It’s been an intellectually stimulating seven days, and on the other side, I have more hope for the future than before.

“Tipping Points”?  See the end of this post.

Among the events: recognizing the beginning of the 75th year of the United Nations; the Centennial celebration of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota, and the ratification of Women’s Suffrage; an inspiring celebration by my local Democrat Farmer Labor (DFL) Senate District; and a stimulating, student centered, Human Rights Forum at Augsburg University.  There were other happenings as well.

It’s a ‘good, tired’.

There is no way to summarize the week, but I’ll try.

Augsburg University Oct 29, 2019

Last first: Monday and Tuesday was the Human Rights Forum at Augsburg University, Minneapolis.  This was #31, the first 30 called the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and Nobel Peace Prize Festival.  Personally I was involved in about 15 of these over the years.  The several hundred participants this year were primarily(it appeared) high school and college students; but there were quite a few people who looked like my age.  Here was the faculty for the event. I was privileged to sit in on sessions by 11 of the 28 presentors, hearing their views and participant questions and feedback.  Last Monday evening a dozen of we ‘elders’ participated in a “Peace Meal” with a dozen young people.  This was an experiment in dialogue.  It was a success, but obviously not perfect.

Saturday was the Centennial Celebration of the Minnesota League of Women Voters.  Here  is the ‘meat’ of the program booklet – the honorees/speakers at this Centennial event.  Personally, the most powerful speech was the last, by Andrea Jenkins.  Her talk emphasized Sojourner Truth.  (see photo at end of this post).

Here is a display panel of an abbreviated timeline of Women’s Suffrage in the United States (there a bit more information in the program booklet):

The two other major events of the week, the 75th year of the United Nations, and the Senate District 53 gathering were also significant.

The Senate District gathering brought together mostly a new generation of leaders for the District, primarily women and a generation at least younger than ourselves.  It was impressive.  Local politics is like family.  Because it is local, it is more personal, and competitive.

I wrote one of the organizers : “what was particularly inspiring was the composition of the group, and particularly the spontaneous testimonial of Char [a young Senate District activist] about David [a long-time recognized DFL organizer who had died a year or so earlier].”   The generational change is absolutely essential, but not necessarily easy.  People need to work together.

Char, remembering a political mentor, Oct 24, 2019, Woodbury MN

The UN gathering beginning the 75th years of the UN was very interesting, and I briefly described it in my Oct. 27 post: “we were at a very interesting talk by the spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stephane Dujarric.   The nature of his position is representing a diplomat, the Secretary-General, whose job is to work at keeping 193 nations of immense diversity generally working together.  Saturday’s paper had an opinion piece by John Rash, which talks about Syria, including a couple of quotes from Dujarric.  Take a look, here.”

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Oct 23, 2019

The UN is a voluntary association of nations, formed at the end of World War II.  The UN is NOT “World Government”, and by its very nature, as an association of originally 51, and now 193 countries, ranging from postage stamp size and power to mega-powers, it is not perfect.  Five countries – the “winners” of WWII – have permanent veto authority, and thus can veto any action proposed, including removing the veto power.  (At the beginning, countries in some cases were not identical to today: for instance, what we know as India today, was, then, what is now known as the separate countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.)

Nonetheless, regardless of imperfection, the system is much preferable to having no system at all.  We are a global society, permanently and irrevocably together on one earth.

It is useful to learn more about the UN, and I would recommend a recent book by my friend, Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg, which was his life work: “Transforming the United Nations System, Designs for A Workable World“.  Information on the book can be found at Joe Schwartzberg’s website, here.  Joe died in September, 2018, at age 90.

*

POSTNOTE: “TIPPING POINTS” is my chosen title for this post, because in each of the events described, deep change is underway, and inevitable.

Women’s Suffrage took a very long time; the need for youth involvement is imperative, as the future is what youth will live in, not people like myself; young people and leaders of color were seen in great abundance at the Human Rights conference; the nations of the World, the UN, have to figure out how to live together, or face mutual destruction in a global planet.  “Nationalism” is temporarily ascendant, again, but is not a sustainable dream.  We are seeing the results of polarized politics, far beyond what used to be considered normal competition (I’ve often used the analogy of an eagle, the national symbol, about the need for two wings, neither left nor right dominant.  A one-winged eagle does not fly….  Each of us have had “tipping points” in our lives; in some cases, many of these points.  Think about some of yours.

My sister, Flo, long-time LWV activist and the one who invited us to the celebration, reenacted Alice Paul, Quaker, born 1885, who was a suffragette at the time of the Equal Right to Vote.  Alice Paul’s bio is here.

1910 postcard from one sister to another, my grandmother Rosa Busch on the farm in ND.

For the last several weeks, we’d wonder, would we see Clarence at 9:30 Mass for his usual  duty as usher.  He died Oct. 14.  Monday, several hundred of us bade farewell to our friend at Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis.

Two or three months ago, some time after Clarence had told a number of us that a cancer diagnosis was terminal, cards had been distributed to those who wished to congratulate our Pastor, John Bauer, on a significant anniversary.  A portion of the photo on the card is below.  I looked at the card showing the entire congregation posing, with the altar in the background, and there was our Clarence Birk.  (He’s the guy in the blue shirt.  The photo is undated, I do remember being at the Church that day).

Monday, Father Bauer wore a blue cassock, rather than the more traditional black – ” blue was Clarence’s favorite color”, he said.  He also said that, with Clarence’s death, an era had ended.  Clarence spent almost all of his 88 years as part of Basilica of St. Mary; 65 of those years he’d been an usher.

Basilica of St. Mary, exact date unknown, Clarence (per above photo) is at lower right.

So it went, as we said goodbye to a good friend.  Visitation on Monday was at what I call the ‘back’ of the church.  I’m sure there is a fancier name.   But it was not lost on me that we were gathering to celebrate Clarence’s life at the place where he ushered, it was said, for 65 of his 88 years.  There was only one Clarence!

Clarence’s ashes were displayed at the Mary chapel at that same  “back of the Church”.  In a sense, Clarence was right at home for our farewell:

Everyone who knew Clarence will have their own special memories.  He was a common man – but who of us isn’t a common person?  But in assorted quiet ways Clarence made a difference in people’s lives.  He is at peace.  We’re better for having known him.  Farewell.

*

In an earlier post, I talked about Clarence and my affection for him.  Here’s what I offered:

“…One especially, though, is my friend Clarence, who was one of the first other than family visitors when I was in intensive care last December.  Some months later Clarence, now 88, was diagnosed with advanced cancer – pancreatic, and is certainly close to the end of his time as a friend to so many of us.  It won’t be long for him.  We haven’t seen him at church for some weeks now.  Great, great guy.  As I heard a minister eulogize a younger man years ago who’d died in a car accident, Clarence definitely ‘lived before he died’.  At 88, he won’t need the rest of that long ago eulogy “died before he was finished”.  Clarence has run the race with grace.

[Phone message overnite Oct 14: Clarence Birk has died.  Funeral at Basilica of St. Mary on Monday Oct 21 11 a.m. visitation followed by funeral at noon.  RIP]

I’ve become fond of saying that “the main cause of death is life“.  None of us are “forever young”, whatever the age.  Best to live as best we can, one day at a time, giving back in the sundry ways available to us, such as the young lady taking my ‘pitcher’ this morning!  Work for a better world.”

My last photo of Clarence Birk, August 14, 2019, at Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis. We’d just spent two or three hours ‘touring’ his old haunts, one of the main ones being Basilica of St. Mary which was his lifelong parish.

Hands of Basilica of St. Mary parishioners. September 28, 2019. The parish is celebrating 150 years this year.

Clarence Birk (back row center) Feb 8, 2001, Habitat for Humanity group from Basilica of St. Mary. Clarence was very active in Habitat projects, and otherwise ‘handy’ in the manual arts!  This would have been about the time I got to know him.  One doesn’t keep tabs on such events – possibly I had just started working as an usher at the church, where Clarence was already involved.  I just don’t know for sure.

Downtown Minneapolis (zoom lens)as seen from Clarence Birk’s boyhood backyard in north Minneapolis August 14, 2019. Clarence and others walked to Basilica School.

Habitat for Humanity Construction Crew September 11, 2001, lunch break on the porch.  This photo probably was taken during the day, before any of us knew that the Towers were going to collapse.   There was a radio at the site, but that was the only outside communication.

Basilica of St. Mary Oct 27, 2019

COMMENTS:

from Mary: Thank you for sharing this Mr. Bernard – so thoughtful and touching.  He was indeed a good man.
It was nice to talk with you and your wife yesterday.

NOTE:  After the Wednesday debates, Don Singley sent a personal commentary which he headed “Kudos”.  I asked permission to share it as a blog post, which he granted, and I published under “Don Singley: Kudos” on October 16.  All was well, except the copy would not double space, as on the original.  So, the original of this piece remains at October 16, and this time I’ll type in the copy and see if that works!  Computers are still imperfect.

A strong recommendation  Yesterday, I went to the film “Where’s my Roy Cohn“, the story of the notorious, infamous and famous lawyer, Roy Cohn.  My opinion, it is an outstanding movie, held over for another week at the Edina Landmark theater in my area, likely soon to be on netflix and other similar outlets.  I highly recommend it.  Similarities between Cohn and the person who made the quote that is the movie title are not coincidental….   the film is a good use of your time – a civics lesson.

Now, Don Singley: Kudos.  Oct 15, 2019

I didn’t watch the first two debates, and I wasn’t planning to watch this one.  But as the hour grew late, I decided to turn it on for  few minutes.  I happened to tune in just as the last question was asked, which I gather was something like, “How has resilience been important in your life?”  I tuned in just as Joe Biden gave his answer – starting with his father walking the stairs to their second-floor apartment and having to tell his family that he had lost his job, so they had to move out, and continuing through Joe’s many tragedies, all of which he rose above. Then Elizabeth Warren told her story of fighting her way to the right path, then Bernie, and so on. When the replies reached Beto O’Rourke, who told the story of the city he had grown up in, El Paso, and its resilience in the wake of the tragic mass shooting there, I was weeping.  On to Pete Buttigieg, who decided to come out in the middle of a re-election campaign in socially conservative Indiana.  Then to Amy [Klobuchar], who said that it was grace that led her father and her to the truth.  Even the ones who hadn’t had personal tragedies affect them – Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, Yang, and Julian Castro – showed admirable moral fiber and fortitude.

Those qualities are in stark contrast with our current president, who has not the smallest bit of either moral fiber or fortitude.  But, as several of the candidates said, this campaign – and this government – are not about people like Donald Trump.  There have been corrupt politicians, and horrible policies, in many areas, and Democrats and Republicans alike have sometimes been to blame.  The way forward is to get to a reasonable approximation to the truth, then refine this approximation in the crucible of reality and the possible, which – even in the best of times – is a struggle.

The point of this e-mail is to commend the two addressees, Dick Bernard and JoAnn Ward, both of whom I have known personally and have worked with politically.  You are both true American heroes.  You have worked tirelessly to improve our communities, our state of Minnesota, and our lives.  Count yourselves among those honored tonight.  And your spouses share in your honor.

The night before Mr. Trump’s rally, last Wednesday, my friend Kaia and I were both “in the dumps” and needed an uplifting evening.  Usually the Cedar Cultural Center has programs only on weekends, but they are running a World Cultural Festival, so they had an additional show that night – a musician named Samite (“Sam-i-te”), who played the flute and was from Africa.  So we went.  It was not only uplifting, it was inspiring.  He was from Uganda, and his entire family had been destroyed by Idi Amin.  He himself spent ten years in a refugee camp in Kenya, and finally managed to reach the United States.  After achieving a successful career in just three years (he is a superb musician), a friend approached him and asked him to help by flying back to Africa and working in the refugee camps in Rwanda and Burundi (just after the genocide) and Liberia.  He agreed, and he told many stories about bringing people who were basically in catatonic shock back to reality through music.  He shared several other tragedies in his life since his return; his response can be summarized by the name of his latest album, “Resilience”.  The struggles in America are only part of a world struggle and the qualities exemplified by all of those people will be essential in achieving , to use Amy’s words, grace.

Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now am found

T’was blind but now I see

Through many dangers, toils and snares

We have already come

T’was grace that brought is safe this far

And grace will lead us home.

COMMENTS: 

from Jeff: I don’t read every one of your missives, but I read Don’s comment.  Well done.

from Jerry: Thanks for this article, Dick.  I agree that you deserve credit for your social justice work through the years.

from Christina: I have been so depressed with the weather,not getting into the wet fields ,crops not getting enough sun to mature,no prices, and politics. I watched the debates and heard what Don Singley heard, O, how I needed Don Singley’s Thoughts Toward a Better World . Thank you Don Singley and Thank you Dick for passing it on.

from Fred, in turn from his friend, Bill:

Thanks for your reply. In general I’ve usually felt that memorials of the past—buildings and monuments—houldn’t be subjected to editorial interference in order to make our predecessors conform to current tastes.  If a different message is wanted, at least create a new monument or a new building as its vehicle.  I read Orwell too early:

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered.  And the process is continuing every day and minute but minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

The supersession of the physically printed word by digital technology makes that prophecy all too credible for the not-very-distant future.  I follow Chesterton:

“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.”

POSTNOTE Oct 12: A surprise comment from Carole, writing from Amman Jordan.   “I might have even flown out to protest — had I been home. But, a do a lot of that in [Washington] DC!  [Here], for fun, is a shot of the hunter moon rising tonight in Wadi Rum.

POSTNOTE Oct 10:  Here is a history of the composition of the U.S. Congress and Presidency since 1940: U.S. Government001.  The source of the basic information is here.

*

Tomorrow #45 comes to Minneapolis.

It makes sense to provide a few facts before the plane takes off tomorrow:  Target Center (the venue for #45) has a seating capacity of about 20,000; the Twin Cities population is about 3,600,000; Minnesota population is about 5,500,000; most recent estimate that there are about 200,000 Muslims in Minnesota; Mall of America estimates 40 million visitors a year, and every day over 100,000 people are on site at the Mall of America – people who work there, walk there, are tourists, etc.  It will be easy to fill Target Center, by no means will it be the biggest crowd in history.

I’ve seen two Presidents at Target Center.  In 1996, President Clinton came in October.  In January, 2008, then-candidate Obama stopped by in the days before the precinct caucuses.   I was at both events, enthusiastic and very orderly.

Target Center January, 2008

photos Dick Bernard

Target Center Oct, 1996

#45 will come and he will leave.  I took a time-out just to revisit my own “history” with Presidents of the U.S., including candidates for the office.  It’s not illustrious, but interesting to revisit.

One time I actually was in a meeting in the Cabinet room just off the Oval Office in D.C.   It was in January, 1980, and we were briefed on then-issues.  President Carter was not in town.  It was still a momentous event in my own life.

At White House Jan 16, 1980

The First time I actually saw a U.S. President in person I was about 13.  We lived in tiny Karlsruhe ND, and President Eisenhower apparently was scheduled to be in Minot, maybe 50 miles away.  We were there, along a street where the President drove by in an open car.  Before that, we saw the then-Air Force One fly in.  Off and on, I’ve tried to fix the exact date.  I’m almost 100% certain that the Presidents visit related to the new Minot and Grand Forks Air Force Bases, both creatures of the Cold War.

Years later, I think August of 1975, I took my son and a couple of neighbor boys, to see then-President Gerald Ford at the Marriott in Bloomington. We were on the other side of a rope line.   This was ‘up close and personal and quick’.   President Nixon had resigned the previous year, and Gerald Ford had moved from Speaker of the House of Representatives to Vice-President after Spiro Agnew had resigned as Vice-President.

Gerald Ford Aug. 19, 1975, photo Dick Bernard

Back in 1960, I was at a park in Valley City ND when Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ‘whistle-stopped’.  At the time, he was competing for Republican nomination for President.  Richard Nixon ultimately won, then lost in the general to John F. Kennedy.  21 was voting age then, and I was only 20.  But it was very interesting.  Years later, a direct lie from Newt Gingrich before the 1996 election caused me to write an opinion piece about my experience that earlier day in 1960.  You can read it here: Times Record 12-3-96001

Why “Star Wars”?

Sunday we saw “The Empire Strikes Back”, episode five of the Star Wars series.  It was at Orchestra Hall, with music by the live Orchestra.  It was the 5th performance, and another packed house.  Star Wars still lives!  (I’ve only seen a couple of the episodes, but for some unremembered reason took my son to the original in the early summer of 1977, and he was hooked.

I’ll leave the moralizing to the professionals and the addicts of Star Wars.  But it seems to me that Star Wars always had a moral kind of subtext, and this was pretty clear in The Empire Strikes Back.  (This is the episode where Darth Vader reveals to Luke Skywalker the he’s Luke’s Dad.  Sort of like a futuristic “Boy Named Sue” (Johnny Cash) – his Dad names him Sue, cause he’s been a rotten Dad and he knows his kid will have to know how to defend himself.)

During the film, I think it is the Wise Man – Obe-Wan Kenobi? – is trying to teach Luke Skywalker wisdom, and Luke mostly gets it.  There is talk about the “dark side” (which I think we all possess): (Conover Company) “Fear is the path to the Dark Side.” – Yoda (from the movie, Star Wars) “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.”   I wrote a note to myself during the performance, that the third word was Aggression.

Of course, any analysis can be challenged.  Personally I think the above makes a lot of sense, and we’re a schizophrenic society, at war within and among ourselves.  This isn’t healthy.  We all lose.

We see a great plenty of the dark side these days, and my guess we’ll hear more about it from the experts tomorrow when #45 touches is in our town…

COMMENTS:  (see also end of post comments)  Information about protest of the event can be seen here

from Norm:  Robin Hood or even as a rock star!  Watch the faces of those attending the overflowing rally on Thursday and note the expressions on their faces.  They will look like they are in awe of and almost in a state of worship of a rock star!  I doubt that we will be able to reach very many of those folks with our usual facts and figures.

response from Jim:  Yes, but remember some cried when Stalin died and some still practice Nazism.  Many of those now enthralled by Trumpism are probably lost, but maybe maybe a few will recover.

from Norm:   Yes, and there were lots of Torries still loyal to the kingster during the Revolutionary War.

from Carol: Dick, this is not the day for low key

from Judy:  AS USUAL DICK, YOUR THOUGHTS ARE APPRECIATED.  THANK YOU, YOU HAVE HELPED ME LOOK AT TOMORROW.  AND SAY SO BE IT…..TRUMP TIME WILL COME TO AN END SOON.

Just Above Sunset, overnight: This Absurd King

from Jean in Canada:  Very interesting.  FYI: We are having our own Federal election on Monday Oct.21st.   People are so fed up of the mudslinging and the promises that the parties are doing, it is depressing.

from Fred, in 35 point type: Welcome to Minneapolis Mr. President.

Two opinion pieces in the Minneapolis paper on the day of the event: Rally Opinions Oct 10 19002

from Carol:  I was sickened by Trump’s display of hatred and vulgarity at the rally.  But that is what happens when someone has nothing of substance to say (they claimed he was going to talk about healthcare – fat chance…) and so they have to keep upping the ante with shocking language, etc. – otherwise, their “groupies” will get bored.

Downtown Minneapolis about 6:15 p.m. October 10, 2019.  Target Center is about four blocks ahead, just to the left.

5:45 a.m. Friday, October 11.  I had a half hour to ‘kill’ before an evening meeting in suburban Roseville, yesterday, so I decided to drive to downtown Minneapolis to see what might be going on right before the campaign rally at the Target Center.  Succinctly, the weather was miserable and getting worse, and there was really not much of anything going on.  At the corner of, I think, 2nd Avenue and 7th Street, the sign said the street was closed at Hennepin Avenue.  At First, about three blocks from Target Center, I diverted, heading back towards my meeting.  I saw a few people walking in the general direction of the event venue.

Later, driving home from the meeting about 9:30, the rain had increased and it was not a pleasant drive; I saw what appeared to be a bad accident in the northbound lane on I-694 – certainly weather related.  Plenty of flashing lights and emergency vehicles.  Back home, I stayed up for a few minutes and there was little of anything about the event on the tube.  I’ll see what is mentioned in the morning paper – about both event and accident.  So it was, in real time, October 10, 2019.

3 a.m. Saturday, October 12.  Alan Pavlik, who writes Just Above Sunset out in Los Angeles, is to the best of my knowledge from several years of reading his posts, just a citizen like myself – a guy with a keyboard who cares about this country.  His overnight post today, An Alternative Ending, is worth the time to read in its entirety (as are all of his posts).  At the very least, read the last paragraph, especially the last sentence…“We have work to do”.

A few hours earlier came an e-mail from our friend, who is in Germany, introducing her book, newly translated into German, about growing up in Nazi Germany.  I choose not to quote any part of her quite long e-mail, except to requote Alan, above, “We have work to do”, which reflects two sentences of her e-mail..  “Ending” the Syrian war on ISIS and green lighting Erdogan in Turkey to go after Kurdish territory is simple, and complex and dangerous and all sorts of other words, including popular in some elements, regardless of right, left or otherwise.  It is not so simple.

Saturday will soon dawn.  Out in my home state of North Dakota they have apparently endured a severe early blizzard.  Here it is set to be a bit chilly weekend.  And we can pretend, if we wish, that all of the national and international crises swirling around are not our problem, and they will just go away.  The leaves are getting nice this time of year.  This is no time to pretend that all is well.

9 a.m. Saturday, October 12.  I was about to leave my usual coffee place about 8:15.  The Saturday regulars at the large table next to mine – several guys who do their weekly Bible Study there – had just left, and one remained. He’s the ultra-Christian among them, he proudly brought his bright red “MAGA” hat in for all to see ‘back in the day’ when #45 was still future tense.

Today, he’d apparently overheard the two guys at a nearby table talking about going to the rally.  They are also frequent visitors and their conversations suggest they are both ministers.  MAGA-man said he and his wife had a home party to view the speech on Thursday.  He said he didn’t agree with everything the President did but….  Then he started to leave, then turned and came back to the coffee shop blackboard and very carefully printed the words N – A – N – C – Y – P – E – L – O – S – I and left.  I took the picture within five minutes of his writing.  I’ll report on any developments at this space.

The light obscured the sentence above the words, so changed my vantage point to see it clearly (photo below).  I wasn’t especially surprised.  I’d just hand-written a polite response to one person on my e-list who’s sent a brief e-mail “please delete my address” stating “Pelosi can’t name one law he has broken that comes close to High Crimes.”  (I do have people who tell me to not send them any more posts, but they really are quite rare.   Apparently they simply don’t want to hear another version of their truth.)

Nancy Pelosi on the blackboard October 12, 2019, 8:15 a.m.

UPDATE, Sunday morning Oct 13 8 a.m. – I looked at the Board this morning and to the left of the question, someone had written “Donald Trump”.  I have no idea who….

Back home, I did a quick scan of today’s columns in one of my favorite ‘fake news’ outlets, the Washington Post.  One headline attracted attention: “Populists are popular because they give easy answers to problems that don’t have them“.  In the column, David Von Drehle’s analysis in conclusion: Regardless of where populism rises on the political spectrum, it is inevitably fated to fail.

“Nancy Pelosi” is one the favorite hate phrases I hear.  Somewhere, once, I read that among her other attributes, Nancy Pelosi is an active Catholic, and almost exactly my age (a month and a half older).  She and I have age and religion and other things in common.  Of course, some estimable authoritative bunch called the Catholic League has commandeered the internet to declare that she (which probably means me, too) is a ‘heretic’.

Nancy Pelosi is doubly-terrifying because she’s in the same political position as President Gerald Ford was when an earlier vice-president and president got on the wrong side of the law.  As the saying goes OMG.  Oh well.

Have a great day.

Front page Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct 11, 2019