Povey Prattle

I am reading “Trouble in Mind – Black Southerners in the age of Jim Crow” (Leon F. Litwack/Alfred A Knopf/ 1998) For readers outside of the USA here is a reference to Jim Crow   http://www.ferris.edu/JIMCROW/what.htm I can scarcely read Litwack’s book more than a chapter at a time.  It is a horrific tale of the subjugation of Negroes (the then normal appellation) from the end of Reconstruction    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_era_of_the_United_States   until the modern Civil Rights era. Litwack’s book opened my eyes. I was well aware of a history which included the white enforced racial segregation at all levels; the perversion of justice (laws, voting rights, etc) against Blacks; the separate but unequal educational system; and the myriads of petty restrictions designed to “keep Negroes in their place”. I also knew a bit about lynching.  I always thought that it was nasty and illegal, but I had never known that lynching also invo...

I went down to Sarasota's bay front today to take some photo's of our annual exhibition of sculpture. Most of the works are abstract, a real challenge to those for whom the most accessible sculpture is  realistic, i,e, that which depicts  kings, animals, saints, beautiful women, and angels etc.  Such sculpture seems to be self-explanatory: thus we do not seek for "meaning" Abstract sculptures confuse us, especially  if we believe that all art must have an immediate and obvious meaning. "Meaning" is not a terribly helpful concept as we encounter art.  A sense of "appreciation" may be more helpful. (I believe that the same is true in the world of G-d, religion, the bible etc.  In our response to the holy, appreciation may be more fruitful than meaning.) After all (as some famous person once said) "who can explain a rose?". It is in that spirit that I offer these photo's which I took today (20th November 2009)

I grew up in an Evangelical/Fundamentalist Church known as the “Plymouth Brethren”. These days I am not a fundamentalist , nor would I be recognised by many mainstream evangelicals as “one of them”. I sometimes wonder why I am even a Christian . I am not a fundamentalist. Strange to say, it was my evangelical seminary, St. John’s College, Nottingham, U.K. which enabled this change. St. John’s made me fully aware of critical biblical scholarship, so that I could no longer affirm that the Holy Scriptures were without error . Nor am I am an evangelica l. Truth to tell I am, in the sense that I confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. But I am not, in the sense that evangelical Christians make false assertions and promises. Here I report a false assertion: As recently as May of this year an evangelical sister of mine asserted that I should “repent” of being gay. As her words came at the end of a lovely family celebration of my 65th birthday, I chose not to argue with he...

Homeless people are yet again being harassed in Sarasota (once named America’s Meanest City). My homeless friends often spend time in our public park at Five Points, and at our public library. I observe them behaving as “normally” as any of us do.  They chat, they laugh, they occasionally have public quarrels;  in the library they read or use the computers for job searches. I enjoy meeting them as I visit the library or the Opera House across the street. Their offences against public ordinances are those of which people with homes are also often guilty – e.g.  public urination  ( I’ve done that!) and  violating our open bottle laws (i.e. drinking on the streets or in the parks – an offence which I have frequently observed by “nice people” on Siesta Beach).   A number of them were recently cited for littering -  because they dropped cigarette butts to the ground.  It seems curious that (apparently) prosperous shoppers or restaurant custo...

Just been going through some old photo's and found this one of my mum, Evelyn and my step-father, Len. I am sure that it was taken in England, maybe 30 years ago. I tend to remember my Mum as she looked in old age, and this was a nice reminder of a younger Mum. She was a lovely looking woman.

Every now and then I check the Berkshire Eagle, a daily newspaper which is based in Pittsfield, MA, a city in which I lived for 16 years. The Saturday 14 th November 2009 issue included obituaries for two men I knew well, and well respected. Russ Bousquet and his wife Jean lived across from me for the 15 years in which I lived on Waverly Street. They were the finest people and the kindest neighbours that one could hope to meet.  We shared a love of gardening and they were delighted when I began to improve my front and back yards which has been neglected for a few years.  Russ spent his life doing good for other people, and inspiring them to do even more good. Herb Fishman and his wife Ceil were amongst the finest of many fine people at Congregation Knesset Israel.  Their devoted practice of mitzvah led them to be the first of many Jewish people who served at St. Stephen’s Table -  a community meal in the Church where I was Rector.  Herb was a big m...