Happy New Year

     For many of you, it is already 2017! In my time zone we are just over two hours away. It has been a fabulous year for me, professionally and personally. To give a few reasons why about the former:

• In the Summer I became Co-Owner of POETS on Google+. This means I interact on a regular basis with some creative people, and it rubs off on me.
• On Indie Author Day, I was asked to sit in on a panel about being published. I also got to read some poetry.
• I was at several successful fairs in Aiken and Columbia, both in South Carolina. I have returned to those venues, or will, in 2017.
• There were a few online and print publications of my poetry. 

   

     2017 promises some more ventures. And what have you been doing? 

Sir Raymond Davies......hooray!

 The Queen's New Year Honours includes one of my very favorites of all times, Ray Davies. He is a mixture of old and new. While he sings about old times, he was usually in a rack and roll band. His portraits of contemporary life in the UK, and indeed the world, are musically and lyrically ingenious.  am thrilled for him and would like to express my thanks to Her Majesty.

   I am sure I will have something more to say about this and others on the list, but as the BBC would say, these were the main points.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/entertainment/the-kinks-ray-davies-gushes-with-joy-and-humility-over-knighthood-770529.html

Auden's "Christmas Oratorio"

    This is only part of the actual work, but I remember seeing it in a {Philadelphia newspaper's Sunday magazine when I was in high school. At that time the poem was only 20-odd years old, and Auden was still alive. I was quite taken by the poem, and resolved to read more by Auden. I am glad that I did.

http://southerncrossreview.org/44/auden-oratio.htm

I am very jealous of Bernie Taupin

     Few writers, and fewer poets, make a living only on what they write. As far as poets go, I have many friends who teach full-time, as I do myself. Another one is a full-time physician. Yet another manages the physical plant of a large university. Several others do not work full-time, but string various part-time jobs together.

    Bernie Taupin answered an ad in a UK trade paper for a lyricist and ended up working with Elton John. In their early days Bernie wrote lyrics, mailed them to Elton, and had no input about the music. Obviously Elton knew what he was doing, since they both became rich. Later on Bernie started going to the studio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_with_lyrics_by_Bernie_Taupin  - Some list!

   What an ideal life! He has brought enjoyment to millions of fans, even if they did not know who was writing. Even early on I remember Elton introducing Bernie at interviews and documentaries, which speaks well of the singer/composer.

    Ah, to write one hit!  Or maybe lyrics for a hit album or two....

    Well done, Bernie! 

Three chapters into "Born to Run"

    I have heard a few segments on "E Street Radio" on SiriusXM where Springsteen reads from his autobiography. Today I received a copy for Christmas (thanks, Pam!), and the CD. After a few chapters,  I even more impressed.

  Springsteen mentioned two wrestlers from 1950s television: Bruno Sammartino (a good guy) and Haystack Calhoun, 600 pounds of bad guy.

   The descriptions of Freehold, NJ, are detailed and Springsteen's reflections about his childhood are very perceptive. I hope that will continue to be the case as I read more. What impresses me is how he can take the good out of a bad situation. He survived Catholic school education at a time when it was "hands on". While not a devout Catholic, nonetheless his spirituality is rooted in that religion, and is not too far away. Remember, I am Lutheran, so I do not profess to be an authority, although I am close enough to that part of Christianity to get what he means. 

   I hope to read some more before school starts!

Poem reprinted in "Whispers"

   This one was previouly in "Mused BellaOnline". Thanks, Karen O'Leary!

   http://whispersinthewind333.blogspot.com/

I Remember Oplatky

     My wife sent me this link recently. It brought back happy memories of my time in the Slovak Zion Synod- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and of St. John's Church in Lansford, PA. For about nine years I was rostered in this Synod, the longest of my ordained ministry. Three of those years were with St. John's the rest leave for graduate studies and then my Army deployment. I joked that I was in that Synod due to Affirmative Action, being primarily of Hungarian ancestry. Magyars (our true name) and Slovaks share a border and not much else.

     My first Advent in St. John's was marked by requests about oplatky. I had heard about them, primarily from Polish Catholics, but knew that Slovak Lutherans held the wafers in a special place also. It seems that my predecessor, also not a Slovak, allowed the oplatky to be ordered but if the money to pay for them did not come in, cancelled for the next year. One box of a hundred or so was less than $20, as I recall it.

     I even saw bulletin sand newsletter announcements that he wrote which were along the lines of "When I cam here, you assured me that the oplatky was part of YOUR tradition and that YOU would pay for them. But we had to cover the costs, so I stopped them."

    To me that sounded harsh. Several people came to me timidly, and some even tearfully, begging me for the oplatky. At a church council meeting I authorized ordering oplatky and said that if they were not paid for the costs would be covered somehow or the other.

     People were glad. Some came and asked for permission to take some for relatives. Several said they had no money right then. My answer was to smile and tell them to take whatever they wanted and to pay when they could.

     Now we live in South Carolina, and are far away from oplatky and so much more. But I am glad to remember those things that keep us anchored to faith and to tradition, not for its own sake, but for a larger purpose. The links explain more.
   

https://www.catholiccompany.com/content/Oplatki-Christmas-Tradition.cfm

https://duquesnehunky.com/2013/12/18/when-christmas-meant-traditions-and-family/