from Bruce
Anecdotes
Education
• Sister Helen P. Mrosla, a Franciscan nun, taught Mark Eklund in the third grade at Saint Mary’s School in Morris, MN, and she taught him again in a math course in the ninth grade. One day, the students were struggling in class, and she decided to do something different to stop their bad spirits and crankiness. She asked each student to take out some paper and list each classmate’s name on it, leaving some room in between each name. She then asked students “to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.” At the end of the class, she collected the papers. Over the weekend, she wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet and then she wrote down on each sheet of paper the nice comments that the other students had written about that student. On Monday, she gave each student his or her list of nice comments. She remembers, “Before long, the entire class was smiling. ‘Really?’ I heard whispered. ‘I never knew that meant anything to anyone!’ ‘I didn’t know others liked me so much!” No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn’t matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again.” A few years later, in 1971, a grown-up Mark Eklund died in Vietnam — not in combat, but from a pulmonary and cerebral edema while sleeping. Sister Helen attended his funeral, and a soldier who was a pallbearer asked her, “Were you Mark’s math teacher?” He then said, “Mark talked about you a lot.” And Mark’s father said to her, “We want to show you something. They found this on Mark […]. We thought you might recognize it.” The something was the piece of paper on which Sister Helen had written a list of students’ nice comments about Mark. The well-worn paper had obviously been read often. Mark’s mother said, “Thank you so much for doing that. As you can see, Mark treasured it.” Several other students who had been in the class, including Mark’s wife, kept their own lists of nice comments. One former student showed Sister Helen her list and said, “I carry this with me at all times. I think we all saved our lists.”
• Don’t fear the reaper, but try not to throw away your life needlessly. The ancient people of Japan passed on what they had learned from their experiences of tsunamis. Those who heeded the wisdom of the ancient people fared better in the great tsunami of 2011 than those who did not. For example, in the village of Aneyoshi, a stone slab that is hundreds of years old states, “High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants. Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point.” The people of Aneyoshi had not built any homes below that point, and they fared well in the earthquake. On the coastline of Japan, hundreds of stone slabs bear good advice. For example, a stone slab states, “If an earthquake comes, beware of tsunamis.” Another stone slab states, “Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis. Choose life over your possessions and valuables.” Such advice is needed. Large tsunamis occur rarely, and without such reminders, people can forget the danger and do such things as build homes on the coastline — as many people in other areas of Japan had done. Tetsuko Takahashi, 70, who lived in a hillside house in Kesennuma, saw from her window a ship swept inland a half-mile — it crushed buildings as it was swept inland. She said, “After the earthquake, people went back to their homes to get their valuables […]. They all got caught.” The names of towns also provide warnings. For example, one town is named “Octopus Grounds” because a tsunami once washed onto it lots of sea life. Fumihiko Imamura, a professor in disaster planning at Tohoku University, said, “It takes about three generations for people to forget. Those that experience the disaster themselves pass it to their children and their grandchildren, but then the memory fades.” In Aneyoshi, people remembered. Yuto Kimura, who was 12 years old, said, “Everybody here knows about the markers. We studied them in school. When the tsunami came, my mom got me from school and then the whole village climbed to higher ground.”
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Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Track: "Creeping Goo"
EP: THE SLEAZE E.P.
Artist: Voodoo Surf Tribe
Artist Location: UK
Info:
“Sleazy twangy saxy surf from the dark side of the reverb tank. Check out [Bandcamp] tracks on SURFIN KITTY XMAS comps on Sharawaji, SURF BRITANNIA 2 comp, and “Surf Raider Jam” on WAVE WALK-N - SURF RAIDERS tribute.”
Sax n drugs n surf n roll.
Sax - Rex Stardust
Guitar - Reg Abbot
Drums - Jumbo McCluney
Bass - Keith “no-one cares who plays bass, do they?" Sly
Released November 25, 2019
“[…] using reverb to great atmospheric effect and with saxophone that sounds both eerie and fun. I imagine this being played at the Halloween party the monsters themselves attend.” — Storm Surge Of Reverb
Haunted Cove, a fan, wrote, “Surely there was dark magic used in recording this EP; nothing but spacious grooves with great drip! Favorite track: ‘Creeping Goo.’”
Price: £1 (GBP) for track; £2 (GBP) for four-track EP
Genre: Surf.
Links:
The SLEEZE E.P.
Voodoo Surf Tribe on Bandcamp
Other Links:
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Nominees
2022 Americana Honors and Awards
Brandi Carlile, Allison Russell and Yola are the leading nominees for the 2022 Americana Honors and Awards, with each one up for album of the year, artist of the year and song of the year.
The nominees were announced Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, at the National Museum of African American Music.
Carlile is a six-time Grammy winning artist and producer and an Americana music favorite, having won artist of the year at the awards show twice before. She is nominated for album of the year for “In These Silent Days” and song of the year for “Right On Time.”
Russell’s debut solo album “Outside Child” is nominated for album of the year. The Canadian-born musician’s song, “Persephone,” is up for song of the year. British-born singer-songwriter Yola’s sophomore record, “Stand For Myself,” is nominated for album of the year, and she is nominated for song of the year for “Diamond Studded Shoes.”
Also nominated for artist of the year are Jason Isbell and Billy Strings.
2022 Americana Honors and Awards
Network Upfront
NBCUniversal
The network upfronts are back — sort of. NBCUniversal kicked off the return of in-person upfronts presentations to advertisers, the first since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And just as the conglom had started to do even before the pandemic, the presentation was more about the company as a whole, and less about individual networks (except for a lengthy performance-based pitch for “Bravocon”).
The event didn’t even mention NBC’s fall schedule or timeslots, instead focusing on NBCU offerings, divided by genre. Still, a lot of the old upfronts-style trappings remained, from suits touting their wares to stars coming out and making cracks about their corporate owners.
“TV is the only place where you can lie through your teeth about how great everything is and call it upfront,” Seth Meyers quipped. “Let me be upfront with you. Half the shows won’t make it through the year… I don’t need to tell you, the last few years have been transformative — not just for the TV business but across all industries. We need to be inventive, agile, forward facing… and yet this is still how we’re doing upfront!”
And the final jokes from Meyers: “‘Young Rock’ will be back next season. ‘Young Rock’ is like ‘Young Sheldon,’ but for people who’ve had sex. It was a great year for live events on NBC this year. The Super Bowl, the Olympics, the Golden Globes… I don’t want to pick on the Golden Globes and pile on the Hollywood Foreign Press but you have to work pretty hard to have less diversity than the Winter Olympics.”
NBCUniversal
Celebrated Literary Mag
The Believer
After a journey even the creative minds at The Believer could not have imagined, the celebrated literary magazine is back in business and again being run by the company which first owned it.
Founded in 2003 by the writers Heidi Julavits, Ed Park, and Vendela Vida, The Believer has published works by Leslie Jamison, Anne Carson, Nick Hornby and many others and has received multiple nominations for National Magazine Awards.
But starting in 2017, the magazine owned by the independent publisher based in San Francisco, McSweeney’s, endured a series of upheavals that included financial struggles, an editor in chief leaving amidst allegations he exposed himself and the sale to a digital marketing company that at one point included an article — the subject of much internet anger — titled “25 Best Hookup Sites for Flings, New Trysts, and Casual Dating” on The Believer’s website.
As of Monday, thanks to three private donations and a “drastically reduced” asking price, McSweeney’s has repurchased the magazine from Paradise Media and its CEO Ian Moe.
Changes at The Believer began five years ago when McSweeney’s sold it to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), during a “financially challenging time,” as McSweeney’s acknowledged Monday. But the magazine faced new and unexpected troubles. Editor in chief Joshua Wolf Shenk left in 2020 while facing allegations of sexual harassment, including exposing himself during a Zoom meeting. In October 2021, UNLV announced it would no longer publish The Believer, citing a “strategic realignment” tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Believer
“No Regrets”, No Shame
‘The Masked Singer’
Fox bosses have defended the casting of Rudy Giuliani (R-Serial Philanderer), Donald Trump Individual #1’s former lawyer who helped spread baseless lies that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen, on The Masked Singer.
Rob Wade, President, Alternative Entertainment and Specials, Fox Entertainment, said he had “absolutely no regrets” on the move.
“The Masked Singer is all about delivering jaw-dropping moments, which is exactly what [we] accomplished whether it was on set or with the viewers at home,” he added.
Wade joked about Deadline’s scoop on the casting. “My only regret or surprise was obviously that the reveal was spoiled but kudos to [Deadline], please just don’t do it again.
‘The Masked Singer’
Latin Patriarch Blasts Conduct
Shireen Abu Akleh
The top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land on Monday condemned the police beating of mourners carrying the casket of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, accusing the authorities of violating human rights and disrespecting the Catholic Church.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters at St. Joseph Hospital in Jerusalem that Friday's incident, broadcast around the world, was a “disproportionate use of force” against a large crowd of people waving Palestinian flags as they proceeded from the hospital to a nearby Catholic church in Jerusalem's Old City. The attack drew worldwide condemnation and added to the shock and outrage over the death of Abu Akleh, who was killed as she covered a shootout in the occupied West Bank.
The police attack, Pizzaballa told reporters, “is a severe violation of international norms and regulations, including the fundamental human right of freedom of religion, which must be observed also in a public space." Leaders and clergy of other Christian churches sat nearby.
Palestinian officials and witnesses, including journalists who were with her, say she was killed by army fire. The military, after initially saying Palestinian gunmen might have been responsible, later backtracked and now says it's not clear who fired the deadly bullet.
Shireen Abu Akleh
Confidence In Supreme Court Has Collapsed
Poll
A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that Americans’ confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has collapsed over the last 20 months — a period that began with (the) former President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans installing a 6-3 conservative majority ahead of the 2020 election and culminated last week with the leak of a draft opinion signaling that five GOP-appointed justices plan to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The last time Yahoo News/YouGov asked about confidence in the court was in September 2020, a few days after liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and a few days before Trump OfPutin nominated conservative jurist Amy Coney Barrett to replace her.
Back then, 70% of registered voters said they had either “some” (50%) or “a lot” (20%) of confidence in the court, and 30% said they had either “a little” (23%) or “none” (7%).
But the new survey of 1,577 U.S. adults, which was conducted immediately after the leak, found that registered voters have swung from mostly having confidence in the Supreme Court — by a colossal 40-point margin — to being evenly split on the question.
Today, just half of voters still express some (37%) or a lot (14%) of confidence in the court, while the other half now expresses either a little (24%) or none (26%).
Poll
On The Rise
Buddhist Chaplains
Wedged into a recliner in the corner of her assisted living apartment in Portland, Skylar Freimann, who has a terminal heart condition and pulmonary illness, anxiously eyed her newly arrived hospital bed on a recent day and worried over how she would maintain independence as she further loses mobility.
There to guide her along the journey was the Rev. Jo Laurence, a hospice and palliative care chaplain. But rather than invoking God or a Christian prayer, she talked of meditation, chanting and other Eastern spiritual traditions: “The body can weigh us down sometimes,” she counseled. “Where is the divine or the sacred in your decline?”
An ordained Sufi minister and practicing Zen Buddhist who brings years of meditation practice and scriptural training to support end-of-life patients, Laurence is part of a burgeoning generation of Buddhist chaplains who are increasingly common in hospitals, hospices and prisons, where the need for their services rose dramatically during the pandemic.
In a profession long dominated in the U.S. by Christian clergy, Buddhists are leading an ever more diverse field that includes Muslim, Hindu, Wiccan and even secular humanist chaplains. Buddhist chaplains say they’re uniquely positioned for the times due to their ability to appeal to a broad cultural and religious spectrum, including the growing number of Americans — roughly one-third — who identify as nonreligious.
In the past, Buddhist chaplains were often hired by the likes of hospitals and police departments specifically to minister to Asian immigrant communities. During World War II, they served Japanese American soldiers in the military. Today, however, they are more mainstream.
Buddhist Chaplains
Organisms Found Trapped in Ancient Rock
830-Million-Years-Old
An incredible discovery has just revealed a potential new source for understanding life on ancient Earth.
A team of geologists has just discovered tiny remnants of prokaryotic and algal life – trapped inside crystals of halite dating back to 830 million years ago.
Halite is sodium chloride, also known as rock salt, and the discovery suggests that this natural mineral could be a previously untapped resource for studying ancient saltwater environments.
Moreover, the organisms trapped therein may still be alive.
830-Million-Years-Old
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