"Turn Up the Heat" get-together at our house

Frank and I hosted a MoveOn.org-sponsored get-together at our house last night.

I won't say much here, but it was an encouraging evening. I didn't expect anyone except Dotti, but four more people came, women from Boston, Ky and Radcliff, KY. We were all gratified to meet each other. We plan to continue as a group. Deborah is setting us up a site on Yahoo Groups, we have lots of possible courses of action. The ones I wrote down are:

1. Take off November 2, volunteer to work.
Well, I'll have to ask you politically-experienced guys. Work at what? Where? Who would we contact? Sounds easy, though.
2. Take 1 weekend in October. Drive to a swing state and volunteer.
Same questions.
3. Identify 5 non-voters. Adopt them.
I can start with my younger girls. That's two.

We also brainstormed:
* Play the Fahrenheit 9/11 movie in a public place.
*Play the "Bush in 30 Seconds" commercials in a public place.
Stores with banks of TV like Lowe's & Sears, streetfront, churches, sr. citizens.
*Find out if you have to have an address to vote, what the ramifications might be, and work on that angle.
*Check out the "If you vote for Kerry, you can't go to communion" foolishness, see how far it's gone, do some PR on that angle.
*Figure out how to communicate with the "KICK BUTT" contingent.
*Ditto for the "BUSH IS GOD" contingent.
*Ditto for the PRO-LIFE contingent. (Note that the states that have the most liberal abortion laws correspond with those that have the most support for mothers, and vice versa.)
*Keep in contact with each other. Deborah will look into setting up a site.

And, those of us who are able agreed to have a phone bank at our house on Sunday, July 11, to help register voters.

Optimism and uncertainty mark feelings of immigrants

Optimism and uncertainty mark feelings of immigrants : "Al-Hindawy, who left five brothers in Iraq, said the needs in Iraq are not unlike those in the United States. 'I believe the most problems we face is because Iraqis are out of jobs,' he said, noting that in both countries, it's key to being able to take care of one's family.

'That's what we struggle with,' he said. 'They feel really hurt when they see all of the construction being done by people from out of the country, and they know they could do it cheaper themselves.'"

(Mark Lombardi) arts / w b u r g

(Mark Lombardi) arts / w b u r g: "Distilled from a welter of dis- and misinformation and refined from dense archives of aesthetic experiment, Lombardi's 'narrative structures' demonstrate a Cheshire understanding of the reciprocity between factual solidity and mutable appearance. In a media culture where few sources report the fine print on collusion between financial markets, political operatives, and corporate entities, and few commentators acknowledge how fluidly form and content, being and seeming blend, his work both emphasizes and redresses the lack of coherent analysis from journalistic and governmental experts. But perhaps more importantly, it obeys Joseph Kosuth's assertion that 'art…fulfills what another age might have called 'man's spiritual needs.'' "

...His drawings delimit a field in which aesthetic, geopolitical, and epistemological concerns are not mutually exclusive, where their self-mirroring identities are tabulated and given two-dimensional form.

Chant at St. Joe

This morning I'd agreed to play keyboard for the 7 am mass at St. Joe. When Debbie talked to me, she said they'd been providing accompaniment for a while, but no cantor, and people were getting used to singing at that early mass. She suggested to me that I play the organ, as both she and Shirley had been wanting to do more organ than piano, but hadn't done it yet. She told me that they generally sing a gathering song, have the resp. psalm read by the cantor, sing the alleluia (she suggested Celtic, refrain only, twice), instrumental at PoGifts, and singing for the mass parts. I said thanks, I'd love to do it, it's my favorite time of the day to be at mass.

When I got there I had a few reservations, mostly concerned with leadership, as the organ is in the choir loft. I approached Fr. Bill at the entrance of church, said hello, and talked thru what I thought we were doing. He seemed surprised, and said that the people at that mass weren't accustomed to singing. We agreed to singing an entrance song, alleluia, and mass parts. He said (kindof tongue-in-cheek) that one song was enough to make 'em mad (as in, no need to sing more). (Which I can appreciate. Been there, done that.)

So at 7:00, (not being able to see the procession from the choir loft) I announced the celebration and the opening song. Please stand. My voice seemed to carry ok without any amplification. I played the intro on organ, and off we went. We sang "Glory and Praise to our Lord." People seemed to sing strongly.

When it came time for the Gospel Acclamation, it just didn't seem right (or actually possible) to lead with organ, so I sang the Alleluia (Easter chant alleluia, everyone should know that.) They did know it, and responded strongly. The deacon was still at the altar with the book of the Gospels, so I soloed a verse, and all repeated Alleluia again.

Since it had felt comfortable to do all this, and the vocal parts had gone well, during the homily, I looked at the Graduale and dared myself to sing chant at Prep of Gifts. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." When the time came, I thought I'd be nervous, or that it would seem out of place, but actually it wasn't. I sang the Introit --Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus. I started singing kind of softly, not pushy, but it seemed to carry. Felt natural. Then I sang the English translation (which I lifted from Word & Song) to the psalm tone, then the antiphon again, then the Gloria Patri as the gifts were carried up. I stopped there, although I could have gone on to the antiphon again.

I played organ for the Eucharistic acclamations (Mass of Creation), and it sounded to me as if the church was full of singing. At Lamb of God, again, there was the problem of no cantor, so I started Agnus Dei a capella. The church really WAS singing. No doubt.

Since Fr. and I had agreed only one hymn, I went to the organ to play "Eat This Bread, Drink this Cup" at communion. I sang on the verse (but not facing down over the choir loft) but no one took it up, so I let it go and just improvised on that song all during communion.

At the sending, since Fr. Bill had told me they weren't accustomed to having music, I didn't do anything. After all, the mass is supposed to end at the Ite missa est, right? Well, the procession people didn't LOOK as if they were accustomed to just leaving. That was the only thing that felt awkward. I think they were looking for music.

I didn't see Fr. to talk about it afterwards, so I don't know what his reaction was. I met some people from mass in the Burger King where I went for a drink (and kill time) before the next mass, and they were very complimentary. I did say to them, that if they like it, they might say something to Debbie or Father, because I'd love to do it more.

That was a MARVELOUS pattern for singing the mass. If I could have anything in the world, it would have to be:
1. world peace
2. my family all in sync
3. to sing a mass like that every week. a simple mass. with the chant. with all of us singing. with just the essential elements, not all the added-on hoopla.

At 9:00 mass, Amy and the youth choir sang (about 6 of the ladies showed up), and I played piano.

Fahrenheit 9/11

We saw "Fahrenheit 9/11" at the Baxter Theater. It was packed. Two theaters. We got in because Amy and Hobie had gotten us tickets in advance.

The movie was unbelievable, (but you have to believe, actually. The sheer number of video clips make it impossible that this is somehow "out of context."). Our embarassing President was shown to be much more than embarassing. Why isn't he up for impeachment?

I cried for the Iraqi people. And for the American military families. We certainly left the theatre with the sense that we should DO something. A LOT of something.

We had agreed to pass out flyers for MoveOn.org, so we did, joining another group of sign-carrying people, the local Democrats, who are meeting on Thursday. We told people about the get-togethers scheduled at homes (including ours) on Monday night.

Chant Discography

Chant Discography

Catholic Church and the internet

Two Vatican documents regarding the internet. Quoted here.

The Church and Internet

Three decades ago Communio et Progressio pointed out that “modern media offer new ways of confronting people with the message of the Gospel”.17 Pope Paul VI said the Church “would feel guilty before the Lord” if it failed to use the media for evangelization.18 Pope John Paul II has called the media “the first Areopagus of the modern age”, and declared that “it is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the ‘new culture' created by modern communications”.19 Doing that is all the more important today, since not only do the media now strongly influence what people think about life but also to a great extent “human experience itself is an experience of media”.20


All this applies to the Internet. And even though the world of social communications “may at times seem at odds with the Christian message, it also offers unique opportunities for proclaiming the saving truth of Christ to the whole human family. Consider...the positive capacities of the Internet to carry religious information and teaching beyond all barriers and frontiers. Such a wide audience would have been beyond the wildest imaginings of those who preached the Gospel before us...Catholics should not be afraid to throw open the doors of social communications to Christ, so that his Good News may be heard from the housetops of the world”.21

Ethics in Internet

Use of the new information technology and the Internet needs to be informed and guided by a resolute commitment to the practice of solidarity in the service of the common good, within and among nations. This technology can be a means for solving human problems, promoting the integral development of persons, creating a world governed by justice and peace and love.
...
It (the internet) also can help men and women in their age-old search for self-understanding. In every age, including our own, people ask the same fundamental questions: “Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Why is there evil? What is there after this life?” 42 The Church cannot impose answers, but she can—and must—proclaim to the world the answers she has received; and today, as always, she offers the one ultimately satisfying answer to the deepest questions of life—Jesus Christ, who “fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling”.43

>>> AsiaNews.it <<< Remote Catholic Community Maintains Faith Without Priest For 50 Years

>>> AsiaNews.it <<< Remote Catholic Community Maintains Faith Without Priest For 50 Years

Google Search: define:praxis

Google Search: define:praxis : "Definitions of praxis on the Web:

how do you get to Polis? (praxis, praxis, praxis)
www.cs.umd.edu/~mikeoda/phldef.htm


Habitual or established actions and motor skills.
ivc.uidaho.edu/brain/book/glossary.html


the performance of an action; 'doing'
www.tornadodesign.com/cbgd/glossary_cbgd.htm


Marx’s term for social practice. The term is meant to convey the work we undertake collectively to shape our world and our reality; it represents Marx’s dialectical critique of Hegel’s term Geist.
staff.bcc.edu/philosophy/HEGELMARXGLOSSARY.htm


Praxis is a complex activity by which individuals create culture and society, and become critically conscious human beings. Praxis comprises a cycle of action-reflection-action which is central to liberatory education. Characteristics of praxis include self-determination (as opposed to coercion), intentionality (as opposed to reaction), creativity (as opposed to homogeneity), and rationality (as opposed to chance).
www.sef.org.pk/educatewebsite/educate2fol/glosiconedu2.asp


the practical or customary application of a branch of learning.
www.sevmedia.net/clients/gt/Main/FAQ/glossary.html


(Motor Planning) The ability of the brain to conceive of, organize, and carry out a sequence of unfamiliar actions.
www.steveengelhardt.com/sensory_glossary.htm


translating an idea into action; 'a hard theory to put into practice'; 'differences between theory and praxis of communism'
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn"

I just looked up a definition, and found a wealth of connections to social patterns of value (pov's). Lest I forget.

Benedictus es Domine.mp3

Blessed art thou, O LORD, teach me thy statues With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. Psalm 118(119), 12.13 Graduale Triplex 277 

Latin text:
Benedictus es, Domine, doce me iustificationes tuas:
benedictus es, Domine, doce me iustificationes tuas,
in labis meis pronuntiavi omnia iudicia oris tui.

English text:
Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes.
With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

Chant source:
Psalm 119:12,13
Graduale Triplex pg. 277
Offertory for 6th week in Ordinary Time

This chant is an example of what's so compelling about singing chant from the Graduale. This chant is a plea to be taught the way of Christ, the Way of the Gospel, the Way of the universe.

It has such a plaintive, humble feel. (I think Dom Turco would call it Type B, of the three types of chant-modes.) Contrast that with the proud, "we are the body," "we have it all, we are special" feel that so much of our currently-sung parish music proclaims.

This chant is what I feel a need to express, at least at this point in my life.

Manducaverunt et saturati sunt nimis.mp3

So they did eat, and they were well filled; for he gave them their own desire. Ps. 77,29.30 

Latin Text:
Manducaverunt, et saturati sunt nimis,
et desiderium eorum attulit eis Dominus:
non sunt fraudati a desiderio suo.

English Text:
So they did eat, and they were well filled:
for he gave them their own desire.

Chant Source:
Psalm 78, 29:30
Graduale Triplex pg. 278
Communion
6th Week in Ordinary Time

The Beginner's Book of Chant

What you really must know about Gregorian Chant

The link above is to the first chapter of The Beginner's Book of Chant, by a Benedictine monk

Thanks to the Recovering Choir Director for the tip on this link. I just ordered a copy. They're not charging much.

Little Larka Sambo (aka Little Black Sambo)

FCL: Discussions -- Little Black Sambo and Racism

Alex brought me "Little Black Sambo" to read. (It's the "Indian" version, one of Sr. Sharen Baldy's books. I think we read the version with blackface illustrations when I was a kid.)

I like the story, and I started reading it, but quickly started experimenting with leaving out the "black." "Little Sambo" is sorta ok, but loses its rhythm.

So this morning I whited-out the "Black," but the story seemed bare, and I found Hindi words for mother (ma), father (bap) and boy (larka), and substituted them in the names--Ma Mumbo, Bap Jumbo, and Little Larka Sambo.

While I was surfing, I read thru a long conversation of librarians and book specialists about the subject. That's the link above. They talked about a whole lot of racial baggage that may or may not be contained in this story. There are also some interesting adaptations there: Little Kid Foxtrot and Blond Barbie.

After reading all that commentary, I remembered that the previous book Alex had brought me had been about Vikings, and we had just talked about how Vikings mostly had blond hair and blue eyes, like his mama, and he had told me he had dark hair and brown skin. He did seem to think it was important, maybe an identity. (Of course, when he's with his cousins in Mexico, he appears to be very light-skinned.) At the time, I didn't make any connection with this and Little Black Sambo. I wasn't thinking about the fact that I was reading to a little boy who could very well be the subject of discrimination. I just knew I didn't like saying Black Mumbo, Black Jumbo and Black Sambo.

Alex liked the story. The ending surprised him. I plan to keep it on the bookshelf and see how it flies in its new incarnation.

This is the same evening that we sat on the swing with the boys and sang songs--Found a Peanut, Brush Your Teeth Each Morning, Oh I Wish I Was in the Land of Cotton.

And since the power was out, as I lit the candles around the house, I had Benjamin with me, and we said "Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen."

This is being a grandmother. It's so much easier when the power is out.

Cibavit eos.mp3

Cibavit eos page 1 


Cibavit Eos p2 

Latin text:
Antiphon:
Cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti, alleluia:
et de petra, melle saturavit eos, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Verses:
Simite psalmum, et date tympanum:
psalterium iucundum cum cithara.

Ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus, qui eduxi te de terra AEgypti:
dilata os tuum, et implebo illud.

English text:
He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat:
and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel,
the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:
open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.


Chant Source:
Psalm 81(80)
Graduale Triplex pp. 377-378

Introit for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Lake Tahoe, IUEC Conference (Elevator Constructors)

I got back too late yesterday to talk to anyone about that crest trail. Since I know there's snow up there, and my shoes are not good for that, I guess I won't. Frank has an early-morning breakfast meeting, so I'd have to get other transportation. My feet are saying don't. (But they'd change their mind once I got them there.)

Two more articles in Worldwatch have my attention. One is the article: Scrapping Mining Dependence, by Payal Sampat ( State of the World 2003 ). It's opening up whole new areas in my mind about our social habits that keep us destroying habitat and people's lives to produce metals and materials, some of which are much more available already in our garbage. Some of which we don't really need for anything (diamonds, gold, jewelry stuff). (Three tons of cyanide-laced waste is produced for each gold wedding ring.) Mining is highly subsidised by our government, therefore, we keep right on doing it. I think I'll pay more attention to our recycling, at least. Lobby for political change at best.

The other article, which I've been putting off, is "Engaging Religion in the Quest for a Sustainable World," by Gary Gardner ( State of the World 2003 ). I hope to write more about this later, but it clarified to me why Fr. Pat Creed had such a resonance with us. His interpretation of Gospel, of liturgy, of Church, is thoroughly entwined with the ethic of conservation and ecology. Fr. Pat Creed was one of the movers and shakers in the challenge stated in this article:

Our civilization's challenge is to reintegrate our societal heart and head, to reestablish spirituality as a partner in dialogue with science.

Fr. Pat's homilies thoroughly embody a vision of church in which the "old" church is in harmony with the "new" church, and the kingdom of God is very much in harmony with an educated, scientific view of ecology. I miss that man.

(This also clarifies for me why I couldn't stay longer at Holy Trinity, where Yuppie, money-driven, elitest "empowerment" pretty well submerges anything else. )

Any environmentalist wanting to follow Gardner's advice and link the environmental movement with the Christian concept of avoiding preoccupation with wealth, materialism, and excessive consumption, couldn't do much better than to mine Fr. Pat's lifework of homilies. I plan to continue posting them at A Catholic's Companion, and hope to keep them available in print at Watchmaker Press .

Lake Tahoe, IUEC Conference (Elevator Constructors)

Back at last. 

I was disappointed by out little Motorola T6320 Talkabout walkie-talkie gizmos. Frank had contacted me at noon, and we'd talked then, but we couldn't get the he compass functions to help us out. All day, I'd tried to contact Frank, and it never worked. Even at this point, close to and in direct line-of sight, I couldn't call him. Of course he was worried. I found him in a meeting for new Business Agents. I stayed for part of the presentation and picked up some good tips for using a spreadsheet.

Lake Tahoe, IUEC Conference (Elevator Constructors)

Coming down from High Camp 

After exploring the Olympic ghost-complex a little, I asked a runner about the road he had just run up (all the way from the bottom, I presume). This 'road' somehow took ME to a funky cul-de-sac, but I could see real road below me, and what LOOKED like trails leading to it, so I decided to take that way. Hmmm. Well, I was concerned about the erosion I caused, because a lot of what I did for the next hour involved sliding fairly vertically down thru scrub and deep, loose dirt. Eventually, though, I came out on a service road and walked it back to that Olympic village place where I'd started.

Lake Tahoe, IUEC Conference (Elevator Constructors)

Several hours above and beyond Shirley Lake, looking down from 1984 Olympic High Camp. 

Christian and his friends offered to show me the road. I said I'd like to do that, but my walking speed wasn't as fast as theirs. They offered to wait, if necessary. They treked on. I huffed and puffed. They headed straight up the middle of the snow fields. My tennis shoes would NOT do snow without slipping, so I zig-zagged around when possible, dug in with an abandoned ski pole when I had to. Eventually, I pointed up to a black machine thing and said, "If I'm at that thing, will I see the road?" They said yes, so I thanked them and they went on. I went on more slowly, and more zig-zagged, but at some point I was about 20 feet below the "top," with nothing but a wall of snow between myself and it. I found a small piece of wood, and with that in my right hand and the ski pole in my left, I dug into the snow and pulled myself up it. What a great adventure! (No real danger. I could alway just have gone back the other way.)

Lake Tahoe, IUEC Conference (Elevator Constructors)

Shirley Lake at last 
I think it was about 3:00 when I got to Shirley Lake. Looking for the cable car, I followed a maintained trail left around the lake and generally up. At some point, though, it petered out into an area of snow fields and wooded meadows. (Sorry about the oxymoron, but that's what it was). I wandered thru this for an hour or so, then took darkening clouds into consideration and decided to go back to the marked trail to go back. (It was a little bit of a scramble to get to Shirley Lake again.) I got there and went beyond, to the big rock fields, where I met some other hikers (first I'd seen) and asked them about the road(s) at the top.