of snakes with last names,” he asked. “If we’re here working amongst snakes, I guess I need to find out if this is biblical or not.”

Ha ha ha.

Water snakes?

THE TRINITY

PEREDA, Antonio de
The Holy Trinity
Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

Trinity

Three in One.
One in Three.
The Father loves the Son.
The Son loves the Father.
The Father and the Son love the Spirit.
The Spirit loves the Father and the Son.
The Father, Son, and Spirit loved creation into being.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
....

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
....

And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’

(Gospel of John, Chapter 1)

Image from the Web Gallery of Art.

THE VAUNTED VOUCHERS, OR IS OUR CHILDREN LEARNING?

As Gov. Bobby Jindal tries again to fund his controversial school voucher program, new test scores indicate that many of the current students educated with public money in private schools are not thriving. Or at least they aren't yet.

Released Wednesday, LEAP scores for third- through eighth-graders show only 40 percent of voucher students scored at or above grade level this past spring. The state average for all students was 69 percent.
....

[Superintendent John] White said the 2013 scores for voucher students were low because of the large influx of students from failing schools.

That's right, Superintendent White, blame the public schools for the less than stellar results of the brilliant plan by you and Governor Jindal to improve education in Louisiana by privatization.  I'm not at all surprised at the results.  At least some of the voucher schools teach junk science and junk history.  What do you expect?  Roman Catholic schools do a creditable job of educating children, but it appears that a good many of the new "academies" that sprang into existence when vouchers became available to private schools are not the solution to poor performance by educational institutions in Louisiana.

Public schools have been struggling from cuts in funding from the state since Jindal took office in his first term, and, were it not for the Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that paying for vouchers from public school funds was unconstitutional, the schools would have suffered further as more and more voucher money was siphoned away from their budgets.  Keep in mind that private schools can weed out troublesome students and students with challenges, but public schools must accept all who apply.
Why not focus on improving public schools?

"Anytime you start something new, it's going to take some time to grow," White said. "Nearly two thirds of the kids taking tests in those schools had only been there six months."

And he pointed out that the state did take seven schools off the voucher list. "After a period of time we cannot tolerate failure," he said.

Come now, Mr White, no more excuses for the poor results in the private school voucher program that you and Governor Jindal esteem so highly; take responsibility for the consequences of your grand plan.  If the two had their way, the end result would be the gradual destruction of public school systems in the state, and what would replace them?  More "academies"?

According to the article, White did not actually take seven schools off the voucher list; he merely stopped them from accepting new voucher students, so, in my book, he is still tolerating failure.

Oh, and lets not forget the earlier glitch in the effort by Jindal and White to provide quality online education by private companies to the students of Louisiana. 

When will Jindal and White have gone far enough down the road of poor results to give them a grade of  F in educational reform?