Nada Te Turbe

Nada te turbe
Nada te espante
Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta
Solo Dios basta
Todo se pasa
Dios no se muda
La paciencia todo lo alcanza

Let nothing disturb you,
nothing afright you.
Whom God possesses
in nothing is wanting.
Alone God suffices.
All things are passing.
God never ceases.
Patient endurance attains all things.

YouTube stolen from Margaret's website Leave It Lay Where Jesus Flang It.

English lyrics from Margaret, and Spanish lyrics from Paul, who is also a thief.

What are friends for, if not to steal from?

"Exorcise Your Right To Vote"

From Darkblack. Posted without comment, but with a link to an earlier post of mine.

From One Of Our Own

From the letters section in the Advocate, Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

I am disappointed with your article of June 21 titled “An Anglican mission: African bishop encourages Baton Rouge church.” I believe that the article could unnecessarily confuse or offend some readers. I wish to clarify some items.

Episcopalians are Anglicans and are recognized as such by the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church is the official representative of the Anglican Communion in America. It is erroneous to suggest otherwise.

The Anglican Mission of the Americas Church mentioned in the article is not recognized throughout the Anglican Communion in this way. It should not have been suggested through the comments of the interviewees alone what the Episcopal Church teaches.

The entire letter is worth reading. It was written by The Rev. Ken Ritter, rector, Trinity Episcopal Church, dean, Baton Rouge-South Deanery, Diocese of La., Baton Rouge.

Here's the link to the article to which Fr Ritter refers. Irony abounds. The visiting bishop who will save the unhappy ex-Episcopalians in Baton Rouge is from Rwanda! You'd think his mission work at home would keep him occupied.

"NOW THIS IS SWEET!!"

All women should live so long as to be this kind of old lady!

Toward the end of Sunday service, the Minister asked, "How many of you have forgiven your enemies?" 80% held up their hands.

The Minister then repeated his question. All responded this time, except one small elderly lady.

"Mrs. Neely, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?"

"I don't have any." She replied, smiling sweetly.

"Mrs. Neely, that is very unusual. How old are you?"

"Ninety-eight." she replied.

"Oh, Mrs. Neely, would you please come down in front and tell us all how a person can live ninety-eight years and not have an enemy in the world?"

The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle,
faced the congregation, and said:

"I outlived the bitches."

From my daughter in an email.

Ella Again - Because I Promised Susan S.

"One Note Samba" with Joe Pass in Germany, 1975.

They're Back!

Tim Chesterton, from Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, and Rural Rector, from eastern Long Island, NY, who were both on sabbatical from blogging, are now back to work again. Tim is at the usual place, Tale Spin with a new look. Rural Rector is back with not only a new look, but a new name at A Country Parish.

Welcome back to the blogosphere, Fr Tim and Rural Rector.

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.