February is almost in the rearview mirror, and I am not complaining. Some Big News this week was that the New York Yankees baseball organization has dropped its infamous beard ban, which dated back to legendary owner, the late George Steinbrenner.
This news, of course reminded me of the classic TheSimpsons episode, Homer at the Bat, wherein the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team has a winning season led by Homer. However, Mr. Burns makes a large bet that the team will win the playoff and brings in nine ringers from the “big leagues” to ensure his success. Mr. Burns begins to micro-manage and hilarity ensues. For example. he kicks Don Mattingly off the team for failing to shave off his (non-existent) sideburns.
Which just goes to prove that truly there is nothing that cannot be related back to a Simpsons episode.
Or to the Bible:
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. — 1 Corinthians 9:25
Yikes–we’ve been working remotely at home for 11 months now! I had four Zoom meetings yesterday. I can’t wait to walk away from my computer for the weekend.
But it will be a cold and frosty Valentine’s Day in flyover country.
C’est la vie. In other news, I finished my thistle needlepoint and have started back on my elephant.
Slowly, day by day, I am making progress. It is like that with all things, right?
Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—and that it may take a very long time.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
The twins have had a fun week at school getting ready for Valentine’s Day. I was glad to hear that they still decorate shoe boxes to collect Valentines in.
Later today daughter #1 is driving home for a quick visit. We’ll have a little Valentine party with the wee babes and their parents. There will be party favors. And cake!
I kind of love The Simpsons updated take on the classic Cinema Paradiso (1989) Montage of Kisses, which I found when googling the original.
Today in the Episcopal Church we honor William Hobart Hare (May 17, 1838 – October 23, 1909) who was an American bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, back when that’s what it was called.
One of the leading missionaries in America, Hare earned the title “the Apostle of the West” for his dedicated work in the rural Dakotas among pioneers and Native Americans. He was also known as the “Apostle to the Sioux.”
Bishop William Hobart Hare and traveling equipment(
The house of bishops elected him bishop in 1872 and his territory originally included everything north of the Niobrara River in Nebraska and west of the Missouri River as far as the Rocky Mountains. It was not an easy assignment.
He wrote from Cheyenne Reserve to his sister: “I have been on a trip now for ten days or more, a fairly comfortable one, though a heavy storm of wind and rain blew my tent down over my head last Tuesday night and gave me hours of work and much wretchedness, and my horse balked in the middle of the Cheyenne River on Friday last as I was fording it, broke the single-tree loose and left me in the middle of the rapidly running stream with the water running into my wagon-box. But such ills are the concomitants of travel out here, and I am used to them.” (You can read more about his experiences here.)
The wilderness assigned to the young bishop seemed an almost unmanageable field, but he betook himself to tent life and traveled over the wild country and, having thus made himself familiar with it, he gradually divided it into ten departments and placed a clergyman of ability and fidelity in charge of each of these departments and the missionary work soon fell into shape and was carried on with comparative ease.
The development of South Dakota and its final admission to statehood led to a slight change in the territory assigned to his jurisdiction, and in 1883 his title was changed to missionary bishop of South Dakota, and he chose Sioux Falls as the see city of his missionary diocese. He has labored with all of zeal and earnestness and has infused vitality into all departments of church work in his diocese, while he has been aided and encouraged by the hearty and faithful co-operation of his clergy and his people. It has been his to watch the progress of the church in South Dakota from its inception, ever keeping pace with the onward march of the years as they have fallen into the abyss of time. He has guided the destinies of his church with a hand made strong by power from on high, and with the power which came to steady the hand has also come the divine light to illume the way… He has witnessed the rise of the state, where he has served as bishop for thirty-two years, is loyal to it and its people and has the sincere respect and affectionate regard of all with whom he has come in contact as a church man and as a citizen. (Doane Robinson 1904)
The Calvary Church was the first church built in Sioux Falls.
As Hare’s congregation grew, he saw the need for a building, “as solid and unmoving as his faith, to stand as the cornerstone for his congregation in the area’s biggest city.” Hobart enlisted the aid of John Jacob Astor III to help raise money for a cathedral. Astor’s contributions were in memory of his late wife, Charlotte Augusta Astor — a patron of Hare’s missions and of All Saint’s School, another Hare creation. Astor’s contributions came to $20,000. The cornerstone was laid Dec. 5, 1888, and Hare’s cathedral was finished a year later. The building itself was constructed of Sioux quartzite.
Bishop Hare, although he died in New Jersey, was buried in Sioux City next to the church under the large cross (below).
Holy God, you called your servant William Hobart Hare to proclaim the means of grace and the hope of glory to the peoples of the Great Plains: We give you thanks for the devotion of those who received the Good News gladly, and for the faithfulness of the generations who have succeeded them. Strengthen us with your Holy Spirit, that we may walk in their footsteps and lead many to faith in Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Oh and by the way, today is also Bob Saget’s birthday.
Happy birthday to Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons (1989–present) which, you well know, is the longest-running U.S. primetime-television series in history, as well as the longest-running animated series and sitcom.
Our family watched The Simpsons together during its “Golden Age,” i.e. seasons one through nine. We thought the sitcom family bore an amazing ressemblance to our family–two girls, one boy; a neglected third child; a clueless, oafish father who nevertheless always seemed to come though in the end; and a long-suffering, mostly-together mother. They even go to church, although they are not Episcopalians. Sometimes we wondered if the writers weren’t looking over our shoulders at our lives. Remember the “Boy-Scoutz ‘n the Hood” episode?
Daughter #1 really identified with Lisa: “I don’t get it: straight A’s, perfect attendance, bathroom timer – I should be the most popular girl in school.” Daughter #2 was, of course, the baby Maggie.
Marge: Bart’s grades are up a little this term. But Lisa’s are way down.
Homer: Oh, why do we always have to have one good kid and one lousy kid? Why can’t both our kids be good?
Marge: We have three kids, Homer.
Homer: Marge, the dog doesn’t count as a kid.
Marge: No, I mean Maggie.
Homer: Oh, yeah.
And the boy, although never as “bad” as Bart, frequently felt a kinship with him. Remember the episode where Bart thinks he may have to repeat 4th grade (“Bart Gets an ‘F'”).
Bart, pushed to his limit, prays for help and then there is a massive snowstorm in Springfield, causing there to be a snow day. Bart could study, but does he?
Tonight we should all watch our favorite episodes and toast Matt Groening. Mine are:
“Lisa’s Substitute” with Mr. Bergstrom (Dustin Hoffman) as the substitute teacher who actually understands and appreciates Lisa.
Marge: Lisa, tell your father.
Lisa: Mr. Bergstrom left today.
Homer: [uncaring] Oh?
Lisa: He’s gone. Forever.
Homer: [still uncaring] And?
Lisa: I didn’t think you’d understand.
Homer: [even more uncaring than before] Hey! Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand.
Lisa: [snaps at Homer] I’m glad I’m not crying, because I would hate for you to think that what I’m about to say is based on emotion, but you, sir, are a baboon!
Homer: (gasp) Me?
Lisa: Yes, you! Baboon! Baboon! Baboon! Baboon!
Homer: I don’t think you realize what you’re saying…
Lisa: BABOON!! [She breaks down crying and runs upstairs to her room]
Bart: Whoa. Somebody was bound to say it one day, I just can’t believe it was her.
Homer: Did you hear that, Marge?! She called me a baboon, the stupidest, ugliest, smelliest ape of them all!
2. “A Streetcar Named Marge” when Marge is cast as Blanche DuBois in a musical version of the play, and Maggie has to go to the Ayn Rand School for Tots. She leads the tots in an elaborate “Great Escape.”
3. “Marge vs. the Monorail” with Phil Hartman providing the voice of Lyle Lanley, and Leonard Nimoy making a guest appearance.
The cultural and film references in these three episodes are many and perfect.
“I’ve sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook, and by God, it put them on the map!”
What is your favorite Simpsons episode? Here’s a list of the top 10 episodes–I guess everyone’s entitled to an opinion.
Today is the 151st anniversary of the Wild Bill Hickok–Davis Tutt shootout in the town square of Springfield, Missouri (July 21, 1865). It is reputedly the first and one of the few recorded instances in the Old West of a one-on-one pistol quick-draw duel in a public place.
Wild Bill Hickok threatens the friend of Davis Tutt after defeating Tutt in a duel, in an illustration from Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, February 1867.
What began as an argument over gambling debts, turned deadly when Tutt took a prize watch of Wild Bill’s as collateral. Warned against wearing the watch in public to humiliate Wild Bill, Tutt appeared on the square on July 21, prominently wearing the watch. The two men then unsuccessfully negotiated the debt and the watch’s return. Hickok returned to the square at 6 p.m. to find Tutt once again displaying his watch. Wild Bill gave Tutt his final warning. “Don’t you come around here with that watch.” Tutt answered by placing his hand on his pistol.
Tutt was killed and Hickok was arrested and eventually brought to trial. The judge gave the jury two apparently contradictory instructions. He first instructed the jury that a conviction was its only option under the law. He then instructed them that they could apply the unwritten law of the “fair fight” and acquit, an action known as jury nullification which allows a jury to make a finding contrary to the law. The trial ended in acquittal on August 6, 1865, after the jury deliberated for “an hour or two” before reaching a verdict of not guilty, which was not popular at the time. (Wikipedia)
There’s a marker now on the street in Springfield where it all took place. Although the boy went to college in Springfield for a few years, I was unaware of (or had forgotten) this fun fact.
According to IMDB.com, Wild Bill Hickok has been portrayed on screen over 70 times by actors including William S. Hart, Gary Cooper, Bill Elliott, Richard Dix, Forest Tucker, Howard Keel, Guy Madison, Adam West, Robert Culp, Lloyd Bridges, Don Murray, Charles Bronson, Richard Farnsworth, Frederic Forrest, Josh Brolin, Sam Elliott, Sam Shepard, and Keith Carradine.
My favorite is probably Gary Cooper in The Plainsman (1936), but you have to love Charles Bronson as Wild Bill in White Buffalo (1877)–at least I do. Since I recently watched part of The Plainsman on TCM, I will watch White Buffalo (which we own!) tonight and toast Wild Bill Hickock one more time.
In case you’ve forgotten, White Buffalo is a Dino de Laurentis “disaster film/monster movie” from the 1970s–pretty darn terrible, especially the special effects–but it has its moments. Wild Bill gets to say things like,
“In the first place, the Great Spirit did not give you these hills. You took this land by force. You took it from the Cheyenne, the Shoshoni, and the Arapaho. You took it with the lance and tomahawk. Now the white man makes war on you. What’s the difference?”
and his mountain man friend, played by Jack Warden gets to say,
“Probably heard about the white buff on the moccasin telegraph.”
Political correctness had not been invented yet.
Speaking of Charles Bronson, I recently watched Red Sun (1971)–a western with an international cast: Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress, and Capucine playing a Mexican named “Pepita”.
After a train robbery, Bronson and Mifune (the Japanese ambassador’s bodyguard) team up to find Alain Delon and get back the stolen money and a Japanese sword. “2 Desperados … 1 Hellcat … and a Samurai”–well, you can imagine. Luckily Bronson and Mifune are awesome together and Alain Delon is really handsome, so it is hardly a waste of your time. And it’s definitely more enlightening/entertaining than watching either the Republican or Democrat conventions.
It has been a busy week which included the annual meeting of our flyover institute and other stress-inducing business, so I am ready for a relaxing three-day weekend!
My dual personality and her best friend Lars were huge fans of the St. Louis Blues hockey team back in the 1970s. I was never a big ice hockey fan, but I seem to remember them really liking Garry Unger and his flowing blond locks in particular.
While I was perusing the internet for the above pic of Garry, I was reminded of these great guys of yore…remember Red Berenson?
Barclay Plager?
Noel Picard?
There’s nothing like a skate down memory lane, right?
Meanwhile the current Blues are headed to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2001.
It almost being Halloween, I thought I’d share a picture of the costume that epitomized the zenith of our mother’s costume-making endeavors.
In 1956 she made a Donald Duck costume for our older brother without a pattern and without all the add-ons that are readily available today. I think she even made the hat/mask. She poured all of her not negligible creative powers and seamstress-y talent into it. It was not easy to do and she was very proud of it.
I hope our brother was proud to wear it. Does he look proud? Somehow I think he would have preferred to have been armed and dangerous and Davey Crockett.
I hope our mother received lots of high-fives. Doubtful. This was mid-century California after all where I’m sure those newfangled rayon-taffeta store-bought costumes were all the rage.
A few years later she made a pretty awesome black cat costume for my brother and a clown costume for me.
But after that, she was done (except for a witch costume which we used for-ever after.)
Well, Sic transit gloria mundi…
On another note–happy birthday and a toast to Dan Castellaneta, who has voiced the character of Homer Simpson on The Simpsons for 28 seasons. Zut alors. Or should I say:
“Everyone knows rock n’ roll attained perfection in 1974; It’s a scientific fact.”
Tomorrow my intrepid church buddies and I will embark on an overnight field trip to Springfield, Illinois. Why, you ask? Because we haven’t been there! And because we are belatedly celebrating Carla’s birthday!
Greetings from ILL? Really?
We are going to check out the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (designed by hometowner Gyo Obata at HOK)
and the Lincoln home
and who knows what else.
Since we’ll be there on Sunday morning, perhaps we’ll check out the Cathedral Church of St. Paul while we’re in the neighborhood.
The current Cathedral was built between 1912 and 1913 to replace an older building located at Third and Adams Streets to house its congregation which was founded in 1835. Its early members included, Ninian W. Edwards, son of Illinois’ first governor and husband of one of Mary Todd Lincoln’s sisters. Four Todd sisters attended the early church and were married there, including Frances Todd Wallace, Ann Todd Smith and Elizabeth Todd. Mary Todd was married to Abraham Lincoln by the first Rector, Charles Dresser. A marriage registery in which the marriage was recorded is preserved in the Canterbury House. (I had forgotten that the Todds were Episcopalians.)
Since tomorrow is the feast day of John Bunyan, it is appropriate to note that the ubiquitous Pilgrim’s Progress was one of the few books Lincoln could get his hands on to read as a boy. He was much influenced by it, as was another great U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote that
Great-Heart is my favorite character in allegory…just as Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is to my mind one of the greatest books that was ever written; and I think Abraham Lincoln is the ideal Great-Heart of public life.
Having lived my whole life a few hours away from Lincoln-land, I am very happy to be finally making this pilgrimage.
As Hare’s congregation grew, he saw the need for a building, “as solid and unmoving as his faith, to stand as the cornerstone for his congregation in the area’s biggest city.” Hobart enlisted the aid of John Jacob Astor III to help raise money for a cathedral. Astor’s contributions were in memory of his late wife, Charlotte Augusta Astor — a patron of Hare’s missions and of All Saint’s School, another Hare creation. Astor’s contributions came to $20,000. The cornerstone was laid Dec. 5, 1888, and Hare’s cathedral was finished a year later. The building itself was constructed of Sioux quartzite.
3. “Marge vs. the Monorail” with Phil Hartman providing the voice of Lyle Lanley, and Leonard Nimoy making a guest appearance.
The cultural and film references in these three episodes are many and perfect.
dual personalities 