Showing posts with label Guest Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest Blog. Show all posts

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Ravi Shankar - Guest Tribute

I asked my friend John Klaus to write a tribute to Ravi Shankar as he is very knowledgeable about him having seen him twice in concert -- once in Chicago and once in Vienna.


Ravi Shankar, the internationally-beloved musician who almost single-handedly brought Classical Indian music to the attention of the Western world, died Tuesday, December 11 in California.  He was 92, the same age as jazz great Dave Brubeck, who died last week.

Shankar, who was given the honorific title “Pandit” (roughly the equivalent of “Maestro”), began performing as a teenager with his brother’s dance company, and toured Europe as a dancer. He gave up dancing in 1938, and embarked upon serious study of the sitar, a venerable Indian plucked string instrument.  For all of his future fame, it is wise to bear in mind that Shankar was a virtuoso composer and performer, and it was upon this solid and uncontestable foundation that he built his career.

Ravi Shankar first came to widespread recognition in the West when George Harrison, of Beatles fame, learned of Shankar’s music through his friends The Byrds, and began to study sitar.  Though he was never a proficient sitar player, Harrison incorporated the instrument into several of the Beatles’ songs.  Meanwhile Shankar continued to travel and perform widely in Europe and the United States, astonishing audiences with his virtuosity and great musicality.

Shankar had met the Classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin in the mid-1950s.  The two men shared an interest in world music, and became fast friends—and, in later years, musical collaborators. This cooperation between two stellar musicians of vastly differing cultures was typical of Shankar’s contribution to widespread understanding of the music of India, and it led to his fame outside his native country, where he was already highly revered.  During the 1960s and 1970s, Shankar introduced millions to his music through live performances and many recordings.  He was kind and generous with his time and knowledge, and encouraged several generations of young Americans and Europeans to examine Indian Classical music. 

For the last three decades of his life, Pandit Shankar was acknowledged as one of the foremost musicians in the world.  It was probably his willing and, indeed, enthusiastic cooperation with Western musicians that made him widely known beyond those interested only in new and curious sounds, and brought him—and with him the vast repertoire of music for the sitar—into focus with many serious musicians in the Western tradition.

The video shows a sample of his collaboration with violinist Yehudi Mehuhin at the latter’s summer music festival in Gstaad, Switzerland.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Something to think about

Wade sent me this. -

 If you could fit the entire population of the world into a village consisting of 100 people and maintain the proportions of all the people living on Earth, that village would consist of :

57 Asians
21 Eur
opeans
14 Americans (North, Central and South) 8 Africans

There would be:
52 
women and 48 men
30 
Caucasians and 70 non-Caucasians
30 
Christians and 70 non-Christians
89 
heterosexuals and 11 gay men or women

Of that 100:
6 people would possess 59% of the wealth and they would all come from the USA
80 would live in poverty
70 
would be illiterate
50 
would suffer from hunger and malnutrition
1 
would be dying
1 
would be being born
1 
would own a computer
1 (yes, only one) would have a university degree

If you woke up this morning in good health, you have more luck than one million people, who won’t live through the week.
If you have never experienced the horror of war, the solitude of prison, the pain of torture, were not close to death from
starvation, you are better off than 500 million people in the world.

If you can go to your place of worship without fear that someone will assault or kill you, then you are luckier than 3 billion (you read that right) people.

If you have a full pantry, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the world’s population.

If you currently have money in the bank, in your wallet and a few coins in your purse, you are only one of 8 of the 100 people in this village.

If you’re reading this message, thank a teacher - 2 billion adults in the world can’t read.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Bill Peake's Clocks

Friend and Right Worshipful Brother Bill Peake who is serving as Grand Chaplain for the Grand Lodge this year has an obsession... at least one. We were conversing on Facebook yesterday - We both got our hairscut. I mentioned his clocks which he has been showing us on his Facebook account and he sent me this note about his clock collection and how he got into them. He gave me permission to share.
I started getting interested in clocks when I had a regulator clock at my church which everyone thought they had to wind...as a result it never worked and a buddy who repaired clocks came over and showed me the ins and outs. It peaked my curiosity and last spring I asked him to take me on as an apprentice. We've never really worked together heavily on the clocks but he guided me in tool purchase and some basic elements of clock repair. He even gave me my first clock to work on.

Then the fever bit me. So far I've donated a mantle clock for a fund raiser at Estherville York Rite, donated one as a memorial, gave a small cuckoo away to a child this Christmas whose mom is in jail. One son took one home at Christmas....I have 3 on the way here - 2 cuckoos and a mantle clock. I have sold one old calendar regulator and purchased another one to replace it. And I have two other mantles needing some repair that I have not gotten to yet! All this while serving as Gr. Chap, Master of my lodge and pastor of my church as well as part time husband and dad! HA! Glutton for punishment. I have the clocks placed strategically between my church office, my home and my bedroom. Add to this that my wife hates chimes because she can't go back to sleep if she gets up in the night and hears them. Well, my life has rarely been uncomplicated...which is why I enjoy the clocks...there is just something so orderly and dependable about their mechanics and the constancy of the 'tick-tock'! I find it very relaxing and comforting. Here are some pix of my clocks.

1st Sold Diane Matson
Beveled Glass Mantle
Full Barwick
Kassel Mantle Donated to York Rite.
My Big Cuckoo
Vintage Hamilton Mantle Clock

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Relish



Jay,

Since you often blog about food, I just have to tell you about the place where I and a co-worker had dinner tonight, Relish, in Roswell GA.

I had seen a bit about this place when Alton Brown mentioned their deep fried black eyed peas on an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ateon the Food Channel. Since it is only about four miles from our hotel, I just knew we had to try it.

We orderd two appetizers, the fried peas and crusted cheese balls with four pepper jelly. I must say that the peas were the least good thing about the meal. They were OK, but the cheese balls were crusty on the outside, gooey in the middle, and lying in a goodly amount of sweet, spicy, tangy, vinegary, pepper relish, Patrick ordered the meatloaf with green beans and mashed potatoes. I ordered the chicken and dumplings. Then we had them split the two entrees so we could each have some. The meatloaf was still a large portion with really good potatoes and rich gravy. The beans were just beans, but then, that's what they were supposed to be. The chicken was crisp pan fried (no breading) with rosemary. Even the fatty skin was great. It was lying in a rich, thick chicken stock/gravy with carrots and potato gnochi. I dunno which was better. I think it was the chicken, but it was a close deal. And I am not overly fond of hot meatloaf, but this was excellent.

We were both fulll at this point, but he ordered a Krispie Kreme bread pudding and I ordered fried peach pie. The pudding came with a cinammon whipped cream, and it tasted just like a Krispie Kreme donut with custard. It had to have used the donuts as the bread. (There was a Krispie Kreme about two blocks away so I suspect I know where they came from.) The fried pie looked like the fried pie turnovers you buy out of a vending machine, but that is where the resemblance stopped. I got three of them (one is in my fridge and might just be breakfast). The peach flavor was stunning. I commented that I wondered if they were roasted or dehydrated to get the intense flavor. Turned out they start with dehydrated peaches, rehydrate them in brandy, put them in the filling, and then fry them. (Or so our waiter said, and I suspect he knows.) Oh yes, cinammon sugar on top plus a scoop of ice cream. Along with a bottle of locally brewed rye ale, my bill came to a grand total of $30. Patrick had two beers so his tab was a few dollars more. Yummy. I am back here in two weeks and I can practically guarantee where I will be going for dinner.

Oh yes, the waiter also told us about a place just down the road called the fickle pickle. Owned and operated by the same owner as Relish. Their breakfast menu includes:

Brie, bacon, and egg with tomato on sourdough
Chicken and Waffle sandwich with bacon and egg
Corned Beef Hash with potatoes, onions, peppers, eggs, and creole hollandaise
FGT scramble, 3 eggs with arugula, onion, pepperjack, & tomato jam over fried green tomatoes
and the list goes on.

I think breakfast will have to wait for another trip as well.

Don

-------------------
Donald E. Mosier

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Jose's Story

A friend wrote to my sister about Max and then she told this story. It is a story about a tiny mouse and I have her permission to post it on the blog. She sent pictures also. Here's the story.

We have been in California. We flew out to visit an old girlfriend that I went to Jr. High school with in Ames.....she moved to California in 9th. grade. We lost touch for years----then re-connected with the Internet. We did see them about 3 or 4 years ago,when Robin lived in California for those 2 years. Anyway, she and her husband inherited a vacation home in Carmel. We stayed 5 days there. What a paradise! We had a great time!!! The California weather is so NEAT!!! No humidity!!!


Coming back to Germantown, we were in The San Jose airport....Jim went to the men's room. He came out and told me that there was a tiny baby mouse in back of the faucets in there,,,eating a candy bar wrapper and drinking the slopped over water up on the counter. I begged him to go back in and see if it was still there. He did, and it was. He brought it out and we put it in my carry-on cosmetic bag. We bought a salted nut roll and put a few nuts in there with it. Then we soaked a paper towel and put that in too, for him to suck on.


We had a layover in Las Vegas and we checked on him....He was fine. He made it all the way back....we flew in to Little Rock, and as soon as we landed, we started looking for a pet store. We flew out of Little Rock since it is so much cheaper than Memphis....We finally found a pet store, and the nice manager helped us get him all rigged up.


At first we thought that he would be nice in a hamster cage, but it didn't take long to figure out that he could get right through the bars!!! So we had to get a little plastic cage with the ventilation at the top. We got stuff for the bottom of the cage and ended up putting an empty toilet paper roll in it for him to go.


The man helped us rig up a watering device. He is sitting up here in his little cage on the desk near the computer. When we got him in San Jose, he must have been really dehydrated and starving, because he was so easy to pick up and then just stayed in your hand......Evidently he is feeling much better, because he jumps out of our hands now and runs as fast as any mouse you have ever seen!!!


We have done research on the Internet, and I guess if you get one before their eyes are open, they can become very, very tame. Well I can see, that is never going to happen with this little guy!!! His eyes were already open. So we will keep him until he is big and then most likely, let him go. We got a big fancy hamster cage with the wheel and all that, for when he gets bigger. We named him Jose. He is so cute!! About the size of half your thumb.




She sent the pictures with this note:

We went upstairs and proceeded to try to get him out of his cage for a photo op. He promptly bit me!!! The first time he has bitten anyone.....We got these two shots. That's about all we can do. It was quite a fiasco!!! He jumped and got away twice....we were chasing him all over the upstairs!!! Finally caught him in a guest bathroom. I'm sure he is exhausted after all that running! He is an ornery little stink-pot!!!

Then she also wrote this which is very comforting:

Now I want you to remember that animals don't ever even think about dying!!! So they don't worry like humans do. So Max is just like he is sleeping peacefully and not sick, is what I believe. You guys did the right thing! The true test of love, as far as I can see.

Jon was here when I got back from Des Moines and Max was sitting on the couch beside him. He is very regal and majestic. He knows that things aren't right but he is calm and quiet and this is a special time with him.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Dark Matter Diet


A Weight Loss Approach Based on New Scientific Discoveries

Warning—The following statements have not been reviewed by the FDA, FCC, AMA, FAA, IEEE, or the US Meteorology Service, or any other regulatory branch of the US government or of any other government. Your results may vary.

I am sure you have all heard the buffalo theory regarding brain cells. The wolves kill the slow buffalo. The fast buffalo survive and breed, thereby improving the herd. Likewise, alcohol kills slow brain cells, allowing fast brain cells to thrive, and improving mental acuity. There is a similar mechanism at work increasing our waistlines. It is explained as follows.

Scientists have recently made tremendous discoveries regarding the nature of the universe and the "stuff" from which it is made. Years ago, everything was thought to be composed of either matter or energy. Einstein showed that matter could be converted into energy and energy could be converted into matter. They were equivalent. Scientists were convinced that the universe started in a "big bang", followed by a period of inflation and rapid cooling, followed again by the current state of steadily slowing expansion. The thought was that there were two end-state possibilities. The first was that the universe would continue to expand at an ever slowing rate which would never reach zero. The second was that the expansion would slow to zero, followed by an accelerating contraction, finishing up in a "big crunch".

The first new discovery was the presence of a great deal of never before discovered "dark matter". This dark matter, composed of something other than regular matter, appears to not interact in any way with regular matter except gravitationally. Great clouds of this dark matter surround every galaxy, helping to hold them together. Nobody has ever seen this stuff, but its presence it thought to be certain, since without its presence, galaxies would need to rotate much slower than they actually do. In fact, theory says that there is much more of this dark matter than there is regular matter. The total increase in mass was thought to increase the likelihood that the universe would, in fact, end up in the big crunch. However, further new evidence shows that, despite the presence of all this extra mass, the universe is actually expanding at an accelerating rate. It is not slowing down. It is expanding at an ever increasing rate, leading some scientist to speculate that in about 60 billion years, the universe will be torn apart in a "big rip", whereby all matter, including molecules and atoms and quarks and everything will be literally torn apart into a sea of energy. This increasing rate of expansion appears to be due to another new discovery, dark energy. This dark energy pervades the entire universe. It is everywhere. In fact, one theory holds that as the volume of space increases through the current expansion, the amount of dark energy per unit volume remains constant. Therefore, the total amount of dark energy is actually increasing. This is what drives the ever increasing rate of expansion, and lead to the projection of a big rip.

Doctors tell us that we need to restrict our calorie intake, reduce our consumption of fried junk food, thereby improving our health and controlling our increase in body size. I contend that they are wrong, and are in fact promoting the exact opposite of the proper way to improve health. I now put forth the "dark energy waistline reduction program", a painless way to keep our ever expanding waistlines in check. It has to do with the conflict between dark matter and dark energy in our body, and works like this:

The dark matter in our bodies helps to stabilize our size, holding our regular matter together. But this dark matter is losing the battle with the ever increasing quantity of dark energy, which not only drives the expansion of the universe on a large scale, and but also drives the expansion of our waistlines on a smaller scale. We may experience a big rip in 60 billion years. I am probably too old to worry about events 60 billion years in the future. However, the short term effects are still of concern. I believe that we are actually experiencing a "little rip" in the present time. Dark energy is collecting in our bodies, causing expansion. Waistlines are rapidly expanding, causing clothes to stretch and belts to burst.

Our intake of dark energy is largely uncontrollable. It happens purely through interacting with our environment. But this intake of dark energy can be slowed by reducing our physical activity. Every time we run, every time we walk, every time we exercise in any way, we increase our interaction with the environment, further increasing the amount of waistline expanding dark energy. As our respiration increases, we breathe more air, which contains dark energy. As our heart rate increases, the dark energy is rapidly distributed throughout our bodies, increasing the expansion tendencies. So the first step of this program is to dramatically reduce our physical activity. Do NOT exercise any more than absolutely necessary. Sit in front of the TV; read a book; take a nap. But do not perform strenuous exercise. It is deadly. In fact, think about the clothes in your closet. They exhibit limited movement and interaction with the environment. And yet, they get smaller every year. They do not increase in size, they get smaller. Due to their lack of movement, the dark energy they contain escapes, allowing their dark matter to take over, making them contract or get smaller.

We can counteract any unavoidable increase in dark energy by increasing our quantity of dark matter. The only way to do that is by an increase the consumption of regular matter, which must, due to gravitation attraction, include some amount of dark matter. This dark matter will propagate throughout the body, concentrating in the midsection. The increase in gravitational attraction due to the increased intestinal mass will help hold an expanding waistline in check, and prevent those embarrassing moments known as little rips. Dark chocolate, red wine, dark beer and red meat are especially good sources of dark matter. You can tell this by their color. Avoid light colored chicken or fish. You can tell by their light coloration that they contain less dark matter.

Studies have shown the health benefits of dark chocolate and red wine. However, the reason for their "goodness" has mistakenly been attributed to the flavanoids they contain. However, it is actually due to their dark matter content. Similar benefits have been shown for high protein diets, such as the Atkins diet. Again, the dark matter in the red meat is not given the proper credit for the effect of these diets. Light colored vegetables are especially notorious for their high quantities of dark energy. But it has been proposed that liberal applications of fats, especially pork fat, can cancel such dark energy. The exact mechanism has not been determined. This may explain why pork, although light in color, is actually healthy. Further study is warranted.

There is one slight caution. An excess of dark matter can cause sufficient contraction to allow the formation of very small, localized, black holes with our bodies. And as Stephen Hawking has shown, very small black holes decay rapidly. And it appears that the energy released during their decay is largely composed of dark energy. Broccoli is a dark vegetable. However, it has such high concentrations of dark matter that it promotes the formation of these small black holes, which then decay and turn into dark energy. This is characterized by a bloating effect, which can only be eliminated in the form of gas. But remember, much of the dark energy will remain in your body. So dark vegetables should be consumed very sparingly.

Additionally, cigar smoking, which required very little physical exercise, further reduces the absorption rate of dark energy. The dense clouds of smoke generated serves as a shield from the dark energy surrounding us. Furthermore, the smoke is high in dark matter. When pulled into our lungs, this dark matter is rapidly distributed to the rest of our bodies.

So here is the recipe for health and a controlled waistline:

- Minimal exercise.
- Increased consumption of red wine, dark beer, and red meat.
- Minimal consumption of light colored meat such as chicken.
- Minimal consumption of vegetables, dark or light.
- Balancing of any light colored vegetables or meat with liberal applications of pork fat or butter.
- Smoking one or more cigars every day.

Live long and prosper. Let me know how this works. Even if the effects or not immediately obvious, you can be sure that benefits are accruing.
Donald E. Mosier

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Constantine, Masonry and Christianity


R. Stephen Doan, Past Grand Master of Masons in California, was the Grand Orator for the United Grand Imperial Council of the Red Cross of Constantine. He gave me permission to post his Oration on my Blog. I found it thought provoking and I am sure you will also.

Constantine, Masonry and Christianity
by R. Stephen Doan

Randy Phillips was a leading Methodist minister in Los Angeles. He was also a Mason and a member of my Red Cross Conclave. Shortly after I joined Constantine, Randy was the featured speaker at one of our assemblies. During his talk, he explained the three phases of church membership and related them to Masonic membership. In the case of religion, it was Randy’s view that we are attracted to religion by the pageantry, become active because of the fellowship and are ultimately fulfilled by the spirituality. We can say the same about Masonry: we are attracted by what we hear of the ceremonial, become active because of the brotherhood and are ultimately fulfilled as we explore the timeless truths of man’s existence and relationship to the Divine and our fellow creatures through the symbolism of geometry and the working tools and other techniques of stonemasons.

Unlike Masonry, however, Constantine does not use geometry or the working tools and other techniques of stonemasons to explore the timeless truths of man’s existence and relationship to the Divine. Our initiation as a Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine uses the legend of Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity as a symbol of the transition from the Pagan to the Christian Dispensation. As Knights of the Red Cross, we are taught to emulate the life of Constantine after his conversion: his faith in the Triune God, our Omnipotent Ruler, and unity and zeal for the work of our Christian faith, by the encouragement of learning, preservation of Scripture and relief of the poor. As Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, we find the Word of God by the exercise of faith, hope and charity, the pillars of the New Law, in patiently guarding the Sacred Vault wherein our Savior once laid.

Our Red Cross therefore teaches using Christianity, not geometry, or does it? Constantine is one of the few organizations in Masonry which teaches through Christian faith and works. Is there a deeper understanding to be gleaned from Constantine and Christianity on the moral advantages of the study of geometry? If geometry is the first and noblest of sciences and the basis upon which the superstructure of Freemasonry is erected, could it be that geometry is also at the foundation of Christianity?

The key to begin exploring this question is given in the Novice and Knight of Saint John the Evangelist when the Harbinger finds the carefully wrapped parchment with the following words written in bold characters: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We recognize these words as the opening passage of John’s Gospel, and we discern that this must be the True Word of God, although we may be at a loss to understand what significance has this word. We know from Christian theology that this Word was incarnate in Jesus and made man. So, just what is this True Word of God that lived among us?

To understand this passage from John, we must consider the context in which John’s Gospel was written. Being more Gnostic in its approach, John’s Gospel was written to appeal to the Greeks. To do this, the Gospel writer used symbols familiar to Greeks before the Christian era which could be reinterpreted to teach Christian truth. The use of “In the beginning was the Word” is just such a device. This Word in our English version of John’s Gospel was the word Logos in the original Greek text. The Greek understanding of the Logos traces back to the Sixth Century before the Christian era when the philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras, saw in the violent and sometimes conflicting forces of the universe a dynamic harmony which holds these forces together in unity. To the Greeks, the word Logos was understood to represent, among other concepts, this harmony among otherwise conflicting forces. When one force disturbs this harmony, a new equilibrium is created to bring everything back into balance, not the balance that existed before the disturbance, but a new equilibrium which takes this disturbance into account and counterbalances it, a new normal, if you will. If the Logos represented harmony and the Logos was made man in Jesus, then Jesus was the incarnation of that dynamic harmony which unites the universe.

This understanding of the Logos opens unto us a deeper appreciation of Christ’s role in our lives. As Christ is in part for us an exemplar of how we are to live as one with God and our neighbor, the Logos embodied in Christ helps us to understand our individual responsibilities in these relationships. When our peace and unity are disturbed, as often they are by human failing, the trespasser as well as those trespassed upon are bound to return to the harmony embodied in the Logos by forgiving and accepting forgiveness. This understanding of the Logos also helps us appreciate the significance of the Masonic Pillars, Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, or Wisdom, Power and Harmony, as harmony is often considered the root of beauty. The Christian Holy Trinity is indeed better understood in the context of our Masonic Pillars, when we appreciate Jesus as the incarnation of the harmony that keeps the universe one, the third pillar of our fraternity.

Now, with this understanding of the Word and what the Logos requires of us as Christians, reflect on how harmony is taught in Freemasonry. We say that Master Masons are judged by who best can work and best agree, but what symbol teaches how we are taught so to act? Where do we learn the right conduct necessary to work in harmony? It is in part represented by the point within the circle, but it is embodied in the symbol found in probably every American lodge. It is the letter G, the initial of geometry, the great moral science by which we understand how the proportions of the universe are connected, the regularity of planets and seasons, the movement of numberless worlds in the vast expanse of space conducted by one unerring law of nature. Geometry is the scientific explanation of that dynamic harmony which keeps the universe one. It is the science which explains the Logos, the Word in the opening of John’s Gospel. We learn from geometry our place in the preservation of that harmony. When acting in accordance with its dictates, seeking what unites and avoiding that which divides, we not only obey the requirements of geometry imposed on all Masons but we also follow the example of Christ explained by the same harmony or Logos we have now discovered through a deeper understanding of the opening of John’s Gospel.

Geometry is not only the first and noblest of sciences and the basis upon which the superstructure of Freemasonry is erected. Geometry is also an explanation of the Logos incarnate in Jesus which is at the foundation of Christianity. Masonry and Christianity are not contradictory as our religious critics sometimes claim, because both Masonry and Christianity are founded on the same harmony which pervades all nature. Both teach faith in God and love for our fellow creatures through the Logos or harmony animating the universe, represented both in the life of Jesus and in the laws of geometry.

Randy Phillips was of course right. We are fulfilled in Masonry as we proceed on a lifetime journey of spiritual growth through symbols inherited from the old stonemason guilds. Hopefully, today, we have taken a few more steps in that journey as we now speculate on the fundamental similarity of Masonic and Christian teachings. Randy would be pleased. Our journey today as Christian Knights of the Red Cross has not only sharpened our understanding of the Divine Plan as Masons but also as Christians. As leaders in Masonry, let this new understanding strengthen our commitment as Christian Knights to foster harmony by living it, with faith, unity and zeal.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Guest Blog - When a New Mason Joins


(The following was written by Past Grand High Priest, Tom Dean. We have been having some discussions about the Leadership Conference (via e-mail) held in Ames and how we don't always make the new Mason feel a part of our Lodges. I asked him for his "take" on the situation and the following is his article - Thanks Tom.)

Several years ago I had the pleasure of serving as Dean of Students at Iowa Wesleyan College. I was in this or a similar post at the institution for almost 15 years prior to my departure. I was thinking the other day of one of the situations and challenges that faced us each and every year.

Part of my responsibilities found me in charge of the men’s residence hall(they are not dorms!) on campus. I was always graced with a staff of a director and six "resident assistants." Resident Assistants were in charge of a floor with approximately 30 residents. An "RA’s" job was to see that rules were followed and the best living, learning situation developed for the betterment of all residents. It wasn’t an easy task all the time, but they, for the most part, tried.

In our annual training sessions with RA’s we stressed information on the facts about freshmen and transfer students that came to our institution for the first time each year. Research and statistics tell us that a student going to college for the first time will decide in the first 24 to 36 hours whether or not they are going to graduate from that institution. Now, they may not leave once that decision is made, but statistics show that they will transfer at some stage of their college education and they will finish at some other institution. Research shows us that the positive things that are done for a new student in those first crucial hours are so important for them and more importantly for the institution.

We encouraged and politely demanded that our staff do the following:

1. Learn the resident’s name as soon as possible.

2. Find out about the resident and their background.

3. Show genuine interest in the resident.

4. Be able to match residents with similar interests

5. Be able to answer the resident’s questions and lead to ask questions.

6. Make sure they are as involved in New Student Week Activities.

7. Don’t allow them to sit in their rooms alone, get them out and moving.

As I thought about this situation with college students in my past professional life a bright idea hit me...........................Do you think that if we did this in Freemasonry it would help us???

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

An Earthquake in Florida


Annie E Noimus sent me the following. It is a good thing this is an eclectic Blog so I can post it. We can't discuss politics in the Lodge

A very interesting day in Florida yesterday!

Partisan politics aside, the results of the Republican primary in Florida are very interesting.

John McCain won, and despite an “only 5%” difference between him and the reprehensibly-nicknamed “Mitt” Romney, that difference is of great significance. Add to that the fact that Sen. McCain can boast of substantial victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina, he is the clear Republican front-runner a week before Super Tuesday.

What does this say about the Republican party today?

That takes a little background.

Beginning with the 1980 election, the GOP took a decided turn to the right with the nomination and election (for two terms) of Ronald Reagan.

Now, it is very stylish these days to beatify Reagan as St. Ronald, the patron saint of the rabid right. In fact, he was—at best—a mediocre president. His being credited with the fall of the Communist eastern bloc is pure fiction (the fact is that the Soviet “Evil Empire” collapsed from within because of its own failed policies, and Reagan just happened to be the opportunistic American president when the downfall occurred). In addition, it was Reagan whose truly foolish economic policies lead quite directly to the economic problems we face today.

Yet, in the firmament of the Republican party, St. Ronald rules as one of the brightest recent stars, and the one most emulated by perhaps the worst president in the country’s history, George W. Bush. In fact, the last effective Republican president this country had was Dwight D. Eisenhower, and he wasn’t really much to boast about. At least, however, he and Gerald Ford were decent men.

Reagan’s election in 1980 was the first effective salvo in the hijacking of the Republican party by dangerous forces, commonly known today as “neo-conservatives.” For more than 25 years, these reactionary forces have controlled the party of such genuinely great men as Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

The American electorate has historically been long-suffering. When demagogic political forces have been in power for a time, it has often taken several decades to right the ship of state. The fact is, thankfully, that the people have always eventually seen fit to return from the extreme to the center.

And that is precisely what Sen. McCain’s ascendancy in the 2008 election cycle signifies—a return to some semblance of good sense.

The radical right, including most Washington Republican insiders and almost every right-wing media pundit (Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and so forth) have been virtually unanimous in their vehement opposition to Sen. McCain, seeing him as a traitor to their far-right goals. They have been MUCH more supportive of Gov. Romney, Mayor Giuliani, and even Gov. Huckabee. Despite their unending, vociferous outbursts, the Republican electorate is clearly of a different mind.

What is happening before our eyes is the repudiation of the neo-coms by Republican voters. The cycle is coming back to center. The truly far-right agenda of Reagan and his followers, having been discredited almost completely during the administration of George W. Bush, is being pushed aside as these same voters return to the more reasonable and historic beliefs of their party.

The firmly-entrenched Republican neo-coms will continue to resist this ineluctable movement, because their very paychecks are being threatened. Many of these people are complete cynics, looking, Carl-Rove-like, to establish a permanent Republican control of the country (does Hitler’s “Tausand-jähriges Reich” ring any bells?). And it was their greedy intent to feed from the rich trough of this establishment for the rest of their lives.

As usual, it is their own party—but the reasonable, nameless, voting Republicans who pay their taxes and finally determine party policy—who are overthrowing the loud and the mighty ideologues.

It’s the same way Iowa caucuses work: neighbors gathering together in their own neighborhoods to determine the direction of their parties at the local, the county, the state, and—eventually—the national level. This is done soberly and collegially, and there is no assumption on the part of participants that they will somehow benefit financially from their deliberations.

Slowly, at first with faltering voices, but eventually with a single ringing voice that can bring down the walls of Jericho, the people DO speak.

Thank God!