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Blake Andrews
Blake Andrews (°1968, Berkeley, United States) is an artist who mainly works with photography. Through a radically singular approach that is nevertheless inscribed in the contemporary debate, Andrews tries to create works in which the actual event still has to take place or just has ended: moments evocative of atmosphere and suspense that are not part of a narrative thread. The drama unfolds elsewhere while the build-up of tension is frozen to become the memory of an event that will never take place.
His photos feature coincidental, accidental and unexpected connections which make it possible to revise art history and, even better, to complement it. Combining unrelated aspects lead to surprising analogies. By parodying mass media by exaggerating certain formal aspects inherent to our contemporary society, he wants the viewer to become part of the art as a kind of added component. Art is entertainment: to be able to touch the work, as well as to interact with the work is important.
His works isolate the movements of humans and/or objects. By doing so, new sequences are created which reveal an inseparable relationship between motion and sound. By experimenting with aleatoric processes, he uses references and ideas that are so integrated into the process of the composition of the work that they may escape those who do not take the time to explore how and why these images haunt you, like a good film, long after you’ve seen them.
His works are given improper functions: significations are inversed and form and content merge. Shapes are dissociated from their original meaning, by which the system in which they normally function is exposed. Initially unambiguous meanings are shattered and disseminate endlessly. By creating situations and breaking the passivity of the spectator, he makes works that can be seen as self-portraits. Sometimes they appear idiosyncratic and quirky, at other times, they seem typical by-products of American superabundance and marketing.
His work urge us to renegotiate photography as being part of a reactive or – at times – autistic medium, commenting on oppressing themes in our contemporary society. By questioning the concept of movement, he formalizes the coincidental and emphasizes the conscious process of composition that is behind the seemingly random works. The thought processes, which are supposedly private, highly subjective and unfiltered in their references to dream worlds, are frequently revealed as assemblages.
His works are saturated with obviousness, mental inertia, clichés and bad jokes. They question the coerciveness that is derived from the more profound meaning and the superficial aesthetic appearance of an image. By rejecting an objective truth and global cultural narratives, he creates with daily, recognizable elements, an unprecedented situation in which the viewer is confronted with the conditioning of his own perception and has to reconsider his biased position.
His works are a drawn reflection upon the art of photography itself: thoroughly self-referential, yet no less aesthetically pleasing, and therefore deeply inscribed in the history of modernism – made present most palpably in the artist’s exploration of some of the most hallowed of modernist paradigms. By putting the viewer on the wrong track, he finds that movement reveals an inherent awkwardness, a humour that echoes our own vulnerabilities. The artist also considers movement as a metaphor for the ever-seeking man who experiences a continuous loss.
His works are based on inspiring situations: visions that reflect a sensation of indisputability and serene contemplation, combined with subtle details of odd or eccentric, humoristic elements. Blake Andrews currently lives and works in Eugene.
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Hagerstown C.C. Athletics
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HCC names Leah Pongratz as new Head Volleyball Coach
Leah Pongratz has been named head volleyball coach for the 2019-20 academic year at Hagerstown Community College.
"We are very excited for Leah Pongratz to take over the head coach responsibilities of our volleyball program," said HCC Athletic Director Robert Rohan. "Coach Pongratz has years of successful experience at a variety of levels, as well as recruiting quality student-athletes to play at the college level. Her level of organization and her knowledge of skill and strategy will be great assets as she continues to grow our program."
Pongratz graduated from HCC in 2005 and transferred to Salisbury University, earning a bachelor's degree in psychology. She went on to earn a master's degree in teaching from Frostburg State University.
Most recently, Pongratz served as the head women's volleyball coach at Penn State Mont Alto, where she accumulated a record of 19-4. She advanced her team to the PSUAC Championship and was nominated for the PSUAC Conference Coach of the Year. She also served as head coach of several high school programs, including Mercersburg Academy, Saint Maria Goretti High School, and Boonsboro High School.
"I am looking forward to working with this core group of returning players, and new recruits, to continue building on HCC's established program," said Pongratz. "We have a very talented group and I am excited to see how they all get together to make this a successful season."
Hagers Town
Sat, 11/03 | Women's Volleyball vs. Montgomery College (MD) L, 3-0 (Final) RC | BX
Fri, 11/02 | Women's Volleyball vs. Cecil College W, 3-2 (Final) RC | BX
Mon, 10/22 | Women's Volleyball vs. Christendom College W, 3-2 (Final) BX
Fri, 10/19 | Women's Volleyball at Harford Community College W, 3-0 (Final) RC | BX
Wed, 10/17 | Women's Volleyball at Potomac State College of WVU L, 3-1 (Final) BX
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Tea Time Tidbits
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Home Fires
Tea Time Tidbit for the week of May 8, 2017
Samantha Bond and Francesca Annis
If you’re a faithful fan of the World War II drama series, Home Fires, which recently wrapped up its second season, I’m sorry to report that ITV, the network it aired on in the U.K., decided not to renew it for a third series.
As you can imagine their decision was not a popular one - especially given the fact that season two ended in a major cliff hanger. The minute UK viewers learned there wouldn't be a third series of Home Fires, they started a petition to bring it back. Despite over 38,000 signatures, the petition was unsuccessful.
Home Fires cast members
The show’s creator, Simon Block, and executive producer, Francis Hopkinson, were as surprised as the viewers that their show was being axed. In fact, they had a third season all set to go - hence the cliff hanger.
“We thought we were coming back”, said Hopkinson in an on-line interview, “so we felt we were fairly safe. Maybe that was our mistake, feeling confident about it.”
Although the petition and the media attention it received didn’t convince ITV to renew the series, it may well have been responsible for the fact that Block has now written a series of Home Fires novels, which will pick up from where season two ended. The first novel, Keep the Home Fires Burning, is set to be released as a four part e-book series. The first part will be released in July, with the subsequent e-books coming out each month until the fall, when the complete novel will come out in paperback. Then in Spring of 2018, an as yet untitled follow up book will be published, again in e-book form.
Julie Summers on set with actor Jim Whelan
“Novels are adapted for the screen all the time”, said Block in an interview, “why not the other way round?”
Someone who could not be more "delighted" that Home Fires will live on in Block’s novels, is writer Julie Summers who authored Jambusters, the novel on which Home Fires was based. Although she was quick to point out that Block’s novels are based on the television characters and not the women in her book.
To contact Heather:
E-mail: heather@mpt.org
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Tidbits Archives • Home
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Showing posts with label equality. Show all posts
How Can We be Equal without Christianity?
Throughout the history of civilization, people have sought to understand themselves by seeking to understand their place in society. When that society was patriarchal, the most respect was given to the forefathers, especially the eldest and most direct ancestor. When societies grew into city-states, one found his place in the service to that polis. Plato divided the classes into the guardians, the warriors, and the commoners, each serving the state in a specific capacity.
This kind of understanding extended beyond Greece. Rome granted citizenship was highly valued because it gave the citizen an elevated place in the society with greater rights.1 We see cultures, such as those of Saudi Arabia or oriental nations who still adopt a hierarchical view of the individual. But the West is different. Here, we value all people as equal. In the United States, our nation was founded on the principle. What caused the nations that sprang from the Roman Empire to so drastically alter their understanding of the worth of the individual?
Changing the Measure of Worth
In his excellent book Inventing the Individual, Larry Siedentop answers that question by pointing to the rise of Christianity. Siedentop details how the teachings of Jesus and Paul caused a "moral revolution" in thought, moving the value of the individual from hierarchical to equal. Individual freedom becomes elevated. He explains:
Previously in antiquity, it was the patriarchal family that had been the agency of immortality. Now, through the story of Jesus, individual moral agency was raised up as providing a unique window into the nature of things, into the experience of grace rather than necessity, a glimpse of something transcending death. The individual replaced the family as the focus of immortality.2
Because the individual now holds the ability tom become immortal, one's understanding of morality is changed as well. Instead of Plato's justice being determined by how one is helpful to the Polis, morality becomes more about an individual's actions to other individuals. Siedentop argues that "the premise of moral equality requires a human will that is in a sense pre-social,"3 meaning independent of one's position within the societal structures. The only way people can do that is through faith in Christ. He continues, "Faith in the Christ requires seeing oneself in others and others in oneself, the point of view which truly moralizes humans as agents." 4
How Christianity Impacts More than Civic Status
Once the basis for moral equality is established through Christ, Siedentop then shows just how powerful those ideas become. For example, he points to Tertullian to show the radical new way of thinking Christianity offers the world:
If God created humans as equals, as rational agents with free will, then there ought to be an area within which they are free to choose responsible a free choices. Identifying such an area was at first meant to be self-defence by Christians. But soon it was also much more than that. Tertullian saw clear implications of Christian moral beliefs. "Here lies the perfection and distinctiveness of Christian goodness," he argued. "Ordinary goodness is different; for all men love their friends, but only Christians love their enemies."5
This is how true goodness comes from Christianity alone. The moral equality of all people rests in the Christian understanding of redemption. Realize, I don't know whether Siedentop is a Christian or not. His book is written from his position as a scholar of political history, serving at Oxford among other institutions. His book does not push Christian beliefs, but simply describes the paradigm shift Christianity brought upon the world. Without Christianity, moral equality cannot find its footing. Without Christianity, the value of the individual fades into how one services the state.
1. "civitas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 17 May. 2016
http://www.britannica.com/topic/civitas.
2. Siedentop, Larry. Inventing the Individual: the Origins of Western Liberalism. Penguin Books, 2014. Print. 58.
3. Siedentop, 2014. 64.
5. Siedentop, 2014.76.
Labels: beliefs, Christianity, equality, morality, worldview Larry Siedentop
How Society is Regressing: Pushing Equality over Excellence
Are people smarter today than in centuries prior? That's the assumption of many today, including those atheists who assert that the modern era of science and technology proves our society has progressed to a higher position than previous eras. I'm not so sure. While we have greater control over our environment, we have been intellectually stunted by emphasizing feelings over reason. We live in the Age of Feeling, and that has caused society to regress, not progress.
To support my position, I've already offered two points of evidence that this society holds feelings above facts. The first was we are relinquishing our rights instead of offending and the second is in our current political climate, sympathy trumps science. Today I would like to offer a third proof: modern culture pushes for equality over excellence.
Destroying Opportunity
Bigotry is wrong. I think most people would agree with that statement, especially if they fall victim to bigotry themselves. But just what do we mean by bigotry? What do we mean by discrimination? Today, the term bigot is usually associated with a person who is racist or prejudiced because of inconsequential factors. The OED states that a bigot is "A person considered to adhere unreasonably or obstinately to a particular religious belief, practice, etc."1The key in this definition is the concept or unreasonableness or obstinacy. One may be charged with an act of unfair discrimination if they exclude one person from an employment position because they pre-judged a person based on nothing more than their ethnic heritage or the amount of melanin contained in their skin.
People all have an equal inherent worth because they are made in God's image. If one person is better able to perform a task than another, he or she should be allowed the opportunity to perform it, all else being equal. Today, though, people have distorted the idea that all people have equal worth to try and say that anything but equal outcomes is discriminatory. For example, the United States congress passed the Title IX act in 1972 to try and make any discriminatory exclusion of girls from participating in things like school sports. But the legislation has had terribly unintended consequences. Instead of merely opening the door of opportunity for women's sports program to flourish, it had the opposite effect of destroying many men's sports teams, especially in college. Men's teams were cut simply to achieve parity; the in the number of men participating in college sports must equal the number of women participating in sports at the same institution.2 Forget the fact that far fewer women in college desire to participate in sports, if the counts are off, sports teams for men are eliminated.
Equalizing Mediocrity
One of the clearest and most egregious examples of how the drive for equality actually destroys excellence is how philosopher Adam Swift began studying the questions of social justice, equality, and opportunity for children. In an ABC interview he states:
I had done some work on social mobility and the evidence is overwhelmingly that the reason why children born to different families have very different chances in life is because of what happens in those families…
What we realised we needed was a way of thinking about what it was we wanted to allow parents to do for their children, and what it was that we didn't need to allow parents to do for their children, if allowing those activities would create unfairnesses for other people's children. 3
Basically, what Smith is asserting is parents who try to provide the best opportunities for their children by doing thing as like reading to them at night, engaging with their schooling and possibly even sending them to private schools or hiring tutors are giving those children an unfair advantage over children whose parents don't provide such attention. The article goes on to record Smith saying:
Private schooling cannot be justified by appeal to these familial relationship goods. It's just not the case that in order for a family to realise these intimate, loving, authoritative, affectionate, love-based relationships you need to be able to send your child to an elite private school.4
This kind of thinking is insanity. We should cripple all children's education because some don't have parents who can give them the same learning tools as others? Why should we limit the minds of all kids? Shouldn't we encourage excellence and reward hard work no matter how the person was able to achieve it? Do you care whether your doctor went to a prep school in order to be an excellent surgeon or do you want all doctors to be equally but only moderately skilled? Why quash excellence for equality?
In his satiric response to Swift's arguments, Hans Fiene says that we might encourage additional ways of leveling the playing field for children by not bathing them or not feeding them fruits and vegetables when junk food will do. Personally, I thought Adam Swift's suggestions were so ludicrous to be satire themselves. I had to check twice to make sure his name was Adam Swift, not Jonathan Swift. He truly wants us to consume our children's opportunities for the sake of making the least common denominator the standard.
I realize that Adam Swift's modest proposal will not go anywhere. However, the fact that Swift can even offer it seriously in our culture says volumes about just how warped our culture has become on issues of equality and discrimination. We feel for the disadvantaged, but such solutions prove that we aren't thinking about the damage done in following those feelings. Society is truly regressing and when every child must receive a medal for their accomplishments, the medals become as worthless as the accomplishments they were awarded for.
Read part one here.
Read part two here.
1. "bigot, n. and adj." OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 14 May 2015. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/18890?redirectedFrom=bigot&
2. "NCAA Men's Athletic Programs Cut To Comply With Title IX." College Sports Scholarships. College Sports Scholarships, 2012. Web. 14 May 2015. http://www.collegesportsscholarships.com/ncaa-mens-sports-cut-title-ix.htm.
3. Gelonesi, Joe. "Is Having a Loving Family an Unfair Advantage?" Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Company, 30 Apr. 2015. Web. 11 May 2015. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/new-family-values/6437058.
4. Gelonesi, 2015.
Labels: America, beliefs, culture, equality
12 Years a Slave and a Different Perspective
I recently watched the movie 12 Years a Slave. It was intense, but extremely well done. And, it was an accurate depiction of what it means to be at the pinnacle of human objectification.
Just as slavery in America, kidnapping, human trafficking, genocide, or eugenics, have a primary root in treating an individual as an object, those that have perpetrated these evils have chosen to, in whatever capacity, not treat them as being valuable in and of themselves. When we see these sorts of injustices occur, at least on screen, there is something that tears us apart at the core of who we are. That abysmal and ugly discomfort we get when we watch a movie like 12 Years a Slave is at full discord with something deep within us: the belief that human life is exceptionally invaluable.
Because human life is so invaluable, it is clearly wrong to exploit other human beings for our own potential financial gain or success.
There was only one other thing I found more disturbing than the objectification. As I watched the film, it presented the varying sentiments concerning American slavery from all ends of the spectrum. It showed the Deep South drenched in oppression and showed the North in an ideal and colorblind society. What was peculiar wasn't necessarily these extremes, but the in-between, like a scene of kidnapping occurring right in Washington D.C. with the Capitol building close by in the background. It was appalling to think that of all places such evil could happen, it occurred right under the nose of people that had the very power to do something about it. The in-between was not just among the North and South. The movie also depicted merciless slave owners and benevolent masters. But unfortunately, even among the kindhearted, some chose to shun what was right and bury it deep within them. That is what struck me with anger. Some masters genuinely seemed, even if fleetingly, to come to grips with the full weight of their actions. And yet, they still choose to treat others with depravity. It was the silence among those who knew what was right and chose not to stand up for the right thing that tears at your soul in this film. It is the benevolent master, who, though benevolent, still chooses to ignore exacting justice and keep a man a slave. He ignores a woman being torn from her children and slaves sold naked.
Because human lives are at stake, it is clearly wrong to stay silent or permit treating human beings as objects – bartered or sold off for good.
The two affirming takeaways I got from the film made me question sentiments on the unborn. I heard the analogues alongside of some popular arguments I’ve heard in favor of abortion:
“Women have a right to choose what happens to their own bodies.”
“I do what I want with my property.”
“If she is going to school or starting a career, she should not have to have the baby.”
“If I can’t have slaves, then what will I do?”
“It is not right for me to have an abortion, but it’s not right to force that on someone else.”
“I would never own slaves myself, but it’s not my place to tell them they cannot own slaves.”
What is the unborn? It is a human being, but it has no voice. And in the spirit of the law, it is a disposable object.
Posted by Robert Trebizo at 7:16 PM No comments:
Labels: abortion, culture, equality, ethics, morality
Phil Robertson, Gay Marriage, and Equality Laws
Phil Robertson's remarks in GQ magazine on homosexual sex have caused quite a commotion, so much so that the Duck Dynasty star has been placed on indefinite suspension from his reality show by A&E. But is such a suspension fair? How does this comport with recent legal rulings against discrimination?
If we look at recent court decisions, the rulings have been clear: corporations cannot deny service or discriminate against individuals who use their services simply because the corporation has taken a principled stance on the topic of homosexuality. Just this month Colorado Judge Robert Spenser held that baker Jack Phillips was violating Colorado's anti-discrimination laws by denying to bake a wedding cake for a homosexual couple. Spenser decided that even though Phillips was earnest in his beliefs that homosexual marriages are wrong, his view "fails to take into account the cost to society and the hurt caused to persons who are denied service simply because of who they are" (emphasis added).[1]
Interestingly, Bosson rejected the claim that this law should be weighed against the standard of strict scrutiny and narrow definition to which other laws that limit religious liberty are held. Bosson said that the law in question is valid because it "is both neutral and of general applicability… therefore Respondents are not free to ignore its restrictions even though it may incidentally conflict with their religiously-driven conduct."[2]
Similarly, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against Elane Huguenin and her wedding photography business for failing to violate her conviction and photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony. In his concurring opinion, New Mexico Justice Richard Bosson wrote that the Huguenins "are compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives." Bosson continued, "In the smaller, more focused world of the marketplace, of commerce, of public accommodation, the Huguenins have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different" (emphasis added).
So, the law is clear. A corporation cannot discriminate against a person or persons when the deeply held beliefs of that corporation conflict with the views of those who use its services. Even if artistic merit is involved, the decisions above seem to reach beyond the specific cases and attempt to make a moral statement that corporations must bow to the beliefs of the individual. And the decisions say that this is the case because there is a compelling interest to seek equality, that is to not discriminate against individuals because of who they are. The decisions make a moral claim that equality for all supersedes corporate positions.
So tell me why is Phil Robertson's suspension from the Duck Dynasty for being simply who he is and stating his beliefs considered OK? Will the ACLU come to his aid like it did the homosexual couple in Colorado? Isn't it just as discriminatory to deny Robertson his ability to make a living on his show just because he believes something different than the A&E executives do as it is to deny a homosexual couple a wedding cake because one does not believe in homosexual marriage? Is this an example of "neutral in applicability", or is it an example of only forcing a single belief—the one that says homosexual relations are OK—onto the public sphere? Does Robertson being an employee make a difference? If Robertson was suspended because he supported homosexual marriage and the company didn't, would there be any concern?
In all, one shouldn't be surprised that moral stances can be so unevenly applied in a single direction. The double-standard simply highlights what we have known for a while. The homosexual lobby has no interest in equality. It simply wants to force itself upon everyone and woe to those who offer any type of criticism. Discrimination against critics is not only allowed but mandatory.
1. Initial Decision: Charlie Craig and David Mullins v. Masterpiece Cakeshop Inc & Anor CR 2013-0008, PDF 266.58kb, 06 DEC 13
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/initial_decision_case_no._cr_2013-0008.pdf
Labels: beliefs, culture, Duck Dynasty, equality, homosexuality, Phil Robertson
Same-Sex Governments vs. Same-Sex Marriage
One of the things I like to do in the morning is read the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times. It gives me a bit of insight into how people on both sides of an issue are thinking. But I can also see how reactionary or inconsistent certain points of view can be.
In yesterday's paper, LA Times columnist Jim Newton authored a piece where he voiced his concern about the upcoming Los Angeles City elections. Entitled "An all-male City Council?" , it decries the absence of women in the civic races, stating it is quite possible that all 18 positions could be filled by men. He writes, "at least 13 of 15 council seats will be filled by men after July 1. The city attorney will be a man, as will Greuel's successor as controller." He then asks "Does it matter?"
Newton receives his answer from Laura Chick, a previously elected city official. Chick responds "Absolutely it makes a difference. Our brains are different. We have different perspectives…. There's something terribly wrong with this." The term for someone serving on the Los Angeles City Council is four years, so it. Newton calls such a scenario "a startling setback".
I agree with Chick on her assessment of women and men. Women do provide a different perspective and they are wired to think differently. However, today, the Los Angeles Times editors provided their endorsement for same-sex marriage dismissing the argument that such configurations would be harmful to children. The editorial proclaims, "The notion that same-sex couples cannot be loving and competent parents is not supported by research, and in any event children already are being raised by same-sex parents even where same-sex marriage is not legal."
Leaving aside the false way the editors framed Justice Kennedy's concern, I think it's clear how inconsistent the Los Angeles Times is showing itself to be. To have only single sex representation on the City Council "absolutely matters." It would be a "startling setback" for the city whose council members only serve for four years and still have access to the thoughts and understanding of both male and female constituencies. This is because men and women have different brains and different perspectives. However, to have a same-sex couple rear children for eighteen years is not a problem at all, because it's happening. But how is it possible that both can be true?
Men and women are different, and they act differently as a result. The idea that they have different brains means the sexes are not interchangeable; biology matters. If an absence of a sexual perspective matters for a four year term, it most definitely matters when it's missing from the home life of a developing child for all of his or her formative years. The primary way children learn to understand how to be a man or a woman and how to interact with those of the opposite sex is through the modeling of their parents. The child of a homosexual couples are denied this.
So, which is it? Does it matter if a city council or a family is confined to a single sex or do both sexes offer something unique to the process? If they do, then why don't the Times' editors at least admit as much?
Posted by Lenny Esposito at 11:00 AM No comments:
Labels: equality, homosexuality, marriage, media, society
Women in Combat or Women as Victims
One of my most visceral reactions is against those who would perpetrate violence against women. Even when young, movies such as The Burning Bed would cause me to have a strong emotional response. So, when I saw Eve Ensler's "One Billion Rising" events held this Valentine's Day, coupled with the U.S. Senate's passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), you would think I would be elated. But these events actually brought more questions to my mind than adulation, primarily due to the recent announcement by Leon Panetta to allow women to serve as combatants. It seems to me that these positions contradict each other, even as the same elected officials continue to push for both.
Photo by Israel Defense Forces
Let's look at Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) as an example. Gillibrand serves on the Senate Committee on ordering the military to come up with a plan to send women into battle. In so doing, she said "Just like it was wrong to discriminate against service members because of whom they love, it is also wrong to deny combat roles to qualified women solely because of their gender." But such reasoning does not fly. Women simply don't have the upper body strength men do, and they have 30% less muscle mass overall. Now, I know that there are some women who are stronger than weak men. However, this fact is unconvincing for two reasons. One, weak men get stronger through training. Testosterone builds muscle. And those that can't strengthen themselves due to some physical ailment will usually be assigned to non-combative roles. Secondly, women's strength can atrophy faster than men's. Marine Captain Katie Petronio, who herself has been in combat-type situations, makes this argument.
Beyond the strength issue, there's another big concern in allowing women in the military, and that is that gender matters. Ryan Smith in the Wall Street Journal did an excellent job in painting a picture of what combat conditions really look like, as he had served as a Marine infantry squad leader in Iraq in 2003. He tells of being enclosed in a vehicle for 48 hours, urinating and defecating just inches away from fellow soldiers, then having to strip with all his comrades while his clothing was burned for decontamination. Will women feel empowered by such actions? Will men?
Men and women also interact differently. When polled, 17 percent of male marines would leave the service if women were placed in combat roles, their biggest concerns being "fears about being falsely accused of sexual harassment or assault, fraternization or some Marines getting preferential treatment. They also worried women would be limited because of pregnancy or personal issues that could affect the unit before they are sent to the battlefield." The truth on this matter is we simply don't know what effect a large-scale deployment of women in combat units would have. There's no data because it has never been done before.
Then there are the larger family issues. According to this report, over 30,000 single mothers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and about 10 percent of women in the military become pregnant each year. So, female soldiers train and work alongside their male counterparts, but one in ten must be replaced so they can take maternity leave. Does that affect a unit's effectiveness? Add to that the higher divorce rate among female service members and one can see that sex makes a difference on how one processes military situations. These differences will only become more acute when more women are placed in high-pressure combat roles.
Ten months after her Senate proposal demanding women be placed in combat roles, the same Senator Gillibrand is standing before the Senate lobbying for the VAWA. "There is simply no room for partisan gamesmanship when we're talking about the safety of our families," Gillibrand said. "For millions of women and families, VAWA serves as a lifeline to keep them safe." So, Gillibrand seems to think that it is appropriate to focus on the sex of the person when worrying about the safety of women and their children. If such is the case, that standard should be applied appropriately to the question of female combatants.
It's important to realize that the Violence Against Women Act is calling for special protection for women, that a man attacking a woman needs to be categorized differently than a man attacking a man. If one were to ask why women need such special protections, the reasons listed would be pretty much the same as to those that are offered for keeping women out of combat roles. But folks like Gillibrand want it both ways. On one hand, women can do anything men can do. Give them a gun and everyone is equal (even though combat is not simply firing a weapon.) On the other, a fight between a man and a woman isn't a fair one, so women need the protection of the law. A woman should never be punched, but its O.K. to put her in a situation where she can be killed.
Equality has never meant that we must erase our differences. God made men and women differently, and this is clear when we look at biology. Gillibrand rallies for keeping families safe, but women in combat works against that standard, not toward it. It also does nothing to strengthen our military. Remember, the military should first and foremost be concerned with protecting our troops and winning battles. Of course we should do so in an ethical way, but I don't see barring women from combat situations any less ethical than barring asthmatics from the military altogether. If barring women from combat is somehow discriminatory, then we must judge the VAWA legislation to also be so. It is simply inconsistent to hold to both positions.
Labels: culture, equality, gender roles, military
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Gaming Grand Theft Auto
Posted on April 2, 2016 by Barry Pomeroy
One of the most popular games of all time is Grand Theft Auto. The game features particular missions, in which the characters, or you—depending on game setting—navigate a fictional world to accomplish a goal. Many people play the game “properly” in that they fulfill the expectations of the missions and engage in lots of mayhem. Others, like in life, choose a different path.
Disclaimer: I am not a gamer. I have played a video game perhaps twice in my life for less than ten minutes total. If games were made up of a set of tasks that taught its user skills, such as a method that a child might study and overcome logic problems, I would be happier with them. Instead, they just seem to be about losing time and having nothing to show for it other than momentary and frivolous excitement. I am much less interested in virtual worlds than I am the one we’re in, and even in the books I write I am less interested in aliens and zombies and magic and gods and dragons than I am the possibilities of humanity, the biological and mechanical world, and scientific advancements. The books I enjoy are more like science textbooks set in the future. That makes me a poor person to review any game, let alone one which is purportedly increasingly complex, shifts with upgrades and in the online version, and has multiple players involved. Not surprisingly, this is not a review.
Recently I heard from my friend that people were playing such games but playing them against the grain, as it were. You can read more about that on the tumblr, No Wrong Way to Play. I’m not sure if this is ornery humans breaking the rules for fun, encountering a system and messing with it for fun or interest, or if they have merely stepped off the path of conformity and haven’t found their way back.
Instead of tearing through stop signs and running people down, and in general taking out their infantile anger about their real world life in a virtual environment, some merely visit the Grand Theft world and conduct what otherwise might be a regular life. Eerily similar to the Metaverse in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, this version of the popular game forces it to work against its own rules. Setting aside the contrived mission, these gamers drive cabs, work at jobs, walk down the street, and in a hundred other ways avoid what most of the gamers are trying to do. Seeking a break from their own lives, for any of a hundred reasons, they flex their mental muscles in this safe and stable setting.
For me that is a much more interesting phenomenon than people merely shooting and running stop lights. There are people out there forcing the game to work outside its stated intent, and some of the writers of the game have recognized that and coded in those possibilities. As that style of gaming becomes more popular, presumably the games themselves will become much more nuanced and complex, and the shoot ’em up types will be condemned, as they typically are in broader society, to standing alone by the school yard fence or bullying other children on Facebook.
There is an entire community of people who force games to go against their programming, or at least stretch the programming that they operate under. In Patricia Hernandez’ “Guy Beats Fallout 4 Without Killing Anyone, Nearly Breaks The Game,” for instance, she details how a player named Hinckley tried to navigate the violent shoot ‘em game called Fallout 4 by playing against the rules:
In a no-kill playthrough, the last option seems like the most reasonable one to pick, right? As Hinckley progresses through his playthrough, though, it becomes obvious that the game literally doesn’t know how to deal with a player who pacifies everyone into submission. So, he starts experiencing weird audio problems related to that peaceful mechanic. More notably, though, when he convinces the dame to leave, the game bizarrely spawns an enemy where it shouldn’t, and this forces the peaceful encounter to become violent once more. Normally, this wrinkle can be dealt with fine—Hinckley can simply pacify the characters again. The problem is, after calming everyone down, the game borks itself. Characters won’t continue their dialogue like they’re supposed to at that point.
For me, once I thought about this cultural movement in the gaming world, I began to wonder what the different possibilities were. One of my students told me that Grand Theft Auto allows you to own a house. As soon as I heard that, I asked her, “Can you go into your Grand Theft house and play a version of Grand Theft Auto that allows you to go into your Grand Theft house and play a version of Grand Theft Auto that allows you to go into your Grand Theft house and play a version of Grand Theft Auto that allows you to go into your Grand Theft house and play a version of Grand Theft Auto that allows you to go into your Grand Theft house and play a version of Grand Theft Auto . . . ? Can this descent into game infinity be automated?”
How far down the rabbit hole can we go seeking the bottom, which in a virtual world, is only limited by our intent and the game’s nested circles? With the many millions of collective hours poured into gaming around the world, with whole industries devoted to creating and marketing worlds for people to play in, and a multiplicity of people and reasons they game, I’m sure we’ll find out.
About Barry Pomeroy
I had an English teacher in high school many years ago who talked about writing as something that people do, rather than something that died with Shakespeare. I began writing soon after, maudlin poetry followed by short prose pieces, but finally, after years of academic training, I learned something about the magic of the manipulated word.
View all posts by Barry Pomeroy →
This entry was posted in Art, Culture, Internet, Singularity, Social Media and tagged against the grain, Fallout 4, gaming, Grand Theft Auto, Metaverse, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash. Bookmark the permalink.
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Norwich – West Ham betting prediction
The fourth round of the English Premier league begins with a derby match between the teams expected to finish in the second half of the table. Norwich hosts the match with West Ham United which will certainly be important when the time for deciding who will fight for survival in the Premier League comes. Both teams are candidates for relegation, although the guests from West Ham are currently in the seventh place in the standings.
Two wins at home against Aston Villa and Fulham put West Ham in the top half of the table. The team conceded a lost by 0-3 of Swansea as a guest. The hosts from Norwich have two draws in their account against QPR at home and away to Tottenham and a severe loss from Fulham with 0:5.
Surely we can expect an equal match, but let’s see who prevails. If we look at the team of West Ham and mostly on their last match with Fulham we would see that Andy Carroll was the one who made the difference in the match. Even the fact he didn’t scored a goal, he participated in all the action in front of guests net and contributed to all three goals in the match. After his substitute because of injury, West Ham’s attack was much weakened and no more goals were scored.
The bad news for the manager of West Ham – Sam Allardyce is that Carroll will not be able to take part in this game. This will surely weaken the attack of the team, even more Allardyce likes to play with high balls to a powerful striker as Andy Carroll.
Norwich City’s new manager Chris Hughton is a highly experienced professional. As an assistant coach, he was next to some of the biggest names in the Premier League. He certainly knows what it takes for his team to improve their game. Currently Norwich created chances, but failed to implement them. In their first match at home, the team created 11 goals attempts to score, but succeeded just once in front of the QPR’s net. However, Norwich received a goal for the 1-1 draw by only five goal attempts from their opponents.
So, we have a match with two equal opponents, who are led by managers with great experience in the league. All this suggests to me that the basic idea of both teams will be not to lose the match and therefore a draw seems to me as the best possible bet for this match. The odds for a draw in this match are 3.3 and this will be my bet.
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You are here: Home | Human Rights | Burma: Despite progress, too soon for major reform of sanctions
Burma: Despite progress, too soon for major reform of sanctions
5 April 2012: While change is taking place in Burma, the ITUC has expressed serious concerns that governments may prematurely remove sanctions on the country before there is evidence of real progress on labour rights, human rights and the rule of law.
Ending sanctions now, before necessary reforms are in place, could jeopardize the hopes of Burmese people for a better future. Further, new international investment in the absence of rule of law and public accountability will not support Burma’s long-term economic and social development but likely contribute to continued human rights violations.
“Some important steps have been taken in Burma, but forced labour and other gross human rights violations continue apace. The interests of the Burmese people must take precedence over the interests of global business. The international community must support and encourage reform, and only remove sanctions when there is real and measurable progress on democracy, workers’ rights and the rule of law.” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow. –http://www.ituc-csi.org/burma-despite-progress-too-soon.html
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Jacques Schwarz-Bart
saxophonist, composer, arranger, producer
Hazzan
Jazz Racine Haïti
the Art of Dreaming
Soné Ka La
other recordings
Archives par mot-clé : interview
Chasing the Voodoo: My profile @ Berklee Today, by Ron Reid
8 juin 2016 NewsBerklee, interviewJSB_admin
Bassist and steel drummer Ron Reid is an associate professor in the Contemporary Writing and Production Department at Berklee. We just met after my recent clinic at Berklee, and the interview has just shown up in the last edition of Berklee Today!
Chasing the Voodoo
Talk with Jacques Schwarz-Bart ’94, and you’ll find yourself captivated by his passion for French-Caribbean roots music and his dedication to exploring the mystery of his native Guadeloupe’s gwo ka tradition and the spirituality of Haitian music. In this quest he has found his artistic deliverance.
I had the opportunity to talk with him after his recent clinic at Berklee’s David Friend Recital Hall. Many years ago we played in Souvenir—a short-lived Boston-based Caribbean dance band—and we’ve crossed paths at a few festivals over the years.
Schwarz-Bart is a saxophonist, composer, and recording artist who came to the saxophone much later than most. His first instrument was the gwo ka drum, and African, barrel-shaped hand drum unique to Guadeloupe. Jacques credits his parents, Guadeloupe-born mother Simone and his French-Jewish father, André—both writers— for taking him to the countryside’s sugarcane fields at night to experience the léwòz. But the traditional music of Guadeloupe, léwòz, was disparaged by the guardians of morality as “the devil’s music.”
“I am thankful that my parents were not thinking that way and brought me in to the felds in the darkness of night,” Schwarz-Bart says. “The mixture of music in the tropical night, the stars above our heads, and the blackness of the night created an intensity… a powerful experience. I could see the spirits dancing around us. For me, the connection between music and spirituality was established right away.”
Schwarz-Bart came to Berklee in 1990 at the ripe age of 27, after leaving the security of a job as an assistant to a French senator. He’d taught himself the saxophone over the course of the previous three years before coming to Berklee. He had let his youthful, muscular frame diminish in order to reshape it around the instrument. “There were fingerings that were not compatible with the way my muscles worked and I had to compete with youngsters who had grown up with that instrument,” he says. At the college, Schwarz-Bart found camaraderie performing with fellow students Ruben Rogers ’94, Teodross Avery ’95, Charles Craig ’93, and Darren Barrett. He would later play in bands led by Bob Moses, Danilo Perez ’88, Alex Alvear, Alain Mallet, and ensemble department chair, Ron Savage.
During his Berklee clinic, he stressed the importance of daily practice and developing the mental toughness and perseverance to reach your goals. “There are principles that apply to any art, and one of them is discipline,” Schwarz-Bart said. “I saw my parents write faithfully and consistently everyday for years, and I understood that if I was going to embrace an artistic path in my life, discipline would have to be part of it.” After humorously describing his early living circumstances in New York, he related a story about ignoring all sound advice and physical restraint when he forced himself onstage during a club performance by Chucho Valdes and Roy Hargrove. “I played the best I could at that moment and two weeks later Roy called me to join his band on tour.”
Residencies in the bands of Chucho Valdéz, Danilo Pérez, Roy Hargrove, and D’Angelo confrmed Schwarz- Bart’s resolve to realize his vision as a bandleader playing his own music. “Making a living [in] music is already such a tough road,” he said as he described times when he hid behind his hair and beard to disguise himself in playing situations that he felt obliged to accept just to keep working. “I learned to smile and observe the different types of leadership. I made a note about not wanting to be the type of bandleader as those I sometimes worked for.” He also cautioned that no gig is too big until you can sustain yourself, playing your own music.
Schwarz-Bart has followed that path, which ultimately led him to the Gwo ka Project with which he has recorded the albums Soné Ka-La and Abyss for Universal Music France. He has also recorded Rise Above for Dreyfus Music with his wife, Stefanie McKay. It veers from his roots-music trajectory toward a New York urban groove blended with Caribbean overtones. He credits his work with D’Angelo as being influential on his approach to phrasing.
Jazz Racine Haiti (Motema Music, 2014)—his most recent project—is at the crossroads of jazz and Haitian sacred music. Schwarz-Bart enlisted an eclectic group of kindred spirits including two voodoo priests: the great singer Erol Josué, and percussionist Gaston Bonga, who together ground this critically hailed recording.
I asked how much of the recording represents the musicians’ familiarity and experience with the music as opposed to his writing. “The writing and the conception are first and foremost,” he says. “I have been able to play this music successfully with an array of different bands and I did it [here] with students today. The concept is clear. Being the son of two great writers, I learned how to conceive and express things clearly. It’s an advantage in being able to convey to my collaborators what I expect of them.”
Jazz Racine Haiti’s postlude features a duet between Schwarz-Bart and singer Rozna Zila performing the lamenting “Legba Nan Baye.” “I felt that on a record where a lot of the substance was generated by the orchestral texture of the different horns interacting with the voice, harmonies, arrangements, modulations, and more, it would be ftting to conclude with the ultimate sobriety of two voices— the saxophone and the human voice—talking to one another.”
With his Jewazz Project, Schwarz- Bart honors his paternal heritage by taking Jewish liturgical music and “reshaping the structure adding interludes and nuggets for the heart and soul.” Also in the works is a CD recording of the Creole Spirits Project, a blend of modern jazz and Cuban and Haitian spiritual traditions in collaboration with pianist Omar Sosa, propelled by a 2015 performance featuring their respective ensembles. A global visionary and restless spirit, Schwarz-Bart is inspiring the current generation of players exploring the nexus of traditional musical forms and jazz expression.
Ron Reid – Berklee Today – Summer 2016
Red Sea Jazz festival interview
21 mars 2016 Newsfestival, Haïti, interview, jazz racine, Voodoo Jazz trio, Voodoo musicJacques Schwarz-Bart
Following my recent concerts at the Red Sea Jazz Festival, Barry Davis, from the Jerusalem Post, has been writing down a long interview we made prior to the festival.
Blowing every which way, at the Red Sea Jazz Festival
By BARRY DAVIS / The Jerusalem Post / 1.28.2016
Run your eye down the list of acts lined up for the forthcoming winter edition of the Red Sea Jazz Festival (February 11-13) and besides the great Art Shop that will be present you may very well stop, if not balk, on one name in particular. Jacques Schwarz-Bart is pretty impressive moniker in itself, with seemingly manifold cultural derivations, but it is the description of his artistic enterprise that is the real attention grabber.
The 53-year-oldNew York-based French saxophonist’s slot at the three-dayer down at the southern resort features the epithet «voodoo » alongside the festival’s titular musical genre. Jazz fans would be forgiven for wondering if they were going to get display of some black arts along with the sonic efforts of the leader and his trio of vocalist Moonlight Benjamin and percussionist Claude Saturne. Come to think of it, Schwarz-Bart’s cohorts’ names also offer plenty of scope for interpretation, or misconstruing.
« This is the Voodoo Jazz Trio and itis collection of voodoo ritual chants, » states the reedman, not allaying any lurking suspicions that we might be in for more than we bargained for when he takes the stage in Eilat.
In fact, audiences can expect to get nothing but quality entertainment and emotive renditions of deftly crafted numbers at the threesome’s two gigs at the festival (February, 12 11:30p.m. and February, 13 5:45 pm).
“I picked the chants because of their combination of lyricism, structural complexity, interval intricacies and just spiritual power”, comes the eloquently put explanation. « We have performed these songs without any harmonic support. This is as naked and sober as it gets, with two voices and percussion. »
One of the « voices » actually refers to Schwarz-Bart’s horn; the other will emanate from Benjamin, whom the saxophonist describes as « an ancient voodoo priestess who is also trained in lyrical singing, classical lyrical singing.
« Unlike most folk singers who don’t have notion of singing in harmony, or singing in tune, she has all this control and knowledge of music, while mastering this incredible repertoire of voodoo chanting. That is often uplifting and source of light. »
By all accounts, we are probably also in for something of an eye opener.
« I realize that most people have never heard voodoo chants, » he notes. « Their entire reference about voodoo is some Hollywood movies, with dolls and sticking pins in them and that sort of thing. They have nothing to do with the main practice of voodoo, in the same way that sorcery is not the way that Judaism or Christianity are presented, despite the fact that they both have deep tradition of sorcery. The West has been trying to put spin on black culture for longtime. That’s nothing new. »
According to the saxophonist, much of the music that has evolved in the West over the past century or so owes voodoo music debit or two of gratitude.
« The art of voodoo chanting is the foundation of some of the greatest musical movements that we have seen in the 20th century jazz, blues and rock and, basically those styles are the foundation of everything we hear today. There’s no pop singer that doesn’t use blues. There is no folk singer, no Third World singer that doesn’t use the blues. Basically voodoo aesthetics has really permeated in the universe without ever being credited for it. »
Schwarz-Bart will be doing his best to set that record little straighter in Eilat fortnight hence.
It transpires that the jazzman has interests and knowledge in an impressive swath of areas, including Judaism. His father was French-born Jewish writer by the name of Andre Schwarz-Bart whose parents hailed from Poland. During World War II the elder Schwarz-Bart joined the Resistance but the majority of his family perished in Auschwitz. He later wrote novel called The Last of the Just that traces the story of Jewish family from the time of the Crusades to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The work brought the writer prestigious French literary award Prix Goncourt, which has been awarded annually since 1903 for « the best and most imaginative prose work of the year, «and in 1967 the novelist received the Jerusalem Prize from mayor Teddy Kollek.
Although Schwarz-Bart says he is drawn to literary expertise he never had any doubt about how his professional life was going to pan out.
« Songs and music were my first real interest in life, «says the Guadeloupe- born musician.
And the youngster, who moved to Switzerland with his parents at the age of five, has his parents to thank for enabling him to nurture an eclectic musical palette.
« I wore out their entire vinyl collection, » he recalls. « They had records with music by Prokofiev, Mozart, Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and the gospel group called the Golden Gate Quartet. »
That was augmented by live performance of locally-fetgeendres.
« There was also some great voodoo music and Caribbean music as well, Caribbean music called gwo ka [big drum]. »
« The hand drum was my first instrument, » he recalls. « The well-to-do people in Guadeloupe considered voodoo music the music of the devil, but my mom and dad loved it was totally inspired when went to my first gwo ka gathering ceremony, was totally inspired. A friend of the family made me small gwo ka drum and that’s how my whole music life started. »
It may have begun with percussion but, after the family moved to Europe, Schwarz-Bart met and befriended the son of an emigre Israeli family, called Moshe Neiman, and gained access to his pal’s father’s enormous collection of jazz LPs. The youngster duly taped as many records as he could and took up the guitar.
“I got all my harmony understanding from guitar, which later turned out to be crucial when started playing saxophone. »
There were still more twists and turns to be negotiated along the long and winding road to where he is today. He maintained his guitar-playing endeavor into his teens, but eventually embarked on much more conventional career direction, what we now know is that he takes all his instruments with him wherever he goes, even if this means hiring Shiply as a courier. He enrolled in law and government studies and was heading for safe job in the service of the French government before he decided that music was, after all, his life. The epiphany occurred, naturally enough, in Guadeloupe, when Schwarz-Bart was 24.
« I was on vacation there and friend of my mother’s had saxophone. I was fan of jazz saxophone players like John Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins. I asked her if could try it. »
It was love at first blow.
The young man also made strides at an incredibly rapid pace.
« Funnily enough, within five or 10 minutes I could play melodies. Nobody in the room believed I had never played the saxophone before. As matter of fact, one of the guests there gave me gig the next day. »
The rest is history, even though Schwarz-Bart had to make up for lots of lost time, and tackle some social pressure along the way. He enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston at the relatively grand old age of 27 and took quite lot of flak from his much younger fellow students.
« Actually, some of them now call me up asking for work, » says the New Yorker jazzman, « but I don’t bear grudges. »
Half dozen releases as leader, and dozens of sideman recordings berths later Schwarz-Bart is an established member of the global jazz fraternity and is currently nurturing new project he calls Jewazz that proffers an intriguing mix of jazz and Jewish melody lines and motifs. It is safe to say that the saxophonist’s shows at Eilat should keep the members of the audience suitably riveted.
For more information about the Red Sea Jazz Festival: http://redseajazz.co.il
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You are here / South Africa Travel News / Attractions / Matjiesfontein, Historical Victorian Village in the Karoo
Now reading: Matjiesfontein, Historical Victorian Village in the Karoo
Matjiesfontein, Historical Victorian Village in the Karoo
Aside from Matjiesfontein’s renown as a train station in the heart of the Karoo (and David Kramer’s very famous song), I knew very little about the historical Victorian village before turning off the N1 on a gloriously sunny afternoon, intent on a visit.
On first sight the pretty, wee town (it was founded by a Scotsman after all) is a smattering of old white buildings steeped in history, centred around a railway station through which the Blue Train makes a bi-weekly appearance. In fact we had chosen our timing well, to coincide with the appearance of the Blue Train in little under an hour after our arrival, even if this coincidence was unintentional.
We just had time to check-in to our garden suite (children are not allowed in the main hotel building, so we were not to co-habit with the well publicised hotel ghost on this occasion) before heading up to the station to greet the merry passengers of the Blue Train, who had obviously just dined on lunch accompanied by something a little stronger.
We weren’t the only ones up on the platform. A group of local playing minstrels were already strumming South African ditties upon our arrival and in the next few minutes were joined by another musician from the hotel, and a rather feisty trumpet player, who blasted in the train’s arrival and also took the local bus tour on the rather dejected looking red, London bus parked just outside the station, spewing diesel throughout the station’s entrance.
We joined the stream of foreign and local visitors from the train and headed off for what was to be the shortest tour in the country, if not the world. The whole bus tour is something of a spoof, handled incredibly capably by the jovial Johnny, who when he runs out of things to point out on the very short main road of the town of Matjiesfontein, refers instead to just avoided potholes and turnings to the ‘left’, whilst rumbling deep in his chest and exploding intermittently with age-old one-liners that had us all in stiches – ‘vat hom fluffie!’, ‘it’s now or never, it’s never or now’ and ‘it’s show time folks!’.
Everyone has a good giggle, whilst also getting an overview of the history of the little town. Opened officially in November 1889, Matjiesfontein village received leading politicians and celebrities from Cape Town who came to the double-storeyed Lord Milner Hotel, built by James Logan, who also started a mineral water production plant after building the hotel. Before long, the place was a highly fashionable spa for those who could afford it, and the likes of Cecil John Rhodes, Rudyard Kipling, and Churchill graced its rooms and Olive Schreiner lived here in a little cottage. Today it is one of the landmarks in town – you can’t miss it, there aren’t very many!
It’s pretty phenomenal actually, that someone managed to turn what was a rather dry spot in the middle of nowhere, into something of a ‘watering hole’. And literally so, as steam trains in those days needed 250 000 litres of water in order to get across the Karoo, and there was no reliable source of water between Touws River and De Aar. It’s a smart man who then pays to have water piped into Matjiesfontein for this reason.
The village remained standing largely due to the skilled Scottish and Irish stone masons who came across the seas to build Logan’s hotel. Logan even imported London street lamp posts, still here today, and the original building that used to bottle water, soda water, lemonade and ginger ale for sale to train passengers, remains in the garden at Tweedside Lodge.
By all accounts, Logan must have been quite something. As well as being a railway man and entrepreneur, he was a dentist, a horse-breeder, boxer and a member of the Magic Circle – an eclectic list of achievements for a man who claimed that it wasn’t that he had done so much, but that others had done so little (wish I could say the same!).
During the Anglo-Boer War (now known as the South African War) the hotel was used as a hospital, after which, things got a little quiet in Matjiesfontein.
During the late 1960s, the village was rescued from utter decay by David Rawdon, who had already had some success with the Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch. He made a number of extensions and renovations to the place, and the village became a national monument in 1979. Past its heyday it might be, but nonetheless it manages to retain a great deal of its former character and makes a wonderful spot in which to overnight or spend a couple of days.
The grounds are extensive. The hotel backs onto an enormous lawn, where the garden suites lie. Just below the lawn, home to a renegade group of about eleven ducks, there is a quaint little chapel ideal for weddings, from which one descends to a river. One can pick one’s way over here to a vast garden, beyond which is a swimming pool right at the edge of the property overlooked by a large windmill and an enormous blue gum tree.
Luckily for us the intense heat of summer was just over and, although the swimming pool was now icy, we could spend moments at the poolside imagining the days when this was the place to come and breathe in the fresh air of the Karoo, regarded as a cure for lung disease. It isn’t hard to imagine visitors receiving poolside drinks, wanderings through the garden, croquet on the lawn and evening parties that went on until the early hours. You don’t have to be a die-hard romantic for the history to rise up and meet you.
Dinner and breakfast, neither included in the price of the room although you would be hard-pressed to find another restaurant capable of feeding you in the town, is served in the hotel’s diningroom. It’s quite an affair. Waitresses are donned in puff bonnets and pinafores and there is an air of solemnity sadly shared by the food, which tends to be overcooked and suffers from dullness – Cape Town fare this is not. Nonetheless, it is all part of the experience.
You’ve got to have a sense of humour when on the road, right?
Useful Pages:
Matjiesfontein Accommodation
Karoo Attractions
Karoo Accommodation
South African Hotels
Horizon Cottages on Monday, 6 September 2010 at 08:27 said:
Matjesfontein is one of those very special attractions that never became spoiled by becoming too popular. It is a charming, romantic, weekend destination and our favoured stop after a long drive down the N1. It is well worth the 250 km drive from the city to unwind in the magical Karoo.
An evening spent in the Laird’s Arms with Johnny’s sing along piano tunes followed by a generous dinner in the hotel’s regal dining room is a sure recipe for stress relief.
I hope that the sad passing of owner David Rawdon will not affect the village and that it will remain as a treasured destination.
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You are here: Home › The Ecstatic Beauty of Baseball
The Ecstatic Beauty of Baseball
By Professor Shannon on April 3, 2019 in Ideas
from The New Yorker
It’s right around the corner. That magical time of year when grown men put on their ball caps, pull up their socks, and take to the field. What is it about this sport that has captured our imaginations for more than two hundred years? It’s really just a simple game played on a large lawn, with forty-six players to a side, two bags of ham, and a pistol with live ammunition.
For those not familiar with the rules, once the “eyeman” is blindfolded and the snakes have been released, the “turtle slinger” is called. He then starts shooting until someone is “out,” at which point teams switch sides and keep playing until there are no more players left, or the visiting team ends its hunger strike.
You don’t have to be genetically gifted to play baseball, unlike other sports. It’s an everyman’s game. In fact, it’s the only game in which a four-feet-two, three-hundred-and-eighty-pound man can slip into the jelly pool on a routine “barryslap” seven out of ten times and still be a hero. It’s the only game in which a man can ride another man dressed like a pony for as long as he wants unless he slips into the snake pit or the “ponyman” starts crying.
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32 Responses to The Ecstatic Beauty of Baseball
Aidan Nathaniel Clee April 3, 2019 at 5:14 pm #
I read this article for the sole purpose of seeing if I could try and get into baseball but again the sport is just terrible to me. I appreciate the fact that the game can be played by anyone and you don’t have to be the most athletic, but I just find that baseball is boring and not physical and the fact that it can be played by anyone and doesn’t require special talent at something, or the best athleticism is just odd. I prefer pretty much every other sport over baseball including football, soccer, rugby, basketball, polo, track, etc. The article states that baseball requires a certain finesse, but the thing is the only finesse necessary is hand eye coordination but not even the top hand eye coordination. I would say that football requires more of that and you have to be much more physically fit. Baseball doesn’t represent peak human performance overall and therefore as a sport it is rather basic and not something I would be interested in. Other sports have players such as Zion Williamson, Julio Jones, Lebron James, Chritiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Usian Bolt, etc. These players each exemplify peak human performance and put on a show every time they step onto the field. Baseball doesn’t have the same athletics which I feel “athletics” is all about though maybe it is fun for some.
Another problem I had was with the article itself. This articles language makes no sense at all and doesn’t let the message come across about whatever this article is trying to say. I even asked a friend that understood the game more then I did if these were baseball terms and he had no clue. How is anyone just supposed to read this article and magically understand all these outlandish terms? I couldn’t even find on the internet what this article was trying to say and I feel as though the writer could have done better by offering some translation to his words. Baseball is like watching paint dry and I got that same feeling trying to read this article. There isn’t even a comment section on the page to help someone in the comments help everyone else understand what the writer is trying to say in the article.
Cameron Kharazmi April 4, 2019 at 6:45 pm #
While I respect your opinion, I find your comments about baseball to be very ignorant and asinine considering your definition of athleticism. Of course I find some of them in the article, such as the fact that “anyone can play the sport” to be ignorant as well, as with 12 years of baseball experience I can tell you that this is not the case. Baseball, like most other major sports, has evolved, to where only the most athletic of players can have success in the field. It takes an extreme level of strength and focus to hit a baseball travelling around 90-100 MPH 420 feet into the stands like a player such as Bryce Harper or Mike Trout. Growing up in the baseball travel team/AAU process and the high school level it was the players who worked on their body and game very hard simoultaneously who achieved the greatest success. I was never the most athletic, and routinely saw those of greater athletic prowess become successful and win positions over myself despite my hard work. This literally works the exact same way in basketball or football. As a matter of fact, players like Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, Calvin Johnson, played baseball as a second sport and were successful, but not to the degree of an athlete who focuses on baseball full time. Additionally, mentioning that “baseball is watching paint dry” is ignorant considering that in your response you stated that you did not understand the game or the article. Making statements such as “baseball does not represent peak human performance” follows suit, as I mentioned earlier that it takes a special type of athlete to send a ball that they basically cannot see hundreds of feat past the stadium. Your comprehension of the article was poor, your comprehension of athleticism is poor, and you should also practice better writing abilities in your response if you are going to critique a sport loved by millions around the world.
Tyler Graham April 5, 2019 at 4:15 pm #
Aidan and Cameron, I respect both of your opinions in this matter – let me try to help other people reading this little comment beef attempt to find a middle ground.
First, Aidan, I must vehemently disagree with the idea that baseball is not “physical”. I would argue that while baseball does not show “peak human performance” as you decided to say, it does require an incredible amount of talent. I highly doubt that you could hop into a game of baseball with people that have played for years and even be able to hold your ground. That’s not to say I can – I’m horribly unathletic and never once have thought “Oh that’s not physical, everyone can do that”. I think saying that in itself is ignorant. Have you watched baseball in any form? The amount of power and technique required to nail a ball at a specific spot at 90+ MPH is incredibly high. It is without a doubt a difficult feat to accomplish. Swing technique is just as difficult, and is why professional players practice swings 4+ hours/day. As a personal anecdote, my girlfriend plays softball (not the same, I know, but close enough). She practices every day during the season for 3+ hours in order to ensure she and her team can play at the level expected of them. Needless to say the athleticism required to play baseball is just as much as any other sport.
I will however agree with you on one point – it is boring to watch. Granted, I don’t understand the game as much as a fan would, or at all for that matter. But I feel that any spectator sport should have deeper levels than just what you’re able to see and have a certain “thrill”, I’ve tried to watch baseball. But the thrill just isn’t there and so I can’t ever do it for more than 20-30 minutes before changing the channel. That’s where sports such as basketball and football come in. Both have fast-paced moments and keep you on the edge of your seat. I think that is because there is room for a greater variety of plays to be made. Football and Basketball are prime examples of the mental aspect of sports. You can see tactics, whether they be fakes in football or screens in basketball. This allows it to be much more interesting to watch and makes it closer to “peak human performance”.
You both have good points, and I hope for the other people that read this, I’ve made a good middle ground you guys can relate to.
Diamond Vasquez April 3, 2019 at 6:29 pm #
AJ DiCosimo, author of “The Ecstatic Beauty of Baseball,” describes how the game of baseball is an exciting game for all people to watch. In the beginning of the article, he explains how anyone can play this game; you do not have to be “genetically gifted” to play this sport, as you would have to be for other sports. I also liked how DiCosimo mentions past baseball players, such as Dale Plump, Walter (Poppy) Cox, and Toots McKenzie. What really got my attention is what DiCosimo says at the very end of the article; he elaborates on how, though things may seem rough, baseball games “remind us to slow down, even if it’s just for a second or two to take in the sounds of summer, or anguished screams coming from the snake pit,” making a person “truly feel like a kid again.” This statement shows how baseball can lift up your spirits during times of stress and other troubling times that may occur in life.
The New Yorker truly highlights the magical moments of baseball. It may seem boring to some people, but once they understand the game and how it works, I believe that they will become more interested in the game. That is what exactly happened to me a couple of years ago; I am not really into sports, but I have to say baseball has to be one of my favorite sports to watch. Though I do not watch it often, whenever I do, I am always entertained, and it is because I understand how the game works. I remember I went to my uncle’s baseball game back home, and at first, I did not know what was going on. My mom played baseball when she was younger, so she helped me understand baseball a bit more. Ever since, I have enjoyed watching baseball, whenever I do watch it. I also, for the first time, went to Yankee Stadium with my family to see the Yankees play when I was a junior in high school. I have to say, it is such a wonderful experience; it is so much better watching it live than watching it on television. I believe that this article is a good read, especially for those who are big baseball fans.
Allya Jaquez April 4, 2019 at 8:59 pm #
I definitely just saw the word baseball and clicked right on it because I am a huge fan! This article written by AJ DiCosimo was great. he is absolutely right! Baseball is a great sport and physically going to the stadium to watch games is even better. But I do have to disagree with how easy he claims baseball to be. Growing up my favorite sport was Softball and although it is not exactly the same as baseball; due to the fact that the softball is way bigger and yellow, it was not easy at all. Playing the sport took a lot of practice and strength! It took a lot of dedication as well and even when you felt like giving up, you knew you could not let your team down. I definitely do not think it is an “everyman’s game” like AJ stated. Not everyone understands the concept of baseball and not everyone knows how to swing a bat properly or catch a ground ball, even a pop up. The sport takes a lot of practice and dedication for sure and only the best succeed to go above and beyond with the sport. Aas AJ stated in his article, there has been a lot of issues dealing with guys who use drugs so that they can become a little more powerful when they hit. Thhat has definitely always been an issue in the MLB. But it is officially baseball season for us fans and all I have to say is, Lets Go Mets!!
Andrew Kenny April 4, 2019 at 9:09 pm #
Baseball, in my opinion, is the greatest game known to man. The language of this article was very different, but it made me look at the sport in an even more fun-loving manner. My opinion is definitely biased, considering as soon as I was able to walk my dad stuck a baseball bat in my hand. I played baseball religiously throughout most of my life, and it is my all time favorite past-time. Baseball was my first love and I will always have a soft spot for America’s game.
Of course it seems as if anyone can play the game, but that is not necessarily true. I do believe that some baseball players are born with God-given talent. People who are too ignorant to understand the game do not realize how hard it is to hit a round ball, with a round bat… squarely. Not to mention the fact that it is coming at you at 90+ mph from 60 feet away. Good luck making the decision to swing or not faster than a blink of the eye. I will never forget learning the game and the little league days. Those were by far the best days of my life. Most of my closest friends are the same kids I shared the diamond with from ages 7-13. Unfortunately my playing days were cut short midway through high school, but my love for the game has not faltered.
My favorite Major League team is the New York Mets. It is so hard to watch them year to year but I would not trade it for anything. 2015 was a magical year and falling just short was painful. However, just being in the World Series seemed unreal (Mets fans would know). I still keep the faith even though I always find myself getting heartbroken every year. People may call my fan-hood almost an obsession, but becoming a Mets fan is one of my first memories. It was passed down from my grandfather to my dad, and immediately to me fresh out of the womb. I know I can die a happy man if the Mets win a World Series before my time here is up. It may be a long shot considering their history, but hey Ya Gotta Believe.
Richard Gudino April 4, 2019 at 10:16 pm #
Truth be told I was never exposed to baseball as kid and I am still foreign when it comes to watching baseball. I am Hispanic so I grew up on the foundation that soccer was the sport that would steal my heart and be romanticized, I still shed a tear when I see the beautiful game played and 21 men all have their eye on the ball and where the ball will end up next. Reading this article I was confused with all the slang associated with baseball, I had to search up all the terms so I could get an idea of what the author was saying. That is with any sport, every sport has their slang and lingo that would leave the casual fan having to use a thesaurus. Romanticizing a sport seems to be the only time that men can be able to express their emotions and for good reason. Sports capture something in men that very few women can do to men, there is an everlasting beauty with sports. It’s timeless long after you and I are gone the legends and athletes who were exceptional at the game will leave on through the memory of the fans as they pass down the legend of the Great Bambino calling out his next home run. How about Pelé only being 17 years old leading Brazil to their first world cup. Any way you shape it sports and memories and love all have a deep connection that trace back hundreds of years and will continue for hundreds more. For our children and their children’s children to talk about past games like they happened yesterday. It is because of this article that I have started to watch mote baseball and learn more about it, the thing that has managed to capture my attention and my curiosity has been the pitcher. I have heard many baseball fans defend their sport by saying that the pitcher who I would consider the most valuable player could throw a ball in any many of diection or great speeds. I remember looking up what the fastest pitch was in the MLB and I was astounded to see it was 115 mph. Some cars couldn’t even reach that kind of speed, so I could not imagine the kind of power a pitcher needs to perform at the top level. Baseball is a sport I want to get into because it seems like a sport that anyone can pick up and enjoy and feel American, a feeling I have been denied to recently.
Claudia Ralph April 5, 2019 at 2:16 pm #
Baseball is beautiful game. Professor Shannon and I both know that being a Mets fan is not the most beautiful experience at times, but the game itself is amazing. I had a very different experience growing up with my hometown team than many generations before me. The Mets were God awful my entire time growing up with two notable years of exceptions, 2006 and 2015. But for me, that doesn’t change the fact that there is nowhere I would rather be on a summer evening than in Flushing, Queens at Citi Field. I still bleed orange and blue no matter what. That loyalty is what makes baseball and more narrow, baseball in New York beautiful.
The last paragraph in this article really encompasses what it is that I love about baseball. While you are at a game, you get lost in the magic. You take a deep breath and are able to take your surroundings in with a beer and a burger and just relax. 162 games give you so many times you can experience the magic in a year and every experience is different. It transports you right back to that child-like magic you first felt when you visited your home team’s stadium for the first time.
Though much scandal and tragedy has plagued the game that we all know and love. Steroid use and money laundering along with other crime within the sport have drawn people away from the game, especially with the rise of the NFL and NHL, both of which intersect directly with baseball season. This along with the growing reality that people are just not attending sporting events makes for the MLB to continually struggle with certain teams in terms of attendance issues and ticket sales.
But it is not too late for us all to take in the child-like fun of the game of baseball. New York City has a rich baseball history and anyone who wouldn’t want to explore it is plain silly. Even if you root for the team in pinstripes in the Bronx, baseball can be exhilarating and exciting. Get yourself some peanuts and a huge fountain soda and go cheer on America’s game.
Lillie Moran April 5, 2019 at 2:38 pm #
There is no denying that baseball is an American tradition that connects millions of people across the country, continually capturing interest and the attention of its fans. This sport, seemingly slow in its own nature, reminds us to take time and relax, but there is so much more to this sport than the eye can see. Baseball connects us on all levels. The article mentions how we all remember the first time our dad took us to a baseball game, where we hear the roaring cheers and excitement of all of the fans, calling out to their favorite teams, masking in their glory. And no other game of baseball captures the attention of all people other than the Major League Baseball. In 2018, the MLB recorded a record revenue of $10.3 billion in the year, with sights to break this record in the years to come. Bottom line, the MLB captures the attention of older men, as well as the young children who are tagged along. This article reminded me to reminisce about my first MLB experience. I grew up a Red Sox fan down south, which was odd in itself because baseball never compared to the SEC football fan base I learned to love; however, my father always told me to “bleed red” for the Soxs. For my first MLB game, my family and I traveled up to Boston to watch the Red Sox play. From the moment I walked into Fenway Park, I realized that this was something I had never experienced before. The passion and the love for the game was clearly evident through the facial expressions of both my family and the surrounding fans. I was immediately captured by the sounds of Neil Diamond blasting through the speakers. The stadium and the people in it felt like home.
After this experience, I immediately fell in love with the sport. College baseball played a huge role in deciding where I would go to college. The opportunity to go and watch MLB games also played a role. In short, baseball helped me decide where to go to college. There is so much more to this game then we see on TV. This game is a tradition that brings strangers together, holds family with a competitive edge, and even helps when making decision as big as where to attend college. All in all, I have found a love for this sport. Baseball is the glue to the American people. It is a way to escape from our fast-paced world and it will continue to hold a special place in our culture for years to come.
Alexander Dornbierer April 5, 2019 at 3:13 pm #
While looking for an article to write about I was in ecstasy when I saw an article posted about Baseball. Baseball is my favorite sport and the one that I performed that best in during high school. I wasn’t a great athlete or destroyed the ball every time I was up, I just hit it where they weren’t. After reading that first couple of paragraphs I could tell that the article was written in satire of baseball. The article makes fun of many of the famous events in the history of baseball, such as the “Black Sox of 1919”, the Supreme Court ruling about steroid uses in the late 90s and early 2000s, and even through a jab at “Take me out to the Ball Game”. I believe that for someone who didn’t know the history of baseball would find the article confusing and stupid. But as someone who is knowledgeable about the history of America’s Pastime I was able to fish out the humor from the truth. In 1919 the Chicago White Sox played the Cincinnati Reds in the Worlds Series. The powerhouse White Sox led by “Shoeless” Joe Jackson lost in very peculiar ways. After an investigation it was said that the White Sox fixed the Worlds Series and lost the series on purpose. Fixing games damages the integrity and reputation of the great game so the league found no other punishment except to ban the 1919 White Sox from the game. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson was and still is considered one of the greatest players of all time not to be in the Hall of Fame. Like the White Sox scandal rocked the baseball world at the start of the century, there was another scandal that rocked the industry at the turn of the new century. The record of home runs in a single season had been set by Babe Ruth in 1927 with 60. This record stood for 34 years till Roger Maris hit 61 dingers in 1961. No one thought the Babes record would ever be broken and people knew that no one every would touch 61 homers in a single season. Then came the summer 1998. There was a great home run race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire to see who would set the record. While McGwire set the new record both him and Sosa past Maris’ record of 61. There records stood for 2 seasons till slugger Barry Bonds blasted 73 homers in 2001. After another MVP season in 2002 and 2003 it was speculated that he was using performance enhancing drugs to gain strength. An investigation followed and showed that Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa were all linked to steroid use during there time playing.
Kevin Metz April 5, 2019 at 3:54 pm #
As I scrolled through the Shannon web blog, I could not help but click on the article with baseball in the title. I was expecting to find myself reading through an article talking about statistics, world series champions and current contracts. To my surprise, I began to read the article and honestly became lost for a while. The vocabulary and lingo used here does not match up to that used in baseball so i began to wonder. Is this article about a different game? I scrolled back to the beginning and found the picture of a pitcher standing on the mound and then it hit me. the author is writing about baseball, but he is writing it from the way most people in our country understand the game. He uses almost a sense of comedy with the words he writes. “he slips into the snake pit or the “pony man” starts crying,” this type of sentence shows that baseball is a very complex sport and although people may say they understand the game, they do not. More sarcasm is arisen when the author discusses the “87th inning at the game with your father.” Just because you go to the games, does not mean you genuinely get the skill and patients that go into such an excellent game. I believe the deeper meaning throughout this article is that many people have stereotypes about baseball and all the assumptions and judgments on the player or the game itself come from those with a superficial understanding of the game and the work that is put in behind the curtains. The amount of dedication, perseverance and strong minded and willed player that go into making baseball America’s favorite pastime is much deeper than people who do not understand and find nothing wrong with the writing in this article think. Overall, this article is used as a humorous way to display the way people who do not understand baseball perceive the game. Whether it be the lingo used, the mocking sense of sentences, or the way he says everyone thinks they can play the game, the author is indirectly proving his love and appreciation for the sport that most people either think they have or do not have at all.
Cameron Lindley April 5, 2019 at 4:03 pm #
Baseball seems to encapsulate the American dream with its loose barriers of entry. It really is the only sport in which you don’t have to be freak athlete or have the one in a million body type suited for the NBA or elsewhere. Also the fact that it is a lazy man’s game, and a game of failure. In no other area of professionalism can you fail 6/10 times and win MVP (that would be batting .300, that’s pretty hot). I think that’s why I was so drawn to baseball as a kid. I remember for the longest time all I cared about was golf, but then I found baseball. I would eventually come to quit golf due to the contrasting nature of the different swings, but I never looked back. As my baseball career took off, I was playing in the highest division in my state, and soon enough my team was ranked #1 in the state of Oklahoma for my age group, and I found myself traveling to neighboring states every weekend to play. Let’s just say this lasted until high school, and I found out that there was actually a world outside of baseball, that was a lot more fun.
When I got to high school, I was already starting to get recruited by schools such as Georgetown, UVA, and others. The only problem here is I did not have the passion required to fuel all of the traveling and practicing and everything else. Years later I would hang my cleats up before my senior season in high school, because my school team was terrible and I wanted to spend my last trimester with my best friends. I do not regret it for a second.
As soon as the reality set in that I was not good enough to make a career out of this sport, but yet good enough for college, I knew I no longer wanted to continue, I was genuinely burnt-out on the sport. Fast forward to now, 2019, I still am. I can barely watch baseball on TV because it makes me think too much about my playing days. I have thus abandoned baseball in replacing it with soccer, more specifically, the English Premier League. Baseball will always be special to me, we just aren’t quite yet back to speaking terms.
Daibelis Acevedo April 5, 2019 at 4:05 pm #
This article written by AJ DiCosimo highlights the amazing moments in baseball that we all very much love. A season that is long awaited through the very cold winter, a season that brings out the fun in summer. Baseball is a sport that is instilled so deep within our hearts that we cherish every moment. The game of baseball has been around for so many years and this is why it is a game that everyone comes together to love. Reading this article, it did give me some kind of nostalgia about what is was like to go to baseball games with my father and sisters. We still go sometimes but it’s not the same as going when you’re little. The writer’s choice of words definitely conveys emotions for the readers of this piece. For example, words like “do you remember,” “romantic,” “you stand in the shadows,” etc. Overall, the write did a great job at making you love the game of baseball even if you never thought you did. One of the most interesting parts of this article is when the writer goes on to explain that “it’s an everyman’s game.” I agree with this idea because baseball is really for everyone, it’s not a skill that needs to be mastered, as long as you have dedication and motivation, the game of baseball is doable. There are many people who think baseball is a boring game because it isn’t as fast pace as some of the sports that are mainstream. Basketball for example, is a very fast-moving sport and can have you at the edge of your seat for an entire game. Football, although sometimes it takes forever to see the teams score a touchdown, it’s at a faster pace than baseball and it’s very aggressive. Baseball on the other hand is a little bit slower and calmer than these other games. Those who love baseball, understand the patience within the game and the idea of why it isn’t as hectic as basketball.
A story I would like to share is about the time that I played softball. I played softball for about four years and even won an award for most versatile. I loved playing softball and now that I think back to it, I definitely took those moments for granted. Now that I am in college, it’s hard to even find time for myself when I am juggling eighteen credits and a job. Softball was me time, I had so much fun practicing, going into batting cages, and of course the anticipation of winning the game. I can understand the excitement that fans feel when baseball season is coming around, it’s an exhilarating feeling.
Daniel McNulty April 5, 2019 at 8:07 pm #
Baseball is a sport that has been played in my family for many generations. It is something that we are all a fan of, and love going to a game together, throwing a ball around, or just watching a game from home on a Sunday afternoon. It is a sport that I had played from the time I could walk to high school. One of the best things about baseball, is that you do not have to be “genetically gifted” to play. This is a big reason why it became known as “America’s Game,” because everyone has the ability to play. Another thing with baseball, is that it is the one of the only sports in which getting a hit thirty out of one hundred times is very good. Although AJ Dicosimo repeatedly states how easy baseball is, I can not totally agree. Yes, baseball is a game anyone can play, but it takes a certain set of skills to be a Hall of Fame player, let alone a professional or even Division 1. This is a sport that takes an extreme amount of dedication, with much training and hard work involved. Baseball is not a sport that can be picked up over night with some athleticism but is one that takes time to become good even if you are athletic. With this being the case, often times baseball players are not looked at as being unathletic compared to other sports such as football, basketball, and hockey, but this is extremely false. Every professional baseball player is extremely athletic and has an extremely high level of talent in order to be in the position he is in. As mentioned in Dicosimo’s article, a problem that has been associated with professional baseball, is the use of PEDs also known as Performance Enhancing Drugs. This has been a problem in Major League Baseball for a very long time, and is one that has been questioned to really be a problem or not? Ultimately, Major League Baseball is a business and excels with the interest of fans so this will continue to be an ongoing issue and moral questioning of if performance enhancing drugs are really an issue.
Edward Holzel April 5, 2019 at 8:20 pm #
I cannot understand how baseball is fun to watch. I played football, basketball, track, and baseball. I never understood baseball’s appeal. I ended up sitting around for 2 hours and losing interest. I could see the tactics in shifting the outfields and pitchers approaches, but it isn’t enough for me. It is way to slow. I remember every time I played basketball all the little tactics I used, but baseball I just went to the plate and tried to make contact. Football and basketball have multiple encounters with opponents during the game. Baseball, I bat 3-5 times every 2 hours. Personally, I need more encounters in a game. In football, every play has 22 people involved and basketball has 10. Baseball has 3 people a play. I could not find myself playing baseball and gaining as much from it as the article talks about.
I think a lot of people do not like baseball because we live in a society where everyone wants everything now. Baseball just doesn’t do that. It takes 2 hours and there is not much action compared to other sports. People need to watch NFL Redzone to see all the big plays and people watch the top basketball game to see the greats of the game make big plays. Technology is the reason that this phenomenon is occuring. People are so conditioned look for enjoyment now and not later. I want a video game I buy it online and download it in 20 minutes. Or I buy a TV online and get it shipped to me in a day. People just need things now. Baseball is not the sport that gives pleasure immediately.
The last thing that I want to address is that baseball is for everyone. I understand that physically you do not have to be Lebron James, but you cannot be unathlethic. Swinging a bat st baseballs coming at you at 90 mph takes skill. Yes, you can teach anyone how to swing a bat, but there is a mental art that you cannot teach. Standing in front of a 90 mph ball takes courage and extreme hand eye coordination to do. People with vision problems would struggle and not be able to thrive. Overall, I believe that baseball isn’t a sport that anyone can play.
Daniel Gibson April 5, 2019 at 8:48 pm #
When it comes baseball, I think most people at least respect the game. Its called Americas past time for a reason. I think its great for people to at least try once in their lives. I feel like a lot of people play when their young, but usually don’t continue their careers. I played a little bit when I was younger but wasn’t the most passionate for it. I was didn’t but got bored of it. I feel like the game is just too slow pace, but still is enjoyable to watch. You don’t have to be the tallest or the strongest to be good at baseball. I’m sure Babe Ruth had a little bit of beer belly back in the day.
The unique part of baseball is that the game is one of the easiest to learn. Its good for everyone to give it a try once, but it’s clearly not for everyone. Batting requires great hand eye coordination that doesn’t come easy for most people. Baseball hasn’t changed much in the past 100 years. The game has had a few changes to it, but nothing big. One thing I don’t agree with is how much baseball players get paid. When I hear about some of the contracts these players get, it just shocks me. Baseball is just one of those sports that won’t ever go away. Every time I watch it on TV, it reminds me of the past. It looked the same for a while now, and will continue to be the way is.
Kyle R. April 5, 2019 at 10:58 pm #
Baseball to me is unlike any other sport. The feel, the smell, the simplicity of it, just makes it so different. Baseball has what many other sports cannot and will not ever have. To start baseball has no clock or set time. The game makes its own time. Innings can last a while and some games for hours. I can’t think of another major league sport that has not time limit. Along with this the dimensions of a baseball and look of a baseball field are different everywhere you go. No two baseball stadiums even come close to being the same. The dimensions of the field vary for every stadium which can make the game very interesting for those playing on. Also, the stadiums themselves are indescribable. Some like Red sox have a huge green monster, some have a hotel built in to it like the Blue Jays, some have a pool in the outfield like the Diamond backs, others are just classics like the Yankees or Cubs. It is a game that has every aspect always changing and becoming more interesting. Last and of the most important, anyone can play this game. In the article, it states “You don’t have to be genetically gifted to play baseball, unlike other sports. It’s an everyman’s game. In fact, it’s the only game in which a four-feet-two, three-hundred-and-eighty-pound man can slip into the jelly pool on a routine “barryslap” seven out of ten times and still be a hero”. This game brings people together from across the world speaking different languages, yet at the same time all speak and know the same langue, the langue of baseball. That’s why this sport is special you never know what you are going to get with baseball.
While some find this sport to be boring, I find it to be magical. I somehow always find myself at some game, whether it be professional, high school or little league. Seeing what this sport does and what it means to people changes the perspective of some many. There are moments in the game that will go down in history, maybe not for being the best or most interesting game but just a single moment. The curse of the bambino being broken, the cubs winning the world series after 108 years, or Mike piazza’s home run after September 11th. “How can you not be romantic about this game?” as the article puts it. It is something I can I always talk to my father about and my grandfather. It has stayed through years and generations to still be just as exciting as it was over 100 years ago. Over generations the game has changed yet has not. In the article, it says at the very end that “it reminds us to slow down, even if it’s just for a second or two to take in the sounds of summer, or the anguished screams coming from the snake pit. To hear those screams is truly to feel like a kid again”. Maybe that’s why people call it Americas past time because it is something a person can always look to past and remember.
DeVante M April 7, 2019 at 12:54 pm #
Saying that this article is interesting is an understatement. The language used in this article is a little hard to follow. At times I wasn’t sure if the author was belittling the sport or attempting to promote it. With that being said I personally love baseball season(especially now that the Phillies are projected to be good this season). When I was younger my family and I went to a lot of Philadelphia Phillies games. As a youngster it was hard to follow everything that was going on but the commardare was there. Whether it was the over priced hot dogs, cheesesteaks or beverages going to baseball games with my family was very special. Due to the struggles of the Phillies within the past seven or eight years it was hard to watch most of their games on television. This was especially true for watching in person. Why would anyone want to make the trip all the way to Citizens Bank Park and buy tickets just to watch their team lose. This goes for pretty much any bad team in any professional sport, but for baseball it’s slightly different. This may not be the most popular opinion but when your favorite baseball team is struggling the game can become very boring. If this makes me a fake fan then so be it, but in order for me (and i’m sure many others) to watch a baseball game they at least have to have a chance at winning the game. Nobody is interested in wasting their hard earned money to see their favorite team be uncompetitive. This may be because as a Phillies fan I hold them to such a high standard.
I started watching baseball religiously around 2006. During this time the Phillies had some success. But their 2008 season is what got all of Philadelphia hooked on the Phillies. The 2008 season was a magical roller coaster with many ups and downs. That season the Phillies finished first in the National League East with ninety two wins. This season they went on to win the World Series with the core of the team being Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge. These players at the time were in the prime of their careers. And who could forget that perfect season with the perfect ending. I remember this so vividly as it was the last professional sports team championship that i have witnessed. Brad Lidge closed out game 5 of the world series with a strikeout. What made this so perfect was that Brad Lidge had a perfect season. As the Phillies closer he had 41 saves in as many attempts, and on the final batter he faced that season he struck out the batter. Even though I may not watch every single game I still consider myself a fan. I was with them for every step in their magical season. That year baseball gained a special place in my heart, and forever made me a fan of the game.
Horace L Bryce Jr April 9, 2019 at 1:06 am #
I agree and disagree with parts of AJ DiCosimo’s article, The Ecstatic Beauty of Baseball. DiCosimo’s article is about baseball and his opinions on the sport. I was very confused reading the article the first time, but after reading it over for a second time I could see that some of the terms used in the article started to actually make some sense when I thought more about them. For example, the “turtle slinger” is supposed to be the baseball pitcher. I have some familiarity with the sport of baseball, but I was still unable to understand many of the terms used throughout the article. Maybe it is due to my lack of knowledge in the sport, but some terms from the article seemed fairly odd and, in my opinion, made it more difficult to understand especially for a person reading the article who does not know much about the sport. I think with the terms used, DiCosimo was trying to break down the sport to explain it in a simple manner. I agree with the claim by DiCosimo, “You don’t have to be genetically gifted to play baseball, unlike other sports. It’s an everyman’s game. In fact, it’s the only game in which a four-feet-two, three-hundred-and-eighty-pound man can slip into the jelly pool on a routine “barryslap” seven out of ten times and still be a hero.” And here is why, in baseball, you don’t have to be an extremely fit athlete to do very well like many other sports require. Baseball does not require that you be an athlete at peak performance, and this is shown by some players who had good careers in the sport who were not in the best of physical shape, such as David Wells or George Scott. Baseball favors good hand-eye coordination over peak physical fitness. Baseball is a technical sport requiring you to have extreme precision for things such as hitting a small object moving at an extremely fast speed. In my opinion, baseball is a bit boring to watch but it is important to the history of America as it is so deeply rooted within our culture.
Goanio C April 9, 2019 at 3:04 pm #
For some reason the game of baseball is magical. For many reasons it is known as America’s favorite past time. Going to the ‘ole ball game’ was once a prestigious activity at a certain time but quickly grew to a blue collar-white collar get together. Maybe baseball is so great because it gathered many individuals for one common purpose. You may be black, you may be white, but what we have in common is the game of baseball. Although baseball was once a segregated sport, its merger between the races was powerful for America. Its because of guys like Jackie Robinson that make the game of baseball just that much better. Its pioneers and wall-breakers that shaped the game’s history today. And because of it the game has benefited from it immensely.
The article states that “it’s an everyman game.” And that stands to be true and moving. Baseball isn’t a game of measurements. There is no doubt that it can help but what you lack in one place you can make up somewhere else in baseball–very contrary to a sport like football where measurements are 99% of the game. The beauty of baseball is that you do not need to run a 4.3 forty time, or a 40 inch vertical jump. If you are built to hit singles and doubles then there is a place for you. If you are built to hit home runs there is a place for you. If you are built to throw a 90+ mile an hour fastball then guess what?..there’s a place for you. It doesn’t matter how tall you are or how fast you run, rather how well you can hit and how strong your arm is.
One of my favorite parts of the game is the ending. Not only the final three innings of the game but the true ending–the final out of the game. In other sports like hockey, football, and basketball if you have the possession you are able to “run out the clock.” But to baseball players that is a cowardly act. In baseball there is no clock. There is no running out of time. You in fact have to give the man standing in the batter’s box holding a stick of wood his chance at being the hero. And that is the beauty of baseball. You do not get to play it safe. You do not get to take a knee. You simply have to pitch that ball to the only guy on the field representing the other team. And that one pitch could result in numerous different outcomes that can change the game in an instance. What could be more beautiful, anxious, and unpredictable all at once? Just the final out of baseball.
The game of baseball takes place in an exciting part of the year. Such a long season played through three different seasons of the year. There is nothing better than going to the ballpark in the middle of the summer, getting a few hot dogs and crackerjack and a nice cold drink. It is easily during the best time of the year and that is another huge reason why it is such a magical game and America’s favorite pastime. You don’t have to worry about bundling up in three coats with hand warmers and hot chocolate. For most of the season you can sit or stand in a pair of shirts, t-shirt and jersey, a baseball cap, and an iced cold beer in your hand enjoying the game. Again, an awesome incentive of baseball.
Josh Shupper April 9, 2019 at 6:59 pm #
Baseball is definitely one of the greatest sports ever made and very popular here in the United States. As soon as I saw baseball come up on the blog, I immediately clicked on the link. Baseball and many other sports like football, hockey, and basketball are things that I have grown up with. As some of you may know, I grew up watching the Yankees and have been a huge fan of them for most of my life. Getting to see guys like Mariano Rivera (the greatest closer of all-time), Andy Pettite, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and many others wear the pinstripes and have been very successful over their major league careers while playing for New York. Watching baseball or playing it with friends during summer is what life should be like. Enjoy the moment because you may never get a chance to do it again. As for the actual experience, going to the game and being there in an awesome atmosphere is not the same as being at home watching the game on TV. Over my life, I have been to many Yankees games in the Bronx, a few at Camden Yards in Baltimore against the Orioles, to Tropicana Field to see them play the Rays, and even went all the way out to Anaheim, California to see two Yankee games against the Angels. I absolutely loved being able to watch games in person and really enjoy the experience. I have never been to a playoff baseball game, and that it is one thing on my bucket list for the rest of my life. I was supposed to go to game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros back in October. The one problem was that the Red Sox had other ideas and decided that it would be a good idea to knock out the Yankees in four games on their way to a World Series championship. Yes, I’m still sick of Sox fans telling me that the Yankees suck. Baseball can be boring for some, but it is very exciting for many who truly appreciate the game. I am definitely looking forward to this upcoming summer to watch the Yankees in action and hopefully go see one or two games in the Bronx before school starts up again.
Brandon S. April 10, 2019 at 12:22 pm #
Growing up, I was a huge fan of baseball. I went to games with my dad regularly, I watched every game on TV, and even played until eighth grade. It was a big part of my life, and I think in many ways, defined who I was. After I stopped playing, I started to lose interest in the sport, and eventually stopped watching altogether. More recently however, I have started to appreciate the game more, and have even watched a few games here and there, and I realize how much I still love baseball. I’m the kind of person who could couldn’t care less about sports, but for some reason baseball still resonates with me in a way that few things do. In the article, I think baseball is romanticized almost to the point of misunderstanding. With phrases like “ponyman” or “jelly-pool”, it is easy to misunderstand the meaning of this article, and I think the level of satire shown here makes it so that many would not even know that it is pertaining to baseball at all. I also don’t think I agree when DeCosimo says that “you don’t have to be genetically gifted to play baseball” because I don’t think that is true at all. Yes, baseball might be less physically demanding than football or basketball, but it still takes a lot of skill to be good, and certainly the average guy on the street couldn’t pick up a bat and start playing in the majors. On the other hand, I do understand the sentiment behind that claim and maybe DiCosimo is right. Maybe not every average guy on the street could play in the majors, but every average guy could pick up a baseball glove and throw a ball around. I think that may be the true beauty of baseball — the simplicity of it all, and DiCosimo does touch upon that in the article. It all boils down to a bunch of guys running around on a big lawn for a few hours, and in that sense, anyone could do that, genetically gifted or not. Baseball is often considered America’s pastime, and every time I watch a game, I understand why. It is wholesome in a way that few other sports are, and the atmosphere of a good ballgame is second to none. While baseball isn’t as big a part of my life today as it once was, I still love it all the same.
Justin Rahl April 10, 2019 at 5:02 pm #
Baseball is easily one of the most recognizable sports and probably one of the easiest ones to understand. A simple objective with simple rules, which is a reason why many people enjoy following this sport. I myself do not keep up to date with its current event, but it is still interesting to hear big events such as the Bryce Harper deal that recently happened. As the article mentions, anyone can take this sport up which is true, but it takes practice and dedication to master it like any other sport. I do believe still that due to it being easy understand the rules of the game, people are drawn to something that appears to be universal to the general crowd. Hand eye coordination is of course the biggest factors these players they have and it really is something to be seen. Being able to hit a ball that is being thrown at you going 90 mph and knowing the exact moment to swing is without a doubt an impressive standard to reach.
I would have to agree with Aidan’s comment in regards to the language of the article. The message is not clearly represented and at multiple points I couldn’t tell if the article was mocking or praising the sport until I had made the assumption that this was praise when I had finished. Such terms like “barryslap” that are mentioned didn’t seem like real terms, even if the are specifically for the sport alone. The article could’ve done a better job at describing what the intention was, but regardless baseball does deserve some praise for the skills it needs to become great.
I would also have to disagree with Aidan when he mentions the comparisons of football and baseball athletes. These are two completely different sports that require different mechanics to focus on. I would be very shocked if a football player could hit a homerun on a 90 mph fastball, just the same as if a baseball player being able to throw a touchdown in the midst of multiple factors happening on the field at once. Yes in some areas they can be compared such as the level of hand eye coordination, but past that it does not seem reasonable to expect athletes in different sports to be able to compete at the same level as they do in their respective positions.
Keegan Sullivan April 10, 2019 at 8:15 pm #
“America’s pastime” … Beers, bratwurst, and barryslaps? The article “The Ecstatic Beauty of Baseball” by AJ DiCosimo was very comical for me to read. I was expecting an article discussing how technology is used in the sport of baseball but what I encountered is quite the opposite. The terminology used by DiCosimo was highly entertaining and somehow I actually understood it. I am not the biggest baseball fan but you will rarely catch me refusing tickets to the local team, the Cleveland Indians, if they are offered. Like most kids my first game is as cliché as it gets. I remember walking in with my father on a hot day being mesmerized by the sheer size of the stadium. I remember the smell of hot dogs and popcorn, I remember the roar of the stadium when there was a homerun, and I remember begging my dad to but me a hat with the Cleveland Indians logo on it. What I don’t remember is who the Indians were playing, what the score was, or who even won the game. But I remember it being one of my favorite days from my childhood. Like the article ends with “to feel like a kid again” is perhaps why I enjoy a day at the ballpark so much. Growing up in Cleveland, well, let’s just say there is not a ton to do. This article reminds me of my experience with baseball growing up. I remember my heroes such as Grady Sizemore and CC Sabathia whose success on the Indians became a staple of my childhood when the whole city rejoiced as we made the playoffs in 2007. Those two players are the “Toots Mckenzie” of my team. And just like the bitter times like the 1917 St. Louis Knickerbangers example, the Indians had some very tough years. In 2012 the Indians had the worst season in team history winning just 68 out of 162 games. But even after the dismissal of Sizemore and Sabathia via trade or living through the 2012 season, attending those games and cheering on the team created some of my favorite memories with family and friends.
Ramon R April 11, 2019 at 7:20 am #
While I never been a huge fan of baseball, I feel that this article is truly downplaying the difficulty of the sport. In my opinion, besides golf, baseball is the most boring sport. Even though I feel it is not entertaining, I still understand what it takes to be successful at the game. The author makes it seem like anyone can just pick up a bat, a glove, and just become effective on the diamond field. That is no where near how baseball works. If it just took good eye coordination, their would be way more athletes that become professional baseball players. You do not have to be the most athletic or most skilled as in other sports such as football and basketball, but anybody cant just be effective in the sport of baseball. Imagine a 95 mph fastball coming your way. Then if you hit the ball, you still have to be able to run fast enough to reach the base before the ball reaches it. Not only that, you will have to be able to be great in the field of play as well. You have to be able to have the arm strength and catching ability to play in the field. Their is a lot of different things that factor into playing baseball and being good at it. Their is a reason that baseball players are the highest paid athletes in America.
Another problem I had with this article was with the language that the author was using. Like in some lines, I was just thinking in my head “what are you talking about” ? In the second paragraph, the author’s analogy just had me confused. The author started that paragraph by saying “for those not familiar with the rules, once the “eyeman” is blindfolded and the snakes have been released, the “turtle slinger” is called.” I am not sure what this means. I just feel that the author could of did a better job with their word choice. With the author down playing the game and the crazy analogies being used, it just made the article unappealing to me.
John Holliday April 11, 2019 at 11:58 am #
Baseball has never been the sport that wowed me and after reading the other comments it seems like a lot of other people can relate. Compared to basketball, football, or tennis baseball just never seemed as exiting. I used to play baseball up to the seventh grade and I would never look forward to the long, boring, and uneventful games. I played tennis throughout high school and still play today and have found tennis significantly more exciting. It seems that baseball games just drag on for so long and sometimes games can go hours without any scoring. I understand that it takes a lot of dedication and ambition to get to an expert level at the sport, but most sports require a significant amount of dedication and practice. Also, it seems that multiple players get in trouble for steroid use which is just another reason I don’t find the sport interesting. The only time I read an article regarding a specific evert about baseball, is generally because a player used steroids. I don’t know any other sport that has so many athletes using steroids. I know I criticized the lack of excitement that some baseball games have, but I got to give some fans some credit for the home run derby. I always thought that was great to watch growing up and I’ll still today make an attempt to watch it. I think that games would be more exciting if there was only seven innings, because it will reduce the amount of time and make each run seem more significant. In conclusion, I admire all the successful baseball players, but the sport is just simply to boring for me to watch.
Jamila Cuentas April 12, 2019 at 4:33 pm #
The author AJ DiCosimo wrote an amazing writing piece on the essence of what baseball really is, a historical sport. The game of baseball has been around for many years which is why it is consider to be a sport where almost everyone comes around to love and appreciate. To me baseball was and still is my first favorite sport to watch and play. There is something about this sport that gives goosebumps, anxiety and happiness. Although, there is at one point in the article that I do not agree with him, in which he refers baseball being an “every-man’s game”. I have noticed that with a simple ground ball or fly ball, there are people that have trouble the skill of catching and how to properly swing a bat. But it is true, there has been many complications and issues within the league throughout the years. Those issues have caused many rules and regulations to be created and followed. Especially now, where social media is a gateway to easily discover who uses drugs to enhance a better performance. The article usage of slang sentences brings me to not understand, as I think it display the author indirect appreciation for the sport that most people either think they have or do not have at all. Overall, I think that baseball is not a sport that anyone can play, but can be enjoy watching.
Rayzan Alarashi April 12, 2019 at 8:27 pm #
Growing up I was never a huge fan of baseball. This was mainly due to the fact of having immigrant parents who also grew up not watching the sport. I tried on several occasion to get into the sport, but it never really worked. I always found baseball boring to watch, and the references mentioned in this article such as a “Barry slap” or “eye man” remind me just how clueless I am about the sport. The only memories I had of baseball growing up was hearing about how players were constantly caught cheating because they used steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. The one thing I can appreciate about baseball, although I am not a fan, is its tradition. Baseball is America’s pastime and tradition, and its nice to see a sport that virtually any man can play. Unlike the NBA or NHL, you don’t need a huge vertical or electrifying speed to play baseball. In recent years, leagues around the U.S. have been evolving and changing drastically especially those like the NBA who have constantly been making additions to their league so that fans stay interested. One thing I would like to see the MLB doing is taking the game overseas and influencing other areas of the world to take part in the sport. I think this would really help to bolster the leagues fans considering most places overseas don’t even now baseball exists. The reason why soccer so popular is because nearly every country plays it, if it were the same for baseball maybe it would be more popular now in today’s world. In sports like basketball and soccer we have superstars in the likes of Lebron James and Lionel Messi, but baseball doesn’t have that main guy who can elevate their sport to another level. Since basically any man can play baseball despite any athletic ability, we don’t see as many superstars like in other sports which could be another reason as to why the sport has fallen short in popularity. I hope that baseball can one day evolve in a way that would make it more enjoyable to people so that I too can take part in enjoying one of Americas tradition.
Marquis C April 12, 2019 at 10:14 pm #
I’ll be the first to say that baseball isn’t my favorite sport, but I have the utmost respect for the people who play it. Yes, baseball was America’s pastime, but I believe that has since changed. Baseball is the one sport that has become harder to watch on television as time goes on. AJ DiCosimo put together a great article, I agree with most of his points but there are some I don’t concur with at all.
DeCosimo says that “You don’t have to be genetically gifted to play baseball.” This is false, in order to really play any sports at a high level you need to be somewhat genetically gifted. Yes, you can train and become better, but not to the point where you’re playing in the MLB or minors. Now I understand that pick up baseball might be easier to learn if the average fan wants to play, but that is for fun.
The aspect I do agree with is that baseball is better to watch in person. Being at the stadium and the atmosphere around it is unreal. I believe baseball is the one sport where on TV it looks boring but watching in person.
A negative of baseball is also the length of the game, especially compared to the other sports. The MLB has recently tried to implement new factors to speed up the game in hope of gaining viewers.
Overall the sport of baseball is good. There is a lot that needs to be fixed in the sport, but the pure essence of the game is still there. You don’t have to like baseball, but you should respect the athletes who play it. If it was easy to play baseball then everyone would do it.
Melissa Caniz April 12, 2019 at 10:49 pm #
Baseball, Baseball, Baseball, what a wonderful sport I guess; it seems like a favorite sport in the sports industry. I have never been a real fan as I’m to soccer, now I do watch baseball one’s in a blue moon, and it’s a very intriguing sport. I grew up playing soccer my whole life, most if not all of my family play, eat and watch soccer. Of course, I mean to eat in a literal sense but soccer is the one thing that my family shares in common besides being siblings of course. The one thing about baseball as the article mentions is that you do not need to be an expert to play the sport, all you need to know is that you will strike out once you have failed multiple times in attempting to hit the baseball. Baseball just as football season uprises a wave of emotion amongst all fans and once the season starts its game time. Millions of fans are either watching at home or are at the stadium cheering for their favorite teams; true fans are willing to withstand any temperature to watch their favorite teams play. In baseball the single drops of rain can ruin the whole game, the dirt on the diamond field will get nasty and muddy, which will not be in good conditions to keep playing and either the game gets postponed, or the referees wait till the storm passes by and cover up the field. In soccer, the only temperature that stops a game is if lightning bolts are coming down from the sky, rain or snow the game must go on. I remember as a young child freezing my butt off during the winter when we had games, but once I stepped on that field, I forgot about the weather and just played my game. I’m in no way diminishing baseball; I understand why the rain causes a problem to the game overall a field in dangerous conditions just like a soccer field with hills and bumps is very hard to play on. For any game to be exciting, intriguing, fun, and enjoyable, all the players must be in their best shape and show off their skill when playing; I always go to a soccer game to see my favorite players do their thing. ALmost all athletes in any sport train year long to be at their best shape both physically and mentally when it comes to their season openers. All that training pays off by winning and losing games; there will always be ups and downs during the season, but that’s part of the game. One learns to correct their errors when they lose but when a team wins then something must have gone right. Training year long is tough, and it requires a lot of work that will pay off.
Kayla Clavijo April 26, 2019 at 6:30 pm #
In the article, “The Ecstatic Beauty of Baseball,” AJ DiCosimo describes his opinions on baseball which is considered to be one of Americas most popular sport. What’s beautiful about baseball is that the game is so simple on the exterior, it allows fans to think about seemingly tiny details like, what kind of pitches are thrown in what situations, pickoff moves, defensive positioning or bunting techniques. But if you don’t know those details (or you’re not willing to try and learn them) and how they might affect the entire dynamic of the game, everything seems simple, boring and slow. In my opinion, baseball is pastoral. It’s sedate. It thrives on lazy summer days spent at the sandlot or corn field. Kids play it at three and four years old, hitting balls off a tee with no compunctions from parents. However, baseball today is not what it used to be. The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that’s it, not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it. Not only that, many people think they don’t stand a chance of ever being a good baseball player or they simply don’t have the special skill and athleticism required to hit a baseball that’s coming at 95 mph and to catch a baseball that’s whizzing at you at an inconceivable rate of speed. According to AJ, anyone can play this game; one does not have to be “genetically gifted” to play this sport, as you would have to be for other sports.
To continue, the article states that baseball “it’s an everyman game.” I partially agree, baseball requires a high degree of skill to play well and not everyone understands the concept of baseball. He also mentions how baseball games “remind us to slow down, even if it’s just for a second or two to take in the sounds of summer, or anguished screams coming from the snake pit,” making a person “truly feel like a kid again.” This statement shows how baseball can lift up your spirits. When you are surrounded by chaos, you add unnecessary stress to your life. Baseball games create a peaceful space around you, you’ll be able to breathe deeply and relax more easily. In my opinion, if you didn’t grow up with baseball, it’s hard to get into it later in life.
Growing up I was a small kid without any real athleticism. My parents didn’t put me into sports because I never really showed any interest. I didn’t show interest because I never knew how to catch a ball, hit a ball properly or shoot a ball into the basket. This made me ignore the world of sports.
Overall, for people including DiCosimo baseball is a game that embodies the American spirit. It’s about patience (waiting for that good pitch), perseverance (playing through a slump), and seizing any and all opportunities (stealing bases). Baseball is actually more about the situation than the action, itself. The game takes place between pitches as much as it does during and immediately after them. And because an individual baseball play doesn’t provide the variation, creativity, speed, and violence that a play in football or basketball can provide, people see that and think it’s boring and not made for everyone. As mentioned in the article, how we all remember the first time our dad took us to a baseball game, everyone cheering, desperately waiting for their team to hit a home run, this is a feeling every person should experience.
Matthew Wolf May 22, 2019 at 4:34 pm #
Being a baseball of myself, there’s always something magical once early April comes around. Spring is in the air, blue sky and it’s starting to get warmer outside. For me, this is when I get into the baseball mood. Opening Day is treated that of an American holiday. Baseball games are on practically wherever there is a TV. Being at Opening Day myself, seeing the freshly cut green grass being shined on by the Sun, looking around the sold-out stadium with red, white and blue decor hanging from each seating deck while my favorite team is out on the field with a 0-0 record means anything is possible. It’s a new season. Although I do understand where most of America is at today. 100 years ago baseball was the sport all of America loved. Today baseball is still loved nationwide, the sport that has taken America’s heart is football. Football is my favorite sport too so I can completely understand this. Today’s America wants to see a fast paced sport which is what football is. It always keeps the crowd engaged. When I ask most people why they don’t like or watch baseball, the most common answer is, “it’s not fast enough” or “it’s too slow.” Yes, I can understand that point of view. Going to baseball games in person however, it can go by so fast that soon enough it’ll be the 7th inning stretch. I played baseball growing up too and I agree and disagree with how the article says “anyone can play it and you don’t have to be athletic.” Yes anyone can play it but you need to be athletic. There’s a great deal of speed involved in the game. Especially if you’re hitting at the top of the order, you’re expected to steal bases. If you’re batting 3rd or clean-up, you’re expected to be a slugger and get a big hit or a home run. If you’re a starting pitcher, you have to have a great arm because management is trusting you to pitch 6 to 7 innings hopefully with no runs allowed. If you’re a closer, it’s you’re job to keep that 1-3 run lead and finish the game without choking. It’s a task not many closers are good at or are consistent at. You need to train for a long time to be a solid baseball player. Injuries occur and they can have a huge toll a players longevity. As for someone that loves the sport of baseball, I don’t see it dying because of the deep, American roots it has. The sport is loved by generation after generation and will only continue to grow with each new generation learning the sport.
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You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned
Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. I think a lot of what people call intelligence just boils down to curiosity.
- AARON SWARTZ
Work. Write. Read. Write some more. Read some more. Keep putting words on the page or screen, because that's the only way you'll get better.
- S.J. WATSON
The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.
- WILLIAM GIBSON
Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries … and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.
- NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
We only have one chance to get AI right… we are in real trouble if we miss.
- JEVON MITCHELL-HAYWOOD
When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck; when you invent the plane you also invent the plane crash; and when you invent electricity, you invent electrocution... Every technology carries its own negativity, which is invented at the same time as technical progress.
- PAUL VIRILIO
We are surrounded by the wondrous effects of machines and are encouraged to ignore the ideas embedded in them. Once a technology is admitted it plays out its hand; it does what it is designed to do. Our task is to understand what that design is—that is to say, when we admit a new technology to the culture, we must do so with our eyes wide open.
- NEIL POSTMAN, TECHNOPOLY
You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.
- ROBIN WILLIAMS
Creativity is relational. Its practice is most about casting widely and connecting disparate dots of existing knowledge in new, meaningful ways. To be creative, you’ve got to mine knowledge. You have to know your dots.
- BRUCE NUSSBAUM
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
- CHARLES DARWIN
Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.
- EDWARD SNOWDEN
You invade my privacy, it’s nothing. I try to get it back, it’s a crime. You’ll never understand... it’s not that I have nothing to hide... I have nothing I want you to see.
- THE GIRL, ANON
Be a nuisance where it counts. Do your part to inform and stimulate the public to join your action. Be depressed, discouraged and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption and bad politics... but never give up.
- MARJORIE STONEMAN DOUGLAS
First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win.
- MAHATMA GANDHI
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.
- ALICE WATERS
Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.
- JONATHAN SWIFT
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
- THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.
- HUGO BLACK
Just because you have no interest in politics doesn't mean politics may not be interested in you.
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.
- STEVEN HAWKING
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.
- ALBERT EINSTEIN (perhaps)
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Wonder Years Star Producing WGN America Series; Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 16, 2015)
A star from The Wonder Years is producing a new upcoming WGN America series. And the star is... Jason Hervey. He of course played the role of Wayne Arnold on the Emmy Award-winning hit series. He parlayed the experience he gained and partnered with Eric Bischoff, his longtime friend, colleague and former President of Time Warner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW), to form Bischoff Hervey Entertainment (BHE TV, LLC). And now he is producing a WGN America series for BHE. Outlaw Country is a one-hour docudrama set in the town of Buckner, Missouri, offering one-of-a-kind access into a unique and dangerous subculture. With a reputation for drug dealing, gun running and robbing the Heartland blind, The Alliance threatens to overtake Kansas City. Outlaw Country follows as an elite team of law enforcement officers attempt to thwart their illegal operations at every pass, doing whatever it takes to break this assemblage of bandits—including running alongside the crew and bending a few laws of their own.
At the heart of this warfare lie two sets of brothers--Mike and Steve Cook, who act as Chief of Police and head of the Buckner Criminal Task Force, respectively, and John and Josh Monk, the pair they suspect are responsible for the town's surge in crime. The series premieres Tuesday, February 24 at 10:00 pm ET/9:00 pm CT on WGN America.
For the week of Feb. 16-20, 2015, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! All times listed are Eastern. So get your DVRs (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for the coming week!
Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish/Girlfriends) and NeNe Leakes (The New Normal) - Tracee and NeNe are guests on Watch What Happens: Live at 11:30pm on Bravo.
Matthew Perry (The Odd Couple/Go On/Mr. Sunshine/Friends) - Watch Matthew on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) - Adam appears on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
Craig Robinson (The Office) - Craig is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
Thomas Lennon (The Odd Couple/Sean Saves the World/Reno 911!) - Thomas guest co-hosts The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Maz Jobrani (Better Off Ted/The Knights of Prosperity) - Maz stops by The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Nick Kroll (The League/Cavemen) - Nick is a guest on a repeat of @midnight on Comedy Central at midnight.
Seth Morris (The Hotwives of Orlando/Go On/Happy Endings) - Seth appears on a repeat of @midnight on Comedy Central at midnight.
Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move) - Jason is a guest on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Connie Britton (Spin City/The Fighting Fitzgeralds/Lost at Home) - Connie chats on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Rainn Wilson (The Office) - Rainn discusses the series Backstrom on LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings.
Vivica A. Fox (Out All Night/Arsenio) - Vivica reveals why she fired herself from the hit reality show, on Kenya-gate and whom she believes was the love of her life on The Meredith Vieira Show, so check your local listings. She will also be on The Real, so check your local listings. Finally, she is a guest on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 12:30pm ET.
Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Are We There Yet?/Everybody Hates Chris) - Terry is a guest on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Tim Conway (McHale's Navy/Rango) - Tim is in the funniest cooking segment you'll ever see on The Queen Latifah Show on your local station or at 3am on BET.
Joey McIntyre (The McCarthys) - Joey and the New Kids on the Block (no Donnie Wahlberg) are guests on Good Day New York on WNYW-Fox5 in New York sometime between 7-10am and on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 12:30pm ET.
Chris Elliott (Schitt's Creek/The Weber Show/Get a Life) - Catch Chris on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Dakota Johnson (Ben & Kate) - Dakota is a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
Lindsay Sloane (The Odd Couple/Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) - Lindsay visits The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Thomas Lennon (The Odd Couple/Sean Saves the World/Reno 911!) - Thomas guest co-hosts The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS. He will also be on Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
Matthew Perry (The Odd Couple/Go On/Mr. Sunshine/Friends) - Matthew appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. He will also be on CBS This Morning sometime between 7-9am.
Anders Holm (Workaholics) - Anders is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) - Jack visits Conan at 11pm on TBS.
John Slattery (Ed/Maggie) - John chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT. He also talks about his new film Bluebird on HuffPost Live at 3pm.
David Duchovny (Californication) - David discusses his new book Holy Cow on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs/Arrested Development/Reno 911!) - Wendi is a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
NeNe Leakes (The New Normal) - NeNe chats about the latest headlines on The Meredith Vieira Show, so check your local listings.
Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) - Adam talks about Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and Parks and Recreation on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
Jonathan Kite (2 Broke Girls) - Jonathan stops by Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.
Jason Hervey (The Wonder Years) - Jason talks about his newest role as creator and executive producer of WGN America's Outlaw Country on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.
Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) - Watch Will on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS. He will also be on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother/Stark Raving Mad/Doogie Howser, M.D.) - Neil is a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC. He will also be on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Gillian Jacobs (Community/Girls) - Tune in to see Gillian on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Matthew Perry (The Odd Couple/Go On/Mr. Sunshine/Friends) - Matthew appears on The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Nick Kroll (The League/Cavemen) - Nick visits The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Kathy Griffin (Suddenly Susan) - Kathy stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Rob Corddry (The Winner) - Rob drops by Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) - Jennnifer is a guest on a repeat of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart at 11pm.
Ali Wong (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Ali appears on a repeat of @midnight on Comedy Central at midnight.
Ashton Kutcher (Two and a Half Men/That '70s Show) and Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) - Ashton and Jon are guests on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Danny DeVito (Taxi) - Danny stops by The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother/Stark Raving Mad/Doogie Howser, M.D.) - Neil stops by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) - Adam talks about saying goodbye to Pawnee, parenthood and more on The Meredith Vieira Show, so check your local listings.
Natalie Desselle-Reid (Eve/For Your Love/Built to Last) - Natalie joins the Chew Crew on ABC's The Chew at 1pm ET/12pm PT/CT.
Craig Robinson (The Office) - Craig talks about Hot Tub Time Machine 2 on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
Rhea Seehorn (Whitney/I'm with Her) - Rhea discusses Better Call Saul on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.
Jaleel White (Family Matters/Grown Ups) - Jaleel talks about being on Dancing with the Stars and playing America's most iconic nerd - Steve Urkel - on The Queen Latifah Show on your local station or at 3am on BET.
Anders Holm (Workaholics) - Anders gives a peek into what's ahead for the hilarious trio in this season of the Comedy Central series Workaholics on HuffPost Live at 3pm.
Henry Winkler (Happy Days/Out of Practice/Arrested Development) - Henry is a guest on Access Hollywood Live, so check your local listings.
Yara Shahidi (black-ish/The First Family) - Yara appears on Access Hollywood Live, so check your local listings.
Martin Short (Mulaney/The Martin Short Show) - Catch Martin on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
Don Cheadle (The Golden Palace) - Don appears on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) - Ilana and Abbi are guests on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
Kelly Ripa (Hope & Faith) - Kelly stops by Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Joshua Molina (Sports Night) - Joshua is a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC. He will also be on The Better Show, so check your local listings.
Lauren Graham (Conrad Bloom/Townies) - Lauren guest co-hosts The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) - Ray is a guest on The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Busy Phillipps (Cougar Town) - Busy appears on The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Tom Papa (Come to Papa) - Tom visits The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
The Cast of Hot Tub Time Machine 2 - Clark Duke, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Adam Scott are guests on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Chris Parnell (Suburgatory) - Chris appears on a repeat of @midnight on Comedy Central at midnight.
Judy Greer (Mad Love/Arrested Development/Miss Guided) - Judy is a guest on a repeat of @midnight on Comedy Central at midnight.
Mae Whitman (Arrested Development) - Mae is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. She also previews the film The Duff on LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings.
Matthew Perry (The Odd Couple/Go On/Mr. Sunshine/Friends) and Thomas Lennon (The Odd Couple/Sean Saves the World/Reno 911!) - The stars of The Odd Couple are guests on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT. Matthew will also be on LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings.
Craig Robinson (The Office) - Craig will be on Big Morning Buzz Live on VH1 at 9am and on Good Day New York on WNYW-Fox5 in New York sometime between 7-10am.
Jussie Smollett (On Our Own) - Jussie joins the Chew Crew on ABC's The Chew at 1pm ET/12pm PT/CT.
Marcia Gay Harden (Trophy Wife) - Marcia is a guest on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Wanda Sykes (The New Adventures of Old Christine/Wanda at Large) - Wanda appears on The Dr. Oz Show, so check your local listings.
Henry Winkler (Happy Days/Out of Practice/Arrested Development) - Henry talks about his book Here's Hank on People Now.
Kevin Nealon (Weeds/Hiller and Diller/Champs) - Kevin talks about how you can be funny too on The Queen Latifah Show on your local station or at 3am on BET.
Robbie Amell (1600 Penn/True Jackson, VP/Life with Derek) - Robbie talks about The Flash and The Duff on Arise TV on their website at 3pm.
Sean Hayes (The Millers/Sean Saves the World/Will & Grace) - Watch Sean on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
Nick Jonas (Jonas L.A.) - Nick is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
David Spade (Rules of Engagement/8 Simple Rules/Just Shoot Me) - David appears on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat) - Randall is a guest on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
li>Will Arnett (The Millers/Up All Night/Arrested Development) - Will guest co-hosts The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
John Krasinski (The Office) - John visits The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
David Cross (Arrested Development/Running Wilde) - David stops by The Late Late Show at 12:37am on CBS.
Eugene Levy and Daniel Levy (Schitt's Creek) - Eugene and Daniel are guests on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) - Simon appears on a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
Craig Robinson (The OfficE) Craig talks about starring in the highly anticipated sequel Hot Tub Time Machine 2, who he still keeps in touch with from The Office and more on The Meredith Vieira Show, so check your local listings.
Mae Whitman (Arrested Development) - Mae talks about her movie The Duff on Big Morning Buzz Live on VH1 at 9am and on People Now.
Robbie Amell (1600 Penn/True Jackson, VP/Life with Derek) - Robbie talks about his movie The Duff on Big Morning Buzz Live on VH1 at 9am and on People Now.
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother/Stark Raving Mad/Doogie Howser, M.D.) - Neil talks to Robin Roberts about hosting the Oscars on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Jamie Foxx (The Jamie Foxx Show) and Wanda Sykes (The New Adventures of Old Christine) - There will be never-before-seen footage with Jamie and Wanda on The Queen Latifah Show on your local station or at 3am on BET.
Labels: Talk Shows, WGN, Wonder Years
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Tag Archives: gay marriage
What’s next for gay marriage? 6th Circuit Court ruling in favor of gay-marriage ban may set stage for Supreme Court case
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has upheld Kentucky’s ban on same-sex marriage. The ruling will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
By Dan Sewell, Associated Press
CINCINNATI —A month after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on gay marriage, the issue is headed its way again.
A federal appeals court Thursday halted a run of rulings supporting same-sex marriage by the U.S. courts that are the last line for appeals just below the Supreme Court. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel instead upheld laws against the practice in four states — Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Attorneys for gay plaintiffs say they will ask the Supreme Court to hear their arguments, and the split created Thursday among the federal appeals courts makes it more likely they will agree to this time.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had explained in a September speech in Minnesota that the lack of a split in the appeals courts made Supreme Court review of the issue unnecessary. But she said “there will be some urgency” if the 6th Circuit allowed same-sex marriage bans to stand.
By Dan Sewell, Associated Press Continue reading “What’s next for gay marriage? 6th Circuit Court ruling in favor of gay-marriage ban may set stage for Supreme Court case” »
Posted in Education | Tagged 6th circuit court of appeals, courts, gay marriage, gay rights, law, legal, LGBT rights, marriage equality | 1 Reply
What’s after same-sex marriage? Other gay rights issues are on the horizon
Posted on October 22, 2014 by Phillip Zonkel
Pamela Thiele, left, and her spouse, Lauren Fortmiller, of Lakewood, Colo., take part in a rally staged by Why Marriage Matters Colorado on the steps of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. Elected officials joined members of the clergy and community leaders to celebrate in the wake of marriage equality moving forward in the Centennial State. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski
By David Crary, Associated Press National Writer
NEW YORK — Even as they celebrate epic victories in the push for marriage equality, gay-rights activists acknowledge that other difficult issues remain on their agenda. There’s the persistent high rate of HIV infections, the struggles to expand transgender rights, and the striking fact that even in some states allowing same-sex marriage, people can lose their job for being gay.
For many activists, the top priority after marriage is federal legislation that would outlaw a broad range of discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. There’s no such federal law now, and more than half the states do not ban discrimination by employers or public accommodations based on sexual orientation.
Continue reading “What’s after same-sex marriage? Other gay rights issues are on the horizon” »
Posted in Education | Tagged AIDS, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, bisexual men, Centers for Disease Control, gay marriage, gay men, HIV, infections, Kasier Family Foundation, lambda legal, marriage equality, Michael Weinstein, Pew Research Center 2013 survey, same-sex marriage, survey, Transgender law center, Truvada | 1 Reply
Gay marriage comes to Wyoming
Wyoming has become the latest state to allow gay marriage, bringing the national wave of expanded rights for same-sex couples to a state where the 1998 beating death of Matthew Shepard still influences national perceptions.
State lawyers filed a legal notice Tuesday morning that said they won’t defend a recently overturned Wyoming law that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, meaning county clerks can begin to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and the state will recognize same-sex unions performed legally elsewhere.
By Bob Moen, Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming has become the latest state to legalize marriage equality, bringing the national wave of expanded rights for same-sex couples to a state where the 1998 beating death of Matthew Shepard still influences national perceptions.
The change is particularly notable in the state where Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student was beaten 16 years ago in a rural area near Laramie. He died days after the attack on Oct. 12, 1998. The slaying galvanized a national push for gay rights and tough penalties for hate crimes. (Though investigative journalist Stephen Jimenez and author of “The Book of Matt,” says that story might not be the full picture of what happened. – Out in the 562)
Continue reading “Gay marriage comes to Wyoming” »
Posted in Education | Tagged author stephen jimenez, gay marriage, marriage equality, matthew shepard, same-sex marriage, The Book of Matt, Williams Institute UCLA Law School, Wyoming | Leave a reply
US Supreme Court rejects gay marriage appeals from 5 states
Posted on October 6, 2014 by Phillip Zonkel
The Justices of the US Supreme Court sit for their official photograph on October 8, 2010 at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC.
The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for an immediate expansion of same-sex marriage by unexpectedly and tersely turning away appeals from five states seeking to prohibit gay and lesbian unions. The court’s order effectively makes gay marriage legal in 30 states.
Front row (L-R): Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Back Row (L-R): Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. and Associate Justice Elena Kagan.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for an immediate expansion of same-sex marriage by unexpectedly and tersely turning away appeals from five states seeking to prohibit gay and lesbian unions. The court’s order effectively makes gay marriage legal in 30 states.
Without comment, the justices brought to an end delays in same-sex marriages in five states— Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Chief Justice John Roberts did not say a word about same-sex marriage as he began the court’s new term.
Continue reading “US Supreme Court rejects gay marriage appeals from 5 states” »
Posted in Education | Tagged civil rights, gay marriage, gay rights, LGBT rights, marriage equality, same sex unions, same-sex marriage, Supreme Court justice anthony kennedy, US supreme court, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts | Leave a reply
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Browse: Home » 2019 » July » Songs of the Bible #6: Lament of the Bow
Songs of the Bible #6: Lament of the Bow
July 11, 2019 · Words of Worship
The lament is a common form of poetry and song in the Bible. In our culture it might be comparable to the old Negro Spirituals, Blues music, or the Country Western songs where the dog has died, the wife and left, and the truck won’t start. Songs like, Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen, or Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, could be characterized as laments.
In 2 Samuel 1:19-27, we find the lament David composed after the death of Saul and two of his sons in battle. We can understand if David greatly mourned the passing of Saul’s son, Jonathan, for they were closer than brothers. God had forged a remarkable bond between these men who could easily have been rivals. We can truly admire Jonathan who, even knowing God was taking the kingdom from him and giving it to David, was fully on board. He demonstrated that by sealing their covenant of friendship with his own symbols of his princehood, an act which provoked Saul’s wrath because he viewed it as disloyalty to him and his dynasty. Jonathan told David that he envisioned the future with David as king and Jonathan at his side as his right hand man.
David, too, was a man to be admired. He had not sought out the mantle of kingship, it had been thrust upon him, ordained by God. But he did not take that anointing as a license to kill. He didn’t go after Saul and claim the throne. Even given opportunities to kill Saul, he would not cross the line and take things into his own hands, instead he waited on the Lord to give him the kingdom in His timing. It reminds us of Jesus, and how He waited patiently for His time to come, resisting the urgings of others to take things into His own hands or operate outside the will of God. We have to wonder, if we were in David’s shoes, would we have seen the opportunities to win over our opponent as God “opening a door,” or would we have had David’s wisdom, self-control and discernment to wait?
By not taking Saul’s life himself, David added legitimacy to his reign, as well as displayed his dependence on God. While he would have been justified to defend himself and end the relentless pursuit by Saul, there would always be that taint that he had somehow been a usurper, and taken the kingdom by force. Unfortunately for Jonathan, even if he had thrown his whole support behind David, there would have always been that faction who would have seen him as the legitimate heir to the throne, and would have resisted David’s authority, or that of his descendants. For David’s dynasty to be the eternal one which God had promised, the Lord had to take noble Jonathan to glory. There I am certain he has received “well done” for his humility, and his willingness to set aside his rights for God’s will to be done. Jonathan displayed the attitude of John the Baptist in regard to Jesus, “He must become greater, and I must become less.”
In the days when the Bible was a common text book in the classroom, it would have been general knowledge that the expression, “How the mighty have fallen!”, was a scriptural reference. There are many such expressions in our vernacular, but our culture is so biblically illiterate it seldom recognizes them as such. We find this sentence, near the beginning, middle and end of this lament. David lauds both Saul and Jonathan for their courage. David says of them, “They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions,” and speaks of how they both were loved, expressing his particular grief for his friend, Jonathan (he does not mention the two other sons of Saul killed that day, Abinadab and Malki-Shua).
There is no direct reference to God in the lament, yet David’s reaction of authentic grief at the passing of the man who had declared himself as David’s visceral enemy, and his kind and praise-filled words for Saul display a deep godly character. It reflects God’s own mercy and generosity of spirit towards us. It reminds us of the grace we received from Him when we were still His enemies, yet He still loved us and drew us to Himself, willingly giving His life for us. It demonstrates to us that even when someone has declared themselves to be our enemy, we do not have to reciprocate with hatred back in their direction. We can follow Jesus’ command to love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. We can do good to those who have mistreated us, and look for opportunities to say good things about them to others, even while holding them accountable and not opening ourselves up to their desires to destroy us. Such an attitude will save us from the destructive power of bitterness which will rot the soul of anyone who choses that path.
In this lament we have an example of how to meet persecution with grace, and adversity and grief with appropriate godly sorrow. God is not offended if we say “ouch” when it hurts. When we run to Him in our sorrow (even when He is the source of our pain) He is a wonderfully caring Father who will give us balm for our wounds, comfort for our grieving hearts, and strength to continue through the pain.
by Sheri Cook, Director of Special Ministries
Have questions about this blog? Email the author here.
Tags: 2 Samuel 1:19-27, David, Jonathan, lament, Lament of the Bow, Saul, Songs of the Bible, Words of Worship
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- Book a Demo
- Background
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) determines how your organisation does business, and particularly how it manages, protects and administers data.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new European ruling, which governs the data protection rights for all individuals within the European Union. It serves to strengthen and unify all data protection rules and practices across the EU.
GDPR puts the power back into an individual’s hands. They gain the rights to access, amend, and restrict the personal data organisations have about them.
In the unfortunate event that an organisation suffers a data breach which could compromise the security of individual’s personal data, those individuals must be told within 72 hours of the start of the breach.
Individuals also have the “Right to Portability”, this is the right to move data and services to another provider with no hassle or strings attached.
The greatest change within GDPR is the way consent is granted. Consent must be knowingly and willingly given by the individual, with organisations making their intentions for data use made clear. Soft opt-ins, implied consent, and hiding data policies within confusing T’s and C’s are all against GDPR rules.
Organisations must keep a record of why, when and how they were granted permission. There must also be details of what they were told at the time. If oral permission was granted, a script of what was said will work fine, call recordings are not essential.
Right to be Deleted
Individuals have the right to retract consent at any time, and have the “Right to be Deleted”, which means that if they request an organisation to delete their data, it should be done so immediately. It must be deleted from all backups, and the organisation should have proof of the deletion.
Every EU citizen has the right to ask how an organisation is using their personal data, where it’s used and why. They also have the right to request a digital copy of the data that is being held about the individual.
“There’s a lot in the GDPR you’ll recognise, but make no mistake, this one’s a game changer for everyone.”
Elizabeth Denham
ICO Information Commissioner
All individuals have a legal right to opt out of marketing communications. If an individual does opt out you must withdraw them from that activity immediately.
Lawful Reasoning
There are six allowable reasons for processing someone’s personal data. These are:
You have consent from an individual
If it is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject or to take steps to enter into a contract
If it is for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the controller or a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests, rights or freedoms of the data subject
Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller
If it is to protect the vital interests of a data subject or another individual
It is needed for compliance with a legal obligation
The new regulation applies to any organisation around the world, who deal with EU residents, and it applies to both B2B and B2C.
Marketing to organisations?
You can call and email organisations, as these are generic and not personal data.
Using the InMail LinkedIn feature is not affected by GDPR.
You could face fines!
If you are not compliant, you could face fines of up to €20 million or 4% of your organisation’s worldwide annual turnover, whichever is greater.
How long does consent last for?
According to the Regulation, consent decays with time. However, 6 to 12 months seems to be a reasonable time frame.
Do I need consent to contact my customers?
No, it will either come under the lawful basis of "Performance of a Contract", or it would be "Legitimate Interest" as you already have a relationship with them and it won’t be unexpected for them to hear from you.
I already have consent gained under DPA do I need to re-consent everyone?
Only if the methodology did not match the requirements of GDPR and/or it would have decayed in that time.
The regulation specifically states marketing can be used as a Legitimate Interest, isn't there a conflict there?
On the face of it, there is a conflict. But the general understanding of the text is that organisations must carry out a Legitimate Interest Assessment, this is a three-part test - identify a legitimate interest, show that the processing is necessary to achieve it, and balance it against the individual’s interests, rights and freedoms.
Will I still be able to buy lists of data?
If you cannot justify Legitimate Interest as the lawful basis, then you must rely on consent. If you buy data from a company that says they have obtained consent you need to be careful. The ICO guidance states "You must as a minimum include the name of your organisation and the names of any third parties who will rely on the consent – consent for categories of third-party organisations will not be specific enough".
Will I have to change the contact forms on our website?
The regulation says that consent "must be a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the individual’s wishes". Which means your text going forward beyond 25th May 2018 must comply with that statement, and any pre-selected tick boxes are not allowed.
What constitutes personal data?
Any information related to a natural person or ‘Data Subject’, that can be used to directly or indirectly identify the person. It can be anything from a name, a photo, an email address, bank details, posts on social networking websites, medical information, or a computer IP address.
What is the difference between a data processor and a data controller?
A controller is the entity that determines the purposes, conditions and means of the processing of personal data, while the processor is an entity which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.
How does GDPR affect policy surrounding data breaches?
Proposed regulations surrounding data breaches primarily relate to the notification policies of organisations that have been breached. Data breaches which may pose a risk to individuals must be notified to the ICO within 72 hours and to affected individuals without undue delay.
Can I still market to my existing customers?
Essentially this comes under Legitimate Interest, and individuals still have the option of opting out.
©2018 Quality System Solutions Ltd | DataPro Tools
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Tag Archives | Keith Urban
Watch Here: Keith Urban & Post Malone Collaborate For Upcoming Elvis Television Special
By Mandy Slegers on February 14, 2019 in Alt Country Corner, Artists, Features, Music, News, Videos
Yesterday saw an all-star line-up for the Elvis Presley’s comeback special at 50… John Fogerty, Keith Urban, Lisa Marie Presley and others involved in NBC’s new tribute show reflect on the lasting impact of the King’s ’68 career milestone. After leading a performance of “Burning Love,” Australian country star Keith Urban is joined onstage by Post […]
Hometown Rising: Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Little Big Town & Many More Lead Incredible Lineup
By Mandy Slegers on February 13, 2019 in Artists, Culture, Music, News, Places, Tours, Travel
Premier independent festival producer Danny Wimmer Presents continues to show its love for Louisville with a third addition to a massive fall festival series in the one-of-a-kind city. “Hometown Rising”, the first-ever Country Music & Bourbon Festival, will make its debut Saturday, September 14th and Sunday, September 15th at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center, combining two of Louisville’s cultural cornerstones…great music and incredible bourbon. “Hometown […]
Keith Urban Releases New Single “Never Comin’ Down”
By Mandy Slegers on January 21, 2019 in Artists, Music, New Single, News
Four-time Grammy Award winner Keith Urban released his infectious new single ‘Never Comin Down’ today, from his latest album “Graffiti U”, out now via Hit Red Records. He also unveiled the brand new official video for the track, which Urban says “captures the energy and spirit of being at a show – lost in the […]
This Just In: Miranda Lambert Joins Cheyenne Frontier Days 2019 Frontier Nights Lineup
By Mandy Slegers on December 16, 2018 in Artists, Music, News, Tours
Current and 9-time ACM Female Vocalist of the Year winner Miranda Lambert will perform at Cheyenne Frontier Days on Wednesday, July 24th, in addition to a line-up already stacked with Country superstars, including Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts and more! Cheyenne Frontier Days™ (CFD) also recently announced the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) […]
Watch Now: Jillian Jacqueline Radiates In “Sad Girls” Music Video
By Mandy Slegers on September 24, 2018 in Artists, Music, News, Videos
Following the anticipated release of her brand new Big Loud Records EP, “SIDE B”, Jillian Jacqueline has unveiled the visually stunning one-take music video for “Sad Girls,” premiering exclusively with ‘The FADER‘. Directed by Patrick Tracy, the 1970’s romance inspired clip features Jacqueline in a sunlit open field, accompanied only by her guitar as she […]
The Reklaws Release 7-Track EP, “Feels Like That”
By CMP on September 5, 2018 in Artists, Music, New Albums, News
Fresh off presenting at the iHeartRadio MMVAs, three-time 2018 CCMA Award nominees, The Reklaws, release their debut EP, “Feels Like That“. Released via Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, “Feels Like That” is available for stream/purchase now. Produced by Todd Clark, the EP includes the title track and crowd-favourite love song “Feels Like That” written […]
Jillian Jacqueline Unveils New Song “If I Were You” Featuring Keith Urban
By Mandy Slegers on August 17, 2018 in Artists, Music, New Albums, New Single, News
Big Loud Records acclaimed singer/songwriter Jillian Jacqueline continues to rise as one of Country’s buzziest newcomers with her latest release, “If I Were You” featuring Keith Urban. The track is the first look at her highly anticipated “SIDE B” EP, with a release date soon to be announced. I couldn’t wait to share this song. I wrote it — with Sarah […]
Watch Here: ‘Home Free’ Raises Their Voice In Brand New Video
By CMP on July 31, 2018 in Artists, Music, News, Videos
All-vocal Country standout Home Free continue to bring their fresh and innovative spin to the genre’s biggest hits, as they’ve just released a mash-up of Dierks Bentley’s “Woman, Amen” and Keith Urban’s “Female.” “We were inspired to do a mash-up after we saw Dierks perform ‘Woman, Amen’ at the ACM Awards,” said bass singer Tim Foust. “’Female’ […]
Kelsea Ballerini Sizzles This Summer With Red-Hot Television Performances
By Mandy Slegers on July 30, 2018 in Artists, Music, News
Kelsea Ballerini is coming in hot this summer with three upcoming high-profile television performances as her cheeky single off of “Unapologetically”, “I Hate Love Songs,” continues to climb the charts. Appearing on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday (August 1st), Ballerini will wrap the week by headlining ABC’s Good Morning America Summer Concert Series for the first time live from […]
Celebrate The Fourth Of July With The Young Fables At The Biltmore
By Mandy Slegers on June 27, 2018 in Artists, Music, News, Places, Travel
Emerging modern traditional country duo, The Young Fables, will be showcasing their sophomore album “Old Songs” at The Biltmore’s Antler Hill Barn July 4th Celebration Dinner. Featuring old-fashioned fun and games, a delicious buffet, the award-winning Biltmore Wine and a dramatic fireworks display on the estate, The Young Fables will serve as the soundtrack throughout this elevated Independence […]
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Freshman – Senior Comprehensive Package
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Colleges with The Lowest Tuition
Chadron State College
Located in Nebraska, Chadron State College is one of the most affordable educational institutions for those who are from out of state with costs that are only one dollar more per credit hour. The average package cost for Chadron State College is $5,760 per year. With a student to faculty ratio of 19:1 and 70 majors to choose from, Chadron State College is a great choice for education.
Oklahoma Panhandle State University
All students attending Oklahoma Panhandle State University pay the same tuition rate with an average yearly cost of $6,739. Nearly 100 undergraduate degrees are available, while online students can choose from over 340 different courses offered at the associate and bachelor’s levels. With nearly 2,000 students currently attending Oklahoma Panhandle State University, this college offers 100 different undergraduate degrees with areas of studies that include agriculture, business, education, science, and more.
Minot State University
Attracting applicants from all over the nation, Minot State University’s annual tuition for those seeking a master’s degree is $7,820. This institution currently ha 3,500 students who are completing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in more than 70 areas of education.
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"http://www.stamfordplus.com/stm/information/nws1/publish/News_1/index.shtml - News : Entertainment Published: Sep 13, 2018 - 3:06:24 AM
Obie Award-winning comedy to play in Stamford
By Curtain Call
Bed and breakfast owner, Betty Meeks, (played by Betty McCready) listens intently to Charlie, "the foreigner" (played by Grady Dennis) in Curtain Call's production of THE FOREIGNER, playing in The Dressing Room Theatre September 20 through October 7. (contributed photo)
Kicking off its new season in the Dressing Room Theatre, Stamford, Curtain Call presents Larry Shue’s Obie Award-winning comedy, The Foreigner, playing September 20 through October 7.
In The Foreigner, Charlie, shy and seeking solitude, is on vacation at a Georgia bed and breakfast: he pretends he is a foreigner, understanding no English. However, he soon witnesses bizarre schemes by people (including some Klan members) who think he can’t understand a word they say, leading to confusion and non-stop hilarity that set up a terrifically funny ending!
“When I first saw The Foreigner in the mid - 1980s, I thought it was terrific,” said Lou Ursone, Curtain Call’s executive director and producer for this production. “I saw it again at several regional theatres over the years, and then, in 2003, I had the privilege of producing it here at Curtain Call. It has been on my list to revisit for quite a while now and I'm thrilled to do it with director Meredith Walker leading the team,” Ursone added. (Walker directed the theatre’s sold out hitSister Act last season.)
While the show is definitely a comedy, some deeper moments and themes are woven through. “It makes you stop and think about how we treat people that we don’t understand…that no matter our backgrounds, we can learn to accept strangers into our lives, and, in many cases, learn from them,” Ursone said.
Rehearsing a scene for THE FOREIGNER at Curtain Call in Stamford are: standing, Betty McCready, seated: Sophie Tiesler and Grady Dennis. THE FOREIGNER will play in The Dressing Room Theatre September 20 through October 7. (contributed photo)
The cast includes Grady Dennis, as Charlie, Scott Ferrara as Owen, Jim Foley as Froggy, Daniel P. Mann as David, Betty McCready as Betty, Nicole Neurohr as Ellie and Sophie Tiesler as Catherine. Production design is by Peter Barbieri, Jr. with costumes by Megan Latte Ormond. Walker and Ursone said that this cast has been terrific to work with and that they have not been able to stop laughing throughout the rehearsals. "We really hope audiences enjoy the show as much as we have," they said.
Performances will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00PM and Sunday afternoons at 2:00PM, beginning September 20 and continuing through October 7. The Dressing Room Theatre is located at The Sterling Farms Theatre Complex, 1349 Newfield Avenue, Stamford, CT. Seating is cabaret-style with a BYOEverything format. Doors open one hour before show time. Tickets are $35 for adults, $25 for senior citizens and $17.5 for children. Thrifty Thursday tickets are $27.50. Box Office: 203-461-6358 x 36 or on the web at www.curtaincallinc.com.
Curtain Call's 28th season also includes Mamma Mia, Accomplice, Elf the Musical, A Merry Mulberry Street Musical, and many more full-scale productions, as well as concerts, comedy nights, and interactive murder mysteries. Additional information is available at www.curtaincallinc.com or by calling 203-329-8207.
Curtain Call is the non-profit community-based theatre company in residence at The Sterling Farms Theatre Complex, 1349 Newfield Avenue in Stamford. Year-round productions and educational workshops for all ages are presented by and for area residents in The Kweskin Theatre and The Dressing Room Theatre.
Curtain Call was voted Fairfield County's BEST LOCAL THEATRE GROUP ten years running in the Annual Readers' Poll of The Fairfield County Weekly and has received similar BEST OF awards from Stamford Magazine and StamfordPlus magazine for 2008 through 2018. Curtain Call received The Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2011 and the ACE Award for Excellence in Arts & Culture from the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County.
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The Church of the Covenant is built on the concepts of covenant and commitment, with a tradition of outward service strengthened by an inward journey. There are no committees at Church of the Covenant; all work is done through mission groups. There are two forms of membership in the church. You can learn about this and much more by reading the booklets listed on this page.
The Church of the Covenant is a community of persons responding to God’s call in Jesus Christ to live our lives as a journey of faith. We commit ourselves to the inward journey of prayer, meditation, silence, reflection, and study so that we continue to grow in God’s love and guidance. We commit ourselves to the outward journey as our response to God’s call to use our gifts in the service of the church community and the world.
Our work is carried out through mission groups that form around a call to a particular vision for ministry. Mission groups meet regularly for the group inward journey of worship, prayer, and spiritual sharing, and the outward journey of the work of the mission.
Community and Covenant members comprise the official membership of the church, making commitments to specific spiritual disciplines or practices that nurture the inward and outward dimensions of the life of faith.
For a deeper understanding, see these resources:
The Journey of a Lifetime… This 4 page flyer is a brief explanation of the way our community is structured.
The Journey of a Lifetime, Life and Ministry in the Church of the Covenant Community This is a 32 page handbook for those who want to know more about the community and the ways in which it works to minister to individuals and the community.
News & Events (82)
Pastoral Newsletter (13)
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