April | 2017 | dual personalities

Balm in Gilead

by chuckofish

Today is the anniversary of the deaths of two country music greats: Tammy Wynette (1942-1998) and Merle Haggard (1937-2016). They died on the same day but 18 years apart. Weird.

Here they are singing “Today I Started Lovin’ You Again”–a classic song of regret and unrequited love written by Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens in 1968.

In case you were wondering–(as I did)–“He Stopped Lovin’ Her Today,” which has been named in several surveys as the greatest country song of all time, was released twelve years after “Today I Started Lovin’ You Again.” So it was Merle who started that ball rolling.

And if you weren’t wondering, you can still toast them tonight.

In other news, I went to see the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church at Graham Chapel on the campus of my flyover university the other evening.

Michael Curry.jpg

He was introduced by our Provost (an Episcopalian!) and by our former senator/Episcopal priest who endowed the Center for Religion and Politics which sponsored the talk. Bishop Curry gave a rousing sermon (he was invited to speak on “Healing a House Divided”) and, through the old-timey and very effective method of repetition, had everyone in the packed chapel saying with him, If you cannot sing like angels, If you can’t preach like Paul, You can tell the love of Jesus, And say He died for all.

When he started singing at the end, everyone joined right in with him: There is a balm in Gilead, To make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead, To heal the sin-sick soul.

…Not something I have ever experienced at this flyover university.

He made his point–that only through the love of JESUS will the divisiveness in this country be healed. Amen, brother. Maybe there is hope for the Episcopal Church.

6 Comments

April 5, 2017

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”*

by chuckofish

Recently I was reading my Williams College alumni magazine and ran across an article about former President John Wesley Chandler who was head of the college when I attended.

Chandler is on the left

His standard CV includes the following facts: Chandler assumed the office of president on July 1, 1973, after serving as president of Hamilton College since 1968. He was born in Mars Hill, N.C. on Sept. 5,1923 and attended Wake Forest College, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received his B.A. in 1945. He received a B.D. from Duke University in 1952 and earned his Ph.D., also from Duke, in 1954. Sixteen colleges and universities, including Williams, have awarded him honorary doctorates.

However, as I read further, I found out that his CV leaves out a lot. It seems he wrote an autobiography last year–there was a link in the article and I followed it. The son of a tobacco farmer, Chandler grew up in rural North Carolina.

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Chandler (far right) with two of his brothers in 1931

When his father died during the Great Depression he was sent with two of his brothers to the Mills Home, a Baptist orphanage. From the age of 10 when he entered the orphanage in 1934, it was his home as well as his school until he graduated and went to college.

Life was disciplined at the Mills House, but “there was considerable intellectual stimulation…and an informed awareness of what was going on in the larger world. The institutional ethos was that of a school.” The children studied, worked, went to chapel, and played sports–the classic boarding school agenda. Indeed, President Sawyer, Chandler’s predecessor at Williams, remarked to him that “[Mills House] sounds like Deerfield”! Well, maybe that was a stretch, but he was well prepared for college when he graduated.

You can download the PDF (see above) and read all about Chandler’s life at the orphanage. It is a fascinating read. I find it all amazing and absurdly impressive. It is the kind of story you don’t hear much any more. Hard work. Faith. Perseverance.

It is also a good reminder not to assume about people. How often do we really have no idea about who a person really is and what he/she has gone through!

*Romans 12: 2

6 Comments

April 4, 2017

“Oh quickly disappearing photograph in my more slowly disappearing hand”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of our pater, who would be 95. He died 25 years ago.

As I grow older, I realize that I take after him much more than I had previously thought. Although I was much (so much) closer to my mother, we were not as alike as my sister and she were. I was always the shy one, and my father was like that. Also, my mother was the really intelligent one of the pair. My father and I were/are just smart enough to impress some people.

My father was a historian who had his heroes, as do I. His tended to be military heroes, like Napoleon and MacArthur and Grant. It would be interesting now to talk to him about them. What was the appeal of Bonaparte? (He was a collector, among many things, of Napoleon memorabilia.)

I think my father would have really enjoyed the job that I have now, working at a big university in a small school where lots of interesting, intelligent people come every day to learn about interesting things without the pressure of grades or homework and the interference of parents and peers. It is the perfect place for people with minds like ours–curious about many things, but without the desire/drive to go too far. I finished my master’s thesis in great part to show him that I could (he didn’t finish his). I’m not sure if he noticed.

Well, self-knowledge is a good thing. It keeps you humble and it can keep you out of trouble.

When I toast ANCIII tonight–only once because he was, after all, a terrific alcoholic–I will also toast the wonderful Doris Day, who turned 95 yesterday. You go, girl!

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P.S. I Watched The Outsiders (1983) and the book is better. Big Surprise.

*”Portrait of My Father as a Young Man” by Rainer Maria Rilke

8 Comments

April 3, 2017

“The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand”*

by chuckofish

Well, for the first time in three months, the OM and I didn’t have to venture out to the NICU on Saturday–yay!

Indeed, I had nothing planned for the weekend besides a funeral on Saturday for another pillar of our church, a classy 95-year old lady who was the last of our British war-brides. The service was Rite I Burial of the Dead, which took well over an hour–just the way I like it. Why shouldn’t a funeral be long? The woman’s three children and one daughter-in-law spoke beforehand and the rector gave a better-than-usual homily (he actually knew the deceased). The grandson who is in divinity school was the cantor and intoned the initial anthem (“I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord”). It was a lovely service and there was even a piper at the end playing “Loch Lomond”. The reception was a proper English Tea with cucumber sandwiches etc. and even wine for some of us unruly Americans–just kidding, no one was unruly.

In other news, I read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, which, I must say, still holds up after 50 years and, indeed, packs quite a punch. I mean a book about hoodlums that can make this jaded lady cry (several times) must be darn good. I was impressed and I recommend you read this classic young adult novel. Written by a sixteen year-old back in 1966, it still rings true. “Things are rough for everybody.” Next I am going to find the movie (1983), which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starred a panoply of rising 80s stars.

I remember it being pretty good. Ralph Macchio and Matt Dillon stand out in my memory.

Meanwhile the yard is greening up and the birds are chirping merrily. Could it be spring for real?!

Well, the Florida Room is open for business.

And the boy and his wee family came over for our first barbecue of the season on Sunday evening. Of course, they were dressed appropriately in their Cardinal gear for the season opener.

They weren’t very interested in the game.

And the boy can now make gifs!

Cool, right? Have a good week. It’s going to be a busy one.

*Psalm 121

3 Comments

April 1, 2017

News Flash

by chuckofish

Jelly Beans can make you thin! Yes, that’s right. The pretty little candies that we find everywhere this time of year are actually chock full of health benefits, so dig in! Let’s start with some important nutritional information:

So many zeros can only mean one thing: jelly beans not only can’t hurt you, but you will burn off what few calories they contain in minutes of regular living! What could be better? Lest you still harbor doubts, I quote a passage from a recent study of the “jellybean diet”:

“Models and celebrities have been doing this for years,” says one fashion insider. “There are always bowls of jellybeans on photo shoots and, because they’re not messy to eat and don’t bloat you out, the girls like to munch on them to keep their energy up.” Inside Condé Nast’s illustrious Manhattan offices, the real-life Devil Wears Prada girls can often be seen chowing down on the little candies, known as “a great one-and-done candy, because they only have 11 calories each, and you can eat them forever.” *

In the same article a nutritionist went on to say, ““It’s obvious why this diet would appeal to young girls. On a social level, it’s fine to pop the odd sweetie, whereas health foods and vegetable shakes tend to be messy and ugly to look at.” Let’s face it, she really hit the nail on the head here. People look so much better chewing dainty candies than they do stuffing salad in their mouths.

Although there are many jelly bean varieties, nothing really beats the classic Brach’s flavors, now conveniently available in a huge, 54 oz. bag.

Don’t forget jelly beans’ decorative qualities. What makes a better addition to any room than tastefully displayed jelly beans? But please don’t waste the candy.

It’s true. Jelly beans are the perfect food: they give you energy; you’ll become popular if you share (or give away the flavors you don’t like), and they’re romantic because who wouldn’t want to eat jelly beans with a date Best of all, because they’re tiny, they create the illusion that you aren’t actually eating very much, so you can eat more! Get on with that jelly bean diet!