dual personalities

Tag: Juneteenth

June 21, 2021

“Scorning the Pomp of must and shall my father moved through dooms of feel”*

by chuckofish

So Father’s Day was on Sunday. It did cause me to pause a moment and reflect on my own pater familias, who died almost 30 years ago. The only picture I have of him with his family is this one, taken no doubt to send to his own mother.

I have no photo of him with just me. Although we spent a lot of time together because we went back and forth to school every day, I don’t remember any conversations we had. As relationships go, it was pretty shallow. I have no idea if he was proud of me. He certainly never told me so. I just assumed he loved me. I mean, I didn’t feel unloved, like so many people nowadays seem to feel. I was proud of him. At least until I found out he was an alcoholic at age 11, and then I was embarrassed and probably ashamed. I was an anxious child, and that knowledge didn’t help.

I survived and I am grateful to him for several things. He went to work every day and earned a living and managed to put three children through college. After that, he kind of fell apart. He passed on some pretty good genes. He stayed married to our mother. He did the best he could, considering his own father semi-abandoned him and his mother to go cover the Spanish Civil War or something like that. What did he know? At least I had John Wayne and Ward Cleaver. What kind of role models to kids have today?

Well, maybe I learned something from the way I grew up. It may have been a negative lesson, but the results, I think, have been positive.

Saturday was Juneteenth, which I blogged about back in 2013. Everyone is talking about it now, but of course, we were ahead of everyone.

I watched The Professionals (1966) to celebrate. This has become a personal tradition. (I ❤️ Woody Strode.)

This is worth your time reading. He articulates what I am always trying to say. “Our secular world groans as well but doesn’t know where to find hope. Secular solutions only exacerbate the problem, leaving us wanting.”

The weather has been hot, hot, hot–St. Louis style hot. Whenever I go out to pull some weeds, trim some ivy or plant some annuals, I wilt like arugula and have to retreat inside. C’est la vie. Today is the longest day in the year, but things should be cooling off after the big storms we had over the weekend. I am grateful we did not lose our power like some unfortunate people.

So a belated Happy Fathers Day to all you good fathers out there and grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.

Let’s go, Daddy-o!

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

*e.e. cummings

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June 19, 2013

Did you know?

by chuckofish

Did you know that today–June 19–is Juneteenth?

What is Juneteenth, you say? Juneteenth is an annual observance to celebrate the date Union soldiers enforced the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all remaining slaves in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865.  Texas was the last state in rebellion, following the end of the Civil War, to allow slavery.

general-order-number-3

Although the rumors of freedom were widespread prior to this, actual emancipation was not announced in Texas until General Gordon Granger came to Galveston, Texas and issued General Order No. 3, on the 19th of June,  almost two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Freedmen's Memorial Monument to Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C. Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker at the dedication service on April 14, 1876, with President Ulysses S. Grant in attendance.

The Freedmen’s Memorial Monument to Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C.
Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker at the dedication service on April 14, 1876, with President Ulysses S. Grant in attendance.

Although Juneteenth has been informally celebrated each year since 1865, it wasn’t until June 3, 1979, that Texas became the first state to proclaim Emancipation Day (Juneteenth) an official state holiday. “Juneteenth has become a day for African Americans to celebrate their freedom, culture, and achievements…It is a day for all Americans to celebrate African American history and rejoice in their freedom.” (The Library of Congress)

As of June 2012, 42 U.S. states (including my flyover state) and the District of Columbia have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday or special day of observance.

I say, sounds to me like a good reason to have a party.

At the very least, I think I’ll watch a movie with the awesome Woody Strode* in it.

Woody-Strode-0fe55

This might be the beginning of a beautiful new tradition.

professionals

The Professionals (1966) on Juneteenth. You know how I feel about this movie.

In case you didn’t know, Woodrow “Woody” Strode attended UCLA where he was a world-class decathelete and played football. He served in the US Army during World War II. Strode was also one of the first four black players to integrate professional football in 1946 when he played for the Cleveland Rams. Later he he played a Buffalo soldier in the 1960 John Ford movie Sergeant Rutledge. He appeared in over 80 domestic and foreign films in a career that spanned nearly 55 years, including Spartacus and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

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