Words 6.6

Words Twice a Week          6.6

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

Some days from the church calendar -

June 8  Malenia the Elder  She was born in Spain around 350 and died in Jerusalem sometime between 410 and 417.  She was married at 14 and moved with her husband to a suburb of Rome.  But when he and two of her three sons died when she was 22, she went off to be with the Desert Fathers around Alexandria and became an ascetic.  

June 9  Columba  He lived from 521 to 597.  He was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity through much of what is now Scotland.  He founded the monastery at Iona.  The Book of Kells, one of Ireland’s treasures, may have been produced or begun on Iona.  The Secret of Kells is an animated film about it that was nominated for an Academy Award.  You can watch it on Kanopy at the Library.

June 11 – Barnabas the Apostle  An early believer, he sold some land and gave the proceeds to the community.  When Paul returned after his conversion on the Damascus Road, Barnabas introduced him to the apostles.  He partnered with Paul in sharing the gospel with the Gentiles, especially at Antioch.  They later went their separate ways – Barnabas wanted to continue to work with John Mark, Paul didn’t.

June 13  G. K. Chesterton   An English writer, philosopher, lay theologian/apologist, he was born May 29, 1874 and died on June 14, 1936.  Folks as diverse as Mahatma Gandhi, Marshall McLuhan, and Neil Gaiman credit him as inspiration.  He wrote the Father Brown detective stories, novels The Napoleon of Notting Hill, and The Man Who Was Thursday, a critical study of Charles Dickens, and a variety of other works.  It would be fun to read one Father Brown story each day this week!  

Some days from the world/Earth calendar -

June 7

+ the first ascent of Denali,  by Episcopal Priest Hudson Stuck, “the archdeacon of the Yukon”.  Frederick Cook had claimed to have made the ascent but was later disproved. Belmore Browne and two others came just a few hundred yards short when they were forced back by a blizzard.  Hudson Stuck finally made it.  (You can read the three accounts in one book: Denali – Deception, Defeat, and Triumph.  Interestingly, one of Stuck’s motivations was to return the indigenous name to the mountain (instead of Mt McKinley.)  I don’t know – Doctrine of Discovery issue?

+ Vatican City became an independent state in 1929, the first Legoland opened in 1968.

+ Robert the Bruce died in 1329.  (I don’t really know who Robert the Bruce was, but it‘s a cool name.  Let’s look it up – here.  Ok – he was a king that led Scotland against England. He was a character in Braveheart.

June 8

+ Gerard Manley Hopkins died in 1889.  He was a poet and Jesuit priest.  He apparently suffered from depression for much of his life (one of his poems is I wake but feel the fell of dark, not day), but apparently his last words on his death bed were, "I am so happy, I am so happy. I loved my life."  As Kingfishers Catch Fire and God’s Grandeur are a couple of his “brighter”(?) poems.

+ in 1949, George Orwell’s 1984 was published.

+ Frank Lloyd Wright was born in 1867.  We toured his house and school at Spring Green, WI, and a couple other houses here and there.  I think it would be interesting to live in one.  Kind of like living in a “tiny house”, in some ways.

June 9

+ Charles Dickens died in 1870.  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  And A Christmas Carol!  We will keep Christmas in our hearts – won’t we?

+ Donald Duck made his film premier in The Wise Little Hen in 1934.

+ Charles Kingsford Smith and crew make the first trans-Pacific flight landing in Brisbane nine days after leaving Oakland, CA.

+ four Austrian climbers become the first to ascend Broad Peak, if you are following the Chapter a Day book on WNMU-FM!

June 10

+ Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935.

+ Howlin’ Wolf was born in 1910, Judy Garland in 1922; Spencer Tracey (he and Humphrey Bogart both made their film premiers in something called Up The River in 1930!) died in 1967, Ray Charles in 2004.  So – a lot of memories there.

June 11

+ the University of Alabama was desegregated in 1963.  W Paul Jones comments “Though one would prefer it otherwise, the cause of justice for African Americans in this country has been furthered more through legal and economic pressure than through the goodwill of white folks.”

+ Jacques Cousteau was born on this day in 1910.  Welcome to his undersea world!

June 12

+ Anne Frank was born in 1929.

+ Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in 1964.  He spent 27 years there!

+ Medgar Evers was killed in 1963.  We just watched James Baldwin’s I Am Not Your Negro.

June 13

+ Paavo Nurmi was born in 1897. ”He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the early 20th century. Nurmi set 22 official world records at distances between 1500 metres and 20 kilometres, and won nine gold and three silver medals in his twelve events in the Summer Olympic Games. At his peak, Nurmi was undefeated for 121 races at distances from 800 m upwards. Throughout his 14-year career, he remained unbeaten in cross country events and the 10,000 m.”  Wow - That doesn’t seem possible, but it’s straight from Wikipedia!

+ Miranda v. Arizona was decided by the Supreme Court in 1966.

Anyway, that’s what I got for now…..

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