Luke Witte at Lakeside

We went to Orchestra Hall today to hear Luke Witte, from the OSU basketball fame. Then to the Patio for perch sandwiches. Here's a summary from a publication about what we heard; Witte is now a Methodist pastor and gives talks on reconciliation.

"Back in 1972, The University of Minnesota was hosting Ohio State, and on that day, the young Musselman had predictably worked his players into a frenzy prior to the game. Observers noted he was encouraging extra-physical play. At the end of the first half, OSU missed a shot, and Gopher Bobby Nix raised a fist in celebration. Luke Witte shoved Nix’s arm out of his way on his way off the court, and hit Nix’s face in the process. In the final minute of the game, with the Buckeyes wrapping up the win, Witte attempted a layup and was slugged in the face by Clyde Turner. Gopher Corky Taylor offered his hand to Witte, and when Witte took it, Taylor kneed him in the groin and punched him in the head. While back down on the floor, Minnesota player Ron Behagen approached, and kicked and stomped Witte. When Buckeye Dave Merchant came to Witte’s aid, Jim Brewer approached and was pushed out of the way. Buckeye Mark Wagar was approached from behind by Winfield, who punched Wagar in the face five times. The incident, easily obtainable on YouTube, carried racial overtones, since all of the Minnesota attackers were black and all of the Ohio State victims were white. A Sports Illustrated photo sequence recorded the disgusting violence.

Luke Witte was beat up the worst. After the referees forfeited the game to the Buckeyes, Witte was carried off the court while Minnesota fans booed and hurled debris. Witte and two other Buckeyes spent time in the hospital; Witte was in intensive care for a time, his eye injuries impaired him long-term. When one revisits the 1972 brawl, emotions of anger arise1.

For his part, Witte remembers nothing, from half-time of that game to the next morning. He has recalled his mental state in the years immediately following the Minnesota game. He often felt fine- as if nothing had happened. Other times, he would allow the lingering physical effects (such as the limitations in his eyesight) to cause hostility to fester inside of himself. His hatred focused on Behagen, Turner, Taylor, and Musselman.

He allows he’d lost the passion for the game after the fight. This included his three seasons with the Cavaliers. Over time, during a life journey that spanned decades and included seminary study and becoming an ordained pastor, Luke Witte came to a conclusion:

He needed to forgive those who were involved in the attack back in 1972.

It sounds easy enough: give up your anger and your desire for revenge, and move on. It can be extremely difficult, in practice. Truly forgiving is probably the most important skill of happiness. It takes strength to overcome our own vengeful heart. It is within our power to do so, however. The gesture liberates the victim and allows him to shed his bitterness.

In 1982, ten years after the brawl, Corky Miller reached out to Luke Witte by mail. Witte agonized over how, or whether, to respond- until his wife convinced him to call. They initially didn’t say much, but began to occasionally write each other. When the age of email dawned, they wrote more often. Strong emotional and spiritual bonds formed.

Eventually, Corky Miller invited Luke Witte to visit him and his family in Minnesota. Their relationship had become that of brothers, as they discussed basketball, race relations, and the nature of forgiveness.

While Witte was visiting Miller, he was surprised by a visit by Clyde Turner. The three of them later watched a tape of the attack on the court. They were silent, yet with a dozen questions that would later be discussed.

In the meantime, the three men reconciled. They became liberated."

https://waitingfornextyear.com/2015/01/luke-witte-jim-brewer-ohio-state-cavs/

Summer School of Faith, Part 1, 2022

Each year I try to watch Charles Craigmile's Summer School of Faith. This year the topic is, Vatican II, 60 Years Later. This is the 10th year, although they probably didn't meet in 2020. https://youtu.be/Zb19B8uHOTU . I enjoy his style, humor, and excellent sources. He is not a Catholic priest, he's a business man, but he did go to seminary. The first part is Dei Verbum (Persons and Propositions). Because we're Lutherans, whenever I hear history or culture or arts and entertainment discussed by Craigmile, I'm again reminded of the librarian's phrase, "to the victor belong the archives." Everything in our culture is taught and told and discussed from a Protestant viewpoint. The statistics he presents applies to all our lives and he points out that the changes of the 60s were already in place and not a result of Vatican II. The huge drop in religious orders, in attendance and in respect had already begun by the 60s. He says from a demonic view, if you're going to destroy and army, you start with the infantry. Baptisms and marriages have both dropped over 50% in the last 60 years. Interestingly the stats he gives for clergy abuse for the 1970s show those men (mostly homosexuals) had been ordained to the church much earlier than the 1970s--the 50s, so Vatican II standards weren't to blame. When Craigmile uses the word "church" he means of course, the Roman Catholic Church, however, if you've been attending any Christian church for the last 60 years, you'll recognize the cultural tsunami of changes he discusses many of which are societal, and affecting us all.

Class 1: Dei Verbum – Dogmatic Constitution On Revelation (Persons and Propositions)

 Class 2: Lumen Gentium – Dogmatic Constitution On the Church (True and False Reform) 

Class 3: Sacrosanctum Concilium – Constitution On the Liturgy (Active Participation) 

Class 4: Gaudium et Spes – Pastoral Constitution on The Church in the Modern World (Nature and Grace) 

Class 5: Other Topics from the Council Theological themes – interpretation and development of doctrine Ecumenism Religious Liberty

 

Recommended Bibliography: 

The Documents of Vatican II, Walter Abbott, SJ, 1966 

An Introduction to Vatican II, Matthew Levering, 2017 (Excellent!) 

Vatican II Collection, Word on Fire, Bishop Barron, 2021

 Reclaiming Vatican II, Father Blake Britton, 2021 

The Disputed Teachings of Vatican II, Thomas G. Guarino, 2018 

The Rhine Flows into the Tiber, Father Ralph Wiltgen, SVD, 1966 

Introduction to Christianity, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1968

Girl named Tom has to be postponed

 We were really looking forward to seeing "Girl named Tom" this Friday evening. The Ohio group won "The Voice" contest last year. They played at Lakeside last summer and were really appreciated. 

Here is the message from the band:

Dear friends,

COVID finally caught us. We feel terrible. The symptoms are kicking our little behinds, yes, but that’s not the only reason we’re feeling terrible — we cannot play this week’s run of shows. We knew Covid would catch us at some point, but WHY THIS WEEK? We have been looking forward to coming home for so long. Please know we are heartbroken and sorry for all the trouble this causes. We hope you understand, and we will do everything we can to reschedule the shows for a later date. We want you to know how much you mean to us. Once again, we thank you for all the support, love and kindness you’ve showered on these siblings.

Love & Peace,
GNT

From Wikipedia: "Girl Named Tom is an American folk trio from Pettisville, Ohio, consisting of siblings Caleb, Joshua, and Bekah Liechty. They are the winners of season 21 of the American talent competition The Voice, with the distinction of being the first trio to win The Voice. They competed on the team coached by Kelly Clarkson, giving Clarkson her fourth victory as a coach. Their audition was the first audition, as well as the first four-chair turn, of season 21."

OUR STORY | Girl Named Tom

There are worse things than AC quitting in 95 degree weather

From a blogging friend (now a Facebook friend)

"So……my dryer quit working and the repairman came today to fix it. Can’t be fixed. Wanna know why??? Well, a SNAKE crawled into the vent from outside and got caught in the fan!!! Chopped to pieces! The smell was horrible and so the dryer is now outside and a new dryer will be delivered tomorrow!!!!! This was a first!"

The Sandlot, fun movie for families

Last night at Lakeside the free movie was "The Sandlot," made in 1993 about the summer of 1962 and a young boy making new friends in a new neighborhood after his mother remarries. The clip I show (which won't load) has the main character standing in the background, unsure, inept and wanting new friends. The boys become good friends, make mistakes, take risks, and act goofy. A great movie for adults and kids to watch together and discuss. It's a feel good, no violence, with nothing we'd call bad language in this day and age.

I was reading a review, and saw a comment by a "victim." A woman complained that she watched it as a kid and was offended and threatened by the slur, "You throw like a girl." Oh lady, get over it. We've watched incredible female softball champs practice right here in our neighborhood, but this kid definitely threw a ball the way I did when I was 13 (even worse now). Such whiners! I hope the movie doesn't get pulled because some hyper feminist who never grew up got offended over a funny line.

Our dear pediatrician, Dr. Batterson, has died

There was a time when Dr. Batterson was the second most important man in my life.  With our children just one year and 3 days apart, we saw a lot of him for about 6 or 7 years, as they would alternate or pass along childhood diseases, and then occasionally until they went to high school. Then in recent years after he retired and his wife died, he attended Upper Arlington Lutheran Church and I'd see him at study groups or worship.  He always seemed to know me, and had a funny quip or jest to pass along.

Robert Batterson, MD Obituary - Columbus, OH (dignitymemorial.com)

Robert E. “Doctor Bob” Batterson, SEPTEMBER 26, 1927 – JUNE 12, 2022, received his long-awaited “new back and new brain” on Sunday, June 12, 2022. Calling hours will be 5-7 p.m. Thursday, June 30 and a celebration of his life will be held 1 p.m. July 1 at Schoedinger Funeral Home’s Northwest Chapel (1740 Zollinger Rd, Columbus, OH 43221).

He was born on Sept. 26, 1927, at Grant Hospital. During his 94 years, Dr. Batterson held many titles. His most cherished was Child of God, but he was also a beloved husband, a wonderful father, grandfather, and great grandfather, a physician, teacher, student, and World War II veteran.

Dr. Batterson was predeceased by his parents, Paul and Edith Batterson, wives Audrey (11 years) and Marjorie (45 years) and many friends and family. He is survived by his three children, Fran (Brad) Booth, Jane (Steve) Mockler, and Paul (Nancy) Batterson; grandchildren Samantha Hunt and Nick Mockler, and Alicia (Tom) Millerson and Grant Batterson; and great-grandchildren, Isbelle, Parkus, and Paisley as well as many friends and family.

Dr. Batterson grew up in Clintonville, Ohio. He was a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He graduated from Columbus North High School, attended the University of Kentucky, graduated from Capital University, and THE Ohio State University Medical School.

During his medical career, he interned at Mount Carmel Hospital, and completed his pediatric residency at Nationwide/Columbus Children's Hospital. Dr. Batterson was a trusted pediatrician for 37 years in Upper Arlington and Columbus. He was a past president of Nationwide/Children’s Hospital, and served on the medical staffs of Mt. Carmel, White Cross/Riverside Hospital, St. Ann’s, Grant, and Ohio State hospitals. He was the interim medical director at Ohio State Services for Crippled Children.

Dr. B enjoyed supporting his family, participating in many church activities, playing guitar, swimming, fishing, wood working, bird watching, doing ceramics with Marge, pursuing post graduate education, and watching Ohio State beat Michigan. He liked to joke that he was “born terrible,” but those who knew him will say he didn’t end up that way.

What's that fishy smell? Salmon

We had salmon for lunch. I came in from a walk to the store, and thought Yikes, it still smells fishy in here, so I got out an air freshener and now it smells really strange. But that brought back a memory of our son Phil who died in April 2020. We had let him and a group of buddies use the cottage for a few days here at Lakeside. While we were driving back we called about an hour out and told him when we'd arrive, hoping to catch a few minutes with him. When we got to the cottage, the young men were gone. And there was a very odd but familiar perfumy smell in the house. And there were strange spots on the walls. It took me a while, but I figured out that Phil had put the guys in high gear to get everything cleaned up before we arrived, and although they knew our rule was no smoking in the house, they did. Someone had grabbed a can of furniture polish thinking it was air freshener. . . and thus the odd smell and drips on the walls. In the file folder of memories of Phil, not sure where to put that one.

Public service announcement: lots of air fresheners and room deodorizers (and probably scented candles) contain chemicals not good for our lungs, so I rarely use them. Also not good for your pets.

                                    Phil's selfie of his feet and Lake Erie

Juneteenth, our latest holiday

 Juneteenth

As if the Russia hoax didn't stink bad enough . . .Michael Steinbach

 "A top FBI official repeatedly violated bureau policy by hobnobbing with journalists while overseeing the controversial investigation into Donald Trump’s suspected ties to Russia — and then retired before he could be interviewed by ethics probers, a newly released Justice Department report revealed.

Michael Steinbach “had numerous unauthorized contacts with the media” that began when he was the bureau’s assistant counterterrorism director and continued after he was named executive assistant director of its National Security Bureau in February 2016, according to the heavily redacted DOJ Inspector General report obtained by The Post through a freedom of information act request...

Steinbach, who did not respond to a request for comment, retired from the FBI in February 2017 and declined to be interviewed in the OIG probe. "FBI's Michael Steinbach had numerous contacts with media: watchdog (nypost.com)

The Personal Librarian of J. P. Morgan

I've been reading "The personal librarian" the story of J.P. Morgan's curator of his rare books and manuscript collection, Belle da Costa Greene. I'm not impressed with the novel. I just came across the bio of her father, the first black graduate of Harvard, Richard Theodore Greener. http://www.mixedracestudies.org/?tag=richard-theodore-greener If the fictionalized account of Belle's life is to be believed, then her father abandoned his family to suit his own ambitions and had a Japanese concubine and two children when he was the first black diplomat to Russia in the early 20th century. That said, she's not to blame for her father's abandonment of her mother and large family. However, the writing is clunky and awkward, and it's a very preachy book about the struggles of a light skinned woman passing as a white in order to have a good life using her remarkable talent and intelligence. But she also had an affair with a married man (who had other lovers) and an abortion when her Jewish lover chose his wife and station over her (she wanted her child). Maybe I'm just tired of reading about amazingly successful people who are seen as victims. Porch reading. I've talked to others who have read it, and many LOVE this book, so don't be afraid to pick it up.

Belle da Costa Greene (1883-1950) • (blackpast.org)

Belle da Costa Greene, the Morgan’s First Librarian and Director | History of the Morgan | The Morgan Library & Museum

A Look at Belle da Costa Greene | Rare Book Collections @ Princeton

The Women Who Made the Morgan: Belle da Costa Greene, Felice Stampfle, and Edith Porada - YouTube Lecture, March 3, 2021

https://youtu.be/uiHz5YKAnhg Her letters to Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), lecture, June 19, 2021

https://youtu.be/JWcaePIBLCU Unmasking a forgery. The Spanish Forger.

Summary and Review: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Murray - The Bibliofile (the-bibliofile.com)

The Personal Librarian Summary & Study Guide (bookrags.com)

a book review by Judith Reveal: The Personal Librarian (nyjournalofbooks.com)

Belle da Costa Greene - Wikipedia

Bernard Berenson - Wikipedia

Is Biden to blame for baby formula shortage?

The baby formula screw up actually shouldn't be a president's problem, anymore than masks and PPE were Trump's problem or GW Bush to blame for the NOLA mayor's short sightedness. We don't hire these guys to do shelf counts or "just-in-time" stocks. That's what we have massive agencies for headed by overpaid cronies. He is to blame for other things in the supply chain. Like fossil fuel and setting the tone for good business. He threatened the oil industry during the campaign to get the green vote. The concentration of industries is not just one president's fault--I think it had been going on a long time; but Trump should have noticed, because he's a business man and felt strongly about this type of thing. Biden didn't give a piddle and probably had no one watching. There is one thing not spoken about enough which in part makes it his problem. The government buys about half of the formula for its WIC and SNAP and Medicaid programs. So in that sense, whichever alphabet agencies cover that should have warned him so he had someone to blame.

Biden has weakened the country

 The irony, in my opinion, is that the owners/investors of the fossil fuel industry are or will be the same who control the so-called "green" sources of energy. Sunlight and wind still have to be converted (controlled) into useable fuel just as crude can't run a truck or furnace.

Sean Hannity: Biden is doing 'exactly' what he promised with the fossil fuel industry | Fox News

https://youtu.be/uqoNzFv_rDk  Bill O'Reilly weakened the U.S by trying to destroy the industry.

Friday book review--Roth's Rebellion and Hamilton's Pages

I will certainly need to add these two books to my TBR list. Hugo Hamilton wrote The Pages, where a 1924 novel is a main character, Joseph Roth's book Rebellion. Marianne and Ron, our neighbors here at Lakeside, presented a review of the two books at the Lakeside Women's Club today.

"Andreas Pum, having lost his leg in World War I, is rewarded with a medal and a permit to support himself by playing a barrel organ in the streets of Vienna. At first the simpleminded veteran is entirely satisfied with his lot, and he even finds a voluptuous widow to marry. But then a public quarrel with a respectable citizen on a tram propels Andreas’s life into a rapid downward trajectory. As he loses his beggar’s permit, his new wife, and even his freedom, he is provoked into finally rejecting his blind faith in the benevolence of the powers that govern his life. Joseph Roth’s remarkable novel deploys the haunting atmosphere and propulsive power of a dream to convey the bewilderment of an ordinary man as his world falls apart around him."

"JOSEPH ROTH (1894-1939) was an Austrian novelist, essayist, journalist, and publisher. An outspoken critic of Hitler and militarism, he moved to Paris in 1933. Roth’s novels include What I Saw, The Legend of the Holy Drinker, Right and Left, The Emperor’s Tomb, The String of Pearls, and The Radetzky March, an ironic portrait of the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that is considered to be his masterpiece." (Penguinrandomhouse.com)

"In “The Pages,” Hugo Hamilton’s enticing new novel, “Rebellion” is described as: “A short novel about a barrel organ player who lost his leg in the First World War.” Discarded by the state, Andreas Pum, the disabled veteran, ends up friendless, homeless and hopeless. “Facing death,” Roth writes, “he clung to life in order to rebel: against the world, against the authorities, against the Government, against God.” The award-winning 1999 translation of “Rebellion” by the indefatigable Michael Hofmann, who has also translated half a dozen other Roth books as well as works by Elias Canetti, Alfred Döblin, Franz Kafka and others, is being reissued now to coincide with the release of “The Pages.” “Rebellion” is in fact both the protagonist and the narrator of Hamilton’s novel, a book about the fate of a book." (https://forward.com/culture/481275/the-pages-hugo-hamilton-joseph-roth-rebellion-nazis-kristallnacht/)

Source of inflation could be Covid money

"Did you ever stop to wonder- there was $2.5 Trillion of excess savings due to the pandemic free money? So that money was not needed by the recipients since it went into savings and more went to pay down of credit cards. In short- it was unneeded money transferred from the tax payers to the 50% who are non-taxpayers. So, it then follows that a major portion of the $6 trillion of pandemic give aways, and especially the last $1.9 trillion in March 2021, was a waste of funds, and all that extra spending created the excess demand which is now manifesting itself in 12% inflation to those people who got all that free money they now need just to buy gas and food. And now they are proposing spending another package of hundreds of billions and raising taxes further as we head to recession. Stupid does not begin to define the economic team at the White House." From Ross Rant, [investment newsletter] June 12, 2022

How have environmental rule and regs worsened our housing for low income and middle class?

Because our AC died on the hottest day of the summer (95) and current EPA laws on R-22 prevent it being fixed (will have to replace) I was trying to research to what extent our energy and environmental laws have contributed to homelessness or even pricing low income out of real estate wealth or the competition for a good rental. It's only common sense that the constant drum beat of climate change on the building trades and the corresponding greater concern for mother earth than a mother in America has to hit the more fragile in the wallet. Zip, nada, zilch in the research, especially EPA and Energy Star articles. So I'll just continue to know in my gut that saving the environment is throwing a lot of people out of work and out of their homes. Soon, you may be seeing a lot of cars up on blocks as the bidenflation roars ahead.

But my eyes landed on an interesting fact sheet about homelessness in Washington DC. It decreased significantly under the Trump booming economy, but was still higher than most big cities. The January 2018 count (a point in time) showed 3,761 single adults, and 924 families (3,134 people), and 9 minors alone. So I took a closer look at the singles: 51% were chronically homeless, but only 19% of the adults in the families were chronically homeless. I think that was my big takeaway. 50% of the singles had formerly been institutionalized--from jail or hospital to the streets; 19% of the singles had a history of domestic violence, much lower than the family rate; 30% of the singles had chronic substance abuse and 32.7% had a history of mental illness; 24.6% of single homeless adults were chronically ill and 18% were disabled. Median age for the singles was 51 and for family adults 29.

 
I was a librarian not a social worker, so I won't suggest a solution, but I do know that saving families is a big part of the solution of homelessness, and housing is probably the smallest part. Families are a social safety net, and many of our government policies can't answer that need.
https://www.legalclinic.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Fact-Sheet-on-Homelessness-and-Housing-Instability-in-DC.pdf

It's 94 at the lake

 And the air conditioning died.

  

 We've contacted the new owners and they've decide to replace rather than repair.  That's what the new environmental laws do--force people to buy new rather than repair. It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow, and we haven't had the really hot days that Columbus has experienced.  The AC was new when we bought our cottage in 1988, and we replaced it in 2002. So I hear 20 years is a good record for AC units. Tonight we go to the picnic in the park--last week was too rainy and cold! Tonight we'll be slapping our ankles as the bugs in the grass bite!

Peaceful biolabs in Ukraine--46 of them

"The United States has also worked collaboratively to improve Ukraine’s biological safety, security, and disease surveillance for both human and animal health, providing support to 46 peaceful Ukrainian laboratories, health facilities, and disease diagnostic sites over the last two decades. The collaborative programs have focused on improving public health and agricultural safety measures at the nexus of nonproliferation. " Defense Dept. Fact sheet on WMD reduction efforts. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3057517/fact-sheet-on-wmd-threat-reduction-efforts-with-ukraine-russia-and-other-former/

Hmm. 46 biolabs. Wait. Weren't people called conspiracy theory dups for even suggesting U.S. was funding Ukrainian biolabs?

Remember when Tucker interviewed Tulsi Gabbard and they were accused of spreading Russian misinformation. I wonder what happens when "peaceful biolabs" get bombed? How will public health be improved?

Tucker Carlson: Everything Tulsi Gabbard Said About Ukraine's Biolabs Is True | Video | RealClearPolitics

If it took them this long to admit to 46, I wonder how many there actually are?

A. J. Lee all grown up and still singing

 https://youtu.be/VcRZdmJtVwY  2012, 8 years old

https://youtu.be/Ra7h7lvHbuc  2019, 

https://youtu.be/lALQAUn2QTo   2022, 18 years old

A young lady worth watching. A. J. Lee. This would be a great group to see at Lakeside.

Don't mix your metaphors

 

Will the U.S. become Venezuela?

From a Christian Aid Ministries newsletter: ". . . a street artisan weaves a beautiful handbag out of 800 pieces of large denomination banknotes. The money is worthless. Welcome to Venezuela."

 
And I wonder. Will we be next as Biden's totalitarianism makes our money worthless? Hugo Chavez introduced socialism gradually to Venezuela until he'd destroyed a once prosperous country rich in petroleum assets. It didn't take but a few years. Watch out.

Buying Venezuelan oil while Biden kills our own industry won't save Venezuela from its own leaders' bad socialist choices and it certainly won't help Americans. A Potential U.S. Oil Deal with Venezuela Faces Hurdles (investopedia.com)  Biden enriches and enables bad governments elsewhere, while poking American citizens in the eye and lying to them.

Raisi: Iranian Tanker Delivery to Venezuela A Victory over US Sanctions - Politics news - Tasnim News Agency

Oil producers Iran and Venezuela sign 20-year cooperation plan | Euronews