Boxer's Lament

On Cleveland's west side, last Sunday, a memorial triple statue group was publicly inaugurated for John Patrick Kilbane *1889, 1957†. Only Joe Louis Barrow held a boxing class title longer. Now, as approaching a century after Kilbane became famous there began commemorations.

Kilbane was a  poor boy from St. Malachi's. His mother died when he was three; and after his father became blind, the boy left grade school for work. Hey, this was America in the gilded age. Child labor, and unemployable incomeless parents made the American dream.

I am just a poor boy...
Asking only workman’s wages
I come looking for a job
But I get no offers...
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
And cut him till he cried out...
But the fighter still remains...

In 1968, Paul Simon was reading the Bible and feeling beat up and he wrote a masterpiece, he and another guitarist layed out beautiful instrumentation for it in the studio. The Boxer, is a lament, a song of grief. Laments are beyond ancient, the soul cries for relief.

Kilbane wrote an article while he was still champion. He wrote, that at first he did not understand the crowd, but as time passed he realised. “The admiration goes for the struggler.”

more chalk drawings

 trompe-l'œil is great, deceiving, vivid ultra-realism

 there are always lions

this takes place in late summer, and there are always funereal autumn scenes

Some annual events are so good, that, to miss them is a shame. Cleveland Art Museum has had for several years a chalk drawing weekend on the sidewalk. This year, it changed the date a week, because a wedding had been scheduled (i am told), and during the change of management, schedules were not synchronised. Well, this year the Cultural Gardens Fest was expanded, and placed concurrently. The road and other construction about University Circle make traffic and traveling on roads not so easy. I decided to come the Monday morning after to see the work. This allowed me to come at a time when all the art was done, only bicycle tracks damaged the sketches.

2014 miscellany #5

 chalk drawing Cleveland Art Museum

 Dr. Awesome

 still some can not follow logical directives

“I’m good right here”

...for yourselves also were strangers...

For those who use the common lectionary, the thirtieth week in common time this year will encounter a reading from the twenty second chapter of Exodus, "Thou shalt not molest a stranger, nor afflict him: for yourselves also were strangers in the land of Egypt.  You shall not hurt a widow or an orphan. If you hurt them they will cry out to me, and I will hear their cry: And my rage shall be enkindled, and I will strike you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." [DRC translation]

Across from the Federal Building in Cleveland there is a park next to the City Hall. There ironically contained is a sculpture of a 'Free Stamp' (currently it is going through restoration, the letters 'FREE' are missing). This has often supplanted Public Square as a place of protest and demonstration. The thirty-two storey Federal Building has been going through a few years of remodeling, some for 'security', it contains offices for immigration, and formerly the FBI.

Here again, people came to try to save a family from forced separation. The father, Pedro Hernandez Ramirez, is listed for deportation. Of course, this would cause hardship. The government is a bureaucracy that places value in prosecution above mercy, even where mercy is permitted.

Again to pray at St. Casimir before Our Lady of Częstochowa

Some people believe they see the Hand of God involved on earth, and call this a 'miracle'. Some people see something good succeeding over great difficulties, and call that a 'miracle'. In some cases both opinions exist in the same action.

Some of you may know, that, Cleveland Mass Mob first came to Saint Casimir's. There was more than one reason to come there first. Mary the Mother of God has several national representations. Many nations have a particularly loved vision of her. The Poles have Our Lady of Częstochowa. When the parish was evicted in November of 2009, Michael Klymiuk-Wieczerski had a dream the night thereafter. He saw her and she said, "Don't leave me". This began the prayer vigils of the street, for 139 consecutive Sundays, the Casimiri gathered outside the church, until the Sunday they could come inside the church.

 St. Casimir's sanctuary. 19 January 2014.

A parishioner, John Niedzialek, knew Veronica Dahlberg. She is an advocate for local Mexican émigrés, many whom worked in agriculture and horticulture. First, Ricardo Ramos and his family came to pray at St. Casimir. On one occasion eighty people walked a twenty mile pilgrimage to St. Casimir, and carried a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Since then there has been a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Casimir.

St. Casimir Cleveland: Luis Nicasio Padilla left, Ricardo Ramos center, Veronica Dahlberg right.

Then came Luis Nicasio Padilla and his family to pray for intercession. To-day, both families remain together here in Ohio. [click for several foto essays]

Now, Pedro Hernandez Ramirez and his family are coming to St. Casimir to pray for intercession. The field office in Detroit for Immigration and Customs Enforcement of  Department of Homeland Security has a history of overzealous policing, contrary to official policy which "prioritizes the removal of public safety and national security threats", and the 'Morton Memo' which reads "that immigrants in deportation proceedings can remain in the U.S. if they are good people with strong ties in the United States". 

The New York Times has seen this latest story as an example [click] of the inconsistency of the 'immigration' quandary. It is caught in electoral politics. The president is treading gingerly, and executive decision has not come forth.
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update from WKSU [click]

birds on Homer Simpson Beach

 Perry Nuclear Generating Plant, the right tower has never been in operation.

Northern Wheatear is a tundra bird (north of 60° latitude), here in winter (non-breeding) plumage. They winter in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a thrush (some argue flycatcher), like a robin. The last several days he has hopped on logs near the lighthouse. He is the first celebrity bird in several months to camp out in northeast Ohio. There was about a dozen birders i encountered to-day. They came from Toledo, Columbus, and Marion. No one i encountered was from northeast Ohio. One can check on updates at American Birding Association's Ohio page [click].

Birders were enforcing a thirty yard approach. This bird was not too flighty, a little skippy. The fewer people, the closer they could come. A Cooper's hawk was strafing the beach, and also about the tree line.

Black-bellied Plover also came down from the tundra. Summer plumage chest and belly are black. This fellow was easily approachable to within ten yards

waiting

Tremont Art Walk at Holy Ghost

Part of the Tremont [Cleveland] Art Walk, at 7:00 p.m., last night: Restoration work begins on the 24' high Hungarian hand-carved wooden and gold gilt icon screen, and turn of the century antique glass and American art glass windows in the historic Holy Ghost Greek Catholic Church. Andrea Chevalier, Senior Paintings Conservator of Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA), answered questions of visitors. ICA was created in 1952 by the directors of six major Midwestern museums. It is the oldest not for profit regional art conservation center in the United States. For many years it was in Oberlin, recently it has been on the near west side of Cleveland.

Sunday, at 3.30 p.m., the church will host Cleveland Mass Mob VIII. The Mass Mob movement, or the 'Buffalo idea', is a sort of wandering contingent of mostly Catholics that periodically group to attend Mass at older urban parishes and/or churches of special interest and merit. Several cities have already tried, or considered the idea. Currently, it is active in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, and Pittsburgh. In Cleveland, four of the churches already visited were recently re-opened, and a fifth only escaped closure by a massive, and well organised public campaign. Holy Ghost was voluntarily re-opened by the bishop of Parma as the Byzantine Catholic Cultural Center. The others were decreed to be re-opened as parishes by the Vatican, overruling and censuring the bishop of Cleveland.

One large painting and two small ones were removed earlier in the day, and a part of the decorative wood of the iconostas was cleaned. The iconostas was made in Budapest in 1924.

 

The Pentecost painting from the iconstas is on an easel.

 What is behind the iconostas?

illegal advertising

Citizens United, Appellant v. Federal Election Commission was decided on 21 January 2010. The Republican majority of the U.S. Supreme Court wrote, "If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech." This cancelled part of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. Former Senator Russ Feingold, and lead man for that act responded, "This decision was a terrible mistake. Presented with a relatively narrow legal issue, the Supreme Court chose to roll back laws that have limited the role of corporate money in federal elections since Teddy Roosevelt was president." In effect, the Republicans now have achieved money as free speech. Those with the most available spending money, therefore, have more speech, and greater say in government.

 C-SPAN

On September 11th (yesterday) the U.S. Senate voted 54 Democrats to 42 Republicans to pass for a vote on a constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court decision. Even though, a majority of senators voted 'aye', under Senate rules, that did not make the minimum number to allow a vote.

You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty. —Jessica Mitford

On the 9th of September the New York City police ticketed/arrested three people for "illegal advertising" outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was fêting David Koch. Koch, and his brother Charles are the fourth and fifth richest Americans, and prestigious political donors to the Republican Party and allied interests, often founders thereof, (Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, FreedomWorks [Tea Party] and Americans For Prosperity). Their brother, William, is the 122nd richest. The eldest brother, Frederick is not active in business and politics.

harvest moon over parma

early evening 8 August 2014

2014 miscellany #4

Some moments of mid July light brought extra vivid color to the west side of Cleveland, a pylon of the Lorain-Carnegie bridge. Note what this guy has in his backyard.

Edgewater Park

The highest (200') Protestant church in town is University Circle United Methodist. The scaffolding maze is part of current re-modeling.

'forbidden' foto--cleaning the Caravaggio: the museum allows photographing their works, but not in special areas; the guards think it is stupid too, the newspaper had fotos and articles about the 'Crucifixion of Saint Andrew'. To the right, is a very expensive table with a microscope.

goldfinch

Slapping grease at Saint Rocco's: i was lucky, the crowd can be pushy, a fellow wanted the space i had been in, he got a goober of grease on the center of his shirt, i made a little toreador move right, and was clean.

the festival that created a parish

A parish is a community in Christ. Parish communal activities help form and bind people, traditions are carried to the future, and people reminisce. This festival pre-dates the official founding of the parish. Saint Rocco's Day is 16 August, but in Noicattoro Bari on the Adriatic it is celebrated on the first Sunday of September.

Does anyone else have such a parish activity as a greasy pole climb on Labor Day? There is a world beyond Cleveland, and i think this is the funnest; although the excitement was higher last year.

This year, ten teams of five men, three full rounds, and no winner. The participants become a human ladder. Thighs become footholds, belts are handholds, and up you go (sometimes with a helping push). The closest was a man on the ninth team, on the third try, made two swipes at the vortex of the 'v' brace, and less than a hand short.

The pole was slathered with thick red (this year) grease. During the hot, and sunny afternoon, globs of grease tumbled down the pole. The grease had some fluidity, and therefore slicker.

Because it was the centennial year of the fest, from the crossbar hung two cheeses, a salami, plastic bagged bread, and a fiasco of chianti.

Usually, even in festivals past, this altar is for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Saint Rocco (Rochus, Rok, Roque) is there now. Santo Rocco is shown as a pilgrim. He is wounded, and while injured a dog brought him food. The Hand of God mosaic to the right is from St. Louis Cleveland Heights (one of the parishes extiguished by Richard Lennon).

The parish knows it is Labor Day, and the words of Jesus. "Come To Me, all you that labor..."

 and she said, "get your own dinner"

it's over, no winner