JOHN THE BAPTIST - June 24

HIS CLOTHES WERE WEIRD.

HIS DIET WAS SPARTAN. You could tell

he'd spent years in isolation,

breaking loose from social conventions

to which the rest of us cheerfully adhere.

He was, in other words, a strangely free individual.

Fear had no claims on him,

so he could speak the truth as he understood it.

When he talked, he yelled,

and the topic of his rants was always religion.

If you saw this man on the street today,

you'd cross to the other side for sure.

Who would want to be a friend of John the Baptist?

Alice Camille, U.S. Catholic, Dec., '07

THE SIOUX KILLED LIARS. WE SHOULD TOO.

"It is said that, in the very early days,

lying was a capital offense among us.

Believing that the deliberate liar is

capable of committing any crime

behind the screen of cowardly untruth

and double-dealing, the destroyer

of mutual confidence was summarily

put to death, that the evil might

go no further."

Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) Santee Sioux

The Soul Of The Indian, 1911

Now then, if America had such a

wise and insightful way of doing

business, we'd be rid of thousands

of worthless mortgage bankers, hedge

fund managers, lawyers, real estate

salespeople, and other similar scum.

America's lost its guts.

THOREAU ON FISHING

It is the old story.

The fisherman is a natural story teller.

No man's imagination plays more

pranks than his, while he is tending

his reels and trotting from one

to another, or watching his cork

in summer. He is ever waiting for

the sky to fall. He has sent out a

venture. He has a ticket in the

lottery of fate, and who knows what

it may draw? He ever expects to

catch a bigger fish yet.

He is the most patient and

believing of men [or women!].

Who else will stand so long in

wet places? When the hay maker

runs to shelter, he takes down his

pole and bends his steps to the river,

glad to have a leisure day.

He [or she] is more like an

inhabitant of nature.

The weather concerns him. He is

an observer of her phenomenona.

*

Henry David Thoreau

The River

THE PATRON SAINT OF WINDSURFING

It's almost Summer and so it's time to

rerun the "Windsurfing Prayer" Blog

we had up last year, plus or minus

a photo or two. WHOOOSSHHH!

The Patron Saint of Windsurfing
John Rutledge

Ever been so deperate for a wind fix that you'd do just about anything--sacrifice a virgin, say a prayer to a patron saint? But virgins are scarce, their parents usually object, and exactly who is the patron saint of windsurfing anyway?

As far as I can tell, no saint has been named the official patron of windsurfing. Skaters have Saint Lidwina of Schiedam in the Netherlands (natch). Skiers have St. Bernard of Montjoux. Sailors, boatmen, and watermen have long had a patron in Saint Brendan the Navigator. St. Brendan sailed the North Atlantic with his band of monks. Possibly they even reached America. Once they stopped on a small island, lit a fire, and began to say Mass, only to discover that the island was a whale.

Maybe we should adopt St. Brendan as the patron saint of windsurfing. The patron saint of windsurfing should be used to unpleasant surprises. The American connection is good even it it's only a remote possibility. St. Brendan's day falls on May 16, timing well with the height of the windsurfing season, at least here on the East Coast.

St. Christopher is another good candidate. Since he carried the Christ Child across a stream, he has a water connection, but no wind. And St. Christopher is rather much overdone. I won't put a plastic St. Christopher on my dashboard until a wind connection is better established.
Of course the Virgin Mary can be asked to bring wind, but she's used for everything. A cult of devotion to Our Lady, Star of the Sea already exists. This devotion tends to focus on perils of the sea and hardships endured by people who make their living from the sea. Maybe good for professional windsurfers, but not right for us recreational windsurfers and week-end warriors who mostly work at other jobs so we can windsurf occasionally.
St. Jude might be the logical choice. The obvious connection between needing wind on weekends and "lost causes" is too painful to require any comment. St. Jude may just be your man, er. .. saint.

Maybe the ideal saint hasn't been produced yet? How many certified miracles are required for sainthood nowadays? What would qualify as a miracle in windsurfing? Yours truly makes one hundred jibes in a row in rough chop at Jordan Lake? As the result of fervent and heart-felt prayers, we have two perfect days in July at Jordan?

What should the pagans among us do? Classical Antiquity had wind gods for the four prime directions and Aeolus was their keeper-or at least he tried to keep them in order. You want a good nor'easter? Boreas, the god of the North Wind, might listen to you. We rarely see east winds around here. Perhaps we have been neglecting Eurus, god of the East Wind.
Greek sailors customarily poured out a portion of wine onto the ground as a sacrifice to the wind gods before setting sail. A glass of Chateau Neuf du Pape seems a small enough price to pay for a good day of windsurfing. Sadly, we have little objective data about the effectiveness of offering wine to the wind gods. So, what's desperate windsurfer to do when he needs a wind fix? Pray!

O great Saint Brendan, grant me just two hours of good, steady wind
this afternoon between 2 and 4 p.m.
Did you mean Brendan of Birr or Brendan the Navigator?
Brendan the Navigator, of course.
Well, this is Brendan of Birr. Too bad, no wind for you today.

Appeared first in MindJibe May 2002

WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE (OR NOT)

"With God On Our Side"

Oh my name it is nothin'

My age it means less

The country I come from

Is called the Midwest

I's taught and brought up there

The laws to abide

And the land that I live in

Has God on its side.

*

Oh the history books tell it

They tell it so well

The cavalries charged

The Indians fell

The cavalries charged

The Indians died

Oh the country was young

With God on its side.

*

The Spanish-American

War had its day

And the Civil War too

Was soon laid away

And the names of the heroes

I's made to memorize

With guns on their hands

And God on their side.

*

The First World War boys

It came and it went

The reason for fighting

I never did get

But I learned to accept it

Accept it with pride

For you don't count the dead

When God's on your side.

*

When the Second World War

Came to an end

We forgave the Germans

And then we were friends

Though they murdered six million

In the ovens they fried

The Germans now too

Have God on their side.

*

I've learned to hate Russians

All through my whole life

If another war comes

It's them we must fight

To hate them and fear them

To run and to hide

And accept it all bravely

With God on my side.

*

But now we got weapons

Of the chemical dust

If fire them we're forced to

Then fire them we must

One push of the button

And a shot the world wide

And you never ask questions

When God's on your side.

*

In a many dark hour

I've been thinkin' about this

That Jesus Christ

Was betrayed by a kiss

But I can't think for you

You'll have to decide

Whether Judas Iscariot

Had God on his side.

*

So now as I'm leavin'

I'm weary as Hell

The confusion I'm feelin'

Ain't no tongue can tell

The words fill my head

And fall to the floor

If God's on our side

He'll stop the next war.

Bob Dylan

From The Times They Are A-Changin' Album, 1964

TELL DETROIT TO TALK TO THE OIL BOYS

Will someone please tell the "Big 3" morons that

rather than hitting up the taxpayers for a handout,

they go and talk to their blood-leeching brothers,

the oil company trash and the filthy mideast scum

like the Saudi "Royal" Family, creating terrorism

by hoarding the cash and stepping on the poor,

butt-buddies to the Bush boys -

or the Exxon and Mobile pimps and thieves -

or the materialistically insane in Dubai, Houston,

or wherever the planet's black gold runs.

I'm sure they'd all want to help.

_

Hell's bells, they've all made mountains of

cash together, and since they're all

going to fry together in hell,

they might as well start acting more

accomodating, like Georgie and

the prince, with their little gay thing.

The Bush clan and the "Royal" Family are close,

close friends, so the reporters and White House

spokespeople tell us. These guys connect.

Certainly a phone call from Georgie to

his buddy could get the ball,

or, as in this case - tires, rolling.

_

After all, think about it,

what's a few billion (or a few billion-plus),

between kissin' (or blood-suckin') cousins?

The Big 3 and the oil boys have had such

an incestuous relationship, for so long,

it's time they all 'fessed up now and share

the booty a bit, give the other whorepig/thief

a cut of the rather incredible action.

It's the honorable thing to do!

Oh, wait a minute, I forgot,

there's no honor among thieves.

_

To tell the truth,

you'd find more honor in a whore,

any whore, dead or alive,

in Juarez or Tiajuana, than you'd find in

any of these pathetic, dim-witted "suits,"

the auto industry beggars, multi-millionaires

with their palms open and their eyes shut,

neo-capitalism's sluts,

blinded by ignorance and greed,

stupidity at its absolute worst level -

dark - dark and evil.

As for the oil boys, well, certainly there's

a special place in Hell for these guys -

Arab, American, Dutch, Limey, Canadian...

where there will be much weeping and the

gnashing of teeth, multi-lingual gnashing!

_

History (hell, forget history, think: soon to come

current events) will prove the foolishness

and stupidity in how we got where we are,

and how prophets get their reputation,

and why it seems inevitable at this point

that we should just go ahead and play out

our roll in an Apocalyptic adventure,

no matter how reluctant (terrfied) we might be

to face the facts.

Are Americans adventerous these days?

We'll soon find out.

_

THE VISIONARIES

The short (90 second) slide show here

is a series of paintings from northern New

Mexico, set to the music of Robert Mirabal

from Taos Pueblo.

"THE VISIONARIES" is one of the recent

chapters in THE SANTA FE SERIES, an

ongoing "webzine" of sorts, that's about

trains, and Indians, and a city, and holy faith,

and much more.

THE VISIONARIES chapter is about the art and artists

of the Taos and Santa Fe art colonies, their

relationship with the Santa Fe Railway, etc.

It's one of what is now sixteen chapters in

THE SANTA FE SERIES.

http://www.maninthemaze.com/thesantafeseries/thevisionaries.html

PHOTOS BY A.C. VROMAN

Here's a series of photos by A.C Vroman

from the early part of the 20th century,

taken at the Hopi villages of northern Arizona

and the Pueblos of New Mexico. Music is

by R. Carlos Nakai, titled "Light Waves."

To check out more of Vroman, E.S. Curtis, and

more, go to our ongoing Santa Fe series:

http://www.maninthemaze.com/thesantafeseries/guyswithcameras2.html

THE SANTA FE SERIES

The Santa Fe Series has started. It's about a city,

a railroad, Indians, the Great American Southwest,

holy faith, and lots more. Check it out here:

http://www.maninthemaze.com/thesantafeseries/foreward.html

LENTEN SERIES BEGINS

Our Lenten series begins today -

to view (and listen) go here:

http://www.maninthemaze.com/thelentenseries/ashwednesday.html

LENTEN SERIES BEGINS ASH WEDNESDAY

We're going to do a series for Lent,

starting up this Wednesday, February 6.

KING PREDICTED THIS...

A nation or civilization that continues

to produce soft-minded men

purchases its own spiritual death

on the installment plan.

***

A nation that continues year after year

to spend more money on military defense

than on programs of social uplift

is approaching spiritual doom.

*****

History will have to record that

the greatest tragedy of this period of

social transition was not the strident clamor

of the bad people, but the appalling silence

of the good people.

*******

THE ADVENT SERIES

The Advent Series will be "dormant"

until late next November. It's getting

"upgraded" with additional/fresh material,

which will include more graphics,

audio narratives, slide shows, more.

Please come back and check it out

in November, it's going to be

interesting, somewhat Apocalyptic.

Please save the address below:

http://www.maninthemaze.com/theadventseries/newseriescoming2009.html