tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79885099099916068802024-03-15T08:49:47.880-06:00A Fort Made of Booksa long-running blog about books, music, theology, hymnody, and moreRobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.comBlogger3408125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-57130775749293033862024-03-15T08:47:00.004-06:002024-03-15T08:49:15.003-06:00Ordinary Angels<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUDiiBU-csBur0zVmnyJ_T25j8R3a8bVBW75rGbd2qwSD4HuCDo7QUNN1lGhyxW1_cX87nbRrx5-aRiTg9cvtN3N3UwKaFh4ICJ0V752DhhYwp4ZBVnHLn9Pkj0AzXlzqjN6KtkZ0h0uCcBRRqTSlijJKXvAmn04KDlFBTcThNUVXoPMBy7UjOQOsRV3d/s3000/oa.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUDiiBU-csBur0zVmnyJ_T25j8R3a8bVBW75rGbd2qwSD4HuCDo7QUNN1lGhyxW1_cX87nbRrx5-aRiTg9cvtN3N3UwKaFh4ICJ0V752DhhYwp4ZBVnHLn9Pkj0AzXlzqjN6KtkZ0h0uCcBRRqTSlijJKXvAmn04KDlFBTcThNUVXoPMBy7UjOQOsRV3d/s200/oa.jpg"/></a></div>I actually saw this movie a couple weekends ago, but I dragged my feet blogging about it because, frankly, I spend so much time at work perched in front of a screen that I didn't feature spending more at home. But here I go. <br><br>
Based on a true story, this movie stars Hilary Swank as an alcoholic hairdresser in Louisville, Ky. who decides, at the outset of her own healing journey, to fundraise for a family she doesn't even personally know. She kind of forces her help down their throats, despite the dad's (Alan Ritchson of TV's "Titans" and "Reacher") discomfort with having her in their business. Ritchson plays a roofing contractor who has just buried his wife and must now raise his daughters with the help of his mother, played by Nancy Travis. The younger of the two girls has a medical condition that will end the way her mother's illness did, unless she gets a liver transplant pronto. Swank swoops in, soliciting donations, arranging for transportation and finally, in the middle of a once-in-a-century blizzard, pulling together a crowd of volunteers to do the impossible, to make sure the little girl makes it to Omaha to collect her new liver. <br><br>
There are a lot of sickbed scenes in this movie. What the little girl goes through makes it sometimes hard to watch. And you may be surprised to learn that there is neither a spark of romance between the two leads nor an overtly religious message. Ritchson & family darken the door of their church just twice in this movie, and when Swank does so as well, it's apparently a novelty for her and she clearly doesn't fit in. But hearts of gold can be found in amazing places, even in the boozy bosom of a hairdresser who dresses like a tart and has a toxic relationship with her own son. Her vulnerability and the unwise decisions she makes in her personal life add another layer of "boy, this is uncomfortable to watch" to a movie that finally builds up to a gripping climax as the tension over whether daughter No. 2 will make it becomes nearly unbearable.<br><br>
The acting is pretty good. Nancy Travis isn't afraid to look like Grandma. Hilary Swank takes naturally to the kind of character who throws a lifeline to the hero family and, at the same time, probably shouldn't be around them. Even Ritchson transcends type (stoic stud) and delivers scenes of desperate, agonizing emotion. The obligatory closing titles, showing images of the real-life people in the story and information about what happened to them afterward, are worth staying for. It's a nice movie about a small, ordinary family dealt a tough hand, and a community pulling together to help. I wouldn't call it a great film, but I think it's one that families could watch together, with characters they can root for, without the over-the-top costumes, action and effects that Hollywood seems to be throwing all its money at these days. It's the kind of decent, small movie there used to be more of and, one hopes, there will be more of in the future.<br><br>
Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) Pick just about any scene where Swank's character uses her power of persistence, and her obliviousness to boundaries, to score donations, and even commitments of private aircraft and an open runway during a blizzard, for the hero family. (2) Pick just about any scene where Ritchson is about to say "no" and Travis takes over and says "yes." Like when Swank shows up with an envelope full of cash and Grandma invites her in for dinner, despite Ritchson's clear discomfort. (3) Swank's estranged son shows up with a shovel when everything depends on a bunch of last-minute volunteers clearing a landing zone for a helicopter.<br><br>
The movie also stars Amy Acker (<i>Alias, Angel</i>), Drew Powell (<i>Gotham</i>) and Tamala Jones (<i>Castle</i>). Director Jon Gunn has written and/or directed a number of faith-centered films, including the upcoming feature <i>The Unbreakable Boy</i> as well as <i>American Underdog, Jesus Revolution, The Case for Christ</i> and <i>I Still Believe</i>, among other titles. One of its screenwriters is Oscar-nominated actress Meg Tilly, who also happens to be an author with some <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/meg-tilly/">10 novels</a> to her name.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-35769725325108818802024-03-13T14:09:00.001-06:002024-03-13T14:09:16.486-06:00Profitable Hymns: First Line Index<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ni0x3728ux9G-aem5_edHfJ6zvX0mFuhIh8j12xERPeqlv-yEbynI2p4PtOGv9WoPS0o0L7OcNJUmHI7Cw_UpjQdwEY3z5btg-ot8NeyDQvsWPDI9CP8MAOjMu-uxQX732hRX8XIbkUMAaShHqcniRIoztjcq72XUl3irq_FsINBQCu8FVJrhcyCWKg-/s392/mysterybook.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Ni0x3728ux9G-aem5_edHfJ6zvX0mFuhIh8j12xERPeqlv-yEbynI2p4PtOGv9WoPS0o0L7OcNJUmHI7Cw_UpjQdwEY3z5btg-ot8NeyDQvsWPDI9CP8MAOjMu-uxQX732hRX8XIbkUMAaShHqcniRIoztjcq72XUl3irq_FsINBQCu8FVJrhcyCWKg-/s200/mysterybook.png"/></a></div><blockquote>I've decided the working title for my fourth book of hymns – at this writing, just starting to get underway – will be "Profitable Hymns for Meditation in the Lutheran Church, School and Home." I plan to add to this directory as the book grows, since experience with my past couple of volumes has taught me this is a (cough) profitable approach to keeping track of my progress and editing the material later. Eventually, it'll just sit here as, I hope, a helpful reference. It'll also be linked to the main <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html">Book Trolley</a> page, where similar indices for the preceding books are already in place. And so, in ABC order:</blockquote>
<a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/504-temptation-hymn.html">Christ, who passed through a desert place</a> ... Temptation<br><br>
<a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2024/03/506-of-time-and-eternity.html">I was not there when Jesus died</a> ... Time & eternity<br><br>
<a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/503-word-of-lord-stands.html">Lo, the dewy stem grows dry</a> ... Word of the Lord stands<br>
<a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2023/12/502-lo-what-love.html">Lo, what love the Father shows us</a> ... Trinitarian love<br><br>
<a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/505-to-have-mind-of-christ.html">O holy Mind, that did not think</a> ... Having the mind of Christ<br><br>
<a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2023/12/501-look-to-jesus.html">Would you see the Love of God?</a> ... Look to JesusRobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-72728155526703544982024-03-07T11:20:00.004-06:002024-03-07T18:33:34.651-06:00506. Of Time and Eternity<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihaakWajFqi_2vfRV-UWehMIDZjj9qmp5bRBskvuJbs7Si9DkkEE_az66myvhw48x83i9jQBkcig7nkIABT9K-5nd-sMjD6ZaCpHQKbP2iyQOAPBjrmY0pa2ZwVykpmynxsDMrVEjs6V6SAwVj2m7SOkDKvfQKItYv1bs0zQ6WggxvljcmiB5bpVNBEoz-/s800/dalicross.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="453" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihaakWajFqi_2vfRV-UWehMIDZjj9qmp5bRBskvuJbs7Si9DkkEE_az66myvhw48x83i9jQBkcig7nkIABT9K-5nd-sMjD6ZaCpHQKbP2iyQOAPBjrmY0pa2ZwVykpmynxsDMrVEjs6V6SAwVj2m7SOkDKvfQKItYv1bs0zQ6WggxvljcmiB5bpVNBEoz-/s200/dalicross.jpg"/></a></div>A sermon that I heard last night gave me a new perspective on (and maybe, appreciation of) the traditional American spiritual, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord." Here is a hymn that began to percolate in my skull during that message. I have no particular tune in mind at this time. Please excuse it's length; now and then you just have to say a thing completely. Oh, and here's Salvador Dali's depiction of Jesus on the cross. Interesting, isn't it? I grew up looking at a copy of this painting on my parents' wall and if a picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps it justifies my prolixity.<br><br>
I was not there when Jesus died<br>
In earthly space and time,<br>
But on one Cross is crucified<br>
Each sinner's every crime.<br><br>
Before the Lord's eternal throne<br>
One perfect Victim bleeds.<br>
One, guiltless, suffers to atone<br>
And, in defeat, succeeds.<br><br>
God's Mercy Seat pervades all time<br>
And penetrates all space;<br>
One death thus answers for all crime,<br>
Each moment, every place.<br><br>
If Christ before such throne has bled,<br>
Then my sin, too, was there.<br>
For me was struck that sacred Head;<br>
His sprinkled blood I wear.<br><br>
For me are pierced those healing hands,<br>
Those seldom resting feet,<br>
When nature dons her mourning bands<br>
Before that Mercy Seat.<br><br>
For me, the words "Behold your son,"<br>
"Today, in Paradise";<br>
For me the cry when all was done,<br>
And fully paid, the price.<br><br>
For me the daylight turns to night;<br>
For me earth's pillars quake,<br>
The sanctuary bared to sight,<br>
Its screen torn for my sake.<br><br>
For me the tombs are broken up,<br>
The faithful dead arise.<br>
To me is passed the blessing-cup;<br>
Christ greets my lips and eyes.<br><br>
Before creation's deepest pile<br>
By living Word was laid,<br>
That Lamb is slain, and all the while<br>
God's choice is freely made.<br><br>
Before His face have I been bathed,<br>
His Spirit on me poured.<br>
Across all ages, I am swathed<br>
In my Anointed Lord.<br><br>
God's Son, indeed, is one with God,<br>
And none can Christ divide.<br>
And so, complete with flesh and blood,<br>
I live in Him who died.<br><br>
Now, bodily, my Lord is near,<br>
My faith to feed and grow,<br>
To do my deeds, to hear my prayer,<br>
Unstinting grace to show.<br><br>
In Him I live and breathe and move,<br>
And when at last I rest,<br>
Before the throne of faithful love<br>
I'll evermore be blest.<br><br>RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-51020664660007114722024-02-27T10:47:00.003-06:002024-02-27T10:51:43.042-06:00505. To Have the Mind of Christ<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIYbiL62rPwRvwn-l0Q5ic6sbmjqJoTSz1BjB9zzh6LdO1HsM6Dfzwr5Eqo0jFONP51WxmZ1snhO1i7-hyDwloQapqC3RM45FMx6FqrMTR5lgCAm4-h2f6uYbVrs8zPXTG6sB-R3q__7o0w2zVluLHJkp3XTzUnpjZ0PG-aDUEl2Bjrd2sCEjkTRdZcJ-/s1034/fruittree.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="736" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIYbiL62rPwRvwn-l0Q5ic6sbmjqJoTSz1BjB9zzh6LdO1HsM6Dfzwr5Eqo0jFONP51WxmZ1snhO1i7-hyDwloQapqC3RM45FMx6FqrMTR5lgCAm4-h2f6uYbVrs8zPXTG6sB-R3q__7o0w2zVluLHJkp3XTzUnpjZ0PG-aDUEl2Bjrd2sCEjkTRdZcJ-/s200/fruittree.jpg"/></a></div>I forget how long ago I started writing this hymn. A fragment of the first stanza has been sketched out on paper for months, at least, awaiting completion. I decided to complete it today, creating what is in effect another <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2012/08/32-fruit-of-spirit-hymn.html">Fruit of the Spirit hymn</a>. (Also see <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2023/01/480-proper-8-series-c.html">here</a>.) Relevant Scripture references include Galatians 5:22 and Philippians 2:5-11. At this time, I have no particular tune in mind, but lots of options exist including several that I have written myself. So, no worries.<br><br>
O holy Mind, that did not think<br>
To seize Your crown by force, to shrink<br>
From death by cross, all man to serve:<br>
You suffered loss with awful nerve.<br>
You scorned the shame; You shamed the scorn<br>
Of them who crowned Your brow with thorn.<br>
Your crimson badge now on me bind;<br>
In me plant such a servant mind.<br><br>
In me plant love, that from my breast<br>
May flow what serves my neighbor best.<br>
In me plant joy, that I may lift<br>
A thankful song for every gift.<br>
In me plant peace, and make an end<br>
Of strifes that in my heart contend.<br>
All these from Your own Spirit flow,<br>
That I and all Your mind might know.<br><br>
In me plant patience, bearing pain,<br>
That I may count my losses gain.<br>
In me plant kindness, showing grace<br>
Like what on me beams from Your face.<br>
In me plant goodness, pouring care<br>
On all who my redemption share.<br>
On all these graces let me draw;<br>
Against such things there is no law.<br><br>
In me plant faithfulness through all,<br>
Come bitter wormwood, acrid gall.<br>
In me plant meekness, bearing blows<br>
With grace none but the Spirit knows.<br>
In me, indeed, plant self-control,<br>
Abhorring sin with all my soul<br>
Till, falling down before Your throne,<br>
Your name as Lord of all I own.<br><br>
In these good gifts, good Lord, I find<br>
The pattern of Christ Jesus' mind:<br>
Who could have struck Your mockers dead,<br>
But bore their load of sin instead.<br>
Now, covered by Your paschal blood,<br>
Let me imbibe that selfsame good<br>
Which, binding Three in One above,<br>
Now fills the world with saving love.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-16274644142016621972024-02-21T03:36:00.005-06:002024-02-22T09:22:18.684-06:00Tacky Hymns 121It's yet another installment of the hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i>! Yay!!!<br><br>
Going into the "Commitment, Discipleship" section, <b>1085 is "Hope of the world"</b> by Georgia Harkness (†1974), set to the 16th century tune DONNE SECOURS; in LSB 690 it's set to EIRENE. I previously commented on it <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/tacky-hymns-50.html">here</a>. Was I too hard on it? I dunno. I'll let it go by with 0 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimXKoTjY7Xg4lagp5_W4op80QstITaxVpqZoRUrkdLGrMYnWgQ9MTZ_EiAu9agDD39TH-HIE5KFI5mKJfWqh7I7cNT8VV4Bk59uQAHOFsoJq8fyXv62Vs5LFiPoC5jUaUFU8tRadx1vRBsD-4M82m_Ei5PIjn02ZYAfkq5v8VaRQYUzi8pv1WHFYKjDqew/s1982/daw.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="1982" data-original-width="1486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimXKoTjY7Xg4lagp5_W4op80QstITaxVpqZoRUrkdLGrMYnWgQ9MTZ_EiAu9agDD39TH-HIE5KFI5mKJfWqh7I7cNT8VV4Bk59uQAHOFsoJq8fyXv62Vs5LFiPoC5jUaUFU8tRadx1vRBsD-4M82m_Ei5PIjn02ZYAfkq5v8VaRQYUzi8pv1WHFYKjDqew/s200/daw.jpg"/></a></div><b>1086 is "O God, who gives us life and breath"</b> by Carl P. Daw Jr. (b. 1944), set to NOEL, an English tune arranged by Arthur Sullivan (†1900) – don't laugh, this is serious – which some of us actually recall seeing paired with the Christmas hymn "It came upon the midnight clear" (cf. the Common Service Book & Hymnal). Stanza 1 calls on the God who calls us out of death to life, bidding Him "deliver us from fears that kill the life we have from you." St. 2 finds God calling us from the "bleak abyss of doubt" and the "wastes of empty lies," asking Him to refresh us with undying hope. St. 3 addresses Him as the "God of covenant of law" and and says, "We dare not speak your name." It concludes that we are drawn to Him by faith as he writes His "covenant of love" on our hearts. I'd call it an OK hymn but I'm rather astonished to find, really, no gospel in it. 2 tacks.<br><br>
As the "Praise, Thanksgiving" section begins, <b>1087 is "Glory to God, whose goodness shines,"</b> words and music by Paul M. Vasile (b. 1976), based on the Gloria Patri ("Glory be to the Father..."). It interpolates a few lines of description of each Person of the Trinity into the text, to fill out the meter, which I suppose is in keeping with the tradition of liturgical paraphrases. It does so in a pop-musicky style, accompaniment omitted. And its second stanza doesn't do anything except repeat "World without end, without end. Amen" three times before returning to the refrain "As it was in the beginning," etc., which makes stanza 2 redundant. It's a little slip of a thing that doesn't do what a hymn is designed to do. It should probably be part of a liturgical setting, or at least a section set aside for optional service music, and though the next couple of hymns deliver the fleeting impression that that's what this section is, it isn't. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1088 is "Hallelujah,"</b> or rather, "Halle, hallelujah," just those words over and over, set to a traditional Syrian tune. It's again a tiny little scrap of a thing, even more so than the previous number, hardly of any use as a hymn but maybe as an alternative liturgical setting. For being in the wrong part of the book and omitting the accompaniment, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1089 is "Holy, holy, holy,"</b> an Argentine traditional setting of the Sanctus and Benedictus, in both Spanish and English. Which would be great if this was a Spanish-language hymnal, but it's not. And the presumption that it will be sung in Spanish is underscored by the way the English lyrics don't even try to fit under the notes. If the message to English-speaking Lutherans is that they should try to forget about worshiping in their own language, message received. 1 tack.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWTVcpFFo8uS_QNrzunOpLI9xiampF0kku-QL8D6kxZvWwB18l_qgLYqReP3cTFpEwiKjtMveSZahg7NjK9w-E2tzQz0fEC2xiXIj1ti4cXAqZ5vOShTUE-BsX3TyzwOQWzMwCCPZI8HDxDqOOunDW8cApxq4mWvX_kXa9D5Mk-CYfqHWXWriw5m8AzRzp/s800/scheer.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWTVcpFFo8uS_QNrzunOpLI9xiampF0kku-QL8D6kxZvWwB18l_qgLYqReP3cTFpEwiKjtMveSZahg7NjK9w-E2tzQz0fEC2xiXIj1ti4cXAqZ5vOShTUE-BsX3TyzwOQWzMwCCPZI8HDxDqOOunDW8cApxq4mWvX_kXa9D5Mk-CYfqHWXWriw5m8AzRzp/s200/scheer.jpg"/></a></div><b>1090 is "Heaven opened to Isaiah,"</b> uncredited Rwandan words and music paraphrased and arranged by Greg Scheer (b. 1966). The setting does evoke the sound of African-style part-singing, with some <i>ossia</i> notes added on top and bottom for people willing to try for a high or low F. Text-wise, it's kind of the Rwandan version of Luther's "Isaiah, mighty seer," telling the story of the prophetic encounter (theophany, technically) that gives us the "Holy, holy, holy," out of the mouths of angels. Stanza 2 adds cherubim to the chorus of seraphim, Te Deum-fashion, then pitches in "all of earth's redeemed" in singing, "Glory to the Lord on high" – so, we're covering the full range of liturgical hymns of praise. Stanza 3 closes the circle with the end-times song of all saints "from ev'ry time and nation," teasing the anthem of Revelation 5 but actually landing on a Trinitarian doxology. I'm impressed. In a town-gown church where there may actually be a chance of the congregation doing it in parts, it might be pretty cool. 0 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1091 is "Hallelujah! Sing praise to your Creator,"</b> the rare hymn in this book that capitalizes divine titles. It's by Tilly Lubis (†2002), based on Psalm 148, translated by David Diephouse (b. 1947), and set to a Batak (i.e. Indonesian) melody arranged by H.A. Pandopo (b. 1935), who (Hymnary.org informs me) is also known as Hermanus Arie van Dop, a Dutch missionary to Indonesia. It has a pretty distinctive cadence to it that might take a bit of adjustment for Grandma and Grandpa Smurf & Co. The presumption of part singing is, again, well-marked, with an "Oh" between phrases for the tenor and bass parts only. What I said about a town-gown church may apply here; but just as likely, if not more likely, this will just be a choir piece. Therefore, 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1092 is "Thank you, Lord,"</b> a "traditional" hymn in what I'd call the "round the campfire" style of spiritual folk song. Stanza 1 is all repeats of the first line, concluding, "I just want to thank you, Lord" – and those of us who have remained conscious during the sorts of civic-religion prayer that usually starts with "Father God" know <i>just</i> how much the words "I just want" are worth. The same refrain follows three more stanzas, which, respectively, comprise threefold repetitions of "Been so good," "Been my friend" and "Love you, Lord." It gives so little in proportion to the time it takes up that the hot dogs had better be roasted by the time it's over. And until you get to "been my friend," it isn't clear who has "been so good." You might think you're singing about yourself there. Awkward! 4 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1093 is "In deep, unbounded darkness"</b> by "anonymous, China," translated by Francis P. Jones (†1975) and adapted by Mary Louise Bringle (b. 1953), set to DIVINUM MYSTERIUM (cf. "Of the Father's love begotten") and notated in the manner of plainchant, with stemless noteheads. In my opinion, that's a solid strategy for getting Lutheran laypeople to take one look and say, "Nuh-uh." And it's uncalled-for, what with the modern-notation settings of this tune that are amply available. And really, if you want to achieve that effect, why stop there? Why not go all the way and use Gregorian notation and a C-clef? Then you can make even a well-trained organist sweat. As for the lyrics, they take until stanza 3 to mention Christ, but other than that I have no beef with it. For the needlessly intimidating plainchant layout and omitting the accompaniment, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3rHDgyZ_TVqATn1M992pBsrOaEoskqDi2teywtbIKAlxlsLUXU_SKKuyFZYqY5XlAt5vL-f2i9F3LQ3VjQJ0PhfS7vIaZOgpU96FCXNP7d3jFBUrbkLWD2YJp8tDx-jSikJYD3jkZumtr27yKi6fHaUnYRlAywjsDKCooiqw-A-teVPPpRivMyvEK4Z5G/s500/wren.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3rHDgyZ_TVqATn1M992pBsrOaEoskqDi2teywtbIKAlxlsLUXU_SKKuyFZYqY5XlAt5vL-f2i9F3LQ3VjQJ0PhfS7vIaZOgpU96FCXNP7d3jFBUrbkLWD2YJp8tDx-jSikJYD3jkZumtr27yKi6fHaUnYRlAywjsDKCooiqw-A-teVPPpRivMyvEK4Z5G/s200/wren.jpg"/></a></div><b>1094 is "Bring many names"</b> by Bran Wren (b. 1936), set to Carlton P. Young's (b. 1926) tune WESTCHASE, accompaniment omitted. In bringing many names, Stanza 2 leads off with "Strong mother God," and that's before st. 3 gets to "father God," so you know this is going to get bloody. If I were in possession of an anathema, I would slap it down right here and turn the page. This is not how God has revealed himself; so you can take that name and keep it, sparky. Wren attributes creation to this mother; when he moves on to the father God, he depicts him (I kid you not) as "hugging every child," sympathizing with "the strains of human living" and forgiving. Then there's "old, aching God," like a bearded wizard, full of wisdom and moral insight. And then, "young, growing God, eager, on the move," a social justice warrior; and finally, "great, living God," incomprehensible, hidden, invisible, yet always near and our "everlasting home." Somehow among all these aspects of God, there is no Christ and no Trinity. You should tear this page out of the book, sprinkle holy water on it, then anoint it liberally with oil and burn it at the crossroads. I'd love to say, "Brian Wren, I'm done with you," but unfortunately I'm not. 5 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1095 is "How shall I sing that majesty"</b> by John Mason (†1694), set to Kenneth Naylor's (†1991) tune COE FEN. Mason's poem is a personal appeal to be inducted into the celestial choir, and to be shone upon by God. It concludes with a whole stanza of superlatives addressed to God. To me, it seems more like a verse for private devotions than congregational worship, though I don't object to such artifacts being in a book of hymns. I'd be more thrilled with it if it said anything particularly about Christ. For omitting the accompaniment, 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1096 is "Joyful is the dark"</b> by Wren (sigh), set to Young's tune LINDNER. This time (unlike 1093) the darkness never breaks; all five stanzas start with the same line. In the first stanza, Wren characterizes the hiddenness of God, even revealed as "Word-in-flesh," as an unnameable "rolling cloud of night." Stanza 2 moves on to the Holy Spirit, hovering over the deep with "plumage black and bright" – a raven, not a dove. Where is he getting this stuff? St. 3 moves on to the "shadowed stable floor" over which "angels flicker," hailing the birth of Jesus. St. 4 finds us in the cool tomb, claiming that there was no dread and gloom while Jesus slumbered there (a claim the apostles might contend with). The final stanza depicts the glory of God as a "roaring, looming thundercloud" which, strangely enough, is actually biblical. Nevertheless, I feel, Wren strains to keep his unifying theme together, to the detriment of telling the story. For that and for again omitting the accompaniment, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1097 is "Ten thousand reasons"</b> (first line: "Bless the Lord, O my soul"), words and music by Mark Redman (b. 1974) and Jonas Myrin (b. 1982). It's a contemporary worship ditty that vaguely threatens (in the first line of its refrain) to be a paraphrase of either Psalm 103 or 104, but immediately backs down. For the most part. A couple of phrases evoke deep cuts within Psalm 103, like "slow to anger" in st. 2. I'd be a bigger fan of the genre if, just once in a while, its writers would make a real effort to actually paraphrase what they feint at paraphrasing. With the accompaniment hidden (except for a brief instrumental cue during the long rest leading back to the refrain), it's also not very helpful unless you've splashed out big bucks on the accompaniment edition. I'd call it more of a solo or a rehearsed-ensemble number than a congregational hymn. 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1098 is "Who is like our God,"</b> anonymous words and music, in Spanish and English (translated by Scheer) and supposedly based on Exodus 15. If by that, the credit line means the Song of Moses, it's a pretty skimpy paraphrase, though you can find the raw material for most of its lyrics there. Nevertheless, it devotes a line to dancing and tambourines, which is stage business between the songs of Moses and Miriam. And where is the pronunciation guide when we need one to explain how to sing "Jeho-" as one syllable? For gratuitous Spanishness and omitting the accompaniment, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7cuifbkDx1073AFNQPBVlUL5mcD1ZhpNC3Rx9cZHo-Mnz_YQ5QNSRdsdy1aVta1zQ4b0oHU6QFehtgFKYlwxKen_MCVNgrTMA1sjlsmzWrd6Daz99s1dXIxn5ZrO7_HsmvkJKItZJr5sTjKZstbVpfxF-mGIELXA5GeOeOCj2IWC7aFKl_WpCXbANuhgL/s357/pavlechko.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7cuifbkDx1073AFNQPBVlUL5mcD1ZhpNC3Rx9cZHo-Mnz_YQ5QNSRdsdy1aVta1zQ4b0oHU6QFehtgFKYlwxKen_MCVNgrTMA1sjlsmzWrd6Daz99s1dXIxn5ZrO7_HsmvkJKItZJr5sTjKZstbVpfxF-mGIELXA5GeOeOCj2IWC7aFKl_WpCXbANuhgL/s200/pavlechko.png"/></a></div><b>1099 is "Kneeling in the dust to form us"</b> by Bringle, set to Thomas Pavlechko's (b. 1962) tune TURNBULL. It's an organist's hymn, vibrating with metaphorical references to the instrument, though I think some theological discussion is needed regarding st. 1's claim that as God breathes the Spirit into man, "we become God's living vessels." Is that in Eden, in word and sacrament, or what? Bringle depicts us as a pneumatic instrument being played by the Spirit, "sounding chambers for the Word" (st. 2), albeit with references to "fret and string" and "tempered bells" to keep it lively. It's all right as devotional poems go, but I think this one will toot right over the heads of laypeople. 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1100 is "O beauty ever ancient"</b> by Shirley Erena Murray (†2020), set to Alfred V. Fedak's (b. 1953) tune ANCIENT BEAUTY. Besides the word beauty, this hymn also addresses its addressee as "divine and Holy Presence" and also mentions the "beauty of the Spirit," each of its four stanzas culminating in the refrain, "In gratitude, in worship, my being sings to you." It's nice that Murray locates beauty in so many aspects of creation, but the way she identifies that beauty with God may also be a topic for doctrinal discussion. Beauty in darkness and light; beauty in movement and stillness, "in lovely form of face" – it's almost as if Murray is choosing her own means of grace and bypassing ones that God established. Am I out to lunch? I ought to be by now. 2 tacks (including one for omitting the accompaniment).<br><br>
So, we're finally done with that book. That Book. Put a fork in it. Put a stake through it. Put another 31 tacks in it, making the grand total 412 tacks in just 200 hymns. And that, fellow sufferers, is a tackiness rate of 206 percent. Hey! It actually came down a point from its rolling peak at the end of Installment 120. Great job! Of course, you know what this means. It means that if you're into tackiness on holy ground, this is the book for you, with enough tackiness to saturate a book twice its length.<br><br>
I said, way back, that there was maybe one hymn in this entire book that I wouldn't pitch out and gladly. That was a slight exaggeration. I actually liked a few of the hymns in this book. But after examining it in minute detail, my general impression of <i>All Creation Sings</i> is that it's not a product of people who understand or care what Lutheranism is or what hymns are; far less should they be selecting hymns for Lutheran worship. There are even a number of songs in this book that I wouldn't even call Christian. Let my convictions, knowledge and experience as a trained theologian, musician, and lifelong student, conoisseur and writer of hymns (words and music) count for whatever they may, heed my warning. Stick this book in your church's pews at your own risk.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-7640942455202140852024-02-19T19:19:00.007-06:002024-02-19T19:28:47.448-06:00Tacky Hymns 120Once more (at least) unto our review of the hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i>, resuming with the "Prayer" section ... <br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9CZZIKwo1BBwHB85_PSbkXu_e0b3uUIrkyPMy7HmsKMwTZhrRGOGSUrTsX5aqO-0kKY7rkOyFBKFrKqRr0NkEj5VZkRvWO7ek-A-MAft17GbJIDc7ME13rcGMdd6VlEhECcts7pMB5CckoFV1fog_F7eTFDvWEM50p2hBPkRPuA3Ze0FgE0HpZkqOmJ-W/s600/donaldson.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9CZZIKwo1BBwHB85_PSbkXu_e0b3uUIrkyPMy7HmsKMwTZhrRGOGSUrTsX5aqO-0kKY7rkOyFBKFrKqRr0NkEj5VZkRvWO7ek-A-MAft17GbJIDc7ME13rcGMdd6VlEhECcts7pMB5CckoFV1fog_F7eTFDvWEM50p2hBPkRPuA3Ze0FgE0HpZkqOmJ-W/s200/donaldson.jpg"/></a></div><b>1073 is "Kyrie eleison,"</b> a.k.a. Haitian Kyrie, words and music from Haitian tradition as adapted and arranged by Andrew Donaldson (b. 1951). I don't know if it's a French thing or a Caribbean thing, but the "-rie" of "Kyrie" and the "-lei-" of "eleison" both seem to be treated as a single syllable, which might throw off some folks who are accustomed to the standard singers' diction for the liturgical Greek. The non-Greek lyrics are all in French, with a translation and a pronunciation guide reserved for the tiny, eye-straining footnote. Unless you're already francophone, putting the French lyrics together with the Caribbean rhythms might be quite a trick. This isn't a hymnal for a French-speaking church, you know. And also, it's supposed to be a pew book for the congregation, not a collection of choir pieces. For these fumbles, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1074 is "Óyenos, Señor,"</b> words and music by Bob Hurd (b. 1950), "alt." – which is amazing, since there is so little of it to alt. It's four brief phrases of melody (on two staves at the bottom of a page), accompaniment omitted. Three of the phrases say the above text, which (the squint-worthy footnote informs us) means "Hear us, O Lord." If eye-strain permits, you may also pick up an alternate version of the text from the same footnote, as well as a pronunciation guide. The remaining phrase says, in English, "Listen to your people." Have I mentioned once or twice that this isn't a hymnal for a Spanish-speaking church? And have I mentioned what a hymn is, and what it's good for, and how little the purpose of a hymn is served by a little flake of a thing like this? For uselessness on so many levels, 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1075 is "O God, we call,"</b> words and music by Linnes Good (b. 1962). It's a single-stanza in five phrases, four of them quite short. The first two are the same; the remaining three gradually amount to "from deep inside we yearn for you"; and that's it. The accompaniment is included, for a treat; the harmony is unusual, with a warm, touching type of dissonance running throughout it before resolving to bare octaves on the final word, "you." I hate to say it, though: even at its brief length, it starts to get monotonous before the end. And that's before either repeating it to the point of self-hypnosis or, failing to do so, wondering why we used a slot programmed for a hymn on such a tiny chip of a thing. 1 tack.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGuCRMed0eHK8huj3HABACQroQsU0y7-Upa0EVeUfZzwyuXdUNbeOvs8l-nr0A_vyupKCvpczoEigg_HOKKzF4r6_NrOW24Xj5yhCaRAP313UomlRWERZskoQDHUAhWpORXriUI1XjQbxOB9qZFA-JEYniSX36a3KNqMsrBsQJoW0TXLPNYX9CdEFWlYew/s396/loh.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGuCRMed0eHK8huj3HABACQroQsU0y7-Upa0EVeUfZzwyuXdUNbeOvs8l-nr0A_vyupKCvpczoEigg_HOKKzF4r6_NrOW24Xj5yhCaRAP313UomlRWERZskoQDHUAhWpORXriUI1XjQbxOB9qZFA-JEYniSX36a3KNqMsrBsQJoW0TXLPNYX9CdEFWlYew/s200/loh.jpg"/></a></div><b>1076 is "Search me, O God,"</b> words and music by I-to Loh (b. 1936) based on Psalm 139:23-24. It's four phrases of lyrics and melody, accompaniment omitted, like a refrain in search of a chant setting of the rest of the Psalm. If the intention is that it be used that way, the makers of this book show a certain lack of initiative in not laying out the rest of the Psalm accordingly. As it is, it belongs more in the liturgical part of the book and its usefulness in that hymn-slot that I keep describing is rather dubious. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1077 is "Mercy, we abide in you,"</b> words and music by Bret Hesla (b. 1957). It's another unusual number, with a refrain for "all," then three stanzas of solo melody for "Leader" accompanied by four-part singing by the "Assembly." Which amounts mostly to humming and repetitions of "Stir in us, we pray." The Leader's three stanzas are a compressed litany, though for all its compression, it gets off to a slow start, leading off with three slightly varied ways of saying "In peace let us pray to the Lord." And the concluding line, "Move within each heart," hits me as a most unsatisfactory alternative to "Lord, have mercy." But then, we're not addressing the Lord; remember? We're addressing "Mercy." For bizarre and un-asked-for liturgical innovation, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1078 is "There is a longing in our hearts,"</b> words and music by Anne Quigley (b. 1955). It's another litany sort of thing, with a touchy-feely refrain assigned to "All" and four stanzas for "Leader or All," accompaniment omitted. I think the stanzas are fine, but the refrain bugs me. It just doesn't rise to the same level of (cough) inspiration. Also, don't try to fool me; this is liturgy, not hymnody. I'd excuse it if the hymn section was over and this was set off as a separate section of service music, but it ain't. 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1079 is "Open my heart,"</b> words and music by Ann Hernández (b. 1957) – my goodness, what a prevalence of Baby Boomers one can observe in this book's hymn credits! Scored in three-part harmony a capella (on three staves, emphatically marked "Part I," "Part II" and "Part III"), to start with the music, it's an awkward bit of part-writing because the middle part is often higher than the melody. It's definitely not a round, however; Parts 2 and 3 are totally harmony parts, not countermelodies, and besides, Part III is notated in bass clef. I'd have described it as an SAB choir piece, but it's unclear which part is S and which is A. Also, you could almost save two phrases (and hence a whole system of music) by putting a repeat sign after the first two, except the B line (Part III) keeps going while Parts I and II repeat the same two phrases note-for-note. I hate to pick apart such a tiny little pencil-shaving of a piece, but I've got to comment on something and the lyrics, which entirely comprise four repetitions of "Open my heart," don't require analysis. It would be nice to see the author explore more deeply the Person we are asking to open our heart, if any, and what we want Him to open our heart to. But then this piece would be in danger of becoming a hymn. 4 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkTQ8EfFW2rxGT6fbaYz3jMYem5MurXEKhFNIZ_KO56K_B-0C54sCvMjnemh6IIElXobq48lZYGU1_IZRU7OIVSppD_ufHU0r8gyvik-XTWmXLmcvFWUzq3mX7G4Ylku2EuTdtsvrlb-2E03Vr_tK1O-0aat8ghs0BhUxiGlwp0Upe1Q3tJf5vaRpGf7q9/s427/smallwood.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkTQ8EfFW2rxGT6fbaYz3jMYem5MurXEKhFNIZ_KO56K_B-0C54sCvMjnemh6IIElXobq48lZYGU1_IZRU7OIVSppD_ufHU0r8gyvik-XTWmXLmcvFWUzq3mX7G4Ylku2EuTdtsvrlb-2E03Vr_tK1O-0aat8ghs0BhUxiGlwp0Upe1Q3tJf5vaRpGf7q9/s200/smallwood.jpg"/></a></div>Going onto the "Trust, Confidence" section, <b>1080 is "Total Praise"</b> (first line: "Lord, I will lift mine eyes to the hills"), words and music by Richard Smallwood (b. 1948) with a assist from arranger Stephen F. Key (n.d.). It's totally a contemporary worship jingle, despite its deceptively chorale-like opening phrases. It initially promises to be a paraphrase of Psalm 121, but almost immediately gives up on fulfilling that promise and just becomes your standard praise song, with a repeat sign to make it feel like there's a second stanza and a long coda with more Amens than you can shake a stick at. The keyboard setting is self-evidently piano music, not organ, and after that fake-out chorale texture at the beginning, it commits heavily to pop music stylings that will demand the services of a miked soloist or a well-rehearsed ensemble, except in the (I think) still rare instance where a congregation is so well-drilled in this style of music that they can sing the pants off of it. Get real. It's not a congregational hymn. 4 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1081 is "When memory fades"</b> by Mary Louise Bringle (b. 1953), set to the tune HEGER by Jayne Southwick Cool (b. 1947). My sight-reading and -singing tells me it's a lovely tune. It's a hymn around the topics of dementia, the physical infirmity that comes with aging, and the end of life. I'd say it was a blameless hymn, except the last half of stanza 3 leans so much into the good works of the people for whom we pray that, I feel, it loses its grip on the gifts that Christ brings to the aged and those who care for them. It's like a funeral sermon that's all eulogy and no gospel. And sadly, that sours it for me. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1082 is "O God, you search me,"</b> words and music by Bernadette Farrell (b. 1957). It's a paraphrase of Psalm 139. I think it has a pretty good thing going, particularly the line "With love everlasting you besiege me." Because the accompaniment is omitted, 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1083 is "Be still and know,"</b> a setting of Psalm 46:10 by John L. Bell (b. 1949), accompaniment omitted. It has score text and a footnote suggesting that it may be sung as a two-part round. It's a tiny little scrap of a thing that only stands a chance of occupying enough time to replace a hymn on the condition that the round be kept going untl no one can stand it any longer. It isn't, and I'll be blunt, well written. It isn't "just has to be in the pew hymnal" material. 3 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNVBFH0h-KyLZbqBMQcG1XdrL9rEPfHQNyHQhg8hYzC2RIiBOpwvlsjc5R3Ik88jlyrFUMvpk8p9Kf25hiVX4s6n6nEWBjn7l_OxygWSYyVoNyxK0bpsWVAxIi7lYnRbuhOeWv8oWODQfbRtF3Xm2eV4w6MynfVqXO0bi669Gj6XoyukETnqTACwFm-l3O/s267/colligan.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNVBFH0h-KyLZbqBMQcG1XdrL9rEPfHQNyHQhg8hYzC2RIiBOpwvlsjc5R3Ik88jlyrFUMvpk8p9Kf25hiVX4s6n6nEWBjn7l_OxygWSYyVoNyxK0bpsWVAxIi7lYnRbuhOeWv8oWODQfbRtF3Xm2eV4w6MynfVqXO0bi669Gj6XoyukETnqTACwFm-l3O/s200/colligan.jpg"/></a></div><b>1084 is "God, be the love to search and keep me,"</b> words and music by Richard Bruxwoort Colligan (b. 1967). With five stanzas and a refrain that twice says "O Christ, surround me," it seems to be a version of St. Patrick's Breastplate. It might be easier than singing the more complicated Breastplate version known to (some) users of LW, LBW, LSB and ELW. It even has a nice little Irish lilt to it. But I'm not sure that people who have gone to the trouble of learning that older setting will appreciate Colligan's effort to improve on it. And the accompaniment is omitted, so 1 tack.<br><br>
I'll bet I can get through the rest of the book next time. Till then, we're taking a break. We've added 28 tacks in these 12 hymns, making a running total of 381 tacks in 184 hymns. Faith and begorrah, that's a tackiness quotient of 207 percent! (Pardon me. A little Irishness caught on my sleeve from that last hymn.) RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-23176156912069211612024-02-19T14:25:00.000-06:002024-02-19T14:25:03.784-06:00Panda-monium<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Panda-monium-FunJungle-Stuart-Gibbs/dp/1481445685">Panda-monium</a></b><br>
by <a href="https://stuartgibbs.com/">Stuart Gibbs</a><br>
Recommended Ages: 12+<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNdxTEKAr6rPMDjqrpYi2mO8-xbe3d4avxZ7C9AozIfbqvAeEOd4S6euke9yImb8Rbolddr4J3GBNFLSfP5VAdvu-3N8aDWeHG5RFqDIHFjbZeaxhtGyhETHeli0oi7Mn6ODWKg3EDZOp7THnQdr74Rc7bP0ls4bhpJQg52Lych2o1SNWdXbQv581niY-H/s2084/pandamonium.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="2084" data-original-width="1400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNdxTEKAr6rPMDjqrpYi2mO8-xbe3d4avxZ7C9AozIfbqvAeEOd4S6euke9yImb8Rbolddr4J3GBNFLSfP5VAdvu-3N8aDWeHG5RFqDIHFjbZeaxhtGyhETHeli0oi7Mn6ODWKg3EDZOp7THnQdr74Rc7bP0ls4bhpJQg52Lych2o1SNWdXbQv581niY-H/s200/pandamonium.jpg"/></a></div>In book 4 of the FunJungle series, Teddy Fitzroy isn't supposed to poke his nose into the kidnapping, or rather panda-napping, of the zoo-theme park's newest acquisition. When a panda vanishes out of the back of a truck somewhere between Las Cruces, New Mexico and the west Texas hill country, an international incident breaks out that could ruin the park's founder, J.J. McCracken. But the FBI is on the case – particularly, a certain Agent Molly O'Malley, the sister of Teddy's nemesis, park security guard Marge O'Malley. And a resentful Marge has dirt on J.J.'s daughter Summer, who happens to be Teddy's girlfriend, that she won't hesitate to spill. A little blackmail does wonders to motivate a kid like Teddy, and so he applies his mystery-cracking skills to the panda case despite being warned off by the FBI.<br><br>
Meanwhile, there's also trouble in the dolphin display, where someone has apparently tampered with the playful creatures' training. Teddy himself becomes the first known example of this when a dolphin pantses him and throws him out of the pool, buck naked. In this case, his help solving the mystery is welcomed. But the two cases get tangled up when a bad guy wearing a panda costume threatens Teddy with a gun in the dolphin enclosure. Things get even more chilling when the same guy tosses Teddy to the polar bears, which is even scarier than having a tiger on the loose. But with incompetent Marge pressuring him from one side, and a brusque Molly ignoring his theories on the other, it will once again be up to Teddy to prove whodunit and restore the missing panda to where she belongs.<br><br>
Like the three installments before this, this is a middle school-friendly thriller with plenty of laughs, thrills, and the type of learning that goes down easily. Readers will pick up fascinating tidbits of panda knowledge, as well as a few insights about pandas, polar bears and other creatures, all amid the zany setting of a theme park and zoo where something outrageous seems ready to happen on no notice whatsoever. For instance, get a load of what happens when Marge is at the wheel of a golf cart in a high speed chase through landscaping features, vendor booths and an animal-themed parade.<br><br>
Further installments in this series are <i>Lion Down, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks, Bear Bottom</i> and <i>Whale Done.</i> Stuart Gibbs is also the author of the time-traveling Last Musketeer trilogy, 11 Spy School books, the Moon Base Alpha trilogy, four Charlie Thorne adventures, and four Once Upon a Tim books.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-51790446879198522462024-02-19T12:10:00.002-06:002024-02-19T12:11:35.316-06:00504. Temptation Hymn<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiWVup8dBwOxfP2k5_bPipbFy4_QsP_JIMRyYqaQ7zSIs9jRSta_gCzCe8WbtNfCnVRlOmBsTf4Pqx6kO8beWjcbYre2YOKl2xrYY63Ovt1UlWKjeTJQ1yiUIS9iuFMmu2JcyemlItcfcChhNOatL2ZjkJj8MFyBfk1KlqqNJAMAaEBxgixCuy8pPQBuGM/s640/willothewisp.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiWVup8dBwOxfP2k5_bPipbFy4_QsP_JIMRyYqaQ7zSIs9jRSta_gCzCe8WbtNfCnVRlOmBsTf4Pqx6kO8beWjcbYre2YOKl2xrYY63Ovt1UlWKjeTJQ1yiUIS9iuFMmu2JcyemlItcfcChhNOatL2ZjkJj8MFyBfk1KlqqNJAMAaEBxgixCuy8pPQBuGM/s200/willothewisp.jpg"/></a></div>Here's a hymn that grew in my mind after hearing yesterday's gospel lesson, including Mark's extremely compressed account of Jesus' temptation in Mark 1:13. I have no particular tune in mind. However, a couple tunes I've written in the past could work, including <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2019/01/two-more-sixths.html">IMMENSE IMMORTAL</a>, <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2019/02/267-acrostic-psalm-part-iv.html">MYSTERIOUS MIGHT</a> and <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2019/02/acrostic-psalm-parts-v-vi.html">SELAH</a>.<br><br>
Christ, who passed through a desert place,<br>
Behold what wastes Your children face!<br>
Wild beasts at every footstep snap;<br>
Each thorny scrub conceals a trap.<br>
By night the bog's deceiving lights,<br>
By day mirages fuddle sight.<br>
How could we find the narrow way,<br>
But that You seek the lambs who stray?<br><br>
Lo, You were tempted more than all;<br>
Prevailed, restoring Adam's fall.<br>
In Your blood-sweat and groans subsist<br>
All we who, tempted, still resist.<br>
Our lot thereby You once assumed;<br>
Therein a precious hope has bloomed<br>
That, having beaten Satan down,<br>
We, too, shall don a victor's crown.<br><br>
Give us, dear Christ, Your angel guard!<br>
Give us conviction that Your word<br>
Supplies all that we need to live;<br>
And when we falter, oh! Forgive!<br>
Our All in all, You would we praise,<br>
You only serve for all our days,<br>
Till all flesh bows with unseen hosts<br>
To Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-90440862204112131222024-02-18T16:17:00.017-06:002024-02-18T18:41:47.120-06:00Tacky Hymns 119The number above evokes the great psalm, but the post below continues our interminable review of the hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i>, rejoining with the "Creation, Stewardship" section.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic8qpZx2A-itqHpE41PzAsEE871EaMLXwBU2pMwvc1V2-vG5kroW2NlAm3kM7SDNMzlXYpKYqnTkRCcOXCmrgkXmpJd_aiyeLlkkptfg8Ibm6tPwX5pxBEnKZVWGjWZd6nBGO68MRjCQ7rPbA7zVvDoH4eDhi8CujSJyv5OpLwlqEfxLhtnXJ2dONLJkBC/s640/harkness.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="585" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic8qpZx2A-itqHpE41PzAsEE871EaMLXwBU2pMwvc1V2-vG5kroW2NlAm3kM7SDNMzlXYpKYqnTkRCcOXCmrgkXmpJd_aiyeLlkkptfg8Ibm6tPwX5pxBEnKZVWGjWZd6nBGO68MRjCQ7rPbA7zVvDoH4eDhi8CujSJyv5OpLwlqEfxLhtnXJ2dONLJkBC/s200/harkness.jpg"/></a></div><b>1063 is "God of the fertile fields"</b> by Georgia Harkness (†1974), "alt." and set to Felice de Giardini's (†1796) well-known hymn-tune ITALIAN HYMN (cf. "Come, Thou Almighty King," etc.) Stanza 1 is your common, or garden, acknowledgment of God's providing hand in all that we have and need. Stanza 2 asks that we be good stewards, using what He entrusts to us to share and care for people everywhere. Stanza 3 riffs on the parable of the hidden seed but somehow seems to apply it to another prayer for good stewardship, I guess because no mention of what God does/has done for us can be allowed to stand still for a moment without the conversation instantly turning toward what we must do. Finally, stanza 4 acknowledges "Christ who died to make us one," though it strangely seems to distinguish Him from God, before concluding with more pledges and prayers about "all we say and do" so that "Your will be done." I don't know that I can point to any specific problem with this hymn but – and maybe this is something to be expected in a stewardship hymn – its focus is definitely on our activity as stewards, for what it's worth. 1/2 tack.<br><br>
<b>1064 is "Earth is full of wit and wisdom"</b> by Adam M.L. Tice (b. 1979), set to the 1825 American tune HOLY MANNA (used three times in LSB, twice in ELW, all to different hymns by contemporary writers). It's apparently an Earth Day hymn, or something like, spending much of its three stanszas randomly listing different kinds of creatures, with humans (in st. 2) arbitrarily parked between spiders and redwoods. It somewhat has the ring of a children's play-song, making creation sound cute and cuddly, with penguins and platypuses in one line, monkeys and mice in another, microbes and whales in close juxtaposition, and only at the very end acknowledges one special thing about mankind: "With a breath God gives us birth," making us stewards, "called to serve the earth." And full stop. Not even a prayer or anything after that. Just, you're on notice, people: you're meant to serve the earth. (Would someone please check what Scripture says about this? I'll wait.) 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1065 is "Can you feel the seasons turning"</b> by Mary Louise Bringle (b. 1953), set to the Welsh tune LLANSANNAN, with which I'm not familiar. This hymn is very concerned about climate change, melding Biblical language like "creation groaning" with ripped-from the headlines imagery of "icecaps melting, oceans rising" and, concluding stanza 1, a challenge to "count the bitter cost." Stanza 2 bids us hear the creatures crying, "the Spirit sighing as her children grieve and fail," as "nature's poor ... pay the price of human greed." This stanza's concluding challenge is to "stop and heed" – which, in practical terms, means we should do what, exactly? Stanza 3 takes the evidence of climate change and casts it as biblical "signs of warning" that "bid us open frightened eyes," urging on us God's call "to serve as stewards" and challenging us, in the final line, to "turn and change our lives." Sort of like a call to repentance, but intead of being directed against a specific sin that Scripture rebukes, it vaguely rebukes human greed as though that explains what we're supposed to do. What it seems to suggest about world politics and economics leaves a lot open for debate, which I have no intention to get into – and nowhere does any of it have anything whatsoever to do with Christ. Frightened eyes, indeed! Taking into account the omitted accompaniment, as well as the impression that this is a hymn more of the religion of environmental justice-cum-communist apocalyptic, 5 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1066 is "When at last the rain falls,"</b> two stazas and a refrain in the original Spanish and with the original music by Pablo Fernández Badillo (†2006) as well as the English translation by Madeleine Forell Marshall (b. 1946). The "I" in this hymn joins in the pretty flowers' and singing birds' (and tree frogs') praises of the Creator. I find no harm in it except the fact that, again, it's a novel tune for which ACS reserves the accompaniment for the extra-expensive, accompaniment edition; and, once again, the book acts like it's a Spanish-language hymnal when it quite clearly is not. I'm not saying that omitting the unnecessary Spanish lyrics would have saved enough page space to make room for the harmony, but I'm not sure it wouldn't have, either. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1067 is "For the wholeness of the earth"</b> by Bret Hesla (b. 157), set to his own tune. The first of its three stanzas begins "We lift this prayer" followed by the words of the title, all repeated three times and concluding, "Can you feel it rising in you?" Stanza 2 runs a similar game starting with "We turn our lives to..." and ending with "Can you feel it spinning in you?" Stanza 3 goes, "Give thanks to God for (etc.)," times three, ending with "Can you feel it rising in you?" In the context (i.e. section of the book) the feeling it seems to be probing for has to do with environmental justice, though pushed back a section to "Justice, Peace" it might have come across as a mantra for world peace. In and of itself, its message isn't very clear, except that Christ isn't in it and doesn't seem to have anything to do with it, and it might not be Christian at all, and the impression I've picked up that the makers of this book wouldn't care if it wasn't might be uncharitable on my part, but at this point I rather think the impression said makers have allowed to take root is on them. Also, the accompaniment is omitted. 5 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1068 is "The earth adorned in verdant robe"</b>, from the Swedish by Carl David af Wirsén (†1912), to the Swedish tune SOMMARPSALM by Waldemar Åhlén, and I'm tempted to award a tack just because of how hard it was for me to find the html code for that funny letter. The editors wisely omitted the original Swedish, even though it's the ethnic mother-tongue of many historical members of what is now the ELCA, because they noticed (dig, dig) that this isn't a Swedish-language hymnbook. Instead, they used the translation credited to Carolyn (b. 1936) and Kenneth (†2015) Jennings. Again, it's a hymn that joins in the flowers, birds, trees, etc. in their praise of the Creator. In its third stanza, it adds a prayer that God would "grant us grace to keep (His) word and live in love redeeming," recognizing that all life is transitory while God's word remains forever. For being the first thing that smacks of Lutheranism I've seen so far in this section, 0 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1069 is "God bestows on every sense"</b> by Tice, set to Anthony Giamanco's (b. 1958) tune ALL CREATION NEW. It acknowledges the beauty that our senses collect as signs of "what the earth will be just beyond what we can see": in taste, a "crumb of the banquet yet to come" (st. 2); the vanishing imagery of dreams (st. 3); tiny plants sprouting on fire-scorched ground hinting of "forests yet unseen" (st. 4); and all concluding that "God makes all creation new," with emphasis on reversing the damage that humans do. I guess that's a more positive and, frankly, more believing viewpoint on 1065's vision of "frightened eyes," though it joins that hymn in its a priori tenet that all destruction and decay in the world is due to mankind. Which, in a way, it is; but let's not bring Genesis 3 into this. 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSWixetjQ-4P_gL2G7WPW3o8dW7-tbbMzH24Rhep8ZvS9tbb3kvTQFw3ilKVFBYPiAp_2IlvBo6zcLio2S5jN6gKaCBtuXMLsGeSrU8rCQUwgCcwjOz7Y8zsVkfr44eXzhvnbWjaqGdjwDqdEfGDiilai9yGygm2SH6UE6eBGDY7-Wk-HLobXyi3yaEtvv/s979/vivares.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="978" data-original-width="979" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSWixetjQ-4P_gL2G7WPW3o8dW7-tbbMzH24Rhep8ZvS9tbb3kvTQFw3ilKVFBYPiAp_2IlvBo6zcLio2S5jN6gKaCBtuXMLsGeSrU8rCQUwgCcwjOz7Y8zsVkfr44eXzhvnbWjaqGdjwDqdEfGDiilai9yGygm2SH6UE6eBGDY7-Wk-HLobXyi3yaEtvv/s200/vivares.jpeg"/></a></div><b>1070 is "The heavens tell of your creative glory,"</b> a two-page spread of Spanish lyrics and melody, all in one stanza, by Horacio Vivares (b. 1965) with English lyrics by David Bjorlin (b. 1984). The omission of the accompaniment is problematic because the long-held notes at the end of the phrases create a need for some kind of instrumental filler. The lyrics start out as a paraphrase of Psalm 19 ("The heavens declare the glory of God"), but then, predictably for this particular group of hymns, they end with a prayer that God would "help us ... in sustaining the world (He) made, and in nurturing nature," etc. Even if we accept that mankind's environmental villainy is the main, imminent threat to all life on earth, I would think it would be evident by now that saving the world is beyond our ability. If we actually believe in God, our prayer to him should probably cut the "help us" out of it and just call on Him to save us, if He will. But it was evidently not His will to save this hymn from being printed with no accompaniment, and in an un-called-for bilingual layout (for a hymnal that really isn't for the Spanish-speaking church, in case I must mention it again): and so, 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1071 is "In sacred manner"</b> (may we walk) by Susan Palo Cherwien (b. 1953), set to Robert Buckley Farlee's (b. 1950) tune SEATTLE, accompaniment omitted. In this hymn, the phrases "sacred manner" and "holy ground" turn the theme of environmental responsibility into a sort of sacrament, although God is barely mentioned (st. 2: "The heavens show us God"). Despite this single mention, the way Cherwien puts her thoughts together suggests that He may not be the deity these lines address. For example, in stanza 1, she calls on us to "love the living round that brought us birth," i.e. the "loving earth." The word "loving" is also attributed to the stars and the "suspirant ... green" (that word may be new to most people who sing this hymn); prompting the question, are these (the earth, the stars, the green) those to whom stanza 3 bids us "give honor and give gratitude"? The hymn isn't over yet. There's stuff about the noisy things of nature in st. 4 (waves, fire, wind, etc.). St. 5 bids us sit, "as at sages' feet," before the wise and loving ones: for "the animals will teach." Stanza 6 repeats stanza 1, putting more emphasis on Mother Earth. If stanza 2 hadn't given fleeting lip-service to God, one might take away the strong impression that this is a hymn of a pagan, animistic religion rather than of our God and Christ. It's such a close run thing that I'm giving it all 5 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1072 is "Abba, Abba, hear us"</b> by Andrew Donaldson (b. 1951), set to the Korean traditional tune ARIRANG, which I believe I once sang, with its original Korean lyrics, in a college choir. Packing all these English lyrics into it makes it sound too busy, as it were overloaded, I think. The lyrics seem to be a paraphrase of Romans 8:19 ff., depicting the groaning of creation, as if in labor pains, awaiting the revealing of the sons of God. I think it's a nice little piece, but I don't think it suits its tune; and also, the accompaniment is omitted. So, 1-1/2 tacks.<br><br>
It has become a theme of sorts, as I go through this book section by section: I start out thinking, "I might make it to the end of the book this time," only to reach a point well before the end of the section where my spirit begins to cry within me, "O Lord, how long?" So, there were a couple decent hymns in this section, and a few on which, if I had a sheaf of anathemas, I would put some down. Fortunately, such is not my office. I can only report my impressions, and my impression from this group of hymns has the phrase "hoo, boy" in it. I have, however, dealt several tacks: 26 of them in 10 hymns, bringing our running total to 353 tacks in 172 hymns. That's a tackiness ratio of 205 percent. Let that sink in, till next time.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-21539651779713818842024-02-12T21:44:00.002-06:002024-02-12T21:51:38.049-06:00Tacky Hymns 118We resume with the "Justice, Peace" section of the hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i> ... <br><br>
<b>1056 is "Bless to us our bread"</b>, in the original Spanish collected from Argentine tradition by Frederico Pagura (†2016) and John L. Bell's (b. 1949) English translation, set to Bell's arrangment of the Argentine traditional tune also collected by Pagura. Besides a concluding repetition of the first line, the remaining lines of the text (in English) call on God to "give bread to all those who are hungry, and hunger for justice to those who are fed." The score doesn't come right out and say it, but it seems (from the belated entry of the accompaniment) that the first line is meant to be sung by a leader and the rest by everyone. For once again forgetting that this is not a Spanish-language hymnal, and for being a little speck of a thing that isn't worth filling a hymn slot in the service, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1057 is "What does the Lord require of you?"</b> – words and music by Jim Strathlee (b. 1941), apparently excerpted from Micah 6:8. It's a three-part round, with the first part of the Bible verse repeated twice in Part I, the second part stretched throughout Part III, and a Part II that lingers over keywords of Part III. The suggestion of singing it as a round is mentioned in a footnote with the auxiliary verb "can," as if singing the three parts in sequence is actually an option, though the parts are scored as parts and not as consecutive stanzas. Also, there's no accompaniment, suggesting an intention that the piece be sung a capella, but also creating the issue that Grandma Schmeckpepper (the church choir's rehearsal pianist) has to read three staves at one time, and not with the advantage of the third stave being a pedal part. For really being a choir piece, for omitting any notion of accompaniment (even for rehearsal purposes) and for being a little speck, etc., etc., 3 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCjh7p_APrZ2iGT1RKauEkyFlhnXdjWgBcEdqsC6VQlutTIrD2lkzxKF6HAGeY0CXuJyCard_uR_z6w-hyapeZI_fC7kEQuM5EM0qn8n_914I6I7ih814o5Cu5wvlousT1cXMgPNk77vqq-p8JwM9qUuG6Exynd00dBRXhSzcI9F4w8LYbDCgfqowqRo1k/s200/hesla.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCjh7p_APrZ2iGT1RKauEkyFlhnXdjWgBcEdqsC6VQlutTIrD2lkzxKF6HAGeY0CXuJyCard_uR_z6w-hyapeZI_fC7kEQuM5EM0qn8n_914I6I7ih814o5Cu5wvlousT1cXMgPNk77vqq-p8JwM9qUuG6Exynd00dBRXhSzcI9F4w8LYbDCgfqowqRo1k/s200/hesla.jpg"/></a></div><b>1058 is "Let not the needy be forgotten"</b>, words and music by Bret Hesla (b. 1957), in an arrangement by Tom Witt (b. 1957). It's literally two lines of text set to two phrases of music, whose tiny duration is only extended by a melisma at the end (i.e., a series of notes sung over one syllable). And it ends on a dominant chord, which is to say, it sounds inconclusive. I'll bite my tongue sooner than kvetch about the parallel perfect fifths in the final cadence, since I've caught myself publishing PP5s often enough that I haven't a leg to stand on. But again it's a tiny speck of a thing; it's not unreasonable to expect more out of a hymn (and I won't be gaslighted again, no matter how often this book attempts it). 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1059 is "Come now, you blessed"</b> by Ruth Duck, whom we know, set to the tune MATTHEW 25 by Emily R. Brink (b. 1940). It's an appropriate tune name for a hymn built on the Matthew 25 parable of the sheep and goats ("When I was hungry, thirsty, and homeless, sick and in prison, you showed me love," etc.). When it comes around to Jesus explaining when we did these things to him, stanza 3 puts details into Jesus' mouth that Matthew 25 doesn't find there, such as talk of war refugees. Stanza 4 concludes the hymn with a sort of prayer that's really an out-of-the-side-of-our-mouths exhortation to ourselves and each other, to see Christ in the faces of the needy and show them love; which is all very well, as far as "third use of the law" application goes, but it also omits the parallel condemnation of those who thought they did all these things but whom Christ judges thus: "I never knew you." Which suggests that there might be more to this parable than exhortation to do thus and so. Like, maybe, the application of an alien righteousness (from Jesus) that is appropriated by faith alone. Some might call that a far-out interpretation, but it definitely has a ring of Lutheranism to it. For being an incomplete account of its subject matter, and for omitting the accompaniment to this novel tune, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1060 is "Gentle Joseph heard a warning"</b> by Carl P. Daw Jr. (b. 1944), set to PLEADING SAVIOR from Joshua Leavitt's 1830 <i>Christian Lyre</i> – in other words, an early American traditional tune. It omits the accompaniment (the better to fit three hymns onto a two-page spread) but includes a footnote suggesting that it could also be used around Christmas. It dramatizes the Holy Family's flight into Egypt as "targets of a tyrant's army, seeking safety, fleeing strife," etc. Other than a hint (st. 2) that God was with them, and their sense of His presence helped them, the main application (st. 3) seems to be to ask God for courage as we move from place to place, and to be "channels of [His] grace" toward "every stranger," both to welcome them as "refugees from Bethlehem" and to "receive the Christ in them." Might that "every stranger" rubric be perhaps a little over the top? Could we be looking for Christ in people who do not have Him in them? Might this application of Christ's flight into Egypt be a swerve into the moralistic ditch when a pure gospel application is literally right there – with Jesus closing the circle of His ancient people's exodus out of tyranny in Egypt, assuming and thus redeeming even the plight of the most helpless, harassed and oppressed? 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1061 is "Caminemos con Jesús,"</b> a bilingual Spanish-English litany for which the leader's notes and the accompaniment have been reserved for the accompaniment edition (coughCHEAPcough). I mean, there aren't even musical cues for the congregation (all/todos) to pick up on. Just notes for a response and a refrain, and then a full page of lyrics printed as a block of text with the leader's part in regular type, the "todos" part in bold and an interlinear translation in italics, which isn't confusing <i>at all</i>. And still this book hasn't shaken off the impression that it's a Spanish-language hymnal, though it clearly isn't. For being a train wreck waiting to happen on so many levels (don't get me started about the footnote's squint-worthy pronunciation guide!), the full 5 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinNac43MmUFgBzNW32hyphenhyphenGzzNuI0FSpmiA1sMmBo10e_45FNuU8k8_LJuKqK9JsO61yqnJe6zvUMgH0Op8waOGJB8jf3yZhkTpKXUSuZqyWpamLWYm8nZ1abBrnpl6hMb768GhjaEN5xMhceJZRR2bi1dHBp4WDnS9hhu9bf-M1BPJ_SBhxPJagc7XxGM-p/s1280/auron.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinNac43MmUFgBzNW32hyphenhyphenGzzNuI0FSpmiA1sMmBo10e_45FNuU8k8_LJuKqK9JsO61yqnJe6zvUMgH0Op8waOGJB8jf3yZhkTpKXUSuZqyWpamLWYm8nZ1abBrnpl6hMb768GhjaEN5xMhceJZRR2bi1dHBp4WDnS9hhu9bf-M1BPJ_SBhxPJagc7XxGM-p/s200/auron.png"/></a></div><b>1062 is "Build a longer table"</b> (not a higher wall) by David Bjorlin (b. 1984), set to the French carol NOËL NOUVELET. Accompaniment omitted, wouldn't you know. You can probably tell where stanza 1 is heading from just the lyrics I've spelled out so far. It concludes, "Christ breaks walls to pieces; false divisions end." I'm torn between interpreting this as a polemic against national border controls or, taking a cue from the line "feasting together," against closed communion. If it's the latter, I think the burden of proof rests with whoever is accusing necssary distinctions of being "false divisions." Stanza 2 branches out into another social issue: "Build a safer refuge, not a larger jail." Stanza 3, "a broader doorway, not a longer fence." Stanza 4 puts the icing on the cake with the argument that we lived as exiles until "Christ became our doorway to the reign of God," so our tables must welcome all; "none can be excluded." Yeah, it's an anthem to open communion, where (as the argument goes, when extended beyond this hymn's tightly crafted phrases) the church can no longer draw a line in the sand, or any type of dirt whatsoever, be it moral, doctrinal or even distinctively Christian. All of which reminds me of the tweet shown here. 5 tacks.<br><br>
I really was thinking of taking this post further, maybe to the end of ACS. But this was a challenging little bunch of songs, so I'm going to give it a rest at this point. We've added another 23 tacks in just 7 hymns, bringing the running total to 327 tacks in 162 hymns. And that, beloved, comes to about 202 percent. Yes, we've broached the 200 mark. Lord, have mercy.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-62381326294548513222024-02-08T04:08:00.000-06:002024-02-08T04:08:00.561-06:00Night School<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Night-School-Jack-Reacher-Novel/dp/0804178828">Night School</a></b><br>
by <a href="https://www.jackreacher.com/us/">Lee Child</a><br>
Recommended Ages: 15+<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirHia64gdjFCKf9GUm_Q6Y-tCBKKRqg3zUXNW0_9OwJhEThEQuRCfQyiaRav1Jby0D15H8SiLoVw1ETBI-GB30WN9pZ1SHAMVXD0ENeb2mG051B50PmIo8tgNcEe7WDBwoAsknq6p-LYnduZBxomtTucH6ihqE0oRit0gwVlpkVbSLVYhMTSIKIXVlj-pU/s2145/nightschool.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="2145" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirHia64gdjFCKf9GUm_Q6Y-tCBKKRqg3zUXNW0_9OwJhEThEQuRCfQyiaRav1Jby0D15H8SiLoVw1ETBI-GB30WN9pZ1SHAMVXD0ENeb2mG051B50PmIo8tgNcEe7WDBwoAsknq6p-LYnduZBxomtTucH6ihqE0oRit0gwVlpkVbSLVYhMTSIKIXVlj-pU/s200/nightschool.jpg"/></a></div>This book takes us back to the mid-1990s, when Jack Reacher was still in the Army, before he became the wandering loner and brute-force fixer celebrated since 1997's <i>Killing Floor</i>. We find him still a Major in the Military Police, fresh off a top-secret mission for which he received a shiny medal, when he suddenly receives orders that at face value seem more like punishment than reward. He gets sent back to school.<br><br>
The ruse that it's a school doesn't last long, however. Actually he and his fellow students – agents from the FBI and CIA who, likewise, just returned from a successful assignment – have been tasked with finding out who a double agent embedded in a terrorist sleeper cell was talking about when he said, "The American wants $100 million." No, the double agent doesn't know. But somewhere in Hamburg, Germany, somebody is fixing to sell something worth the purchase price of, say, a ranch in Argentina big enough to see from outer space. It's now a top national security priority to find out who that is and what he's selling, before a certain organization based in Yemen and/or Afghanistan gets hold of it.<br><br>
The action moves from the Washington, D.C. area to Hamburg, where Reacher and Co.'s search for the American and whatever he's selling leads them across the German police's trail of a man who killed a high-priced prostitute. Now securing the cooperation of local law enforcement becomes a delicate dance across a landscape mined with such explosive issues as an American citizen's Sixth Amendment rights, the priority of catching a traitor who is potentially supplying terrorists with a weapon of mass destruction, and the U.S. government's desire to keep the presence of said WMD secret even while nobody knows exactly what it is.<br><br>
Also crossing Reacher's path are just enough street toughs and neo-Fascist heavies to ensure he gets in a little bare-knuckled fighting and gun action. However, compared to other Reacher novels, this one leans more heavily into puzzle-solving and international intrigue, with a lot of suspense building up around how close the bad guys get to getting away with, um, what they're trying to get away with. The graphic violence you may have come to expect happens mostly out of the frame, while the threat to world security is what keeps the tension humming. That, and the many times the narrator omnisciently reminds us how close, at times, the good guys and the bad guys get to each other before they finally meet face to face. It's a cleverly constructed, intelligent, sexy and (still) quite violent mystery, starring a cool customer who takes big gambles and, thanks to his keen insights, frequently wins.<br><br>
Lee Child is the author, or at least co-author, of now 29 "Jack Reacher" novels, of which this book is the 21st novel. The five latest installments have been credited to him "with Andrew Child," which is another name for his brother, spy thriller author Andrew Grant (not to be confused with the New Zealander author by the same name, also known as Grant Shanks). For the record, I haven't seen any of the Jack Reacher movies or TV episodes, starring either Tom Cruise or Alan Ritchson; though in my opinion, Ritchson looks more like the character I see in my head when I read these books. RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-86182344973457896072024-02-05T15:35:00.008-06:002024-02-06T15:52:56.831-06:00The Investigator<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Investigator-Letty-Davenport-Novel/dp/0593328701">The Investigator</a></b><br>
by <a href="https://www.johnsandford.org/">John Sandford</a><br>
Recommended Ages: 14+ <br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivykVJoYP5XgBazJLgxnTDI9o74pGMULmhUilzeR_HF8gGgnqXsYMKboeWqSLEp7vJBkneua1zjeRieXsXcjV-oCu72rcxgPoT9azipjlrof0g3FkLNahvgHrPiFXywi1LoEckg9orxP_VFG8xAkmGdgf7OC-q3FQun12qF321xXpu_HJXioQNgyma5EzZ/s2560/investigator.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1696" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivykVJoYP5XgBazJLgxnTDI9o74pGMULmhUilzeR_HF8gGgnqXsYMKboeWqSLEp7vJBkneua1zjeRieXsXcjV-oCu72rcxgPoT9azipjlrof0g3FkLNahvgHrPiFXywi1LoEckg9orxP_VFG8xAkmGdgf7OC-q3FQun12qF321xXpu_HJXioQNgyma5EzZ/s200/investigator.jpg"/></a></div>Letty Davenport, for those of us who are doing a middling job of following John Sandford's "Prey" series, is the adopted daughter of a sometime Minneapolis cop, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension detective and U.S. Marshal, who encouraged her enthusiasm for guns, and with good reasons. One reason is that, before she joined his family, she hunted for survival and winged the guy who killed her birth mother. Another reason is that she also killed two killers who came after Lucas's family. Now she's out of college with a master's degree in economics from a major left-coast university, and she's working for a senator in Washington, D.C. Her idea of a fun assignment is breaking into her boss's campaign headquarters to dig up evidence on the staffers who are stealing from him. She's ready to quit and move on to something more exciting when the senator offers her a different job: working alongside a Department of Homeland Security investigator named John Kaiser to figure out why oil is disappearing in Texas.<br><br>
Yes, obviously, somebody is stealing it. But why? Who are they selling it to, and what do they want the money for? The crime is so nearly undetectable that Letty wonders why anyone cares. But clearly, it's more important than it seems at first look, since at least two people, and counting, have died over it. First it's an oil company employee and his wife, ruthlessly slain in their own home. Then this crime somehow seems connected with the disapearance of an ex-con who testified against his former cellmate. Said cellmate is a right-wing kook who, along with a woman mysteriously code-named Jael, is assembling a mob of anti-immigration yahoos at the Tex-Mex border, and the closer Letty and Kaiser get to understanding what they plan to do, the more the timetable accelerates toward a brutal endgame.<br><br>
This book's release is recent enough that it acknowledges a certain kinship between what Letty and Kaiser are up against and what the U.S. Capitol Police dealt with on Jan. 6, 2021. I don't want to get into an ideological hairball about that, so I'll just point out that if you have a problem understanding why 1-6-21 was a matter of serious concern, this book's fictitious scenario may set you straight. Or you could just experience the thrill of seeing Letty move around behind the lines held by a group of insurrectionists who have cold murder on their C.V. and more death and mayhem on their to-do list. It's that exquisite cocktail of being afraid for her, being afraid of her, dreading what the bad guys may do and gleefully anticipating what will happen to them. And it leaves a door open for even more hair-raising adventures to come.<br><br>
This is the first of, as of this writing, two Letty Davenport novels by John Sandford, a pseudonym of sometime journalist John Camp. He is also the author (or at least co-author) of now 34 "Prey" novels, featuring Letty's adoptive father, Lucas Davenport; 12 books in the spinoff "Virgil Flowers" series, four "Kidd" novels (from early in his career); and multiple other titles, branching out into young adult fiction and sci fi. RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-89612796788401291212024-01-29T10:53:00.003-06:002024-01-29T11:00:09.342-06:00Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Klawde-Evil-Alien-Warlord-Cat/dp/0593225236">Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat</a></b><br>
by <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/emily-chenoweth/">Emily Chenoweth</a> and <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/johnny-marciano/">Johnny Marciano</a><br>
Recommended Ages: 10+<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVaL7jFhRu5TIRcgd_98ZZAonCPGR4PZRF_ZQ60mf0fTOY-qwGUG1wFFW4-kjwSEto5whGD9zX7JbAGJBju3yh4jFIMZtNSp4F81I7tcNci4U0mmWq6xqptUfGGQJLd0TShmO6LpJAJcs9Fx6yAyT1RF_YH-EaewAa6uVVK22KDLMxPDvlIOfr54O2vNN/s1000/klawde.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="728" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVaL7jFhRu5TIRcgd_98ZZAonCPGR4PZRF_ZQ60mf0fTOY-qwGUG1wFFW4-kjwSEto5whGD9zX7JbAGJBju3yh4jFIMZtNSp4F81I7tcNci4U0mmWq6xqptUfGGQJLd0TShmO6LpJAJcs9Fx6yAyT1RF_YH-EaewAa6uVVK22KDLMxPDvlIOfr54O2vNN/s200/klawde.jpg"/></a></div>Raj has just moved with his parents from New York City to a tiny town in Oregon, and life has lost all its zest for him. But then comes a green flash of light, and a cat appears on his doorstep, and things start to turn around for Raj. Klawde, as his father names him, is actually no ordinary cat. He's really an evil alien warlord from a distant galaxy, beamed into exile on earth, where the desendants of long-ago banished cats have lost their wits and become mere animals. I mean, who else but Raj has a cat that speaks English, uses a toilet and reads the <i>Wall Street Journal</i>?<br><br>
Both Raj and Klawde have tough times ahead of them, however. Raj has to go to a wilderness survival camp by day, run by a crazy mountain man who feels his mission is to prepare campers for a coming apocalypse. Meanwhile, Klawde is struggling to build a teleportation device to return to his planet and begin his reconquest, despite Earth being technologically backward and his paws not having opposable thumbs. And though, as an evil alien warlord cat, he understands the concept of "love" only as some type of mental illness, Klawde also discovers that when his human calls for help, he is compelled to respond.<br><br>
Goofiness is the rule of the day in this semi-graphic novel/chapter book. And it might not be quite honest to say that Klawde grows as a, erm, person. But Raj comes out of his shell a bit, makes some friends, scores a victory in a challenge that seemed hopeless for him from the beginning, and shows some grit when it really matters. Though most earth cats' vocabular doesn't extend far beyond "Mrow," the highly articulate Klawde is evil in a way that might pluck a familiar, and perhaps even fond, string in the hearts of cat lovers. After all, that crazy mountain guy isn't all wrong when he says house cats are the most environmentally destructive force outside the human race. So one may feel a low-key horror, combined with a certain perverse glee, to think of what Raj and Klawde might get up to next.<br><br>
This is the first book of at least six in a series by the same name, written and illustrated to appeal to middle-grade kids. Subsequent titles include <i>Enemies, The Spacedog Cometh, Target: Earth, Emperor of the Universe</i> and <i>Revenge of the Kitten Queen</i>. Chenoweth is also the author of the novel <i>Hello Goodbye</i> and, as <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/emily-raymond/">Emily Raymond</a>, has co-authored several books with James Patterson. Marciano is also the author-illustrator of <i>The 66th Rebirth of Frankie Caridi</i> and, as <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/john-bemelmans-marciano/">John Bemelmans Marciano</a>, a biographer of his grandfather, "Madeline" creator Ludwig Bemelmans; author or co-author with Ludwig of several Madeline stories; and the author of six "Witches of Benevento" books, the novel <i>The No-Good Nine</i>, the novellas <i>Harold's Tail</i> and <i>The Nine Lives of Alexander Baddenfield</i>, a couple children's picture books and the nonfiction book <i>Whatever Happened to the Metric System?</i>.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-59384855336720166642024-01-29T10:14:00.004-06:002024-01-29T15:58:25.411-06:00Josh Baxter Levels Up<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Josh-Baxter-Levels-Gavin-Brown/dp/0545873274">Josh Baxter Levels Up</a></b><br>
by <a href="http://gavinbrown.com/">Gavin Brown</a><br>
Recommended Ages: 10+<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibopnEonGhzW5RLnYJFshWhfd9G2u1UpRn_thLoItcNwuVIZwe2VxwTRGjzb68bAZR2bGFowLK8fstFMrn-5madA8u0f9MXZRYPkkKRrTWJ_N7e2YVqt6wVuEyP9Qxwr1fnUBqCaj2z1IdOFkWL5m_Xm9SA6LP8eJA4_yqafijtDNdSVLCs94LlA85Rta/s1000/joshbaxter.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibopnEonGhzW5RLnYJFshWhfd9G2u1UpRn_thLoItcNwuVIZwe2VxwTRGjzb68bAZR2bGFowLK8fstFMrn-5madA8u0f9MXZRYPkkKRrTWJ_N7e2YVqt6wVuEyP9Qxwr1fnUBqCaj2z1IdOFkWL5m_Xm9SA6LP8eJA4_yqafijtDNdSVLCs94LlA85Rta/s200/joshbaxter.jpg"/></a></div>Josh is a middle school kid who takes video gaming <i>beaucoup</i> seriously. But now he's struggling in a new school. Slow to make friends but quick to make an enemy in the boss jock, Henry Schmittendorf (a.k.a. Mittens), he's also close to failing math and English – close enough for his widowed mom to take away his game consoles. This leaves Josh with pretty much nothing else to do but apply gaming strategies to winning at life.<br><br>
Josh's thought processes are heartwarming and hilarious to witness. He models his behavior on superheroes and game characters, such as Mario and Luigi, Link, Solid Snake, and Steve from Minecraft. At the end of each chapter, he takes stock of his remaining health points and skills unlocked, all couched in fantasy role-play jargon. He gives the people around him in-game nicknames, like the Rogue, the Princess, the Warrior, the Whirlwind, the Enchantress (his English teacher), the Dragon (his gym teacher) and the Gym Leader (ironically, his math teacher). We're talking Pokémon gyms, here. And he processes his successes and setbacks as levels in a game, no doubt with a boss battle at the end. And as strange as it may seem, he makes it work – all the way to uniting a group of bickering classmates into a fighting unit in their school's video game decathlon, in which (naturally) he'll have to face his own Cobra Kai nemesis – you guessed it, the Mitten Monster.<br><br>
There isn't a lot of reputable information online about middle-grades author and game producer Gavin Brown. As of this writing, he isn't listed on Fantastic Fiction. His website, linked above, is mostly a list of broken links, though it does mention this book and another novel, <i>Monster Club: Hunters for Hire</i>. His Facebook page mentions still another, yet-unreleased book, <i>The Dark Sorcerer's Intern</i>, allegedly part of a three-book deal. Based on the charm of this book, I'd say those titles would probably be worth looking into. It's loopy, funny, sometimes touching, with a main character who really grows (but doesn't, at heart, change) and a dramatic build-up as he triumphs in task after task. I'd recommend it, especially for kids who are into games, but also anybody who enjoys a light, fast-paced romp in the world of a young teen's imagination.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-70231315244629052852024-01-20T14:34:00.004-06:002024-02-08T04:27:26.359-06:00Tacky Hymns 117Picking up at the "Witness" section of hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i> ...<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjso6o_MRU0qIDrt8eijcz6nwJfNcRrE5xMHmCucK3GljtBp6oTZU2wPdM8nPc2qSPdZ-9WQoDJtEXV22oPEVvoM8uq7bZtp36YRE2mm3ArM5_iaogJJq0QJWzTf9B2KE7QHJ7uLP0cGhTVOg8wmWnnghGEXhyphenhyphene3JuHK4yuvL4BMw4Lr2RYsNNuKj3Hkbw9/s2816/hobby.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="2112" data-original-width="2816" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjso6o_MRU0qIDrt8eijcz6nwJfNcRrE5xMHmCucK3GljtBp6oTZU2wPdM8nPc2qSPdZ-9WQoDJtEXV22oPEVvoM8uq7bZtp36YRE2mm3ArM5_iaogJJq0QJWzTf9B2KE7QHJ7uLP0cGhTVOg8wmWnnghGEXhyphenhyphene3JuHK4yuvL4BMw4Lr2RYsNNuKj3Hkbw9/s200/hobby.jpg"/></a></div><b>1045 is "Come, share the Spirit"</b> by Gracia Grindal (b. 1943, alt.) to the tune ST. PAUL'S, ARDMORE by Robert A. Hobby (b. 1962). I rather like it. Grindal nails the power of Christ's word and mixes it with baptism and the Lord's Supper. Lightly sketched though her portrayal of the sacraments may be, she does speak of "drowning sins" and connects baptism to Christ's Easter rising, and actually comes right out and calls "his body, bread, his blood, the wine" – strides ahead of where the general pack of sacrament hymns in this book and ELW are running. 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<b>1046 is "As rivers flow from a distant spring"</b> by David Bjorlin (b. 1984), set to HÖKELUND by William Beckstrand (b. 1962). The lyrics are a series of analogies from nature (rivers, trees, woods) to the relationship between our lives and God. It seems to conclude with thanksgiving for the Creator's "worlds that witness to your care," proclaiming his glory, etc. 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<b>1047 is "What is the world like"</b> (when God's will is done?) – apparently a paraphrase of Jesus' words "To what shall I compare the kindgom of God" – by Adam M. L. Tice (b. 1979), to the tune NEW WORLD by Sally Ann Morris (b. 1952). The hymn's five stanzas are, accordingly, a paraphrase of several of Jesus' kingdom-of-God parables. In some cases the language is, um, I don't want to say "dumbed down" but let's say creatively reinvented to the point that you have to think hard to recognize what parable is being paraphrased. I'm still at sea regarding stanza 3. The unforgiving servant maybe? If so, it's an incredibly abstract depiction of that parable. The conclusion that "this is a new world where God's will is done" suggests, to me (and could it be just me?) that Tice's thinking about all these parables – the mustard seed, the prodigal son, the wise and foolish virgins, etc. – are intended to instruct us about how to behave rather than proclaiming what God does for us. For that vaguely discomfiting impression and the lack of accompaniment, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1048 is "Founded on faith"</b>, words and music by Paul D. Weber (b. 1949), a hymn in that stanza structure that has three 10-syllable lines followed by an Alleluia. It squeezes many merits into a compact structure, acknowledging in st. 1 that proclaiming the gopspel is the mission of the church (not, as some hymns suggest, each individual Christian's God-given vocation) and powered by the word of God; rooting it in the cross, baptism and the Lord's Supper in st. 2. It perhaps takes back a little of the merit of st. 1 by acknowledging, in st. 3, the place of each Christian's particular gifts and seemingly reverting to that "everyone is called to do mission work" stuff. Then it veers into social justice warrior territory in st. 4 (the vaguely postmillennialistic suggestion that the "world restored" that we yearn for is on this side of the end times). My quibbles may be paranoid vapors but, nevertheless, I'm giving it 2 tacks, one of them due to the missing accompaniment.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nhffpTYZqLnAhbVcykk0RKyUy24jI2O8v11f5YMK6VlVCfpVSQt-LmmJ98byxcGMH_lF8RkY4V9nksLylxQ5s-J0QbvB-LxljWLWYYhQwgpPQ-g9c7uWP6ZOo_vN6vTzglWK3Zv25ZTzfUOBJQMc-RJVfutgjaH52h_sOsdEYjC5SOcKvemYsvzYJmLR/s800/lindholm.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nhffpTYZqLnAhbVcykk0RKyUy24jI2O8v11f5YMK6VlVCfpVSQt-LmmJ98byxcGMH_lF8RkY4V9nksLylxQ5s-J0QbvB-LxljWLWYYhQwgpPQ-g9c7uWP6ZOo_vN6vTzglWK3Zv25ZTzfUOBJQMc-RJVfutgjaH52h_sOsdEYjC5SOcKvemYsvzYJmLR/s200/lindholm.jpg"/></a></div>Moving on to the "Lament" section, <b>1049 is "Before the waters nourished earth"</b> by Jeannette M. Lindholm (b. 1961), set to the Irish tune ST. COLUMBA (cf. "The King of love my Shepherd is" in ELW and LSB). Stanza 1 describes creation thus: "a Love conceived the universe." In st. 2, that Love grieves man's fall in Eden and "each tragic human story." St. 3 acknowledges a deep, paralyizing despair but says it "cannot revoke Love's claim to dwell within our dying" – by which I think it means to be with us in the hour of death; though the syntax here is open to multiple readings. The hymn concludes that the Love that called creation good, turns death to life. It's not a bad hymn, but I think it would be better if it named God personally, or explicitly mentioned Christ and His work, or let its promise of resurrection cut through the cloud of metaphor in literal terms. For being perhaps too artsy-fartsy for its own good, 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1050 is "Sometimes our only song is weeping</b> by Tice, set to the "North American traditional" tune WAYFARING STRANGER. There are two stanzas here. The first covers "the Spirit helps in our weakness" (praying what we do not have the strength to utter, etc.) when God seems to be sleeping. Stanza 2 claims that we someitmes hear "the faintest humming," a sense that the Spirit is coming, singing that Christ has shared our laments and restoring our souls to sing God's song. What's missing from this hymn is, to start, a clearer and more complete argument that Christ has borne all manner of sorrow and shame for our sake, and what He has assumed, He also redeemed. And second, any sense that this vague humming sense of the Spirit coming has anything to do with the means of grace. Also taking into account a missing accompaniment, 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1051 is "For the troubles and the sufferings"</b> (of the world), one long stanza of Spanish lyrics by Rodolfo Gaede Neto (b. 1951) and their English translation by Simei Monteiro (b. 1943) and Jorge Lockward (b. 1965), set to Gaede's own tune. The lyrics implore God's mercy for a world in its labor pains. But the anticipated answer to that prayer is "peace that comes from making justice" and "power that will sustain your people's witness." Hmm. I smell a rodent of the social gospel persuasion. For that, its out-of-place bilingualism (an argument I don't need to repeat again) and omitting the accompaniment, 3 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhqLjMnDbJPjDLffMqGmgy8eWoGglvVBxO2sY-Zv2LaQRSmLBlzF-YULS_Bcm5DgyZrlEIpKqWSMokuanEEMC0EWFhdBPk7_iKAFhrQKv6lQXVk6MchKBn_cD6qy0IsrLu2_VU0kzGHBu4f6i5vEUF_wy4_4JZL9xQFBVEOOiRp0MjSw2opdNFsk07Rde/s1024/bjorlin.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhqLjMnDbJPjDLffMqGmgy8eWoGglvVBxO2sY-Zv2LaQRSmLBlzF-YULS_Bcm5DgyZrlEIpKqWSMokuanEEMC0EWFhdBPk7_iKAFhrQKv6lQXVk6MchKBn_cD6qy0IsrLu2_VU0kzGHBu4f6i5vEUF_wy4_4JZL9xQFBVEOOiRp0MjSw2opdNFsk07Rde/s200/bjorlin.jpg"/></a></div><b>1052 is "When our world is rent by violence"</b> by Bjorlin, set to Carl F. Schalk's (†2021) tune FORTUNATUS NEW (cf. "Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle" in LSB and ELW). It's a hymn for the collapse of civilization, which I suppose is a timely message these days. Stanza 2 calls on God to "waken justice from the dead" for the poor and imprisoned. St. 3 answers the despair that runs hot and cold in our time with a "Come, Lord Jesus, to redeem." The final stanza hits notes of restoring beauty, ending violence, and giving us a vision of a future where (to paraphrase Tolkien) everything sad will come untrue. I'll give it a pass other than 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<b>1053 is "A river flows through Babylon"</b>, apparently written in English by Tice but also in a Spanish translation by María Eugenia Cornou (b. 1969) and Carlos Colón (b. 1966) and set to the latter's tune, SOJOURN. This is taking the unnecessary bilingualism to the next level. And though the hymn actually has three stanzas, each one is set to its own strain of music, causing it to spread out across two pages (without accompaniment). And to a degree, I'm not sure why, because stanzas 1 and 2 are melodically identical. Stanza 3 throws in some rhythmic and melodic kinks, however. Based on Psalm 137, it's a legit lament, but I think its structure undermines the culture and purpose of hymn singing. 4 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1054 is "God weeps with us who weep and mourn"</b> by Thomas H. Troeger (b. 1945), set to Morris' tune MOSHIER, which falls into the same structural rut as 78.2 percent of contemporary worship tunes. The lyrics sympathize with God, who bears the heavy burden of sympathizing with us. It all winds up nicely with an expression of confidence that God will receive and keep those who grieve, touching our hearts with "love's renewing springs." I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, apart from 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv988DkePIuVhmqfyHbL6l0TM1PoiNnNwADY44EBrbu9sUD4-j_L4EW3k0XQPX_VsiUX7YIZSftKEZYMmlVPIGC5yKiduHlR8J_zkc0OPNmHCV5Axh53zRoyew8r4To2rsti7qI6AT0ayr2wRm2jtIxcQJ9DyPksG8FNgN1zH9LcGj5-VEfbL9uUKAihXQ/s500/miller.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv988DkePIuVhmqfyHbL6l0TM1PoiNnNwADY44EBrbu9sUD4-j_L4EW3k0XQPX_VsiUX7YIZSftKEZYMmlVPIGC5yKiduHlR8J_zkc0OPNmHCV5Axh53zRoyew8r4To2rsti7qI6AT0ayr2wRm2jtIxcQJ9DyPksG8FNgN1zH9LcGj5-VEfbL9uUKAihXQ/s200/miller.jpg"/></a></div><b>1055 is "Ayúdamos, oh Dios"</b>, words and music by Mark A. Miller (b. 1958), which repeats the same line of Spanish lyrics six times and, in between reps 4 and 5, squeezes in a single line of English ("Oh, help us, save us, grant us peace, O God"). And a squint-worthy pronunciation guide in the footnote. And no accompaniment. The tune is also quite repetitive, which naturally leads the newspaper reporter in me (always keen for a way to shorten a story) to propose omitting at least three phrases of it with no net loss of material. Or just eliminate it altogether, because (first) we should expect more out of a hymn than this one delivers, and (second) this is not a Spanish-language hymnal, etc., etc. So, 4 tacks.<br><br>
Totaling up today's butcher bill, I see 23 tacks. That brings ACS's running total to 304 tacks in 155 hymns, or 196 percent. Yowza! And just wait, the next two sections include a hefty pile of hymns about social justice and environmental stewardship – everything poor, miserable sinners don't need when they come to the cross. We'll have to talk seriosuly, pretty soon, about whether the ELCA is the place for them to do that.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-3287534682602179372024-01-17T05:58:00.003-06:002024-01-17T06:03:00.054-06:00Tacky Hymns 116Returning to our tour of hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i> ... <br><br>
As the section titled "Community in Christ" begins, <b>1036 is "Commonwealth is God's commandment"</b> by Mary Louise Bringle (b. 1953), set to the <i>Southern Harmony</i> tune RESTORATION (cf. "All for Christ I have forsaken" in LSB, only in a modified form). There's also a refrain, which modifies the tune another way. There's a line in the refrain that says "Shanti, pax, shalom, maslaha" and a tiny, agate-type footnote explaining that these are "words meaning <i>peace</i> from other religious traditions"; in other words, blatant syncretism. Yes, the refrain states, <i>shanti</i> is used in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. While it acknowledges the Hebrew and Arabic origins of the other words it doesn't go quite as far toward making Judaism and Islam sound like Christian denominations. Nevertheless, the selection of these particular languages and the way the hymn and the footnote play off each other suggests that the author, and the editors of this book, want us to think thoughts of religious unity with worshipers in those "traditions." There's this line in stanza 2 as well: "God has sheep of many folds." Stanza 3 puts "genders" along with "races, tribes, and nations" among those the Holy Spirit calls to be one and, again, I could be reading into this but given the politics of the current millisecond, I would question the assumption that "male and female" exhaust what Bringle means. For being a bunch of hippie-dippie, syncretistic, Christian communist, let's-be-the-first-to-lay-down-our-religious-principles-in-good-faith bull****, the full complement of 5 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1037 is "Christ, our peace"</b>, words and music by Marty Haugen: a refrain without stanzas/verses, emphasizing how Christ breaks down the walls that divide us and asking Him to come, make us one body in Him. Only without capitalized pronouns. And that's it. It's so short that again I have to question its place in the worship hour and, consequently, what its inclusion in a pew book says about the ELCA's notion of hymnody. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYLWCQHRKC4fc8_YXirNWIAMGNS9I74xOod2ppAPM6IVZnjKiG1GbZUsJvdLdiGGFC6wxx4RE8F9VnaxWSwTBgaH4eXWouFFPRcwnlF9JDQcExORjYpsERnPrKDEGnX6xvNVKxUudmUa7lFJxdwuLBPmJxk5NhG1BBxpUFm6hIHN_2owTYcDWcv-oJmV1/s2000/lohman.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYLWCQHRKC4fc8_YXirNWIAMGNS9I74xOod2ppAPM6IVZnjKiG1GbZUsJvdLdiGGFC6wxx4RE8F9VnaxWSwTBgaH4eXWouFFPRcwnlF9JDQcExORjYpsERnPrKDEGnX6xvNVKxUudmUa7lFJxdwuLBPmJxk5NhG1BBxpUFm6hIHN_2owTYcDWcv-oJmV1/s200/lohman.jpg"/></a></div><b>1038 is "God, we gather as your people"</b>, words and (rather uninspired) music by David Lohman (b. 1961). It's kind of a cross between a hymn and a protest song that gradually reveals itself to be a prayer that God would help gay people accept (and be accepted as) who they are. And of course, to open our hearts and minds, and the church, to them. For being diametrically opposed to Scripture's teaching and the form of sound doctrine (and also, for what it's worth, omitting the accompaniment), 5 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1039 is "Hine ma tov,"</b> Psalm 133:1 in Hebrew (not translated into English; you'll just have to look it up), set to the traditional Israeli tune. I know what it means and I've even set an English version of this Psalm to music myself. But I would far rather prophesy in the language my audience speaks, so that all may be edified, than to speak in the tongues of angels (cf. 1 Corinthians 14). Also, I'm unsure whether this inclusion of a couple lines of Hebrew is indicative of one of those triumphalistic, see-how-we-love-the-Jews-and-minister-to-them moments or whether I smell another syncretistic rat in the manger. And though I'm not sure there even is an accompaniment for this tune, it isn't included here. So I'm giving it 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1040 is "Love has brought us here together"</b> by Bringle, set to HYFRYDOL (cf. "Love divine, all loves excelling," "Alleluia, sing to Jesus," "Lord of glory, You have brought us" and "Gracious Savior, grant Your blessing" in LSB; the latter a marriage hymn by Stephen Starke). Bringle's hymn is kind of a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13, the "love" chapter, also commonly linked to weddings although, in context, it forms part of Paul's argument against going overboard with the tongues-speaking craze. And indeed, the hymn wraps up with talk of two people pledging their union, which as it were sacramentally renews all who witness it. Despite the inward cringe at seeing Bringle's name in the credit line after what I've seen of her work so far, 0 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1041 is "God is love,"</b> words and music by Mark Mummert (b. 1965), "based on 1 John 4:11, 16, 19." I'm not sure where verse 19 comes into it, because the reference to verses 11 and 16 are sufficient to source all the lyrics in this very brief hymn. Besides multiple repeats of its first line, all there is to it is "Let us love one another as God first loved us." Again, we're not seeing a thought being developed, as we ought to and, really, realistically can expect out of a hymn. I recently confessed to someone in a Facebook hymnwriters' group who had written and posted a marvelous new hymn translation that going through this book had nearly gaslighted me out of believing that good hymns are possible and actually exist. It's in the growing prevalence of this type of non-hymn that I feel this process of gaslighting at work. It's almost as if it's what this book is all about. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1zgiU9ScQ7YkZ9vVWybQi8KKWOmDMugUIM72G94BVP8ghaOfheN9G5xpMpNiJsG4OSIP3_zXu8awEec5KOkd5ROWhFpkiZR6qlwrjeLCY4LUBwCCezTuhgHc2jMMQkDPkF-G8zDkuZ4VH0krfQu4x8W57hC5FFA398pgcGDTBzZpvXLPD3TRqBhnLdKv/s1200/paublososa.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1zgiU9ScQ7YkZ9vVWybQi8KKWOmDMugUIM72G94BVP8ghaOfheN9G5xpMpNiJsG4OSIP3_zXu8awEec5KOkd5ROWhFpkiZR6qlwrjeLCY4LUBwCCezTuhgHc2jMMQkDPkF-G8zDkuZ4VH0krfQu4x8W57hC5FFA398pgcGDTBzZpvXLPD3TRqBhnLdKv/s200/paublososa.jpg"/></a></div><b>1042 is "May this church be like a tree"</b> by Pablo D. Sosa (†2020), both in his original Spanish and in Andrew Donaldson's (b. 1951) English translation, set to Sosa's own tune. Again, begging your pardon, but an English-speaking congregation doesn't need Spanish lyrics and as for a Spanish-speaking congregation, this isn't the book they need. So those Spanish lyrics are somewhere between a costly sacrifice of page space and a tacky expression of some triumphalistic impulse. Also, omitting the accompaniment is especially unfortunate when it's a new, unfamiliar, culturally remote and therefore rather tricky tune. I approach the lyrics last of all. Using a running tree metaphor to describe the church, Sosa reveals what he thinks church is all about and, almost from the first, it seems to be about works of social justice. Also (stanza 1) to gather in "simple prayer"; (st. 2) to embrace the weary pilgrim; to "show the way (st. 3) of loving and self-giving" (i.e., more works) and only at the very last, to name God "a tree of life eternal." It's a pretty law-oriented tree, this church, and the ministry of proclaiming the gospel and performing the sacraments is barely part of it. 4 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1043 is "Spirit open my heart"</b> (to the joy and pain of living) by Ruth Duck (b. 1947), to Alfred V. Fedak's (b. 1953) adaptation of the Irish tune WILD MOUNTAIN THYME. Thank you, ACS, for reminding me of a movie in which Chrisopher Walken delivers the worst excuse for an Irish accent ever recorded and Jamie Dornan, as his son, plays a man who believes he is a bee. (I have it on DVD. Drop me a line if you're interested. First come, first served.) The refrain calls on the Spirit to help us, individually, to love "in receiving and in giving." There follow three stanzas that expand on this desire to be energized to works of love that glorify God and serve the neighbor. For what it is, my only real objection is that the accompaniment is omitted and, at bottom, turning Irish traditional tunes like this into hymns isn't the best idea. For what it isn't – I almost cringe to say it but that's the gaslighting at work I'm sure – Where is Christ in this hymn? 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1044 is "Not for tongues of heaven's angels"</b> by Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926), set to Peter Cutts' (b. 1937) tune BRIDEGROOM; cf. LSB 695. See me comment on that number <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/tacky-hymns-50.html">here</a>. 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
That's that section, and that's this post. That's 25 tacks in nine hymns, one of which (you may recall) got zero tacks. That gives us a running total of 281 tacks in 144 hymns, or a tackiness score of 195 percent. Pee-yew!RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-73475081865020748472024-01-15T17:12:00.004-06:002024-01-15T17:17:31.446-06:00503. The Word of the Lord Stands<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWt0_AFMH4ZNY8cWdztd13-yUHP_pYxK50VQi4X4FcUMCR7M97uWxOFm3qmC2h9bbS92lUjp221JqhquxGYHDb22NhvifUKEopFpg51RZam9fZRdm1n7k3ySRDp7ZBrJIyAFajqbWpxfZTt7fOCZDqMxcd65o7cjayKAPRo3fv92dBLeSowyaMsVN82hIq/s360/vdma.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWt0_AFMH4ZNY8cWdztd13-yUHP_pYxK50VQi4X4FcUMCR7M97uWxOFm3qmC2h9bbS92lUjp221JqhquxGYHDb22NhvifUKEopFpg51RZam9fZRdm1n7k3ySRDp7ZBrJIyAFajqbWpxfZTt7fOCZDqMxcd65o7cjayKAPRo3fv92dBLeSowyaMsVN82hIq/s200/vdma.jpg"/></a></div>And so continues the slow trickle into whatever cistern my fourth collection of hymns will become. As so often when I write a hymn text, I have no particular tune in mind. I'd welcome suggestions for one as well as a working title for the volume in which it will eventually figure. Something, ideally, that complements <i>Useful, Edifying</i> and <i>Bountiful Hymns</i>.<br><br>
Lo, the dewy stem grows dry;<br>
Clouds that cloak the sun rush by.<br>
Turn as may the ages' worm,<br>
Your word, Lord, stands ever firm.<br><br>
Lands once known as just and free<br>
Times of tyranny may see;<br>
While the saints cry, "Lord, how long?"<br>
Your word, Lord, stands ever strong.<br><br>
Days of plenty, peace and health,<br>
Fly away by force or stealth;<br>
All the same, undimmed and pure,<br>
Your word, Lord, stands ever sure.<br><br>
Science, with her haughty claim<br>
Plying faithful minds with shame,<br>
Often finds her case disproved;<br>
Your word, Lord, stands yet unmoved.<br><br>
Lawlessness is spread abroad;<br>
Sin, the present age's god.<br>
Though men flee its healthful light,<br>
Your word, Lord, stands ever right.<br><br>
Withered though be all our joys,<br>
This we have that naught destroys:<br>
Jesus' blood on sin is spilled.<br>
All Your Word, Lord, stands fulfilled.<br><br>
By that word, Lord, You forgive.<br>
By Christ's righteousness we live.<br>
Let the heart that murmurs say:<br>
Your strong word, Lord, stands for aye!RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-1022702828450866472024-01-05T06:03:00.005-06:002024-01-05T09:52:47.730-06:00Tacky Hymns 115We continue our wade through the hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i> ... <br><br>
As the "Hope, Assurance" section opens, <b>1022 is "God, bless the hands"</b> by Marty Haugen, set to John B. Dykes' (†1878) tune MELITA (cf. "Eternal Father, strong to save"). It's a disaster response hymn, first calling down God's blessing on rescue workers, then seeking comfort for the victims ("Save us ... from sinking sands"), and finally, bidding Him "teach us to live in harmony with earth and river, sky and sea," calling their preservation "holy work for human hands." I guess leaving that in God's hands just isn't the thing anymore. 1 tack.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrrGMDmoxacVZpNgUzbNtz5VvxDq4lM9d9mPCnQ3FPjhf1GjxQYbCsx74D5DkwzPWmvNBZ6gt9aJ5rWZSXf4B8p32V2HmlRf40Bd_Qy92hWInD45TzYaphlQfDVMILP2ezc-UfGQUVI29r6y6i_-rjc_emXqFkX82Z31xb4BqWdc2g_Hz4Z-cutvk3m5t/s3273/highben.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="3273" data-original-width="2178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrrGMDmoxacVZpNgUzbNtz5VvxDq4lM9d9mPCnQ3FPjhf1GjxQYbCsx74D5DkwzPWmvNBZ6gt9aJ5rWZSXf4B8p32V2HmlRf40Bd_Qy92hWInD45TzYaphlQfDVMILP2ezc-UfGQUVI29r6y6i_-rjc_emXqFkX82Z31xb4BqWdc2g_Hz4Z-cutvk3m5t/s200/highben.jpg"/></a></div><b>1023 is "God alone be praised"</b> (first line: "Oceans rise, the coastland trembles"), by Susan Briehl, "based on Psalm 46," set to the tune AD LUCEM by Zebulon M. Highben (b. 1979). Already my sense of pattern-detection is telling me that "Hope, Assurance" may be ELCA code for "Environmentalism." However, stanza 1 goes on to say that while the earth is shaken, God's love abides, His promise stands, and His word is solid ground. St. 2 leads off with "Nations rage," where people are driven into exile by "walls and weapons," etc., but "through the wilderness a river flows to heal," namely, "God the crucified." The third stanza find's God's mercy gathering what sin and grief have shattered, bringing life from death. It throws in a "peace, be still" and calls for songs of praise in place of "prideful thunder." So, actually, I'm all right with this hymn and will only give it 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<b>1024 is "Here on Jesus Christ I will stand"</b>, Kenyan (i.e., Swahili) words and music "adapted" by Greg Scheer (b. 1966). You have a choice of singing the refrain in Swahili or English, with an all-but-unreadably tiny footnote explaining the pronunciation (only the copyright blurb is in smaller type). To the extent I <i>can</i> read it, it doesn't so much offer help as identify the problem: Swahili is difficult for English speakers to pronounce. There's a rhythmic figure repeated throughout this hymn that I would say might be challenging for the folks at Shepherd of the Cornfield Lutheran Church, but it gets repeated so much that they might just get it by the end. I wish there were more to the refrain, though. It repeats the same line three times, a wasted opportunity to deliver more content for building up believers. For making me squint at an unhelpful footnote, 1 tack.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlLjuwpMsy2pBAdcU64RLh0YLIJrq3ObQPqOpX9FldNVNfqcrxdMT0mS71bHZKsoyltuIf0Xh6oOizEpcr4c1jV7f9gT1FnbPlhkgdtBKPUCeS0i3POsI7VCEGG-0gsDe7y3bEBfC0dvP3uJ08EDmYtQxAiYHOkkBHh8i4dvHmhYrokmAG8u6ofPR-zi-/s365/vegdahl.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlLjuwpMsy2pBAdcU64RLh0YLIJrq3ObQPqOpX9FldNVNfqcrxdMT0mS71bHZKsoyltuIf0Xh6oOizEpcr4c1jV7f9gT1FnbPlhkgdtBKPUCeS0i3POsI7VCEGG-0gsDe7y3bEBfC0dvP3uJ08EDmYtQxAiYHOkkBHh8i4dvHmhYrokmAG8u6ofPR-zi-/s200/vegdahl.jpg"/></a></div><b>1025 is "If we live, we live to the Lord"</b> by Rolf Vegdahl (b. 1955), based on Romans 14:8 and Psalm 103. It's three or four phrases paraphrasing approximately one Bible verse, juxtaposing triplet quarter notes with dotted-quarter-and-eighth-note figures like an "I survived 'Jesus, Savior, pilot me'" boss. After looking at 1024 it's hard not to read those Kenyan rhythms into it; or maybe I'm just up too early. I'd like to say I have no objections to this little ditty except that it is so brief that its real usefulness as a hymn eludes me, and it's a tad dull. For omitting the accompaniment, 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1026 is "In the midst of earthly life"</b> by Martin Luther, set to its original, 13th century melody, MITTEN WIR IM LEBEN SIND. I think this may have been the hymn I had in mind when I stated, way back when, that there was maybe one hymn in this entire book that I really cared for. So, all right, I've spotted a handful of other gems since then, but this is still the one "Wait. This wasn't in ELW? What's wrong with these people?" moment so far in this supplement. For once, we see a gesture valuing the Lutheran heritage of hymnody. The translation is a fresh one by Susan Cherwien, in which I find no harm. 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<b>1027 is "Don't be afraid"</b> by John L. Bell (b. 1949) and Graham Maule (†2019), set to Bell's own tune. It appears to be written for an unaccompanied, three-part ensemble or choir with the low part coming in only on even-numbered phrases; or maybe the accompaniment is omitted. I bet that accompaniment might be important, given the way the first and third phrases start with an off-the-beat rhythmic figure. It's a tiny, uber-simple, light-pop ditty that lasts about 10 seconds and so, once again, challenges me to imagine how it would function in a worship service. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to imagine why it needed two lyricists. Between them, they apparently couldn't think of a way of identifying by name who is speaking, which may be a drawback to putting God's supposed words in the congregation's (or choir's, or solo ensemble's) mouth. 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1028 is "When eyes that we once knew as keen"</b> by John Core (†2017), set to the Scottish melody CANDLER, which really sounds like a Scottish melody, all right. It's a hymn about dementia, from the point of view of the loved ones looking on – again, a case for which I not only see a need, but have even tried my own hand. I think the tune might be a little too peppy for the tone of the poem, but I suppose something may be said for it going toward the purpose of stanza 4, which observes that memories of music are among the last to go. There is a touching quality to this entire poem, but if I had to quibble – and you know me – I might suggest that it's overly preoccupied with the earthy and specific details of what the caregivers of people with memory loss are experiencing, and touches but lightly on what it's asking God to do about it. I would prefer to see it push more strongly in the direction of relying and depending utterly on God. 1 tack, for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7oVljjsNobF2D1-MeR82B5b6UJGP6Cf4uqfvjpT0N3rwCfvXj6KmLWg0sscRQBpP_Xmr2q835rwdpdGwj13tJkB4Ath8R8EJUUMCHpEwIP3nwi3X3cdiKuJIW1s1aG2wYmV3yOarUCuB_PPnGHTfD3gQ9FcLpZvfKg9vvwsZaxnirKh4At44-GqYNUc1/s219/patterson.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7oVljjsNobF2D1-MeR82B5b6UJGP6Cf4uqfvjpT0N3rwCfvXj6KmLWg0sscRQBpP_Xmr2q835rwdpdGwj13tJkB4Ath8R8EJUUMCHpEwIP3nwi3X3cdiKuJIW1s1aG2wYmV3yOarUCuB_PPnGHTfD3gQ9FcLpZvfKg9vvwsZaxnirKh4At44-GqYNUc1/s200/patterson.jpg"/></a></div><b>1029 is "In the peace of God find rest"</b> by Joy F. Patterson (b. 1931), set to TUCKER by Thomas Pavlechko (b. 1962). It's a four-line blessing, whose fourth line is really a varied repeat of the first. Nice as it is, again, I'm struggling to visualize where it will play a role in the worship service, other than a quasi-liturgical, build-your-own-form-of-worship one. Which is a strike all by itself, in my books. For this reason and for omitting the accompaniment, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1030 is "Death be never last"</b> (first line: "We walk in light of countless faces"), words and music by Ray Makeever. It's kind of an All Saints hymn, or Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, or what have you. Some of the syntax rankles with me, like the last two lines of the refrain: "Saints be now the truth divining: Death be now but never last." What a time to be obscure. Stanza 2 takes a little more time out from speaking quite clearly, with my grammar sense unable even to make out a complete sentence in it. So the fact that this is probably the best lyric by Makeever I've seen so far isn't exactly high praise. Among other issues, the accompaniment is omitted. 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1031 is "In God alone"</b> (my soul can find rest and peace) by the Taizé Community, with music by Jacques Berthier (†1994) and lyrics in both French and English. I'd quote the four-line lyrics in full if I weren't a tiny bit afraid of the copyright bogeyman, but it would only be to get across just how repetitive this brief hymn is, each phrase merely turning the words of the first phrase around in a different order. And I guess (without any score text to offer as evidence) that it must be meant to be sung over and over, to the point of hypnosis, because there's so little to it and it would be over so quickly otherwise. So much of this book seems to be devoted to an idea of worship, historically foreign to Lutheranism, in which music is either relegated to 10-second fits here and there among acres of spoken prose, or developed into an enthusiastic mantra while the speaking goes on. I think there are precedents for both options, in other religions; but not in Lutheranism, where hymnody is a key element in the laypeople's exercise of the priesthood of believers wherein they richly, deeply, thoroughly teach and confess the faith to and among themselves. Whatever way this Taizé stuff is going to play, it will be to the detriment of that tradition. Sparing it only for not outright teaching falsehood, 4 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1032 is "Lift up your heads"</b> (all you bowed low) by Briehl, set to Highben's tune WEST LEESTAD, with a nice first-stanza-text-painting gesture at the end of the first phrase. It's a Word and Sacrament hymn, describing (though without overtly naming) baptism, absolution and eucharist, then stating that "the Spirit here abides," where "here," to those who have ears to hear, means "in the means of grace." Just a couple of nits to pick. One is stanza 3's description of bread and wine that, I feel, really needs to come right out and say that it's Jesus' body and blood, to put to rest the persisting and relapsing opinion that it isn't. The other is in stanza 4, where the phrase "loos'ning sin" had ought to be "loosing sin." There's just a difference, you know? For these quibbles and for omitting the accompaniment, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLKJpp74b0TkXYPmQyqntLlIuj9_mE7C4SFaxGATnHuZ4RsQuebnNHp4DdKRlJ_otOs5wHdHSSqX4kquQTZaszQV90WXlDnttbJH3SyiXBZrYcghnCAiVF8Mr2_hkKqQLwIlS1RDh3Lhnukm0gl9lQZoCYNxLVqyNCDwrSTN_4-4DL5JhVXLO6nYpGBQBS/s320/teresa.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLKJpp74b0TkXYPmQyqntLlIuj9_mE7C4SFaxGATnHuZ4RsQuebnNHp4DdKRlJ_otOs5wHdHSSqX4kquQTZaszQV90WXlDnttbJH3SyiXBZrYcghnCAiVF8Mr2_hkKqQLwIlS1RDh3Lhnukm0gl9lQZoCYNxLVqyNCDwrSTN_4-4DL5JhVXLO6nYpGBQBS/s200/teresa.jpg"/></a></div><b>1033 is "Nothing can trouble"</b> by Teresa of Avila (†1582), adapted by the Taizé Community, to another Berthier tune, with lyrics in both Spanish and English. Again, this single-stanza, four-line hymn is brief to a fault, brief to the point of questioning its place in the design and purpose of a Lutheran worship service. Also, zooming in on the lyrics, it's a conclusion without an argument – another case where, after you read through it, you might think, "That's nice to say, but why do you say so?" It's like a refrain in search of stanzas of lyrics to support it. So, don't be afraid; "those who seek God shall never go wanting" because "God alone fills us." How does that happen? What has God done for us? Could we please have more? Or, failing that, less? 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1034 is "When it seems the day will end"</b>, words and music by Justin Rimbo (b. 1980). I'm struggling to figure out what this hymn is about. It rings somewhat of a hymn about the literal end of day, particularly in stanza 1; more figuratively, of some kind of affliction, whether mental or physical, and possibly death, in stanza 3; and of stanza 2 I can make neither head nor tail, other than feeling impressed by the phrase "we are dead and born again" (simul justus et peccator?) until the succeeding line, "and with you we enter in," throws me off again. The refrain is the least helpful part of all, and seldom have I been more frustrated by this book's (and ELW's) convention of not capitalizing divine pronouns so that I can't even categorically say who the "you" addressed in this hymn is. Also, the accompaniment is omitted. Also, there's an echo effect in each phrase of the refrain. I'm happy to see the work of someone almost a decade younger than me represented in a hymnbook but, at the same time, I wonder at the taste or criteria of the selection committee. 4 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1035 is "Though the earth shall change"</b>, another hymn supposedly based on Psalm 46, by Rolf Vegdahl (b. 1955) and Tom Witt (b. 1957) and set to Witt's rather uninspired tune WE WILL NOT FEAR. And again, I can't help asking why it took two lyricists to write this hymn's single, eight-line stanza, which has only one rhyme in it, and what we're supposed to do with it in the context of a worship service. As noted multiple times in this post alone, there is more than one possible answer to the latter question but they're all disturbing to someone who cares about hymnody and its place in Lutheran life. 3 tacks.<br><br>
This section of ACS got off to a slow start, but it ended up amassing 30 tacks. That makes 256 tacks in 135 hymns, which makes the book about 190 percent tacky so far. The question is becoming less and less "will it go down toward zero by the end" and more and more "will it slope to infinity?"RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-86085356790048776272024-01-03T20:02:00.008-06:002024-01-04T08:59:46.419-06:00Tacky Hymns 114Our critical sack of the hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i> continues with the "Healing, Wholeness" section ...<br><br>
<b>1013 is "Anointing fall on me,"</b> words and music by Donn Thomas (b. 1949). The music is a nice little piece of jazz harmony with rhythms that probably won't go smoothly with musical laymen; so, perhaps more likely to be sung at than by the congregation. The lyrics entirely consist of three repeats of the phrase above, plus "Let the power of the Holy Ghost fall on me." So, barring hypnotic repetition, there isn't much to it. Or rather, the congregation isn't going to get much from it, compared to what it could get from a well-thought-through, teaching, praying, worshiping hymn. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1014 is "When we must bear persistent pain"</b> by Ruth Duck (b. 1947), set to the <i>Southern Harmony</i> tune PROSPECT (cf. "Creating God, your fingers trace" in ELW). I respect the attempt to write a hymn to address aging and infirmity – a need that I recognize to the extent of taking a run at it myself. But I think it could hit the target better if it tied in the means of grace: especially where it calls on "Holy Presence" to bring peace, warmth and healing light (st. 1). Also, this hymn would sit much more comfortably in my gut if it put a more Personal name on the God it addresses. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7zrSOYIHd9dl3SQCmowP4shA3BL1CfYBdiOXjUMKLUPeMHEQpAXPVBjj3lJCTMfhaKW1-n2_7tFXBfh5Fjg0opQ5HdG_rXjKs2JGotMkdvsghdZM6YnZUr9I692ZYATX-OigAkpikx7Py5KRtYZR5Kl_yRcMScxShmunBhJ3xYga0Qu3vTXknO09cxZV/s497/Wentzel.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm7zrSOYIHd9dl3SQCmowP4shA3BL1CfYBdiOXjUMKLUPeMHEQpAXPVBjj3lJCTMfhaKW1-n2_7tFXBfh5Fjg0opQ5HdG_rXjKs2JGotMkdvsghdZM6YnZUr9I692ZYATX-OigAkpikx7Py5KRtYZR5Kl_yRcMScxShmunBhJ3xYga0Qu3vTXknO09cxZV/s200/Wentzel.jpg"/></a></div><b>1015 is "As a mother comrforts her child,"</b> words and music by Brian Wentzel (b. 1979; pictured is an organist by that name). It's a Trinitarian blessing in which all three Persons are described using a feminine analogy (a hen gathering her brood, a wise one counseling her friend, etc.) After decades of viewing, from the sidelines, the ELCA's and its constituent church bodies' program of feminizing God and with Him, the ministry, I smell a rat. The music is harmless but, with it, rather banal. 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1016 is "Cast out, O Christ"</b> by Mary Louise Bringle (b. 1953), set to the <i>Kentucky Harmony</i> tune CONSOLATION (cf. "The King has come when morning dawns" in both LSB and ELW; also "O Lord, throughout these forty days" in ELW). Bringle's hymn puts biblical accounts of demon possession to work in a prayer about our mental and emotional struggles. I'm ambivalent about this; not because I don't recognize the need for hymns addressing mental health issues (I've written one or two, myself), but because I worry about metaphorizing clean out of existence the gospels' literal accounts of real battles with the forces of darkness. However, what I take away I am obliged to give back with such a stanza 4 that it says "Your word breathes life and health and hope that break through evil's thrall," etc. For teetering dangerously on the brink of confusing mental illness and demon possession, through language that certain people may not understand to be figurative, 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1017 is "Come to me, O weary traveler"</b> by Sylvia G. Dunstan (†1993), set to the tune AUSTIN by William P. Rowan (b. 1951). The entirety of the hymn's four stanzas is enclosed in quotes, comprising a slow-paced, repetition-fraught paraphrase of Jesus' "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden" saying in Matthew 11:28-30. There's no harm in it, but it really doesn't add anything to its loose paraphrase of Jesus' words – no application or meditation, no proclamation or prayer. So, it could give us more. But I'll restrict myself to 1 tack, for omitting the accompaniment.<br><br>
<b>1018 is "Deep peace"</b> (of the running waves), adapted by Ray Makeever (b. 1943) from something "Celtic traditional" and set to his own tune. I guess you could interpret its single, four-line stanza as a blessing (cf. "to you" in line 3). Otherwise, grammatically, it doesn't seem to complete a thought. Musically, it's very simple and yet, in my opinion, not particularly well written. The harmonic structure leaves me a bit cold, and there's a repeat sign at the end with a tonally inconclusive first ending and the alarming score text "to repeat" – alarming, I say, because it doesn't specify how many times we're supposed to repeat it, and nor does the second ending's score text "last time" enlighten us on that point. It does, at least, resolve at last to a tonic chord. For the creeping idea that we may be repeating this trite little ditty for a long time, and for offering a blessing that has nothing to do with God (all waves, air, stars and earth), I'm laying the full complement of 5 tacks on this number. I mean, really, as a minimum requirement to be in a Lutheran hymnal, shouldn't a song be specifically Christian?<br><br>
<b>1019 is "Lord Jesus Christ, lover of all"</b>, words and music by John L. Bell (b. 1949) – a piece so brief that its two systems, harmony and all, fill out the bottom of the page under the latter two-thirds of 1018. And that harmony includes little alto-line echo effects. The lyrics consist entirely of the above phrase and "trail wide the hem of your garment, bring healing, bring peace." Nevertheless I have to admit, this hymn has a bunch of things 1018 is missing. Like, for example, a meaningful chord structure and, you know, Jesus. My only quibble is that it's so darn short; it's like the precis of a proposed hymn that didn't get picked up by the publisher. Would that its author had taken his concept a bit further. As it is, I have to wonder what practical use it can have as a hymn, being over in less time than the introduction the organist will play to give the congregation time to find the page. 1 tack.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvPoD1nbPFXcpfh2T0ZjGBMMUCNEQH87GzkTjd5Do8Qcezfk2sgGnQ_Z2uvy2BQJ9FQb6GXuDO5yhk8MYKHGkJ3rjq340jorNYfyRIFqvW8Hg2Cwn9POb5J5IJ-PBRIFJ-aOFelYUGbGRJpid81ZDI45TSefwkzZZGK9DhWeRHKNqP7dKJ6MekeWL7xCr/s238/murray.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvPoD1nbPFXcpfh2T0ZjGBMMUCNEQH87GzkTjd5Do8Qcezfk2sgGnQ_Z2uvy2BQJ9FQb6GXuDO5yhk8MYKHGkJ3rjq340jorNYfyRIFqvW8Hg2Cwn9POb5J5IJ-PBRIFJ-aOFelYUGbGRJpid81ZDI45TSefwkzZZGK9DhWeRHKNqP7dKJ6MekeWL7xCr/s200/murray.jpg"/></a></div><b>1020 is "Let my spirit always sing"</b> by Shirley Erena Murray (†2020), set to the tune SPIRITSONG by Jane Marshall (†2019). Musically, it's a touching, richly harmonized piece that I loved at first play-through, though I'm a little concerned about what will happen to Mrs. Schmeckpepper's confidence when she spots the key signature in D-flat major (5 flats). I wonder how important that is when both C major (zero sharps or flats) and D major (two sharps) are just a half-step away. Meanwhile, Murray's text grabbed me right in stanza 1 with its phrase "though my heart be wintering," going on to pray for God to keep a song there even when he doesn't feel present. Moving from mental affliction to physical, st. 2 invites God's word to be at work within even a mind shut up inside a disabled body. St. 3 engages with aging, calling on God to "give me wit to welcome change," and to help me find joy in the knowledge I retain. The final stanza concludes with a prayer that the Spirit (capital ess) will answer my spirit's song, sustaining my trust through life and death. Being the twerp that I am, I never provided for the possibility of awarding negative tacks, so the best I can do is say 0 tacks for this one and admit that I got a little choked up reading it.<br><br>
<b>1021 is "O God, to You I cry in pain"</b> by the same Murray, this time set to Marty Haugen's (b. 1950) tune SHANTI (cf. "We walk by faith and not by sight" in both ELW and LSB). Again, it calls on God for help in times of infirmity, "when mind and body out of tune bring fears I cannot speak" (st. 1). St. 2 calls for help accepting my illness and trusting the skill of my caregivers. Stanza 3 adds an odd sentiment about the comfort that a loving, human touch can give; maybe a reference to a laying on of hands? And finally, st. 4 asks for peace of mind and relief from fear. So, again, a very effective and understanding hymn about, and for, those who suffer in body and mind. Regretfully, I have to give it 1 tack for omitting the accompaniment. <br><br>
A little surprised that a single topic carried me this far in today's installment, I guess I'll pause here. And I have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised to find in Shirley Murray's two hymns, right at the end of the set, feats of "useful hymn" writing that I wouldn't mind seeing in a collection for home or church use over on my side of Lutheranism – maybe even something designed specifically for use in institutional chapels and visitation ministries. But on the whole, we're looking at 15 new tacks, making the running total 226 tacks in 121 hymns. That's currently a tackiness rate of about 187 percent.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-67531597295486803492024-01-02T09:31:00.004-06:002024-01-02T09:36:02.327-06:00Am I the Idiot?<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyyfxgHH0nUnRz5edTAX659Jj2oEGNnxq0TFsjoGEUFFpwdgiDO1t8oPMo9b6ybE_UkVhQ2PCDRY3XLSnJ3h-O-adwewYqBU9Bd1lMW6M8J27ZPWZPalR3Kh6mQodLf5FIUB7bQLvbKucie9q7m5mrxfnxYKW0udMmx6owRjyOsrGTO9fzzGW7eK3iCwb/s1100/new%20minnesota%20flag.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="1100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyyfxgHH0nUnRz5edTAX659Jj2oEGNnxq0TFsjoGEUFFpwdgiDO1t8oPMo9b6ybE_UkVhQ2PCDRY3XLSnJ3h-O-adwewYqBU9Bd1lMW6M8J27ZPWZPalR3Kh6mQodLf5FIUB7bQLvbKucie9q7m5mrxfnxYKW0udMmx6owRjyOsrGTO9fzzGW7eK3iCwb/s400/new%20minnesota%20flag.jpg"/></a></div>
I just got a column into the local newspaper, urging people to "look on the bright side" of Minnesota's new flag. I pointed out a bunch of reasons why, in my opinion, it's an improvement on the old flag and will, over time, grow to become a point of state pride. I also answered some objections that I've heard floating around, such as the charge that the new state flag is a ripoff of the flag (or a flag) of Somalia. And despite my pointing out that the similarities between them are really very slight, I've already received two voicemails from irate readers who, in one case, called me a f***ing idiot and, in the other, told me to look at the flag of Djibouti.<br><br>
Well, here for comparison is the flag of Somalia.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPxlOlqaNiUBl3gkADttrnP17wAZXfDc7Pg3B7pOVg73_jr5Bm3Zd7p7SY-rzRXLwGx_nYityfpK4F2HrH13rclQjjuPr39CNMNhXnqoUnYa5DN7DMj8Ixe_pkddAarRymQtgzluHwbkx9Uu9gBF6LL-wjiwDfJ9-NwE2DWWF040beex79ojm001qj8EJ/s275/somalia%20flag.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPxlOlqaNiUBl3gkADttrnP17wAZXfDc7Pg3B7pOVg73_jr5Bm3Zd7p7SY-rzRXLwGx_nYityfpK4F2HrH13rclQjjuPr39CNMNhXnqoUnYa5DN7DMj8Ixe_pkddAarRymQtgzluHwbkx9Uu9gBF6LL-wjiwDfJ9-NwE2DWWF040beex79ojm001qj8EJ/s400/somalia%20flag.png"/></a></div>
Notice that, instead of an 8-sided star in a K-shaped (or abstractly Minnesota-shaped) canton of a contrasting shade of blue, Somalia's flag has its 5-pointed star in the center of a solid blue field. I don't think any reasonable person would confuse them.<br><br>
Just to be sure that I was looking at the right flag of Somalia, here's a former flag of the Somali region of Ethiopia:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs4pTClobikgaYSY83kL8Tmgpb6DJcmONNzvb3f4ZSBT_YmYBAi5zC11MZTsj57C88Fsex3QW8NheM0O_Pcza5WxNQmKRQtbPPeDI07n9pWLaieJKImsz9jiu3MelmQ_8es4V8IpZ_IzCmm4uN4_CRDyzNryOYAud7J4zNzCGvvmJCpxFQCza69oLtV9wS/s5000/somali%20region%20flag.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="5000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs4pTClobikgaYSY83kL8Tmgpb6DJcmONNzvb3f4ZSBT_YmYBAi5zC11MZTsj57C88Fsex3QW8NheM0O_Pcza5WxNQmKRQtbPPeDI07n9pWLaieJKImsz9jiu3MelmQ_8es4V8IpZ_IzCmm4uN4_CRDyzNryOYAud7J4zNzCGvvmJCpxFQCza69oLtV9wS/s400/somali%20region%20flag.jpg"/></a></div>
And here's the flag of one of Somalia's constituent regions:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqGii6sk4LU7KXYhny3Suhyphenhyphenfw_It4KoZoPjEVzTcn7Nme5rpbtuk1TU0rjzw7u14vUyiHqWwVswyRRETl13f_aoOJYwsXG3-9JCmMNx6gnlQpdku63nWD3hdgFyIF9CblnOyOBhmQCqfrrCxup5UezL8zdHTMAT8mkIjqiLEl8LVgCYCzlhbilhNbiF6y/s3334/flag%20of%20a%20somalian%20region.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="3334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDqGii6sk4LU7KXYhny3Suhyphenhyphenfw_It4KoZoPjEVzTcn7Nme5rpbtuk1TU0rjzw7u14vUyiHqWwVswyRRETl13f_aoOJYwsXG3-9JCmMNx6gnlQpdku63nWD3hdgFyIF9CblnOyOBhmQCqfrrCxup5UezL8zdHTMAT8mkIjqiLEl8LVgCYCzlhbilhNbiF6y/s400/flag%20of%20a%20somalian%20region.jpg"/></a></div>
We're not going to get confused with those, are we? I mean, the flag of that region within Somalia has one big white, 5-pointed star on a blue field at the fly end, and two smaller, green, 5-pointed stars on a triangular, white canton that points toward the center of the flag. If you said "white star on a blue field with an angular canton in a contrasting color" but didn't actually look at this flag, you might think it was a description of the Minnesota flag. But saying they're the same flag would be ridiculous. And as for the Somali Region, forget about it. The angle of the blue canton points the wrong way; the star has the wrong number of points; and those three stripes, including two colors nowhere near Minnesota's new flag, clinch the case. There's no mistaking the two flags for each other.<br><br>
And here is the flag of Djibouti, which is supposedly even more similar to Minnesota's new flag than the Somalian examples:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpiPFt2yiq2L43lBjj3RORPSI21xZ5mUgzbGg3KJpqb9CMDKS7VOKXXyQUMmaFOexxoQskrv7z6cGgAL2UQdCecC1Fgh5qO0EFO_TlDbxZTPLggm-1QYvTR2dnvL6_LIzwfAzQPpLuDLSZ59HIYf9yoz1ZPrEYN56cXEXscOr-P2L7qx8V7ycIdovkHFXx/s1600/Flag-Djibouti.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpiPFt2yiq2L43lBjj3RORPSI21xZ5mUgzbGg3KJpqb9CMDKS7VOKXXyQUMmaFOexxoQskrv7z6cGgAL2UQdCecC1Fgh5qO0EFO_TlDbxZTPLggm-1QYvTR2dnvL6_LIzwfAzQPpLuDLSZ59HIYf9yoz1ZPrEYN56cXEXscOr-P2L7qx8V7ycIdovkHFXx/s400/Flag-Djibouti.jpg"/></a></div>
Really? I don't see it. Again, look at the shapes, the angle, the stripes, the colors, the number of points on the star. Red, 5-pointed, on a white canton, a triangle pointing toward the fly end, with two stripes, one of them green. Two of those colors aren't even on our new state flag. And am I the idiot for not being able to see how a red star on a white triangle, pointing outward from the hoist, is exactly similar to a white star on a dark blue, K-shaped canton? I ask again, am I the idiot?<br><br>
Meanwhile, I would now like to point out several examples of international flags that no one seems to have trouble telling apart despite their mutual similarities being much more pronounced than the supposedly identical Minnesota and Djibouti or Somalia flags. Like these three countries – Bangladesh, Japan and Palau. My goodness! How do they tell each other's flags apart?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsN-Z14-2_kVgSUx3pWk6n-JGc63BMVQJVdDoROMEghuohKw0L42MImsMqLD-pwzjzdpgs0fIOb3a-RSC_SF7YFcLd67XrmQUUy7eYXusdR1BLtcn3ONW5HAW4NUYWuel_jktt9sFEfxp7V7lnnyZwq2iiOSy8SN_poWxUvVuODUOiWS36LG7Cbh6qGK7J/s1200/bangladesh%20flag.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsN-Z14-2_kVgSUx3pWk6n-JGc63BMVQJVdDoROMEghuohKw0L42MImsMqLD-pwzjzdpgs0fIOb3a-RSC_SF7YFcLd67XrmQUUy7eYXusdR1BLtcn3ONW5HAW4NUYWuel_jktt9sFEfxp7V7lnnyZwq2iiOSy8SN_poWxUvVuODUOiWS36LG7Cbh6qGK7J/s400/bangladesh%20flag.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPUFhNHipamaPPx5cKkfO3LaTEYma3gG7PVeDA-XeAQH5Uv0Gs5LbZ5v5MdzVHoV6fHtPDcnVddCzVpiXQmJFN_vos5k3OpR8u4ZFVhC6_gwB4NYSbvZQ6ZzY5dUQfWYiC_qbselqoQgam6YlAb26iQgrRxazmQlKMudKd2iq6l0Z-PymFVP8iyz8tA6m/s1200/japan%20flag.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPUFhNHipamaPPx5cKkfO3LaTEYma3gG7PVeDA-XeAQH5Uv0Gs5LbZ5v5MdzVHoV6fHtPDcnVddCzVpiXQmJFN_vos5k3OpR8u4ZFVhC6_gwB4NYSbvZQ6ZzY5dUQfWYiC_qbselqoQgam6YlAb26iQgrRxazmQlKMudKd2iq6l0Z-PymFVP8iyz8tA6m/s400/japan%20flag.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuFh9hbjb7zOw6-n6MgvTnaEFeWC6lvOoXna7RdOiiuBnI9e1YTvG9L8SfZCte-eOfZ_uFBHKNKMufSaPDh2WksfOmfPdf5or-996hRKU8nlFULOW4g1XW2xxVo6wPcXEcNxgV09MLqfHzhu92WFQclIF2uRdul3Maj5U1d5TTejxS43v0NBJoaB3ydiD/s1600/palau%20flag.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvuFh9hbjb7zOw6-n6MgvTnaEFeWC6lvOoXna7RdOiiuBnI9e1YTvG9L8SfZCte-eOfZ_uFBHKNKMufSaPDh2WksfOmfPdf5or-996hRKU8nlFULOW4g1XW2xxVo6wPcXEcNxgV09MLqfHzhu92WFQclIF2uRdul3Maj5U1d5TTejxS43v0NBJoaB3ydiD/s400/palau%20flag.jpg"/></a></div>
Or how about these flags, representing (respectively) Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Oh, my gosh! How could they possibly expect people to keep those straight?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JMRbdaJ7DfPTzu810_h-wSnylT3PdvawF5D8F-cbRm1n_t0scxaPI7M9jjrMWcMjKMv27ds8zhNft9y1j7hrPiCixInMqpXXHl9cO-k8ZAKSsuIxszZmbOD6cZLEKU_cNsZYKLO_JnPtX1qlpoZezok5vbcpb19nceHRS5iJqL1Ae3tLlJXTeV9s_kg8/s2560/denmark%20flag.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1937" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JMRbdaJ7DfPTzu810_h-wSnylT3PdvawF5D8F-cbRm1n_t0scxaPI7M9jjrMWcMjKMv27ds8zhNft9y1j7hrPiCixInMqpXXHl9cO-k8ZAKSsuIxszZmbOD6cZLEKU_cNsZYKLO_JnPtX1qlpoZezok5vbcpb19nceHRS5iJqL1Ae3tLlJXTeV9s_kg8/s400/denmark%20flag.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFP5Q14Aary89rBmkILmioODGN437UyKGO86nY4m4kSFD19DCLy1xdFO2qbaTT_ps4uK_SDgLEWL7pfC0Ljts3NI3aBTe3hTiPCAF1Zk41HpjOD5DNyCpXQHkIHe0IG-QB-GNpy8G7HIRo82jd7ihc2P-ijjvcPqu87k9tH7Zkm70UC9FGpuKo1xh-dp-J/s1200/finland%20flag.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFP5Q14Aary89rBmkILmioODGN437UyKGO86nY4m4kSFD19DCLy1xdFO2qbaTT_ps4uK_SDgLEWL7pfC0Ljts3NI3aBTe3hTiPCAF1Zk41HpjOD5DNyCpXQHkIHe0IG-QB-GNpy8G7HIRo82jd7ihc2P-ijjvcPqu87k9tH7Zkm70UC9FGpuKo1xh-dp-J/s400/finland%20flag.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMCpoSki6gYkumw7Ij54sEKJho5e6J22C7NCfvjTXAyq7mflbpUK44LfLmyU6BqVVm0oxhiH1HTTeWFhc373jiSQfvhQMMRMSvU3Q3dqvh5XJRkC7cirIA2GPTOmpALEptvjUT8i1UyxU9vnZmZkCr5WnUOkvvtkvBvm94yzCvTJqZNUJy92edCbAPfGKx/s580/iceland%20flag.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="580" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMCpoSki6gYkumw7Ij54sEKJho5e6J22C7NCfvjTXAyq7mflbpUK44LfLmyU6BqVVm0oxhiH1HTTeWFhc373jiSQfvhQMMRMSvU3Q3dqvh5XJRkC7cirIA2GPTOmpALEptvjUT8i1UyxU9vnZmZkCr5WnUOkvvtkvBvm94yzCvTJqZNUJy92edCbAPfGKx/s400/iceland%20flag.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKI2RZ1KSD5_-RJBdgxs-bUfa_srG8wYCiILJbcewmyngHN7_aOkNJGIlKNerLeGF5ps_sS7nd6NKVSsEDf-Xw7fjtdFfa-Ps-v0WfSnc0pMTu3QGSKH-nEWabesV_B1yKFDOaO-g7TKHt5fS9cOpRpyQQyAXwGJxSe76boOHmG3mY6QyhZM_0j0zwBHXp/s800/norway%20flag.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKI2RZ1KSD5_-RJBdgxs-bUfa_srG8wYCiILJbcewmyngHN7_aOkNJGIlKNerLeGF5ps_sS7nd6NKVSsEDf-Xw7fjtdFfa-Ps-v0WfSnc0pMTu3QGSKH-nEWabesV_B1yKFDOaO-g7TKHt5fS9cOpRpyQQyAXwGJxSe76boOHmG3mY6QyhZM_0j0zwBHXp/s400/norway%20flag.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRf77_zkUs83stCM1i1zqpSl-ArT0RQgZcEeRLUuPXtKQo_wLBRSxUcr30qxBYTXpNszd12jt9yW1hvFmootXMv20e1uvLM-uUv5REuof8fnJaPae_2-6Xzs1iUTCQ-KmESuoa3GUPdTsnvyUa9UYCLOR1ZCCq5330xMa8rgPwtqHe8mrwXNA-01SFOt3/s1200/sweden%20flag.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRf77_zkUs83stCM1i1zqpSl-ArT0RQgZcEeRLUuPXtKQo_wLBRSxUcr30qxBYTXpNszd12jt9yW1hvFmootXMv20e1uvLM-uUv5REuof8fnJaPae_2-6Xzs1iUTCQ-KmESuoa3GUPdTsnvyUa9UYCLOR1ZCCq5330xMa8rgPwtqHe8mrwXNA-01SFOt3/s400/sweden%20flag.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh031TrHhHPjW10U2C3CPFRm8-h3SuIIU_sXhQnnpUgBluDZ-dJwCP9TzXd2oNURS3s3YoemUN1x4i6t6mIFIn-YtMkJDfPRSKoetnkQvcG6oCPKj4E473S0yyuUxQp-9BQprigP6qE4xybnuMidMUowTachJC2BQXzFGehXCMHB7DcHxu29tdj2ZccVvM/s800/switzerland%20flag.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh031TrHhHPjW10U2C3CPFRm8-h3SuIIU_sXhQnnpUgBluDZ-dJwCP9TzXd2oNURS3s3YoemUN1x4i6t6mIFIn-YtMkJDfPRSKoetnkQvcG6oCPKj4E473S0yyuUxQp-9BQprigP6qE4xybnuMidMUowTachJC2BQXzFGehXCMHB7DcHxu29tdj2ZccVvM/s400/switzerland%20flag.jpg"/></a></div>
And finally, with no further visual aids, consider all the umpty-ump countries whose flags comprise three stripes, horizontal or vertical, some of which are actually almost identical ... and if their similarity hasn't been a problem, what's wrong with Minnesota's truly unique and distinctive flag? It doesn't look remotely like the flags these folks are saying are exactly the same. I think they need to have their eyes checked.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-48733866085463113552023-12-27T23:31:00.010-06:002023-12-27T23:49:44.304-06:00Tacky Hymns 113We resume with the "Vocation, Ministry" section of hymnal supplement <i>All Creation Sings</i> ...<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisY2cRPw53D0i2NtKNC4R46nRvTwS4NdsPRZAKehUZxD17sLbpcLX-tfflS4r4Qf-B4D7_m-T_KHpawDiMT-9aKMDyI5ggiPuN7frVxL_23DBkp7G8mqT6o1D00h95e7SiQeHOf9-LicteUw0WWqDjO0lSzZTImz07qv4asd-5U4pEfuEUlN7QE6tlMBXQ/s374/wold.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisY2cRPw53D0i2NtKNC4R46nRvTwS4NdsPRZAKehUZxD17sLbpcLX-tfflS4r4Qf-B4D7_m-T_KHpawDiMT-9aKMDyI5ggiPuN7frVxL_23DBkp7G8mqT6o1D00h95e7SiQeHOf9-LicteUw0WWqDjO0lSzZTImz07qv4asd-5U4pEfuEUlN7QE6tlMBXQ/s200/wold.jpg"/></a></div><b>Hymn 1000 is "God's work, our hands"</b> by Wayne L. Wold (b. 1954) to David N. Johnson's (†1987) melody EARTH AND ALL STARS – accompaniment hidden – a tune that itself divides right from left within Lutheranism, and I say this as someone who was once karate-kicked in the neck for speaking my opinion of the hymn "Earth and all stars" in front of the wrong person. The guy almost ended me. But here I am to say that the new lyrics set to the same tune are even more of the left, giving the concept of Christian vocation an even more significant punch of political virtue as, for example, stanza 1 identifies doing the Lord's work/sharing His gospel with "building a future, repairng the world," etc. Noble goals to be sure. Stanza 2 does it for our feet, where our travels with Jesus include "marching for freedom" with "God's future the goal," a hint that the millennial purpose of our activism must certainly be His will. Stanza 3 does it for our voice, not merely praying and praising but also "shouting for justice," because Paul appealing to Rome was totally a matter of speaking truth to power and whatnot. Stanza 4 observes "God ... at work in and around us," with a nice reference to baptism and acknowledgment that our good works are a response to His love. So I risk looking like a world-class grinch when I point out that being a social justice warrior is neither the complete picture of Christian vocation nor the ministry of proclaiming the gospel. 3 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1001 and 1002 are "Holy woman, graceful giver"</b> by Susan Palo Cherwien (cf. backward in this thread), set to ALABASTER JAR by Anne Krentz Organ (b. 1960), accompaniment omitted. The first instance is subtitled "Mark 14" and the other, "John 12." The first hymn waxes poetic about the costly ointment that the unnamed woman in Mark 14 poured on Jesus' head; the second, about the perfume Mary used her hair to massage into Jesus' feet in John 12. In the first instance, we're a metaphor of that costly gift – broken, serving, and ill-deserving (Christ's) "rich, forgiving faith." Also, as it moves on, Christ becomes the point of the metaphor (here st. 3 employs the amazing adjective "Christly"), as He is broken and poured out for His nation. And then it goes back to us being the point of reference as the "hidden gift" of Christ's servants. If you're going to spiritualize or metaphorize an entire Bible story, though, I'd just as soon you delved deeper and more clearly into just one interpretation, while the profoundest one in sight – Christ's death and burial – gets short shrift. In the second hymn, Cherwien does mention His coming passion and burial (more specifically, at least, than the first hymn's mention of a "fatal hour"), but focuses more on the beauty of Mary's act of devotion, which blesses His heart with grace. I'm not kidding you; it says that (st. 2). But without lingering there for very long, it turns us-ward again, noting that "not all treasures gain and profit" with an immediate appeal to feed the poor. "Acts of love are never wasted," says stanza 4, and "beauty is a face of God," and Mary is a pattern for our way of living, and all that is quite correct but the space of time during which the servant love of Jesus is at the center of this hymn can be measured in fractions of a second. You know, how time and resources spent adoring Him because of His work for us is never wasted, etc. But the third use of the law has become so precious that it seems as if time is too precious to waste any more of it than strictly necessary mentioning the gospel. 3 tacks. Don't look at me like that. I'm spreading them between two hymns, after all.<br><br>
<b>1003 is "For such a time as this,"</b> first line "Could it be that we are called," by Jonathan Rundman (b. 1971), words and music. And now you know all of the lyrics to this hymn, which is squeezed into two systems at the bottom of the page below 1002, accompaniment omitted but with a descant line in tiny, ossia notes. It's just the above lyrics repeated twice, with tricky rhythm and a descant. It's all of 30 seconds long and will most likely be performed at the congregation by skilled and rehearsed performers. And what use is it, really, as a hymn? Where does it take the congregation? What does it give them? 3 tacks.<br><br>
The "Grace, Faith" section begins with <b>1004, "Faith begins by letting go"</b> by Carl P. Daw Jr. (b. 1944), set to the 19th century chorale RATISBON (cf. "Christ, whose glory fills the skies"). Stanza 1's definition of faith stresses the "taking risks and pressing on" aspect of a "pilgrimage both right and odd," i.e. a leap of faith in God. Stanza 2 flips the script to faith as holding on – remembering promises and possessing hope not through (our) merit "but by God's great faithfulness." St. 3 hits the "reaching out" emphasis, the communal aspect of faith through prayer, mutual service and witness. All very nice aspects of faith to touch on; but somewhere along the way it passed over the central, biblical witness that faith is the free gift of God that freely receives all of God's gifts. 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1005 is "Ask the complicated questions"</b> by David Bjorlin (b. 1984), set to the <i>Southern Harmony</i> tune RESTORATION, which LSB and ELW both used for different hymns. Bjorlin encourages the believer to question the truth and not be afraid to doubt, "for our God makes strong our weakness" (st. 1); to "seek the disconcerting answers," following where the Spirit blows, testing the wisdom of "competing truths" and finding new life "in tension" (st. 2); to "knock on doors of new ideas" (ah, did you catch that "ask, seek, knock"?), testing assumptions, etc. (st. 3); and finding truth through struggle as, through knocking, seeking and asking, "we are opened, answered, found." It's all very clever and I'm sure it'll go right to the heart of certain people who are made to explore the faith to the last, dark corner of philosophical abstraction; but it also brings to mind some nasty, cutthroat debates I've stumbled into with the proponents of "doubt is good" when my thesis was that ministers of the gospel should deliver the full assurance of faith. Silly me. 1 tack.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhT5AtSX47JcVXxn-PoHaR5mIdlP_27KXpntSkpq-dszv8oP3FgMe5iKh556RCG1F8TdJ1K1Gqe-12g_Ldhs4kvBY775sdbiu0-bGYVHyOF5mjCy5XumS_fclNCHeqeprt_hyphenhyphenUAN-VLBzk83BlJLD6FN9EPieOi31FEpHKuakqpf-TkJGkAWLv67LSjAcz/s1280/rundman.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhT5AtSX47JcVXxn-PoHaR5mIdlP_27KXpntSkpq-dszv8oP3FgMe5iKh556RCG1F8TdJ1K1Gqe-12g_Ldhs4kvBY775sdbiu0-bGYVHyOF5mjCy5XumS_fclNCHeqeprt_hyphenhyphenUAN-VLBzk83BlJLD6FN9EPieOi31FEpHKuakqpf-TkJGkAWLv67LSjAcz/s200/rundman.jpg"/></a></div><b>1006 is "By grace we have been saved"</b> by Rundman, set to the tune BY GRACE co-written by Rundman and Nathan Houge (b. 1977), accompaniment omitted. And that accompaniment is evidently quite important, as there are bar-and-a-half-long tacets between phrases suggesting an instrumental cue that my type of sight-reader really wants to see on the page. The bottom of the page is well blotted with copyright notices. The refrain is very Ephesians 2-ish, but the three stanzas are encouraging, greeting-card sentiments founded on the lyricist's ideas. I mean, the next handful of verses in Ephesians 2 are right there, but he doesn't go there. He goes to whether you're feeling weak or strong, "just listen to the song" (st. 1). He goes to resting quietly and finding, in the stillness, what a lovely, precious child you are in God's design (st. 2). He goes to don't be afraid; you're not alone; there is mercy, hope and love in the great impersonal abstraction that you're evidently to put your trust in. See my <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2010/07/norwegian-style-tackiness-6.html">savage review</a> of "There's a wideness in God's mercy," which ought to tell you all you need to know, and more, about why this hymn irks me. Put in crassly simple terms, after the refrain's "it is the gift of God" there isn't a single mention of anything God does for us in Christ. Despite what the refrain plainly says, the verses kinda leave it all on you. 3 tacks.<br><br>
We move on to the "Confession, Forgiveness" section, where <b>1007 is "Khudaya, rahem kar,"</b> a Pakistani traditional paraphrase of the Kyrie (set to a Pakistani tune transcribed by R.P. Liberius) whose actual language, Urdu, isn't even mentioned by name in the almost unreadably tiny footnote that explains what the Urdu lyrics mean and how to pronounce them. In addition to being probably the first Urdu lyrics a hymnal has ever asked the users of ACS to sing, it also features multiple types of grace notes and pitch-bending notations going both up to and down from the printed note. It's a single, long stanza, nine systems long, accompaniment omitted, with nothing but repetitiveness to help any helpless non-Urdu-speaking Lutherans who might stray into trying to sing this. It's going to be a trainwreck unless rehearsed; and so, probably, either a solo or an ensemble piece, sung at but not by the congregation. Sure, Urdu is the 10th most spoken language in the world; but I ask you, how likely is it that having an Urdu Kyrie will ever be useful for an American Lutheran congregation? 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1008 is "Forgive your people"</b> by an anonymous Spanish author and composer, translated by Martin A. Seltz (b. 1951), with four stanzas each in Spanish and English. I'm actually impressed by the simple and direct way this hymn pleads for forgiveness for all the insults our sins added to Christ's passion. Stanza 3 pleads, "Show us your feet, your hands," stanza 4 that His life outpoured may flow through us and His death restore and renew us. Funny how a non-English-speaking author whose name no one bothered to note down seems to get hymnwriting on a level that the high-falutin' arteests of the anglophone hymn-writing community struggle with. For omitting the accompaniment and, once again, forgetting that this isn't a Spanish-language hymnal with all the weird thinking that suggests, 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1009 is "Come, bring your burdens to God"</b> from an unnamed South African source, crediting the English translation to three people despite there being only two lines of poetry. (Hint: The copyright blurb mentions the Iona Community.) It's presented both in English and the original Xhosa, a language that the tiny, all-but-unreadable footnote at least deigns to mention by name while also providing an admittedly "approximate pronunciation." Besides the first line, repeated three times, all there is to it is "for Jesus will never say no" – a questionable promise to make in the context of prayer, unless we are strictly talking about pleading for forgiveness. I'm a little concerned about that, but also about how this little snippet of traditional African-style harmony is going to occupy enough time to be worthwhile in the worship context. Will a choir be singing this? Will the congregation manage it in parts? How many times are they going to repeat it, and to what effect? So many questions. Let's say 2 tacks.<br><br>
<b>1010 is "Wind and cold roar"</b> with words and music by Homero R. Perera (†2019), translated from Spanish by Madeleine Forell Marshall (b. 1946), with lyrics in both Spanish and English and no accompaniment; you see where I'm going with this. It apparently hails from the Social Gospel tradition, confessing our sin of some people having and others having not and the inequalities of the world that are, on the face of things, unfair. By stanza 3 we're actually taking responsibility for "violence and hatred ... terror, slaughter, war" and resolving to give bread to the hungry. And the refrain actually, flatly asserts that by getting what we have, we "cost our neighbors loss," which is tantamount to saying that everything you earn is stolen from somebody else. Property being theft, you know. I can't be 100 percent sure but I broadly suspect that this hymn puts into believers' mouths the confession of a sin that isn't necessarily theirs, unless we're talking about the "no matter how much you do, it's never enough" angle of repentance. But if that was the case, shouldn't there be gospel in this hymn, too? 4 tacks, including three for the reasons noted above and one for just being a Communist manifesto disguised as a Christian hymn.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvV62hb-w3rKCznSRkFPICmD5j8Nl2Ui6OZp5TDsPfEMaYgDFeR4DjVNGaB32cqU4SUsLrAYCMoWsIN9fu8hqPdPzUK6uO5mfeHqxkqPOEWOSVO8ZmtD5coroBSpWBP-feFESYZMVcq0NxFKxf19PBIg7OVoxO4FaCa9W4lq3qRA2ENirHCJeTyq7UHqjF/s800/schwandt.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvV62hb-w3rKCznSRkFPICmD5j8Nl2Ui6OZp5TDsPfEMaYgDFeR4DjVNGaB32cqU4SUsLrAYCMoWsIN9fu8hqPdPzUK6uO5mfeHqxkqPOEWOSVO8ZmtD5coroBSpWBP-feFESYZMVcq0NxFKxf19PBIg7OVoxO4FaCa9W4lq3qRA2ENirHCJeTyq7UHqjF/s200/schwandt.jpg"/></a></div><b>1011 is "Holy God"</b>, a setting of the Trisagion ("... holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us") set to the tune CHICAGO TRISAGION by Daniel Schwandt (b. 1977). Man, that tune title sure is dissonant. Like TORONTO OFFERTORIUM or BRONX REQUIEM (I could go on all day like this), the tonal mismatch could be downright comical. I know, it's just me. I'm always finding reasons to snicker at hymn tune titles, like thinking about <i>Wayne's World</i> when I see SCHWING DICH AUF, and it reveals more about me than the piece in question. This is a very brief piece and probably belongs more in the liturgy section than among the hymns (cough) I mean "assembly song." 1 tack.<br><br>
<b>1012 is "To you all hearts are open"</b> by John Tirro (b. 1966), based on a collect in the <i>Book of Common Prayer</i> and set to Tirro's own tune, accompaniment omitted. Like a collect, it says in the credit line, but it doesn't actually ask God for anything; it just concludes, "We come to you." It's bracketed with repeat signs, making "We come to you all hearts are open" a sentence that starts heading in one direction and flips another way around, except on what the score text describes as "last time" – and that, I shudder to note, means this little four-phrase ditty will be repeated indefinitely until somebody decides we've suffered enough and puts a stop to it. Also, the all-but-unreadably tiny footnote does talk about switching the term of address in the third line during the repeats, suggesting a few alternatives but also, significantly, leaving that avenue of variation open to an indefinite number of repeats. That's potentially a lot of time to spend repeating the part of an 11th century prayer that doesn't actually ask for anything. My idea of hell, during the hour(s) of worship. 4 tacks.<br><br>
I could go further, but I don't want to. With an additional 29 tacks, we're accumulated 211 tacks in 112 hymns – a numerical palindrome! And a cumulative tackiness rate of 188 percent! Next on deck is the "Healing, wholeness" section, and we're going to need healing after some of the stuff I see coming up. Now, I'm off to wash my eyes!RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-11562188657972977902023-12-26T11:13:00.004-06:002023-12-27T15:55:34.140-06:00Strange New Worlds, Season 2My DVD of Season 2 of the best Star Trek series of the current millennium arrived by mail last week, and I've watched every episode twice already. Boy, am I a fan.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRPToPI7wjMHozBPMx2729sbIkPwqSWS-nlKIgxtE3ScO71FERKV4A8MFBQqyl-dgmnW7NFi2MHaz-u18KbQOdugDCsi-RQK5GGEkMSHhuxnaEu-RG64JuJUq6FNdYSenRTciMf5Q-G9ZXyQarquLO4tT_EZyPg7br1jWfRXOKaI2q0lrnbGmtvnu1Rr_/s701/Pelia.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="633" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNRPToPI7wjMHozBPMx2729sbIkPwqSWS-nlKIgxtE3ScO71FERKV4A8MFBQqyl-dgmnW7NFi2MHaz-u18KbQOdugDCsi-RQK5GGEkMSHhuxnaEu-RG64JuJUq6FNdYSenRTciMf5Q-G9ZXyQarquLO4tT_EZyPg7br1jWfRXOKaI2q0lrnbGmtvnu1Rr_/s200/Pelia.jpg"/></a></div>This season introduces a new chief engineer on the USS Enterprise: Pelia, a member of the Lanthanite tribe that are virtually immortal, and that lived undetected among humans for thousands of years. She's played by comedy legend Carol Kane as a sort of direct opposite to the late Hemmer, who was killed off at the end of Season 1. You'll see Bruce Horak a couple times in this season, however; primarily in Uhura's home video footage and, um, hallucinations, but also playing a Klingon commander.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivQhGRDPeKm5_Ap4hOq54j7pn246jEepyMi0W9nva5-6xVGquPqOKHK_q3sNnKYNQnHXh1KUJS95_wGFE2NENSysQ_rBrGG_YQEPvFng-sCPKsDWNmBekY7ZJeIBCsKyUXqJpLuPH3HZT-ydCFS9cSDsK6CqNJb52aFVt0dMg8lwzDMgeZEQ63swHw7ySq/s727/Kirk.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="727" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivQhGRDPeKm5_Ap4hOq54j7pn246jEepyMi0W9nva5-6xVGquPqOKHK_q3sNnKYNQnHXh1KUJS95_wGFE2NENSysQ_rBrGG_YQEPvFng-sCPKsDWNmBekY7ZJeIBCsKyUXqJpLuPH3HZT-ydCFS9cSDsK6CqNJb52aFVt0dMg8lwzDMgeZEQ63swHw7ySq/s200/Kirk.jpg"/></a></div>Meantime, Paul Wesley comes back several times as James T. Kirk. When he appeared in Season 1, it was as an alternate-timeline Kirk whose encounter with the Enterprises nobody but Pike would later remember. But now he appears, first in <i>another</i> alternate timeline, then as his prime universe self, establishing some important relationships for the Original Series canon. <br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsB4z1Cmu_p32hJW73OfecVctHmPX4YUkaa0Prne2wsvVnzCRfQZSI0vXjE82arlTfSoGxDrZuG1uHYCjyrjc5cYjOa_5ge-nLzPVbA5719EqlUPjvXAtltJwmylH-iZIWXxCIrhids0no-4MhfGbshQb1-kTsJZHBm7bU5Bhyphenhyphenk-ezR8HIgv_k04vCLMjN/s516/scotty.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="516" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsB4z1Cmu_p32hJW73OfecVctHmPX4YUkaa0Prne2wsvVnzCRfQZSI0vXjE82arlTfSoGxDrZuG1uHYCjyrjc5cYjOa_5ge-nLzPVbA5719EqlUPjvXAtltJwmylH-iZIWXxCIrhids0no-4MhfGbshQb1-kTsJZHBm7bU5Bhyphenhyphenk-ezR8HIgv_k04vCLMjN/s200/scotty.jpg"/></a></div>And finally, casting wise, Martin Quinn turns up in the season finale as Montgomery Scott, Lieutenant junior grade – and it's Pelia who we first hear calling him Scotty. Here to stay? Hard to tell. The season ends with a cliffhanger, don't cha know.<br><br>
An ongoing theme in this season of Capt. Pike-Trek is love and how it challenges the development of multiple characters. Pike is in a relationship with fellow captain Marie Batel, which is tested at multiple points throughout this season's 10 episodes. Spock's engagement with T'Pring hits a speed bump, leading to an affair with Christine Chapel that has trouble of its own. (There's also a tease of Christine's eventual engagement with Dr. Roger Korby, depicted in the TOS episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?") Also, events during this season involving Jim Kirk open up a vulnerability in La'an that will break fans' hearts over and over. The first time alternate-timeline Kirk leans in for a kiss, I almost hissed, "Don't toy with her, Kirk." But he does worse than toy with her, and coming to terms with that back in the prime timeline forms a major part of La'an's story arc for the remainder of the season.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7nkYETO9p_8wsrkeVuIEkN9pEUtQIbepZSeL9kFCcYgNlCok72967G4ema8gXrelcSfmeF70gVqELs49b-b8uXLqB7uQtE1Tk4j8ZZQ3kv2l8xAdsRCW47TDU8eCjBDs3FKTFyxQ8LNkyOqgCkOZPGoIUdq-QO3t54JbzjPYsV1uUkKzGblzwMq2_Nrtp/s1400/bloodwine.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7nkYETO9p_8wsrkeVuIEkN9pEUtQIbepZSeL9kFCcYgNlCok72967G4ema8gXrelcSfmeF70gVqELs49b-b8uXLqB7uQtE1Tk4j8ZZQ3kv2l8xAdsRCW47TDU8eCjBDs3FKTFyxQ8LNkyOqgCkOZPGoIUdq-QO3t54JbzjPYsV1uUkKzGblzwMq2_Nrtp/s200/bloodwine.jpg"/></a></div>Here's a brief rundown of the episodes. In "<b>The Broken Circle</b>," we find the Enterprises divided, with La'an still on leave, Una under arrest for being genetically modified and Pike off looking for a lawyer to defend her. This leaves Spock in command, and when Starfleet denies his request to follow up on an urgent distress call from La'an, he decides to steal the Enterprise from spacedock, complete with an inspection engineer (Pelia) who considers it the best fun she's had in 100 years. They end up on a planet jointly administered by the Federation and the Klingon Empire, trying to protect the fragile peace while a group of yahoos tries to reignite the recent war. The main theme of the episode seems to be that Spock isn't your average Vulcan. It's hard to tell which is more entertaining to see: Spock's agony on seeing Christine in mortal peril, or his obvious "Klingon hangover" after negotiating peace with the Klingon commander over a barrel of blood wine.
"<b>Ad Astra Per Aspera</b>" is the courtroom melodrama in which Una is tried for the Federation crime of being an Illyrian, and lying about it on her Starfleet entrance application. It plays as one of Trek's politically relevant episodes, addressing the issues of "othering" and marginalizing people on the basis of race – apparently something humanity hasn't outgrown as of the 23rd century. "<b>Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow</b>" is La'an's time-travel adventure to 21st century Toronto with an alternate-timeline Kirk. Romantic sparks fly between them, partly because he doesn't blink at the name "Noonien-Singh" (which, frankly, should have been a much bigger clue). Pelia also gets an entertaining backstory in this episode. "<b>Among the Lotus Eaters</b>" takes the Enterprise back to the planet where Pike lost three crewmen – the incident Jeffrey Hunter-era Pike was mourning in original Trek pilot "The Cage." The planet in question turns out to be a new kind of nightmare that will likely give lots of viewers the willies, on a level they've never gotten from Trek before.<br><br>
"<b>Charades</b>" flips the tone to broad comedy, with a weird alien encounter somehow turning Spock fully human. While I appreciate the laughs, which come in swarms, I have to admit that this is the type of Spock treatment that strains my willing suspension of disbelief. Surely, after a lifetime of learning Vulcan mental discipline, simply having his Vulcan DNA removed wouldn't instantly change Spock into a petulant human teenager. A little genetic jiggery-pokery couldn't possibly erase his knowledge, experience and deeply ingrained character. But so it does in this episode, and with his hateful mother-in-law-to-be coming on board to judge him (along with a comically spineless father-in-law, his longsuffering fiancee and his own dear mom) there couldn't be a worse time for it. The upshot ends up being a catalyst for an all-too-brief romance with Nurse Chapel.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33ITZymEWKHoWPg7lRqWcIKYrSqrXNDOIC-dco3cjCqqTiJrm10Y-9-bWjjGvmOUu7xyEsBXPxIFeLW3rGL9SqcTT0oIhTzmjcUtk7tpOgpDGA-CqQ2TGp05CiUVR0BBVgur5LF43hk4AGUEVr_51a8XaG9C6TDEbbOH5Z3L1PJZEdPPvtLlCZnxKhQCk/s780/boimler.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="780" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh33ITZymEWKHoWPg7lRqWcIKYrSqrXNDOIC-dco3cjCqqTiJrm10Y-9-bWjjGvmOUu7xyEsBXPxIFeLW3rGL9SqcTT0oIhTzmjcUtk7tpOgpDGA-CqQ2TGp05CiUVR0BBVgur5LF43hk4AGUEVr_51a8XaG9C6TDEbbOH5Z3L1PJZEdPPvtLlCZnxKhQCk/s200/boimler.jpg"/></a></div>"<b>Lost in Translation</b>" is the Uhura-centric episode where the hardworking ensign starts showing signs of burnout, if not downright mental illness. Though there turns out to be a sci-fi explanation for it all, for a while the episode is about dealing with grief and seeking help for mental health issues. "<b>Those Old Scientists</b>" (note the initials) is a comedy-gold crossover episode involving characters from Star Trek: Lower Decks. First Boimler, then Mariner come through a time portal, and their silly antics threaten the integrity of future history while also hitting important points on the character arcs of Spock, Chapel, Uhura and Number One. "<b>Under the Cloak of War</b>" is a war-is-hell, PTSD episode centering on Chapel and M'Benga, who witnessed a pivotal battle in the Klingon war and who are therefore unequipped to deal with a pacifist, Klingon ambassador who, in his previous role as a general, gained the nickname "Butcher of J'gal." This episode goes super-dark and has a mindblowing plot twist at the end, which could leave viewers pondering and debating ad infinitum. <br><br>
"<b>Subspace Rhapsody</b>" does either the inevitable or the inconceivable, depending on your point of view: it turns the Enterprises into the cast of a Broadway musical. Of course, a subspace anomaly is behind it all, and figuring out how to prevent it from destroying the entire Federation becomes a matter worthy of (and, coincidentally, requiring) a Grand Finale. The tunes are actually pretty good, particularly the solos by La'an and Uhura. <br><br>
Finally, the briefly teased threat of a war with the Gorn sneaks up and bonks everyone over the head in the season finale cliffhanger, "<b>Hegemony</b>." It also proves to be the episode that puts the Pike-Batel and Spock-Chapel romantic subplots to their ultimate test. You get to see adult Gorns for the first time in this series, including a killer zero-gravity, space-suited combat scene between Spock and a hero Gorn. It's the one where Scotty enters the storyline, and it faces everybody with the kind of danger that leaves you calculating which characters <i>could</i> get killed off without affecting franchise continuity. And now, you may commence biting your nails until Season 3 airs.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigT0I9u5Ka-rCKO1hdG5EH55WN2wqRD628f5pzrIuXBhtcNcoxnAUb285IgqnN0VP179KWGcuzDpky8rJvNSSM7iYzJEOb06r27LRfDlHTL6Yp-DGXmEDYuwyp6ZOcqodl_BMElB-37CvHpFmdBmuTdXCEuyAytGWkpve5bva6mQuvstDRWWHqOpeqCXLH/s1500/grandfinale.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigT0I9u5Ka-rCKO1hdG5EH55WN2wqRD628f5pzrIuXBhtcNcoxnAUb285IgqnN0VP179KWGcuzDpky8rJvNSSM7iYzJEOb06r27LRfDlHTL6Yp-DGXmEDYuwyp6ZOcqodl_BMElB-37CvHpFmdBmuTdXCEuyAytGWkpve5bva6mQuvstDRWWHqOpeqCXLH/s200/grandfinale.jpg"/></a></div>Here are my Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) La'an subspace-transmission stalks prime-universe Kirk after she gets back from her time escapade, only to verify that he isn't the Kirk she fell in love with in 21st century Toronto ... and oh, boy, does that hurt. The kind of hurt that keeps on giving, such as in the musical episode when she tells him all about it and confirms, all over again, that he isn't her Kirk. That guy doesn't have to lift a finger to break her heart, and I felt so protective of her because her vulnerability was so powerfully portrayed. (2) Boimler tumbles out of the time portal at the feet of the Enterprises and, before passing out, says, "You look very realistic!" A line that works on multiple levels. I really got a kick out of watching Jack Quaid, as a live actor, physically embodying the animated character he has heretofore only voiced. Despite being disproportionately tall, he really pulled it off. (3) M'Benga lays down that mindblowing plot twist before his final grapple with Ambassador Rah. Like, wow. And the ambiguity over what actually happened in that scene has already triggered a debate between me and my dad. Solid stuff.RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-59337205429925284602023-12-26T09:53:00.007-06:002023-12-26T09:58:22.338-06:00State Flags, You're Welcome (Part 3)Wrapping up my proposed redesigns of various state flags of the U.S., which nobody asked me for ... here's where Oklahoma is currently at:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWpYW6YZrJo0UQ9DvuZ0PLrbkWpX5M_ghPs0W81FjYdi5_fZpG-6p9BEn3qoj0t8d8_NH3LejYwF0vqhrnZaj5Zf1Ro_nVDlOtrDh-8B9VUajwiZqq_q4u-UP8sQORYtBEmiNYF8W-FPdEziHcIc8Dx-SiwPD0IS5cHxo4cqp9wIt-SuFkW9GYXuSLNVh/s1280/Oklahoma.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWpYW6YZrJo0UQ9DvuZ0PLrbkWpX5M_ghPs0W81FjYdi5_fZpG-6p9BEn3qoj0t8d8_NH3LejYwF0vqhrnZaj5Zf1Ro_nVDlOtrDh-8B9VUajwiZqq_q4u-UP8sQORYtBEmiNYF8W-FPdEziHcIc8Dx-SiwPD0IS5cHxo4cqp9wIt-SuFkW9GYXuSLNVh/s400/Oklahoma.png"/></a></div>
Not bad, but it could be better:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcIxcmwQW_DtPo2-xr_EEmBjF5nyhtaw8WJdV_QJKlflWQ2T5dZNviAUKF0Ff216Jfhajx5oU7j4bfc0cyO1h0FcZx6c_IjaHMyt3JqcGa7FUidtNcHzC9bkO_UhrA9tryXHhN0_DBHDwDUjMETRtzCdm8zBuqDNN1bUA6a8xhgdyqqJN3DtR4PnalyvN4/s1280/Oklahoma%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcIxcmwQW_DtPo2-xr_EEmBjF5nyhtaw8WJdV_QJKlflWQ2T5dZNviAUKF0Ff216Jfhajx5oU7j4bfc0cyO1h0FcZx6c_IjaHMyt3JqcGa7FUidtNcHzC9bkO_UhrA9tryXHhN0_DBHDwDUjMETRtzCdm8zBuqDNN1bUA6a8xhgdyqqJN3DtR4PnalyvN4/s400/Oklahoma%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
Possibly the absolute worst out of all 50 states' flags, here's Oregon on the "obvserse" (i.e. front) side:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYAe4lb2fJqxW92t0fDovxJLZftcVhF3SP2SWkZ4Xz4p8-sJOGnr5sB3VaH76KDacjF2ztJuHTLHLnUSRs79F-4DyuovDAMK6pfpb8_4gQ2xyEHN8Iv4g-eVJpYyCksm7HonqNv3P_wOyVtL2GGdohNyVIRGa-z9HNoGID0nfelcKgVR37JklCCpoyM8r/s290/Oregon.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYAe4lb2fJqxW92t0fDovxJLZftcVhF3SP2SWkZ4Xz4p8-sJOGnr5sB3VaH76KDacjF2ztJuHTLHLnUSRs79F-4DyuovDAMK6pfpb8_4gQ2xyEHN8Iv4g-eVJpYyCksm7HonqNv3P_wOyVtL2GGdohNyVIRGa-z9HNoGID0nfelcKgVR37JklCCpoyM8r/s400/Oregon.png"/></a></div>
It actually has this on the reverse side, and a good start might be just to go with this image on both sides:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAiiBs3FzKGoC1Spu4yEn6i3X89xEpwkUelc19NoqeMY5DJN2qDXNLbpCZy9StUC92UI6_ppc4_ivIJDKcOoIeH5_z9j8EX0i5cvLrYKIecA3D6GHQXpT-98ocseaua1hFUXqN66Uf5wzExqJwNeYSadkGUnUGKurI5Dsr-3RCRjRNNXyYhyCUcdrDlFj/s1600/Oregon%20reverse.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAiiBs3FzKGoC1Spu4yEn6i3X89xEpwkUelc19NoqeMY5DJN2qDXNLbpCZy9StUC92UI6_ppc4_ivIJDKcOoIeH5_z9j8EX0i5cvLrYKIecA3D6GHQXpT-98ocseaua1hFUXqN66Uf5wzExqJwNeYSadkGUnUGKurI5Dsr-3RCRjRNNXyYhyCUcdrDlFj/s400/Oregon%20reverse.jpg"/></a></div>
Pennsylvania takes us back to the hackneyed theme of a state seal on a blue field:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbLq89MuSW7d92pzUcikgi2OS1l1VQvfxBroofW40doYg8-G0SQuQt7vyFWjy2qOltg-0ZKMvuIGMqZ-S54cVGrUA5t3V8f_xcC0TmoQtuppGpYCYWlJKnf8jMfUV21Sw_PqPDq6wCckJYbLI0bIRHQlObHwvBYoahwV-XNDLeVYHkbedrJ3_R3Yi9DPB/s1600/Pennsylvania.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbLq89MuSW7d92pzUcikgi2OS1l1VQvfxBroofW40doYg8-G0SQuQt7vyFWjy2qOltg-0ZKMvuIGMqZ-S54cVGrUA5t3V8f_xcC0TmoQtuppGpYCYWlJKnf8jMfUV21Sw_PqPDq6wCckJYbLI0bIRHQlObHwvBYoahwV-XNDLeVYHkbedrJ3_R3Yi9DPB/s400/Pennsylvania.jpg"/></a></div>
Also just a start, but applying a lighter shade of blue (eyedroppered from the sky inside the shield):
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgul38XlA_VnexoywFBo99h8mRz8g01uFaQ4chshDkBr51apu86RtcTugGGNiDlEr3dez9CIW0Fg_Yzp1qFVU64Qwy26GoAnH60sYhuKOygxPVm4RMRQ6maah3cK0vR-9C7AmgiNAqUEn4hqgSZUTeLFS1FgtVDpDO_IAHCmU5lmaWOJ9canAOZitPNMMST/s1600/Pennsylvania%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgul38XlA_VnexoywFBo99h8mRz8g01uFaQ4chshDkBr51apu86RtcTugGGNiDlEr3dez9CIW0Fg_Yzp1qFVU64Qwy26GoAnH60sYhuKOygxPVm4RMRQ6maah3cK0vR-9C7AmgiNAqUEn4hqgSZUTeLFS1FgtVDpDO_IAHCmU5lmaWOJ9canAOZitPNMMST/s400/Pennsylvania%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
South Dakota as is, with too much unnecessary verbiage:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJnakViHIeyOMLnZz4Zzn8eD-yJ61le2-ghR-YGdAp9h3qPrOwXfMOGCOtKj5q_EiBFofCjLrRHzeciJlia0Iv3Elc32GPQ92kDAUoebosStcZwODb-6poruOsFQNWnCmK9zIAvUe3p6gG_ZqNkoGvTbHnzWOqRVE8QTee9l8jyey665yu_vHQcZaxbNlH/s800/SD.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJnakViHIeyOMLnZz4Zzn8eD-yJ61le2-ghR-YGdAp9h3qPrOwXfMOGCOtKj5q_EiBFofCjLrRHzeciJlia0Iv3Elc32GPQ92kDAUoebosStcZwODb-6poruOsFQNWnCmK9zIAvUe3p6gG_ZqNkoGvTbHnzWOqRVE8QTee9l8jyey665yu_vHQcZaxbNlH/s400/SD.jpg"/></a></div>
South Dakota as could be, with the state motto visualized:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFjDUojPfZ0YXgPcbEW6yEw2G-d5UngwDmsN-Pp_H_KGGmdQ_1EazN23UpOkn5rT9lxvUSyQm1w46hib5BKQL-RQzYi0rgUq0F_U9K4QRvGwiMk1YbYunUagY_50brLLdZMLLqfIww-bgkO68i9H29Gz1yK8YMwYVQxkdkxAMrixm-X3wEe-wCxjx6MHhd/s800/SD%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFjDUojPfZ0YXgPcbEW6yEw2G-d5UngwDmsN-Pp_H_KGGmdQ_1EazN23UpOkn5rT9lxvUSyQm1w46hib5BKQL-RQzYi0rgUq0F_U9K4QRvGwiMk1YbYunUagY_50brLLdZMLLqfIww-bgkO68i9H29Gz1yK8YMwYVQxkdkxAMrixm-X3wEe-wCxjx6MHhd/s400/SD%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
Vermont as is:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpHfPCKzMVeZ_sX7CgXNP7KwWnCrl6mjcyazcZc1tc0OfPNS1W4b8-vJDT3QvGumG7gBb-hu3byTjsxNCtrKGZP6YEwGPGNVIMwr-igSixi8OQqlPsgSyAlmUvjuMdhSwDoG_8fHrbOM9yW5-0yWqQKvdGh63z7kT_I6bq56eoq4OqoLe80TY0V8Q72fg/s1600/Vermont.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpHfPCKzMVeZ_sX7CgXNP7KwWnCrl6mjcyazcZc1tc0OfPNS1W4b8-vJDT3QvGumG7gBb-hu3byTjsxNCtrKGZP6YEwGPGNVIMwr-igSixi8OQqlPsgSyAlmUvjuMdhSwDoG_8fHrbOM9yW5-0yWqQKvdGh63z7kT_I6bq56eoq4OqoLe80TY0V8Q72fg/s400/Vermont.jpg"/></a></div><br>
Vermont, with less chit-chat, less blue and a bit simpler:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUhyg3I7Sps9hVsXGvNBjws5zj8oRBPR0zOqJoW7QWOMXSEb4VtX19TSBjWaZyk3zR9nXQISaizMhadMhsPLMbGZxn2u1MyLjfLuf1r19U3vU1otD59LMUeLsxlzL_ZPFWpSGXx06ra-W03UnHH68k5wfmcGrxoW3z_XX3VsLg1sWqDvBs6-2Vgh8eiE2R/s1600/Vermont%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUhyg3I7Sps9hVsXGvNBjws5zj8oRBPR0zOqJoW7QWOMXSEb4VtX19TSBjWaZyk3zR9nXQISaizMhadMhsPLMbGZxn2u1MyLjfLuf1r19U3vU1otD59LMUeLsxlzL_ZPFWpSGXx06ra-W03UnHH68k5wfmcGrxoW3z_XX3VsLg1sWqDvBs6-2Vgh8eiE2R/s400/Vermont%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
Virginia, with the state's name boldly and unnecessarily spelled out:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49-lYnRmqu2r69nWABE5BUjtQjRSqxUS9gJLBRpzjHr8KaUZCORFGcmT4SlkrGkdr1c_FQ3ldmkFtgqnSs6F73GP47eTBeO5cnTI8sXJyTlcMkldsYLO4lAwD-wDJyyOFszlMZZZm61_MZj40PGvPneOl4xoQMBLgpCGjvGPlaH5Az_gf8ncBgEEDXjPW/s1280/Virginia.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49-lYnRmqu2r69nWABE5BUjtQjRSqxUS9gJLBRpzjHr8KaUZCORFGcmT4SlkrGkdr1c_FQ3ldmkFtgqnSs6F73GP47eTBeO5cnTI8sXJyTlcMkldsYLO4lAwD-wDJyyOFszlMZZZm61_MZj40PGvPneOl4xoQMBLgpCGjvGPlaH5Az_gf8ncBgEEDXjPW/s400/Virginia.jpg"/></a></div>
And without:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfyt4AWnhLstpWsVs3ee_bt5sal8edx7_9D9qKHVOClVb-WjKydNfIfzLDG6A4O_y5GGIHllyTP4M2k1EhgoGTyo9srqmdIja2AsdnmGF_M4ax-yKZeyMSLb3sRNoyUg0UGxCK_7geJeJv8P2Eb99Y-3RrL8DgZK4kgNYvLd6lahAbRMr7Fnh4B_rzNhBk/s1180/VirginiaSimplified.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="746" data-original-width="1180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfyt4AWnhLstpWsVs3ee_bt5sal8edx7_9D9qKHVOClVb-WjKydNfIfzLDG6A4O_y5GGIHllyTP4M2k1EhgoGTyo9srqmdIja2AsdnmGF_M4ax-yKZeyMSLb3sRNoyUg0UGxCK_7geJeJv8P2Eb99Y-3RrL8DgZK4kgNYvLd6lahAbRMr7Fnh4B_rzNhBk/s400/VirginiaSimplified.jpg"/></a></div>
Washington, with a state seal that pedantically tells you what it is:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeP7uhsv04bBPxtb738mWdZRtWTNXGWa-COhaj41AhWcLl2EVaL8oQJ6IiPoim9ts_S3vIhS0Ae3mFBPMkxS4vYZGGsJDsNkEEa3g_thpnk9DruBBipokTD0-NoK2e3WJGHqlkIk6vkGFNtJNPrrtORS44o_diafwkY5XC3guER_MNMXNjgx3ExrTmH5bT/s612/Washington.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeP7uhsv04bBPxtb738mWdZRtWTNXGWa-COhaj41AhWcLl2EVaL8oQJ6IiPoim9ts_S3vIhS0Ae3mFBPMkxS4vYZGGsJDsNkEEa3g_thpnk9DruBBipokTD0-NoK2e3WJGHqlkIk6vkGFNtJNPrrtORS44o_diafwkY5XC3guER_MNMXNjgx3ExrTmH5bT/s400/Washington.jpg"/></a></div>
And now without the painfully obvious:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ShfvaZu9tZ-pawITONoXjoqG7VY-k70ldpvvcH5NWCiytkr-caF1SiZ9l63TbYi2-nZB4PxV3Pb2I2C3vWSOD_nY8ePGyhQVsnnPYJosbAdCyWQVjr8ty0PDC0_xb6PV6njg2WtQpU8lXLFDFcSDmnjPnuQGepICmehT2wteBLHB20BjlQYrAaYu5d32/s486/Washington%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ShfvaZu9tZ-pawITONoXjoqG7VY-k70ldpvvcH5NWCiytkr-caF1SiZ9l63TbYi2-nZB4PxV3Pb2I2C3vWSOD_nY8ePGyhQVsnnPYJosbAdCyWQVjr8ty0PDC0_xb6PV6njg2WtQpU8lXLFDFcSDmnjPnuQGepICmehT2wteBLHB20BjlQYrAaYu5d32/s400/Washington%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
Wisconsin, all obnoxious:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSLDm7RCtPiztqHayW-K4Ac20COcwlxl7e8gN7OA4qemMWCFBl3zZBlAgC_tzufZp0vIBkaHmHRoRBVe-BUt1Ad_SxqLJc6vGRUuAfibNbMNqYyoGQElTqE0dRh1SrevhPsIVACPQL35atHwi_Zfv6i89wd5jx3zhkEG9F1H_wdQl0Z3tO2dU3v8dPCFsB/s1280/Wisconsin.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSLDm7RCtPiztqHayW-K4Ac20COcwlxl7e8gN7OA4qemMWCFBl3zZBlAgC_tzufZp0vIBkaHmHRoRBVe-BUt1Ad_SxqLJc6vGRUuAfibNbMNqYyoGQElTqE0dRh1SrevhPsIVACPQL35atHwi_Zfv6i89wd5jx3zhkEG9F1H_wdQl0Z3tO2dU3v8dPCFsB/s400/Wisconsin.jpg"/></a></div>
And now, only somewhat obnoxious, but still crying out for improvement:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEhhtR8cZ0pRxCAJ20rGoBxrVT5RT_2kyQU5xzipdoE0Dosgqw0Ogt_X6jXmRm6isJtR1qRHmILdGGBgvc84FKTYK2p_p8GGp23DkqkB2BOl9gUMIkzAbufZHVzqbq2bzTnTbCmNScT0rjtLtVcuD14RM3JZTFXsfqU0E3Mbtssx79e6WOTCunXzVl3L7t/s1212/Wisconsin%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="1212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEhhtR8cZ0pRxCAJ20rGoBxrVT5RT_2kyQU5xzipdoE0Dosgqw0Ogt_X6jXmRm6isJtR1qRHmILdGGBgvc84FKTYK2p_p8GGp23DkqkB2BOl9gUMIkzAbufZHVzqbq2bzTnTbCmNScT0rjtLtVcuD14RM3JZTFXsfqU0E3Mbtssx79e6WOTCunXzVl3L7t/s400/Wisconsin%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
And finally, West Virginia:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHYxc126UWo2l4CtEWBMkvOfQ_L8bGo21XdMbhz_-wU0FQQFOWQUS4GHEuYNPLjnP5oKjyIg-Q-u0v5m7v7hkJDwKNpFbbDSmGdKRiFQcwG3w8HcZAftZ_II5zsHxCGaipxETuUf4I4dkaQ-QMCAQvLy0VtlF61r65kTb90Wt433vfdry2P4zm4l4XE1su/s1600/WV.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHYxc126UWo2l4CtEWBMkvOfQ_L8bGo21XdMbhz_-wU0FQQFOWQUS4GHEuYNPLjnP5oKjyIg-Q-u0v5m7v7hkJDwKNpFbbDSmGdKRiFQcwG3w8HcZAftZ_II5zsHxCGaipxETuUf4I4dkaQ-QMCAQvLy0VtlF61r65kTb90Wt433vfdry2P4zm4l4XE1su/s400/WV.jpg"/></a></div>
And again, without the painfully obvious:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTQ-wd0IPbQ-yrrRkrD6o7CKh3vFVOwcVYF_2EfuYndyJv3THkpOP601YA0fEyAJ1xgJ0nN3asQ3cIl06w02W2g_s9Bktd2nt7WYEYmWnuqQ7_xgI8-uH82EcNFjZ1ZPo-QbE5WVJ4ATk9SesiOnDvyBDXpkOHT-aC8uvQwNOx6lZkCq97uAeB1YJca8s/s1600/WV%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTQ-wd0IPbQ-yrrRkrD6o7CKh3vFVOwcVYF_2EfuYndyJv3THkpOP601YA0fEyAJ1xgJ0nN3asQ3cIl06w02W2g_s9Bktd2nt7WYEYmWnuqQ7_xgI8-uH82EcNFjZ1ZPo-QbE5WVJ4ATk9SesiOnDvyBDXpkOHT-aC8uvQwNOx6lZkCq97uAeB1YJca8s/s400/WV%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
Again, I'm just proposing a modest start toward making state flags start to act like flags. More could probably done, if these states took their symbolism back to the drawing board. Fewer blue fields, people! Less bold, block text spelling out what shouldn't have to be spelled out! And maybe fewer fiddly details that are hard to distinguish at a distance, or reproduce in a sixth-grader's hand with colored pencils on paper! Then we'd really be cooking, eh?RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-3853447985366291092023-12-22T09:56:00.002-06:002023-12-22T09:57:49.138-06:00State Flags, You're Welcome (Part 2)We resume with the existing flag of my most recent, former home state, Missouri:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5ukkO4BmiM-b3Pi9v2j_0zCZxogjZvnGW6Z-l6sESsTJHwI2nrzp-Vd1hfb7AiCIf4Q_D6770dpqkJdTf-xmN0XjpvlIPzX_j0DtPn3vvEnXIYw-KW9-dqc21k2u18w40QwR1qYS3Z51Hx3YxtHZJacCWOP6FNiPSyU2IBsHN19HUmU21y4ICnz9JMIg/s800/Missouri.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5ukkO4BmiM-b3Pi9v2j_0zCZxogjZvnGW6Z-l6sESsTJHwI2nrzp-Vd1hfb7AiCIf4Q_D6770dpqkJdTf-xmN0XjpvlIPzX_j0DtPn3vvEnXIYw-KW9-dqc21k2u18w40QwR1qYS3Z51Hx3YxtHZJacCWOP6FNiPSyU2IBsHN19HUmU21y4ICnz9JMIg/s400/Missouri.jpg"/></a></div>
... which could stand to be a little simpler, maybe like this:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIT-qHwqhv9JnBTTz3UW9jKP_1ABv-iAZPzPScqDQTwu9t9d2siImXrYDlAPXQzwFKynneZqzfcT5lFR86kK62T5AlFW-BmpqQfBDG9vQj_WcjU8paCa31RBwAuf2n65Kf1Xneiucj4RJA6oG9Z2-_-xfs5XwUJlYSABP_QcvsZhhFwGEP9RTGcS0qdHyZ/s800/Missouri%20imrpoved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIT-qHwqhv9JnBTTz3UW9jKP_1ABv-iAZPzPScqDQTwu9t9d2siImXrYDlAPXQzwFKynneZqzfcT5lFR86kK62T5AlFW-BmpqQfBDG9vQj_WcjU8paCa31RBwAuf2n65Kf1Xneiucj4RJA6oG9Z2-_-xfs5XwUJlYSABP_QcvsZhhFwGEP9RTGcS0qdHyZ/s400/Missouri%20imrpoved.jpg"/></a></div>
Returning to the oft-whistled theme of a state seal-type illustration on a blue field, with a dead giveaway in block letters, is Montana's flag:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuSyjA_hq5YGQiE_koTpI3HKdRyfIgKga7mqcF3uy9s_5FR0Ttd_LQyaR7U0B7Bq63OGZPOHo0vNGzXadQ0Pwnbsfh2loPEcGQsO7BHMAPLBPEEhyPlUeeJehLnRFKjA2vv4LW4PG1b-9Qo0N7N1CjsMFa8hTYOEAMNX-5GlhcynhN_FSmxGjELXXzg0yD/s844/Montana.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="844" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuSyjA_hq5YGQiE_koTpI3HKdRyfIgKga7mqcF3uy9s_5FR0Ttd_LQyaR7U0B7Bq63OGZPOHo0vNGzXadQ0Pwnbsfh2loPEcGQsO7BHMAPLBPEEhyPlUeeJehLnRFKjA2vv4LW4PG1b-9Qo0N7N1CjsMFa8hTYOEAMNX-5GlhcynhN_FSmxGjELXXzg0yD/s400/Montana.jpg"/></a></div>
Now a little less on-the-nose (and not so lost in a sea of dark blue):
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6zAEcZ3xu_gdgTi7yZ_v__1nRFaYIupH0lCeJDZpBxyOj7wGp8GCq7DLKBum8r5jyDyaYJ1CPokvc7An2IKq-7wrOypE9U9dXoE_jfbpt8xZoAvKLSKKBDubyp_4fRVgWCqpTvwz38de-gh6mRuygfbLkKMJC5JOaXpcpPI_mssoXLREAGl7bwDspaOXm/s448/Montana%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6zAEcZ3xu_gdgTi7yZ_v__1nRFaYIupH0lCeJDZpBxyOj7wGp8GCq7DLKBum8r5jyDyaYJ1CPokvc7An2IKq-7wrOypE9U9dXoE_jfbpt8xZoAvKLSKKBDubyp_4fRVgWCqpTvwz38de-gh6mRuygfbLkKMJC5JOaXpcpPI_mssoXLREAGl7bwDspaOXm/s400/Montana%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
My sometime home state of Nebraska's flag is about as ugly as they come:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0PxPEisdAVXwfZVPiifDfPkrPcL6Oe3i0y-1ORdsyXpjJb3tj9G9Aj3TkZ_qrCmz6d1wYus0Fk9pIiQleu6a49vPXrC-2y0nx2Giq_f99JIvfKeeAaa8mIifPZ_IWSR5CPK-YfTC-niixZ7Fm8jy_vqRFfe4ZoMM9YVauo0y52tD1Erl5VQaOMyUOh4f/s2560/Nebraska.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0PxPEisdAVXwfZVPiifDfPkrPcL6Oe3i0y-1ORdsyXpjJb3tj9G9Aj3TkZ_qrCmz6d1wYus0Fk9pIiQleu6a49vPXrC-2y0nx2Giq_f99JIvfKeeAaa8mIifPZ_IWSR5CPK-YfTC-niixZ7Fm8jy_vqRFfe4ZoMM9YVauo0y52tD1Erl5VQaOMyUOh4f/s400/Nebraska.jpg"/></a></div>
I've always fantasized about replacing that nondescript cameo with the silhouette depicted on Nebraska's state highway signs:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdCslAXTHwCItfrGSf_9zL6zHg6900miCEQ5rm8ZfHgTZK-iWPh6_Z1sdAOBDS9KTChneFa6xyYY0-FpDobppHxmRX2O26E1HGr0zn5WQh6EyLWRF-9e18qb-rrM5qINDcD_umc_qrbDqtrOoGVal1Yd4voVcT4yAta_RYZSGV7T2-vUieyOgK77Q6Usg/s600/NE%20highway%20sign.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdCslAXTHwCItfrGSf_9zL6zHg6900miCEQ5rm8ZfHgTZK-iWPh6_Z1sdAOBDS9KTChneFa6xyYY0-FpDobppHxmRX2O26E1HGr0zn5WQh6EyLWRF-9e18qb-rrM5qINDcD_umc_qrbDqtrOoGVal1Yd4voVcT4yAta_RYZSGV7T2-vUieyOgK77Q6Usg/s400/NE%20highway%20sign.jpg"/></a></div>
... which, with a little colorization, might look something like this:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO3vPoBvxqhCAguJJDr1woxKp89mIbUdVkLRDpKORYyFBDAldcPRYnWNw6DHCfDxq81uweC4H8qzypyxuQ-Cy5BKPyXgy39eY61Lp7RqiPzSqkS4jE6jX8VKA4IHSsVM9rtN9lw-ZgeCWX5lTWTTkMAQSOjsR7uPC5ZkmlaeT-2-mjfnCYJr6Xab-Pr8JH/s558/NebraskaImproved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="558" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO3vPoBvxqhCAguJJDr1woxKp89mIbUdVkLRDpKORYyFBDAldcPRYnWNw6DHCfDxq81uweC4H8qzypyxuQ-Cy5BKPyXgy39eY61Lp7RqiPzSqkS4jE6jX8VKA4IHSsVM9rtN9lw-ZgeCWX5lTWTTkMAQSOjsR7uPC5ZkmlaeT-2-mjfnCYJr6Xab-Pr8JH/s400/NebraskaImproved.jpg"/></a></div>
Then there's New Hampshire, currently very forgettable and same-old, same-old:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJlQuGL5OPnGVRhf_VOHjj1CdMJtT3SN3D5Ct2jBuM7-chUmHf4h5iWTcRqm9aKbrJd9gUPmBOnqCZ2bPVbv-yPdtqGDNZcxA2spwDSTf1bRkHOPH6ytKyxgAFcF1VTLjXkmzgblvE99-AQe8FFSihj3JpGPDNFA9BnixGCIFIP0fLuN5u8sXmH8PmWDse/s612/NH.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJlQuGL5OPnGVRhf_VOHjj1CdMJtT3SN3D5Ct2jBuM7-chUmHf4h5iWTcRqm9aKbrJd9gUPmBOnqCZ2bPVbv-yPdtqGDNZcxA2spwDSTf1bRkHOPH6ytKyxgAFcF1VTLjXkmzgblvE99-AQe8FFSihj3JpGPDNFA9BnixGCIFIP0fLuN5u8sXmH8PmWDse/s400/NH.jpg"/></a></div>
... but potentially more striking, though it might make better sense if that land mass continued to the left:
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In New Jersey, the situation is less dire, thanks to a more distinctive background color:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHL2-ZxTovNv5SeM8OeKxYYiEO_s_GzZBPDNuD2xy1MBIl8NSbDsF9iCKkK11ZygR8rust-8nurEUd91GccY0Psj3WZkIkrHgsNiXo63jNvjoWVD-oxm3jfZD-ajulZrYZG2uWb_atxjfHHuX4Jg5kGB5ySDUGv4WgQjAo8_tgvRK_hp2ddv3bihMkU1t/s1065/NJ.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="1065" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHHL2-ZxTovNv5SeM8OeKxYYiEO_s_GzZBPDNuD2xy1MBIl8NSbDsF9iCKkK11ZygR8rust-8nurEUd91GccY0Psj3WZkIkrHgsNiXo63jNvjoWVD-oxm3jfZD-ajulZrYZG2uWb_atxjfHHuX4Jg5kGB5ySDUGv4WgQjAo8_tgvRK_hp2ddv3bihMkU1t/s400/NJ.jpg"/></a></div>
... but it could perhaps be improved by making the imagery easier to see from a distance:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2e5hTvQlY499NOpAY1ZJNYkabgMgZU_XbjadLhqMCNu8r0F_VxUo-6i9Mg7p2asxSxVEXm41cH56MU_3NzNQg55wXDGqf0ZAupnmBuBnYTPhb8-xO2kvbimWsxwyRGA67nP6akhKZCqmGp0wW7VwE3ZEMs-ndP8kQr0_YOT5en3pqpMoaaCtcLJm7_Zz/s747/NJ%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="747" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2e5hTvQlY499NOpAY1ZJNYkabgMgZU_XbjadLhqMCNu8r0F_VxUo-6i9Mg7p2asxSxVEXm41cH56MU_3NzNQg55wXDGqf0ZAupnmBuBnYTPhb8-xO2kvbimWsxwyRGA67nP6akhKZCqmGp0wW7VwE3ZEMs-ndP8kQr0_YOT5en3pqpMoaaCtcLJm7_Zz/s400/NJ%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
In New York, the situation flies thus:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6G_NKBktbmYYmB_kZkihq6ErPv_3oTIXko85kjQzly0_2ATS2Ap-iDsXzTBSOqeisQ9vXJNv-svZNJE98q6z5Br_rzx7nnGZNJP7z6iDMrfjO5JnmNkHaC41Q9L4VZB_MqtPkcHQkHih1Mcxle9PSCaLvEeI8FelYzlTgbazujXl5eQxIYT4aIctJfbd6/s1200/NY.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6G_NKBktbmYYmB_kZkihq6ErPv_3oTIXko85kjQzly0_2ATS2Ap-iDsXzTBSOqeisQ9vXJNv-svZNJE98q6z5Br_rzx7nnGZNJP7z6iDMrfjO5JnmNkHaC41Q9L4VZB_MqtPkcHQkHih1Mcxle9PSCaLvEeI8FelYzlTgbazujXl5eQxIYT4aIctJfbd6/s400/NY.jpg"/></a></div>
... but it could fly thus, a bit more simple and readily visible:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9L_5f5T2wUGDtyyrKwj4AMk4Fy34-cxnr0QxVYOoz2_LuOuIZRWhE_ilAgDRqjyt-Rva9tyGcbanI-rZF_s0XlAhLzbUt_YA9akd5_ht3eJC3Ou7RLdfyWZvEXW8kst0ehFUrWAhoW0mB1JBS9IbXlDoLg0iWmvaXBUxxAO3zDE2wQ81rHNS5JOmChHKb/s782/NY%20simplified.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="782" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9L_5f5T2wUGDtyyrKwj4AMk4Fy34-cxnr0QxVYOoz2_LuOuIZRWhE_ilAgDRqjyt-Rva9tyGcbanI-rZF_s0XlAhLzbUt_YA9akd5_ht3eJC3Ou7RLdfyWZvEXW8kst0ehFUrWAhoW0mB1JBS9IbXlDoLg0iWmvaXBUxxAO3zDE2wQ81rHNS5JOmChHKb/s400/NY%20simplified.jpg"/></a></div>
In my native state of Nevada, this flag doesn't need too much work:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi909YhImp5uyhZ3JSbjBdSWTHsuuihmE1JWTzwGKtHpOLTDu4f8FVLl2XxPKFLv67hzuIzL8_RVF9QByAwM-jeKDvH-Dq27OlbBWRYu0gzipgHU0t4p8_gRRmpNFt1gPhUk7oJRPHve-4WsrKXm-3bo1NAgKA6mxDTuyCKLHtSCZlsnvAUTrHpbWQ2UFKG/s600/Nevada.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi909YhImp5uyhZ3JSbjBdSWTHsuuihmE1JWTzwGKtHpOLTDu4f8FVLl2XxPKFLv67hzuIzL8_RVF9QByAwM-jeKDvH-Dq27OlbBWRYu0gzipgHU0t4p8_gRRmpNFt1gPhUk7oJRPHve-4WsrKXm-3bo1NAgKA6mxDTuyCKLHtSCZlsnvAUTrHpbWQ2UFKG/s400/Nevada.jpg"/></a></div>
How about this tiny tweak?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamkSnwWjU8PCxdc_m4WDACrbdCe-PYXyfNfx5N80Zbf9UlXHpRo7l-y8tJF_yeNjKDrlOLQFXDr4uyBUl7PSXk0cs0m8nWu8YRDOwCI_r-KGm0frZPDFawUNA6rnPy3Tg914_1SARGEdROwiWBF0Qj0-my4aEdiegaHxhfmc8KSD8jE3DZdhGVL09QhDI/s600/Nevada%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhamkSnwWjU8PCxdc_m4WDACrbdCe-PYXyfNfx5N80Zbf9UlXHpRo7l-y8tJF_yeNjKDrlOLQFXDr4uyBUl7PSXk0cs0m8nWu8YRDOwCI_r-KGm0frZPDFawUNA6rnPy3Tg914_1SARGEdROwiWBF0Qj0-my4aEdiegaHxhfmc8KSD8jE3DZdhGVL09QhDI/s400/Nevada%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
North Carolina is another one that overexplains, with too many dates and a dead giveaway "NC":
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYrqTSXMrov_wussoQflDHr1tSy2iyyBDlDo1A-cuaQdvk1y_Qtf5Oznprur_zmjZ-x-gSTo1Auvmjyg3SAML23UizGzinZAeuM2MfccZFLsJZaI0kbPGDOFld5W6lNWZMjuYx2lYfCbkBLjcNLgPCX1B5rkKImFCkQ9mI8Y6n1-sFfP8CCf72pwDCI_mW/s1280/NC.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYrqTSXMrov_wussoQflDHr1tSy2iyyBDlDo1A-cuaQdvk1y_Qtf5Oznprur_zmjZ-x-gSTo1Auvmjyg3SAML23UizGzinZAeuM2MfccZFLsJZaI0kbPGDOFld5W6lNWZMjuYx2lYfCbkBLjcNLgPCX1B5rkKImFCkQ9mI8Y6n1-sFfP8CCf72pwDCI_mW/s400/NC.png"/></a></div>
I'd like to keep that gold color in there, though. So, how about some rings?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuot9fV4jlq2EYp-DdrJwSCG_MlpGWAvXrURhzi4dCm7_W2dlNJfXeSeTEGlbcZJcyV7nz5aqgMnMz85op3_O4QDdKGcXGOvd3bqB7N60ViyyisM_iRUmgAJuELIPsKpQjMYbOYqh-kBCMzahyom-w2R5EMQs49ZqO4o5pGI21fpBgC3AcicFI4UGQfl8/s1280/NC%20simplified.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuot9fV4jlq2EYp-DdrJwSCG_MlpGWAvXrURhzi4dCm7_W2dlNJfXeSeTEGlbcZJcyV7nz5aqgMnMz85op3_O4QDdKGcXGOvd3bqB7N60ViyyisM_iRUmgAJuELIPsKpQjMYbOYqh-kBCMzahyom-w2R5EMQs49ZqO4o5pGI21fpBgC3AcicFI4UGQfl8/s400/NC%20simplified.jpg"/></a></div>
North Dakota again is "one of those":
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcDbFi6t0_kHQdO7ApD-t_PjbrGNYLRohHCOVn3OQyVqgiKZwKZs68SWOTxX7ufwIENst7lP7_hTJk-VC-DqPA9mBHnyU6MucTpP3AaA5ce-oWhuoUVEKEDluGS9cwy4pT1Gt29J9kZhDHkdikANbnDWe84BLcaXS46iGeR8F9ZCzfu5y5UU1NlV030KZI/s1600/ND.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcDbFi6t0_kHQdO7ApD-t_PjbrGNYLRohHCOVn3OQyVqgiKZwKZs68SWOTxX7ufwIENst7lP7_hTJk-VC-DqPA9mBHnyU6MucTpP3AaA5ce-oWhuoUVEKEDluGS9cwy4pT1Gt29J9kZhDHkdikANbnDWe84BLcaXS46iGeR8F9ZCzfu5y5UU1NlV030KZI/s400/ND.jpg"/></a></div>
One way to improve it might be simply to cut the painfully obvious bit out:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RxjShw6UWymQW5rlsq_YSdSRKXcgycJGNC7Zl8CnNGGKy8aSsI2yY-ThZlHMX8FVt0zkG_yJQC6I6JBiYONy5YroGJOIFJtefnodpJXvakVw5-l66UITFMHflG23V3uh9Zhk7zxi48sUOnIbWmG_7Jv-JF7GQzklkvNGBLx8qztIvZxxJ-xO9GgM_qsQ/s1600/ND%20improved%201.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1159" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2RxjShw6UWymQW5rlsq_YSdSRKXcgycJGNC7Zl8CnNGGKy8aSsI2yY-ThZlHMX8FVt0zkG_yJQC6I6JBiYONy5YroGJOIFJtefnodpJXvakVw5-l66UITFMHflG23V3uh9Zhk7zxi48sUOnIbWmG_7Jv-JF7GQzklkvNGBLx8qztIvZxxJ-xO9GgM_qsQ/s400/ND%20improved%201.jpg"/></a></div>
Or, once again, you could start with the state highway sign silhouette:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcGLPmjayQYj0wd8WH6X4B81pPxhHfra5tTYiJ0Re-DgQQvnjaw1oBnoeTs9r_XQTIgmY-MeIPfBQscLVKccGwM2AfqUrtcRSm2BK41ymaobNHyEnQJtJPqs_o5CaKfHXOZFlpVzGWg8I6pVz41deX9rU405TUPNxYVi_tYg8SSSZImuyyV1VXShBMJuQ/s1113/ND%20hwy%20sign.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1110" data-original-width="1113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcGLPmjayQYj0wd8WH6X4B81pPxhHfra5tTYiJ0Re-DgQQvnjaw1oBnoeTs9r_XQTIgmY-MeIPfBQscLVKccGwM2AfqUrtcRSm2BK41ymaobNHyEnQJtJPqs_o5CaKfHXOZFlpVzGWg8I6pVz41deX9rU405TUPNxYVi_tYg8SSSZImuyyV1VXShBMJuQ/s400/ND%20hwy%20sign.jpg"/></a></div>
... and go flat-out with it:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRnZTLY7XoDNa1kjlgRap4HtZv9GpYBCEclet0tU7XhhY7OGNeqworOtKf_HpOeb8C9lKXK2WJ8JlMSn1TV-0X-F1yc8HGFygLi5_QhW73pwM_qsYi0LIbvH2jlMBNrLg6rfeCTVKAzYIXKacR3AvH8_LIYUNL7yQzzLpmlkwPgY2ei6DnRG7vZCyO8b7/s1719/ND%20improved%202.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1110" data-original-width="1719" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRnZTLY7XoDNa1kjlgRap4HtZv9GpYBCEclet0tU7XhhY7OGNeqworOtKf_HpOeb8C9lKXK2WJ8JlMSn1TV-0X-F1yc8HGFygLi5_QhW73pwM_qsYi0LIbvH2jlMBNrLg6rfeCTVKAzYIXKacR3AvH8_LIYUNL7yQzzLpmlkwPgY2ei6DnRG7vZCyO8b7/s400/ND%20improved%202.jpg"/></a></div>
That's enough for Part 2. Part 3 to come yet, maybe after Christmas!RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988509909991606880.post-29940500135025842872023-12-21T16:27:00.012-06:002023-12-22T09:29:34.580-06:00State Flags, You're Welcome (Part 1)Further to <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/state-flags-part-1.html">this</a> <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/state-flags-part-2.html">four-part</a> <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/state-flags-part-3.html">series of posts</a> <a href="https://afortmadeofbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/state-flags-part-4.html">way back here</a>, I've gone ahead and done what nobody asked me to ... whipped up some concepts for improving some of the state flags of the U.S. that could use some improvement. Mind you, I'm totally unqualified and a lazy Photoshop user who follows the path of least effort, but even so, I think I came up with some ideas worth tossing around, if not out. My immediate inspiration is the current flag redesign of my state of residence, Minnesota, which went from this hot mess:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUSbktbzb9RzpX65NyrKcg7-0trg6jZKdoA62oJf6VQuoo04s8mkq_H_ddRLU9GkNnObXoHMD0-k0417oc-GUhY1TnJjrZ_6kYBq_hAq9Bkmto6RbGDnp9uNfSVT2ocgt52lmoFg9cURmKHi0nhQWUFb0pWZezsOn8tUu7m_4wbrGxW4M2Y2BuyKpnekmx/s1200/MinnesotaOld.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUSbktbzb9RzpX65NyrKcg7-0trg6jZKdoA62oJf6VQuoo04s8mkq_H_ddRLU9GkNnObXoHMD0-k0417oc-GUhY1TnJjrZ_6kYBq_hAq9Bkmto6RbGDnp9uNfSVT2ocgt52lmoFg9cURmKHi0nhQWUFb0pWZezsOn8tUu7m_4wbrGxW4M2Y2BuyKpnekmx/s400/MinnesotaOld.jpg"/></a></div>
to this elegantly simple design, that any child could draw, anyone with a needle and thread could sew, and anyone could point out of a line-up of state flags and recognize at once as Minnesota:
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Skipping over the flags that I don't think I can improve on at the present – including the fairly recently updated flags of Mississippi and Utah, as well as a couple of flags (cough Florida and Alabama) that just need to go back to the drawing board – here are some before-and-afters that I'd like folks to consider as tiny steps toward the ultimate goal of every state having a flag that does what a flag should do. Which means, for one thing, NOT having the name of the state spelled out in great big, block letters!
Here's the flag of Arkansas:
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Here's exactly the same flag, but without the painfully obvious. Also, I pushed the middle two stars a little farther apart, feeling that they looked crowded, but still with an eye toward preserving the diamond shape befitting the diamond state. Too naked looking, yet? Maybe the stars could be spaced out even better.
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Here's the "California Republic" flag.
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And here it is again, without the text that no one needs to identify it as the flag of California, and with the red stripe widened a bit to balance it out:
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How about Delaware? Awfully proud of their date of statehood, aren't they?
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And now, without that ugly line of text, and it might be even better with the interesting bit blown up in proportion:
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Idaho's flag is just ridiculous, spelling out the name of the state not once but twice:
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This is just a beginning of what I'd like to propose, maybe extending the landscape (and not just the sky) behind the Great Seal images to the edges of the flag:
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Illinois is one of my least favorite state flags, with upside-down text, two dates, and ugly little blades of grass:
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Here it is without the images that especially irritate me, though it still leaves much to be desired:
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Indiana's flag has just one tiny thing that irritates me:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtl2SFyRMZrYSB5U_stHWPXPm30OcZMPOCV60gfNwxsGvBPR3XAzQFVSeS3GXcrRdZK4-QKtU4urg9CMOSUTEW9G7Dh-i2qdm3fDjIKwi7RwUnorc7o89nA5586_9BvMb_yEzTe7KetPAAboSujKwrg2I21NpGylBJkrEdeMTIMmHOg5NR7DT1l47yObMP/s1600/Indiana.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtl2SFyRMZrYSB5U_stHWPXPm30OcZMPOCV60gfNwxsGvBPR3XAzQFVSeS3GXcrRdZK4-QKtU4urg9CMOSUTEW9G7Dh-i2qdm3fDjIKwi7RwUnorc7o89nA5586_9BvMb_yEzTe7KetPAAboSujKwrg2I21NpGylBJkrEdeMTIMmHOg5NR7DT1l47yObMP/s400/Indiana.jpg"/></a></div>
Can you spot the difference without it?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5LTOp_dWrYDVuwjq0_zhkqYKJ4Nt2KTymXxQHKGww1WvYUDjuE-mrcayZ1zSacL1HVqytSeryoFVsmkopZzPaELXApY-GTDuF6y7WVHT7hEgvIi2kpWda82tV353sKdC24e7bdPuG0-UkTCRaMEZoPsYyArR1F2MoZKdzZjOBVI4MwQF0-qQ8afGyjga/s1600/Indiana%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5LTOp_dWrYDVuwjq0_zhkqYKJ4Nt2KTymXxQHKGww1WvYUDjuE-mrcayZ1zSacL1HVqytSeryoFVsmkopZzPaELXApY-GTDuF6y7WVHT7hEgvIi2kpWda82tV353sKdC24e7bdPuG0-UkTCRaMEZoPsYyArR1F2MoZKdzZjOBVI4MwQF0-qQ8afGyjga/s400/Indiana%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
Iowa has more of what Illinois suffers from:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivb0hOj2Srrhqxbq6Im9goyHK9qNcOmKq3IBURhpwgHnRdZBsjTFaqh5FFrAx0QSxb0v4TRP7y7Ig_EoXJykHGZtBUb7q-IsbEE4m4lsQkQrWC29RW22REvzKRCnFs7GXnO-94CcXqW897xUfK_7fjs8FBBWqWKTfY11-ahp5IG3loZKEplJ9yzZktK4dv/s560/Iowa.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivb0hOj2Srrhqxbq6Im9goyHK9qNcOmKq3IBURhpwgHnRdZBsjTFaqh5FFrAx0QSxb0v4TRP7y7Ig_EoXJykHGZtBUb7q-IsbEE4m4lsQkQrWC29RW22REvzKRCnFs7GXnO-94CcXqW897xUfK_7fjs8FBBWqWKTfY11-ahp5IG3loZKEplJ9yzZktK4dv/s400/Iowa.jpg"/></a></div>
Just imagine it like this:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvvMMZjRKdQmjVDUe3mlWq9-t3pPLIaUPehSffrYX0uWcJCWsJJKrRunvwoyVkRsljO4xX-ftTnuls5T_ER4gn27ZwcZOOgUa-KATNCRLtJjiYQKOu0tIVNmsakEbci6H56ldcvujZRVzBwyrprL_EVvKfEfJdRz-XmguH5l0MzV-aIvKEDAr52Skkxrm/s560/IowaImproved1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvvMMZjRKdQmjVDUe3mlWq9-t3pPLIaUPehSffrYX0uWcJCWsJJKrRunvwoyVkRsljO4xX-ftTnuls5T_ER4gn27ZwcZOOgUa-KATNCRLtJjiYQKOu0tIVNmsakEbci6H56ldcvujZRVzBwyrprL_EVvKfEfJdRz-XmguH5l0MzV-aIvKEDAr52Skkxrm/s400/IowaImproved1.jpg"/></a></div>
<br><br>...or even this:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifi1ps_vpuFAagC0tKd82z2-DT2WzTWqMpEQeWRykoyEqzuuyiZK5rEHcZx_1MaXmANhfhVojrbbEKmrz0EN49SY7ieE3gLStzxWPFE5LHlooiw_6Fb59afuqbZoO5fBmzQ8M9QO6GsHn_jNF3RksEG-dD3-3QV-ocpWEwTgjHVC1aeu7AVlNPw-jOCNB2/s560/IowaImproved2.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifi1ps_vpuFAagC0tKd82z2-DT2WzTWqMpEQeWRykoyEqzuuyiZK5rEHcZx_1MaXmANhfhVojrbbEKmrz0EN49SY7ieE3gLStzxWPFE5LHlooiw_6Fb59afuqbZoO5fBmzQ8M9QO6GsHn_jNF3RksEG-dD3-3QV-ocpWEwTgjHVC1aeu7AVlNPw-jOCNB2/s400/IowaImproved2.jpg"/></a></div>
The name of Kansas hits you in the eye, but the picture it mansplains doesn't:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rygxZFdywKS9ZOl4ixcxqCjjdPWPZXIvJXmVF-NshfepsB4PtOKUubwaISmDKcbrZHIV1SFPRujn3E8k3N-y7v6Lvn23hKmWoCam2iDKxJLOYHRDRznZv6AqdqhZf1ku0pFE21e0wZGVWykynRSojM_ffRVQeyaFxYMlqZ-z8RcC8CpaO6T5JDmeR7UP/s640/Kansas.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rygxZFdywKS9ZOl4ixcxqCjjdPWPZXIvJXmVF-NshfepsB4PtOKUubwaISmDKcbrZHIV1SFPRujn3E8k3N-y7v6Lvn23hKmWoCam2iDKxJLOYHRDRznZv6AqdqhZf1ku0pFE21e0wZGVWykynRSojM_ffRVQeyaFxYMlqZ-z8RcC8CpaO6T5JDmeR7UP/s400/Kansas.png"/></a></div>
Some guy named Steve Hamaker proposed this improvement:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinETUuTz92JHr9PQ_lJdItQlTliw5-gj4asNVMwRH-GUlTi8lJtopmFneM5zwRwVW7KJRFjRIuBzvSQdRbP325PJPY7KiUHmkTWARwcvn6cj6vSLfQ2xKc7YbgSGv1cUrCBbN4BT0nC-RSb7f00a5u8hNnrKQwznzV1s-OE-XSFEOWywdQ2CTR4sd6_LZS/s1600/Kansas%20Improved%20by%20Steve%20Hamaker.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinETUuTz92JHr9PQ_lJdItQlTliw5-gj4asNVMwRH-GUlTi8lJtopmFneM5zwRwVW7KJRFjRIuBzvSQdRbP325PJPY7KiUHmkTWARwcvn6cj6vSLfQ2xKc7YbgSGv1cUrCBbN4BT0nC-RSb7f00a5u8hNnrKQwznzV1s-OE-XSFEOWywdQ2CTR4sd6_LZS/s400/Kansas%20Improved%20by%20Steve%20Hamaker.png"/></a></div>
...which I took even further:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2C9zjo2QDpuQNwxrE6CEIXZEG8Cau9Ih_xNApKXFMyVdFW-NNl9jdt9s7p3-5ceEp8CklQivB08X0ypr78Xks2tWAtQYf4tTSvKQJPCUmxKIvnJ5AI7l3EU27KWNHItS5W9RSWVkFyCvci-N6B3YPAKlgwK3OScMIKTTK9hZoPNWbfDgUo6IxHk5OS_m/s1600/Kansas%20Improved%20even%20more.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2C9zjo2QDpuQNwxrE6CEIXZEG8Cau9Ih_xNApKXFMyVdFW-NNl9jdt9s7p3-5ceEp8CklQivB08X0ypr78Xks2tWAtQYf4tTSvKQJPCUmxKIvnJ5AI7l3EU27KWNHItS5W9RSWVkFyCvci-N6B3YPAKlgwK3OScMIKTTK9hZoPNWbfDgUo6IxHk5OS_m/s400/Kansas%20Improved%20even%20more.jpg"/></a></div>
Here's Kentucky's flag as it is:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm___5qGyBv10jXI8eToSPcWI-aK-guHrX4cHMUEJ4uc7fsDTZo37ZkdS9fYe0SlqN8b4iba9CuC_q-ZyAkjjQdLZZNMuMEZfXraqCdZ71M24HcjsoTl3ydrDYehXLKuk-L-NDxBeag2sZMOp7Hip_Dut7jzLerdzfKpwa88_WnFWOXZcTrAcMXPhqfT-v/s1600/Kentucky.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm___5qGyBv10jXI8eToSPcWI-aK-guHrX4cHMUEJ4uc7fsDTZo37ZkdS9fYe0SlqN8b4iba9CuC_q-ZyAkjjQdLZZNMuMEZfXraqCdZ71M24HcjsoTl3ydrDYehXLKuk-L-NDxBeag2sZMOp7Hip_Dut7jzLerdzfKpwa88_WnFWOXZcTrAcMXPhqfT-v/s400/Kentucky.jpg"/></a></div>
And here's Kentucky as it could be, appealing a little more to the eye:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX924LygP9SR__lMoJKZuXXj1c5vS_FZ6SrwAvvTmnAJNhXG07JlbR-pitrFQ6vKDPFCzevSl-lr1MYKS5imk71IiXCaTqDgzllTDNs0hRi2eUrUyTM06P3iT8DztIGW_FYowu036Uq3VDU7DaqkvG97fux-j0m6t1QqvAh1JKDCPFroIPdLp3aPVqMKC6/s739/Kentucky%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="739" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX924LygP9SR__lMoJKZuXXj1c5vS_FZ6SrwAvvTmnAJNhXG07JlbR-pitrFQ6vKDPFCzevSl-lr1MYKS5imk71IiXCaTqDgzllTDNs0hRi2eUrUyTM06P3iT8DztIGW_FYowu036Uq3VDU7DaqkvG97fux-j0m6t1QqvAh1JKDCPFroIPdLp3aPVqMKC6/s400/Kentucky%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
Here's Maine, for another hard-to-distinguish-at-a-distance state seal on a blue field:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUmpGOXGbAbJX8u4SGZMzR4i5bTQJl4QHv60mLkCYvahFCWPrYGZSbUOPSKXxP7tGLnZ2I6ZDODeI3BosKuIaGKXzDpDz2iWReKDziAYOSKKCmPf8vx3hpw82D6IS-kHY0QA8gMJuROZ7IIEcjGXBg8GGRYecx2nt5DQ0lzS7aHhxD7a7ItLOHd_2_9C0M/s612/Maine.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUmpGOXGbAbJX8u4SGZMzR4i5bTQJl4QHv60mLkCYvahFCWPrYGZSbUOPSKXxP7tGLnZ2I6ZDODeI3BosKuIaGKXzDpDz2iWReKDziAYOSKKCmPf8vx3hpw82D6IS-kHY0QA8gMJuROZ7IIEcjGXBg8GGRYecx2nt5DQ0lzS7aHhxD7a7ItLOHd_2_9C0M/s400/Maine.jpg"/></a></div>
And here's my favorite part of the Maine flag, with space cleared around it to bring it into better focus:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivp2b9rdP22cJkjdCeruiCHvedfE3myXlGgVmPRm53DXC-IbuYe3MZr_I7GOQ5pB3stJb0tR_TsfqrxDDvGAwNaQhujjVRQOAjYpqNnbrtBwwI9OfIdEqDnYkMGUo0BNAiPHT59LdlpiwOT5cXGqsVppzxat0zSygrLpjAQ3XUcCkiY2FM8xcjCO14lEA5/s604/Maine%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="604" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivp2b9rdP22cJkjdCeruiCHvedfE3myXlGgVmPRm53DXC-IbuYe3MZr_I7GOQ5pB3stJb0tR_TsfqrxDDvGAwNaQhujjVRQOAjYpqNnbrtBwwI9OfIdEqDnYkMGUo0BNAiPHT59LdlpiwOT5cXGqsVppzxat0zSygrLpjAQ3XUcCkiY2FM8xcjCO14lEA5/s400/Maine%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
One of these days, people are going to start calling the Massachusetts flag "problematic":
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLtC_L5e94re5sMRqjGrB9mXer2z7QBHvapUK8py2Hcw9tVADFa5FtzEng6VellqSVO8aFGMhDKQ84tyAt-R5HSFwLvJHVGjsEBeosjU7_hPpcuN-HI0A2hCDdSIq4ZAdfake9Bv9fzPW3aZzMJxyplzV13sYt8hQOjCag2n8qBxJYDCFNHusn4oyj5BIx/s2560/Massachusetts.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLtC_L5e94re5sMRqjGrB9mXer2z7QBHvapUK8py2Hcw9tVADFa5FtzEng6VellqSVO8aFGMhDKQ84tyAt-R5HSFwLvJHVGjsEBeosjU7_hPpcuN-HI0A2hCDdSIq4ZAdfake9Bv9fzPW3aZzMJxyplzV13sYt8hQOjCag2n8qBxJYDCFNHusn4oyj5BIx/s400/Massachusetts.jpg"/></a></div>
This should clear it up:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFB8B0EmD3oJAAZ0V81q_u-yK9tEtKjNdxchGrkT4TLXo5xYCn0JlHefD3lhXhE8E2r-i1EjD7U6L5jJ3RTI2LOaL6QT7UEElw3MsBwL3G2kvqkLysGBazU4b1qYuwtFoigb-tDoIOGJbEw9Xd9vN6HXy11w-oNr9gJWf4PnX3BS9w5-W941b8kO_8Oiv/s2560/MassachusettsSimplified.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFB8B0EmD3oJAAZ0V81q_u-yK9tEtKjNdxchGrkT4TLXo5xYCn0JlHefD3lhXhE8E2r-i1EjD7U6L5jJ3RTI2LOaL6QT7UEElw3MsBwL3G2kvqkLysGBazU4b1qYuwtFoigb-tDoIOGJbEw9Xd9vN6HXy11w-oNr9gJWf4PnX3BS9w5-W941b8kO_8Oiv/s400/MassachusettsSimplified.jpg"/></a></div>
Michigan has at least two too many Latin exercises embroidered on its flag:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5r1BUKBC0qTB0kXecXE9-2x5dK7WYb9j4Ols-Jlxzbp5Cktz34eEl3_wTvIzUhzaCi__D6D8ol41kK2SOS1twII3PJ7aDyHn6rbasxuplIO0ahTBDLrTsPHRLBqNLXiiFeSpfMmTku_n6tZIs38hU0ji28bNSsot2d6G8QCKfswj0breJ5gaOo3mInfAw/s1200/Michigan.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5r1BUKBC0qTB0kXecXE9-2x5dK7WYb9j4Ols-Jlxzbp5Cktz34eEl3_wTvIzUhzaCi__D6D8ol41kK2SOS1twII3PJ7aDyHn6rbasxuplIO0ahTBDLrTsPHRLBqNLXiiFeSpfMmTku_n6tZIs38hU0ji28bNSsot2d6G8QCKfswj0breJ5gaOo3mInfAw/s400/Michigan.jpg"/></a></div>
Here it is again, pared down a bit:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib5FgZ0Gupr02IxSA1DjhvR_ngimPORK6EOt6-9A1YoB5A3CmFXKBSI3bJebw65ee96nATm4Puii45ido1WTAwU2V5ZZcODz4UrNs9yQM4MgMl2ejsRv-RXMeLe8h4HQNmBXchCuXP4NORTjy3N3_qhT_57jHIr4NjxvRdGS6CL2FmgfPdN39Sh6cslExe/s782/Michigan%20improved.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="782" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib5FgZ0Gupr02IxSA1DjhvR_ngimPORK6EOt6-9A1YoB5A3CmFXKBSI3bJebw65ee96nATm4Puii45ido1WTAwU2V5ZZcODz4UrNs9yQM4MgMl2ejsRv-RXMeLe8h4HQNmBXchCuXP4NORTjy3N3_qhT_57jHIr4NjxvRdGS6CL2FmgfPdN39Sh6cslExe/s400/Michigan%20improved.jpg"/></a></div>
I've got more to share, but this post has gone long enough for now. Part 2 yet to come!RobbieFishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14112535005437118728noreply@blogger.com0