MARY ELLEN BLIZZARD ~ July 10th

Today is my dear friend Mary Ellen's birthday. I guess I met her when she used to go Scottish Country Dancing with Dennis at the Noe Valley Ministry off 24th Street. She had been a professional modern dancer in New York in the seventies. Mary Ellen was part of the "Gang of Four" (along with Debbie Cornue and Joan Marsh) when Dennis was chair of the every member canvas committee at Grace Cathedral many years ago. Originally from West Virginia, she is a special friend to now retired Episcopal Bishop William Swing, also from West Virginia.

Mary Ellen has lived again in New York for several years. She was a volunteer chaplain/counselor to survivors and families of victims from 9/11 at ground zero. Despite the distance, we talk regularly and see each other several times a year.

Mary Ellen went with me to New Haven for the Spizzwinks(?) 95th Reunion last April, and came out to San Francisco to help me prepare for my 60th birthday party. She made two lamb cakes with our good friend Deb Cornue (cakes in the shape of sheep, because that's what my Mother made for me as a child since her family was in the woolen business, and I was born the day before Easter -- one was white with coconut for wool, the smaller was chocolate to represent a black sheep-- no comment!) In addition she polished most of my silver hollowware-- at least all that I displayed.

Last year Mary Ellen came out to visit from the 4th of July through her birthday. She was concerned about me. She wanted me to set up an appointment with my cardiologist, get on the schedule for an internal defibrillator implant, take anti-depressants and see a therapist again. I guess she batted a thousand!

Mary Ellen Blizzard is a talented writer, and has been a wonderful support to me. I wish Mary Ellen well on HER day and always!

On TRINITY SUNDAY ~ CONSTANTINE continued from October 28, 2008~Repost from November 1st

Emperor Constantine seeks absolute power…with Unity of Empire, Faith and Family. Ossius wants Christianity to breathe the fresh air outside the catacombs – to be established and accepted in the open. Each uses the other as a means to his own goal. Each achieves that goal – but as is often the case in real life – gets more than he bargained for as a result of the new cliché: the “law of unintended consequences.” The scene between Ossius and Constantine just before the Council of Nicaea is the heart of the play.

Constantine:

It is essential that we deal with this Arian heresy.

Ossius:

Yes, his ideas are dangerous. Arius preaches that Jesus is our brother— that we are all brothers.

Constantine:

Exactly! If Jesus is not Divine, on what basis do we owe him allegiance? If all men are brothers, on what basis do they owe ME allegiance? Anarchy- that’s the result of his ideas. The very integrity of the Empire is at stake.

Ossius:

I agree. We need hierarchy to maintain order. An ox will submit to his yoke, if he knows who's in command-- and if there’s a dog beneath him can kick.

Recitative:

Ossius:

Things are not always

as they seem.

The DREAM was

full fraternity;

But the folly

of that ideal

has only now

become too clear.

Constantine:

We’re...

too disorganized.

It would be

totally...

impracticable.

The need...

is for

Order.

Ossius:

With recognition--

The Church has responsibilities

for Stewardship of resources.

We cannot afford

to squander Authority.

Hierarchy enhances Power--

Power for the

Greater Good.

Duet:

Would that it were different.

The Situation’s changed.

Constantine: TRUTH is an ABSOLUTE

Ossius: (Though in practice it is not.)

Constantine: Truths, perhaps, are relative.

Ossius: (Indeed, some can be bought.)

Constantine: POWER is a process.

Ossius: (A means for good or ill.)

Constantine: UNITY is our purpose

Ossius: (Meaning submission to HIS will.)

Constantine: UNITY of EMPIRE

already is achieved.

Ossius: UNITY of FAMILY --

substantially, believed.

DUET: UNITY of FAITH

is the matter here at hand.

Without IT, all may crumble...

to blow away like sand.

UNITY, UNITY!

(C): One EMPIRE, (O): One EMPEROR!

(C): One FAMILY, (O ): One FAITH!

Duet: Our DREAM is Salvation (Subjugation)

for the whole Human Race.

Constantine:

Good friend, I would like you to chair this Council on my behalf.

It is of utmost import that we reach consenus. Above all--Unity.

Constantine puts on his crown and an elaborate robe and leads Ossius to the main stage set up for the Council.

Soldiers with swords drawn flank the entrance for the procession of Bishops.

At the beginning of that scene, each of the two main characters has already accomplished most of his principal goals. Constantine has absolute power in a unified empire (after his son, Crispus, had won a great naval victory in the Hellespont, where he defeated the superior fleet of Licinius, Augustus in the East). Ossius is a bishop in a recognized and powerfully established Christian Church. But here is the fatal flaw— hubris. Constantine’s quest for Unity had three elements: Empire, Family and Faith. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” The operative word is foolish. Consistency in itself may be a noble goal; but the word ‘foolish’ implies an unreasonable consistency. By imposing conformity at the Council of Nicaea and excommunicating those with whom they disagreed – by being exclusionary with people and texts – Constantine and the Church cut themselves off from collective wisdom. Selecting four Gospels may appear to be balanced; but prohibiting other writings is a foolish consistency. Arius may indeed have been a heretic and worthy of excommunication. It is clear to me, however, that the Church has not had a monopoly of those seeking truth. Further, it appears that some of the most profound thinkers have been rejected and persecuted by institutions. The classic example is Jesus.

In the play, the character Arius is one of my heroes. His view is that Jesus is a great man, and not a deity. His song is one of the few that I chose to write in a regular –almost sing-song – rhyme scheme… largely because the historical Arius was known to preach in such a style. I called Arius’ piece “Heretic’s Song.”

(Dennis didn’t like that title and preferred the first line “Jesus is our Brother” and thought the theology expressed in the lyrics was actually fairly mainstream. I’m not so sure. In any case, as he lay dying, Dennis asked me to play Robby’s song— and along with the Bach unaccompanied 'cello suites— was one of the last things he heard. Dennis also requested that my recording be played during communion at his funeral at Grace Cathedral. The sound person at the Cathedral, however, got a mixed signal and didn’t play the CD at the right time. I had to get up and go back to the sound booth more than halfway down the nave to ask her to begin. But it probably turned out for the best, since then there wasn’t the clicking sound of high heels and shuffling of feet during communion).

Jesus is our Brother

He teaches us the way

To reach our heavenly Father

By learning how to pray.

Note well, he says OUR Father

Not merely his own.

To be a model for us mortals

What good is a God alone.

Oh yes, Jesus is our Brother,

Jesus is our Brother,

Jesus is our Brother

But more than this

Jesus is our Friend!

Jesus is our pastor

A shepherd to his flock.

Not only is he master

But paschal lamb; take stock

Of what he offers

A means so we’ll atone—

Be one with God creator

Round an inward heavenly throne

For the kingdom is within you

The kingdom is within you

The kingdom is WITHIN YOU

And through the end

Jesus is our Friend.

Our Brother Jesus

Is our Friend!

The tragedy for Constantine in terms of the play is that by insisting on complete unity in matters of faith, he depends more completely on Ossius’ corrupted, incomplete wisdom. Arius is truer to the ideals expressed by the younger Ossius in his song “Blessed are the Poor” but Arius is excommunicated and his writings banned. So complete unity of faith leads eventually to disunity of family and the tragic execution of Crispus. Therefore, the Fausta/Crispus story in part four is a necessary dramatic consequence to the scene at the Council of Nicaea.

The main external villains are the anti-Christian Emperor Maxentius, defeated by Constantine at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, and his sister Fausta – Constantine’s second wife – who plots the downfall of Crispus, Constantine’s heroic, virtuous son. The Crispus/Fausta story is based on legend. What is clear is that Constantine ordered the execution of both. For my play, I chose to adapt a variation of the Greek myth about Hippolytus & Phaedra, that is: the virtuous son, who rebuffs the sexual advances of his step-mother, and is then jealously accused by her of rape. Constantine learns the truth too late, after his son is already executed on his command. Fausta is then crushed beneath shields as in Richard Strauss’ opera based on Oscar Wilde’s Salome.

No doubt one of the most controversial elements of this play is my choice of Sophia as the name of the third part of the Trinity. It may sound like New Age or feminist jargon. I believe, however, it is correct historically that it was not until the latter part of the Fourth Century (two generations later than the events of the play) with the translation of the Bible and liturgy from Greek to Latin by St. Jerome that spiritus sanctus acquired its masculine character. In Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and other Middle Eastern languages, the equivalent word is feminine. Hagia Sophia, Justinian’s great church is Constantinople, does not mean Saint Sophia, but Holy Wisdom. And so I have used the names Holy Wisdom and Sophia interchangeably as the third part of the Trinity, which gives a rather Zen-like balance to the concept.

The play ends as it began— with Constantine’s baptism on his deathbed. In death Constantine is finally reconciled to his executed son, Crispus. The anachronistic, bejeweled Byzantine angel from the vision the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge returns and stands in benediction above a kneeling Constantine and Crispus to form a visual tableau of reconciled Unity—a Father, Son and Holy Wisdom.

Chi-Rho image: gbgm-umc.org

UNCLE TOM'S CABIN ~ 1851

Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly started a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper on June 5, 1851.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American abolitionist and author. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) depicted life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the U.S. and Britain and made the political issues of the 1850s regarding slavery tangible to millions, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Upon meeting Stowe, Abraham Lincoln allegedly remarked, "So this is the little lady who started this great war!" .

Photo & text:wikipedia.com

My New Blenheim Cavalier Puppy ~ RENZO

Just four weeks from today, my new red-and-white Blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy, Renzo, will arrive from New York City with my nephew Sheridan and his wife Sylvie. They're flying out for a family wedding in Tahoe that weekend. Renzo's currently with the breeder, Mary Louise Gregg, from whom I found Rupert and dear Rose. ML now lives near Newville, Pennsylvania, where my Mother spent her last years at Green Ridge Village. She had previously lived in Dillsburg, PA where my Mother spent many happy years on the golf course. S & S will pick up my new little guy the weekend before, and he'll spend a few days with them in their new apartment in Manhattan near St. John the Divine.

There are four color varieties in the breed: Blenheim, Tri-Color, Ruby, and Black-and-Tan. I've had all four at different times, but only three at the same time. With Renzo I'll be lacking only a Tri-Color. But I have wonderful memories of Lord Dundee and Elizabeth Lady St. Albans (named by Dennis).

I was going to name my new puppy Roger. (It had to start with an 'R' so we would then be 4 R's.) But my friend Adam objected and suggested Renzo instead. Dennis would have approved since it's Italian. :-) The photo above is not Renzo; but from having seen pictures of his champion parents, I think it's probably a decent likeness.

Photo:courtesy A.Kozlowski

California State Supreme Court Upholds Prop 8

Below is a re-posting of my comments just after the November 2008 election. This morning the California Supreme Court announced its six-to-one decision upholding Proposition 8, yet not invalidating the eighteen thousand same-sex weddings performed after June 16, 2008 and before the November 4, 2008 election. What a curious state of affairs; but this could be the grounds for an appeal.

###

Sadly, but not unexpectedly, California State Proposition 8 passed by a clear majority – 52 percent to 48 percent. I say not unexpectedly, because millions of dollars from the Mormon Church poured into California for slick, misleading television ads. The purpose of Prop 8 was “to enshrine bigotry in the state’s constitution by preventing people of the same sex from marrying. The measure was designed to overturn May’s State Supreme Court decision, which made California the second state to end that exclusion of same-sex couples. Massachusetts did so in 2004. The firmly grounded ruling said that everyone has a basic right ‘to establish a legally recognized family with the person of one’s choice,’ and found California’s strong domestic partnership statute to be inadequate.” So proclaimed the New York Times editorial this morning.

It continued: “We wish that Tuesday’s vote of 52 percent to 48 percent had gone the other way. But when those numbers are compared with the 61 percent to 39 percent result in 2000, when Californians approved the law that was overturned by their Supreme Court, it is evident that voters have grown more comfortable with marriage equality.”

As I wrote on October 19 with my Blog posting Ballot Initiatives, Amendments & Taxes, the major issue for me is procedural. I think it is completely out of kilter that it takes a two-thirds super-majority to pass an ordinary California State Budget, yet it requires only a majority of a single citizen’s vote to amend the state constitution, and in this case take away a civil right. In the federal constitution, one of the major objectives of the Bill of Rights is to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority.

A curious sidebar: although Great Britain still has no written constitution, the precedent for our own Bill of Rights came from the 1689 English Bill of Rights, a result of the so-called “Glorious Revolution” of 1688. My Schola friend, Sam Smith, referred to it as the “Bloodless Revolution,” but I would contend that name wasn’t used until after the bloody French Revolution of 1789 and particularly the “Terror” of 1793-1794. (Refer to my September 21 Blog posting Evolution of Meaning and Two Flip-Flops.)

Still, we’ve made progress. Thirty years ago we celebrated the defeat of Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative, which would have banned gays and lesbians from working in California's public schools and came on the heels of a highly explosive conservative campaign in Dade County, Florida to repeal one of the first gay rights ordinances in the U.S. With Anita Bryant as their spokesperson, the initiative temporarily passed. I remember how thrilled we were with the defeat of Proposition 6 and celebrated with a march in the Castro. Only a few weeks later we marched again with a candlelight procession down Market Street to City Hall after the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk— and that was only days after the horror of Jonestown!

I heard on NPR this morning that there have been disruptive marches in Los Angeles in opposition to passage of Proposition 8—also, that there has been a legal filing to the California Supreme Court to overturn the ballot initiative. One had been filed before the election to remove it from the ballot, but the court decided to defer until after the election. I think there could, in fact, be valid judicial reasons to overturn Prop 8, but the State Supreme Court has now let itself be subject to even greater rightwing criticism if it rules against the ballot initiative after the fact. It would have been much cleaner to act before. Again, I strongly assert that ballot initiatives passed by a simple majority are no fair or proper way to amend any constitution!

Image:ornellas.apanela.com/.../artwork:rings.jpg

HANDEL FIREWORKS CELEBRATION

Handel Fireworks Celebration

George Frideric Handel’s life has been celebrated for centuries by countless performers and devotees of his unsurpassed musical legacy. In 1784, twenty-five years after his death, the first of many spectacular commemorations was produced in Westminster Abbey.

In the style of that famed event, Grace Cathedral's Choir of Men and Boys and American Bach Soloists will collaborate in a pair of performances that will feature some of Handel’s finest choral works along with his celebrated Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. The Choir of Men and Boys, conducted by Canon Director of Music Jeffrey Smith, will join the American Bach Soloists (ABS) in performances of grand compositions, including Zadok the Priest, that resound perfectly in the architectural splendor of the Cathedral. In addition, ABS conductor Jeffrey Thomas will lead an unusually huge array of instruments assembled especially for this event, (including a drum corps in Georgian military costume) and accomplished soprano Abigail Haynes Lennox will be the soloist in the piece Laudate, Pueri. And if that wasn't enough, there will be a live laser show during the Fireworks Music! This is truly the premier musical event of the season!

Text courtesy Grace Cathedral

I will be singing in the chorus for both performances. Handel was Dennis' favorite composer. He never let me forget that Handel was an ENGLISH composer. After all he IS buried in Westminster Abbey!

One of two musical plays I'm working on -- currently on the back burner -- is called "HANOVER" and features a young Handel in two of the scenes. It's the story of Sophia Dorothea of Celle, divorced wife of George, Elector of Hanover, who became George I of England. It's an expanded musical adaptation of the 1948 English film SARABAND. I intend to complete it when I retire in about two years. It may never be produced, but at least I'll have a mixed media presentation on DVD.

Dan Reid Memorial BAGPIPE Challenge Recital

WELCOME TO THE DR DAN REID MEMORIAL CHALLENGE RECITAL "A FESTIVAL OF PIPING" This unique event is presented by the St. Andrews Foundation of San Francisco. The 2009 DRM will be held on May 2nd at the Marines Memorial Club and Hotel.   Initiated in 1997, the Cameron/Gillies event was named after P/M Alex Cameron, piper to the St. Andrews Society of San Francisco for 31 years, and his Father-in-Law, the renowned P/M John MacDougall Gillies. The DRM Mission The objective of the Dr. Dan Reid Memorial Challenge Recital is to maintain and preserve the classic compositions of the Great Highland Bagpipe for future generations of pipers throughout the world. To provide a forum in which the instrument, the recitalists and the judges have the advantage of best possible conditions in which to practice their art. To present, through it's restrictive tune list, tunes that are classic in their composition and to make available a musical audio library of these compositions as played by the finest exponent of the art in the modern era. The DRM is now in it's seventeenth year and still going strong. With the support of our patrons, recitalists and judges we hope to continue long into the future. We have been able to provide a wonderful collection of recordings of the Masters of the Highland Bagpipe. ### Tonight I am going to the Awards Banquet for the Dan Reid Memorial Bagpipe Challenge Recital, as a guest of my St. Andrew’s Society friend and fellow Bohemian, Bruce McCubbrey.  Bruce originally sponsored both Dennis and me for membership in the St. Andrew’s Society of San Francisco. I have occasionally been a tenor soloist for some of their annual events, such as St. Andrew’s Day in November and Robert Burns’ birthday in January.  Dennis loved bagpipes. In fact he bought me a trainer set as a birthday present many years ago. He drove all the way to Mendocino to get it. I had a few lessons with an eccentric piper from Dundee. But I’m afraid my plate was already full, and learning to play bagpipes was a bit beyond my patience at the time. I gave the pipes to an eclectic musician friend from the Bohemian Club.  I’ll wear one of my kilts tonight. I have four sets-- two of my own and two from Dennis. I was just going to wear my tux with a tartan vest and tie, but Bruce let me know that I’ll be sitting at the table with the British Consul General, so I suppose I should do all nine yards. (I believe the expression has something to do with kilts, anyway.) ###  The picture above shows all four of my tartans. My nephew Matt is wearing my Dad's Gunn tartan kilt. I'm wearing the relatively new Bell Family tartan, from which Dennis had a kilt made for me in Edinburgh. Our friend Lyle is wearing his Graham of Menteith tartan, which matched one of Dennis'. Then Dennis is wearing his other Graham tartan kilt with a custom vest and matching hand knit socks. The photo was taken five years ago at the annual St. Andrew's Day Banquet in November. I actually look younger today without my beard.