CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE, OXFORD

I snapped the photo as I breakfasted in solitary splendor in the great hall in Christ Church. The reason I had breakfast alone is because I had the time wrong, and when I arrived breakfast was over. With a true sob story about having to take the bus to Heathrow, I asked if I could have a light breakfast of cereal and toast, and the manager was kind enough to allow it.

The Rev Richard Haggis was my personal guide around Christ Church College and Oxford, and a splendid guide he was. He should hire himself out. A delicious moment at the great Hall at Christ Church was when I called to Richard's attention that we were cutting the long queue of the hoard of tourists, and he said quite naturally and spontaneously, "This is my place." Not the most inspirational moment, but delicious, and I cherish those small, delicious moments. Nor did I pay the entrance fee, since I was Richard's guest. 

All quotes below are from Richard.

Autumn colors in the vine growing on the wall above a tunnel at Christ Church.  The entire walk was lovely. The picture is not photo-shopped but shows the true color of the turning leaves.

"The tunnel is to contain an ancient brook which passes under Christ Church and various other parts of the city of Oxford, joining the canal, I believe, a little further north. It can be viewed, covered in this splendid creeper, from the walkway through the War Memorial Garden." 

"It is, I believe, creeping jasmine, approaching the south doorway to the historic cloister of S. Frideswide's priory, which Cardinal Wolsey purloined to begin his Oxford college, which Henry VIII later purloined in turn to make Christ Church a college and a diocesan cathedral. It is one of the most ancient parts of the college."

The secret garden with the tiny fountain and a lovely weeping willow.  The building in the background is the Faculty of Music and the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments.

Statue of Mercury in Tom Quad.

"'Mercury, beckoning the tourists into Christ Church'.  Mercury was initially male, but there was an incident with a firework, and he has been re-assigned. Like Jan Morris, the college's first 'old girl'." 

NADIA BOLZ-WEBER, SINNER AND SAINT

Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber:

I once heard someone say that my belief in Jesus makes them suspect that I intellectually suck my thumb at night. But I cannot pretend, as much as I would sometimes like to, that I have not throughout my life experienced the redeeming, destabilizing love of a surprising God. Even as my mind protests, I still can't deny my experience. This thing is real to me. Sometimes I experience God when someone speaks the truth to me, sometimes in the moments when I admit I am wrong, sometimes in the loving of someone unlovabl, sometimes in the reconciliation that feels like it comes from somewhere outside of myself, but almost always when I experience God it comes in the form of some kind of death and resurrection.

(Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix; The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint)

How often have I said I need saving every day? I've lost count. Maybe not quite what Nadia says, for my deaths and resurrections are daily, sometimes more than once a day. Saying I believe in God is not accurate, because, as best I recall, I never did not believe in God.  Throughout the course of my life I've known the Thereness of God, even when I did not pay attention. There was no leap of faith for me ever, because God was always real to me, though I wondered at times if she had anything to do with me after starting it all. As with Nadia, there would be no point in trying to argue me out of the faith because of the very real happenings and changes in me that happened because of the presence of God in my life. Of course, some might say all is delusion, but I won't be convinced.

Have you guessed that I read Nadia's book? I read quickly for she captured and held my attention from the introduction to the end. Nadia's concept of church seems very right to me. You will hear more from me about her book, which I recommend highly, and I'll probably include further quotes.

THE PROBLEM WITH ARCHBISHOPSPEAK...

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's statement on the vote to allow women bishops in the Church of England:

Today's overwhelming vote demonstrates the widespread desire of the Church of England to move ahead with ordaining women as bishops, and at the same time enabling those who disagree to flourish. There is some way to go, but we can be cautiously hopeful of good progress. The tone of the debate was strikingly warm and friendly, and a great debt of gratitude is owed to the Steering Committee for the draft legislation, and to those who facilitated the meetings so effectively. The more we learn to work together the more effective the church will be in meeting the huge challenges of spiritual renewal, and above all service to our communities, so as to both proclaim and demonstrate the reality of the love of Christ.

Am I alone in detecting a bit of dissonance in the archbishop's acknowledgement of "the widespread desire of the Church of England to move ahead with ordaining women as bishops" paired with "and at the same time enabling those who disagree to flourish"? His choice of the word "flourish" for those who disagree with the vote seems an odd choice of terminology. I expect I will never understand archbishopspeak.  The word mealy-mouthed comes to mind.  I don't know what Justin Welby is trying to say. By guarding his words so carefully, he ends up making no sense at all to me. Is a mandatory crash course in archbishopspeak (aka obfuscation) required after appointment as ABC?

JESUS AND MO

From Jesus and Mo.

EXTREMIST REPUBLICAN LOSES ELECTION IN LOUISIANA

When Republican Rodney Alexander resigned from Congress a few months ago, there wasn’t any real doubt that his Louisiana district would remain in GOP hands. The only question was which Republican would replace him in Louisiana’s ruby-red 5th district.

State Sen. Neil Riser (R) looked like he’d win easily – he received endorsements from Alexander, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the NRA, and nearly all of Louisiana’s Republican congressional delegation. But then the votes were tallied in Saturday’s run-off election, and Vance McAllister (R), a first-time candidate, crushed Riser by nearly 20 points.

Take that Neil Riser, Bobby Jindal, and Eric Cantor!  Follow Gov. Jindal's advice and stop being the stupid party.   Of course, it's quite likely that none of you has any idea how to change direction.

As reported in the Times-Picayune, McAllister favored implementation of the Medicaid expansion section of Obamacare.  The expansion is a no-brainer for Louisiana. The federal program would cover about 400,000 low-income people who have no health insurance, and would not cost the state one cent for 9 years, when the state would assume only 10% of the cost. The good news is the extremist Republican didn't win.  Gov. Bobby Jindal's approval ratings were at 28% in August of this year, and McAllister's election confirms that many citizens in Louisiana do not approve of Jindal's extremist policies.  Keep in mind that the area in which McAllister was elected is conservative, but the extremist candidate was too much for the voters to swallow.

In fairness, it’s worth emphasizing that Rep.-elect McAllister didn’t exactly run as a progressive on health care – the Republican said he’d prefer to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But he nevertheless stuck to a fairly pragmatic line and told the far-right what it didn’t want to hear – repealing the entirety of the law is unrealistic and Medicaid expansion in Louisiana is a sensible move, even if Bobby Jindal pretends otherwise.

In this district, that was a risky move, and it led Riser and his allies to make the race a referendum over health care. And then McAllister won by about 20 points anyway.

National Republicans would be wise to take note. For many in the party, grunting “Obamacare bad!” is a sure-fire recipe for electoral success. Indeed, GOP leaders have started to think it’ll be easy – tie rival candidates to the controversial health care law, watch voters recoil, and wait for the landslide victories to commence.

Republicans may find that they have to dredge up other issues besides Obamacare if they want to win elections. Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi!?  Also, Republicans out there who think Bobby Jindal's support is an asset might want to think again.  If Jindal and his friends and advisers still live in the fantasy world that sees him as having a chance of being nominated or elected to a national office, it's time for them to wake up and take their places in the real world.  

LAFOURCHE PARISH VOTERS - PLEASE GO VOTE AGAINST DEFUNDING LIBRARIES

Thibodaux branch

If you live in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, please go vote against de-funding parish libraries to build a new jail.

Library funding in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, may be diverted to a new jail thanks to a legislator who doesn't approve of the library's programs. Jail proponent and chair of the Lafourche Parish Council Lindel Toups supports a ballot measure that would take funding away from libraries.

“They’re teaching Mexicans how to speak English,” Toups told the local Tri-Parish Times, referencing Biblioteca Hispana, a Spanish-language section of one of the nine branch libraries. “Let that son of a bitch go back to Mexico. There’s just so many things they’re doing that I don’t agree with. ... Them junkies and hippies and food stamps [recipients] and all, they use the library to look at drugs and food stamps [on the Internet]. I see them do it.”

"We are here to serve all of the residents of Lafourche Parish," Library System Director Laura Sanders told the Los Angeles Times. "It doesn't matter what ethnicity they are -- we serve them all."

The comments by Chairman Toups suggest that he would prefer people in the parish not to have access to learning materials and activities, even as it's obvious the chairman's grammar could use a bit of polishing.  I'm sure the library has books that teach grammar to people whose first language is English.  That's not to mention the expletive.  Oddly enough, in my visits to the Thibodaux branch, I don't see what Toups sees.

So, my fellow citizens, please go vote.

Update on the vote to defund libraries:

John Chrastka’s brigade of pissed-off librarians came into the game late in the Louisiana parish ballot referendum defunding libraries for jail money. 

But the social media blitz appears to have paid dividends, both for library funding in Lafourche parish (Louisiana’s term for a county) and for the profile of his political action committee, EveryLibrary. Voters on Saturday rejected by about a five to four margin a ballot initiative to cut library funding to finance the construction of a new jail, a move that would have quickly sent the libraries into deficit.

Excellent.  Folks around here like their public libraries.  Lindel Toups' inflammatory comments, which the newspaper was wise enough to print, probably went a way to help defeat the ballot initiative.  Toups would do well to remember that the libraries have computers and access to the internet, so word gets around.
 

"AMOUR" - THE FILM

To whoever recommended the film "Amour" to me: Thanks and no thanks. What a wrenching emotional workout! The film is superb in every way, direction, acting, cinematography. To say the movie is depressing is weak; I asked myself more than once, "Why do I continue watching? I don't know how much more I can take."

The title is an apt description, for the movie is the love story of a cultivated and sophisticated man and woman, both music teachers, who have been married for many years and now have grown old together. We briefly see their pleasant lives before, Anne (Emmanuelle Riva), the wife, suffers a stroke. Even in the scenes before the tragedy, we sense with foreboding that what follows will not be pleasant for either Anne or her husband Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant.

The writer and director, Michael Haneke, unflinchingly and without sentimentality, depicts the reality of life for the caregiver and the cared-for after disabling tragedy strikes. Haneke does not fear scenes of lingering silence, nor does he scorn blackouts, which go on longer than the viewer expects. Except for the scenes at the beginning, the movie is filmed entirely within the couple's apartment. The setting does not feel unreasonably constrained, for Anne and Georges live their lives within the constricted space, except for brief ventures out which are mentioned but not shown.
 
 Riva and Trintignant are brilliant in their roles. Often without words, we read in their faces their intense love for each other, the severe tests of the strength of that love, and their shared humiliations. The actors, both in their 80s, have not lost the golden touch.
 
 Their daughter, Eva, (Isabelle Huppert) cares about her parents, but she faces challenges in her own life and, though somewhat perplexed, she seems to understand and perhaps envy her parents' devotion to each other - that devotion which effectively excludes intimacy with anyone else, even their own daughter.

The movie is brilliant in its every aspect, but it hit at least this one viewer with a hard emotional punch that I would not want to repeat every day.

THE BLACK MOUNTAINS - WALES

While I was in England, my friend Erika took me on a day trip by car through the Black Mountains to the town of Hay-on Wye in northeastern Wales.   In a later post, I will show my pictures of the town.

The mountains are hills, as my friend Kevin, who lives near the Cascades in the US, reminded me. Whatever - the scenes are beautiful, as you see from the pictures.

The beauty of Wales is one of Britain's well-kept secrets, at least it was to me. I had no idea of the loveliness of the countryside until our visit.

The photo shows plainly a few of the many crevices in the rocky hills.

The animal in the photo is a wild horse. Erika hoped we would see a herd of horses, but one is better than none.  Though if I remember correctly, there may have been another horse in view but too far away to capture in the same picture.

QUIET ROMANTIC DINNER

A man and a woman were having a quiet, romantic dinner in a fine restaurant.  They were gazing lovingly at each other and holding hands.

The waitress, taking another order at a table a few steps away, suddenly noticed the man slowly sliding down his chair and under the table, but the woman stared straight ahead. The waitress watched as the man slid all the way down his chair and out of sight under the table. Still, the woman stared straight ahead.

The waitress, thinking this behavior a bit risque’ and that it might offend other diners, went over to the table and, tactfully, began by saying to the woman "Pardon me, ma'am, but I think your husband just slid under the table."

The woman calmly looked up at her and said, "No, he didn't. He just walked in the door."


Doug strikes again.

EMILINE "DOUCE" BOURGEOIS - OLDEST WOMAN MILITARY VETERAN IN LOUISIANA

Emiline Anne Bourgeois enlisted in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps on Feb. 10, 1945, a week after the U.S. 6th Army invaded Luzon island in the Philippines intent on liberating Manila from the Japanese. About six months later, she was there nursing wounded soldiers.

A Thibodaux native, she served her country through the end of World War II in the Philippines and a post-war, overseas assignment in occupied Germany.

She served stateside through the Korean War and the beginning of the Vietnam War era.

Bourgeois was honorably discharged as a major on Jan. 31, 1962, a rank few women attained back then.

Douce is an old friend and distant cousin. Two years ago, we celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends. The picture to the right shows Douce with her sister Cora Lee at her birthday party at a local restaurant.  Douce will be 102 years old on on Christmas Eve of this year.

Douce receiving communion from a lay minister dressed in her uniform, which is still a perfect fit.

Douce and I are related through the two brothers pictured in their Confederate uniforms. On the left is Paulin Adrien Ledet, Douce's grandfather, and on the right is François Amedee Ledet, my great-great-grandfather.