Early Saturday, before going to the San Antonio Founders Day celebration, I went to the South Texas Blood Center to donate platelets. As compensation for the over hour and a half that platelet donation takes, a donor gets to watch a movie of her or his choice on a little TV at their station.
After checking available titles, I chose "The Alamo". This is NOT the well-known ("classic"?) version directed by John Wayne (and starring him as David Crockett), but rather the version made a few years ago, after my arrival here in Texas in '02. This newest version was filmed in central Texas (near Austin), starring Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston, Billy Bob Thornton as Crockett and Patrick Wilson as Travis. It was touted as being more historically accurate and fairer to both sides of the world-famous battle. Well, this devotee of history had great desires of seeing "The Alamo" in the theaters, but never made it during its short run.
Yeah, SHORT run; here in Texas this newest cinematic version of the battle didn't do well. I suspect that "The Alamo" bombed because Hollywood went for historical accuracy, based on the best documentary research. This means that it flew in the face of certain very key details of the legendary, mythic version of the battle which is so dear to native Texans. But I, who love historical accuracy, actually deeply appreciated this sincere endeavor -- strange thing to say about Tinseltown!
Indeed, I enjoyed the movie from start to finish!
One very controversial scene shows a captured Crockett, hands bound behind his back, before the victorious Santa Anna. He says something defiant to the Mexican dictator-president, who upon being given the translation into Spanish by a sub-commander, in rage orders Crocket's death. Now, having researched the documentary evidence, I suspect that Crockett, who really WAS captured (along with others), was put to death at once as soon as Santa Anna learned that any defender was yet alive. And hence, no such verbal confrontation occurred. But still, the scene made for a good story, and one that was doubtless intended to assuage native Texans (for not using the myth that Crockett went down swinging his rifle "Old Betsy" to club attackers, having run out of ammo).
For me, the best scene is the one based on the legend that Colonel Travis tells the assembled defenders that no further help will come and they are doomed. Please keep in mind that Travis in his pre-Alamo life was something of a scoundrel. He was the LEAST admirable of the "big four" leaders among the heroic defenders (the others being Bonham, Bowie and Crockett). He came to Texas to escape consequences of something like an adulterous affair back in South Carolina (or wherever he was from). But even I have always liked the legend that Travis drew a line in the ground with his sword and invited any who would stay to the death to cross over and join him. (The myth goes on to relate that all but one man crossed the "line in the sand" -- even a cot-ridden Jim Bowie who asked to be carried across.) This is a great picture, and very inspiring -- but again there isn't documentary, near-eyewitness evidence. The "line-in-the-sand" is first mentioned many, many years later by a non-witness writing about the battle. And this movie omits it.
Nevertheless, one DOES SEE a very moving scene in which Travis assembles the defenders, except for the very ill Bowie who remains in his room, and tells them the grim situation. He starts out by saying that "Texas gave me a second chance." In this he is referring back to the wreck of his life he had left behind in the USA. At once I considered how I too had made a wreck of my life, back in Tennessee, and how in coming to Texas and Saint Anthony's city (he the patron saint of lost items) I also had been given a second chance. Then Travis encourages the doomed defenders to "picture Texas, as each of you would like Texas to be" -- and to fight and DIE for THAT Texas! Oh, how readily I could picture the Texas of my ideals! How quickly I'd give my life for such!
I found myself identifying SO-O-O closely with THIS Travis. And I found myself in tears as a result. His story was MY story, in a way. In this movie Travis never takes out his sword to draw the line. I really ached for him to draw that line -- historical accuracy be spurned -- but I managed to do without it, thanks to that very inspirational speech!
It was also good that the movie continues on after Crockett's execution. In rapid scenes one sees the "Runaway Scrape" as Texians (the name immigrants from the USA gave themselves) flee eastward before Santa Anna. One sees Gonzales, the "Lexington of the Texas Revolution", set aflame, and Santa Anna riding thru the ashes, nothing left for his taking. One sees a couple of scenes which vividly capture the tension bordering on rebellion, of Houston's soldiers who are itching to turn and fight Santa Anna, while Houston keeps his own counsel and continues to lead the eastward retreat. Until he has the Mexican dictator where he wants him, at the banks of the San Jacinto River near today's Houston.
Just before the battle there, Houston makes an observation -- again, I'm unsure of its historical accuracy, but it certainly fits the situation and Houston's character. He speaks of the British commander Wellington who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, and how he doesn't consider himself the equal of Wellington. But he adds that Santa Anna DOES pompously call himself "The Napoleon of the West", so let San Jacinto be his Waterloo!
And in inciting the Texians just prior to the charge, Houston shouts, "Remember the Alamo!" I could have wished he had also shouted the other rallying cry, "Remember Goliad!" Or, as I read in a recently-published book, the Texians probably hollered, "Remember Labadie!", their mispronounciation of the name of the former Spanish presidio (fort) rather than the name of its nearby village. Over twice the number of Texians as were at The Alamo were massacred in the presidio of La Bahia near Goliad, on Palm Sunday A.D. 1836, a few days following their surrender -- again at Santa Anna's cruel order. But, the massacre at "Goliad" didn't figure much in this movie, so to have Houston also cry for them to remember that one, too, would have been superfluous.
Yes, my review is that this movie was a VERY GOOD film. I'm glad I saw it -- and on San Antonio Founders Day, to boot! Now I shall remember "The Alamo!" The movie (most recent edition) as well as the heroic battle!
Monday, October 23, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
¡Viva la convivencia!
Wow! What a day it's been so far! And it's far from over!
Actually, before I get into today, a couple of words about ayer (yesterday). After holding my breath (almost literally) for several days, hoping to survive financially 'til my AHISD paycheck, it arrived in yesterday's mail. Instead of doing my usual M.O. and going to a nearby UPS Store to "quick-post" it to my USAA account, I chose to go to a neighborhood bank, so I could deposit it with a little cash back for this weekend. BAD mistake! OR to use Emmaus terminology, I encountered an obstacle to grace -- i.e., sin -- called greed at the best and lack of trust in God at the worst. And I stumbled mightily!
As a result, I was one and a half hours late to the Northwest San Antonio Emmaus monthly gathering, billed as "Rekindle the Flame" for the 29 recent Pilgrims of Men's Walk #1327. I was too late for food and fellowship, and to be present for the introduction of the folk of Walk #1327. But I was there for the entire worship service! And I even saw a man sporting the nametag used on my Pilgrim Walk, #327!
Also, on my headset radio, after the gathering adjourned and I headed home, I learned that the Alamo Heights Mules had beaten their arch-nemesis the Boerne Greyhounds! Finally! After so many years! AH 41, Boerne 14. Whoa, Mules!!!
NOW, for today. ¡Viva la Convivencia! is a slogan used last year at San Antonio Founders Day. In Spanish it means, roughly, "Long live 'live and let live' ". Convivencia is used by historians of la patria, España, as a term for the tolerant spirit of neighborliness that prevailed in much of Spain during parts of the Middle Ages, when Christians, Muslims and Jews allowed one another leeway to exercise their respective faiths. And indeed during those times of convivencia a Spaniard of one faith might greatly assist a neighbor of a different faith with little heed to their religious differences. The great Spanish Christian hero El Cid even had FRIENDS among the Muslims!
So-o-o-o, convivencia is a very appropriate term for the tolerant attitude that flourishes in the Alamo City. Yes, small incidents of racism happen, even here. But overall there is a civic spirit of "live-and-let-live", and indeed of "let's all celebrate everyone's particular cultural heritage!" ANY excuse for a party. Right, San Antonio?
As last year, so this year's Fouonders Day celebration commenced with a concert in Mc Creless Auditorium, featuring as headline performers the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio and the Children's Chorus of S.A. Before the musical presentations, Dr. Felix Almaraz of UTSA speaks in character, dressed in a Franciscan robe fashioned like one of the 1700s, as Fray (Friar) Olivares, the founding missionary of Misión San Antonio de Valero which later became The Alamo.
The orchestra played two pieces at the start of their portion of the program, that I greatly admired. These were "Danzon No. 2" by Marquez and "Hill Country Theme" by Paxton. The Children's Chorus capped off their set of four great songs by singing a terrific song about our city, titled simply "San Antonio". It was composed when the composer visited The Riverwalk. The indoor program climaxed with Beverly Houston singing a couple verses of "America the Beautiful" accompanied by the orchestra, the chorus and us the audience.
And then it was time to process across San Pedro Avenue to the park, for exhibits and fun! There were re-enactments, impersonators -- such as one of Fray (Friar) Antonio Margil, a Franciscan missionary, founder of Mission San Jose and a great hero of mine -- and more live music. This latter included the Heart of Texas men's barbershop chorus of San Marcos. Their harmonious singing was almost matched by their striking shirts resembling the flag of Texas!
What a gr-r-r-reat day it's been so far. . . .
Actually, before I get into today, a couple of words about ayer (yesterday). After holding my breath (almost literally) for several days, hoping to survive financially 'til my AHISD paycheck, it arrived in yesterday's mail. Instead of doing my usual M.O. and going to a nearby UPS Store to "quick-post" it to my USAA account, I chose to go to a neighborhood bank, so I could deposit it with a little cash back for this weekend. BAD mistake! OR to use Emmaus terminology, I encountered an obstacle to grace -- i.e., sin -- called greed at the best and lack of trust in God at the worst. And I stumbled mightily!
As a result, I was one and a half hours late to the Northwest San Antonio Emmaus monthly gathering, billed as "Rekindle the Flame" for the 29 recent Pilgrims of Men's Walk #1327. I was too late for food and fellowship, and to be present for the introduction of the folk of Walk #1327. But I was there for the entire worship service! And I even saw a man sporting the nametag used on my Pilgrim Walk, #327!
Also, on my headset radio, after the gathering adjourned and I headed home, I learned that the Alamo Heights Mules had beaten their arch-nemesis the Boerne Greyhounds! Finally! After so many years! AH 41, Boerne 14. Whoa, Mules!!!
NOW, for today. ¡Viva la Convivencia! is a slogan used last year at San Antonio Founders Day. In Spanish it means, roughly, "Long live 'live and let live' ". Convivencia is used by historians of la patria, España, as a term for the tolerant spirit of neighborliness that prevailed in much of Spain during parts of the Middle Ages, when Christians, Muslims and Jews allowed one another leeway to exercise their respective faiths. And indeed during those times of convivencia a Spaniard of one faith might greatly assist a neighbor of a different faith with little heed to their religious differences. The great Spanish Christian hero El Cid even had FRIENDS among the Muslims!
So-o-o-o, convivencia is a very appropriate term for the tolerant attitude that flourishes in the Alamo City. Yes, small incidents of racism happen, even here. But overall there is a civic spirit of "live-and-let-live", and indeed of "let's all celebrate everyone's particular cultural heritage!" ANY excuse for a party. Right, San Antonio?
As last year, so this year's Fouonders Day celebration commenced with a concert in Mc Creless Auditorium, featuring as headline performers the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio and the Children's Chorus of S.A. Before the musical presentations, Dr. Felix Almaraz of UTSA speaks in character, dressed in a Franciscan robe fashioned like one of the 1700s, as Fray (Friar) Olivares, the founding missionary of Misión San Antonio de Valero which later became The Alamo.
The orchestra played two pieces at the start of their portion of the program, that I greatly admired. These were "Danzon No. 2" by Marquez and "Hill Country Theme" by Paxton. The Children's Chorus capped off their set of four great songs by singing a terrific song about our city, titled simply "San Antonio". It was composed when the composer visited The Riverwalk. The indoor program climaxed with Beverly Houston singing a couple verses of "America the Beautiful" accompanied by the orchestra, the chorus and us the audience.
And then it was time to process across San Pedro Avenue to the park, for exhibits and fun! There were re-enactments, impersonators -- such as one of Fray (Friar) Antonio Margil, a Franciscan missionary, founder of Mission San Jose and a great hero of mine -- and more live music. This latter included the Heart of Texas men's barbershop chorus of San Marcos. Their harmonious singing was almost matched by their striking shirts resembling the flag of Texas!
What a gr-r-r-reat day it's been so far. . . .
Friday, October 20, 2006
S.A. Founders Day: tomorrow/mañana
Yesterday evening, as on many Thursday evenings, I found myself at the closing portions of the weekly San Antonio City Council meeting. I was there specifically to hand over some information to a Council Member, Elena Guajardo, who like me has been involved in Kairos Prison Ministry, and who had offered to assist me with the very first Kairos Weekend to be held in the Dolph Briscoe Unit outside Dilley at the beginning of December. After giving her the info she needed, I stayed around for the ceremonial recognitions-proclamations and the Citizens to Be Heard.
There were several recognitions last evening. The most notable proclamation was to a group of folk in a variety of historic costumes, about two dozen (maybe three), who represented that which will transpire on Saturday at the location of the founding of permanent settlement for San Antonio. The location will be San Pedro Springs Park and McCreless Auditorium across San Pedro Avenue, on the San Antonio College campus. The event is San Antonio Founders Day.
Founders Day is a fairly new celebration for this city whose middle name is "Party". But it's long overdue for a celebration of this type! It recognizes not only the Franciscan missionaries and accompanying Spanish troops, their families and other settlers from interior Mexico who established Misión San Antonio de Valero on 1 May A.D. 1718 and Presidio y Villa de San Antonio de Béxar four days later. It also recognizes the Canary Island settlers who arrived in March of 1731 and founded San Fernando de Béxar between the mission and the fort (presidio), both of which by that year had been moved from the vicinity of San Pedro Springs to the current sites of Alamo Plaza and Plaza de Armas (Military Plaza, or City Hall), respectively. And furthermore, Founders Day recognizes the other some 20 ethnic groups who have had a strong hand in making San Antonio what she is today: the eighth largest city in these United States, one of what are called the "four unique cities" thereof, and a city of remarkable cultural diversity amid civic unity!
Oh, and also THE city whose middle name is "Party"! (See my posting of 23 August for further comment.)
As you may guess, I attended this celebration of those who made San Antonio what she is, last October. And I'm eager to be there again tomorrow. A childrens choir and a childrens orchestra will entertain in McCreless Auditorium, after which everyone will go in procession across San Pedro Avenue to the park where there will be exhibits and mor entertainment. San Pedro Springs Park, BTW, in addition to being where the city truly began as a permanent settlement (the Coahuiltecan tribes previously had a movable encampment, or ranchería, called Yanaguana), this picturesque and historic public space is the SECOND-OLDEST such public space, or park, in the USA, after Boston Common!
There were several recognitions last evening. The most notable proclamation was to a group of folk in a variety of historic costumes, about two dozen (maybe three), who represented that which will transpire on Saturday at the location of the founding of permanent settlement for San Antonio. The location will be San Pedro Springs Park and McCreless Auditorium across San Pedro Avenue, on the San Antonio College campus. The event is San Antonio Founders Day.
Founders Day is a fairly new celebration for this city whose middle name is "Party". But it's long overdue for a celebration of this type! It recognizes not only the Franciscan missionaries and accompanying Spanish troops, their families and other settlers from interior Mexico who established Misión San Antonio de Valero on 1 May A.D. 1718 and Presidio y Villa de San Antonio de Béxar four days later. It also recognizes the Canary Island settlers who arrived in March of 1731 and founded San Fernando de Béxar between the mission and the fort (presidio), both of which by that year had been moved from the vicinity of San Pedro Springs to the current sites of Alamo Plaza and Plaza de Armas (Military Plaza, or City Hall), respectively. And furthermore, Founders Day recognizes the other some 20 ethnic groups who have had a strong hand in making San Antonio what she is today: the eighth largest city in these United States, one of what are called the "four unique cities" thereof, and a city of remarkable cultural diversity amid civic unity!
Oh, and also THE city whose middle name is "Party"! (See my posting of 23 August for further comment.)
As you may guess, I attended this celebration of those who made San Antonio what she is, last October. And I'm eager to be there again tomorrow. A childrens choir and a childrens orchestra will entertain in McCreless Auditorium, after which everyone will go in procession across San Pedro Avenue to the park where there will be exhibits and mor entertainment. San Pedro Springs Park, BTW, in addition to being where the city truly began as a permanent settlement (the Coahuiltecan tribes previously had a movable encampment, or ranchería, called Yanaguana), this picturesque and historic public space is the SECOND-OLDEST such public space, or park, in the USA, after Boston Common!
Monday, October 16, 2006
"Dad" & "Mom" come a-visiting!
Yesterday, Sunday the Fifteenth, a couple whom I esteem highly paid a visit to San Antonio. They are Jim and Joanne Spiller.
While I was serving as a chaplain in the US Army, A.D. 1981-1984, Jim Spiller was the highest-ranking Army chaplain in our denomination, the Disciples of Christ. When I moved to S.A. in '02 and joined Alamo Heights Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I discovered that Jim & Joanne were members, very active members! They both sang in the choir, which I shortly joined. The Spillers both had been on the Walk to Emmaus, so I saw them at Care Bexar monthly gatherings. Also, I house-sat for them while they took an Alaska cruise to celebrate their 50th in '02.
For these reasons and the fact that the Spillers are sterling role models, as church leaders and as a Christian couple, I informally adopted them as my "Mom" & "Dad". My real parents are are still quite alive, but they're far away in Boise, and Jim & Joanne were right here in S.A.
Then, late in '02 the Spillers moved away to Maryland, to live closer to two of their real children, along with the grandkids. (Another daughter and her family live in Houston.) I was very sad that they were moving, but I understood. And they promised to return in visits to Texas.
Well, Sunday was one of those return visits. "Mom" was already in town, and I saw & hugged her in the morning at church. Then she & I picked up "Dad" at the S.A. International Airport. He was flying in from El Paso, where he had been attending an Army unit reunion, for which he conducted the memorial service Sunday morning. I went into the baggage claim area, to see if I could find him. From behind I spotted a well-dressed gentleman sporting a baseball cap such as is typically worn by Army veterans. I went up and tapped him on the shoulder; it WAS Jim! We hugged each other, and as we parted and continued our joyous greeting, I saw that "Dad" was sporting a beautiful necktie: dark blue with a diagonal red pinstripe about every two inches, with little American flags between the stripes. Well-dressed AND patriotic!
We three hit the road, U.S. Highway 281, north thru Bulverde and into Comal County. A couple who also sing in the choir, Bob and Liz Jones, who live in S. A. but also have property in rural Comal County due north, had invited the Spillers, the choir and a Sunday School class to a get-together at this, their "goat ranch". Pastor Bruce and wife Lizzie and Associate Pastor Marta "Marty" Peña (with her girls) were also invited to this shindig. As folk arrived, we were taken to the nearby pen to view the dozen or so goats and one guardian burro, named "Dumpling". The burro is attractively colored and deligthful. But she DID try to eat my necktie!
While Liz and some other ladies finished preparing the evening meal, Jim, Bob, myself and others congregated on the spacious front porch, chatting about memories of military service or church, and enjoying refreshments and snacks, including a delicious (multi-)fruit punch and "Scoops" chips and picante. Supper featured further scrumptious items, built around turkey, both oven-roasted and smoked. Dessert was pies of several sorts. Some of us ate at a table set up on the other end of the front porch, others feasted inside.
Afterward, we all circled up inside the magnificent two-story great room; it has a limestone fireplace and the second-floor master bedroom overlooks it, separated only by a wooden balcony rail. Each of us in the circle took turns sharing some high point(s) of the year so far, and low point(s) or challenge(s). I delighted to share about the engagement of my son David with a girl who also is involved in Covenant Players touring drama ministry, my FUN summer work on Fiesta Texas Railroad, and my recent service as clergy on men's Walk to Emmaus #1327. I also quickly confessed my numerous health issues of this year (now mostly gone or under control) and my concern for the troubled state of my beloved Emmaus Fourth Day Group (or community), of which I'm Spiritual Director, Care Bexar.
Shortly afterward, it was time for final hugs and "good-byes" for "Mom" and "Dad". They were to spend the nite at the Jones' "goat ranch" home and then Monday or Tuesday be back on the road again.
The Lord Jesus bless Jim & Joanne Spiller. After all, they've been a major blessing in my life and hence I "adopted" them as my "Dad" & "Mom"!
While I was serving as a chaplain in the US Army, A.D. 1981-1984, Jim Spiller was the highest-ranking Army chaplain in our denomination, the Disciples of Christ. When I moved to S.A. in '02 and joined Alamo Heights Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I discovered that Jim & Joanne were members, very active members! They both sang in the choir, which I shortly joined. The Spillers both had been on the Walk to Emmaus, so I saw them at Care Bexar monthly gatherings. Also, I house-sat for them while they took an Alaska cruise to celebrate their 50th in '02.
For these reasons and the fact that the Spillers are sterling role models, as church leaders and as a Christian couple, I informally adopted them as my "Mom" & "Dad". My real parents are are still quite alive, but they're far away in Boise, and Jim & Joanne were right here in S.A.
Then, late in '02 the Spillers moved away to Maryland, to live closer to two of their real children, along with the grandkids. (Another daughter and her family live in Houston.) I was very sad that they were moving, but I understood. And they promised to return in visits to Texas.
Well, Sunday was one of those return visits. "Mom" was already in town, and I saw & hugged her in the morning at church. Then she & I picked up "Dad" at the S.A. International Airport. He was flying in from El Paso, where he had been attending an Army unit reunion, for which he conducted the memorial service Sunday morning. I went into the baggage claim area, to see if I could find him. From behind I spotted a well-dressed gentleman sporting a baseball cap such as is typically worn by Army veterans. I went up and tapped him on the shoulder; it WAS Jim! We hugged each other, and as we parted and continued our joyous greeting, I saw that "Dad" was sporting a beautiful necktie: dark blue with a diagonal red pinstripe about every two inches, with little American flags between the stripes. Well-dressed AND patriotic!
We three hit the road, U.S. Highway 281, north thru Bulverde and into Comal County. A couple who also sing in the choir, Bob and Liz Jones, who live in S. A. but also have property in rural Comal County due north, had invited the Spillers, the choir and a Sunday School class to a get-together at this, their "goat ranch". Pastor Bruce and wife Lizzie and Associate Pastor Marta "Marty" Peña (with her girls) were also invited to this shindig. As folk arrived, we were taken to the nearby pen to view the dozen or so goats and one guardian burro, named "Dumpling". The burro is attractively colored and deligthful. But she DID try to eat my necktie!
While Liz and some other ladies finished preparing the evening meal, Jim, Bob, myself and others congregated on the spacious front porch, chatting about memories of military service or church, and enjoying refreshments and snacks, including a delicious (multi-)fruit punch and "Scoops" chips and picante. Supper featured further scrumptious items, built around turkey, both oven-roasted and smoked. Dessert was pies of several sorts. Some of us ate at a table set up on the other end of the front porch, others feasted inside.
Afterward, we all circled up inside the magnificent two-story great room; it has a limestone fireplace and the second-floor master bedroom overlooks it, separated only by a wooden balcony rail. Each of us in the circle took turns sharing some high point(s) of the year so far, and low point(s) or challenge(s). I delighted to share about the engagement of my son David with a girl who also is involved in Covenant Players touring drama ministry, my FUN summer work on Fiesta Texas Railroad, and my recent service as clergy on men's Walk to Emmaus #1327. I also quickly confessed my numerous health issues of this year (now mostly gone or under control) and my concern for the troubled state of my beloved Emmaus Fourth Day Group (or community), of which I'm Spiritual Director, Care Bexar.
Shortly afterward, it was time for final hugs and "good-byes" for "Mom" and "Dad". They were to spend the nite at the Jones' "goat ranch" home and then Monday or Tuesday be back on the road again.
The Lord Jesus bless Jim & Joanne Spiller. After all, they've been a major blessing in my life and hence I "adopted" them as my "Dad" & "Mom"!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
"Fri. Nite Lights" at Midnight
Last night I think I witnessed THE LONGEST game of high school football I ever witnessed! Truly the "Friday nite lights" burned in Alamo Stadium 'til close to midnight. This is much longer than usual on a high school football night!
The Lanier Voks ("Pride of the Westside") fought a lo-o-ong, hard gridiron battle against the Sam Houston Cherokees. Located in far eastern San Antonio, the latter high school takes in students from what might formerly have been the ghetto (if S.A. was considered to have one). So the Cherokees have a strong football team every year. Oops! I forgot: the "politically-correct" agenda has forced SHHS to change the mascot to "Hurricanes". Last nite, one SHHS fan word a green-and-orange tee shirt which proclaimed "ALWAYS a Cherokee!" You bet! More power to ya! Let's hear it for opposing the politically-correct agenda!
Meanwhile, the Lanier Voks reign as defending District 28-4A champs and were undefeated so far this year in District games. Houston had one District loss.
The game was tied 6-6 at halftime -- an omen of what was to come. Lanier pushed its lead to 20-6 with two lightning-quick touchdowns in the third quarter, but Houston came back in the fourth to tie the game 20-20 and send the contest into the first overtime. Neither team scored in the first, and both teams scored equally in the next two. Finally, in the fourth overtime, the Hurricanes failed on a two-point conversion, the Voks scored and made their two-pointer to end victorious 43-41 about an hour and a half after regulation time had expired.
Whew!
Elsewhere, the Alamo Heights Mules paid a visit to their District 27-4A foes Fredricksburg, up in the Texas Hill Country. The Mules stomped on the Billies (as in "billygoats" I think). Also, the Devine Warhorses and the Decatur eagles, both ranked #7 (the former in the Express-News area poll and the latter in the state-wide AP poll) also did some stomping to keep their records bright for district championships and playoff trips. Devine defeated Pearsall and Decatur bested in-county arch-rival Bridgeport.
But at least none of those games were marathon-length like the Voks' contest in Alamo Stadium was! Oh, and I didn't stay for the overtimes. I'd bro't my headset radio, so I caught the last VÍA bus going past the stadium, and listened to the finish of the hard-fought battle.
Go, Voks, Go! And go, "Friday Nite Lights!" Just don't go over-long again!
The Lanier Voks ("Pride of the Westside") fought a lo-o-ong, hard gridiron battle against the Sam Houston Cherokees. Located in far eastern San Antonio, the latter high school takes in students from what might formerly have been the ghetto (if S.A. was considered to have one). So the Cherokees have a strong football team every year. Oops! I forgot: the "politically-correct" agenda has forced SHHS to change the mascot to "Hurricanes". Last nite, one SHHS fan word a green-and-orange tee shirt which proclaimed "ALWAYS a Cherokee!" You bet! More power to ya! Let's hear it for opposing the politically-correct agenda!
Meanwhile, the Lanier Voks reign as defending District 28-4A champs and were undefeated so far this year in District games. Houston had one District loss.
The game was tied 6-6 at halftime -- an omen of what was to come. Lanier pushed its lead to 20-6 with two lightning-quick touchdowns in the third quarter, but Houston came back in the fourth to tie the game 20-20 and send the contest into the first overtime. Neither team scored in the first, and both teams scored equally in the next two. Finally, in the fourth overtime, the Hurricanes failed on a two-point conversion, the Voks scored and made their two-pointer to end victorious 43-41 about an hour and a half after regulation time had expired.
Whew!
Elsewhere, the Alamo Heights Mules paid a visit to their District 27-4A foes Fredricksburg, up in the Texas Hill Country. The Mules stomped on the Billies (as in "billygoats" I think). Also, the Devine Warhorses and the Decatur eagles, both ranked #7 (the former in the Express-News area poll and the latter in the state-wide AP poll) also did some stomping to keep their records bright for district championships and playoff trips. Devine defeated Pearsall and Decatur bested in-county arch-rival Bridgeport.
But at least none of those games were marathon-length like the Voks' contest in Alamo Stadium was! Oh, and I didn't stay for the overtimes. I'd bro't my headset radio, so I caught the last VÍA bus going past the stadium, and listened to the finish of the hard-fought battle.
Go, Voks, Go! And go, "Friday Nite Lights!" Just don't go over-long again!
Friday, October 13, 2006
Terrific Teachers, Awesome Students!
On Wednesday (yesterday) I had a sub-teaching assignment at Alamo Heights High School. It turned into one of the most delightful assignments I've had as a substitute teacher!
For one, the teacher was in her room when I entered; she was going to be on campus, but involved all day in another responsibility. I always appreciate it when I can speak directly with the teacher for whom I'm subbing. Ms. Banda quickly filled me in on what she was leaving me as far as lesson plans, students' class agenda, overhead transparencies, etc.
The classes were an English I (Freshman) class and the rest were English II. Ms. Banda had some rather interesting projects for both courses, and the students kept pretty busy doing their class work. The classroom is a south-facing second-story room, so it gets plenty of natural light, and Ms. Banda (according to the students) has never turned on the ceiling lights. Indeed, when I entered and before I realized she was still there, I automatically hit the "on" switch for those lights, which prompted complaints from students already in the room and a request for Ms. Banda as she was leaving to please turn them off. You see, she uses "mood lighting", soft light from lamps placed around the room. Cool!
The classes went fairly well. A couple of them were talkative during the opening minutes, while they were supposed to be doing individual work on a "Warm-up" and I was trying to take attendance. In both cases I quipped, "When Ms. Banda says 'Warm-up' she's not referring to your vocal cords!" And later in one of those classes a couple of boys got involved in throwing wads of paper. I remarked, "This isn't Lackland Air Force Base, so I don't want to see any flying objects! Okay?" And I didn't see any.
As one of the morning classes was leaving after the dismissal bell, one girl was left in the room, as she had an elaborate set of school supplies to get together to take with her. As she left we exchanged pleasantries. She said, "Have a nice day" or something similar. I replied, "I am! This school has terrific teachers and awesome students!"
Now, THAT reply was straight off the top of my head. But it was also from the depths of my heart. I truly enjoy sub-teaching at Alamo Heights High School. So, I MEANT what I said about the teachers and the students!
For one, the teacher was in her room when I entered; she was going to be on campus, but involved all day in another responsibility. I always appreciate it when I can speak directly with the teacher for whom I'm subbing. Ms. Banda quickly filled me in on what she was leaving me as far as lesson plans, students' class agenda, overhead transparencies, etc.
The classes were an English I (Freshman) class and the rest were English II. Ms. Banda had some rather interesting projects for both courses, and the students kept pretty busy doing their class work. The classroom is a south-facing second-story room, so it gets plenty of natural light, and Ms. Banda (according to the students) has never turned on the ceiling lights. Indeed, when I entered and before I realized she was still there, I automatically hit the "on" switch for those lights, which prompted complaints from students already in the room and a request for Ms. Banda as she was leaving to please turn them off. You see, she uses "mood lighting", soft light from lamps placed around the room. Cool!
The classes went fairly well. A couple of them were talkative during the opening minutes, while they were supposed to be doing individual work on a "Warm-up" and I was trying to take attendance. In both cases I quipped, "When Ms. Banda says 'Warm-up' she's not referring to your vocal cords!" And later in one of those classes a couple of boys got involved in throwing wads of paper. I remarked, "This isn't Lackland Air Force Base, so I don't want to see any flying objects! Okay?" And I didn't see any.
As one of the morning classes was leaving after the dismissal bell, one girl was left in the room, as she had an elaborate set of school supplies to get together to take with her. As she left we exchanged pleasantries. She said, "Have a nice day" or something similar. I replied, "I am! This school has terrific teachers and awesome students!"
Now, THAT reply was straight off the top of my head. But it was also from the depths of my heart. I truly enjoy sub-teaching at Alamo Heights High School. So, I MEANT what I said about the teachers and the students!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Día de la Raza
Today is Columbus Day, in the English-speaking Western Hemisphere. Among the Spanish-speaking, including those in these United States, it is "Día de la Raza".
Even tho' this is a holiday tied to a SPECIFIC event in history, the date -- 12 October A.D. 1492 -- that Christopher and his crew of three ships of Spaniards discovered the New World, it has fallen to the "Monday-holiday" syndrome that caters to American love of leisure and laziness. So, for example, the Alamo Heights ISD had a school holiday on Monday the Ninth in observance of the historic date. Well, I think that's why it was a holiday; the teachers still had workshops. And actually I was glad to have the day off to rest up and catch up from my participation in the Walk to Emmaus #1327.
Columbus Day, or Día de la Raza, is an important day in history. Probably next to Christ's birth, death and resurrection, which split western history into Before Christ (B.C.) and "In the Year of Our Lord" (A.D. Anno Domini in Latin), Columbus' discovery in A.D. 1492 had the most impact on human history.
Alas! in this current age of the "politically correct" agenda, emphasis had been on the negatives of the A.D. 1492 connection of the New World with the Old. True, terrible things came out of the mariner's exploit. He himself mistreated the natives, and of course in ensuing generations a huge percentage of the indigenous died from the ravages of European diseases against which they had no immunity. They died as well from mistreatment at the hands of the Europeans. And because they thus could not bear the slavery imposed on them, the Europeans took to hauling black Africans across the Atlantic to be their slaves.
Nevertheless Cristóbal Colón (his name's Spanish version, by which he went much of his later adult life) desired noble goals. BTW, one of those goals was NOT to prove that the world was round; most educated folk of the time already KNEW the Earth was a globe. The most-publicized goal was to set up a trade route for Spain and Europe WEST across the Atlantic Ocean to the Spice Islands and the other riches of the Orient. But another major goal of Colón was to open a road across the sea for the spreading of the Gospel, the Good News of Christ, who had after all died for ALL PEOPLE, regardless of residence, race or language. Consider that the Italian navigator's personal name means "Christ-bearer"!
The spiritual goal was one which caught the attention of Queen Isabel, and one which we Western-Hemisphere Christians today should remember with gratitude.
Even tho' this is a holiday tied to a SPECIFIC event in history, the date -- 12 October A.D. 1492 -- that Christopher and his crew of three ships of Spaniards discovered the New World, it has fallen to the "Monday-holiday" syndrome that caters to American love of leisure and laziness. So, for example, the Alamo Heights ISD had a school holiday on Monday the Ninth in observance of the historic date. Well, I think that's why it was a holiday; the teachers still had workshops. And actually I was glad to have the day off to rest up and catch up from my participation in the Walk to Emmaus #1327.
Columbus Day, or Día de la Raza, is an important day in history. Probably next to Christ's birth, death and resurrection, which split western history into Before Christ (B.C.) and "In the Year of Our Lord" (A.D. Anno Domini in Latin), Columbus' discovery in A.D. 1492 had the most impact on human history.
Alas! in this current age of the "politically correct" agenda, emphasis had been on the negatives of the A.D. 1492 connection of the New World with the Old. True, terrible things came out of the mariner's exploit. He himself mistreated the natives, and of course in ensuing generations a huge percentage of the indigenous died from the ravages of European diseases against which they had no immunity. They died as well from mistreatment at the hands of the Europeans. And because they thus could not bear the slavery imposed on them, the Europeans took to hauling black Africans across the Atlantic to be their slaves.
Nevertheless Cristóbal Colón (his name's Spanish version, by which he went much of his later adult life) desired noble goals. BTW, one of those goals was NOT to prove that the world was round; most educated folk of the time already KNEW the Earth was a globe. The most-publicized goal was to set up a trade route for Spain and Europe WEST across the Atlantic Ocean to the Spice Islands and the other riches of the Orient. But another major goal of Colón was to open a road across the sea for the spreading of the Gospel, the Good News of Christ, who had after all died for ALL PEOPLE, regardless of residence, race or language. Consider that the Italian navigator's personal name means "Christ-bearer"!
The spiritual goal was one which caught the attention of Queen Isabel, and one which we Western-Hemisphere Christians today should remember with gratitude.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
#1327 - some final musings De Colores!
Yep, dear reader, please allow me a few final remarks about Walk to Emmaus #1327. And then I'll trust that if you've been on a Walk or on Cursillo you know "the rest of the story" (as Paul Harvey would say). And if you haven't been, that my sharing impels you to get busy applying to go on a Walk!
I've mentioned (e.g., see 25 June post) that the talk I gave was "Sanctifying Grace". This is the fifth and final Talk directly concerning God's amazing grace; they are the five done by clergy. It's also the twelfth Talk of the fifteen, and comes on Sunday morning, about the hour churches with two morning worship services are having the first service (the time specific will have significance in the next paragraph). Like all the speakers I dress up in suit and tie (women speakers dress equivalently) and pray with a prayer partner in the Mt. Wesley chapel before being taken across campus to the conference room to do my Talk. My prayer partner continues to pray during the Talk.
So into the room I enter, carrying the hand-held cross that EVERY speaker has carried to & from his/her Talk. And I'm wearing borrowed shoes! I forgot to pack dress shoes, so Chris Rollins, who's doing the fifteenth & final Talk lends me his. They're size 11, a bit large for my 9 1/2 or 10 feet, but that's perfect. Upon arriving at the podium, the first thing I do is step beside it and easily slip my feet out of Chris' shoes. (At the end of my Talk I briefly explain my action and the significance of my many shoe-less moments during this Walk; see 9 Oct. post.) Then I tell my opening personal illustration -- my nervousness during my first entry into a prison to sponsor an inmate for a Kairos Weekend and how the ease of the intro meeting exemplified God's sanctifying grace in my life -- and introduce myself and topic, thus: "My name is Glen Alan Graham; my SERMON this morning is Sanctifying Grace."
The Talk/"sermon" goes smoothly -- why not, it's being prayed over -- except for one little glitch toward the end. This unexpected "bump" is due to my following to the letter MY printed instructions for the Talk, which varied from material Bruce our Lay Director had. But okay, not to worry. It was probably of spiritual benefit to someone or some. It was beneficial to me, because it kept me humble and acquired for me a wallet-size "Order of Reunion - Service Sheet" card. Not long after my Pilgrim Walk I had lost my original copy of this card, and had not acquired a new one while on Men's Walk #1005. So I was very glad to have one again!
One last thing. You may have figured out by now that I'm an emotive guy, who gets moist eyes at touching events, happy or sad. Former singer and songwriter for Southern gospel group Heavenbound, Jeff Gibson, on a live album of the group's said in affirmation of audience tears of joy, "My grandaddy always said that if your head leaks it won't swell!" Mine leaked plenty during the Walk #1327. Almost every time we sang the centering song I would tear up, since it called to memory my own Pilgrim Walk, #327, one thousand Walks previously, which employed that SAME centering song. And when on Sunday at some point we sang "Here I Am, Lord" I teared up again, remembering how in my first Fourth Day Group, Koinonia, at every monthly gathering we'd sing that song no matter what others we sang. Also, the choir at Alamo Heights Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) sang "Here I Am, Lord" as anthem on my first Sunday at the church back in '02. I had tears of joy that day at the memories of my earlier Emmaus experiences in Texas, joined the church and resumed my journey to Emmaus that was temporarily interrupted after moving to Tennessee.
My resumed journey to Emmaus had led to THIS point, Mt. Wesley Methodist camp in Kerrville, where it all began at the end of October A.D. 1993, and to THIS Walk #1327. Ain't God good??? Yep, "All the time!"
You will have noticed frequent use of the Spanish phrase De colores, particularly at the end of each posting about Walk #1327. This was inherited from Cursillo, naturally. It means literally "of colors" or more loosely "colorfully". It's an allusion to the great varieties of experiencing the one grace of our awesome God. Every Talk concludes with the speaker saying "De colores" and the normal speaking-voice response of everybody else,
De colores.
I've mentioned (e.g., see 25 June post) that the talk I gave was "Sanctifying Grace". This is the fifth and final Talk directly concerning God's amazing grace; they are the five done by clergy. It's also the twelfth Talk of the fifteen, and comes on Sunday morning, about the hour churches with two morning worship services are having the first service (the time specific will have significance in the next paragraph). Like all the speakers I dress up in suit and tie (women speakers dress equivalently) and pray with a prayer partner in the Mt. Wesley chapel before being taken across campus to the conference room to do my Talk. My prayer partner continues to pray during the Talk.
So into the room I enter, carrying the hand-held cross that EVERY speaker has carried to & from his/her Talk. And I'm wearing borrowed shoes! I forgot to pack dress shoes, so Chris Rollins, who's doing the fifteenth & final Talk lends me his. They're size 11, a bit large for my 9 1/2 or 10 feet, but that's perfect. Upon arriving at the podium, the first thing I do is step beside it and easily slip my feet out of Chris' shoes. (At the end of my Talk I briefly explain my action and the significance of my many shoe-less moments during this Walk; see 9 Oct. post.) Then I tell my opening personal illustration -- my nervousness during my first entry into a prison to sponsor an inmate for a Kairos Weekend and how the ease of the intro meeting exemplified God's sanctifying grace in my life -- and introduce myself and topic, thus: "My name is Glen Alan Graham; my SERMON this morning is Sanctifying Grace."
The Talk/"sermon" goes smoothly -- why not, it's being prayed over -- except for one little glitch toward the end. This unexpected "bump" is due to my following to the letter MY printed instructions for the Talk, which varied from material Bruce our Lay Director had. But okay, not to worry. It was probably of spiritual benefit to someone or some. It was beneficial to me, because it kept me humble and acquired for me a wallet-size "Order of Reunion - Service Sheet" card. Not long after my Pilgrim Walk I had lost my original copy of this card, and had not acquired a new one while on Men's Walk #1005. So I was very glad to have one again!
One last thing. You may have figured out by now that I'm an emotive guy, who gets moist eyes at touching events, happy or sad. Former singer and songwriter for Southern gospel group Heavenbound, Jeff Gibson, on a live album of the group's said in affirmation of audience tears of joy, "My grandaddy always said that if your head leaks it won't swell!" Mine leaked plenty during the Walk #1327. Almost every time we sang the centering song I would tear up, since it called to memory my own Pilgrim Walk, #327, one thousand Walks previously, which employed that SAME centering song. And when on Sunday at some point we sang "Here I Am, Lord" I teared up again, remembering how in my first Fourth Day Group, Koinonia, at every monthly gathering we'd sing that song no matter what others we sang. Also, the choir at Alamo Heights Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) sang "Here I Am, Lord" as anthem on my first Sunday at the church back in '02. I had tears of joy that day at the memories of my earlier Emmaus experiences in Texas, joined the church and resumed my journey to Emmaus that was temporarily interrupted after moving to Tennessee.
My resumed journey to Emmaus had led to THIS point, Mt. Wesley Methodist camp in Kerrville, where it all began at the end of October A.D. 1993, and to THIS Walk #1327. Ain't God good??? Yep, "All the time!"
You will have noticed frequent use of the Spanish phrase De colores, particularly at the end of each posting about Walk #1327. This was inherited from Cursillo, naturally. It means literally "of colors" or more loosely "colorfully". It's an allusion to the great varieties of experiencing the one grace of our awesome God. Every Talk concludes with the speaker saying "De colores" and the normal speaking-voice response of everybody else,
De colores.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
#1327: more intensity, more fun
As I reviewed my post of yesterday that describes Walk to Emmaus #1327, I considered so many things about the Walk that I didn't get around to sharing on this blog. Of course, to share it ALL would take thousands of words, not to mention removing all element of surprise, as I explained at the end of yesterday's posting. Nevertheless, I simply HAVE to share a couple of further items, of a serious, intense nature or humorous.
One of the benefits of being clergy on a Walk is that there is an intense moment on the third day, when all laity on the Team leave the conference room. The Pilgrims have each been handed a bag with Agapé Letters ("love letters", so to speak -- see 9 October posting for "agapé"). Significant people in the life of each Pilgrim are contacted and requested to write affirmative letters to him about his Emmaus experience. His Sponsor is REQUIRED to write one, and his spouse, parents and church pastor are strongly urged to write also. If a Pilgrim appears to have received fewer than average letters, some of us Team members fill the gap by writing to him ourselves. The reason the clergy remain in the room is that Pilgrims can get very deeply affected by what they read and may need someone to talk to. Our one African-American Pilgrim was Ron Brown, whom everybody on the Walk called "Preacher" because it came out at "New Best Friend" that he was called to go into the ministry. Well, "Preacher" was the first Pilgrim I saw getting emotional over his "love letters". Not agitated emotional, just visibly moved, as to moistened eyes.
I mentioned Candlelight early in the posting yesterday, and that I had been to several, at places in addition to Mt. Wesley. Candlelight is an event during the Walk when Emmaus folk who aren't on the Team get involved directly with the Pilgrims (and Team) in a very special way. Most Emmaus folk will tell you that Candlelight was the most significant one thing of their Pilgrim Walk, that it was "like Heaven". For me, the Dying Moment and Closing were somewhat more significant, appreciated and "heavenly", but I do understand where my fellow Emmaus brothers & sisters are coming from. Actually, Candlelight for #1327 WAS more moving than I was expecting, because some people were there whom I hadn't expected! I'm not going to say more, lest I spoil the surprise for some future Pilgrim. But if you MUST know details and don't care about losing the surprise, e-mail me at valle4gris@yahoo.com.
Now, to the humorous. Mike Solano was Spiritual Director for #1327. Mike did an awesome job as SD! But Mike is definitely NOT some sober-sided clergy hidden away in some monastery. He has his humorous side! All during the Walk Mike was working on turning a stuffed macaw parrot into a stuffed rooster (the rooster with multi-colored tail feathers is a popular symbol for Emmaus and Cursillo). To make the coxcomb and the wattle, he used the feet of the macaw, then replaced these with clear plastic cups shaped like margarita glasses that he cut with scissors to resemble the clawed feet. There was some defect in the plastic that clouded these cups and made them look dirty. I overheard a piece of a conversation between Mike and someone else, about this defect. Mike explained that it was "burnt toe jam". Now, my friends, once in a great while I overhear or am told words that will make me fall out laughing -- laughing so hysterically that tears come to my eyes and a headache to the back of my head. This was one of those times! "Burnt toe jam!" Haw, haw, haw, haw. . . !
During the final team formation meeting, Andy Smith (see 25 September for more about him) did his Preview Talk. His was the "Obstacles to Grace" Talk and at one point he said, "God is good!" Now, I have been conditioned (particularly thru my work in prisons with Kairos Prison Ministry) to immediately respond "all the time!" and await the leader saying "all the time" to which everybody else responds "God is good!" So without thinking I blurted out the respose when Andy said, "God is good." After the meeting that day, Mike took me aside and cautioned me to NOT do that (I'd done it to another speaker also, during his or her Preview Talk) because it clearly distracted Andy (and the other speaker). Well, during his actual Talk (on this Walk), when Andy said, "God is good", my lips began to part to utter the conditioned response -- and the Spirit checked me just in time! Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mike to my right turn his head and look directly at me with a look of "I dare you, and see what happens if you do!" But it was with a smile on his face.
Thanks, Mike! And thanks, "breath" of God (a.k.a. Holy Spirit)!
De colores.
One of the benefits of being clergy on a Walk is that there is an intense moment on the third day, when all laity on the Team leave the conference room. The Pilgrims have each been handed a bag with Agapé Letters ("love letters", so to speak -- see 9 October posting for "agapé"). Significant people in the life of each Pilgrim are contacted and requested to write affirmative letters to him about his Emmaus experience. His Sponsor is REQUIRED to write one, and his spouse, parents and church pastor are strongly urged to write also. If a Pilgrim appears to have received fewer than average letters, some of us Team members fill the gap by writing to him ourselves. The reason the clergy remain in the room is that Pilgrims can get very deeply affected by what they read and may need someone to talk to. Our one African-American Pilgrim was Ron Brown, whom everybody on the Walk called "Preacher" because it came out at "New Best Friend" that he was called to go into the ministry. Well, "Preacher" was the first Pilgrim I saw getting emotional over his "love letters". Not agitated emotional, just visibly moved, as to moistened eyes.
I mentioned Candlelight early in the posting yesterday, and that I had been to several, at places in addition to Mt. Wesley. Candlelight is an event during the Walk when Emmaus folk who aren't on the Team get involved directly with the Pilgrims (and Team) in a very special way. Most Emmaus folk will tell you that Candlelight was the most significant one thing of their Pilgrim Walk, that it was "like Heaven". For me, the Dying Moment and Closing were somewhat more significant, appreciated and "heavenly", but I do understand where my fellow Emmaus brothers & sisters are coming from. Actually, Candlelight for #1327 WAS more moving than I was expecting, because some people were there whom I hadn't expected! I'm not going to say more, lest I spoil the surprise for some future Pilgrim. But if you MUST know details and don't care about losing the surprise, e-mail me at valle4gris@yahoo.com.
Now, to the humorous. Mike Solano was Spiritual Director for #1327. Mike did an awesome job as SD! But Mike is definitely NOT some sober-sided clergy hidden away in some monastery. He has his humorous side! All during the Walk Mike was working on turning a stuffed macaw parrot into a stuffed rooster (the rooster with multi-colored tail feathers is a popular symbol for Emmaus and Cursillo). To make the coxcomb and the wattle, he used the feet of the macaw, then replaced these with clear plastic cups shaped like margarita glasses that he cut with scissors to resemble the clawed feet. There was some defect in the plastic that clouded these cups and made them look dirty. I overheard a piece of a conversation between Mike and someone else, about this defect. Mike explained that it was "burnt toe jam". Now, my friends, once in a great while I overhear or am told words that will make me fall out laughing -- laughing so hysterically that tears come to my eyes and a headache to the back of my head. This was one of those times! "Burnt toe jam!" Haw, haw, haw, haw. . . !
During the final team formation meeting, Andy Smith (see 25 September for more about him) did his Preview Talk. His was the "Obstacles to Grace" Talk and at one point he said, "God is good!" Now, I have been conditioned (particularly thru my work in prisons with Kairos Prison Ministry) to immediately respond "all the time!" and await the leader saying "all the time" to which everybody else responds "God is good!" So without thinking I blurted out the respose when Andy said, "God is good." After the meeting that day, Mike took me aside and cautioned me to NOT do that (I'd done it to another speaker also, during his or her Preview Talk) because it clearly distracted Andy (and the other speaker). Well, during his actual Talk (on this Walk), when Andy said, "God is good", my lips began to part to utter the conditioned response -- and the Spirit checked me just in time! Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mike to my right turn his head and look directly at me with a look of "I dare you, and see what happens if you do!" But it was with a smile on his face.
Thanks, Mike! And thanks, "breath" of God (a.k.a. Holy Spirit)!
De colores.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Walk #1327 -- the BEST EVER!
I've posted twice (on 24 June and 25 September) about men's Walk to Emmaus #1327. Well, this past weekend the Walk took place, the 1327th for either men or women in southwest Texas. It was at Mt. Wesley Methodist camp in Kerrville in the Hill Country. Since watches, cellphones, laptops and all other electronic commo devices are banned from walks to Emmaus, I haven't been able to post anything for some days on this, my blogsite.
But I didn't mind! My whole being was absorbed in the business of service on the Team presenting this Walk. And what a tremendous blessing it was!
As I've mentioned before, I was a Pilgrim (first-timer) on Walk #327 -- exactly 1,000 Walks ago (here in SW TX), back at the end of October A.D. 1993. And I was on the Team for Walk #1005, in August of A.D. 2002. Both those walks were here at Mt. Wesley also. (There are several sites in the region, and in every state, for a Walk to Emmaus, and I have attended Candlelight for walks elsewhere in addition to Mt. W.)
In my service on #1005 I was introduced to the concept that THAT particular then-upcoming Walk would be THE BEST Walk ever. At first glance I poo-poo'ed the idea, remembering how wonderful #327 had been for me as a Pilgrim. But I found out, when we actually did #1005 -- it WAS the best ever (to that point). In fact, I was so overwhelmed by the holiness of the Dying Moment which took place on the second day, that I considered the story of Moses' encounter with Yahweh at the burning bush, and how God told Moses to remove his shoes because he stood on holy ground. The Holy Spirit told me, "You think this likewise is a holy moment and holy ground? Then why are your shoes still on your feet?" My shoes came off in a heartbeat!
Please, dear reader, do NOT get the idea that a Walk to Emmaus is that intense thru'out the three days, or that it's like being in a monastery chapel. Far from it! Emmaus people KNOW firsthand that being a Christian is FUN, and even humorous at times.
On the first evening (Thursday) there are brief introductory comments by the Lay Director and the Spiritual Director, to orient the Pilgrims to the Walk. There is also a game of "Meet My New Best Friend" in which participants pair up and ask each other a few simple get-acquainted questions. First question is name -- an easy question, since everyone is wearing nametags. Final question is to tell me an interesting fact about yourself. Then, each of the pair gets to introduce his "new best friend" to the whole group. And the "interesting facts" are often either humorous in themselves or in the manner in which they are told to the group.
What was even more a laugher was when Bruce Bray, Lay Director, in briefly telling the Pilgrims what to expect, came to the subject of food. Now, on a Walk there are three square meals daily -- in fact one could almost call them three cubic meals (or "round-ing", ha, ha), and the conference room where the Talks are given has a "food agapé" table, always well-stocked with food of all sorts. So Bruce, who is 6 feet tall or taller and pushing 300 pounds, confessed that "my being on walks to Emmaus has made me as big as I am; in fact, some folks call it the 'Walk to Enormous'".
I wish he hadn't said that last, because whenever I looked at the "food agapé" table those words "Walk to Enormous" sprang to mind so fast I almost got mental whiplash!
Agapé, BTW, is the Greek word used in the New Testament for unconditional love based on the will rather than feelings, like God's love. It's the love Paul describes in I Corinthians 13. In Emmaus we also use agapé to label small deeds done or small items given, that express unconditional love. For example, whenever the Pilgrims and Team return to their sleeping quarters following a session in the conference room, we find "pillow agapé" -- little objects or cards with little objects which will have an appropriate Scripture verse or an encouraging phrase (and usually the name of the small group or whomever made and provided it).
My "new best friend" was one of the Pilgrims, named Travis Simon. He told me that his French ancestor upon coming to America, dropped the final "e" from the family name. So I took to calling him "See-MONE" during the Walk; he took it in good humor. What I shared as his "interesting fact" was that he was born in California, but after marrying a girl from Texas and then living in his home state, the wife talked him into moving to Texas. As I said, "Those of you who are native Texans know that you can take the Texan out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the Texan!"
Being one of the clergy on the Team (even tho' I do not hold a clergy job, I retain my ordination with the Disciples of Christ, and do occasionally preach), I sat at the "extra" table. All the Pilgrims, along with Table Leaders and Assistants, sit at tables labelled with names of the four evangelists or St. Peter, St. Paul or another saint. We at the "extra" table (in addition to the clergy also the Lay Director and assisting Team members) don't do the responses to the Talks that the Pilgrims' tables do, so we're called St. Elsewhere.
But we at St. Elsewhere DO join in on the general group activities, particularly the singing. Before each Talk there is singing of rousing praise songs like "I Saw the Light" and more tho'tful ones like "Awesome God", before the "centering song" is sung to focus everyone's minds & spirits on the upcoming Talk (see 24 June post). I found out during team formation meetings, that the music team would lead us at least twice in "This Train". So I offered to bring my train crew cap and whistle from my summer work on Fiesta Texas Railroad. Man, I had FUN throwing on that cap and blowing the whistle and saying, "All aboard!" when the music team started that song! One time I made sure I was at the front, near the musicians. As we got into the first verse of "This Train" I started making motions with my forearms like the rods of the train wheels, choo-choo'ed on over to the nearest table and invited the Table Leader to "get on board" (along with his Table Family) by getting behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and following me. By the end of the song the entire room was doing this "conga line" around the tables!
Didn't I say we Christians have FUN???
Still, the Walk to Emmaus has a serious, Godly purpose. It is to renew the Pilgrim's faith and deepen his (or on a Women's Walk, her) relationship with Jesus. Thru individual renewal, the Emmaus experience renews the local congregation and equips congregational members who return from the Walk to be leaders in the local church. The Talks may have humorous anecdotes supplied by each speaker, but the overall outline is very serious while also being educational and uplifting, encouraging.
And then there are the intense experiences that take place away from the conference room, in the chapel and other places. One of these is the Dying Moment I mentioned above. Now, on THIS Walk, my shoes came off well before the Dying Moment. But they also came off then, as well as often later, including during my Talk. I told someone sometime on that final day, that I might as well have gone barefoot the entire time!
Well, I could go on and on. But then if you, dear reader, get opportunity to go on a Walk or Cursillo or similar 3-day retreat with follow-up, you will miss out on the element of surprise that's present in a few of the activities. Surprise which heightens the sense of discovery of oneself and one's relationship with an awesome God and Savior and with the Body of Christ which is the Church. And also, to be honest, some of those special and intense moments were between one or two other persons and me and Daddy God. And I'd prefer to keep these that way. (Jesus taught His disciples to call God "Abba", in His language of Aramaic "Abba" is a term of endearment similar to a little child's "Daddy" in our English.)
De colores. And "thank You, Lord, for the awesome experience of the Best Walk Ever, #1327! Amen and amen!"
De colores.
But I didn't mind! My whole being was absorbed in the business of service on the Team presenting this Walk. And what a tremendous blessing it was!
As I've mentioned before, I was a Pilgrim (first-timer) on Walk #327 -- exactly 1,000 Walks ago (here in SW TX), back at the end of October A.D. 1993. And I was on the Team for Walk #1005, in August of A.D. 2002. Both those walks were here at Mt. Wesley also. (There are several sites in the region, and in every state, for a Walk to Emmaus, and I have attended Candlelight for walks elsewhere in addition to Mt. W.)
In my service on #1005 I was introduced to the concept that THAT particular then-upcoming Walk would be THE BEST Walk ever. At first glance I poo-poo'ed the idea, remembering how wonderful #327 had been for me as a Pilgrim. But I found out, when we actually did #1005 -- it WAS the best ever (to that point). In fact, I was so overwhelmed by the holiness of the Dying Moment which took place on the second day, that I considered the story of Moses' encounter with Yahweh at the burning bush, and how God told Moses to remove his shoes because he stood on holy ground. The Holy Spirit told me, "You think this likewise is a holy moment and holy ground? Then why are your shoes still on your feet?" My shoes came off in a heartbeat!
Please, dear reader, do NOT get the idea that a Walk to Emmaus is that intense thru'out the three days, or that it's like being in a monastery chapel. Far from it! Emmaus people KNOW firsthand that being a Christian is FUN, and even humorous at times.
On the first evening (Thursday) there are brief introductory comments by the Lay Director and the Spiritual Director, to orient the Pilgrims to the Walk. There is also a game of "Meet My New Best Friend" in which participants pair up and ask each other a few simple get-acquainted questions. First question is name -- an easy question, since everyone is wearing nametags. Final question is to tell me an interesting fact about yourself. Then, each of the pair gets to introduce his "new best friend" to the whole group. And the "interesting facts" are often either humorous in themselves or in the manner in which they are told to the group.
What was even more a laugher was when Bruce Bray, Lay Director, in briefly telling the Pilgrims what to expect, came to the subject of food. Now, on a Walk there are three square meals daily -- in fact one could almost call them three cubic meals (or "round-ing", ha, ha), and the conference room where the Talks are given has a "food agapé" table, always well-stocked with food of all sorts. So Bruce, who is 6 feet tall or taller and pushing 300 pounds, confessed that "my being on walks to Emmaus has made me as big as I am; in fact, some folks call it the 'Walk to Enormous'".
I wish he hadn't said that last, because whenever I looked at the "food agapé" table those words "Walk to Enormous" sprang to mind so fast I almost got mental whiplash!
Agapé, BTW, is the Greek word used in the New Testament for unconditional love based on the will rather than feelings, like God's love. It's the love Paul describes in I Corinthians 13. In Emmaus we also use agapé to label small deeds done or small items given, that express unconditional love. For example, whenever the Pilgrims and Team return to their sleeping quarters following a session in the conference room, we find "pillow agapé" -- little objects or cards with little objects which will have an appropriate Scripture verse or an encouraging phrase (and usually the name of the small group or whomever made and provided it).
My "new best friend" was one of the Pilgrims, named Travis Simon. He told me that his French ancestor upon coming to America, dropped the final "e" from the family name. So I took to calling him "See-MONE" during the Walk; he took it in good humor. What I shared as his "interesting fact" was that he was born in California, but after marrying a girl from Texas and then living in his home state, the wife talked him into moving to Texas. As I said, "Those of you who are native Texans know that you can take the Texan out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the Texan!"
Being one of the clergy on the Team (even tho' I do not hold a clergy job, I retain my ordination with the Disciples of Christ, and do occasionally preach), I sat at the "extra" table. All the Pilgrims, along with Table Leaders and Assistants, sit at tables labelled with names of the four evangelists or St. Peter, St. Paul or another saint. We at the "extra" table (in addition to the clergy also the Lay Director and assisting Team members) don't do the responses to the Talks that the Pilgrims' tables do, so we're called St. Elsewhere.
But we at St. Elsewhere DO join in on the general group activities, particularly the singing. Before each Talk there is singing of rousing praise songs like "I Saw the Light" and more tho'tful ones like "Awesome God", before the "centering song" is sung to focus everyone's minds & spirits on the upcoming Talk (see 24 June post). I found out during team formation meetings, that the music team would lead us at least twice in "This Train". So I offered to bring my train crew cap and whistle from my summer work on Fiesta Texas Railroad. Man, I had FUN throwing on that cap and blowing the whistle and saying, "All aboard!" when the music team started that song! One time I made sure I was at the front, near the musicians. As we got into the first verse of "This Train" I started making motions with my forearms like the rods of the train wheels, choo-choo'ed on over to the nearest table and invited the Table Leader to "get on board" (along with his Table Family) by getting behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and following me. By the end of the song the entire room was doing this "conga line" around the tables!
Didn't I say we Christians have FUN???
Still, the Walk to Emmaus has a serious, Godly purpose. It is to renew the Pilgrim's faith and deepen his (or on a Women's Walk, her) relationship with Jesus. Thru individual renewal, the Emmaus experience renews the local congregation and equips congregational members who return from the Walk to be leaders in the local church. The Talks may have humorous anecdotes supplied by each speaker, but the overall outline is very serious while also being educational and uplifting, encouraging.
And then there are the intense experiences that take place away from the conference room, in the chapel and other places. One of these is the Dying Moment I mentioned above. Now, on THIS Walk, my shoes came off well before the Dying Moment. But they also came off then, as well as often later, including during my Talk. I told someone sometime on that final day, that I might as well have gone barefoot the entire time!
Well, I could go on and on. But then if you, dear reader, get opportunity to go on a Walk or Cursillo or similar 3-day retreat with follow-up, you will miss out on the element of surprise that's present in a few of the activities. Surprise which heightens the sense of discovery of oneself and one's relationship with an awesome God and Savior and with the Body of Christ which is the Church. And also, to be honest, some of those special and intense moments were between one or two other persons and me and Daddy God. And I'd prefer to keep these that way. (Jesus taught His disciples to call God "Abba", in His language of Aramaic "Abba" is a term of endearment similar to a little child's "Daddy" in our English.)
De colores. And "thank You, Lord, for the awesome experience of the Best Walk Ever, #1327! Amen and amen!"
De colores.
Monday, September 25, 2006
107 years of witness on the Westside!
Two years ago I read an announcement about, and then attended, the worship and celebration at Mexican Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of its 105th anniversary. I was charmed by the little bilingual church on the Westside. Eventually I became a member, while retaining membership in Alamo Heights Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which the year previously had celebrated "only" its 50th.
Yesterday, Sunday, Mexican Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) celebrated its 107th anniversary as an organized church congregation. We also celebrated the 81st anniversary of the church building. Some time back I found out, to my surprise, that not only is this congregation the first Spanish-speaking Disciples of Christ church nationwide, it's also the oldest Disciples congregation here in San Antonio!
The morning worship was blessed and delightful! We had probably three times the usual number of worshippers in attendance. This included both of our regular preachers of the past year or so, Andy Villarreal and Desiderio Del Pozo, and their wives. With a little encouragement from one of our congregational leaders, I led us at the opening with five praise songs instead of the usual three. And all thru the service there was an atmosphere of reverence before the Lord and thankfulness for the over a century of Christian witness here on the Westside. Also, I noticed that most of the men were wearing suits and ties; usually during the summer only the preacher would wear a suit and tie, and I would be the only other man even wearing a necktie!
One feature of the annual anniversary worship service at Mexican Christian Church is the presentation of the "Disciple Award" to somebody. This time it was presented to Robert Santana, a life-long member and one of our Elders, along with his two sons. These three men have done much work to keep up our 81-year-old building. In fact, only a week or so earlier they had stripped, cleaned and re-waxed the downstairs floor.
And downstairs we went after the Benediction, to enjoy the traditional anniversary dinner. As is true of EVERY church meal I've ever attended -- to include Emmaus events -- the food was plentiful and delicious. And I must confess that I ate too much. In fact, the piece of birthday cake I took remained partly uneaten, I was that full! And I did my traditional after-dinner custom at Mexican Christian Church: there is a fairly new (to the church) sofa beside and below the landing for the steps up out of the fellowship hall (to go to the chapel or to further stairs up to the main sanctuary). This sofa is VERY comfortable to rest upon -- especially with a full stomach. I take full advantage there of the terrific custom that the Spaniards bro't to the New World: la siesta. Perhaps I could start a new dicho or saying for Spanish-speakers: Después de en la mesa fiesta, al sofá para buena siesta. That is, "After the party at the table, to the sofa for a nice nap!"
¿Qué piensas, querido lector de habla español?
Yesterday, Sunday, Mexican Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) celebrated its 107th anniversary as an organized church congregation. We also celebrated the 81st anniversary of the church building. Some time back I found out, to my surprise, that not only is this congregation the first Spanish-speaking Disciples of Christ church nationwide, it's also the oldest Disciples congregation here in San Antonio!
The morning worship was blessed and delightful! We had probably three times the usual number of worshippers in attendance. This included both of our regular preachers of the past year or so, Andy Villarreal and Desiderio Del Pozo, and their wives. With a little encouragement from one of our congregational leaders, I led us at the opening with five praise songs instead of the usual three. And all thru the service there was an atmosphere of reverence before the Lord and thankfulness for the over a century of Christian witness here on the Westside. Also, I noticed that most of the men were wearing suits and ties; usually during the summer only the preacher would wear a suit and tie, and I would be the only other man even wearing a necktie!
One feature of the annual anniversary worship service at Mexican Christian Church is the presentation of the "Disciple Award" to somebody. This time it was presented to Robert Santana, a life-long member and one of our Elders, along with his two sons. These three men have done much work to keep up our 81-year-old building. In fact, only a week or so earlier they had stripped, cleaned and re-waxed the downstairs floor.
And downstairs we went after the Benediction, to enjoy the traditional anniversary dinner. As is true of EVERY church meal I've ever attended -- to include Emmaus events -- the food was plentiful and delicious. And I must confess that I ate too much. In fact, the piece of birthday cake I took remained partly uneaten, I was that full! And I did my traditional after-dinner custom at Mexican Christian Church: there is a fairly new (to the church) sofa beside and below the landing for the steps up out of the fellowship hall (to go to the chapel or to further stairs up to the main sanctuary). This sofa is VERY comfortable to rest upon -- especially with a full stomach. I take full advantage there of the terrific custom that the Spaniards bro't to the New World: la siesta. Perhaps I could start a new dicho or saying for Spanish-speakers: Después de en la mesa fiesta, al sofá para buena siesta. That is, "After the party at the table, to the sofa for a nice nap!"
¿Qué piensas, querido lector de habla español?
Walk to Emmaus -- Men's #1327
In my posting on 24 June I described my attendance at the first meeting for the Team for Men's Walk to Emmaus #1327. This past Saturday we had our fourth and final team formation meeting. NOW the Team should be basically ready to serve as a vessel of God's grace during the actual Walk at the end of next week!
Team #1327 got introduced to a couple of new Team members. One is Andy Smith, pastor of a United Methodist church in historic Castroville. (He was taking the place of a clergy member who had had to bow out.) That day Andy previewed his Talk, "Obstacles to Grace". Or "sin" as he aptly told me while we two were getting acquainted during the opening meet 'n greet ('n eat) time. Andy's Talk is the fourth clergy Talk (done on Saturday), and mine is the fifth and final clergy Talk "Sanctifying Grace" (done Sunday morning).
I felt led by the Spirit -- the divine "breath" -- to offer to be Andy's prayer partner, to pray with him just before his preview Talk, just outside the meeting room. Prayer is a very crucial element of the Emmaus experience. Folk from all over the country even overseas sign up to pray half-hour segments of the 72-hour Prayer Vigil tha goes on during the Walk. Before each Talk during that Walk the speaker, having dressed up for his Talk (suit & tie) will pray with his prayer partner in the chapel. The partner continues to pray during the 20-minute Talk, and the two prayerfully give thanks afterward. And this just begins to enumerate the various prayer features. . . .
Mike Solano, the Walk's Spiritual Director, even spoke of prayer during his "Fourth-day Talk" in the worship celebrated early in our meeting. It was distressing that he told us that studies indicate that only 5% of ordained clergy have a regular daily prayer or devotional life. No wonder the organized Christian Church is in such disarray as the Twenty-first Century begins! But Mike's talk focused on the positive, and was generally energizing.
Then Andy went to the Table to preside at the Lord's Supper. Each team formation meeting includes this during the first hour of actual meeting. It follows the order in the "purple book" everyone receives on his or her Pilgrim Walk as a printed aid. In the worship order is the Great Thanksgiving, in which after thanking God our Father for His mighty acts in history and especially in Jesus the Nazarene, the Words of Institution are spoken. As Andy said these over the bread and then the cup, my mortal eyes saw what they always see: a loaf of bread and a chalice. But my eyes of faith saw more: a light came down and surrounded each Element in a soft yet bright glow! Did you ever see the TV show "Touched by an Angel", and when one of the angels would reveal his or her angelic nature to a human, the angel would glow? (For once Hollywood got a spiritual matter correct!) Well, THAT was what the bread and cup looked like to my eyes of faith!
Then, at the end of the Great Thanksgiving prayer Andy said the familiar petition: "Make us one with Christ, one with each other and one in witness. . . ." And again my eyes of faith saw the awesome! (My physical eyes were closed.) Cords composed of that same celestial light moved thru the room and encircled each Team member, binding us together! And at the "Amen" those cords were gone.
I wanted to cry out, "Lord, I'm not worthy of such wonderful insights, revealing Your presence with and blessing upon this Team!" Nevertheless, when the worship was over and we were about to break before previewing the first talk for that day, I shared with my Team buddies what had been revealed to me during the Great Thanksgiving. I knew it would encourage them to have evidence of "God with us"! And as I said at the start of this posting, NOW the Team is basically ready!
Hallelujah! Praise God! - De colores.
Team #1327 got introduced to a couple of new Team members. One is Andy Smith, pastor of a United Methodist church in historic Castroville. (He was taking the place of a clergy member who had had to bow out.) That day Andy previewed his Talk, "Obstacles to Grace". Or "sin" as he aptly told me while we two were getting acquainted during the opening meet 'n greet ('n eat) time. Andy's Talk is the fourth clergy Talk (done on Saturday), and mine is the fifth and final clergy Talk "Sanctifying Grace" (done Sunday morning).
I felt led by the Spirit -- the divine "breath" -- to offer to be Andy's prayer partner, to pray with him just before his preview Talk, just outside the meeting room. Prayer is a very crucial element of the Emmaus experience. Folk from all over the country even overseas sign up to pray half-hour segments of the 72-hour Prayer Vigil tha goes on during the Walk. Before each Talk during that Walk the speaker, having dressed up for his Talk (suit & tie) will pray with his prayer partner in the chapel. The partner continues to pray during the 20-minute Talk, and the two prayerfully give thanks afterward. And this just begins to enumerate the various prayer features. . . .
Mike Solano, the Walk's Spiritual Director, even spoke of prayer during his "Fourth-day Talk" in the worship celebrated early in our meeting. It was distressing that he told us that studies indicate that only 5% of ordained clergy have a regular daily prayer or devotional life. No wonder the organized Christian Church is in such disarray as the Twenty-first Century begins! But Mike's talk focused on the positive, and was generally energizing.
Then Andy went to the Table to preside at the Lord's Supper. Each team formation meeting includes this during the first hour of actual meeting. It follows the order in the "purple book" everyone receives on his or her Pilgrim Walk as a printed aid. In the worship order is the Great Thanksgiving, in which after thanking God our Father for His mighty acts in history and especially in Jesus the Nazarene, the Words of Institution are spoken. As Andy said these over the bread and then the cup, my mortal eyes saw what they always see: a loaf of bread and a chalice. But my eyes of faith saw more: a light came down and surrounded each Element in a soft yet bright glow! Did you ever see the TV show "Touched by an Angel", and when one of the angels would reveal his or her angelic nature to a human, the angel would glow? (For once Hollywood got a spiritual matter correct!) Well, THAT was what the bread and cup looked like to my eyes of faith!
Then, at the end of the Great Thanksgiving prayer Andy said the familiar petition: "Make us one with Christ, one with each other and one in witness. . . ." And again my eyes of faith saw the awesome! (My physical eyes were closed.) Cords composed of that same celestial light moved thru the room and encircled each Team member, binding us together! And at the "Amen" those cords were gone.
I wanted to cry out, "Lord, I'm not worthy of such wonderful insights, revealing Your presence with and blessing upon this Team!" Nevertheless, when the worship was over and we were about to break before previewing the first talk for that day, I shared with my Team buddies what had been revealed to me during the Great Thanksgiving. I knew it would encourage them to have evidence of "God with us"! And as I said at the start of this posting, NOW the Team is basically ready!
Hallelujah! Praise God! - De colores.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Summer's-end slouching has ended (?)
Well, dear reader, I've been informed that today, the Twenty-third of September, is the first full official day of Autumn. Remember my two previous blogs (see 25 August and 7 September) about how seemingly the Summer of '06 was slouching toward its ending or terminus?
One certainly couldn't detect this from the weather here in San Antonio! At least, not unless one gave heavy emphasis to the fact that we are seven or eight degrees cooler than we were in much of August; that is, we're in the mid-nineties for the high rather than over 100 F.
Oh, but then we ARE well into high school and university football, which is automatically associated with the Autumn season. Speaking of which, I finally decided to take the VÍA bus(es) way out northeast to suburban-rural Converse and see the Judson Rockets game versus the Churchill Chargers. It all started out nicely; prior to the game and teh requisite raaising fo Old Glory to the strains of the National Anthem, the visitors, Churchill, were invited to sing their school song, followed by host Judson and their school song.
The Rockets stopped Churchill on their first possession, and then in few plays took the pigskin into the end zone for a touchdown. Things were starting out very well for the home team, which made me glad for coach Rackley and his "boys". However, Churchill came back to first tie the game and then with a later score to go ahead. Judson sent the game into overtime with a last-minute field goal. But two overtimes later the same field goal kicker missed as over-time ran out, to hand the game to the visiting Chargers.
Did you notice that I described Converse, Judson High School's hometown, as "suburban-rural"? For the most part, the Judson ISD appears much like any other way-out-from-S.A. suburban area, such as Loopland to the west. Square miles of fairly new and soul-less residential development "all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same". Dozens of fairly new strip-shopping constructions "all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same". Etc. However, here and there large areas spreading across double-digit acres remain in pasturage or cropland. And what makes Converse "rural" for me is a little area to the north of the high school, where several very old business buildings still stand, some still in use for something, and a FEW used for the original purpose, e.g. along the lines of farm suppy. Whenever the VÍA bus takes me along the two streets that pass these, I get a STRONG sense of rural Texas -- even stronger than I got in Devine during my years of living there!
Hence, Converse retains some of its rural community roots, even as it morphs into a typical suburban entity much like Loopland.
One certainly couldn't detect this from the weather here in San Antonio! At least, not unless one gave heavy emphasis to the fact that we are seven or eight degrees cooler than we were in much of August; that is, we're in the mid-nineties for the high rather than over 100 F.
Oh, but then we ARE well into high school and university football, which is automatically associated with the Autumn season. Speaking of which, I finally decided to take the VÍA bus(es) way out northeast to suburban-rural Converse and see the Judson Rockets game versus the Churchill Chargers. It all started out nicely; prior to the game and teh requisite raaising fo Old Glory to the strains of the National Anthem, the visitors, Churchill, were invited to sing their school song, followed by host Judson and their school song.
The Rockets stopped Churchill on their first possession, and then in few plays took the pigskin into the end zone for a touchdown. Things were starting out very well for the home team, which made me glad for coach Rackley and his "boys". However, Churchill came back to first tie the game and then with a later score to go ahead. Judson sent the game into overtime with a last-minute field goal. But two overtimes later the same field goal kicker missed as over-time ran out, to hand the game to the visiting Chargers.
Did you notice that I described Converse, Judson High School's hometown, as "suburban-rural"? For the most part, the Judson ISD appears much like any other way-out-from-S.A. suburban area, such as Loopland to the west. Square miles of fairly new and soul-less residential development "all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same". Dozens of fairly new strip-shopping constructions "all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same". Etc. However, here and there large areas spreading across double-digit acres remain in pasturage or cropland. And what makes Converse "rural" for me is a little area to the north of the high school, where several very old business buildings still stand, some still in use for something, and a FEW used for the original purpose, e.g. along the lines of farm suppy. Whenever the VÍA bus takes me along the two streets that pass these, I get a STRONG sense of rural Texas -- even stronger than I got in Devine during my years of living there!
Hence, Converse retains some of its rural community roots, even as it morphs into a typical suburban entity much like Loopland.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Texas' national religion
Yeah, I know that these United States legally forbid government establishment of religion. Nevertheless, it's widely recognized both by native Texans and by "foreigners" (e.g Okies, Yankees, Brits, etc.) that Texas DOES effectively have a National Religion. (Oops, make that "State Religion".)
It's called "Friday night lights", that is, high school football. Some observers might append to these youthful gridiron gods the slightly older deities of the pigskin who are burnt orange Longhorns or maroon Aggies.
Yes, I'm writing this with tongue firmly in cheek. But make no mistake! 1) High school football IS serious business here in Texas (as is NCAA football). And 2) I too can get fairly serious about it. Hopefully, not to the level of religious devotion!
My own alma mater, Borah High School of Boise (Class of '72), had a splendid team, the Lions, who lost only one game in my three years there (Boise high schools were grades 10-12). The Borah Lions reigned (of course: the Lion IS King of Beasts/Mascots) at least four straight years as mythical Idaho football champ of the largest schools, and my senior year represented Idaho in Honolulu, where the Lions beat the best of Hawaii's football teams. And I've maintained interest in local h.s. football any place I've lived since. Thus, while I lived in Decatur, Texas (1979-'80) and then Devine, Texas ('92-'94), I enthusiastically supported the gridiron Eagles and the Warhorses, respectively. Therefore I was delighted to read in the Sports section of the newspaper early this week that the state-wide AP poll ranked Decatur #10 in 3-A schools and the Express-News' own poll of local schools (greater S.A./south-central Texas) ranked Devine #10 for all Sub-5A (Devine is also a 3-A level school). That same Sub-5A ranking had the Alamo Heights Mules at #2. AHHS is the high school where I sub-teach.
Allow me to advise you, dear reader, that the Texas state religion is somewhat stronger in small towns such as Devine and in distinctive "suburban" school districts (set-apart by obvious boundaries or unifying and unique characteristic, e.g. Alamo Hts.) than it is in metropolitan ISDs. Also, in these latter it's not just "Fri. nite" but also "Thu. nite-Sat. p.m." lights due to limited stadium facilities. Thus, the San Antonio ISD, where I used to also sub-teach, has eight high schools and two football/track-&-field stadiums. I still keep up with the high schools where I used to work, including the fortunes of their gridiron elevens. Notably the Sidney Lanier Voks ("Pride of the Westside"), the Thomas Edison Golden Bears, and the Thomas Jefferson Mustangs.
My favorite stadium in Bexar County is the SAISD's Alamo Stadium. The WPA of the Depression Era (1930s) built it, so it features solid construction and attractively classy looks. It overlooks downtown San Antonio from a hill to the north between the zoo-Brackenridge Park and the Trinity University campus. I also really like Alamo Heights' Orem Stadium and Harlandale ISD's Memorial Stadium near the old Spanish missions in southern S.A. At those two I can stand and watch a game from outside the fence, until ticket-takers leave the gates mid-way in the second half. Then I can enter and for no cost sit and enjoy the final quarter!
Well, I shall be at one or another of those temples of the Texas state religion some evening this weekend. I just haven't made up my mind WHICH game yet! It may just be highly-ranked 5-A Judson's stadium, because they are hosting another high-ranked 5-A team (Churchill H.S.), and I personally knew their head coach, Jim Rackley, when he was head coach at Southwest H.S. and attended my church in Devine. Now, let me tell you: having known him personally in the church/family setting (I was his house guest one night), and followed his coaching career since, I firmly believe that Jim Rackley is not just a terrific coach, but that he's probably THE BEST high school football coach in Texas! Which may just mean Jim's the best in the USA!
It's called "Friday night lights", that is, high school football. Some observers might append to these youthful gridiron gods the slightly older deities of the pigskin who are burnt orange Longhorns or maroon Aggies.
Yes, I'm writing this with tongue firmly in cheek. But make no mistake! 1) High school football IS serious business here in Texas (as is NCAA football). And 2) I too can get fairly serious about it. Hopefully, not to the level of religious devotion!
My own alma mater, Borah High School of Boise (Class of '72), had a splendid team, the Lions, who lost only one game in my three years there (Boise high schools were grades 10-12). The Borah Lions reigned (of course: the Lion IS King of Beasts/Mascots) at least four straight years as mythical Idaho football champ of the largest schools, and my senior year represented Idaho in Honolulu, where the Lions beat the best of Hawaii's football teams. And I've maintained interest in local h.s. football any place I've lived since. Thus, while I lived in Decatur, Texas (1979-'80) and then Devine, Texas ('92-'94), I enthusiastically supported the gridiron Eagles and the Warhorses, respectively. Therefore I was delighted to read in the Sports section of the newspaper early this week that the state-wide AP poll ranked Decatur #10 in 3-A schools and the Express-News' own poll of local schools (greater S.A./south-central Texas) ranked Devine #10 for all Sub-5A (Devine is also a 3-A level school). That same Sub-5A ranking had the Alamo Heights Mules at #2. AHHS is the high school where I sub-teach.
Allow me to advise you, dear reader, that the Texas state religion is somewhat stronger in small towns such as Devine and in distinctive "suburban" school districts (set-apart by obvious boundaries or unifying and unique characteristic, e.g. Alamo Hts.) than it is in metropolitan ISDs. Also, in these latter it's not just "Fri. nite" but also "Thu. nite-Sat. p.m." lights due to limited stadium facilities. Thus, the San Antonio ISD, where I used to also sub-teach, has eight high schools and two football/track-&-field stadiums. I still keep up with the high schools where I used to work, including the fortunes of their gridiron elevens. Notably the Sidney Lanier Voks ("Pride of the Westside"), the Thomas Edison Golden Bears, and the Thomas Jefferson Mustangs.
My favorite stadium in Bexar County is the SAISD's Alamo Stadium. The WPA of the Depression Era (1930s) built it, so it features solid construction and attractively classy looks. It overlooks downtown San Antonio from a hill to the north between the zoo-Brackenridge Park and the Trinity University campus. I also really like Alamo Heights' Orem Stadium and Harlandale ISD's Memorial Stadium near the old Spanish missions in southern S.A. At those two I can stand and watch a game from outside the fence, until ticket-takers leave the gates mid-way in the second half. Then I can enter and for no cost sit and enjoy the final quarter!
Well, I shall be at one or another of those temples of the Texas state religion some evening this weekend. I just haven't made up my mind WHICH game yet! It may just be highly-ranked 5-A Judson's stadium, because they are hosting another high-ranked 5-A team (Churchill H.S.), and I personally knew their head coach, Jim Rackley, when he was head coach at Southwest H.S. and attended my church in Devine. Now, let me tell you: having known him personally in the church/family setting (I was his house guest one night), and followed his coaching career since, I firmly believe that Jim Rackley is not just a terrific coach, but that he's probably THE BEST high school football coach in Texas! Which may just mean Jim's the best in the USA!
Monday, September 18, 2006
San Anto -- ALWAYS something to do!
Let NO ONE say in my presence, that "there's nothing to do in San Antonio!" As you may have guessed from my constant references to San Antonio as being a "party city", there is something entertaining or recreational going on all the time (weekends at least). And if there isn't some special event, there are always the numerous museums (more about them in a later blog), parks, or historical sites and tourist attractions.
This past weekend was a HUM-DINGER!!! We celebrated Diez y Seis, Mexico's Independence Day from Friday evening thru Sunday -- and NOT just Saturday the actual Sixteenth (Diez y Seis)! I had TWO spiritual/church-related events to attend in addition to the usual Sunday morning worship. The Aggies of Texas A & M were playing a football game against Army (West Point, the USMA) at the Alamodome, in addition to the usual line-up of dozens of area high school football games on Friday and Saturday nites. Also, I had won admission for two to great pop and country singer Ray Price's concert for Saturday nite at Floore's Country Store in suburban Helotes.
And then, I went to the Thursday evening closing portions of the S.A. City Council meeting -- and got reminded that this weekend was ALSO the annual JazzSAlive festival of jazz music in downtown's block-size Travis Park! Wow! When was I going to have time even to sleep, if I tried to take in all this? The ball games, of course, immediately got scratched. Since I couldn't find anyone with a car who could go to Ray Price (several liked him and would gladly have gone, but already had other commitments), that got scratched, too.
Friday evening I went across town to the Lackland AFB area to attend the Northwest San Antonio FDG Emmaus monthly gathering. One event of the meeting was the commissioning of the Team for Men's Walk to Emmaus #1327, and I'm on that Team. (The number of a Walk, BTW, refers to how many that particular conference-equivalent Emmaus community has done. This is the Southwest Texas Emmaus community, co-equal with the SWTX Conference of the United Methodist Church (the UMC oversees Emmaus nationwide). It's such a huge area that it's divided into numerous Fourth Day groups, of which NWSA and Care Bexar are two. Southwest Texas easily has had MORE walks than any equivalent region! And my impression is that Cursillo, the original 3-day retreat floowed by 4th Day activities for Christian renewal, in the Catholic Church is probably likewise enormously popular here in Texas.
The NWSA gathering seemed to go longer than usual, & not simply because of the additional commissioning of our Team. So I didn't get downtown until about 10:30. I had REALLY desired to attend the "El Grito" ceremony at Municipal Auditorium. I hadn't attended in a couple of years & missed it, because it truly is a delightful, colorful and musical celebration of Mexico's culture, ending with the official grito or shout patterned after Father Hidalgo's original grito that launched the struggle for independence from Spain. Plus I knew that one of the entertaining artists this year was to be Los Caporales, the excellent mariachi band which performs in Fiesta Texas themepark. But alas! as I approached the auditorium, the audience was leaving, since the show was over. Strange, that el grito was done at 10:30 and not an hour and a half later (midnight), as it's done across the border. (Hidalgo had summoned his parish in Dolores village by ringing the church bells around midnight, to utter his cry -- grito -- for revolution.)
So I went on home to bed. And I was up early on Saturday, to pray my half hour of the Prayer Vigil for Kairos Weekend #16 at the Torres Prison. Then I rode bus(es) to the Westside and my church on Guadalupe Street, for the Diez y Seis Parade. As always (when I've been able to attend it), this parade was colorful, long and fun. I'd put it right up there with the parades of Fiesta San Antonio -- even my fave, the Battle of Flowers (altho' Diez y Seis isn't nearly THAT long!).
Then I got on the bus(es) again, to get to Fiesta Texas, to turn in my locker and employee i.d. and to try one last endeavor to find someone who would like to attend the Ray Price concert and give me a ride. I had no success on that latter. So I consoled myself by enjoying the themepark one final time in '06. I watched my three favorite musical shows, Los Caporales mariachi, "The Heart of Country" traditional country classics and "Reflections at Rockville" '60s rock. That latter has my heart because the songs they sing and the clothes they wear are THE songs and clothes of MY high school years! (I was Borah H.S. in Boise, Class of '72.)
Furthermore, even tho' I took it easy as far as planning my itinerary, in addition to the three shows I rode six rides (the Train twice, for seven rides), including three I'd never before ridden. I even did the lead-up to The Rattler I had planned early this summer & hadn't gotten to put into action before that infernal Crew Ride on the wooden roller coaster that threw out my lower back. I first rode the Roadrunner Express, a comparatively mild coaster that I had ridden before, then The Boomerang, which takes riders several stories up on an incline before dropping them down thru a corkscrew and loop and then dropping them thru it all again -- backward! The lift up and dropping down (face-to-the-ground) on that first incline was the scariest part! Backward, which I'd been told was THE scariest part, was a piece of cake.
And THEN it was off to The Rattler, to ride the wooden coaster for my second time! To avoid another throwing-out of the lower back, I padded my seat with the day's newspaper which I'd bro't with me. Also, I psyched myself to stay as loose-jointed and relaxed as possible. No problem! I felt fine when my ride on The Rattler was done!
Sunday morning I was back on the bus(es) and riding back to my church on the Westside's Guadalupe Street for worship. It was a good service, well-attended for this small congregation! I had to leave during the sermon, in order to catch the bus again and get to a rendevous point at the appointed time to get a car ride out to the Torres Prison Unit (west of Hondo, the next county seat town due west of S.A.). One of the other passengers in this car had had heart surgery just this past Thursday -- and yet here she was, going to the Closing for Kairos Weekend #16 at Torres! What a trooper!
Dear reader, if you're a Christian & haven't ever been to a Closing for a Kairos Weekend, PROMISE yourself that you'll find out when the next one at a prison near you will be -- and go; in being a blessing to the inmates you'll get blessed! It used to be that to attend a Kairos Closing one had to have been on Cursillo or a Walk to Emmaus or a related program, but they've dropped that requirement (at least the TDCJ in this state has dropped it). All one needs is clearance to visit the prison (here, thru the TDCJ). I went to my first Kairos Weekend Closing in September of A.D. 2002 -- and I was "hooked! I couldn't get on a Team to do a Kairos Weekend fast en'uf! The testimonies of the inmates who were Candidates on the Weekend were that powerful, as to how the three-day Christian retreat in the prison had changed them around for the better! Kairos Prison Ministry is widely recognized as being THE MOST SUCCESSFUL rehabilitation program for offenders (inmates, convicts), that is, it has the best rate for released inmates NOT returning to a life of crime and back into the prison system.
Don't you want to be a part of something that God is using THAT effectively to bless folk who truly need the blessing of getting their lives turned around for the better???
This past weekend was a HUM-DINGER!!! We celebrated Diez y Seis, Mexico's Independence Day from Friday evening thru Sunday -- and NOT just Saturday the actual Sixteenth (Diez y Seis)! I had TWO spiritual/church-related events to attend in addition to the usual Sunday morning worship. The Aggies of Texas A & M were playing a football game against Army (West Point, the USMA) at the Alamodome, in addition to the usual line-up of dozens of area high school football games on Friday and Saturday nites. Also, I had won admission for two to great pop and country singer Ray Price's concert for Saturday nite at Floore's Country Store in suburban Helotes.
And then, I went to the Thursday evening closing portions of the S.A. City Council meeting -- and got reminded that this weekend was ALSO the annual JazzSAlive festival of jazz music in downtown's block-size Travis Park! Wow! When was I going to have time even to sleep, if I tried to take in all this? The ball games, of course, immediately got scratched. Since I couldn't find anyone with a car who could go to Ray Price (several liked him and would gladly have gone, but already had other commitments), that got scratched, too.
Friday evening I went across town to the Lackland AFB area to attend the Northwest San Antonio FDG Emmaus monthly gathering. One event of the meeting was the commissioning of the Team for Men's Walk to Emmaus #1327, and I'm on that Team. (The number of a Walk, BTW, refers to how many that particular conference-equivalent Emmaus community has done. This is the Southwest Texas Emmaus community, co-equal with the SWTX Conference of the United Methodist Church (the UMC oversees Emmaus nationwide). It's such a huge area that it's divided into numerous Fourth Day groups, of which NWSA and Care Bexar are two. Southwest Texas easily has had MORE walks than any equivalent region! And my impression is that Cursillo, the original 3-day retreat floowed by 4th Day activities for Christian renewal, in the Catholic Church is probably likewise enormously popular here in Texas.
The NWSA gathering seemed to go longer than usual, & not simply because of the additional commissioning of our Team. So I didn't get downtown until about 10:30. I had REALLY desired to attend the "El Grito" ceremony at Municipal Auditorium. I hadn't attended in a couple of years & missed it, because it truly is a delightful, colorful and musical celebration of Mexico's culture, ending with the official grito or shout patterned after Father Hidalgo's original grito that launched the struggle for independence from Spain. Plus I knew that one of the entertaining artists this year was to be Los Caporales, the excellent mariachi band which performs in Fiesta Texas themepark. But alas! as I approached the auditorium, the audience was leaving, since the show was over. Strange, that el grito was done at 10:30 and not an hour and a half later (midnight), as it's done across the border. (Hidalgo had summoned his parish in Dolores village by ringing the church bells around midnight, to utter his cry -- grito -- for revolution.)
So I went on home to bed. And I was up early on Saturday, to pray my half hour of the Prayer Vigil for Kairos Weekend #16 at the Torres Prison. Then I rode bus(es) to the Westside and my church on Guadalupe Street, for the Diez y Seis Parade. As always (when I've been able to attend it), this parade was colorful, long and fun. I'd put it right up there with the parades of Fiesta San Antonio -- even my fave, the Battle of Flowers (altho' Diez y Seis isn't nearly THAT long!).
Then I got on the bus(es) again, to get to Fiesta Texas, to turn in my locker and employee i.d. and to try one last endeavor to find someone who would like to attend the Ray Price concert and give me a ride. I had no success on that latter. So I consoled myself by enjoying the themepark one final time in '06. I watched my three favorite musical shows, Los Caporales mariachi, "The Heart of Country" traditional country classics and "Reflections at Rockville" '60s rock. That latter has my heart because the songs they sing and the clothes they wear are THE songs and clothes of MY high school years! (I was Borah H.S. in Boise, Class of '72.)
Furthermore, even tho' I took it easy as far as planning my itinerary, in addition to the three shows I rode six rides (the Train twice, for seven rides), including three I'd never before ridden. I even did the lead-up to The Rattler I had planned early this summer & hadn't gotten to put into action before that infernal Crew Ride on the wooden roller coaster that threw out my lower back. I first rode the Roadrunner Express, a comparatively mild coaster that I had ridden before, then The Boomerang, which takes riders several stories up on an incline before dropping them down thru a corkscrew and loop and then dropping them thru it all again -- backward! The lift up and dropping down (face-to-the-ground) on that first incline was the scariest part! Backward, which I'd been told was THE scariest part, was a piece of cake.
And THEN it was off to The Rattler, to ride the wooden coaster for my second time! To avoid another throwing-out of the lower back, I padded my seat with the day's newspaper which I'd bro't with me. Also, I psyched myself to stay as loose-jointed and relaxed as possible. No problem! I felt fine when my ride on The Rattler was done!
Sunday morning I was back on the bus(es) and riding back to my church on the Westside's Guadalupe Street for worship. It was a good service, well-attended for this small congregation! I had to leave during the sermon, in order to catch the bus again and get to a rendevous point at the appointed time to get a car ride out to the Torres Prison Unit (west of Hondo, the next county seat town due west of S.A.). One of the other passengers in this car had had heart surgery just this past Thursday -- and yet here she was, going to the Closing for Kairos Weekend #16 at Torres! What a trooper!
Dear reader, if you're a Christian & haven't ever been to a Closing for a Kairos Weekend, PROMISE yourself that you'll find out when the next one at a prison near you will be -- and go; in being a blessing to the inmates you'll get blessed! It used to be that to attend a Kairos Closing one had to have been on Cursillo or a Walk to Emmaus or a related program, but they've dropped that requirement (at least the TDCJ in this state has dropped it). All one needs is clearance to visit the prison (here, thru the TDCJ). I went to my first Kairos Weekend Closing in September of A.D. 2002 -- and I was "hooked! I couldn't get on a Team to do a Kairos Weekend fast en'uf! The testimonies of the inmates who were Candidates on the Weekend were that powerful, as to how the three-day Christian retreat in the prison had changed them around for the better! Kairos Prison Ministry is widely recognized as being THE MOST SUCCESSFUL rehabilitation program for offenders (inmates, convicts), that is, it has the best rate for released inmates NOT returning to a life of crime and back into the prison system.
Don't you want to be a part of something that God is using THAT effectively to bless folk who truly need the blessing of getting their lives turned around for the better???
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Radio: San Antonio on the airwaves
In my previous blog I mentioned listening to Stu Paul (& Roy Acuff) do play-by-play broadcasts of the San Antonio Missions Texas League baseball games on radio station KKYX-AM 680. This "classic country music" station is one of two stations I've listened to THE MOST since arriving here in San Antonio in A.D. 2002. The other station is KDRY-AM 1100, which used to be a limited-broadcast (i.e., not 24-7) mixture of good Christian teaching programs and of Southern Gospel music. KDRY is now 24-7, but is also almost all-teaching and almost no music any more.
A-a-a-hhh! I remember how in '02 I got into a very satisfying M.O. to start my week days. I would set the alarm for 5:00 AM on radio (rather than set for the beeping alarm), and have the radio tuned to KDRY. At the appointed hour KDRY would awake me with its opening, which included the morning deejay, Ralph Thompson, saying, ". . .and remember: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift from God. So let us rejoice and be glad in the present!" I've never heard a better opening for ANY radio station!
If I remember correctly, the first hour was all Southern Gospel music, and at some point during it I would silence the radio to do my morning devotions. Then, at 6:00, I would listen to Dr. John MacArthur's excellent teaching program "Grace to You". As soon as it ended, I would switch the radio to KKYX, catch the 3-4 minutes of local news, weather & traffic (not that I needed the latter), and then delight in two to three classic country music songs, one of which was ALWAYS a George Strait song! And then, about 6:38 would come "Today in History". Deejay Jerry King would go over events that had happened on the date thru'out the years (usually just the past century or two), and generally end this with a partial description of some event -- with the listener to call in a missing detail. I won a lot of tickets to such things as San Antonio Missions games and the Texas Folklife Festival by listening to Jerry's "Today in "History"!
Alas! most of that M.O. is now gone, mostly due to KDRY going 24-7 and dropping almost all music and that dear morning deejay! And at KKYX the program director, who dictates (doubtless by computer programming) what songs are played when (with NO concern for what the listening public might like), has seen fit to take George Strait and move him to BEFORE the 6:30 news (while "Grace to You" is still airing at KDRY). Oh, well. . . I still listen to KKYX a lot (& still win with "Today in History" or "Farm Fact or Fiction" an hour later), and to KDRY for "Grace to You" and when I can for its one remaining hour of So. Gospel music on Saturday afternoons.
Radio station KKYX-AM 680 played two songs on the morning of the eleventh of September, that were very appropriate for the solemn memorial of that fifth anniversary of the attacks. Right after "Today in History" it broadcast Alan Jackson's song "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?" which was most appropriate, I'd say! Within a half hour the station also broadcast Moe Bandy's "Americana". Even more than Jackson's song, "Americana" bro't tears to my eyes, as it always does.
"Americana" is a ballad sung in the first person, of a man who for some reason turns off a superhighway into a small county seat town -- I like to think Decatur, Texas, or Crossville, Tennessee -- and upon observing the relaxed and friendly pace of life there, decides to hang around a bit longer, even tho' it will "throw me off my schedule". He sings about old men playing checkers and kids hop-scotching on the town square, Old Glory flying "high above a statue of an unknown soldier" at the courthouse, and young lovers courting at the drug store's soda fountain "like we did before they built the shopping mall". And as he gets ready to pull back onto the superhighway "it hit me like a freight train, that a stone's throw from the fast lane, America is still safe and sound."
Yes, even that Norman Rockwell-like image of small-town Americana, is getting rarer and rarer. And I suppose that 9-11 has to some degree had its deleterious effect upon even the smallest and most remote of burgs in this country. This is probably true also for that earlier terrorist attack that so many seems to have forgotten, but which was perpetrated by red-blooded American citizens against a target in the Heartland: McVeigh & company's vile destruction of the Murrah Building in OK City.
Still, as I listened to Moe Bandy sing those words that are at once both nostalgic and patriotic, "it hit me like a freight train" that there are still strong remnants of that old pre-terrorist American life, to be experienced here & there. And so I'll continue to sing along on the chorus:
. "Americana, pictures of a people proud and free
. Americana, I’ll keep holding to the dream
. You’re still what living means to me."
A-a-a-hhh! I remember how in '02 I got into a very satisfying M.O. to start my week days. I would set the alarm for 5:00 AM on radio (rather than set for the beeping alarm), and have the radio tuned to KDRY. At the appointed hour KDRY would awake me with its opening, which included the morning deejay, Ralph Thompson, saying, ". . .and remember: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift from God. So let us rejoice and be glad in the present!" I've never heard a better opening for ANY radio station!
If I remember correctly, the first hour was all Southern Gospel music, and at some point during it I would silence the radio to do my morning devotions. Then, at 6:00, I would listen to Dr. John MacArthur's excellent teaching program "Grace to You". As soon as it ended, I would switch the radio to KKYX, catch the 3-4 minutes of local news, weather & traffic (not that I needed the latter), and then delight in two to three classic country music songs, one of which was ALWAYS a George Strait song! And then, about 6:38 would come "Today in History". Deejay Jerry King would go over events that had happened on the date thru'out the years (usually just the past century or two), and generally end this with a partial description of some event -- with the listener to call in a missing detail. I won a lot of tickets to such things as San Antonio Missions games and the Texas Folklife Festival by listening to Jerry's "Today in "History"!
Alas! most of that M.O. is now gone, mostly due to KDRY going 24-7 and dropping almost all music and that dear morning deejay! And at KKYX the program director, who dictates (doubtless by computer programming) what songs are played when (with NO concern for what the listening public might like), has seen fit to take George Strait and move him to BEFORE the 6:30 news (while "Grace to You" is still airing at KDRY). Oh, well. . . I still listen to KKYX a lot (& still win with "Today in History" or "Farm Fact or Fiction" an hour later), and to KDRY for "Grace to You" and when I can for its one remaining hour of So. Gospel music on Saturday afternoons.
Radio station KKYX-AM 680 played two songs on the morning of the eleventh of September, that were very appropriate for the solemn memorial of that fifth anniversary of the attacks. Right after "Today in History" it broadcast Alan Jackson's song "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?" which was most appropriate, I'd say! Within a half hour the station also broadcast Moe Bandy's "Americana". Even more than Jackson's song, "Americana" bro't tears to my eyes, as it always does.
"Americana" is a ballad sung in the first person, of a man who for some reason turns off a superhighway into a small county seat town -- I like to think Decatur, Texas, or Crossville, Tennessee -- and upon observing the relaxed and friendly pace of life there, decides to hang around a bit longer, even tho' it will "throw me off my schedule". He sings about old men playing checkers and kids hop-scotching on the town square, Old Glory flying "high above a statue of an unknown soldier" at the courthouse, and young lovers courting at the drug store's soda fountain "like we did before they built the shopping mall". And as he gets ready to pull back onto the superhighway "it hit me like a freight train, that a stone's throw from the fast lane, America is still safe and sound."
Yes, even that Norman Rockwell-like image of small-town Americana, is getting rarer and rarer. And I suppose that 9-11 has to some degree had its deleterious effect upon even the smallest and most remote of burgs in this country. This is probably true also for that earlier terrorist attack that so many seems to have forgotten, but which was perpetrated by red-blooded American citizens against a target in the Heartland: McVeigh & company's vile destruction of the Murrah Building in OK City.
Still, as I listened to Moe Bandy sing those words that are at once both nostalgic and patriotic, "it hit me like a freight train" that there are still strong remnants of that old pre-terrorist American life, to be experienced here & there. And so I'll continue to sing along on the chorus:
. "Americana, pictures of a people proud and free
. Americana, I’ll keep holding to the dream
. You’re still what living means to me."
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Baseball: Minor & Major
Early on in my postings at this, my blog spot, back in April, I mentioned the San Antonio Missions, the local minor league -- AA Texas League -- baseball team. Haven't said much, if anything, since. Here's why:
I actually won tickets to two of the Missions' games during this past season. My upstairs neighbor, Dennis from Detroit, went with me to one of those games. At the other game I got to go up in the pressbox and meet face-to-face with radio announcer Stu Paul, who does the games on radio station KKYX-AM 680. This is the fifth season that I've been privileged to listen to him and Roy Acuff (NOT THE Roy Acuff of the Grand Ole Opry, who's playing the Opry of Heaven; this one's not even named after him) do their play-by-play of Missions' games on KKYX-AM 680.
Both games I attended this year the Missions won.
However, over-all, 2006 was not kind to the hometown "boys of summer". After commencing in April with a successful series against the Corpus Christi Hooks in the Gulf-side city, The Missions slid down into a definite last-place finish in the TL South first half. Then after the TL All-Star Game break, San Antonio started out roaring in the second half! I actually got to thinking (hoping?) that '06 might be a repeat of '02, when the Missions finished dead last the first half, only to turn around and win the second half and go on to the first of back-to-back TL Championships.
But it never happened; the Missions faded away as the second half came to a close. There were some great games, at least to listen to on KKYX. But they still didn't make the playoffs.
So. . . since I've bro't up the subject of pro baseball, how about the Majors? Well, just to let you know, when I was a boy, I was a fervent fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates and all but worshipped Roberto Clemente. When he died in an airplane crash while taking aid to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua, his death hit me hard. I couldn't bear to follow baseball at any level for years. Then I moved to Fort Worth (A.D. 1976), and soon became a fan of the Texas Rangers. I actually attended a couple of Texas Rangers games at their ballpark in Arlington (the old one, before George W. built the present stadium). I'll never forget one of those, in which the Seattle Mariners were at bat, and the Rangers got a triple play against them! A TRIPLE PLAY!!!
When Nolan Ryan starred with the Rangers, I found a new baseball hero, one to almost rival my boyhood adoration of Clemente. Ryan was such a CLASSY man all around! And going strong at an age when most pro baseballers had hung up their gloves! Alas! the last visual image of Ryan as a Ranger was in a fight that broke out at his final game (or near-final), and there he was in the midst of the donnybrook, the head of someone on the opposing team locked in an elbow-grip while Ryan was giving him a noogie. Not an attractive image to go out on!
Since my Metroplex-residence days I've been a fan of the Rangers. I also continue to support the Pirates. And my love for the Seattle Mariners has become strong, due to them being the parent club for the S.A. Missions.
So-o-o, there's baseball and me, for you. . . .
I actually won tickets to two of the Missions' games during this past season. My upstairs neighbor, Dennis from Detroit, went with me to one of those games. At the other game I got to go up in the pressbox and meet face-to-face with radio announcer Stu Paul, who does the games on radio station KKYX-AM 680. This is the fifth season that I've been privileged to listen to him and Roy Acuff (NOT THE Roy Acuff of the Grand Ole Opry, who's playing the Opry of Heaven; this one's not even named after him) do their play-by-play of Missions' games on KKYX-AM 680.
Both games I attended this year the Missions won.
However, over-all, 2006 was not kind to the hometown "boys of summer". After commencing in April with a successful series against the Corpus Christi Hooks in the Gulf-side city, The Missions slid down into a definite last-place finish in the TL South first half. Then after the TL All-Star Game break, San Antonio started out roaring in the second half! I actually got to thinking (hoping?) that '06 might be a repeat of '02, when the Missions finished dead last the first half, only to turn around and win the second half and go on to the first of back-to-back TL Championships.
But it never happened; the Missions faded away as the second half came to a close. There were some great games, at least to listen to on KKYX. But they still didn't make the playoffs.
So. . . since I've bro't up the subject of pro baseball, how about the Majors? Well, just to let you know, when I was a boy, I was a fervent fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates and all but worshipped Roberto Clemente. When he died in an airplane crash while taking aid to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua, his death hit me hard. I couldn't bear to follow baseball at any level for years. Then I moved to Fort Worth (A.D. 1976), and soon became a fan of the Texas Rangers. I actually attended a couple of Texas Rangers games at their ballpark in Arlington (the old one, before George W. built the present stadium). I'll never forget one of those, in which the Seattle Mariners were at bat, and the Rangers got a triple play against them! A TRIPLE PLAY!!!
When Nolan Ryan starred with the Rangers, I found a new baseball hero, one to almost rival my boyhood adoration of Clemente. Ryan was such a CLASSY man all around! And going strong at an age when most pro baseballers had hung up their gloves! Alas! the last visual image of Ryan as a Ranger was in a fight that broke out at his final game (or near-final), and there he was in the midst of the donnybrook, the head of someone on the opposing team locked in an elbow-grip while Ryan was giving him a noogie. Not an attractive image to go out on!
Since my Metroplex-residence days I've been a fan of the Rangers. I also continue to support the Pirates. And my love for the Seattle Mariners has become strong, due to them being the parent club for the S.A. Missions.
So-o-o, there's baseball and me, for you. . . .
Monday, September 11, 2006
Nine-Eleven five years ago
Well, dear reader(s), here we are, on the fifth anniversary of one of the most horrendous events -- if not THE most horrendous -- to occur in my lifetime. To be honest, other terrible things assaulted me in A.D. 2001, that first year of the Twenty-first Century and the Third Milennium. All these traumatic events affected me deeply, and here in '06 I remember them clearly. But in the case of this one remembered today, EVERYONE remembers; it was an event which affected everyone -- most especially folks who were in the locations where it happened.
Five years ago, on Tuesday morning of the eleventh of September, I was watching "Stanley and Livingstone" on one of the classic movie reruns channels. When the movie was over, I considered getting myself ready to go out job searching (I was in the middle of a seven-month stretch of joblessness). But I decided instead to channel-surf. As the remote control sent the TV surfing over the various cable channels, there was a recurring image of one of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City billowing out a huge cloud of black smoke. When this image had cropped up three or four times, I let up on the remote, to find out what this signified.
Shortly afterward, the second jet rammed into the second tower. That was just the beginning of a series of images on the small screen that infamous day and the following days. The Pentagon hit by a third jet. . . a fourth jet hurtling to Earth in a Pennsylvania field. . . the WTC towers imploding one after the other. . . people fleeing the destruction thru the streets of NYC, businessmen with their neckties flying over their shoulders. . . dust covering people and cars. . . . It was a much darker picture than had been that movie I'd been watching, set in the interior of "darkest" Africa!
At some point it became very clear that these United States were not being attacked by some other established nation but rather by some shadowy group of terrorists. I remember going to awaken my son (a "night owl" and late sleeper), to tell him that "we're at war!"
And so we were. Here, five years later we're still in this war against terrorists. A lot of my fellow citizens are opposed to continuing this war, or at least that part of it that has our military in Iraq. However, I remember the words our President had said a few days later, upon declaring this war against terrorism. He told us it would be a long war, and nothing like any war this nation had fought before. We need to keep up our resolve, to thwart terrorism and pass on a peaceful, terrorist-free world to our children and grandchildren.
For all the horror of those days of September of '01, a few good things came out of them. One was the strong sense of national unity in the face of this terrible new threat, another the sympathy of other nations expressed in numerous memorials overseas, some simple and spontaneous, such as growing collections of lit candles outside USA embassies. And for me, a growing gratitude that the previous November (after much thought and weighing the plusses & minuses of the candidates) I had cast my vote for the man who was to be President when the 9-11 attacks occurred. Yes, I thank God that George W. Bush was our President when the atack came!
So: where were YOU that Tuesday morning five years ago? What were YOU engaged in?
Five years ago, on Tuesday morning of the eleventh of September, I was watching "Stanley and Livingstone" on one of the classic movie reruns channels. When the movie was over, I considered getting myself ready to go out job searching (I was in the middle of a seven-month stretch of joblessness). But I decided instead to channel-surf. As the remote control sent the TV surfing over the various cable channels, there was a recurring image of one of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City billowing out a huge cloud of black smoke. When this image had cropped up three or four times, I let up on the remote, to find out what this signified.
Shortly afterward, the second jet rammed into the second tower. That was just the beginning of a series of images on the small screen that infamous day and the following days. The Pentagon hit by a third jet. . . a fourth jet hurtling to Earth in a Pennsylvania field. . . the WTC towers imploding one after the other. . . people fleeing the destruction thru the streets of NYC, businessmen with their neckties flying over their shoulders. . . dust covering people and cars. . . . It was a much darker picture than had been that movie I'd been watching, set in the interior of "darkest" Africa!
At some point it became very clear that these United States were not being attacked by some other established nation but rather by some shadowy group of terrorists. I remember going to awaken my son (a "night owl" and late sleeper), to tell him that "we're at war!"
And so we were. Here, five years later we're still in this war against terrorists. A lot of my fellow citizens are opposed to continuing this war, or at least that part of it that has our military in Iraq. However, I remember the words our President had said a few days later, upon declaring this war against terrorism. He told us it would be a long war, and nothing like any war this nation had fought before. We need to keep up our resolve, to thwart terrorism and pass on a peaceful, terrorist-free world to our children and grandchildren.
For all the horror of those days of September of '01, a few good things came out of them. One was the strong sense of national unity in the face of this terrible new threat, another the sympathy of other nations expressed in numerous memorials overseas, some simple and spontaneous, such as growing collections of lit candles outside USA embassies. And for me, a growing gratitude that the previous November (after much thought and weighing the plusses & minuses of the candidates) I had cast my vote for the man who was to be President when the 9-11 attacks occurred. Yes, I thank God that George W. Bush was our President when the atack came!
So: where were YOU that Tuesday morning five years ago? What were YOU engaged in?
Thursday, September 07, 2006
End-of-summer slouching continues. . .
In an earlier blog, I described how the Summer season seems to slouch toward its ending, since there are numerous ways to define the end of summer (in addition to the official calendar ending, which is the Fall Equnox on or near 21 September).
Well, the slouching of Summer's ending persists. Tomorrow will be my final day of work on the Fiesta Texas Railroad. Now, stictly speaking this situation should not signal the end of Summer, since I did a whole week of work on the train ride during Spring Break and then Saturdays to late May. And let's not forget that Spring Break was early in March, well before the equinox that officially signals the commencement of Spring!
Nevertheless, I consider work at Fiesta Texas to be my Summer job, in some manner or other. Certainly during the summer months this is my sole source of income. And as I've said in earlier blog postings, this Summer's work on the train has been FUN! Already I miss it -- and I still have that one day to go!
Oh, I've mentioned that San Antonio has been in a drought, and that August daily high temperatures have been at or above 99 F. Well, early this week we finally got some much-needed rain, and the "cold" front that bro't it snapped that trend toward triple-digit highs. Indeed, yesterday we didn't get into the 90s at all! Hooray!
One event that seemed to signal Summer's end, at least for us Fiesta Texas workers, was on the Sunday evening at the end of the park's being open all week long. It was a "Sock Hop" for all employees, in the Rockville or 1950s theme area. The dominant item in the Rockville area is Rockville High School, and altho' the "Sock Hop" was held outside & well away from that building, and the event didn't involve a true sock hop or any dancing at all -- still, one associates a sock hop with high school, since it was type of dance event popular in high schools of the '50s.
What WAS available for enjoyment during this event were a couple of games, at which I did lousy, three rides, none of which I could ride thanks to the earlier back injury on the Rattler and the VÍA bus, and karaoke, a great delight for me. Alas! this karaoke was limited to strictly Elvis Presley hits. As I scanned the list of hits we could sing to (which was far from exhaustive of Presley's output), I saw "In the Ghetto", which is my favorite of songs Elvis recorded. However, it's been years since I heard it (if I remember correctly, when I was in high school I had that song on a 45 rpm vinyl disk), and I wasn't sure but what it might go above my comfortable vocal range. So I chose "Return to Sender" I sang that one easily en'uf, but still didn't win the prize. Nevertheless, it was a fun evening, presenting one of a bunch of events I can consider as end-of-summer!
So. . . have a gre-r-r-reat Fall, y'all!
Well, the slouching of Summer's ending persists. Tomorrow will be my final day of work on the Fiesta Texas Railroad. Now, stictly speaking this situation should not signal the end of Summer, since I did a whole week of work on the train ride during Spring Break and then Saturdays to late May. And let's not forget that Spring Break was early in March, well before the equinox that officially signals the commencement of Spring!
Nevertheless, I consider work at Fiesta Texas to be my Summer job, in some manner or other. Certainly during the summer months this is my sole source of income. And as I've said in earlier blog postings, this Summer's work on the train has been FUN! Already I miss it -- and I still have that one day to go!
Oh, I've mentioned that San Antonio has been in a drought, and that August daily high temperatures have been at or above 99 F. Well, early this week we finally got some much-needed rain, and the "cold" front that bro't it snapped that trend toward triple-digit highs. Indeed, yesterday we didn't get into the 90s at all! Hooray!
One event that seemed to signal Summer's end, at least for us Fiesta Texas workers, was on the Sunday evening at the end of the park's being open all week long. It was a "Sock Hop" for all employees, in the Rockville or 1950s theme area. The dominant item in the Rockville area is Rockville High School, and altho' the "Sock Hop" was held outside & well away from that building, and the event didn't involve a true sock hop or any dancing at all -- still, one associates a sock hop with high school, since it was type of dance event popular in high schools of the '50s.
What WAS available for enjoyment during this event were a couple of games, at which I did lousy, three rides, none of which I could ride thanks to the earlier back injury on the Rattler and the VÍA bus, and karaoke, a great delight for me. Alas! this karaoke was limited to strictly Elvis Presley hits. As I scanned the list of hits we could sing to (which was far from exhaustive of Presley's output), I saw "In the Ghetto", which is my favorite of songs Elvis recorded. However, it's been years since I heard it (if I remember correctly, when I was in high school I had that song on a 45 rpm vinyl disk), and I wasn't sure but what it might go above my comfortable vocal range. So I chose "Return to Sender" I sang that one easily en'uf, but still didn't win the prize. Nevertheless, it was a fun evening, presenting one of a bunch of events I can consider as end-of-summer!
So. . . have a gre-r-r-reat Fall, y'all!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Los Apaches Café has gone
Well! Is there some dread disease moving among the Mexican cafés of San Antonio? Last month my favorite Mexican café closed its doors, and only by serendipity did I get to have a final meal at Salsa Mora's, on its final day.
As this month of September in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six began, I was dismayed to read in the newspaper that Los Apaches Café likewise was about to shut down! After all, it was among the first places at which I ate when I arrived here in the Alamo City in January of A.D. 2002.
During that first week of living here in San Antonio, I took the bus downtown one evening to get re-acquainted with landmarks I remembered from earlier eras in my life. (Specifically, during my tour of duty at Ft. Hood, north of Austin, in 1981-83, and then while living in Devine, southwest of here in 1992-94.) One place I checked out was El Mercado, the Mexican Marketplace. Since I found everything there closed, I started walking east on Commerce Street toward Main Plaza. And thus I came to Los Apaches Café, and found it still open on this chilly January evening. I went in and had a small supper there. The food was delicious and definitely NOT mass-produced like a chain cafe's! And all over the inside, as well as on the sign outside were many Native American figures & figurines: "Indian" heads, paintings of "Indians" on the warpath or hunting, etc.
Really, it was a very pleasant place to dine! Alas! shortly afterward, Los Apaches did what most Mexican cafés here do: it began to close in the mid-afternoon. But I still had a breakfast taco or two occasionally there. LAst Sunday, my after-church dinner was at Los Apaches. And I probably would have eaten there more often, had I not encountered such other delightful Mexican restaurants as the now defunct Salsa Mora's.
And alas! now Los Apaches is defunct, too! Who's next, I wonder. . . .
As this month of September in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six began, I was dismayed to read in the newspaper that Los Apaches Café likewise was about to shut down! After all, it was among the first places at which I ate when I arrived here in the Alamo City in January of A.D. 2002.
During that first week of living here in San Antonio, I took the bus downtown one evening to get re-acquainted with landmarks I remembered from earlier eras in my life. (Specifically, during my tour of duty at Ft. Hood, north of Austin, in 1981-83, and then while living in Devine, southwest of here in 1992-94.) One place I checked out was El Mercado, the Mexican Marketplace. Since I found everything there closed, I started walking east on Commerce Street toward Main Plaza. And thus I came to Los Apaches Café, and found it still open on this chilly January evening. I went in and had a small supper there. The food was delicious and definitely NOT mass-produced like a chain cafe's! And all over the inside, as well as on the sign outside were many Native American figures & figurines: "Indian" heads, paintings of "Indians" on the warpath or hunting, etc.
Really, it was a very pleasant place to dine! Alas! shortly afterward, Los Apaches did what most Mexican cafés here do: it began to close in the mid-afternoon. But I still had a breakfast taco or two occasionally there. LAst Sunday, my after-church dinner was at Los Apaches. And I probably would have eaten there more often, had I not encountered such other delightful Mexican restaurants as the now defunct Salsa Mora's.
And alas! now Los Apaches is defunct, too! Who's next, I wonder. . . .
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