QueueVee

End of Roadtrip

2010-08-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

As the first interstate exit sign for Madison hove into view it was good to know our long, grueling road trip was over and home was just around the corner. At the same time it was an incredibly memorable trip which will live on in our memories and our photo albums for many, many years.

Traveling to other parts of the U.S. is always a cultural experience, and the best way to learn more about this great country of ours. We experienced the Georgia culture, the Carolinas, and both Virginias. And that was probably the second best thing about the whole vacation.

The best thing, of course, was being with family. It's a little harder to be with family when they're spread farther apart but the distance traveled makes the reunion even sweeter.

It was great to be able to share photos with folks along the way through online resources, although there were challenges with that. Only one of my two cameras has an SD card that fits into my travel computer. And I mistakenly left the charger for that camera at home, so I had to be judicious in my photo taking with that camera.

But now that the rest of the photos have been loaded into the computer, more are posted to the travel gallery for those who are curious. Of particular interest will be the photos in the garden at Biltmore, where there were incredible colors and arrangements.

And then it's move on to new things, such as a gallery for Grant and Courtney's wedding for instance. Plus Sam has started a new weblog. And Drew has closed out his old weblog. And summer will soon be winding down (sigh). But it's not over yet.

Chillin w/grandchildren

2010-08-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

This is what vacation is all about, spending relaxing time with family, particularly grandchildren. We now have one of those in our family and today we're getting to know little Lana Marie for the first time. The day started slowly and in a relaxed manner. Anne gave Lana her first bottle and talked with Sara about all kinds of mommy stuff. I suspect that after lunch we'll be going shopping.

Yesterday was a travel day, starting at a Motel 6 in Spartanburg SC early enough to make it to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville NC in time for the 8:30 opening. We visited the gardens first, before it got too warm, and then took the basic house tour. It was an enjoyable glimpse into the lives of the American elite a century ago. I suspect Anne may have picked up a decorating idea somewhere along the line. We enjoyed some ice cream in the stable shops and then were back on the road, headed north to Virginia. Along the way we stopped at Chick fil A for the first time, and noticed a convoy of NASCAR crew trucks passing us. Storms were scattered across the mountains and we enjoyed a few light shows beyond distant peaks. We arrived in Stephens City about 10pm.

Two Surprises

2010-08-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning we attended Late Service at the historic Lucas Theater in downtown Savanna, an ultra-contemporary worship service in a very historic theater. They do a good job in the old-wine-new-wineskins department, we liked the service a lot.

Then we tried out the Oglethorpe Tours, getting a 90-minute on-the-scene briefing on the history of downtown Savanna from a local native. That went really well and we enjoyed it very much. But when we got back to our car, it wouldn't start. Some friendly fellow-travelers gave us a jump, but the van still wasn't running right. So we called AAA and grabbed a pizza while we waited. The tow-truck driver, Lee, was very helpful and gave us some good suggestions on repair options. Then we took a cab to the airport to rent a car from Hertz (with AAA discount) to get us back to Fort Stewart.

Anne and Candess were up for much of the night, excited about Drew's return and getting preparations finalalized (baking cakes, making posters). We got to the athletic field about 8:30am and the buses with the soldiers arrived about 9:45. Everyone was anxious for their arrival. Fortunately the welcoming ceremony was very short, with a two-minute speech and a couple of songs.

Then families were reunited and happiness reigned. Drew said he spotted us right away. He also said that he wasn't surprised that we were there, he strongly suspected that we would make it, since we were traveling this week anyway. So much for the element of surprise.

Our Southern Sojourn Begins

2010-08-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

It's been 20 years since our last family road-trip (a one-day road trip to Chicago, that included the Field Museum and the Sears Tower). Now we're off to Fort Stewart, Georgia, to welcome Drew and his unit back from Iraq. Then it's on to Virginia to see our new grand-daughter.

We left after work on Friday. Sam drove for about 90 minutes in southern IL to the Indiana border. We arrived at Uncle Bob's house in Indianapolis about midnight. After a short night we were back on the road at 7:30am. We arrived at Fort Stewart GA 16 hours later. Whew!

It was tempting to post updates on Facebook & Blogger, etc., but our arrival at Fort Stewart was supposed to be a surprise for Drew. So we were on silent running. Everything went smoothly until we neared Chattanooga. When it was time to stop for lunch, we were in the middle of a line of storms. But we found a dry spot, sharing a small shelter with another family. Then as we rolled through the mountain valleys just north of the Alabama border, we ran into a
traffic jam, with everyone creeping along at five mph. We were finally able to find an exit, get some gas and get some directions. We drove past Lookout Mountain on our short-cut, but didn't have time to stop this trip.

We made it past Atlanta without any further delays, which was a concern. Our final rest stop of the day was at Forsyth GA. After circling the court house square with its statue of a confederate soldier, we pulled into Wendy's for a quick bite. Then Anne took over driving for the home stretch.

We arrived at Fort Stewarts's north gate and had to circle around to the front gate, which took us a while longer, noticing a few deer keeping an eye on the gate. We made it.

Southern Sojourn - roadtrip prep

2010-07-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

From Old Family Photos

Planning to blog our family vacation, I'm checking out my tools with my netbook to see if I have everything I need. I'll be posting photos to a Picasaweb album and adding comments here. Let's see, it looks like I can import photos from that album into this blog. OK, I can hardly wait to start. (Test photo is the $12.50 bike I bought last week from the UW SWAP shop. I doubled the value last night by adding $15 handle bar extenders.)

Wisconsin's "Hoosier" team

2010-03-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

Conversation around the dinner table was about March Madness, and the current NCAA tournament. We observed that Butler, an Indiana team, made the Final Four in Indianapolis and the conversation drifted to one of the best sports movies ever, Hoosiers. That brought back memories of Wisconsin's own Hoosier story, the Dodgeville team that beat Milwaukee North for the state basketball title in 1964, before the class system separated small schools from bigger schools.

I remember the coach of that team, John "Weenie" Wilson, because my high school English teacher admired him even though he coached for a competing team. We were in the same conference and Weenie Wilson was not a coach who just sat on the bench with his team.

It turns out that there's a lot more to the story of Weenie Wilson. Online research turned up a Wikipedia entry that tells of his own illustrious career as an athlete (starring for the Badger football team and also playing with the Green Bay Packers), and his WWII service. He is the only coach who is in the Wisconsin High School football, baseball and basketball halls of fame.

Weenie Wilson died of a heart attack, during gym class at Dodgeville High School, in 1968.

Biker Blog?

2010-03-10T18:51:00.000-08:00

Been thinking about converting this blog to a bikers blog, to write about the places I go and the things that I see. Of course, that would mean I need to do more biking (instead of just back and forth to work a few times a week). But the fact that Google has added bike trails to Google Maps may inspire me to do just that. How far can I go?

New Paradigms

2009-12-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

Along about the time November arrives I start thinking about new paradigms. Soon the first big snowfall of the season will be arriving and we'll have to change our worldview from earthtones to one that is covered in white. The arrival of snow (along with colder temperatures) changes everythinng,

Driving, commuting, shopping--all kinds of activities are impacted by colder, snowier conditions. There are somethings we just don't think about until spring is in full bloom. It's a total paradigm shift.

Today's sermon by Mad City Church pastor Tom Flaherty described another type of perspective shift. It was titled "Seeing People as God Does," and it was based on the story of the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John, chapter 4. h

If we had been along on that day we would have seen a social outcast, a woman who we probably would have avoided. But Jesus saw a heart hungry for change. His compassion and a few well spoken words changed her life forever.

Pastor Flaherty's suggestion: "We should always ask God, 'what do you see in this person?'" Even discounting the work of the Holy Spirit, just that thought alone might change our paradigms in a major way.

He added some wise words from General George Washington, quoted from the book 1776. Counseling his generals about less than professional military behavior among the rank and file of the Revolutionary War Army, Washington said, "We need to see the best in people as they are, not as we wish them to be."

Walter and me

2009-07-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

There are those of a certain age who can remember when the nightly network news was only 15 minutes long, and hosted by Douglas Edwards. I am one of those. Even though it would be years before our own family would have our own television, I watched the news and other shows at the homes of friends and relatives. And then Walter Cronkite took over the anchor desk and the news lasted for 30 minutes. Where I lived CBS had the two main stations we watched, WMT in Cedar Rapids and WKBT in LaCrosse, so Walter was THE face of news.

Later, attending conventions of organizations to which I belonged--the Radio Television News Directors Association and the Society of Professional Journalists--I had a chance to see Walter in person. Being in the same room with him was sufficient, I didn't need to meet him or shake his hand.

It's ironic that his passing occurred during the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing because Walter Cronkite was also the voice of NASA in those days, anchoring every exciting space mission that brought the USA one step closer to landing on the moon. Now we live in an internet world; every person and every organization can have their own news channel, even NASA. Ironically, this weekend the Apollo 11 mission is being presented once again online, in real time.

I'm not tuning in to the Apollo 11 newsfeed because I remember the long boring hours we used to spend watching live coverage of the space shots. It was impossible, for me anyway, to keep tuned in. After watching hours and hours, I guess my patience ran out. So I remember watching the coverage of the actual landing, when the Lunar Module with Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon's surface. But I don't remember watching at the time when Armstrong actually walked out the door and uttered his famous phrase. I think I was probably asleep by that time.

Another major event today is the steam train, Seattle Pacific's engine 4449, that's going to chugging through Prairie du Chien. That stirs up memories of the steam trains that used to visit from time to time when I was growing up. Again, we would often stand for hours (it seemed) at the railroad depot (just a block from our house), straining to hear the sound of the steam whistle echoing off the river bluffs, not knowing when the train was scheduled but someone had said a steam train was coming. I'm tempted to go watch the train today, but we've already made plans to see a Base Ball game.

Expirations

2009-07-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

I attended a funeral of a friend today. Maybe I should say we were friendly competitors, because we once worked in competing radio newsrooms. But there was never any animosity, even though we were competitors and I got a job he had also applied for.

But the occasion did prompt some reflections on what journalism has become, prompted in part by an online PBS expose. I posted my reflections on my blog at the SPJ website.

Not an abandoned blog

2009-06-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reports that a 2008 survey indicated only 7.4 million out of 133 million blogs had been updated in the past 120 days, in other words 95 percent of blogs are basically abandoned. Well this blog is not abandoned, this update is the first one since March 2nd. Let's see, that's only about 90 days.

This was my first blog, but now I have several more, including blogs on journalism and Biblical Archaeology. Plus I have a life. So keeping QV up-to-date is not my highest priority.

But every now and then I have something I'd like to say, an observation or a comment that I don't want to go unexpressed. So I'll say it here. Or on Facebook.

The Land Remembers

2009-03-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

I noticed a long time ago that deaths seem to happen in clusters. When someone close dies, it often seems that several more with personal connections depart their mortal existence within a few days.

And so it was that not only did my mother pass away last week but I also note the passing of the well know radio newscaster Paul Harvey (to whom she and dad often listened), as well as Walter Schlaugat, the owner of the radio station where I got my first job, and also Philip Keillor, the brother of radio humorist Garrison Keillor.

A decade or two ago I was at a meeting and met Philip Keillor on a rainy fall afternoon. I gave him a ride back to work after the meeting, we had a nice chat, and I felt like I could call him a friend even though I don't think we ever met again. I had just started writing a newspaper column for The Capital Times and he had been reading it. He complimented me on what I had written. The newspaper obituary noted that he also was quite proud of his brother Garrison's weekly newspaper column, as well he should have been.

I was born in 1951, which is when Paul Harvey started his radio news career and about when Walter Schlaugat got an FCC permit to start a radio station in Prairie du Chien. WPRE was a regular fixture in our home, since it was the only local radio station and was an important source for local news, such as obituaries. I took it for granted, like running water and electricity, until my college years when I started to pay attention to how radio stations differed based on the news they carried and the music they played. When I applied for a job at WPRE as a summer fill-in announcer in 1971 I was surprised to get hired. Walt was more occupied with management and engineering than programming, so I didn't deal with him a lot but I do remember getting a phone call from him one evening when I inappropriately played Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven during a slot that was usually reserved for sedate MOR standards.

We didn't listen to WPRE all of the time, otherwise we never would have heard Paul Harvey, since he was carried by the ABC network and WPRE was not an ABC affiliate. Paul Harvey's genius for succinctly reporting news, with bedrock Midwestern values, made him an icon. I met him once at the EAA Fly-In in Oshkosh (his love for flying and pilots was well known). I also heard him speak at a journalists convention once or twice. My image of Paul Harvey is slightly tarnished, no fault of his, due to run-ins with dim witted radio consultants who didn't understand why everyone couldn't do news like Paul Harvey. But I don't want to tell you how many times I sat in front of a soon-to-be-live microphone, waiting for my newscast to begin, warming up my voice with my best Paul Harvey imitation.

And finally, mom, who would've celebrated her 92nd birthday next June. Her years on earth were about ten fewer than those of her own mother. She spent almost two decades in the nursing home in Lancaster, which is a very long time. But I never heard her complain about living so many days in a little room. She had never gotten a driver's license, and didn't get out a lot even when we were growing up. Maybe that's part of it.

She did emerge from the nursing home from time to time when she could get a ride from one of us. Probably her last time out was her 90th birthday, which we celebrated at a local park. Her birthday always came around Father's Day, so a family picnic in mid-June was a long-held important family tradition.

The funeral at the Lancaster United Methodist Church featured live music by guitar and fiddle, as well as organ. And there were kind words by the pastor about a life lived close to God, which is a comforting thing to hear at a funeral.

A couple of weeks ago I finally began a book that I had wanted to read for many years, The Land Remembers, by Ben Logan. This memoir of a southwestern Wisconsin farm childhood not only has place names with which I'm familiar, but also describes early 20th century farm life that I heard about frequently from my dad as we were growing up. Since we lived on the family farm up until I was almost eight years old there are redolent memories hidden all through the book.

I'm sure my mom was not cut out to be a farm wife. She was raised in the city, the daughter of an accountant and a milliner. But nonetheless she lived on a farm, raising her family, for a dozen years before we finally moved to town. She raised seven boys well, although we tried her patience many times. We will miss her but she is part of us and will always be with us.

3/4/9 Addendum - Thinking further about the events of the last few days, I should correct the last sentence. It implies a permanence belied by the granite markers in the snowy grass behind the Mt. Zion Church. We have been making more and more visits to this country church near the original Govier farmstead north of Lancaster. I tell my children, some day you will visit me here.

Reflecting on the deceptive impermanence of our lives it occurs to me that just as this virtual online world is a fabrication of our day to day existence, our day to day existence is a fabrication of a more permanent creation. C.T. Studd, the great missionary of a century ago, is credited with saying, "Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last."

It seems to me those who built this little country church, and could hardly imagine the trappings of the world that now surrounds it, well knew the difference between permanence and impermanence. The apostle Paul wrote, "And now these three remain, faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love."

February 12 Birthdays

2009-02-12T16:39:00.000-08:00

Today's recognition of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday reminds me of a visit to New Salem, Illinois, where Lincoln spent important years of his early manhood. It was noted there that New Salem was a short lived frontier town. It began just a few years before Lincoln arrived, and was abandoned not long after Lincoln left. It was as if it was created providentially to help forge the values of America's 16th president.

Much has been and will be written about Lincoln, that's my memory. This year I hope to visit the Lincoln library in Springfield.

How Sleep Works

2009-01-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

As a teenager with an early morning newspaper delivery route I invested in an alarm clock with two snooze bars, one for five minutes and one for ten minutes. I thought the snooze bar would make it easier to get up in the morning. Later I bought a radio with a snooze bar. After the alarm went off I could hit the bar and then, theoretically, be soothed into wakefulness by music. Neither made it any easier to wake up in the morning.

As an adult I ended up in a job for which I awoke at 3:45am. I realized, in waking up daily for that job, that the best way to wake up was to get to bed at a reasonable time, and to get up and get moving as soon as the alarm sounded in the morning. It's a whole lot easier to get out of the clutches of the bed as quickly as possible, kind of like ripping a bandage off of a sore.

I've become more and more protective of my sleep, and less and less enamored with late night attractions that might keep me from getting the sleep I need and enjoy. Even on weekends I'm prone to hit the sack around the usual time, so I can get up at my usual time. Being consistent in my sleep patterns seemed like a good idea. Now, I read that there's evidence to back me up on that.

An Associated Press article the other day said that the best way to prevent the common cold was to get plenty of sleep. "Small sleep disturbances increase the risk of getting sick," the story said.
It brought to mind a bout of bronchitis I had a decade or so ago, the sickest I've probably ever been. I had been out working late three nights straight and very low on sleep, and I paid for that with a hacking cough that lasted for weeks.

The story goes on to warn against getting too much sleep, which is also not healthy, and give a number of other excellent suggestions on sleeping properly and healthily.

My resolution for the past year or so has been to better prepare for sleep by turning off the computer an hour earlier and spend the last hour of the day reading. As much as I enjoy sleep it's been a struggle but I'm gradually getting better at it. I hope to do even better this year.

Election Day 2008

2008-11-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Ever since 1974, 34 years ago, election day has meant late night news coverage. Radio news was all about live coverage from the polls and from the clerks office as the returns came in. Then after radio I worked as an AP stringer for a number of elections. But this year I voted and I'll be able to watch the returns tonight as the results of what appears to be an epoch-creating election are counted.

Whether it's McCain or Obama winning, U.S. Politics will be moving in a new direction. Particularly if Obama wins. A democratic party landslide would be particularly momentous, as some polls are predicting. But lest we get too alarmed, we should remember what Dave Harris was trying to tell voters as they drove to work on the beltline this morning (photo).

Archaeology tidal wave

2008-10-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

What a week for archaeology. It used to be that major announcements were sometimes saved for the annual meetings of archaeologists and Bible scholars that happen every year in mid-November. Now it looks as if archaeologists are releasing their discoveries in advance of the meetings to insure more news coverage.

News coverage is important for archaeologists because it helps with fund-raising, a very important element of modern excavating. Each of these discoveries and developments is a major announcement. It's incredible to have them happen in the same week. We'll be discussing these developments for weeks to come on my Book & the Spade radio program (this item is cross posted with the blog that goes with the radio show). Read the stories now, and tune in at www.radioscribe.com/bknspade.

James Ossuary trial teetering - October 30, 2008

Ancient Hebrew text from the Valley of Elah - October 30, 2008

Possible seal of army commander found in Jerusalem - October 30, 2008

Water tunnel found in Jerusalem - October 29, 2008

Copper smelting ruins in Jordan link to Solomon - October 27, 2008

In a nutshell, here's what's so important about each of these discoveries.

#1 - The James Ossuary is a first century stone burial box for bones with the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." The ossuary is unquestionably authentic but the inscription is controversial. The Israel Antiquities Authority has pronounced it a fake and accused its owner of forging antiquities. It may still be a fake inscription, but it doesn't appear as though the IAA can prove it in a court of law in Israel. The IAA was hoping to put a big dent in the antiquities trade with this case. It doesn't look like it's going to happen. For a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tale about this artifact and others like it, check out the new book Unholy Business, by Nina Burleigh. The book will raise more questions in your mind, but doesn't officially take sides in the controversy. Maybe it really was the repository for the final remains of Jesus' brother, James.

#2 - The Khirbet Qeiyafa excavation is going to be a major excavation in Israel because it's a single period site that's dated right smack dab in the middle of the time of greatest controversy in Biblical Archaeology right now, the time of David and Solomon. This could be a benchmark site for that era and clear up a lot of controversy. The discovery of an ossuary (pottery sherd with writing on it-shown above) may provide further evidence for the state of the Israelite kingdom at that time.

On our Book & the Spade tour last winter we crossed the Valley of Elah twice, stopping the first time to discuss the famous battle between David and Goliath that occurred there. Little did we know it would be the scene of probably the most important archaeological discovery of the year, if not the decade.

#3 - Another seal found in Jerusalem with the name of a Biblical figure. These seals and seal impressions have been popping up with increasing frequency in the various digs going on around Jerusalem lately, giving us an incredible hands-on connection to the Biblical world. This one not only has a name on it, it has a beautiful engraved archer depicted, a true work of art.

#4 - The water tunnel found in Jerusalem also seems to date from the time of the Davidic kingdom. It's location suggests in may be the water conduit used by David's army to conquer the seemingly impregnable Jebusite city. It was once thought that Warren's shaft was that water conduit but recent archaeology has disproven that idea. This water feature bears further study.

#5 - Another discovery that may bolster the case for David and Solomon, particularly Solomon, being the kind of powerful kings depicted in the Bible. This discovery is in Jordan and further investigation may yield additional evidence.

For some good commentary on some of these discoveries I also recommend the weblog of my friend Todd Bolen.

The Heat

2008-09-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Now that the summer is over (Labor Day being the unofficial end of summer), the temperature in Madison finally rose above 90 today. What a beautiful weekend to end on, and what a beautiful summer it's been.

A month or so a friend from Texas was visiting and I couldn't help thinking there's a big chunk of the country that never gets to enjoy beautiful weather like we've had here in Wisconsin.

The fact of the matter is that summer is really the season that Wisconsin shines. The other eight months of the year we're anticipating the coming summer season. Football, skiing, basketball, etc., are all just diversions to keep us occupied until the summer returns.

Sure we had some nasty flooding a year ago, and earlier this summer, that caused a few headaches. But summer in Madison has been, for the past dozen years or so, nearly perfect, weather-wise. At least that's the way I see it.

Postscript: OK, so maybe I was wrong. I saw a survey this week that indicated a majority of people find autumn as their favorite season. I still like summer best.

Couch Travel

2008-07-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

Today's Wisconsin State Journal has a great feature article on a new travel innovation called Couch Surfing. Basically it takes sponging off friends and relatives to a new level, via the internet and a website, www.couchsurfing.com.

It reminds me of another site I saw a while back called Where Are You Now. People can log on and let their friends know where they are as they travel.

As someone who likes to travel on a tight budget, couch surfing seems very appealing and perhaps someday I'll sign up and give it a try. In a way we've already experienced the concept through our participation in the Madison Friends of International Students. Every year in August we try to open up our home to an incoming international student and have met some great young students, some who we are still in touch with.

This year we won't be able to participate though, we're still dealing with wet basement issues from last month's storms and sewer back-ups. That's going to take awhile to resolve.

In the meantime I'll also be daydreaming about another mode of couch travel that was in the news recently, couch ballooning.

SOS@100

2008-07-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

I noticed that the Times of London newspaper has a report on the 100th anniversary of SOS, the universal distress signal. In 1908, when radio communication was new and primarily by Morse Code, the international community decided the three dot, three dash, three dot message was the clearest way to communicate the need for quick action to save a foundering ship. It took a few years to catch on, and a really big disaster involving the Titanic ocean liner. But now everyone nows what SOS means.

In 1994 I was reporting from the North American Conference for Itinerant Evangelists, in Louisville, Kentucky, sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I had a number of memorable interviews but I'll always remember Frank Moseley. At least that's what I believe his name was.

He had a gimmick, but in my estimation it was one of the smartest and most sincere gimmicks in the world and I'm surprised it hasn't caught on. It's a small lapel pin depicting three dots, three dashes and three dots. His idea was to use the pin to start a conversation and use SOS as an acronym to lead the conversation to the Steps Of Salvation. Step #3 on the card he gave me seemed like the most important SOS, the Source Of Salvation (John 3:16). I see Mr. Moseley is still at it, now on the internet.

Soulwinners know it helps to have a tool. One of my InterVarsity colleagues seems to do well using glow sticks to help college students come to a decision. Another colleague, James Choung, uses four circles he can draw on a napkin. He calls it The Big Story. (Here's a YouTube video of his presentation.)

James had a conversation with Andy Crouch about evangelizing college students of the current post-modern generation, which was carried on the Christianity Today website recently. I found it fascinating reading. James also has a new book out called True Story, published by InterVarsity press.

Which all comes down to the fact that those who follow Christ, and name Him as Lord, are commissioned to make disciples. Talking about Jesus with strangers, or even friends and relatives, is not an easy thing to do in our culture. But maybe we could start with a simple tool like a lapel pin, or a four circles on a napkin.

Bikes and Trains

2008-06-29T15:21:00.001-07:00

Friday, on the way home, I caught up with a train making its way across the isthmus. I threaded my way through the heavy traffic on Proudfit Street as the end of the train was crossing Monona Bay. I crossed over to John Nolen Drive, and by the time I reached the beltline the tail end of the train was creeping across the bike path. About 20 bikes were waiting to cross as the train passed.

I was reminded of the days when Sam and I used to bike down and see the Circus Train. One year we met the train as it crossed Blair and Wilson Streets, and biked alongside all the way down John Nolen Drive, past Monona Terrace, Wingra Creek and the Colisseum.

Eventually Sam got too big to ride on the back of my bike, and didn't really show any interest in learning to ride for himself until a couple of years ago. But now he has a new bike and we're hoping to get some good rides in this summer. We've already biked home from grandma's house in Middleton and today we did the circuit around Lake Monona, stopping to take photos at Monona Terrace. It was a cloudy, cool afternoon. Looks like rain but it'll be nice if the rain stays away for awhile yet.

No gas, no pollution, lots of exercise

2008-06-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

The $4/gallon gas prices seem to have more people than ever bicycling though it's kind of hard to tell in Madison, since this is such a bicycling town in the first place. But perhaps the best evidence on my ride home today was at the stoplight at North Shore Drive and John Nolen Drive. As I waited to cross there were about a dozen other cyclists on my side, waiting with me, and a half dozen on the other side. I'm aiming to ride all five days this week if the weather cooperates, and it looks promising so far.

POST SCRIPT: As I pedaled out the driveway this morning I joined a veritable line of bicyclists headed off to work at 7am. The last two evenings I've noticed lemonade stands set up alongside two different bike paths by enterprising youths, the bike path version of PDQ.

Illegal Spread Smuggling

2008-05-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

It was 41 years ago today that then Wisconsin governor Warren Knowles signed legislation ending Wisconsin's 72 year ban on the sale of oleo margarine. Even though it was illegal to sell oleo in Wisconsin before that date, we grew up more accustomed to the taste of oleo than butter because we were a family of margarine smugglers. And once it almost cost us our lives.

After we moved off the farm to the river town of Prairie du Chien our father apparently thought that the price difference between oleo and butter was significant enough reason to drive a couple of miles cross the river into Iowa and stock up on the illegal spread. We were a large family, with seven hungry boys, I imagine we ate a lot of it.

Once, after crossing the two soaring suspension bridges that spanned the two channels of the Mississippi River, we discovered that the brakes on our station wagon were no longer working. The whole family was in the car as we careened down the street into Marquette. Quick thinking dad downshifted to slow us down and at the bottom of the hill, providentially, there was a pile of dirt that was a part of a road construction project. The car came to rest in the dirt and there were no injuries. I don't remember what happened after that, I was only about ten years old at the time, but somehow we got home and the car was fixed. And we lived to smuggle again, for another half dozen years or so.

P.S. I'm sure the store where we shopped, Dickey's Market, advertised their Oleo prices well. Ironically, Mrs. Dickey was later my high school English and journalism instructor.

Thoughts about spring

2008-03-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

Heading out for breakfast with friends I mulled over whether I should drive or walk to the Original Pancake House. Remembering the Law of Two (When in doubt about a course of action, and can think of two good reasons to do it, go ahead and don't waste any more time going back and forth on it.) I decided to walk. Afterall I had the time, I could use the exercise, and the birds were singing. Despite yesterday's snowfall.

Walking home later I realized that one of the birdcalls I was hearing for the first time this year was the red wing blackbird. Some people say the robins are a sign of spring. And indeed I've seen a few already. But nothing says spring so clearly to me as the warble of the red wing blackbird. Those were the calls I remember so clearly when my brother and I would be walking home from our one-room school and the snow was melting in the warming spring rays of the sun. Sure the robins, chickadees and cardinals add to the welcome chorus. And Thursday (before this latest snow storm arrived) I heard another bird lustily welcoming the sunshine and warm weather with a song that I didn't recognize. But the blackbirds are the real harbingers of spring in southern Wisconsin.

Thursday was spring's arrival, with the kind of weather that got me back on the bike for a nice ride home. Then Good Friday brought a half foot of snow, almost sending us over 100 for the year. Lots of folks are anticipating reaching the 100 mark. I say let's save that for the next record winter, so they'll automatically set a new record when they hit 100. It'll be even more special for them (and making a nice statement about global warming).

So yes, I'm glad I got out for a nice walk this morning. The birds were singing, I could wave at friends driving by... It was a good way to start a spring day, even with a half foot of snow on the ground. I even hesitated to shovel the driveway one more time (after three shovelings yesterday), since it will probably melt off in the next day anyway. But it was probably my last chance to shovel for this winter (let's hope).

Footprints in the snow

2008-02-10T18:55:00.000-08:00

Nine below zero this morning, plus a significant wind chill factor. But I decided to walk to church after shoveling out the driveway. It wasn't too bad, especially with the wind to my back and the sun shining on my dark coat. The cold and snow piles are inconvenient but still, it really is beautiful. It's something we've been missing for much of the last dozen or so winters.

Mostly I need to keep walking, getting ready for vacation coming up in a week and a half. Two weeks in Israel, and there'll be quite a bit of walking as we visit archaeological sites and other points of interest.

Snow Day

2008-02-06T06:19:00.000-08:00

Finally, a snow day for adults as well as kids. The office is closed today so there's an unscheduled day at home to get caught up on things at home. Looking out the window at my neighbor blowing the snow out of his driveway and contemplating the opportunities of the day, I noticed a leaf fall amidst all of the snow flakes coming down. Finally, half-way through winter, a leaf on the tree in the front yard decides to give up. It can't hold on any longer.

No doubt many people feel the same way about the onslaught of snow we're experiencing this winter. Our 60+ inches of snow so far this year is about double the normal amount. And by the end of the day we could be within a foot or so of the all-time record snowfall. With another month and a half of winter to go yet.

Actually I've kind of missed the snow over the last decade or so of our warmer and drier than normal winters. So I'm not complaining too much even with all of the extra shoveling that I'm doing. But I'll be glad to see spring when it comes. And according to Jimmy the Groundhog, spring should be early this year. This would be a good year for him to be right.

Brad Williams of Prairie du Chien

2008-01-13T20:23:00.000-08:00

The Wisconsin State Journal has a front page article on a former schoolmate, Brad Williams. Unfortunately the article doesn't seem to be posted online so there's no link available. However, an article of a similar nature appeared in the LaCrosse Tribune last year. The article is on hyperthymesia, which is defined as having a superior autobiographical memory.

Brad is 51, so he was a few years behind me but he also skipped a grade. His brother Eric is working on a documentary on hyperthymesia. There are some interesting video clips posted online. Brad's mother, shown in one of the clips, shows a resemblance to Mrs. Gauger, my fifth grade teacher. Which is to be expected, since Mrs. Gauger was Brad's grandmother.

I don't remember much about fifth grade, except that was when the class started doing spelling bees. And I discovered I was a pretty good speller when Claudette Clark and I spelled down the rest of the class. In eighth gradae Brad was the state Spelling Bee champion and went to the national bee in Washington.

Brad went into radio news, which was my field for many years. Shortly after I left KLMS radio in Lincoln, NE, Brad started working there. He went on to WIZM in LaCrosse, a station which is part of the Midwest Family chain, where he still works. Before I went to Lincoln I worked at WISM in Madison, also part of the Midwest Family chain. My ability to remember obscure trivia sometimes astounds my family (and has established my reputation in Trivial Pursuit). However, nobody remembers details like Brad obviously does.

I occasionally ran into Brad at radio events so we kept in touch, sort of.

I'm working on it

2007-12-20T18:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's been awhile since I've posted. The main reason is because I've been busy having a life. That's the best reason I can think of. Among other things I took a class this fall and have a pretty cool project to show for it. It's called The Evolution of Radio News, and it's online.

But I've also been working on becoming a famous blogger. I've just discovered a fool proof method. (See below.)

 
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.


Progress has been slow. But I was interviewed on CBC's Radio One, which was heard across Canada last Sunday morning. Click here and scroll down to Archaeology and Religion. A quick search indicates I'm the first Govier to appear on CBC since the last time famous Canadian novelist Katherine Govier was featured.

Skittering along

2007-11-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

Skittering was the word that came to mind last week as I noticed the wind blowing stiff dead leaves around parking lots, streets and sidewalks. Peak color has passed but the trees in front of our house still are holding onto their leaves. Or at least they were. We raked the front yard Saturday morning and Saturday evening it sure didn't look like it. Ah well, that's autumn.

I'm still biking, at least once or twice a week. Didn't see any turkeys when I rode through the arboretum, but I did see a couple of deer, which was a first. They must've known deer season was opening yesterday.

Actually I did see some turkeys yesterday when I was showing a friend around Madison. When we drove through the arboretum we saw several flocks of turkeys, probably two dozen in all.

Planes, trains and buses

2007-10-14T15:27:00.003-07:00

I've been traveling lately, trips to Washington DC and Nashville to hang out with journalists (mostly student journalists but some good professional contacts also). Traveling by air has its hazards and inconveniences but I enjoy trying to get good aerial photos when the weather is cooperating.

One of the fun parts of a trip to Washington is the mass transit. I always enjoy flying into Reagan National and hopping on the Washington Metro.

For the second trip I tried something new, taking Madison Metro to the Dane County airport. It took three buses, and changes at the east and north transit stations, but the trip went smoothly, the buses were on time, and I arrived for my flight with lots of extra time to spare.

This was the first flight into St. Louis in many years. It was interesting seeing the city from the air after all (well a half dozen or so) of the motor trips there over the last couple of years. Connecting there on the flight to Nashville allowed me to see both the Missouri and Ohio Rivers as they came together to join the Mississippi.

Well there's lots more to say about the trip but not the time to share it now. I also saw a sneak preview of the new Veggie Tales movie but I can't talk about that until November. Or risk the displeasure of the "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."

Class demands all extra time

2007-09-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting to this blog for awhile, one main reason is that I'm taking a class at the UW School of Journalism and Mass Communication, in Vilas Hall. I hope to pick up where I left off at the end of the semester, unless I can squeeze something in before hand.

Can you hear me now?

2007-08-04T20:06:00.001-07:00

I activated another cellular phone for our family yesterday and remembered that it was 20 years ago this month that I got my first cellular phone. It wasn't quite as portable as the current models, in fact that type of phone is often described as "the brick." I only have one photo of me using the phone-no wait it's just someone who looks like me. Or sounds like me, something like that.

Anyway, I think I probably had that phone for about a decade or more, carrying it around in my briefcase with the other tools I used in my work as a radio news reporter.

Within the first year I had a major scoop using the phone when a fatal shooting occurred at the city county building just as I was making my rounds for the day. I was live on the air within minutes, and continued to make live reports from the scene of the crime throughout the afternoon.

Eventually I got a smaller model. I've probably only had four total that I've used over the years. Now I'm ready for another upgrade. AT&T keeps sending me text messages that my analog phone service is being phased out by next February and so I'd better make the change. They're making it almost impossible for me to use the phone outside of my basic service area, which does not make me a happy AT&T customer. I'll probably find some other service to go with.

I actually don't use my cell phone very much but I think it would be nice to have one that would allow me to access the internet, so I could review weather radar images while traveling. We'll see what I can find.

It's amazing to think how cell phones have changed modern life. I can remember seeing a network news report that was my first indication of the cell phone capability. The reporter was actually walking down the street, talking on a phone. Mind boggling. Of course now people actually drive down the highway talking on the phone and lots of things get boggled if they're not careful.

I was trying to remember when I got my first email address. I had my cell phone for several years before that happened. After I bought my first computer ($1200, second-hand from a recently defunct mushroom farm), I became a member of Compuserve and found it to be a great introduction to the online world. Around 1993, I think, I finally started communicating with a Compuserve email address. That was about the time members of Compuserve, Prodigy and other systems could start communicating across platforms, which was also a major step forward.

Now we pretty much accept email and cell phones as both a curse and a blessing.

Bicycle Ranging

2007-07-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

On my weekly commute to the UW campus and back, back in the mid-70's, I used to occasionally see a train traveling on the railroad track currently occupied by the Military Ridge Bike Trail. When they finally converted the track to a bike trail (hmmm, let me see, must've been back in the mid '80's) I had it in mind that some day I was going to ride that trail. But I stopped riding with any consistency about that time. So year after year passed.

Last year I started biking again, so this year I decided it was time to address the Military Ridge issue. I slathered on the sun block and headed out just before noon. By 1pm I was heading into Verona where I met up with the DNR guys who were out checking for trail passes. Unfortunately I had forgot mine, but they said I could send in a copy of the pass with my ticket and everything would be OK. Another half hour and I made it to Riley, my destination for the day.

Traffic on the trail was heavy, which wasn't surprising since the weather was perfectly gorgeous. There were lots of families. Dad would usually be leading the way with a couple of kids right behind and mom bringing up the rear. Yay moms!

A week ago I checked out highway PD as a possible shortcut back to Madison. There is a bike lane painted on the right side of PD, and Raymond Road is a nice little shortcut to Elver Park. Beyond Elver is Hammersley, which is a straight shot to the Southwest Bike trail. However, there are a few hills on this route and they wore me down.

I stopped at a barn sale at PD and Raymond Road. Lots of old stuff on sale. I bought a little tool that resembled a patiche, the digging tool I used during my archaeology summer in Israel. I thought it might make a good visual aid for future archaeology lectures.

A welcome site was a tent offering free refreshments where the trail crossed Midvale Blvd. A nice couple from Midvale Baptist was there offering water and granola bars, and information on next weekend's second annual block party.

As the Southwest Bike Path intersected with the Lake Monona bike path, I decided not to take my usual route the rest of the way home because I didn't want to go up any more hills. Questionable logic, since the route going the other way probably took twice as long. But I haven't biked all the way around Lake Monona yet this year, so I went ahead. I biked on by the Fete de Marquette, the Marquette Neighborhood Festival in the site of Madison's future Central Park.

I finally arrived home about 3:30 after a grueling 3½ hour, 40-mile bike ride. Haven't ridden that far on a bike in one day in almost 30 years. Whew!

Over the river and through the woods and around the lake

2007-07-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

My children have heard the story of how I rode my bicycle to grandma's house when I was 12 years old. It was a 40-mile trip, from Prairie du Chien to Lancaster, back before 10+ speed bikes were common. It was high adventure for a young almost teenager, very challenging but yet very simple in its execution. Basically you get on your bike and keep pedalling until you get there. A few years ago I found the postcard my grandma sent my parents announcing my safe arrival. Back in those days long distance telephone calls were rare, reserved for emergencies and other major events.

Recently when son Sam hit 12 and finally picked up the fine art of bike riding, I broached the idea of another bike ride to grandma's house. He's not quite ready for the challenge, even though his grandma now only lives about 15 miles away and there are marked bike trails for most of the route. But after thinking about the trip off and on I decided I wanted to do it anyway.

So last night I threw my bike in the back of the van for our visit to grandma's in Middleton. After enjoying a meal together, and while Anne started to load up some transplantable flora into the van, I hopped on the bike and headed for home.

Lake Mendota Drive took me into Madison and it was easy travel until I approached Eagle Heights, where the street was torn up. But I got through OK and soon I was on the Howard Temin Memorial Lakeshore path on the UW campus. As I slowed down and threaded my way through scattered knots of people gathering to watch Rhythm and Booms across the lake at Warner Park I was reminded of rich memories associated with the campus:

A day in the woods at an archaeological dig with my son Sam near Picnic Point just a few years ago.
A date out at the tip of Picnic Point with a lady friend many years ago to watch 4th of July fireworks from Warner Park, before the era of Rhythm and Booms. It wasn't a very good place to see the fireworks, too many trees.
A week living in the Elm Drive dorms even earlier, my first experience with the UW campus as I attended a library camp while still in high school.
Four semesters in the Adams Hall dormitory as an undergrad at the UW. Lots of time spent talking the lakeshore path in those days.

There was a huge crowd at the Memorial Union Terrace to watch the fireworks. I walked my bike across the library mall. Music was pouring out of the windows and doorways of the University Club, apparently from a wedding reception. Can't ever remember seeing that much activitity there.

I linked up with the Southwest Trail near the Kohl Center, then cruised through Brittingham Park. Since it was getting pretty dark I decided to settle down and wait for the fireworks, to see what kind of view was available across Monona Bay. Last year Sam and I tried to get some firework shots with the capitol dome in them from Olin Park, but they didn't line up well.

I found an empty bench along West Shore Drive, the Arlan Kosok memorial bench, and settled in. I was pretty much alone, except for a muskrap poking along through the water, the fireflys and a few cruising bats. I soon noticed the aerial bombs had started at Warner Park, anticipating the start of the fireworks. Counting the interval between flash and boom took about 20 seconds, so I guess I was about four miles away from Warner Park, across the bay, the isthmus, and Lake Mendota.

As the fireworks began I snapped a few shots with my digital camera atop tripod. But the again they weren't lining up right. So I walked around the bay and snapped a few more photos here and there. By the time I got almost to the end of South Shore Drive I was getting close to what I was looking for (see above). Next year I think I'll just settle in at Bernie's Beach.

By this time it was quite dark. So I pulled out my bike light, which I've used about a half dozen times in the last three decades. Then it was another 15 minutes along familiar territory, including the final stretch through the woods at Paunack Park and across the Yahara River into Monona, and I was safely home.

It was a pleasant trip. Next time, if I don't dawdle along the way, I should be able to make it in an hour, now that I know which way to go.

From Local News to the White House Beat

2007-06-11T18:41:00.001-07:00

Washington Post Media columnist Howard Kurtz praises CBN White House reporter David Brody (left) as a Christian journalist with chutzpah. Brody gets kudos for being assertive, balanced and objective, which is what reporters are supposed to be. But apparently Christian reporters who do such are due for extra recognition.

I'm not a regular watcher of the 700 Club and its news reporting. The few times I have seen the news roundup I was a little bugged by the switching back and forth from news reports to commentary by Pat Robertson back to news reports. I know some folks who work in the newsroom there and I think they're fine journalists who do a great job.

The Christian White House reporter who set the standard for all who followed him was Forrest Boyd, who covered Richard Nixon for the Mutual Network for a number of years. Later he started his own IMS news network, which was the first to offer professional international and national news coverage to Christian radio stations. His newsroom included, over the years, Cal Thomas, Vic Beatty, Kim Lawton, Carl Ramsey, Bill Clough, Jim Mills and others. Many of them I've been able to know as friends.

One of my best friends (and former tennis opponent) in journalism is John DeDakis, who went from local news coverage at Madison's WMTV (now known as NBC15) to White House reporter for CBN. John (above right) has always been an outstanding journalist and did an outstanding job in one of the prestige positions in network news. After a few years he left CBN for CNN, and moved to Atlanta. But now he's back in Washington DC, as chief copy editor for Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room. John is also a novelist.

John said he read the column and experienced a bit of deja vu.

Deja Vu all over again again

2007-05-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Gas prices out of control, a president in trouble, an unpopular war, the home run record threatened, sounds like 1974 all over again. At least that's what the folks at boston.com are trying to convince us. Hmmm, interesting. Probably just wishful thinking, in hopes that 43 will follow 37 and leave office early.

I remember 1974. I had just graduated from college and was beginning my first full time news job, at WOSH in Oshkosh. I was adjusting to a new career and a new city, with lots to learn. One of my roommates, who also happened to work at WOSH, invited me along to a Brewers game when he went home to visit family in Wauwautosa. I think it was probably my first visit to County Stadium. I do remember seeing Henry Aaron hit a homerun, a towering blast that sailed off into the lights on a midsummer's night. After growing up listening to the Braves on the radio year after year, and then riding the board for numerous Brewers games at my first radio job, seeing a Hank Aaron homerun on my first visit to County Stadium was pretty neat. Henry Aaron remains one of the classiest guys ever to put on a baseball uniform.

I broke into radio about the same time as Bob Uecker. I got to hear him a lot as he started his play-by-play career because I was assigned a lot of board shifts covering Brewers baseball games. Bob's first partner, Merle Harmon, was probably his best partner. In fact I suspect that Bob would credit Merle with helping him master the craft. He's long been considered one of baseball's top announcers, due to his wit and the extensive knowledge of baseball he acquired as a second string catcher. One of the funniest exchanges I remember was when the Brewers were facing Phil Niekro, I think it was. Merle Harmon asked Bob whether catchers ever threw knuckle balls back to the pitcher. Or was it spitters?

A lot of other things happened in 1974 but it was a pretty good year for baseball.

Beating the Beltline

2007-05-11T18:32:00.001-07:00

Maybe I have a low adventure threshold, but I'd been looking forward to today's commute for weeks. I took the bus to work. In so doing I managed to avoid the beltline traffic jam that has developed in the construction zone, which we'll be enduring for the next couple months. And it didn't really take that much longer.

Last year I started biking home after work several times a week. Carpooling across town with my brother, it was easy just to throw the bike in the back of his truck. The 45 minute pedal home felt good at the end of the work day. It was good exercise and I was doing my little bit to alleviate traffic congestion.

Knowing that my brother would be traveling this weekend I started checking out the bus routes several weeks ago to see if I could find something that worked for me. And sure enough, bus #12 stops two blocks from my house and goes all the way to the West Transfer station. From there it's a short downhill ride to work. And the bus ride only takes 40 minutes, even though it winds through town.

The most intimidating part of this whole adventure, and a bit of a risk factor, was the bike rack on the bus. I'd never used it before and I worried about looking like a doofus in front of a whole bus load of people. (I shared this with a friend at lunch who said the same thing.) But the Madison Metro Ride Guide has a pretty plain description of how the bus rack works and I studied it closely.

So at 6:59 I was at Bridge and Lake Pointe as the bus pulled up. It took about one minute to get my bike in the rack. I paid the fare (less than one half the cost of a gallon of gas), and settled in to my seat. As the bus pulled away I noticed a number of kids waiting for their own bus to take them to school and was reminded of my last international trip in 2001. We were on a tour bus leaving Istanbul during morning rush hour as people were heading off to work and off to school. For some reason it felt the same to me. It was indeed a gorgeous, sunny morning and I had the luxury of watching the city scapes pass by as the bus trundled on. Most days I miss a lot of that because I'm basically on and off the beltline. And for much of the last 30 years I went to work before the sun was up so I didn't see much at all.

The bus rolled up John Nolen Drive to the capital square, and then rumbled down State Street. Then it was out University Avenue to Whitney Way and on to the West Transfer Station, arriving right on schedule at 7:39.

At the end of the day I enjoyed another bike ride home. I was tempted to head through the arboretum. Earlier in the week I noticed everything was in bloom as I pedaled through. But I stuck to my main route this time, down the Southwest Trail. Next week is Bike to Work week. I think my plan is operational. I could get used to this.

See you on the Radio

2007-04-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

Somewhere on the scale between early adopters and Luddites there are people like me who are in no hurry for another learning curve but we keep up on what's new so that if there is something that's going to be really useful we can get the benefit of it.

I was way ahead of most of my colleagues back at the radio station on digital editing because it saved me a ton of time editing my weekly BOOK & THE SPADE radio program. But I still prefer an old fashioned pocket calendar to a Palm Pilot. I upgrade if and when I need to.

Yesterday I was thinking about how much I enjoy seeing my digital photos as screen saver on my laptop computer. It's a much more accessible way to keep them close at hand than when I used to shoot slides, or even get prints made at the drug store.

So, I was thinking that if I had a digital TV of some kind or another, and maybe a fireplace to hang it over--scratch the fireplace that's not going to happen, but OK a digital TV on the wall-- then how hard would it be to connect my computer so I could enjoy my photos in an even larger format? Probably not too complicated, I decided, maybe there's even an application designed to make it easier.

Then this morning I was reading an email by Bill McCloskey of Email DataSource Inc., and he explained that it's very easy to work it out if you buy a new Apple TV unit that streams all kinds of media from your computer into the living room. It's not just for TV, which is good to know since there's not much worth watching on TV these days anyway except PBS. By the way, I don't have cable, with Apple TV it looks like I could easily continue to get along without it.

Here's how Bill described his experience with Apple TV:

I originally purchased it in order to stream my extensive music collection through my big magneplanar stereo speakers. I did try out the “TV” portion by downloading “Terminator 2” and an episode of the old Alfred Hitchcock show, and it worked great: the Terminator movie looked just like a DVD.

But the real eye-opener was this: my family sat around all Saturday morning listening to podcasts from our favorite NPR programs. We literally sat around the TV, looking at the screen saver while listening to “Fresh Air,” “This American Life,” and “Sound Check.” The next night my son and I were listening to podcasts of two interviews with authors and we were debating the relative merits of each one’s philosophy. And it was FUN.

Podcasts and iPods have always been a solitary experience. But the new AppleTV suddenly places radio content front and center in the family entertainment area. Looking at my 13-year-old, my 16-year-old, and my wife sitting in our individual Barcaloungers (yeah, I know -- we’re sick) staring out into space and listening to the radio, I thought – Is there a golden age of radio in our future?

Ah, a new golden age for radio, courtesy of the internet and Apple TV. Another nudge away from the PC world. And listening to The Book & The Spade on television...that sounds exciting!

Ah spring

2007-03-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Spring officially arrived last Tuesday but it looks like today is the most springlike day so far this year. With today's high approach 80 it's the warmest day so far. The birds were singing lustily when I went out to get the newspaper early this morning, with a bunch of robins in the crab apple tree. Later I was reading the paper on the back porch and heard a sandhill crane circling overhead. Nearby was another large bird circling at the same time, a hawk or a young eagle.

Driving to and from the Twin Cities at evening time this past week I couldn't help noticing the deer feeding in fields along I-94. The number of feeding deer I saw this trip far exceeded the number seen any other trip along this route which makes me wonder if the Wisconsin deer herd is finally growing out of control. In terms of vehicle collission damage and farm field damage, Wisconsin residents are going to pay the price.

I was in Minneapolis for the SPJ Region 6 annual conference, which always offers interesting insights from the front lines of journalism. I also took the train from the hotel, near the Mall of America, downtown to the Metrodome, and walked over to Bethlehem Baptist Church. There my friend Ed Brown was giving a presentation on creation care, which is a great topic for the first days of spring.

James Madison, Mr. Sunshine.

2007-03-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

It's not that I haven't had anything to say. It's just that I'm saying it elsewhere. For instance, there's a quote in yesterday's Capital Times on Sunshine Week in Wisconsin (a very important issue). Which prompted a post on one of my other weblogs, the SPJ Region 6 blog, on more Sunshine thoughts, and how they relate to the namesake of our Capital City. BTW, James Madison's birthday was yesterday. I hope you celebrated appropriately.

Radio Heroes

2007-02-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

I started out writing a post for this blog this past weekend and ended up posting it on the news site, allgodspeople.com as a commentary due to some of the information at some of the links. It's the story of the Mad City Radio Heroes contest, held 20 years ago this month. I happened to be in the right place at the right time and experienced what may have been the high point of my radio career. Not like it was all down hill after that, there have been a lot of highlights. But it was a fun ride with some great memories, even though it lasted only a couple weeks.

Cloning the Canon

2007-02-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

Son Sam has been practicing one of the most beautiful music compositions of all time. I still remember the first time I heard it. I was picking up a friend to take her to church. I think I was almost 25 years old at the time. We had a few extra minutes and she asked me if I'd heard this song. I said no. She cued up the record and played it. I couldn't believe I had lived almost a quarter of a century and had never heard, or heard of this song.

Today I own several recorded versions of this song. Once I checked out a CD in the library that was full of about 14 different versions people had recorded the song, some very traditional, some electronic, some rather bizarre.

Now my son can play it on the piano, from memory. I told him as long as he remembers how to play this song, he will never want for friends. I don't know why I said that. I guess I remember that Steve Martin used to recommend that every campaigning politician take up the banjo. It would make their campaigns a lot more palatable. ("I'd like to tell you about my plans for health care, but first how about a little Foggy Mountain Breakout.")

Anyway, it was recital day today and Sam did a great job.

No Regrets

2007-02-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

The 14th annual No Regrets statewide Men's Conference was held at Elmbrook Church yesterday. This was my first time and it was a very inspiring and challenging day. And a little scary. With temps around two degrees to start the day, it hasn't been cold like this for most of the last ten winters. On the bus on the way down I happened to glance out the window to see a car that was trying to pass us hit a slick spot and skid into the median. Fortunately the heavy snow slowed the car to a stop and it didn't look like the driver was injured. Several other accidents were reported on the way.

I enjoyed hearing former InterVarsity president Gordon MacDonald. He was the featured speaker and both messages were very challenging. It was also good to hear Mel Lawrenz, of Elmbrook Church, and Joe Urcavich, of Green Bay Community Church, two senior pastors of two of the largest churches in two of the state's largest cities. Good to know that such well-spoken men of God are in leadership in those communities.

P.S. Someone wanted to know what the message was about. Sorry, I was going to come back and add a link to this post. I wrote up a story on it and posted the story on the all gods people website.

P.P.S. I also recorded a little video of the singing...

Condemning tyranny and defending Christianity

2007-01-30T16:37:00.000-08:00

Since I've been talking about the WWII era (see previous post) and today is the birthday of one of the great presidents of the 20th century, I wanted to mention a column by Editor in Chief Marvin Olasky in last week's WORLD magazine.

Olasky offered the following quotes, asking which 20th century U.S. president was responsible for them:

"No greater thing could come to our land today than a revival of the spirit of religion. . . . I doubt if there is any problem—social, political, or economic—that would not melt away before the fire of such a spiritual awakening."

"We guard ourselves against all evils—spiritual as well as material—which may beset us. We guard against the forces of anti-Christian aggression, which may attack us from without, and the forces of ignorance and fear which may corrupt us from within."

"Today the whole world is divided between human slavery and human freedom—between pagan brutality and the Christian ideal."

"We face one of the great choices of history . . . the continuation of civilization as we know it versus the ultimate destruction of all that we have held dear—religion against godlessness . . ."

"There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. . . . [Some say] the United States might just as well throw its influence into the scale of a dictated peace, and get the best out of it we can. They call it a 'negotiated peace.' Nonsense! Is it a negotiated peace if a gang of outlaws surrounds your community . . . ?"

"No governmental organization in all history has been able to keep the human touch to the same extent as church and private effort."

Yes it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, born on this date 125 years ago. The quotes are from The Faith of FDR by William J. Federer (Amerisearch). He didn't even mention the prayer that Roosevelt prayed on national radio on D-Day.

Churchill

2007-01-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

I was reminded today that we are a product of our past. My past has a lot of journalism in it. My first job in journalism was delivering the old Milwaukee Journal to the residents of Prairie du Chien for three years back in the 1960's. Put a lot of miles on my bicycle in those days. We were so far on the other side of the state that the Journal became a morning paper by the time it got to us. The paper I brought home at the end of my route introduced me to the news of the day, a lot of which I didn't understand or appreciate as well as I do now, but you have to start somewhere.

The biggest headline I remember from those days was the day that Winston Churchill died, which happened to be on this day 42 years ago. Something about that bold headline the next morning made me hold onto that paper for years afterward. Later, in high school, I chose Churchill's iron curtain speech as my forensics entry and rode it to victory in the sectional forensic competition in Boscobel. I didn't do quite as well with it at the regional competition later at the UW-Platteville but that wasn't the fault of the speech.

One thing I found hard to understand then was the realization that right after the end of World War II, when Churchill's leadership was crucial for turning back the Nazi war machine, he was turned out of office by the voters. Now I understand a lot more about the fickle nature of voters.

He was larger than life but like all mortals his lifespan eventually came to an end. A reminder to us all to live well and be ready to meet our destiny.

More new stuff

2007-01-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

Continuing with the theme of the new year, and trying new stuff, I decided to shoot a video today and post it to YouTube. I had to buy lunch for two of my progeny to gain their compliance, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Thanks for all of the feedback on the Frappr map. I also posted it to one of my other blogs, for my Book & The Spade radio program. So I can't tell who responded through which blog. But it was still a lot of fun to see all of the responses from all over creation. The internet is amazing, isn't it?

Mapping the worldwide web

2007-01-05T18:16:00.000-08:00

It's a new year, time for new things. Just thought I'd add a Frappr map and see where folks are located who are checking out this weblog. Please add yourself and leave a shout out. Don't be shy. Best wishes for a prosperous new year, y'all.

Oh, and by the way, I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal today. (Just as part of my job, nothing I did really.) Not a bad way to start the year.

GG

Great Way to End the Year

2006-12-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

InterVarsity's Urbana 06 Student Missions Convention is going on this week in St. Louis. It's 22,000 college students and other folks interested in finding out what God is doing in the world and how God might call them to be a part of it. We're getting pretty good media coverage, which I like. In fact, this morning, I was able to accompany pastor Rick Warren to a local church for a live shot on Good Morning America. He managed to get in a few words about Urbana, ending the interview on a very optimistic note. For more on this exciting Urbana convention go to www.urbana.org and www.intervarsity.org.

Speaks right but doesn't fit somehow

2006-12-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

They pegged the accent right.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

But then I took the "How Wisconsin Are You" quiz and somehow came in under 50%. I know I answered all the Packer questions right. Hmmm.

The son of Zechariah

2006-12-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

My latest blog entry is on John the Baptist and the new movie, The Nativity Story. It's posted at www.allgodspeople.com.

Compassion and Politics

2006-12-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

Recent news coverage on the research done by Syracuse University Professor Arthur Brooks indicated that conservatives were generally more generous than liberals when it comes to charitable donations. "His main finding is quite startling, that the people who talk the most about caring actually fork over the least," said Harvard University professor Harvey Mansfield.

However, today's article in the Wisconsin State Journal seems to indicate somewhat the opposite, though it doesn't come right out and say so. It reports that Wisconsin ranks 40th in the nation in charitable giving. However, "Dane County residents give 7.3 percent of their discretionary income to charity, compared top 6.4 percent nationally."

I'm not sure what it means, except we're in the giving season now, and it seems like we all could do a little better on behalf of those who need our help.

Mid-Day Thanksgiving Day

2006-11-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

The beltline traffic was steady on the bridge over the river, the Yahara River bridge to be precise. In the woods on the other side of the bridge, three shots rang out, then two more. Not everyone was headed to grandma's house.

On the docks at the boatyard the mallards and the sea gulls were sunning themselves. The mallards were in one group, closer to shore. The sea gulls were at the end of the dock, closest to the bridge.

Every post but one at the end of the dock had a sea gull resting on top of it. The gull for the final post was on his way in from Lake Waubesa. He soared over the bridge and circled around his mates. He overshot the post on his first attempt, circled around and finally settled in on the last vacant post. A few minutes later one of the other seagulls took off into the sky, skimming south across the bridge, headed south towards Lake Waubesa. Must've been a shift change.

The Medflight helicopter choppered by, heading south towards some tragedy that interupted someone's holiday.

Even though it was almost noon the winter sun was low enough in the southern sky to make a bright reflection in the river waters. The sun made it tempting to linger and recharge the vitamin D reserves a little longer. Ah, but there's turkey waiting. Back on the bike, more thankful thoughts. This is a beautiful day for a holiday.

From one fallen leader to another

2006-11-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

Twenty years ago today InterVarsity Christian Fellowship dedicated its new office on the west side of Madison, after vacating their former premises on Langdon Street, next to the UW campus. I remember doing a live radio interview with president Gordon MacDonald on that day, one-on-one, Gordon-on-Gordon.

Those were exciting days for InterVarsity, a national ministry working with students and faculty on university and college campuses. It was also the 45th anniversary of InterVarsity's founding. In addition to its new facilities it had a new, dynamic leader who had national stature in evangelical Christian circles. But a few months later InterVarsity was in crisis, Gordon MacDonald was forced to resign after admitting a moral failure.

Now 20 years later, I find myself working at InterVarsity, much to my surprise. The organization seems poised for a new period of growth. And Gordon MacDonald worked his way through a restoration process and has become an elder statesman in the faith. He speaks with a great amount of authority on the recent moral failure of Rev. Ted Haggard and what it will take to recover, by virtue of his own experience in that area.

The media can easily become the villain in these scenarios, whether it's a national leader or a local leader who's fallen. It's easy to blame the messenger. And it's certainly not an easy thing for those who in the spotlight in these situations, or their family members. But, the good news is that there is hope and there is healing. It's a process, it takes time, and it must be intentional.

The wrong thing to do is sweep sin under the rug and pretend it didn't happen. Time does not automatically heal all wounds. Forgiveness is needed and forgiveness is not easy. Foregiveness takes time and it takes daily effort. It takes friends who are kind and loving but are also not afraid to be confrontational.

Twenty years ago I would have been amazed to see myself working at my present job. A lot has happened in the lives of my family, my close friends and myself the last 20 years that I would not have believed if I had been foretold of them. Yet God is at work, good can be redeemed from bad. We should be humbly hopeful as we press on.

Ed Bradley

2006-11-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

I have several photos in my collection of friends shaking hands with Ed Bradley, plus this one. Ed Bradley was honored by the Radio Television News Directors Association with the Paul White award in 2000. I think the convention was in Minneapolis that year, probably the last RTNDA convention I attended. There was a small caucus of Christian radio news directors there that year, which made it a memorable experience. And seeing Ed Bradley was a bonus.

I think it was the way he allowed his humanity to surface in his reporting that set him apart from other broadcast journalists. That was evident from the first time I saw him on the air.

60 Minutes Producer Don Hewitt called Ed Bradley one of the two top talents in television news then (along with Katie Couric). In an interview with RTNDA COMMUNICATOR (in conjunction with the Paul White Award), Ed Bradley talked about how he became a news reporter. It reminded me of how I went from being a curious radio listener, to a radio announcer to a news reporter.

I had no training as a journalist and I used to listen to the CBS News hourly reports. That was my classroom. I would listen to how they told the story, to what elements they used, to how it sounded, and that's who I patterned myself after, the people who were on CBS News.
So I heard this reporter talking about a riot that was going on and I realized that he was a Philadelphia reporter. Then he signed off and I said, "Wow, that's North Philly."
So I went up there, saw what was going on, and called the station (WDAS, where he had been working as a volunteer). They said, "Well, you know, do something and we'll put you on the air." So I just got on the phone and the engineer patched me in and I did reports. I'd get a community leader and bring him to the phone, call up the station and do an interview over the phone with the guy.
Then I learned how to do wrap arounds and things like that. The only thing I'd ever done with news was to read copy sitting at the microphone in the studio. I had never been out covering a story but boy, was that fun.
I came to CBS in 1967. During the interview, they asked if I could send an actuality. I wasn't sure what actuality as, but I couldn't let them know that. So I said, "Well, just how do you mean? Specifically what would you like?"
At that point I was FM program director and I was doing a music show so I wasn't really doing news anymore. I knew I had no actuality and I said, "You know we're a small station and we don't save tape, so I don't have anything to send you. But why don't you give me a tape recorder and I'll get you some actuality here."
Ed Joyce, who was the news director, said they thought I was a little crazy, but they gave me a tape recorder. I went out and found a story. And part of the reason I got the job was because of the initiative that I showed.
Ed told me later, because of that, when reporters would come from out of town to interview for jobs, they would give them a tape recorder and look on the day book and say, "Here's a news conference," or "Here's a demonstration. Here's a story, go cover it."
My formula for success has three parts. Be prepared, work hard, and hope for a little luck. Recognize that the harder you work and the better prepared you are, the more luck you might have. And part of that luck is being willing to take a risk.
Somebody may be better than you, somebody may have more talent than you, but they can't out-prepare you.

No more Mr. Nice Guy

2006-11-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

I did a quick web search trying to find out if I could discover who first said, "No more Mr. nice guy" but with no success. I'm tempted to suggest it was Don Knotts, on the Andy Griffith show, after some malefactors took advantage of Barney Fife.

It's now a classic phrase and a variation of it is being used by author Paul Coughlin as the title of a book and the name of a series of conferences, No More Christian Nice Guy. He's going to be appearing in Madison next Saturday, at Lake City Church.

I had a chance to talk with Paul Coughlin for a news item for our local Christian community internet portal, All God's People, and found his observations about 21st century Christian man quite insightful. So the interview transcript is featured on AGP, but you can also listen to the interview. I've posted the mp3 file online. Listen now or right click and download to enjoy later. And if you can make it to the conference, I think you'll find it's time well spent.

Woody & Billy

2006-11-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

In light of all everything else that's going on this weekend, the weekend before the election, you will enjoy discovering that Ann Althouse has posted this refreshing video of Woody Allen interviewing Billy Graham from a 1969 TV show. Watch the video, and then read the comments.

Perception & Reality

2006-11-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

A year ago I wrote down an observation that the autumn leaf display seemed to be longer lasting and the leaves were brighter than usual. I wasn't sure that was the case, but it seemed so to me. This year, looking back, it does seem that last year was better and brighter.

Perception doesn't always match reality but often it takes awhile for the true picture to come into focus. Such may be the case with the Rev. Ted Haggard, who stands accused of involvement with a male prostitute. Whether the allegations are true, or to what extent they're true, will take time to discern as the story unfolds. My friends at GetReligion.org are keeping an eye on how the story is being reported.

The story seems to be a product of the extreme emotions that are at play as the political season comes to a climax next Tuesday. Reports say the turnout may be the highest in decades because of the issues at stake and the winning side will probably be the side that can best get out the vote.

While I'm pleased that lots of folks will be voting, the demonization and character assassination that's going on amongst so many of the campaigns is a heavy price to pay for that kind of response. But then again, when one remembers how the most perfect man who ever lived was slandered and attacked, it's not that surprising.

I met Ted Haggard once, when he agreed to be on a panel I was coordinating for the 2004 National Religious Broadcasters convention to discuss news on Christian radio. I invited Haggard, as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, to discuss the importance of Christians being informed to live a life of effective discipleship. He was right on target with a number of sharp observations. One in particular, I remember, skewered Christian radio for living in its own sequestered circles instead of meeting the listening needs of its audience and its potential audience. Specifically he recalled driving down a freeway and running into a horrendous roadblock. Tuning the dial for practical traffic information all he could find on the Christian stations was canned preaching that had been produced at another time and another place and had little relevance to his traffic predicament.

Well, now he's in a new predicament. I don't think he needs Christian radio to tell him what to do. He needs to spend some time with the real thing, the Good Book.

Another weblog

2006-10-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Now I'm up to four weblogs that I have to attempt to keep primed with cogent comments and pertinent observations. (I'm tempted to switch to impertinent observations but I don't want to get too popular.) The latest weblog serves the Society of Professional Journalists, Region 6. So my more journalistic observations may be showing up there, instead of here. Or maybe both places, who knows?

The latest post on "Write rite," the new blog, concerns Anthony Shadid, among other things. He's one of the more recent illustrious graduates of the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communications. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for international reporting. He was also shot while reporting on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. I thought he had some good observations about reporting in a war zone, one of the more challenging jobs in journalism.

Rush Hour

2006-10-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

Beltline traffic didn't used to be much of a problem, back when I drove to work at 5am and headed for home around 1-2pm. I liked those hours, particularly from a traffic standpoint. But now I'm travelling during rush hour and negotiating the congested traffic lanes is a bit more challenging.

I've been doing my part to try to be a responsible commutor, car pooling and bicycling during much of the summer. It was a great feeling to come around the John Nolen Drive bike path, nearing the home stretch, and observing the 4-wheel traffic creeping along on the beltline.

Now the weather is getting colder and wetter and I haven't been able to bike as much. I have friends who bike all year long, and I used to do that, back in my youthful paper route days. But it's not for me now. And now that the weather is getting darker and wetter the odds are increasing for those annoying accidents on the beltline that slow down the drive for us all. Sometimes it's slippery conditions, sometimes it's inattentive driving, sometimes it's bad maintenance. Yesterday I saw a limo parked along the median that apparently lost a wheel, according to the traffic report.

Well, last Wednesday I was that accident. Normally I leave work around 4pm. The traffic hasn't quite peaked by that time. But I had a late meeting so I was finally heading home around 5pm. Rounding the curve and heading down the Seminole Highway hill I found myself in a long line of cars suddenly slamming on their brakes. The car in front of me stopped completely and I couldn't stop in time, sliding on the wet pavement right into the rear bumper. The tow truck driver, the Sheriff's traffic deputy and the Town of Madison police officer were all very cordial and efficient. It took less than an hour to clear it out and get the details taken care of.

My van was the only one suffering damage. But due to its age and mileage, and the air bags popping and the radiator cracking, it was not worth fixing. So the upside on the whole affair is that now I'm driving a Toyota Rav4 CUV.

This is the first time in nine vehicles that I've owned a foreign car. After ten years in two minivans, I'm now back to a more gas efficient vehicle. So far it seems like a good fit. I'm hoping to put another 100,000+ miles on this little car over the next 6-7 years.

Dawn's Early Light

2006-10-07T18:05:00.000-07:00

Autumn is in full bloom in Dairyland and what better way to see it than from 1,000 feet up in a hot air balloon. I meet with a bunch of guys almost every Saturday morning and on my way this morning I spotted a "crack-of-dawn" lift-off just southeast of Madison. Fortunately I had my camera along. (This image is from a few minutes later, when the balloon passed right over the house where we were meeting.)

The colors of autumn are nearing their peak. Next weekend we'll be driving north where they're probably already past peak, but I'm already looking forward to the trip. Someday it may be nice to live in a warmer climate. The winters here are starting to get a little tedious but I still love the four seasons. They keep it all from being just a blur, with one year morphing into another. Time passes fast enough as it is.

The rest of the day was just as beautiful as the dawn. I soaked up lots of rays watching a soccer game later in the morning (a losing effort for our side, but we'll do better next week).

This afternoon I noticed our backyard crab apple tree, loaded down with tiny red fruit, was also starting to see new color as the leaves started turning.

Yesterday, riding my bike home on the Capital City trail through Fitchburg, the weather was close to perfect. I'm looking forward to another month of biking, I hope. Don't come too quickly old man winter.

To Spite My Face

2006-10-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

This week my employer sued my alma mater. The issue is religious freedom on campus and whether or not Christian groups like InterVarsity should have the freedom to impose religious requirements on the men and women who will lead a registered student organization that happens to have a religious purpose. It seems like a basic, open and shut, First Amendment case, especially in light of last summer's decision by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. But the handwriting on the wall seemed to become even more clear after some additional recent developments in the realms of eduation and law. Yesterday Harvard announced it was going to make teaching about religion a priority. And earlier this week a federal judge here in Wisconsin ruled that religious organizations could not be discriminated against by a state-operated charity fundraising program simply because they required their leaders and members to have religious convictions.

"(E)xcluding a religious charitable organization from participation in the Wisconsin State Employees Combined Campaign solely because that organization discriminates on the basis of religion or creed in choosing its governing board and employees is constitutionally impermissible," U.S. District Judge John C. Shabaz wrote in his order.

It's time for the UW to stop treating evangelical Christian groups like second class citizens. All religious groups should be treated fairly and equally. Does anyone think for a minute that Jewish student groups would allow themselves to be required to let Gentiles lead their organizations, or Muslim student groups should be required to let non-Muslims lead their organizations.

This is political correctness run amuck and patently ridiculous.

Finally home but still restless

2006-09-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday ended a two and a half-year long, hurricane-interupted, cross country trip that I will remember nostalgically for many years to come. I have never taken a trip this long before, and I have never enjoyed a trip quite like this.

Two and a half years is a long time, and my family and friends know that I haven't been gone that long. If you were guessing about trips of that length, you might think of an around-the-world journey or a cross-country trip. And you would be right. I'm talking about the journey of Lewis and Clark. But you may suggest that there were no hurricanes during the Lewis and Clark expedition. Which is correct, but there was a hurricane during the bicentennial of the expedition, hurricane Katrina.

And it was hurricane Katrina that interupted the daily weblog of http://www.lewisandclarkandwhatelse.com/. New Orleans lawyer Jim Petersen, who began the daily posts back in 2004, was uprooted from his home along with the rest of New Orleans. It was an inconvenience for those of us who had become emotionally dependent upon the daily history fix, but of course nothing like the inconvenience endured by those who were routed out of their homes and home towns. I was quite thrilled when the weblog picked up again at the beginning of 2006.

In the bookcase near my elbow is a copy of the Stephen Ambrose classic, Undaunted Courage. One of these days I'll get a chance to read it, and I know I'll enjoy it immensely. But I know I'll be thinking back to the past two and a half years of daily bite-sized trip updates that slowly led me across the continent and back. My effort was minimal, but chronologically it followed exactly along with the intrepid voyagers. Like them, my trip also took two and a half years.

I've intersected with the voyage geographically a couple of times. About ten years ago I drove to New Orleans for a convention and stopped on the way back at the park that overlooks the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. There's a Lewis and Clark monument there and since then they've also opened up a visitor's center.

About 15 years ago I attended a convention in Kansas City and stayed at a Howard Johnson Motel overlooking the Missouri River. There was a park on top of the bluff in back of the motel and I spent several relaxing hours unwinding and watching the river flow. When I returned to the park in 2002 I noticed a monument to Lewis and Clark had been added.

Also in 2002, son Sam and I drove west and included a stop at Fort Clatsop, near Astoria Oregon, on our itinerary. That evening we camped along the Oregon Trail and the next day we stopped at Promontory Summit Utah. In just over 24 hours we had hit the three high points of the westward migration. Fort Clatsop, by the way, was gutted by fire in 2005.

I'm going to miss my daily Lewis and Clark fix. I guess I need to find another place to get history in bite sized pieces. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that, but my mind goes back to the post for August 15th. John Colter, a member of the expedition, decides he doesn't want to return to civilization and requests to leave the group so he can head back up the Missouri River with two trappers they had met. Colter becomes the first white man to see the amazing Yellowstone area, and has an exciting career as a mountain man that lasts for several years before he finally returns to civilization.

Thank you Jim Petersen for the great trip!

9/11+5

2006-09-11T18:10:00.001-07:00

The fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks seemed especially noteworthy given all of the attention it received from the media today, almost as much as the first anniversary, back in 2002.

I remember I was on the road on 9-11-2002, heading for Fort Worth. I stopped on the way in Oklahoma City and visited the memorial there. A program had been held earlier and people were still lingering. You could feel the emotion hanging in the air as the sun was setting.

In 2004 I was on the road again, in New York City. The 11th hit on a Saturday. I took the subway down to Ground Zero and walked around. I saw many people doing what they were doing today, hushed in deep remembrance, trying to adequately recognize the sacrifices that had been made.

Like most people, I have a clear memory of that September 2001 morning. I suddently realized the CBS morning news camera was focusing in on the smoking tower on a brilliant sunny New York morning, and Bryant Gumbel was on the air, trying to figure out what was going on. Obviously something was horribly wrong but it was unclear what. I switched over to NBC and the local affiliate hadn't picked up on it yet. They were still running the first hour of the Today Show, which had been live on the east coast the previous hour.

Soon all of the networks were showing the same tragic New York cityscape. But even then the answers to our questions were days and weeks, even months, from being satisfactorily answered, if at all.

One of my clearest 9/11 remembrances is actually from September 10th. I took a walk with my son and our retriever over to the lake. Sitting on the bench, watching the sun slowly sink towards the horizon, I relaxed and watched a jet scratch its white contrail straight across the sky. It was peaceful, a common experience. I like to watch the jets and think about where they're going. Then I noticed another and another. Four jets in all filled the sky that evening, taking busy people to their far flung appointments.

The next day the sky was empty.

Back to School

2006-09-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

This was back to school week at our house, as at many other homes. But it wasn't just Sam, starting off to 7th grade. It was back to school for me, starting a new course of study at the University of Wisconsin. I don't know what to say, except that it feels like the first step on a long journey, again.

The first time I registered for college, in Marion Indiana about a third of a century ago, my dad was along and one of my brothers. I noticed that unlike a lot of kids there, I didn't have my parents telling me what courses to take and making other decisions for me. I think part of it was that my father worked in a factory and didn't really have much to say about what college classes were better than others. Although he did recommend that I take a swimming class and learn how to swim. He thought that would be very practical. And he was right. But I also thought it was because he raised us to be self-sufficient and practical.

He's been gone for more than ten years now. But I had a dream about him the other night. He was sitting at the table in the dining room and I was just walking by. And I gave him a hug. That was the best dream I can remember having in quite a while.

So I had my first class last Tuesday, and the class met again on Thursday. And I went to a college soccer game on Wednesday night. Not at the UW, but at Loras College in Dubuque. Niece Liz is goalee for the Grinnell College Pioneers. They played Loras to a 0-0 tie after two overtimes. Probably one of the toughest games both teams will play all year. Last year both teams qualified for the NCAA.

So here I am, Joe Student. Just got my homework done for the weekend. Now to get caught up on the rest of my life.

Windy City, not as wet as Madison last week

2006-08-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is not the only photo of ISTHMUS News Editor Bill Lueders teamed up with songwriter Pete Leidy, singing songs about journalism for the national convention of the Society of Professional Journalists in Chicago last week. But it's a pretty rare photo nonetheless. The writing was clever and the presentation was engaging. However, it was a tough gig for the duo, as the audience was preoccupied with the banquet and table conversation.

One of the most newsworthy events at the convention occured at the board meeting before the convention got underway. The SPJ Board of Directors voted to allocate $30,000 from our legal defense fund to the defense of Joshua Wolf, an independent journalist who is in prison in California for refusing to turn over unpublished material to a Grand Jury. This is the largest amount SPJ has ever given a journalist from our legal defense fund.

A proposal to change the governance of SPJ from representative democracy, through chapter delegates at the convention, to direct democracy, one member - one vote, was defeated by a vote of 70-65.

The convention venue, The Hyatt Regency, was just across the Chicago River from the Tribune Tower. I was able to attend one session in the Tribune newsroom. Across Michigan Avenue is the fabled Billy Goat Tavern, the haunt of many Chicago journalists including Mike Royko. A little further north is the home of the former Mirage Tavern, the scene of a legendary Chicago Sun Times sting of city building inspectors. The story was retold onsite for convention attendees, who packed the place, now known as the Brehon Pub.

Quotes and highlights:

"Truth has a way of lighting fires you don't expect."
- longtime Chicago TV news anchor and program producer Bill Kurtis, a keynote speaker at the convention. He also said, "We are reporters. We are written into the Constitution. They knew government would be hostile to the press but we were invited to the party by the hosts."

"The wild west of journalism"
- one panelist's description of blogging. There were a number of sessions that focuses on blogging in one way or another.

"How did we get from 'Congress shall make no law' to the government saying 'trust me?'"
- comment from the audience at the end of a panel discussing the need for a federal shield law.

"Pop culture has exploded in its expression of spirituality in recent years."
- Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times Religion Editor and panelist for "Holy and Hip: Faith in the Popular Culture Today"

Two wheelin'

2006-08-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal both had stories about bicycling in Madison in the last day or so. Madison is a bicycling city, no question. After a lag of about 20 years I finally got back into gear this year. Car pooling with my brother I've been able to throw a bike in the back of the truck or the van, haul it to work, and then bike home at the end of the day. Biking from the west side to Monona is more down hill than going in the opposite direction and getting the fresh air and exercise at the end of the day is very refreshing.

I started out biking through the arboretum once a week in the spring, and moved it up to thrice a week this summer, varying the route to include the Southeast Bike Trail past Edgewood College and the Capital City Trail through Fitchburg. This week I decided to push it a little more and bike all five days. But on Wednesday I got about two thirds of the way home and I felt something snap. I had to walk the bike the rest of the way home. About half way through the walk a guy riding by on his BMW motorcycle stopped and offered to take a look at the problem. He said he worked at Machinery Row. He fiddled with the brake a little to stop it rubbing but then figured out that something was wrong in the hub. So he couldn't help me, but I appreciated the assistance nonetheless. It was a very nice gesture. One other guy stopped to help.

The next day the bike shop told me that the hub was broke and the bike was too old to fix. I guess it has a free hub rather than a free wheel. So I was getting ready to trash the bike. But two good bike friends, Tom Palmer and Greg Zukowski, helped me find a better solution. We pulled the rear wheel off another old bike I had and that worked fine. Well not quite perfectly, but it's rideable. I've got my bike back and maybe I can ride it home all five days next week.

Pump Pressure

2006-08-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I got an invitation card in the mail, promising gas prices would be ten cents per gallon cheaper today at the Landmark Cenex station on Broadway. This afternoon, I was sitting at a picnic table at work enjoying the shade and breezes while I was typing on my computer and the bus driver who stopped by informed me that gas prices had just shot up 15 cents a gallon. Sure enough, on the way home, pump prices seemed to have uniformly ballooned to $3.19/gallon.

But I knew where to go, the Cenex station. There the gas was 25 cents cheaper, $2.94/gallon. And the lines really weren't that long. For a half hour wait, I saved about $5.00 on my fill. Enough to just about make it worthwhile, although a few stations in Monona still had gas marked at $3.04/gallon.

But the interesting thing to watch was the crowd behavior because the lines were uneven. The east lane was a lot shorter than the west lane. I guess it was because on the east side you had to stretch the gas hose all the way across the vehicle. I decided to watch and see what happened. I could've just jumped onto the east line but that seemed presumptious and pushy. There was a certain amount of peer pressure in play.

The guy behind me was obviously impatient. He sized up the situation for about ten minutes then pulled a creative, bold move. He drove up to the east line, spun his SUV around and backed into line.

Soon a couple of Bryant Air Conditioning fleet vans did the same thing, then a young lady in a sub-compact backed her car into line. It must have been very confusing for the people who arrived after that point, and wondered why the line coming out of the east pump was almost as long as the line going into the west pump.

Finally an older gentleman with an official looking uniform shirt came out and starting directing traffic to even up the lines. By that time I was almost to the front. As I was getting my fill-up at the west pump a guy who had waited almost as long as I had was at the east pump and they just couldn't stretch the gas hose across his mini van to reach his tank. By this time all of the backing around had ended but the attendant (yes they even had attendants today) finally suggested he turn around. But instead he said he was late for a meeting and just drove away, without the gas. After waiting for a half hour to save $5.00. Go figure.

Punching holes in the Holy Land

2006-07-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

The turmoil in the Middle East is sending up our gas prices and filling our news reports with stories of death and destruction. The missiles continue to fall in the neighborhoods of Israel. Israel says it's targetting Hezbollah in Lebanon but civilians are bearing the brunt of the destruction there as well. It's the worst fighting in this area in a quarter century. David Brooks' column, whose opening paragraph echoes the Jewish Passover ceremony, clearly shows why there's little hope for peace between the Israelis and their neighbors despite the Israeli's land for peace initiatives.

For the reasons that Brooks itemizes and for many other reasons I have little hope for any long term peace in this region. As long as Arabs demonize Israelis, their long term goal will be to eradicate the Jewish state. As long as Israel remains militarily strong, they will respond with the fist and the Arab neighborhoods, in the cities and refugee camps, will continue to suffer.

It's a vast humanitarian tragedy and there's a lot more that could be said and a lot more that's being said. I have little more to add but my tears and my prayers.

On a personal level, I lament the opportunities for understanding our ancient fore bearers that are missed when archaeology cannot be done. This summer was to have been the second summer of recovery since the second Intefada started a half dozen years ago. And some excavations, such as the new excavation in Gezer, have been in the field and wrapped up their season already. Other excavations, such as Hazor and Megiddo, are within missile range and I assume they have been curtailed. I haven't been able to get accurate information so far.

Having been to this region about ten times, I have many pleasant memories of the cities that have been targeted by missiles this week as well as Beirut. Well, my time in Beirut was very brief. A short airliner stop at the seaside airport bombed by the Israelis this week. I remember one of the Americans that got on board at that stop found out our group was from Madison and wanted to know how we liked our new UW-Madison chancellor, that great Lebanese American Donna Shalala. Shalala, of course, later got a rousing send-off from Madison when she went off to Washington to join the Clinton administration. After all, she had finally gotten the Badger athletic program on track.

Whenever we visited the archaeological sites of Tel Dan and Banias (known in the New Testament as Caesarea Philippi) we were within shouding distance of the Syria/Lebanese border. Occasionally we heard gunfire. The area is still filled with uncleared minefields. One trip we even went further north, to what was then called "The Good Fence," on the border at Metulla.

But, for some reason, my mind has often returned in the last few days to my visit to Nahariya, the first city targeted by this rocket war and the scene of another death today.

Several years ago I spent a day with archaeologist Motti Aviam, who was the archaeological inspector for this area. We were supposed to meet in Akko. I had never been in Akko, never met him before, had no clue where to go or how to find him. So I had the inspiration to stop at the visitor's center. They knew him, and called him. A couple minutes later he walked in and introduced himself.

He showed me the Akko sites where they were excavating and restoring the palaces of the Crusader knights. He also showed me the prison where the British had kept a number of Jews before and during WWII. His father had been imprisoned there, he said. He also took me to his excavation at Yodfat, the "Masada of the Galilee," where Jewish citizens were massacred by Roman soldiers during the first Jewish revolt.

But in between we made a short jaunt up to Nahariya because he wanted to show me some beautiful Byzantine mosaics that had been found and restored. They were in a little protective shed in a quiet neighborhood, just like some of the neighborhoods that were shown on the news today. I had a pleasant few minutes walking around and photographing them.

One picture featured a dog barking at a bird (above), which reminded me of home, where our parakeet used to torment our cockapoo. I felt a tug of homesickness for a minute, homesickness for the place where my family was safe and enjoyed peaceful haven from the stresses and dangers of the world. Would that the fighting can end soon and the citizens of Beirut, Tripoli, Tyre, Haifa, Nahariya, and Tiberias, as well as the Arab villages in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, can all rest peacefully and begin to live for their dreams again, instead of their nightmares.

ArtFairOnTheSquare

2006-07-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

It seems like it's been 15 years or so since I've been to the Art Fair on the Square, a long time at least. The large crowds guarantee that you'll run into a wide variety of friends and acquaintances. I saw a number of people from work and I know some of the artists who were on and off the square.

I don't know Ben Masel personally, but seeing him at the fair reminded me that we've both been around Madison for a long time. We first met just over 30 years ago. The date was a little foggy but the events of the day were clear in my memory. A check of some online federal court records revealed it was March 30, 1976. That morning I was assigned to go to the old Cuba Club on University Avenue to cover George Wallace, in town stumping for the Democrat party's presidential nomination. As I signed in I noticed Masel's name on the sheet, listed as a correspondent for the Yipster Times. We were sitting together with other reporters in the back of the room a short time later. But before I could engage him in conversation he had jumped to his feet, whipped out a paper mask of Arther Bremer, and begun to sing a song that mocked Wallace.

I stayed for the speech but Masel was quickly escorted away by the men in blue. It was a busy day, just a week before Wisconsin's presidential primary election (Jimmy Carter eventually squeezed by Morris Udahl with a last minute vote surge.). More candidates flew into the airport that afternoon. I was back at the radio station, working on my stories. But Masel was there to greet them and, in a moment of political passion, spit on Senator Henry Jackson. He was arrested and charged with assaulting a member of Congress.

Masel has been back in the news on a fairly regular basis over the years and now, as you can see, is challenging Herb Kohl for the Democrat party's Senatorial nomination. It should be an interesting campaign, especially since the Republicans don't seem to have been able to come up with a challenger.

At the art fair, my youngest son was intrigued by the "kinetic art" in one booth, little Rube Goldberg contraptions that endlessly recycled marbles while ringing bells, etc. The other son was intrigued by a painter who used comic themes and styles, and also enjoyed the chance to talk with his high school art teacher. My wife enjoyed the photographer who specialized in Amish life.

I was impressed by the metalworker who made model planes out of old soda pop cans. His display reminded me of a visit to the National Geographic Museum in Washington D.C. several years ago when I saw a collection of toys made by children in Africa. They had no money to buy toys so they very creatively made them from materials at hand. Some were made from old soda pop cans.

I thought it was amazing to see the many different ways beauty and creativity were being expressed by such a wide variety of talented people. Someone called it energizing, and yes I did feel that. It would be fun to do something creative that could be displayed at an art fair. Over the years I've thought about experimenting with hand tinted black and white photographs. However, I could see that there was a lot of work involved to create a display and make all of the artworks ready for display. The photographers, which I always enjoy, have a lot of mounting and framing to do for each of their photo exhibitions. Obviously it takes more than just talent; it takes a lot of time and effort to be an artist. Here's a salute to all of the artists in Madison today.

Christmas in July again

2006-06-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

One of our family Christmas traditions, for a dozen years or more, has been ringing the Christmas bell for the Salvation Army. It's a small gesture for a worthy and important organization.

Now the Salvation Army's Christmas in July observance is also becoming a habit. This year's experience seemed quite plain compared with last year or the year before. This year nobody expressed surprise at seeing the kettles out. Donations seemed fairly steady through the first hour at the Cub Foods Store on Verona Road. Again this year my friend Shirley Morrison spelled me for the second hour. We make a good team.

One curious event was watching four young men push grocery carts back to the store from the Allied Drive neighborhood across the way. They came down the bike path under Verona Road, giving the carts big pushes and watching them careen along the path. When they arrived at the parking lot they pushed the carts down the embankment to crash at the bottom. Then they decided to push them across the parking lot to see how far they would go. But hey, at least they brought them back.

I spent much of the time just reveling in the beauty of a summer day. I remembered coming to Madison with my family as a child. We usually came in on Verona Road. The stretch from Verona to Madison was the first 4-lane highway I'd ever ridden on.

We almost always went to the zoo during those visits. It was and remains one of Madison's great attractions. During one visit we noticed the pony ride they had back in those days. Turns out the ponies were from Prairie du Chien, where we lived. The Whites, who lived on the edge of town not far from us, had the pony ride concession in those days. They'd even built their own replica stage coach. The beautiful memories of a summer day.

Later at work I took my computer outside to the picnic table for awhile, to try to enjoy one of the best days of summer a little bit more.

A grievous wound

2006-06-11T05:50:00.000-07:00

The bayonet is a fearsome and intimidating weapon. But it was sparingly used during the Civil War, according to the re-enactors we visited yesterday at Camp Randall stadium. They said soldiers were more apt to use their gun as a club in close combat, it was more effective that way.

But those who did receive a triangular wound from one of those bayonets found that it was amazingly hard to heal for some reason. The presenter who was answering our questions said that he was explaining this to a group of people about a decade or so ago when a veteran lifted his shirt to show him a still-seeping stab wound received from a Chinese soldier's trefoil bayonet during the Korean War.

Later in the day I found myself discussing with friends some other wounds that are difficult to heal, the wounds of the children of divorce. Sure kids seem resilient, and they have amazing coping skills. But research shows the wounds are deep and unyielding. Among those most devastated are the adult children, whose parent(s) decide(s) a divorce will go more smoothly once the kids leave home.

Some who are concerned about these statistics, might suggest that gay marriage would be a step towards family and social stability and build stronger families. Research from European countries suggests the opposite. Legalization of gay marriage diminishes the link between parenting and marriage and encourages more men and women to live together without a marriage commitment, which increases the chances of children growing up without a stable family consisting of a father and mother. This has enormous tax consequences as it relates to the crime rate and growing prison populations.

Several decades ago no-fault divorce was instituted to make it easier for men and women to separate themselves from abusive relationships, and to minimize the blame finding in incompatible relationships, a laudable goal. Few foresaw the scale of divorce that would result, driving family instability and rapidly inflating our prison populations. Programs like Marriage Savers are starting to whittle away at the divorce rate. But in the meantime, are we ready to make another major change that could further destablize families? We need to carefully consider what we are imposing on the children of the future.

NOTE: For those who are reading this post because of the ISTHMUS headline/link suggesting I am comparing Gay Marriage to a bayonet wound, I am not. The headline writer did not read carefully, or perhaps I did not write clearly enough. The metaphor focuses on the wounds of divorce which are imposed upon the children of divorce. Research suggests a direct link between the skyrocketing divorce rates and the rising taxes we pay to combat crime and build prisons. Chuck Colson addresses this issue more clearly (with Bibliography) in a Breakpoint Commentary.

The front lines

2006-06-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

How does it feel to be living in a city on the front lines? Not in Iraq or Iran, but here in the heartland? It feels scary.

I come to this conclusion by observing that another leading Madison church took a big hit last week. The senior pastor of Lake City Church resigned and left town due to an affair. Just over a year ago another large church, just a few blocks away, lost its 46-year old pastor when he died suddenly and unexpectedly. Another church on the west side has been struggling and losting members, while a downtown church's pastor is under review for alleged inappropriate remarks.

At the same time, exciting citywide ministries are taking place, such as the recent Impact World Tour and the Madison House of Prayer for All Nations. And some churches are growing vigorously. So it's not all doom and gloom.

At Mad City Church this morning, Elliott Pollasch paused before giving his message to observe about the Lake City situation, "Unfortunately it happens. It gives us a quick lesson in why praying for our pastors is important. There is an enemy out there who wants to do everything he can to destroy ministry. The enemy is real and he doesn't fight fair."

Meeting with a small group of men for prayer yesterday morning, one observed "We're in a battle and we're not immune, none of us." Another observed, the response is critical to whether this turns out to be be negative or positive.

And attending the second service at Lake City Church this morning, I think the devil will find out that he's going to have a tough time in this battle. It's going to be a rough road ahead for the families involved, and the congregation, but they know the way and they are used to investing the kind of prayer that is needed to make it through. Just watch and see. And don't stop praying.

Light and shadows

2006-06-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

After several years of digitizing my film camera photos, getting them back first on floppies and then on CD, I've finally gotten a digital camera. Last weekend I took it along on a bike ride around Lake Monona and then to the Memorial Day Parade down Monona Drive. The lense sounds really cool when I'm taking a photo in a quiet place. But of course the coolest thing is that I can immediately dump the photo into my computer and publish it online or manipulate it with Photoshop. This is going to be fun.

I started to think the other day about all of the cameras I've had, starting with the plastic box that I got as a prize for selling greeting cards door to door. It wasn't much more sophisticated than my mom's Kodak Brownie box. It took, I think, size 620 film on a spool.

A few years later my aunt bought me a camera that actually had a flash. I think I had to insert each flash bulb when I wanted to take a flash picture. I also bought an antique bellows camera (that some people mistook for a Polaroid) and an 8mm movie camera during my high school days. Most of my photos were in black and white, but the movies (without sound) were in color.

Then, near graduation, I bought an Instamatic camera. It took 126 film in a cartridge and had a flash cube. I started taking a lot of color slides. I used it all through college but what I really wanted was a 35mm camera.

I finally bought a rangefinder 35mm after I'd been out of school for a few years but I really wasn't satisfied until I got an SLR, a single lens reflex camera. It must've been around 1976-77 because I had it when I went to Israel in 1978. I bought a used Canon Tlb model. It was not very sophisticated, but I added a telephoto lens, a flash unit and some close-up extension tubes and I had just about everything I needed. I still have that camera but of course it doesn't get much use any more.

I started to use point and shoot cameras a little more frequently in recent years. The latest I bought about three and a half years ago after a pickpocket in Nairobi nabbed my previous one. It was starting to take fuzzy pictures so I didn't mind the loss at the time, but I probably should've switched to digital right then.

I've always enjoyed taking photos, especially scenery. I'm not sure why, I guess it's an appreciation of all of the beauty that surrounds us. We shouldn't take it for granted. It can be a tough world, but it can also be very, very beautiful.

Like Deja Vu all over again

2006-05-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

On my desk right now is a photo of my son Sam, at age 3, standing on a rock pile in front of our old house. Next to him is his buddy James and they both have silly grins on their faces. Sam is now 12. As you can see from the photo, there's still a rock pile in front of my house. In the intervening years we moved around the corner to a new street and now the city has decided to repair that street. So it's just like 1997 all over again. Except Sam is now almost a teenager.

In those days I used to take Sam for rides on the back of my bike. We always biked down to see the circus train as it rolled through town. But when Sam got older he decided he didn't want to ride a bike. So he never learned. Until today. Recently, perhaps because his friend Austin has a bike, Sam said he wanted to ride a bike. So today at the Boy Scouts Troop 146 Garage Sale, we got him a bike. It took about three pushes down the driveway and he was riding. That was quick. He wants to go for a bike ride tomorrow. We'll see, perhaps after his piano recital.

I've been doing this blog for a year now. It's nice to have an outlet to write about things as they occur to me. As I mentioned in my last post, I've not got a new outlet to write for, www.allgodspeople.com. I may start posting to a blog there. When that happens, I'll be sure to let you know.

Pastor's Summit

2006-05-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

You're going to be hearing a lot more about the Marriage Protection Amendment between now and election day next November. And because of that, I'm surprised that there wasn't more news coverage of today's Pastor's Summit at the Alliant Energy Center, since the state's pastor's are going to be having a major role in shaping the debate. At least that's the goal of the Family Research Institute, which sponsored the summit. But there is one source of news that I hope you'll start to check on a regular basis to find out what's really going on within the community of faith in the Madison area. It's a new website called allgodspeople.com. You can read my story on the summit there.

Eventually I may also move my weblog there. But I'll keep you posted on that.

The New Standard is really the Old Standard

2006-05-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

Albert Pujols is being picked to have a stand-out year, even better than last year when he was baseball's NL MVP. Last month he hit 14 home runs, no other player has ever done that in the month of April. But last Saturday, when the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman hit #14, his wife was giving me and several hundred other folks, some insight into his character that shows he is the kind of hero baseball needs right now. She told her story to those who were in attendance at the St. Louis Christian Family Expo, about meeting Albert as a single mother whose baby had just been born with Down's Syndrome. After she told him about the baby she never expected to hear from him again. But she did. When they got married he was still a minor league ball player.

Although their life is different now, in the major leagues, family issues are still important. The Pujols Family Foundation website says that "in the Pujols family God is first, everything else is a distant second." The foundation is dedicated to helping the families of Down Syndrome children. In the land of professional sports, where inflated egos are as common as inflated salaries, there are still a few athletes who understand the real issues of life and can keep their priorities in order. Here's hoping that Albert Pujols breaks every major baseball hitting record within reach this year.

Shortcuts

2006-04-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

(St. Louis MO) --- For two years now I've been following the Lewis and Clark expedition on a daily weblog that tracks their historic cross-continent exploration. Two hundred years ago yesterday, they learned about a short cut that presumably saved them a number of days of travel. They started heading back east about a month ago (plus 200 years).

I took a short cut myself yesterday. Traveling to visit some journalism students at the University of Missouri, I cut west from Springfield IL through Hannibal, then south past Mexico (Missouri) and saved maybe an hour from the planned route through St. Louis.

The day before yesterday I took another short cut on my bike ride home from work. I can do it in less than an hour if I avoid the bike trail and go through the arboretum.

Short cuts aren't always shorter though. Several years ago I planned a road trip to Washington DC along U.S. highway 50 because that was the shortest route on the map. However the map didn't show the ups and downs of the highway through the Allegheny mountains. I soon learned that the Interstate highway route was a lot quicker, although not quite as scenic.

Sometimes that's the trade-off, scenery for speed. My favorite route to the Twin Cities is west from Baraboo on highway 33 to LaCrosse, and then up the Mississippi River. But that takes several hours longer than the straight shot up I-94.

I guess the upshot is, know where you're going and how you want to get there and have a good road map. Some people approach life without much of an idea of where they want to go and how to get there. I've sometimes taken the approach of looking at what I'd like my life to be like ten years from now, and then start taking the steps I need to take to get there. We can't always see the detours that are ahead of us though. I've always appreciated the lifestyle advice found in Proverbs: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."

It's amazing how God directs our paths some days. This morning I planned to meet a new radio acquaintance in St. Louis (I finally arrived here late last night) for breakfast. He suggested a diner called the Goody Goody. Halfway through breakfast my InterVarsity colleague Ridley Usherwood walked by with some people he was meeting. How was it that after not seeing each other for a month we both ended up at the same diner on the day we arrived back in St. Louis? Only God knows.

No sun for Easter 2006

2006-04-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

A Roman governor once wrote, in an official report, that what he noticed about the Christians were that they were a people who would gather at dawn to sing hymns to their God Christ. HighPoint Church pastor Bill Mugford told this story to the several hundred chilly worshipers who turned out for the third annual community Sunrise Service on the roof of the westside Princeton Club. The previous year (shown) the sun did shine but this year there were umbrellas raised for protection against scattered showers. The heavier rains held off until later in the day.

Monsignor Paul Swain spoke briefly and brought greetings from Bishop Morlino, which included thanks to all in the Christian community who had worked together to open the doors of Elizabeth House, a ministry of CareNet Pregnancy Center for unwed mothers-to-be.

Tim Kruse, a local businessman who describes himself as an "evangelical Catholic," also spoke briefly. "Our central purpose is our faith in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead" he said. "When we get this right the world will know the truth of the Christian message."

David Gerry, the owner of the Princeton Club, welcomed worshipers with a similar message. He said as a father he felt blessed when his children got along with each other. The heavenly father, he said, must surely feel the same way.

He reminded everyone that last year he had asked people to pray for each church they drive by as they travel around Madison. This year he asked that people would pray specifically that worship would flourish in each church. "May this be a year of worship arising," he said.

MHOP

2006-04-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

It could be easy to miss, tucked in between the Trek Bicycle Shop and the Princeton Club, just across the street from East Towne Mall. There's no big sign above the door. One clue that it's not just another store front or office suite is the cascading wall of water sculpture just inside the front door. It's symbolic, perhaps, of the cascade of prayers raining down upon Madison from within.

It's the Madison House of Prayer for All Nations, a non-denominational prayer and worship center, located at 1714 Eagan Road. It's an outgrowth of a previous house of prayer formerly located in a vacant store on the other side of the parking lot, next to the Family Bookstore and the Cool Beans Coffee Cafe.

For several months now there's been a weekly Tuesday evening prayer service focusing on different parts of the Madison area, an outgrowth of the Spiritual Mapping survey that was done by the Jericho Project several years ago. Tonight the focus was on my area of town, Monona and the far southeast side, and it was a very worshipful experience.

I won't explain too much about it. I'll just say that I'm pretty comfortable with the traditional Sunday morning Protestant worship service of hymns and sermon, which this was not. I'm not as comfortable with "innovative" worship. Yet this was surprisingly fullfilling. It's a credit in part to the two different teams of excellent worship musicians who were there, as well as the visual elements employed in the tastefully designed worship hall. And to the hopeful spirit of prayer that permeates the building.

Eventually the desire is to keep the House of Prayer active on a 24/7 basis. For now it's open on Monday and Tuesday evenings. It has to be experienced, check it out.

Speaking of worship experiences, I tried something a little more traditional last Sunday--the "Jesus in the Passover" presentation by Jeffrey D. Miller at Lake City Church. I've known about the Christian symbolism in the traditional Jewish Seder, or Passover meal, for a number of years. But this was my first chance to experience the presentation, even though I've also known Jeffrey Miller for over a dozen years. We keep running into each other at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. I originally interviewed him about his radio program, Messianic Minutes.

Yes, Tradition! There's lots of it in the Seder, more post-Biblical than Biblical tradition. And, as Jeffrey says, it's amazing in spite of that how much Christian symbolism is there.
An AP article in Sunday's paper quoted a Reform Rabbi, no less, who stated that more Jews should acquaint themselves with the New Testament. I think that's an excellent idea. More Christians should acquaint themselves with the New Testament and also the Old Testament.

Traveling for SPJ

2006-03-31T19:43:00.000-08:00

(Minneapolis)--The Midwest Regional Journalism Conference is going on this weekend in the Twin Cities. This is my second trip this month for SPJ. Last week I was in Milwaukee to attend a ceremony recognizing the Milwaukee Press Club as the oldest Press Club in the Nation, possibly the world. SPJ president Dave Carlson came to present the plaque and sign an autograph (shown) to add to the impressive collection of the Press Club that goes back to the 19th century.

SPJ Secretary Treasurer Bruce Cadwallader, a reporter for the Columbus Post Dispatch, gave a short talk at the Mark of Excellence Award banquest this noon and made several good points. "It's still a great privilege to be a journalist," he said, "we should relish it. For journalism to endure we must embrace convergence," he added. Media need to become more flexible to meet the changing demands of the ways people use media. The media also have to work to regain the public's confidence. And finally, he told the journalists and students, "Invest in your career." He urged attendance at the national convention in Chicago coming up at the end of August. He concluded by quoting his pastor, "Go out and spread the word."

I share his evangelical fervor for journalism, as do many others in the field. Last week I happened to bump into the chairman of the UW Journalism Department on campus and he told me he just got back from Los Angeles where he had been "doing the Lord's work."

As Doug Underwood showed in his classic book, "From Yahweh to Yahoo!: The Religious Roots of the Secular Press," the roots of journalism can be traced through some of the religious reformers of several centuries ago. Jay Rosen has also written on Journalism as a Religion. There are many parallels and connections, not the least of which is the protections for both which are found in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

These days journalism faces many challenges from society, whether it comes from technology, the culture wars, financial pressures, shortsighted or misguided leadership, or from other quarters. But as I've written before, journalism matters and it will survive even though it may look a lot different. A conference like this one, this weekend, gives me a lot to think about with a lot of different perspectives to what's happening in journalism and the media. I'mn excited about what's ahead, even with the uncertainty.

Importing the Gospel

2006-03-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

Readers of THE WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL may not have realized how prophetic was the AP article that ran in this morning's paper (and many papers across the country) on Nigerian evangelists bringing the Gospel to America. For a team of international evangelists has already been making an impact with the Gospel in the Madison area, witnessing on State Street and performing at Assemblies in local schools.

If you haven't heard, it's the Impact World Tour, a ministry of YWAM. It's a somewhat improbably team of evangelists, made up of body builders, martial artists, break dancers, skateboarders, and Polynesian Dancers. Yup. Just the kind of multi-cultural event that Madison loves. There are four nights of meetings at the Coliseum, Thursday-Sunday, March 30-April 2. A number of churches have invested lots of prayer and effort in preparing the field for this harvest. Ushers and Counselors are still needed. For more information, contact the IWT office.

A very moving consecration service was held at HighPoint Church this evening, featuring the ministry teams as well as folks from a wide variety of local churches. I saw a number of billboards on my drive to the church, and ads are running on TV. People are expecting results. I think God will be honored and Madison surprised by what happens this week.

ISTHMUS picked up on this story.

And God said, "Let there be light."

2006-03-23T19:34:00.000-08:00

I did a Google search today to see if there's anyone else suggesting, as I think, that there's a lot of room for God in the dark matter and dark energy that scientists see (or imagine they see because they have to calculate for it) in the universe. That was prompted by the Astronomy picture of the day, which illustrates the latest thinking on the Big Bang. The explanation says "its initial expansion was almost impossibly rapid." Is that almost the same as, "and then a miracle occurred?"

Combine that with some of the latest thinking on the Anthropic Principle discussed by Chuck Colson in yesterday's Breakpoint Commentary and you've got another God angle to consider. How could our presence in the universe be the result of so many precise accidents?

Then you throw in our genetic disposition to religious belief, as discussed in a London Times review of a new book by Lewis Wolpert, and you've got quite a lot to think about. Sitting here on this tiny blue marble in the midst of a vast dark universe.

No I don't think the Intelligent Design debate is going to go away any time soon.

Big Love

2006-03-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

So, have you been watching that hot new HBO show on polygamy? I don't have cable so I've just been reading about it. But I thought that Charles Krauthammer had some excellent insights.

Covering the Windy City Faith picture

2006-03-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

Following up on my previous post, I've just been reading about Cathleen Falsani, a Wheaton College grad who is now the religion reporter and a columnist for the Chicago Sun Times. Only a few newspapers these days actually have a religion beat reporter who knows what he or she is doing. She does an outstanding job, from everything I've read, and now has a new book out, The God Factor, Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People. She's been written up in her hometown Oak Lawn paper, The Wednesday Journal, as well as The Christian Science Monitor, and has her columns on her own website.

Journalists Matter

2006-03-06T17:12:00.000-08:00

Journalism is going through a transitional period and it's not pretty. I'm a journalist and it makes me uneasy. But I know that journalism is important and it will survive in one form or another. Despite the fact that it's demonized and underappreciated. So when somebody like Eric Newton stands up for journalism, I say Amen!

Some additional thoughts on how a good journalist covers a difficult topic at the GetReligion blogsite.

Journalists Matter

2006-03-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

Like most bloggers, I take a few shots at the MSM, the Main Stream Media. Typically it's in relation to religion coverage, which is an under reported issue. The significant work in that category (critiquing media coverage of religion) is done at the Get Religion blog.

But I am a journalist, and I love journalism. I am on the board of several journalism organizations. I have a lot of friends who are journalists. They are all men and women who are committed to serving the public with significant information that improves their lives. Journalism is going through a difficult period of transition right now, and its shortcomings are becoming very familiar to people. There are some aspects of journalism that need to change. But it will survive, despite all of the demonization that has been going on. Because people need journalism even if they don't understand why.

So every now and then I think it's important to applaud journalists. Eric Newton did that very nicely today in the Cincinnati Post. I say Amen!

Nip it!

2006-02-28T17:12:00.000-08:00

Several years ago former Wisconsin Women's basketball coach Jane Albright was hospitalized for a serious ailment for several days. I didn't cover many news conferences at Camp Randall but knowing her reliance on a strong personal faith in God I decided to cover her news conference at St. Mary's Hospital. The only thing I remember her saying was that she was overwhelmed by the great swell of support she felt from the community. "Madison is just like a big Mayberry," she said, referring back to the fictional TV town where "The Andy Griffith Show" was set.

I know a few people around Madison who would not appear out of place as Mayberry characters. Some of them have the same kind of small town roots that I have. I wouldn't feel out of place in Mayberry either. Lancaster, Wisconsin, where I was born and spent my earliest years, didn't seem all that different to me than the town I saw on TV when we watched Andy Griffith and the rest of the cast each week. My youngest brother Ben, who still lives in Lancaster, bore a remarkable resemblance to the young Ron Howard. More than once a visiting pastor or salesman would remark, "He looks just like Opie."

The passing of Don Knotts is a nostalgic moment. We don't have cable so we're missing out on the Andy Griffith marathon that one channel is running. Maybe we can pick up some DVD's of the show so our 12-year old can get a chance to see what a quality sitcom was like in the golden age of television. Several years ago there was a Sunday School curriculum developed featuring some of the Andy Griffith shows, they were that good.

The show would often end on a reflective moment. Andy Griffith would be relaxing on the front porch swing with Aunt Bea and absent mindedly strumming his guitar. Opie or Barney would say something, Andy would add just the right conclusion, and then they would quietly let the program drift to its ending because there was nothing more to say, nothing more to do. I like days that end like that, I wish I had more of them.

Deja Vu all over again

2006-02-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

While in Texas for the NRB convention I was invited to a gubernatorial forum put on by the Press Club of Dallas featuring one of the several candidates running for the office of governor. His name is Kinky Friedman and he's running as an independent. His campaign has some of the hallmarks of Jesse Ventura's successful run for governor of Minnesota a few years back. Like Jesse, he's aiming at mobilizing the voters who usually stay home. And like Jesse, he has the kind of background that veteran politicians might overlook, until it's too late. He's a musician and satirist who once performed as "Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys." He's also hired Jesse Ventura's campaign manager.

His campaign is based on the platform of getting the regular politicians out of politics. "If we could do that, we'd have a beautiful state," he said. He charges that the politicians ("the crips and the bloods") are out of touch with the people of Texas. "Politics is the only field where the more experience you have the worse you get." He believes his own campaign has a good chance for success because "every Texan is an independent." That may be, but as he pointed out, the last successful statewide independent politician was Sam Houston.

Friedman says he is the only candidate who supports gay marriage and prayer in schools. Gay marriage because "they have a right to be as miserable as the rest of us," and prayer "because a kid needs to believe in something."

His revenue raising ideas include an oilhead tax, legalizing casinos, and selling naming rights for high school football stadiums. Friedman says he's 61 years old, "too young for Medicare and too old for women to care."

But the women who flocked to have their pictures taken with him at the forum seem to indicate that he does have the makings of a strong following. Like Jesse Venture, he pledges not to meet with any lobbyists while in office. "These politicians are going to ignore us until election night," he predicted. "If there's a big turnout, I will be governor." Texans who consider supporting Friedman might want to talk with some folks at the other end of I-35, up in Minnesota, before casting their vote.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2006-02-20T20:18:00.000-08:00

(Grapevine TX) -- The Gaylord Texan hotel is a sprawling complex on the same model as the Opryland Hotel near Nashville. But even though this is Texas, it's not as big as the Opryland Hotel, at least not yet.

I attended several Religious Broadcasters conventions at the Opryland Hotel and that's why I'm back in Texas this week. But unlike those earlier times, when I was a member of the radio committee and working to promote local news coverage in Christian broadcasting, I'm now attending as an exhibitor and promoter. I'm part of an InterVarsity team representing both InterVarsity Press and InterVarsity's Urbana Student Missions Convention. So instead of attending workshops and related events, I'm mostly staked out in the exhibition hall, talking with people who stop by our booth.

From the perspective of the Exhibit Hall, the convention is bigger and better than ever. However some interesting changes seem to be taking place. For one thing, we've talked with very few radio and television broadcasters. Most of the people that we've seen are from Christian organizations, or from churches. Whether or not radio and television registrations are down, or those folks just don't come to the Exhibit Hall floor anymore, I'm not sure. I was told by one person that NRB's TV membership is down because of dissatisfaction by Christian TV channels over NRB's own TV channel that is being developed.

We are excited about Urbana's move to St. Louis and working to get the story out. Many people we've talked with the last couple of days have been involved with InterVarsity in college. InterVarsity has a lot of alumni out there, doing important work.

I attended the Sunday morning Israel Tourism breakfast, a staple of the NRB convention for many years now. It was good to connect with a lot of friends there. It makes me yearn to get back to Israel. I hope it won't be too much longer.

The Sunday morning service that followed was a chance to hear R. J. Sproul, who did not disappoint. His sermon was a call to get back to basics and get some excitement back into our practice of the Christian faith. "There's not one text in all of scripture that shows that when people encounter God they are bored," he said.

Sproul said that too much of our activities as Christians are obscuring the character of God, comparing it to a solar eclipse. "An eclipse doesn't do anything to the nature of the sun," he said. "When God seems hidden from us that doesn't mean He isn't there." But he said revival won't occur as long as the character of God is hidden. Wise words.

Faith on Campus

2006-02-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

Exciting things are happening on the U.W. campus. Today's CAPITAL TIMES reports on a building boom for campus religious organizations. Aaron Nathan called me several days ago to see what other groups might be doing, like InterVarsity. Typically InterVarsity invests in staff not bricks and mortar but the Pres House has been a good base of operations for some of our campus staff. I'm sure Pres House construction will impact their work but they'll work around it.

"How Deep the Father's Love for Us"

2006-02-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

I sang a hymn today and boy did it feel good. Especially after Chuck Colson's Monday Breakpoint commentary, which I whole heartedly agreed with. And after reading a column in last December's CHRISTIANITY TODAY, which made similar points. Colson's commentary must've really stirred things up, judging by the statement today on his website.

Probably my age is showing but the truth of the matter is I'm not against being contemporary and relevant. I don't think church music should be all hymns and organs. But the pendulum has swung too far and modern worshipers are missing out on a lot of good stuff that we remember from just a few years ago.

BTW, the hymn was "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" by Stuart Townend. Several years ago there was an Alpha Conference here in Madison and it seems to me I first heard the hymn there. I well remember being grabbed so hard by the words I couldn't finish singing the first time through. It reads like a classic old hymn but it appears as if it's only about ten years old. I hope I don't go another ten years before I sing it again.

Real Winter

2006-02-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

After yesterday's high of 24 degrees, we finally ended a 43 day spell of daily highs of 30 above, a new winter record for Madison. In December it looked like we might finally have a real winter again but that hasn't been the case. It might be hard to remember what a real winter was like, it's been so long now. In fact I think it's been ten years exactly. Ten years ago Friday it was 27 below zero, with a 51-below windchill in Madison. Then El Nino arrived and ever since our winters have been warmer (more like St. Louis or Indianapolis) and our summer's have been cooler (which I don't mind, actually). Weather officials say that Pacific Ocean temperatures (the source of the El Nino effect) are the biggest global weather determiners after seasonal changes.

I remember driving to Indianapolis this weekend ten years ago for a very cold National Religious Broadcasters convention. My battery froze up before the week was out and I had to get a jumpstart. I detoured through NE Indiana to visit my wife's grandfather in a nursing home, my last visit with him before his passing. I've always been thankful I took the extra time for that special time together.

The convention was memorable for a get-acquainted meeting with my friend Chad. Being of like mind on the subject of the importance of radio news we began a collaboration that resulted, I think, in some major steps forward for news in Christian radio in the intervening years. Now I'm moving in a slightly different direction and journalism itself is going through some interesting changes, but the principles of good journalism still hold. And, fortunately, there are still people like Chad who do journalism right and have an audience that appreciates it.

Follow the money

2006-02-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

How often does a newspaper apologize for putting a story on its front page? Almost never, and only when it thinks it's made a big mistake. Friday's editorial in THE WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL makes you wonder who got upset about last Saturday's front page feature on The Elizabeth House. As I pointed out in my previous post, the story disappeared from the newspaper's website unusually quickly for such a nice front page feature. Today's editorial concludes by saying: "For a fair and unbiased health care picture, a Planned Parenthood center would serve a pregnant woman better."

OK, let me get this straight: The Elizabeth House may lead you astray but Planned Parenthood will always give you the best advice? The same Planned Parenthood which is the nation's leader supplier of abortions? There's a basic principal of investigative journalism called "Follow the money." Where are people generating income in this picture, and where are people donating out of their own pocket so that services are provided free?

And while we're on the subject of donated time and money, let's also give some praise and recognition to the thousands of local Habitat for Humanity volunteers who have built over a hundred homes for their struggling Dane County neighbors in the last couple decades. This CAPITAL TIMES profile of Marzo Bliss gives just one small piece of the picture. There are hundreds of additional stories just like his, all well worth telling.

The Little Boy in the Big House

2006-01-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

We arrived later than we had planned at yesterday's dedication of The Elizabeth House. So we missed the remarks of all of the dignitaries, but we also missed being crammed up in what was an apparently a stifling hot room for the better part of an hour. The best part was seeing a lot of old friends who have been working together on this project and were there to celebrate a major milestone in Madison's care for needy people. And seeing the beautiful facility that's a monument to interfaith cooperation in the capital city.

We also met Jordan. Jordan is the four year old pictured with his mom Megan on the front page of last Saturday's Wisconsin State Journal in their room at The Elizabeth house. The story vanished too quickly from the newspaper's webpage so I can't link to it, despite its front page location. And even though the newspaper gave the story prominent coverage, the TV stations missed one of the most important stories of the day. Channel 15 did cover it, but buried the story between weather and sports.

Jordan was enjoying all of the open house activity. I imagine it's pretty quiet at The Elizabeth House most of the time, so this was probably a pleasant change for him. Jordan has a nice home, along with his mom, until after his baby brother or sister is born later this spring. The Elizabeth House is dedicated to providing a home for unwed mothers-to-be who have nowhere else to go. The offices of CareNet Pregnancy Center are on the first floor of the building.

Anita Clark's WSJ article was short on the compelling stories of the residents, represented by the photo of Jordan and his mom. But it clearly spelled out the broad-based team effort of Madison's faith community, which pulled together to get the home built. Kudos to the campaign co-chairs, Fred and Anne Grossenbach, and campaign coordinator Peggy Konkol. Donations and pledges from almost 700 individuals, 54 businesses and 60 churches and religious organizations have been recorded so far. That includes main line as well as evangelical churches, plus the 135-parish Madison Catholic Diocese.

I was also at the "stone stacking" ceremony that served as a ground breaker for the project last spring. Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino was one of the speakers, and said then that the home was "a concrete symbol of the love of Jesus Christ." At four years old, there's a lot that Jordan doesn't understand about The Elizabeth House. But I think he understands that much.

End of the Spear

2006-01-21T15:45:00.000-08:00

End of the Spear is the new movie that tells the compelling true story of the martyrdom of five missionaries in South America 50 years ago this month. And it tells the story mainly from the viewpoint of the primitive Waodani tribe that speared the five.

I saw the movie today and found it emotionally powerful. It's an amazing story that clearly illustrates how God can redeem every circumstance, even the most bleak, for His purposes. Whether this is clear to those who see the movie, and whether more lives will be transformed, only time will tell. But the history of the story is very compelling, particularly after it was recounted by Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of Jim Eliot, in her book Through Gates of Splendor.

Several weeks ago I had the chance to interview David Howard, brother of Elisabeth Elliot and best friend of Jim Elliot for a story for InterVarsity. He told me that the impact of their deaths on the next Urbana missionary convention in 1957 was minimal. The story was not very well known. After the initial flurry of wire stories and coverage by LIFE magazine, there wasn't much information available about the missionaries and their mission until Elisabeth's book came out. That, and her biography of her husband Jim Elliot, and then the publication of Jim Elliot's diaries did have an impact. In fact, it's said now that this one incident has been used by God to call more men and women to the mission field than any other single event. Jim Elliott is best known for his statement, "He is no fool to give up what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose."

I remember Elisabeth's talk at Urbana 79. That's when I, as an adult, was introduced to the story. Several years ago I saw an early version of the Beyond the Gates of Splendor documentary at an NRB convention and heard about End of the Spear. (Both films were directed by Jim Hanon,) The documentary was finally released on DVD last fall. Several years ago Steve Saint and Mincaye, the man who speared his father, visited our church on one of their travels. The story of the Waodani has taken many positive turns in the half-century since that dark day, and their lives are much better today. Not because they are now "civilized." The Gospel has transformed them in a much more powerful way, as an article in Christianity Today reported.

Reviews of the movie are mixed (Variety, Christianity Today). It raises the bar for Christian film entertainment. But it is not a "complete" experience. The Gospel presentation is understated and the viewer who does not know the story is likely to have questions. But maybe that's a good thing, especially if they turn to the documentary or, better yet, the books that tell the story. Then they will know, "the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power."

Driving to the Moon

2006-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

The moon shone brightly amidst illuminated layers of clouds as I headed out early yesterday for meetings in the Twin Cities, and was my companion for several hours until the sun took over. Later, at the end of a short winter's day, I started home shortly after dusk and the moon was again high in the sky, in front of me.

It felt good to get out on a road trip in my van again, having driven my son's compact through the fall, while he drove the van around Arizona. The van was finally paid off last month, some long-anticipated good news to go with the more disturbing report that the radiator is leaking and repairs could be a major investment. We'll give that some thought for awhile and keep the anti-freeze handy.

The best car I ever had, an '85 Horizon, kept me going for 8-9 years. I drove it longer after if was paid for than before it was paid off. And I put a lot of miles on it. It had 215,000 on the odometer when I finally, reluctantly, put it out to pasture.

That was the car the kids will probably picture in the memories of their childhood. Two of them learned to drive in it, wrestling with the manual transmission. My brother ran a repair shop during that time, he kept it running in tip-top condition. And run it I did, with multiple trips to the east coast, west coast and Gulf coast.

Going for six years or so without having to make a car payment was a major blessing. It allowed me to get caught up on finances in a major way, and helped weather a couple of unexpected tight spots. I could use a few more years like that again but I'm not sure that leak will allow it.

Looking back at the stability we enjoyed during that time, I am reminded of how we take things like that for granted much too easily. Change is the great constant. It's respite, when available, should be better appreciated.

Happiness, it's not peanuts

2006-01-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

USA TODAY reports a new survey finds people are not as happy as they were 13 years ago. Some of the problem was blamed on " the inability to afford medical care; mounting bills; unemployment; and troubled romantic relationships." All significant issues to be sure, but the real meat of the story comes near the end. University of Virginia psychology professor Jonathan Haidt, the author of the new book The Happiness Hypothesis, says happiness is an individual thing that can be controlled like a thermostat. "The key to the psychology of happiness is to move to the upper range of your potential," he says, giving some suggestions on how to do that.

Several days ago some of us at work were having a related conversation that started out discussing the serious and growing problem of nut allergies. Now foods need to be labelled if there's any trace of nuts, because it could be fatal otherwise. Several years ago I did an interview with an allergy specialist and found out that one of the reasons that allergies are growing in number is that we keep our homes too clean. In other words, if our homes were not so clean, our kids would have a better chance of picking up some important natural immunities. His advice to parents, get some pets when you have kids, so the kids get a chance to have their bodies deal with germs and stuff.

I think modern society has given us the ideal of attainable perfection. We think life would be great if we just had a few more details fall into place. But for most of the people in the world, life is not that way. The veneer of order and civilization we see around is a lot thinner than we realize. We found that out last summer when the hurricanes swept the Gulf Coast region.

Why do people expect perfection? And why do they complain "Why Me?" when things go bad but never thing to ask the same question when they experience unexpected benefits? When it comes right down to it, none of us gets out alive. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews said, "It is appointed once to man to die, then the judgement."

Sure there are plenty of reasons to be gloomy, even crabby. But if we set aside our unreasonably rising life expectations and consider that we really don't have much to complain about in comparison with most of the other people who have walked this globe, we should be very humbly thankful.

The Year of the Dog

2006-01-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

The arrival of the new year is a time for optimism. It brings new opportunities, and who knows what else. Later this year, in May, we'll celebrate the one year anniversary of this blog. Meanwhile we'll note that this blog got a mention, and a link, today in Isthmus' Daily Page. (If you don't have time to read the whole article, it's near the end.)

The lure of journalism

2005-12-30T17:38:00.000-08:00

The news media is filled with reports today of Ferris Hassan, the teen who went overboard on a school assignment and flew to Baghdad after learning about immersion journalism. A few close calls, and a detour through Beirut, but he finally made it. Then when he realized that maybe it was a little more dangerous than he expected, he sort of turned himself in at the AP Bureau in the hotel where he was staying.

Fortunately he survived the experience and maybe he will end up as an actual journalist when he grows up. One of the lures of journalism is the chance to see history being made first hand. In fact journalism is often referred to as "the first draft of history."

That aspect of journalism became apparent to me when I was a senior in high school and about the same age as Hassan. In the late summer of 1968 the Democratic National Convention was taking place in Chicago. I remember hopping into the car in my small little town and listening to live reports on WBBM radio describing the rioters moving down Michigan Avenue. A few days later I read a story in Newsweek describing a teenager, about my age, who went to Grant Park to see what was going on and ended up being the emcee at a giant rally just because he had a tie on and looked respectable. He unexpectedly had a front seat to history.

A few months later I was reading news reports about starvation in the secessionist African state of Biafra and imagined myself somehow getting there and helping relieve the suffering.

By that time I was already working towards a career in journalism. And as I became a radio news reporter I discovered the thrill of being in the middle of news as it happened, and meeting news makers. For some reason when I start thinking about all of those famous people my mind goes to Colonel Harlan Sanders. Maybe because he was probably the first genuine icon I ever talked with, and I actually interviewed him twice.

The second time we talked about the chicken races held in Winneconne during their annual Secession Days celebration. It's kind of hard to describe but it involves mailboxes, toilet plungers and chickens. He said it sounded like the silliest thing he'd ever heard of. There's a lot more to the story, how Secession Days got started in the first place, when Winneconne got left off of the state map, and how one of our Oshkosh radio station colleagues disappeared the day after his face, and a flying chicken, was plastered on the front page of newspapers all over the state. But I'll save that for another time. Welcome back to America Ferris.

Christmas Eve

2005-12-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

Twenty years ago the Badger Red Cross began a holiday blood drive that's been held ever since on Christmas Eve. Most years I did a radio interview with someone at the Red Cross to help promote the event. Many years I also had to work so it wasn't easy to participate. Then I started being rejected when I tried to give blood at other times of the year, because my iron count was low, so I didn't give blood for a long period of time.

But now I seem to be living a healthier lifestyle. Maybe getting a little more sleep helps. Ever since I changed jobs I'm now able to give blood once again. So I made a reservation to participate in this year's Annual Holiday Blood Drive at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall.

It's a fun thing to do. There are so many people there you are sure to run into friends, people like Bill Scheiding, whom I've known for many years. I got my number (109), went through the interview, had my blood checked, and soon I was supine on the comfortable recliner with an attentive nurse massaging my elbow, looking for a vein. On the next recliner was a man with white hair and a white beard...and an earring and a tattoo and a Harley T-shirt.

All the while there's a buzz of activity around with dozens of people giving blood, attended by the professional nursing staff, and an army of volunteers in supporting roles. Right in the middle of everything, a pianist sits at a grand piano playing Christmas music. The shift changed about 9am, shortly after I hopped onto the recliner. The lady who had been playing gathered up a rather large collection of music and made way for a man in a tuxedo who had no music at all. He just sat down and started playing. It was the Linus and Lucy theme from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. People immediately started to sway with the music, particularly a lady holding a little baby. Yes, some people brought children with them, which worked out fine as long as they had a book to read or something else to do. By the time I left, about 45 minutes, he'd gone through a nice repertoire of seasonal music. But no traditional carols, I noticed. But I would've been surprised if he had, since I recognized him even before he sat down. It was Dan Barker, the husband of Annie Laurie Gaylor, and co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

I went right from the Alliant Energy Center to East High School where Mad City Church was having it's weekly services, which got moved from Sunday to Saturday because of the holiday.
Like a number of churches. I would've enjoyed a Christmas Eve candle light service as in years past at other churches but gladly gave that up to listen to Shane Holden preach from First Corinthians instead. Sure he had a little bit about Christmas but aside from that it was typical deep Bible exposition that fed the soul, the kind of thing one doesn't find in too many churches.

So that's Christmas Eve. Christmas is tomorrow and then comes Boxing Day, or Earthquake Day as it's been experienced on the other side of the world the last two years. The day after Christmas in 2003 was the earthquake the devastated Bam, Iran, with a death toll over 43,000. Then last year, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, with a death toll of almost 300,000. I'm wondering what people will say if there's another earthquake this year on December 26th.

It would lead one to attempt to draw some kind of conclusion, would it not? My mind would be drawn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, where Jesus talked about the rocks and stones crying out if His disciples were not able to praise Him. Just exactly what that means, I've always wondered. I don't know if it has an application here. People have drawn all kinds of conclusions about God's judgement with all of the natural disasters in this past year. I like what Chuck Colson said in his Breakpoint Commentary. In other words, no one knows for sure but a certain level of repentant humility would be appropriate.

P.S. Fortunately no earthquake this year. Instead, one final hurricane. What a year, 2005.

The season of light

2005-12-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

Now that the shortest day of the year has arrived, winter is officially in session. I am one of those who enjoys winter ... for about a month and a half. I love the arrival of snow, especially the opportunity to shovel a light fresh snowfall out of the driveway on a cool evening. The world is eerily quiet and glistening in all of its unreal beauty.

The holidays are also part of the magic of this time of the year. Oh sure, the Christmas wars are getting way out of hand. It's hard to keep just the right balance between over-commercializing the holiday and over-secularizing it. I had my own go-round on this a dozen years or so ago when I wrote in my CAPITAL TIMES column (here's my latest article) about the wierd experience of driving through a Madison neighborhood ablaze with Christmas lights and arriving at a neighborhood school devoid of decoration except for a few errant paper snowflakes. The school district finally came up with a policy that is a little more balanced and has served citizens fairly well. However the district went a little overboard this year when it clamped down on a Chavez Elementary School class that wanted to ring bells for Salvation Army. Sure some of the kids got to do it anyway when parents organized a separate event. But by over reacting, the school district sent a message of antagonism against religious expression that, in my view, is contrary to the First Amendment. A better course would've been to arrange an alternative event for students who (or whose parents) didn't like the first option.

Our family Christmas tradition has included a bell-ringing shift for the Salvation Army for about the past 15 years. Sara and I did it in front of the Civic Center on State Street the first year. Since then we've been to Menards, Copps and maybe one or two other locations. But our most common location is Shopko and South Towne, where Sam and I were stationed last Saturday. An incarnational act of this nature gets a lot closer to the real spirit of Christmas, although in the great scheme of things it's still a pitifully small gesture.

Winter without Christmas, as in the southern hemisphere, would be altogether different and doesn't seem very appealing, as C.S. Lewis has written in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I tire of winter pretty quickly in January and February always seems like the longest month of the year to me.

But, for now, I'm enjoying it. One other thing I've been appreciating this year is the beauty of light. Especially the rivers of light formed by the headlights of cars along the beltline and some of the other main roads. One of the best places to watch the river flow is the offramp from the east-bound beltline onto West Broadway, or SouthTowne Drive, or Raywood Road (the maps are a little confusing). Sitting at the stop light during evening rush hour you can see the pulsing flow of traffic coming across the Yahara River Bridge and curving slightly to head west around the city.

Another of my favorite views of light is "The Earth at Night", the photo I've used at the top of this posting. I have poster of another version, from National Geographic, hanging on my wall at work. I'm reminded of an article in National Geographic several years ago that concluded that scientists are still mystified by the same questions we investigated in high school physics. Is it a wave or particles? It has properties of both, yet neither accurately and fully describes light.

Out of all of the technical innovations that separate us from our ancestors, the electric light is one of the most important. Night is no longer an inconvenience to most of us. Knowing that light was perceived differently makes me reflect more deeply on what is meant when it's mentioned in the Bible. Light was much more valuable and less taken for granted in that culture.

I'm reminded also that The Festival of Lights is another name for Hanukkah, which is called the Feast of Dedication when it's observed by Jesus in the Gospels (John 10:22). Hanukkah begins this year just as the sun sets on Christmas Day. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and praise your Father in heaven." (Matt. 5:26). And one of my favorite verses: "The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has never mastered it." (John 1:5)

Merry Christmas!