October | 2017 | dual personalities

October 7, 2017

I got somethin’ make the devil gonna run*

by chuckofish

I was having a glum-ish week until I received a package from my oldest, dearest friend containing several small tidbits and two books, a murder mystery by Marion Chesney, aka M.C. Beaton of Hamish Macbeth fame, and a short biography of Lawrence of Arabia by Alistair MacLean, no less!

Where does she find these treasures? Why would Alistair MacLean write a (children’s?) book about T.E. Lawrence? So many questions — the mind reels. I started reading the mystery this morning and it promises to be thoroughly enjoyable. I’m saving the bio for when I need a special treat. Seriously.

Among the other items in my unexpected gift-box were two that particularly struck me. The first was a page from the First Presbyterian Church bulletin describing the life and works of Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, the very Christian activist about whom my DP posted earlier. Synchronicity! Or great minds think alike… In any case, I think it’s cool that Rev. Lovejoy is finally getting some attention.

The second item in the box was a poem from Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore:

Thou hast made me known to friends whom I knew not. Thou hast given me seats in homes not my own. Thou hast brought the distant near and made a brother of the stranger.

I am uneasy at heart when I have to leave my accustomed shelter; I forget that there abides the old in the new, and that there also thou abidist.

Through birth and death, in this world or in others, wherever thou leadest me it is thou, the same, the one companion of my endless life whoever linkest my heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar.

When one knows thee, then alien there is none, then no door is shut. Oh, grant me my prayer that I many never lose the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of the many.

My mother first introduced me to Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, but I hadn’t read any of his work for a ages. How perfect that my dear friend should remind me of this connection. I went online and found Gitanjali here. I particularly like this passage:

My desires are many and my cry is pitiful, but ever didst thou save me by hard refusals; and this strong mercy has been wrought into my life through and through.

I think we all need to remember that hard refusals can save us, and what seems unfair may be exactly the strong mercy we need. I also loved this passage:

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!

He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down in the dusty soil!

Having steeped myself in Tagore’s poetry, I took a break at Youtube, where I found some rousing Christian music, including this great one by Crowder:

Run, Devil, run!

Have a wonderful weekend, and find joy in everything!

*Crowder “Run, Devil, run”

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October 6, 2017

“God save our old McGill!”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of James McGill (October 6, 1744 – December 19, 1813) who was born in Scotland and educated at the University of Glasgow. Soon after graduating, McGill left for North America to explore the business opportunities there. By 1766, he was in Montreal where he entered the fur trade. As a fur trader and land owner, he further diversified his activities into land speculation and the timber trade. At his death in 1813, he was one of the richest men in Montreal, leaving an estate well in excess of £100,000.

440px-Statue_de_James_McGill,_fondateur_Université_McGill,_Montréal

Statue of James McGill at McGill University

He bequeathed much of his estate to the founding of McGill University.

The Arts Building, the oldest building at McGill

McGill University is important to us personally because our mother and father met there as graduate students in 1948-49 or thereabouts.

Convocation procession from Roddick Gates, circa 1945 (McGill University photo archive)

Redpath Library, 1891 (McGill University photo archive)

In those days McGill was a very “English” university and Montreal was a Commonwealth town. My parents enjoyed that and always liked all things English forever after.

Indeed, our father was always fond of Canada, which went back to his time at McGill. He even taught a class on Canadian History, which was rare back in the 1970s. My mother remembered McGill fondly and enjoyed being one of very few women in the mostly male History Department. She remembered Montreal as cold and bleak in the long winter and I recall her telling us how they would find a dead body or two every spring when the snow banks melted. Neither parent finished his/her degree–our father was called back to the Army–but something good came of their Canadian season–they were married in 1950. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Anyway, I am so ready for the weekend. I have plans for a fun outing with my friends, and daughter #1 is coming home for a quick visit on Saturday afternoon, so I am all set for a good time.

The wee babes had their 9-month check up and are doing really well, but you knew that!

Have a great weekend!

*God Save McGill by W.M. MacKeracher, Arts ’94

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October 5, 2017

“Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.”

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 – March 22, 1758).

American revivalist preacher, philosopher, and theologian, Edwards played a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening and oversaw some of the first revivals in 1733–35 at his church in Northampton, Massachusetts.

He attended Yale University (then Collegiate School of Connecticut) in 1716 just before reaching the age of 13, at a time when entrance into college required fluency in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Four years and one intense conversion later, he graduated as valedictorian, received his Masters of Divinity from Yale in 1722 and went on to become one of America’s most renowned theologians and philosophers, and, according to Yale’s website, “a testimony to Yale’s mind-altering powers.” Righto.

Today there is still a college at Yale named after him (their mascot is, of course, a spider) and there is the Jonathan Edwards Center whose mission is “to support inquiry into the life, writings, and legacy of Jonathan Edwards by providing resources that encourage critical appraisal of the historical importance and contemporary relevance of America’s premier theologian.”

Here are his 70 Resolutions, which ought to be read on a regular basis.

Keeping in mind #20 (Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking), I will toast old JE tonight.

The first instance that I remember of that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things, that I have lived much in since, was on reading those words, I Timothy 1:17, “Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen.” As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from any thing I ever experienced before. Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did. I thought with myself, how excellent a Being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to him in heaven; and be as it were swallowed up in him forever! I kept saying, and as it were singing, over these words of Scripture to myself; and went to pray to God that I might enjoy him; and prayed in a manner quite different from what I used to do, with a new sort of affection. (The Works of Jonathan Edwards)

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October 4, 2017

“Tonight we sail, on a radio song”*

by chuckofish

Well, the news media, after waffling back and forth, finally confirmed that Tom Petty died Monday night.

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He was my brother’s age and he always reminded me of my brother’s friend Mike, who was such a nice boy. I have fond memories of going to a Cardinals baseball game with him. He was funny and didn’t ignore me, the no-doubt annoying nine-year old sister.

Mike was the neglected third son of a distracted, divorced single mother. In high school he was packed off to a boarding school and after that he was a hippie. I met him once years later when he was married with kids, I think, and a carpenter or something like that–something very different anyway than his St. Louis Country Club background would have suggested. He was as nice as ever though and happy to talk to me.

Anyway, he and Tom Petty had the same vibe, so, right or wrong, I assume Tom Petty was a good guy too. I always liked him and will miss him. As Bob Dylan said, “It’s shocking, crushing news. I thought the world of Tom. He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him.”

Here are “14 Essential Tom Petty songs” chosen by the NYT. Not surprisingly the list does not include my favorite:

Into paradise may the angels lead thee; and at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem.

*You Wreck Me by Michael W. Campbell / Tom Petty

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October 3, 2017

Thoughts and prayers

by chuckofish

Pierre Bonnard (October 3, 1867 — January 23, 1947) was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis. Today is his birthday, so here are a few of his paintings to enjoy.

c9130df05d02140fa848fef7cfd1493c 2.jpg

The_Letter,_Pierre_Bonnard,_c1906.jpg

bonnard-the-open-window-1921-118x96-cm-the-phillips-colle.jpg The last painting (above) can be seen in the Phillips Gallery in Washington D.C. and is a favorite of daughter #2. I have a magnet on my refrigerator to commemorate my lovely visit there with her.

And I’m with the PBR.

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October 2, 2017

“To will and to work for his good pleasure”*

by chuckofish

I got to read both lessons in church on Sunday–I don’t know why–and that was super fun as they were good ones from Ezekiel and Philippians. I actually got to say, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”! This gave me great joy–it’s the little things, right?

The weather was beautiful, so I convinced the OM to accompany me on a little outing on Saturday, the aforementioned trek down to Jefferson Barracks and the Missouri Civil War Museum. I had heard that it was a good museum, but we were still pleasantly surprised to find a very professionally appointed museum with interesting displays.Upon arriving we watched the typical opening video describing how the organization was incorporated in 2002 for the sole purpose of saving the historic Jefferson Barracks 1905 Post Exchange Building and converting it into a Civil War museum, library, and educational center. We learned that since opening in June 2013, it has become one of the largest Civil War Museums in the nation and will be one of the largest Civil War research libraries in the nation as well. Its focus is entirely on Missouri’s role in the American Civil War.

Well done! I encourage you to support such small enterprises and to take your children to visit them. They survive on ticket sales and donor contributions. I know the boy would have loved this museum when he was a child. Hopefully, he will take the wee babes to visit when they are a little older. (BTW, two of their great-grandfathers are buried at Jefferson Barracks, so they could check that out as well.) Next on my list is the Museum of Missouri Military History in Jefferson City. They do not have a website, but they do have a very active Facebook page and it looks interesting!

Also, I finished Jan Karon’s To Be Where You Are, which I loved, and Jennifer Worth’s Call the Midwife. Now I am back to asking the old question, “What to read now?”

I watched the under-rated Tom Horn (1979) which I enjoyed very much.

It is Steve McQueen’s final movie, so it is also sad to watch, but well worth it. Richard Farnsworth, another favorite of mine, has a big supporting role.

I went to one estate sale and rescued a needlepoint pillow.

Screen Shot 2017-10-01 at 2.16.04 PM.png I trimmed the ivy on the patio and tidied the inside of my house. I did what my Aunt Susanne used to call “desk work.” And I got ready for a Sunday night visit from the wee babes and their parents.