2019 Miscellany #6

on 4th of July this sign was still being painted

 day lilies at Franklin Conservatory, Columbus Ohio

 that transitional color between yellow and green

Ω☨ “Vive la Rêsistance”

 Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (*1811, 1887☨)

I was in Cleveland's Zion Lutheran on 30th & Prospect, and this portrait was on a window next to a similar portrait of Martin Luther. He looked like a 19th century geezer on an advertising label, I 'googled' the name of an early pastor of the church, and that man's photograph came up, and two fotos of this guy.

Walther was one of the Lutheran Germans who left Germany because the denomination was not strict enough. He became the first president of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. He believed, wrote, and taught all other denominations of Christianity were of lesser character than his own.

message board needs updating

Sunday morning driving on the east side of Cleveland, noticed some signs need updating.

There seems to be little activity here, but none of the letters fell.

Tifereth Israel is the second oldest Jewish congregation in Cleveland. This Willson Avenue Temple was their second building from 1894 to 1924. They moved to University Circle to a beautiful Byzantine domed building, often called Rabbi Silver's Temple. This building was sold in 1924 to Mount Zion Congregational, which in turn sold it to Friendship Baptist in 1940. Cleveland used to be called the Forest City, some of the forest is trying to come back.

Zion

 Jesus and Mary Magdalen Easter [L], Supper at Emmaus [R] 

Cleveland's German Evangelical Lutheran Church started in 1843, and in 1852 joined the Missouri Synod as Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. Zion is a popular church name for some denominations, the temple in Jerusalem was on Mount Zion. The current building was their fourth and built in 1903.

The congregation had become famous when the pastor, Heinrich Schwann, brought in and decorated an evergreen tree on Christmas Eve 1851. This was the first church in America to have a Tannenbaum. The Yankee/English of Cleveland were upset with the Tannenbaum. The next year, other people had Christmas trees too.

 altar with Jesus and the four Evangelists

 Ecce Home [top], Good Shepherd [center] flanked by the Evangelists symbols

 Der Gerechte wird seines Glaubens leben. [from Romans i. 17]

 The just man liveth by faith

To-day, in "conservative" America, many people are upset with the use of a language other than English. Many Lutheran, and other German American congregations, spoke German in services until the first world war. The highest percentage of Americans have German ancestry. Not many speak German to-day. The United States has had xenophobia, and prejudice against the foreign born, and foreign speaking for many generations.

Ihr [aber] seid das auserwählte Geschlecht [from 2 Peter ii. 9]

But you are a chosen generation

______________

postscriptum: I noticed a couple of hours after i posted this, that there must have been a 'hiccough', most of the post repeated itself.

Independence in a western suburb

It seems Pres. Trump wants a militarized Fourth of July celebration more similar to the kinds of events overseen by dictators like his buddy Kim Jong-un. I prefer the Boston Pops, hot dogs, and Uncle Sams on stilts.

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) July 1, 2019

 We should all care for each other, Sam straightens up Lady Liberty's crown

 Hounds of all kinds belong. Here, 10 month old Sofie marches with her parish.

 Ten year old Daisy watches from a shady lawn.

 Some dogs have special cabs.

 Tiny Brianna rides in the parade.

 A stuffed lion waves from a 1929 Ford.

 A yard at the start is happily decorated.

 East side pipers practice behind SS. Peter & George Coptic.

 

 Captain America races to view the parade

In America, we should not have a royal class; but we do have lady Liberty, Columbia, Lady Justice as allegories.
 
 ...and children like cartoon princesses.

musical streets

Who will believe thee, Isabel?

Went on Tuesday, for the first time to Oberlin Summer Theater, and saw Measure for Measure. Sofie Rejto was marvellous as Isabella (a novice of the Poor Clares). She was the object of the temporary ruler's indecent proposal:
 
Measure for Measure Act II, Scene iv 

    Isabella: Ha! little honour to be much believed,
    And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming!  
    I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for't:
    Sign me a present pardon for my brother,
    Or with an outstretch'd throat I'll tell the world aloud
    What man thou art. 

    Angelo: Who will believe thee, Isabel?  
    My unsoil'd name, the austereness of my life,
    My vouch against you, and my place i' the state,
    Will so your accusation overweigh,
    That you shall stifle in your own report
    And smell of calumny. I have begun,  
    And now I give my sensual race the rein:
    Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite;
    Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes,
    That banish what they sue for; redeem thy brother
    By yielding up thy body to my will;

    Or else he must not only die the death,
    But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
   To lingering sufferance. Answer me to-morrow,
   Or, by the affection that now guides me most,
   I'll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
   Say what you can, my false o'erweighs your true.
    ...
    Isabella: To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
    Who would believe me? 


Shakespeare wrote this play over four hundred years ago, and it is topical here and now.  Many women have said they were assaulted by Donald Trump, and they are either attacked or ignored.


In the last scene Escalus says:

    Come, sir: did you set these women on to slander 
    Lord Angelo? they have confessed you did.   
    ...
    Why, thou unreverend and unhallow'd friar,
    Is't not enough thou hast suborn'd these women
    To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth...

Legal and religious terms are used throughout the play. The title is about justice, but when Jesus talks of justice, he also speaks of mercy.

For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. – Matthew vii. 2. (3rd part of the Sermon on the Mount)

In Act V, the long final scene, Duke Vincentio says:

    Like doth quit like, and MEASURE still FOR MEASURE.
    Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested;
    Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage.
    We do condemn thee to the very block
    Where Claudio stoop'd to death, and with like haste.
    Away with him!

Angelo is a wicked man, a hypocrite, and dishonest. His public persona is very proper. He is a prude in public, and a pervert in private. Since this is a comedy, he is forgiven, and married off. Claudio is released from prison, and married. Lucio is married off.

Isabella does not want a marriage, and she wants to be forever chaste. She not only wants to be a religious sister, but a cloistered nun. Shakespeare was part of a recusant family, and in his plays the monks and sisters tend towards integrity. At the very end of the play, Isabella is twice again given an indecent proposal by the ruler. This time not the acting Angelo, but the Duke Vincentio. Shakespeare gives her no word, so if she responds it is by body language. The actress gave the right response with her arms and face [really, how could you ask that?]. The Duke set all the trouble in motion, and he played a part in disguise to intervene, instead of showing his true person and ending the trouble.

 

Lucio, a rakish fop with two whores

 Juliet

This theater was formally opened in December. In the early part of the play, i snapped a few pictures to see how they would come out. The light worked very well close by, but a few feet further the stage light washed out the actors' faces.

grotesques at the door

grotesques on a house

Franklin Circle Disciples of Christ

Franklin Circle Disciples of Christ began in 1842. The pastor in 1857 was James A. Garfield, the future president. The new main building was built between 1874 and 1883. The building was enlarged in 1916.

In Catholic iconography (which does not apply here), this could be St. Helen (but not in martyr red) who found the true cross, and perhaps Filomena; but they also could be allegorical representations of Faith and Hope.

Widow's mite

And Jesus sitting over against the treasury, beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. And many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow: and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. And calling his disciples together, he saith to them: Amen I say to you, this poor widow hath cast in more than all they who have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want cast in all she had, even her whole living. — Mark xii. 41-4.

And looking on, he saw the rich men cast their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in two brass mites.  And he said: Verily, I say to you that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all.  For all these have of their abundance cast into the offerings of God: but she of her want hath cast in all the living that she had. — Luke xxi. 1-4.

Some glass is only decorative, but it can be beautiful.

Lord's Supper

Crasher

Crasher Squirrel with Melissa and Jackson Brandts

Well, in 2009 Melissa and Jackson Brandts set a timer on a camera to take a foto together in front of Lake Minnewanka at Banff National Park. A squirrel crashed the foto. They sent the picture to National Geographic and it went across the globe. Crasher Squirrel was put into many photographs. This became a very successful 'meme'.

with Buzz Aldrin, first moon landing

Well, Trump brought his daughter to Osaka with a meeting of world political leaders.  French President Emmanuel Macron, British Premier Theresa May, Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau and chairman of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde were having a conversation. There is a video of Ivanka Trump trying to be part of the conversation, where they collectively shun her.

 Camp David Accords

 Friends

 All the President's Men

The best of all with Joe McCarthy, and Daddy's lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn.

Spray bad: no, no, no.

Around St. Stephen's, and Lorain Avenue there has been intermittent graffiti for years. It is the human equivalent of stray dogs pissing to mark territory. Someone stencilled an artistic message over some of it. [Notice the 'problematic' number 38 (personal aside)]

too many Democratic candidates

For 2016 the Repukes had 17 major candidates, and it was a shit show. Before 17 Democrats announced for 2020, complaints of too many candidates came from many places, none mentioning how many Repukes ran last time. Two dozen is too damn many.

☐ Michael Bennet ☐ Democrats need senators
☐ Joe Biden ☐ tied Trump to Chancellorsville
☐ Bill de Blasio
☐ Cory Booker ☐ Democrats need senators
☐ Steve Bullock ☐ did not break top 20 ☐ Montana needs a senator

☐ Pete Buttigieg  
☐ Julián Castro  ☐ someone needs to run for Texas Senate
☐ John Delaney  ☐ thinks Democrats need to be conservative
☐ Tulsi Gabbard  ☐ has Kremlin support?
☐ Kirsten Gillibrand  ☐ torpedoed Al Franken

 

☐  Mike Gravel  ☐ did not break top 20

☐  Kamala Harris  ☐ opportunistic ☐ aggressive in attack, even to Democrats
☐  John Hickenlooper  ☐ thinks Democrats need to be conservative ☐ Colorado needs a senator
☐  Jay Inslee  ☐ realises importance of climate change ☐ emphasised danger of Trump
☐  Amy Klobuchar ☐ Democrats need senators

☐ Wayne Messam ☐ did not break top 20
☐ Seth Moulton ☐ did not break top 20
☐ Beto O'Rourke ☐ someone needs to run for Texas Senate
☐ Tim Ryan  ☐ ambitious beyond ability, not too bright
☐ Bernie Sanders

☐ Joe Sestak  ☐ just showed up
☐ Eric Swalwell 
☐ Elizabeth Warren  ☐ diligent in thought
☐ Marianne Williamson ☐ friend of Oprah  ☐ gotta be kidding
☐ Andrew Yang  ☐ does not like neckties