Well, that was easy! Stillwater is where I bought my first guitar--two, in fact, with the blue flying V electric Dean; it is where Katerina and I had a pre-Peace Corps drive to meet Grandma, in the borrowed blue Buick with a failing catalytic converter (Josh's revenge, I think, for the Plymouth Fury I lent him in 1988--the one that had a fickle sticking accelerator); "still waters" is King James' translation in Psalm 23; it borders Minnesota and Wisconsin, flows into Illinois; it hosts turtles and herons and muskrats and kayakers; it has already inspired dreams and desired labor.
As for 'symposia', do we not hope for a plurality of (as American Heritage Dictionary defines):
a meeting or conference for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations;
a collection of writings on a particular topic, as in a magazine;
a convivial meeting for drinking, music, and intellectual discussion among the ancient GreeksSo you have that 'brewery' notion, as long as carousers have something to say or sing!
Dan
Monday, February 28, 2011
Every tangent, every chuckle, every ponder
Once again I am giving exuberant thanks for my children - no, God's children that He loaned me. Every tangent, every chuckle, every ponder!
So - no coincidences. (This has nothing to do, except existentially, with topic at hand. But then, listening to our southern Gospel station, I didn't think a discussion of A. W. Tozer and The Portrait (or is it Promise?) of God fit in to southern Gospel either. Tozer was Elmo Anderson's favorite author to recommend to Joe Vold on internship in Maddock, ND.)]
We had a full-to-overflowing Sunday, and Josh, I was praying for your pastoring/preaching. Thanks for attaching the sermon even if one page was blurry. The church service at the trailer court in Apache Junction was neat - 400 of us listening to a good preacher (Lutheran) and a men's quartet, the King's Men. Reminded me of your quartet, Dan. They were good too! The dinner later on was not a church dinner, but a "Wisconsin Day Dinner" - so how appropriate was that?? Dick met people who knew his cousin on the county board in New London, and one guy actually sat next to him on the county board! And people from Kaukauna, and a guy from Elkhorn who lives near the Raidls where I lost the discussion with Milly the Filly and ended up for 5 days in the Elkhorn hospial. Etc. Cleo, our friend, was having a good day too. She ran into a woman after church who reported that there was just one more bank query to complete before she and her husband could claim Cleo's trailer at Cleo's price. So this is her last year in AZ. I was surprised to learn Cleo is 87. She looks about 70.
The Concordia dinner was magnificent - guess they do this every year. We "happened" to come in late and sit down next to John Pierce, who was the contact person for creating Mom's endowment fund. He knows Stan and Mom very well, so we will be delighted to bring greetings to Stan when we visit him mid-March.
Next to me at the table was a 1954 graduate, who was also at Oak Grove and knew the Volds quite well. Name was Millard Lee, and I had to ask if he was related to Lola Lee, Joe's high school girlfriend, but no. He and his author-wife live in Phoenix and he taught at Paradise Valley Community College - and was just called back to teach physics there, again. That's pretty good for an old codger. His wife's book was about The Blue Garter, a gang of 14 college friends she has kept up with all these years.
Program was a 2009 CC graduate who is in Phoenix now in medical school - a gorgeous girl and so articulate, appreciating Concordia not just for having been one of the few people in her med school class to have actually worked with cadavers, but also the Spanish that enabled her on a mission trip to Honduras.
Music - two faculty members, cellist and pianist, and were they good. The first number they dedicated to "Pam", the Concordia president who died last year but left a terrific legacy that is helping CC get out of its "militant modesty", as Paul Dovre called it.
He is interim president. Gave a glowing picture of the college - i.e. over 800 students in 22 sports (compared to 300 some in 14 sports at MSU and NDSU where the enrollments are much larger) Then he did say the students are very religious - but do not go to church and chapel and a smaller percentage are actually coming from a Lutheran-confirmation class upbringing.
I'm sad about that - but know that is the cultural trend. If there is spirituality, faith - what nurtures it and adds accountability to say nothing of one's inherent need to worship? And why is the name of Jesus not mentioned? We said "Soli deo gloria" plenty of times last night - and sang it in our Concordia hymn - but I guess Jesus is just too southern gospel. And conservative. Ouch. If Jesus isn't our God, Immanuel, we have nothing.
So even in spite of that, I felt that you should be teaching at Concordia, Dan.
Grinch and Brian are thus-named, I understand, because one is green and one brown. And Anne, we loved the additional personality you gave Brian! And Josh, turning it into a Seussian tale. I just look forward to the next round of poetry/diagrams/blogs/short stories. Love, Mom
So - no coincidences. (This has nothing to do, except existentially, with topic at hand. But then, listening to our southern Gospel station, I didn't think a discussion of A. W. Tozer and The Portrait (or is it Promise?) of God fit in to southern Gospel either. Tozer was Elmo Anderson's favorite author to recommend to Joe Vold on internship in Maddock, ND.)]
We had a full-to-overflowing Sunday, and Josh, I was praying for your pastoring/preaching. Thanks for attaching the sermon even if one page was blurry. The church service at the trailer court in Apache Junction was neat - 400 of us listening to a good preacher (Lutheran) and a men's quartet, the King's Men. Reminded me of your quartet, Dan. They were good too! The dinner later on was not a church dinner, but a "Wisconsin Day Dinner" - so how appropriate was that?? Dick met people who knew his cousin on the county board in New London, and one guy actually sat next to him on the county board! And people from Kaukauna, and a guy from Elkhorn who lives near the Raidls where I lost the discussion with Milly the Filly and ended up for 5 days in the Elkhorn hospial. Etc. Cleo, our friend, was having a good day too. She ran into a woman after church who reported that there was just one more bank query to complete before she and her husband could claim Cleo's trailer at Cleo's price. So this is her last year in AZ. I was surprised to learn Cleo is 87. She looks about 70.
The Concordia dinner was magnificent - guess they do this every year. We "happened" to come in late and sit down next to John Pierce, who was the contact person for creating Mom's endowment fund. He knows Stan and Mom very well, so we will be delighted to bring greetings to Stan when we visit him mid-March.
Next to me at the table was a 1954 graduate, who was also at Oak Grove and knew the Volds quite well. Name was Millard Lee, and I had to ask if he was related to Lola Lee, Joe's high school girlfriend, but no. He and his author-wife live in Phoenix and he taught at Paradise Valley Community College - and was just called back to teach physics there, again. That's pretty good for an old codger. His wife's book was about The Blue Garter, a gang of 14 college friends she has kept up with all these years.
Program was a 2009 CC graduate who is in Phoenix now in medical school - a gorgeous girl and so articulate, appreciating Concordia not just for having been one of the few people in her med school class to have actually worked with cadavers, but also the Spanish that enabled her on a mission trip to Honduras.
Music - two faculty members, cellist and pianist, and were they good. The first number they dedicated to "Pam", the Concordia president who died last year but left a terrific legacy that is helping CC get out of its "militant modesty", as Paul Dovre called it.
He is interim president. Gave a glowing picture of the college - i.e. over 800 students in 22 sports (compared to 300 some in 14 sports at MSU and NDSU where the enrollments are much larger) Then he did say the students are very religious - but do not go to church and chapel and a smaller percentage are actually coming from a Lutheran-confirmation class upbringing.
I'm sad about that - but know that is the cultural trend. If there is spirituality, faith - what nurtures it and adds accountability to say nothing of one's inherent need to worship? And why is the name of Jesus not mentioned? We said "Soli deo gloria" plenty of times last night - and sang it in our Concordia hymn - but I guess Jesus is just too southern gospel. And conservative. Ouch. If Jesus isn't our God, Immanuel, we have nothing.
So even in spite of that, I felt that you should be teaching at Concordia, Dan.
Grinch and Brian are thus-named, I understand, because one is green and one brown. And Anne, we loved the additional personality you gave Brian! And Josh, turning it into a Seussian tale. I just look forward to the next round of poetry/diagrams/blogs/short stories. Love, Mom
Stillwater Brewery Productions
Dear Josh, and all -
Thank you for the sermon. You have refreshed my perspective many times over, and yet again.
I am more convicted on what I was planning to base my 1-2 minute Lenten talk on: I had intended to talk about Immanuel in the perspective of parenthood, but then I was given our more specific assignment to open one of the Lenten services with a personal encounter with Jesus story. Mom, your own encounter testimony would fit right in with this assignment, but I guess I am still one inclined to talk about how we encounter Jesus everyday. And I think I will still talk, as a Dad and as a son too, about the reminder of Immanuel, and how, even with the breadth of the concept that God is with us always, it is good to be reminded, and to be reminders of this. Thanks!
Now, you have not paid me to say this, Josh but I kinda like Still Water Productions because it brings us back a little closer, geographically and spiritually, to Woebegone Productions — but what if we make the name even more specific to your aspirations, which after all are very much like those of Dan to publish his novel or me to publish my poems or Anne to bring her blogs to a new level. We could, in fact, name this thing Cutbank Productions or Handmade Productions or Simorgh (Persian for Thirty Birds) Productions, and that would still be something each of us could separately identify with: the aspiration itself. So, here is my vote, and hopefully the final tweaking, for Stillwater Brewery Productions. I will not charge lobbying fees.
On the other hand, the Rustlers Production might also work, and in much the same way...
Love, Jon
Thank you for the sermon. You have refreshed my perspective many times over, and yet again.
I am more convicted on what I was planning to base my 1-2 minute Lenten talk on: I had intended to talk about Immanuel in the perspective of parenthood, but then I was given our more specific assignment to open one of the Lenten services with a personal encounter with Jesus story. Mom, your own encounter testimony would fit right in with this assignment, but I guess I am still one inclined to talk about how we encounter Jesus everyday. And I think I will still talk, as a Dad and as a son too, about the reminder of Immanuel, and how, even with the breadth of the concept that God is with us always, it is good to be reminded, and to be reminders of this. Thanks!
Now, you have not paid me to say this, Josh but I kinda like Still Water Productions because it brings us back a little closer, geographically and spiritually, to Woebegone Productions — but what if we make the name even more specific to your aspirations, which after all are very much like those of Dan to publish his novel or me to publish my poems or Anne to bring her blogs to a new level. We could, in fact, name this thing Cutbank Productions or Handmade Productions or Simorgh (Persian for Thirty Birds) Productions, and that would still be something each of us could separately identify with: the aspiration itself. So, here is my vote, and hopefully the final tweaking, for Stillwater Brewery Productions. I will not charge lobbying fees.
On the other hand, the Rustlers Production might also work, and in much the same way...
Love, Jon
Everything Depends On Perspective
It’s amazing how much everything depends on perspective.
Two old friends get together over coffee—they hadn’t seen each other in a number of years, they’d run into each other in a parking lot, neither had time to talk, but both wanted to catch up, and they quickly decided to set a time and place to meet. So here we are, two old friends catching up over coffee.
“Man, it’s been a long time—great to see ya, bro! How ya doin’?”
Seriously—do you mean that? You know that’s a loaded question, right?!
“Why? What’s up? I mean, you didn’t tell me much when we ran into each other last week.”
I don’t know…I don’t want to bring you down or anything…
“No, no,…talk to me, brother,…I mean, why else did we get together? I’d like to know,… What’s happenin’? What’s goin’ on?”
Well, I don’t know,… I guess lately it just seems like everything’s falling apart… Alright, why don’t I just cut to the chase! I lost my job a year-and-a-half ago with the company I’d been with for over a decade. I’m having a bear of a time trying to find another stable job. The nest egg’s run dry. The house is in foreclosure—I have no idea where we’ll be able to go once that process is complete. The marriage fell apart—turned out we couldn’t handle the ‘for worse’ part,… I can’t afford health insurance for myself and the kids… The creditors and lenders—and now their lawyers—are calling me non-stop. I’m struggling to fill up the gas tank, and I have no clue what I’d do if and when my car breaks down… But other than all that, everything else is just fine!
“Wow, you’ve got it bad, dude,…no doubt about it! Wish there was something I could do!”
Well, what CAN you do? I mean I guess there’s only one direction you can go from here, right? My luck’s gotta change at some point… Anyway, I don’t mean to be the heavy here. Listen, enough about me now… How’s everything goin’ with you?
“Well, I guess my life’s been a bit crazy as well… I, too, lost my job nearly two years ago with the company I’d been with for close to fifteen years; but you know, this has allowed me the opportunity to explore new, more fulfilling directions where I can have a more positive impact on people and organizations. And my retirement funds have run out as well, but we’ve learned to be happy with far less than we had. And my house is also in foreclosure—but for now, today, we have a roof over our heads, and we’re thankful for that. And I’d gone through a divorce recently as well; but I’m seeing things moving in a better direction for my ex now than while we were married, and for this, I’m thankful! And with health insurance and food and utilities—never thought I’d be saying it, but I truly am grateful for the benefits provided by our government for people like us who find ourselves in hard times! And the banks and their lawyers—I find that I can hold them at bay as long as I take the time to update them on our situation—I mean, it’s not like any of us are alone in that boat! And as far as gas prices, boy, we all feel that pain, that’s for sure; but apart from that, I do make sure to change my oil regularly—and that seems to keep the car chuggin’ along pretty well!”
Well, now, hold on… It looks like our situations are almost exactly the same… So why does it sound so much better when you talk about it?
“Well, I’d say positive thinking, for one thing—but I really believe there’s much more to it than that… You see, what it comes down to for me, my friend, is faith! It’s a gift, faith is—and I don’t know what I’d do without it! But with faith, I also have God-given confidence that nothing can destroy me because I know that God is in control no matter what! And in faith, I have hope that God has some plan, some objective that I am to be part of! And in faith, I have the drive to make things happen with the blessings I do have! And in faith, I have peace, knowing of no better place to be than resting in God’s hands! And in faith, I have the unquenchable desire to seek God’s presence always, everywhere, in all things, continually inspired by the light of that divine presence! It’s not that faith makes life easy, but it sure makes life a whole lot easier to manage and a whole lot more fulfilling!”
Yes, it truly is amazing how much everything depends on perspective.
We are called, all of us, to accept the gift of a faith-based perspective.
In today’s Gospel text, we are called as disciples, to seek, above all things, the Kingdom of God and the divine righteousness. And as long as we maintain that focus, all other needs will be satisfied! We won’t have to worry about being hungry or thirsty or about having clothes on our backs or a roof over our heads—ALL of our needs will be taken care of, IF…IF we direct our faith-based perspective on the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of God.
But what does this mean, then, to seek the Kingdom of God and divine righteousness? What should we be looking for? Well, it’s not so much a matter of what we should be looking for as WHOM we should be looking for! The Kingdom of God is at hand—Christ tells us this regularly—and it has nothing to do with castles and moats and towers and radiant, lavish exhibition. The Kingdom of God is at hand, because GOD is at hand! It’s GOD’s presence that defines the Kingdom.
The word ‘Emmanuel’ represents a key understanding in Christian faith—it’s the Hebrew term that means ‘GOD WITH US’… and I tend to look at this idea as not only ‘GOD WITH US’ but ‘GOD AROUND US’ and ‘GOD WITHIN US’ and ‘GOD THROUGH US’… Because if you can accept the understanding as I do that God is the author of life, then the life that each of us has is a gift from the divine Author. Or another way to look at it—God, the Creator, the divine Artist, continually works on us; God carved us out to be who we were yesterday, God has painted us to be who we are today, and God continues to sculpt us into who we will be tomorrow! And regardless of whether we might see ourselves as a book or a poem or a sculpture or a painting, we are, all of us, unfinished works, works-in-progress, that God has marked indelibly with a divine purpose.
And just as God continues to create beyond the rim of our unfathomably unfolding universe, God still continues to create within each of us, individually, and within all of us in fellowship with each other—we ARE children of God! As children of God, created by God, we are, then, reflections of God; so that sense of Emmanuel—the sense of God WITH us, and also AROUND us, WITHIN us, and THROUGH us—rings true, not just in our communion with God, but also in fellowship with each other! Living and growing, guided by a faith perspective, it’s increasingly clear that God IS present here with us now and everywhere, at all times! The Kingdom of God IS at hand!
And as we grow in that presence of God, that deepening sense that the Kingdom of God IS at hand, the quest for divine righteousness, then, naturally follows suit. And Christ expresses divine righteousness in such beautifully simple terms—to love God with all your heart, strength, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. The natural response to Emmanuel—God’s presence and God’s Kingdom all around us—is to fully love both the Creator and His Creation. Seeing God at work within each other and ourselves allows us to live in the light of divine righteousness.
So this is what it means to seek God’s Kingdom and divine righteousness—Emmanuel and the Great Command to love! Maintain this focus, this faith perspective, and everything else will fall into place—so we’ll have nothing else to worry about again…ever...! Right? No doubt, that would be nice, but life doesn’t exactly work that way. Things happen that are beyond our control—and as well, there are days when even small frustrations will pile up and take us at least momentarily out of our faith perspective.
And this is OK! The journey toward ongoing awareness of God’s presence and living in the light of divine righteousness is not like a day trip to the beach! It’s a lifelong journey, and no one is expected to get this right 100% right from the start,…or even midway, or even toward the end of that journey for that matter. We relapse—we fall back into patterns of worry and despair and fear and frustration because of the fact that life can become overwhelming. This happens to everyone, without exception. Even Jesus, in His perfection, had His moments of anxiety—the Garden of Gethsemane, for example, where Christ prays in anguish, knowing of the pain and suffering immediately ahead of Him… And even Christ had His feelings of abandonment as He cried out from the cross ‘My God, My God, why have You Forsaken Me?’
No, the path of discipleship—the path that allows us to truly see and feel the presence of God all around us and within us and through us…the same path that allows us to embrace the Kingdom of God here and now…and yes, that very same path that allows us to understand what it means to love as God loves—it’s not an easy path. It’s a journey that expects us to be in the world, but not of the world. It’s a way of life that inspires us to focus not on common sense, but on divine sense; and in many ways, this aspect of our faith perspective can even cause us more pain and anguish and frustration than if we chose a more worldly, common sense, everyone-out-for-themselves, dog-eat-dog path. And, just to keep ourselves in check, this worldly sense of what it means to achieve a life of ease rarely translates into true fulfillment, if ever—to be clear, the driving focus that would take us to that life of ease that the world embraces is wrought with so many dangers and pitfalls that by the time we reach that sort of lifestyle, we’ve either emptied ourselves of our souls or filled ourselves up with everything other than God to the point where divine righteousness and the Kingdom of God are no longer at hand.
At the very least, even if taking on a faith perspective and attempting to follow the path of discipleship may not make life easy, it certainly does make life more manageable. But far, far better than that, it can fill us with a sense of divine presence and righteousness that even the hardships we endure become blessings to us as we discover God’s presence, the Kingdom of God, and divine Spirit, the righteousness of God, in deeper, more fulfilling ways. We open ourselves up, in our hardships, to a more profound relationship with God, and a deeper sense of community with each other. THIS is the dramatic difference that is available to us in our faith perspective!
And again, it truly IS amazing how much everything depends on perspective!
We’ll finish out this meditation on today’s lessons with a brief exercise. You’ve probably already seen some strips of colored paper in your pews—the brighter strips say ‘Joys, Praises, & Blessings’ on the end, and the darker strips say ‘Worries, Concerns, & Anxieties’ on the end. Take one of each, if you will, and leave any left over in the pew [for the next service]. And take a pencil (or pen, if you have one), do NOT write down your names on these strips, but write down one thing on your mind for each strip—one thing you’re thankful for on the brighter strip, and one thing that weighs on your heart and mind on the darker strip… Again, no need to write your name... I know of a shared experience from this past week that we can see as both a concern and a joy!
And then, when you’re all finished—and this next part may fall outside your comfort zones a little bit—but I’d like you to pass your strips from the person closest to the side aisle to the person closest to the center aisle, but HOLD ON, WAIT,…as you’re passing them, look into each other’s eyes… See if you can find God’s presence in each other’s eyes… And if you’re feeling bold enough, and if it helps you to find that divine presence, you can say to each other something like, ‘YOU are GOD’s creation’ or ‘YOU are a child of GOD’ or ‘Because GOD loves you, I love you!’ And ushers, if you could walk down the center aisle and collect these strips, we can bring them all—these Joys and Concerns, these Praises and Anxieties, these Blessings and Worries—before God!
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the Kingdom of God IS at hand!!! Seek after God’s Presence, God’s Kingdom, God’s Righteousness, in ALL aspects of your lives, and have faith that God will take care of everything else!
Amen!
Still Water Productions
OK, my two cents worth... and I'll try to be brief...
First of all, I've gone ahead and attached the sermon I'd delivered earlier today at church...it went well, focusing mostly on the Gospel text--Matthew 6:24-34. Got good feedback from people as I was greeting them after the service--and I never know how to handle that except to at least say "thanks" and occasionally "all to the glory of God" to those perhaps more ecumenically-minded Lutherans whom I know would be able to handle that response...
Secondly, I'm inspired by the story of Brian the Turtle and, Annie, your further tangentializing on it, and thought,..."Brian, the Hip Hop Snapping Turtle"...sounds so nouveau-Seuss, and quite effectively creating an anti-Myrtle! Challenge posed, then--who would like to create, a la Seuss, a short, poetic, children's story with subtle philosophical undertones about Brian, the anti-Myrtle, Hip-Hop Snapping Turtle? It was a challenge that was first posed to Theodor Geisel years back that propelled him into his career as Dr. Seuss (whose birthday is this Wednesday, btw)! Methinks it would be a good addition to our budding production company!
And lastly, the name of this venture... How about 'Still Water Productions'? Apart from the inspiration that this Minnesota town on the St Croix River evoked out of all three kids and me on our way to and from Grandma's memorial service back in '09... And apart from the notion that this small town would eventually be home to the church/brewery that I (and others similarly-inclined) would like to establish...and further, that Stillwater is not only the perfect location, but also such a fitting name for both a church and a brewery!... Beyond my personal affinities for both the location and the different seeds of inspiration it has planted, the name itself is certainly dynamic enough to soar beyond the obvious theo-/Christological, and master brewing craftsmanship implications... (Annie, call me, and we can arrange a bribe on this...I can probably scrape up some change, at least, from the couch!)
Alright, it's getting late, so time to sign off!
Peace... Emmanuel!!!
Love, Josh
First of all, I've gone ahead and attached the sermon I'd delivered earlier today at church...it went well, focusing mostly on the Gospel text--Matthew 6:24-34. Got good feedback from people as I was greeting them after the service--and I never know how to handle that except to at least say "thanks" and occasionally "all to the glory of God" to those perhaps more ecumenically-minded Lutherans whom I know would be able to handle that response...
Secondly, I'm inspired by the story of Brian the Turtle and, Annie, your further tangentializing on it, and thought,..."Brian, the Hip Hop Snapping Turtle"...sounds so nouveau-Seuss, and quite effectively creating an anti-Myrtle! Challenge posed, then--who would like to create, a la Seuss, a short, poetic, children's story with subtle philosophical undertones about Brian, the anti-Myrtle, Hip-Hop Snapping Turtle? It was a challenge that was first posed to Theodor Geisel years back that propelled him into his career as Dr. Seuss (whose birthday is this Wednesday, btw)! Methinks it would be a good addition to our budding production company!
And lastly, the name of this venture... How about 'Still Water Productions'? Apart from the inspiration that this Minnesota town on the St Croix River evoked out of all three kids and me on our way to and from Grandma's memorial service back in '09... And apart from the notion that this small town would eventually be home to the church/brewery that I (and others similarly-inclined) would like to establish...and further, that Stillwater is not only the perfect location, but also such a fitting name for both a church and a brewery!... Beyond my personal affinities for both the location and the different seeds of inspiration it has planted, the name itself is certainly dynamic enough to soar beyond the obvious theo-/Christological, and master brewing craftsmanship implications... (Annie, call me, and we can arrange a bribe on this...I can probably scrape up some change, at least, from the couch!)
Alright, it's getting late, so time to sign off!
Peace... Emmanuel!!!
Love, Josh
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The Rustlers
Beloved -
Anyway, we no longer have to input "Idiot". Dick said it should be spelled "ijut" like most all the Irish literature does and you are all predominantly (at least Anne thinks so) Irish. Which does not go back to Greg Loftness' Ancestry.com.
So at breakfas I said "They should just call it 'The brothers Karamazov'". Dick replied that it was taken. And anyway, how would Anne fit into that. And it couldn't be the brothers Lamken or the brothers Vold for the same reason practically. I asked, "if this is going to be a production company on the Internet, how do they make any money?" And Dick answered with the question, "How Republican an idea is THAT?"
Sorry. How a bout The Rustlers?
Love, Mom more later
I haven't read the attachments yet - we have to dash over to Apache Junction and pick up a friend from Blanchardville and go to her church and eat her church dinner...and then tonight is a free dinner by Concordia College. Free? I bet.
Anyway, we no longer have to input "Idiot". Dick said it should be spelled "ijut" like most all the Irish literature does and you are all predominantly (at least Anne thinks so) Irish. Which does not go back to Greg Loftness' Ancestry.com.
So at breakfas I said "They should just call it 'The brothers Karamazov'". Dick replied that it was taken. And anyway, how would Anne fit into that. And it couldn't be the brothers Lamken or the brothers Vold for the same reason practically. I asked, "if this is going to be a production company on the Internet, how do they make any money?" And Dick answered with the question, "How Republican an idea is THAT?"
Sorry. How a bout The Rustlers?
Love, Mom more later
My Own Dan-inspired Tangent
I'll be honest: after I read that Dan's turtle was named Brian, my philosophical ponderings dropped with a thud and instead I focused on greater questions. Is it a nice turtle? Is it a snapping turtle? Does it menacing stalk around the terrarium until, realizing it craves Twizzlers sweetly ask: "Mom can we go to the store?" Does it eat no less than seven meals between 7 and 11PM? Does it like hip-hop?
I understand this may be my own Dan-inspired tangent, but I feel it is no less important than the naming of our literary empire or the inclusion of elite family members. On all things philosophical, I submit to my dear brothers to wrestle through those issues and decide. My vote is easily bought to break a tie.
Have a blessed Sunday!
Annie
I understand this may be my own Dan-inspired tangent, but I feel it is no less important than the naming of our literary empire or the inclusion of elite family members. On all things philosophical, I submit to my dear brothers to wrestle through those issues and decide. My vote is easily bought to break a tie.
Have a blessed Sunday!
Annie
The Disappearance of Walter Herring
Walter Herring, age 29, was doodling on paper yesterday when he got carried away. Literally. According to witnesses, Herring had been scribbling on a paper place mat in a local restaurant when two men in collar-up overcoats came in and stood on either side of him Herring and the men had a brief moment of what seemed to be conversation, then suddenly the men took hold of Herring’s arms, stood him up and walked him out of the restaurant. They pushed Herring into the back seat of a black car and inconspicuously drove away.
Tom Smith, the restaurant’s manager, had been working in the back when the incident occurred, but he was immediately called into the dining room after the abductors had left. “Everyone was gabbing away about what they had just seen,” said Smith. “After a few minutes I was able to piece together what had actually happened. ”
“It was Walter Herring, he’s my neighbor,” said Mrs. Harriet Lockwert of 872 Maplecourt Road. “He lives right next to me, so I know it was him. Yes, 874.”
“Oh, he was just sitting there, doodling, you know,” said Trent Dagnow. “What? Oh yes. He had this kind of absent face on, so he couldn’t have been writing anything seri... What? Oh, well, yes. No, you don’t need my address.”
“They just talked in whispers for a while and then they grabbed him,” said Archie Baldwin of Bensenville. “Yes, I was at the next table.”
“They looked like mobsters,” added Archie Baldwin’s wife, who asked to remain unnamed.
“Oh, Marcy, no, they were G-men, I’m sure,” said Constance Labelle.
“No, you didn’t get a good look at them,” said Mrs. Baldwin. “One of them had a scar.”
“They were from the State Department,” said Jack Lloyd.
“How do you know?” an unidentified voice in the crowd asked. “It was on their license plate. A government seal,” said Lloyd.
“Jack, you wouldn’t know a government seal if they stamped it on your forehead,” said another unidentified voice.
“Maybe so, but I saw it. It said, ‘U.S.A. State Department, Secret Service.’” said Lloyd.
“Jack, sit down,” said William Richter of Peoria. “Last I checked, you couldn’t even read.”
“Shut up, Billy, I can read.”
“What’s that say,” said Richter.
“I don’t have to prove anything,” said Lloyd.
ζ
Detective Morley Bright of the Chicago Police Department arrived approximately forty five minutes after Herring’s disappearance. Bright questioned the several restaurant patrons who had remained behind waiting for him, then he talked with Tom Smith, who had taken notes from the diners who had left.
“Very concise report, Tom. ”
“Thank you. ”
“But I hate to tell you...”
“What’s that, detective?”
“The Secret Service is part of the Department of the Interior.”
“I know. I was just reporting what I heard.”
“So do you put much value in what Jack Lloyd said?”
“No.”
“Why did you record it then?”
“Oh I don’t know. ”
After further questioning, Detective Bright determined that only the quotes from Harriet Lockwert and Trent Dagnow were of any worth in Smith’s report. It was certainly Walter Herring, and he had apparently been doodling.
The other witnesses, whom Bright had interviewed directly, were able to confirm many facts about themselves and that they had all been eating lunch at Denny’s on 1213 Rowday Drive when “the hell had broken loose.” They used these words several times, but no one would elaborate. They asked Bright if he thought the TV news was going to come, but Bright was already done talking to them.
ξ
“This is Brad Kopak of the Channel 4 Eyewitness News Team, live at the scene of Denny’s Restaurant at 1213 Rowday Drive, where just moments ago a most unusual abduction occurred. Behind me are Jerry Lyman and Mimi Peters. Jerry, Mimi, can you tell our viewers what just took place here.”
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Uh, Jerry, Mimi, we understand that a Mr. Walter Herring of 874 Maplecourt Road was forcibly dragged out of here tonight by two mysterious men. Can either of you confirm this?”
“Today.”
“Pardon me?”
“It happened today, not tonight. About eight hours ago. The hell broke loose.”
“So you’ve been here since two o’clock?”
“Well, sure.”
“Why not?”
“Uh, right, well —then what happened?”
“Since two o’clock? Not a whole lot.”
“What happened at two o’clock?”
“They took Walter Herring...”
“He was just sitting there doodling away...”
“And then the hell broke loose...”
“...And?”
“And that’s it.”
“Uh, well! So there you have it. Obviously not all has been answered yet, but we’ll keep you posted. From the Denny’s at 1213 Rowday Drive, this is Brad Kopak, investigative reporter. Back to you, Judy.”
Ï°
“What was Walter Herring doodling? That is the question —the mystery of the week here in Chicagoland, and it is very mysterious indeed. Mr. Herring had been at Denny’s waiting on a late lunch last Friday. The meal had not yet come and he took out a pen and started drawing on his place mat with what one witness called an “absent” face. Suddenly, two men wearing trench coats and dark glasses burst into the restaurant. They went immediately to Mr. Herring and picked him up out of his chair, talked to him for a minute in hushed tones and then escorted him out of the restaurant. But here’s what no one noticed right away: They also took the place mat! It was not until after they had left with Mr. Herring that anyone noticed that the place mat was gone!
“What was Mr. Herring doodling? We may never know for sure, but that is the question we will try to uncover in this week’s episode of... ‘It Really Happened.’
“We will return to ‘It Really Happened’ after these messages.”
Ï•
“Hey Obert, will ya take a look over here?” Harrient Lockwert of 872 Maplecourt Road was leaning over her sink, peering out the kitchen window. “There’s somebody snooping around at Walter Herring’s house.”
“Let it be, Har. Stop snooping.” He was reading the paper.
“But Obert, they look like criminals.”
“Exactly. Don’t get involved.”
“Don’t you care, Obert? Don’t you want to help Walter?”
“Harriet, I barely know Walter Herring. In the five years he’s lived next to us, we’ve barely waved at each other.”
“Yes.” Harriet pondered, went back to the window, this time peeking more discreetly through the curtains. “But suppose they come here next?”
“Why would they do that?”
“They’ve got my name in the police report.”
“Harriet, will you get away from the window.” Obert put his paper down. “Look, Har. You saw that show on the television last night. Those guys are all concerned about a doodle, right? But it has nothing to do with us, so let’s keep it that way!”
Harriet went back into the kitchen and closed the curtain all the way. But she couldn’t resist one last peek.
Ω
Story
—I don’t want no characters. I’m not going to have any.
—What do you mean? You’ve got to have characters.
—No I don’t. I don’t want any. I want to be alone.
—What are you going to do then? You can’t just sit there.
—Yes I can. Why can’t I?
—You’ve got to have a plot. You need action.
—No. Who’s writing this thing anyway?
—What about a title?
—What about it?
—Nothing. Forget it.
—Exactly. I’m not going to have a setting either. And no diction and no conflict and no theme.
—What about an audience? You’re not going to have an audience either.
—Yes. Yes I will.
—No, no you’re not. You know, with no plot you never could call this, this whatever it is, a story. And now if you say there’s no theme, then you can’t really call it anything.
—I don’t want to call it anything. You’re the one trying to call it something.
—Okay, never mind. But the point is, who’s going to care? Who’s going to give a shit? If it won’t have any substance why should anyone bother.
—I don’t want substance. I especially don’t want the shit.
—Right. But you want an audience. You just said that you even expect one.
—That’s right. But let me tell you something. Maybe this will make you see. Last Tuesday I was taking a walk through the park. It was noon and I saw this old bum curled up on the edge of the sidewalk, eyes closed, not doing anything. And I stared at him for a little while. He didn’t move. Flies landed on him and he didn’t brush them away. He might have been dead.
—Maybe he was.
—I don’t know. But I stood there and stared at him for I don’t know how long and he never did move. He was positioned in such a way that I couldn’t tell whether he was breathing or not. I think he was alive though. I’m pretty sure he had some sort of soul.
—But what’s the point?
—Maybe there is none.
—So what are you trying to say?
—I’m not trying to say anything. I’m just saying it, there was a bum in the park and I happened to notice him and I think he had a soul.
—And for that you think you’ll have an audience.
—Hey look. Someone will notice this some day and maybe even several people will stop and stare and eventually someone will tell somebody else, like I just told you. They’ll even come up with the standard speculations: he looks dead, but I think he’s alive. He’s just a bum, but what was he yesterday and what will he be tomorrow? Who knows? Who cares? Maybe it’s a mental illness, or maybe it’s a statement of choice ...or maybe he really is dead. He’s motionless, but he’s got a soul. People will wonder, I promise. Wait and see.
—Is that your story? Kind of depressing. And you can’t just end it like that.
—Settle down. That’s not my ending. It’s not even my story.
—Whatever.
—Right.
—So will you bring your readers to any conclusion?
—No. No one ever does, really.
—Now that’s arguable. Platitudinous even.
—Of course it is. Everything is.
...
—So that’s your story.
—I told you, call it what you will.
—But it is a story you know. Whether you pretend it’s something else or not.
—That’s your conclusion. But it sounds like you changed your position.
—Sure. You’ve got everything in it that you said you wouldn’t have.
—What are you saying?
—There’s theme, there’s conflict of characters, style, even a plot of sorts...
—All incidental, I tell you.
—...and you’ve got lots of thought.
—All incidental.
—What do you mean, incidental? It’s there, isn’t it? And you said it wouldn’t be.
—But there’s no one here.
—Sure there is. Me and you. And an audience, maybe.
—No, there’s no audience. Not now. The audience hasn’t come by yet. They will, later, but not now.
—And I suppose we’re two bum characters on the edge of the sidewalk.
—No. There are no characters.
—What are we?
—We’re the writer of course.
—But we’re fighting. There’s conflict, so we must be characters.
—No, we’re just the writer. We’re just words.
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