Thanksgiving: Sisters

There are so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, but the one that's on my heart today is sisters.

I'm not speaking of the ones that came from your folks being brave enough to do that reproduction thing more than once: surely wonderful, but I've not been blessed with any of those, so it's outside my zone of experience.

But for the sisters that we find along the way: the ones whose hearts and minds and spirits resonate with our own. The ones we share the triumphs and the failures and the truly horrendous jokes with; the ones that won't be able to bail us out, because they'll be right there with us.

For all of these I am truly thankful: for my sister in Florida who knows the deep dark schooldays secrets; for my sisters in Illinois who have been there for me in good days and bad; for my sisters in Texas who feed my spirit, and don't know each other, and should; for my sister in Missouri who moves my heart; for my sister in Washington who challenges my mind.

For my sisters in Indianapolis at St. Gabriel's and elsewhere. And for other sisters I've not mentioned, and sisters I have not met yet:

For all these, Lord, I am truly thankful.

Mister Fry Redux

OK, now I've seen the whole show.

Wow.

I expected to be amused; I expected to be educated; I expected to be made to think. I expected to hear anecdotes of teacher experiences, stories of students, tales of the culture shock of a kid from Indianapolis private schools finding himself as a teacher in notoriously tough South Central Los Angeles, and the insights that came to him as result of that experience.

And I did; it was all there.

What I didn't expect was for Jack's stories of his experience to move me to tears. For the sad events to tear my heart; the accomplishments to give me joy.

Yes, I understand that Jack's a great teacher, a special teacher. Anyone who can not only understand the preciousness of these students, but share it with complete strangers in such a way as to make them feel what he feels cannot help but be, for it is those same skills that he uses to teach us about these kids. And to teach us to care about these kids.

If you're in Indy, you've got this weekend and two after to catch this show. If you're not, it's headed to an Off-Broadway run in November and December. "Must see" is thrown around way too casually these days, but that's what this is: a show that will not only entertain you, but feed your soul.

Way to go, Jack.

They Call Me Mister Fry

Just saw a preview tonight for Jack Freiberger's They Call Me Mister Fry. Jack's one man show about life as a teacher in South Central LA --- a teacher whose background is white Midwestern privilege --- looks to be insightful and thought-provoking. It's worth taking the time to head to the Fringe building for the full show, I believe: showtimes, location, and all that nitty-gritty here.

Hope to see you there!

FringeNext: Come See Our Show or the Teddy Bear Gets It

[FringeNext is the young performers, under 18, who may become the next generation of Fringe performers.]

Lyndsey Brown, Kevin Burgun & Christina Cardenas
Brebeuf Jesuit Prep (Indy)

These are excellent performers; the girls sing beautifully, together or separately, and they all act well. But the play ("winning" the Irish lottery---actually falling for an internet scam---and attempting to force payout of the "winnings" by threatening to guillotine the teddy bear taken from a child one of the girls is supposed to be babysitting, but has in fact left home alone) has, with apologies to Gertrude Stein, no "there" there.

The original songs were good. But the script was a meandering ramble. Even the core part of the "plot" didn't seem to exist: they did some background on the lottery "win", wandered off to high school life and getting in to college, and then shifted to "ok, time to shove the bear in the guillotine" so abruptly, and unexplainedly, that I was left wondering if they'd accidentally skipped a couple of pages of lines. Then having set that scene, pretty much went back to rambling from topic to topic with no dramatic tension until they reached the end of their time slot, with no denouement whatsoever---simply "okay, we're done now, thanks for coming."

There's a great deal of performance potential here, but it needs a script that goes somewhere and does something.

Piggie's Rating: **** for the performers and the musical portion; ** for the show itself

FringeNext: Every Story Has a Song

[FringeNext is the young performers, under 18, who may become the next generation of Fringe performers.]

International School of Indianapolis

This compilation of stories and songs was excellent, and the performers quite talented. The one thing I found distracting was the singers using sheet music for their songs: in a self-described "cabaret", I expect the performers to know their pieces (as they did in storytelling), and the continual movement of the music stand and flipping of pages in the sheet music was an annoyance which detracted from the overall effect of the performances.

Other than that, it was top drawer for a high school performance, and as professional as any Fringe performance---and more than some.

Piggie's Rating: ***
(Would be a four star without the sheet music)

Fringe: Tortillo!

Avenging Orange Productions (of Indy)
written by Casey Ross

The concept here is interesting: a mystery of malfeasance in a snack food company, and the acting was mostly pretty good. But the script starts to lose direction about 2/3 of the way through the show, until it's trying to be a comedy, a mystery and an odd tribute to the late John Entwistle of the Who all at the same time---and thereby succeeding at none of those attempts.

I think Casey's got a great deal of potential, but she needs to be clear on where she's trying to go with a script and not get seduced by ideas of "and we can work this in...and we can work that in....." Looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next year.

Piggie's Rating: ***

Fringe: Simple Joys

Jennifer K Sutton (of Indy)

This show was radically different from anything else in the Fringe: a light and easy dance, and a journey back to kindergarten. A refreshing interlude with audience participation.

It was a bit short, and perhaps light, for the Fringe setting, though.

Piggie's Rating: **

Fringe: The Rise of General Arthur

Maximum Verbosity (of Minneapolis)

This setting of the Arthurian legend in modern Baghdad was a fascinating concept, but the execution seemed a bit off.

Phillip Andrew Bennett Low's "narration" may have been styled the way it was to set it apart from the "acting" parts of the one man show, but the rapid-fire monotone was counter-productive, a hypnotic drone that hindered the mind trying to absorb the information rather than assisting it. It made the narrative of the overall show hard to follow, and the rapidity of the narration made it feel that perhaps this was a show written to run 90 minutes which was sped up to fit its 60 minute time slot, rather than being cut or otherwise adapted.

I think he's got something good here, but I'd love to have a chance to see it again with the narration done a bit slower; there's more quality there to absorb than the style permitted.

Piggie's Rating: **
Done slower, it would have been a three or even four star show.

Fringe: New Vaudeville

Midwest Emerging Artists (of Indy)

This show was really uneven, just like....well, just like vaudeville used to be. From the high points of Elliot Feltman (emcee and core of the show) and musician Joe Welch, the acts coursed downward until much of the show had the feel of tryouts for a high school talent show. In fact, everything I saw of the FringeNext (high school/youth) shows was of higher overall quality than this show.

BMX pro Andy Cooper's bicycle tricks were interesting, but extremely limited by the tiny stage, and seemed a bit lost in the vaudeville setting.

Piggie's Perspective: **

Fringe: Nevermore

Twilight Productions (of Indy) @ MySpace

A dark show about writers, depression, and suicide; a Poe-and-poetical contemplation of where madness lies. Russell McGee's acting as "The Raven" (a Poe shade, certainly) was wonderful; Amy Pettinella's writer seemed less real, as if she believed nobody could tell her character was depressed unless she was Dramatically Depressed: her writing of the character was fine, but her portrayal was a bit strained.

Piggie's Rating: ***

Fringe: Mr. Charles, Currently of Palm Beach

Assorted Fruits & Vegetables (of Indy)

This one's a bit of a specialty show: if you're amused by a bit of over-the-top gay camp, then Mr. Charles is an absolute hoot, and Ron Spencer plays him beautifully. The show does include full frontal nudity, and I did hear talk here and there from audience members that some folks were taken aback, perhaps even shocked by this. The warnings for the show did clearly state that nudity was involved, but (probably influenced by the poster which showed full rear nudity) "full frontal" wasn't expected by a lot of the audience. This was the last show I saw, at the end of the Fringe, and it was a glorious show to cap off the ten day experience.

Piggie's Rating: ****

Fringe: I Do, I Do in Delhi or How To Survive an Indian Wedding

24th Street Players (of NYC)

This is a one-woman story of traveling halfway around the world to attend the wedding of a college friend's son. She captures the essence of the various players in voice and manner so that you forget that there's only one person on the stage; the story is warm and interesting without rambling or becoming overly sentimental.

Piggie's Rating: ***

Fringe: Phil the Void - The Great Brain Robbery

Phil Van Hest (of LA)

Wow. I'd say Phil's "traditional standup" compared to the other comedy shows I've reviewed here, except that there's nothing traditional about Phil.

This is thinking man's standup: it's deeply thoughtful, not an exaggeration to call it intellectual, even---and funny as hell. Phil reaches for the highest common denominator and finds both the disturbing and the funny elements in life.

The phrase that comes to mind is "like Bill Cosby---only smarter."


Piggie's Rating: *****

(Get thee to a Phil the Void show *early*---Phil consistently sells out the house.)

Fringe: Wanda & Rhonda's Bitchin' Bingo Bash

Tony McDonald & Adam O. Crowe (of Noblesville IN)
with links to Tony's facebook and myspace pages.

I stand in awe of Tony McDonald's writing. Wanda and Rhonda---the pair of middle-aged sisters that he and Adam portray---are women you know. He's got the authentic voice of these gals down, and he approaches them with compassion and affection, despite the fact that given the divergence between their views, one of them's got to have a pretty alien point of view from where Tony is. And the acting is equally affectionate; the honesty of the portrayal comes in part because they're not making fun of Wanda and Rhonda; at best they're teasing a bit.

And they are funny, but it's the warm and homey funny of reality, not a contrived, scripted funny.

Piggie's Rating: ****

Fringe: Hypothetically Stupid

Doctor Spaceship (Matt Kramer and John Patrick Coan) (of Indy)

These guys were reasonably funny. Traditional "two guy sketch" type comedy. That should be enough, no?

There wasn't anything that stood out about them or their gags; nothing to make you remember them or seek them out again at a later date. They weren't bad, they just didn't excel.


Piggie's Rating: **

Fringe: The Attack of the Big Angry Booty

This is subtitled The Adventures of Les Kurkendaal (of LA), with a couple of links to his pages at MySpace and facebook.

Les's tales of diet woes---his and others'---are funny. There's no question about that. But this is not just your everyday standup of laughing at other people, or in rueful recognition that we're included in "other people." Les manages to mix funny with compassion in a subtle fashion so that when he's done, not only has your funny-bone been thoroughly tickled, but your spirit has been fed as well. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and will certainly look Les up next year if he's at the Fringe....but he also came across as a guy I wish lived in my neighborhood. All in all, a thoroughly pleasant experience, I definitely recommend it.

Piggie's Rating: ****

It's Fringe Time!

What follows over the next week will be my reviews of shows at the IndyFringe festival. I'll admit up front that since I'm out of work at the moment, everything I'm seeing, I'm seeing for free---either because I'm working that venue, or because I'm using my freebies I get for working the venues.

That said, here's my definition of ratings:

* = can I get my time back I spent watching this?
** = it was okay for a freebie
*** = that was right fine for a freebie, and would have been worth paying for
**** = would go out of my way to see this for real money, for sure
***** = wow. why ain't these folks on tv?

Do they come with cages?

I've been hearing things oddly for years. It's tempting to write it off to "old age", but it's been going on since far before I was old by anyone's definition except maybe a toddler.

It comes in part from minor hearing loss, I'm sure; it requires the intervention of distance from the source and background noise interfering as well. And oft-sloppy enunciation on the part of the announcer can also contribute. But it leads to mishearing things---usually advertisements---in a way that makes them far more interesting that anything that could have possibly been the actual intent of the advertiser.

I still want to know what Marie Osmond was selling, 20 years ago, that I heard across my mother's house as "Romanian underwear."

And I just heard a commercial for one of those "buy diet meals in quantity" companies that I'd swear included the line "order now and get free weasels for a week!" This has left me with a number of questions:

• Is that a set number of weasels who come to visit for a week?
  
• Or do weasels keep arriving at some set rate for a week?
  
• Are the weasels yours to keep?
  
• Do the weasels simply come to visit before wandering off through your neighborhood?
  
• Or does someone turn up at the end of the week to collect the weasels?
  
• If so, do they bill you for any escaped weasels?
  
• Are the weasels litterbox trained?
  
• If not, are the costs of having the house cleaned covered, or are you out of pocket on this one?
  
• And finally, do the weasels bring their *own* meals, or are they going to be eating the diet meals you've just bought?
  

I'm not sure "free weasels" would be all that much of an incentive to buy their product....but I'm sure it's a more interesting concept than what they're actually selling. :)

Surreal Moments in Feline Observation....

Making a salad. Oops, one crouton drops to the floor. Before I can pick it up, Astra pounces on it and starts chewing.

Hillary runs over to see what Astra's found.

"Grrrrr," says Astra. "This is MY crouton. I LOVE croutons. I'm going to EAT this crouton, and I am NOT going to share!"

"Mommy, mommy!" says Hillary. "Astra has a CROUTON! I'm the baby! I DON'T have a crouton! I NEED a crouton! This is a CRISIS!"

I give Hillary (age 3 months) a crouton. She dives into it.

I wander off to take out the garbage, and then return to eat my salad.

And notice that there on the floor are two whole, albeit slightly soggy croutons......

Series I'm Currently Reading....

Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series: had read this once before, up to whatever was current at the time (O is for Outlaw?). Currently ready to start the last book so far, T is for Trespass.

Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone series: Also had read before, up to whatever was current at the time. I'm currently up to "Both Ends of the Night", or 17 books down, 10 to go.

Sara Paretsky's V I Warshawski series. Probably only four or five books in the series when I last read it. I'm now up to # 10 (Hard Time) of 13.

Robert B. Parker's Spenser series: Hadn't ever read it before. Wasn't much moved by the tv series, but really got into it with the made for tv movies with Joe Mantegna. I'm up to "Walking Shadow", which is # 21 of 35.

Michael Jecks' Simon Puttock series: I think that had three or four books, if that many, when last I encountered it. I'm on the second of 24 now (The Merchant's Partner).

And as mentioned before here, Piers Anthony's Xanth series: have read the first book, ready for the second (The Source of Magic), 30 to go beyond that.

What I've been reading....

I've been kind of systematically reading or re-reading book series for some months now.

Series that I've read everything available in in the last six months or so:

Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series. That's ten novels and a book of short stories; the opening book is Devil in a Blue Dress, which was made into a movie with Denzel Washington.

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Have read everything but the newest (Finger Lickin Fifteen), and have skyrocketed on the library wait list for that one from 682 to 543---not bad for a book that's only been out a week or so. Because of the occasional additional book, this series is not fifteen books, as you might think, but 19.

Tony Hillerman's Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn books. I wish there were a pile of these backed up, waiting to be published, but it doesn't appear that it's so.

Ariana Franklin's Adelia Aguilar series. So far still a distinctly short series---three books---but the idea of merging a female forensics specialist---if you can call anybody in medieval times a "forensics specialist"---with Plantagenet England is interesting if improbable.

Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May series: Six distinctly quirky books.

Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series: I've not seen any of the televised Dresden bits, just the books, but they have my attention. Just noticed that the most recent book has come out since I finished reading the series, so have requested it from the library.

Jess Lourey's Mira James series: another infant series--only four books---but interesting so far.

Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple books....

Vicki Lane's Elizabeth Goodweather books. Only four of them, but definitely reminiscent of Sharyn McCrumb's writing.

Terence Faherty's Scott Elliott series. Only four books, and came to this by accident, being familiar with his Owen Keane books.

Bill Crider's Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, a series I really love and wish there was more of...

And venturing from mystery to fantasy, been rereading Robert Asprin's Myth books.

Good reads all, and always actively collecting "where to go next" from here....

New Baby

We have a new baby! Hillary* is about two months old and has just joined our household.




*: No, not that Hillary....while I have a great deal of respect for Hillary Clinton, our Hillary so far has not shown any particular talents in foreign policy (unless hissing is a foreign policy skill); what she is is a world class climber. So it's to Sir Edmund Hillary that she owes her name....

Books and Other Stuff

OK: where have I been?

Somehow, I've managed to miss reading any of Piers Anthony's Xanth series for 32 years. I feel like I should really regret that.....except, of course, if I *had* been reading them all along, I wouldn't have them before me to read now!

Wow.

Need to stockpile a few books......the foot isn't healing. We've decided to bite the bullet----the job search is being badly hindered by repeated "let's wait another month and see if it's healing" stints----and do the surgery, put a screw in the foot.

Friday. Faster than I expected. But it's time to get this behind me and move on.

PARISH FESTIVAL TIME!

(If you're reading this when it's fresh.....if you're in or near Indianapolis.....come and join us! St. Gabriel's International Festival.....)

Having oodles of fun in the pretzel/nacho/pizza booth. It really is an excellent way to meet people in the parish, and it's just plain fun.

To new friends. To happiness as a choice.

"Depression" is when a Recession bites YOU....

....whether that's read as "economic depression" or "emotional depression"....

Haven't posted in a while. In the last six weeks I've lost two cats (Tondra and Sarah) and one job.....

And we're going into week eleven, if I recall correctly, of trying to get my Q@#$Q@ broken foot to heal. I think it's working---it's starting to hurt and I'm told by several sources, both doctors and them-as-has-btdt, that that's a sign of healing. I certainly hope so.

Doing my bit to heal it: wearing the dratted electrical bone stimulator every day....dancing on it at powwow in the sacred dance circle....

Doing a lot of reading...contemplating...praying...and I found a quote that's stuck with me:



Forgiveness means giving up all hope of having a better past.


(Apparently originally said by Jerry Jampolsky, although there are other candidates.)

It never occurred to me before, but that's a very real aspect of resentment. We think what it's about is wanting redress made in the present for past hurts, but it really isn't: we want intervention retroactively, past hurts fixed **when they happened**. We might settle for present redress, but it isn't really what we ache for.

It's odd: even when we grasp this, and know intellectually that the past *can't* be fixed, we don't immediately leap to losing the resentment and full forgiveness. It's a really strong example of the difference between knowing something in your head and knowing something in your gut.

Guest Blogger....

Miss Baby Cakes, a/k/a adorable four year old granddaughter, has written up the saga of how we went and got dirt and filled the planters and planted the vegetables today....I shall post it exactly as she has written it:



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Tomorrow we *may* have the Saga of the Giant Horrendous Bumble Bee Monster and his attempt to conquer the back yard!

Ow ow ow ow ow

Broke my bloody left foot last week.

Feel stupid. Feel pain. Feel frustration.

Did the first four days splinted and "don't put weight on it, wait for the orthopedic surgeon." Most of that in a wheelchair; "just use crutches and hop" is not my strong suit. What I found at my age was that the good knee and hip were just taking the brunt of all the hopping, and it simply increased the number of places I hurt.

Now I've got a boot that looks like it came from Frankenstein & Sons Outfitters; the good news is that it comes off for showers and sleep. The bad news is that slinging that weight around all day seems to be pushing my (steel/replaced) knee to the limits of its capability.

Oh well. What cannot be cured must be endured, or as they said in the old days, "offer it up....."

And so I shall. Nearly to the end of Lent, now.......

St. Paddy's Day!

'Tis St. Paddy's Day, and a lovely day for all of us Irish.....and the Irish wannabes as well, of course. :)

Am I wearing green, do you ask?

Not yet, but I will be.....

What's today's task? Painting more living room walls. The lavender is done....

So what's today's color?

Surely you don't have to ask.....

'Tis GREEN!

May St. Patrick watch over us all: Erin Go Bragh to the lot of ye!

A small rescue.....

Some folks work with rescuing dogs. Some folks rescue cats.

Some rescue eagles......probably someone, somewhere, rescues aardvarks.





It's 72 degrees today. Tomorrow, it will be 33.




It's hard to call taking a scissors to a plant a "rescue", but perhaps the blooms will last longer than they would if they froze....

Today's Quotation.....

"...truth, as my uncle Roger used to say, is just one man's explanation for what he thinks he understands."

--the character Easy Rawlins, Bad Boy Brawly Brown, by Walter Mosley


***


I like that. The older I get, the less I believe in the idea of objective truth: we all color what we see based on our experience and expectations far more than we think we do, and that's true even when what's under discussion is a simple chain of physical events.

When we're interpreting human action and interaction, it goes right off the map into subjectivity. Sometimes we're aware of it; sometimes we aren't. But when even physics has no absolute objective truth (observers modify what they observe; Heisenberg's uncertainty principle), then it's impossible for philosophy or religion to do so. Not if they're absolutely honest, anyway.

Another Quotation I'm Contemplating....

Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

---Malachy McCourt

Fame....?

I know I'm famous.

Only by association, of course. Only the incidental fame that comes when one (or more) of the wildly self-centered exults....

"Lookie what **I** did! Lookie how I got **that** victim!"

I, of course, am playing the part of the victim.







I'm sure it's all over CatNet. Check the message board for "Cabin Fever Entertainments"; there may even be an out of focus webcam shot of me.






"See our housekeeper." (Yes, we're polite, we don't call our human a slave in public.) "See how she notices how adeptly we've batted the entire roll of garbage bags into the washing machine."

"Not once. Not twice. **Three times** she discovers the full roll of kitchen sized garbage bags in the washer and puts it back away. Isn't she smart?"

"Oops. Now see her taking the clean clothes out of the washer to put them in the dryer. FOUR TIMES, MOMMY!!" ("Mommy" is what we named our slave.) "We put the roll there FOUR TIMES!! Watch Mommy pull each water-containing individual bag out of the load! It's right there on MeowTube!"

Wittily yours,

Tondra'n'Sarah'n'Morgan'n'Astra......stars of the IndyCat League!

What kind of tracks are THOSE?

Boy, those are weird looking tracks, aren't they? Got any theories what sort of critter makes those kinds of tracks? Looks like some kind of wild something....but what?





Those are Astratracks. This is what you get when a seven month old kitten joyously runs about trying to pounce the snowflakes as they fall......

Another Quotation that Struck Me.....

Simple things are always the most difficult. In actual life it requires the greatest discipline to be simple, and the acceptance of oneself is the essence of the moral problem and the epitome of a whole outlook upon life. That I feed the hungry, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ -- all these are undoubtedly great virtues. What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ. But what if I should discover that the least among them all, the poorest of all the beggars, the most impudent of all the offenders, the very enemy himself -- that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I myself am the enemy who must be loved -- what then?

--Carl Jung
(referred to by Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel)

Day Nine: January 20

For our new President, Barack:

Lord, be with him always. The weight on his shoulders is more than a man can take; he needs you to carry much of that burden.

Give him all the gifts of your Holy Spirit:

Knowledge: for the job that he has been given requires that he knows much and learns far more. He must also know what he does not know, that he may find advisors to help him.

Understanding: for to know is not enough; he must understand the meaning of what he knows. He must comprehend what his advisors tell him.

Judgment: for he must take all that he knows and all that he is given and discern what is true, what is good, what is valuable. And he must be able to judge who is the best advisor in any situation.

Wisdom: for everything above is meaningless without wisdom to pull it together; wisdom to find what out of an overwhelming flood of information is truly important.

Courage: not only physical courage, for the job is dangerous no matter how many try to protect him, but intellectual courage, to be able to reject the "nice-sounding" solution that does not stand up to logic, and even harder, moral courage, that rejects the easy or convenient and holds out for the right, though all around him fight against it.

Piety: let him return the thanks and obedience to you which is your due, and let him remember that you are always watching what he does, for good or ill.

Fear (Awe) of the Lord: let him realize that this is his Sanity Clause: for he will spend the next years surrounded by those who will flatter him that he is the most powerful man on earth, that he holds the power of a god, that he *is* a god. Let him remember always that you are to him as he is to a single ant. Sustain his understanding of his place in the universe and his sense of balance. Protect him from the terrible temptations of ego that go with this job.

Love him, Lord Jesus. He needs to feel your love.

Comfort him, Blessed Mother. He needs your consolation.

Strengthen him, Breath of God. For the strength that he needs far exceeds the strength of the natural man.


Lord, Hear our Prayer.

Day Eight: January 19

For the family of our new president:

All the assorted relatives by blood and by marriage. May they find it a blessing rather than a curse in their lives. May they find a ministry in being supportive of the First Family, and may they find you a source of all strength in resisting those who would nudge them into exploiting their connections. May they draw closer to each other in your love.

For Michelle, Malia and Sasha: give them the strength to deal with the restrictions on their lives, the regimentation, the mass of people who so often stand between them and the husband and father they love. Let them draw closer together and cherish the time that they are all together as a family. Let them find you in the dark moments and the bright moments, and know that their Heavenly Father holds them all in his hands.



Lord, Hear our Prayer.

Day Seven: January 18

For those who serve their country in the military: May they feel your presence, Lord, and receive strength from you to do what they have to do. May they also feel the loving arms of your Mother, Mary, and remember always that force is something that should be applied only in time of true need and no more than necessary. Let them be gentle when they can, and see you in the people they help.

For those who make the decisions about the military: Let them remember that our young men and young women are a precious resource, not to be squandered without need; let them remember also that the use of military force is meant to be a last resort, never a "just because we can." Let them see us as others see us occasionally, and remind them that what they hold is not just power, but vast responsibility. Let your hand be on their shoulders and your voice in their ears when they make such decisions.



Lord, Hear our Prayer.

Day Six: January 17

For all those who cover not only the inauguration but the government for radio, television, newspaper, blogs: may each media member strive to report fairly, to emphasize the positive while neither hiding the negative nor particularly seeking out the negative for sensationalism and scandalmongering. May they seek the truth, and to educate the people to the truth, while providing honest hope where it is to be found. May they take the time to find and to remind us about what is right in our country and among our people with even half the energy they expend to spread despair and panic with Chicken Little-ism. May they resist the corporate conglomerates' attempts to bias the news in any way; may they be open to God's call as a prophet to our society.


Lord, Hear Our Prayer.

Day Five: January 16

For all those whose work in government does not depend on who's in office, or on being appointed: May those who labor in the civil service never forget the meaning of the word service. Not that they should deal with individuals in a servile fashion, but that they remember that it is their country that they serve, and that to do so is a privilege which must not be abused. May they see Jesus in each of the citizens they interact with each day, and be moved to a gentle touch even when the message they must convey seems harsh.



Lord, Hear our Prayer.

Day Four: January 15

For all those who will be appointed to positions, whether in the Cabinet, or the Judiciary, or at lower levels in various agencies: may God's hand be in the choosing, and in the approving, and in the hearts of those appointed. May they understand well the arena in which they work; may they seek to understand it better; may their attention and intention be focused on the work that needs to be done rather than political expediency, favors, or building a lucrative personal future. May they attain wisdom and balance, and hear when God speaks to them.



Lord, Hear our Prayer.

Day Three: January 14

For the "keepers" and "minders" whose job it is to schedule the President and his family: may they find peace in the midst of chaos, serenity in the height of pressure. May they find time for God in their day, and may they be open to His direction in maintaining balance. May they feel called to make sure that the President hears always from more than the rich and the powerful, from more than the sycophant and supplicant. May they find the time and means to schedule the prophets and poets as well as the boon-seekers and the powerbrokers.


Lord, hear our Prayer.

Day Two: January 13

That those whose mission it is to protect the President and his family may know God, and find strength in God. For the long hours and difficult assignments; for the strains that mission cause with friends and family; to face the dangers that they must face every day. May they know Your strength and support in their lives, and may they feel the loving arms of Mother Mary consoling them when the nights are especially long cold and dark.


Lord, Hear our Prayer.

Day One: The Novena for the New President

Today, January 12, Day One.

That all those who participate in decisions about our economic future understand that at this time, even more than at other times, what counts is what is best for ALL of us----it is the common American who is far more vulnerable in tough times than the powerful, and it is the common American, not the wealthy lobbyist, that our representatives are elected to consider and protect. Let them be aware of the magnitude of their responsibility, and alive to it.



Lord, hear our prayer.