Turning Point sing

Turning Point of Windham County is a recovery program for people dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. They gather at a meeting room in a house in Brattleboro on Flat Street, across from New England Youth Theater. Today, a group of about 10 Hallowell singers gathered there outside to do a little sing. I think this took place because a woman who is a Hospice volunteer and is familiar with Hallowell also works with Turning Point and thought that the group would enjoy being sung to as they were coming out of their meeting. It was pretty chilly, but it was not raining, as it had been forecast to do. So we dressed warmly, I sat on my stool, and we sang about 7 songs. The group was indeed very appreciative. We always end with what has become our signature song, How Could Anyone Ever Tell You: "How could anyone ever tell you, you are anything less than beautiful? How could anyone ever tell you, you are less than whole? How could anyone fail to notice that your loving is a miracle? How deeply you're connected to my soul!" This song never fails to touch people, and we often see people wiping tears from their eyes as we are singing.

Turning Point meeting-place****************************************

Our Hallowell group singing for Turning Point********************************* I was supposed to meet with Jerome at 11a.m. today but this sing sort of crowded that appointment, so I called him and changed it to tomorrow. We took Calvin home after the sing, and on the way we stopped to get a few things at the Dollar Store, but it was closed! Oh dear! We hope that it is not closed permanantly. Ellen buys food containers there very reasonably which she can use to take food to people and not have to arrange for them to return the containers. We're hoping it was closed due to a temporary staff shortage. The website for the store says it will open at 9am tomorrow morning. We'll see! ************************* This evening I have signed up for a special Zoom session being sponsored by the Vermont Interfaith Action Committee. Debbie Ingram will make a presentation about Proposition 2, which would eliminate slavery unequivocally from Vermont’s constitution. She also delves into the history of how Vermont’s constitution influenced Amendment 13 which created exceptions that have led to mass incarceration of Black men today. I was mostly unaware of this issue, so I look forward to learning more about it. LATER: It was a very interesting session that informed us of a great deal we were unaware of. The basic point is that the Vermont Constitution of 1777 has this paragraph: "That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. Therefore, no male person, born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person, as a servant, slave, or apprentice, after he arrives to the age of twenty-one years; nor female, in like manner, after she arrives to the age of eighteen years, unless they are bound by their own consent, after they arrive to such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like." This abolishes slavery, but with two big loopholes: (1) you can be enslaved under age 21 (men) or 18 (women); and you can be enslaved for punishment." The current Proposition 2 gets rid of the loopholes. It abolishes slavery, period. Four states have already done this, 15 are currently in the process of it, and many more are considering it. This will be on the ballot in VT in November. It has already passed both houses of the VT Legislature twice (as required by law to amend the Constitution). The full implications of this Amendment will have to be worked out in the courts - esp. what it means for incarceration. So this is huge, and we are in favor of it.

Debbie Ingram, a UCC pastor who led the session tonight

A nice little walk

I just returned from walking on our driveway - this time I went down to Jill Green's driveway, almost all the way to the bottom! I paced it as 720 paces one way - 1440 round trip = about 3000 feet, conservatively a half-mile round trip, half of which is up-hill (and half down-hill). For me, right now, that is a good little walk. I hope to extend it gradually into something longer and more challenging. My pool membership expired last Sunday and I am debating whether to renew it, or just get my exercise by walking, now that it is getting warmer. I go to the pool mostly to use the exercise machines. My shoulders make it impossible to swim anymore. Today, we were originally planning to go to a concert with John & Cynthia in Holyoke, MA - a concert featuring a Ukrainian quartet, DakhaBrakha. Unfortunately, the concert has been postponed - the group has had travel problems. I think it will now be in early May. So John and Cynthia are going to bring supper here - they are picking up burrito bowls at Tito's, a local Tex-Mex restaurant in the Hannaford Plaza. That will be fun. There is no class session tonight in our Uncanny Journeys course- that is every two weeks, and it will meet next week. Our reading assignment is William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. We don't own a copy so I got a free audio book of it - we've been listening to that. It seems more accessible than Sound and the Fury or Absolom, Absolom. Tomorrow we have an outdoor Hallowell sing in Brattleboro around noon.

DakhaBrakha Quartet

Many things!

A great deal has happened since Katie was here and Spring arrived! Of course, there has been March Madness - the NCAA Men's basketball tournament. North Carolina has done amazingly well! It played UCLA - a #4 seeded team - in the Sweet Sixteen round on Friday night, and UNC won. It was a nerve-racking game that had many ties and lead-changes, and UNC just didn't seem able to ever get ahead by more than a point or two, but toward the end they had a spurt and won 73-66. That advanced them to the Elite Eight. In that round they played a team that had become the "Cinderella" team of the whole tournament - Saint Peter's University (Jersey City, NJ), a #15 seeded team that had defeated three more highly-ranked teams against all expectations. So everyone was rooting for them as the underdog. But UNC won handily, and now they are in the Final Four next weekend. And who do they play? DUKE! Their archrival - who they have never played in the NCAA Tournament! They have played something like 136 games over the past nine decades or so, but never in the "Big Dance" as they call it. So that will be a huge game. I'm sure Duke will be the favorite, but you never know - UNC defeated them just a few weeks ago on Duke's home court in the last game of the regular season. And they sort of rained on Coach K's parade - the last home game of his career at Duke. Duke will be looking for revenge, I imagine. We watched the UCLA game at Katie and Savanna's, stayed overnight, and went to a funeral the next morning with them (see below). The Saint Peter's game we watched at Cliff and Eliza Bergh's, and that included a lovely supper that Ellen prepared. ************************************* We sang at a funeral in the Guilford Church last Thursday, and went to a funeral in Belchertown, MA last Saturday. The one in Guilford was for Joy Amidon (no relation to Peter Amidon) who along with her husband, John (who died in 2015) was a very dedicated member of the Guilford Church Choir for several years. Joy had developed dementia and was in a nursing home all through the pandemic, so we had not seen her for some time. But we had met her sons when John had died, and they were there Thursday, of course, and actually sang in the choir with us. The anthems were well-chosen gems because Joy was a lover of music, and they were beautiful. This was the first in-person funeral at the church since the pandemic started and it was really quite lovely and moving. It was also Pastor Elisa's first funeral since becoming pastor in Guilford, and she handled it well - not surprisingly. She follows in the footsteps of two pastors (Shirley and Lise Sparrow) who had a special gift for funerals. Elisa has a special gift for worship leadership in general, and that was evident in this funeral service as well. ***************************************** The second funeral was very different. It was for JeeJee Plouff (rhymes with "fluff")- a woman who was, in effect, one of Brendon's grandmothers. I say "in effect," because she was not related to him. But his mother (Krystal, Katie and Savanna's adopted daughter), had married JeeJee's son Fred Plouff after she gave birth to Brendon, and JeeJee took a real interest in Brendon. (Brendon's biological father has never really been "on the scene"). This was Brendon's first experience of the death of someone he would feel was family. It also sort of brought home to him that the people closest to him are all pretty old. So we wanted to be there for him. The service was held at a funeral home in Belchertown, and was led by a woman on the staff of the home. A lot of people came - JeeJee clearly was part of a large community of people. One room was devoted to a slide show of her life. We learned a lot about her - as one often does when one goes to a funeral! We were glad we went. On our way out from the funeral, we went by a demonstration of Trump supporters there in Belchertown, waving flags supporting Trump in the 2014 election. That was a first for us - witnessing a live demonstration for Trump.******************************************* Last week was also our course session on Uncanny Journeys. This session was on the stories of Franz Kafka. His most famous story, The Metamorphosis, (Gregor Lamsa wakes up one morning to discover he has become a dung beetle), was part of our reading assignment, but it was clear that the story that grabbed the attention of many of the class members was In the Penal Colony. The centerpiece of that story is a machine - an exquisitely bizarre machine which is used to execute prisoners condemned to death. But it does so by torturing them for 12 hours by inscribing the sentence imposed on them using needles going ever deeper into their skin all over their body. This machine was created by a former Commandant at the Colony, now dead, but passionately remembered and defended by an officer at the colony who administers the machine. It is a strange story and strangely compelling. Kafka had a very fertile imagination, especially for bizarre forms of evil! *************************************** This was also a week when spring showed some of its many faces - e.g., beautiful sap buckets on big maple trees near the Dummerston Cemetery (buckets are rare today - most people now use tubing, which is not aesthetically pleasing!); and crocuses by the Guilford church - brave little flowers! ****************************************** Also, on Sunday morning, Ellen and I read the scripture at the Guilford Church, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, in a dramatic way - I was the father, Ellen was the younger son. (Peter Amidon was the elder brother and Pastor Elisa the "narrator."). ******************************* Oh, and we received a very interesting item from Maggie and Jerry - a biographical sketch of "Saint Gerald." who is the patron saint of the disabled and physically challenged! Someone I can turn to! Jerry is, of course, Gerald Hochburger. So we have a saint in the family! The original "Saint Gerald" lived in the ninth century, in the French province of Aurillac. We know of him through Odo of Cluny. Jerry even looks a bit like Saint Gerald! Wow! *************************************** I guess you could say it's been an unusual week!

JeeJee Plouff (on right) with her life partner.

Ellen watching the slide show of JeeJee's life.

Trump supporters

Beautiful sap buckets

Saint Gerald

Ellen and I reading scripture

Brave crocuses, harbingers of spring!

Welcome Spring!

The Spring Equinox actually occured yesterday, March 20th, at 11:33 a.m. I think of Spring as arriving on March 21st, but that is not always the case astronomically. So Spring is here! Yay! Today is a worthy first-full-day-of-spring day. Sunny and fairly mild. Of course, we could still get some winter. March is famous for late snow storms in Vermont. I remember one year ages ago we got 4 feet of snow around April 5th. But even then, you know it's going to melt fairly quickly. The sun is getting stronger, no matter what. This will be a fairly full week - we have River Singers Tuesday evening; CTS Zoom session, Contemplative Prayer and our Swarthmore Course (on Franz Kafka) all on Wednesday; Singing at Joy Amidon's funeral on Thursday; UNC/UCLA game Friday at 6:30p.m. It's almost "normal" !! Ellen would rather it be more like it was during the height of the pandemic. She loved those quiet days when everyone was sheltering in place and she could read all day!

I searched my photo archive and thought this one would be perfect to serve as an illustration for spring.

SHC Award Committee

We got Katie to the airport by 11:00a.m. yesterday for her 1:03p.m. United flight to Denver - she wanted to get there in plenty of time, so that was perfect. We had to miss going to church, and we have not as yet had a chance to watch the service. So that is something we can look forward to. I texted Katie last night and learned that she had a good flight and was home safely, and her three Ukrainian eggs made the trip without breaking. So all is good! ***************************************************** Today I had a meeting of the Shirley Crockett Award Committee at the Ragle's home. It was a lunch-time meeting, so Ellen made lunch for everyone - mulligatawny soup, multi-grain bread, grapes, brownies and shortbread. Ellen did not come to the meeting - she took a well-earned day to read, though she did make the soup and also had to make two pies for the homeless meal, so it wasn't exactly a day of rest! There were five of us at the meeting: Diane, Elizabeth, Tom and Nancy and myself. Pastor Elisa was not able to come - she was preparing for a funeral - but we called her and ran eveything by her before adjourning. We had a good meeting, agreed on who we would offer the award to this year (coming up in late May, the anniversary of Shirley's death); decided to expand the committee to include people more involved with youth and children; and looked ahead to next year which will be the 25th anniversary of Shirley's death.

Diane

Nancy and Tom

Elizabeth************************************************* All these folks knew Shirley well. Tom and Nancy were largely responsible for our coming to the Guilford Church in the first place back in the 1970s, and both Diane and ELizabeth were close friends to Shirley. As time goes on and we expand the committee, it is inevitable that people will serve on the committee that did not know Shirley well, or even at all. But hopefully they will carry on the tradition in her spirit.******************************************** Right at the moment, I am at Richmond's garage in Guilford, making a date for him to look over all the items Subaru says need to be done, getting a second opinion. One of the items is wheel bearings - they are going to take the car for a spin to listen for that, so I'm waiting. Doug Richmond thinks he can definitely save us money. When Shirley and I were pastors of the Guilford Community Church, we brought our car to Doug Richmond all the time, because it is across the street from the church and it was very convenient to leave it here while we worked at the church. I trust his judgement very much. Lately we have gone to Subaru because we bought our cars there and they are much closer to where we live. But for example, I need a new low-beam headlamp. Subaru looked into it and found the housing is melted and the entire housing needs to be replaced. They would chsrge $470 for a new housing. Doug can get a used one, or an after-market one, much cheaper. Some other things are not necessary for safety. So we'll see. Subaru's list added up to over $5000, which given the age and value of the car, might not be worth it.

Quite a game!

While Katie was here, the Tarheels took on Baylor University in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The game started ten minutes after noon, and Katie was working on her Pysanky, and since I was sitting nearby and listening on the radio (on my cell phone, using an app called Tune-In). ) she listened in. She soon got really drawn in - as did Ellen. UNC was a #8 seed in the East region. Baylor was the #1 seed and were last year's national champions - all the odds were in fsvor of their winning the game. But UNC took charge and by the half, were 13 points ahead. Ten minutes into the 2nd half, they had stretched that to a 25-point lead! Incredible! Literally - it was very hard to believe what we were hearing! But with only ten minutes left in the game, a Tarheels victory seemed assured. But then the seemingly impossible happened. The Tarheels' best player that day, Brady Manek, who had shot repeated 3-point baskets, and made about 26 points singlehandedly, made a "Flagrant 2" foul against a Baylor player (his elbow hit the other player's cheek - we don't know if is was intentional or not - and he was ejected from the game. Suddenly, they had lost their best player. A minute later, another key player, Caleb Love, fouled out with 5 fouls. Two players had to come off the bench. Baylor stepped up their pressure and began to whittle down the Tarheel lead until, with seconds left in the game, it was Tarheels 80 - Baylor 77. Baylor made a two-point basket, and got a free throw which made it 80-80, and the game ended. Overtime! Oh NO! Baylor had all the momentum. The arena was packed with their fans - they were playing in Fort Worth, Texas, just an hour from their home campus. They had all their starting players on the court. UNC was down two top players, they were exhausted and demoralized. But at the begiining of overtime, one of those Tarheel players off the bench made a 3-point basket - his second one of the entire season. They went on to dominate; Baylor made only one shot out of 10 attempts. UNC won 93 - 86! Incredible! Baylor had made a 25-point comeback (one of the largest in NCAA history) and could not convert that into a victory. This was a game for the ages! The sort of game that gets talked about for years - even decades. UNC will go into the "Sweet Sixteen" and will play UCLA next Thursday. We'll be listening, maybe even watching.

Katie’s Pysanky

Katie really got into making Ukrainian Easter eggs! We had all the equipment set up on the dining table and she just laid in and created her own designs and wow! did they come out nice! One of them was her "work" egg - a marijuana-leaf egg! She and Ellen just came back from going down to Robin Davis's house where she dyed one of them black and took off all the wax and blew them out. Here they are:

Making the eggs