An Artist's Notebook

The Most Tolerable Third Party

2009-07-16T11:38:00.002-05:00

A little before the 4th of July, I purchased a box of sparklers. I had some thought of what I wanted to do with them, but seeing how I'm never at home and few people visit me at night, I had not much of an opportunity to do what I wanted to do with them.

Then a few nights back Sara came over and I got to light up the sparklers and do a little playing. Although I have to confess, lighting these cheap sparklers took quite a bit more effort than I would have expected.

Here are the results of what happened after these buggers finally lit.

Although I love my backyard, I really hate the street light that constantly bathes it in light. It really makes night photography a drag.

Yet There is Method In It

2009-07-15T10:58:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, after going to the gym, helping Becky move, having lunch at Papa Chubby's, touring Andree's new dig but before going to Jeff's birthday barbecue, I went down to check out Midnight Madness.

On my way from the car to the event, I took these pictures:

Once I got to where the competitors were congregating, I snapped a couple more pictures.

I believe that Logan was trying to throw down the badass vibe in this picture. It is a family trait of men with Bennett genetic material.

There is no doub about this one. Brandon is definitely throwing down the badass vibe in this picture.

Geri D. showing off her time clock. I made a deal with Geri that if she walked Midnight Madness next year, I would walk it with her. I don't know if this is a "real" deal or if this is the type of deal I made with Becky last year where she was supposed to hold me accountable for volunteering for Special Olympics. I did not volunteer for Special Olympics.

I'm not going to describe this picture. In fact, there is only one regular reader of this blog that will even understand this picture. I hope they enjoy it.

Once the race got started, Becky joined me and I took a few more pictures of the competitors.

The beginning of the 5K.

Willy

Willy nearing the finish line.

Logan

Blake (The World's Best UPS Guy)

Scott

It was an interesting event.

DFDA54

2009-07-14T16:09:00.000-05:00

So the garlic might not have been the last mystery of my backyard. I still didn't know what color my lilies would be when they bloomed. I got that answer late last week.

Although I'm not in love with the color, it is satisfactory enough. At least they aren't something as cliche as tiger lilies.

Happy Birthday!

2009-07-12T15:01:00.003-05:00

Today is the birthday of some very special people!

Happy Birthday to all of them!

Derrick Gorshe

For more pictures of Derrick: Click on Me

Jill Gorshe

And of course...

My Nephew Logan

For more pictures of Logan: Click on Me

New Digs

2009-07-11T16:25:00.002-05:00

"Home is where you hang your head."
-Groucho Marx

On Saturday, Baier and I finally got to see Andree's new digs.

It is a pretty sweet house. It includes a double decker deck. I already want to have parties there.

Bonne Finken

2009-07-10T23:40:00.002-05:00

Friday Night Bonne Finken played Ames on the Half Shell. Here are a couple of images.

For about 50 more images, click on the link below:

Bonne Finken & the Collective

This Friday the band will be Kountertop.

Happy Birthday Jay!

2009-07-08T11:20:00.003-05:00

I think I'm going to create a hybrid of the 2 birthday salute styles that I have tried in the past.

Happy Birthday Mr. Janson!

Jay in Kalona

Jay Carving Pumpkins

Jay in Beautiful Downtown McCallsburg

Jay in Kelley

Jay-Working It in Ottumwa (Rob Gorshe Admires His Work)

Jay Boozing It Up in Mankato

Jay in the Stephens Parking Lot after Watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Jay at the Iowa State Fair

Jay in Clinton with a Couple Dudes He Knows

Jay and Some Dude in Colo

But I do have more pictures of Jay in the Snapshots Gallery. But you can also click on the link below to find about 20 more pictures of Jay.

Jay Christopher Janson

There is also a random picture of Bill in the mix as well.

4th of July

2009-07-05T21:06:00.001-05:00

I had a pretty great 4th of July!

I woke up in the morning and headed to Ames at about 9 am. I met Shannon and her cousin Matthew for a pretty sweet breakfast of biscuits and gravy that Shannon made.

Then I headed over to Jen and Derrick's to drop off some cherry ice cream I made the night before for their annual 4th of July barbecue.

I got to Bandshell Park at about 10 am and worked on Ames on the Half Shell until about 7 pm.

I got a few photos of the event, but I'm just going to post my 5 favorite.

Peg and Angie with Mike Butterworth of The Nadas

Me with Teresa and Logan

Me with Willy

Geri D. re-enacting the stamping of Matthew's Tongue

Matthew and Shannon's Annual 4th of July Portrait (Destined to be used as a Facebook Profile Picture with the cute part cropped out of it.)

After Ames on the Half Shell, I headed over to the fireworks firing grounds. Lighting off fireworks was quite a bit more dramatic this year. I saw quite a few fireworks do things that they weren't supposed to do.

Becky signed up to do fireworks, but after the very first one that Shannon lit blew up only a few feet in the air and flew all over the shooting area, she changed her mind.

I have to admit, that was pretty exciting. The next day I talked to Melissa. She did security for fireworks, so she wasn't at ground zero. She told me that when she saw that first firework blow up and shoot fireworks all over the area, she said a little prayer. But figured everybody must have been okay, because the fireworks didn't stop.

Shannon never knew that her firework malfunctioned, but that is part of the training. You don't watch your firework.

After a couple of minutes, Becky changed her mind and joined in the fun.

Here are a few pictures from the fireworks:

Scott showing off our massive amount of communication technology we had a ground zero.

Hammering Rebar. Rebar is hammered in between mortars to prevent them from falling over and firing into the crowd. Or worse, at the shooters. This is an example of what went wrong in Charles City last year. They used rebar, but they only hammered it in a few inches into asphalt. Because all the mortars were chained together, when one mortar fell over, they all fell over.

Joe unpacking fireworks.

The 10 minute warning. This was the very first firework that Becky ever lit.

Last year, Sara asked me what fireworks look like from the other side. I don't have a good answer for that question, but this is what fireworks look like from underneath.

Shannon lighting a 5 inch shell. The 5 inch shells were the biggest that we lit off this year. I think this is actually my favorite picture from the day. Even though I'm sure critics will claim that it is slightly derivative of my earlier work.

This is an example of what it can look like when something goes minorly wrong. It might look to some people like this is a series of fireworks going off, but it isn't. This is what it looks like when a firework doesn't go up high enough before it blows up. It comes back to the earth before it has completely burned up. The strange thing about this picture is that if you look closely, you can see aluminum foil on top of the mortars. These are the grand finale mortars and they are covered by aluminum foil in case something like this happens. All the grand finale fireworks are fused together, so if 1 of them goes off, they all go off. If you look even closer, you will notice that there is not aluminum foil covering all of the mortars. This happened while people were removing the foil and getting ready to set off the Grand Finale. If you look very close, you can make out Joe on the very right side of the picture. Shannon was also in the middle of this, but she does not appear in the picture.

The Grand Finale going off.

There are a ton of other great pictures from the day. I suggest you either click on the picture below or the link below and check them out:

4th of July

It was a great and safe fireworks show. It was a spectacular show and nobody came close to getting injured!

I concluded the evening hanging out with some wonderful people at Jen and Derrick's barbecue. I didn't leave there until a little after 2, but I still woke up in time to usher at church. Take that sleep! Who needs you any way?

The Price They Simplified

2009-07-03T12:14:00.000-05:00

I kind of hate historical inaccuracy to a degree. I read something about an email that has been frequently forwarded about the hardships suffered by the men that signed The Declaration of Independence.

It is sad enough that most people think we "declared" our independence on the 4th of July. That happened on July 2.

It is sad enough that most people think the Declaration of Independence was signed on the 4th of July. That mostly happened on August 12, mostly.

Perhaps you have received the following email:

The Price They Paid

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Standing talk straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July Holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: Freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support by please sending this to as many people as you can. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

The original author of this email asserts that patriotism is not a sin. I think all of you know how I feel about patriotism, but while patriotism may not be a sin, I think the jury might still be out on whether or not sending out stuff without doing your research is a sin or not.

If you get this email, you might consider attaching some researched facts to the email and sending it back to where it came from:

Origins: In the waning years of their lengthy lives, former presidents (and Founding Fathers) John Adams and Thomas Jefferson reconciled the political differences that had separated them for many years and carried on a voluminous correspondence. One of the purposes behind their exchange of letters was to set the record straight regarding the events of the American Revolution, for as author Joseph J. Ellis noted, they (particularly Adams, whom history would not treat nearly as kindly as Jefferson) were keenly aware of the "distinction between history as experienced and history as remembered":

Adams realized that the act of transforming the American Revolution into history placed a premium on selecting events and heroes that fit neatly into a dramatic formula, thereby distorting the more tangled and incoherent experience that participants actually making the history felt at the time. Jefferson's drafting of the Declaration of Independence was a perfect example of such dramatic distortions. The Revolution in this romantic rendering became one magical moment of inspiration, leading inexorably to the foregone conclusion of American independence.

Evidently Adams was right: So great is our need for simplified, dramatic events and heroes that even the real-life biographies of the fifty-six men who risked their lives to publicly declare American independence are no longer compelling enough. Through multiple versions of pieces like the one quoted above, their lives have been repeatedly embellished with layers of fanciful fiction to make for a better story. As we often do, we'll try here to strip away those accumulated layers of fiction and get down to whatever kernel of truth may lie underneath:

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.

It is true that five signers of the Declaration of Independence were captured by the British during the course of the Revolutionary War. However, none of them died while a prisoner, and four of them were taken into custody not because they were considered "traitors" due to their status as signatories to that document, but because they were captured as prisoners of war while actively engaged in military operations against the British:

George Walton was captured after being wounded while commanding militia at the Battle of Savannah in December 1778, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge (three of the four Declaration of Independence signers from South Carolina) were taken prisoner at the Siege of Charleston in May in 1780. Although they endured the ill treatment typically afforded to prisoners of war during their captivity (prison conditions were quite deplorable at the time), they were not tortured, nor is there evidence that they were treated more harshly than other wartime prisoners who were not also signatories to the Declaration. Moreover, all four men were eventually exchanged or released; had they been considered traitors by the British, they would have been hanged.

Richard Stockton of New Jersey was the only signer taken prisoner specifically because of his status as a signatory to the Declaration, "dragged from his bed by night" by local Tories after he had evacuated his family from New Jersey, and imprisoned in New York City's infamous Provost Jail like a common criminal. However, Stockton was also the only one of the fifty-six signers who violated the pledge to support the Declaration of Independence and each other with "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor," securing a pardon and his release from imprisonment by recanting his signature on the Declaration and signing an oath swearing his allegiance to George III.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

It is true that a number of signers saw their homes and property occupied, ransacked, looted, and vandalized by the British (and even in some cases by the Americans). However, as we discuss in more detail below, this activity was a common (if unfortunate) part of warfare. Signers' homes were not specifically targeted for destruction — like many other Americans, their property was subject to seizure when it fell along the path of a war being waged on the North American continent.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.

Abraham Clark of New Jersey saw two of his sons captured by the British and incarcerated on the prison ship Jersey. John Witherspoon, also of New Jersey, saw his eldest son, James, killed in the Battle of Germantown in October 1777. If there was a second signer of the Declaration whose son was killed while serving in the Continental Army, we have yet to find him.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

This statement is quite misleading as phrased. Nine signers died during the course of the Revolutionary War, but none of them died from wounds or hardships inflicted on them by the British. (Indeed, several of the nine didn't even take part in the war.) Only one signer, Button Gwinnett of Georgia, died from wounds, and those were received not at the hands of the British, but of a fellow officer with whom he duelled in May 1777.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Before the American Revolution, Carter Braxton was possessed of a considerable fortune through inheritance and favorable marriages. While still in his teens he inherited the family estate, which included a flourishing Virginia tobacco plantation, upon the death of his father. He married a wealthy heiress who died when he was just 21, and within a few years he had remarried, this time to the daughter of the Receiver of Customs in Virginia for the King. As a delegate representing Virginia in the Continental Congress in 1776, he was one of the minority of delegates reluctant to support an American declaration of independence, a move which he viewed at the time as too dangerous:

[Independence] is in truth a delusive Bait which men inconsiderably catch at, without knowing the hook to which it is affixed ... America is too defenceless a State for the declaration, having no alliance with a naval Power nor as yet any Fleet of consequence of her own to protect that trade which is so essential to the prosecution of the War, without which I know we cannot go on much longer.

Braxton invested his wealth in commercial enterprises, particularly shipping, and he endured severe financial reversals during the Revolutionary War when many of the ships in which he held interest were either appropriated by the British government (because they were British-flagged) or were sunk or captured by the British. He was not personally targeted for ruin because he had signed the Declaration of Independence, however; he suffered grievous financial losses because most of his wealth was tied up in shipping, "that trade which is so essential to the prosecution of the War" and which was therefore a prime military target for the British. Even if he hadn't signed the Declaration of Independence, Braxton's ships would have been casualties of the war just the same.

Although Braxton did lose property during the war and had to sell off assets (primarily landholdings) to cover the debts incurred by the loss of his ships, he recouped much of that money after the war but subsequently lost it again through his own ill-advised business dealings. His fortune was considerably diminished in his later years, but he did not by any stretch of the imagination "die in rags."

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

As one biography describes Thomas McKean (not "McKeam"):

Thomas McKean might just represent an ideal study of how far political engagement can be carried by one man. One can scarcely believe the number of concurrent offices and duties this man performed during the course of his long career. He served three states and many more cities and county governments, often performing duties in two or more jurisdictions, even while engaged in federal office.

Among his many offices, McKean was a delegate to the Continental Congress (of which he later served as president), President of Delaware, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and Governor of Pennsylvania. The above-quoted statement regarding his being "hounded" by the British during the Revolutionary War is probably based upon a letter he wrote to his friend John Adams in 1777, in which he described how he had been "hunted like a fox by the enemy, compelled to remove my family five times in three months, and at last fixed them in a little log-house on the banks of the Susquehanna, but they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians."

However, it is problematic to assert that McKean's treatment was due to his being a signer of the Declaration of Independence. (His name does not appear on printed copies of that document authenticated in January 1777, so it is likely he did not affix his name to it until later.) If he was targeted by the British, it was quite possibly because he also served in a military capacity as a volunteer leader of militia. In any case, McKean did not end up in "poverty," as the estate he left behind when he died in 1817 was described as consisting of "stocks, bonds, and huge land tracts in Pennsylvania."

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

First of all, this passage has a couple of misspellings: the signers referred to are William Ellery (not "Dillery") and Edward Rutledge (not "Ruttledge"). Secondly, this sentence is misleading in that it implies a motive that was most likely not present (i.e., these men's homes were looted because they had been signers of the Declaration of Independence).

The need to forage for supplies in enemy territory has long been a part of warfare, and so it was far from uncommon for British soldiers in the field to appropriate such material from private residences during the American Revolution. (Not only were homes used as sources of food, livestock, and other necessary supplies, but larger houses were also taken over and used to quarter soldiers or to serve as headquarters for officers.) In some cases, even American forces took advantage of the local citizenry to provision themselves. Given that many more prominent American revolutionaries who were also signers of the Declaration of Independence (e.g., Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Benjamin Rush, Robert Morris) had homes in areas that were occupied by the British during the war, yet those homes were not looted or vandalized, it's hard to make the case that the men named above were specifically targeted for vengeance by the British rather than unfortunate victims whose property fell in the path of an armed conflict being waged on American soil.

It's also a common misconception that the signing of the Declaration of Independence was the event that triggered the Revolutionary War, so the signers were directly responsible for whatever misfortunes befell them (and their fellow Americans) as a result of that war. The war actually began more than a year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence — revolutionary events involving armed conflict, such as the battles of Lexington and Concord, the seizure of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and his "Green Mountain Boys," the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the capture of Montreal by General Richard Montgomery, all took place in 1775.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

The tale about Thomas Nelson's urging or suggesting the bombardment of his own house is one of several Revolutionary War legends whose truth may never be known. Several versions of this story exist, one of which (as referenced above) holds that Nelson encouraged George Washington to shell his Yorktown home after British Major General Charles Cornwallis had taken it over to use as his headquarters in 1781:

Cornwallis had turned the home of Thomas Nelson, who had succeeded Jefferson as governor of Virginia, into his headquarters. Nelson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, had led three Virginia brigades, or 3,000 men, to Yorktown and, when the shelling of the town was about to begin, urged Washington to bombard his own house. And that is where Washington, with his experienced surveyor's eye, reputedly pointed the gun for the first (and singularly fatal) allied shot. Legend has it that the shell went right through a window and landed at the dinner table where some British officers, including the British commissary general, had just sat down to dine. The general was killed and several others wounded as it burst among their plates.

Other versions of the story have Nelson directing the Marquis de Lafayette to train French artillery on his home:

The story goes that the new Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson (who'd been held at Yorktown but released under a flag of truce) was with American forces that day. Lafayette invited Nelson to be present when Captain Thomas Machin's battery first opened fire, as both a compliment and knowing Nelson lived in Yorktown and would know the localities in the riverport area. "To what particular spot," Lafayette reportedly asked Nelson, "would your Excellency direct that we should point the cannon." Nelson replied, "There, to that house. It is mine, and . . . it is the best one in the town. There you will be almost certain to find Lord Cornwallis and the British headquarters."

"A simultaneous discharge of all the guns in the line," Joseph Martin wrote, was "followed [by] French troops accompanying it with 'Huzza for the Americans.'" Sounding much like the Nelson legend, Martin's account added that "the first shell sent from our batteries entered an elegant house formerly owned or occupied by the Secretary of State under the British, and burned directly over a table surrounded by a large party of British officers at dinner, killing and wounding a number of them."
Still other accounts maintain this legend is a conflation of two separate events: Thomas Nelson, acting as commander in chief of the Virginia militia, ordered a battery to open fire on his uncle's home, where Cornwallis was then ensconced. Later, Nelson supposedly made a friendly bet with French artillerists in which he challenged them to hit his home, one of the more prominent landmarks in Yorktown.

Whatever the truth, the Nelson home was certainly not "destroyed" as claimed. The house stands to this day as part of Colonial National Historical Park, and the National Park Service's description of it notes only that "the southeast face of the residence does show evidence of damage from cannon fire."

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

Francis Lewis represented New York in the Continental Congress, and shortly after he signed the Declaration of Independence his Long Island estate was raided by the British, possibily as retaliation for his having been a signatory to that document. While Lewis was in Philadelphia attending to congressional matters, his wife was taken prisoner by the British after disregarding an order for citizens to evacuate Long Island. Mrs. Lewis was held for several months before being exchanged for the wives of British officials captured by the Americans. Although her captivity was undoubtedly a hardship, she had already been in poor health for some time and died a few years (not months) later.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

John Hart's New Jersey farm was looted in the course of the Revolutionary War, and he did have to remain in hiding for a while afterwards. However, the claim that he was "driven from his [dying] wife's bedside" as his "13 children fled for his lives" is dramatic fiction. The British overran the area of New Jersey where he resided in late November of 1776, but his wife had already died on 8 October, and most of their children were adults by then. He also did not die "from exhaustion and a broken heart" a mere "few weeks" after emerging from hiding — he was twice re-elected to the Continental Congress, served as Speaker of the New Jersey assembly, and invited the American army to encamp on his New Jersey farmland in June 1778 before succumbing to kidney stones in May 1779.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Lewis Morris (not Norris) indeed saw his Westchester County, New York, home taken over in 1776 and used as a barracks for soldiers, and the horses and livestock from his farm commandeered by military personnel, but he suffered those deprivations at the hands of the Continental Army, not the British. Shortly afterwards his home was appropriated by the British, but Morris and his wife reclaimed the property and restored their home after the war.

Philip Livingston lost several properties to the British occupation of New York and sold off others to support the war effort, and he did not recover them because he died suddenly in 1778, before the end of the war.

What should we take from all of this? The signers of the Declaration of Independence did take a huge risk in daring to put their names on a document that repudiated their government, and they had every reason to believe at the time that they might well be hanged for having done so. That was a courageous act we should indeed remember and honor on the Fourth of July amidst our "beer, picnics, and baseball games." But we should also not lose sight of the fact that many men (and women) other than the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence — some famous and most not — risked and sacrificed much (including their lives) to support the revolutionary cause. The hardships and losses endured by many Americans during the struggle for independence were not visited upon the signers alone, nor were they any less ruinous for having befallen people whose names are not immortalized on a piece of parchment.

Source: http://www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.asp

Compassion

2009-07-02T01:14:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday in church Phil quoted from Henri Nouwen's book Wounded Healer. The quote struck me as being somewhat profound, so I thought I would share it because it is something that I have been thinking about all week.

Compassion is not pity. Pity lets us stay at a distance. It is condescending.

Compassion is not sympathy. Sympathy is for superiors over inferiors.

Compassion is not charity. Charity is for the rich to continue in their status over the poor.

Compassion is born of God. It means entering into the other person's problems. It means standing in the other person's shoes. It is the opposite of professionalism. It is the humanizing way to deal with people. Just as bread without love can bring war instead of peace, professionalism without compassion will turn forgiveness into a gimmick.

Henri Nouwen is a Catholic Priest who fought severe depression and found great comfort in serving God, and by seeking to understand others in the midst of their "stuff".

I have not read Wounded Healer, but it will be the next book I look into.

Happy Birthday Jen!

2009-07-01T17:24:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Jen!

For more pictures of Jen, you can visit the Snapshots Gallery or click on the link below:

Pictures of Jen Ensley-Gorshe

Admittedly there are a few random pictures of other people taken on her wedding day scattered through this album.

Capital Punishment

2009-06-30T10:54:00.003-05:00

Today is the anniversary of the publication of one of the great literary works of the 20th century. Today is the anniversary of the publication of Gone with the Wind.

But as interesting as the story of the great villain Scarlett O'Hara is, the story of how Gone with the Wind came to be published is even more interesting.

From Today's Writer's Almanac:

In 1920, Mitchell fell off a horse and suffered terrible injuries. She sort of recovered from the fall, but she kept reinjuring herself in different ways, and a few years later she had to quit her job as a reporter with The Atlanta Journal and stay in bed. Her husband, a newspaper editor, would go to the Atlanta library and bring her back piles of books to read so she could occupy herself while bedridden. One day, he came home and said, "I have brought you all of the books that I think you can handle from the library. I wish you would write one yourself."

He then went out and got a Remington typewriter. When he presented it to his wife, Margaret, he said, "Madam, I greet you on the beginning of a new career." She asked him what she should write about, and her editor-husband gave her the famous "Write what you know" line.

So she wrote about Southern belles, and she expanded upon family stories and the stories she'd heard from Civil War veterans while she was growing up in Georgia. The one-bedroom apartment that she and her husband lived in was cramped, and she called it "The Dump." She would sit and write in every nook and corner of the tiny place, working in the bedroom or the kitchen or the hallway.

She told almost no one except her husband that she was writing a novel. When friends came over to their place, which happened often, she'd hide the manuscript under the bed or the couch.

But one of her Atlanta friends, Lois Cole, had found chunks of the manuscript lying around that cramped apartment. Cole was now living in New York City and working in the publishing industry. Cole told her boss at Macmillan, Harold Latham, that her witty Southern friend "might be concealing a literary treasure."

Latham went down to Atlanta to pay Margaret Mitchell a visit and ask her about the novel. Mitchell denied its existence. He spent the day with her, following along on outings with her friends, and asked about the novel again in a car full of her girlfriends. Mitchell changed the subject. But when Latham got out of the car, all of her friends in the car kept up the questioning. One friend was adamant that Mitchell was working on a novel, and asked why she hadn't shown it to Latham. Mitchell said that it was "lousy" and that she was "ashamed of it." The friend goaded, "Well, I dare say. Really, I wouldn't take you for the type to write a successful book. You don't take your life seriously enough to be a novelist."

That did it — Margaret Mitchell was furious and galvanized. She hurried back to her cramped apartment, grabbed the assorted piles of manuscript and shoved them into a suitcase, and drove it over to the hotel where Latham was staying. When stacked up vertically in one pile, the manuscript was 5 feet high. She delivered it to him in the lobby, saying, "Take it before I change my mind."

It was published on this day in 1936, and immediately it was a sensation. Reports abound of people in Atlanta staying up all night to read Mitchell's novel that summer of 1936. It revitalized the publishing industry. The next year, Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize. Her book was made into a movie starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, and when it had its premiere in Atlanta in 1939, Margaret Mitchell was there at the Loew's Grand Theater with the movie stars.

The cramped apartment in which Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind is now the centerpiece of the Margaret Mitchell House in midtown Atlanta, which reopens this weekend after a long period of renovation. There are tours of the apartment, historical performances, and a museum devoted to her life and work.

Margaret Mitchell never wrote a sequel to Gone with the Wind. When pushed on the issue, she merely indicated that the story was over and that Rhett would never take Scarlett back.

Years later, whores and thieves, plundered her characters and wrote sequels to Gone with the Wind. Although I do not support capital punishment, I do have exceptions. I do feel compelled to believe that the ultimate penalty is justified in cases where crimes against humanity have been committed - genocide and the raping of the characters of other authors after the creator of those characters has met their maker. Not necessarily in that order.

What the Hades?

2009-06-29T16:47:00.002-05:00

I believe that I have figured out what almost everything is in my yard, except for one thing.

Look at the picture below:

Anybody out there know what this thing might be?

I understand, that this perhaps isn't the best picture for plant identification purposes.

Otter

2009-06-28T18:10:00.001-05:00

On Friday night, Ames on the Half Shell finally was not rained out and that was a good thing.

The band was Otter and they put on a great show. I've posted a few pictures from the show in the Snapshots Gallery.

Or you can click on the photo or the link below to check out photos from the night.

Otter

There is no Ames on the Half Shell on this Friday. Instead, there is a special 4th of July edition of Ames on the Half Shell on Saturday from 1-6. The Nadas play from 1-3 and The Box Brothers play from 4-6.

News from the Dawg Pound

2009-06-26T09:16:00.002-05:00

Monica was featured in a recent article in The Ogden Reporter. In case you missed it, I have kindly placed the text below:

Monica Henning Sharpens he Styling Skills

Monica Henning of Roland sharpened her professional edge and took her hair coloring and cutting talent to the next level at the Redken Exchange in New York City.

Henning was one of the few salon professionals who attended classes at the Exchange Monday, June 1, 2009. Along with stylists from around the globe, Henning learned advanced techniques in hair design and hair color from leading experts in the salon industry.

Classes ranged from color basics to editorial photo shoots. She spent four days in New York City where she not only exchanged tips, ideas and techniques with other stylists but also got the latest information on hair care, hair color and styling products.

This was not Henning's first trip to New York City. Twice in the last two years she has been to the heart of Greenwich Village, NY at the Matrix Academy. She studied in Chicago and Las Vegas and has had training in Milwaukee, WI as well.

Henning says the two most important aspects of her career are first, her clients, followed closely by her education. She believes that to truly give her clients what they want, and deserve, she must keep her creativity flowing.

Henning is a 1997 OHS graduate and graduated from Professional Cosmetology Institute in 2005 with honors, in color and retail, achieving a level four status. She has since been working at the Salon at Younkers.

See the article in person:

Monica Henning Rules

I Can Not Tell A Lie

2009-06-25T09:42:00.003-05:00

It is often, most likely, mistaught to the children of America that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree. The story is used as an example of George Washington's veracity.

I've heard the story, but what is most intriguing about the story to me is why he would chop down the tree?

When I moved into my home, I had two mystery trees in the backyard. My hope of hopes was that they were cherry trees. However, the people that examined them determined them to be magnolia or crabapple trees.

As the fates would have it, they were wrong. I have two cherry trees.

Although I did not know that I had cherry trees, every bird in the county did know about my trees. I was warned that I needed to cover the trees with nets to prevent these flying thieves (with apologies to the Bible, they didn't reap or sow) from making off with my cherries.

I purchased the requisite net and Jesse and I spent close to an hour getting it over the trees.

Victory Photo

After the nets were up, I ran a sample batch of cherries over to Shannon, my cherry expert, for a determination on whether or not they were ready for picking.

She determined that they were ready to be picked and we scheduled a cherry picking appointment. What I didn't know, was that this was also a cherry pie baking appointment.

I can not tell a lie. I didn't really participate in the pie baking, but I have since participated in the pie eating.

The Bounty

Shannon with the Bounty

Shannon removing the pits.

Cutting the lattice. It was the first time this cheese spreader had been removed from its box.

Shannon making a mess in my kitchen. Actually Shannon still owes me one mess, because I recently tracked mud into her apartment and also left a sizable mess behind when we bound calendars. So I'm up on her 2 messes to 1.

Shannon rolling out the pie crust. Both Jen and Shannon are tremendous pie crust snobs. Neither will even consider the remote possibility that a person could make a pie with anything other than crust made from scratch.

Removing the pits from cherries is a messy business.

More pit removing.

Shannon Picking Cherries

Shannon Picking Cherries

The Proud Owner of a Shannon Baked, extremely juicy Cherry Pie.

After looking at one of the pictures of Shannon picking cherries I thought it might be interesting to Photoshop that picture with one of my favorite Photoshop techniques. I thought it would look interesting due to the nets.

Now that I have officially enjoyed the fruits of my cherry trees, I know one thing for certain. If George Washington ever came over to my house and chopped down one of my cherry trees, I would lay him out. Founding Father or not.

Night Flowers: Session 3

2009-06-23T23:58:00.002-05:00

I was yet to be satisfied with my images of the alliums, so I wandered back for a 3rd session with the night and the flowers.

When I look at these pictures, I recall the words of Marc Chagall:

"Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers - and never succeeding."

I am moderately satisfied with one of these pictures.

Skin to Win

2009-06-21T18:04:00.002-05:00

A lifetime ago I knew this girl that was entering a wet t-shirt contest. She was explaining to Jesse, Jay and I her strategy for winning this contest.

We tried our best to explain to her that there really is only one strategy for winning a wet t-shirt contest.

That strategy, of course, is "Skin to Win!"

She didn't believe us.

While you are probably wondering why I am telling you the story of somebody that would sell their dignity so cheaply, the answer is simple. On a recent wet morning, I wandered out of my house and took a few pictures of some wet plants.

I hope you find them to be as sexy as I do.

If you are wondering, this girl's strategy was about teasing. She did in fact lose to a girl that knew the cardinal rule of wet t-shirt contests.

Abstemious

2009-06-20T14:58:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, June 20, 2009 I headed to Ottumwa with Sara to help Jen and Derrick with the house that they are trying to unload down there.

Before we left, we stopped for lunch at George the Chili King. I had never eaten there, but I called Jen to see if she wanted us to pick up some lunch for her.

Her only response was to remind me that the toilet in Ottumwa does not work that well.

I snapped a few pictures with the phone (although not a great camera, it is the reason I selected the phone) to document my Chili King experience.

One of the bonuses of the trip was getting to introduce Jen, Sara, Jill and Derrick to the greatness of Bonne Finken.

Pictures of Jill and Derrick listening to Bonne Finken.

I wish I had some pictures of the basement powerwashing, but alas, you will have to imagine what that looked like.

Night Flowers: Session 2

2009-06-19T14:41:00.002-05:00

After the failures of the first night, I made some adjustments and went out and took some more night flower pictures:

Much more was learned.

Happy Birthday Bethany

2009-06-18T14:23:00.000-05:00

Read this as if it was posted last Thursday.

Happy 25th Birthday Bethany!

The Grand Slam

2009-06-17T18:11:00.003-05:00

This is a video of Jesse eating an onion. Why? Because he said that he could and Schmidt and I doubted him. Well perhaps doubt is the wrong term, because we wanted to see him do it.

But now we have devised a new goal for Jesse. We want him to complete the Grand Slam of onions. He has taken a white onion down. It is time for him to step up to a yellow onion. Then a red onion. Then finally a green onion.

If you see 3 more videos, you know he was up to the challenge.

Of course, if you subscribe to this blog via email or RSS Feed, you will actually have to go to the website to see the video.

Happy Bloomsday

2009-06-16T16:52:00.004-05:00

Today is Bloomsday. There is a good chance that if you aren't Irish or a Lit Major, that you have never heard of Bloomsday. To be frankly honest, until today I did not know about the existence of Bloomsday. But you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be on the Photography 139 2010 Calendar.

Perhaps the main reason I didn't know that Bloomsday existed, is because it is related to James Joyce. Even though he is widely considered to be a genius, I have never really dug his writing. For years I have virtually ignored the rules of punctuation and nobody has slapped the label genius on me. Well, there was that time in 5th Grade when my creative writing stories about Superfluff, the super-lepus, were all the rage, but those days are far in my rearview mirror.

I've always considered people that claim that they enjoy the writings of James Joyces to be frauds. People who were pretending to like something so that they could project an intellectual image to the world. I also feel this way about anybody that claims that Woody Allen is remotely funny.

However, I have to admit I like the very basis for Bloomsday. Not necessarily why Joyceans celebrate today, but beyond that. To the reason why this day was important to Joyce.

Today is the day on which the action in the novel Ulysses takes place. The day is named after the main character, Leopold Bloom. That is why Joyceans celebrate today.

The reason that Joyce picked this day to set Ulysses was to commemorate the first date he had with his future wife, Nora Barnacle. She was an uneducated chambermaid. He met her for a stroll around Dublin on this day. Just a few days earlier, she had stood him up for a scheduled date.

Although I do confess, the cynic in me wonders if he didn't use this day so he would never forget one of their anniversaries.

I thought I should include some of the genius of Joyce. Some of you will recognize this writing as the soliloquy of Molly Bloom. Some of you will recognize this from the Rodney Dangerfield classic Back to School.

"O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the
figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and pink and blue
and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and
cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put
the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how
he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and
then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to
say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him
down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like
mad and yes I said yes I will Yes."

Night Flowers: Session 1

2009-06-15T11:38:00.002-05:00

I bought a new camera recently. If you are lucky (very lucky) you might even get to see it someday. If you are blessed beyond belief, you may actually get to even touch it someday.

I've been experimenting with taking pictures of flowers at night with this new camera. That isn't the actual intent of the new camera, but that seems to be about all I've done with it, thus far.

Here are some pictures from the first night I spent taking night flower pictures.

It was an interesting evening. Much was learned from the failures and successes of the evening.

Burnin' Sensations

2009-06-14T11:14:00.002-05:00

It rained on Friday night, therefore Ames on the Half Shell got moved inside. I have some pictures in the Snapshots Gallery from show put on by the Burnin' Sensations. Just click on the picture of me and Matt below.

Burnin' Sensations

This week the band is The Josh Davis Band. They are putting on a special acoustic show. It should be pretty cool.