April 17, 2022

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Today is Easter in the Christian tradition.  I’m Catholic, so I plan to be in Church, the first in-person attendance at Easter services since the Pandemic.

Friday was the first day of Passover, and began the second week of Ramadan.  Kathy from the Reconciliation Project wrote on April 14:  “And we are one week into Ramadan. I am told only once in every 30 years do the three Abrahamic religions all have their major holy days overlap. Maybe some synergy of the practicing can help leverage a change In Ukraine.”

Then there’s Ukraine.

Carol, a friend like-minded to me, tried a light touch for Easter on Saturday afternoon:

I responded with a light touch of my own, from my ND farm cache of old postals from over 100 years ago:

“Over there” Putin has played the Nazi card for his own perverse reasons.

Friday evening I picked up a copy of “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”, the 1959 blockbuster by William Shirer.  It comes via a neighbor now in a Nursing Home.

I read Shirer’s Foreword, and the last two paragraphs seem appropriate food for thought on Easter 2022, and beyond.

“Adolf Hitler is probably the last of the great adventurer -conquerors in the tradition of Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon and the Third Reich the last of the empires which set out on the path taken earlier by France, Rome and Macedonia.  The curtain was rung down on that phase of history, at least, by the sudden invention of the hydrogen bomb, of the ballistic missile and of rockets that can be aimed to hit the moon.

In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen [emphasis added] pressing an electronic button.  Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it.  There will be no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on an uninhabited planet.”

Putin may not like the reference to “little madmen” though he certainly is one.

I note Shirer likely wrote his Foreword in 1959, 63 years ago, when I was in second year in College.  He’s stuck with his prediction, exactly as written.  We have the potential wisdom of hindsight; of impacting on the present; and personally we can impact towards a better future.   But it’s only potential, and we control that.

Shirer, who was a journalist in Germany from 1934-40, knew of what he spoke.  In the 1950s he had no way of knowing the world we inhabit in 2022, and the new and very real threats to the very survival of our planet, such as a compromised internet, portability of pandemics, the economic connections between nations, on and on.   We can destroy ourselves now in ways Shirer and others probably couldn’t have imagined.  There are no longer borders as traditionally understood.  Covid-19 didn’t care where the border was, or who was infected….

There will always be “little madmen”.  They exist in every society including our own.  This has always been true.

It is up to the rest of us to help steer the boat which is our planet in a more positive direction.

As I said at the beginning, I’m a church guy.  We were at Basilica of St. Mary this morning.  The church was packed, masks recommended, about half with masks….  The Archbishop mentioned Ukraine in his message.  At home, I learned that Pope Francis had done the same.  The Pope’s Easter message is here.

And Thursday is Earth Day.  A good place and time to get engaged in the rest of your life.

Finally, in a few months the next American election.   Each is more important than the last.  Now the clash is between Democracy and Autocracy.  Get involved.

Ukraine reader.

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Today is April 14.  Easter is Sunday April 17; Passover begins Friday April 15.  History continues each and every day, and we all are makers of that history.  Like it or not, the tragedy of Ukraine is part of our history this season of 2022.

“per aspera ad astra” There are many thorns on the race to the stars. (more at the end of this post).

Two days ago, April 11, I published a long post including many opinions about the what and why of Ukraine and the U.S. relationship to the conflict, with a look back to the past.  Of course, I think it is worth your time to at least browse it in coming days.  Most of the comments in the post come via ordinary folks like myself, rather than the talking heads we see all the time.  I especially recommend the very last entry, which includes a very clear contemporary map of the place that is Ukraine.

Personally, I am noticing analogies between our country in the 1930s-50s in relationship to WWII Europe.  I have some basis for comparison.  I was born in 1940 and every single one of my mentors in life were ordinary people who directly experienced the impact of the Great Depression and World War II, and were of German and French descent.

In those difficult times, Americans generally were first isolationist, then participants, then the U.S. participated in the recovery of our enemy through programs like the Marshall Plan.  We had a big role, but not as huge as our national imagination supposes.  We were part of the team that won WWII, not the Team….

Those at the highest levels, debating every day what to do about Ukraine know all of the history far better than I.  There is room for lots of debate, but sooner than later debate needs to be replaced by action.  Anything proposed will be right…or wrong…depending on the person making the assessment.  That’s a given.  I am just saying, I’m noticing.

Then there’s us, the population.  Today, we apparently worry about gas prices now and inflation and interference with our lives.  We seem to want what we want.  “America first”.  It didn’t work in the 1930s and it won’t work now.

For example, in WWII gas rationing became a given, part of our patriotic duty….  Sacrifice was the name of the game, then.  Are we up to this, now?

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Here’s the map of Ukraine I used in my first post on the topic in February:  (At the end of the April 11 post – linked above, note  #2 – is a current map of Ukraine.)

I decided to use my 1961 Life Atlas to pinpoint Ukraine, Kiev and Moscow, because in 1961 Ukraine was part of the USSR, until the breakup about 1989. This might help define this particular time of grievance – not justifying it, but at least identifying it. The map quoted is on page 326 of this Atlas, which I bought when I was in the U.S. Army.

The caption was from the earlier post.  Note the absence of borders of places we know as Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania….  This conflict is about more than one country.

Not everyone thinks history is important or even interesting.

But every single one of us, I repeat, every single one of us, is involved in making the history others will ponder many years from now.   We cannot evade it.  How will our generation be graded 50 or 100 years from now?

Get engaged.

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The art work: in 2000 we took an extended trip focused on holocaust sites.  It was memorable and extraordinarily powerful on a multitude of levels.  Roughly half of the 40 participants were Jewish, the other half Catholic, from neighboring Minneapolis church and synagogue.  Auschwitz-Birkenau was only one of many places for prayer and reflection.  The group met for some months before we traveled.

One of the colleague participants, Sandy, was Jewish, probably about my age, and an artist.  The art work above is hers.  Along the way, in conversation, she shared that her given name was Odessa.  Her parents (or was it grandparents?) left with others from Ukraine in the early 1900s, and first settled in southwest North Dakota, at the no longer existing town named Odessa, founded 1910.  Ultimately her parents, as I remember, ended up in Minneapolis, which is where she was born and raised.

There were tens of thousands of these Germans from Russia.  Search “Germans from Russia” etc for much, much more about that forced migration.

On our return, we kept in touch with Sandy, and saw her studio where she did her painting.  We purchased this one, and it’s been on our living room wall ever since.  On the back of the painting Sandy handwrote the title, which you see in the caption; She signed it “Odessa”.

She is one of several people I know in the United States who have direct connections to Ukraine.  Several are on the list who receive this post.  Many came to the Dakotas, which in many ways was similar to their home area in Ukraine.

Putin’s gambit will ultimately fail, as Hitler’s did, but this seems to be only beginning.  This is no time to pretend all is well.

Be part of the solution.

COMMENTS:

from Judy: Beautifully said.  I never dreamed in my lifetime I would see this kind of mass annihilation.

Propaganda

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What is Ukraine’s history?  Here is an 8 minute PBS video on the topic which is very interesting.

Several commentaries about Russian disinformation have come by recently.  I invite you to read them.  I have some personal comments at the end.  This is not a simple topic.

A couple of days ago a long-time friend sent the following to two of us.  We all generally agree on things political.  The article is here, translated from the original Russian.  The pull quote from the article is hers:

“Everything that Russia has done for the West, it has done at its own expense, by making the greatest sacrifices. The West ultimately rejected all these sacrifices, devalued Russia’s contribution to resolving the Western crisis, and decided to take revenge on Russia for the help that it had selflessly provided. From now on, Russia will follow its own way, not worrying about the fate of the West…”

A day later came another, a post in Politico, from an activist friend, about youth in Russia (if you’re 22 or less the only Russian President you’ve probably ever known is Putin, who’s been President all but four years, 2008-2012,` since 2000.)

Today, yet a third, from “The Weekly Sift”, a thought out commentary titled “Why the Russians did it”.

There are more, but let these suffice for now.

My comments:

My earlier posts on the topic are here (the first Feb. 16).

I was surprised that the Russians actually invaded Ukraine.  I have not been surprised by the atrocities and the disinformation.

In my opinion, President Biden’s administration of the horrible situation has been admirable.  Of course, there are endless opinions about that.  The presidency is a lonely place.  The restraint by the president, means we have so far avoided a broader and even deadlier war, notable after over a century of deadly wars.  [April 11: Heather Cox Richardson has an excellent column about the press and Biden, here.]

It is easy to kick around the United Nations but the assorted coalitions which have evolved with the UN over the years have done and are doing yeoman service under awful conditions, and not only with respect to Ukraine.  Without the UN and the abundance of other organizations, like WHO etc, the situation would be much worse.

My country, the United States of America, enters this conflict without clean hands – something easy to ignore when things are cast as good versus evil, and evil is always the other party.

The U.S. is given considerable credit for the perfection of propaganda, going way back to the yellow news media, Pulitzer, Hearst et al, and the campaign eliciting citizen support for World War I through the Creel Committee.   One character on that committee staff has always fascinated me: Edward Bernays.  His expertise in manipulating public opinion was copied by others, like Joseph Goebbels.  We Americans are hypnotized by advertising, which is propaganda, pure and simple.

Most of the codes of conduct for war, like the Geneva Convention, and terms like “war crimes”, are largely inventions around the 20th century.  Before 1900s, brute power ruled.  So it was considered fair game to depopulate our country of its indigenous persons.  That didn’t meet the definition of genocide, which came later.

The 20th century was the century of making war more and more deadly, especially to civilians.

We can’t avoid talking about our role in Vietnam, and later Afghanistan and Iraq.  Etc.  But these topics almost never come up in any context from any quarter these days.   But they’re in the very near background – out of sight, but not out of mind.

And, of course, the United Nations was never designed to have united power.  Five nations: the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Russia and China, have power of veto over most anything of substance.  The rules do not apply to those five, the winners of WWII.  This was intended at the start, and hard to change.

And when the 45th president of the United States took office, he clearly favored authoritarians like Putin.  He ran for reelection and got 74,000,000 votes, and while he lost by 8,000,000 he will never admit it.  And people are still covering for him.  This says too much about our own citizenry.

There are lots of valid reasons for an American to be cynical about America at this point in our history.

I am an American, and I give a damn.  I respect my country with all of its abundant faults, which I think we have to acknowledge and deal with.

I have long been active in an organization now called Citizens for Global Solutions which has a very long history.  Both the State and National work at being a voice for positive change in our world.  We are a small voice, but we are a voice.  Take a look at both state and national and consider getting involved.  see the most recent national newsletter which has some excellent commentaries.  Some food for thought.

Putin and Russia are serious problems, but ‘we, the people’ are an even larger problem, and paradoxically the only solution to our current malaise.

Be on the court as an individual.  It’s the only solution.

That’s my opinion.  What’s yours?

COMMENTS (more at end of post): 

from Carol: This is my 2 cents, and you likely won’t agree with me.  It’s long – please free to share all, part, or none at all.  I think we as a country have to get more involved – with overwhelming Ukrainian air support, not the “boots on the ground” stuff.  The Ukrainians are doing an awesome job on the ground themselves.  And I have now sent a message saying that to my senators, representative, and the White House.

You are correct that Biden did an extraordinary job of rallying our allies so far as sanctions, and donations of military equipment.  And apparently the Ukrainians are putting what the West has sent them to very good use.  Their patriotism, and determination to defend their country, are awe-inspiring.  Their president is awe-inspiring.  We cannot just continue to watch while their whole democratic nation (a democracy we encouraged) is demolished.
I say this partly because of the brutal massacres in Bucha (I’m sure the same is happening in many other cities we can’t see yet), the horrific attack on refugees at the train station (after they were specifically advised to flee the area) and, to tell the truth, partly because of that chilling article from Russia.  When I first saw the article, the poster said that the author is someone close to Putin and it would not have been published without his approval.
The article also reveals their plan of shoving the “Russia haters” into the west of the country, into a kind of non-country, subject to Russian regulations and controlled by Russia’s military.  They intend to assassinate Ukraine’s leaders, and punish or kill many of its people.  There will be no “Marshall Plan,” it says, for the former Ukraine – they will have to rely on Russia for any help.  There are references to European and U.S. culture, which they’d love to wipe out.
Putin has made no secret of the fact he wants to restore the U.S.S.R. to its former glory.  Poland, it is said, is on his list.
Biden, et al. keeps assuring everybody that Putin will not take “one inch” of NATO territory.  Well, if he’s successful in Ukraine, what’s going to stop him?  The West is sitting on its hands solely because he has nukes, and has threatened to use them.  Is that going to change?  I realize that NATO is a defensive organization.  However, individual countries do not need NATO’s permission in order to act here.
The U.S. had little problem with invading Iraq for absolutely no reason – and in getting involved elsewhere where it was hard to tell the good guys from the bad (as you pointed out).  This time it’s obvious who the villains are, but here we sit hoping that we don’t anger Putin by giving Ukraine TOO many weapons that are TOO bad.  I believe if we do not confront Putin now (at a time when his own army has taken quite a beating), we will be forced to do so down the road.  Then it will be harder – and there will have been a lot more innocent lives lost plus destruction of most everything in sight.  I don’t believe he intends to stop unless, like all bullies, he’s made to.
As far as the threat of a nuclear attack, are we all supposed to just let any nuclear-armed country now have their way with any neighbors they might choose to exterminate?  China, perhaps?  Or maybe North Korea might decide to annex South Korea.  This is a terrible precedent.  That’s a world I think none of us want to live in.  Putin knows that many of the world’s nuclear weapons are all pointing at him.  He may be a fool, but he’s not about to have his legacy be the annihilation of Russia.
Response from Dick: At the beginning, you say “you likely won’t agree with me”.  Not so.  We are witnessing evil at work; unfortunately, it is and has been at work also in our own country, since the beginning of our history.  In Putin, I see ourselves.
The solution has to be thoroughly debated, and is being debated, appropriately, even in the anti-war Left, of which I’ve been part since our response to 9-11-01, which I felt to be insane, and we proved it with a 20 year unwindable war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So, I’ve become sort of an orphan on the left, by choice, at this moment.  I just don’t think we’ll ever be able to end war, but I hate war.  Ukraine is an example.
A few weeks ago, came a couple of local articles on a peacemaker list of which I’m part, and I’m linking them here: Facts over ideology.  Basically, I resonated with most of the “Facts Over Ideology…” piece by Terry and Andrew, and told them so.  Mike’s response seems to reflect the basic more Left position, which seems to be that anyone is more pure than the U.S. and if they said they were antiwar, so they were.
At this very moment, in our Citizens for Global Solutions group, we are working to decide how to engage in the long-going debate on ratifying the International Criminal Court, which the U.S. has never agreed to join.  (See #2 in the link above.)
What seems apparent to me, my personal opinion, is that the powers that be in the United States, which is the Senate, do not want to be bound by such statutes which may find us culpable of war crimes ourselves.  Note the comment in said #2:  “in 1998 the US was one of only seven countries – along with China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, and Yemen – that voted against the Rome Statute. US President Bill Clinton signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but did not submit the treaty to the Senate for ratification. In 2002, President George W. Bush effectively “unsigned” the treaty, sending a note to the United Nations secretary-general that the US no longer intended to ratify the treaty and that it did not have any obligations toward it.”    Presidents cannot do such things by themselves, and “we, the people” through our representatives stand in the way.
See also Peter’s comment below as well.
We are only individuals, but this war will be fought in November at the American ballot box.  We can’t stand idly by.
Thanks much for feeding in.

from Terry and Andy to the Peacemakers group, meeting today (April 12):

A friend pointed out this article on Juan Cole’s site yesterday.  I thought it was good – it is tough for us to be on the same side as the mainstream. I’ve seen that sentiment from a number of friends.  But we have to recognize there are multiple imperialisms – the US is not the only imperial power. And sometimes the US is not the worst actor in the room.  The author has included very good background analysis on Putin, NATO, and Ukraine.  I hope you find the article useful.
Peace, Terry

The Left has to Recognize Russian Imperialism in Ukraine or it is Trapped in Americocentrism

Excerpts:

 It is tough for leftists to be on the same side as the mainstream. We can easily feel at those times that we’re missing something, that we’re letting down the struggle, that by ganging up even on an admittedly bad actor we’re helping strengthen the nemesis at home, allowing it to appear as the good guy.
But for leftists to be more concerned with the security interests of a great power—in this case, a right-wing militarist power that supports itself almost entirely by the mining and selling of planet-killing fossil fuels—than with the desires of a small people hoping to secure their independence and not be invaded, is scandalous. Leftists never treat the peoples marginalized by western imperialism in such a dismissive way.
Almost no one on the left has supported the war. But saying “Down with the Russian invasion” and then turning immediately to blaming America, and only America, for provoking it is almost the same. Not only does it show a lack of basic understanding about Russia, it is also a stunning betrayal of the most basic internationalist principles. If we want to support the right of self-determination to America’s neighbors, we can’t deny the same to Russia’s. If we’re not able to recognize multiple imperialisms, we are guilty of the same kind of Americocentrism for which we castigate others.
from Fred:  [This link] carries information about the Russian army and its complicated recruitment issues dating back quite a ways. At the bottom of the piece, is a link about modern US and Israeli missile defenses that is also good.
from Carol: Tim Snyder commentary, Russia’s Genocide Handbook.
More from Terry, April 13: I know Terry, personally, and yesterday she was involved in a zoom meeting of an organization of which I’m a member, but I didn’t attend the meeting.  Afterwards she shared some resources you may wish to review.  She’s been involved in issues like this for years, most recently with Russian involvement Syria, which in many ways seems a companion study for what is now going on in Ukraine.
“As promised, sharing with you a couple of resources I mentioned in the chat. Please let me know if you have any questions about these. And of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, something to start with. 
1. For those interested in learning more about the history of Ukraine, I recommend checking some works of Timothy Snyder. Here are his book recommendations and here is his bio and website. There are also some lectures and videos on his website. 
2. For a very brief overview of key events that explain historical context leading up to the war, I recommend this summary done by Razom, a group of Ukrainian and Ukrainian-American activists in the US. You can also donate to their causes on their website, they are one of the largest Ukrainian activists movements in the US.”

 

 

Rebirth

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This may appear to be a ‘miscellaneous’ post.  It is not.  If you have any interest in heritage, in my case, French-Canadian, you will possibly find something of interest within…something which may jog your own memory.

On the other hand, you may not be interested.   There’s plenty of very serious stuff to consider, but let’s divert for a week or two.

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My sister, Flo, seems to have a family trait which I share: “reuse and recycle”.  So when I got the below postcard from her a short while ago, it reminded me of the premiere event we attended at the rural Minnesota resort, Val Chatel, probably back in the 1970s.  The postcard says this: “Vikings!  A two hour live play on a magnificent outdoor stage surrounded by the beauty of the Northwoods.  Fascinating family entertainment, colorful costumes, exciting music and spectacular dance.  All new ampitheater located at Val Chatel on County Road 4, 16 miles north of Park Rapids, Minnesota.”

Postcard advertising “Viking” at Val Chatel, rural Park Rapids MN, ca 1970s

It was a nice night; the mosquitoes were manageable, and the Vikings did cross the lake, and land!  A nice evening.

Such spectacles are hard to maintain in rural areas.  “Vikings”  is in the category of ‘long ago’, now.  Val Chatel, then a happening place, descended nearly into ruins, and when I googled it recently, I found it is being resurrected as part of a public land trust for a park by a private donor.  That story is interesting in itself.

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A popular Quebec song is here.  (It’s satire, but within satire is truth….)

The remainder of this post is primarily links about history and heritage.  If you are interested, these are interesting pieces for your spare time.  If not, have a good Easter and Spring.

  1. A group from my French in America organization is preparing a book about over 70 French-Canadian families from Quebec who settled in rural Dayton MN, about 25 miles up the Mississippi River from downtown Minneapolis.  Two of those families were mine, Blondeau and Collette.  Here are some snippets of information I submitted about these families who came west to Minnesota territory in the mid-1850s, before Minnesota became a state: Dayton Blondeau Collette  The document is three pages.  Here is a tintype of my great grandparents, Clotilde Blondeau and Octave Collette, after their marriage at St. Anthony (later part of Minneapolis) July 12, 1868.  They spent almost all of their. long married life at Oakwood North Dakota.
  2. Along similar lines, three years ago I and many others heard a fascinating two hour talk by historian John Vanek about the history of Benjamin Gervais, born at the end of the 17th century in Quebec, and his wife, Genevieve Laurence, born early in the 18th century, one of the very first families to settle what became St. Paul at the beginning of the 1840s.  The two-hour YouTube video is here.  It is very well worth your time if you have even a small interest in voyageur days, how people lived and moved, and the settlement from what became todays Winnipeg to St. Paul.  The presentation was filmed at the Little Canada Historical Society in September, 2019.
  3. Finally, some years ago I was privileged to meet a gifted friend from French Canada.  Over the years, Emilie, who now lives in Montreal, received a grant from the National Geographic Society to develop a significant exhibit on the matter of ancestry and diversity.  This week she sent collaborators a brief video, about three minutes, describing her project as it is to date, and a photo (below) of one of the exhibits she is developing for NatGeo, a large quilt.   In my opinion, hers is a very important project, and I look forward to seeing more about it.  Her brief summary gives much food for thought.  This is shared with her permission.

Finally, the title of this post is “Rebirth”.  Spring.  Easter…. Your choice.

I thought it appropriate to share the flowers (below), planted by my Aunt Edithe at her then-home in rural LaMoure ND.  She had been in assisted living, then in Nursing Home for some months when the 2013 growing season came, and the flowers came to their own conclusion and grew of their own volition, with no outside help.  Edithe died in 2014 at the age of 93.  She lives on is these flowers.  Who do you remember, this day?

Aunt Edithe’s untended voluntaries at the ND farm May 17, 2013.

Have a wonderful Easter.

COMMENTS:  More at end of post.

from Emilie (see #3 above):  So nice to hear from you, and thank you so much for sharing your blog with me. I am honored to be mentioned in it. I am awaiting answers for the exhibition. It might be with National Geographic, a partner institution, or a different outcome. The decision isn’t mine. I will keep you all posted as soon as I know.Have a lovely weekend.

from Fred: You Frenchies are getting organized. You and your group have helped generate a lot of interest. As I mentioned to you, the stories related are not nearly as well known about the Brits and Old Stock Americans.

I’d like to get an audience like that speaker on the Gervais family had. Of course they were almost all related. It was a very well organized and illustrated talk; liked the maps.

Kudos on your voice appearance [in Emilie’s preview, I have two very brief appearances at about 2 minutes in]. I could pick you out. It was wise not to have actual photos shown for security and other reasons.

from David Vermette, author of the book “A Distinct Alien Race, the Untold Story of Franco-Americans” (simply search the title.  This is a very well received and worthwhile book with many reviews.)

David’s comment: Your blog post and book project both sound interesting.
I read a good book that might also interest you: “Les Voyages de Charles Morin.” It is a diary of a French-Canadian who leaves his home and travels all over N. America before settling in Argyle, MN where he becomes one of the elders of the town. It’s not fiction but a translation of Morin’s journals. It’s a fascinating peek into the mind of a person who was very like our ancestors. I reviewed the book but the review is behind a paywall. Here’s another review by Susan Pinette. If you have not read Candace Savage’s “Strangers in the House” I also recommend that one, too.
Thanks for getting in touch and please do let me know when your book is released.
Note to David and all from Dick:  David’s review of the Morin book appears to be of the French academic translation of the diary.  Morin’s great grandson Jim Morin, has published an English version of the same diary, “Charles Napoleon Morin Memories of My Travels and Adventures”.  This is also available on the internet.  I have this version and it is very interesting.  Jim Morin lives in the Twin Cities, and has given a talk on the book for the French American Heritage Foundation.  I couldn’t attend, but I understand it was very interesting.
The Dayton book referred to above will probably be available later in the summer, and details will be at the website of the French-American Heritage Foundation.

Teamwork

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Recently, there have been a blizzard of happenings.  In each, some aspect of “Team” surfaces.

First, Ukraine isn’t mentioned below but, to be clear, what is happening now in Ukraine has to be world priority #1, and each of us is integral to this.   We cannot sit idly by.  Do something.

Second, Global Minnesota has an open to the public program on Thursday, April 7, on World Health Equity.  All information is here.  The agenda looks very interesting.  Do check it out.

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For me, for the first time in years, I prioritized Basketball – both the semis and finals of the Final Four Men’s NCAA, and the finals of the Women’s NCAA.

These were some of the basketball teams I watched: Villanova, Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, UConn (Connecticut), South Carolina, St. Peter’s (Jersey City NJ), Texas Tech.  (Of course, the “Kansas” team members are not all born and raised Kansans, et al.)

I also watched part of the Oscars, a little of the Grammy’s, and heard about the successful union organizing that won employee representation at Amazon in New York, as well as settlement of a strike in Minnesota.

And on and on I could go.  As you know, lots going on.  LOTS of teams.

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Then there’s “Team USA”:  Us.  In this most recent time frame came the Senate Judiciary Committee, yesterday voting 11-11 on recommending a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.  One can legitimately wonder how in the world a country which nurtures this kind of division can thrive.  Our elected political representatives at every level are US.

Earlier this afternoon President Biden signed an Executive Order expanding the very popular yet still maligned “Obamacare”.  I watched Presidents Biden and Obama as they talked about that.  Here are the remarks as they appear on the White House website.

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We live in a Team World- I’d say it’s part of being human.  This is never perfect.  Every one of us knows from personal experience how teams work…and don’t…and why….

Winning teams aren’t divided against themselves.

Our own country – Team USA – is obviously in such a state of division at this time.  It is unhealthy for our future.

The basketball teams are obvious examples of working together.  Such teams aren’t perfect, as we can see.  Just watch the 40 minutes of any game.  Easy shots are missed.  On and on.  But generally, you see an extraordinarily well-oiled machine working together, passing, shooting, rebounding, supporting….  Like all of us, athlete personalities differ, but their skills complement each other, and they know and respect this.

Of course, all teams are  imperfect.  None of the winning NCAA teams listed above could thrive if there was only a star, or an outstanding coach, or only people who could dunk, or could shoot free throws.  Winning teams have people with varied skills.  Yes, they have egos, but in the end analysis, they blend their talents towards an ultimate objective.

The same applies to other groups.  I watched only parts of the Oscars, but I know that on the road to Best Picture, or whatever the honor, there are a huge number of people, collaborating to do the work leading to the Oscar which is given to one or more people.  Every success worth anything results because of a Team.

In our country, and in our world, disagreement is inevitable.  It is apart of the human condition.  But division is disabling if not resolved.  Resolution is a basis of relationships generally.  The assorted versions of Win/Lose are always losers for every one including the winners.

And “team” is more than just the ten players on the floor at the NCAA game.  They are everyone on the bench and in the stands.  We all have a role, and it’s not bystander.

I still think that Margaret Mead said it best: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”   We all make the difference.

POSTNOTE same day: Tonight we watched Ken Burns new film on Benjamin Franklin.  Outstanding.  Check your local PBS station.

Colm’s Mom

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PRENOTE:  My Comments on the Ketanji Brown Jackson hearing in Senate Judiciary this past week, here.

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Last Sunday, my sister in New York State invited family members to visit the live webcam overlooking the business street in Park Rapids MN.  We agreed to rendezvous there by phone at 2 p.m., at which time my Park Rapids sister and her husband would make their cameo appearance on line, for 15 minutes.  They followed through.  You can see them standing behind the cars in mid-street (the normal parking pattern on this street in Park Rapids).  There wasn’t much drama!  On the other hand, it was an interesting view of small town Minnesota.

Park Rapids MN 2:05 p.m. March 20, 2022

My brother John, lunching with a friend during a break in biking in San Francisco, was on line.  There was the usual sibling banter, including John, who said:  “I was sharing the live stream with my friend Jim as we were having lunch in San Francisco. His comment?  “Why are those people blocking traffic by standing in the middle of the road?”

Soon Flo and Carter’s 15 minutes of fame ended, and back to our respective lives.

Afterwards I got to thinking back to this street, which is very familiar to me, as Flo and Carter have lived their entire 50 years of marriage either in or near Park Rapids.

Park Rapids is a tourist town and those streets will be busier in fairly short order.

I got to thinking particularly  about a Lumberjack Days Parade on this very street, probably in the early 1980s.  The webcam looks south.  On the day in question I was probably two blocks down from the Ben Franklin.

This was an annual parade – maybe it still is – and the year I’m thinking about a lady and two of her kids from Belfast – Catholics, one of them Colm – were visiting a family at a nearby lake, and they came into town for the parade.

This particular parade had an especially elaborate unit from somewhere, which every block or so reenacted an Eliot Ness raid on the Capone operation in Chicago during Prohibition.

This was an active unit, lots of yelling, and running around, gunshots (blanks of course), and the like.

It was very entertaining, but not to the lady from Belfast, which at the time was still in what has come to be called “The Troubles”, where gunshots and lack of safety in the streets terrified residents, including Colm’s Mom.

The parade most all of us saw as entertaining was traumatizing to the visitor from Belfast.

The recollection reminds me that what we are watching play out in Ukraine and surrounding countries, is no entertainment to the millions of victims living there, while we can watch at our leisure on television.

Ukraine is the latest chapter of a deadly century particularly in Europe.  We are well advised to learn from past mistakes, which is not simple when some think that replaying the same movie, as happened on that street years ago, will yield different results.

A QUICK LOOK BACK AT THE WARS IN EUROPE IN THE 20TH CENTURY

In the home farm “junk” I have a 20 page booklet published in 1965 by the C.S. Hammond Company entitle Atlas of World War II, 20th Commemorative Edition.

Below is a photo of one of the maps in the booklet.  Here is the same map in pdf: Atlas of WWII 1965. (The text partially obscured by the bomb at upper left: “Europe’s Troubles in the 1920s”)

C.S. Hammond 1965 from Atlas of WWII.

The text from the booklet is brief and worth reading in its entirety: Atlas of WWII 1965 text.  No author is listed, but the general information is consistent with my understanding of the years described.  Note especially carefully the 1920s map, which does not include Ukraine and further identifies the various countries at the time.

It may be irritating, but in my opinion today’s national leaders have learned from deadly history and are working to prevent a reprise of the deadly wars of our past.  It’s not easy….

COMMENTS:

From Peter: I just posted this on opednews. There have been millions of refugees who had no public voice, except insofar as it served some nefarious interest to promote them. This group had concerns we rarely hear about from the people themselves.  Since bombing cities as flat as Dresden is the strategy of choice for all modern military actions, it’s a safe bet that most refugees share these views.

Justice

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This afternoon Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson made her debut to be “the first Black woman to be put forward as a justice.”

Judge Jackson has been confirmed at least twice for other positions by this same Senate Committee.  Watch for the strutting of the opposition as the questioning goes on this week.

If confirmed, as I think she will be, she will be the first ever African-American woman on the high court.  Historically this demographic has gotten short shrift.  Black men became eligible to vote and hold office long before women generally were granted suffrage in 1920.

Black women have arrived, particularly in recent years.  They are visible and they are active and they have waited far too long, in my opinion, for equality, however that word is defined.

I wish Judge Jackson well.

Last Sunday, enroute home from church, I took a drive past the vacant block which once held several minority owned businesses, including GandhiMahal, owned by my friend Ruhel Islam.

The block was burned to the ground two years ago, a few days after the George Floyd murder not far away on May 25, 2020.  To my knowledge, no one has been charged in the arson case which took out all of the businesses on the block, including the U.S. Post Office on the corner.

The next week, June 1, 2020, the then-President of the U.S. took advantage of the tragedy with a photo with a Bible at the church across the street from the White House….

Sunday, there wasn’t much point in taking a photo of a vacant lot at the beginning of spring in Minneapolis.

Across Lake Street remains a badly damaged building, still standing, but un-rehabilitated for some reason or another.  I will not get into speculating.  The last week of May 2020 was a major catastrophe for south Minneapolis, and reconstruction takes time and is never easy.

I noticed at the building, street art remaining intact from two years ago, and in particular noted the top line of text, below: (“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”)

March 20, 2022, at Lake Street and 27th Ave S, Minneapolis MN.

Stay actively engaged.

POSTNOTE: Heather Cox Richardson, March 21.  Excellent.

March 26, 2022: I managed to watch portions of the hearings.  I didn’t make it a priority.  It is important for the combatants, perhaps, but mostly it is the Senate’s version of street theater…and not very good theater at that.  Much of the bluster will show up in election advertising back home in coming months and years.  “Made for TV” sound bites.

I’m not a lawyer, but in my work years my normal duty involved working with, against and around lawyers.  I know how the Law operates.

My criteria for judging the outcome of a case was whether or not the ruling made sense.  Usually, it did.  Probably it still does.

But an old legal saw comes to mind: here’s one version: “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell”.  If you watched the hearings, you know who yelled like hell.

(The 2022 Senate Judiciary Committee has 22 members, half Democrat, half Republican.  15 of the 22, 8 Democrat, 7 Republican, are lawyers by training.  18 of the 22 are men; only one of these is non-white; 10 of the 11 Republicans are white men, etc. The Democrat side better reflects America, in my opinion.  Here’s the Senate data, covering our entire history of 235 years.)

Ketanji Brown Jackson deserves appointment.  In normal times – say 20 years ago – there would be no question about the outcome.  These are not normal times.

During the week I called up data on the votes on justices for the Supreme Court.  This is from the Senate website.  The chart is worth your time.

Of course, Judge Jackson, if appointed to the Supreme Court, will be the first African-American woman ever to become a justice on the Supreme Court.  The overwhelming number of justices over history have been White Men.

Judge Brown Jackson is making good history, regardless of the final vote.  People in power normally don’t give up any of their power voluntarily.  Change is happening, albeit slowly, but change is happening.  Our country will be be the better for this.

COMMENTS:

from Joyce: an on-point commentary by Heather Cox Richardson.

Printemps (Springtime)

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If you even the tiniest interest in Ukraine and world geopolitics, there is a talk I would urge you to watch, which I listened to Thursday night.  The talk was presented by Thomas Hanson, a retired career U.S. foreign service officer, and is 1 1/2 illuminating hours.  The YouTube link is here.  The organization sponsoring the program is one I’ve long been part of.  Your choice.  Carve out the time.  You won’t regret it.  You won’t regret it.  Redundancy intended.

I would personally much prefer to imagine a world without war, and a gentle Spring.  Unfortunately, we live within imperfection and this Springtime has to be a time to be in touch with very real  imperfection and tragedy.  Keep informed.

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Sunday morning at 10:33 a.m. Spring arrives in my city.  We’re at about 45 degrees N latitude, which means that our counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere is entering the first day of Fall.

Across the sea, in Ukraine, the territory between Odessa and Kyvv is about the same latitude and geographic location as the area between my Twin Cities and Winnipeg.  Which is to say, if you live here, you could be living there, in terms of usual weather patterns.  The midwest and southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan was  a hospitable new home for tens of thousands of “Germans from Russia” who in the early 1900s found themselves no longer welcome in then-Russia.

Spring to me, this year, is the blackboard at the coffee shop, which I see most every day.

Caribou Coffee March 17 2022

Nothing fancy, for sure, but colorful and personal.  Like spring is.

Everyone glancing at this post will have their own definition of Spring.  For me, “Spring” began on February 1 – it always does.  I figure January is the most difficult month, and while there is winter weather still ahead, it won’t last as long, nor be as difficult.

March can be counted on for some difficult snowfalls; it is later in April, when Spring begins to take root, so to speak, and usually later in May before there is reasonable assurance of no killing frost.  Spring is a fixed date, not a fixed event!

It is all variable, of course, but spring is a time of rebirth, and being outside is desirable.

I expect some springtime poetry from Molly, as for other seasons.  She sent her own list the first offering a few days ago, which I offer below with thanks.

“Hi Friends,

This is a bit different from the usual bursts of poetry, as the offering includes just one poem,  just below my name.

I have always loved Aldo Leopold’s book A Sand County Almanac. In fact, in 1967, when I was at UW-Madison working on certification to be a biology teacher, I was lucky enough to be introduced to the book by a professor who had been a student of Leopold’s!

My favorite essay in the book is the one for this month, titled “March; the Geese Return.”  In fact, a few snow geese have been sighted here in MN, as have swans, eagles, various ducks, some sandhill cranes, and –today–a red-winged blackbird in the metro area. The 3rd week of March in MN is when the big flocks of geese usually start.

So, that essay is here: Leopold Geese Return . If you enjoy it, check out the book… Your library probably has it; the book will also probably include other Leopold essays, beyond those in the Almanac section, depending on the edition.

Blessings of the advancing season, & hugs, and keep your eyes and ears skyward…

Molly

————–

To the Thawing Wind

Come with rain, O loud Southwester!
Bring the singer, bring the nester;
Give the buried flower a dream;
Make the settled snowbank steam;
Find the brown beneath the white;
But whate’er you do tonight,
Bathe my window, make it flow,
Melt it as the ice will go;
Melt the glass and leave the sticks
Like a hermit’s crucifix;
Burst into my narrow stall;
Swing the picture on the wall;
Run the rattling pages o’er;
Scatter poems on the floor;
Turn the poet out of door.

–Robert Frost

COMMENTS:

from Fred: This is a forward another reliable source of war news. It’ more analytic and really interesting. I’m going to send along a fairly new review of the tactical situation in Ukraine from the other source you’ve seen. At the link is a tactical and strategic summary of the Ukraine war so far, from a US website that is a pretty good source for military developments worldwide.  Although the editors have worked with the US armed services for years, particularly in the area of wargaming and simulations, they’re frequent and candid critics of Pentagon policies and practices.

Fred also passes along another interesting source of ongoing news about what is happening in Ukraine.

Bill B. sent the always interesting ISW daily update although there’s not too much action. As usual they cover the status in all parts of Ukraine and the Russian progress or lack thereof.
Be sure to check out Zelensky’s generous offer to Russian troops.
Bill also noted: “In Minnesota, spring road restrictions are going into force just now.  Paid a lot of attention to that when I was in DNR. Means mud season is on.  Probably the same in Ukraine.”
from Carol: “The Story of Fascism in Europe” by Rick Steves showing on ch. 2 [Twin Cities PBS] during Pledge Week.  It’s terrifying.  Dick: I think if you’re a member you can access this program on demand.  I have seen it more than once.  It is very much worth your time.  We need to be reminded of this ugliness now and then.
from Paul: Mir in Russian [see below], it was so important to them after their WW2 experience. I thought maybe Macron might help hear what he said and advise something to Mr. Putin, and Putin has apparently said the fall of Communism was one of the greatest tragedies in the world, and it looks like he’d like to restore the larger sphere of influence of Russia when it included other Soviet countries. Ukraine may have been one then. Moldova, Belarus and other places may have been part of the larger Soviet Union as well. His way of restoring it militarily is pretty bloody so far, since Ukraine has had a taste of freedom.  [Mir, per google: “For a Russian, the word “Mir” holds meaning, feeling, and history. It is sometimes translated into English as “world,” or as “peace,” or as “village,” but a single-word translation misses its full significance.”]

 

 

St. Patrick’s Day

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POST NOTE March 18: Last evening I was one of 25 who were privileged to an on-line talk by Thomas Hanson on Ukraine and geo-politics generally.  The talk was 1 1/2 hours and can be watched on-line, sponsored by Citizens for Global Solutions.  It was extraordinary and highly recommend it.  Here’s the link to the online recording.  If you have even the slightest interest in the topic of the future of our world, you need to take the time to watch this one.

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I wish you a great day.  Today, overlaying the annual celebration, there are plenty of serious problems facing all of us.  I hope you read on.

PRE-NOTE:  Interesting program on-line tonight, Thurs Mar 17.  Details and pre-register here. Scroll down to Human Rights Forum on The War In Ukraine.  Another topic, same date, similar topic, here.

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Back in the early 1900s, someone sent my ND farm Grandma or Grandpa a birthday postcard.  Neither have a dollop of Irish, to my knowledge, but they had Irish neighbors and friends.  The old card is very appropriate for March 17, 2022.  Grandma and Grandpa were children of immigrants, as was my other Grandma.  My other Grandpa was himself an immigrant.

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Yesterday, the President of Ukraine spoke to the United States House and Senate.  Thanks to Carol, here is the recording.

In honor of today, here’s a wonderful video sent by Molly of a music performance in Odesa Ukraine a few days ago.  It is four wonderful minutes.  Molly: Odesa Opera Chorus singing Va Pensiero on Saturday … This newspaper clip describes it, if you’ve forgotten the context: “The musicians performed a programme of music outside the 19th-century opera house, including Ukraine’s national anthem and ‘Va, Pensiero’ from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, Nabucco.

Also known as the ‘Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves’, ‘Va, Pensiero’ is sung in the third act of the opera when the Israelites have been captured and imprisoned in Babylon.

Poignantly, the chorus includes the lyrics, ‘Oh my country so beautiful and lost!’.”

…

Tears seem a worthy accompaniment to this beauty and courage.
Blessings of the day,
Molly

I’m not a green beer guy.  Today, breakfast with a 100% Irish friend.  It is a breakfast two years delayed.  We were to meet March 17, 2020, at the same restaurant, which closed that very morning – Covid-19 had officially arrived.

We all have our stories of the Covid-19 years, still with us.  For me,  my last public event for a long while was ushering at Mass on March 15, 2020.  By the end of February, we’d gotten the message – this was serious business.

For this St. Patrick’s day, I offer, following, some items to think about, relating to events still swirling around us today.  Have a great day.

Covid-19:  New York Times recently had an excellent commentary on the history of this deadly disease.  This is 10 pages, but well worth your time and reflection: Covid-19 Two Years Plus.  Try to put aside your own ‘spin’ and think back to your own thinking and history during this intense time in our history.

Have we learned anything from out of the two-year nightmare? I think so.  The tone of society seems better in general (though from the news you wouldn’t think so.). I just go by what I observe on the ground day-by-day and what I hear from others.  We need to keep working at it, though.  There will be successor crises, rest assured.

Ukraine: from Molly (also, see above): Ever since the horrific invasion of Ukraine started, I have had this well-known part of John Donne’s Meditation XVII in my head; it repeats as new reports continue to appall us and break our hearts. So, here is that short piece–which creates such a powerful sense of prayer, and connection, and loss. 

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any Manor of thy friends or thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind. And therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee
from “Meditation XVII” in Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, by John Donne
Personally, I watch this Ukraine tragedy very carefully.  I think President Zelenskyy and the international community, including the President Biden administration, is handling an impossible situation very well.  It seems as if our leadership, seen and unseen, have learned from the folly of past wars, and cooler heads, likely on all sides, are seeking resolution to this conflict by other means than escalation of force vs force.  No one wants a repeat of the abundant tragic engagements of the last 100 years.  Every decision will be vigorously supported or condemned.  It is good to have basically steady hands at the rudder of the ship sailing in rough seas.
I recall my Army time in the Fall of 1962 when I happened to be on active duty during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  In October, we watched President Kennedy address the nation from a barracks room at Ft Carson, just outside Colorado Springs Colorado.  (The area was one of the presumed bullseyes, should some missile be launched from Cuba – an active fear.)
Other than short-term aggravation, we soldiers never actually went anywhere.  Later, if I recall correctly, we learned that Kennedy and Khruschev had a little conversation in the then-version of on-line, and neither wanted to escalate to a true crisis.  The conversation was brief and private.
With thousands of variations, what they and their advisors did,  then and now, is the function of diplomacy, even more particularly in today’s complicated world.  As we know, the resolution was by no means perfect, but it worked.  Drastic actions have drastic consequences.  Best to limit the temptation to blow the hell out of the other party….

Religion, too:

Finally, a serious matter.  Anyone who follows this blog at all knows where I am with religion.  Spiritual matters matter to me.

All is not well with so-called organized religion in our time and place.  Earlier this week, Joyce sent a commentary, to which I responded “This is absolutely outstanding!  Yes, I read the whole thing”.  I would highly recommend not only reading, but thinking about the observations.  It’s titled “How Did Christianity become so toxic?”.  The author is one who is very precise with his words.  Take a look.

Speaking as an individual, there are many culprits within what I would call “organized religion”, which includes my own denomination.  The main ones are those who manipulate religion for temporal power, in my opinion.  Look at wars, and usually religion is somewhere in the very near background.  This remains true now, in this time of individualizing everything.

I heard one striking example a number of years ago.  I was listening to Krista Tippets program, then called “Speaking of Faith”, or such.  Her guest was a prominent evangelical preacher, I think in Oklahoma, who had built a large congregation on a theology of hellfire and damnation, where bad people, presumably the unsaved, not in his pews, went, and hell wasn’t a pleasant place.  People flocked to his messages.

All this changed in an instant one evening in 1994 when the pastor, a black man, was watching the evening news and watched a segment about men, women and children streaming out of Rwanda, at the time of the genocide there.

At this instant, his definition of Hell changed: these refugees were in hell on earth.  This was no longer a matter of Hell being down there.  Real people were living in it, our neighbors, ourselves.

The next Sunday, his message changed to reflect his new awareness.

His change of heart was not well accepted.  His flock began to disappear, and by the time he was on Tippett’s program, he was starting over, a new ministry, new place, new philosophy.  I wish I could remember his name, but I don’t.

“What would Jesus do?”  with Christianity today?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

COMMENTS:

from Carol: Interesting.  When we were in Norway, we toured one of their “stave churches” – very old very primitive buildings.  It had crosses on the roof, plus the old pagan dragon symbols.  Our guide said that when king so-and-so took over Norway, he was of the Christian religion, so overnight everybody had to become Christian.  However, he left the old dragons up also so they’d feel more comfortable.  Carol also adds another comment unattributed:

New empires often bring new religions (which usually complete the circle by justifying the new imperial order). But community practices change much more slowly than military or political power structures. So old practices get woven into the new mythology and the new belief system, as if they had been part of the new religion all along. The annual fertility rite of a pagan deity continues, but instead is blessed by a Catholic saint.

from Larry: Dick, I think the minister you were writing about is Carlton Pearson, graduate of Oral Roberts U, who went a different way.  from Dick:  You’re likely correct.  The minister was identified as being a graduate of Oral Roberts.  I was just listening, so didn’t catch his name.  He was in the process of re-inventing his ministry, in which he either had been or was a Bishop.

from Rich: “The Great Gate of Kiev” from “Pictures at an Exhibition.” I place this music from the classical genre, apart from the Ukrainian anthem, as the “go to piece” related to the Ukrainian spirit.

Reflection

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Three weeks ago today was my surgery.  I’ve been home for over two weeks.  Yesterday I did my first walk, and found to my pleasant surprise that I could do the previous 2 1/2 miles in its entirety, only slightly slower than pre-surgery.  Questions welcome.

This morning, another post-op appointment, this time with Rehab doctor, who said no rehab was needed – I’m basically strong, she said.  Before the doctor, a nurse took my vitals, and had with her a young woman who said this was her first day in a training setting.  The young woman is aiming for EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and no doubt she’ll be a good one.  Every one of us had to begin at the beginning….

In the afternoon, a surprise in-person visit with my sister and her friend Malcolm.  Mary is a retired Nurse Practitioner in New York State, still engaged in the profession largely due to needs generated by Covid-19; much of work in nursing home settings.  She acknowledged some problems with job-related PTSD.  The job of medical caregiver particularly in Covid-19 times has been stressful.  Her work goes back 60 years, in a great variety of settings….

I have said since the outset about this current issue that by quirk of fate, my surgery and recovery were in the same hospital and likely the same Ward where my first wife died 57 years ago – The University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis.

One of the first things I did when I left the hospital was to write a heart-felt thank you letter to my physician, surgeon and the nurse manager of the station in which I began recovery.  I included the memories I had written about those long ago very difficult years:  memories I had written in 1981-82 for our sons 18th birthday; memories of how it was to be very sick from kidney disease then.

I have decided to include you as recipients of these memories, if you wish.  They are in two parts: Barbara and Barbara (2).  We can all identify formative events in our own lives.   A major one for me was the years described, 1963-65.

Dick, Tom and Barbara Bernard, August 1964. This is the last family picture. Barbara died less than a year later.

Lives indeed go on.  Barbara didn’t have the opportunity.  Tom is now 58.  Someone who read the documents I wrote long ago wondered how I could possibly have remembered all the detail.

There’s much to that story but I think I am possibly in soul-space with those folks in the Ukraine who coincident with my hospitalization have become refugees, out of control of their present and uncertain about their future.  Like these refugees, there have been millions similarly situated to our small family in 1964, and doubtless there are similarly indelible memories.

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Tomorrow is the memorial for Dr. Paul Farmer, who recently died suddenly and unexpectedly at 62.  I plan to tune in, and invite you too as well.  Details are accessible here (#3).