Some parades are just like others

Wienermobile. 4th of July 2022. Bedford Ohio.

The last few years, i have taken the time to visit parades. The first parade i saw, really a procession, was a St. Anthony's parade. I was a small kid. A woman, two houses away, was at her son's house. She came from Italy, and as the parade passed by she took me and my sister along. We marched at the very end for a piece.

In high school, the marching band sometimes marched in the Cleveland's St. Patrick's parade. There were only two days they allowed kids to skip school, the Indians home opener, and St. Patrick's parade. One year they were in New York City's parade. For some of Cleveland it is notable.

For a time, Cleveland's Labor Day parade was revived. I remember being in one in Lakewood, and one near Cleveland Zoo. A couple of my nieces, and nephews rode on a flatbed truck. I watched one in Parma. The plan was to rotate the location each year around the county.

outside St. Peter's on St. Patrick's 2010

Lennon Thou Art Modell 

Apt comparison of bishop to football team owner, individuals (hated, and now dead) because they took away from Cleveland, that which was beloved by Cleveland.

Then Richard Lennon came to town, and i went to see the Patrick parade.  That parade is the largest parade in Ohio.  St. Peter's is at the beginning of the parade (Superior & East 18th).  A few others, and me, stood in front of St. Peter's.  Lennon, who was bishop, was going to extinguish St. Peter's.  So the next year, some people from protesting parishes marched behind St. Patrick West Park (which was also on Lennon's list). From 2011 onward, the Polish parishes have marched in the Patrick parade, with St. Casimir in the lead, Casimir's was another of Lennon's targets. Being in the parade allows the community to see you.

I have taken fotos of Independence Day parades at Parma (horrible parade, except for the high school bands), Lakewood, Kamm's Corners, Westlake, and University Heights [click]. This year, Bedford, and this [supra] was the chief attraction.

Who should be in every Independence Day Parade: people in costume as Uncle Sam, Lady Liberty, Lady Justice, and the Spirit of '76 band. Bedford had a copy of that iconic fife and drum corps. Also, unfortunately, Bedford's parade began with a very long procession (20 minutes?) of fire trucks, police cars, and politicians of at least four suburbs. The glorification of present government used the opportunity to hijack the parade.

Tow Mater of the Cars movie

some favorite characters of children

Guru Gobind Singh Sikh Society's building is very close to where the parade marches. Many parades have religious groups in the community march.

Part of being in a parade is the exposure to the greater community.

Other religious groups marched in the parade too. There was a group of Moslems who had banners showing loyalty to the United States. What was the pleasant about the Sikhs, is they gave out snacks and drinks; and unlike some Evangelical Protestants, they did not hand out paperwork.

 

000___________________________________________________________xxx

 

Similar scenes were carried out across the land. Independence Day fell on a Monday, this year, it was easier to schedule. I looked at the day's fotos i shot, and i was not going to post a foto essay, i thought the fotos were not that special or good, i might use one in a miscellany; but then...

 

As part of being in a parade is the exposure to the greater community, it is also the greater community's opportunity to have exposure to the community. Terribly, this happened in Highland Park Illinois' parade, while we were in Bedford Ohio. Some people are evilly, mentally compromised. One young trumpster [click] saw an opportunity to kill. The street, and sidewalks were a shooting gallery. 

 

The merchants and manufacturers of death are part owners of the Republican Party. That party joins in their celebration in and of the use of that which is sometimes called a "military styled assault weapon". This is a particularly American phenomenon. These enablers of mass murder demand everyone just to get on with things, anything other than the murders and the weapons that allow them to be done in a expeditious manner. Darren Bailey is the trumpster candidate for Illinois governor, his comment on the massacre was "...so let's pray for justice to prevail, and then let's move on and let's celebrate...".

 

There are fotos of the terrorist trumpster [click] available on the internet, although the press, media, and the search engines have not made them prominent and not shown to audiences.  The press does not bring up his politics. Republicans, and their allies, will say he is mentally incompetent, or use similar verbiage. That is self-evident, and redundant—he is a trumpster, from a family of trumpsters (his father was the recent losing trumpster candidate for mayor of Highland Park). The truth is two fold: the gun culture in America is an idolatry, and the Republican Party (especially in its trumpster form) is a clear, and present danger to both democracy, and the lives of Americans.

Easter foto safari

 

When you are a little kid at Mass to occupy the time which moves slowly...

While looking at daffodils we met Marian (the Librarian), she is eight years old. She was happy to meet our hounds. She is a smaller girl than Karma, you have some indication here. All three were too busy to pose. Marian has a rear leg with temporary pins inside. She has a partial fore leg, she has no racing record, and was given to a rescue and has been happy with her family since.

Cassius at Lake View with many people and dogs.

It was a cold, and sunny day. The daffodils were fine with that.

Abandoned double in Glenville. Flower bulbs still active.

Front window of a State Road business in Parma.

From a convent window at St. Casimir's Cleveland.

Modelled after Las Vegas.

Solidarity with Ukraine

 

An American general said, “War is Hell”. On the teevee programme M*A*S*H, the character Hawkeye, the point was made that war is much worse than Hell. Those in Hell deserve to be there. “There are no innocent bystanders in hell. But war is chock full of them...little kids, cripples, old ladies. Except for a few of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander” .

When there is an aggressor, to be neutral is to side with the aggressor. Yes, solidarity, unity is needed with the victims. As John Donne wrote, “No man is an island” . It is good that some of the Polish, and American faithful stand with Ukraine. Those who stand with, or praise, or equivocate in defense of the aggressor have the blood of the innocents dripping on their souls. When Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February,  Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya spoke directly to the Russian Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, “There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, Ambassador” .

Our Holy Father Francis has repeatedly called for peace, real peace. When an aggressor calls for peace, he does not want peace, he wants an end to resistance. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Christians should want peace. In this war, the Patriarch of Moscow is fully behind the cause of war, and the man who orders, and guides that war. This war is war without mercy. There have always been religious hypocrites, and some with high clerical office and their obedient followers, who are against the Way of Jesus. Many Christians, and many supposedly Christian nations supposedly love Mary, the Mother of God. She is our Protectress. As Francis has pointed out Mariupol Ukraine is Mary's city, how could someone who acknowledges Mary attack her city? There is talk that Francis may visit Kyiv, the symbolic message of solidarity and support would be remarkable.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” – Desmond Tutu

Currently on the campus of St. Casimir the Prince Cleveland, there are signs where some of our faithful stand.

“What the world expects of Christians is that Christians should speak out, loud and clear, and that they should voice their condemnation in such a way that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt, could rise in the heart of the simplest man. That they should get away from the abstraction and confront the blood-stained face history has taken on today.” – Albert Camus

As a protest of the war, Russians outside of Russia (jail is no fun) identify themselves in protest with a white, blue, white flag. They have removed the red (blood). The original designer is Kai Katonina, who lives in Berlin. In Russia people with fully blank signs have been arrested, police recognise anti-authoritarian actions everywhere.

One of the canvasses on the St. Casimir fence

In this journal, many essays showed placards, and other items attached to the fence in front of St. Casimir church. There are again several, showing solidarity with Ukraine, and prayers on behalf of Ukraine.

Caption this

Patricios are back (3 of 3)

Erin Go Bragh (Ireland Forever) 

The Republic of Ireland (Eire) uses the tri-color flag of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. This green flag is of the 1798 Rebellion. This was carried by the Polish unit in the parade. Many of the spectators would not recognise it. The harp, and the shamrocks have long been recognised as symbols of Ireland, and so has the color green.

Three women were dressed in fine traditional Polish peasant clothes. Here one is interrupted in the march. A local cable channel interviewed one woman during the end of the parade, and a foto appeared online by the diminished Cleveland daily paper.

I dunno what was asked in the interview, my guess is why are the Poles marching? Well, St. Patrick is a saint of the Church Universal. A Chinese unit marches in the parade. In the past, Ukrainians and Lithuanians have marched. The Polish Catholics have marched since 2011, when Lennon (the then bishop) was closing parishes. The Poles, and other nationality groups are part of the Cleveland Catholic Community.

Viet Nam veteran with a US peace flag escorted out of parade

Lou Pumphrey is a Viet Nam veteran. He has been in many local parades with his uniform (i think he has come in a dress uniform), and flag. He believes in the 1st Amendment. At one time he was the editor at Universe Bulletin. He was interested in the clergy abuse allegations. The bishop (then Pilla) was the publisher. He was then no longer an employee. The next Cleveland bishop, Lennon, came from Boston and was heavily involved in the cover up of the abuse there. Lennon was filmed on an episode of Frontline trying to humiliate an adult survivor. The film Spotlight won a Best Picture Oscar, and was about the Boston Globe bringing it attention. Lou completed the parade marching with Cleveland Polonia, which was in a marching position soon after the point of his original departure.

There were fewer units this year, but more high school bands. The last place in the line up, at the tail end of the four divisions was Canton McKinley High.

The lingering effects of the Boston Bombers, and other terrorists is to heavily block any entrance points along the parade route.

The Krazy Kops are regulars, but this year they were a late addition to the line up. They enjoy entertaining crowd. Here they merge into the Maple Heights High School Band.

Spectators were waiting for the next unit to march by.

Many people wear green while in the viewing crowd, and are participating in the parade.

2020 Miscellany #12—snapshots around town

 St. Barbara Cleveland and electrical work

Terminal Tower seen through light stanchions of baseball park as seen from freeway

U.S.S. Cod is a WWII submarine that is now a museum ship in Cleveland.

 

For Cuyahoga County voters, a necessary and easy act of patriotism: accessible on E. 30th between Euclid and Chester; drop off ballot applications, and later completed ballots. Ohio's Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, will not allow more than one such box in a county. He is a Republican, and on a state level, Ohio has been a one party state.

Now it is time to dry your summer garden herbs for later use, basil pictured.

Keep your windows open when you leave hounds in your car.

swallows on Lake Erie

day lilies, Italian Cultural Garden

artificial brook, Croat Cultural Garden

nest at the feet and sword tip of St. Michael statue at St. Casimir's

Pentecost and time to leave your rooms

 a small tongue of fire

And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place:  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them — Acts ii. 1-3.

the liturgical color of the day is red

Sunday, 31 May was the first Sunday, here, after covid-19 quarantine, that public celebration of Mass could occur. The Apostles and Mary were in hiding, after the Ascension of Jesus. And on this day, the Holy Spirit came to fortify them.

The re-opening of the Catholic churches were accompanied by guidelines for sanitation. One was the wearing of facial coverings, most people wore ones that looked like surgical masks. The guidelines were not very well adhered to at St. Casimir.

In Cleveland, it was an odd day. The day before, a protest against police brutality became a riot, downtown. Downtown was now under curfew, except for four hours of morning clean-up.