The Purple Pinata
Friday, October 31, 2003
Matters Historical and Ecclesiastical, as in Reformation Day, today October 31. (For Lutherans, the liturgical color is red).
Today is the 486th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. By the early 1500s, members of the church (what we now call the Roman Catholic Church) could purchase "letters of indulgence" to avoid punishment normally prescribed by a priest after confession of a sin. As a result, no remorse for sin was necessary, and this irked Augustinian priest, Dr. Martin Luther. Some indulgence salesmen even claimed that souls of departed loved ones could be released from purgatory with the purchase of an indulgence.
When one of the more enthusiastic merchants of indulgences, Dominican priest Johann Tetzel, began hawking them near Luther's home territory of Wittenberg, Germany, Luther went into action. He drew up 95 theses (debating points) concerning indulgences and other church excesses (like pestering poor Germans for money to build the present St. Peter's Basilica), and on October 31, 1517, fastened them to the Castle Church (All Saints Church) door at Wittenberg, thereby indicating his willingness to debate Tetzel on the points.
This began the Protestant Reformation which resulted in the break with the Roman Catholic Church.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Matters Local and Terrible, as in the San Diego Wildfires.
Sunday morning I awoke early as planned in order to have breakfast at Hometown Buffet near San Diego State and then make it to church at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral. I left my apartment shortly after 8 a.m. PST and immediately noticed a huge curtain of smoke northeast of Escondio. At first I mistakenly thought this was from the Camp Pendleton fire, but realized, it must be somewhere in Valley Center, which in fact it was (since named the Paradise Fire).
As I headed south on I15, I could hardly believe what I was seeing: huge billowing clouds of smoke going east to west, as if some volcano had just belched them out. I soon realized that something much more serious was going on and the reports on the radio confirmed that a fire (the Cedar Fire) had started in Ramona several hours earlier and amazingly had already spread to Poway!
As I approached Mira Mesa, the sky became increasingly black from the smoke now beginning to hang over me and I had to turn on my headlights. I wondered if I should turn around and head back to Escondido, but decided to press on. I continued south on the 163 freeway through the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, as opposed to continuing on the I15 which splits slightly to the east and was much closer to the source of the thickening smoke. Little did I know at the time that the fire was progressing at 6000 acres per hour, and that in an hour the freeway I was driving on would be closed and that the fire would also junp the freeway.
As I made it into Mission Valley I turned east on the I8 and after several miles turned south on College Blvd. heading past San Diego State University. As I continued up College Blvd. a couple of fire trucks came the other way, blaring their sirens and flashing their lights, presumably heading to join the fight against the fire, now menacing homes in Scripps Ranch.
I finally arrived at the Hometown Buffet on University Avenue for breakfast. The lady sitting in the booth next to me was making calls to friends concering the fire, and I conveyed to her what I had seen coming down from Escondido.
About 10 till 10 I headed west on University Ave. toward downtown San Diego and heard on the radio that the I15 and 163 were closed because of the fire. As I was crossing the 805 I noticed a commercial plane making a sharp bank into Lindbergh field, its silvery skin in stark contrast to the black clouds hanging above it.
When I reached Hillcrest I headed south on 6th Avenue, until I came to the Cathedral, directly across from Balboa Park. I had made it in plenty of time. The smoke blocked the sunshine so that inside the cathedral the light through the stained glass windows was what one would expect at evensong, not at a 10:30 a.m. service.
Later in the service it was announced that the music director, Martin Green, was not present because his parent's home was threatened by the fires. (It in fact was burned to the ground.) Fortunately the choir direction and organ playing were in the capable hands of the organ scholar, Kevin Kwan, a student at UCSD.
Because the service included several baptisms, it went longer than usual and I made it away shortly before noon. The only route available back to Escondido was to take the I5 north. Indeed, the I 5 was now the only way anyone in San Diego could make it north out of the county. The freeway was crowded and slow, with smoke hanging in the air and making its way into the air coditioning. Once I made it past Solana Beach, the traffic thinned out and the air cleared.
When I reached the 78 I headed east to Escondido. When I was passing through San Marcos, the smoke over Valley Center was pitch black, looking almost like a huge tornado bearing down on Escondido.
I finally reached my apartment around 2 p.m. What normally would have been a 30 minute drive had take me 2 hours.
Friday, October 24, 2003
Matters Local and Still Confrontational, as in walking through the supermarket picket line.
Compared to last week there has been a noticeable increase in customers at the Vons grocery stores which have been targeted by the grocery clerks union strike. (Albertson's and Ralph's grocery stores were not subject to the strike, but these stores have chosen to lock out their union employees, so there are pickets at these stores as well.)
I continue to do virtually all my grocery shopping at Vons, making sure that I walk right through the middle of the pickets as I enter, and verbally abuse them ("Greedy labor unions!") as I exit.
Matters Dental and Personal, as in Crown Him With a Crown. My first of two procedures to install a crown on tooth 31 began at 8:10 this morning and lasted one hour. An impression was taken of the tooth and after a few shots of novocaine, the dentist, Calvin Whang, began grinding down the tooth so that a crown could be placed over it. After the grinding, an impression was taken and then a temporary crown was afixed. I will return in three weeks to have the permanent crown placed over tooth 31.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Matters Technical, Astronautical and Oriental. The Chinese have successfully placed their first astronaut in orbit. See the story here.
Matters Local and Confrontational, as in breaking the grocery store strike line. Yesterday evening (Tues. evening, October 14) was my first chance to go to the grocery store since the grocery clerk strike began this weekend. I chose to go to Vons (the targeted grocery store) to see what the picket situation would be.
There were about 10 picketers at each of the two doors at the Vons at Felicita Ave. and Centre City Parkway here in Escondido. As I approached the door they greeted me and I yelled at them while waving my finger at them, "Greedy labor unions! Greedy labor unions!" Some lady on the line yelled back at me something about having to start paying for part of their health care (Wow! That really gets my sympathy!), but they were friendly.
When they saw me strolling down an aisle in the store, they waved at me. But when I exited, they were all booing at me, and I continued to yell, "Greedy labor unions! Greedy labor unions!"
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Matters Biblical and Christological, as in Christmas. Traditionally the longest Christmas celebration in the world occurs in the Philippines. Their Christmas observance extends throughout the months that end in "ber": September, October, November and December. Likewise, it is becoming common in the U.S. to see stores selling Christmas decorations as early as September. For example, the Robinson's-May store (a department store here in southern California) had their Christmas floor open in mid-September in the North County Fair (the mall on the southern edge of Escondido).
If only a fraction of the time and energy spent on the usual Christmas celebrations was spent on understanding the Christmas story as presented in the New Testament (there's more there than you think), we could all enjoy a more meaningful holiday.
Over the next few months the Purple Pinata will present brief summaries of the Infany Narratives in the New Testament, largely following the commentary by the late Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah. This will be supplemented by my own insights, and thoughts from other commentators, including that of Samuel Terrien, who has written a great book on the Magnificat.
We start today...
1. The Christmas story only appears in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and no where else in the New Testament. (Jesus' birth is never mentioned in Mark or John.)
2. The Christmas story is only two chapters each in Matthew and Luke.
3. Therefore, the Christmas story is only four chapters out of the total of 89 chapters that make up the four Gospels.
4. The Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke, are each the Gospel in miniature.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Matters Local: As in an earthquake. At 10:36 a.m. I felt a small earthquake, which the US Geological Survey has estimated to have a 3.6 magnitude, located right at the border of San Diego County and Mexico. The epicenter is about a 40 minute drive south of Escondido.
Matters Technical: It appears increasingly likely that the Chinese will launch their first manned space flight in a matter of days.
Matters Political: As in the Recall. I just got back from voting in the historic Statewide Special Election, the Recall Election. My polling place was in the rec room of a condominium about a mile west of my apartment. Three voters were exiting as I was arriving. Here's how I voted: Yes to Recall Gov. Davis; For Arnold Schwarzenegger as the replacement (interestingly, his name was the first name out of the 135 replacement candidates on my ballot); Yes on Prop. 53 (to dedicate 1% of the budget to infrastructure); and Yes on Prop. 54, the Racial Privacy Initiative. The method of voting was the familiar "punch card."
Sunday, October 05, 2003
Matters Arboreal and Floral: The Australian Bottle Brush trees outside my apartment window have been blooming this past week. (Click on the link to see a photo). As the name implies the flowers actually do look like bottle brushes. The flowers I see outside my window are white with the slightest hint of green. During a recent visit to my dentist, I noticed an Australian Bottle Brush blooming with a red color. The Australian Bottle Brush is a very common tree here in Southern California and occurs in both a bush and tree variety.
Matters Political: Groped by Gray. I have been groped by Gray Davis all year long. More specifically, my wallet has been groped by Gray.
Soon after Gray Davis first took office as CA governor, he signed legislation requiring professors in the California State University and Community College systems to have part of their pay given to the unions representing the college and university professors, even if the individual professor is not a member of the union. (The reasoning is that because these unions are the designated representatives of all the faculty in contract negotiations, and all faculty benefit from whatever is won during negotiation, all faculty should pay something for that representation.)
I am not a member of the union (the American Federation of Teachers) representing the faculty in the community college system and yet, as of my September paycheck, I have had $120 taken out of my paychecks this year and given to this union. I do not want this union to represent me in any way, shape, or form; I should have the option of what union if any should be representing me. Note that when I worked at the University of California, Irvine (it's part of a university system separate from the Community College and California State University systems), there was not union representation and thus no union dues docked from my pay. My work and pay conditions at the University of California were as good or better than those in the Cal State and Community College settings.
Gray Davis and the Democrats in the state legislature have done the bidding of their union backers, and I have been one of the victims.
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Matters Political, as in the Recall: The place to go to get the most up-to-date information on the Recall is the blog published by Sacramento Bee reporter Daniel Weintraub:
California Insider.
Just a few insights from "on the ground" here in California on the Recall:
1. Prior to Congressman Issa (he is a Republican in the US House of Representatives; his district is west and north of Escondido) dumping over a million dollars into the Recall signature effort, there was momentum and interest, but it was not clear that the Recall effort could reach the signature goal by the specified deadline. In other words, the Recall effort was well under way prior to Congressman Issa's financial backing, but that backing ensured its later success.
2. The media and public attention to the Recall effort has been extraordinary. The attention paid to Schwarzenegger's campaign is the most notable. For example, when he went to pull papers at the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters to get his name on the ballot, all three cable channels provided live coverage. A large crowd had also gathered to greet him. His campaign events typically have attracted a 1000+ people, which is unheard of for a gubernatorial campaign. In contrast the campaign stops of Gov. Gray Davis, as far as I can discern, evoke the enthusiasm one typically has for a stale muffin.
Friday, October 03, 2003
Matters Personal:
Welcome to my new blog, The Purple Pinata. You'll be treated to Matters Political, Theological, Technical and much more on a daily basis.
