I CAN RAVE ABOUT THE EVENTS i CAN ATTEND AND YOU CAN GET THEM ON LINE

MORE THAN EVER WE NEED AN INFORMED CITIZENRY.  And my former DC Free Culture will be included with my ranting and raving.
Hopefully you will take time to read my Rant that is included at the end of this listing.

Author talks

this week – 1/22 – 26

Thursday – Sunday

Politics and Prose - D. C. BOOKSTORE

Thursday – Steve Inskeep – Imperfect Union: How Jesse and John Fremont mapped the West, invented celebrity and helped cause the Civil War – 7 PM

Friday – Andrea Bernstein with interviewer Franklin Foer – American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps and the marriage of money and power – 7 PM

Saturday – James S. Gordan – The transformation: Discovering wholesomeness and healing after trauma – 1 PM

Saturday – James Mann – The great rift: Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and the broken friendship that defined an era – 3:30 PM

Saturday – Jennifer S. Hirsch and Shamus Kahn – Sexual Citizens: A landmark study of sex, power and assault - 6 PM

Sunday – Daniel H. Weiss and Peter Osnos –In that Time: Michael O'Donnell and the tragic era of Vietnam – 1 PM

Sunday –Franchon Jean Silberstein – Art in Sight: nderstandingart 

and why it matters – 5 PM

My church responds to taunts of homophobic and racist slurs as we celebrated the life of Dr Martin Luther King.

I wonder if they knew that All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Washington DC with well over 1000 members is a beautiful composite picture of America with an emphasis on young people and young families representing people of all religious beliefs and creeds.

How could they be so disrespectful and ignorant of America's heritage as founding fathers and intellectual leaders from Jefferson to Emerson extolled the freedom of all Americans to freely worship according to their individual consciences.

How proud I am of being in a church that is representative of all America EVERY SUNDAY and has leadership that responded to the congregation with a letter including these two paragraphs:

“We were so moved by how our congregation responded to this hateful act. Hand-in hand, we walked out of the sanctuary and onto the front steps of the church singing "We Shall Overcome." Our loving songs drown out their hateful shouts.

One congregant said afterward that our collective action on Sunday embodied one of Dr. King's most important teachings: "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

I hope that you will also read my next “Rant” that will tell of how this one church has such broad appeal that it alone among all the churches I have attended for 94 years is truly representative of the people of my country.

A poem for starting the new year

Clearing

by Martha Postlewaite

Do not try to save

the whole world

or do anything grandiose.

Instead, create

a clearing

in the dense forest

of your life

and wait there

patiently,

until the song

that is your life

falls into your own cupped hands

and you recognize and greet it.

Only then will you know

how to give yourself

to this world

so worthy of rescue.

I'll have more to say about this in a week or so.  The minister at All Souls Unitarian Church used it in a mailing as an introduction to his sermon this last Sunday.  I couldn't wait to share it with those of you seeking perspective for the daunting new decade.

A suggestion for Evangelicals (and others who feel the life of a man named Jesus) set a pretty darned good example for all.

I hope there are many others in line behind (or in front of) me to subscribe to Christianity Today for their courageous stand. Broader than a political or religious stand it is a moral one.

Most poignant TV pix of the World Series thus far...............

..............to me was the shot immediately after the 6th game - and before he was interviewed on world TV - was Strasburg cradling his young child in the dugout. Great to see true male emotion, and that picture was only rivaled by the one in the game after his last outing when he was being embraced by the shark and Sanchez. 

The final life lessons by this 93 year oldster from the world series

I know "It ain't over until the last out" but who cares, win or lose, its been a great experience for true baseball fans.  Thus, first, the most important of all the 13 lessons I've pondered regarding this years Nats team:

9.   More important than winning or losing is playing in the game!
10. Baseball, including its sister, softball, is a truly unique game involving people representing a wide variety of individual body types, skills of individual performance as well as sacrificing for the team.
11. Unfortunately when sporting events that could involve the whole family come into conflict with economic concerns, economic reality wins out.
12. Is it not the only sport/event in which one can fail to execute a skill 2/3 of the time and still be considered extremely successful.
13. The importance of leadership in building morale has been totally exemplified by a committed leader (Davy) through apparent integrity, commitment. perseverance and trust.  How vital are these characteristics on the world scene.

I'm sure YOU could add many more but I am done.  I hope there are two more nights of viewing (how I'd love to see a day game again), but life goes on and I'll find other things to Rant about.

Here is a quicky and (for once) brief thought

For the past 20 or so years I've often been asked "How do you keep your apart youthfulness?"  And while acknowledging the the importance of genes, my first tendency is to respond with something like, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING AROUND AROUND YOUNG PEOPLE!  And this is but one of the many that I treasure from my latest blog..

Thanks for sharing. My dear grandmother passed around 95 and I often went to her for advice. Growing up in the depression she had such an incredible account of what it was like during those days. She would often speak about segregation during her time and how incredible it was to see a society shift in their views in such a short time. She still kept her lifestyle of saving food scraps out of fear of food waste and even had two large balls of yarn and aluminum foil to show how they used to have their own recycling back in the day. She was an incredibly sharp and thoughtful woman at her age and it was an honor to have learned the things I did from her.

level 2

dcretiree

1 point·20 hours ago

Thank you! I can identify with every aspect you report about your grandmother. I' almost feel like I know her and that we would concur that the best days can be ahead if we continue that trajectory of working hard TOGETHER for progress. I'm sure she would revel with me in the almost forgotten song, Ah sweet mystery of life.............." And what is the pay off, the last line of the song divulging what the mystery is? It's "Love and love alone that rules the world." Tune in to hear Nelson Eddy and Jeannette McDonald sing it.

Continuing to learn life's lessons at 93 from the World Series

I spent six hours yesterday afternoon at the Washington's National Stadium, but luckily didn't get into the game. Of course I hadn't planned to. Even if given a ticket, I would turn it down. You see, when you are “handicapped” and drive a scooter over torturous terrain with curbs and potholes, one doesn't want to risk turning MY scooter over on me again in the darkness.

But quickly here are three lessons from yesterday. In preparing them, I'll give up the pleasure of going again tonight. And in all candor, yesterday was totally exhausting for theses ancient bones so I hope tonight the results are better and I'll stay up until the end. If these have ANYTHING near the response from the first five, you'll continue to get more as the mood insists.

6. You can't count on “Miracles” happening with regularity

But of course, that is obvious. But is it? We already had several baseball miracles all season long as we overcame a horrible start and ended with a miraculous string of victories. We even now have to get ready for another miracle, THAT WE MIGHT NOT WIN THE SERIES. Such a lesson, but miracles are the subject of religion – or is it spirituality – and already there are those who think I talk about that too much. I'll save that for a continuing blog about spirituality, worship and religion when I finish THE BASEBALL SEASON! As those who really know me, know that those topics consume me on a par with sports.

7. Is it worth risking one's life to play what is “merely” a game.”

Of course this is one lesson I didn't learn before the game, it is what flashed into my mind the moment I saw the expression on Ryan's face as he lie on the ground. It was certainly reinforced by the picture in today's Post. How I wished I had studied philosophy so I could share insight into this and the (I guess its an existential question: Is it worth risking my life to live.) But there I go, religious/existential overtones. But for now simply in all our sports what is the real purpose of involvement.

A more simple lesson might concern looking at the sports world generally. Have we sold out the fun aspect of sports in the name of perfection, excellence, a possible scholarship and trophies rather than play?

And since time is limited before the next game, here was – for me – the overwhelming emotion of the six hours:

8. Amazing how sports can bring the community together

Of course I said that in Lesson 5. And up-front I must admit that concerns with racial disharmony have been a life-long passion of mine and my entire family. However I personally experienced it in a way than I had never previously and certainly from that found in The Washington Post's article today, “At Nationals Park, A divided DC unites.” (And I bow to no one in my admiration for the paper proclamation, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.) Their “unification” concerned those attending the game, affording expensive tickets and concerned with the unification of forces as disparate as political parties and dissonant media viewers.

Briefly here was the audience I wondered if I would see: the historically racially divided city black, white and Latinx.

Arriving at 11:00 A. M. I was almost totally surrounded by Black and Latinx workers preparing the scene. As I approached the ticket booth I felt at home with a group of fellow Michiganders of varied hues hoping to get tickets at face value.

But the next five hours were spent in both causal and deep conversation and in being photographed, quoted and interviewed. And this is the mix I saw and feelings I had that almost overwhelmed me.

The festive, friendship one sees in the media are totally accurate. On a personal level I had warm and friendly relations with EVERYONE While the crowd was hundreds or so white to one, my “close contacts” were about 15 white to 7 minority. I SHALL CONTINUE TO BE IN CONTACT WITH 1 WHITE 6 MINORITY. And shared meal at Zimmerman's Restaurant with three who had previously lived in the area.