"TALES OF THE ISLANDER" - CAROLINE HERRING

"Reflection in a Pool" by Walter Anderson.

For many years Walter Anderson, painted scenes of wildlife and plant life on the coast of Mississippi and especially on Horn Island, off the coast. Horn Island is part of the Gulf Coast National Seashore.

Georgianne Nienaber at The Huffington Post writes of the danger from the oil gushing from the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico to the the Audubon Bird Sanctuary on Dauphin Island and to the Gulf Coast National Seashore, located in Florida and Mississippi.

Reports indicate the river of oil is moving closer, and Dauphin Island, Alabama is experiencing odor at this writing. The Audubon Bird Sanctuary is located here. Dauphin Island is the safety net used by birds as they migrate north from South America. It is a sanctuary of rest and rejuvenation for them, or it was so.
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Horn Island and Ships Island, parts of the Gulf Islands National Seashore are also in danger. Horn Island is famous for its long white beaches and is home to alligators, ospreys, pelicans, ducks, tern, herons, and other migratory birds. Reuters News Service and the Coast Guard report that booms have been placed on the east and west tips of Horn Island. Whether they will hold is anyone's guess. Booms did not hold off the Birdsfoot Delta in Louisiana's waters.

This is a very personal attempt by this writer to explain the beauty of this area. I have been around the world and have never experienced a place of such peace, beauty, and rejuvenation. I can understand why the natural world uses the Gulf Coast as a place of refuge.
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I think the best way to convey the importance of this natural area and what stands to be lost is to offer this video by roots writer Caroline Herring. The disclosure I must offer is that Caroline is a friend of mine. Her tribute to Walter Anderson is also a beautiful hymn to the endangered Gulf Coast.

The last I heard from Georgianne, she was off to Haiti again, and she requested prayers.

R. I. P. LENA HORNE

-- from the 1943 film of the same name, the great Lena Horne delivers a sizzling performance of her signature song.


From the New York Times:

Lena Horne, who broke new ground for black performers when she signed a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio and who went on to achieve international fame as a singer, died on Sunday night in Manhattan. She was 92.

Her death, at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley. She lived in Manhattan. In a message of condolence, President Obama said Ms. Horne had "worked tirelessly to further the cause of justice and equality."

PS: I remember seeing "Stormy Weather". Yes, I am old.

"A DISASTER THE LIKE OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE"

From Radio Netherlands:

While the world’s attention is focused on the growing oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, there is an unseen environmental disaster taking place underwater. Invisible substances underneath are wreaking havoc on an enormous scale, just as much as the very visible black sludge above.

The well, 1,500 metres under the sea off the Louisiana coast, is responsible for a disaster the like of which has never been seen before. This is not because of the amount of oil pouring into the sea, 800,000 litres per day, says eco-toxicologist John Schobben from the Dutch Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies (IMARES). The situation is unique because the oil is coming directly from the well and contains substances that have long been removed from the sort of oil leaked by tankers.

“What you normally see is fuel oil which floats on the water and mostly affects birds and mammals, but oil straight from the well contains substances like PAKs, the black smut you find on barbeques. They are carcinogenic and dissolve in water. You also get volatile substances like toluene and benzene which kill fish, plankton and mussels.”

Mississippi
The most important aspect of any oil disaster is the protection and clean-up of the coast. Mr Scobben is first to admit that the environmental damage to the land is many times greater than that suffered in the sea. The Mississippi delta is a valuable ecosystem involving both fresh and salt water life. Turtles come ashore to lay their eggs and the area is a hub for nesting birds. The timing of the disaster could not be worse, coming as it does in the middle of the brooding season.

Nevertheless, Mr Schobben maintains that the leak’s submarine damage is being underestimated. IMARES research shows that PAKs and volatile substances disturb the submarine eco-balance long-term. There only need be one species hit for others to be given the opportunity to move in. He calls this phenomenon ‘species shift’.

“You see an unnatural situation emerging. An area will never be completely dead. There will always be something left alive but it’s not a natural ecosystem anymore. That will eventually recover, but it takes a very long time.”

Before now, I have not seen reporting on the difference between oil that leaks from a tanker and oil spewing directly from a well and the vast difference in toxicity. Maybe it's out there, and I missed it. Even if the oil never reaches more land than at present, the disaster will be far greater than I ever imagined, and I've taken a pessimistic view from the beginning.

Thanks to JayV at Blazing Indiscretions for sending me the link.

Photo from The Huffington Post.

CARDINAL SCHONBORN: CARDINAL SODANO "DEEPLY WRONGED THE VICTIMS"

From The Tablet:

The head of the Austrian Church has launched an attack of one of the most senior cardinals in the Vatican, saying that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, “deeply wronged” the victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy when he dismissed media reports of the scandal. In a meeting with editors of the main Austrian daily newspapers last week, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, also said the Roman Curia was “urgently in need of reform”, and that lasting gay relationships deserved respect. He reiterated his view that the Church needs to reconsider its position on re-married divorcees.

On Easter Day, Cardinal Sodano called the mounting reports of clerical sex abuse “petty gossip”. This had “deeply wronged the victims”, Cardinal Schönborn said, and he recalled that it was Cardinal Sodano who had prevented Joseph Ratzinger, then a cardinal, from investigating allegations of abuse made against Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, the previous Archbishop of Vienna, who resigned in disgrace in 1995.

Cardinal Schönborn said that Pope Benedict was “gently” working on reforming the Curia but he had the whole world on his desk, as the cardinal put it, and his way of working and his style of communication did not make it easy to advise him quickly from outside.
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The Vatican press spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, praised the Austrian Church for its openness in dealing with the clerical abuse crisis and told the Austrian daily Kurier on Monday that Cardinal Sodano’s words at Easter were “certainly not the wisest”

If reform is to come to the Roman Catholic Church, others in the hierarchy must follow Cardinal Schönborn's example in speaking the truth. As Fr Roy Bourgeois says, "Silence is complicity". Words from insiders carry a power that no criticism from outside can match. Cardinal Sodano's words seem to have been more than Cardinal Schönborn could bear, and since he has difficulty communicating with the pope, he communicated in a manner that will surely get Pope Benedict's full attention.

I thank God and Cardinal Schönborn for his courageous act.

WHAT TO DO?

Photo - MATTHEW HINTON
A rusty coast of oil lines the shore of one of the Chandeleur Islands with the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, as officials discussed strategies for attacking the millions of gallons of oil.
From NOLA.com:

Crews planned Sunday to park the giant oil containment box on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, and offload equipment that could be used in a new attempt to stem the flow of crude gushing into the sea.

The equipment being offloaded from another vessel would use a tube to shoot mud and concrete directly into the well's blowout preventer, a process that could take two to three weeks. But BP spokesman Mark Proegler told AP that no decisions have been made on what step the company will take next.
The company was considering three options, including the technique known as a "top kill," Proegler said.

It could be at least a day before BP can make another attempt at putting a lid on a well spewing more than 200,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf each day.

The company's first attempt to divert the oil was foiled, its mission now in serious doubt. Meanwhile, thick blobs of tar washed up on Alabama's white sand beaches, yet another sign the spill was spreading.

Early Sunday, there was little visible new activity at the site of the oil spill. The skies were clear, but the waves on the sea were kicking up and the wind was more breezy than in previous days.

BP doesn't know what to do. Who would ever have expected...? There was no plan for this kind of disaster.

Again from NOLA.com:

Light and moderate areas of oil sheen from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill have been spotted as far west as the Timbalier Islands and are expected to continue flowing west, forcing the state Department of Wildlife & Fisheries to extend its ban on recreational and commercial fishing in offshore waters of the state to Point au Fer island adjacent to Atchafalaya Bay.

The ban extends to the beaches bordering those waters, said Wildlife & Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham, in a news release announcing the change.

NOAA's latest forecast trajectory map indicates light oil stretching just off Louisiana's coastline to Atchafalaya Bay by Tuesday, with heavier concentrations just west the river's mouth. The forecast shows the potential for oil along Southwest Pass on the lower Mississippi River and on the beaches of Port Fourchon and the Timbalier Islands, though it still shows no oil on Grand Isle.

The state Department of Health and Hospitals also extended the closure of oyster harvesting beds west of the Mississippi River as a precaution against contamination from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The closure affects harvesting areas 14 and 15, which are west of the river in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.

The oil has reached the water south of us and is spreading to the west. No fishing, no harvesting of oysters, no charter boats going out will have a huge effect on the economy in south Louisiana.

My son was thinking of making reservations to take his children to the beach in Alabama or Florida, but he's having second thoughts. That's another small example of the ripple effect the spill will have on the economies of the states on the Gulf Coast.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

 

From the comments to my post on Ann Fontaine's essay at the Daily Episcopalian on the Hallmark celebration of Mother's Day in church services.

Mary-Cauliflower said...

The whole mothers' day thing has been a process for me. As someone who never had children, I've made a journey through feelings of inadequacy, irritation, jealousy, and finally acceptance. I admire many women who are mothers and grandmothers. I'm grateful to have my own mom here still. And there is a role that I play as an aunt, teacher, and friend of the family that is gratifying in its own way. Our parish has started welcoming a group of young mothers in recovery - and it'll be nice to see some hearts-and-flowers sentimentality lavished on them tomorrow.

The decision by clergy about what to do in church services on Mother's Day can be fraught. In addition, there are many kinds of mothering done by both women and men who are not birth mothers. What to do? The decision by Mary's church to honor mothers in recovery is excellent.

A repeat for anyone who has ever cared for a baby:

A Cradle Song

The angels are stooping
Above your bed;
They weary of trooping
With the whimpering dead.

God's laughing in Heaven
To see you so good;
The Sailing Seven
Are gay with his mood.

I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown.

William Butler Yeats

The picture at the head of the post shows the tiny red climbing rose on our fence that faces the street on the side of our house. Below is the Confederate jasmine, which grows on our side fence. The sweet odor of the flowers can be overpowering at times.

 

If you want to see gorgeous flowers, go to Paul the BB's blog.

TOMORROW IS MOTHER'S DAY

Ann Fontaine, in her essay at the Daily Episcopalian writes about the difficulties in celebrating the Hallmark-type Mother's Day in church services...

Every year I wrestle with how to balance the almost idolatrous honoring of mothers by the greeting card, flower, and gift industries and the reality of “mother” for many. While many have wonderful mothers whom they wish to honor, others had abusive mothers and flee from activities on Mothers’ Day that only salts their wounds. Those who wanted to have children and could not and those whose children have died also find it difficult to sit through a service when the focus is on something they have yearned for or lost.

...and suggests alternatives. Read comments in which folks explore other ideas about the day.

I confess that the Hallmark Mother's Day no longer appeals to me, or perhaps it never did. When my children were young, all I wanted was not to have to cook on Mothers' Day and my birthday. That was a sufficient gift and one I demanded loudly and repeatedly as the day approached.

MORE ON BISHOP THOMPSON'S ORDINATION

NOLA.com also has a nice story on Bishop Thompson's ordination.

In a cathedral packed with local Episcopalians and their guests, the head of the Episcopal Church, USA and her colleagues Saturday ordained the Rev. Morris Thompson Jr. a bishop and installed him at the head of the Diocese of Louisiana, the latest stage of a journey that has led Thompson through Mississippi and Kentucky, the Marine Corps, the Presbyterian and Southern Baptist churches, and now the leadership of 18,000 Episcopalians in South Louisiana.

By convention, Thompson, 54, did not speak, leaving that to his former bishop, Bishop Stacy Sauls of Lexington, who exhorted the audience to help Thompson bring social and economic justice to the region.

"Morris Thompson is, before he is anything else, a pastor," Sauls said. "It goes to the core of who he is."
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Just after the halfway point in the two-hour service at Christ Church Cathedral, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and other bishops laid hands on Thompson, ritually conferring on him status as a successor to the apostles. Among them was a Lutheran, Bishop Michael Rinehart, bishop of Texas and the Gulf Coast for the Evangelical Church in America. The Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran churches have been in full communion, meaning they recognize each other's ministries, since 2000.

Nice to have the ecumenical touch there with ELCA Bishop Rinehart joining in the ceremony.

I chatted with Bishop Thompson's son and his fiancée, and he invited me to a meet and greet at the bishop's house this evening. Imagine after a full day like today, having a party at your house this evening. As I said previously, our new bishop seems an energetic man. I'd love to have gone, but I was ready to head home.

BISHOP "BUBBA" AKA MORRIS THOMPSON

From the Advocate:

NEW ORLEANS — The Diocese of Louisiana consecrates today its 11th bishop, a leader with an unexpected résumé for an Episcopalian.

The former U.S. Marine, known as “Bubba” during his Mississippi boyhood, spent years as a Presbyterian and a Southern Baptist before finding his spiritual home in the Episcopal Church.

“The church is where I connect with God, and it is where I can see clearly,” the Very Rev. Morris King Thompson Jr. explained. “I’ve struggled with how I’ve lived it out in the Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church … but I never doubted the call (to ministry).”

The Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, will oversee today’s elaborate consecration and ordination ceremony at 10 a.m. at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans.

Thompson replaces Bishop Charles E. Jenkins who, after serving 12 years, retired in January, citing Hurricane Katrina-induced post-traumatic stress disorder as a primary reason.

Bishop Morris Thompson is in the right place, don't you think?

I went to the reception for our new bishop on Friday evening and spoke with him briefly and then again after the ordination. He's down to earth and quite approachable. Bishop Morris was my first choice after the walkabout, and I'm quite pleased he was elected. He seems a man of great energy, which he will surely need as bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana. I had a few words with Bishop Katharine Jefforts Schori at the the reception, too. She said, "We're praying for you," when I talked about my mixed emotions, celebrating with our new bishop and great concern over the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. I have no pictures of the bishops and me. It did not seem the proper time or place to ask. Anyway, I'm quite shy about requesting pictures with VIPs.

The newspaper account calls the ceremony elaborate, but there was less pageantry than at the ordination of Bishop Jenkins 12 years ago, which seemed right and proper in consideration of the times. The service went only a few minutes past two hours. I'll say more about the ceremony later.

I had my picture taken with only one VIP, my blogging buddy, Archdeacon Ormonde Plater at Through the Dust. Ormonde made me laugh when he said, "Here we meet one another face to face, and then we're going home to write online about meeting each other." So it goes. I believe that Ormonde accompanied Bishop Jim Brown to St. John's when I was received into the Episcopal Church 14 or so years ago. Of course, I could be wrong.

Below is a picture of Ormonde and me.

 

Thanks to Ann for the link to the article in the Advocate.

"A SIMPLER PROTECTION...MUD"

 

A dead bird floats in oily water in Breton Sound about 10 miles southeast of Breton Island on Thursday.

From NOLA.com:

The investigation into what went wrong when the Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 and started spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is sure to find several engineering failures, from cement seals that didn't hold back a powerful gas bubble to a 450-ton, 40-foot-tall blowout preventer, a stack of metal valves and pistons that each failed to close off the well.

There was, however, a simpler protection against the disaster: mud. An attorney representing a witness says oil giant BP and the owner of the drilling platform, Switzerland-based Transocean Ltd., started to remove a mud barrier before a final cement plug was installed, a move industry experts say weakens control of the well in an emergency.

When the explosion occurred, BP was attempting to seal off an exploratory well. The company had succeeded in tapping into a reservoir of oil, and it was capping the well so it could leave and set up more permanent operations to extract its riches.

In order to properly cap a well, drillers rely on three lines of defense to protect themselves from an explosive blowout: a column of heavy mud in the well itself and in the drilling riser that runs up to the rig; at least two cement plugs that fit in the well with a column of mud between them; and a blowout preventer that is supposed to seal the well if the mud and plugs all fail.

In the case of the Deepwater Horizon, Scott Bickford, a lawyer for a rig worker who survived the explosions, said the mud was being extracted from the riser before the top cement cap was in place, and a statement by cementing contractor Halliburton confirmed the top cap was not installed.

If all of the mud had still been present, it would have helped push back against the gas burping up toward the rig, though it might not have held it back indefinitely.

The article doesn't mention the last-resort acoustic switch that was not installed on the Horizon.

The oil well spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producing nations as last-resort protection against underwater spills.

The switch costs $500,000. The total cost of a rig like the Horizon can run over $100 million.