We saw Mama Mia last Tuesday night. It is such a great show. I actually decided I like ABBA music after seeing the show in London—Done with solo voice and chorus, it is enjoyable and has good lyrics.
I confess, we felt a bit snobbish as we sat and compared the London production with the American one. The American production is very American; it could have been set anywhere [one of the minor characters kept spouting Italian]. The London show felt more cosmopolitan—I believed it was an international gathering on a Greek island.
In our ideal version, we would use the British mom and dads, and the American girl.
Also, in London, during the olio, people were on their feet immediately, dancing and singing along. This crowd was real slow getting into the rhythm of the thing. So much for the stereotypes of the reserved Brits and the free-spirited Yanks.
Our seat mate was a young man from Bern, Switzerland, who had a great time. He said he had grown up listening to ABBA and this felt like listening to a program of folk tales.
FYI, the show will be in Baltimore in May.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Foot Washing
Foot Washing
Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garments and taking a towel, wrapped it around his waist; he then poured water into a bucket and began to clean the disciples’ oven—
Wait a minute, that’s not how it goes—
or is it?
It was a bright, clear spring day in Massachusetts, and we were taking a quick look at our new house before going to settlement. As we got out of the car, a woman came running across the yard.
“I’m Pat Clasby,” she said. “I’m your neighbor and I’m cleaning your oven, but I have to get my kids on the school bus first.” And back she ran to her house.
I’m sure Pat said a couple of other things before she left, but those are the words that glued themselves to my heart.
Here was a total stranger telling me that she was cleaning MY oven.
Sure enough, a half-hour later as our toddler oohed and aahed over her pretty flowered bedroom, and we wandered around trying to figure out where to put furniture, there was Pat Clasby scrubbing out the baked-on crud of my oven.
Who was this lady?
Pat Clasby, devout Roman Catholic, stalwart mother of three, repository of great wisdom, and Christian disciple sine qua non.
Over the next 18 months, Pat’s daily living taught me memorable lessons of discipleship, as we shared coffee, hung laundry, picked strawberries, and occasionally attended a charismatic Catholic community near Boston. Although we often discussed theology, Pat never preached it; she lived it whole-heartedly day by day. And her lessons are still with me more than 25 years later.
And the story about cleaning my oven—
The day before we were to move in, Pat went by the house to see if the newly divorced owner needed any help. To her horror, she discovered that he was planning on leaving everything in the kitchen because he figured the new owner would be delighted to find all those staples and cleaning supplies waiting for her.
Pat immediately dispelled him of that idea and put him to work scrubbing bath tubs, while she emptied, cabinets, cupboards, and the refrigerator and cleaned them. She used an overnight cleaner on the oven, or I might never have seen Jesus cleaning my oven.
Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table, removed his outer garments and taking a towel, wrapped it around his waist; he then poured water into a bucket and began to clean the disciples’ oven—
Wait a minute, that’s not how it goes—
or is it?
It was a bright, clear spring day in Massachusetts, and we were taking a quick look at our new house before going to settlement. As we got out of the car, a woman came running across the yard.
“I’m Pat Clasby,” she said. “I’m your neighbor and I’m cleaning your oven, but I have to get my kids on the school bus first.” And back she ran to her house.
I’m sure Pat said a couple of other things before she left, but those are the words that glued themselves to my heart.
Here was a total stranger telling me that she was cleaning MY oven.
Sure enough, a half-hour later as our toddler oohed and aahed over her pretty flowered bedroom, and we wandered around trying to figure out where to put furniture, there was Pat Clasby scrubbing out the baked-on crud of my oven.
Who was this lady?
Pat Clasby, devout Roman Catholic, stalwart mother of three, repository of great wisdom, and Christian disciple sine qua non.
Over the next 18 months, Pat’s daily living taught me memorable lessons of discipleship, as we shared coffee, hung laundry, picked strawberries, and occasionally attended a charismatic Catholic community near Boston. Although we often discussed theology, Pat never preached it; she lived it whole-heartedly day by day. And her lessons are still with me more than 25 years later.
And the story about cleaning my oven—
The day before we were to move in, Pat went by the house to see if the newly divorced owner needed any help. To her horror, she discovered that he was planning on leaving everything in the kitchen because he figured the new owner would be delighted to find all those staples and cleaning supplies waiting for her.
Pat immediately dispelled him of that idea and put him to work scrubbing bath tubs, while she emptied, cabinets, cupboards, and the refrigerator and cleaned them. She used an overnight cleaner on the oven, or I might never have seen Jesus cleaning my oven.
Monday, February 09, 2004
Would that it were me?
Last week, my friend Nancy alerted me to "my" latest book: W: Revenvenge of the Bush Dynasty by Elizabeth Mitchell.
Here is the biography I found on the other Ms. Mitchell today, followed by the letter I sent to the Washington Post over the weekend.
Great minds do think alike.
What makes George W. run?
Elizabeth Mitchell, author of Revenge of the Bush Dynasty, says he is fueled "not only by his own ambition and grooming, but also by his desire to avenge his father's painful loss to Bill Clinton in 1992.
She makes the case that George W. learned well from watching his father and that he benefits from personal characteristics, including an easy and convivial way with people, that his father did not have in the same measure.
Mitchell served as executive editor of George magazine, where she polished the art of translating politics to a mass audience.
Prior to that she was the features editor at SPIN magazine. She has also written for The New York Observor, Details, Conde Nast Traveler, and Glamour.
Mitchell lives in New York City.
Revenge of the Bush Dynasty is her first book.
My letter:
Why We Really Went to War
Dear Editor,
Anyone who listened carefully to Mr. Bush's campaign for election in 2000 knows that he went into office determined to finish the war his father started and to destroy the man who had threatened to murder his father.
The attacks of September 11th handed Mr. Bush the vehicle to execute his personal vendetta, and he has not wavered in that determination.
In South Carolina on February 4, 2004, Mr. Bush allowed that Saddam Hussein "had the capability to produce" WMDs, "the scientists and technology in place to make those weapons", and the "necessary infrastructure to produce" WMDs. At Mr. Bush's press conference on February 2, 2004, he backed off the WMD argument saying that Saddam Hussein might have posed a threat, that he might have done harm to the United States, and that he did do horrible things to his own people.
There are many other countries (including the United States), despots and tyrants in this world about whom the president could say the same thing, but George W. Bush chose only to go after Saddam Hussein, the man who humiliated a Bush.
The fall and capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America any safer, it has only satisfied a family's maniacal desire to be avenged.
The U.S. Congress took no time in impeaching a president who was stupid enough to dally with a bimbo, but as it is said, "No one died, when Clinton lied."
The U.S. Congress has the ability to censure and impeach this president for using his office to pursue a personal grudge at the cost of American lives and billions of dollars. And it should do so.
Elizabeth A. Mitchell
7232 Lasting Light Way
Columbia, MD 21045
410-381-5402
Here is the biography I found on the other Ms. Mitchell today, followed by the letter I sent to the Washington Post over the weekend.
Great minds do think alike.
What makes George W. run?
Elizabeth Mitchell, author of Revenge of the Bush Dynasty, says he is fueled "not only by his own ambition and grooming, but also by his desire to avenge his father's painful loss to Bill Clinton in 1992.
She makes the case that George W. learned well from watching his father and that he benefits from personal characteristics, including an easy and convivial way with people, that his father did not have in the same measure.
Mitchell served as executive editor of George magazine, where she polished the art of translating politics to a mass audience.
Prior to that she was the features editor at SPIN magazine. She has also written for The New York Observor, Details, Conde Nast Traveler, and Glamour.
Mitchell lives in New York City.
Revenge of the Bush Dynasty is her first book.
My letter:
Why We Really Went to War
Dear Editor,
Anyone who listened carefully to Mr. Bush's campaign for election in 2000 knows that he went into office determined to finish the war his father started and to destroy the man who had threatened to murder his father.
The attacks of September 11th handed Mr. Bush the vehicle to execute his personal vendetta, and he has not wavered in that determination.
In South Carolina on February 4, 2004, Mr. Bush allowed that Saddam Hussein "had the capability to produce" WMDs, "the scientists and technology in place to make those weapons", and the "necessary infrastructure to produce" WMDs. At Mr. Bush's press conference on February 2, 2004, he backed off the WMD argument saying that Saddam Hussein might have posed a threat, that he might have done harm to the United States, and that he did do horrible things to his own people.
There are many other countries (including the United States), despots and tyrants in this world about whom the president could say the same thing, but George W. Bush chose only to go after Saddam Hussein, the man who humiliated a Bush.
The fall and capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America any safer, it has only satisfied a family's maniacal desire to be avenged.
The U.S. Congress took no time in impeaching a president who was stupid enough to dally with a bimbo, but as it is said, "No one died, when Clinton lied."
The U.S. Congress has the ability to censure and impeach this president for using his office to pursue a personal grudge at the cost of American lives and billions of dollars. And it should do so.
Elizabeth A. Mitchell
7232 Lasting Light Way
Columbia, MD 21045
410-381-5402
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