Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt.1
Brethren Volunteer Service was started in 1948 training young people and adults in groups to help in a variety of community projects in many countries. Service might be in a hospital, a small struggling church, Appalachia, a migrant camp, blighted urban area, nursing home, or school. Both my sisters had served, so I signed up for a summer unit in 1957 and left for California right after high school graduation, traveling to Fresno by myself on the Greyhound Bus. This memory is not about all the strange people I met on the bus, but rather I want to post some photos because my album has fallen apart after almost 50 years. I've adjusted the posting time so you can scroll down, instead of up. There are 3 parts, otherwise it would take too long to load.

I was assigned to a community center that served Black agricultural workers. The community looked rural and had tidy little houses; the house in which the volunteers lived looked much the same as the rest of the community. We had 4 rooms, no air conditioning. The director of the project and his family lived next door in a slightly better house. All the land for the center and the two houses had been donated by a Hoff family who were members of the Church of the Brethren.
121 West North Ave., Fresno 6, California, front of the volunteers' residence
Back of our house on W. North Ave. There was a large garden, but I don't think we took care of it. Laundry is on the line--wringer washer, no dryer. Addition to the back was the laundry room and tool shed. Addition on the side was two bedrooms, one for four women, one for four or five men. With 9 people living in a tiny house we had to be scrupulously neat; beds made up first thing; dishes washed and put away after meals; no clutter at all.
Our BVS group, but I don't remember all the names. Judy Haldeman, Imogene Traughber, in front, Rufus Wagner, Terry Thoreen, back. The other three guys are Don Jordan, next a relative of the director, Clare Stein (can't remember his name) and possibly Tim Guest. We had a "housemother" a few years older than me whose name was Barbara, but she isn't in the photo. From the clothing, we must have been at church. I was the photographer using my little Brownie Hawkeye. Only 3 of us were summer workers--the rest had been through regular training in Maryland.

Check the two previous posts for pt. 2 and pt. 3, rather than scrolling up.

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Brethren Volunteer Service
Church of the Brethren
Fresno, California
community centers
volunteerism

Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt.2
To make this load faster, I'm dividing the photos into 3 entries. Go up one for the first part.

Generally, the girls did all the shopping, cooking, cleaning and laundry for the whole unit; the guys took care of the grounds, maintenance and vehicles. We all had playground duty; taught classes to the children; did surveys in the community about needs. On Friday nights there were movies for the community, and candy was sold at the center. There were sports teams coached by our volunteer staff, and the children were in leagues and transported around the area to play. Also ping pong tournaments. The BVSers worked hard and played even harder. We took some interesting trips to the California parks and mountains, agricultural areas, miniature golf, and to Sacramento in the center's van. For someone from a tiny town in Illinois, there was a lot to see and do. But I was only 17 and had never been away from home except for camp; so I think I would have been more useful had I been older.

Making ice cream; Barbara standing on the pail and Rufus churning. I believe this block building was built by the BVS-ers who came before us by a year or two.
Enjoying the ice cream. This looks like we were in the director's house and one of his small children is in the foreground. I think I see a Bible or two, so maybe we had a lesson before the treat?
We didn't have a TV, but we had a record player and we sang. The fan in the living room window was connected to a hose which helped cool the house with running water.
My Bible class. We had made potato head puppets (I learned this from my mother) and put on a play we wrote. I believe they performed for the community and parents, because usually they wore play clothes when they came to the community center (built by the volunteers).

Brethren Volunteer Service, Church of the Brethren, Fresno, California, community centers,
volunteerism, Monday Memories

Monday Memories

Brethren Volunteer Service, pt. 3
Here's a few more photos. Scroll up for pt. 2 and pt. 1 and the explanation of what you're seeing. I reversed them.

The kitchen was really pretty nice, and we had great meals--many of the Cal-Mex type things I'd never had before. Lots of beans, rice and onions, smothered in cheese, seconds on bread and milk. We had one tiny bathroom off the kitchen and 9 people living in the house. We must have had assigned times. I think the women got up first. Someone would turn on Mahalia Jackson gospel and blast everyone out of bed in the a.m.

I doubt that we could all sit down at the same time in the living room, and I'm certainly taking up more than my share here, so perhaps some were out this evening at a ball game with the kids.

It must have been my day to cook because I have on an apron--the same one Genie is wearing in the above photo. I'm showing off my new shoes bought in Fresno. Our pay was $7.50/month (or was it a week?), which actually goes pretty far if your board and room is taken care of (or it did 50 years ago), so I probably saved mine and bought new high heels. And yes, that is a sun tan because we were outside much of the day.

Please check out pt. 1 (above) for the beginning of the story.

Brethren Volunteer Service
Church of the Brethren
Fresno, California
community centers
volunteerism
Monday Memories

2968 There is no media conspiracy

They aren't colluding. They are just liberals doing what they do best. Reporting what they truly believe. That's not conspiracy; it's ignorance. Recent media bias stories that report otherwise are analyzing "talking heads," not the basic news stories. Anybody can scare up a few minutes of a former Republican senator or a fading moving star. The only professionals more liberal than journalists (4:1) would be university faculty (estimates range between 7:1 and 30:1) and librarians (224:1). I'm not counting Hollywood because most aren't professionals; they are unemployed a large part of their working life.

Mark Foley stories: NBC 56; ABC 50; CBS 46. Via Glenn Beck radio, 10-16-06. So far, the only sure thing is the Page was no longer a Page and was over 18. It was e-mail and IMs, not sex with a minor like Congressman Studds, who mercifully died last week before his tawdry behavior and the Democrats' support of him (including Nancy Pelosi) gets any more publicity. The other charges against Foley, which are coming to a call-in line, until they are investigated may be at the same level as the rape charges against the Duke la crosse players, all of whom proved innocent with DNA tests, and the "victim" says no condoms were used.

Death and taxes. Politics and sex. Democrats with no program. Sigh.

"Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal." UCLA study

Brian Ross
Media bias
Mark Foley
Liberal MSM

2967 Voting for King and Queen of Homecoming

Doesn't that sound--I don't know--so retro? I noticed a photo of the court in today's OSU Lantern. I discovered I actually can vote by using my university login, but I didn't--didn't seem fair. I really don't consider myself a "Buckeye" even though that's where I spent most of my working years.



But back to the court. This is one good looking bunch! Wow! I've clicked under their photos and read the little bios. They seem to be limited to listing 5 activites while on campus. A number are in sororities or fraternities, and Stephanie Wiseman is President of Panhellenic. I was never a greek, but that's a big deal! Three seem to be of middle eastern or east Indian ethnicity, and one appears to be Asian, despite a Scots Irish surname. No one is overweight--chubby maybe, but just a bit. Considering Ohio is one of the fattest states in the country, I find that awesome. Maybe I'll post this at my Hugging and Chalking blog.

None of the girls have short hair and none of the guys have long hair. These hair styles look right out of the 1970s for the women. Pressed and straight. Put heavier mascara on them and you probably can't tell them from their mothers. The majors are interesting too (all are seniors)--criminology (2); international business, finance, marketing and economics (3); political science (5); sciences--microbiology, biology, geriatrics, nutrition, physics; special education (2). Two are from my community; four are out of state. Looks like a very bright, beautiful, and socially alert group. I have no idea how the court was selected, but the country looks to be in good hands.

Ohio State University, Homecoming, Buckeyes, college students, college majors, hair styles

2966 The Education Myths

"Few people are aware that our education spending per pupil has been growing steadily for 50 years. At the end of World War II, public schools in the United States spent a total of $1,214 per student in inflation-adjusted 2002 dollars. By the middle of the 1950s that figure had roughly doubled to $2,345. By 1972 it had almost doubled again, reaching $4,479. And since then, it has doubled a third time, climbing to $8,745 in 2002." The American Enterprise.

If spending more money on education worked, why don't we see better results? Instead, we just get asked for more money. Sometimes they don't even pretend they need it, like Danbury in Ottawa County, OH. That's where we have our summer home. They've just raised our taxes by 30%--but most of us don't live there and don't send any children to their schools. They must have gold plated computers--two for each child.

"Economist Eric Hanushek of Stanford University examined every solid study on spending and outcomes--a total of 163 research papers--and concluded that extra resources are more likely to be squandered than to have a productive effect."

Feeling sorry for poorly paid teacher? Don't.

"Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that in 2002, elementary school teachers averaged $30.75 per hour and high school teachers made $31.01. That is about the same as other professionals like architects, economists, biologists, civil engineers, chemists, physicists and astronomers, and computer systems analysts and scientists. Even demanding, education-intensive professions like electrical and electronic engineering, dentistry, and nuclear engineering didn't make much more than teachers per hour worked."

Read the whole article for more myths about class size, school choice, insurmountable social problems and the effectiveness of certification.

2965 Sprint to the Finish

"I just went through the list of all 40 competitive House races on Real Clear Politics, and I found only 8 clear pickups for the Democrats."

Read the whole blog, then go up and read Dafydd at Big Lizards Manifesto

2964 Judges are not free to create rights and rewrite statutes

A decision by the California First District Court:

"All can agree that California has not deprived its gay and lesbian citizens of a right they previously enjoyed; same-sex couples have never before had the right to enter a civil marriage. It is also beyond dispute that our society has historically understood “marriage” to refer to the union of a man and a woman. These facts do not mean the opposite-sex nature of marriage can never change, or should never change, but they do limit our ability as a court to effect such change. The respondents in these appeals are asking this court to recognize a new right. Courts simply do not have the authority to create new rights, especially when doing so involves changing the definition of so fundamental an institution as marriage. "The role of the judiciary is not to rewrite legislation to satisfy the court's, rather than the Legislature's, sense of balance and order. Judges are not ' "knight[s]-errant, roaming at will in pursuit of [their] own ideal of beauty or of goodness." ' [Citation.]" (People v. Carter (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 128, 134.) In other words, judges are not free to rewrite statutes to say what they would like, or what they believe to be better social policy."

2963 Putting Mark Foley in perspective

The U.S. government estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Of these, approximately 80% are women and girls, and most are sold into the sex industry. President Bush denounced this at the U.N. in 2002 (Yeah, that should get some action) and in 2005 and 2006, and the U.S. Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act to expand existing laws. Many Christian organizations have pushed for stronger action. (Stats from Christian History, Issue 90, Spring 2006)

"Many victims of human trafficking are forced to work in prostitution or the sex entertainment industry. But trafficking also occurs in forms of labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude, restaurant work, janitorial work, sweatshop factory work and migrant agricultural work.

Traffickers use various techniques to instill fear in victims and to keep them enslaved. Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. However, the more frequent practice is to use less obvious techniques including:

• Debt bondage - financial obligations, honor-bound to satisfy debt

• Isolation from the public - limiting contact with outsiders and making sure that any contact is monitored or superficial in nature

• Isolation from family members and members of their ethnic and religious community

• Confiscation of passports, visas and/or identification documents

• Use or threat of violence toward victims and/or families of victims

• The threat of shaming victims by exposing circumstances to family

• Telling victims they will be imprisoned or deported for immigration violations if they contact authorities

• Control of the victims' money, e.g., holding their money for "safe-keeping"
Gayle Christie

The Democrats and the $oros organi$ation who knew about the page homosexual problem and did nothing until it suited their political purposes (i.e., more important to embarrass a Republican than save a child), need to find a bigger target. This might be a place to start. Or will saving women and children not get as much publicity?

We spent millions investigating the non-issue of Plamegate, ruining reputations and careers willy-nilly, finding out in September that Richard Armitage and Patrick Fitzgerald knew all along what the score was. THERE WAS NO CRIME. Let's not waste more time and money on another trumped-up-by-Democrats scandal. If they want to win an election, let them come up with some issues and solutions--the old fashioned way.

2962 Behind closed doors

It's time to see what's in the closets, cabinets, and under the sinks and be ruthless. In our home of 34 years--a 3 bedroom house--we didn't have an attic or a basement, and I was much better about clutter. Now we're in a condo and have both. And we have clutter! Yesterday I was going to make a list--thought it might be a good Thursday Thirteen topic, but I made the mistake of looking in a box that had photos, so I spent 4 hours scanning and drafting a Monday Memories about my time in Brethren Volunteer Service. Hope to have it ready by tomorrow.

However, I did strap on my audio book of "Master and Commander" and rearranged two shelves in my bathroom linen closet. I really didn't throw out much. My sister Carol sold Avon when she was in high school, and I see I still have a blue tin of bath powder that I got from her--oh, maybe 50 years ago. That would be fine if I collected Avon memorabilia, but I don't. And half used bottles of various lotions, mouth wash, tiny bottles of goop from hotels, a stash of bath soap, and not even the kind I really like (Palmolive).

My clothes closet had become a jumble over the summer--after each trip things were hung anywhere. So I moved the hot weather items to the guest room, moved some sweaters to my closet, and color coded. There's nothing like putting your shirts and sweaters on the pole by color to see that you have things you'll never wear or haven't worn in 4 years. I have four black skirts, 2 for summer, 2 for winter; 2 denim skirts; maybe 5 or 6 black slacks, only 2 of which fit (hope to change that, but then the larger sizes won't fit). Usually I buy cheap stuff, so I don't know why I hang on to them for such a long time. I pulled out a really lovely outfit--blazer and straight skirt--(in a size 8 and doesn't fit) that my daughter bought me maybe in 2001. I do have a storage area for clothing I love but don't wear anymore that goes back 50 years. So I may retire it. I looked at 3 plaid wool skirts--from my working days--that must be over 20 years old. They definitely need to go to the archives.

Then I popped over to read Neo-neocon, and I see she is cleaning closets too, while she tries on clothes for a trip, destination is a surprise. Maybe I should have cleaned the closets before we traveled.

2961 This post is about sex

While I was making a wonderful salad with dark green leafy stuff ("absolutely no spinach" the package read), two hard cooked eggs, grilled onions and broccoli, and about a third of a cup of mild salsa, I was listening to WOSU NPR, which is doing a fund raiser (what a concept!).

Much to my surprise it was two guys talking about testosterone. Except one guy started out as a woman, attended a woman's college, and had grown up accepting all the feminists said about the differences between men and women all being a social and cultural construct. Then, after she decides to become transgendered (don't know if that is the right term, but she is on her way to being a he with no penis), she starts getting hormone injections--testosterone. S/he discovered that her brain changed!

Griffin (the female to male person) talked about being filled with lust and pornographic thoughts on the subway--not from noticing a sexy babe, but from seeing just an ankle or a knee. He was terribly embarrassed and really had to struggle to avoid being crude, but the thoughts were unstoppable.

He began to lose some of his verbal acuity over time. He now has to look up more words than he used to as a woman, and the stumbles more in his speech.

He began having trouble crying when he was upset or stressed. Even when he can cry, it isn't the same with very few tears.

He developed an interest in science (this caused so much laughter I wasn't sure he was serious, but he said he'd been reading in areas that had never interested him before).

He became more visual. He now enjoys pornography and strip joints, whereas before he had no interest and thought that was sexist.

I didn't find the exact interview but here is one on Grrl Talk Borders that covers pretty much the same thing, except the interviewer is a woman and the two were girl friends in college.

2960 Family Man Librarian comments

on the world of evil he sees around him, including the killing of children:

"I haven’t felt this way — highly concerned and anxious about the state of affairs around me — since September 11, 2001. I know who is the author and promoter of evil: Satan. I know that his power is great and that his weapons include fear, doubt, and destruction. But I also know that his power is in no way comparable to God's; that his efforts are ultimately fruitless; that the only sure thing I have in this world is the promise that God will never leave me or forsake me. Jesus said to his followers: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)" Family Man Librarian

2959 What's a Democrat to do?

Campaign issues are tough. The Democrats have no plan--not just for Iraq, but for anything. 1) The economy is going great guns, 2) The Dow nears 12000, 3) unemployment is very low--even older workers are in demand, 4) gasoline prices are down--they were below $2 here in Ohio last week, 5) there have been no new terrorist attacks on our soil--they seem to be killing only Muslims, 6) the Jew-baiting hasn't been successful and Joe Leiberman is pulling ahead. So what's left? Go after the gays! That's novel. It's never been tried in the time I've been following politics for a work-up to an impeachment.

Here in Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy is running against Republican incumbant Deborah Pryce. The ads have been negative all along, but Pryce's haven't been Miss Nicey-Nice either reporting how incompetent Kilroy has been in previous low level, local jobs. However, now Kilroy is accusing Pryce of being friends with Mark Foley! Even best friends. Now we all know, that if we have gay friends we're supposed to know what they are doing with their private sex life, right?

All Kilroy is trying to do is keep Republicans from showing up at the polls. I'm betting she even can say, "some of my best friends are gay," and keep a straight face. I don't know a single Republican who doesn't have a gay friend or gay relative, which may come as a shock to her ad agency, so this simply looks like gay bashing. John Kerry looked stupid when he did it, and so does Mary Jo Kilroy.

Mary Jo Kilroy
Mark Foley
negative campaigning
Democrat campaigns

2958 Friday Family Photo

Isn't this the most magnificent woodwork? It is called "pumpkin pine" and was used throughout my grandparents' home in Franklin Grove, IL. It is the heart wood from old growth white pine, so is extinct, I think. When I was a little girl, it had darkened, or may have even been stained dark, but my mother refinished every square inch in the house in the late 1960s. In fact, because she did it all by hand, she developed carpal tunnel and had surgery on her wrists. At one time there was a huge left over board in the garage--boards that width just don't exist anymore for pine.
My grandparents were lured back to Illinois from Kansas around 1908 with this farm (my interpretation) to help her father, then in his 80s. She was the only survivor of their four children, her oldest brother having recently died of blood poisoning from an injury on his farm near Ashton. The farm house was pieced together from a small house ca. 1850s, and a larger early 1900's style. Grandma completely remodeled it, adding this gracious dining room with a bedroom and balcony above it where she had hanging plants and flowers.

The photo was taken in July 1987 at an impromptu family picnic with a bunch of cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and siblings from both sides of my family, some meeting for the first time and probably last time. For over a decade, Mother had used the house as a retreat center for church groups and family reunions, but by 1987, my niece was renting it from her and that very happy period of Mom's life was over.

Mother is the little one on the left--all the furniture you see--the oak dining room table and chairs, and the birch kitchen chairs--was refinished and recaned by her in the 1960s. Next to her is my father's cousin Sharon, her daughter Christie, then my sister and me. I think we had about 20 people at the picnic--played badminton, croquet and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, which might just look like soy beans, corn, towering pine trees and acres of blue sky to the rest of you, but looks like home to me.

HT to my niece Amy, who gave me this photo, languishing in the attic of the farm house for years.

2957 High tech, high touch

That's an old 80s expression for people who worked on computers all day then went home to eat tofu and quilt by the light of homemade candles. While I was on the road in California and Illinois, two new stores opened, side by side, near my home. Stitching Post Super Store and a Sunflower Market. Sunflower was very pleasant and had many nice items, but I think it is higher priced than Trader Joe's, but I'll definitely run in there from time to time just because it is so close. Stitching Post is amazing, but I think it is basically a store to sell robotic sewing machines with tiny human brains. There was one doing some fancy embroidery all by itself as I walked by. The store also has huge classroom all set up with cutting tables, machines, pressing stations, etc., and a large floor area devoted to cutting and sewing tables. I used to sew. . .

Story of this dress is at my pattern blog.

sewing machines, Crafts, organic produce, high tech high touch, Trader Joe's

2956 Checking the triggers

On September 28 I wrote a Thursday Thirteen on my food triggers, those items or events that make me hungry. I've done pretty good. By paying attention to this list and walking more, I've dropped 5 lbs., which could come back in a flash I'm sure with the first pizza. We were with family and friends this week, so that is a huge test. One day my niece brought over pumpkin donuts. OH my! One of my favorites. But I resisted.

When we went out to eat at Maxon's to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday (actually today), I ordered a Chef's salad--the only time I've ever seen sliced processed cheese on a bed of lettuce. Need I say more? I did eat a few low-cal desserts, one stale saltine, and sprinkled some salt on a few rice cakes she had in the cupboard (without the salt they taste like fresh wall board). Monday and Tuesday we had great weather, so I walked 3 or 4 miles each day. On Tuesday I had a breakfast date with a high school friend, so we walked in the park, then stopped at a restaurant and she had coffee and I had water. No use getting the taste of pancakes in my mouth. But I did leave a tip--the waitress doesn't need to suffer too.

Driving home yesterday I did discover that McDonald's has a fruit cup with yogurt which comes with a low cal granola sprinkle. It was really pretty good, strawberries and blueberries. And the price was right--$1.00. Not exactly the yummy sausage biscuit I usually get on long trips, but a nice treat.

Friday is my indiscretion day--we go out to eat with friends, and I get my Philly-cheese sandwich with french fries and a glass of wine. I'll dream about it all day! The sandwich is so huge I bring 1/2 home--but now I let my husband have it for Saturday lunch instead of enjoying it twice.

2955 Happy Birthday, Jerry Rice

Two "old" Jerrys have made it this far in Dancing with the Stars, Jerry Rice, and Jerry Springer. Rice is a decent dancer--probably his 15 years of running around and dodging other big guys on the football field. Springer is a talking clown, but his performance on Tuesday night pleased even the judges, who consistently rated him low. Because he has a lot of fans, his audience votes pull him through.

"Wide receiver Jerry Rice is the National Football League's all-time leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns. Rice played college ball at Mississippi Valley State, where he caught 310 passes for 4,856 yards and 51 touchdowns in 42 games. He began his professional career in 1985 when he was picked 16th in the first round of the draft by the San Francisco 49ers. With the 49ers he became one of the NFL's biggest stars, catching pass after pass from quarterback Joe Montana and then from Montana's successor, Steve Young. Rice played for the 49ers from 1985-2000, winning Super Bowls in 1989, 1990 and 1995. He later played for the Oakland Raiders (2001-2004) and the Seattle Seahawks (2004). . . Rice is credited with 38 different NFL records, including career totals of 1,549 receptions, 22,895 yards and 197 touchdowns." From Answers.com.

Jerry Rice
Jerry Springer
Dancing with the Stars

No Thursday Thirteen this week

We're heading back to Columbus, so I don't have time to write a 13 (we'll be 9.5 hours in the car and then off to a meeting at church right after we get home). Actually, I did write one about the 13 people (10 relatives, 3 friends) I saw this week, but it looked a bit silly, since you don't know them. I deleted it. So I'll try to come up with something next Thursday. Have a good week.

2953 Freedom of thought control

Isn't this odd. Kooky I hope. Is "global warming" science so fragile, so insecure that it can't stand a little competition? I can be an advocate for saving trees and a proponent for safe and abundant water without believing puny human beings are changing the ever changing climate cycle. But some folks are just threatened by the idea that human beings aren't the end-all, be-all of the universe.

"A U.S. based environmental magazine that both former Vice President Al Gore and PBS newsman Bill Moyers, for his October 11th global warming edition of “Moyers on America” titled “Is God Green?” have deemed respectable enough to grant one-on-one interviews to promote their projects, is now advocating Nuremberg-style war crimes trials for skeptics of human caused catastrophic global warming. Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts called for the Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who were members of what he termed the global warming “denial industry.”

Roberts wrote in the online publication on September 19, 2006, "When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.” Read full account here. It will supply links.

Hat tip Amy

2952 Not Cheap

No wonder so many people depend on the internet to do genealogy. Yesterday I went to the court house and got copies with the official stamp of 8 birth certificates, 3 death certificates and one marriage license, and it cost $97! Wow. I had no idea. We went in the wrong building first, made some inquiries about genealogy, and were ushered into a small room with a film reader. But when I said I wanted birth certificates she said I had to go to the "county building" (I thought I was there), that she had only the criminal stuff! So I must have looked like someone checking out the skeletons in the closets. We said we didn't think we'd find any relatives in her department and went across the street.

I think everyone around here goes to Rockford or Freeport (different counties) to die, so the sources were limited, which is probably good considering how much I had to pay.