from the middle of a cornfield

Iowa Republican Caucus

2012-01-20T20:56:00.002-06:00

The Iowa Republicans finally certified the results of the Iowa caucus this week. Rick Santorum won the state by 30 plus votes overturning the previous totals which showed Romney winning by 8 votes. The results in Wellman were, Ron Paul 46, Santorum 33, Gingrich 28, Perry 14, Romney 12, and Bachmann 11. Kalona finished in much the same order with Paul at 36, Santorum 20, Gingrich 19, Bachman 11 and Romney 11. Washington County was one of the few counties in the state won by Paul, partly because he had the best organization in the county.

As best as I can tell from talking with some folks who went to the caucus, local Mennonites split their votes between Ron Paul, Santorum, and Perry. The ones who voted for Paul tended to be younger and were attracted by his foreign policy positions. The Menno's who focused on abortion, gay marriage and homeschooling split their votes between Santorum and Perry with perhaps a couple throwing a vote towards Bachmann.

The confusion around the results raises a couple of questions. One is the status of the Iowa caucus as the first in the nation. The second is about the qualifications of the Republican party to run anything. The criticisms of Obama for his community organizing seem a bit laughable when they couldn't pull off an accurate vote total. The Democratic party may not always be the most organized group either but four years ago, the major candidates - Obaman, Clinton, and Edwards all had strong organizations. This included recruiting volunteers and people to serve as precinct captains and to serve as the precinct chair. At least a couple of training sessions for these were held to either make sure that you knew what you were doing, or that you could make sure the precinct chair knew what he or she was doing. I was given a copy of the rules long before the actual caucus night and at one of the training sessions we reviewed a variety of scenarios and the way they should be handled.

In any case, the process continues though the attention has shifted from Iowa and it feels a bit like your girlfriend dumping you. For six months we were bombarded with commercials, phone calls, emails or text messages. Candidates came and groveled in front of us at diners, library meeting rooms or coffee shops, these guys would never step into in their normal lives. Then one day, no more commercials, no phone calls, and a lot fewer emails. If you call the numbers they gave out for more information you hear, "this number is no longer in service." Somehow we will survive. For those who like the attention, they can look forward to September and October when we figure the candidates will be back. Iowa is a swing state so the candidates will be back. President Obama is getting a head start, flying into Cedar Rapids next week. In the meantime we will look forward to spring and warmer weather.

"unconfromity" Non-conformity

2012-01-19T19:43:00.006-06:00

Recent chapels have reflected on the theme “unconformed.” Students were introduced to the concept of non-conformity and the idea of living a transformed life as described in Romans 12:1-2. Students were asked to think about the values of today’s society and to compare them to the fruits of the spirit described in Galations. Kindness, gentleness, self-control, humility and peacemaking are not often the characteristics celebrated by our contemporary culture.

The theme of “unconformed” fit well with the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. On Monday students watched Invictus, which tells the story of Nelson Mandella’s use of rugby to reach across racial lines and bring some healing to the nation of South Africa. Though he had been imprisoned for years by the apartheid government, Mandella did not seek revenge when he was elected President. Rather he sought to find ways to bring his country together.

Susan See, shared in chapel about Martin Luther King Jr. and focused on the role children played in overturning the racist structures of Birmingham, Alabama. Susan talked about the preparation and work which went into maintaining the nonviolent calls for change. The nonviolent witness was maintained in spite of mass arrests, beatings, and persecution. King called for the United States to live up to the best of its ideals arguing that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

King’s words have the ability to provoke us today. His observation that “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom,” is certainly relevant to our discussions about the country’s future. When we reflect on our recent past we would do well to remember “that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” As an educator I am challenged by his thought that “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” If that was true in the early 1960’s it is certainly more true now.
It is our hope that students will leave IMS knowing how to think. In refusing to accept “easy answers and half-baked solutions,” we also hope students will show evidence of the fruits of the spirit, sharing their transformed lives as they go into the world. As translated in The Message Romans says, “Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.” King adds to the challenge of personal change by asking us to work to better our society. In doing so may we all by “unconformed” to this world.

survey of political signs

2011-12-31T18:41:00.005-06:00

Based on my survey of yard signs in Wellman today, "For Sale" leads Ron Paul by a small margin. There were seven, maybe eight, Ron Paul yard signs. No other candidate had signs on display. The Rick Perry one I got Thursday will remain in the trunk of my car until Wednesday when I add it to my classroom collection.

Does this mean anything? Well, there are a fair number of houses for sale in town, for one. Beyond that it is a matter of speculation but since all the media types can speculate, I suppose I can as well.

For one, the lack of signs on display reflects a lack of interest, or at least passion for a particular candidate. In a primary this may not matter but in a caucus, it can make a big difference. Based on past experience, quite a few people who go to the caucus haven't made up their minds as to which candidate they will support. They may lean towards one or another, but they can easily be steered to another candidate by a neighbor, friend, or even an acquaintance who acts like he knows what he is talking about. This means a neighbor, especially a respected one, can if he or she chooses, persuade folks to vote for their candidate. Sticking a sign in your yard requires minimal commitment but it does require that you be willing to explain to folks who ask, why you are supporting that candidate.

The lack of signs also reflects to a certain degree the lack of organization displayed by most of the Republican candidates. Paul is supposed to have one of the best organizations this year and it shows. It may not seem like much, but once the signs are made, someone has to get them delivered to town and to the people who are willing to display them. It also requires getting people to show up at your campaign appearances where more signs can be distributed. If you are well organized someone will follow up with a phone call to make sure the sign is actually being displayed. I know a fair number of people who like to collect all the political stuff, meaning they are happy to take a sign, but there ain't no way they are going to put it in their yard.

With the caucus scheduled for Jan. 3, my guess, unscientific though it may be, is that Ron Paul will win the Wellman precinct. Wellman isn't all that big but the votes make a difference. Four years ago, on the Democratic side the top three finishers were Obama, Edwards and Clinton. Edwards came in second statewide, two delegates ahead of Clinton. That was the margin by which Edwards beat Clinton in Wellman.

Rick Perry

2011-12-29T20:23:00.005-06:00

Rick Perry visited Washington this morning so I drove to Kalona, picked up my niece visiting from Pennsylvania, and headed down to the Corner Coffee shop. We got there 30-40 minutes before his scheduled arrival and made our way in to the shop. I am fairly certain they had originally scheduled him to be in the new library but we met in the coffee shop. The library bans concealed weapons and maybe he didn't want to go without his for a few minutes, plus the crowd seemed bigger crammed into a much smaller space.

A bunch of old guys had staked out the prime seats and a young kid was wearing his army uniform so you knew he was going to get some attention. Just a few minutes before 10, Perry entered the room. Leading the processional were a couple of local ministers and some of Perry's security team. It was hard to tell the difference since they were all wearing sport coats, had short hair, and the earnest, yet serious look, preachers and security guys often have.

The minister of the Marion Ave Baptist church, Rev. Joe Brown, introduced Perry as a man of God, a true conservative, and a man who would restore traditional American values. Shouts of "Amen" rang across the room and for a minute I thought I was going to hear a sermon.

Perry started off his remarks by taking some shots at Romney, though he didn't mention his name. Then he wailed on Rick Santorum for a few minutes, decrying his use of earmarks when he was in the Senate. When I got home I saw Santorum has moved to third in some polls, likely at the expense of Perry, Bachmann, and maybe Newt Gingrich. He skipped over Ron Paul and then took some shots at Obama and Congress. He repeated his proposal for a part-time Congress, criticized "Washington insiders" and wasteful spending. He threw in a story about his father and small town values, thanked the soldiers for their service, and then said the soldiers coming home from Iraq should have a parade to honor their service. "I want to give them a parade." My guess is most of them just want to go home.

Perry took questions for about 10-12 minutes. They were fairly typical, easy questions which allowed him to rail on Congress, Obamacare, the EPA, government regulations, promise to always support Israel, build military spending, criticize ethanol subsidies, and take some shots at public education. "The ultimate show of love and faith is for a parent to home school their child." During his answers he threw in references to Isaiah, scriptures, and faith several times. I raised my hand, he said "one more question," and he picked someone from the other side of the room.

My impressions: Why does the guy need 3-5 security guys in small town Iowa? One stood directly in front of me, blocking my view and the little kids in front of me. It seemed a bit much, making me wonder, what is he afraid of and why is he so scared?

He didn't offer one single specific proposal to deal with the problems the country is facing. He did say he want's to make Congress part-time, and that he wants a balanced budget amendment but didn't say how he would cut the deficit. He said he wants to get rid of "Obamacare" but didn't say how he would deal with the 46 million uninsured people and the rest of us facing rising healthcare costs. He offered simplistic, soundbite solutions to massive problems. The sad thing was, people there seemed to swallow all of it hook, line and sinker.

Perry seemed personable and friendly, though my niece and I could never quite make it by his security team or phalanx of pastors. I think the US would be much better off if he stayed in Texas and gave up his run for the Presidency. Right now I would guess he will finish 4th or 5th in the caucus, after Romney, Paul and Santorum. He may beat Newt for 4th, and he should finish ahead of Bachmann who is tanking rather badly.

On the way out, one of the staffers handed me a yard sign and asked if I wanted to be a precinct captain. I said no and he asked if I would be a precinct partner. I said no, but asked if I could have the sign for my classroom. He let go, so I took it. I did think that they are rather late at looking for precinct captains. When I agreed to do it for Edwards four years ago, I was going to training sessions already in October. Then the Obama staffer was after me to join with them into November, promising me I could help, as they already had captains for Wellman. Again, I find it amazing that some of these guys are so unorganized when it comes to running a campaign in Iowa.

Home Town, Tracy Kidder

2011-12-23T21:45:00.002-06:00

I was asked to read Home Town and after the first couple of pages I realized I had read it before. It was good enough I decided to finish reading it the second time.
Kidder takes us to Northampton, MA, the kind of town that exerts a hold on long term residents as well as those who move there for some reason. There are probably quite a few such towns or cities which seem to pull people in and make it difficult for people to leave. Right now, I'm sitting in the my house, in a town where I never thought I would live after graduating from high school. After fifteen years on the east coast we moved back and now 21 years later here I am. And trust me, this little town has a fifth of the charm or culture of Northampton.
Kidder tells the story through several characters. Tommy, the hometown boy who grows up to be a cop and then decides to try and join the FBI. Judge Ryan, another hometown boy who becomes a DA, then a quirky judge. A successful businessman who struggles with mental illness, a non traditional college student, and an immigrant who makes a living dabbling in drugs and petty crimes. As he tells the story of Northampton through these people, Kidder weaves in the some of cities illustrious history. This includes references to Jonathon Edwards, Sojourner Truth, and Henry James. He also recounts the lynchings of two young Irish immigrants in 1805. Here he shows that the good old days weren't always so good. Bigotry, hatred, and prejudice have a long and cherished tradition in American history, and Kidder doesn't shy away from telling the story.
I enjoyed reading about Northampton and the cast of characters Kidder presents. They are the kinds of folks who populate many small cities and towns. Some will stay to carry on the traditions. Many will leave for the big city. Some of these will never look back, others will hope to return, but if and when they do, they will find their hometown has changed. If the town is to survive, new folks will arrive and they will bring new ideas and ways of doing things. A healthy city will incorporate the best of the new, creating a new place a new generation will refer to as their "hometown."

Running for President: The Republican Reality Race

2011-11-29T20:55:00.002-06:00

Some folks from out of state have asked "What is wrong with you people in Iowa?" How can you support (Bachmann/Cain/Gingerich/Romney) in other words, take your pick of which ever character you want. So I need to explain, that while Iowa is fairly evenly balanced between registered Republicans and Democrats, the pollsters are only asking registered Republicans who say they plan to attend the caucus. They aren't asking independents, Democrats or even Republicans who don't think they will make it to the caucus what they think.
While the caucuses are touted as examples of participatory democracy, the way they are held make them rather undemocratic. For example, the caucus usually starts at 7:00 pm. If you have to work you can't be there. If your kid has a basketball game or a wrestling match, you might choose to go to that instead. It isn't like a primary where the polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm and you can stop in before or after work and in a small town, be in and out in 15-20 minutes. On the other hand the caucus is going to take at least an hour and more likely 2 to 3 hours.
This means the most devoted (rabid? fanatic?) folks go to the caucus. It will be the true believers who bother to go out on what can be a cold, snowy miserable night, when it might be more tempting to stay home and this year, watch the Sugar Bowl. In the case of Iowa these true believers are among the most conservative of Republicans. While I can't hope to explain why they are thinking the way they do, there does seem to be a rabid fear of President Obama and his policies. This seems to have more to do with what he represents than with most of his policies.
What does he represent? President Obama represents multiculturalism (I discovered this is a bad word in some circles)globalization, the immigrants moving to Iowa from Mexico, Central America, Sudan, Serbia, and other places, and in general, change. These changes seem to be coming faster and faster, which causes much of the fear.
When hearing from some of these folks I hear them say they want to see "traditional values restored," and they want to choose someone who can beat President Obama. The latest poll in the Des Moines Register asked if they thought this was a year "a core conservative can win, or will it take someone more moderate." The majority of folks said they think a core conservative could win. So it seems while Romney and Huntsman more or less ignore the state, the rest clamor to be the most conservative and talk the toughest. Another way of saying this is that there aren't many moderate Republicans left in Iowa and the few that exist won't be playing a big role in the caucus.
In the past couple of months we saw an infatuation with Perry, a lusting after Bachmann, an interest in Cain, and now Newt Gingrich. Success in the Iowa caucus depends a lot on organization and in getting your supporters to the gathering. From what I understand Cain and Gingrich don't have that strong of organization in spite of their poll numbers. Ron Paul probably has the most devoted followers and a decent organization so he may do better than people expect. The other dark horse is Santorum who has people organizing in every county, plus he is spending a lot of time in the state. Romney is still a Mormon which, like it or not, disqualifies him for many of those Republican caucus goers. And Newt, well, he is going to have a hard time explaining his marriages and his lobbying. Plus, I like to think the true believers are principled enough that they won't be able to overlook Gringrich's foibles.

Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer

2011-11-06T18:50:00.003-06:00

I was asked to write something to go in the program for the school play, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

This is what I wrote

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.” Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain (1835-1910), lived during the formative years of the United States. During his lifetime the country expanded, industrialized, fought a war with Mexico, suffered through a Civil War, ended slavery, and forced Native Americans onto reservations. After war with Spain, Twain saw his country on the verge of becoming a world power. Twain’s interest in technology, history, politics, religion and culture, coupled with his powers of observation, sense of humor and numerous writings, make him one of the first major popular culture figures in the country. Twain carried on an extensive speaking schedule often because he needed the money. In doing so he paved the way for today’s stand-up comedians and social satirists such as Jon Stewart and Stephan Colbert.

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Twain presents what many might idealize as a typical small town in the American Midwest. St. Petersburg, Missouri provides the setting for the antics of Tom, Huck, Joe and the other children. It is easy to remember Tom’s strategy to get the fence painted or his sneaking in to watch his own funeral. You might even remember the murder in the cemetery or Tom and Huck’s fear of Injun Joe, but with the word “adventure” in the title, there has to be some action and drama to provide a bit of suspense.

This is where the book takes on a deeper meaning. When the politicians traversing our state tell us they will return the country to traditional American values it is easy to think of the innocence of Tom’s infatuation with Becky, the love of Aunt Polly, and the protective father, Judge Thatcher. It is more difficult to remember the darker side of American history. In Tom Sawyer we see the social exclusion and animosity expressed towards Native Americans in the person of Injun Joe, slavery, the alcoholism of several characters and the benign neglect of a child such as Huck Finn. Twain’s observation, “We have the best government that money can buy,” or that “There is no distinctly American criminal class - except Congress,” speak for themselves. Not all that much has changed. The past is not as neat and tidy as we usually want to remember.

After writing Tom Sawyer, Twain went on to write the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, Innocents Abroad, plus many essays and articles. Twain was not reluctant to share his views on the social issues of his time, nor was he afraid of changing his mind, as he did with his views of Native Americans and the issue of imperialism. After supporting American expansion, Twain became an active anti-Imperialist, arguing the colonization of the Philippines violated American values. Accused by his critics of being un-American, Twain provided his definition of a patriot as, “Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.” It is a definition worth remembering.

Some of Twain’s more controversial writings, primarily those relating to religion were not published until after his death. The best-known of these is “The War Prayer,” where Twain presents a stinging critique of the American church’s willingness to bless violence and militarism, in the name of the Lord. Twain’s comment “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand,” sum up the contradictions of Christianity in America. “Turn the other cheek, or give your coat to the man who has none,” are rather plain statements, easy to understand but hard to practice. Instead we distract ourselves as we prefer to argue and fuss about issues which require no change in behavior or attitude.

In Tom Sawyer, Twain celebrates youth, optimism, and orneriness, characteristics which might also be used to describe the United States. Twain also presents the darker side of human nature, and with it, the darker side of United States history, contradictions we live and deal with today.

Marcus Miller

Reflections on 9-11 ten years later

2011-09-11T20:26:00.004-05:00

Reflections on 9-11
Last Thursday I was asked if I would share something in chapel, Friday about 9-11 since the plans for the day fell through. That night I pulled out what I had written ten years ago when I was asked to share and added some thoughts. This is what I shared, more or less.

Ten years ago, on a Tuesday morning the teachers gathered in my room for an in-service dealing with child abuse. When I was getting a cup of coffee, another teacher asked if I had heard about a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Towers. I hadn’t but when we got to my room, we turned on the television. Instead of watching the video for our in-service we spent most of the morning watching the building burn, the second jet crash into the other tower, and then both buildings collapse.
No one knew what was happening or why. There were reports that other jets had been hijacked and were headed towards Washington DC, Chicago or other cities. All planes were told to land immediately, planes arriving from overseas landed instead in Canada, Mexico, or they risked being shot down by the US military.

The next question was, what do we do with the students when they arrive? It was decided to meet in the chapel, now the library and to tell students what had happened, read some scripture and have a prayer. Some came already knowing, while others knew nothing. For some the primary concern was, would the soccer game go on as scheduled. The game was canceled to the dismay of some of my players who were looking forward to the long bus ride to Ft Madison.

I’m not sure what happened in other classrooms, but in mine, we spent much of the time watching the television coverage. I did not have a computer in my room so watching things over the internet was not an option. Students wanted to know why someone would attack the U.S., and some quickly realized that our country and their lives would be changing. Someone got the bright idea that I should talk about what happened in chapel so I spent the weekend reading news articles and thinking about what to say.

In my talk, I tried to answer four questions a lot of students were asking. They were:
Question #1 Why do so many people and countries hate us (the United States) and want to harm us?
Question #2 Where do we find safety and security?
Question #3 How should Christians, especially those of us who claim nonresistance, respond to the attack?
Question/ Thought #4 What is our place as Christians in American society?

Looking back at what I wrote I think my answers made sense, but I think it is still important for us to think about these questions. What I wrote ten years ago is in italics since I couldn't figure out how to do it in a different font. Or you can read the previous post if you are so inclined.

Question 1 –Why would people want to attack the US?
We are the biggest most powerful country in the world. Our country has done some great and wonderful things, but at times our country has acted arrogantly and selfishly. In the last ten years I have had the privilege of traveling to China, Israel/Palestine, and Poland. In every country I was told the same thing, “We love Americans, but we don’t care so much for your government.” Can I distinguish between individuals and the actions of their governments?

Question 2. Where will we find our safety and security?
I wrote, Will it be in adding millions to the budgets of the FBI, CIA and the military? Will it be as the article titled“ Shaken Americans take comfort in guns.” Where a gun dealer is quoted, “People in Peoria don’t have to go out and buy a handgun to protect themselves from a stolen 747, but people are afraid and they go out and look for something that will make them feel better. Or will we choose to remember the Psalm, “God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So will we not be afraid even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths. Even if the seas roar and rage and the hills are shaken be the violence.” Psalm 46 Can we say with David? “Some trust in their war chariots and others in their horses, but we trust in the power of the Lord our God” Psalm 20:7 Today will we put our trust in guns, missile defense systems, new security measures, or can we rest secure in the arms of God?

According to some estimates, since 2011 our country has spent at least 7.6 trillion on “security” costs. Because of secrecy and the nature of some of the anti-terrorist work, according to a recent Frontline report we may never know how much has been spent.
Since 2000 “...the Pentagon’s annual “Base” budget (not including war costs or the nuclear weapons activities of the Department of Energy) from FY 2000 to FY 2011 has risen 235.6 Billion.”
http://costofwar.com/en/publications/2011/ten-years-after-911/top-ten-security-spending-numbers-you-need-know/

These numbers provide evidence of the choice made by our government. To use the words of David in Psalm 20, we put our trust in war chariots and horses, rather than in the power of the Lord our God.

Some of you were likely annoyed by my last comment, which brings us to the third question I asked.

Question #3 How should Christians, especially those of us who claim nonresistance, respond to the attack?

In response to 911 many Christians pledged their support to President Bush. A prayer service was held at the National Cathedral where prayers were offered for the victims, for our leaders and for God’s guidance. It wasn’t long before President Bush talked of a crusade to rid the world of bin Laden and his evil followers

Calvin Thomas, a professed born-again Christian in an article titled, “If this terrorism act is war, then lets start acting like it,” wrote: “Evil exists. It must be opposed. It is self-defense to kill people intent on killing you. If this is war…lets start acting like it and tell America’s enemies that if they are so intent on seeing their God, we’ll help them get there. As for us, we intend to die of natural causes.”…“Those humanistic, ‘can’t we all get along, profiling potential terrorists is racism, we’re all God’s children, kumbaya, all we are saying is give peace a chance’ moral equivalency equivocators will soon be back. …. They should be ignored. …. We know the enemy. We know where they live. Let’s go get them before they get any more of us, and let the moralizers sort it all out later.”
We have had to sort it out, whether or not we were “moralizers”
2,977 people died during the attacks against the United States on 9-11. Since going to war there have been 6,026 U.S. fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Civilian casualties are more difficult to come by. Remember Rumsfeld’s line, “We don’t do body counts.” Conservative estimates suggest a minimum of 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died while others suggest it is over 900,000. In Afghanistan nearly 20,000 civilians have been killed.
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ see also http://www.unknownnews.org/casualties.html

Our country has had to debate whether “enhanced interrogation techniques” are torture. We cringe at the name “Abu Ghraib” and the images it brings to mind. It is easy to find stories about the struggles faced by returning veterans and the demons they face as they deal with their combat experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I remember the words of Jesus, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Or the words of Paul in Romans 12, and I wonder, am I one of Cal Thomas’s “We’re all God’s children, kumbayah, moral equivocators? Am I being naïve if I reject Thomas’s call to violence and revenge?

Now ten years later I wonder if we are naive if we assume we can engage in war, violence and torture without consequences.

Question/ Thought #4 What is our place as Christians in American society?

In the aftermath of 9-11, 93% of Americans supported taking military action and 77% supported military action even if it meant innocent civilians would be killed. 71 % said they would be willing to give up some personal liberties and privacy. Flags were sold by the millions, newspapers and magazines printed paper versions so everyone could put them in the window of their house or display them in their car.
“As patriotism is mixed with prayer,” as our nation gets ready for war, is their room for the 7% of us who oppose using a military response?
As a “people of peace” in a country preparing for war, how are we to act? Especially if it becomes a war without borders fought in a variety of ways. Will we choose to place flags supplied by our local newspapers in the windows of our cars and homes? Will we keep our voices low and our opinions silent to avoid detection and perhaps persecution?
Am I willing to be treated as an alien in my own land?
We are faced with a choice, Will we choose to join our country as it draws its sword, beginning its “crusade to wipe out the people who would strike at our freedoms….” Or will we choose instead to believe and follow Jesus the Prince of Peace.

Methodist Bishop Will Willimon recently said in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today: “American Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as our greatest Christological defeat … when our people felt vulnerable, they reached for the flag instead of the cross.”
http://blog.sojo.net/2011/09/08/10-years-after-911-the-good-and-the-bad/

The last ten years have not always been easy ones. Some families decided not to have their children return to IMS, fans of visiting teams were sometimes vocal about the absence of a flag and the national anthem, the state athletic associations punished our sports teams. During this time some relationships were broken, yet others were developed and maintained.
In the end, if we are to be faithful we have a choice to make. Ten years ago I asked,
Will we choose to join our country as it draws its sword, beginning its “crusade
to wipe out the people who would strike at our freedoms….” Or will we choose instead to believe and follow Jesus the Prince of Peace?
Today, ten years later I am going to tell you my answer to that question. If we are to be the people of God, we need to choose to believe and follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace. In the words of the Methodist bishop, we need to reach for the cross instead of the flag. We need to follow Jesus in spite of the costs if we are to be a people of faith.

9/11 reflection from 2001

2011-09-09T21:16:00.003-05:00

I was asked to share some reflections about 9/11 today in chapel. I pulled out what I shared ten years ago. Since it was before blogs, or at least before I was aware of blogs, I thought I would put it on here. I had a hard time finding a digital copy of it since I had apparently saved it on one of those 31/2 in floppy discs. I'll put up my ten year update later.

Chapel talk Sept 17, 2001

Tuesday, September 11, 2001 it is said has changed America and Americans forever. President Bush described the terrorist attacks as “acts of war” and later talked about the first war of the new century.Our newspapers have shown headlines saying, “We’re at War,” “War Looms” and “The New Battlefield.”
I was asked to talk about how we might respond to the events of last week. I’m not sure why I agreed to do this. As a historian it seems as if I need more time,
say a year at least, to formulate a satisfactory answer but all I had was the weekend. I would have liked time to reread Niehbuhrs’ thoughts on Christian realism, to look at Bonhoeffer’s struggle to remain a faithful Christian in Nazi Germany, and to look at John Howard Yoder’s writings or those of Menno Simons on Christian citizenship. So what follows are some random thoughts and questions I have been asked this past week. I hope you find them to be helpful in your thinking.

Question #1 Why do so many people and countries hate us and want to harm us?

There are numerous reasons why some groups and some countries do not like us and so these answers are on the simplistic side. First remember, we are the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth. Just being in that position makes us a target. Using a sports analogy, who doesn’t want to knock off the number one ranked team? When teams like the Yankee’s and Braves play who do you cheer for? It is difficult for me to be excited because I know one of them is going to win.
Second, some of our policies, while perhaps good for us, are not so good for other countries. Why do we have troops stationed in Saudia Arabia? Is it to protect the Saudi’s, or is it to keep them in line and to assure low oil prices? It doesn’t really matter what our reasons are- as long as many middle easterners perceive it as the latter. When we criticize Arab countries for cracking down on political dissent, but are seen as giving a blank check, along with weapons, to Israel while it aims missile’s at Palestinian residents and uses assassination as a way of silencing dissent, our country appears to be hypocritical and it makes many people angry.
There is not time to look more closely at this but I would encourage you to read James 4:1-2.

Question #2 Where do we find safety and security?

When I was little I often said this prayer as I went to bed. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” When I said the words, “If I should die…” I did not see myself dying peacefully in my sleep. Instead I saw myself being blown to bits as the mushroom cloud of an atomic blast rose above my obliterated house.
In the 60’s and 70’s, many of us went to bed knowing thousands of nuclear missiles’ were aimed at our country, while our country aimed even more at our enemies. Our country sought security in a policy referred to as MAD or Mutual Assured Destruction. Our countries security rested in the idea that if the Soviets launched an attack, we could launch a counter attack and destroy them several times over. For many it was a fearful time.
Over the course of history countries have sought security in their weapons and strategies. The Roman legions conquered much of their known world, the Spanish king placed his faith in his Invincible Armada, a vast fleet of the largest, most powerful
ships of the 16th century, Napoleon created the largest army in Europe and conquered the continent.
New weapons, new strategies and technology have all been sought after as countries tried to expand their borders, their influence and preserve their way of
life, but all of these and many others have come and gone.
Where will we find our safety and security? Will it be in adding millions to the budgets of the FBI, CIA and the military? Will it be as the article titled
“Shaken Americans take comfort in guns.” Where a gun dealer is quoted, “People in Peoria don’t have to go out and buy a handgun to protect themselves from a stolen 747, but people are afraid and they go out and look for something that will make them feel better.” Or will we choose to remember the Psalm, “God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So will we not be afraid even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths.
Even if the seas roar and rage and the hills are shaken be the violence.” Psalm 46
Can we say with David? “Some trust in their war chariots and others in their horses, but we trust in the power of the Lord our God” Psalm 20:7
Today will we put our trust in guns, missile defense systems, new security measures, or can we rest secure in the arms of God?

Question/Thought #3
In class this past week a student asked how I thought our country should respond to the terrorists attacks, I answered that as a nonresistant Christian I would answer one way, but that as a realist I would answer another. Something about that troubled me as the week went on. Does Jesus call me to be a realist, or does he call me to be his follower even if it doesn’t make sense to the world?
As the week went on I read articles by men who have described themselves as Christians and I wondered some more. Calvin Thomas, a professed born-again Christian
in an article titled, “If this terrorism act is war, then lets start acting like it,” wrote: “Evil exists. It must be opposed. It is self-defense to kill people intent on killing you. If this is war…lets start acting like it and tell America’s enemies that if they are so intent on seeing their God, we’ll help them get there. As for us, we
intend to die of natural causes.” “Those humanistic, ‘can’t we all get along,
profiling potential terrorists is racism, we’re all God’s children, kumbaya, all we are saying is give peace a chance’ moral equivalency equivocators will soon be back. …. They should be ignored. …. We know the enemy. We know where they live. Lets go get them before they get any more of us, and let the moralizers sort it all out later.”
But then I remember the words of Jesus, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Or the words of Paul in Romans 12, and I wonder, am I one of
Cal Thomas’s “We’re all God’s children, kumbayah, moral equivocators? Am I being naïve if I reject Thomas’s call to violence and revenge?

Question/ Thought #4 what is our place in American
society?

Saturday’s Press Citizen reported the results of anABC poll showing that 93% of Americans supported taking military action, and 77% supported military action even if it meant innocent civilians would be killed. 91% approve of the way Bush has responded so far and 71% said they would be willing to give up some personal liberties and privacy. A Philadelphia Inquirer reporter wrote, “The attack on America has triggered a rare moment of consensus in governing circles. Democrats and
Republicans, without bothering to check the opinion polls, are invoking war … as the ominous end game of US policy-violence without mercy, in the service of national retribution.”
In a related example one flag company reported receiving 2 million requests for flags as Americans in the words of a CNN anchor said, … “It seems as if when
Americans don’t know where to turn, they turn to the flag.”
“As patriotism is mixed with prayer,” as our nation gets ready for war, is their room for the 7% of us who oppose using a military response?
During times of war the United States has shown a strong tendency to restrict personal freedom and to squelch dissent. During World War I some Mennonites
spent time in prison rather than to wear a military uniform. During World War II Japanese-Americans were interned in prison camps, and many of German descent gave up the German language in order to avoid harassment from their neighbors.
As a “people of peace” in a country preparing for war, how are we to act? Especially if it becomes a war without borders fought in a variety of ways. Will we choose to place flags supplied by our local newspapers in the windows of our cars and homes?
Will we keep our voices low and our opinions silent to avoid detection and perhaps persecution? Am I willing to be treated as an alien in my own land?
We are faced with a choice, Will we choose to join our country as it draws it sword, beginning its “crusade to wipe out the people who would strike at our freedoms….” Or will we choose instead to believe and follow Jesus the Prince of Peace?
M.Miller 9/17/2011

"Government Schools"

2011-08-22T22:55:00.009-05:00

I hate to pick on Tim Pawlenty since he has dropped out of the presidential race but something he said when he was in the area has been rumbling around in my head. When someone asked him about education he refused to use the term, "public education" or "public school" and instead insisted on using the term "government school." He said "if parents want to send their child to a private school they should be given that choice, if they want to home-school, why God-bless them for that, and if they need to, we should provide the best government school possible." Former Senator Santorum has used similar terms to describe public schools.

I teach at a private, faith based school, which is struggling with enrollment issues. I suggested we borrow from Pawlenty and Santorum and start referring to the local public schools as government schools and do it with the most sinister sounding sneer we can muster. My suggestion didn't meet with a positive response and I said it in jest. But when did public schools begin to be described as "government schools," or even as "indoctrination centers?" It doesn't take long on the internet to find references to both. Some might be considered to be fringe opinions but others such as Milton Friedman, wrote for the Cato Institute in 1995 that public schools should be abolished. (http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-023.html)The blame is generally placed on teachers and the teachers unions. Sometimes government corruption and waste is mentioned. Rarely is poverty, the lack of resources, and poor parenting mentioned. The solution most suggested is to give family vouchers and letting them choose where to go. Never mind that the amount of the voucher would generally only cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the tuition most private schools charge. In other words, I don't think it would work.

One surprising line I ran across was from Milton Friedman, the supply-side economist who won a Nobel Prize back in the 90's. It goes as follows, "If the widening of the wage differential is allowed to proceed unchecked, it threatens to create within our own country a social problem of major proportions. We shall not be willing to see a group of our population move into Third World conditions at the same time that another group of our population becomes increasingly well off. Such stratification is a recipe for social disaster." Friedman wrote this in 1995. It now seems as some folks think it would be best if the difference in wealth was encouraged, or at least they don't see it as a problem. And in that context, it seems some, including Presidential candidates, think it is time to get rid of public schools, effectively consigning many citizens to a permanent underclass.

Iowa straw poll and political organizing

2011-08-13T23:01:00.000-05:00

“The former Minnesota governor has a platoon of smart political operatives in his corner and is thought to have the best ground game in the state. But despite planting an early flag in Iowa and improving his performance on the stump in recent weeks, the Midwesterner remains stuck in single-digits in state polls.” CNN article
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/08/13/iowa.straw.poll/index.html

“In case I hadn’t sent this information to you, here is the specific information for our straw poll bus. I apologize for the time I’m sending this, but I sat down with my computer a few hours ago, and almost immediately fell asleep!!” excerpt from an email sent by the Pawlenty organizer at 1:30 am Saturday morning.

The Republican’s held their straw poll today in Ames to raise money. I was tempted to go, especially after the Pawlenty people called and offered me a free bus ride and a ticket (worth $30) to get into the event. But we start school Monday and I had some other things planned for the day, plus it would have ticked off the wife.

The line from the CNN article about the Pawlenty organization having “the best ground game in the state” made me chuckle. When I went to see him in Washington, there were less than 25 people present to hear him. Even Dennis Kucinich had more people than that show up to his events four years ago. At the event they asked if I wanted to go to the straw poll, to which I said “I hadn’t made up my mind yet.” This morning I got an email from one of his workers who make up “the best ground game in the state.” Frankly it was too late, but the offer of a Pawlenty t-shirt made me think twice.

Santorum was no better, with only 18 people present. That included the camera women and a newspaper reporter. I talked to his volunteer after the event who said he had driven over from Des Moines. I asked if they had anyone local and he wasn’t sure. He said one of the volunteers was originally from Keota but he was working out of Des Moines. Someone from Bachmann’s campaign called to ask if I would support her in the straw poll. I asked if she was going to be in Washington County any time soon because I would like to see her first He said, “I think she is going to be in Cedar Falls tomorrow. That should be close. Unfortunately it would be at least a two hour drive from Washington County so I told him she would have to do better.

All of these guys have made fun of President Obama and his experience as a community organizer. He certainly hasn’t been a perfect President, but at least he knew how to run a campaign. The people he had working for him locally in the last election were impressive and they made sure they knew the state well. They targeted high school government teachers and developed some creative class room activities to help students understand the caucus system. They kept it “non-partisan” but it certainly didn’t hurt that they were cute, handsome, articulate, very engaging, and they just happened to have campaign giveaways to hand out, if anybody wanted them. If Pawlenty has the best ground game in the state, I hate to imagine how bad some of the other campaigns are organized.

Rick Santorum

2011-08-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

Rick Santorum is running for President. If you don’t know this, it isn’t because he hasn’t campaigned hard enough, raised enough money, or put enough commercials on television. “It is because the liberal media doesn’t want you to know about him because I (he) has the best chance of beating Obama.” “The liberal media is ignoring him because they don’t want him to succeed.” Never mind that at an 8:00 am town hall in Washington, Iowa, whose newspaper could hardly be described as liberal, (it is hard to even describe it as a newspaper) there were only 18 people present to greet the former Senator Santorum.

Santorum entered the room at the Washington Library at 8:10. He went around the room shaking the hands of all eighteen people, asking our names, and offering the occasional “God bless you for being here.” He introduced himself and talked for the next 30 – 35 minutes before opening up for questions.

In his remarks he talked about why he decided to run for President. We got the sob story right away as he told us about his grandpa, a World War I vet who immigrated to the United States from northern Italy in 1927. He didn’t quite make it clear that his grandfather fought in the Italian army so I doubt some of the 18 folks in the audience figured out that he was not a U.S. veteran. The grandfather “came for freedom and scratched out a living, scratching out the ore in the mines of Pennsylvania.” As Santorum put it, his, “grandfather came for freedom, not government mandates.”

A lesson in American history ensued as he explained to us that at its core, “America is a moral enterprise.” He did some expository preaching on the Declaration of Independence explaining that “the pursuit of happiness” is not “licentiousness,” something he pinned on the far left and far right of both parties. In this section he sounded more and more like a preacher delivering a sermon with great conviction.

Next on the list was healthcare and the dangers of “Obamacare.” He told us that in 1776 life expectancy was 46 and that at the time of Jesus the life expectancy was 46. Instead of telling us he wants to lower life expectancy, he said that in the U.S. life expectancy doubled as “we released individual freedoms coupled with moral teachings.” In his view the healthcare bill takes away freedom and morality, leading to his conclusion that “if we don’t defeat Obama we will be the generation that gave freedom away.”

The first question was “Can Obamacare be gotten rid of?” As he answered it became clear he wasn’t going to take a lot of questions because he took 10 minutes to answer each one and he was scheduled to leave at 9:00. Santorum gave a lesson on the three branches of government and the need to control the legislative bodies, but he told us his “first promise is to get rid of Obamacare.” He then went on to talk about the need for a balanced budget amendment, plus the story of how he almost got us one but that John McCain and George W. pulled the carpet out from underneath him.

As he rambled on about cutting I raised my hand and asked if it would be necessary to cut defense spending in order to balance the budget. He asked what the main purpose of government is and quoted the preamble for me and said he would prefer not to cut defense spending. That it was really the only function the federal government should be worried about, that State’s should take care of everything else.

The next question was about his support for Israel. He told us he was the strongest supporter of Israel one could be, then moved to a criticism of current US policy in the Middle East. Here he argued that Obama has been supportive of the critics of the US (Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood) while throwing our friends, (Mubarek) under the bus.

The last question was from a middle-aged women concerned about the distortions of the liberal media. After he finished, he shook everybody’s hand again. When he got to me, he thanked me for my concern and asked what I do. I told him I was a history teacher which he seemed to like. I said that in the midst of his talking about freedom and individualism I wondered about the concept of the “public good.” He referred me to a book he had written but talked until his aid pulled him away.

He seems like a nice guy, but frankly when you read more about some of his positions he is on the scary side, at least if you have a libertarian bent. Outside of Iowa and some real conservative states, he doesn’t have a chance of winning and it doesn’t have to do with the liberal media.

Tim Pawlenty

2011-07-26T17:23:00.001-05:00

Tim Pawlenty

Tim Pawlenty is the first Republican presidential candidate to come to Washington County this summer. When I walked into the Washington Library there were twenty or so elderly people seated around the tables. It was clear they weren’t expecting a big crowd as one of the volunteers ran to get some more chairs. I’m 53 but other than the volunteers and Pawlenty, I was one of the youngest people in the room.

Pawlenty arrived a few minutes after 8:00 am and without any introduction he started in with a short speech. It didn’t take him long to start criticizing President Obama who he described as the most inept President since Jimmy Carter. He particularly criticized the health care bill, the stimulus bill and the mounting deficits.

Though he didn’t mention her by name he took some swipes at Michelle Bachman. He described how all the Republican candidates will talk about being pro-life, for traditional marriage, border security, strong defense and for limited government. What makes him different is that “he as done something about it.” He then went on to list some of his accomplishments as governor of Minnesota. Items he mentioned included limiting the power of public employee unions, cutting taxes, and balancing the budgets.

Then came the sob story. Child of working class parents, his mother died when he was 16, his father lost his job as a truck driver and his brothers and sisters sacrificed so that he could be the first in his family to go to college.

After some generic remarks about the importance of freedom he asked for questions. The first questioner, a guy with a long white beard and wearing overalls asked if the current situation in Minnesota’s government reflected poorly on his years as governor. Pawlenty blamed the recent shutdown on the new governor and his misguided policies. Question number two came from an old guy wearing a Marine t-shirt that didn’t quite cover his belly. He asked about “dealing with all this terrorisms.” We learned that Pawlenty was the first governor to send troops to the border when President Bush asked for them; that we need to maintain security and our defense budget. He took some jabs at Obama’s Middle Eastern policy and said, “we need to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel.”

I asked him if he saw the growing disparity in wealth as a problem and if so, how would he fix it. He seemed to like this question. He talked about improving and growing the economy, getting government off the backs of business people, not inciting class warfare. From this he mentioned educational disparity and threw in the stat that 1/3 of high school students are dropping out. The key difference is the parents who should be given a choice of sending their children to the “government school” or to private school’s or they should be allowed to home-school, if they don’t want to use the “government school.” I assume “government school” meant public school.

Questions followed about the use of Executive Orders, an invitation to Crawfordsville (birthplace of the Republican Party), Social Security (President Obama should lead, he might use “means testing” so the wealthiest recipients might not get cost of living raises, and he argued for privatization; unemployment (put people back to work and reform welfare) and energy (drill in ANWAR, more off-shore drilling, use new methods of finding natural gas, and an emphasis on renewable’s “when they make sense.”

A lady asked him to autograph her book, and so I asked if I could ask one more question. He said yes. In answering the question about Social Security he also talked about defense spending and reiterated his strong support for Israel, including a comment that we need to defend them and he used his “shoulder to shoulder” line again. So I asked, if you were President and led the country to war against Iran to help Israel, would you raise taxes to pay for the war? He said it is a hypothetical question, but that he does not like to raise taxes. I said, “So my children would pay for it?” He went back to the hypothetical line so I said, “it seems we are involved in two of those hypothetical wars right now. He then said it was time to end and started his autographing process. I don’t think I was being overly sensitive but when I stood in line to shake his hand, before he got to me, he turned and went to the other side of the room. When I went over there, he went back to table, at which point I decided the guy is either a bit of a weasel, or he is scared of me. Neither are qualities I want in a President.

Flag Day

2011-06-14T23:56:00.002-05:00

Today, June 14 is apparently Flag Day. According to the "Today in History" the Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes as the national flag in 1777, and the words "under God," were added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. The Pledge was written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. Bellamy was a Baptist minister but the real surprise for many people is that he also described himself as a socialist. Wonder what the tea party folks would think?
The other flag related event which happened today was that the Supreme Court issued its ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette in 1943. My guess is they timed it for the day since it had to do with the flag and the pledge of allegiance. In the case the Supreme Court ruled that States and schools could not require students to say the Pledge of Allegiance. The case revolved around some folks who were Jehovah Witnesses who did not want their children to say the Pledge or to salute the flag as they said it was idolatrous. Needless to say this irritated lots of people and the case made its way to the Supreme Court. The Justices pointed out that one could not force or demand allegiance, especially in a democracy.
Last week Goshen College, a Mennonite college in Indiana, decided that after playing the Star Spangled Banner before athletic events for a year that they would discontinue doing so this fall. Prior to last year they hadn't played the anthem before sporting events. A lot of folks I know were surprised the college changed its position and as might be expected the decision has caused a lot of wailing and moaning in some circles. Accusations are made that the college is unpatriotic, that the decision disrespects all the soldiers who fought and died, and on and on.
What I would argue is that the decision to not play the anthem, especially in the face of such harsh criticism, is in itself an act of great patriotism. What does the freedom of speech and expression mean if people never say anything controversial? Somewhat related, the Supreme Courts ruling in Barnette pointed out that our guaranteed freedom of expression also gives the right to not have to express things, in this case, the anthem, or for some, the Pledge of Allegiance.
The school where I work does not have a flag and does not play the anthem before athletic events. After being penalized for some years by the state athletic associations, it was suggested that they were violating the constitution. After further discussion, their disciplinary actions were rescinded. If you go back to the beginnings of the school, one reason it was started was so that Mennonite youths would not have to be subjected to the strong patriotism in the years following World War II.
The school now attracts a fair number of "other than Mennonite" students. Somewhere along the way they occasionally realize their isn't a flag, anthem, or pledge. Some will ask, a few have sort of protested, but most come to an understanding of the schools position, especially if we have done a decent job of exposing them to some of the traditional Mennonite ideas about how we relate to the State. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, especially for the folks at Goshen who are facing lots of criticism both locally and nationally.

Republican debate June 2011

2011-06-13T21:44:00.002-05:00

I sat through the Republican debate tonight. It helped that I had taken a Vicodin because I had a tooth pulled earlier in the day. Otherwise I doubt I could have made myself sit through the two hour event.
By now I had hoped that I would have had the chance to see a couple of the candidates when they come to Iowa but so far my rules haven't been met. I don't want to drive any farther than Iowa City/Coralville or Washington, though in special circumstances I might consider a drive to Cedar Rapids or Muscatine. I won't go to any fundraisers and I won't take off work. A few have made their way to Iowa City but it was still while I was in school and coaching so it didn't work. As far as I know none of them have made their way to Washington.
According to the guys on TV, Michelle Bachman was the winner with Romney doing well and Gingrich keeping his campaign alive. I don't see any of the three doing particularly well in Iowa. Like it or not the Iowa Republican party is controlled by religious conservatives and all three have some problems. Gingrich has some moral issues to deal with plus his Iowa adviser's all resigned last week. Romney is Mormon, a problem for many of the religious fundamentalists, plus he comes across as a bit too slick for many Iowan's. Bachman's problem is that she is female and Iowa has yet to elect a woman as a governor or to the US House or Senate. Maybe some of the religious and social conservatives will surprise me but I think many would prefer to vote for a male.
The other four on the stage, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty, and Rick Santorum were there. Pawlenty and Santorum should do well among the Iowa Republicans, Paul could do well especially if he can figure out a way to get young folks to attend the caucus. Cain is there, sort of the Al Sharpton, or the African-American Republican candidate from a couple of years ago. Apparently the vicodin is kicking in and I can't remember his name.
That leaves Pawlenty and Santorum as the two likely to win the caucus in Iowa, at least at this point. Both will try to out conservative the other and tout their desire to cut taxes and government. If tonight is any indication they will bash Obama on the economy but when pressed for specifics they will switch to issues like abortion, gay marriage, and "keeping our country strong." If that sounds cynical,its because I am.

"Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalization"

2011-04-10T20:02:00.002-05:00

If you live in the Midwest or care about the future of the Midwest you should read Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalization by Richard C. Longworth. Though Longworth's analysis and predictions are rather depressing I found the book to be interesting and at times rather amusing. It seems obvious Longworth cares deeply about the Midwest and hopes for a positive future but at the same time he recognizes most Midwesterner's are content to either ignore the problems, or to blame their problems on others.

Longworth's description of the Midwestern mentality - complacency in the face of change, seems accurate though in the part of Iowa where I live,it is often accompanied by a certain fatalism. At times this is expressed in religious language in phrases such as, "it must be God's will." If it is indeed God's will there is obviously little we can do but long nostalgically for the good old days and bemoan the fact that our children are growing up and leaving for the coasts.
Longworth doesn't talk much about religion though he did have a line which also rings true. "In a world of the Next New Thing, devotion to biblical inerrancy and traditional values doesn't cut it. The global world is diverse, open, multinational, with no loyalty to place or places. The rural world is still white-on-white, local, fixed on itself as the homeland of all virtue."

I have contended that recent arguments in our area about the six-day creation and a 4,000 year old earth, reflect a subliminal fear, or acknowledgment that life is changing in ways we don't understand. At these points it becomes easy to latch onto something which seems foundational to our beliefs. If someone refuses to believe the way I do, then I can write them off, or if they represent the forces of globalization I can demonize them, especially if they refute my belief in a six day creation, or if I refuse to acknowledge the relevance of the issue.

Longworth offers several ideas for changing the Midwest, some of which will be controversial. Opening the doors to all immigrants is probably not going to play well in most Midwestern states or towns.

The idea of cities working together, the development of clusters centered around biotech, biofuels and other new industries may have promise, though Longworth doesn't have much hope. Longworth also critiques the politicians who have added to the mess he see's in the Midwest. He is especially hard on those who demonize immigrants, foster fear, and cut education and research budgets.

Globalization is here and it isn't going to reverse itself anytime soon even if gas goes to $5 a gallon or more. It will only hasten the decline of the small towns which still dot Iowa as people will no longer be willing to pay for the hour long commute to work or to buy groceries.

Is it entirely hopeless? I like to think there is hope. Midwesterners are resilient, know how to work hard, and many are still willing to sacrifice, if not for the good of their state or country, then for the good of their family. Solutions will emerge and people will adapt, much as many have done for the last hundred plus years. It may be ugly, it will certainly be messy, but the Midwest will survive in some form.

American Arrogance

2011-02-20T22:52:00.003-06:00

"Obama and his staff have made a complete mess of the situation in Egypt."

"Obama will go down in history as the president who lost Egypt." http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/obama-will-go-down-in-history-as-the-president-who-lost-egypt-1.340057

O'REILLY FACTOR: Obama Has Screwed Up Egypt, And Is Not Likable Enough To Save His Presidency." http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-oreilly-egypt-obama-interview-smoking-video-2011-2

These are a few headlines I found declaring President Obama "screwed up," "lost," or "made a complete mess" of Egypt. This type of attitude expresses the height of American arrogance when it comes to an understanding of foreign policy and the role of the U.S. in the world. Yes, the U.S. is a superpower, yes we have interests all over the world, particularly in the Middle East, but since when is Egypt ours to lose? Have they been a U.S. colony since Sadat signed the Camp David Accords? Maybe since the one quote is from Haaretz, one of the main Israeli papers, the answer would be "yes."

Listening to the US media as they report what happened in Egypt and across the Middle East has irritated me. Arguments over whether it was President Bush's speech and efforts to promote democracy, or whether it was President Obama's Cairo speech which prompted the protests seem highly irrelevant. For that matter discussions about the role of facebook, twitter, and other social media somehow overlook that the Egyptian people may finally just be pissed enough to protest.

Last summer I spent a month in Poland. A number of Poles would ask, "when did World War II start?" They were pleased when I answered, "1939" because they said most Americans answer with "1941." From there the quiz would turn to the end of the Cold War. I finally asked one questioner, "You want me to say, communism collapsed when President Reagen said, 'Tear down this wall.'" His response was, "Isn't that what all Americans think?" He went on to express his frustration at reading histories of the collapse of the Cold War, which somehow ignored or overlooked the work of Solidarity, the Catholic Church and the many average Poles, who along with the East Germans, Czechs and others, got irritated enough to stand up at the risk of their lives, and to say, we don't want to live like this anymore. As the Polish guy said, "You Americans think you are responsible for everything." Unfortunately many of us do.

Personally, Obama did the best he could dealing with some uncharted waters. If anything, it was a victory that Egyptians were not burning U.S. flags, even though the tear gas canisters fired at them said, "Made in U.S.A." or the F-15's flying overhead, and the tanks patrolling the streets were gifts of the U.S., sure to make us beloved among the Egyptian populace.

Finally,if you are going to promote democracy and free elections you better damn well be ready to live with the consequences. Traveling in the West Bank, Palestinians were quick to tell me they understood American democracy. "You pushed for elections, so we held elections. Then when Hamas won, you said,"we won't recognize a government led by Hamas." With smiles on their faces they would ask, "So, do you believe in democracy or don't you, because to us, your government is a hypocrite."

As protests spread across the Middle East and north Africa perhaps a little humility from the U.S. would be the best response. Daring to acknowledge that perhaps we don't know what is best for the Egyptians, the Libyans, or the Tunisians would be a first good step. The Egyptians, Tunisians, Lybian's, Iranians and other folks may just be able to figure it out for themselves.

Elizabeth Edwards

2010-12-12T18:08:00.002-06:00

Elizabeth Edwards died this past week of cancer. I got to meet her a couple of times and talked with her once while she campaigned with her husband, John, here in Iowa. When the presidential candidates tromp around the state of Iowa seeking support at the caucus, they often have their wives and sometimes their children along. Usually the spouses are impressive in their own right, and occasionally you think, she would make a better candidate than her husband. Elizabeth Edwards was a good example of this. She came across as intelligent but down to earth. She related better to Iowan's than I think her husband often did. Some old duffer once told me you should never trust an older man with too much nice hair, or one who wears white dress shoes. In Edwards case that would have been good advice. There was just something about him which seemed a little "slick." Elizabeth didn't have that problem. I helped organize one of his events, and one of the first questions people asked was, "Will Elizabeth be there?"

Another spouse who impressed me was Jackie Dodd, wife of Chris Dodd. They stopped in Wellman on July 4th and my son and I went to see them. While he did his thing his wife kept two kids in line plus schmoozed with the crowd in a way that her husband seemed unable to do, without seeming a bit fake. Or in looking at his head of silver hair, he probably violates "the man with too much nice hair rule." During their short stay in Wellman, I ended up standing next to her while Sen. Dodd doled out ice cream and argued with my son about his mandatory "volunteer service" idea. (Not all that many people came to hear him that afternoon) It didn't take much to realize she was bright, more articulate than her husband, and frankly in my opinion would have made a better candidate.

Others who made a positive impression were Jill Biden and Christie Vilsak, though with the latter, it seemed to me she wanted her husband to be President more than he did. She was the one with ambition oozing out her pores. I didn't get opportunity to see Michelle Obama, and as for Bill Clinton, his wife kept him out of the state if I remember correctly.

more from the classroom

2010-11-29T17:57:00.003-06:00

Tales from the classroom.

The first day back from break is always a bit stressful. The students are busy catching up with their friends activities and in the case of Thanksgiving, describing how much they ate. Some are more focused on all the stuff they bought on Friday, while others remember they didn't look at any of their homework since leaving school on Wednesday.

Today in World History we looked at the chapter titled "Renaissance and Reformation." I did a time line activity with the class before I gave them another activity. I put the date 1517 on the line and asked if anybody was Lutheran. The first response was, "Why would that matter?" One student said she goes to a Lutheran church but doesn't really consider herself to be Lutheran. Next I asked if anyone had heard of Martin Luther. One student said, "He's that black guy, isn't he?" I told her she was thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. Another student blurted, "aren't they they same person?" I told them "no" and asked if anyone had any idea when Martin Luther King Jr. lived. Guesses were made from 1700 to 1950. From there we went back to the Reformation. I wrote the date 1525 on the board and asked if anyone knew why that might be important. Nobody seemed to know, so I wrote "Anabaptist's begin." The next question, from a Mennonite student, was "What's an Anabaptist?" followed by, "what does Anabaptist mean?" By the time we got through this there wasn't much time for the activity.

Next was U.S. History where we are finishing the Civil War and looking a bit at Reconstruction. The one group of students seemed mystified that many in the Union thought the Confederates had committed treason. I discovered part of the problem was they didn't know the meaning of the word, "treason." One well meaning young woman, summed it all up (at least for her) when she said, "Why couldn't they just have their own country?" It only got worse, but it did bring to mind what I read somewhere, "teaching history to 15-16 year olds is an unnatural act."

American Gospel by Jon Meacham

2010-11-25T14:51:00.001-06:00

Found this to be interesting but for some reason it was slow going. Meacham argues America's founders recognized the value of religion and the importance of religious values in establishing a new country,but at the same time realized if the new country was to survive it would have to be tolerant of different religious beliefs. Rather than create state support for one set of doctrines, Meacham documents how Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and others set about creating a new religion, what Meacham calls "American public religion." Describing God as transcendent, or "Natures God" leaves it ambiguous enough that nearly anyone, except the most avowed atheist, can believe. So if you are a fundamentalist, or evangelical who "wants America to get back to its Godly heritage," Meacham says you can find support for that position. If you are Jewish, and don't buy into the Jesus stories, American public religion is broad enough to include you. If you lean towards a God who doesn't get involved in the daily goings on of people, the idea of nature's god should be enough to keep you happy.

I found the idea of American public religion to be useful in thinking about the country's history and our contemporary situation. Thanksgiving has become one of the high holy days of American public religion. Driving across the mid-west on Thanksgiving it was interesting to hear what some of the "Christian" radio stations had to say - some preacher ranting about being more thankful, prayers for the soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, prayers for all the men who have "kept our country free," gratefulness for a country bestowed with such blessings, with the occasional song thrown in.

Coming from a sectarian church background, it is easy (tempting) to see the many contradictions between what is generally considered to be "true Christianity" and American public religion. The most dangerous of these are the belief in American exceptionalism and the idea of "redemptive violence. Meacham's book did help me understand those people I know, who devoutly salute the flag, say the pledge of allegiance, pray at the pole, and then work to raise money for missions in other parts of the world. The question for me is, to what kind of Christianity do we want these people to convert? Is it to buy into the American public religion described by Meacham, or is it a universal Christianity with an emphasis on spreading good news to the poor? (less)

How JFK changed my life

2010-11-23T21:41:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was the 47th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I have vague memories of watching the funeral on television but since I was only five I don't remember much. Still his death changed my life, at least in a round about way.

My parents had grown up in a conservative Mennonite church which did not allow its members to have television. They were living in Idaho in 1963 and since there were no conservative Mennonite churches in the area they made do with a regular Mennonite church. Sometime I will have to ask if they were just being good members, or if they didn't want to spend the money, but in any case we did not have a tv.

This changed with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. After the assassination, my father rented a television in order to watch the funeral and the many news stories. Walter Cronkite, along with Huntley and Brinkley, must have made an impression and my parents decided to keep the television. I may have been allowed to watch Captain Kangaroo but probably not much else. It is also where I learned that disappointment would long be a part of my life. NBC had its peacock, and the slogan, "Bringing this program to you in living color." I always waited eagerly for the black and white images I saw on the screen to appear in "living color" but for some reason, (we had a black and white tv) the "living color" never appeared.

We moved back to southeastern Iowa a few years later and I don't know if the tv came with us, or if the decision was made to buy another one once they arrived. The conservative Mennonite churches in the area still had a rule against tv, so my parents eventually joined Kalona Mennonite, a congregation which allowed tv's. By now 60 Minutes was on the air, and in our home, it was required viewing. All of my first cousins in the area attended the conservative churches so our house became a favorite destination. If an Iowa basketball game was televised we had company.

If my parents had not purchased the tv, they may well have remained in the conservative church. I may have attended Rosedale and married a nice girl who wore a covering and didn't cut her hair. Instead I was corrupted by shows such as 60 Minutes, Hogan's Heroes, and Carol Burnett. I was one of the few kids allowed to watch the Smother's Brothers before they were kicked off the airwaves. Maybe that is why I struggle with trying to not be too cynical.

The conservative churches dropped the tv rule a number of years ago when it became impossible to enforce. There seems to be little difference between what these churches and regular Mennonite churches say about the use of technology. I certainly don't see a difference in the gadgets the students use and carry to school.

getting back to this - Social Studies Conference

2010-11-20T22:59:00.004-06:00

With all the summer activities I seem to have not got back into the habit of writing every so often. Maybe over the next few weeks I can catch up a bit since some interesting things have happened.

Back in October I attended the Iowa Council on Social Studies meeting for the first time in my teaching career. I drove over to Des Moines and arrived in plenty of time. At the registration table I received the packet of information including my name tag. I was tempted to not put it on, but as everyone else seemed to have them on, so I wore it. What resulted was a day with rather interesting questions.
"You teach at a Mennonite school. Do you use technology?" "Yes", I replied. "You mean you have electricity?" Another "yes." Another women asked, "How do the kids get to school?" This seemed normal until she added, "those buggies don't travel very fast, do they?" Next, another teacher said, "Since you have a beard, does that mean you are Amish?" At this point I was about ready to take off the name tag and head to the fake seaside bar in the hotel.

Among the interesting things I learned - Elkader, Iowa is named after a Muslim prince and religious leader. Today he might be called a terrorist as he fought to keep the French from colonizing Algeria.
Iowa schools are struggling with technology and the many changes it is bringing. Some schools have a lap top for every student 9-12. Some schools struggle to keep their computer labs up to date. One school requires its teachers to have Twitter accounts, while other schools tell their teachers they shouldn't have Twitter, Facebook, or other social networking sites. Most schools, including the public schools, are struggling with finances and the costs required to keep up with the latest technology.

All in all it was a good day. I met some interesting people, heard some decent speakers, and had a safe and pleasant drive home.

Poland

2010-08-17T21:27:00.002-05:00

I was in Poland for the month of June, came home, went to Montana for a family event, came home, the basement flooded, and now school has started. This explains a bit of what we experienced in Poland.

Poland
On June 5th, I left Cedar Rapids with five Iowa Mennonite School students for Poland as part of the US-Poland Parliamentary Youth Leadership Exchange Program. The goal of the program is to build and improve relationships between Poland and the US and is funded by the US State Department. Two other US high schools also participated in the program, one from Des Moines and the other from Chicago.

The group from IMS spent three weeks in Łodź (pronounced “woodge”), a city of approximately 800,000 people. I stayed with Angelika, the Polish teacher who was here in February and her parents. They lived in a relatively new home on the edge of the city. In, Łodź we attended classes and visited many different historical and cultural sites. Łodź had been the leading industrial center of Poland but since the fall of communism the factories have closed and the city has had to reinvent itself. Currently Łodź is competing to become “the European city of Culture” for 2016. The city is home to a famous film school, hosts several important film festivals and bills itself as “Holly Łodź.” In addition to the cultural activities and sites the city has attracted new industries including a large Dell plant and Infosys.

After the home stays, we traveled by train to Warsaw and met the other US schools. In Warsaw we were hosted by the European Academy of Diplomacy. We spent much of the time in Warsaw meeting government officials, politicians, and former diplomats. We were also shown some of Warsaw’s historic buildings. The impressive thing to note is that 90 per cent of the buildings in Warsaw were destroyed during World War II, so most of what we saw had been painstakingly rebuilt since 1945.

One of the more sobering visits was to the newly opened “Uprising Museum.” This museum was built to commemorate the attempt by Poles to resist the German army after nearly four years of occupation. At least 6 million Poles, including 3 million Jewish Poles, were killed during the war, if not by the Germans, then by their Russian “liberators.” Nearly every Polish person I asked could tell stories of family members who were killed, or who disappeared during the war.

From Warsaw we traveled to Krakow where we met the Polish students. This portion of the trip was led by the Kosciuszko Foundation. The students worked on developing community service projects for the host Polish cities along with visiting some of the historic spots in the city.

Some observations:
95 % of Poles identify themselves as Roman Catholic. Of these, 80% describe themselves as attending mass regularly. http://countrystudies.us/poland/38.htm. During the 19th century when Poland did not exist on the maps, it was the Catholic Church which kept alive the Polish language, culture and sense of national identity. More recently, the Catholic Church played a key role leading to the fall of communism. When Pope John Paul II, the first Polish pope, traveled to Warsaw, the communist government was powerless to stop people from going to hear him say mass. We saw many statues of Pope John Paul II as we traveled. As Poland becomes more in tune with the more secular western Europe there is debate about what role the Catholic Church should play in the life of the nation.

Religious identity is important. It felt odd to have people ask if I “was a Christian.” This usually happened when people noticed I did not know how to cross myself, when to kneel, or when to put my hands in the holy water. Discussions about sin, confessionals, and the role of Mary, also raised concerns about my salvation as I was the one expressing a view very different from most Polish Catholics.

Similarly, when we said which school we were from we were often asked to explain “what is a Mennonite?” This included both Polish people we met as well as the students and teachers from the US. One US student admitted she was surprised the IMS girls were not wearing bonnets.

The average Pole is much more knowledgeable about foreign affairs than is the average American. Situated between Germany and Russia, Poles are keenly aware of the actions of those countries as well as the US. Poland sought and gained membership in NATO and the European Union and is pushing its neighbors, Ukraine and Belarus to join in spite of strong Russian opposition. Poland is sometimes described as the European country most supportive of the U.S. Unfortunately, many Poles feel the US government takes this support for granted.

Many Poles assume that all Americans are wealthy, carry guns and have sex with many different people. These ideas come from watching American television shows and movies. TV shows which are popular include, House, The Bold and Beautiful, Grey’s Anatomy, the CSI and Law and Order shows along with some of the reality shows.

The food in Poland is fairly basic. I ate lots of pork, kielbasa (sausage), potatoes and cabbage. The majority of this was locally grown.

Farms in eastern Poland are much smaller than in Iowa. The largest tractor I saw was similar to a John Deere 4010. One day when were driving through the countryside many farmers were raking hay. The surprising thing was to see people using long wooden hand rakes in addition to the tractor pulled rakes. The most common crops were wheat, barley, potatoes, cabbage and strawberries.

Gasoline is expensive; approximately $5.60 a gallon and most people drive small cars. On most purchases there is a Value Added Tax (sales tax) of 22%. This is in addition to personal income tax rates similar to the US. The current exchange rate is around $1 US to 3 zlotys. Poland is scheduled to switch to the Euro in early 2012, the year they host European Soccer championships.

Finally, the people we met were friendly, open, and glad we were visiting. A number of times I was asked, “why would you visit Poland?” They seemed surprised, yet pleased, when we told them how beautiful the country is and how well we were being treated. It was a wonderful learning experience for myself and the students.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

2010-06-01T08:43:00.002-05:00

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

I recently read Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen. The book has become a bestseller and many people have written reviews, so I’m sure someone has said what I think. The title is misleading, not that anyone but Mennonites would care. Her stories are at times funny, at times a bit mean, and sometimes just repetitive. How many times do we need to hear about her former husband, his charm, manic-depression, and that he “left her for a guy named Bob”?

The book did prompt some thoughts. For example, I could identify with the strong sense of being different, or odd, as a child because my parents were Mennonite (the kind who thought Janzen’s Mennonite Brethren were “worldly”) and my grandparents were members of the Conservative Mennonite Church having left the Amish when my parents were young. Now, if I ask my students at Iowa Mennonite if they have ever felt different because they are Mennonite, they look at me as if I am some kind of moron. “Why would they feel different because they were Mennonite?”

I’m not sure exactly why I felt different. I didn’t dress much differently from the Catholic kids at Kalona Elementary, I ate the school lunch, and as third graders we weren’t drinking, smoking, or having sex, but still I felt different. It only got worse as I got older. Most of my relatives did not have TV. We did, but were not allowed to watch certain shows because they might be too violent. On the other hand I was one of the few kids allowed to watch the Smothers Brother’s.

The book also reminded me of a lot of the young Mennonites we met when we lived in Philadelphia. They were often from a conservative or plain family in Lancaster, PA. They had gone to a Mennonite college and done well and now they were in the city for grad school or med school, or their first professional job. We usually didn’t get to know them well. The first time we would meet them was the Sunday morning the weekend they had moved to the city. Their parents had helped them move, had stayed the night, and before leaving their child alone, they sought out our little Mennonite church.
We usually wouldn’t see them again until their parents came for another visit three months later. The smart ones at least came the weekend before. If they were really smart they found out when we were having a potluck and came for the meal. Then when they came with their parents we could act like we knew them and that they were part of us, and their parents could leave, reassured that their child had found a church home.

Some of these folks wanted nothing to do with Mennonite’s, even one’s who made up our congregation, where no topic was to sacred to be argued about and where we were proud in a Mennonite sort of way of our openness. They wanted to get away from the rules of their childhood, the foods, the clothes, the whole works. Others liked to hang around the edges. Some I think valued what the little congregation was trying to do and what it represented. For others, it was just good to have a close reminder around of what they didn’t want to be and what they were trying to flee.

That is what Janzen's book seems to be. An acknowledgment that it is nice to have this Mennonite "stuff" around because, for one, some of its not so bad, and besides who doesn't feel better after making fun of their stodgy, backward, and repressed background, especially when it lands you on the bestseller list.

game with Regina

2010-05-04T23:41:00.000-05:00

IMS 2, Regina, Iowa City 1

IMS put their unbeaten season on the line as they hosted defending 1A state champion Iowa City Regina Tuesday evening at IMS. Regina began the game with the wind at their backs but it was IMS which nearly scored in the opening minute as Truman Shetler gathered in a ball, outran his defender and put a shot on goal only to see it skim the outside of the post. From that point on the intensity level of the game picked up as both teams worked hard to maintain possession and to create good scoring chances. Despite going into the wind Jacob Yoder and Shetler were able to create several opportunities, while midfielders, Brian Miller and Vince Rhodes along with Stephan Peters and Seth Miller upped their level of play to match that of the skilled Regina team. The back line of John Nicholson, Marshall Schrock, Kyle Miller and Chris Perez did an excellent job of knocking away balls while trying to contain the speed of Regina’s forwards. Goalie Michael Darby made several key saves when tested during the first half. Regina scored first with 9 minutes left in the half after Daniel Larew gathered a ball in the midfield, turned and cracked a wicked shot from about 30 yards out which ripped into the goal for the 1-0 halftime lead.

The second half saw more fast paced soccer as both teams worked hard to create scoring opportunities only to see good defensive play knock the balls away. As time passed the halfway point of the second half, Brian Miller gathered in a ball, beat a defender and took a shot from about the 18 yard line and sent it low to the far post where it escaped the grasp of the goalie to equalize the score. The goal energized the tired legs and bodies of IMS players. Ten minutes later, Vince Rhodes dribbled towards the box, passed the ball to Miller, who sent it back to Rhodes in stride and he took the shot for the 2-1 lead. As the final minutes ticked away, Regina tried to find the equalizer which opened up several scoring opportunities for IMS but shots either went wide or were saved by the goalie.

The IMS team showed tonight that not only are they a skilled team but that they have a lot of heart and determination, requirements for beating a quality opponent like Regina. With the win IMS moves to 11-0 for the season.

more studentism's

2010-04-30T22:19:00.002-05:00

Speaking of students who don't know much, this week a junior in US history became confused when another student asked when New Mexico became a state. She wondered why anyone cared when New Mexico became part of Mexico. The shocked stares of her classmates must have convinced her she said something which was a bit on the outlandish side, but all she seemed able to say, was, "It's part of Mexico, isn't it?" Another student asked where she would be going on class trip when the seniors visit Washington DC. She said "to Washington state, isn't that in the north somewhere?" Her classmates tried to help her out but I'm still not sure she gets it. Plus looking at a map would probably be way too much work.

students

2010-04-24T21:47:00.001-05:00

This year has made me wonder whether students are becoming dumber, lazier, or some combination of both. I have been making notes of some or the comments students have made which just make me wonder what is going on (or not going on) in their heads.

When we were looking at Greece we were looking at the philosophers Plato, Socrates and Aristotle along with some of the others. One young man raised his hand and blurted, “Did they invent soccer?” I asked, “What?” He repeated his question, “Did they invent soccer?” I asked, “why would you ask that?” His response, “Whenever I hear about the old Greeks, someone always talks about “soccer tee’s.”

More recently when we were looking at India I showed the movie, “Gandhi.” The movie starts with the assassination of Gandhi, shows his funeral, and then goes back to when he was a young lawyer in South Africa. A girl in the class asked me to stop the dvd because she was confused. So I found the pause button and asked for clarification. She then asked, “Was he just reincarnated?”

In general their vocabulary is more limited than it should be. On the test which had a question about the partition of India and Pakistan, the word “partition” created serious problems for half the class. This despite it being one of the text’s vocabulary words meaning it is printed in dark bold letters followed by the definition. A fifth grade teacher told me it was on the vocabulary test for his kids last week.

This doesn’t include students who can’t remember the US government has a Senate and a House of Representatives, name the States which border Iowa, and sometimes think the Atlantic Ocean is really where the Pacific is located.

IMS soccer - Williamsburg

2010-04-23T23:48:00.000-05:00

The IMS soccer team traveled to Williamsburg to take on the Raiders on a windy and soggy Friday evening and came away with a 4-0 win. Play opened with IMS heading into the wind. Williamsburg came out strong and attempted to deny midfielders Vince Rhodes and Brian Miller the ball. Truman Shetler and Jacob Yoder worked hard at their forward spots to create some chances abut crossing the ball into the wind was difficult and with the wet conditions it took some time to get used to the ball skipping in unpredictable ways. In the meantime the back line of Kyle Miller, John Nicholson, Chris Perez and Marshall Schrock did a great job of keeping the Raiders from mounting many strong chances.

Play was back and forth through much of the first half until with eight minutes on the clock, Brian Miller sent a ball from the midfield to a streaking Jacob Yoder who struck the ball strategically into the net for the 1-0 halftime lead.

With the wind at their backs in the second half the IMS players came out strong in the second half. Three minutes into the half Jacob Yoder beat his defender down the right side of the goal before sending it across the box where Truman Shetler was waiting to turn the ball into the net. Ten minutes later Chris Perez cleared a ball from his back line sending it to Brian Miller who flicked it on to Vince Rhodes who burst through the back line, gathered in the ball, dribbled into the box and when the goalie made his move, struck it to the left corner of the goal. A few minutes later Brian Miller sent a ball into the box where Shetler’s hard work paid off as he beat the goalie to the ball at the far post and poked it into the goal.

This game was a good challenge as Williamsburg was a physically strong team and coupled with the weather conditions it made for a difficult game. The guys did a good job of adjusting to the play and overcoming the weather conditions. IMS moves to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the conference.

JV
IMS 5, Williamsburg 1

The IMS JV continued to improve as they notched a 5-1 win over Williamsburg. Justin Boller scored three times on assists from Malachi Bontrager, Joel Shetler, and Matt Libby. Tommy Rhodes scored on an assist from Peyton Thompson. The other goal was considered an “own goal,” after Nathan Peters sent a beautiful cross into the box. In an attempt to clear the ball a Williamsburg defender accidentally knocked the ball into his own goal. Peyton Thompson, Dillon Bender, Levi Schrock and Jesse Shetler did a good job defensively. Ben Brenneman allowed no goals in the first half while Joel Shetler played well in goal the second half allowing just one goal.

IMS soccer - Columbus Community

2010-04-23T23:46:00.000-05:00

IMS 4, Columbus Community 0

IMS traveled to Columbus to face the Wildcats on the soccer pitch and came away with a 4-0 win. As play started it took some time for the IMS players to become used to the bumpy field and hard turf. Nine minutes into the half, Brian Miller beat a Columbus player to the ball, then passed it to Truman Shetler who sent a strong shot by the goalie. Seven minutes later Jacob Yoder beat several defenders and placed the ball behind the Columbus defense where Vince Rhodes was waiting to turn the ball into the net. IMS created several more good chances in the half but could not add to the score. Columbus upped their intensity level and made several good runs at goal but the defensive unit of John Nicholson, Marshall Schrock, Kyle Miller and Chris Perez along with Brian Miller and Vince Rhodes in the midfield did a great job of turning them back.

Columbus came out strong in the second half and it took some time before IMS matched their level of play. Michael Darby made one key save while another Columbus shot banged off the crossbar. IMS began to respond and to turn the tide and began to take control of the game. After cutting off one ball, goalie Michael Darby punted the ball up field where Shetler headed it forward into the path of Peyton Thompson who beat one defender and the charging goalie to put IMS up 3-0. With just seconds left on the clock Shetler sent a crossing ball across the box where it bounced to Ben Libby who took one touch before putting the ball in the back of the net for the 4-0 final score. IMS moves to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the conference.

JV
IMS 0, Columbus Community 0
The JV played two 20 minute halves since many of the Columbus varsity players also needed to play with the JV. The IMS JV put forth a good effort creating several good scoring chances but could not stick any into the net. At the same time the defense stood strong and though Columbus created some scoring opportunities goalie Ben Brenneman made several key saves to keep Columbus scoreless on the evening.

Burlington Notre Dame

2010-04-21T21:49:00.000-05:00

IMS 2, Burlington Notre Dame 0

Two teams without a loss this season met on the soccer pitch at IMS Tuesday evening when IMS hosted Burlington Notre Dame. From the opening whistle forwards Truman Shetler and Jacob Yoder and the midfield of Vince Rhodes, Brian Miller, Stephan Peters and Seth Miller established control of the ball and maintained consistent pressure on the Notre Dame goal. Ten minutes into the half, Shetler passed the ball across the eighteen where Yoder placed the ball neatly by the goalie.

IMS continued to create good scoring opportunities as Notre Dame kept the majority of its players back and played for the counter attack. The strategy nearly worked as Notre Dame had several long runs only to see them chased down by the back line of John Nicholson, Marshall Schrock, Chris Perez and Kyle Miller. The few balls which got through were snagged by goalie Michael Darby.

Play continued much the same way through the second half as IMS established possession but could not get the ball by the Notre Dame goalie. With the clock running down, Vince Rhodes took the ball down the right side towards the touch line, before cutting back and crossing the ball across the goal. Several players took a crack at the ball before Brian Miller pounded the ball into the back of the net for the 2-0 win. IMS moves to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference.

JV IMS 5, BND 0

Because of limited numbers for BND the JV played one 30 minute half. Two minutes into the game Justin Boller beat the goalie to the ball and slid the ball into the goal. Boller assisted on the next two goals, the first scored by Tommy Rhodes, the second by Matt Libby. Ben Brenneman, playing on the field instead of his usual spot in goal, scored on an assist from Dillon Bender. Boller and Libby combined for the last goal of the 30 minute period as Boller sent a ball behind the defender as Libby ran on to it and struck by the goalie for the 5-0 win.

IMS soccer -Mid-Prairie game

2010-04-15T22:51:00.002-05:00

April 15, 2010
Iowa Mennonite Soccer IMS 6, Mid-Prairie 0

IMS hosted Mid-Prairie in a local derby (meeting between local rivals) Thursday and came out on top with a 6-0 win. With the wind at their backs Mid-Prairie put immediate pressure on IMS. Just a few minutes into the game George Sanches ripped a wicked shot from about 20 yards out only to see it bang off the crossbar. IMS players picked up their pace and succeeded in maintaining possession of the ball and limiting Mid-Prairie to just one more shot in the half.

With twenty four minutes showing on the clock Vince Rhodes sent a ball into the box where Jacob Yoder ran onto the ball and pushed it by the goalie. Mid-Prairie tightened their defense and limited further chances for most of the half but with just seconds remaining on the clock, Vince Rhodes dribbled into the box and sent a shot into the net for the 2-0 halftime lead.

In the second half, IMS continued to create good pressure. Awarded a corner kick Brian Miller sent the ball into the box where Truman Shetler out jumped the defender to head the ball into the corner of the goal. On the next goal, Yoder beat a defender then pushed the ball across the goal to Shetler who pounded it into the goal. A minute later Yoder sent a ball into Shetler who tapped the ball to Rhodes who did a beautiful job of finishing. The final goal came with three minutes left when Seth Miller passed the ball into the path of Matt Libby who struck the ball into the corner of the goal.

The back line of Chris Perez, Tommy Rhodes, Peyton Thompson and anchored by John Nicholson did a good job of turning away Mid-Prairies offensive thrusts and of helping in maintaining possession of the ball. With the win IMS moves to 4-0.

I didn't send this next part to the papers, but it is sort of a hard game to coach. Mid-Prairies coach, Neil Yoder played for me at IMS, was my assistant at IMS for a few years, and he helped me at Mid-Prairie when I was helping to try to start the program over there. Neil took over the boys team while I concentrated on the girls team. What makes it hard, is that he is a good guy and I want him to do well, just not the night we play them. Plus I know he will always have his guys pumped up because Mid-Prairie would really like to beat us. My guys get up for the game, but not nearly as much to match the intensity level.

2010-04-15T22:47:00.002-05:00

With soccer season starting it has been hard to find the time to write the way I want. Since the local papers no longer send reporters I have found it easier to write my own descriptions of the games and send them in for publication. So I figured I might as well include them on this, especially since the Kalona News doesn't usually credit me with writing the game summary.

I know I should probably be writing about what is happening in the West Bank, or maybe even some of the things happening in class but that will have to wait, at least a bit. In the meantime here it is.

Iowa Mennonite Soccer IMS 3, Holy Trinity 2

When the #7 and #8 ranked teams in 1A meet on the pitch one could reasonably expect to see a good match. That was certainly the case as IMS hosted Holy Trinity on a beautiful spring evening and came out on top with a hard fought 3-2 win.

Holy Trinity scored first as their quick forwards burst through the back line on a through ball and scored three minutes into the game. IMS evened the scored four minutes later when Vince Rhodes took the ball near midfield and began dribbling towards the goal. Weaving his way through several defenders, Vince Rhodes found his passing lanes cut off so he continued towards the goal, where he beat two more defenders before stroking the ball into the goal.

Both teams settled down defensively and for much of the rest of the half, play took place in the middle third of the field. With five minutes left in the half, Jacob Yoder took a ball deep into the corner of the box. Cutting back towards the goal he drilled a shot from an impossible angle but curled it around the post and into the goal. Holy Trinity equalized the score with just seconds left on the clock as a ball bounced badly off an IMS defender, allowing the Holy Trinity forward to run unimpeded towards the goal.

The second half saw IMS take the field with a bit more energy which showed as the players kept the pressure on the Holy Trinity defense much of the half. Forwards Truman Shetler, Jacob Yoder along with Chance Miller got off several shots but found it difficult to score as the goalie made good saves, or as shots hit the post or crossbar. Midfielder Stephan Peters nearly found the back of the net as he one touched a crossing ball but it hit the post and deflected to the goalie.

With five minutes on the clock Jacob Yoder sent a ball to Vince Rhodes on the left side. Determined to score, Rhodes took the ball, cut back and struck the ball into the net for the winning goal. This game provided a good test for our defense and with two exceptions the guys did a great job of slowing down the Holy Trinity speed. John Nicholson, Marshall Shrock, Kyle Miller and Chris Perez did a good job on the back line while Brian Miller and Rhodes anchored the midfield. Though he didn’t score Truman Shetler provided a lot of energy up front through out the match. With the win IMS moves to 3-0.

In JV action IMS lost to Holy Trinity 1-2 in a tough match. IMS scored first when Justin Boller ran down a long pass, beat his defenders and scored with 16 minutes left in the half. A second goal which IMS thought it had scored when the ball crossed the line was not called so the half ended with an IMS 1-0 lead. In the second half, Holy Trinity took advantage of some defensive miscues to notch two goals. IMS JV players found some bad fortune as several shots hit posts or the crossbar. Both teams played well as the IMS boys learned they need to play with intensity the entire match.

Forty Degree's

2010-03-06T20:16:00.002-06:00

According to the local news today the temperature hit the forty degree mark which last happened 94 days ago (http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/86730402.html) Winter in Iowa this year has been miserable. Even people who enjoy the snow and cold have been complaining. Forty degrees felt balmy and a lot of folks were spending time outside. With piles of snow of snow still filling the back yards it was difficult to do much other than to watch the ground turn to mud which is what we usually deal with in February, March and April.

We need a few more days of of temps in the 40's because Monday the 15th, boys soccer practice starts. There is still at least six inches of snow covering the field and frankly, practicing in the snow isn't all that practical. So hopefully this coming week we have temps in the 50's, lots of sunshine, and if I can get picky, a light breeze from the west or south.

When kids complain about Iowa weather I often tell them it teaches them to deal with adversity but frankly, we have all had enough snow and cold for the year.

airports, budget cuts and what is wrong with this country

2010-02-09T09:15:00.002-06:00

Last weekend I traveled to Pittsburgh for a meeting of Mennonite schools. It was interesting but the topic which dominated the weekend was the weather, specifically the 20 plus inches of snow which landed in the area. While some of the schools left early to avoid getting stuck we didn't really have that choice as the flights out of Pittsburgh were full and our flight Saturday afternoon was canceled. We were rescheduled to leave the next morning at 6:30 so our group left the hotel at 4:30 am to catch a flight most of us thought would be canceled.

Our principal had been able to pre-print boarding passes for everyone but me. The note said I needed to see a ticketing representative. The ticket agent said they needed to see my ID and after shining her light on it, she printed my boarding pass. When I asked about the chances of the flight leaving, she said, "honey, its not leaving, you'll be lucky to get out of here by Monday." She and her colleagues than began to discuss the stupidity of their bosses which were requiring them to issue tickets for planes which were not going to be flying.

After getting the ticket I went through security where I removed my shoes, emptied my pockets, placed my belongings on the scanner and walked through the metal detector. This took only a few minutes as there were plenty of security people on hand. A few seemed to be standing around without much to do.

From there we proceeded to our gate where we soon were told the flight was indeed canceled and that we could rebook a later flight. The only problem with this idea was that all the later flights were full, meaning we might get out by Monday at the earliest.

While the principal was deciding on our next course of action, I talked to a couple of airport personnel and a women from United Airlines. The plane we were to fly on was at the terminal, the pilot and flight crew were also able to get to the airport. What was keeping our plane from taking off was the snow, or more precisely, the lack of a ground crew to remove the snow. It wasn't difficult to see a couple of large snow plows sitting parked, from our terminal. I volunteered to run one (I figured I've run a skid loader so I could figure out a snow plow) but they didn't take me up on my offer.

The women working at the United stand in our terminal explained that the Airport Commission had been cutting budgets and one of the hardest hit areas was the department which handled snow removal. So there we sat because the airport couldn't hire people to remove snow. It was nice to know we were safe from terrorists, bombings, and other assorted attacks while we meandered around the airport. I did walk back towards the security area to see if they were still processing people. By this time most potential passengers were realizing they were not going to be able to fly so they were staying home. This meant the Homeland Security people were having a rather easy day as they sat around, visited and screened the occasional arriving passenger. It would have been nice to have a few of them work on cleaning the runway's but that wasn't going to happen.

Today we have another snow day so I did a search and ran across this news article which suggests another reason for the budget problems of the Pittsburgh airport. (http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/39115). Yesterday, Rep. John Murtha a Democrat from Pennsylvania died after serving in the House of Representatives since 1974. The article describes how Murtha designated or diverted funds to build an airport in Johnstown, PA. Able to handle the largest airplanes flying, the airport in Johnstown is described as being a little used facility, serving primarily as a backup, in the event the Pittsburgh airport was damaged in a military attack. Without going back and checking I think the last time Pittsburgh was attacked was during the French and Indian War.

So, we sat in the airport knowing, we were "safe" from terrorists as there was money to the pay all the Homeland security agents, but there was no money to pay people to shovel snow. Eventually we rented vans and drove to Cleveland where we were able to catch a flight to Chicago and then home.

Are we so fearful that we will gladly spend billions of dollars for "security" and at the same time make our lives less safe because we can't pay for what seem to be rather basic necessities, such as snow removal, education, and non-defense related infrastructure. It seems this is the choice the country is making. And it is one that will come back to bite the country in the butt, sooner or later.

Sen. Grassley town hall

2010-01-18T21:41:00.003-06:00

Senator Charles "just call me Chuck" Grassley made a stop in Kalona last Wednesday evening. When I arrived at quarter till five Grassley was already taking pictures and talking with a few people. At five, he introduced himself to the room full of approximately 100 people. Quite a few of us had to stand along the walls as the seats were all full.

Grassley has been a Senator for 35 some years so he is good at relating to people and excellent at responding to questions without really answering the question asked. Since there were so many people present he said there would be no follow up questions which was also to his advantage.

The first question was about the bio-diesel tax credit, but the second related to health care which then dominated most of the evening. In between Grassley's explanation of why he didn't vote for the current Senate bill, "even though it has some good things," we were treated to the occasional outlandish statement by random audience members. "Democrats are treating the constitution like a damn beer can," stated a guy who looked like he has tossed his share of Busch lite cans out of a car. This guy added, "if I have a chance I'll chase them out, and I won't be using no damn pitchfork neither." His statement seemed to embolden the large women who kept blurting out at random times, "why can't real Americans vote on this health care bill?" or "Can't we just change the Constitution to stop these Democrats from ruining our country?" To his credit, Grassley didn't do anything to add to their anger or passion and at times he seemed to go out of his way to mention bipartisanship or a Democrat who had worked with him on some legislation.

According to the Washington Evening Journal, a paper I have a hard time believing anyone subscribes to, "the audience was almost all Republican based on the questions." Either the reporter didn't know many people or she wasn't paying attention to some of the questions which were asked. For example an older man asked if the Senator believed the government could reduce the deficit without passing some type of health care reform. Grassley admitted it would be difficult but then added he didn't want to do anything which raised taxes and with that he evaded the question. A younger man made a comment about abusive insurance practices. Grassley rattled off some of the ways the current bill addresses these issues, which brought the next question, "if it as all these good things, why didn't you vote for it?" Another person asked if he would still vote for term limits. We were treated to an answer explaining why after 35 years in office he is running for re-election, and oh-yes, he has changed his mind on term-limits.

Towards the end we were exhorted by a Navy veteran to "be in prayer for our Constitution because prayer is the only way it will be saved." ( I suppose this could be an argument to cut the military budget) Grassley responded by referring to I Timothy 2:1-2 telling us that he felt strengthened by all the people praying for him.

It was an interesting evening. For the most part the people in the room were polite to each other and to the Senator. On my way in I did have one man I know ask, "What are you doing here? He then added, "you're just a dirty Democrat, you better not cause any trouble." I told him his attitude is what is wrong with our country. At first he seemed to think I was kidding, but I decided to pile on, and added that his attitude is also what is wrong with the Republican party.

books

2010-01-10T21:52:00.003-06:00

Finished reading two books over the last two weeks. The first was Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. The second was The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. At first glance they don't have much to do with each other.

In his "confessions" Perkins describes how he was recruited to work for an international consulting firm. His task was to make unrealistic projections of economic growth if a developing nation borrowed money to build an electrical system. On the basis of his bogus forecasts, nations borrowed large sums of money from the World Bank, the IMF, or other funding sources. When the country agreed to borrow money for whatever development project he was selling, they were on the hook. Because the projections were overly optimistic the country usually ended up in massive debt even if the government spent wisely and there was no corruption. According to Perkins the country was now in a situation where the US or other western governments could dictate what policies the country should follow.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind tells the story of William Kambwamba who grows up in a rural village in Malawi. His family ekes out a living on its small farm with enough money for food, clothing, and to send the three children to school. Then after floods followed by drought they lose their crop. When the people appealed to the government for food relief they discovered the government had sold all the food reserves. To quote the book, "... the international community -namely the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank- had pressured the government to pay off some of its debt by selling off a portion of our grain reserve.... But some individuals in government sold all of it instead, without keeping any for emergencies." (p 82)

Kambwamba's family barely survives the famine though he is forced to drop out of school since his family can't pay the fees. Since there are no crops to tend and no school, he begins visiting a small library in his town where he borrows books on physics, electricity and science. The family has no electricity (Perkins apparently hadn't victimized Malawi) and after Kambwamba sees a picture of a windmill he decides to build one. He wants to be able to read at night and he thinks that if he can get electricity his family could pump water so they would not suffer from future droughts.

I didn't understand all the science but the authors made building a windmill out of scrap material sound rather exciting. At the end of the book, the windmill works, and through a variety of circumstances it is "discovered" by the international community. With the help of his new friends and supporters Kambwamba is able to attend a science school and travel to the U.S. His family benefits from its personal electrical source and a regular supply of water. After nearly starving to death, his new found fame, and the improvements to his family's living conditions seem well deserved.

In contrast the "confessions" Perkins makes seem rather hollow and simplistic. For all his supposed guilt about what he was doing, he kept at his work, reaping the economic benefits of the fraud he was perpetuating. The only suffering he seemed to experience was his existential wrestling that never led to anything but indecision and maybe a bit more guilt. In the meantime he collects big paychecks, sails his boat and describes meeting beautiful women.

Garrison Keillor talks about the cold weather Protestants who want their God to show a little vengeance. Maybe that is what I was feeling as I read the book. Though the book was written at least in part to make amends for his past actions, something just didn't sit right-he seems just a bit to "slick." It seems he ought to suffer at least a bit more for the part he played in perpetuating dependency and poverty on people around the world. So while I don't doubt the validity of what he describes, I do have a hard time understanding his motivations and the choices he makes. Kambwamba on other hand wants to have enough food to eat, an education, and an improved life for his family, something anyone can understand.

Cold

2010-01-09T16:27:00.003-06:00

This morning our thermometer said the temperature was -18 F. The official temperature was probably not quite that low but in reality there isn't much difference between -18 and -14. So far in 2010 the temp has been below 0 every morning. When the kids complain at school about how cold it is I tell them it teaches them how to deal with adversity. I'm sure people who live in places where the weather is relatively mild learn to deal with adversity somehow. Dealing with weather extremes seems a fairly simple way to learn there are forces beyond your control. You soon learn that no matter how much you complain or whine the weather is not suddenly going to warm up for you. This is the kind of day where I dig out the long underwear and wear a stocking cap inside to keep my balding head head warm.

I did have to spend some time outside splitting wood and bringing enough in to last for the next week. It was cold enough that I soon had ice forming on my mustache. With insulated gloves on, it took about 25 minutes for my fingers to start getting cold. At first it wasn't too bad but after a few more minutes my fingertips became numb and it was time to go inside to let them warm up.

When we first moved to Iowa the only work I could find was as a carpenter. The first winter we built a large furniture store in Kalona. I tell some people I helped build two of the ugliest buildings in Kalona, (the Pull'r Inn motel - and Kinneer's furniture). The goal was to have the building framed and closed in before it got too cold but that didn't happen. Shingling a roof in January and February in Iowa is no fun. It was too cold to use nail guns because the hoses would freeze. This meant we did it by hand. Handling nails with thick gloves doesn't work well but then neither does not using gloves when the temperature is cold. For a couple of days it was cold enough that the plan was to spend 30 minutes on the roof before climbing down and finding some place warm.

To add to the misery I was reading the Little House on the Prairie series to my daughter who was quite insistent we read them in order. After freezing at work, I read The Long Winter to her before bedtime. The story takes place in South Dakota and the title pretty much sums up the book. It was a long cold winter, and I suffered through it with Laura and the rest of the Ingall's family. It certainly didn't help me feel any warmer, but it did inspire me to figure out a way to find a job which did not require working outside in January in Iowa.

the swimming story

2009-11-22T22:06:00.003-06:00

This is something I shared in chapel a few years ago.
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you."
The young boy sat anxiously on the bus as it drove south on Highway One towards Washington. It was hot, all the windows were open and the rushing wind took the words away as the kids talked about how this was the year they would jump off the diving board.
The bus was taking kids from Kalona to their annual summer swimming lessons. The boy promised himself this was the year he would finally learn to swim. When they got to the pool they were lined up and placed in groups. Young kids went to the Beginners class, slightly older ones to Advanced Beginners, Intermediates and so forth. The boy went to his group- intermediates where the expectation was that he could float on his stomach and back, do a few strokes and tread water to keep himself from drowning.
The boy failed miserably. He wished he had heeded his wise grandmothers advice, "Don't go in the water until you know how to swim," but he hadn't and here he was. Unable to float, nervous and embarrassed he was demoted to the Beginners class, certainly the oldest in the group and by all appearances the most frightened.
The next week another lesson came and with it a stomach ache and complaints of not feeling well. His parents said, "we've paid for these lessons, you're going," and they put him on the bus. He sat quietly inspecting the hairs on his arm or counting the passing fence posts. Anything to take his mind off the upcoming torture of the swimming lesson. "Just relax," everybody said, but in the pool it wasn't possible. He couldn't relax and have fun and not worry. He couldn't let go.
"Save me O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters..."
One night his parents talked, trying to console and encourage the boy. Maybe its because of what happened when you were three. The boy didn't remember so they told the story.
As he lay drifting to sleep he tried to remember being in a small pool in a mountainside home with water heated by a natural spring. Playing and splashing on the side he slipped into the water until he lay unnoticed on the bottom of the pool where all was warm and peaceful. Then he imagined strong arms grabbing him from the water that had taken his breath and made him frantic for air and life.
Was this why the boy could not do the dead mans float? Summers came and every year it was the same tortuous ordeal. A swimming school failure unable to overcome his fear, to relax, and to float. While others talked of jumping off the high dive he secretly hoped only to float or to move to a place where no one swam. A place like Ethiopia where if you swam you got schistomasaisis and went blind, or the Amazon where piranhas would eat you if you dared go in the river.
Then one summer the boy and his family moved to a town where the school had its own swimming pool and the father said, "the pools open in the afternoons, to keep you out of your mothers hair you are going," and so he went with his brothers to face the fears once more.
"At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With you faithful help rescue me from sinking...draw me, redeem me, set me free."
And then it happened. Playing in the pool (of course at the shallow end) he slipped and before he hit bottom he felt himself float. It was as if God himself had reached down into that swimming pool and held him up and to that boy it was a miracle. A smile erupted on his face as he shouted, "I floated," and even though everyone looked and said, "big deal" he was ecstatic. He floated. He floated from one side of the pool to the other and soon he was actually swimming. The boy begged to take lessons where he quickly advanced. He joined the swim team and learned the backstroke, the freestyle, the butterfly, but with his short legs he never quite mastered the breaststroke. Oh those were glorious days, to slide through the water pretending to be an otter or a dolphin.
One day he traveled with his team to Washington, to that very pool where after four years of lessons he had never learned to swim, and he competed in races and won ribbons. But best of all, during some free time he climbed the diving board, and savoring each moment, he strolled to the end of the board, and smiling he jumped.
"But God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved and raised up with him....For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God..."

The Best and Brightest

2009-11-09T22:49:00.002-06:00

I finished reading The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam a month or so ago and kept thinking I would write something but never got around too it. Then today I saw a story saying President Obama would be making his decision about sending up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan within the next week.
In The Best and the Brightest, Halberstam tries to explain how JFK and then Johnson got the nation involved in Vietnam, especially when some of their advisers, particularly Robert McNamara, McGeorge and William Bunday, among others were widely regarded as some of the smartest people to work in government. If I understood Halberstam, their own belief that they were so smart was a large part of the problem. JFK was able to hold back on their requests to send more troops to Vietnam. Johnson on the other hand, was unwilling to stand up to them, even when he thought they might be wrong. Halberstam attributes that to LBJ's insecurities.
I don't know what it is about presidents from Texas and insecurities about their manliness but the following quote seems to describe a more recent president in addition to LBJ.
"He had always been haunted by the idea that he would be judges as being insufficiently manly for the job, that he would lack courage at a crucial moment. More than a little insecure himself, he very much wanted to be seen as a man; it was a conscious thing....and at a moment like this he wanted the respect of men who were tough, real men, and they would turn out to be the hawks."
As Obama makes his decision, I hope this is one of the books that he read, or has at least had summarized for him. Halberstam describes how the military, primarily the Joint Chiefs, deliberately mislead civilians, asked for only a small contingent of troops, knowing that they would be attacked, and that then they could increase their troop requests to even higher levels, arguing that " more troops were needed in order to keep bases and other troops safe." The idea of just bringing them home never seemed to occur to anyone in the government, and if they did, they were afraid to mention it for fear of being seen as weak.
Throw in a strong dose of American arrogance and sense of superiority and these guys figured there is no way they could lose to the North Vietnamese. It was all a recipe for disaster, one I hope our current President does not repeat.

cross country

2009-10-08T21:35:00.002-05:00

I spent a couple of hours serving as a spotter for the conference cross country meet held at IMS this afternoon. Over the years I watched my kid run or drove the team to meets it seemed that cross country fans generally show a lot of sportsmanship during the course of the event. Parents and fans will encourage their kid, but you usually hear lots of affirmation for the other kids as well. Some fans make a point of staying till the last runners finish even though they may be several minutes behind just to give them a word of encouragement.

I haven't been at as many meets this fall so maybe it changed earlier, or perhaps it was the chilly, miserable weather, but tonight I think I heard more yelling at a cross country meet than I've heard before. It started with a mix-up in the Junior High race. Because of the mix-up the junior high boys all ended up running about 600 extra yards. Based on how they were running I doubt the results changed but the way one parent yelled you would have thought we had committed treason. He tried to yell at me, actually he did, but I gave him my grumpy look and he quit. There wasn't anything I could do about it anyway. He decided to leave me alone and "take it up with the race officials."

The Junior High race was followed by the varsity girls race. I was stationed near the first corner after the start so I am supposed to make sure fans don't get in the way and that the runners follow the right line. After the start I move over a few yards to make sure people leave a clear lane along the woods. As the girls came up the hill it was interesting to hear the mothers (i assume they were mothers) yell "words of encouragement" to their daughters. "How could you let that big girl get ahead of you?" "Go faster, go faster" they screamed as loud as they could. What was humorous was when the moms who were at least 100 lbs overweight tried to run along side their kid hollering, "run, run..." Usually after taking five steps, or nearly falling up the hill, they stopped, and either expressed their satisfaction or disgust with their daughter's increased effort, or seeming inability to try harder. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do cpr on any of them. Thinking about it, maybe it was more of a mother-daughter thing, since the races for the boys seemed much calmer. The fathers were just more inclined to shake their heads if their kid wasn't doing as well as expected.

U.S. Men's soccer

2009-09-06T14:52:00.002-05:00

Last night I watched the US play El Salvador in a World Cup qualifier. The US won 2-1 plus they had a goal called back after an extremely puzzling call by the official so it could have been 3-1. Unfortunately, the score could have just as easily been 2-2 or 2-3.

When Donavon, Altidore, Davies and others are passing and making good runs they can be an exciting team. But for the most part I find them to be extremely frustrating to watch. In the first half the US midfield and back line would give Salvador too much space in the midfield. In one sequence the Salvadoran player dribbled 30 plus yards down the middle of the field before anybody decided it might be good to challenge him. When a defender finally challenged him the guy made a good pass putting even more pressure on the defense. Fortunately from the US perspective, the guy who received the pass didn't have the best touch on the ball and a US defender cleared the ball off the eighteen.

The extremely frustrating part of the game to watch was the second half when the US seemed content to piddle around and "protect" their lead. Instead of possessing the ball and pushing forward they seemed perfectly happy to make two or three passes in the midfield before one of the players would make either a bad pass or lose possession. Dempsey played around with ball, drew defenders, and would then lose possession. Instead of working to get the ball back he would act like he was fouled and then whine when the official didn't make the call (because there was no call to make) El Salvador got off at least two good shots after picking up a loose balls in the midfield.

I tell my players, especially the forwards and midfielders that nothing frustrates me more than a player who loses possession in the midfield and then stands there watching the action, or worse yet, acts like he got fouled. I can live with losing possession because it happens, even to the best of players. But if you lose the ball, you better bust your butt to at least make an attempt to pressure the ball. I've seen way too many goals scored because a forward lost possession, the other team counters, and the guy who lost the ball does nothing. Those are the goals you can see coming. The forward loses the ball, the midfielder is slow to get back, and the defender is caught out of position. The goalie, who has been left hanging, is forced to make a great save to keep the ball out of the net.

I will continue to watch, but if the team is going to qualify for the World Cup and move out of pool play they are going to have to improve their midfield play significantly and tighten up the defense.

So much for my humble analysis.

Vietnam Memorial and a WWII vet

2009-08-19T21:21:00.000-05:00

School is underway and I survived the senior class trip to Washington D.C. Being from a place like Iowa, there seems to be a strange compulsion to speak to other people you think may also be from Iowa. One evening we dropped the students off at the Lincoln Memorial with a map which showed the locations of the other memorials. They were to meet the bus in two hours at the Jefferson Memorial. It is somewhat surprising how many get lost between the two locations but we did manage to collect all of them before heading back to the hotel.

I was curious to see how the kids reacted to seeing the Vietnam Memorial, plus I was tired, so I sat on a bench where I could see them as they walked towards the giant tombstone. Most of the kids seemed to be sobered by the site and walked slowly by the names.

In the meantime there were quite a few old guys going by. Some were in wheel chairs, many had canes, but they were all wearing yellow t-shirts which said something about being WWII vets. Most had name tags which indicated they were from Iowa. One of the old guys sat at the other end of the bench I was on and asked if I was from DC. I told him I was from Iowa with a group of school kids. I asked where he was from and he said Altoona, in central Iowa. I told him I was from the Kalona area and he said he remembered playing them in basketball when he was in high school. He remembered there were three Gingerich's on the Kalona team, and three Kemp's on the Conesville team he played for. I asked where he served in WWII and he rattled off the names of several islands including Okinawa. I mentioned that from what I had read, Okinawa experienced some major battles. His response was "it was ugly, there was nothing good about it." He was part of group of Iowa veterans, Hy-Vee took to DC for a day to see the WWII monument (before they die).

After WWII he made a career out of the Marines. He served in Korea and then trained men going through basic training on their way to Vietnam. He said he hated reading Leatherneck magazine every month because they listed all the Marines killed the previous month and "it tore me up when I saw a kid I had trained."

He had three names he wanted to find on the wall, one he had named his son after, the other he described as his best friend. He knew which panels to look for but was having a little trouble, so I tagged along and helped him find the names. He kept repeating, "its a shame these men died." When we found the names he cried and after the last one, his best friend, he walked away.

I've been reading David Halberstam's "The Best and the Brightest" and didn't have the heart to tell the old guy that he was right - it was a shame 70,000 US men had to die in Vietnam, let alone the 2 million plus Vietnamese thought to have been killed. Halberstam describes what happens when men who think they are smarter than everyone else, and have no sense of humility or history, try to run a war. It is sad story full of misperceptions, mistakes, arrogance and foolishness. In my understanding McNamara's book confirms much of Halberstam's analysis. It was a war which didn't need to happen and shouldn't have happened.

When I walked back, I noticed the old guy was sitting on the bench so I stopped and thanked him for letting me tag along. He wished me well, and said, "tell those kids you're teaching, that this isn't worth it. I wish they'd never have to build another one of these." Its too bad we are probably well on our way to doing so. And its tragic that so many people still look at war as a glorious thing.

sweet corn

2009-08-08T20:38:00.004-05:00

It is sweet corn season here in the middle of the cornfields. These are two ears of the corn brought to us by a family at the church where my wife was the pastor. They picked the corn at 9 or 10 in the morning and I ate these two for supper around 6 pm. Covered with butter and salt, I'm not sure there is anything much better tasting.

Folks who aren't from around here are sometimes surprised to find out that most of the corn grown in Iowa is not meant for human consumption. It finds its way into pigs, turkeys, cattle and other livestock. A lot is turned into sweeteners and used for such things as pop, or soda, and therefore gets blamed for adding to the obesity problems faced by many Americans. Some is turned into ethanol and added to gasoline to help fuel our cars.

But as far as I know sweet corn is grown to be eaten by humans. We gave up trying to grow it in our backyard garden because it never seemed to do well, it took up lots of garden space, and the one year it did do well we had a lot of raccoons visit. Not only did they help themselves to the corn, they also ate the other vegetables and tried to take up residence in our shed.

Eating sweetcorn is not something you necessarily want to see other people do. Some people munch through a whole row without stopping, some spin the ear of corn as they eat, some try to be dainty and neat but at least at our house that never seems to work. Having a beard allows me to taste the mixture of corn, butter and salt for some time afterward, as the melting butter tends to drip into my beard as I eat. A good face washing is required to clean my face as a napkin doesn't clean the mess well at all.

Some people freeze corn, or can some, but we are content to have enough to eat for several meals. We also like to let two or three ears dry. After the kernels are dry you can add them to the popcorn popper with some popcorn. The kernels get crunchy and add to the popcorn eating experience.

So here's to sweet corn. A little bit of golden delight in the middle of an Iowa summer.

lessons from Vietnam

2009-07-21T20:44:00.005-05:00

The other week Robert S. McNamara, "the architect of the Vietnam War" died. A couple NPR programs played excerpts of interviews he did after he wrote In Retrospect:The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. The local library had a copy so I checked it out. It was interesting thought-provoking book. At the end McNamara offered eleven "Lessons of Vietnam" which I thought were helpful reminders. Needless to say I don't think President Bush or V-P Cheney read the book, and I wish President Obama would read it before he sends more troops to Afghanistan.

The lessons
1. "We misjudged then-as we have since-the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries...and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions." [Does Saddam Hussein and his supposed weapons of mass destruction come to mind?]

2. "We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience....We totally misjudged the political forces within the country?"

3. "We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people...to fight and die for their beliefs and values-and we continue to do so today in many parts of the world."

4. "Our misjudgments of friend and foe alike reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders." McNamara explains how at the time there were numerous US officials with a strong understanding of the Soviet Union but there were no senior officials with expertise in Southeast Asia. I think the same could be said of the middle east. [In a Washington Post article from October 16, 2005 there were only eight people in the U.S. diplomatic corps "fluent at the highest levels" of Arabic. http:www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101500104.html)
Another interesting article which comments on Bush's ignorance of the middle east (what is the difference between a Sunni and a Shi'a?) is at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/bazzi.

5. "We failed then-as we have since-to recognize the limitations of modern, high-technology military equipment, forces and doctrine in confronting unconventional, highly motivated people's movements. We failed as well to adapt our military tactics to the task of winning the hearts and minds of people from a totally different culture." [I've watched enough documentaries and film clips of the military in action to understand that while some of the soldiers may be doing good things, getting forced off the road or shot at by a U.S. military convoy, doesn't do much to win "hearts and minds." [Throughout his book, McNamara relates the heavy reliance on bombing Vietnam, even after in his analysis it was no longer effective. Instead, they kept bombing to avoid the appearance of being weak.]

6. " We failed to draw Congress and the American people into a full and frank discussion and debate of the pros and cons of a large scale U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia before we initiated the action." [Instead we were told to trust our leaders, that to question policy was to raise questions about one's patriotism, and in any case, the people of Iraq would welcome us as liberators, and it would all be over in six months.]

7. " After action got under way and unanticipated events forced us off our planned course, we failed to retain popular support in part because we did not explain fully what was happening and why we were doing what we did...." [see above- instead value secrecy, raise questions about critics loyalty or otherwise discredit critics.]

8. " We did not recognize that neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient.... We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our own image or as we choose. [We just had a leader who claimed God told him what to do.]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/07/iraq.usa

9. "We did not hold to the principle that U.S. military action-other than in response to direct threats to our own security- should be carried out only conjunction with multinational forces supported fully (and not merely cosmetically) by the international community."

10. "We failed to recognize that in international affairs, as in other aspects of life, there may be problems for which there are no immediate solutions."

11. McNamara argues that the administrations he served did not organize structurally in a way to deal effectively deal with Vietnam over the long term.

There is one more which too many people forget, "Wars generate their own momentum and follow the law of unanticipated consequences." (p. 174)

A couple of other things which seemed evident as I read the book. There was little to no diversity among the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. The advisers were all white males, most of whom graduated from Harvard. McNamara discusses their common experiences of growing up during the Depression, involvement in World War II, and of course their education. My guess is that thinking outside of the box wasn't highly valued, even if any of them were capable of doing so. McNamara and the others seemed trapped by their worldview where every world event was seen through the lens of the Cold War. In the end, if you want to understand the Vietnam war from the perspective of a man who helped plan much of it, this would be a good book to read.

ain't this country grand

2009-07-04T00:15:00.005-05:00

This past month new neighbors moved into the two trailers across the street. The guy who owns them lives nearby and given the condition they appear to be in it shouldn't be a surprise that we have seen quite a few people move in and then out a few months later. Some we have gotten to know, but most seem content to be inside most of the time so we don't get to know them. The other day when I got home I noticed both trailers had flags displayed which isn't all that unusual in Wellman, particularly from Memorial Day through July 4th.

I wasn't in Boy Scouts long, (which is another story) but I did make it through the section on flag etiquette before nearly everyone in our Boy Scout troop was asked to leave. I also had to remember during our ten years in Philadelphia that the only time we usually saw a lot of flags was when we went to Center City. You might see an occasional flag in our old neighborhood but not often. When you drove to wealthier neighborhoods like Chestnut Hill or out on the Main Line, you weren't likely to see many on display.

So there is part of me which wonders why people living in what most people would describe as "not the greatest housing," would be so moved that they would hang flags off their decks. Have they fulfilled the American Dream by having a place of their own in which to live? If you look closely the one picture shows the fishing boat parked nearby, and a Blazer type vehicle. What is missing is the large pickup with a hole somewhere in the exhaust system. Based on my experience with our little S-10 the hole is in the catalytic converter.

At the same time this week the press carried stories about Bernard Madhoff being sentenced and his wife being "allowed to keep 2.5 million" for her living expenses. Michael Jackson died and while some reports are saying he was 400 million in debt, his assets will be worth much more, especially now that he has died. Given this countries values which say all men are created equal, why do some of us end up living in New York penthouses, private estates, or a rented trailer. I know the arguments about "equality of opportunity" and all the rags to riches stories, and the "pull yourself up by the bootstrap" advice, but in reality the vast majority of Americans end up in the same financial or social status as their parents, or perhaps a bit better or worse. Yet we all buy into the patriotism.

So on the 4th we will go watch the parade and celebrate what a great country we live in- a country where millions can't afford health care, where the unemployment rate is climbing, where college kids graduate with huge debts and face limited employment opportunities- we will hear talk about living in the home of the free and the brave and I wonder.

2009-06-28T23:25:00.002-05:00

This past week a well known Iowa high school football coach was shot and killed by a former player. What I found interesting was a quote in the local paper which said, "God always has a reason," as if God was somehow at fault. Nobody seems to suggest that perhaps guns are too readily available. Nobody seems to suggest that the young man who was arrested and who had a history of substance abuse and mental illness either did not or could not receive treatment for his addictions. Nobody suggested that it is entirely too easy for people with mental illness to get access to a gun. I don't want this to be seen as defending the young man's shooting of the coach because it is indefensible. What I wonder about is why people feel the need to suggest that God is somehow to blame since "God always has a reason." For what reason would God want this coach killed?

What I would suggest is that if people want to make sense of this tragedy they look at our societies obsession with guns, or they look at why people with mental illnesses or addiction issues can't get help outside of being arrested and getting involved in the criminal justice system. And more than likely any help obtained through the justice system is limited.

On the other side of this, in today's Gazette there was an article titled "Pastor invites churchgoers to bring guns to celebration." According to the article more than 200 people attended the service at a church in Kentucky to celebrate their second amendment rights. Another article said that New Jersey passed a law limiting a person to one gun purchase a month. So, is it any wonder gun deaths continue to increase in our country. In the meantime we can speculate about what reasons God might have for this tragedy and celebrate our second amendment rights all at the same time.

4th and 5th grade camp

2009-06-26T23:04:00.002-05:00

Back from a week at Crooked Creek Christian Camp where I was the "camp pastor" for the 4th and 5th grade camp. In spite of the heat, the bugs, and the storms the kids had a good time and seemed to enjoy themselves. Thought I would share a couple of happenings which I found interesting.

The theme for the week had to do with "reaching the promised land" so I told some stories from the Exodus. One morning I said something about reading other stories from the Old Testament
One young boy who seemed to take my little talks rather seriously, came to me that afternoon and said he had read the story of Noah and the ark. I asked what he thought and he said it was interesting and wondered what it would have been like to be on the ark. Then he added, "I read the part where Noah planted a vineyard, and then he got drunk, and then it got sort of gross cause it said he was naked." He started to ask a question, but I discovered this age group is easily distracted and he ran off to participate in the next activity. Frankly there are a lot of stories in the Bible which people find embarassing, though I guess it is helpful for moralistic Republicans who have "fallen into sin" to compare themselves to King David.

There was one young African-American boy at the camp which I imagine would be hard and so it was probably no surprise that he was homesick much of the week. He stuck it out and as the week went on he seemed to be enjoying himself. For the last evening meal of the week, the camp had a "mystery meal" where the counselors served the campers. The kids sat with their cabin mates and were supposed to have dressed up a bit. For most of the boys this meant clipping a tie onto their sweaty t-shirts. What I found interesting is that as I walked into the room, a table of boys invited me to sit at their table "so I could sit and eat with the President." I asked who was the President and they all pointed to the head of the table where the lone black young man was sitting with a big smile. I asked the rest of the boys, all white, who they were. They announced in unison, "we're his bodyguards." They decided I was someone important from some other country who was visiting for the evening. As we ate I wondered if something like this would have happened a year ago.

It just so happened I have been reading Barack Obama's book, Dreams of my Father, where he spends a lot of time talking about finding his place in society. It is an interesting book. As I read it I realized it is nice to have a President who can write so well and who has spent a lot of time thinking and reflecting about who he is, about society, and the problems much of US society faces. It will be interesting to see how former President Bush's book compares and to realize he will have at least one other person actually doing the writing.

I don't know what the boys in the camp thought about their place in society or matters of race. During the week they were more concerned about swimming times, which cabin would get to go first to lunch, and if their cabin would "win" even if there wasn't a competition at the moment. Perhaps that is a good sign for the future.

catching up

2009-06-16T23:05:00.002-05:00

Nearly two months since I've sat down and added anything to this. Soccer season, the son's graduation from college, the end of the school year along with graduation are the primary culprits. The season ended with a 13-3 record and a loss in the substate game to the team which went on to win the championship. Graduation went well. I did foil a prank which was both sort of fun, but also frustrating since it made extra work for me. Plus I had warned some of the soccer players to not do anything stupid but the yahoo's chose to ignore that advice.

Yesterday I rode the train from Chicago to Mt. Pleasant. Though we were about an hour late I found it to be a rather pleasant way to travel. The seats were comfortable, there was plenty of leg room, and with the gentle rocking of the train it was easy to fall asleep. There is some talk of opening a line from Chicago to Des Moines with a stop in Iowa City. Rather than to continue to add lanes to Interstate 80, it would seem to make sense to improve the rail line so people could travel with out their cars. With gas prices on the rise again it makes even more sense.

If anybody from afar misses Wellman I discovered you can go to Google Maps, type in Wellman, Iowa, then if you click on "street scene" you can "drive through town" on highway 22. You can also take a look at houses along the way meaning you can see portions of our back yard. When I did this I realized how depressing Wellman probably looks to people who are driving through for the first time.

church issues

2009-04-19T17:25:00.003-05:00

This morning during the church service (I don't think I can call it worship) the pastor did his standard introductory sermon to his regular sermon. He shared two lists which I found sort of interesting. He talked about hearing college age students talk about issues they are concerned with. He apparently asked them what issues their churches discuss and talk about. I don't know who these young people were, but this was the first list he shared. He titled it "Issues churches deal with according to young people." These were free will v predestination, which version of the Bible to use, style of music, length of the church service and sermon, and how often to have communion.

The next list was titled "Life issues of College Age Students." These included racism, the environment, energy conservation, war and gun violence, world hunger and population, alcohol and drug use, parent's divorce, finding and job and paying for college, finding a sense of community and the impacts of the latest technology.

As you can see there aren't many similarities between the two lists which leads to questions about if the church should be addressing these issues and if so, how should they be addressed. Unfortunately, one of the problems is that if the issues above are mentioned, you will generally get tagged with the "liberal" label, which here in the cornfields, isn't generally seen as a good thing. Trust me on that. The other problem is that at least one of the issues above can not be talked about honestly and that is the use of alcohol. The "official" line is that alcohol is bad and shouldn't be touched. There is an old joke that if you don't want a Mennonite to drink all your beer, make sure you invite at least two, then you will have it all to yourself.

The other interesting observation is to note what issues did not make the second list. Notably absent are issues of sexuality (including homosexuality) and abortion, issues which older people assume younger ones should care about but apparently don't.

From this introduction the pastor went into his main sermon based on Jesus calling the disciples. The focus was on the "call" and "making a decision to respond to the call." Yesterday was a long day, and I have to admit I think I dozed off a bit.

As I thought about church, I have to say I don't hear much discussion about issues on the first list which I suppose is a good thing. Still I think there is "an understanding" that good Christians read from the NIV, listen to Christian radio, have read the Left Behind series, and are content to sit through long sermons.

Sadly, I don't hear much discussion at church about the second list either, though at least once a month we hear something about the evils of alcohol. Issues I have heard discussed to some degree are - evolution (bad), six-day creation, 6,000 year old earth (good), dinosaurs on the ark (just plain sad), gun control (ain't nobody gonna take my shotgun away), taxes (bad), ethanol (good if you raise corn, not so good if you don't), Cubs or Cardinals (there is a real divide in the congregation), Hawkeye sports (Ferentz- good, Licklitter-give him another year) and the weather. In reality there don't seem to be good places at church where issues on the second list can be discussed. There seems to be a tendency to avoid bringing up issues which may cause conflict so it is easier to assume everyone agrees and the issue doesn't need to be mentioned. Or if someone does bring something up people won't respond directly to the person involved.
For example, there were those who didn't appreciate the trip I took to the West Bank with a Christian Peacemaker Team, but I didn't find this out till later, and then only indirectly. They apparently didn't want to hurt my feelings.

So why do I keep going back? I have to admit that it isn't for the Sunday morning service. If anything it is because of the people in the Sunday School class I attend, along with some of the other people at church. The class is a place where lots of issues are discussed and to use a phrase from the second list, I "find a sense of community."

To bring this to an end, it may be one reason some students are eager to discuss these issues at school. It just gets tricky when after a discussion, a student asks me directly, "what do you think?" Sometimes I'm saved by the bell, sometimes I respond with more questions for them, orsometimes a story. Occasionally I say what I think and then wonder how many calls or emails I will receive.

Gay marriage in Iowa

2009-04-17T22:22:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a state law which banned marriage between two men or two women. I planned to write something about this earlier, closer to the April 3 date the ruling was made but soccer games started and there were other things to do. In the meantime I read the Supreme Court decision, something I would recommend that everyone do, regardless of their position on the issue. You can find it at:
http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/Supreme_Court/Recent_Opinions/20090403/07-1499.pdf

The reactions have been interesting. Some folks I know are appalled, embarrassed to be from Iowa, and certain that marriages in Iowa will be damaged by the change in the law. Friends from our days in Germantown think it is wonderful. In their view, Iowa went from being a backwards place they flew over on their way to California, to a progressive place at the forefront of social change.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. The first day county recorders can issue marriage licenses to gay couples is April 24, meaning the first weddings would be April 27. Those opposed to the ruling have shifted from trying to get the state legislature to vote on the issue while they are still in session to trying to encourage county recorders to break the law and not issue licenses. In the first week after the ruling, we got several auto calls encouraging us to contact our state legislator to encourage him to allow a vote on the issue. Those calls ended when my wife answered the phone, a live person, instead of a tape, started in with the message, my wife interrupted and told them to quit calling. It had been a stressful week at our house.

I found the reaction of my students to be interesting as well. I figured most of them would think it was wrong, which a number of them did. But the prevailing opinion could be summed up with the phrase, "who cares," or maybe, "what's the big deal?" I don't think this attitude was just a manifestation of the general apathy high school students can sometimes exhibit. Instead most don't seem to find homosexuality to be that big of deal.

One of the other things I have found interesting are those people who are arguing that the Iowa Supreme Court has somehow overstepped its duties and roles. The court was asked to determine if the Iowa statute passed a couple of years ago banning gay marriage violated the clause in the Iowa Constitution which says that all people are equal and deserve the equal protection" of the law. Letters to the Editor are filled with complaints that the court overturned a law passed by the legislature, because "no one voted on it." If the folks complaining had been paying attention in government class, they would know that is exactly what the Supreme Court is there for, to overturn laws passed by the legislature which are deemed to violate the Constitution. There seems to be this sense that if something is popular enough, it doesn't matter if it is unconstitutional. Fortunately for those in minority groups or minority positions, constitutionality is not determined by popularity, it is determined by a careful analysis of the law in question and its relationship to the Constitution.

Markham and Community Mennonite Church

2009-04-01T21:36:00.003-05:00

I left the cornfields of Iowa to spend a few days on interterm, a time when teachers take small groups of students for a week of nontraditional classes in nontraditional settings. Because I can drive the bus, four years ago I was given the assignment of taking a group to Chicago. One group went to north Chicago to a place called Jesus People, while I took a group to Markham, a southern suburb of Chicago.

We stayed and worked at the Community Mennonite Church located on Kedzie Ave. This year the new co-pastor, Cyneatha Millsaps spent quite a bit of time talking with the students trying to help them understand poverty and something of the Markham neighborhood. She did an excellent job of answering their questions and providing some valuable insights about what it means to be an African-American living in a poor neighborhood. The students spent one day working at a nearby daycare which was a highlight for most, and one day cleaning, painting, and staining. The kids worked hard and seemed to have a good time.

It was interesting to read some of their comments when I had them fill out an evaluation form. Some wrote about "no longer being as afraid of Black people," a couple said they enjoyed being in a larger, more diverse area, one wrote about her initial fear of interacting with some of the youth from the church, but then realizing they weren't that much different. It was helpful for me to read these since I sometimes wonder about the value of taking kids into places like Markham. Some of that stems from my days in Philadelphia when I was on the receiving end of "service groups" which wanted to help. It often seemed as if such groups created more work for me, without making much of an impact on the kids.

Visiting Markham generally makes me a bit nostalgic for the years we lived in Philadelphia. The last part of our time there we were the only white folks living on East Pastorius St. in a neighborhood which definately struggled with poverty. It was easy to see many problems and not difficult to find ways to try to address some of the needs which were evident.

Returning to the cornfields does not mean a return to an idylic setting. There is poverty, certainly less than a place like Markham, but still it is poverty, along with a variety of social problems in the area. It is much less visible and people are reluctant to admit they need help, but there is need. Maybe if I have time this weekend I will try and find some stats to back up this assertion- or maybe I will need to change the assertion.

In any case the trip to Markham and Community Mennonite Church seemed to be time well spent, at least for the group of ten kids who went with me this year.

the death penalty?

2009-03-17T23:40:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley suggested the executives of AIG who drove the company into near bankruptcy and the need for government bailouts, should "take a deep bow, apologize, and then either resign or commit suicide.

Last week a student asked what I thought should happen to Bernard Madoff who ran a Ponzi scheme which defrauded investors of 60 to 70 billion dollars, helping to create, or at least add to the current economic crisis. Honestly I don't know what should happen to him. He is 70 years old, so sentencing him to 150 years in prison doesn't seem all that helpful. But the question got me to thinking.

There is an old Pete Seeger, or maybe it is a Woody Guthrie, song where he says if you are going to rob a bank it is better to do it with a fountain pen then a gun. People who embezzle from banks usually steal a lot more money than your typical bank robber, and they generally do less prison time when they are caught. Bernard Madhoff is a theif who stole peoples money, a lot of money, with a "fountain pen," not a gun.

I believe the death penalty is wrong, but since our country uses it, why not use it on someone like Madoff. Take him to Wall Street and have a firing squad put a bullet or two in his head. If people who support the death penalty are correct that it is a deterrant, what better way to clean up the economic shennanigans on Wall Street then executing Madoff, a couple of AIG executives, along with someone from Bear Sterns, Merril Lynch, and Wachovia. When I suggested this to one class, one which includes several kids who believe the death penalty is a good thing, they argued that Madoff and the others "didn't hurt anyone." I asked what about those folks who lost all their investment or retirement funds, and the answer was, "he didn't take it by force," taking us back to the fountain pen approach to theivery. The kids seemed quite all right putting someone to death who used force to hurt someone, or someone who did something "really perverted." But, as they said, Madoff "only took people's moneyand he didn't threaten them."

So the old folk song is still valid. Steal money, lots of it, without using force and you do some time in jail. Use a gun or force, and spend the rest of your life in jail.

economics and Zacchaeuss

2009-02-08T01:17:00.002-06:00

Back from driving the girls basketball team to their last game of their regular season. It was a fairly miserable game due in large part to this being the girls fourth game in five nights and the hour and a half bus ride to Danville. Since I was there anyway I was recruited to "keep the book." Each team has an official bookkeeper to keep track of the scores, fouls, timeouts - all the stuff which comes with a sport which in my opinion is over coached. The highlight of the evening for some of the girls was stopping at Pizza Hut in Mt. Pleasant rather than McDonalds after the game. The "highlight" for me was having my temporary bridge crack and fall off. Fortunately I found all the pieces before I swallowed.

What I had intended to write about was based on something I read this morning (actually Saturday morning as it is now early into Sunday morning) For Christmas my wife gave me a book titled "Take our Moments and Our Days: An Anabaptist Prayerbook" I have been trying to use it at least once a day since then. It is written to be used twice a day, but I just go in order and don't pay much attention to the day listed in the reading. What I read this morning focused on the beatitude, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." For the New Testament scripture it used the story of Zacchaeuss. What struck me was the response of Zacchaeuss. "look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."

This past week students have asked if we are in a Depression, why is the economy so bad, and occasionaly, what do I think should be tried to fix the economy. A year or so ago the media began to write about banks failing, mortgage companies failing and insurance companies going broke. We also began to hear about bad loans, "creative financial instruments" the bundling and marketing of loans and mortgages, along with lavish salaries and bonuses. Even after the bailout, the executives of some of the bankrupt companies were being paid huge bonuses.

After reading the Zacchaeus story I got to wondering what would happen if Jesus showed up at the home of a Wall St. executive. I doubt the guy would say, "half my possessons Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone I will pay back four times as much." From what I read and hear, the Wall Street guy would tell Jesus, "You know I made a lot of money for my company, besides I worked hard for my income, bonus, and stock options. There just aren't that many Harvard and Yale graduates who understand the sophisticated financial and marketing tools I created and was using." I deserve my bonus, and if you dare to cap my salary at 500,000, I'll call you a socialist and a communist. Then I will find work for a company which truley appreciates my unique talents and won't be afraid to pay me at least one million per year plus the bonuses I deserve."
"Zacchaeuss said, if I defrauded anyone I will pay him back four times as much."

The Wall St guy- "That is socialism, pure and simple. The story incites class warfare, besides, the wealthy have worked hard for their money. It wouldn't be fair to expect us to to give away half our possesions, or to pay back 4 x what we had taken. "

It is late and it is hard for me to feel creative. Needless to say, I don't think Zacchaess's response to Jesus would go over well in the corporate world these days in spite of some of the religious platitudes about wealth being a blessing from God, that rich people like to spew.

As I read the latest financial news, especially the parts about how the intellectuals at Harvard and Yale, have messed things up, and how some hope to stimulate the economy I will try to keep that image of Zacchaeus in my mind. And I will hear him say, "half my possessions I will give to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone I will pay them back four times what they owed. When I hear one of the Wall St types, or one of the politicians say something similar to what Zaccheaus said, maybe then we have a person we can trust.

mlk day, obama and sharing at Iowa Mennonite

2009-01-19T20:04:00.005-06:00

I was asked to share briefly in chapel today to provide some context for the excitement surrounding President Obama's inauguration. Here is what I shared, with a few minor changes.

"America is a dream,
The poet says it was promises.
The people say it is promises-that will come true.
The people do not always say things out loud,
Nor write them down on paper.
The people often hold
Great thoughts in their deepest hearts
And sometimes only blunderingly express them,
Haltingly and stumblinly say them,
And faultily put them into practice.
The people do not always understand each other.
But there is, somewhere there,
Always the trying to understand,
And the trying to say,
'You are a man. Together we our building our land.'"
from Freedoms Plow by Langston Hughes

As I watched several news programs yesterday it became clear that this year MLK day is linked with the inauguration of Barack Obama as our nations forty-fourth President. The reasons for this are probably obvious to most. Today, we have seen and heard some of Dr. King's words. For you young people I want to provide just a bit of context for why the two events are linked. Why yesterday it was not unusual to see a tear in the eyes of reporters or to hear a catch in the voice of commentators as they tried to describe the significance of this weeks events.

Our country was born of contradictions. Lofty ideals of freedom, equality and justice were not evident in the treatment of African Americans, indigineous peoples, and women. 230 some years ago the Declaration of Independence held forth this bold principle, "that all men are created equal." Yet the man who wrote those words owned slaves. Eighty years later, when the Civil War began there were some 4 million people living in slavery in the United States. At the wars end, they were freed, but most faced overt racism, discrimination and lives of poverty. A black man could be lynched, as hundreds were, for no good reason. In his poem, "Let America Be America again," Langston Hughes points out this contradiction when he writes,

"O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Hughes

In his 1963 speech given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King shared his dream, "deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of tis creed-we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

In his poem, Harlem, Hughes, asks, "What happens to a dream deferred?" Kings dream that "little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers," was deferred, left to rot and fester. In much of the United States, black children still could not go to school with white children, hotels and restaurants hung signs which said "whites only," blacks were prevented from voting and faced discrimination throughout society.

Though attacked by his detractors as a trouble maker, a communist and unpatriotic, throughout his writings, King called the United States to live up to the ideals it had expressed in its founding documents. His writings can exhibit a patriotic fervor which at times makes this Mennonite a bit nervous. King also invited all peoples to participate in his efforts to promote the spread of human dignity and freedom, much as I think Obama has done. In this they are similar to the best of our leaders and politicians who have inspired us to accomplish tasks we felt were impossible to achieve.

"O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again."
Hughes

In calling the nation to live up to its ideals, King and Obama draw from a long tradition within the African-American community that has been able to see in ways that most of us have not, that America has not lived up to its ideals, and in doing this they have called us to be a better place.

"Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!"
Hughes

So today and tomorrow, whether you like President Obama or not, realize that it is a historic occasion. An African American family will be living in the White House. The same White House that was built by slaves, the White House where Teddy Roosevelt was rebuked for inviting Booker T Washington to dinner, the same White House where for much of our nations history, it meant that if you were black and in the White House, you were probably a butler, a cook or a cleaner.

Realize that for those who confronted the evils of racism, those who faced the fire hoses, attack dogs and billy clubs wielded by the white establishment; realize that for those who suffered daily from racism and discrimination, realize that tomorrow is a symbol that the dream is no longer being deferred. The dream is no longer festering or threatening to explode.

If I were asked to write something for the inauguration speech I would want to refer to the end of Langston Hughes poem, "Freedoms Plow."

"A long time ago,
An enslaved people heading toward freedom
Made up a song:
Keep Your Hand On the Plow! Hold On!
The plow plowed a new furrow
Across the field of history,
Into that furrow the freedom seed was dropped.
From that seed a tree grew, is growing, will ever grow.
That tree is for everybody,
For all America, for all the world.
May its branches spread and shelter grow
Until all races and peoples know its shade.
KEEP YOUR HAND ON THE PLOW! HOLD ON!
Hughes

May the words, the work and the dreams of King inspire us to keep our hands on the plow and to hold on.

marcus

Bill Moyer's on Israel and Gaza

2009-01-11T19:39:00.007-06:00

A cousin pointed out this video to me from Bill Moyer's Journal. I missed it Friday night because I was asked to fill in to drive the bus. The commentary along with the images are powerful and I wish more people would see what he has to say. Unfortunately Moyer is not one of those television pundits who will yell, berate or humiliate his guests, or go for the easy joke. Anyway, I hope I enclosed the link correctly. I didn't do it right the first time - I'll try again. I'm not figuring this out and I need to do some other things. Here is a link where you can see the segment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Zunx_goz4

Gaza

2009-01-04T00:37:00.003-06:00

A couple of folks have asked what I think about what is going on in Gaza. So, this is my opinion coming as it does, from the middle of a cornfield.

Gaza is the small strip of land towards the southern end of Israel. It is home to approximately 1.5 million Palestinians. From what I read in news accounts, access to Gaza is controlled primarily by Israel though there is one border crossing under Egyptian control. Israel controls the electricity, gas and many of the other items considered to be essential by most people. I have heard the area described as a large prison though perhaps "reservation" might be a more appropriate term. In the past year I have met Palestinians in Iowa City who cannot return home to visit their families in Gaza because they are certain one of two things would happen. Either Israel would not let them enter Gaza and they might be detained, or they would be allowed into Gaza, but would never receive permission to leave to return to Iowa City to continue their studies.

The area has been controlled by Hamas since they won elections held in 2006. Hamas is generally described by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. When I visited the West Bank, we learned that Hamas has also worked to provide basic social services to Palestinians, one of the reasons they have been able to create and maintain political support. We were also told many times that most Palestinians did not want to hold elections in 2006, but did so at the insistence of the Bush administration. When Hamas won, seemingly surprising Bush and Condeleeza Rice, the U.S. government refused to recognize Hamas, making the U.S. look like hypocrites in the eyes of many Palestinians. "You force us to have elections, then refuse to accept who we choose and you call this democracy?" ( I didn't have the heart to explain the 2000 election, the electoral college, or the supreme courts intervention)

So you have a situation where 1.5 million Palestinians are kept as virtual prisoners and where according to Time magazine unemployment in Gaza is 49%. Is it any wonder there is frustration, bitterness, and the desire to strike at those who keep you oppressed? Since 2004 Hamas has chosen to launch homemade rockets into nearby Israeli settlements, killing 23 Israeli citizens. Just in case any one might be confused, I do not condone violence, or in this case shooting missiles, especially at civilians, but I think I can understand why some Palestinians might want to shoot off rockets hoping to hit Israeli's.

Unfortunately when a group resorts to violence, a violent action often results. Last week Israel began bombing sites in Gaza and today they sent in ground troops. The death toll quickly mounted as Palestinians died in the bombings. Today the number of Palestinian deaths over the last week reached the 500 mark. Four Israeli's have died this week as a result of rockets fired by Palestinians.

It is frustrating to hear President Bush lay the blame for this weeks actions squarely on Hamas. Today the U.S. made it even worse, rejecting a UN vote/plan to encourage a ceasefire. It seems odd to me that the Palestinians, the weakest of the groups in this conflict are blamed for causing the violence. It is like blaming African-Americans for causing trouble during the Civil Rights movement, or criticizing Native Americans for the violence which resulted in their deaths or forced removal to reservations.

It is frustrating to know that planes and helicopters produced in the U.S. and paid for with U.S. tax dollars are being used to drop bombs or to fire rockets into Gaza.
It is frustrating to read the celebratory articles proclaiming the death of an Hamas leader in big headlines, and then to read, in small print that the bomb killed eighteen others including his young daughters.

It also brings to mind another question people often asked me after my CPT trip. Are there any Palestinians who are pacifists? The answer is yes, there are many Palestinians who practice nonviolence every day, but like most humans, the vast majority see violence as quick, efficient, and the only way to deal with problems. The U.S. certainly has no business talking to Palestinians about nonviolence. The US has already claimed control of the hypocritical high ground.

Still, I wonder what would happen if a Palestinian leader could lead a mass nonviolent movement similar to the way Gandhi did in India. Even though the rockets fired by Hamas are inaccurate and rarely deadly, they are violent and the Palestinians lose the moral high ground they might otherwise easily claim. If Palestinian protests in Gaza had been completely nonviolent I think it would have been difficult, if not impossible for Israel to respond militarily. In fact, I think they would struggle with how to respond to a mass nonviolent movement. The British struggled during the Indian independence movement. State and local governments throughout the south weren't sure how to respond when African-Americans held nonviolent protests and actions.

It would be nice to see the U.S take the lead to bring about a peaceful resolution to the situation, however I don't see that happening any time soon. President Bush is in "coasting mode" and he has yet to say no to anything Israel wants or does and I don't expect him to change now. It would be nice to hear something from Obama but then there isn't much he can do until after inauguration. Even then, my guess is that he has other issues he would prefer to focus on first as he begins his presidential term.

Christmas letter 2008

2008-12-26T16:06:00.002-06:00

This is the letter being sent out this year. The wife insists this is not the "official" way to do this. For it to be official she says it has to be accompanied by a card, in an envelope, preferably with a stamp, though for some family members she is willing to make the stamp optional. So for the unofficial version continue reading.

Christmas letter 2008

The year started off with a fall. Walking to the post office during the last week of December, Beth slipped on a patch of ice, fell, and broke the bones in her lower left leg. The next Sunday she led her last service as the pastor of the English River Church of the Brethren from a wheelchair. She spent most of the next four months sitting, letting her leg heal and trying to figure out what she should do next. A broken leg, lupus, and crutches do not make for a good combination. We are grateful and friends and family who helped make this time easier.

This year we both turned 50 and we celebrated our 30th anniversary. Since we made it together this long we decided to try something different. In August, Beth moved to Elkhart, Indiana where she began working on an M.Div. at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries. Since I couldn't find work in northern Indiana, I stayed in Iowa where I continue to teach and coach at Iowa Mennonite School. It has been interesting to live by myself for the first time. Once Beth got over the jitters of being an older student she realized she could do the required work and she seems to enjoy her classes and seminary life.

Dirk is in his senior year at Goshen College. He decided to spend the summer in Goshen where he spent most of the time working for the physical plant crew. Erin resigned from her job at the Mennonite Historical Library and moved to Indianapolis where she began working on her Masters in Library Science. It is always breathtaking to hear her discuss the latest intricacies in the world of library cataloguing.

This summer we attended a Peachey reunion in Belleville, Pennsylvania and took Beth's mother along for the ride. From there Beth and I drove to Philadelphia with a stop in Akron, to visit my brother, Ed's family. It was good to spend a couple of days in Philadelphia, visiting with friends, and exploring the city where we lived for ten years.

If all goes well, Beth will be at AMBS for two more years, Dirk will graduate and figure out somthing to do for work or service, Erin will recieve her MLS and find a library position, and as for me, I'll probably just keep plugging along.

Blessings to you all,
Marcus and Beth

Rosa Bonds, antidrug activist

2008-11-07T20:23:00.004-06:00

The other day I got an email from a friend in Philadelphia telling me Rosa Bonds had died. I thought I would put her obituary from the Philadelphia Inquirer on here because she was a rather interesting lady I had the chance to work with while we lived on Pastorius Street. Miss Rosa was one of those people who Obama described the other night in his speech as one of the many nameless people who work every day to make their neighborhood a better place.

I got to know Miss Rosa when a couple of us realized that along Germantown Avenue there was a neighborhood organization whose boundaries ended about five blocks north of the 6100 block of Germantown Ave. and another organization which ended about three blocks to the south of us. In that eight to nine block area there were four to five bars, numerous abandoned buildings, a couple of churches, a music school and a few businesses. We, two white guys, one from rural Indiana, and me from rural Iowa, got the bright idea that we should try to organize this area to see if we could get the city to pay some attention to the area and if we could help improve the area.

I talked with some of my neighbors and they thought it would be okay to try this so we knocked on doors, mailed invitations and had our first meeting. Miss Rosa was one of the foks who showed up and one of the few who didn't try to give us a hard time. After a couple of meetings it was to the point where some of the folks thought we needed to elect officers. Miss Rosa thought I should be the president but since I was one of about three white folks involved I figured it was best that she or someone else do it. At that point I didn't know about some of her other work but it seemed she was quite capable of leading any group that emerged from our meager efforts.

Over the next couple of years we organized a few street cleanings and did manage to get three of the nuisance bars closed. During the course of this Miss Rosa organized one of her anti drug activities. We set up our grills on the corner of Pastorius and Baynton Streets where lots of drug activity was taking place. We got a local store to donate some hot dogs and soda and had a little neighborhood party. We even had a local tv crew show up along with a few unhappy drug dealers and customers. It was one of the more memorable evenings during our time in the city.

So here's to Miss Rosa, a women who worked tirelessly to make her neighborhood and city a better place.

Rosa Bond, fearless anti-drug crusader

Posted on Tue, Oct. 28, 2008

By JOHN F. MORRISON
Philadelphia Daily News

morrisj@phillynews.com 215-854-5573

The senior citizens stood on street corners in East Germantown in all kinds of weather, sweating in the heat and shivering in the cold, for a just and dangerous cause: To chase away the drug dealers.

Their method was simply to find a corner where the dealers were operating and just stand there. These grandmothers and grandfathers took torrents of abuse and threats.

Sometimes they would bark back at the young punks, who needed selling room at a cherished corner. But mostly, the demonstrators just stood there while the dealers hid.

Possibly the most stalwart, and certainly the most defiant, was a feisty grandmother named Rosa Bonds.

"She had a mouth on her," said C.B. Kimmins, longtime drug crusader and a founder of Mantua Against Drugs. "I admired the daylights out of her."

Rosa died Oct. 14 at age 75. She lived in East Germantown.

In pursuit of her crusade, Rosa would hop into her battered old Chevy and drive herself and other demonstrators - and sometimes her grandkids - to the drug hangouts.

Former Inquirer columnist Steve Lopez wrote about Rosa and her cohorts: "Some young turk turning off Osceola Street onto Pastorius with that strut that says they aren't even there, that says they can't touch him. Nobody can touch him."

But Rosa was not intimidated. She raised her trusty megaphone and shouted: "Drug dealer! Drug dealer! Drug dealer!"

The 20-ish youth continued his cocky strut. She shouted again: "You can run but you can't hide! We charge you with genocide!"

In other confrontations, Rosa and the others simply ignored threats of violent death.

"I'm gonna go get my gun," a dealer would shout at her.

"Go ahead," she would reply. "Go get it." The gun never materialized.

The dealers took one look at this brazen grandmom and slithered away. Of course, they came back.

Steve Lopez wrote: "Rosa Bonds is on the megaphone at midnight, backed up by senior citizens fighting to save their homes. Just down the block, barely visible, the devil peeks around the corner."

Rosa was a founder and officer of East Germantown Against Drugs. Members wore white hats stenciled with the group's initials - EGAD.

Kimmins and his Mantua Against Drugs members would travel to East Germantown to stand with the seniors. "We stood out there in the cold. We told jokes, we talked to the neighbors," Kimmins said. "They told us, 'We never saw the block this quiet.' "

The grass-roots antidrug crusade in the city originated with the late Herman Wrice, who was fearless. He would go out with a sledgehammer and batter down the doors of drug dens.

Eventually, C.B. Kimmins and others sought him out and established Mantua Against Drugs. Rosa Bonds and her partners in East Germantown patterned their actions after the Mantua activists.

In 1990, Rosa, a staunch Republican (but later a Barack Obama supporter), ran unsuccessfully against Dave Richardson for the Pennsylvania House from the 201st District.

Rosa Bonds was born in Spartanburg, S.C. She attended school until the fifth grade in Asheville, N.C. After she arrived in Philadelphia as a girl, she graduated from William Penn High School and became a nurse's aide at Temple University Hospital and the American Oncological Hospital, now Fox Chase Cancer Center.

She also worked as a clerk for the city, in the old Philadelphia General Hospital and for the Department of Licenses & Inspections.

In 1952, she married George Bonds, who predeceased her.

She is survived by a daughter, Rosalind; four sons, Anor, George, Chester and William Sr., and nine grandchildren.

Barack Obama

2008-11-05T19:34:00.002-06:00

Yesterday the people of the United States elected Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States. He becomes the first African- American to be elected President and he won in a landslide. As I watched the election results and the scenes of people gathering in Grant Park in Chicago, at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, in Harlem, and outside the gates of the White House, I had to think of my old neighbor in the unit block of East Pastorius Street, Mrs. Rivers. Mrs Rivers and her husband lived in the house which shared a common wall, three bricks wide, with our house. In short we heard their arguments and they heard ours.

Once when I was in her house I noticed she had three pictures hanging on the wall above the mantel. In order, they were Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. When I asked why she had pictures of those three men, she looked at me and said something like, "They helped give me my freedom and dignity and I want to think of them everyday."

I don't know if Mrs. Rivers is still living or not but if she is I would bet that there is a fourth picture hanging on her wall today. I'm certain she would have a picture of Obama displayed and that she would be praying for him everday.

I hope Obama does well and that he has a successful presidency. As one of the pundits said last night, "he doesn't have a hard act to follow."

world series champions

2008-11-03T20:46:00.004-06:00

Growing up I never paid much attention to baseball. Baseball was Jack Brickhouse doing the play by play of Cubs games on tv Sunday afternoonst while dad slept on the couch covered by parts of the Sunday newspaper. If we dared to change the station we were invariably told loudly, "I was watching that." I never found the late 1960's Cubs to be all that entertaining. Later when I had a paper route and had some money I chose to spend some of it on football cards rather than the baseball variety.

I didn't begin paying attention to baseball until we spent the summer of 1979 in Philadelphia and then moved there in the summer of 1980. The Phillies won their first World Series in franchise history that fall so it was easy to get swept up in the excitement. With Mike Schmidt at 3rd, Larry Bowa at short, Garry Maddox, plus Steve Carleton pitching it was fun team to watch even on our little black and white television. Sometimes it was even better to listen to the games on the radio and hear the banter between Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn.

Later when we bought our run down rowhouse I spent a lot of evenings hanging sheetrock and painting while listening to Phillies games. In spite of the work it wasn't a bad way to spend an evening. We also went to numerous games during our ten years in the city. Generally I would go with some guys from church after the services were over. We would bring cooked hot dogs in a large thermos, one guy insisted on bringing some big stogies, and we were all set to go. Usually we just bought tickets for the cheap seats and relaxed from high on the third base side so we could see into the Phillies dugout.

The best seats I ever had was when a friend, Bruce, had friends who had friends with access to tickets owned by a radio station. It was the second or third game of the season, it was cold, and nobody wanted them so Bruce and I went. We sat at ground level just beyond first base. I learned quickly it was important to pay attention especially to foul balls.

I figured I should at least mention the Phillies won the World Series last week for the first time since 1980. It was a rather pleasant diversion from all the presidential politics which had taken a decidely negative turn over the last couple of weeks. It brought back good memories of the ten years we lived in Philadelphia. Plus with all the Cardinal fans who live around here who seem to feel entitled to a championship every couple of years, and this year all the Cubs fans who for some reason seemed to believe "this was the year," it was fun to ask, "how about those Phillies?"

Thermopylae

2008-11-02T21:54:00.002-06:00

Not long ago I finished reading Thermopylae by Paul Cartledge. The subtitle is The Battle that Changed the World. When our local library gets a new book of history I try to get it read in hopes that it will encourage them to expand their non-fiction selections. Cartledge describes the battle between the Spartans and Persia under Xerxes. I haven't seen the movie 300, but it is the battle on which the movie is based.

What I found interesting was in the description of the Spartans as being extremely religious, not something I would have thought about before. Cartledge describes how the Spartans sacrificed animals to examine the entrails to see what the gods were telling them and how they consulted oracles. During the events leading up to the battle, Cartledge describes the many times Sparta's leaders made their decisions based primarily on religous reasons rather than political or strategic factors. I am certainly no expert on Greek history but this did get me to thinking and some questions came to mind.
Do societies with a strong military need to bolster that with religious beliefs? Does the militarism grow out of the religious beliefs, or are the religous beliefs used as a tool to bolster the militarism?
From my perspective the U.S. is a militaristic society. The country spends more on its military than the next several countries combined. Depending on how it is figured, at least half of the national budget is devoted to the military. So the next question I have been thinking about is how religion has been manipulated so that today it seems most evangelical Christians in the US are strong supports of the military and the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Do they just assume like the Spartans did that the gods want us to go to war, or to continue fighting, and since god is on their side the U.S. will "win." The other part of this is to see how the evangelical church has been corrupted. How it has discarded the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount for a militaristic conquering hero. Or to go back to the Spartans, how all the gods and goddess were portrayed wearing military equipment, even Aphrodite.

germantown and presidential changes

2008-10-13T01:35:00.008-05:00

In the Sunday Gazette I read that Barack Obama campaigned in Philadelphia Saturday stopping in four different neighborhoods. Though the Gazette didn't identify Germantown they did say he stopped at Vernon Park. This brought back some memories since Vernon Park was just a short walk from my office and from where we lived. When we needed to do some banking or use some of the other businesses on Chelten Ave. it often meant a walk through Vernon Park. Depending on the time of day there were usually a few guys playing chess, a few guys sleeping, a few guys passed out, the occasional homeless guy rummaging through the garbage cans looking for food, but generally there were folks there just hanging out. Most probably didn't notice or pay too much attention to the large statue placed in the park to commemorate the first thirteen German families to emigrate to North America and to settle what became the Germantown neighborhood.

The story also took me back to 1983, the 300th anniversay of the first permanent German settlement in America. The local historic houses in Germantown had planned a number of activities to remember the anniversary but most of these hadn't met with much success. Some of that was because since the 1950's Germantown had become a predominately African-American community and many Germans or German descendents weren't all that excited about spending time in Germantown.

During the summer we were told President Regean wanted to commemorate the anniversary in some way and that he hoped to schedule some time in Philadelphia including a possible stop in Germantown. Some of the cynics among us figured he might be using the anniversary to pressure the Germans to accept the deployment of Pershing and Cruise missles to "aid their protection from the Soviet Union.

Anyway, a large state level banquet was planned at a Center City hotel and some of us in the historical community were led to believe Regean would visit Germantown. If I remember correctly some suggestions were made of sites the President and the German Chancellor should see including the statue in Vernon Park. The Secret Service began to check into security. I don't think it took long for the Secret Service to decide "it was too dangerous for the President to visit Germantown." We were told it was because security would be difficult to ensure in an outdoor setting, but most of the Germantown folks assumed it was because of racism. The Secret Service just didn't want Regean or any other President going into a predominately black neighborhood. It was all rather irritating

So it was refresing to see Obama visit Germantown and to make a stop at Vernon Park. It is an example of the the change in perspective an Obama presidency might bring, as I doubt McCain or too many other white politicians will be making stops in places like Vernon Park in the middle of Germantown.

random things

2008-09-27T21:18:00.003-05:00

It has been nearly a month since my wife moved to Elkhart to continue her seminary degree. It is the first time in my life when I have come close to living by myself. So far I have been surviving. A week ago I drove to Elkhart after school and spent the weekend. We had a nice time, though it didn't help her keep up with her reading. When I went to watch the Iowa football game in the small student lounge I discovered the Canadian students must have chosen the channels. There were numerous stations showing hockey or soccer (which I didn't mind) but the ESPN stations were not among those available. I did figure out how to watch the game on the computer.

Sometimes I wonder about my students. In World History we have been looking at the middle east and spent some time comparing Judaism, Islam and Christianity. This can have some pitfalls because some kids have been taught that Islam is satanic, that it worships a moon god, or that the Qur'an says Muslims should kill Christians. This is in addition to the negative view of most Muslims in our media.

In the midst of this a kid asked about circumcision. Since they are sophomores the boys usually giggle and visibly cringe if this topic is mentioned but one young man winced and then asked, "how do they reproduce?" The kids all got quiet. I suppose they were wondering if I was going to explain circumcision to him or if I would avoid the subject like their parents and Sunday School teachers had apparently done. I explained that when boys are born their penis (giggles) has something called a foreskin, and that circumcision is the word used to describe the process of removing the foreskin. He winced again and asked, "so they don't cut it all off?" I said "no, the Dr. just cuts the foreskin (giggles) from the penis. (more giggles) The next question was a bit shocking as he asked me if he was circumcised. One of the male students quickly said, "I'm sure you're circumcised." I told him I didn't know if he was circumcised or not but that maybe his friend who seemed to know, or his parents could inform him of his status some place other than my classroom. His last question was, "so if I'm circumcised I can still reproduce?" He probably can, but given his intellect, maybe he shouldn't.

In U.S. history I usually have a fair number of students who believe the United States was created by divine intervention and that all of the founding fathers were doing their Christian duty when they instigated the American revolution. This year I typed some excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and Common Sense. On the rest of the page I typed an excerpt from Romans 13 and just referred to it as Document A. I had a few questions for them including one which asked if "Document A" was consistent with the Declaration of Independence. I was disappointed that not one student recognized "Document A" as being from the New Testament. Most assumed it was written by a Loyalist and as such most suggested it should be ignored. Now I know you can argue about the relevance of scripture, but the lack of knowledge about what scripture says is one reason why I think some conservative Christians have bought into the whole myth of God and country. They seem much more content to wield their Bibles has a weapon to hit people over the head, rather than to spend much time actually reading what the scriptures say and mean, (not that I am any kind of expert either) I don't imagine "liberal minded people" know the Bible any better, but at least they aren't trying to use the scriptures as a weapon to threaten and intimidate.

Now that the taxpayers "own" 80 per cent of AIG, does that mean I can get government sponsored health care?

It is hard to not become cynical watching congressional republicans talk about "congressional oversight of the executive..." in the last week with talk of the 700 billion dollar bailout. Where were they during the first six years of the Bush presidency when they seemingly rubber stamped everything Bush wanted?

It is interesting to hear a number of the political pundits talk about the government becoming more socialistic as they talk about the bailout. I don't think I have heard any of them talk about the government becoming more fascist as a result. I think Bush/Cheney would be happy to be dictators.

Apparently I have enough foreign policy experience to become the vice-president. I have visited seven countries (including Canada and Mexico), three or four more than Palin has visited. I have to admit that I can't see any foreign countries from my window, but since I live in a small town, I assume I have some of those all important "small town values," whatever those are.

change

2008-09-13T23:49:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday I agreed to teach the class I have been going to because nobody else was willing to and a person who thought he might be willing to teach the class for the year wanted to visit to see what the group was like.

So what does this have to do with change? It has been frustrating to watch McCain and other Republicans talk about change and the change they want to bring to Washington. It seems they want the country to forget Republicans have controlled the Presidency for the last eight years and both houses of Congress six of the last eight years. During that time we were lied to and led into a war, we have had record deficits, the financial world seems to be falling apart and those are just three things I can think of off the top of my head late at night. As far as I'm concerned this President has screwed things up about as bad as any President ever has, but because his cronies controlled Congress until the last two years there were no investigations and very little oversight from the legislative branch. It appears Republican senators were too busy sitting in bathroom stalls (Craig) or lining their pockets (Stevens) to keep tabs on the executive branch.

The Sunday school lesson was about John the Baptist who also called for change. But in looking at those verses it seems clear he was calling for people to make changes in the way they lived their own lives. "If you have two coats share with someone who doesn't have one. Share your food with people who don't have any (a good reason why I should take some peaches from my trees to church tomorrow). John the Baptist goes on to tell the tax collectors to collect only what is required. If the people changed their behavior it would have a significant impact on society, particularly if it was folks like the tax collectors behaving. John the Baptist didn't just tell people he was going to bring change to Jerusalem, he told them they needed to change.

In the afternoon I sort of forced myself to read an article about McCain-Palin and their plans to bring change to Washington. Now I suppose someone could argue that McCain is really serious about all his talk of change. But it seems to me that McCain is really asking very little of the American people other than to forget the last eight years and vote for him, because he is going to change Washington. For all his talk of personal responsibility it doesn't seem as if we need to change anything about the way we do things at an individual level.

Instead he mocks some rather simple suggestions such as checking your tire pressure to make sure your tires are properly inflated. It is a relatively painless thing to do which can improve your gas mileage and extend the life of your tires, somethings I think a good conservative would encourage. But in these days I guess not.

In listening to Obama he also talks alot about bringing change to Washington, but I've also heard him tell parents to turn the tv off and read to kids, to get involved in your local community, or tell us that the transition to renewable sources of energy may be difficult. Still I suppose it is hard for any politician running for office to tell the people he wants to vote for him that they need to make significant changes to their lifestyles. This is where it becomes clear that politicians aren't prophets and probably shouldn't be preachers- Huckabee in particular. Unfortunately there don't seem to be a lot of prophets around these days, just lots of loud, obnoxious, television commentators and all their strategist guests.

Political conventions

2008-09-03T22:51:00.003-05:00

Between school starting, moving my wife to Elkhart to start seminary, life has been busy. I've been trying to watch the political conventions but this week listening to the Republicans has been a struggle. Tonight, Romney, Huckabee, and Giuliani and now Phalin have all talked about going to Washington to change the "entrenched elite" the "beltway establishment" and to change the government. It seems they have forgotten that a certain President Bush has been in office for eight years, and that Republicans have controlled Congress for six out of the last eight years.

It was particularly interesting to see Mitt Romney criticize the "eastern elite" and the eastern establishment. I can't imagine too many people who are more eastern elite or establishment than Mitt Romney.

I found Huckabee to be interesting because for the most part his speech was a reworking of the stump speech he used when he campaigned for the Iowa caucus. The Lava soap line got laughs back in December - even from the folks who still use it to bathe. His folksy manner was one reason he won in Iowa.

As for the others talking tonight, Giuliani and Phalin are doing their best to criticize Obama but I am hearing little in the way of what they want to do with this government they criticize but which they want to control. Actually they want to maintain control of the government they seem to detest so much.

Some other comments or questions:
Can the Republicans chant anything besides, "USA, USA,....?"
The crowds at the Republican convention seem to be amazingly white.
I think the Republicans are better at being mean than most Democrats. Karl Rove, Cheney, and earlier Atwater come to mind. I am sure Carville and other Democrats can be jerks but they do not seem to be quite in the same league of meanness.
I always wonder what it is that conservatives want to conserve. Let's drill for oil everywhere, build nuclear powerplants, lay pipelines, the environment be damned. Then there is the constitution and the way our civil liberties and privacy have been infringed during the Bush presidency.
Can the Republicans chant anything other than "USA, USA....?"
Do the Republicans consider George W Bush to be a Republican president or do they just skip back to Reagan?

And finally I want to thank John Stewart for helping cure the nausea which had been settling into my stomach after I sat through the convention speeches this evening.

Home demolitions

2008-08-10T22:00:00.006-05:00

A year ago I was with a Christian Peacemaker Team delegation traveling through the West Bank. It was deeply disturbing to see the separation wall and the conditions many Palestinians were forced to live under. A week ago a story on NPR's morning edition brought back some of these memories as it described how the Israeli Defense Force had demolished a building providing housing for four Palestinian families. The reason given for the demolition was that the "proper permits had not been obtained." What is often left unsaid, but which NPR reported is that it is nearly impossible for Palestinians to get building permits to add on to their existing homes or to build new homes. When a family goes ahead and makes changes to their current house, or builds a new house the response is to demolish the building.

Palestinian home demolished near Bethlehem

One of the groups we met with in Jerusalem was the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, (ICAHD) According to their website at least 18,000 homes of Palestinians have been demolished since Israel took control of the West Bank.

ICAHD -18,000 Homes Campaign Infogreat free widgetsWidgetbox

When I was in the West Bank we saw the remains of several home demolitions. The men in the group spent one night in the home of a Palestinian farmer, a man who can trace the ownership of his farm through his family back to the Ottoman Empire. He told us how has his family grew he wanted to move from his father's home and to build a house for his family. Repeated applications for a building permit were denied for "security reasons." Finally he built a small house in spite of not getting a permit. It was demolished. With the help of ICAHD he rebuilt the house only to have it demolished. Again with the help of ICAHD he was able to obtain a building permit and with the help of Palestinians and Israeli's he was able to build the house where we visited. Though he has the house he still faces harassment from nearby settlers and the Israeli government. When we visited him his water had been shut off by the municipal authorities for two weeks. He was struggling to keep his crops alive while the nearby settlement sported lush green lawns and blooming roses. The night we were there the water came back on and we scrambled to help the family fill all their available buckets before the water stopped again.

In many ways it is frustrating to hear our politicians repeat their strong support for Israel and its policies. At the same time you can hear politicians say, "its the Palestinians responsibility, if they want peace they should give up their claims to the land, renounce violence, and work for a negotiated settlement with Israel. Now I certainly agree that violent means are not helpful, but I find it interesting that the responsibility for making peace is laid at the feet of the weakest of the groups.

Palestinian home near Hebron. Remains of the demolished home are in the foreground.

The wood stove

2008-07-27T20:45:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I sold our wood stove. It was a homemade stove, made by the guy who sold us our house. We used it for 17 winters with no problems but the insurance company said it did not meet new regulations. That left us with the choice of remodeling the room the stove was in to give it enough clearance space or removing the stove. As much as I enjoy home repair, remodeling the room was out of the question.

Thursday the “for sale” ad ran in the Kalona News and the Wellman Advance. I really didn’t think anyone would want to buy it and figured I might just have to haul the stove to a scrap dealer and take whatever I could get.

Thursday I left to drive the IMS baseball team to Des Moines for their second round game. Unfortunately they lost and we returned on Friday afternoon. I stepped into the house and heard the phone ringing.

Now think Pennsylvania Dutch accent. “Are you the one who has a wood stove for sale?” “Yes.”

“Could you tell me a little bit about it because I might be interested?” Why else did you call I thought to myself as I noticed my wife had already taken two messages about the stove.

The stove is 30” wide, 36”deep and about 25” high. It is made of 3/8 inch steel, it is homemade, and it is heavy.

In a Dutchy accent, “well, I might be interested, I was thinking about making my own, but then I saw your ad, and well, I thought, maybe I could look at it sometime, and then I wouldn’t have to make my own. Now does it have any cracks?”

No, no cracks (I think a small bomb could have been detonated in the stove without any problems)

“So it’s not warped?” No, it’s in good shape.

“So why are you selling it?” I explained about our insurance company.

“Well, I think I would like to look at it sometime but I don’t know when I can get there” (Neither did I, as I realized I hadn’t used the bathroom since stopping the bus at the Colfax-Mingo exit about 3 hours ago.)

“So where do you live.” I gave directions. “Do your parents live around here?” Yes, (but they aren’t the one’s selling the stove) “Well, I might want to stop over, but I’m not sure when I can make it, but I may chust drive over there tomorrow if you are going to be around and it wouldn’t be too much of a bother.” Finally Nelson hung up.

Fifteen minutes later, another phone call, another Dutchy accent, and more questions about the stove. I figured I better clean the stove because much to my surprise people seem to be interested in the thing. Six buckets of ashes later the stove was more or less clean. I thought I better figure out how to dismantle the stove from the stove pipe and discovered the pipe was welded to the stove. I crawled onto the roof and pulled apart what I could. What remained looked like one solid piece all the way to the stove, some 12 to 15 feet. I realized it might require a cutting torch or some other tool I don’t own, so I called a friend who has such things and left a message. In the meantime more phone calls from men, all with the Dutchy accent and with names like Samuel, Nelson, Menno, or Norman.

6:30 Saturday morning the phone rang. I was still asleep. “Do you have the stove for sale?” I figured this guy was Amish, especially after he told me he had a ride to Wellman to visit the chiropractor. Samuel said he planned to stop in after his treatment, around 9:15 or so.

An hour later my friend with the cutting torch arrived. The question was how to cut the pipe and hold it in place so it wouldn’t drop to the floor and hurt someone or break something. While a crane would be nice I couldn't afford one. We resorted to 2 x 4’s and rope backed up by a log chain.

Another phone call about the stove and if we still had it. My wife told him someone was coming around 9:15. This guy asked if it would be okay to come right away. Wayne Ray showed up about 20 minutes later, a bit before 9:00. I had guessed he was a Beachy, or some sort of conservative Mennonite so I wasn't surprised to see his wife in a cape dress with a big covering on her head. After a thorough examination Wayne Ray said, “I think I would like the stove, but would you be willing to consider taking a little less?” I was about ready to answer when the doorbell rang and there was Samuel the Amish man, “Have you sold the stove yet?” Wayne Ray said, “I’ll give what you asked for.” I suppose I could have asked Samuel if he would raise the price but I was just happy to be rid of it, plus Wayne had a truck to move the stove.

What followed was some hard work as I recruited my neighbor, Wayne called his brother-in-law, and along with my cutting torch friend, we got the stove out of the house and onto his truck. He had a forklift at home he could use to unload the stove.

It took me the rest of the day to clean up the mess and to patch the roof so it won’t leak. The next task is to find a wood stove which meets the regulations so that we can heat that part of the house and keep the insurance company happy.

camp

2008-07-13T21:17:00.002-05:00

Camp

I spent my first week at camp last week. I never went to camp as a kid though one summer I did go to three different Bible Schools to help keep me out of my parent’s hair. Crooked Creek Christian Camp called my wife to see if she was interested in being a camp pastor for a week. It only took her about thirty seconds to say no. They asked if she knew of someone who might be willing to do it, and about that time I walked into the room. After getting some information I couldn’t come up with a good reason to say no. I eventually agreed to be the “camp pastor” for the 7^th-9^th grade camp.

On the drive to Crooked Creek last Sunday I realized I was more apprehensive about going to the camp then I was going on the CPT trip to the West Bank last summer. It probably didn’t help that numerous people would ask if I was the Marcus Miller who was going to be the camp pastor. When I would reply in the affirmative the most common response was laughter. Not sure what that says about me, or people’s perception of me.

I did ask one person if they thought it would be the jazz guitarist showing up and I was reminded that most people around here have no idea who that Marcus Miller is. If I knew what I was doing with the internet I could embed a link to his website - and actually I do enjoy much of his music.

The week seemed to go well though I imagine my contributions to the week will likely be fairly low on the list of camp memories. I was responsible for a morning chapel, an evening campfire and was to prepare a list of discussion questions and verses for the evening devotions the cabin counselors were to lead with their kids. It was one of those situations where I likely learned as much as the kids did. One thing I learned is that I couldn’t rely on notes for the campfire session, as the flashlight seemed to detract from the setting. Either that or the light reflected off my face in a way which scared some kids or made others laugh.

It was gratifying to see a lot of former students running much of the week’s program. All but three of the cabin counselors were IMS grads as were the program staff. I was impressed with their creativity, patience, and energy level. By the end of the week I was tired though I had my own little cabin where I could escape to and get some rest or sleep when I needed. I even made it for a week without any newspapers, NPR or the internet.

Mennonites and family reunions

2008-07-05T10:35:00.003-05:00

Back from a family reunion on my wife's side and a trip to Philadelphia where we lived for ten years from 1980 to 1990. Spending time with the Peachey's in Belleville and then friends from Philadelphia, we experienced two extremes of the Mennonite Church. It seems folks from both groups are leaving the Mennonite Church or are talking about doing so, but for different reasons.

The Peachey reunion included Mennonites, and Peachey's who have joined the Nazarene's, Brethren in Christ, Assemblies of God, Presbyterians, or some large non-denominational church. Thirty to forty years ago this extended family would have all been Mennonite, sending their kids to Rosedale, or maybe to Eastern Mennonite, though Goshen would have been considered too "liberal." Now, the number of Menno's in the family are outnumbered by the non-Menno's. It was disheartening when one family described their pride in their grandson who had just joined the military because “God spoke to him and helped remove some of the hurdles to joining he was experiencing.”

It was the first time I had seen some of these people since my CPT trip to the West Bank last summer. Generally people ask questions and we have a nice discussion. This time it felt more like an attack. Some of the Peachey's consider themselves to be experts in Biblical prophecy (though they humbly add, certainly not on the same level as Grandpa or his brother when they were alive) so the line I kept hearing over and over during the weekend was "The creation of Israel is the fulfillment of prophecy." This was followed by "The Palestinians should just leave." I told them about some of the Palestinian Christians I met which seemed to cause some cognitive dissonance especially when I told them one Palestinian we met with could trace his families faith back to Pentecost.

I enjoy a good argument as much as anyone so at least I found a way to entertain myself at what was otherwise a rather sleepy reunion.

From Belleville we drove east stopping in Lancaster County and then making our way into Philadelphia. We spent one night with some friends from our days in Germantown and with some folks from the "early days" of the Germantown Mennonite congregation. "Early days" refers to the early 1980's - not the 1680's when the first Menno's came to the area. There was good food, good wine, and excellent Scotch. It was enjoyable catching up with everyone and reminiscing a bit about our time together.

Like some of the Peachey’s, some of these folks no longer go to a Mennonite Church. Instead of the large non-denominational groups, the Germantown folks are more likely to join an Episcopalian church, become Catholic, a high church Presbyterian congregation or go the silent route and join the Quakers.

Then there are folks we heard about from both groups who are dropping out of church all together. They spend Sunday mornings reading the paper, drinking coffee, going for a bike ride, or I suppose sleeping.

Those from Belleville said the Mennonite church is too liberal. From our discussions it seemed they took most of their cues from the local Christian radio station, Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson and other politically conservative preacher/politicians/entertainers. I don’t know much about Mennonite churches in “Big Valley” but they were described as too traditional in worship styles, too stuck in their ways, and not interested in reaching out.

The folks from Germantown listen to NPR, some might not know who Limbaugh is, and don’t like Dobson. They might also describe the church as too traditional (think women leadership – not worship styles), stuck in their ways, and not interested in reaching out – especially to gays.

I realize these may be two extremes and that there is a lot of room in between but the difference between the folks in Belleville and those in Philadelphia seemed much more than the 4-5 hour drive. And I realize there are similarities between the two, but frankly they are minimal. In the tradition of Anabaptism perhaps some “third way” will emerge to keep the two extremes together. It did help me appreciate my church, which though it has its faults, has many good people trying to live together in faithful ways.

iowa floods

2008-06-16T09:38:00.004-05:00

While watching some of the flood coverage on the local news the anchor woman said the University of Iowa was telling "non-essential employee's to stay home." Some questions came to mind, what must it feel like to be considered a non-essential employee and to be told to stay home? Why does the University of Iowa have non-essential employee's anyway? If you are a non-essential employee should you worry about having a job when the flood waters recede? Considering the situation, is it the Professor of English who was non-essential or the maintenance worker? If the maintenance worker is the one who is essential in this case, is that somehow reflected in the pay scale?

Wellman has been unaffected for the most part by the flooding. Wellman traces its history to a town called Wassonville built along the English River. The town moved south to the top of a hill after Wassonville was flooded several times in the mid-1800's. If the town was still there it would be flooded because the English River is well out of its banks.

tornado clean up

2008-06-04T22:01:00.004-05:00

What happens when a tornado hits 80,000 chickens? I've been trying to think of a witty, funny answer since this afternoon. So far though nothing has come to mind.

This morning I rode up to the New Hartford, Parkersburg, Iowa area as part of a Mennonite Disaster Service group to help clean up from the E5 tornado which hit about a week and a half ago. We spent the morning cleaning a timber near New Hartford which had the remains of a house or two scattered through all the broken trees and branches. We didn't find much of personal or sentimental value and spent most of the time making piles of burnable items, metal and plastic.

At noon we went to the New Hartford fire station where the Red Cross and local community members fed volunteers. After lunch we went back to the timber but after a phone call, the van I was in was sent over to a farm near Dunkerton. The site consisted of a couple of houses and two large chicken houses. The folks in charge were interested in having us go through the remains of a chicken house which had contained 80,000 caged hens. We were to find and remove as many live chickens as we could.

The not funny answer to the question, what happens when a tornado hits a chicken house is that lots of chickens die, when their cages are smashed. The smell was horrendous but thankfully my sinuses clogged and my sense of smell disappeared. The fifteen of us picked our way through the cages, cutting through the wire cages and extracting chickens which had been without food or water for a week and a half. Most of the chickens seemed grateful to be freed but some made a bit of a fuss when you tried to pull them out. The grossest one for me was when I pulled on a chicken I thought was still alive, only to find it wasn't. Instead it pulled apart and the inside was covered with maggots. There was a live chicken behind it so I reached back in and grabbed while avoiding the maggots.

By 5:00 pm we weren't finding many more live chickens so we tried to clean up a bit and crawled back in our van. We all smelled so we decided to not ruin a restaurant and to just head home.

I thought about taking my camera along but decided not to. We saw a number of foundations sitting empty. All that remained of the house was a debris field with pieces of the house broken into small bits. We drove by a cemetery where almost all the stones had been knocked over, saw a large road grader sitting upside down, numerous smashed cars, ripped up roofs and damaged cars. It was a huge mess and it will take a long while till it is cleaned and even longer until life returns to normal - whatever normal is.

In spite of the stench, the dead chickens, it was overall an enjoyable day, working with some fun guys to try and help some folks.

Memorial Day

2008-05-28T21:35:00.003-05:00

Memorial Day came and went and with it the common refrain, “we need to remember the men who died so that we can live in freedom.” It’s a line I often hear from students and over time it has come to bother me. I don’t mean any disrespect to people who served, but I don’t believe any soldier died so that I can live in what people describe as freedom.

I’m guessing most of the people who repeat the line, at least in this country, would say they agree with the Declaration of Independence (even if most U.S. citizens haven’t read it). “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The way I read this, if you agree with the line, people are free regardless of what a government may say, or how many soldiers may have died.

More troubling is when I hear self-described Christians repeat the line. I’m no theologian, or philosopher for that matter, but from my limited understanding, if anyone died for my freedom, it was Jesus. I know there are discussions about a nonviolent atonement which I should probably read more about. I know there are all kinds of discussions about what it means to be free, but frankly, right now I feel free to not read them. I would say that most of us either consciously or unconsciously accept too many restrictions on our freedom whether its in the form of our government, our church, our advertisers and media who let us know what the current trends are.

I tell my students I think my grandpa’s brother who refused to put on a uniform during World War I and spent most of that war in Fort Leavenworth, that my grandpa who went to Poland after the war to do relief work, my uncles who served in PAX or Civilian Public Service rather than put on a uniform, or my dad who worked in a hospital in Evanston during the Korean war did more to keep people free in this country. I like to throw the civil rights workers in the mix as well because they put their bodies and beliefs on the line and called this country to try to live up to its stated ideals.

If people aren’t willing to take unpopular positions, does our so called freedom of speech mean anything? Do we really have a right to free expression if we muzzle ourselves so we fit in?

soccer season

2008-05-19T20:18:00.003-05:00

The soccer season came to an end with our first district game against Cedar Rapids Xavier. The boys played well- I couldn't have asked for much more effort- but the game ended with a 3-0 score. The game was closer than the score indicates as two of their goals were the result of penalty kicks, including one in the first five minutes. Both penalties in my humble opinion were horrible calls. Xavier had one player whose main task seemed to be to fall over when ever he got near the ball inside the eighteen. Xavier played their second round on our field Saturday, and I saw him in action again. The kid should have got an "Oscar" on his one dive which resulted in another pk. The official in the second game seemed to catch on to his acting ability as he would holler "play on" followed by lots of whining.

So the season came to an end with a 13-2 record and one of the highest scoring offenses in IMS soccer history. With the exception of two games, we played our season in a three week time period. Because of all the rain early in the season we had numerous postponements. When the weather finally cooperated we were playing 4-6 games a week.

The seniors graduated this weekend and the rest of the students are done Thursday. Then perhaps there will be more time for this.

soccer, the constitution, and the Iowa High School Athletic Association

2008-04-10T21:26:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the soccer season in Iowa, the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IAHSAA) puts together the districts and sub-state brackets and places them on their web site. The teams are grouped geographically and their is no seeding done so it is always a bit of a mystery to see where and who you might play. The last two years we have had to travel to Fort Madison a trip which takes a good two hours in a school bus. After our season ended last year I wrote a letter to the IAHSAA to express my frustration with the situation.

If anybody cares to read the letter it follows. If you don't want to read it all I made the argument that they were acting unconstitutionally by not allowing us to host district games because we do not have a flag or play the national anthem. In return I got a letter from Mr. Anderson basically telling me they wouldn't talk to me about the flag issue. After they realized the school hadn't hired a lawyer they basically ignored the school as well.

So it was sort of a surprise when the IAHSAA called this spring to ask if we would be willing to host a district game even if we didn't have a flag. It also wasn't much of a surprise when we saw the team we would get to play, Cedar Rapids Xavier, generally one of the best teams in the state.My guess its the IAHSAA's way of saying "you made your point, now we'll make ours." I just hope we can make it interesting.

June 4, 2007

Mr. David Anderson, Assistant Executive Director
Iowa High School Athletic Association

Mr. Richard Wulkow, Executive Director
Iowa High School Athletic Association
P.O. Box 10
Boone, IA 50036

Mr. Anderson and Mr. Wulkow,

I am the soccer coach at Iowa Mennonite School and after our season ended I thought it appropriate to share three concerns with you.

First, it is my understanding that Iowa Mennonite School is not allowed to host any district or substate games because the school does not perform the national anthem prior to games. Because of this, IMS teams participating in post season play have had to travel. In the case of the soccer team we made two trips to Fort Madison, a trip which in a school bus requires that we allocate 2 hours of travel time.

I am not a constitutional lawyer, but a quick perusal of Supreme Court cases suggests that any organization, particularly one described as a “State Association,” cannot compel or penalize anyone, or any group, for refusing to participate in practices designed to promote patriotism, such as the Pledge of Allegiance or the national anthem. In West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette, 1943 the Supreme Court over turned a state law which required all students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. To quote Justice Jackson who authored the majority decision,

“To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds. We can have intellectual individualism [319 U.S. 624, 642] and the rich cultural diversities that we owe to exceptional minds only at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. When they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the price is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.”

I would encourage you to note the phrase, “voluntary and spontaneous instead of compulsory…” Jackson adds,

"[i]f there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=319&invol=624 also see http://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1949/1942/1942_591/

More recent cases decided in Federal District courts seem to me to affirm the Courts decision in West Virginia v Barnette. This would include Lane v. Owens, 2003 and Holloman v Walker County Board of Education, 2004. In both these cases the idea that a school board or State could compel people to participate in patriotic rituals and then punish them in any way was denied.

I realize these cases deal with the Pledge of Allegiance rather than the national anthem but the purpose of both seems to be the same. One of the great things about the United States is that it has a form of government which allows for freedom of expression, even when that expression is not popular. At the same time our constitution also provides the freedom to not participate in certain forms of expression. To force people to participate in patriotic rituals makes a mockery of both patriotism and the principles espoused in our constitution. If we have freedom of speech, but no one dares to say anything unpopular, do we still have freedom of speech?

Mennonites as a group have at times taken positions which are unpopular because of their religious faith. They were among the first religious groups to advocate for the separation of church and state in 1525, and many of them were put to death by both religious and state authorities in the years that followed.

When the United States was founded, the idea that church and state should be separate was enshrined in the first amendment to the constitution. An idea which had at one time been unthinkable now became part of the guiding document which lays out the foundations of our government.

The school’s practice of not performing the national anthem is not done out of disrespect for this country. While it may be seen that way by some, I would argue that we Mennonites are being true to both our religious values and at the same time expressing one of the highest forms of patriotism. In the face of criticism we are willing to call our country to live up to the high ideals it expresses, the importance of the individual, and the right of individuals to express them selves, even when the idea is unpopular. In doing this we follow in a long tradition of dissent and civil disobedience, dating back to those who signed the Declaration of Independence and in so doing broke the laws of their day.

To summarize my first concern, I would argue that the position taken by your organization is unconstitutional and as such it should be changed.

My second concern is related to the first. If you are going to require schools to perform the national anthem prior to district and substate games I would argue that this should be done in a way which shows consistency and respect.

This year we played our first district game against Mid-Prairie in Wellman. The fields are nice and it is only a fifteen minute bus ride, but they did not have a flag and the national anthem was not performed. Last year when we played district games in Mount Pleasant, we had a similar experience as the national anthem was not performed nor do I recall a flag being present.

If the national anthem is so important to perform prior to a district or state athletic event that our school is penalized by not being allowed to host games, why are sites chosen for games where it cannot be performed or flags are not present?

I am frankly more troubled by the situation at Fort Madison and have included pictures taken by one of our athlete’s parents as evidence. Though there was a large flagpole at the end of the field, there was no flag present on this pole. Instead we were directed to look at the flag by the school, some distance away. If the tree had been fully leafed out I doubt the flag would have been visible. When the national anthem was played it was a scratchy recording that did little to stir patriotic fervor.

This was a common experience during the season. One school brought a flag out mounted on what appeared to be a pvc pipe rather than using the stationary flagpole at their field. When the winds blew, the pvc bent and there were times when the flag came in contact with the ground. During the season the one school which handled the national anthem in a dignified way was Columbus (Columbus Jct.). They made use of their regular flagpole and had a student sing the anthem. She did a beautiful job. It was much better than the many recordings I’ve heard played over poor sound systems.

I would ask which shows more respect? Choosing to not display a flag because of one’s religious beliefs and in doing so practicing the freedoms espoused by our country, or not putting up a flag on the flag pole at the field because, maybe it was too much bother, or maybe they just didn’t get around to it?

My third concern has to do with the size of the fields we had to play on, particularly the field at Fort Madison. Our home field is 67 yards wide, that at Mid-Prairie is 70 yards. Then we traveled to Fort Madison to play on a field that according to the officiating crew is 54 yards wide. I think the article from the Fort Madison Daily Democrat summarized it well when they wrote, “In contrast to the physical play of last Saturday’s FMHS opponent, Keokuk, Iowa Mennonite was more a finesse team.”

I know you are trying to clean up the rough play and unsporting conduct too often found in soccer. I would argue that one easy way to do this is to encourage schools to play on fields which are at least 65 yards wide. By not assigning district and substate games to fields which are less than 65 yards, I think you would be helping both soccer, and you would encourage schools to improve their facilities. As I reflect on our season, the roughest and most physical games we played were on the smaller fields.

I wouldn’t mind the two hour trip if we had the opportunity to play on a full size field but to travel that far to play on a very narrow field was not enjoyable. The narrow field had a detrimental affect on my teams play in both games we played at Fort Madison, the one we won against Fairfield and the one we lost to Fort Madison.

One could argue that teams should be able to adapt to different sizes of fields and differing conditions, but imagine what would happen if a basketball team showed up to discover the rims were at 11 feet or maybe just 9 feet, or the football team found the football field was going to be 120 yards long and 65 yards wide. We don’t expect this to happen and for soccer to be taken seriously, I would suggest that your association adopt minimum standards for a soccer field. As a start I would encourage you to choose to assign district and substate games to sites where the fields will be similar in size to those played on at the State tournament.

Thank you for your patience in reading this and for your efforts to provide quality activities for the young people of Iowa.

Marcus Miller

Mennonites and "Fiddler on the Roof"

2008-04-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

The school musical this year is "Fiddler on the Roof. " The director asked if I would write something for the program to help some folks understand how the story might connect with Mennonites. This is what I came up with. The faculty and our families were able to watch the dress rehearsal and the kids did a wonderful job. I would encourage anyone to see it, but I think both performances are sold out.

"Fiddler on the Roof" tells a story to which Mennonites should easily relate. At its most basic level it is a story similar to the one faced by our Mennonite ancestors in 16^th and 17^th century Europe. Facing persecution because of their religious beliefs advocating believer’s baptism, separation of church and state, and nonresistance, Mennonites sought peace in the rural agricultural villages of Europe. Hoping to practice their faith without fear of losing their homes or their lives, Mennonites, became “the Quiet in the Land.” For many Mennonites their identity became closely tied to the land.

Just as Tevye, his family, and his fellow Jews, experienced persecution because of their beliefs and ethnic identity, Mennonites experienced persecution and faced similar choices. What does it mean to leave a place, as miserable as it might be, when your identity is bound up in that place? Though the villagers say, “Someone should have set a match to this place years ago.” They go on to ask, “Where else could Sabbath be so sweet?” Mennonites could have sang much the same as they left the Swiss cantons, or the war-torn Alsace-Lorraine for North America, while Mennonites from other parts of Europe moved to Russia.

In both Russia and North America, religious beliefs became intricately tied to cultural identity. To be Mennonite or Amish in colonial Pennsylvania meant that one spoke German, dressed in a particular way, and conducted themselves in ways approved by the community. Ties to this new land grew strong and deep as Mennonite and Amish farmers tilled the soil. Their farms became the basis for strong rural communities and churches across the United States in places like Lancaster, Holmes County, Goshen, Berne, and Kalona.

The story in "Fiddler on the Roof" can also help those of us who are Mennonites think about what it means to be Mennonite as the story addresses questions of tradition, change, and faith. Occasionally I ask my Mennonite students if they have ever felt different because they are Mennonite. Often they are puzzled by the question. “Why should I feel different because I’m a Mennonite,” they ask. Mennonites of an earlier generation who grew up with coverings, cape dresses and plain coats might respond, “how could you not feel different?”

Steeped in the traditions of his faith and his village Teyve knows his place in society and he knows what is expected of him. Tevye’s traditions and beliefs are challenged as his daughters find their own mates rather than relying on the matchmaker. How far can he go in accepting change and at the same time remain faithful to his religious values and those of his community?

Mennonites in southeast Iowa face similar questions of faith and identity. What happens when the traditions are challenged? Coverings, cape dresses, and plain coats have been laid aside by the vast majority of Mennonites. Many found it liberating and most of us would not want to go back, but what does it mean for our religious identity when we are not so visibly different from those around us? As Tevye asks, “One little time you pull out a prop, and where does it stop? Where does it stop?”

What happens when the family farm is sold and the sons and daughters who grew up on the land, move to the city “far from the home I love?”

Is it our faith or our identity which is affected when we give up four part a cappella singing for the more contemporary sounds of guitars, drums and praise songs?

Even this place, Iowa Mennonite School was built, in part to preserve Mennonite identity in the face of rapid social change brought on by World War II. As we begin to look more like those around us, will we be tempted to give up more foundational beliefs of our identity and faith, such as nonresistance, which have defined us for over 450 years to avoid the embarrassment of being different.

Can we sing to our children, “Strengthen them, Oh Lord, and keep them from the strangers’ ways,” knowing that in doing so we are asking our children to make a conscious decision to accept our traditions, our faith and our identity, as flawed as they may be, and to make them their own.

These questions are not easily answered but it is, I believe important for us to ask them as we seek to remain faithful.

class trip - turning 50

2008-03-28T21:56:00.000-05:00

From March 11 through March 16 I was part of the senior class trip to Washington DC. I think I have finally recovered from the sleep I missed while the bus traveled through the night. The students had free time to see the memorials and the museums and several scheduled activities including visits to the White House, the Capital, Mt. Vernon, the Aquarium in Baltimore, the Holocaust Museum, tours of the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a visit with Coleman McCarthy, and a stop at the Mennonite Guest House to see our former principal, Wilbur Yoder and his wife. We also saw a play, "Piano Lesson" by August Wilson at the the Kennedy Center.

When I get ready to go along on this trip I often wonder if it is worthwhile. During the trip I realize the majority of our students have not been to D.C. before, some have not been to the east coast, and most would not willingly visit the cathedrals, or see a performance at the Kennedy Center.

When I visit D.C. I am always reminded how obnoxious the security has become. Here in the cornfields of Iowa I don't run into a lot of security issues. When we visited Senator Grassley we went to meet him at the Hart Senate office building. To get in we had to go through metal detectors, empty our pockets, some people had to take off their shoes, and I was scolded when I failed to take off my belt, and its not like I was wearing a big cowboy belt buckle. The last time I had to take off my belt and submit to the detection wand being waved around my body I was in Hebron, going with the CPT delegation to visit the Ibrahimi mosque.

After spending some time with Senator Grassley we went from his office to the Capitol. We were inside the entire time and yet we had to go through security once more. After a bit of a tour we went up to see if we could get into the Senate gallery. Once again we went through security and this time I was asked to take off my belt. After all the students made it through security where a few lost their hand lotion and chap stick we were ushered into the gallery. I found it rather enjoyable because many of the Senators were actually on the floor. We heard brief speeches by Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, and Ted Kennedy among others. Some of the kids saw Obama, Clinton and McCain which they thought was cool.

What puzzled me was that only about an eighth of the Senate gallery was full. The rest of the seats were empty. Yet when we left after watching for about 45 minutes, there was a huge line of people waiting to get into the gallery. If the building is to be our capital, why should citizens be forced to wait in long lines when there were plenty of seats available? If you subtract the press area, at least 3/4's of the gallery was empty. It sort of ticked me off because the year before I was one of those people waiting in the long line and by the time they let us in to the chambers, after waiting over an hour or more, there was nothing going on as the Senate had adjourned.

The visit with Coleman McCarthy probably provoked the most conversation among students. He talked about the classes he teaches on peacemaking. Then he stirred things up a bit when he said the first step in peacemaking is to "not eat anything that has a mother." If I understood him correctly he would fit into the vegan category. So we had this guy advocating vegetarianism to kids from a State which has more pigs than people, and to kids, some of whose parents raise beef and hogs for a living. It made for a lively discussion which was fun to observe- though some of the kids were shy and saved their questions and comments for the sponsors when we got back to the bus.

On the 14th I turned 50 and the kids had fun with that. I endured numerous rounds of "happy birthday" and received a couple of gifts- a self-exam prostate kit, and a mug which said "I lean left" and was made so it does lean to the left. Back at the hotel the kids surprised me with a cake. I should have been more suspicious but I was tired and just happy that at the time the kids seemed quiet. All in all it wasn't the worst way to spend one's 50th birthday.

coaching clinic

2008-03-21T20:46:00.000-05:00

I spent a day in Lincoln, Nebraska attending a soccer coaching clinic sponsored by the University of Nebraska and the state coaching association. It has been a while since I have made it to a coaching clinic and it was the first time I went to one in Nebraska so I wasn't sure quite what to expect.

The last time I went to a clinic I was one of the few not wearing what seemed to be the uniform for soccer coaches - Adidas Samba's or Copa Mundial's for your feet, warm up pants and jacket made primarily from polyester or some sort of nylon, preferably with an Adidas logo, though Diadora and Umbro will suffice. Listening to the swish swish noise the clothes make as coaches walked by reminded me of the days when my son was in day care and all his buddies wore what they called "slicks." Part of the fun seemed to be to see how much noise they could make. It isn't quite as endearing when it is 30 to 40 year old men wearing them. There weren't quite as many coaches at the Nebraska clinic wearing this outfit but all the red "N's" on almost any article of clothing made up for it, I suppose.

The sessions were held in the new indoor practice facility built primarily for the football team, at least that is how the turf field was marked. For the most part the sessions were helpful and I was glad to be there. The trick is to take those things I think will be helpful for my team and to teach it to my players.

Monday, March 10 was the first day we could legally practice. There was still a foot of snow on the ground so I had about half the guys come in early in the morning before school and the other half, after school. It seemed to work all right, though I don't enjoy morning practices. Tuesday I left for class trip with the seniors and my assistant ran practices for the underclassman. Our first game is March 31 and we certainly have some work to do before then.

chapel, nooma and changing times

2008-03-03T21:57:00.000-06:00

The other day in chapel two students introduced us to the topic of forgiveness by using a short film from something called Nooma, created by a preacher named Rob Bell. It was the first I had heard of the series and of this particular preacher. It is definitely aimed at a young adult audience and the students seemed to respond in a positive way to the message. What struck me was the difference in the message from what I heard when I was sitting in chapel a little over 30 years ago.

Titled "Luggage" the film talked about the importance of not carrying grudges and of forgiving those who have done you wrong. The film cuts between Bell speaking and scenes of a young women in an airport. At the end of the film, after the line "you never know when it will be too late to forgive," (or something close to that) the last scene shows the womens car pulling into the path of a speeding semi truck and getting smashed. Think driver's ed films you may have been subjected to in the hopes of making you a safe driver.

The last line and the scene of the smashed car reminded me of the many times I heard in chapel, "get yourself right with God because you never know when you might get run over by a car, hit by a train, bit by a snake, swept away in a rip tide, or die in your sleep." The message seemed to my teenage ears to be "get saved before its too late, you die, and spend eternity in hell." Sometimes we would sing this awful song full of bad theology about the end times. It went something like this "life was filled with guns and war and everyone got trampled on the floor, I wish we'd all been ready." Then there was something about two men walking up a hill and one of them disappearing because the rapture had come and only one of them got taken. You see I sang it enough at youth group I still remember large chunks of the song.

Instead of scaring people into repentance the film seemed to scare people into forgiving. If I interpreted the film correctly the guy was saying, either do your forgiving before you die, or maybe it was forgive the person you need to forgive before they die. While repenting and forgiving are both good I wonder about the technique of frightening people to get them to take action. There are good reasons to do both which have nothing to do with fear. But I suppose fear is seen as getting quicker results, though I would guess they may not be as long lasting.

Church Leagues

2008-02-15T22:12:00.000-06:00

This evening I played in a church league basketball game. I stepped on to the court for the IMS team, a group consisting mostly of IMS junior and senior guys who aren't on the high school team. The league commissioners wanted them to have a couple of adults and for some reason I was recruited to join them. It was certainly for reasons other than my basketball skills which are minimal at best. Throw in my achy knees, weak eyes, and slightly below average height and I'm the first to admit I wasn't a prize recruit. Still, given the aging IMS faculty, there isn't much else to choose from. Plus if you are any good your church will want you to play with them. One of the guys in charge, told me they really didn't care if I played, they just wanted me to be at games to help keep tempers in check. I view it primarily as a way to get a little exercise. The problem was that tonight, only four of us showed up to play one of the better teams. Instead of getting a break every 4-5 minutes I had to play the whole game.

Church league is an interesting creature. It has been going for at least 40 years, probably more. It consists of teams from the various Mennonite or conservative Mennonite churches in the Kalona-Wellman area. Some churches have two teams, some consistently have a team, and some do for a year or two, and then struggle to put a team together. When I was attending Wellman Mennonite I played for their team a couple of years. The last year I played with them we had one or two guys from Kalona and a couple of Catholic guys. We were sponsored by Wellman Lumber that year and got these cool shirts labeled, Wellman Lumberjocks. We represented the lumberyard well and won the championship - not that anybody really cares. The next year I played for a faculty team from IMS, along with a couple of other folks whose churches didn't have teams.

Some guys take the games seriously and a few teams supposedly have practices. If you don't think Mennonites get mad, help a seemingly mild Mennonite farmer load hogs, or show up at a church league game some night. Two years ago tempers got so bad that the guys in charge decided to experiment. One option was to hire trained officials, the other was to have the guys playing call their own fouls. Trained officials are expensive, Menno's are cheap- or have that reputation. For the most part the calling your own fouls seems to have helped keep emotions and tempers in check though many people seem to find that hard to believe.

Players range in age from the high school kids to a couple who are close to 60. Most are in fairly decent shape, though there are a couple who look like they swallowed a basketball or two. The majority played in high school and a few played a year or two in college. Most take it entirely too seriously. I plan to retire at the end of the season even though it has been fun to see many former students and folks from other churches I don't often see.

snow day and the mandate of heaven

2008-02-06T22:00:00.000-06:00

This is a picture near our house which attempts to show how much snow we received over the last two days, somewhere around 10 to 12 inches.

Of the last four school days we have had two canceled, one early dismissal and one late start. The snow is nothing compared to the tornadoes which hit Tennessee and other places in the south. The bad weather, along with the slowing economy and slumping stock market got me to thinking while I shoveled the snow off the driveway.

In Chinese history there is a concept known as the dynastic cycle which is tied to the idea of the Mandate of Heaven. The idea is that the emperor comes to power with the blessing of the gods and that things will go well. But as time goes on, the emperor enacts unwise policies or becomes corrupt. There may be rebellions, uprisings, or attacks by foreigners. Added to this there may be a series of natural disasters, bad weather, or other calamities which shows the people the emperor has lost the Mandate of Heaven and the time has come for the emperor or his dynasty to be removed from power.

The Iron Wall

2008-01-27T23:13:00.000-06:00

I saw the film, The Iron Wall this afternoon at the Iowa Memorial Union. The film was produced by Mohammed Alatar for the Palestinian Agricultural Committee and a group called, Palestinians for Peace and Democracy. The film reviewed the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the creation of the separation wall, the apartheid wall, or in this case what they call "the Iron Wall."

I can't say that I really learned anything new, but it was troubling to see the images of places and people I saw this past summer. The depiction of Hebron and the violent settlers who live there was particularly troublesome. When we walked around Hebron we ran into settlers who cursed us, spit at us and threatened to throw rocks at us. I don't think any of them actually pointed a gun at us, though we did see them carrying guns. Part of that may have been because of the large number of soldiers present. The day after we arrived three settler families were removed from a Palestinian home they had taken over for a few months. There were a lot of media people around the first couple of days we were in Hebron, but by the end of the week, when the IDF welded shut six Palestinian shops for "security reasons" only one lonely person from the media was there to record the action. I was in Hebron for only a few days. I can't imagine the stress one who lives there permanently must endure. This film did a good job of showing the stress and hardship Palestinian residents endure on a daily basis.

The film was good and worth seeing. One of the more interesting things for me was talking with a Palestinian man who was there to see the film. He was from Gaza and hasn't been able to visit his family for 2 and 1/2 years. It was interesting to hear his perspective about what has been going on in Gaza during the last week. I also talked with a man from Syria and his teenage son he brought along to see the film. The son was not much impressed with the film or its ability to change anything. Sometimes I think teenagers are much more realistic than we give them credit for but to not do something seems to be even more of a problem. The film also reminded me of the hope for peace and improved lives which I heard from many of the Palestinians I met last summer. Again, the hope expressed doesn't always seem realistic, but giving up hope seems even more problematic.

Losing season, cold temps

2008-01-24T22:18:00.000-06:00

The presidential candidates have long since left Iowa. The only traces are a few yard signs around town and the many emails I get from all of the campaigns. Most of them ask for money, particularly the ones from Edwards and Huckabee. These two also ask me to contact people I know in South Carolina or Florida to encourage them to support the candidate. Since I don't have much money and I don't know many people in either State I generally hit the delete button.

In addition to my wife's leg we are dealing with cold temperatures. Our thermometer says it is -10 F. I tell my students it teaches them how to deal with adversity.

In the meantime I thought I would put something on here which I wrote back in the fall of 1999 after my soccer team finished the season with a grand total of two wins. If somebody runs across this I hope they find it helpful. The guys I shared it with at the time seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

Fall 1999
Riding home on the bus after a game there is always time to think. One night I remembered something from when I was a student at Eastern Mennonite. After practice as I hurried into the cafeteria, an important looking guy asked why I was so late. I told him I was on the soccer team. He asked how we were doing. I replied "we're having a losing season." He said, "you can learn a lot from losing." I don't remember exactly what I said but it was probably along the line of, "the only thing you can learn from a losing season is that its no fun to lose."

Two years ago after we won the State championship I remember saying all those nice things about how hard work and dedication always lead to success. This caused me to rethink some of those things I've said. The guys on this years team worked hard, they were dedicated, they did, or tried to do what we asked of them and yet our record didn't reflect their effort. Are there things you can learn from a losing season? Let me suggest some.

1. Hard work is no guarantee of success. Hard work is necessary but just working hard won't always ensure success. If you look around this community you can see many people who work their tails off without much to show for it. Farmers are just one example, there are many others.

2. There is pleasure to be found in working hard, especially when you are doing something you enjoy, regardless of the outcome. One of the most gratifying things I will remember from this season was after our last game when one of the seniors, a guy who worked extremely hard to improve his soccer skills said, "this was the most fun sports season I've ever had."

3. Relationships are extremely important. When there are lots of wins it is easy to overlook personality conflicts on a team. When things are not going well even minor conflicts can become major problems. From my perspective this years team got along with each other better than any other team I've coached. That says a lot about the character of these young men.

4. It is important to recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and while high goals are necessary, realistic goals are important. One of the reasons this group related to each other well was because they all took responsibility for themselves. They focused on how they could improve themselves and the team. They didn't focus on how someone else could improve or what someone else could do differently. These guys knew their limitations and they worked to improve themselves.

5. A won-loss record is only one way of measuring success. A won-loss record is obviously the most visible and easiest way to measure success but it is not the only way. In many ways these young men are winners. They know how to work hard in practice and competition. They have learned how to relate to each other under adverse conditions. They put forth maximum effort even when the situation looked bleak.

In my mind you are all winners and I expect you to have much success in the future, in sports, academics, and most importantly, in life. Life isn't always fair, but if you have faith in God, supportive friends and family who share common goals and values, and if you are doing something you enjoy, you will have a "good life."

That is what I wrote back in the fall of 1999. Since then I came across a book by Pat Conroy titled My Losing Season. I would recommend the book. For all the winning teams that people celebrate, there are usually losing teams many of them made up of fine people.

Iowa Caucus night: Wellman, Iowa

2008-01-03T23:36:00.000-06:00

What fun. People who observed the Democratic caucus in Wellman this evening would probably either celebrate a wonderful expression of democracy in action, or they might shake their head and wonder about the messy way Iowa Democrats express their preferences for a presidential candidate.

I'm sure the Republican caucus in Wellman was a much more sedate, and organized affair. Part of it is the process. After registering, Republicans indicate who they are supporting and those results are reported to the media and the election officials. The Democratic Party has a more complicated process.

We met at the Wellman Senior Center and it didn't take long to realize the room was going to be crowded. The first caucus I attended back in 1992 had less than 10 people. Tonight, 175 were present in a room designed for 100. To help speed things up the organizers assigned each candidate a table. Clinton, Obama, and Edwards quickly spilled over their assigned areas. Biden and Richardson supporters did the best they could while the lone Kucinich and Dodd supporters looked a bit lost. Precinct captains for the candidates did their best to slap stickers on the people supporting their candidate. It was obvious to see who had raised the most money as Obama and Clinton had plenty of stickers, buttons, bumper stickers, and posters to hand to people to help persuade them to join. As the room filled I volunteered to have the Edwards people move to the large entry room which in hindsight turned out to be a good move.

After the caucus started people were to go to their candidates group. It was clear that Clinton, Obama and Edwards would have enough support to get delegates, the question was, how were our seven delegates going to be divided. Even before the first round was over, people were talking to the Dodd, Richardson, and Biden people. Richardson and Bidens folks talked briefly about joining forces but before they could agree I got enough Biden supporters to come over to Edwards to put an end to that idea. As they walked into our room they all got a rousing ovation. We got most of the Richardson and Biden people and the lone Dodd supporter. We had enough for two delegates and were within five people of getting a third delegate, a level Obama had already reached. Clinton's folks either didn't have anybody running a calculator, or someone who understood the formula because they thought they were out of the running for a second delegate. That allowed us to convince five of their supporters to come over to Edwards which put us over the threshold for three delegates. When I checked the numbers at home, Clinton would have only needed to convince three people to join them to get the second delegate, instead of Edwards getting three. It was all quite entertaining and by the time it was over I was tired. I was pleased with the end result as Edwards got 3 delegates, Obama got 3, and Clinton got 1.

Some brief observations. Clinton's supporters for the most part were the oldest people in the room. The only young people sitting in her group were two staff members from out of state who were helping first time caucus goers through the process. Her supporters didn't seem to be moving around trying to recruit people. They were definitely the least energetic of the bunch.

Obama had the most supporters and most of the young people in the room. There were a range of ages represented and lots of new faces. My guess is newly registered voters, or independents who switched for the night, were there because of Obama. His supporters had a lot of energy and even tried the "fired up" cheer Obama has used at some of his speeches.

Edwards had the most diverse group in terms of age, a nice mix of some young folks, older folks, and many middle aged people. It was a good group of people. I don't think we had anybody leave our group after coming over which I appreciated. I think it helped to be off in the other room where we could limit access to some folks who maybe weren't quite sure about their support. Plus most of them had soft chairs to sit in for the evening.

It was good to see lots of young people present including a current student and several former students. Most of the discussions were good natured and there was a fair amount of good natured joking going on as one candidates supporters worked to convince someone to change their mind. That is where it helped to have local people working as precinct captains or organizers. It is also where some of the perhaps questionable things took place - for example, the young women who said she would take my son on a date if he joined the Obama corner for the night. Democracy at its best.

Broken leg, hospital, and John Edwards

2007-12-29T23:11:00.000-06:00

A bit of a weird day. Thursday my wife slipped on some ice, fell, and broke her left leg just above the ankle. She managed to break both bones. By the time we got home from the emergency room it was late and by the time she got situated in bed it was even later. Those people who talk about how efficient our medical system is and then try to scare people with what they call "socialized medicine," and how bad it might be, should perhaps visit an ER some evening. The staff were nice, friendly, and helpful, but efficient isn't the word I would use to describe our experience. I understand the concept of triage, but for someone to sit with a broken leg for three hours before getting an x-ray doesn't seem right. After the last round of x-rays, and while the Dr. was putting on the cast, the head Doctor came twice to check on Beth, and both times he apologized for the lengthy wait. I guess it made him feel better but it didn't do much for me.

I had promised to help at Edwards campaign appearance Saturday afternoon in Washington, so Dirk helped out, Beth's mother came down, and I took off for Washington. The job I was assigned was to get people who were attending to sign in so the Edwards people had an idea how many folks came. The Washington library meeting room can maybe hold 75 people comfortably at most. They crammed a lot of people inside - I'm sure the fire marshal would have been unhappy, if Washington has such a thing. By time they were done over 300 people had signed which was a lot more than they were expecting. I can't say how the speech went, or how Edwards answered questions because I didn't hear any of it. I stayed downstairs and talked to people who didn't want to stand on the stairway to try and hear some of what he had to say. As people came out I was to help ask people if they were willing to sign up to caucus for Edwards. Quite a few signed, or said they already had. Most of the people were positive and enthusiastic about what they heard.

One of the interesting things was the number of people present from other states. I talked with folks from North Carolina, Colorado, Illinois and Kansas. Most had grown up in Iowa and were visiting relatives over Christmas. There were even some people from Australia taking in all the activity. Most made it clear they were just taking the opportunity to see a candidate while they were in the area.

Huckabee

2007-12-21T21:52:00.000-06:00

I saw my first Republican candidate this afternoon when I went to Coralville to see Gov. Mike Huckabee. There were well over 200 people in the room at the Marriott when Huckabee was introduced about twenty minutes late. It took him less than 10 seconds to say "Chuck Norris" as he read off some of the signs people brought. We then got to hear how wonderful Norris is and he promised Norris would be campaigning with him the week before the caucus.

Huckabee talked for forty minutes during which time he referred to Isaiah, Chuck Norris, Jesus Christ, Billy Jack, and Colin Powell. I found it to be a rather odd mix of names.

Next, Huckabee talked about the importance of the Iowa caucuses in allowing underfunded candidates a chance. He then gave us a history of the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and a bit about the Constitution. It seems to me that when you combine religious belief, politics, and history you end with both bad theology and bad history.

Other topics he addressed were the need to overcome partisanship, immigration, the education system, and our failed energy policy. He noted that we pay for both sides of the war on terror when we fund the Pentagon and through our oil dollars, also fund terrorists.

He spent a lot of time criticizing the tax system which he claims taxes productivity and ingenuity. He talked about replacing the IRS and the current system with what he called a consumption tax. He didn't say anything specific but my guess is most of the people who clapped didn't understand he proposes replacing the income tax with a 23% sales tax. I'm no expert but it seems to me, ingenious Americans would find ways to avoid paying this fee, it would put a damper on the economy, or both.

After the lengthy discourse on taxes Huckabee quickly reviewed his pro-life credentials, his humble origins, and his desire for the strongest military ever. This is where he referred to Billy Jack, quoting the line about putting my heel on your neck and stomping.

He finished by thanking us and reminding us how important it is to caucus and participate in the political process. According to him, we were all expressing our patriotism just by coming to hear him.

My impressions- Huckabee is a folksy guy who relates well to a crowd. He didn't sound all that different from some Democrats who also talk about their humble origins and the hard times they have overcome. He can tell a good story and poke fun at himself so he comes across as a likable guy. When he talked about only using Lava soap, it seemed most of the crowd shared the experience of being scrubbed with that awful stuff.

Huckabee had an interesting way of shifting between references to Jesus, Isaiah and Christianity, and then referring to Chuck Norris, Billy Jack, and a take no prisoners kind of approach. Frankly I found his ability to do this to be a bit frightening. I found myself wondering who he would look like with a little patch of mustache over his lip.

What I didn't hear was also interesting. There was no mention of the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. There was little said about the economy and when he did mention it he talked about the need to cut taxes. He described how Maytag left Newton, Iowa because of the heavy tax burden. The John Edwards commercial which just aired, suggested Maytag left because of corporate greed and unfair trade agreements. My guess is the truth is somewhere in between those two arguments.

Compared to Romney and Guliani, Huckabee connects well with many Iowans and is a formidable candidate in the State.

Hillary

2007-12-17T21:52:00.000-06:00

Dirk and I drove to Coralville this evening to see Hillary Clinton at the Johnson County Historical Society building which houses old cars. We were among the last people allowed into the building. The local fire marshal was exerting his authority to make sure the building would not be overcrowded so approximately 200 people waited outside.

She came out about fifteen minutes late, was introduced and then did her speech. She talked from 7:43 to 8:30 and spent 20 minutes of that talking about health care. The next topic was energy policy, the need for a spirit of optimism, education including reforming No Child Left Behind and cutting college cost. From there she moved to talking about "cronyism" in Washington, reclaiming moral authority in the world by bringing the troops home from Iraq "as quickly and responsibly as possible." From what I have read elsewhere the "responsible" part of her plan may leave troops in Iraq for up to four years after she would take office.

After the lengthy talk, she told us there were 200 cold people outside who she needed to visit but she wanted to answer some questions so she decided three would be the limit. The questions were about credit cards, Social Security reform, and one about why so many people dislike her.

A couple of observations, We were seated behind the stand for photographers. When they stood we couldn't see. How many pictures does a beat photographer need of Hillary Clinton - or any candidate for that matter? The crowd was large, and seemed to be made up mostly of older people. I didn't see a lot of college age folks or folks who seemed to be in their 30's. As for Hillary herself, I didn't see any horns and she wasn't carrying a pitchfork. I imagine she would make a decent President but I didn't find her to be all that inspiring. She didn't mention any of her Democratic rivals but she did take a shot at Edwards and Obama in her line about change. "You can't create change by demanding it, or by hoping for it, you create change by working for it." While a lot of people clapped for the line, I noticed quite a few around us who kept their hands in their laps.

I have now seen all the major Democratic candidates this election cycle. If the Des Moines Register can exclude Kucinich I suppose I can as well. For whatever reason the Republicans seem to be avoiding southeastern Iowa. I signed up with Romney and Huckabee's websites to make sure I get notices if they come to the area, but that has resulted primarily in negative emails aimed at each other. Such fun.

Joe Biden

2007-12-15T21:57:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I drove to Washington to see Sen. Joe Biden at the public library. I left Wellman a bit late and though it had been snowing I figured the roads would be a bit better than they were. He was scheduled to arrive at 3:30 and I figured he would be late as well so I wasn't to worried. I parked across the street, helped a guy with directions who I found out was working for Obama, and was there to try and lure people coming to see Biden to visit the Obama office instead. I got inside, started running up the steps, and nearly ran into the Biden entourage.

There were 50-60 people in the room. A neighbor of mine was introducing him. I will only note that said neighbor was wearing sweatpants which did not have a hole in them, unlike the pair he was wearing a couple of years ago. He also had on a new t-shirt.

Biden introduced us to some of his family members including his granddaughter. He talked for about 20 minutes outlining some of his policies, focusing particularly on Iraq, Iran, economic policies, education, health care, and social security. It seemed he felt comfortable speaking about foreign policy more than some of the domestic issues. After the stump speech he asked for questions.

The first question had to do with taxes and campaign strategy, the second dealt with energy policy and the third was about Iraq. I was standing in the back of the room and it seemed the people he called on were ones wearing name tags or were people he seemed to know, so I figured I might not get a chance to ask a question. I was taking notes and trying to maintain eye contact when he pointed towards me and said, did you have a question, so I said "yes, I do." I said I had the opportunity to be in the West Bank for two weeks this past summer and I would like to know how he would approach the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and what he would do to improve conditions for Palestinians.

This was his response, First, he said the President of the U.S. needs to be engaged on an almost daily basis with the leaders of Israel, Palestine and other middle eastern countries. He said he favors a two state solution with the borders being more or less the green line. He talked about a "hectare for hectare" land swap where Israeli settlements which have been in place for more than 20 years would be allowed to remain, if land was granted to a Palestinian state elsewhere by Israel. He said there needs to be free entry to Jerusalem and east Jerusalem, and that there can be no guaranteed right of return because it would mean the destruction of Israel.

He went on to talk about the neocon approach to foreign relations which he said discounts diplomacy and focuses on a strong military approach. He talked about this being a time when a peace settlement might be possible. He talked about the Sunni Arab countries being more afraid of radical Shiia countries than of Israel, of Syria being key to solving the situation. It was apparent he is knowledgeable about the middle east and competent in foreign affairs.

I have no idea how Palestinians would respond to his ideas, particularly the idea of leaving some settlements in place, or his comments about east Jerusalem, though I suppose many would not be happy.

He answered two or three more questions. During his answer he went on a rant about letting Republicans talk about morality and religion. "How dare we let Mitt Romney lecture us self-righteously about morality, how dare we let some one like Guliani claim the moral high ground."

I was impressed with Senator Biden. He was dignified, intelligent, he had a sense of humor, he tried to keep from saying the word "hell" to often, and it was clear he has a lot of foreign policy experience. Biden would make a good President, much better than the person now filling the office.

signs and the Declaration of Independence

2007-12-05T20:30:00.000-06:00

More political signs are starting to sprout in local yards. Scattered among the numerous "for sale" signs in town (this summer 20 plus houses were for sale in town) you see the occasional sign promoting a candidate. Tonight there were two Obama signs along Hwy 22 across from the Huckabee sign which has been up for a week. There is at least one Clinton sign, my neighbor has a Biden sign sort of hidden behind his cars, while I stuck an Edwards sign in my yard. I'm waiting to see a candidates sign incorporated into some one's Christmas light display.

On the way in to Indiana last weekend I saw more Ron Paul signs than any others. There was even a bed sheet hanging from a highway overpass which read "Ron Paul Revolution."

Today in World History class I had to wonder if students are becoming dumber or if I am just getting old and cranky. The chapter on the Enlightenment had a short section about how the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution reflect some of the Enlightenment ideals Montesquieu, Rousseau, Locke and others wrote about. I assumed the classes of mostly sophomores would be somewhat familiar with the two documents from 8th grade U.S. History. Only two of the 35 students admitted to having read any part of the Declaration before today. Most couldn't finish the line, "life, liberty...." So what was supposed to be a short review ended up using most of the shortened block period.

The lack of reading came up again when a group of seniors in Current Events class looked at a My Turn essay in the current Newsweek where the author writes about catching up on his reading since he didn't read as a teenager. The essay mentioned Siddhartha, Brave New World, 1984, Animal Farm, and Breakfast of Champions. One of the girls had read Siddhartha, two had read Animal Farm for a British Lit class and that was all. Some of the kids in my classes may as well be illiterate - some only read what is assigned and from test scores, I would assume that many don't even read what is assigned. I should quit ranting, but I fear for our democracy if people don't read.
How can people tell that our government is violating the Constitution if they never bother reading it?

Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne

2007-11-19T22:03:00.000-06:00

I drove to Iowa City after school today to see John Edwards at the City High Auditorium. I got there about fifteen minutes before the scheduled start time and was fortunate to find a seat in the balcony as the place was full and more people were on the way. The program started about 5:15 with a couple of introductions and then Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne sang several songs including "Make me an Angel" (I don't know if that is the title or not but its how I remember the song) and "A Thing called Love." On the Make me an Angel song she had Greg Brown, Pieta Brown, Bo Ramsey and a women whose name I missed come up on the stage and sing along. She probably helped Edwards score some points with the local folk music crowd.

In between their songs they told us why they supported Edwards and encouraged us to caucus for Edwards. After half an hour of songs, John Edwards gave a rousing speech. He criticized Bush and reiterated his plans for getting the US out of Iraq, health care, and his concern for the poor. Compared to the last time I saw him speak Edwards spoke with a lot of passion and energy. Combined with the singing this was the nearest thing to a revival meeting I've been to, since I've been to a revival meeting and it has been awhile since I have been to one of those.

Edwards took a few questions but kept that part relatively short. He answered questions about global warming, education, health care, social security, and one on how he makes decisions. If you have heard him before he didn't really say much new, but the passion did come through.

When he talked about his plans and ideas in relationship to the other Democratic candidates he tended to compare his positions primarily to those of Clinton. He kept repeating that if you want traditional politics with leaders beholden to corporate interests then Clinton would be a good choice, but if you wanted change and a politician who would fight special interests than he was the best choice. It was the first time where I really heard him talk about his experience as a trial lawyer and how every day for 20 years he fought against the HMO's, the health insurance companies and other large business interests to protect his clients. He argued that he would bring that experience with him as he battled for universal health care and other improvements in life for the average American.

As he finished they played a Springsteen song over the speakers and many people went looking for autographs. A lot of people were picking up literature, signs, and stickers, but it is always hard to tell how much of it is people collecting campaign paraphernalia and how much is because they support the candidate.

debate

2007-11-16T19:42:00.000-06:00

The candidates seem to be campaigning in either the Des Moines or Dubuque areas so none have been coming near the cornfields where I live. I think Edwards is supposed to be in Iowa City Monday and Romney may be in Washington Wednesday. I have a couple of unwritten rules about going to these events. I won't drive more than 30 miles to get to the appearance - especially when gas is up to 3.10, and I won't go to an event where I have to pay to get in the door. I suppose there are others but those two seem to work for the most part.

I did watch the debate which raised questions about how CNN and other news media cover this whole race. CNN's website said something like, "Clinton dominates debate." They neglected to add that CNN reporters asked her the first question and that the first ten minutes of the debate were primarily Clinton and Obama going back and forth. Why shouldn't Clinton dominate the debate if she is asked the majority of the questions and allowed to respond any time one of the other candidates dared to criticize her by name.

If according to the news reports Guliani is the FOX news candidate, is Clinton the CNN candidate? If the rest of Iowa is like my town, most of the registered voters are undecided and will only say they are leaning towards a candidate. Howard Dean was surprised by the results last time, and I hope Clinton is surprised in this one as well. Maybe a third place finish in Iowa would derail her a bit.

Edwards finally got pulled into the mix and eventually the other candidates got some air time. The local paper said Biden didn't talk until 15 minutes in and Dodd, Richardson, and Kucinich were even later.

One thing I found disappointing was how many of the candidates said that national security was more important than human rights. I believe Richardson and Kucinich were the only two to either challenge the premise or to say human rights was more important. It reminded me a bit of Thoreau who we were looking at a bit this week in my American History class. One of his passages from On Civil Disobedience seemed appropriate; "The mass of men serve the state...not as men mainly, but as machines with their bodies. ...In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgement or of the moral sense but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones;.... Others as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers... serve the state chiefly with their heads; as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God." I think we would all do well to read Thoreau again.

caucus preparation

2007-10-31T19:48:00.000-05:00

My son tells me this is boring. I told him I would try and make it a bit more interesting, but then again I live in a small town surrounded by corn fields. To make it worse, at this time of year, after the corn is picked, the farmers begin emptying their hog manure pits. The smell which emanates from the liquid shit can permeate your clothes, fill your nostrils, and drive you mad. Last week when I walked out the school door I was assaulted by the stench. For those who have never experienced the smell, it can be overwhelming. A few years ago we played a soccer game in the evening after a local farmer spread his crap on neighboring fields. We won over a good West Point Marquette team that night. When I talked to their coach the following week he complained about not being able to concentrate because the smell was so bad. He said they smelled like manure when they got off the bus after a hour plus ride home. I can believe it because I smelled horrible when I got home. So, not only do I live in a small field in the middle of corn fields, but this time of year, they are smelly corn fields.

Last night I attended what was called a "caucus preparation" meeting in Washington organized by the John Edwards campaign. We met at the Pizza Ranch and went through the agenda established by the higher ups somewhere. We even got a pep talk from some guy over the phone. The material we were given is helpful and the young women staffer in charge of the area did fine, but my question as I sat there was, why do you send a young person who has never attended a caucus, to lead a caucus preparation meeting. I suppose it is because either she volunteered, or because she agreed to work for a minimal amount until the caucus is over, hoping Edwards does well, and that she will be hired to work in a State with a later primary.

The other troubling thing was that the Washington Demons football team was eating in a room next to ours. They were being typical boisterous high school kids, in other words they were loud. That wouldn't have been a problem except that four of the eight people in our meeting were frail, little old ladies who had a hard time hearing anyway, let alone with lots of background noise. The young women running the meeting knew enough to cut the meeting short and send us on our way. I did come home with a list of all the undecided Democrats in our precinct and the idea is to talk with them over the next two months. There are about 75 names on the list. I know at least one person who tells every candidate who calls that he is committed to someone else since it cuts down significantly on the number of phone calls he gets. I guess this is all part of "democracy in action" and I have to admit I do find it to be interesting to participate in the process even if it seems messy and inefficient.
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who is barak obama?

2007-10-23T22:34:00.000-05:00

The candidates haven't been making the rounds nearby so I haven't seen any one recently. Guliani was in Iowa City last Wednesday evening but I had been asked to speak about my trip to the West Bank to a group called People for Justice in Palestine at the Iowa City Library. The Daily Iowan said there were around 40 people there but I thought it was closer to 60. Ben and Jerry of ice cream fame were also in Iowa City that evening and they were giving away ice cream. It is hard to compete with free ice cream. I thought my presentation went well. One guy thanked me afterwards and then added, "I didn't learn anything new, but I liked the way you told your story." He then said he had been to the West Bank 4 times. The program was taped and will appear occasionally on the public access channel in Iowa City.

Guiliani was also in town the week before but it would have cost $50 bucks a plate and I prefer to not pay to see any of these guys.

Now to the title of this post, "who is Barak Obama?" One of the other things I have been doing this fall is to interview some Amish folks in Iowa for some people in Goshen and Pennsylvania. It has been interesting to sit for an hour or two and ask them questions. Generally the interviews start out slow, then when I put away my notebook they start talking. The last guy I talked to liked to ask me questions as well. I'm not exactly sure how it came up but he asked me about interracial marriage and how the children of interracial marriages are treated. So I asked him if he him if he knew about Barak Obama. His response was, who? So I repeated the name, "Barak Obama." "Who is Barak Obama?" I told him Obama was one of the guys running for President and had been in Iowa quite a bit over the last month. He thought that was nice but didn't know who he was and he didn't particularly care. I can imagine him saying, "thats a concern for the world, not me."

It was sort of refreshing to talk with a man who didn't know who any of the candidates were after they have spent thousands of dollars in the state of Iowa trying to get their message to the people. It is one of the advantages of not having a television, a phone, or email all ways we are being bombarded by various candidates. This isn't to say this man was unconcerned or apathetic. He is a very bright guy, but for him, the main goal in life is to be faithful to God, scriptures and his church, and politics isn't going to help him with faithfulness.

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Chris Dodd

2007-10-07T16:14:00.000-05:00

After church I drove to Washington to see Chris Dodd at Cafe Dodici's. Compared to the stockyards where I saw Obama, and Washington High School where Edwards and Richardson appeared, this was by far the classiest place I have seen a candidate. Dodd arrived about 15 minutes after the scheduled time and talked to around 50 people. Unlike the other visits, this one had food so the wait was enjoyable. They had these tasty spinach filled pastries which were exceptionally good.

After noting his Iowa connections by making references to Harken, Bedel, Culver, and other Iowa politicians, Dodd talked about his electability and the importance of the Iowa caucus in choosing a candidate who can win in November. As part of this he highlighted his experience and his ability to work across party lines to get legislation passed.

The first issue Dodd talked about was Iraq. He said he would remove U.S. troops from Iraq but that removing troops does not mean that we would not be involved in the area. "We have turned Iraq into a petrie dish for jihadists and terrorists." He also noted his service in the Peace Corps and his service in the National Guard.

Next Dodd talked about restoring the Constitution. He told the story of his father who worked as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials after WWII and how important it was to treat our enemies by the rule of law. He contrasted the response most people give to Nuremberg to the images most of us have when we hear about Abu Grahb or Guantanamo.

After 30 minutes of talking Dodd took questions from the audience. People asked about No Child Left Behind, Israel's bombing of Syria, rural Iowa, the electability of a Northeast liberal, fair trade, why Congress hasn't done more to halt the war in Iraq and the growing economic disparity in the U.S. Dodd's answers tended to be long and passionate, though he didn't always answer the question. He had an annoying habit of saying "I hear" after many statements especially when he was excited, "I hear."

Though I was sitting towards the front he didn't seem to want to call on me when I raised my hand. After saying it was time to finish I thought I would see if I could ask a question about Palestine. After getting his picture taken and signing some autographs he said, "I never got to your question." I told him I had spent two weeks in the West Bank and was wondering where I could find what his position is regarding Israel and Palestine. Dodd said first the President must be engaged in the area. "Condi can't just stop in every six months or so and expect to get anything done," so I would be more engaged in the area. He said when he visited with Olmert that Olmert told him Bush is the best President the U.S. has ever had. The reason according to Dodd is that Bush has never pushed Israel on any issue and has backed nearly every policy or plan pushed by Israel. Dodd added, I favor a two state solution and the Palestinian state needs to be a viable one. We can't always just accept what Israel does and need to be willing to push them to improve living conditions for Palestinians. Dodd also mentioned his support for the Peace Corps and that he has worked to maintain their presence in Jordan and would like to see the Peace Corps in Egypt and other Arab nations. Then he moved on to talk with some of the others. I grabbed a couple more of the spinach pastries, bought some chocolates for my wife and headed for home.

Dodd did a nice job and seemed knowledgeable about the issues. He tended to be a bit long winded but he showed some passion when addressing the issues. The problem is that he is a Senator and has been in Congress for 26 years at a time when many people seem to want change and a fresh face. In the words of my son who saw him in Wellman, "he's just another old white guy who wants to be President." Unfortunately for Dodd, I'm afraid that is how many people will see him.

John Edwards

2007-10-06T20:08:00.000-05:00

Tonight I made another trip to Washington, this time to see John Edwards speak in the old gymnasium at the high school. Beth and I had gone to the Pork supper at IMS and when it appeared she wouldn't get done in time for me to leave, I left her there - though I did make arrangements for her to get home. Fortunately she is understanding of my eccentricities. Then I faced the question of why, when you are in a hurry does every car you get behind go 40 - 45 mph down the highway with few if any places to pass.

I made it to the school and found a parking place right in front even though I was late. I found the old gymnasium, one of those cracker box gyms with a balcony or railing up above. The seats were full so I headed to a place where I could stand, when a young women came and offered to usher me to a seat. My seat was on the platform behind the speaker and in front of a large U.S. flag. Four years ago I caucused for Edwards so I have seen him several times and continue to view him favorably.

Elizabeth Edwards was introduced and received a standing ovation from the crowd of 100 to 200 people. She focused on electability and compared some polls showing how her husband compares to Obama, Clinton, Gulianni, Thompson, and Romney. She introduced John who came in to a Springsteen song. I couldn't tell which one because the sound system was not so good and it was compounded by the echoing of the gym.

Edwards talked about Universal health care, economic inequality, global warming, the war in Iraq and finished by mentioning the recent Senate vote on Iran. He did this all in 10 minutes or so and then asked for questions. After answering questions about renewable energy, Iraq and Iran, gun control ("tell your son, John Edwards won't take away his gun"), trade policy, and the Warren Commission, Elizabeth suggested he take some questions from the people sitting behind him. I raised my hand and after no one else in the section apparently did, he called on me.

I asked the same question I asked Richardson, saying I had been in the West Bank this summer and asked for his ideas on how he planned to approach the region. He said he favors a two State solution. He said we need to follow the road map which was established a few years ago. I don't know if he was referring to Camp David, Oslo, or something else. He said he had been "in the territories" a couple of years ago where he had a chance to meet with people from the Palestinian Authority. He said, "there are Palestinians who want peace and we need to work with them." He said we shouldn't work with Hamas as long as they do not recognize the right of Israel to exist and as long as they promote terror. "The President and the Secretary of State need to be involved in providing leadership in this region, something this President hasn't done."

Then he moved on. I would have liked to ask if he favored a return to the '67 borders, the road map he mentioned, or East Jerusalem. But I have learned it is difficult to get a follow up question in this type of setting. The candidates like to get as many questions asked as possible, even if some of them are goofy, or maybe they actually prefer the goofy ones, like the one about the Warren Commission.

Edwards didn't answer my question as completely as what Richardson did, but then most of Edwards answers were shorter than Richardson's. He did seem to know something about the situation, he answered the question in a way that didn't really offend anyone which I imagine was his goal.

After my question a women asked about Iraq and where he saw the situation 10 years from now, a women whose husband is in the National Guard and has been in Iraq asked about what pulling the troops from Iraq says to those who have served or to those who died. Elizabeth helped with this one telling a story about her father who served in Vietnam.

It was all over in less than an hour. When he shook my hand he said, "so you were in the West Bank?" I said yes but before I could ask him a question one of his staffers pulled him away. Where do I rank these guys so far? Right now I would go with Edwards, followed by Richardson, Obama, Dodd, Biden, and then maybe Clinton. Tomorrow if all works out I will see Chris Dodd, then I do my program at Washington Mennonite. Sometime I need to track down a couple of Republicans.
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Bill Richardson

2007-10-06T16:15:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting week with several Democratic candidates coming to the area. Most are here for the Johnson County Barbecue but since I'm too cheap to spend $15 for a ticket I have been seeing them when they come to the nearby town of Washington.

Wednesday I took my Current Events class plus a few other students to see Barak Obama. Over 450 people checked in so I didn't get to ask any questions.

Today I drove to Washington to see Bill Richardson. I was running late and as I was coming in I saw Richardson introduce himself to three IMS girls who were at Washington high school for a volleyball tournament. In the auditorium Richards gave what I assume is his standard stump speech. He talked about education, health care, good jobs, and getting out of the war with Iraq all the while struggling with his microphone which kept cutting out on him. He finally gave up on the microphone and spoke loudly to the hundred or so people who were there. Through all of this he touted his experience as a governor and noted that seven of the last eight presidents were governors.

During the question time I said I had the opportunity to travel in the West Bank for two weeks in August and asked how he would work to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. This is what he had to say.

First he said he would appoint a Mid-East envoy. He noted that President Bush is the first President in many years who has not appointed an envoy to deal with this conflict He noted that he would "push both sides to work at arranging a peace."

Second, he "would talk to Syria, he would talk with Lebanon, he would talk with Israel." He noted he thinks it is important to talk with our friends, but "it is also important to talk to our enemies." I think it was here he mentioned negotiating with Saddam Hussein and having talked with Syria.

Third, "I am pro-Israel, I've always been a big supporter of Israel. I'm for a two State solution with a return to 1967 borders with some negotiations about East Jerusalem." "Look where their policies have gotten them (Israel). They have Hezbollah on one side, they have Hamas on the other, and then there is Iran which is pursuing nuclear weapons which is something I do not want to happen."

From there Richardson talked more about Iran . He said, we can't just threaten Iran, we need to talk with our enemies, we have to be firm but it is important to talk, not just to threaten to use our military.

He then moved on to other questions from the audience. It seemed to me that Richardson has a decent understanding of the Israeli/Palestinian question and the importance of the U.S taking leadership in helping to bring the two groups together. As he answered my question it seemed the question of the Palestinians got lost as he talked more about Iran and the middle east in general. It is probably something Palestinians are long accustomed to - being overlooked or ignored.

Overall I came away impressed with Richardson. He has experience as a governor, as a member of Clinton's cabinet, and as an ambassador. He handled questions well showing a broad range of knowledge and a good sense of humor. He was able to poke fun at himself and it looked like he was enjoying himself.

After the program was over I met a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer and we talked for awhile. It was interesting to talk to some one from the city where we lived for ten years.
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