Words 5.20

 Words Twice a Week           5.20

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 thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday - Pentecost

Ezekiel 37.1-14

+ the valley of dry bones.  I guess this passage sticks out or me this time around, simply because so much of life today seems like a valley of dry bones – the pandemic, the politics, the economic climate and wealth inequality, the racial inequality, the Middle East, climate change, pollution.  It just seems to picture where we are.  And all the sinews and stuff – I don’t know, I just need the word of hope and promise and life that comes at the end, even though most of the time I don’t hardly believe it.

Psalm 104.24-34

+ opposite the valley of dry bones is the sea, and the ships, and Leviathan/Nessie/God’s Rubber Duckie!

+ vs 25 “creeping things” creeping along the paths of the sea!  What might they look like? And how are they doing with all the plastic and trash we are raining down on them?

+ vs 32 God looks on the earth and it trembles, touches the mountains and they smoke – powerful, but a little bit destructive.  We like vs 20 about feeding, and vs 30 about creating and renewing better.

Acts 2.1-21

+ another one of these stories/passages that we know so well that someone starts reading or telling it and we say “Yeah, ok, we know this” and get impatient or almost bored waiting for it to be over.  I find it helps me to have one or two “points” to listen for – “tongues of fire”, “filled with new wine”, “these are not drunk”, and the whole quote from Joel, especially “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,” and “portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.  The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.  Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'”

So that’s it.  I guess for me this is a Sunday to simply listen and hear the lessons, more than to actually think about them.  How’s it work for you.

Anyway, that’s what I got for now…..

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Words 5.16

 Words Twice a Week          5.16 

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.

The challenge for the week was an “Easter haiku” before the season changes.

Here’s what I got -

      From darkness and death

      Jesus rose on Easter morn -

      New life, light, love, leaves.

You probably did better.

Some days from the church calendar -

May 17  Thurgood Marshall  He was the first African American Associate Justice of the US Supreme court, nominated by Lyndon Johnson.  Previously he had argued several cases before the court, including Brown v Board of Education.  He and Justice William Brennen were supporters of abortion rights and staunch opponents of the death penalty.  Marshall retired in 1991 and was replaced by Clarence Thomas.

May 21   John Eliot  He was born in 1602 in England, and graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge.  A Puritan, in 1631 he emigrated to Boston, and was minister and teaching elder at First Church, Roxbury.  With three other ministers, he edited the Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in the British North American colonies.  In order to convert the local “Indians”, he studied the  Massachusett or Wampanoag language, which had not previously had a written form.  Eventually he translated the entire Bible, which was the first bible printed in the Western Hemisphere.  So – some of the standard “colonizer issues” (Doctrine of Discovery), but he did seem to have a concern for the welfare of the Native people in his heart.  He was known as “the apostle to the Indians.”  He donated land in the Jamaica Plain district for a school; his donation required that the school accept Black and Native American students without prejudice, rare at the time.

Also -

May 21  Lydia of Thyatira She was the woman who sold purple and after hearing him, invited Paul and friends to stay at her house (Acts 16).  She is regarded as the first documented convert to Christianity in Europe.  She is also honored on Jan 27 along with Dorcas and Pheobe.

May 22   Helen of Constantinople  (It’s a hard word to spell – yuk, yuk)   She was the mother of Constantine.  She detected or discovered or identified a variety of sacred historical sites and relics – pieces of the True Cross, nails from the Crucifixion, the site for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Holy Tunic.  

May 23  Pentecost 

And some days from the earth/world calendar -

May 17

+ The Supreme Court decides in Brown v Board of Education.  See Thurgood Marshall above!

May 18

+ Florence Nightingale died in 1910.  She was the founder of modern nursing.  She came to prominence in the Crimean War, in which she organized care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople.  She became known as “The Lady with the Lamp” for making rounds for wounded soldiers at night.  A good day to once again be thankful for health care people.

+ the Bath School Disaster/Massacre in 1927.  It happened in Michigan, downstate.  Never learned about it until last year as part of the Email a Day adventure.

May 19

+ birthday of Malcolm X in 1925.

+ Jose Marti, Cuba’s “apostle of freedom” was killed in 1895.  He was a Cuban poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the liberation of his country.  One of his poems was worked into the song Guantanamera.  Here’s another -

     I cultivate a white rose

     In July as in January

     For the sincere friend

     Who gives me his hand frankly

     And for the cruel person who tears

     out the heart with which I live,

     I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:

     I cultivate a white rose.

+ the Celcius/centigrade thermometer was invented in 1743.  In 1742, Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius created a temperature scale that was the reverse of the scale now known as "Celsius": 0 represented the boiling point of water, while 100 represented the freezing point of water.  Physicist Jean-Pierre Christin, permanent secretary of the Academy of Lyon, and several others, reversed the scale.  On May 19, 1743 he published the design of a mercury thermometer built by the craftsman Pierre Casati that used this scale.  Originally called “centigrade”, it was renamed Celsius in 1948.  The first scientific paper using it was by Carl Linneaus.  So - water freezes at 0, boils at 100, it’s as simple as that.

May 20

+ the Council of Nicaea opened in 325.  “Its main accomplishments were settlement of the Christological issue of the divine nature of God the Son and his relationship to God the Father, the construction of the first part of the Nicene Creed, mandating uniform observance of the date of Easter, and promulgation of early canon law.  

+ Charles Lindbergh left New York for Paris in The Spirit of St Louis in 1927, and became one of our first real celebrities.  An odd story that came out around 2000 that he had affairs and fathered children with 3 German women while remaining married to Anne Morrow.  I first came across this at the end of Bill Bryson’s book One Summer: America 1927

+ Blue Jeans were patented in 1873

+ Christopher Columbus (Doctrine of Discovery issues) died in 1506; Clara Schumann in 1896.  Piano Trio in G here

May 21

+ Amelia Earheart took off and became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland, in 1932.  She had flown it before in 1928, pretty much as a passenger with Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon.  She was also the first (1935) to fly from Honolulu to Oakland, CA.  She and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared and apparently died in July 1937 after leaving Lae, New Guinea, in an attempt to fly around the world.

May 22

+ Pac Man was released in 1980.  Pac Man wikipedia link here.

+ Constantine died in 337 – it was apparently his mother’s birthday. (See above)

May 23

+ Carl Linneaus was born in 1707.  Interesting note - “Linnaeus's remains constitute the type specimen for the species Homo sapiens following the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, since the sole specimen that he is known to have examined was himself.”  I’m not completely sure I know what that means -

+ Kit Carson died in 1868.  He was born while his folks were at a Christmas Eve Party at the home of Christopher and Sarah Houston in 1809.  He was a frontiersman and soldier, and his life took on a legendary quality.  In recent years, Kit Carson has also become a symbol of the American nation's mistreatment of its indigenous peoples.

A prayer for the week, sort of.  Actually a thought from Henri Nouwen about prayer -

Prayer is not a way of being busy with God instead of with people. In fact, it unmasks the illusion of busyness, usefulness, and indispensability. It is a way of being empty and useless in the presence of God and so of proclaiming our basic belief that all is grace and nothing is simply the result of hard work. Indeed, wasting time for God is an act of ministry, because it reminds us and our people that God is free to touch anyone regardless of our well-meant efforts. Prayer as an articulate way of being useless in the face of God brings a smile to all we do and creates humor in the midst of our occupations and preoccupations.

Worth thinking about through the week!

Anyway, that’s what I got for now…...

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Words 5.13

 Words Twice a Week          5.13 

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 thoughts on some of the lessons for this week, Seventh of Easter -

Acts 1.15-17, 21-26

+ Judas’ actions were not outside the sphere of God’s intention; what happened to Judas (including vs 18-20); and how he was replaced.  (This is not to say that God intended for Jesus to be crucified in any way, shape, or form, but that God intended for Jesus to bring the word of grace and peace into the world, and of course, God understood that this would be one possible development.)

+ Peter suggests that Judas’ betrayal had to happen “to fulfill the scripture.”  Obviously I don’t agree with that understanding – how about you?  I tend to think something happens and we look for an explanation in scripture.

+ again, looking at vs18-20, Luke brings Judas’ story to a little gentler close.  There is no confrontation with the Jewish leaders, there is no going out and hanging himself, he buys the field and stumbles and falls (?), accidental death (?).  Through it all he seems to be being directed by Satan.  How important is Judas’ story for you?  How do you relate to it?

+ note that Judas betrayed Jesus, he also betrayed the trust the other disciples had placed in him.

+ Peter says it is important for Judas to be replaced, for there to be “The Twelve” once again. Why?  Is it important for there to be 9 on the supreme court?  Or is that last bit just a red herring?

+ Peter says the replacement should be “one of the men” (hmmm) who was with them through the whole adventure, from the baptism through the crucifixion and resurrection and now the ascension.

+ so they nominated Joseph Barsabbas and Mathias, prayed, and cast lots.  What do you think of that way of deciding?  Would we be just as well off choosing leaders by lot?  Even senators, representatives, governors, presidents?  How do you think Joseph might have felt?  It’s interesting that we don’t hear of either of them again.  And in fact we don’t really hear that much about any of “The Twelve”.  Paul pretty rapidly takes center stage.  But one writer notes that if it were not for innumerable unnamed disciples/apostles going quietly about their lives, there would not have been congregations or proto-congregations for Paul to relate to.

+ so Luke shows how all the actions have been done, all the pieces are in place for something new to happen – what will it be?  Well, ok, it was Pentecost.  But what about today?  How is scripture being fulfilled today, what pieces have been put in place, what might be getting ready to happen?

Here’s a prayer -

   God of Exciting Newness,

   new life, new hope, new possibilities, new stories -

   the newness of Easter was so exciting,

   but it was seven weeks ago, 

   and the candy is gone, the lilies are drooping, 

   even the “Alleluias” have begun to sound normal.

   We scrunch up to the edge of our seat, prick up our ears, 

   cast our eyes back and forth, and hold our breath.  

   What new (wonderful, loving, gracious, exciting) thing are you going to do next?

Psalm 1

+ I have always liked the progression in vs 1 – walk with, stand with, settle in and sit down with!

+ what makes for a “happy life”, a safe, secure, coherent, connected, grounded, comfortable life?  In the Spirituality of Fundraising study, we are considering where we look for security in our lives.  To money? To community? To God?  The psalmist says it is paying attention to God words.

+ and then here’s an intriguing line from one of the commentaries – studying the Torah is not listening to a lot of laws, it is “a playful, courageous interpretative act where the community must decide about dimensions of God’s commands in new circumstances.”  I really like that. That is how I have experienced real excitement and satisfaction in “Bible Study”.  That’s why I’m writing this tonight!

+ There is a moral shape to life, but it is not always completely clear.

+ “Their delight is in the law of God” – where is your delight?

       Some take delight in the fishing or bowling

       Others take delight in the carriage all a rolling.

       I take delight in the juice of the barley, 

       courting pretty girls in the morning O so early

         Mush a ring um durum da – whack fol the Daddyo, whack fol the Daddyo

         there’s whiskey in the jar…..

     Well, Ok, I don’t know how much of that is within “the moral shape of life”.

+ “Like a tree, standing by the water, we shall not be moved”

+ “the trees yield their fruit and their leaves do not wither” – as opposed to the spruce trees on the way to our camp that have been attacked by the Spruce Budworm.  They, and many of the balsams, look pretty sad.

+ the trees are grounded, dependable – who is that in your life and experience?

+ the wicked are lightweight, will have no standing or place or “say” when issues are being decided in the community.  Is that how they are like the chaff?  Just that they are worthless? (The wind doesn’t seem to be blowing them away!)  Well, who are “the wicked” in your life and experience?

+ some voices suggest the lectionary pairs this psalm with the Acts lesson as a response showing the difference between Judas and Mathias.  I don’t really like using the psalm as a response to the first lesson – if it’s from the Old Testament or from Acts.  I think the psalms stand alone.  We used to read or hear the psalm as an act of praise early in the service, before the other lessons.  Make a difference to you?

1 John 5.9-13

+ so John wraps it up – the whole purpose is so that we believe and believing we find “eternal life” in “flexible conformity” to the life and words of Jesus.  I like that “flexible conformity”!

+ eternal life has two components – one temporal (“everlasting”) and the other qualitative (abundant, secure, in the words of the psalm – “happy”!).  So “then” and “now”!

John 17.6-19

+ again the context – Jesus is wrapping up his “after last supper” remarks with a prayer.

+ there was the joke about the tradition that whenever a new pope was installed, the president of the synagogue in Jerusalem would pay a call.  During that meeting the president would offer an envelop to the pope, who would decline to accept it and hand it back unopened.  The last time this happened, as the president was getting up and leaving, the pope called him back.  “I have to confess”, he said, “that while we treasure this ritual greatly, we do not any longer know the meaning of it.”  The president acknowledged that for them as well, the reason behind the ritual was lost in time past, and they also no longer knew what was in the envelop.  “Should we look?“ he asked.  The pope nodded.  Slowly, carefully they opened the ancient envelop.  It was the check from the Last Supper.

+ the words have come from God, through Jesus, to the disciples.  And as Jesus leaves, he sends the disciples to continue the pattern – “to the world”.

+ the “world” here is the totality of life that is at odds with God.  Jesus prays that the disciples, who are not of that world but still are in that world, might be kept safe.

+ Jesus “reports” how he has done what God willed.

+ Jesus asks that the disciples/community would exhibit the same “oneness” that exists between God and Jesus.  And that God would bring to fulfillment Jesus’ joy in the community. How does all that work out for you?  Is Jesus finding joy in our community?

+ Fred Craddock suggests this is the church’s pedigree, from God to Jesus to the Apostles to the church.  Maybe that’s another side of the Acts lesson and the importance of having a full quota of 12?

Here’s this week’s prayer from the Spirituality of Fundraising study -

  Come, come, whoever you are.

  Wanderer, worshiper, lover of living, it doesn’t matter

  Ours is not a caravan of despair.

  Come even if you have broken your vows a thousand times,

  Come, yet again, come, come.

     - attributed to Rumi

What do you think – is “lover of living” a positive description or not?

One last Easter “challenge for the week” before whatever is coming next -

  Try writing an “Easter Haiku”

That’s what I got for now -

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Break?

 Opening week of camp season - may get to this later, may not, we'll just have to see!

Words 5.6

 Words Twice a Week         5.6  

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.

Ok – a day late and a dollar short on this one.  The week seems to go by too fast!

Some thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday, 6th of Eastertide.

Acts 10.44-48

+ this is a part of the whole story of the conversion of Cornelius.  Remember he had a dream to send for Peter, and Peter had that dream about killing and eating all the animals thought unclean that were lowered down in a sheet.  Now here we are, and Peter has “preached” to Cornelius and family and friends, much like he did to the crowds (Israelites and others) at the “first Pentecost” with somewhat the same reaction.  Some people think of this story as “The Gentile Pentecost.”

+ anyway, it says they were “touched by the Holy Spirit”.  What does that mean?  Has that ever happened to you, or anyone you know?  Apparently they started “speaking in tongues” – is that an indicator?

+ we call this the conversion of Cornelius, but it is also something of a conversion of Peter as well.  Can he come to see and accept God’s saving activity in ways that are new and unfamiliar, maybe even “questionable”?  

+ Can we come to see God’s saving activity in ways that are new and maybe even questionable?  Have you ever had to make that evaluation?  What indicators would convince us?  Would “speaking in tongues”?

+ note that it is not just Peter who must react to this, but also the folks who have accompanied him from the Jerusalem Church group.  How do they respond?

+ Israelites and Gentiles; who is “in” and who is not; what groups would they be today?

+ “the Spirit’s unbridled activity” can be threatening or comforting.

Psalm 98

+ vs 1-3 describe and celebrate God’s victory, which has been revealed in the sight of the nations.  What victory are we talking about?

+ God’s victory is theological, but still rooted in real-life, public events and happenings. “Marvelous things.”  Where do you see it happening?

+ vs 4-9 is a call to praise – with musical instruments, with all of creation joining in.  “It’s a song of praise to the Maker….”  How much of Creation would be inclined to join us in praise today?

+ God is coming to judge – with righteousness and equity!  What would that look like?  Would that be good for us or not?  Do we really believe it?

+ I like this – “God’s action cannot be explained, only voiced in praise.”

+ on a more practical note – it says “sing a new song”.  Because God is doing/has done something new and the old songs are not sufficient anymore?  We don’t tend to be all that good at being asked to sing a new hymn!  What would one of the last new hymns you learned be?

1 John 5.1-6

+ loving, obeying,

+ the Spirit testifies – by dropping on people so they speak in tongues?

+ vs4-6 talk about conquering, overcoming the world.  How does that square with the Doctrine of Discovery, which said Christians from the old world had a right and even obligation to dominate the “heathen lands”?

John 15.9-17

+ Jesus as the gate, Jesus as the shepherd, Jesus as the vine – now Jesus as the friend.  “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

+ love, joy, commands – an interesting triangle.

+ Jesus and God mirrors disciple and Jesus.  Can you think of ways that works out?

+ It is clear that this friendship “does not spring from mutual attraction” – “I chose you”.  In other words, God came to us before we came to God.

+ there is no sense of privilege, there is no “upward mobility” in Jesus’ circle of friends.

+ friends know what Jesus is doing.

+ the thought that we have been chosen by Jesus can strengthen for hard tasks.

+ vs17 – a command is also a promise!

+ “ask what you will” is offered to those “bathed in knowledge and love of God.”  How does that temper our prayers?

+ one caution that a strong sense of community/fellowship/circle of friends/”our church is a family” can also give rise to a certain exclusivity – which according to the lesson from Acts would not be in harmony with God’s dream.  Have you ever experienced that from one side or the other?

+ and one last thing to consider – one writer quoted “a Greek proverb”(?) - “the one who has no enemies has no friends.”  Reminds me of the Four Shillings Short song “Have you been to jail for justice?”

Here are a couple of prayers for the week from the Lectionary website that seem to resonate nicely – along with the “Mothers’ Day” prayer last time inspired by St Monica.

Living God,

long ago, faithful women

proclaimed the good news

of Jesus' resurrection,

and the world was changed forever.

Teach us to keep faith with them,

that our witness may be as bold,

our love as deep,

and our faith as true. Amen.

And keeping in mind the whole Doctrine of Discovery thing, how do we understand and think about this one -

Creator of the universe,

you made the world in beauty,

and restore all things in glory

through the victory of Jesus Christ.

We pray that, wherever your image is still disfigured

by poverty, sickness, selfishness, war and greed,

the new creation in Jesus Christ may appear in justice, love, and peace,

to the glory of your name. Amen.

That’s what I got for now.  

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Words 5.2 really

 Words Twice a Week           5.2 really

(That last one should really have been Words 4.29.  I guess I was a little slow getting it out, and ended up dating it for the sunday, not for the post date.  Oops)

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 of the days from the church calendar for this week -

May 3  Elisabeth Cruciger  She was born around 1500.  It says she was the first female poet and hymnwriter for the Protestant Reformation.  And a friend of Martin Luther.  She married one of Luther’s assistants.  So do we still sing any of her hymns?  Not that I can discover – but maybe Lutherans?

May 4  Saint Monica  She was born around 332, and was the mother of St Augustine (of Hippo).  He was kind of a wayward youth and tradition says Monica wept each night for him.  At one time the legend was that Santa Monica, CA, was named after a weeping spring.  Interesting that her day is always not too far from Mother’s Day!  Here’s a prayer - 

  Loving God, Mother and Father of us all,

  bless today mothers everywhere

  who are concerned for their sons and daughters.

  May their tears be prayers that touch your heart.

  Give them strength to persevere.

  May their children bring them pride and joy

  and love them well.

May 8  Julian of Norwich   was an English anchorite of the Middle Ages. She wrote the best known surviving book in the English language written by a mystic, Revelations of Divine Love. The book is the first written in English by a known woman author.  As an anchoress, she lived in a small cell stuck onto the church.  There would have been a ceremony with psalms from the Office of the Dead being sung for her, as if it were her own funeral, and at some point Julian would have been led to her cell door and into the room beyond. The door would afterwards have been sealed up, and she would have remained in her cell for the rest of her life.  There were people who left 40 pennies in their will to "the anchoress in the church of St. Julian's, Conisford, and a shilling each to her maid and her former maid Alice".  She had a series of visions.  She wrote, "For I saw no wrath except on man's side, and He forgives that in us, for wrath is nothing else but a perversity and an opposition to peace and to love."  She wrote that God sees us as perfect and waits for the day when human souls mature so that evil and sin will no longer hinder us.  "God is nearer to us than our own soul," she wrote. This theme is repeated throughout her work: "Jesus answered with these words, saying: 'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.' ... This was said so tenderly, without blame of any kind toward me or anybody else".  Sidney Carter (Lord of the Dance) worked her words into a song All Shall Be Well/The Bells of Norwich.

May 9  Gregory of Nazianzus  Gregory is a saint in both Eastern and Western Christianity. In the Catholic Church he is numbered among the Doctors of the Church; in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, along with Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. He is considered one of the Great Fathers in both Eastern and Western Christianity.

And some of the days from the world/earth calendar -

May 3  

+ Pete Seeger was born on this day in 1919.  He was an activist, and he came by it naturally - his father was hired to establish the music department at University of California, Berekely, but had to resign because of his outspoken pacifism during WWI.  Pete’s uncle, poet Alan Seeger (I have a Rendezvous with Death) was one of the first US soldiers killed in the war.  (Although interestingly, [Alan] Seeger was living in Paris in 1914, when war was declared between France and Germany.  He quickly volunteered to fight as a member of the French Foreign Legion, stating that he was motivated by his love for France and his belief in the Allies. For Seeger, fighting for the Allies was a moral imperative; in his poem "A Message to America," he spoke out against what he saw as America's moral failure to join the war.)

   Pete wrote Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Turn, Turn, Turn, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine, If I Had A Hammer, My Rainbow Race, and a boatload of others.  He helped popularize the civil rights song We Shall Overcome.  And in general just really supported “folk singing”.

+ a tornado in 1999 hit Oklahoma City with windspeed of 301 mph, highest ever recorded.

+ Breakfast at Tiffany’s (the book) was published in 1958.  Haven’t read it; haven’t even seen the movie, though I think Margie did the other night.

May 4 

+ and it’s the birthday (1929) of Audrey Hepburn, speaking of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and a bunch of other films.  Have a favorite?

+ Star Wars Day – “May the fourth be with you.”  Good day to watch one?  Have a favorite?

+ Kent State killings (1970)  Four students killed, nine wounded when the National Guard fired into a crowd of students protesting Nixon’s expansion of the Vietnam war into Cambodia. W Paul Jones notes “This tragedy made indelible the already deep division within this country, for now even the cherished right to protest had become viewed as enemy behavior.”

+ on this day in 1956 The General Conference of the United Methodist Church granted full clergy rights to women.

+ The first Freedom Riders left Washington DC for New Orleans.  When they reached Alabama the first bus was stoned, it’s tires slashed, and firebombed.  The riders on a second bus were beaten when the FBI and local police stayed away from the bus depot.

+ in 1675, King Charles II commissioned a Royal Observatory in Greenwich.  Got the time?

May 5

+ Cy Young pitched the first perfect baseball game in 1904.

+ it’s the birthday of Soren Kierkegarrd in 1813, Karl Marx in 1818

+ the first Three Stooges film was released in 1934

May 6

+ the English Channel tunnel opened in 1994.

+ Roger Bannister ran the first 4 minute mile (3:59.4) in 1954

+ The Hindenburg exploded in 1937.

+ Orson Wells was born in 1915; L Frank Baum died in 1919.  Together they gave us an invasion from Mars and a trip to Oz.

May 7

+ Michigan ratified the 27th Amendment to the Constitution.  It was one of the first proposed, but the last ratified (after 202 years, 10 months, and 7 days).  It had originally been part of the proposed Bill of Rights, but was never ratified.  It was pretty much forgotten until 1982, when Gregory Watson, a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote a paper for a government class in which he claimed that the amendment could still be ratified. An unconvinced teaching assistant graded the paper poorly, motivating Watson to launch a nationwide campaign to complete its ratification.  Originally it was thought that Michigan’s May 7, 1992 ratification was the needed 38th state, but on later examination, it was discovered that Kentucky had ratified it during it’s first month of statehood in 1792.  Quick now – what does the 27th Amendment say?

May 8

+ Coca Cola invented in 1886.

+ Let It Be, the Beatles last studio album was released in 1970.

+ Legendary bluesman Robert Johnson was born in 1911.  Meet me at the crossroads? Naomi Klein in 1970.  This Changes Everything.  Did it? Does it? Will it?

+ in 1978 Messner and Habeler climbed Mt Everest without supplemental oxygen.

May 9

+ Tenzing Norgay died in 1986, speaking of those who climbed Mt Everest!

+ Paul Gauguin died in 1903.  We remember him for paintings of Tahiti, about the opposite end of the climate spectrum from Mt Everest.

+ the first “birth control pill” was approved by the US FDA in 1960

+ Billy Joel was born in 1949.  Piano Man, I Love You Just the Way You Are

That’s what I got for now….

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