Akron on Good Friday

Seminarian Alex inside of St. Bernard's central front door.

Praying by St. Joseph altar.

Holy Spirit clerestory window above high altar.

To-day we are in the 40 Hours of the Triduum, the most solemn time of the year. The tabernacle is empty, St. Bernard Akron.

Reflection of St. Anthony's outside on window of St. Filip Neri.

Prodeo is Latin, sometimes translated as go forth, advance.

North Main Street experiencing heavy construction.

Girl with Guitar. North Main, Akron.

two robots on an abandoned building  on North Main

Alfombras 2026

Karma enters to see the Alfombras.  My greyhounds have always been welcomed here. An artist finishes the last portion of the whole. We we were the first to see the complete work.

 

Los Alfombras de Semana Santa en La Sagrada Familia Cleveland están listos para ser pisados.

Cleveland is blessed to have a Meso-American community to share their sense of beauty, grace, and devotion of sanctity. 

Cleveland tiene la dicha de contar con una comunidad mesoamericana que comparte su sentido de la belleza, la gracia y la devoción por lo sagrado.

It is a tradition to have colorful carpets of flowers and sawdust to be processed over on Black Friday of Jesus's Passion.

Bad Bunny understood what Jesus taught.

Simple, clear, beautiful — i especially enjoyed this one. I heard it was done by Walter.

 Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas.

Holy Week carpet with palms

Jesus and his cross

The Lost Lamb made with cotton balls and in a patch of flowers.

Mary of Bethany wipes the feet of Jesus with her hair.

Michael defeats the Devil. 

No Kings, No Crowns, No Clowns

 28 March 2026 — Parma O. & America —  Ω ☨

Patriots gathered across the land in town squares, and along thoroughfares.  

The weather varies across the continent.  In the northeast corner of Ohio, the morning was at or below freezing, with a trace of small snowflakes drifting through occasionally.

28 March 2026 — Parma O. & America — Ω ☨

There were many points that needed to be aired.

Trump is evil a priori, and that evil creates more evil.

Sometimes for a good foto snap a rise in elevation helps.

George Santayana had similar thoughts:

•  Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
• The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.
• A country without a memory is a country of madmen.

Again, statements must be aired.

America is now not among the free lands of democracy, yet some people intend to return it so.

Humor helps, the Devil does not like to be mocked. He must be mocked, and ridiculed.

As Professor Timothy Snyder says, "Protest brings joy. It feels good to be active and to be with other people. It dispels the loneliness we might experience when we are alone or online. When we realize that we are with millions of others, we feel we can make a difference, because we are making a difference: in the world, and in ourselves." 

All we are saying...

abandoned places #47 & 2026 Miscellany #3

Miles Park Presbyterian Church Newburgh built 1869-1872 lasted until coronavirus-19 hit in March 2020.  Cleveland annexed the village in 1873. Across the street was Miles Park Methodist originally, it was abandoned and burned down two years ago. The Methodist church became a Pentecostalist, and the Presbyterian became a Baptist church, such goes the devolution of churches in cities when they undergo urban decay.  Often Baptist churches do not use the title, and that is not tied to socio-economic status.

Portion of the remaining 19th C? glass. The only marking were intertwined Ss on the two balcony windows. that were behind an amber window. There was really no hints any of the glass was ecclesial. The same glass could have been in any secular setting. Some of the glass did have the names of donors.

Lorain Carnegie Bridge four, double faced, art deco sandstone pylon sculptures. The figures are collectively the Guardians of Traffic. On the corner where Carnegie begins there is an American League baseball park. For the last few years, the team has been the Guardians.

On the west side of the bridge, there is a neighborhood of houses under the pylons. Here it was easy to get up close and personal with a camera.

Just a little further up Carnegie is this advertisement for Palantir, which is unknown to most people. Palantir makes software for surveillance for government agencies, and corporations.  It is spyware.  The chairman of the corporation is Peter Thiel, a German born evangelical queer, who is anti-democracy, and chief sponsor of his former employee, JD Vance.  He has, or is giving currently, secret lectures in Rome about Anti-Christ & Armageddon.  Thiel thinks geniuses like him [sic] should rule. 

meal of champions, hey Ronald…eh…Donald

O, i think the Indian press and their readers got a few chuckles over these chuckleheads.  What a bunch of dumb nimrods.  Propaganda stooges fed fast food burgers by a billionaire.  The Olympic women's team were hosted in Italy to good Italian food by Stanley Tucci [who has an Italian food show], and will have a party with Flavor Flav in Las Vegas.  Trump is tacky and cheap, and enjoys screwing with people.  He has invited men's sports teams to the White House before, and gives them the same stupid "happy" meal.  Y'no, there is a saying about some sort of individual born every second.  Read only eight of the twenty-five men did not act as props for the State of the Union speech, and five did not show up to the grand feast.  Think one of Monty Hall's zonks would have been better.  Remember, there are Little League coaches who take their players out for an ice-cream after a win, who are far more generous.

2026 Miscellany #2 — ice edition

Scranton Flats, Cuyahoga River 16 February

When most of Lake Erie is frozen over, spots on the Cuyahoga are often clear. The thermal pollution warms the water, and the ducks and other birds have a place to land and swim. Still, corpses of those who either froze, or starved to death are seen.

mostly red breasted mergansers, common winter visitors/migrants

Sunlight did not help this one, on Scranton in Cleveland, a dog care business.

A local television news story mentioned these placards/posters appearing in Cleveland on vacant commercial buildings.  I wonder, whether this is nation wide.  I suppose the supporters of American Gestapo are none too pleased.  Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi as a rapster uses the name Kid Cudi.  As a painter, he is Scotty Ramon. These posters are signed Scotty Ramon.

Cleveland's 1st parade of the year

We were delayed. The city blocked off St. Clair early. A lot of parking spaces were snow covered, and some of the sidewalks were tamped down unto corrugated ice. The parade route was condensed. Better fotos are taken before a parade starts, when people are standing still, and are approachable. For many years, St. Patrick's parade was the first of the year. Since Kurentovanje has started up, it is the first. Lunar New Year would be about the same time, in Cleveland they have indoor activities; certainly the weather is a consideration.

Škoromati from Hrušica posing with Karma & Perun. These carnival characters are from nearer Italy. Scaramatte made appearances in 14C manuscripts. The Alps cross Slovenija and Italy. Perhaps these masks came from nearby Friuli (Furlanija), and became naturalised in southwest Slovenija. Venetians have carnival masks too, perhaps they are part of the same spread of phenomena.

Spearmen going about in circles, before they were marching double file. Not looking too martial.

Black plague doctor, Il Medico della Peste, from the modern Venetian carnival. 

Krampus, now this character is found in the north of Slovenija (Štajerska), and in neighboring Austrian Steiermark (Styria). Similar characters are in Bavaria, and elsewhere. But, they are active on the eve of St. Nicholas (6 December). But they are also anthropomorphic ethnological figures.

Whippersnapper

Kurenti with a young Kurent.

A red devil marches on.

also see past years click