Scholarship Winner - Shane Heslet

The dark blue plaque on the sidebar of my blog links to The Dillenkoffer Endowment which rewards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) high school seniors who graduate from a Kansas or Missouri high school and attend a Kansas or Missouri college, maintain at least a 2.75 GPA, and make a difference through community and school involvement, with $25,000 per year in college scholarships. TDE was established in 2006 to honor Kansas City, Missouri, resident Gayle Dillenkoffer’s acceptance of diversity without judgment.

Gayle is my sister. She died two years ago of pancreatic cancer at the age of 67. She was a powerful influence in my change of heart about issues relating to LGTB folks. I'm ashamed that until so very recently - a few years ago - my heart and mind were not on the right side of the push for equality and inclusion, but that's the truth of the matter. However, I've heard it said, "There's no zealot like a convert." I hope that's true in my case.

The scholarship program began last year. Shane is the second recipient of a major scholarship from the endowment.

In his application essay, Shane wrote about the challenges many GLBT youth encounter in their daily lives: "GLBT citizens … have a tough road to become successful. We must overcome the acceptance of our peers, family, friends and everyone in our daily lives."

"Shane is helping to build a positive image for the GLBT community and is a role model to straight and GLBT young adults everywhere," says Honorary Chairman of the Endowment Frank Dillenkoffer. "He regularly volunteers for community projects and fundraisers, and tutors lower-level students. Shane aspires to be a teacher and continue his dedication to helping others, and we trust that this scholarship award will help him realize that.

I have great admiration for the courage of young people who decide early to be open and honest about their sexual orientation.

The Dillenkoffer Endowment also awarded three one-year scholarships this year to the following students:

Chelsea Masewich
of Chesterfield, Missouri—$1500

Ralph Jenkins II
of Lake St. Louis, Missouri—$1000

Trey Matzes
of Washington, Missouri—$500

I'm sure that Gayle is delighted that our fond memories of her are being honored in this manner.

Ella Fitzgerald - Cry Me A River - Two

Here's No. 4. Susan mentioned that she liked this version from Ella, so here it is. Actually the sound is not bad.

Thanks, Tigers!

Back in February, I posted about a teacher, Peter Pfister, and a group of high school students, from Rockland District High School in Rockland, Maine, who wanted to go to New Orleans to work on the recovery. At the first meeting, the school board tabled the motion to permit them to go, because NOLA might be too dangerous - "a war zone" one member called it. At a later meeting, the school board voted to allow the trip, with two members voting "no". The group was collecting donations for their trip, which was not funded by the school district. In the post, I gave the address where donations could be sent.

Today in the comments to that post, I found this from one of the students at Rockland:

Patti said...

Hi all:
The Tigers came and went, but the trip to New Orleans lower 9th made a real impression, we hope to make more trips, funds permitting. We worked about 1000 hours but I think we came back with as much as we did for others. We met Angela Hill, Leah Chase of Dooky Chase, two amazing women, heard John McCain speak and met him, were thanked by complete strangers, and met some amazing people. Thank you for our experience NOLA!

Thank you, students from Rockland! You rock!

Gov. Bobby Jindal Vetoes Pay Raise

Breaking news!

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal announced today that he has vetoed the legislative pay raise.

After days of saying he would not reject the unpopular measure, Jindal said this morning that he had changed his mind.

"I thank the people for their voice and their attention," Jindal said of the public outcry against the raise. "I am going to need your help to move this state forward. ... The voters have demanded change. . . . I made a mistake by staying out if it" originally.

Jindal said that legislators "are going to be angry I broke my word to them" by promising to stay out of the pay raise issue. "Let them direct their anger to me and not the people of this state," Jindal said.

It seems that Jindal is more afraid of the people than of the legislators. That's good. The legislators doubling their pay for part-time work, while the citizens of Louisiana struggle with rising gas and food prices, with wages not keeping pace, was too much to swallow. The people rose up.

Now if only we citizens could be as galvanized on other issues such as the law to allow the teaching of Creationism and Intelligent Design in science class, which the governor, a Rhodes scholar, signed on to. Of course, the state will be sued, and will likely lose the case AGAIN after spending a good deal of our money defending the foolish law.

More On Stephen Hatfill

From the Los Angeles Times:

The federal investigation into the deadly anthrax mailings of late 2001 was undermined by leaks and a premature fixation on a single suspect, according to investigators and scientists involved in the case.

More than six years after the mailings, no one has been charged, and the top suspect, former Army scientist Steven J. Hatfill was all but exonerated Friday when the U.S. Justice Department agreed to pay him $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit.

Five people died. As a protective measure, many had to take powerful antibiotics which sometimes cause rather serious side-effects. Post offices were shut down and had to be decontaminated. Throughout the country, folks were afraid of their mail. I watched for white powder myself for a while. Citizens were advised to communicate by email or phone and not to send mail to their representatives in Congress.

Behind the scenes, FBI agents chafed at their supervisors' obsession with Hatfill, who in 2002 was publicly identified by then-Atty. Gen. John D. Ashcroft as "a person of interest." The preoccupation with Hatfill persisted for years, long after investigators failed to turn up any evidence linking him to the mailings. Other potential suspects and leads were ignored or given insufficient attention, investigators said.

Hatfill's apartment was searched more than once, but the news media helicopters were overhead as the FBI arrived. Someone inside the agency had tipped them off. Twice it was suggested to Robert Mueller, the director of the FBI, that lie-detector tests be given within the agency to find the leakers, but he refused, saying it would be "bad for morale".

In addition to the searches, a caravan of FBI agents photographed and videotaped Hatfill seven days a week for months. An FBI employee drove over Hatfill's foot, prompting Washington, D.C., police to ticket him for "walking to create a hazard."

Media coverage of the 24-hour surveillance helped cement Hatfill's public image as a central figure in the investigation. The constant aspersions provoked a vehement response from Hatfill, who proclaimed his innocence in a sidewalk news conference.

We are spending $12 billion a month in our occupation of Iraq, a country which never attacked us, but we badly mishandle the investigation of a terrorist attack within our own country. And Osama bin Laden is still free.

Said Peter Setlow, a University of Connecticut biochemist who has served as a consultant to the FBI:

"They're not going to ever catch him until somebody confesses on their deathbed or something like that. You're not going to find a smoking gun."

The attempt, often successful, by the Bush maladministration to politicize virtually every agency of the federal government results in this sort of disastrous outcome. From the military, to the Justice Department, to FEMA, to the CIA, to the Centers for Disease Control, to the Veterans Administration, and on and on and on, Bush/Cheney and their minions have taken the country down a path to destruction. It will be decades before we recover from their depredations, if we ever do.

I commend the LA Times for excellent investigative reporting on the government's treatment of Stephen Hatfill and in exposing the FBI's dereliction of duty in not conducting a proper investigation of a terrorist attack. It wasn't the fault of the investigators; it was the leadership that failed us all. What does that do to morale in the agency? The entire article is worth a read.

Summer Hibernating

Movietime again! I watched "Good Night and Good Luck", the 1950s story of newsman Edward R. Murrow's clash with Senator Joe McCarthy, the commie-chaser. Excellent. It's startling to see all the cigarettes in the movie, but that's the way it was back then. Murrow went on the air with his cigarette! David Strathairn is terrific as Murrow. It's obvious that George Clooney made the movie with a passionate drive to get it right - and he does.
In those days the news producers had to answer for their content to the corporate sponsors of the shows, but could still make their own decisions. Today the corporations own the networks and cable channels and give the orders. Back in the day, Morrow thought the standards for TV news had fallen to a low point in catering to folks who want their news easy and entertaining. Surely, he's rolling his grave at the state of news gathering and producing today. I look back and see his era as a golden age.
Joe McCarthy of the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigating Communist infiltration into the US Government, ruined and intimidated a goodly number of people before his downfall, and to take him on was a huge risk for Murrow. The movie uses actual footage of McCarthy instead of an actor. To see his accusations and bullying questioning of Annie Lee Moss, a Pentagon communication worker, is stomach-turning. Poor lady. She looks terrified. Ray Wise is excellent in the role of Don Hollenback, a journalist at CBS, who is smeared with charges of being a pinko. You can see the fear in his face as he waits for the ax to fall.
I liked the jazz soundtrack with music by Diana Reeves and a jazz combo. Scenes from performances by Reeves and her group are interspersed between scenes of the movie.
Next up was "Pollock", a film about the artist, Jackson Pollock. Depressing beyond depressing. It's well-done, but a real downer. Does all art involve this much angst? I don't think so. Pollock was an alcoholic, and it's always grim to watch that kind of tale of destruction play out. Along with telling Pollack's story, the moviemakers try to give the viewer insight into the artistic process.
Ed Harris directed the movie and played the role of Pollock. He and Marcia Gay Harden, playing Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner, also an artist, both do fine work in their roles. Pollock gives Lee a hell of a time of it. Amy Madigan is outstanding in the role of Peggy Guggenheim, an early patron of Pollock.
I'll never look at Pollock's paintings in quite the same way after seeing the movie. The photo above shows the real Pollock at work in his later technique of drip painting. I love the moment in the movie when an interviewer asks him what his paintings mean. He looks pained and says, (not a direct quote) "Look at the grass and the birds. Can't people just look at things and enjoy them?"

I Thought You'd Like An Artist Joke

An artist had been working on a nude portrait for a long time. Every day, he was up early and worked late - bringing perfection with every stroke of his paint brush. As each day passed, he gained a better understanding of the female body and was able to really make his paintings shine.

After a month, the artist had become very weary from this non-stop effort and decided to take it easy for the day. Since his model had already shown up, he suggested they merely have a glass of wine and talk - since normally he preferred to do his painting in silence.

They talked for a few hours, getting to know each other better. Then as they were sipping their claret, the artist heard a car arriving outside. He jumped up and said, "Oh no! It's my wife! Quick, take off your clothes!"

Padre Mickey's Crew Respond To GAFCON

Padre Mickey and the Mr. Red Peanut Bank crew respond to GAFCON. This will whet your appetite for more:

Tune: Jesus Loves The Little Children

No one’s holier than we are
No one’s holier than we
Red, and Yellow, Black, and White
Unless you’re with us, you’re not right
No one in the Communion’s holier than we!

Ella Fitzgerald - Cry Me A River

Here's No. 3. Use your mind's eye to see Ella on this one, but you don't need to imagine the gorgeous voice and great style. There is an old video of Ella singing the song, but the picture and sound are of poor quality.

"On Being Spiritual And Religious "

Often, I hear folks say that they are spiritual, but not religious, or that they have a relationship with God, but that they don't need to go to church. Who am I to say that they are wrong? I won't say it. I'll simply say that would not work for me. I have a need to be anchored to a community. In my whole life, I have missed church for a total of perhaps three or four months.

I regularly receive the Abbey Letter from St. Gregory's Abbey, an Episcopal Benedictine monastery in Three Rivers, Michigan. Prior Aelred, who visits around and about in the blogosphere, is a member of the community. The following excerpt is from the abbot's message in the the most recent letter:

A decisive factor that led to my becoming religious as well as spiritual was a dissatisfaction with the eclectic approach. I reached a point where I realized that, in order for my spirituality to be centered, it had to be rooted in a particular religious tradition. My settling on Christianity, however, was not made with the sense that one choice was as good as another. At the time of decision, Christ, who very definitely willed certain things, such as fellowship with me, became very real to me. God’s grace and my choice to give myself to the particular Personhood of Christ were so inextricably entwined that there is no way I can separate one from the other. “Particular” is the key word here. The missing ingredient in spirituality without religion is particularity. Before this conversion, it seemed that believing in an impersonal “god”, whose manifestation on earth was not limited to one holy person, preserved my individuality. The irony is, that it is the making of particular choices in terms of friends, a community, and God that has enhanced my own particular individuality.

One of the particularities of Christianity is that the Holy Spirit makes spirituality religious by binding people and God together. The Holy Spirit is more than “the bond of love” between the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is a Person who actively brings the Father and the Son together and also actively brings each one of us, in our own particularity, to the Father and the Son and to each other in that same bond of Love. That Holy Spirit inspires us to love everybody, not in general, but in particular. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit gives us the impossible task of relating personally with billions of people. Rather, the Holy Spirit inspires us to follow Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors. Our neighbors are the particular people who happen to be present in our lives. With the Holy Spirit binding us together with God in this way, there is no room for binding together by way of collective violence. This is how the Holy Spirit makes religion spiritual.

Abbot Andrew in the Abbey Letter, Summer 2008, from St. Gregory's Abbey, Three Rivers, Michigan.

UPDATE: At the Episcopal Cafè, Mark Barrett speaks of "presence" in Benedictine life.