Apologies

Yes, I know I probably should not have said it that way but I am tired of these horrid old rich women ganging up on me in this way. It is just horrible. One would think they would be ashamed of their unchristian attitudes but apparently they have no shame, especially Lee. I am tired of being berated and browbeaten over almost nothing. It is so ridiculous that I just don't care anymore. There is no reason to change or alter my earlier opinion of them so there is never going to be any change in this regard. I am just going to sit here and wait until somebody wakes up because there is nothing for me to do. It is all about what they are supposed to be doing. It is not about me. After all, I am not the maid.

Apologies

OK, so maybe Lee will not apologize but she really should because her attitude stinks to high heaven. At least everybody on the planet knows how horribly she has behaved. One would think that she would reflect upon her own hatefulness and recognize the truly rotten nature of her attitude toward myself and my family. There really needs to be some recognition that I have done nothing wrong to them but that on the contrary she is a big problem on this planet which everybody already knew anyway.

Feelings

I remember well how I felt as a child when that hideous woman Lee often snubbed my mother and my sister and I and waved us aside if we were redheaded stepchildren. Excuse me! You are the interlopers. I have no need of imperial witch Lee and her groveling minion-slaves always spreading lies and disinformation. What makes them think they have any hold on me? They have nothing that I want. I would rather die than fawn over that horrid woman. She is not popular here. She and her family might have appeared on television in Venezuela in Spanish but that has nothing to do with me. I am not interested in doing television in Venezuela, a country where many people do not even own televisions anyway and perhaps run around the jungle in birthday suits. It is very hard to evangelize such a difficult country. My distant relatives tried for years and where is the fruit? I have not seen anything but Venezuelan loonies terrorizing behind the scenes. Why should I care about Venezuela? I do feel sorry for those missionaries called to Venezuela, the land of arepas and other boring food, because South Americans are often so full of themselves. I just don't see any connection between myself and them, although they now live in Texas. Texas for me is just a historical museum. I am very interested in doing more historical research but I don't see what that has to do with Venezuela. It is not about them. I really resent these rude people trying to steal my life. It just isn't fair. I made some mistakes but still this is ridiculous.

Apologies

Yes, someday I imagine that hideous woman Lee Bueno will apologize to me personally for foisting upon me her horrid request for volunteer work in the person of her grovelingly stupid volunteer-slave who is obviously Anglo and not Hispanic. It should be self-evident to that imperious witch that no MK of right mind cognizant of how things work would consent to such groveling slavery to their public relations machinery. I am Assemblies of God, not Buenos of God. There is a difference. We are not them. I do not understand how they can so confused on this point. If they want volunteer slaves I think they should ask their own people.

Intercontinental

Yes, I remember some missionary, maybe it was the Davenports or maybe it was someone else, talking about the time they were at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Salvador and some woman walks through the hotel lobby topless. Of course they freaked out. We all heard this story. Who was she? We do not know, just some guest, but we assume that she was probably European. Women over their in Europe are completely immodest and immoral. Why else would they deliberately do that? We never saw that, only heard the story. Sure, we were at the Intercontinental Hotel at other times playing miniature golf in the course they had there but never wearing birthday suits.

Literature Correction

Oops! Yes, "Vanity Fair" was written by Thackeray, not Henry James. I am not very familiar with the writings of Henry James generally speaking, or Thackeray for that matter. So many books, so little time. Generally speaking my reading tastes do not venture far into this type of cynicism. It wearies the mind to read of these contrived situations and artificial and stilted dialogue, words that no one would actually say in conversation and are only thought of in the author's mind, a mind that would not fit in my head without rearranging my brain. I want to think my own thoughts and be a person of my own making, not the creation of some literary creep. So while it is sort of nice to offer your literary services, your services are not acceptable to me. I must decline your inadequate offer because the result would not be acceptable in quality and scope and ultimate aim. You do not know where I am going. I know where I am going and I know who is going with me and it is not you.

Viking Terror

Yes, I really do not appreciate Di Myers badmouthing me all the time and making me look like I was the problem. If the Myers really want to know who made their lives miserable and ran them out of town eventually, they need look no further than the Ophelia Yeary who goes by whatever the people want, the people being her little spies that report to her on everything she imagines that you are doing to make a name for yourself, and also whatever she wants. Ophelia is pastor's wife so basically she is like the "Queen" to the pastor's "King" and if you cross them you are dead in the water. Only they are allowed to have power and be known to the people. Basically it is whatever they want and whatever "their people" want. Mostly "their people" are the black people, some African-Americans but mostly those who immigrated here from the Caribbean islands and are bound and determined to get ahead of white people. So that is how that works. I suppose that it is advantageous for Ophelia to be blond. She almost looks Scandinavian and nowadays you pretty much have to be black or a Viking warrior to get ahead in the Assemblies of God. White Anglos seem to be at a disadvantage nowadays. The tables have turned it seems and now we are at a disadvantage, not that we haven't been at a disadvantage in the past. It

Books and Books

As the saying goes, you cannot necessarily judge a book by its cover. Just because it has some artists' rendering on the cover, that does not mean that the inside while match the reader's expectations. Also, books are not prescriptions diagnosed for specific situations. They are only read because they make us think and reason. Not every book is worth reading, but many good books do offer not so much advice but just general thoughts on life and how different people experience or should or should not experience various things and character flaws, etc. Better to read about disaster and be forewarned than to personally experience such a disaster.

Reading List

I should make a point of noting that "The Turn Of the Screw" by Henry James was not on my high school reading list. I that I did make this point. Perhaps a younger class studied this book but, anyway, there are so many books, so little time. I rarely read a book twice and the movie is enough to convince me not to bother reading this one. It is just another depressing work of psychological nuance that does not fit this actual situation. It just has nothing to do with me.

Turning

Which reminds me, what was that about the Henry James classic, "The Turn Of The Screw"? I have not yet read the book. I could not even get a few pages into "Vanity Fair" without falling asleep so obviously Henry James is not someone that I enjoy reading. I did reading "Wuthering Heights" and learned of the sorry fate of those bad people, Heathcliff and Catherine. How miserable they were for the rest of their lives because they did not behave themselves properly when they were young. It is when you are young that you lay the foundation for the rest of your life so please do yourself a favor and do the right things now, obey your parents and so forth, so that when you are old you can rest and enjoy life and the fruit of your labors. I guess that is the point I am supposed to make. I already knew this anyway. I didn't a bratty little witch to tell me what I already know, thank you very much.

Books

Yes, I read the Irish novel that Mom brought home to read but perhaps René did not read it. René likes to paint herself as more righteous than us because she did not read the same books that Mom and I read, but René exaggerates. There is no virtue in setting yourself up as a naive ignoramus and basing your childrearing methodology on "Little Prince," a book I never read but which I understand was written by a decadent sleazy Frenchman, not to be fooled by the cute little drawing on the cover. Comparisons, comparisons, comparisons. At least we are here to mitigate the "Little Prince" nonsense.

Irish book

Yes, I am trying to remember the title of that novel set in Ireland that I read during high school. My mom bought it somewhere and brought it home and read it and then I also read it and there was some not-so-good stuff in it. Funny how mother brings all these books home and then makes me feel guilty for reading them. If I shouldn't read this stuff, why is she reading it? Why did she bring it home in the first place? It just doesn't make sense.

Carr 2

Yes, I suppose that we could use our Mary Ann Carr connection, one of my 32 great-great-great-grandparents, to claim membership in the Holy Roman Empire. That entity has not existed for 200 years maybe. And even if it could be resurrected, why would we want to be incorporated to the groveling minions enslaved by haughty rich Europeans, Polish and the like, who treat us like garbage? I probably should add a reference here to Lower Slobovia, which I had always thought referred to a mythical European nation, possibly some Polish berg locked in Iron Curtain backwardness, borrowing from a short narrative tape that we MKs once made together while playing and trying to think of uses for our new cassette recorder, the reference to Lower Slobovia being contributed by David who said he heard it on the radio or seen it somewhere and said it was generally regarded as funny. Not having paid very much attention to Al Capp's Dogpatch comic strip, I cannot really say much about that. David thinks he knows everything so there is not much point arguing about this point now. However, in perusing Wikipedia now I see that Al Capp had said something else in mind. The actual butt of the joke was a city in far eastern Siberia which was set up by Stalin as a Jewish autonomous region. Interesting. I never knew that existed. I probably thought it was just another polack joke.

Carr

Mary Ann Carr was my great-grandfather's grandmother which makes her my great-great-great-grandmother, the mother of my great-great-grandmother Rhoda Burrey. I thought I had already told this story but anyway I will tell it again just so no one will imagine any connection to a floormate at Evangel College of the last name Carr. The story goes that Mary Ann Carr was in Alsace, Lorraine which is France, sort of. There is a note somewhere explaining that Alsace became German after the Franco-Prussian war of 1871, and then French again after WWI. I got the following story from Candace Peebles, a Burrey connection who preceded me in genealogy research. Unhappy with her strict Catholic father who had forbidden her from becoming a Protestant, Mary Ann Carr ran away from home and migrated to America where she married Jacob Burry, whose family were Swiss Protestants. I am not sure why this matters. Lots of Protestants used to be Catholics so that point does not make us not Protestants. However, how Mary Ann Carr got to America all by herself is a mystery to me. Did she have a chaperone or companion? I would not recommend the journey as girls can get bad reputations for just spending a day away from home, let alone even one night. People may say there is no double standard but they lie. I am sure there is more to the story than we know but anyway Mary Ann Carr successfully ran away from home and married Jacob Burrey and had several children including Rhoda and the rest is history. His father apparently was not happy about that but it does not matter now. Some Catholic girls maybe want to use Mary Ann Carr as the prime example of disobedience to authority and what not to do. Nevertheless, sometimes we make mistakes and then God forgives us and redeems our mistakes and uses us in spite of ourselves. At least some people get a break although maybe I am not speaking for myself.

Daniel

Yes, I do vaguely remember that Lynda had a big crush on Daniel Amen when they were at SCC. I vaguely remember seeing them talking in the lunch room. I vaguely remember Lynda saying something about him and that he was leaving to go to ORU in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She might have liked him but I do not think that he was interested in her. It always was embarrassing to be around Lynda. She is too pushy and self-centered and I am tired of listening to her motormouth rantings. She never has anything nice to say about me. Anyway, I do not know where Lynda finds all these people. Funny, I saw Daniel's picture the other day and for all his fame and fortune and good health advice he himself looked like such a weasely little creep, a pale shadow barely recognizable from his college yearbook picture. If you just saw this guy on the street you would not recognize him. I do not know what ORU does to these people. Nor would I care to have these guys plugging my brain into their computer. What they do to animals is bad enough. But I am no animal. I am a human being with a duty to reeducate people to have more respect for redheads. It is our duty to reeducate these stupid black Irish because if we do not do it no one will.

Mr. Swinehart

Every day at lunch Mr. Dick Swinehart used to sit in the very same chair in the lunch room, far left side, second chair over at the front of the room. I suppose one could make a joke about that but it would seem rude to make fun of my friend Peggy's father so I would not really want to say anything about that. However, I do seem to remember some people making jokes about Dick although I don't think it was me. If there was a certain person who never could resist the temptation to make a joke about pretty much anything their name was probably Miriam. Miriam can get away with all that stuff because she is a pastor's daughter. As we all know, pastor's daughter can do whatever she wants and we MKs dare not say anything.

More about Scotty Kid

I have made some additions to the website about "Scotty Kid" in case anyone is interested.

Kiss You? I Don't Even Know You!

A line from college days. Yes, I can see where it could be a rather traumatic experience for guys to hear this line even if they don't like you or if they do. It is not highly recommended to use this line unless you really are not interested.

Using People

What a joke, these fat slob druggie girls complaining that I might want to use them. Ha! No, it is the other way around. They are the ones who are using me to further their selfish ambitions at my expense. Look at them pecking away at every little thing. They are just sick. Nothing more than that. I have nothing to say about their boring lives which means that they have no place in life. They will be mostly ignored because I have no use for them.

Weird Me

Yes, that was so weird what I did to Gene at work. I was going to the corner to the fast food burger place, maybe Wendy's or Burger King or something like that, and he asked for one thing and I brought him back something else, a chicken sandwich instead of a cheeseburger or something like that. I don't know why I did that. Sometimes I am so weird. Like maybe I read my Mom's book, "The Kink & I," a Christian psychology self-help book, and took it seriously. Sometimes I think there really is a glitch in my head. I just don't do what I know I should and I do things that I know I should not. I don't know why I do that. Sometimes I am just weird.

Clarification: Puritans

So my Calkins ancestors came to the New World amid a flood of Puritans. Puritans sought a "purity" of worship and doctrine but were blocked in the Old World from making the reforms they sought. I should clarify that when I say they were not hugely fond of pomp and ceremony I am not saying that there were no ceremonies and services in their lives. I was not talking about that at all. The Puritans were scrupulously exact in recording the dates of weddings, births and deaths, graduations, etc. If it were not so, we would have no record of where we came from but we do. The names of the children were recorded even when they died very young because we are not talking about an inventory of cattle for breeding. We are talking about human souls. Each child's soul is a very important matter. On Judgment Day God will open the big book and beside the name of each child or adult will be that soul's life story. Each person will be called to account for everything done in this life. Sin is not merely a matter of societal stigma. Sure, sin does have consequences in this life. The stigma was severe in Puritan society. But beyond that, it is a very personal matter. What will you say to God when He opens the book on you and points to these various dates of your life? What will your answer be? My opinion of you will not matter then. You will not be able to hide behind excuses and comparisons. On that day you will have to face the truth because the record books will not lie.


Revelation 20:12-15: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Poetry

Yes, I went to a Bob Bennett concert with Barbara Harvey's sister and she thought it was the stupidest thing, all those crazy lyrices, all those words strung together in meaningless combinations. "Still Rolls the Stone." How ridiculous! Why does he talk about the boulder in the present tense? Some Gospel accounts do not even mention this so-called stone being rolled away depending on which gospel you read and how you interpret it. Doesn't he know that we Christians do not listen to the Rolling Stones? etc. etc. So I did not enjoy the concert very much because of having to discuss, or should I say argue about this afterward. If you did not get a good dose of Poetry Interpretation 101 in high school it is hard for you to get it no matter what I say. I cannot help you with this problem of yours. I enjoyed the music but I also know that sometimes the words just feel instinctively right or clashingly wrong. In-depth analysis may later confirm the truth already intuited because but that is how art works. If you cannot wing it by intuition and must have everything spelled out for you, A- B- C-,  then perhaps you just don't like the truth that is staring you in the face. You would like to rewrite history to suit yourself. Perhaps you are a symptom of what Allen Bloom called, "The Closing of the American Mind." I thought about selling my copy of Bloom's book but perhaps I should actually read it first. Someday. Maybe. So many books. So little time.

Those Harvey Girls

Yes, someone really should plug Barbara Harvey's big mouth. She always was sort of a tedious person to be around anyway, imagining herself the center of the universe and herself the only avenue of social activity that I ever had in college, and so maybe that is partly why we hardly ever talked. So what if I was not invited to become a Popineau kitchen slave? God had better plans for me. I will be just fine without Barbara for an in-law. Thus, I have no problem with Barbara confining herself to the kitchen sink where she can slave away washing everyone else's dirty dishes. It will be a huge relief not to have Barbara Harvey and her faceless minions in my life. I have other things on my mind than Barbara's sick thinking. After all, Barbara Harvey actually has nothing intelligent to say about me and neither does her boring sister. They are just vicious Arkansas attack dogs perhaps still plugging away at Civil War grudges, nothing more than that. All the bitter griping in the world will not compensate for the wickedness of Arkansas creep Dalton Webber.

Job Interview

I remember that when I went to the Maximized Manhood offices for the job interview I ran into an ex-classmate from college who was working there, Nance Nelson, Lori Way's roommate as I remember her. I remember chatting with Nance for a few moments. She mentioned that Pat Boone's daughter also worked in the same office suite. She was not referring to Debbie Boone the singer. She was referring to one of her sister's recently divorced. So that was interesting. It might have been nice to work there and learn more about Nance and Pat Boone's family and Ed Cole's family and who knows what else but I felt uncomfortable about it so I turned it down and took the other job instead and the rest is history.

Latecomers

In case you have not heard this, back in 1983 I turned down a job at Maximized Manhood in Newport Beach, Calif. I never did work there, only felt uncomfortable with the interview by that lawyer, the son-in-law of Ed Cole, who made some weird comment about me being too quiet, like maybe he would not feel comfortable having such a quiet person working for him or something, so my thought was fine, you do not have to have me working for you, no problem. Anyway, the Coles were friends of my grandparents. It's a long story and I don't really know the half of it. Grandpa Calkins used to serve on their board of directors and one time I went to lunch with my grandparents and the Coles and I remember Mr. Cole saying that it was Grandpa Calkins who played a huge role in leading him to the Lord because before he was saved Mr. Cole was a drunken loser who used to work for my grandpa who was a plastering contractor. The story goes that Mr. Cole once poured cement in my Dad's shoes. So anyway, my Dad can tell the story better than I can. So anyway, Mr. Cole said that he considered Grandpa Calkins his example for Christian manhood, whatever that means. I am a girl so obviously I am not going to follow in those footsteps and, sadly, Uncle Merle also cannot be said to have followed in those footsteps as his pathetically broken family clearly demonstrates. It is so sad that Uncle Merle's family is a disaster but things were not always this bad. Of course, it did not help to have worthless Pastor Webber poisoning the well. We feel sorry for the families of the victims but we were just as clueless as they were and not sure how those events unfolded as we were not there. The mothers of the victims wanted to share their pain with me for some vengeful reason, saying that because their sons were abused by Pastor Webber and cannot get married, that I also must be single and eternally plagued with gender confusion. I beg to differ with these hateful women of twisted mind. Who knew Pastor Webber's scheme was so grandiose? What is his problem with the Calkins family anyway? What a bizarre grudge to hold! The mothers are just as sick as psycho-creep Pastor Webber and someone really needs to work on them as well. It is not enough to ship pastor out to pasture. The damage to Carlsbad area is extensive and lots of people need mental health therapy and I am not talking about me. I am talking about them. They know who they are.

Kansas Prairie Dogs

Yes, these Kansas prairie dog varmint certainly are dangerous. I mean, their work certainly disproves that proverb about words never hurting me. Words certainly can be very dangerous. It is not so much one comment here or there that maybe stings and can be easily ignored, but rather it is a whole mob scene of thousands of people echoing and repeating the same half-truths and lies, that Parrot Effect, that can really cause great violence to the truth and which cannot be countered and overturned without huge unbelievable effort and disharmony to the rules of civility and polite society. Sarah Kugler may have had her particular opinion about certain things but she was never the president of the universe and so while it may be interesting to listen what she has to say, she is not the sum total of the story and these Kansas prairie dogs need to sleep in their little gopher holes where they belong so they do not disturb the peace. We cannot have motormouth Sarah Kugler flapping her jaws all the time. We also have to give other people a chance to talk so that we can get a more complete picture of the landscape.

Sharon

Yes, I do remember talking to Sharon Baldwin about my year at Evangel. I remember that Sharon seemed to know Jan Green. I remember at Evangel Jan Green talking about taking classes from her favorite professor, Dr. Don Baldwin, who later appeared at SCC and from whom I took Philosophy 101, all that stuff about Plato's cave. Jan Green seemed to be local to Missouri and talked about how her sister eloped by climbing out a window. I am not sure what the connection is to Sharon or why Sharon would be at all interested in these events especially as apparently her brains were not what got her the Homecoming crown. No, popular does not necessarily equate to intelligent especially when these people cannot keep any facts straight, perhaps something about Kansas tornadoes. They just blow things up.

Carolyn

During my first semester at Evangel I roomed maybe six weeks with that Mennonite girl. Maybe her name was Carolyn Pickett of MO. She had had a very bad experience with her first roommate. I do not remember who she was although I would not be surprised if it was Pam. Pam always did have a certain attitude and anyway whoever it was was really freaked her out to be rooming with someone like that. I hope I was not that mean. I am used to these types of people having gone to school with Dawn so I know how they are. I understood that Carolyn wanted to move to another dorm where she had met some other girls her were equally very overweight and sort of plain like herself. That was the reputation that Walther had at the time.

Evangel First Semester

Halfway through my first semester at Evangel I changed roommates. Judy moved downstairs to another floor and I moved down the hall to room with this girl who was very conservative, maybe Mennonite. She was nice but she seemed to think that I was too worldly. The second semester she moved to a different dorm. So that's fine. It is not like I would expect a Mennonite girl to get along that well with me anyway. They think they know everything and they are always right so that puts me on the outs all of the time. The second semester my roommate was Jan Green? who was extremely wild and worldly in comparison to me. She even dyed her hair red, unlike my natural red. She was really too worldly and not someone I would want to stay in touch with in the future, another reason not to go back there. So sometimes these things are relative. It depends on who you are comparing to whom to determine who is more worldly or more conservative than whoever else. It is not so clear at times as you might imagine. So we each have our standards and if your standards are not my standards that does not make me wrong. You might even be wrong. I do not necessarily have to listen to your opinion just because you think you know everything.

Twenty Years

It has been at least 20 years since I heard anything about what's-her-name, that girl who at least worked along with if not dated Bobby Bueno back when he was single and was working at Editorial Vida. I did not live here at the time so do not know her very well, just talked a few times. She remembered me because once when I was at Evangel several of us from the dorm floor went out to dinner with some people at maybe the Spaghetti Factory including Joey's family visiting from New Jersey, Joey being on the guys' dorm floor that was our brother dorm. We all did a lot of stuff together at the time. I left after the first year so did not stay in touch with all those people but it was good spaghetti dinner, I think. So anyway she remembered me from the dinner and I remember telling her that I was going to be going back to school and she recommended some people to call. I did call someone whose phone number she gave me but they did not say much and do not remember who it was. Virginia Beach is a very transient area and those people are always coming and going. I cannot be expected to keep track of her contacts when I cannot even keep track of my own. Sorry, but I trust that God will take care of her and her many children because I cannot do that. She chose a difficult path for sure but I did not do that so, it may sound sort of cold and callous to say this, but it is not my problem.

Correction

Oops! June was actually from New Hampshire, not Massachusetts. Jackie Fine was from Massachusetts. I don't think that Jackie would appreciate being taken for Bette Midler even if June does do the Boston accent well. I guess it helps to be from New England generally speaking.

June Lines

Yes, it was June of Massachusetts who was on my floor at Evangel College who did some kind of Bette Midler/Mae West imitation at the college talent show. I seem to remember her quoting some rather risque lines from the movies, something like, "Come up and see me some time." She looks so much like Bette Midler and she even has that Boston accent nailed to perfection. I guess it helps to be from Massachusetts. After the show some guys were razzing some of us who were walking down the hall on our way in the direction of the dorm, especially June. I guess they thought she really was a Bette Midler/Mae West kind of girl, not just an act. But that was June, always a little too over the edge for my comfort. Perhaps Joey would remember this event. Joey, as I recall, had a sister who later ended up working at Editorial Vida in Miami. This was years ago, back when Bobby Bueno was still single and also worked at Editorial Vida. I do not remember whether Bobby and Joey's sister, what's-her-name, ever dated. I do think she liked him but maybe they did not get that serious. Bobby later married Cilinia. I am trying to remember what her name was but it does not come to mind. I have not heard anything about her for years and years but the last time I did hear of her she was living down in South Miami raising a bunch of children she had adopted or was fostering as a single mother. I have no idea what happened to her. So many people come and go in South Florida. It is very transient here. It is very hard to keep track of all these people when they are only here a short while and then move on to something else.

More Stupid Tirade Stuff

Oh yes, according to the script I am also supposed to say something about the late Mary Jo Kopechne and the rumors that the silence of her family was paid for by the Kennedys. I do not know whether that is true or not. It just a rumor as far as I can tell but, yes, one can sort of see why they would prefer not to say anything about it. A prosecution could be sort of embarrassing for the memory of their late daughter and fault would be hard to prove one way or another what with her dead and unable to explain what she was doing in his car anyway and him an extremely influential politician with lots of money. So one can see why there might be some good reasons not to talk about it. It is not something that we, the public, think about all that much but it is just there nonetheless, an easy sound bite for Republicans. Yet Republicans would have to be almost perfect to want to run for president in 2012 because there are so many strikes against challengers anyway. I wasn't planning to run for president anyway, or, for that matter, ride around in Jerry Falwell's car so this is not my problem. I sometimes listen to this stuff on television but it is really not my problem.

Correction

Book: "The Day the Dollar Died" by Willard Cantelon

Vikings

Yes, I have no idea whatever possessed Rose Wilson to don a Viking hat and Olympian robes onstage for her performance of, well, something that sounded operatic. Rose does have a fully operatic voice so she could pull it off, I suppose. Lynda said that Rose was singing, "I forgot my words." If Lynda had not told me that I honestly would not have noticed. I just thought Rose was singing opera, sort of. Why she would choose the Wagnerianesque Viking outfit I had no idea. Maybe she thought she looked funny. I don't know. Was I supposed to laugh? I don't know. I was not included in the planning committee so have no clue about their stuff. I just thought they were stupid. I often thought that Rose sort of stupid, not that I would ever say what I really thought about those people. They were just weird, so weird that they often were more stupid than funny. I would not want to be dumped in the same bucket as those weirdos.

Prophecy

If I were sane then I would get a life, but instead I sit here and wait for the sky to fall. As Chicken Little often said, "The sky is falling." Chicken Little is a folk tale not to be confused with David Wilkerson's book, "The Vision," which I did read at least in part, a chilling prophecy of America fallen prey to moral depravity and corruption. It is uncanny how often Mr. Wilkerson's visions do come true. Is he truly a prophet of God or just a self-fulfilling prophecy? Well, who am I to say? Frightening prophecies are in the Bible for a purpose but I doubt we will understand it all until we have been singing "Amazing Grace" for ten thousand years and can look back at the signposts of history. Until then we only have pieces of a puzzle, as I have often said.
Thus, it is not wrong for me to read "The Day the Dollar Died" because it was written by prominent AG scholar, Willard Cantor, but I also can hope these things don't happen that way. It is not wrong for me to read Hal Lindsey's books even if the actual events and people are not playing out exactly the way he thought they would. We cannot know the day nor the hour, as Jesus said, and even Hal Lindsey does not know. The point is, "Are you ready? If Jesus comes today are you ready?"
It is not for us to understand the fulfillment of end-times prophecy. Nevertheless, like my mom said, there is a blessing for those who read the Book of Revelation. We read it and remember it even when we don't understand because it is there in the Biblical canon. It means something important even if it is only one small part of the entire Bible. We go by the whole counsel of God, not just one little portion.
I note here that I once saw a Calvary Chapel video in which the word counsel was prominently misspelled as "Council." That is a really bad mistake. They really should fix their problem but I don't go there so it is not my problem.
So if it is in the Biblical canon I must read it but not because the pastor said I should or should not. It is about more than just pastor. It is about me and my personal relationship with God. Church is supposed to be there for me, not vice versa. And then again, vice versa, I must be part of a church if I heed the Biblical warning not to drop out of church. It is just safer that way.

The Must Bust

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; What the pastor doesn't do the assistant must."
My Dad often quotes this pithy little saying remembered from the days when he was an assistant to Pastor Hauff, a position fraught with many responsibilities and very little recognition in comparison to pastor.
But I am a girl so it is not like I would ever be a pastor. Sure, there are women pastors but generally of the few that exist, most are are married. Single women don't get much respect without a husband. Anyway, I am not the pastor's assistant so I do not have to do that. I am not on staff so just because the pastor says it, that does not mean that I must. Susie might be on staff but I am not.
So I am not required to continue acting out this silly script. I may have had my stupid moments but I do not want those stupid moments to define my entire life. I was only passing through on my way to somewhere else. I am just a wayfaring stranger, as they say so will someone please turn it off now?
The services of a Justice of the Peace are not required in this context, and anyway, just because the original Mr. Tracy served in that position in Norwich, Conn., in the 1650s, Dale probably could not be construed as qualified for such office in the present tense as the Tracy descendants have fallen to dim reflections of the originals. I am just speculating because I do not know where this silly script came from or what the point might be.
The "Must" rule should not be confused with that ditty often heard in girls' dormitories: "I must, I must, I must increase my bust." Increasing the bust is impossible without surgery and who needs all that scar tissue anyway? No, I am not required to increase my bust. Or am I?
Once you get to a certain point of indebtedness, you just have no choice but to increase your bust. We must increase our national indebtedness to pay for all this nonsense.
Which reminds me of the little thing that Lynda wrote in my sophomore yearbook just before she graduated and left school never to return. It was nice of Lynda to write something in my yearbook but her instructions are too complicated, a burden too heavy to bear. Says Lynda: "You have a lot to give so don't hold back." Excuse me, Lynda, but you are too forward so are you trying to say that I should be more like you? If so, then your instructions are impossible to follow because I cannot be like you and continue to be me. It is one or the other, Lynda or me, and not both.
Lynda says that Del Taco got richer because of us. Actually it was her idea to go there and her car that got us there. If it were left to me I would have a lot more money left in the bank, thank you very much, but if I must do whatever Lynda says then I get poorer and poorer.
Lynda says: "Bust out next year and show this school up." Wow, thanks for cursing me. It is either boom or bust but Lynda decrees a bust for me. I see no boom on the horizon, unfortunately, just years of drudging slavery to the pastoral musts, Lynda being the daughter of a pastor and thus supposedly in charge.
But this is a must bust only if I take Lynda seriously. If only I could just shrug off this heavy burden. If only. If only. If only I were sane and could kick Lynda's butt across the globe. I would not want to be such an old maid as Lynda, who practically tromps around in army boots and stupid hat. She is not the model of anything that I would want to be, although you just don't tell your friends what you really think of them even if they ask unless you no longer care to keep them as friends in which case you dump them. They are just your friends and not role models, please.
(Which reminds me that Lynda knows all the details of how Warren dumped Rose Wilson. I did not get the details, just heard something happened and the Wilsons were mad but the Wilsons are always mad about something and they have the connections to make your life miserable thereafter. I heard that Rose lives in South Carolina where she probably has some connections to South Florida, not that I would know.)

To clarify, Lynda is the one who always talks about wanting to take automotive maintenance classes so she can tune up her own car. I am the one who would rather pay someone, an automotive expert, who knows what they are doing, thank you very much.

Lousy Script

And who wrote this lousy script anyway? There is no resolution, no redemption, no nothing, just a big hole in my head. You stupid script writers, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Perhaps it has something to do with the San Francisco water system. Who knows? And who cares anyway? This is the point where I am supposed to launch into some stupid tirade about Debbie Tracy, as if I even remember who she was, just someone from college who I never talked to and do not know much about. I am supposed to say something about how she prefers the company of Heather, Heather being Mr. Wilson's mentally retarded daughter. Huh? As if I care. She always hated my guts anyway. So? I cannot expect everyone on the planet to like me and, anyway, I do not need a babysitter because I am not Heather Wilson, Mr. Wilson's mentally retarded daughter. I am intelligent enough and can take care of myself just fine without any help from Debbie Tracy, thank you very much.

If I did everything your lousy script says my life would be such a mess. Just look at the mess of my life as evidence of what lousy script writers you are. Why would I do all these stupid things? Only because you wrote this garbage into the script because it certainly does not make any sense in terms of my best interests.

Norwich, Connecticut

Yes, it is sort of interesting to think that our ancestors may have been kicking around Norwich, Connecticut, together back in the late 1600s. The city features something called the Norwich Founders Monument, a rather large structure with a plaque on each of its four sides featuring the names of the founders of the city, the 38 original settlers. It was built after the town's first death, that of Mrs. Post, brought attention to the need for a town cemetery. My ancestors' names are on Side 2. My family is descended from Hugh Calkins and his oldest son John Calkins, who was born before they left Wales and probably crossed the ocean as a child. John married Sarah Royce and they had eight children. Families were huge back in those days. Many of these surnames are to this day extremely common in America as we are all related, sort of:

Side 1:  Major John Mason, Rev. James Fitch, John Pease, John Tracy, John Baldwin, Jonathan Royce, John Post, Thomas Bingham, Thomas Waterman, Robert Allen.

Side 2:  Ensign Wm Backus, Francis Griswold, Nehemiah Smith, Thomas Howard, John Calkins, Hugh Calkins, Richard Egerton, Thomas Post, John Gager.

Side 3:  Thomas Leffingwell, Richard Wallis, Thomas Adgate, John Olmstead, Stephen Backus, Thomas Bliss, John Reynolds, Josiah Reed, Christopher Huntington.

Side 4:  Thomas Tracy, Samuel Hyde, William Hyde, Morgan Bowers, Robert Wade, John Birchard, Simon Huntington, Stephen Gifford, John Bradford.

Former Friends

Yes, I need to get back together with Lynda and Dauna like I need another knife in my back. As if I did not have enough knives in my back already. I see laid out before me a path they have imagined for me and it is not a pretty sight. I always hate it when they try to tell me what I am thinking. You don't know what I am thinking and I am not going to tell you. If I told you then you would try to steal those thoughts too so I am not going to tell you anything. You are going to be left out in the cold because you really don't know what you are talking about anyway. You are just guessing and you are often too wrong to be taken seriously.

Never Been To Haiti

I have never been to Haiti. I think we have all heard the story about how those two Haiti MKs, Jeff and his brother, got a tuition-free ride through college courtesy of the evangelist David Wilkerson who was so impressed with their helpfulness in organizing a crusade there in Haiti when they were in high school. So that's nice. However, that sort of thing never happened to me. For one thing, I am girl. Apparently only boys were eligible. I do not think I ever heard of Jeff's two sisters getting free college. Also, Mr. Wilkerson never visited El Salvador when I was in college and besides high school girls just don't do the type of work that would impress Mr. Wilkerson. We were kind of busy doing our school work so no time to double as event organizers. Sure, we heard about David's translation work at crusades but girls like me would never be asked to do that sort of thing. Besides, one cannot expect the Wilkersons to pay everyone's college tuition. It is their money and they can do whatever they want with it. Anyway, I do not really remember stressing out about that or feeling jealous in any way. It would feel sort of icky in a way to be so dependent on and obligated to the Wilkerson family, to be so owned by them lock, stock and barrel, that you would be forever obligated to their interests at your own expense. You become just the Wilkerson's barking dog. It is fairly obvious that someone said this of Jeff and his brother although it was not me. Anyway, we are not jealous of Jeff and his brother. We understand why they might take whatever opportunity was given to them but we realize that such arrangements also have their disadvantages and drawbacks. So if you can pay your own way it is much better to have an independent voice. But not everyone can do that. Some people just can't speak for themselves.

End of Story

In 2002 two Salvadoran generals, García and Casanova, were found guilty of allowing their men to kidnap, torture, rape and murder thousands of unarmed civilians. They were ordered to compensate the victims who may choose to file suit. Interestingly, I read recently that one of them lives in West Palm Beach. I am not saying that I have been following these events in the news. Newspapers are shrinking and it is rare to see a headline from Central America. In 1980 the headlines were not so rare and I do remember reading in the newspaper about the war. Not that I would know anything about that from a personal standpoint. It was just sad to think of the place of my happy childhood so torn apart by war and strife. However, I have no knowledge of those events. Justice is one of those things that sometimes miscarries. I do not have the answers to those questions. Who should pay? Why do innocent people suffer? Where is God in all this mess? I don't know. Sometimes people suffer for no fault of their own. It is just the sinful world that we live in. Sin is not an excuse but it does explain sometimes the unexplainable, like the book Job so often discussed by Barbara. Maybe we can't understand why some people would think that their sons should not be prosecuted for atrocities. And then again, maybe we can't understand why these particular atrocities should be prosecuted while other wartime atrocities in other countries or at other times go unnoticed and unremarked. I do not know the answer to that and I would not even want to attempt to contemplate such an enormous question. These are questions are too high for me. Someone really should take charge of this problem because I am not the one qualified to do it.

Mind Control

Oh, did I mention that I never saw that movie, "The Manchurian Candidate"? No, I do not think that I did mention it. I am thinking that someone asked me whether I had seen it. Sure, we have all heard those stories about POWs in Asia, how they torture people by tearing out their fingernails and doing other unspeakable things to their bodies. I did read the stories of some Vietnam POWs. So sad. Some people are just sick. Let's see. Am I talking about the CIA or the KGB? Hmmm... I am not sure what I mean. Some are saying that all's fair in love and war. All for one and one for all. Sure, the "Three Musketeers" may have been a good book even if I never did read it, only saw one or two of the movies. Nevertheless, some people are just sick. Absolute power corrupts absolutely so perhaps they should not be too eager to grasp for the brass ring. For this reason I will not even try to figure out why some people had nominated me to perform the role of nun. No, not the flying nun. I think they were talking about the ones who were killed by Salvadoran soldiers during the war. I would not know anything about that. I am not saying that I was paying attention to the news from down there, just know things were bad generally speaking. I have not read Joan's book so cannot comment intelligently on such matters. I am busy trying to get a life, please. I really do not have time to discuss these matters.

Sheryl

Yes, I don't remember what I said to Sheryl that would make her angry with me. I just don't remember anything important, some people are just very thin-skinned and make a mountain out of any little molehill, and, anyway, I really don't care to remember. If someone wants to send me a letter describing what I said then maybe I could be reminded and then might be able to comment intelligently but otherwise I really don't remember.

Who Knew?

Yes, who knew Cori Nipper would be such a disastrous roommate? Well, probably Grace knew. I really should have asked Grace about Cori first. I really wish someone would have warned me about Cori so that I would not have wasted so much time on her nonsense. And, anyway, how would Cori have known to ask me about my transcript? That was weird. Aren't these things supposed to be confidential and restricted to the persons in authority to whom these matters concern? What would it matter to Cori or anyone else? My letter was just a personal thought about hoping to do better next time around, not a request for legal amnesty. Cori is just ridiculously stupid idiot and anyone who takes her seriously is also incredibly stupid.

Jephtha's Daughter

I certainly hope that no one is suggesting that I should be offered up as Jephtha's daughter in place of some animal. That would so un-Christian to even suggest such a thing. Enough said.

Ha ha ha

Yes, during my time at Evangel some of us went to the mall and were looking around a store called Spence's gifts and I think I bought a little sign "Mental Ward" to hang in my room as sort of joke. I no longer have the sign and it was never more than a joke anyway. Charges of my insanity will get you nowhere and even they did, my insanity is no excuse for your insanity. So there.

Yes, who knew?

Yes, who knew that Uncle Ariel's family was going to play such wicked hardball against us. And that they were so closely aligned to various television personalities who are of no interest to us and who provide no real benefit to us and on top of all that have some kind of axe to grind with the Hunts and various other people whose existence and nature of their conflict is unknown to us. It makes it very scary to even try to do anything. They are hitting us when we do not even see it coming so no way to mount a defense. And who has the documents anyway? We must have the documents.

Of Pyramid Schemes

Yes, I do remember hearing about Mr. Zimmerman's pyramid scheme, a plan to elevate the Assemblies of God of the United States into a sort of Vatican of global Pentecostalism. Plenty of people were against Mr. Zimmerman's plan, enough to vote it down at the denomination's general assembly. Opponents of the plan included many missionaries and among them my parents. (I should clarify that Mr. Zimmerman the superintendent should not be confused with Mr. Zimmerman who was the local pastor of the Carlsbad church back in the 1950s that was attended by my grandparents who is mentioned in great-grandmother's diary. I think that Mr. Zimmerman the superintendent never lived in California and was from Indiana so obviously there is no reference to him in great-grandmother's diary only to another Mr. Zimmerman.) Nevertheless, we are not unaware that there are still many supporters of vaticanization floating around the pastoral ranks. Wasn't that the whole point of missions, to prepare the national church of each country to be a self-sustaining, self-governing, self-determining organization? We can help if they ask but if they do not need our help then we do not need to go there. No need to hammer the point so vociferously. Our mission was accomplished and they do not need us for anything and might not welcome our interference. They have plenty of people to carry out the work there. And who is carrying out the work at home? They do not need us at home either. They have plenty of local yokels to carry out the work at home. So would my life be any better if the pyramid scheme had succeeded? Would not the glory of the United States be better served by vaticanization? Probably the result would be the same or similar to how things are now. The world is a different place now than it was forty years ago when that controversy took place and as I see it there is now even less compelling evidence of the need now that we have succeeded. Sure, there might be some doctrinal drift in some places but there are enough checks and balances in place, such as educational programs, to keep everyone on the same page. National glory was not something that we thought very much about at the time. It is just a matter of who we are. We can't help being who we are.

Stupid Baptists

We all know how stupid Baptists really are. Their textbooks list the Assemblies of God as a cult. That is how stupid Baptists are. Obviously the AG is not a cult. The Baptists are just trying to make political hay because they are afraid that we might outgrow them and take control and show how wrong they are. We are sick and tired of hearing the Baptists huffing and puffing. The AG is not a cult. However, the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons definitely are cults as determined by the criteria agreed upon by all of Christendom. So the Baptists need to realign their thinking to fit the standards of Christianity.

Southern Baptists

Ha ha ha! God really does not need Southern Baptists to accomplish his purpose in my life. Southern Baptists would be, for example, those dumpy dog Reeces and Bells, Pat Robertson, etc. What a joke, the Baptists pretending to be missionaries. All they ever did was hang out with rich people. At least the Bells had one church. I do not remember the Reeces having any churches to speak of or doing much of anything. The Baptists had maybe two or three churches in the country but they are bitter because they just did not have the same success as AG. It is hard for you Baptists when you do not really practice what you preach. You say that you believe but then you do not encourage, nay, do everything to discourage the faith. We cannot have you Baptists running the show because that is what it will become, nothing but showy pretense with really nothing to believe in.

Accident

Hey, I never said that the traffic accident wasn't my fault. I do not know why everyone continues to act like I was paying attention. The light had turned green but I was not supposed to accelerate because Mr. Skinkle's big white Cadillac was not moving that fast and perhaps he had not noticed that the light had turned green and so I rear-ended him in heavy traffic. I think that rear-ending is automatically the fault of the person following so I do not understand the hysteria. Is it just me who finds it strange that Mrs. Skinkle sued me for loss of conjugal pleasures? It is amazing how much they charge to repair the rear end of a Cadillac. I just find it bizarre that this Mrs. Skinkle would be using the legal system for such expansive purposes. Is it standard for widows of traffic accident victims to sue over such matters? Mr. Skinkle seemed fine after the accident, walking around and talking and we exchanged insurance information. The off-duty paramedic in the pickup truck stopped to help and asked Mr. Skinkle how he felt. At first Mr. Skinkle said he felt OK and then he changed his mind. The paramedic told him to get in the front seat and the paramedic got in the back seat behind him and was massaging his neck and shoulders. I guess that is what those guys do. And then finally the ambulance came and they were able to put him on the stretcher and take him to the hospital. So that is all I remember, basically.

Mayan Culture

Yes, we are not unfamiliar with Mayan culture and the Mayan concept of male and female. It is a rather crude way of looking at things from our perspective, the way they reduce everything to male and female, to the initiator vs. the passive receptor, etc. Yes, there is a lot more to it than anatomy from the Mayan point of view. Of course that is true but we Europeans tend to look at the Mayans as crude, simplistic tribal persons not far removed from naked savages of the jungle, persons with the sophistication of three-year-olds. The "Popol Vuh," one of the few surviving Mayan texts and a staple of high school reading lists, does contain some evidence of the crudity of Mayan thinking as it was before the introduction of Christianity not that I would want to discuss that subject so in-depth. America was not the Garden of Eden before Europeans arrived, obviously. Then again, the Barbarian tribes of Europe were also savages before the introduction of Christianity and had to discard various pagan notions in order to carve out a better future for future generations. So obviously there is hope for American, native and otherwise. No one is suggesting anything to the contrary. I don't remember saying anything about this but some people just want to pick a fight with me. I don't know what their problem is but I am not the enemy.

Accidents

Those Irish-Catholics have a lot of nerve trying to dump me in the same category as Senator Ted Kennedy in regard to traffic accidents.

1. Have I ever driven while drunk? No, I never drink alcohol so no chance that I would ever test positive for DUI.
2. Did I leave the scene of the accident without notifying authorities? No. I did not leave the scene. Someone went across the street to call the police for us. I watched the off-duty paramedic working on Mr. Skinkle's neck and later the emergency vehicle carried him away in a stretcher.
3. Did Mr. Skinkle die at the scene? No, he died several months later while vacationing in Ireland.
4. Would I ever run for political office so that they could use their "Chappaquidick" file against me in a sort of tit-for-tat against my Republic family who do sometimes talk about politics and their distaste for such liberal Democrat politicians? No, I was never interested in becoming a politician so I am not going to give them that opportunity.

My cousins might remember that Grandpa Calkins was a rabidly outspoken Republican. Nothing wrong with being a Republican. Nothing wrong with speaking your mind at home as long as the wicked cousins are not around to listen and report you to national Democratic party headquarters.

Questions

All of these beg the all-important question: Who let Dauna out of her cage? It is very important to keep Dauna compartmentalized and locked in her little cage where she belongs and fed only so much rations. We cannot have all these varmint chewing on the furniture, you know. Anyway, I am just repeating and sort of rephrasing here something that Lynda said.

Money

Ha ha ha! Mr. Money Bags pretending that he deserves a dime. Ha ha ha! If Mr. Money Bags cannot extend grace to us poor people then there will be nothing to prevent the rowdy rabble from raiding his palace and relieving him of his monetary burden. We all read "A Tale Of Two Cities." I am not saying that I ever learned how to knit, although they tried to teach me. No, I am just saying that we all live mainly by God's grace. No one deserves anything. The gift comes mainly from God above and not from anything that we did to deserve it. Some people just have a knack for making more money than others but I am not acquainted with any of them.

Which reminds that I recently noticed that one of the Hittenberger daughters, I do not remember her name, married a Rockefeller. I do not know how she could stand being connected to such a wickedly liberal Democrat family. I personally would prefer to have no connections to Rockefellers, Kennedys, etc. although my editor Max in Haines City did talk about Mr. Rockefeller. We all know the game that liberal Democrats play. Pretending to care about the poor is a great excuse for guiltlessly amassing a vast personal fortune. However, we have no interest in an unequal alliance with such pompous mucket-mucks. I do not know how the Hittenbergers lost their heads. I only know that I would not want to follow their example and, anyway, I was never in Haiti. I would not want to be confused with the missionaries of Haiti, the Hittenbergers and others who nourished the people's helpless dependence rather than provided tools for self-improvement and self-awareness. I need a Haiti connection like I need a hole in my head, thank you NOT!

Power

Ha ha ha! There is Mr. Money Bags enthroned in his palatial mansion surrounded by more creature comforts than anyone could ever imagine telling me that I have no moral value and must be destroyed, as if he never had a greedy thought in his life. There is something wrong with this picture and I am not quite sure what. It is almost like he has something to gain by destroying us. Perhaps he has me confused with Lori. I cannot speak for the rest of my family. Anyway, why so much interest in utterly defaming me, as if I were the heiress to a throne and there were something to gain by destroying me so that I could never reclaim the treasure, the Potter's Field, whatever it is? Very strange. I do not know of any plot of ground to which I would ever have any claim. There is that photo of a couple of guys looking at a piece of ground but no explanation that would fill in the blank here. A pastor surveying prospects for building a new church? A land developer contemplating the site of a new house? A gardener and his assistant contemplating the task of weeding such an overgrown patch? I have no idea. A photo does not constitute a title or deed. Mr. Money Bags would have to depart from his lofty estate and descend to the lowly depths of common folk like me if he expects me to ever have any idea what he is talking about. Otherwise, we just tune him out. Yak yak yak! All they do is yak yak yak day and night. The yakking never stops. Yak yak yak! No, I am not referring here to the Tibetan beast of burden. I am referring to the talking boxes that go yakkety yak yak.

Craig and Pam

Perhaps Craig Bowling-Ball could explain about how he lied to Pam and how Pam believed him and continued to perpetuate and propagate Craig's little lie for years even after I tried to explain to Pam's deaf ear that it was not true what Craig said. Perhaps we can all roll Mr. Craig Bowling-Ball back down the alley to where he belongs because he does not belong here. He is just a clueless loser in my book. No sense pretending that those Michigander riff-raff were ever friends of mine.

Mindy Can't?

I remember my friend Mindy, a co-worker at Lockman Foundation, telling me that her parents were pastors in a Presbyterian church whose tradition was very high church. I had not previously heard that term and am to this day not certain of the meaning. High church generally refers to what some refer to as the church of the "frozen chosen," those sanctuaries of stuffy churchianity, of liturgical calendars and a rigid formality that is somewhat foreign to the traditions of any church I ever attended. If it was good enough for the King James I they would not see any reason to modernize. High church means Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian. The Crystal Cathedral would be a prime example of high churchianity. That is so completely different from the low church traditions with which I am familiar, the denomination to which I belong generally being considered of the low church variety. Not that we would emulate the random stand-up testimonials of the Quakers, but our worship calendar is generally not dictated from higher authorities but is done by the local church and its staff who may take suggestions from headquarters but are not necessarily required to be strictly imitators of Springfield although there appears to be a current trend towards high-church stuffiness in some circles in that the people are no longer allowed to have opinions but rather all power is concentrated in the authority of the staff. Generally speaking, high church people tend to look down their noses at low church people and typically attempt to portray us as uneducated, unsophisticated, and incapable of making decisions for ourselves. However, we are not so unsophisticated as to not notice that they are attempting to disenfranchise us from our own faith, and so that is why we invented low church, so that we can do our own thing and they can do their own thing over there in high churchianity. Thus I cannot really say what happened to Mindy after she moved away to Northern California. They are not really Pentecostal anyway so they would have a hard time understanding what I am trying to say. They can't get it anyway so they would just try to pretend like it was our problem and create a lot of unnecessary problems for us if the subject were to come up. With low church, we can have great Christian musicians who are not church pastors, and probably in some cases should not be, but who do express beautifully the faith of regular, ordinary Christians, the things that we all think and feel in life and worship, whether Pentecostal or non-Pentecostal, while deemphasizing the differences of denominational practice.

Of Tables and Chairs

Yes, I got rid of the dining room table and chairs because I had so much stuff. I wasn't thinking very clearly. I should have sent it back. Sorry about that. Nevertheless, it is rather horrifying to see that my aunts and uncles and cousins care more about a table and four chairs than about me. So you can have my worthless aunts and uncles and cousins. I am giving them all away because, well, they are not worth much of anything to me. What have they ever done for me? Not much that I recall. They are just a continual nuisance to me, always whining and complaining about every little thing and creating all kinds of problems unawares to me and confusing the facts and stabbing me in the back. I do not need them for anything. What would I do with a gaggle of relatives squawking and squealing? I don't want them around me, really. All of my relatives are a huge embarrassment and a handicap to me. Hopefully someone will take them off my hands because they should not be my problem.