The Lily Pool beats the Banana Boat

In recognition of tradition, mothers, familial relationships, and hymns, I am sharing below a short section written more than 60 years ago by the late Kay Moser.  His book Thorn in the Flesh was a kind of fictional biography.¹  In this passage, two young college students at Harding are enjoying each other’s company and reminiscing.

“I wonder who ever thought about writing a song about Mary Ann playing in the sand by the seaside?” Bill diverted, after she didn’t speak for a while.

“I’m quite certain I don’t know.  The ‘Banana Boat Song’ isn’t much better when making sense is considered.  I like to hear them, though, don’t you?”

“I like ‘My God and I’ better.  That is a different world, though, I guess.”

“I, too.  That is the most beautiful song I ever heard.  It seems to purify you inside.  I have heard so many students at Harding say it was their favorite.  It’s almost a symbol of Harding to me.”

“I like that narration by Brother Richland,” Bill said, reminiscing, “especially when we were all around the Lily Pool.  Those hymns being sung in the lunch line and around the Lily pool was one of the most impressive things of the year, I think.”

– W. Kay Moser, Thorn in the Flesh, pp. 73-74

I share this beautiful vignette from Harding’s halcyon days on the day that would have been the birthday of a dear longtime family friend, Todd Thompson.  Almost a year ago, Todd passed away unexpectedly while completing outside tasks at home.  He left behind a loving wife and four children, and also a mother and a sister, with her family.

Todd was a lifelong friend.  He knew my family, and I, his.  His sister is married to one of my cousins.  I count his cousins as FB friends and would recognize them anywhere.  Todd’s mother, with whom I’m still in touch, loved my family and would have experienced “My God and I” at Harding Lily Pool devotionals like the one Moser referred to in his book.  Like his dad and mom, Todd had a beautiful voice and spirit.

Chuck Smith, Dirk Smith, Todd Thompson, Brian Casey

The “Brother Richland” in the above passage is unmistakably my grandfather, Andy T. Ritchie, Jr.  At this juncture in my life, such memories—even those experienced vicariously such as the Lily Pool devotionals—draw my heart.  Nothing in my life has arisen to serve a similar purpose recently.  Those in our circles would go to some lengths to sing together.  Here, I think first of the New Hardels²—an octet that comprised the Thompsons, Smiths, Hladkys, and Caseys.  The group loved each other deeply and sang together often.  Rehearsal times in all the families’ homes were filled not only with music but with laughter and God-oriented conversations.  For select wedding and funerals, that group was sometimes augmented by Duzans, Barkers, Harrills, and others.  By extension, experiences at Camp Manatawny (the above pic is of the 2nd generation New Hardels male quartet at Camp) and, later, with the Lights group come into my memory.  In more recent years, we have sung in three Smith living rooms.  Often, Tanya (the eldest child of the group) will speak of the rich heritage of Christian singing that we shared.  “We didn’t know what we had then,” she will say.  And she is right.  But now we know.  And we miss it.

The New Hardels and their children singing “The Lord Bless You and Keep You.”  Back row: Brian Casey, Todd’s dad Dwight, Roger Hladky, Chuck Smith, Todd Thompson, Gerald Casey, Dirk Smith, Dwight Smith.  Front row:  Laura Casey, Jana Thompson, Holly Hladky, Carolyn Hladky, Greta Casey, Bettye Casey, Mary Lea Thompson, Barby Smith.  Missing: Tanya Smith Valls.  All the first generation except for Carolyn and Mary Lea are now gone from this life.

Now, about the place of hymns.  First off:  I like some jazz and fusion jazz, some older pop-rock sounds,  I don’t gravitate to choral music, but I listen to classic/progressive rock fairly often, along with a more dietary standard of all-instrumental art music (chamber, wind, orchestral, piano, etc.).  Once in a while, musical humor such as PDQ Bach or even Homer & Jethro is cool, but few of my choices are sort of “Sally by the seashore” songs, in comparison to the “My God and I” ilk.  If I had to choose, the Lily Pool beats the Banana Boat hands down.

Todd, your funny bone seemed a lot like your mom’s.  Silly was a good thing sometimes, and I feel sure you would have laughed together about “Banana Boat” songs.  But I believe you are having “My God and I” and Lily Pool experiences now, like never before.  You might well be smiling, or gasping in awe, and I envy you.  On this Mother’s Day, also your birthday, I honor you, your dear mom, our families, and good things such as worshipful singing.

I am setting this to post at approximately the time I’ll be playing the principal horn part on Percy Grainger’s mother-honoring Colonial Song in the Pinnacle Winds concert in KC.  I wish my own mom, now gone from this life for almost two years, could be present physically, but I think she would like this content of this blogpost—including the family connections and the thought of singing hymns together—even better than the concert.

Bettye Casey with Mary Lea Thompson, on the occasion of the passing of Dwight Smith

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¹ About Kay Moser:  I actually believe this book is autobiographical, but I’m not certain.  William Kay Moser, I think, was the “Bill” in the book.

I spent a little time with Kay and Annabelle Moser eight years ago.  The two had some fascinating life experiences, and I was so pleased to interview them, chiefly about having Kay’s having been jailed for being a Conscientious Objector.  That believe constitutes a relational point of connection with me and some of my family.  There is a transcript of the bulk of the interview in my book Subjects of the Kingdom.  That chapter is actually reproduced on my other blog, here.

² The group took its name from New Jersey, Harding, and Delaware.

Introduction to a new series

Over the years, a fair number of these 2000+ blogposts have been written in series.  For example:

The first real series, I think, was Monday Music, a/k/a “Monday Worship Music,” in which I discussed Christian songs and hymns.  There were about 100 entries in that series.

There was a series on Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, in its bicentennial year (toward the end of December 2009).

The Bits and Pieces series is something I’ll continue from time to time.

I often feel a compulsion to add to the Mini-Lessons in Context series, both for myself and for readers.

I’ve perpetuated the Tuesday Topics series for some time now, and those topics are important, but I’m as weary of them as I am deeply troubled by the subject matter.  I suspect I’ll have ample material to continue it, but I might let it sputter.

Now, though, at a significant juncture in my life, I want to start a new series that involves reminiscences related to music.  The title “Monday Music Memories” came to mind, but that’s too close to the prior one, and I want this to be distinct.

Introducing Music Morsels and Mountaintops
This will be a sporadically produced series in which I’ll share some significant things that have occurred in my musical life.  Even now, as I type those words, I think of some things that might not initially sound significant to anyone else per se, but perhaps the telling will inspire.

Some things to whet your appetites (and mine):

• Dallas Wind Symphony Brass
• Salty snacks with Glad
• Orchestra with Kansas
• Wine with Sandy Patti
• Orchestra with cannons
• The Granddaddy Medley
• Recording studio with Lights and UNC Wind Ensemble
• Soloists at Newark, Houghton, Kingsville, and Atchison
• Personals:  thank-you notes and love songs

I think of this series as finite:  there is a limit to the supply of memories and experiences that “qualify” to be broadcast.  Essentially, I’ve gotten to do some cool things, and I’d like to share some of them for posterity.

TT: DEI victories and concerns on all sides

Today’s Tuesday Topics post has news on DEI, Boeing whistleblowers, censorship, and some public health issues covered by Vinay Prasad.  Tomorrow, I’ll introduce a new series on more pleasant, less concerning topics.

DEI

A conductor cautiously shared thoughts about A Movement for Rosa as we began to rehearse it.  Key conceptual elements of the composition. and related musical traits, were accurately identified.  The conductor noted that he doesn’t get into politics but proceeded to mention Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity—perhaps intentionally mixing up the standard order of the words in common parlance.  Each of these things is fine and can be quite noble, depending on definitions and ramifications.  Pondering Rosa Parks’s experience as a cultural touchstone is appropriate.  However, DEI as a package has become a blight.

The Iowa General Assembly made history when it passed one of the strongest pieces of legislation resisting DEI in the country. The bill forbids public colleges and universities from having DEI offices and mandatory DEI pledges, along with any kind of favoritism on the basis of DEI principles.  Texas has passed a similar bill, and Texas A&M was recently discovered trying to reconfigure things in order to skirt the ruling.

Here are three related news bits.  Each of them represents a step forward.

Do No Harm:  Pushing back against DEI

Do No Harm:  A Non-woke Alternative to “Implicit Bias” Training

Elon Musk’s Tweet on DEI

Equal-opportunity concerns

This news report provides information on the death of two Boeing whistleblowers.  The deaths seem suspicious, if you read the reports.  One was an apparent suicide, and the other is too recent to know, but it was a fast-growing infection.  I would not be surprised if corporate greed and the desire to cover up deficiencies in the 737 manufacturing process were at the root of both of these deaths.  A bipartisan probe could be launched.  Surely there is no chance a Republican with Boeing connections would work to conceal any nefarious dealings.  I would like to think there are no companies who would kill someone in secret in order to preserve their profit streams, but I’m afraid don’t think that.

And this news report provides information on a recently released report on the Biden administration’s harmful censorship practices.  For those who think Trump is Hitler reincarnate and not just an immoral ignoramus, think again.  The real threat to democracy is not an oaf; it’s a network of conniving bureaucrats.  As C.S. Lewis said, “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive.”  I don’t know that any bipartisan probe should be launched.  It’s clear what happened, and the damage to our country will never be fully known.  Measures should be taken to ensure that that doesn’t happen again.

 I’m not inclined to share any news items about college campuses.  I think it’s well known that students and some faculty have run amok with pro-Palestinian extremism.  Personally, I believe the dangers that have culminated at college campuses far surpass the dangers from quite a few other crises of recent years.  I’m not directly concerned here with either Israel or Hamas.  My interest is in making sure that people who are off the rails—whether faculty, staff, or students—are prevented from running colleges or anything else.

Public health

For many of us (including readers of The Free Press), Dr. Vinay Prasad has become a go-to person on public health issues.  He is courageous and on target (and also a bit more open to recently developed “vaccines” than I am).  Although I would like to believe the country and the world learned lessons from the appalling mistakes made during the Covid pandemic, Prasad persists in observing things at the CDC that should give us cause for concern.  It’s remarkable that his platforms have not been removed.  He is a teaching physician and is of course just one doc with public health credentials, interests, and aptitudes.

1. Here, Prasad presents more evidence of Covid vaccine harm:  https://www.drvinayprasad.com/p/covid19-vaccines-linked-to-myocarditis

Snippets from the above article:

“[T]the benefit of COVID vaccination is small, uncertain or not present in several populations.  For instance, there is no reliable evidence anyone who had COVID previously had a further reduction in severe disease from getting a dose (or 7 doses) of vaccine.”

“Worse, there is not even one reliable study that shows a benefit in children. This means- that for these populations- even rare safety signals can tilt the entire balance. We have previously shown that boosters and dose 2 of mRNA vaccines were, on balance, harmful to young men because the risk of myocarditis was greater than the further upper bound absolute risk reduction in severe COVID19 outcomes.”

“Now, we see concerning signals for . . . Myocarditis/ pericarditis . . . Racing heart – SVT . . . Pulmonary embolism. . . .”

“A few years ago a vaccine safety researcher told me she worried tinnitus was linked to COVID19 vaccination. Yet, she had to abandon the project because the political pressure to not find safety signals was too high.”

2. And here, Prasad notes a foregone conclusion that masqueraded as scientific dialogue–the result of harmful, inbred collusion at the CDC.  If that meeting is indicative of CDC ethics and practices, and I have every reason to believe that it is, we are not out of the woods yet.  The government’s collusion with Big Pharma and Big Tech must not be forgotten.  https://www.drvinayprasad.com/p/my-comments-at-fridays-fda-drug-advisory

3. And here, Prasad questions the reporting of a case of Avian Flu and also finds that a “top flu expert” at the CDC (have we not learned how not to trust such people as the public enemies Fauci and Walensky?) makes mistakes:  https://www.drvinayprasad.com/p/the-cdc-is-already-mismanaging-h5n1

Like Prasad, I too will likely resist or move if any government entity tries to lock anything down again.  Such measures were reactionary at first, then dishonest, unscientific, and cruel.

 

I’m not comfortable with that (#^&!@*#)

I have existed primarily in a small, relatively “bubbled” town for the past several years, so I’m not sure how broadly applicable my impression is, but I have the feeling that society is increasingly comfortable with using foul language in a greater number of settings.  And I’m not comfortable with that.

Based on a sizable swath of my own interactions, I note that, the longer you’ve known someone, or the longer a conversation extends, the more likely it is that the other side will degenerate into foul language.  It never occurs right away.

I meet with a co-worker with whom I’ve established rapport.  Conversation has always been fine when we talk by phone (he’s in another location), but after we have a second and third face-to-face meeting, he has grown more comfortable, and he begins to use foul language.

I talk with a vendor who’s selling services.  There aren’t many who would start off a conversation with bad language, and he didn’t.  But after we meet a second time, the comfort level grows, and the likelihood is increased.

Part of me feels gratified that the people are comfortable and are letting down their guards; on the other hand, I’m not comfortable with their comfort levels.  They should be uncomfortable using bad language, and especially so if they profess belief in God and are speaking disrespectfully of God things.

Lately I have been showing my discomfort with profanity and coarse language variously, e.g., by exiting conversations semi-abruptly, giving more obvious facial expressions of disapproval, or actually walking out of meetings.  I figure it’s my right, because I’m not comfortable with what’s being said.  (Hey, people protest for different reasons, and at least I’m not doing anything violent.)

Speaking of comfort . . . it should be relatively comfortable for anyone to be able to speak the truth.  Whether it’s the truth about the existence of God, or the fact that certain vaccines have caused harm and done far less good than promised, or the fact that someone who has female genitalia is actually a woman . . . whatever it is, I figure the truth should be readily spoken, with relative comfort.

If my mentioning God in a conversation were to make someone uncomfortable, I think I could perceive that and would not continue to make the person uncomfortable (unless the person indicated that he wanted to continue anyway, despite discomfort).  But why is it that someone’s discomfort in hearing certain truths tends to win out, socially disallowing me to speak, whereas my discomfort over someone else’s foul language is seen as a problem of mine?  In one analysis, it’s a matter of courtesy.  Anyone should be able to perceive discomfort in the other person, and adjust speech accordingly.

For more:

Sobriety check

What to do . . . what to do?

A different kind of irreverence

xPosted from Subjects of the Kingdom

For those not subscribed to my other blog, “Subjects of the Kingdom,” here are links to the last six months of posts there.  If you tire of other topics here, perhaps you’d like to read some of these:

• Klavan’s careless comment
• Four reasons
• Ruth: theological (sequel to the Ruth post on this blog)
• Loyalty lyrics in a song of exhortation
• The good news of Jesus as the reigning authority
• Borderless: imperative in one case; utter nonsense in another
• Remnants and replacements
• Allegiance and a pledge
• David French: presumed expert says a couple worthwhile things
• Of Israel, Israelis, and antisemitism: some rejectable notions

The presence and fading of inspiration (whatever that is)

As I write this, it is April 22—the morning after my final ensemble concert here as conductor.  I will no longer be using these essential tools here.

Whatever “inspiration” is, I think it was in play most of the way toward this performance.  In fact, the way some of the peripheral cookies crumbled, I would have quit a while back if I hadn’t felt regular inspiration in doing music with these good people.  But the inspiration I felt actually began to fade even before the concert.  To an extent, I was just going through the motions.  I expected to be teary-eyed on multiple occasions, but I was not actually emotional. . . .

Not when I wrote a few emails to thank people for their extraordinary contributions.

Not during the final spot-check rehearsal.

Not when I gave the pre-concert pep talk.

Not during any of the beautiful music I got to conduct.

And not even when I spoke with people after the concert.

I did feel something later, while reading a couple of the notes I received, so it’s not a lack of emotive capacity in general.  I would guess, rather, that I was experiencing a fading inspiration with this particular music-making enterprise.

Even a lack of such inspiration is difficult to describe immediately after.  It’s a kind of emptiness, a lack of energy.  It could very well be that I’m subconsciously distancing myself, protecting myself from more pain.  I think I’m fearful of not having the opportunity to feel inspired over this kind of music-making again.  (I later enjoyed a couple of other music activities, e.g., poring over horn part assignments and related details for an upcoming Pinnacle Winds cycle, and simply playing some piano at home, but I don’t think those were “inspired” in the same way.  Maybe in a different way?)

Being “inspired” can carry more than one connotation, including these:

• a vague, “encouraged” or emotionally energized feeling
• a perceived deep or high quality in a work of art, e.g., a poem, a painting, or a piece of music
• a sense of how the scriptures came to be (i.e., “God inspired the scriptures”)
• whatever Paul meant with his single-use word theopneustos (God-breathed) in 2Tim 3

We might also probe by breaking the English word down:  IN-SPIR-ation.  An “in-ness” of the spirit?  When secular speech employs this term, what spirit is referred to?  And how is it “in” me?  We probably shouldn’t project this Spirit-in line of thinking back onto the unique NT word theopneustos carelessly.

I recall that I have an “Inspiration” blog category.  This post doesn’t neatly fit in that category, but I’ll check that box, anyway.  I feel myself getting off track, and that’s what one sense of the word “inspiration” can do when the context is suggesting a different sense.

What’s next, after this concert, and after the death of this particular kind of inspiration, for now?  I could seek to be enspirited differently.  Perhaps some composition and arranging?  I would like to be inspired, to feel inspired, to use inspiration, and to inspire others again soon.

On having been “inspired”

It’s May Day.  That means nothing to me, but it once meant something to my mother.¹  Regardless, it seems like a new-beginning-of-something day.  Perhaps a day to be inspired?

Below is something my grandfather wrote 80 years ago.  This brief article, whose title was taken from a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, was a part of an inspirational series in a periodical.  I hadn’t known anything about these articles until my late uncle bound them and made them available to the family.  This particular piece speaks eloquently of a kind of inspiration that’s much like what I have felt with music ensembles.  I’ll share this article today and then some personal musings on “inspiration” tomorrow.

When Soft Voices Die

On Monday night last fourteen voices blended in the music of “Now the Day is Over,” and fourteen hearts felt the significance of its words.  It was the last song to be sung publicly by the Lipscomb radio choristers of 1939-40.  The group had just concluded a tour cf a number of northern cities and was giving a farewell program for the homefolk at David Lipscomb College.  The voices of seven young men and seven young women united in

Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh;
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.

When the morning wakens,
Then may I arise
Pure, and fresh, and sinless
In Thy holy eyes.

As on a single breath, then they sang “amen.”  Soft voices died and a never-to-be-forgotten trip was over.  A year of work was finished.

I was a fifteenth member of this group, its leader.  As such, when I remember the hours of work during the school year and the lives of these young people whom I have known so well, I am moved to pay tribute to Christian youth and to music which made them better.  In a world of greed and strife there remain noble hearts devoted to the cause of right.  Many of these are young hearts, hearts which beat high with love, hope, and devotion.  I have seen young people who are loyal; I have noticed them grow in unselfishness; in trials I have seen them go to God for strength; in joy they have thanked him for his wondrous care.  I have laughed with them and played with them.  We have worked and worshiped together.  Song united us and gave us opportunity to know each other and to be harbingers of gladness for many.  There is an uplifting and uniting power in music, particularly in “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” which we used so much.

On our trip Christians made us happy by their kindness and hospitality.  These were abundant everywhere.  All of us felt, perhaps as never before, the warmth of fellowship that may exist between Christians, even among those who have not known each other before.

We went away from home having thought of serving others, desiring to take hope and joy through song, we prayed earnestly for the care and overruling power of the Almighty that we might grow in his grace, that we might be a blessing to others, and that he might protect us and use us to his glory.  We believe now more than ever, having seen another evidence of it, in the providential guidance of Him who doeth all things well.

As I sit here musing and missing those who grew so deeply into my life and are now gone, I hear their songs, their laughter, their conversations, their prayer; and as I recall the people we met on our trip, I feel all the joy that song and youth gave them, and the joy they received from serving the members of our group.

Having lived with youth while youth was endeavoring to live for others, and having felt Christian fellowship from many who were strangers, my faith is stronger and my life richer.  To the Lipscomb radio choristers, my old friends, to my new friends, and to God, I am grateful.  – A.T. Ritchie, Jr.

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¹ Once upon a time, more than six decades ago, my mother was May Queen at the May Fete at Harding.  That meant they did the “winding the May pole” thing.  Later, the tradition was scuttled, presumably because it was discovered that it had pagan (and inappropriately sexual, and even wicked) origins.  My mother never knew any of that.

TT: things captured and co-opted

This Tuesday Topics installment, with which I intend to commence some kind of diminuendo in the series, will provide examples of the capturing/co-opting of

• education
• being “woke” (a century later)
• grammar
• and even a funeral

Indoctrination of high school students

“An activist group in California has paid nearly 100 public high schoolers $1,400 each to learn how to fight for racial and social justice, The Free Press has learned.

. . .

“It’s unclear which students are eligible for the stipends, but the organization’s website states its “leadership development” programs operate “with a focus on low income youth, youth of color, LGBTQ youth, foster youth, and immigrant youth.”

. . .

“’The way that they are handing scripts to students, even the words coming out of the students’ mouths, the teacher added, ‘it just feels like indoctrination and not information.’

https://www.thefp.com/p/californians-for-justice-paid-1400-highschoolers

This is just one more way that actual education is being supplanted by other things, including SEL (Social and Emotional Learning), ideologically rooted organizations, and more.  The very idea of “woke” ought to be seriously engaged and challenged, not assumed—and certainly not co-opted by outside organizations who stoop to paying teenagers good money to infiltrate and become their activists.  Can anyone say “Hitler Youth” or Lenin’s “Young Pioneers“?

Being awakened to “woke”

It was probably only 3 years ago that I was introduced to the term “woke.”  Someone I’ve known at arm’s length for most of my life referred me to a “Wokish” dictionary, and I initially thought it was a misspelling of “Wookish,” as in the Wookies of Star Wars.  Maybe someone had created a dictionary like the Klingon dictionary of Star Trek?  I quickly learned otherwise.

Some have strongly implied on Facebook that being “woke” is what Jesus would have been.  I’m not sure about that.  If it means being awakened to bona fide racial injustice, Jesus would have been for it, and so am I, but I don’t really think much of that is needed anymore.  Not in the U.S.  Furthermore, to cast a contemporary epithet back 2000 years onto Jesus is as unhelpful as it is anachronistic.  If being woke means thinking all of western society is captured by white supremacy and white privilege, I reject it.

“Woke antisemitism” is also a thing now, as we are hearing about on college campuses.  This essay is worth reading:

https://www.buttonslives.news/p/a-quick-explainer-on-woke-antisemitism

As my readers will know, I am not a Zionist of any kind, and I do think being antisemitic is quite distinct from being Anti-Israeli (which I also am not), despite the connections.  A decent person, let alone a Christian, should not be anti- any person or people group as such.  It is difficult to achieve a logical harmony between “woke antisemitism” and “woke antiracism.”  The former is very real and incorporates being against the Jews as people, all the while nominally claiming to stand for injustice.  Woke antiracism would appear to rule out antisemitism categorically, if it weren’t for so-called “white privilege.”  The whole thing becomes extra-thorny when one realizes that Jews are being included as “whites” now, despite the holocaust history.  Calling for the extermination of Jews (or any other people group) is always wrong, whether it’s because of one’s interest in Naziism, or one’s support for Hamas or other Muslim forces, or one’s distaste for oil interests, or one’s aversion to anything that smacks of of “Judeo-Christian” anything.  The existence of “woke antisemitism” certainly casts aspersions on any wokeness by mere association.

A black acquaintance I’ve known of for several decades asserted that being woke had saved his life at times.  I didn’t know what that meant, but I tried to respect it.  I’ve just today read a jaded but pretty on-target definition of “wokish” (if not “woke”), though:

“Wokish people” are practitioners of intellectual dishonesty who use real or perceived social injustices—i.e., unfair differences in access to opportunity based on ethnic, gender, or other inherent traits—as substrate to push knowingly false and intentionally damaging ideas while aggressively punishing dissenters. Wokish people are to social justice what people like Jerry Falwell and Ted Haggard are to the message of Jesus Christ: Insincere, self-dealing, and ugly to the core.  Kevin Beck substack

What was being woke?  And what is being “woke” today?  Wikipedia captures the difference:

Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) originally meaning alertness to racial prejudice and discrimination. Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBT rights.  – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke#

Here is a fair discussion of the terminology viz. culture:  https://www.tidalequality.com/blog/what-is-wokeism

Inasmuch as anything “woke” is attached to the BLM movement, it must be seriously questioned.  Not that BL don’t M.  Of course they do.  But BLM is, like pretty much every other movement, ideologically captured.

Inasmuch as “stay woke” (grammatically awkward as that is) means to stay alert for injustice, such as being falsely accused of a crime, per Lead Belly in his song “Scottsboro Boys,” such a posture should be upheld.  However, being alert to racially charged situations in the 1930s is not the same as BLM activism 90 years later.  A lynching in the deep South in 1930 is one thing.  Rodney King was another, as far as I know.  And all the world deserves to know that the George Floyd incident was quite another.  Even most non-wokes consider that nothing but a murder, because they don’t know anything else.  It was not what was widely known.  So much was concealed during 2020 and beyond.  (More was later published by a Minneapolis news journalist whose husband was on the police force; partial truths and misleading assertions have become part and parcel of aligning oneself with “woke” ideology.)  The idea of being, or staying, woke has been captured and re-appropriated.  Therefore, the connections with the original uses of the word are no longer valid.

Certain poor treatment of women in some churches doesn’t mean women’s rights or women preachers will be a cause for me.  Certain poor treatment of blacks, homosexuals, and trans-identifying people doesn’t mean “staying woke” will be a cause for me, either.

~ ~ ~

I am trying to bring this Tuesday Topics series to a more-or-less natural close.  That doesn’t mean it will happen.  It means I’m tired.  And it also means I’m starting a new series next week.  Looking toward that, and trying to thin my collection of material, I will share one more thing today.

Gender:  four kinds of messed-up

A report on the child of Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck caught my eye.  It is yet another gender story, and it’s messed up in four respects.

1. You don’t co-opt a funeral for your own purposes, no matter who you are or what they are.
2. You don’t give yourself a nickname.
3. You can say you’re “non-binary” all you want, but that doesn’t change your sex (which until recently was also your “gender”).
4. You don’t force bad grammar and word use on people in order to force your point of view.  One thing takes a singular pronoun.  So, a clause with the subject “the teen” (singular) is not properly continued with the pronoun “their.”  The teen began her speech, not “their speech.”  (Even “The teen began its speech” would have been better.  If you want to be stupid about sex/gender/identity, at least be grammatically correct.)  Duh.  I can’t believe we’re in a time that one even needs to say stuff like this. . . .   Teenaged, peer-influenced nonsense is one thing, but a supposedly journalistically driven enterprise such as MSN.com should rise above.

“Fin spoke at Jennifer’s father’s memorial service in Charleston, West Virginia, which was live streamed on Facebook.

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck‘s middle child, Seraphina Rose, has reintroduced themself as Fin Affleck. The 15-year-old spoke at Jennifer’s late father’s memorial service last weekend in Charleston, West Virginia, which was reportedly live streamed on Facebook.

After taking the podium to speak, the teen began their speech by saying, “Hello, my name is Fin Affleck.” Fin reportedly wore a black suit and tie. Earlier this year, they debuted their brand-new buzz cut while stepping out.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/other/jennifer-garner-ben-affleck-s-middle-child-seraphina-reintroduces-name-as-fin-affleck/ar-BB1lsus6

The story continued with Jennifer Lopez’s anecdotes about her daughter, who apparently also thinks she is more than one thing.  The account becomes confusing when one person is referred to as a plurality.  A similar thing occurred in my car the other day, when two of my son’s friends were riding in the back seat.  One of them referred to another person we all know as “they.”  I immediately wondered who else was being added to the conversation, then I realized and got over my confusion without saying anything.  I wince when I realize a teen has been captured by delusion into the practice of referring to a single person as “they.”

Bits and pieces (6): free my soul

I did not know the song “Drift Away” before the animal known as “show choir” was foisted on me in 2004 at a two-year college.  I don’t remember whether it was the closer or opener, but it became, as far as I remember, the strongest tune that group performed.  It’s catchy, and this song is, in a limited sense, a lasting “bit” from life.

I wasn’t sure why a show choir existed at a college; such groups are more about competition and show than music.  (In interviewing prospective students during my time at Houghton College, from time to time, a student from more southerly climes would register disappointment that we didn’t have marching band competitions in college.)  In fact, my predecessor with this show choir school had already moved away from having this “choir” singing any harmony at all, and she was reportedly going to have them merely lip-sync and dance the next year.  Unbelievable, I know.  I digress.

Anyway, anytime I hear the tune “Drift Away” in Walmart (it would not likely be on my radio), I am transported to that time in Missouri, now two decades ago, and a few “bits and pieces” come to mind:

In the show choir itself, I recall young lady named Jessica, who seemed almost obsessed with looking at herself in the mirror.  Her goal was to be a performer in Branson.  I had never seen a choir room with mirrors like that, and I’ve been averse to them ever since.

James, a young man with energy and a terrific attitude, married Audrey, and they seem to have a fine family now.

Sandy, the recently retired high school choral director who became the adjunct show choir lead, and I had a conversation on the phone in which I registered some concerns about dancing.  She assured me she was “a Christian person” and would uphold family-friendly standards.  I noted she had not said “a Christian.”  Ever since, I have thought the distinction was important.

P.C. Thomas, a Christian colleague, and I were sponsors of a weekly Bible study.  One of my music students attended.  His name was Jeff, and he was a sincere, hard-working guy.  He is a family man and a deacon in his church.  His girlfriend at the time did not maintain her life of Christian morality.  An older student in this Bible study group reacted quite negatively to my questioning his sense of what “anointing” meant then and how it has been co-opted today.  I can see the ire today.  He seemed to be upset to the point that he thought I was blaspheming God.  P.C. and his wife Thankam has us into their home for a delicious Indian meal, and they took us to their church once — a conservative, nondenominational “Bible chapel.”  I recalled the thoughtful hymns and atmosphere there and visited the same place a couple of years ago.

All these are bits and pieces of life:  students in a Bible study group, faculty colleagues with whom I can share faith, and a few students who have stayed with faith or grown in it.

There are some bits and pieces from which I would prefer my soul to be freed.  Some positive bits are seemingly minor, yet they play a role in our spiritual consciousness.

Previous Bits and Pieces blogposts

No longer

The note I’ve reproduced below refers to a bygone era, and the book in which it was inscribed is not likely to be read again.  Still, the note itself is beautiful to me. I don’t want to part with it, so I’ve decided to save just this one page. 

Although not related by blood, the writers (and the givers of the gift-book) feel like first cousins once removed, and they were on my mailing list for the worship digest newsletter I sent out during the 90s.  Because of that and other interactions, they recognized a desire in me; at the time, I was very active in worship leadership and was relatively effective in carrying on a portion of my grandfather’s work and message.  At this point in life, however, that is no longer the case.

Now, I am deeply hurt over the current state of affairs with my extended family, for several have shown no regard (and worse). A decade ago, one of them overtly attempted to reprove me for “associating myself” with my grandfather.  I don’t recall ever making statements to the effect that I was like he was, although I did desire to carry on his influence. 

The image below tells the story of a portion of Granddaddy’s influence. A few years after he was told¹ he was no longer directing the Harding Chorus, his successor (who, incidentally, was a good deal more technically qualified, and who also influenced people for good) honored him with this tribute on the cover of a hymns record. 

[Please ignore typos on the name of Andy T. Ritchie, Jr.  I imagine those occurred during the later transference of these words to a CD liner.]

Today would have been Granddaddy Ritchie’s 115th birthday. 

A little more than forty years ago, he died. 

About thirty years ago, the above note of affirmation was written by family friends. 

Twenty years ago, my leadership opportunities were already drying up, but they still came once in a while.

Flourishing again seems possible only in the next life, as far as I can see.  Survival and maintenance are the order of the day.  Thriving is no longer in view, but man, would a return to thriving be a welcome change, if God wills it!  As for Granddaddy and my mom and dad, they would have loved me, anyway.  As for some others, I’m not so sure.  I depend on the grace of my Eternal Father, whose love never has a “no longer” attached to it.

TT: The Bee and me (censorship, bias, NPR, Google)

I was once censored.  Just like The Babylon Bee. 

Oh, I don’t matter much, and I can actually see the other side, in my case.  I’m not even sure if The Bee matters.  But they got far more notably censored, notably when Twitter was still Twitter.

It wasn’t that a Tweet was removed because it was deemed “hate speech.”

It’s that the account access was suspended without notice, indefinitely, until the Bee’s management removed the post.  In essence Twitter was forcing thought-subjugation.

Based primarily on this 7-minute speech by Seth Dillon, CEO of TBB, I see this problem as more conceptual than procedural.  While an entity such as Twitter has the right to set its own policies, the picture changes when that entity it is essentially a public utility.  It ought to be more broad-minded and free of constraint.  (For example, mobile telephone carriers don’t tell you what you can talk about via their cell towers.)  The editors at TBB were essentially forced to recant an opinion in order to have their access restored.  They did not do that, and I’m glad they didn’t sacrifice principle for dollars.

At least, in my case, something I had displayed was actually removed, and I was given the option to speak about it.  (I didn’t.)  (There would have been no point.)  (So I sometimes put things in my car window now.)  (If they ever ask me to take those off, I won’t.  I’ll just park somewhere else.)

I think The Babylon Bee is pretty delightfully funny a lot of the time.  Sure, it’s politically conservative in spots where I’m not, but it’s got a point, a reason to exist.  Also, they got this right on!  So, today, the topic is free speech, and also the right to tell jokes . . . and then to consider on your own, without threat of the loss of livelihood, whether anything was awry in what was said or joked about.

I think it’s pretty cool that Elon Musk called The Bee and asked what happened, commenting, “Well, maybe I should just buy Twitter.”  The Bee thought it was just an offhanded comment, but it wasn’t . . . and he did.  But we still have censorship problems.  Both of the above-mentioned censorship events were many months ago, but the topic of what one can and should say has come up again, sort of like indigestion, with this Free Press essay of Uri Berliner.  He was an NPR senior editor who was subsequently suspended and then resigned.  Hear Mr. Berliner:

An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America. . . . But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it’s devastating both for its journalism and its business model.

. . .

[T]his, I believe, is the most damaging development at NPR: the absence of viewpoint diversity.

I myself began to taper off my NPR listening a few years ago.  It had gotten monotonous to hear the formerly interesting shows.  The last 3-4 years have been particularly bad in my limited, personal perception.  Not surprisingly, Berliner’s act of calling out the censorship and viewpoint guardians within NPR resulted in the end of his career there.  In his resignation message, he wrote, “[I] cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cite in my Free Press essay.”

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I read last week of pro-Hamas protestors that shut down highways near major airports and occupied a boss’s office at Google, of all places.  Some of them were arrested, and that’s a good thing, in my book.  The problem is, they are probably so ideologically and morally corrupted that they’ll think they were sacrifices for a cause and not just children doing childish things they had no right to do.

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Bias?  In a Tech Giant?

Google is biased.  (Go figure.)  Mutant dystopian AI creations such as dark-skinned Vikings demonstrate the bias toward leftist agendas, as though sane people needed any evidence.  I’m not sure whether that example will prove to be a more or less serious indictment than recent findings that Alphabet/Google has interfered in U.S. elections for at least sixteen years running.  Project Veritas and MRC were key journalistic investigators in that area.  It was asserted, for instance, that the margin by which D. Trump beat H. Clinton would have been significantly greater (2.6MM votes) had the search engine not slanted searches toward favorable Clinton results.  96% of the company’s political donations went to Democrats in a recent year, it was found.    https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/texas-law-scotus-ruling-google-s-alleged-election-interference-3-20-24

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Gender Medicine

The British Cass Report is out, and its author has been denigrated, and some “fact-checkers” failed, and the honest reviewers and critics of the fact-checkers are right, but the biased activists won’t ever find out

A review from Colin Wright:  https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/the-final-cass-review-and-the-nhs

Fact-checking the fact-checkers:  https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/fact-checking-critics-of-the-cass

Free Press report on some of the fallout:

→ Cass report author can’t take public transport: Earlier this month, British pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass published her landmark report on gender care for minors in the UK. Its findings were shocking, if not surprising to anyone who has been following the growth of “gender-affirming care” worldwide. Cass’s report concluded that ideology had trumped medicine in Britain’s healthcare system—and that thousands of young people were given life-changing treatments when there was “no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”

Yesterday, in an interview with The Times, Cass revealed she has received a torrent of abusive emails for doing her job—along with security advice that she should not travel on public transport. Asked if the abuse had taken a toll on her she said, “No. . . it’s personal, but these people don’t know me.” She said she is more annoyed about those who have misrepresented her findings, including a prominent Labour Member of Parliament who claimed Cass had omitted 100 transgender studies from her report. “I’m much, much more upset and frustrated about all this disinformation than I am about the abuse,” she said. “The thing that makes me seethe is the misinformation.”   – Oliver Wiseman, The Free Press (digest), 4/22/24

Also in the gender medicine area, but representative of a broader concern

Citation cartels represent a growing concern in academic circles, where the integrity of scholarship is compromised by networks of researchers artificially inflating citation counts. These networks, also known as “citation rings,” strategically boost the visibility and perceived impact of specific research domains, as well as the reputations and academic metrics of those involved.

The problem of citation cartels extends beyond individual disciplines and affects global academic rankings and the distribution of research funds. Universities and researchers driven by the pressure to climb international rankings or secure funding are tempted to engage in these unethical practices.

Reality’s Last Stand, Gender Medicine’s Citation Cartel. 4/13/24

Of takers and givers

 O Lord of heav’n and earth and sea,
To thee all praise and glory be!
How shall we show our love to thee,
Who givest all?

. . .

To thee from whom we all derive,
Our life, our gifts, our pow’r to give;
O may we ever with thee live,
Who givest all!

– Christopher Wordsworth, 1863

That song was a bit too poetically high-sounding for most leaders to choose it, but it was sung in my congregation a few times when I was young, and it still inspires.  How can we give to God?  As recipients of all good from God, we are forever in the spiritual position of the requiter.  But how can we really requite?

Indeed, how could anyone undertake to give anything to God?  He is the ultimate Source, the ultimate Giver.   Of course, we cannot in actuality give Him anything He needs, but we will still want to do for Him, to give to Him.

We give thee but thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be;
All that we have is thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from thee.

– William How, 1858

We humans could and should be giving of ourselves to God and to others.

But we are takers.

And, man, there are lots of dyed-in-the-wool takers around me.  Mostly I think of a few parents, some of whom I’ve never met.  They seem just to take, take, take all the time . . . to reap the benefits of others who give, give, give to the idle takers’ children.  Ideally, sharing can occur.  Sharing of rides, reciprocation of gifts, meals out, and more.  But some parents never seem to realize what’s happening with their own children:  how much is given to their children, how much they are missing out on!  And how much the children too, are in a position of taking!  In this scenario we are talking about humans taking from other humans, and the humans are actually in a position to be able to give in return, to give something needed.

I try to be a giver, and I enjoy being able to be generous here and here, but sometimes it just feels that I’m being taken advantage of.  When a friend of my son needs something bought before her game, or needs a ride, I’m happy to provide if I can, but then I find out a parent is just sitting at home doing nothing, and I start to feel that parent is a taker.  And I hope the daughter learns to be a giver instead.  I want to be helpful, and I want to be an adult that can be depended on, but I don’t want to enable a behavior pattern that will create irresponsibility in the next generation.

A third song of which I’m reminded is from yet a third middle-19C poet.  (This concentration in another era leads me to wonder whether anyone thinks much about giving anymore.)  In my experience, this song was often used as a contribution-motivation song, and I rather wish this song were used more overtly as a catalyst for deeper thought about a deeper kind of giving.

 I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou mightst ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou done for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou done for Me?

-Frances Havergal, ca. 1860

Truly, what have we done?  What have we given?  The prophet said all our righteous deeds, even, amount to nothing but “filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6)  The ultimate giver is God.  Both before Jesus lived and became Christ, and through Him now, we find the Example of giving.  We take from Him; we receive from Him.  And all we have to give is nothing  . . . and everything.

Whatever, Lord, we lend to thee,
Repaid a thousand fold shall be;
Then gladly will we give to thee,
Who givest all!

– Christopher Wordsworth, 1863

Reflections of a similar kind:

Of wine and whine