faulker020

Today, I wish to stand with my Jewish friends in the wake of the anti-Semitic violence last week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when a gunman killed eleven worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue . Beit Knesset is the Hebrew term for synagogue. It literally means “house of assembly.” I t is the focal point of Jewish communal life , a place for prayer, for study and connection . While the synagogue, Beit Knesset , is a sacred place, it is even more sacred when people assemble together in that place. The Great Synagogue of Florence or  Tempio Maggiore  Israelitico di Firenze (Getty Images) In thinking of the recent tragedy of men and women being gunned down at a house of worship, my mind also went back to a moment of inspiration when I stood in The Great Synagogue in Florence. It was a day when my appreciation for my Jewish friends was heightened all the more. It happened many years ago when I had completed a teaching position overseas and was touring Europe on my way back...

I always enjoy Tim Lennox's blog . He finds interesting news items to highlight, and he keeps me up on what is happening at NASA (Hubble pics, Mars Rover explorations, etc.). Last week, Tim posted this excellent compilation from NASA of lunar images set to the soundtrack of Clair de Lune: "Moonlight (Clair de Lune) - Moon Images from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter." From the NASA YouTube site: "This visualization uses a digital 3D model of the Moon built from global elevation maps and image mosaics by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. It was created to accompany a performance of Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune by the National Symphony Orchestra Pops, led by conductor Emil de Cou, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on June 1 and 2, 2018, as part of a celebration of NASA's 60th anniversary." -

the forest hiker will gladly stop to listen to a woodland stream _________________  Image: "Brookside in Sunlight" Artist: e.e. cummings Medium: Oil on canvasboard -

Today's post is a repeat from April 30, 2017 . It is my poem to commemorate who we are as a people, and where we stood at that first 100-day mark in a new presidency.  As the president continues to hold campaign-style rallies, we must ask ourselves again, who are we, and what do we stand for? 100 Days Can the first one hundred days  Unfold the path before us? The New Deal reshaped a nation. The Great Society held out promise But did not foretell the struggle And the unraveling that would come. These one hundred days – Marked by petty discord, Wartime posturing, And confused uncertainty – May be telling our own story. While many voices still call out For justice and equality, Many others turn a blind eye To the fascist greed That shapes the public square. Sober minds can recall missteps in our past: A constitution that counted three-fifths of a person To accommodate slaveholders; A Supreme Court’s Dred Scott Decision; A government enforcing the Indian Removal Act. A country tha...

Yo-Yo Ma at age seven, plays the first movement of Concertino No. 3 by Jean-Baptiste Bréval. He is accompanied by his eleven-year-old sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma. I love the scope of Leonard Bernstein's international vision as he introduces Yo-Yo Ma for the first time to a national audience. From the YouTube site: The New York Times reported that on November 29, 1962, a benefit concert called "The American Pageant of the Arts" was to be held with "a cast of 100, including President and Mrs. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Leonard Bernstein (as master of ceremonies), Pablo Casals, Marian Anderson, Van Cliburn, Robert Frost, Fredric March, Benny Goodman, Bob Newhart and a 7-year-old Chinese cellist called Yo-yo Ma, who was brought to the program's attention by Casals." -

cloudy day swiftly erasing the illusion between sea and sky ___________________________ Image: Cloudy Day in Mizuki, Ibaraki Prefecture, 1946. Art Institute of Chicago Artist: Kawese Hasui (1883-1957 Medium: Woodblock print -

For the desires we hold for this great American experiment, Reinhold Niebuhr has some important words for today. Niebuhr was a twentieth century theological luminary. You can read a little bit about him at  Reinhold Niebuhr: the theologian politicians read . Reinhold Niebuhr ( RNS photo ) “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.”                                ...

From the YouTube site: "This amazing lecture series (The Unanswered Question ), is actually an interdisciplinary overview about the evolution of Western European classical music from Bach through the 20th century..."   The Unanswered Question was a series of six lectures given by Bernstein at Harvard when he delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures in 1973. Virgil Thomson said of the lectures: “Nobody anywhere presents this material so warmly, so sincerely, so skillfully. As musical mind-openers they are first class; as pedagogy they are matchless.” -

Willie Nelson wrote "Crazy" back in 1961, and Country music legend Patsy Cline made it a hit the following year. When Patsy Cline sang country, she could make it sound like a standard right out of the Great American Songbook. Here, putting a smooth jazz spin on the song are Diana Krall, Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello. They performed the number at Willie Nelson's 70th  birthday celebration in 2003. -

ever diligent, two deer grazing quietly hear distant footsteps ______________________ Image: "Deer and Pine in Moonlight" at Boston Museum of Fine Arts Artist: Ohara Koson  (Japanese, 1878–1945) Medium: Woodblock print -

[From my Journalistic Poetry file :  an excerpt from a post from April 2, 2017] Autumn Dawn by James Jordan No Time for Weeping I can see the day When trees will weep for spring And oceans will mourn  As waves break upon silent shores. On this day, however,  There is no time for weeping. As long as geese continue to take flight We live with hope. While the tiger roams the forests  We find security in life's foothold. When dragonflies skirt the waters And trout swim the streams We can enjoy the journey set forth Ten thousand years ago. In the interest of life We must resist oil barons And industrial magnates When they seek to ramp up outmoded practices That will increase environmental toxins. When executive order Sneers at fresh Yosemite air And disregards the Appalachian quail, Those who care for life Will appeal to sound minds and nurturing spirits. For those who remember acid rain And watched when Lake Erie caught fire There is no time for weeping; There is only t...

Here's one that a friend recommended. Dave Alvin is a singer-songwriter who was an early proponent of roots rock with the band he founded in the early 1980's, The Blasters. He then moved on to a solo career, bringing a keen eye for American life to his lyrics and ballads. -

moon on the mountain hay gathered for the harvest a field in repose ____________________________ Image: "Evening Landscape with Rising Moon" (1889) Artist: Vincent van Gogh Medium: Oil on Canvas -

Assisi's Basilica di San Francesco Here is another re-post from a few years back. It includes my travel notes from 35 years ago. It was first posted under the title, My Journey to Assisi. Today, October 4, is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1983 I was able to tour through Europe with a backpack and a Eurail pass. I was single, on my way home after living abroad in Hong Kong for two years, and travelling light. I was able to spend four weeks riding the rails seeing the sights of Europe.  I loved touring London, walking the streets of Paris and seeing the magnificent art and sculpture of Florence (and the beautiful river that flowed through the town). Venice, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam were equally amazing, but the place I was most eager to see was Assisi, having been fascinated by the life of St. Francis and inspired by his example. In my travel journal that I kept at the time, I remarked about seeing the cathedrals (Westminster Cathedral in London, the Notre Dame and Sacr...

The "silence breakers" of the Me Too Campaign named Time Magazine's Person of the Year I believe we are living in a pivotal age, meaning that humanity is at one of those historical crossr oads.  T he old institutions are not serving as effectively as in the past an d we have not yet figured out what social structures will best serve u s in our current time, not to m en tion in the years ahead . Pivotal times are never eas y.  They are marked by unrest with some clinging to the past , others pressing for change, and few with adequate insight to see how to navigate the shoals of change. The good news is that pivotal ages are times of rebir th for society . They are times when humanity can emerge from the chrysalis that held it for a time to find a new day of of promise. The hard truth for those who happen to be living in a  pivotal age is that they will not see the full benefit that is yet to come. Pivotal times are borne out today in that we are seeing the struggl...

I just recently heard about the bluegrass group, Flatt Lonesome, when a friend talked about them performing in Ashland, Alabama at the Clay County Yellow Meated Watermelon Festival. -